Ties In The Torn World

Pawns In Play

June's pov:

we get back to the Sanctuary and I look at my watch.

7:59

its going to be one hell of a boring rest of the day.

Negan parks the car and I step out, pulling the earbuds out of my ears and shoving the Walkman in my pocket. I walk towards my dad and he looks at me before his eyes travel down to my nose, then my cheek.

"sh*t" he chuckles, pressing down on my cheek and I wince, it feels sore.

"damn kid, one hell of a punch you took there" he says.

"what?" I say, confused. I walk past the windows of the Sanctuary and look at myself in the reflection. 

damn it. 

I had a bruise forming on my cheek and my nose had dried up blood under it. I rub under my nose and the blood flakes off. I look at it on my finger before wiping it on my pants.

"I'll punch harder next time" I promise him.

"you better" he chuckles, and I laugh too. we walk over to the trucks, well, he walks over and I just follow him. he looks through the stuff while the saviors take it away, his eyes scan over a complex object in one of the saviors hands.

"wait" he says and they immediately pause and he picks up the object, snatching it out of the saviors hand.

"the hell's this stupid sh*t" he says, his lip curling upwards, scanning the object with confusion, he looks at me, expecting for me to know, I roll my eyes. 

"it looks like a--" I start.

"a circuit board!" a voice from behind us pipes up and I twirl around. its Samuel, he's like a walking dictionary, he looks like one too. his huge black framed glasses with tape in the middle made him look like a middle school nerd, even if he was in his mid forties and already graying. 

"a what?" Negan spat, his face conformed into disgust, he must really not like Samuel.

"a circuit board" Samuel says as he comes over and snatches the board out of his hand, I snort and a savior gasps slightly.

"I wouldn't take that, not gonna lie" I say sarcastically, crossing my arms and my dad scowls at me. Samuel holds up the board like its a piece of heaven. 

"this, this beauty right here is used to make long distance radio calls" he says, still amazed by the circuit board in front of him. he walks over to the table and everyone curiously follows him, he sets the board down on the table and points to a specific part with his pinkie.

"this part right here is called the diode and it--"

"could not care less Sammy" my dad interrupts him when he notices I'm trying to say something. I point to the map and he calls over a savior to spread out the map of the communities he's taken over or seen. 

"my name is Samuel" he corrects him.

"yeah alright Sammy, show me what communities you can reach within that distance" I say, stepping closer to the table, putting my palms on the map. he frowns and mutters something under his breath but points to a couple, none of importance.

"no..." I shake my head, thinking.

"what about from here?" I ask, pointing to Alexandria.

"hmm..." Samuel thinks, then he points to an area that we are yet to communicate and watch but we know of.

"Apex Outpost?" I ask him and he nods.

"that's the farthest the radio can go with this board?" he nods again but pipes up.

"well its actually record distance and--" Negan cuts him off.

"Apex Outpost huh?" 

"apparently.." I sigh.

"the hell do they want with Apex Outpost" a savior snorts. what do they want? 

I think..

realization crashes into me like a wave and my eyes widen. 

"we haven't contacted Apex Outpost yet, correct?" I ask.

"if you mean taken over, then no" my dad replies and I roll my eyes.

"you know I hate that word, dammit" I say and he laughs.

"no, no we have no clue who they are and what sort of supplies they have, but we're about to figure out" he smirks.

"right after Rick stops being so damn difficult" he grumbles.

"Rick is being difficult?" I ask, he nods. everything is connecting now. 

"look, your rules are sh*t and both me and Rick know it" I say, putting a hand on my hip and he doesn't look surprised I say this, I'm the only person he will ever let talk to him like that. 

"do you have a point of are you here to bash on my ethics?" he tilts his head.

"what if they're trying to get into contact with Apex Outpost because they hate your stupid rules?" I say.

"explain" he narrows his eyes.

"Apex Outpost is the only community we actually know of that you haven't taken over yet, since your planning it, wouldn't they be glad to stop you taking over before it even starts?" I ask.

"are you suggesting that Rick is trying to get the Outpost on his side so he can fight us?" I look my dad dead in the eyes and he looks like everything is connecting for him too, he smiles.

"this is why I'm one hell of a lucky man to have you on my team" he chuckles, patting my back so rough I lean onto the table for support. 

"Yo!" a savior by the name Ray runs up to us.

"lookout crew just said they saw Rick's group off the 45' road" he says and I exchange a worried look with the savior behind him. 

"so what do we do to stop them?" Samuel asks.

"shut up Samuel" Negan puts his hand up to stop him from saying anything else. 

"so what do we do to stop them?" he asks me, repeating Samuels question.

"is there any way we could set up logs, a horde or something to slow em' down, if we want the plan I have to work, I'm gonna need more time" I say, looking at my dad and he nods slowly.

"drive the walkers up to the highway, it'll slow them down just enough to axe some trees down on the road past the farmhouse, which means they'd have to take the long way here" he commands. 

"is that enough time?" he asks me.

"for my plan?" 

he nods.

"just about enough" I say. he signals for the savior to go and he turns to me. 

"what's the plan?" he asks. I chew on my lip, unsure whether or not I'm being too ambitious with this plan.

f*ck it

"I'm gonna need you to spread the message to every savior to not get in the way of Rick's group, don't attack, nothing. not until my command" I say gravely.

"what?" Negan says, utterly confused.

"trust me, they wont be getting away"