ELEANOR . NEGAN

061.

It was a heavy tension in the old office back at the Hilltop historical building. Once owned by Gregory, and then Maggie, then Tara and Jesus — now it was only Jesus who resided. Tara's death was more hard-hitting for the smaller community, but it was something they had to power through.

Right now, the stakes were horribly high. Everyone who was seen as an important figure was in the room, hands on their hips with narrowed eyes, while they all feared for the outcome that was about to happen.

Alpha was going to release her horde.

"You heard them out there! We have to go." Lydia frantically said, eyes darting between Aaron and Maya. "Even if you took out half the herd in that cave, she's got thousands left. You can't stay here."

Earl, a proud member of Hilltop, sighed at Lydia's words and shook his head. "The Skins could march straight to Alexandria for all we know."

"Yeah, we're right in their way."

"Maybe she goes around us-" Earl suggested.

It wasn't enough. "She doesn't need to go around you. She'll just run through you-"

"I'm not running again."

A blonde woman standing beside Aaron surprisingly agreed with Lydia. It made her insides feel warm that someone was actually listening to her. "Lydia's right." Wow. "We can rebuild anywhere."

Earl however disagreed. "Come on, we can't!" He pointed at Aaron, "how many scouting missions you been on, son? Hundreds? Have you ever seen a place like Hilltop?"

Aaron shook his head, "No."

It only brought bigger concerns though. "We have a few groups of fighters here... maybe. I don't really like those odds." Jesus admitted, crossing his arms over his chest while he dragged his eyes over to Aaron.

"No, no, we don't have to die here."

"We're going to have to fight, and if we die, we die fighting for a place that means something!" Earl protested. "Can you think of a better way to go?"

"Yeah... we go with my daughter's life intact! And Judith's and Ezra's and Adam's." Earl slowly leant back into his seat with regret. "You want me to keep going?"

Daryl sighed and looked around the room. Everyone was tense, it didn't help. "Alright, alright, let's get the kids out first-"

"One name: Elle." Everyone looked at the once quiet but now speaking teenage girl with a look of recognition and fear. "We can't just leave her here."

"Why not?" Yumiko suggested. "She's one of the greatest fighters we know — actually, correction: she is the greatest fighter. We might actually have a chance with her in our side-"

"She black and fuckin' blue, ya dick." Daryl scowled. Everyone went wide-eyed at his sudden outburst but he rolled his eyes at them all. "Everybody, pack up. We're going Oceanside and we takin' El with us — she ain't fuckin' staying!"

-

Eleanor felt weak, head to toe, and it made her want to cry. She was sat at the back of Daryl's bike, her hands loosely wrapped around his waist but his own hand keeping her still and steady. There wasn't enough space in the cart, not without a few guards having to stay behind, and that wasn't worth it if it meant in the rare care of getting ambushed.

Every time Daryl rolled over a rock or a dent in the dirty road, he'd clutch on tighter while her painful groans filled his hearing. It killed to be the reason she was hurting at the moment, but he had to take her with everyone. No way was he going to risk her life back at Hilltop.