As the cars rolled up to the Sanctuary, Mollie could hear the walkers growls from where they were chained to the fence. As soon as the car stopped she hurried out, following behind Jesus into position. As soon as everyone was out and ready, Maggie raised her hand, and everyone raised their guns. She waited, seeing everyone primed and ready before bringing her hand down. With the motion, everyone let a few bullets fly, and then stopped, their weapons down but ready. The whistling of the Saviors echoed from inside the building, and after a few moments a door opened.
"Well, shit." Negan spoke as he walked outside. "I'm sorry. I was in a meeting." He looked out at the scene before him with a shit-eating grin on his face. "I see you got your little mudflaps with ya. So I'm not exactly feelin' a reason for us to try throwin' lead at each other. I care about my people. I don't wanna just march them into the line of fire because I wanna play 'my dick is bigger than yours'. It is. We both know it. But, I'm also comfortable enough to accept the fact if it wasn't. I'm certainly not gonna let my people die over that shit...like you're about to." He pointed to Rick with his bat.
"So, Rick!" Negan called out. "What the hell can I do for you?"
"Dwight." Rick pointed out. "Your name's Simon. You're Gavin. And you...?"
"Regina." The woman standing with Negan answered.
"Rick, I'd feel remiss if-" Another man started talking. Mollie recognized him from Carl's description. Eugene, he'd been taken by Negan but had apparently happily assimilated into the Saviors as he denied to leave when people showed up to rescue him.
"No." Rick interrupted. "I know who you are. Listen, you five. The Saviors inside. All of you have a chance to survive here. To survive this. Y'all can live if you surrender. Can't guarantee it any time but now. Right now."
"So...they surrender...and you and your little piss patrol doesn't kill them." Negan said. "That sounds like a good deal! What about me, Rick?"
"I told you, twice." Rick answered. "You know what's gonna happen."
"I do." Negan nodded, grin still on his face. "I do know what's gonna happen. You don't. You have no idea the shit that's about to go down. Let me ask you something, Rick. Do you think you have the numbers for this fight? You don't. Simon?" Simon, who was standing next to Negan ducked inside the open door and waved, and out came Gregory-the old leader of the Hilltop.
"Of course that's where he went." Jesus whispered to Maggie, watching Gregory with an unamused face.
"What do you have to say to Rick and the piss patrol, Gregory?" Negan asked.
"The Hilltop stands with Negan and the Saviors." Gregory called out with all the fake confidence he could muster. "Any resident of the Hilltop who takes up arms who supports this ultimatum against the Sanctuary or any of the Saviors, for that matter, the will no longer be welcome in the colony."
"And?" Negan asked expectantly.
"Their families will be thrown out and will be left to fend for themselves." Gregory announced. Negan patted his shoulder twice.
"And?"
"Go home now." Gregory ordered. "Or you won't have a home to go back to." Everyone from the Hilltop looked around each other, and at Maggie.
"You do what you need to do." Maggie said softly. "No one will hold it against you."
"All I have at the Hilltop are a bunch of books and an old lobster bib." Jesus shrugged, exchanging a smile with Maggie. No one else said anything, and no one moved.
"You heard the man!" Negan called out. "Go back to separating wheat and shit or whatever the hell it is you people do."
"Doesn't look like anyone's goin', does it?" Maggie called back.
"Hilltop stands with-" Gregory began.
"The Hilltop stands with Maggie!" Jesus yelled, cutting him off.
"I feel, like I invested a lot in you." Simon stepped up to Gregory, pushing a finger into his chest making Gregory take continuous steps backwards. "And I am very, very disappointed." Gregory grabbed the hand rail just before the stairs, only for Simon to shove him down them anyway. A few seconds passed, and then the explosions that they'd been waiting for sounded, and the sounds of the walker herd began to get closer.
"Sounds like shit is goin' down, Rick." Negan commented.
"You 'lieutenants'...you're gonna have to make up your minds." Rick said, ignoring Negan.
"Maybe we can take a time out here-" Gavin started.
"No. This has to happen now." Rick interrupted. "This is the only way." None of them moved or said anything. "You're gonna make me count? Okay." Rick chuckled. "Okay. I'm counting. Ten. Nine. Eight. Seven." Rick then cocked his gun and pulled it up quickly, beginning to fire at the group of Saviors. Everyone else was quick to follow, riddling the Sanctuary building with bullets. The gun shook his Mollie's arms as she held the trigger down, firing straight up into the bay of windows in the center of the building. The Saviors all ducked inside, but Mollie didn't see where Negan went.
"Now!" Maggie called out once her gun was empty. Mollie let a few more shots fly before ducking back into the car, Jesus close behind her. The other three who were riding with them also scrambled inside as Jesus laid on the horn, just as everyone else began to as well. If all was going to plan, Daryl should be leading the herd their way by this point, which meant it was time to go. As soon as he could, Jesus pulled the car in line with others and started driving out. Just as they got out of the gates, the rv exploded behind them. Mollie hadn't realized it but her hands were shaking as she slid the gun off her shoulder and in between her legs.
"Good job, guys." Jesus said. "Perfect, actually."
"I can't believe Gregory." A woman named Bertie said. "What the hell is wrong with him?"
"He's a coward, he always has been." Jesus sighed. "Thank god for Maggie."
"Amen." Bertie chuckled. They soon arrived at the meeting spot, and Mollie was very happy to be out of the car. While everyone else grouped up, Mollie found the nearest patch of grass and laid down. However, her day was far from over. All too soon she heard the whistle, and it was time to set out again. They still had the Savior's outposts to clear out. She waited another moment, letting her fingers run through the grass for another second.
"Mollie, let's go!"
YOU ARE READING
THE ROMANTICIST | C. GRIMES
Fanfictionmollie mccloud had only ever seen the human world through a tv, until said world crumbled and she set out into it. after finding and joining a human settlement called the kingdom, mollie has plenty of learning to do. along the way she makes friends...
