In a world ruled by fear, survival comes with a price.
When her brother's attempt to overthrow the Saviors fails, Tessa finds herself under Negan's watchful eye-protected, controlled, and dangerously close to the man she should hate. As violence, po...
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Sun rose hot over Alexandria, the kind of heat that made the metal gates shimmer. People moved everywhere—checking rifles, filling gas cans, loading trucks. Armor plates bolted onto windshields, stacks of ammo crates lined the street. Tessa stood near the front, tying her hair back into a tight knot. Her hands trembled—not from fear, but from the electric tension buzzing through the air. They weren't hiding anymore. They weren't surviving.
They were going to war.
Rick tightened a strap on his rifle. Tessa stepped beside him, her voice barely above a breath.
"You good?" she asked.
Rick gave a stiff nod. "You?"
She hesitated just long enough for him to catch it. Then she forced a small nod. "Yeah. I'm ready."
Rick believed her because he had to. People gathered in the yard—Alexandrians, Hilltop, the Kingdom. Three armies moving as one. Maggie stood on a truck bed, Ezekiel beside her, Rick just in front, his jaw set. Tessa took her place behind Rick's left shoulder, the exact position Michonne usually held—but today, Michonne stayed behind to protect Judith. Tessa stepped into the spot without thinking. Without hesitation.
Rick looked out at everyone.
"When I first met you all..." he began, voice echoing off metal and asphalt, "I didn't know you. You didn't know me. But we came together. We worked together. We fought together." Tessa's chest tightened with every word. She remembered the man he used to be—the sheriff who worried too much, who carried the weight of every life on his shoulders. War had hardened him. But the fire in his eyes? That was still pure Rick.
Maggie spoke next. Ezekiel after.
The speeches fell over the group like armor—layer by layer, building belief, courage, defiance. And then the engines rolled to life.
The convoy pulled out, shaking the ground. Armored cars, motorcycles, buses, trucks all moving toward the Sanctuary. Tessa sat in the back of Rick, Maggie, and Ezekiel's truck, gripping her rifle so tightly her knuckles were white. Through the small back window, she could see Daryl riding ahead on his bike, wind whipping through his hair. Rick glanced at her once in the mirror. She lifted her chin in acknowledgment. No fear. No backing down.
This was happening.
⸻ The convoy arrived at the Sanctuary. The air was dry, heavy with anticipation. Rick stepped out. Tessa followed, staying behind the protection of a truck door. Her eyes locked onto the balcony above—where Negan first introduced himself with Lucille dripping red.
Negan stepped out with Simon, Eugene, Gavin, and Regina. He rested his hands casually on the railing, wearing his usual smirk like this was all a game.
"I can't let you come in," Negan called out. "But we're all friends here!"
Rick didn't even blink. Tessa glared daggers at Eugene—his gaze dropped instantly. He couldn't meet her eyes.
Rick lifted the megaphone. "That's gonna change. Right now. We'll give you one chance."
Simon barked something. Eugene tried to speak. Gavin argued. Rick didn't wait.
He opened fire.
The crack of his rifle split the air. Everyone on Rick's side erupted in a storm of bullets. Glass shattered. Metal buckled. Sanctuary windows blew out. Tessa fired fast and precise, ducking behind the hood. Every shot she fired was personal—this was the place where Negan dragged her, where Daryl suffered, where Glenn and Abraham's blood echoed through the walls.
Rick kept shooting even after Negan disappeared behind the wall. Even after everyone else stopped.
"Rick," Tessa yelled, grabbing his arm, "you need to move!" He didn't stop until he emptied the magazine, chest heaving.
⸻
Daryl triggered the explosives. A chain of blasts erupted across the perimeter, drawing the massive walker herd straight into the Sanctuary's guts. Metal twisted. Alarms screamed. The dead poured in like a flood.
The plan was working.
Rick started toward the cars—everyone moving toward their next strike. Tessa stayed close behind him, scanning every corner, every shadow.
Then—
A second explosion shook the platform near the loading dock. A tower section collapsed, sending debris crashing into the yard. Tessa stumbled, ears ringing
"Tessa! Back!" Rick shouted. Walkers surged in fast—hundreds. She spun, trying to circle back, but the herd split the courtyard in half. Rick had no choice but to jump into the truck.
"Tessa! Go Around!" Rick yelled again. She couldn't hear him through the ringing. Smoke swallowed everything. She tried to push toward the convoy—
A wall of walkers blocked her.
She tried the left side—another herd. The Sanctuary was flooding with the dead.
"Tessa!" Rick shouted one more time. But she was already being forced backward by the wave of bodies—pushed toward a side entrance, her boots slipping in dust and ash. She ducked into the nearest service hallway, slamming the steel door behind her. Walkers pounded from the other side, snarling, scraping.
It was dark. Hot. Silent except for her shaky breathing.
"Tessa," she whispered to herself, "think. Think."
A shift of movement cut through the black. Her body went rigid. A figure stepped out of the shadows.
Tall. Broad shoulders. Leather jacket dusted with debris.
Lucille in hand. A slow grin unfurled across his face.
"Now," Negan rasped, voice deep and dripping with satisfaction, "you gotta be shittin' me."
Tessa's blood went ice cold. Negan stepped closer, eyes gleaming in the faint light. He took another step—slow, deliberate, hunting her with Tessa's back hit the wall. Her pulse hammered in her throat. Negan tilted his head, voice lowering to a dangerous purr.
