CROOKED HEART.
chapter thirty-four, we are the end of the world.
[ season ten, episode eleven ]
THEY MAKE THEIR WAY home. Aaron returns to Alexandria, Daryl stays out, Carol leaves them, and the rest make their way back to the Hilltop.
And when they make it home, Alden and Brielle are waiting. Odessa is exhausted, Cori is barely able to stand. But the two are fast to move to their daughter. They embrace her, holding her so tightly. She relishes in it.
"Bad news." He says to the two leaders. Odessa straightens. Cori's eyes move to him. "Alexandria was attacked last night."
"What?" Odessa breathes out.
"Beta." He looks down.
"How many?"
"At least twenty."
"Judith? RJ?"
"They're good." He shakes his head. "They're okay. Same with Rosita, Gabriel, Jax, Scott. A couple are on the way here right now."
"Okay," she breathes out. "Okay."
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Alpha is coming.
They're gathered in Odessa's office. The woman sits behind her desk, the others sit and stand around her office.
"You heard them out there. We have to go! Even if you took out half the herd in that cave, she's got thousands left. You can't stay here." Lydia says.
Yes, Lydia and Mara have rejoined them after finding Daryl nearly beaten half to death after his fight with Alpha.
"We're not leaving." Cori says, her voice hard. "I'm not."
"I'm not running again." Jerry states.
"Lydia's right. We can rebuild anywhere." Diane speaks up.
"Come on. We can't. How many scouting missions you been on, son?" He asks Aaron. "Hundreds? You ever seen a place like Hilltop?"
"No." Aaron scoffs.
"We have a few dozen able-bodied fighters here. Maybe. You like those odds? Cause I don't?" Yumiko asks.
"Neither do I. We don't have to die here." Aaron agrees.
"You can go." Odessa speaks for the first time since calling the meeting. Everyone turns to her. "If you don't want to fight, leave. Go to Oceanside. Go away and don't look back. But if you want to stay, you can. But if no one else is willing to, I'm staying. I'm fighting for this place, alone or with y'all."
"I'm staying with her." Comes the voice of Jax Winchester. He looks like hell. His eyes are bloodshot and his hands shake to harshly that he has to to fold them behind his back. "My husband is still out there, I'm staying here with her to fight them to get him back."
"I'm stayin'." Earl pipes. "If we die here, we die for a place that means something. Can you think of a better way to go?"
"Yeah. We go with my daughter's life intact. And Judith's and Brielle's and RJ's and Ezra's and Adam's. Want me to keep going?" Aaron asks.
YOU ARE READING
crooked heart → the walking dead ⁵
Fanfiction❝ they've written songs about her and her crooked heart . ❞ six years. it's been six goddamn years. THE WALKING DEAD. season nine, season ten. book five of seven. i do not own the walking dead, its characters, or plot. all rights go to robert ki...
