The Next World

Chapter 29

It was dark when I woke up. There were a few others that were awake as well. Roaming around outside. Glenn and Maggie had been in the car with us. Maggie was still sleeping. I didn't want to wake her and I don't think anyone else did either. I looked up at Daryl and he had his eyes closed. Glenn was awake and looking out the window.

"Hey," I whispered to him.

"Hey," he whispered back.

"You okay?" I asked.

"Yeah. Just thinking about what we're going to do. I've...I've never had to kill someone before," he said.

"Hey. It's not just anyone. You know what these people have done. We can't risk them finding us. They'd destroy everything we've worked so hard to build. It'll be hard but you've gotta know that it has purpose. So we can all live. So you and Maggie can be together for your child. For us," I said resting my hand on his shoulder.

"Damn straight. Thanks, Amelia," he said placing his hand over mine.

"You have any idea what time it is?" I asked.

"By the looks of it, almost midnight. Rick is getting ready," he said.

"How far do you think this compound is?" I asked.

"A couple of hours. That's what Jesus said," he replied.

I nodded.

"Well, I'm gonna go out and stretch my legs," I said.

I looked to see if Daryl was still asleep. He was. I slowly opened the door and did my best to shut it back up the same way. Didn't go so well. Luckily, Daryl just stirred. He didn't wake up and Maggie was in a heavy sleep. I reached my arms over my head and rubbed the sleep out of my eyes and waited. It didn't take long before Rick gave the signal that we'd be moving out. I went back in the car. Daryl was fully awake by then.

"Hey," I said kissing his cheek.

"We're heading out?" he asked.

"Yeah looks like it," I said.

The RV started up. Glenn then turned the key in the ignition. Maggie popped her head up.

"We're on our way, babe," Glenn said.

She nodded. The car behind us started their engine as well. The RV took off and we followed. We were now on our way to Negan's compound. After a few hours, we parked a couple of miles away and got out. 

"All right, let's head over," Rick said.

We grabbed our gear and started walking over. We set ourselves up a few feet from the compound. Kneeling down, we all watched the entrance. Like Andy had said, there were two guards. Some others were coming in and out but none of them made it to where we were. We sat there and waited some more. It had been a couple of hours. The guards were now the only ones seen. No one else was coming out. They were all asleep.

"All right. Abraham, park the RV just outside the perimeter. Maggie and Carol go with them. You'll watch from where he parks," Rick said.

Carol and Maggie nodded. Maggie gave Glenn a kiss.

"Carol," I called softly.

She turned and looked at me.

"Be careful. Watch yourself," I said.

She nodded. The three of them took off.

"Andy. You're up. Jesus, go with him and hide in the back seat of the car," Rick said.

Both Andy and Jesus nodded then took off.

"We wait some more?" I asked.

"Now we wait some more," Rick answered.

The rest of us watched the guards carefully. A few minutes passed before red lights flashed as Andy came into view. Abraham had just made it back.

"They okay?" I asked him.

"They're right as rain," he answered.

I nodded and focused my attention again on Andy and the guards.

"We're gonna be going in. They seem to be buying it," Rick said.

Andy had pulled out the walker's head from the bag it had been placed in. One of the guards looked it over. They seemed to be impressed with it. We waited until the one holding the head went inside to retrieve Craig. As soon as he was inside, we emerged and took care of the first one. Daryl sliced his throat then pierced his head with the knife. We moved very stealth like. The body was moved while I, along with others, stood watch. We disappeared into the shadows afterwards and waited for the other guard. He came back out with Craig in hand. Michonne went ahead and took care of the other guard, diving her sword into his abdomen. Craig gasped and Andy quickly caught him.

"It's okay, it's okay. We're bringing you back. We're bringing you back," Andy reassured him.

Tara, Gabriel and Jesus would stay with Craig and Andy until we came back out. Rick grabbed the keys off the second guard and tossed them to Daryl. He opened it up and Glenn and I made our way inside. We all split up to search for the people we had come to take down. I followed Daryl closely.

"Check the doors. Find the arsenal. We take them out," Rick whispered.

Daryl and I checked the first door we came across. There was nothing worth taking.

"Keep searching," he whispered.

I nodded and went down the hallway. I came across another door.

"Hold up," Daryl said.

He went ahead and slowly opened the door. There were two men sleeping in that room. I pulled out my knife and went in. I dove my knife into one of their skulls while Daryl dove his in the other. We exited the room and searched for more. After three more rooms and more men killed, we still had not found the arsenal. We weren't giving up. There was suddenly an alarm that went off.

"Dammit," I said.

The people that we had yet to get to, were up and ready to fight. There were some coming down one of the staircases nearby but Rick took them out.

"Go!" he shouted.

Daryl, Michonne and I ran forward.

There was some more distant gunfire going off. I fired at a few that were coming toward us. I was about to head forward but Rick pulled me back. I missed the bullets by mere seconds.

"You all right?" Daryl asked.

"I'm good," I said.

We all hid behind the walls while the Saviors returned gunfire. We each took turns firing a bit then quickly hid behind the walls again. Before I knew it, we had taken out the ones in the hall. Daryl moved forward and I followed. He reached a door and opened it.

"Daryl watch it!" I shouted just as a man came into view.

Daryl knocked him out with his rifle and I shot his head.

"This way," Daryl said.

Rick and Michonne followed us further. We took care of a few more. Eventually the gunfire stopped completely.