We're The Ones Who Live | The Walking Dead (2)

Part 38 - Really F*cking Bad

After the trip around the communities, more responsibility and liability was put on CJ - something she was fine with. Despite the tedious nature of working closely with Lance Hornsby, the more she could learn about the Commonwealth, the better. 

But on this day, not an hour after Daryl had left for work, he returned to the apartment with two other troopers, informing her that Lance needed her to accompany him out of the city to attend to a fresh incident. One that centred around a shootout between troopers and another settlement - the only remaining survivors being two of CJ's own people - Aaron and Gabriel.

Whilst the two men were sent out on a job to try and reach out to a settlement of people living in a big apartment building a few miles away from the Commonwealth, something had gone down which resulted in the troopers on the mission all being killed, and the group of settlers escaping. On top of that, several of the Commonwealth's guns and weapons had showed up missing (or stolen), adding more depth to the unprecedented situation. 

After finding Aaron on the road and hearing about the hostile situation, Maggie and a few others from the Hilltop had helped with taking down the troopers. They made a quick getaway after Gabriel had to contact the Commonwealth, and they were well out of there before Lance showed up. 

"We're telling you, CJ, Lance was behind the whole thing," Aaron whispered as he stood slightly behind her, along with Gabriel. "It wasn't a reach out; it was a slaughter. That's what he wanted all along."

The trio stood on the roof of the building, the brick wall behind them broken and collapsed. On the ground below, a pile of walker bodies and bodies of the dead troopers lay piled up, bloodied and decaying, flies and bug buzzing around them. A team of troopers, including Daryl, were surveying the scene down on the ground and marking down evidence. 

"But everyone made it out?" CJ questioned, her voice low as she stared straight ahead. 

"Barely," Gabriel mumbled. "But yes. Maggie got her people home, and Negan got his group out."

CJ raised an eyebrow but resisted the urge to turn around at the mention of the name. "Negan lives here?"

"Long story," Aaron murmured. "Hey, head's up."

Lance and some troopers started heading over to the three - the Hornsby man looked displeased, to say the least. CJ, Aaron and Gabriel kept their back's straight, prepared to defend the story they'd ironed out during the moment they had alone. She stepped to the side, allowing Lance to speak to her two friends, her eyes firm on the man across from her. 

"Guys, you see my problem here," Lance shook his head. "This is not a good look. Puts all of us in a very tough spot."

"Problem or not, it's the truth," Gabriel said, his tone calm as he stuck to his story. 

As the priest spoke, Daryl came through the door, joining the small group on the roof and standing near Lance. His eyes darted across the trio stood across from him, landing his gaze on his wife. He didn't know the full story of what happened here like she did, but one look from her, plus the stern looks in Aaron's and Gabriel's eyes told him enough.

"So, let's run through this one more time - make sure I got it straight." Lance held his hands out as he spoke pointedly. His tone suggested he didn't believe the story he was being told. "You went in, things got tense, firefight broke out. Then, the people here killed every last one of our trained, armed and armoured soldiers, but not you two... The one-armed guy and the priest."

Aaron's eyes were dark as he glared at Hornsby. It was a look of pure anger that CJ wasn't sure she had ever seen in her friend's eyes before. 

Lance paused for a moment before continuing with his retelling of what he believed to be a lie. "Then, the killers escaped, you called me over the walkie, we drove up, and here we are... That's your story?"