RIDE OR DIE | DARYL DIXON

monsters

STATIC WAS HEARD before a voice came through the walkie. They all knew who it was.

"For anyone out there who loved the obese bastard just as much as I did , I just want to say a few words." Negan said on the other end. "Fat Joey was not the most badass son of a bitch, but he was loyal. He had a great sense of humor. In fact, we were just joking about oral sex with Lucille the other day."

Willow rolled her eyes as she listened, looking out the window as they drove along the highway.

"Mommy, what's-"

Willow shook her head, cutting her off. "Nothing, baby."

"Things will not be the same now that he's dead." Negan continued. "Without Fat Joey, Skinny Joey is just... Joey. So it's a goddamn tragedy. So, let's have a moment of silence."

Rick pulled their car to a stop in the middle of the highway, a large blockade of old cars directly in front of them.

"Someone's trying to block the way." Jesus said, sticking his head out the window. "Gotta be the Saviors."

"Look." Carl said, looking to their right. "I think that's their base over there."

They all looked out the windows and stared at the large building off in the distance. It stood taller than all of the trees, not hard to miss.

"Yeah, that's it." Jesus agreed. "Must be trying to make it hard to get to them."

Rick kept looking ahead of them. "We gotta keep going. We'll move them, and then we'll move them back. They don't need to know we were here."

He shut off the car and they all began to get out. 

"Stay here, okay?" Willow told Sienna.

Sienna still had a few colored pencils and a paper that she was perfectly content coloring and drawing on. She nodded as she continued to scribble.

"Rick." Michonne called out after looking through their binoculars. "Come take a look at this."

Willow continued to push a car as Carl sat in it and directed it, the both of them occasionally glancing in Michonne and Rick's direction.

"What is it?" Carl asked, peeking his head out of the car window.

Rick led them to the other side of the highway, and further down it was a long strand of items that crossed the entirety of it.

"Holy shit." Willow muttered, realizing what it was when they got close enough. She stared at multiple sticks of dynamite stuck and wired along the line.

"What's all this for?" Michonne asked.

"Wait." Carl said. "When I was hiding in the back of the truck, I heard a couple of them talking about this. This is for a herd."

"That's why it's a steel cable." Rosita said as she walked along it. "It's not just for one walker. It's for a lot."

They all looked around, anxiously.

"We need these explosives." Sasha was the first to say.

Rick nodded. "Yeah. We have to figure out how to disarm it first."

Rosita crouched down in front of a metal grate in the ground, gently and carefully removing the top of it.

Willow tilted her head, unsure of what she was looking at. She stared at four green packages that each had different colored wires coming out from them, all connecting to a separate metal piece.

"Uh... Okay." Tara said nervously, taking a few steps back.

"Backing up is not gonna make a difference if this thing goes off." Rosita said sternly.