Rise Up

Chapter 29

We headed to the back of the house.

“Okay. Everyone, the same positions you were in yesterday. Line up, please,” I said.

They did as I asked.

“At the ready,” I said.

I went down the line checking their posture.

“Good. Now aiming position,” I said.

They lifted up their rifles almost at the same time. I was impressed. I went down the line again and fixed those that needed to be, which wasn’t many.

“Very good. All of you. I think you all may be ready to fire them. We’ll do this once. I want you all to aim at the tree in front of you. We’re gonna go down the line one-by-one and I want you all to pull the trigger then let it go. Don’t hold it down. Just fire and remove your finger from it. Understand?” I said.

They all nodded.

“Okay. Bertie. You’re up. Don’t forget to turn off the safety,” I said.

They each took their turn firing the rifles. It went well. I was a proud teacher.

“Excellent. You guys did remarkably,” I said.

Maggie and Enid emerged from the side of the house.

“I’m proud of all of you. Now, we’ll go ahead with what’s planned for today. Turn the safety back on and place the rifles where they were found,” I said.

They did so, and went to meet with Maggie. She nodded and smiled at me. I nodded back at her.

“This way, everyone,” she said.

She led them to the front of the gates. Daryl had made his way out of the house. I went up to him.

“Hey. I wanted you to get more sleep. I hope that’s okay,” I said.

He kissed me.

“It’s fine. Where are you guys off to?” he asked.

“I think we may be going somewhere outside of the gates. We’re gonna be throwing knives and such. You want to come with?” I said.

“Nah. I’ll find something to do here. Be careful okay?” he said.

“I will. Get something to eat too. I’ll see you when I get back,” I said.

We kissed once more and then I caught up with the group. We walked a few minutes outside of Hilltop. We headed to the woods and stopped at an area that had a fallen trunk right at the center of it.

“Okay. We’ll start with target practice. There’s a certain way to throw a knife which will make it lethal. Watch me,” Maggie said.

We were all facing the fallen trunk. Maggie went ahead and held the blade of the knife, aimed it at the trunk and let it fly. It stuck to the trunk.

“I want you all to try and hit the same target. Enid, will you demonstrate another throw?” Maggie continued.

Enid nodded and stood where Maggie had. She mimicked every move Maggie had made and her knife landed right next to Maggie’s. I smiled. She’d really come a long way. Each person then took a turn to try and hit the same mark. Some hit it and others needed some more practice. But it was all doable. This was doable. This was our time. Our time to rise up. Like that vivid dream I had before all of this started. I was going to do my family proud by continuing to fight.

“You all can do this. This is a great start. Now, Sasha will show you how to use it effectively while in combat,” Maggie said.

Sasha stepped up and now had the floor. Maggie and Jesus went to sit on another trunk nearby. She started to write down some things. I went over to them.

“Planning some more, fearless leader?” I asked when I reached them.

Both of them smiled.

“More lists of what we could use. Ways to enhance security. The weapons our blacksmith can make for us,” she said.

“Wow. That’s taking planning to a whole new level. This place is lucky to have you,” I said.

“It sure is,” Jesus said.

I looked over to Sasha. She was swaying her knife and had the group doing the same. After some more target practice, we called it a day. It must have been late afternoon when we all made our way back. I was starving by the time we made it through the gates. The group came up to us and said their ‘thank yous’ and then took their leave.

“We should get something to eat,” Enid said.

“Yeah. I’m starving,” I said.

We made our way to the cook’s station. The cook on duty handed us some egg sandwiches.

“Thank you,” we told him.

We then headed back to the trailer. We sat down together around the table and had our sandwiches. Maggie had continued to write. She was working really hard. Her resilience constantly left me in awe. She was already in charge of this place. It didn’t matter what the hell Gregory said. She stepped up to the plate when she needed to. Therefore, she was the rightful leader. We had all finished our food and Maggie had fallen asleep.

“Amelia, can you help me with something?” Enid whispered.

I nodded. We both made our way out of the trailer.

“There’s something you need to know,” she said once we were far enough away from the trailer.

“What’s going on? Are you okay?” I asked.

“Yeah. It’s Sasha,” she said.

“What about her?” I asked.

“The plans of her going off by herself to take on Negan, I don’t think they’ve changed,” she replied.

“What has she been doing?” I asked.

“From what I can tell, she’s been making a blueprint of his place from what Jesus has told her,” she said.

“Dammit. I really hoped that she had given up that idea,” I said.

“Me too. But I don’t know what we can do to stop her,” she said.

“Thanks for telling me, Enid,” I said.

“I had to tell someone. Jesus knows but I don’t think him telling her to wait is getting through to her. Maybe you can convince her to stay,” she said.

“I can try. I don’t want her going off by herself. I want to go with her. But now that Daryl’s back, he’d follow me and I don’t want that either,” I said.

“I understand,” she said.

“Shit. Why does this have to be so damn hard? I’ll talk to her. Go ahead and get back to the trailer,” I said.

She nodded and took off. I was frustrated. We were getting there. If only Sasha could wait just a little more, we could all take on Negan, together. Daryl made his way over to me.

“Hey. You okay?” he asked once he noticed my expression.

I couldn’t tell him what was going on with Sasha. He’d make sure that he was with her when she went. And once he had his mind set on something, there was no chance of changing it.

“Yeah. I’m good. I’m just...just a little tired. We were out there for a while,” I said.

“You sure?” he asked not entirely convinced.

“Yeah. I just need a little sleep,” I said wrapping my arms around him.

“Have you eaten?” he asked.

“Yeah. You?” I asked.

He nodded.

“I’m kind of tired too. Should we go and get some sleep?” he said.

I needed to talk to Sasha. But at the same time, I wanted to tell Daryl what was going on. I knew I couldn’t.

“Yeah. That’s a good idea,” I said.

He took my hand and led us to the house. I tossed and turned throughout the night. I couldn’t stop thinking about Sasha. What if she was gone in the morning? I didn’t get much sleep. I couldn’t.