Too Far Gone // D. Dixon

chapter fifty-six

They were there now, in a wide-open field. No man's land. This was it; do or die.

Negan and his men had started whistling, something they always did. Something that never failed to make Maren queasy. Something the group had been so traumatized by that night at the lineup.

"Well, damn, Rick...look at that. Pegged again, pegged so very hard..." Negan paused, "I ambushed your ambush with an even bigger ambush."

"How about you step out and face us?" Rick yelled, not yet seeing the Saviors. But they certainly had seen them.

Negan smiled as he spoke into the walkie-talkie, "Oh, I am everywhere, Rick. Pick a direction to run, see how you do...make it fun for all of us. Guess what else I did? I brought you some of your old friends. You remember your old buddy, Eugene? Well, he is the person that made today possible."

Negan looked at Dwight, who wore the same 'A' sweatshirt she had seen Daryl in, "Same goes for Dwighty boy here, in case you were wondering, he didn't ream you on purpose, he is just a gutless nothing that sucks at life...and now he gets to stand up here and watch you all die. And he is gonna live with that."

"Gabriel...well, he's gotta go too. We are cleaning house today, Rick," Negan paused, walking over to Gabriel,  "And then, there's you. It never had to be a fight, you just had to accept how things are. So, here we go...Congratu-fucking-lations, Rick."

Maren looked at Daryl as they stood crouched just behind one of the larger trucks. They had decided it best to stay out of sight for as long as possible. 

"3!"

"2!"

"1!"

The Saviors had gone past the top of the hill, now visible to Rick and the group. With the sights on them, it was on sight now. It was do or die.

Maren stood back, knowing she'd have to stay out of the line of fire. She knew it was coming; the shots, the fatal shots. She could only hope they'd win this. Their group had always managed to survive. They'd made it this far, she could only hope they'd make it a little bit longer.

"Don't look..." Daryl whispered to her, and Maren clenched her eyes shut at the first sound of shots, letting them ring out and echo through the rolling hills of Virginia. When she had opened her eyes again, so many of the Saviors were on the ground. They had been shot, seemingly by their own guns.

Maren looked at Eugene with a smile, he had been on the right side after all. They had a real chance.

Still not fully out of danger, Maren steered clear of the other Saviors. She knew they were mad at Eugene, he'd gotten over half of them killed. They'd assume the worst of Gabriel, Daryl and her too. She had to stay hidden until this was over. She had to.

"Get in the truck, Maren..." Daryl spoke quietly to her, helping her in, "Don't come outta there until I come getcha, okay?" Maren only nodded, taking in his weathered and weary expression before she closed her eyes again.

She heard lots of grumbling, grunting, groaning for those dying all around her. She clenched her hands over her ears as she crawled and laid in the backseat of Negan's truck. She had tears streaming down her face, remembering all the gunfire she had heard through her time in the new-world. The gunfire at that warehouse outside of Atlanta, at Terminus, all the times they'd fired them in Alexandria and now. 

It all came rushing back to her, and she felt herself move.

She ran, carefully dodging the stray bullets as she made her way to the tree, where she had heard his voice. He was still alive, she thought, I can still do this.

"Maren!" Daryl's voice met her ears, but she couldn't stop, not now. She needed to get to him before anything could happen. She just had to.

By the time she had caught up to them, she was out of breath. But she fought through her growing fatigue.

"Wait!" Maren yelled, making Rick and Negan pause. Mid-fight, they came to a sudden and abrupt halt. Maren had their undivided attention now. But Negan looked shocked, and very pissed.

"I told you to stay fucking put!"

Maren ignored her father, speaking desperately to the two men in front of her, "We can stop this, right fucking here. It doesn't have to be like this. You both know it doesn't."

"I can't do that, Maren. Not after Abraham...not after Glenn..." Rick spoke, his face growing darker with sadness and untamed anger. Maren nodded at that, but knew she had to try harder. This couldn't go on forever, the fighting had to stop. They couldn't lose anybody else.

"Look, I'm not saying it's going to be a damn walk in the park...fact is, it's going to be a hell of a lot harder than standing here shooting at each other," Maren speaks, watching as Negan and Rick's faces fall, "We let go of all of it, and nobody else has to fucking die."

Rick looks at Maren, almost as if he had seen a ghost. Like he'd heard all of this before. He had, he'd been the one to say it. But that was a different time, this was now. This was different. 

"We've all done and been through the worst kinds of shit just to stay alive, but we can still come back..." Maren says, tears heavy in her eyes, "We get to come back from it. We're not too far gone."

Maren's words had struck a chord in her father, as he recalled what she had said to Dean. 'You're too far gone' she had told him. Now? She was telling him that he wasn't like that, not like Dean, but that's where he was headed. He looked at Rick again, seeing the same expression pass over his face.

"Carl was right..." Rick started, looking at Negan with a different look than before, "It doesn't have to be a fight anymore."

Negan froze at that, watching as Rick seemed to back away. Negan just watched him, analyzing his somber features, moving forward suddenly just as Rick's knife had slit his throat.

"Dad!" Maren yelled, watching as the crimson blood leaked from his neck. She caught onto him as he collapsed to the ground. Just as she had yelled, Daryl had finally spotted her. As Negan's body fell to the ground, Daryl came running at the sound of Maren's screams. 

By the time Daryl had gotten there, Negan was on his knees as he clutched his throat, all the while Rick still loomed over him. Nobody knew what to say. What happened now?

"Save him." Rick spoke to Saddiq, the man that Carl had died saving. With the wave of his bloodied hand, Saddiq did as he was told. Maren sat next to her father, holding his hand as he slowly lost consciousness. Daryl held her in his arms as she cried, listening to Rick as he spoke to the rest of everyone.

Maggie charged forward, just as Michonne had stopped her, "NO! No, he can't! No, he killed Glenn..."

"We have to-" Rick spoke solemnly, seeing a distraught Maggie sobbing against Michonne. He hated this for her, he knew she wanted nothing more than to see him dead. But there would never be peace that way.

"We have to end it! Rick...We have to make it right!" Maggie's voice shook and cracked, her sobs making her words nearly incoherent. Maren felt a pang of sadness in her chest, seeing her friend so upset.

Rick spoke again, "We can't make it right, but this makes it over. It's over-"

"No, it's not over! It's not over until he's dead!" Maggie shouted, her sobs taking over. Maren looked away, not bearing to see her like that nor talk about her father like that, despite all the things he had done. Daryl pulled her closer to him, rubbing her shoulder comfortingly.

Rick paused, "What happened, what we did, what we lost...there's gotta be something after."

Looking back up at everyone, "The ones who have them up, put your hands down. We're all gonna go home now. Negan's alive, but his way of doing things is over...and anyone who can't live with that will pay the price, I promise you that. Any person here who would live in peace and fairness, who would find common ground, this world is yours by right. We are life, that's death...and it's coming for us unless we stand together. So go home, then the work begins."

Rick paused, "The new world begins. All this...all this is just what was. There's gotta be something after."