Rise Up

Chapter 34

The bombs had started to go off.

“Shit. They didn’t go for it,” I said.

I held onto my rifle tightly. Everyone started to scatter. There were two of them that were heading toward the armory. There were shots being fired at their feet. Michonne. We all made our way over.

“On the ground. Now. Those hands...put them on your head,” Daryl ordered.

One of them did as he asked but the other was not moving.

“Please. We’re not gonna hurt you nor do we want to,” I said.

She knelt down and put her hands on her head. We went over and started to tie their hands together.

“Come on. We’ll explain everything when we get to the others,” I said.

We helped the two to their feet and led them away from the armory.

“All of you can make it that way,” I heard Gabriel say as we got closer to everyone else.

The rest of the community was there.

“Get down over there. Keep quiet,” Daryl said.

We took them to the rest of their people.

“Now, we made a lot of noise. We want to wrap this up quick so you can send people to redirect anything coming this way. Tara said your forests are relatively clear, so we won’t take any chances. No one needs to get hurt. This is just about what you have, what we need,” Rick said.

“Nobody’s taking anything. You need to let everyone go and leave right now. Just walk away or this one dies,” a woman suddenly said.

I looked over and she had a gun pointed at Tara’s head.

“No. Tara,” I said making my way closer.

“Amelia, it’s okay,” Tara said.

I stopped.

“Yeah, we’ll leave you alone. But we’re taking your weapons with us. That’s not gonna change. It’s Natania, right? Put the gun down, and let’s talk about what we can change,” Rick said.

“No. Leave right now,” Natania said.

“Michonne, don’t!” Tara yelled.

“We just want to be left alone,” Natania continued.

“Yeah, we’ll leave you alone. Just let go of her. Now. Or we’ll kill you. None of us want that,” Rick said.

“They want us to fight The Saviors,” a girl standing next to them said.

“We tried that. We lost too much. We’re not gonna lose anymore...not our guns...not our safety, not after everything we’ve done to get here,” Natania said.

“We’re gonna win...with your guns, with or without your help,” Tara said.

“Natania, put the gun down,” Rick said.

“You kill me, and you die. And my people take the guns and nothing changes,” Tara said.

“Maybe we should try,” one of the women we had brought said.

There was some soft chatter going on amongst the community. The girl next to them whispered something to Natania.

“It’s not over! They’ve forgotten. You’ve all forgotten. Some of you actually want to fight them? After everything? We can lose our guns, but us leaving this place to fight? After everything! I have to remind you. Yes. I am gonna do this, and then I’m gonna die. But it’s that important. This is your life, all of you. Remember what it looks like. Remember what they did to us! You need to see this. Open your eyes!” Natania said.