VILLAINESS [TWD]

➴62

I was alone.

Rosita and I got separated amid the dark nothingness when we ran.

I couldn't wait around. I had to get back to Hilltop.

I found the car that I'd hot-wired earlier and take off down the road.

It was so different than before.

There was no Sasha in the backseat. No Rosita in the passenger. I was alone.

I slam my hands on the steering wheel. I couldn't stop crying. Sasha was dead or gone. Maybe both. I'd never see her again.

I speed down the roads even faster than this afternoon. Sasha wasn't there to tell me to slow down. Rosita wasn't giggling like an adrenaline junkie beside me.

A scream of frustration rips from my throat- a blazing rod from my stomach to my throat.

I make it to Hilltop before the sun is up. I swerve the car off the road and head back to the emergency hatch. 

The sun just barely begins to rise.

I slam the hatch shut and crumble to my knees.

Sasha was gone. No matter how it happened or how far she got, she was gone. 

--

It wasn't the first time I hated Rick's plans.

There was another community- Oceanside. They were going to take their guns and try to not hurt them. They were already gone, Jesus had left as well. I couldn't do anything, so I turned a blind eye as Judith was dropped in mom and I's care. Jesus came back after and expressed that no one got hurt and they had the guns. But, he wasn't fond of the plan either.

I told mom everything. I expected her to be angry that I left. But, she sighed and began to plan how we would get Sasha back instead.

Dwight, the man that killed Denise and tortured Daryl, found Rosita. He wants to help us beat Negan. He swore Sasha was alive and promised that Negan just had her in a cell.

"There's a lot of people. Even more lines crossing and knotting and tangling," I say. "It was so much easier when it was just a few of us shacked up on a farm or a prison."

"Yeah, it was," mom agrees. "But, we're building things. Righting the wrongs. Recovering the world and making it livable again."

"Rick wants us to stay here in case things go wrong. But, he doesn't know that Gregory s gone. Maybe he's the one telling Negan things."

"And it's all about to happen," Jesus notes.

I run a tired hand through my hair and sigh. 

"Ellie," mom calls. "What are you thinking?"

"I'm thinking that I'm glad you're the one in charge.. But, I also hate that you're in charge and stressing this out."

"Then, help me. You were with Sasha last night. What would she say to do right now?"

My hands clasp and my arms rest on my knees. I look up at mom from where I was sitting.

"We can stay and hide- bide out time. Or, we can go fight and make a big difference now. Rick wants us to stay back to have a safe card, but he also is underestimating just how far Hilltop has come in our training and preparations."

"You want to go fight," she figures.

"Sasha and Rosita wanted to do that the second the plan was made. If we sit around and wait, things could go wrong. But, Sasha also said that as long as we're alive, we get another chance to end it."

I shrug. "But, if we fight now, we don't have to worry about a later problem. Who's to say that if Alexandria leads the fight, Hilltop won't get punished? That's what happened with that car, the fires, and walkers a few days ago. 'Reminders'."

"Either way, something will happen here," Jesus agrees.

"So, we fight," mom decides. 

I smile. 

"We should get ready to leave, then. Before it's too late," Jesus says.

I stand up and the three of us walk outside. Mom readies her speech to give- firing up the Hilltop Colony for a fight.