the great war (r.g)

twenty-five

"you're going to be okay, maggie. everything is going to be alright," cora said to her best friend. maggie had fallen very ill and now the group was on their way to hilltop to use their medical supplies.

"i know," maggie said as cora caressed her hair. "i just hope glenn is there when we get there."

"he will be, i promise," cora told her. just then, rick and carl walked up to cora, saying they needed to talk to her. izzy, dan, enid, carol, and morgan did not join them on their journey, choosing to stay behind and help keep alexandria safe.

"there's another group of saviors up ahead," carl informed her. a few miles back, the group encountered another group of saviors blocking their path.

"abraham wants to attack, what do you think?" rick asked her.

"no," it was an easy answer. "it was no before and it's no now. if we fight, this war will just get worse and worse." cora walked to where abraham was driving the rv, followed closely by rick and carl. peering out the windshield, cora saw a group of men a few hundred feet ahead of them on the road. "there's more than last time," cora pointed out.

"abraham," rick said. "turn the rv around slowly. we will find another way." as they drove off, one of the saviors shot his rifle.

"they're tracking us," cora said, coming to the realization. abraham glanced back at her with an eyebrow raised. "think about it. when we left the other saviors, they also shot a rifle. and now there's twice as many as them at this route. plus i think i recognized one of the guys from last time. and i'll bet you there will be more at the next road." carl looked to his dad for answers.

"we'll see when we get there," rick told them. then to cora, "you might be right."

***

she was right. half way right. there was another roadblock on the next road. except this time it wasn't saviors. it was walkers. "look," carl said. cora and the others got out of the rv to get a closer look at the walkers. they realized each walker were dressed up. one had michonne's vest on, another had izzy's jacket and gloves on. rick unsheathed his hatchet and as he made his way to a walker, shots rang out through the woods. saviors.

everyone piled back into the rv and started off again for hilltop. "you were right," rick told cora. "they were only firing at our feet. they want us going this way. theres going to be another roadblock of even more saviors."

he was right, the next roadblock had about 40 saviors at it. before they could shoot, abraham turned the rv around to head to another route.

***

they hit another roadblock and eugene and rick came up with a plan to bait the saviors. eugene was to drive the empty rv to lure the saviors towards him. the rest of them were carrying maggie through the woods on a stretcher in hopes of not running into anyone. "listen," michonne said. everyone stopped and listened closely to the darkness. there was a faint whistling coming from the depths of the woods. there was nowhere to go as the whistling became louder and from every direction.

"what do we do?" cora desperately asked rick.

"we run," he said.

the group ran, trying their best to not drop maggie. the whistling grew louder as more and more people joined in. "it has to be the saviors," cora yelled.

the group ran until they were surrounded by saviors. lights from the saviors vehicles blinded their group, on the edge if the clearing they were in was the rv, eugene was kneeled in the middle of the circle the hundreds of saviors had formed.

"there's no more fighting," the main savior said. a few more came up to them and grabbed maggie from them.

"stop!" cora protested, but the nearest savior disregarded and grabbed her knife along with everyone else's weapon.

"it's time to talk." saviors forced cora and her group to kneel in a line next to eugene. a man with a burned face walked to a van that was sitting in the first row of vehicles and opened the door. daryl, michonne, glenn, and rosita were pulled out and thrown in the line up. "let's meet the man!" the main savior proclaimed.

the door to the rv slammed open and whistling came from the inside. the same tune that brought them here in the first place. it was followed by a man wearing a scarf, holding a bat wrapped in barbed wire. "well, well, well," the man said. my name is negan. and you must be rick." negan pointed the bat at rick and smiled a devilish smile. "the one that killed all those saviors."

cora couldn't focus on what was going on around her. all that was going through her head while she stared at the bat that he  called lucille was izzy sitting alone at alexandria. negan knew who they were. he had to know where alexandria was so what was stopping him from sending men there to slaughter their remaining group. "now the only reason im going to let you all live is that i need you to work for me now. but before we can start this business deal, i need to beat the holy hell out of one of you," negan told them all. cora's stomach dropped. each and every one of these people were cora's family and she loved them. cora could not bare loosing them. "first, i need to introduce you guys to a core member of my team. the man who helped get you all here. my inside man."

the door to the rv opened again and another man walked out. cora physically felt her heart stop. walking to join negan at his side, was dan.

***

a/n
shits about to get interesting