Safe haven | Rick Grimes

111. OUR BROTHERS GONNA KILL YOU

Chapter one hundred and eleven

"Our brothers gonna kill you."

Standing in the bedroom, Scarlett kept a heavy duffle bag unzipped on the mattress, revealing an arsenal of weapons: an AK-47, a .44 Magnum, several automatic rifles, a night scope, a compound bow, and a razor-sharp machete.

"This bag will stay in this room," she stated, her voice dead serious. "This bag will only be grabbed if someone invades our home and you absolutely cannot get away. Do you understand?"

Judith, Daryl, and Caroline stood in a neat line in front of her, nodding in unison. Satisfied with their response, Scarlett zipped the heavy canvas bag shut. She hauled it off the bed and walked over to the corner of the room. Lifting the edge of the flipped mattress, she revealed a hidden compartment cut directly into the floorboards. She carefully lowered the duffle bag into the hole and covered it back up, hiding their ultimate fallback plan from the rest of the world.

The door slammed open, shocking Daryl awake after a long, restless night on the cold floor of the cell, his hands still tightly bound behind his back. Two Commonwealth soldiers marched inside, hauled him up by his arms, and dragged him out into the daylight of Alexandria. They brought him into a nearby house, navigating down a long first-floor hallway.

"Someone is keeping track of my guards," the Warden's voice echoed from a room ahead. "When they come and go. How many are on shift at any given time."

As they rounded the corner into the room, Daryl saw the Warden standing directly in front of Negan, who was also being held captive.

"What's that got to do with me?" Negan asked, his voice flat.

The soldiers shoved Daryl forward, throwing him violently onto the floor.

"Because this kid threatened to kill me last night," the Warden shared, pacing the room. "He said, 'Maybe not today. Maybe not tomorrow.'"

Hearing those exact words, Negan froze. The phrase immediately struck a chord, reminding him exactly of what Rick Grimes had told him years ago.

"So, I need to know if this kid has some kind of plan," the Warden shared, glaring down at the floor.

Daryl lifted his head, his face bruised and bloody, and locked eyes with Negan. Negan saw the raw, deadly determination burning in the boy's eyes. Turning back to the Warden, Negan let out a dry chuckle. "He and his people? They hate my guts. So, I don't know any—"

Before Negan could finish, one of the guards delivered a heavy punch directly to Daryl's face, the impact cracking through the quiet room.

"I said I don't know!" Negan voiced, his tone sharpening with anger as he strained against his own restraints.

"But I bet you can find out," the Warden told him coldly.

The second soldier stepped up, kicking Daryl hard in the ribs.

"Beating up the kid is gonna do nothing for you," Negan snapped, trying to draw their attention away from the boy.

The Warden ignored him, stepping around the guards as they continued to strike Daryl. He walked over to his desk, picking up a piece of paper. "Finding out is not really an option for you," the Warden told Negan, turning back with a dark smile. "Unless, of course, you'd rather never see that pregnant wife of yours again."

Daryl let out a ragged breath, spitting a mouthful of blood onto the floorboards. Remembering the hidden arsenal his mother had shown them, he knew it was the only card left to play to stop the beating and protect Judith, Caroline, and Rick.