The Rocking Dead II

Chapter 12: Another Loss for Alexandria

Tom's POV: I woke up back at Alexandria. In the infirmary to be exact. To be honest, I'm surprised I'm alive. I swear I felt my soul leave my body when all that blood drained out of me. It was as if it was taken out of me, like I died. It sure felt like I died. I could barely breathe, couldn't move, talk, or wake up. It was as if I had passed on right then and there, yet was trapped inside my body and couldn't quite make it to the other side.

"You're awake." A familiar voice said. Too weak to actually move, I looked out the side of my eye to see Joan sitting next to me.

"I guess so." I groggily answered.

"We all thought you were gone. Siddiq as well." She said, gently holding my hand.

"I sure as hell felt like I was too." I said, trying to turn my head towards her.

"You lost a lot of blood." She said once my head was finally facing her. I noticed part of her arm was bandaged up. She realized I saw it. "Someone had to save you. I was the only one with O negative." I realized what she meant. She literally saved me. Gave me her own blood.

"Why would you do that?" I asked. "All the shit I said about you, wanting to throw you out. Why didn't you just keep quiet and let me die?"

"Because I don't blame you for your distrust." Joan said, "You had every reason to be skeptical. I wasn't gonna let you die because-" she trailed off. "I can't believe I'm saying this. Because I care about you Tom. More than that scumbag Negan." I smiled at her, she did the same. I don't know what exactly came over us there, but we kissed. I didnt push her off, and she embraced it.

•

Axl's POV: Tom's finally back on his feet. God, I'm surprised he pulled through. We all thought he was done for. If a person loses that much blood from a shot in a non-lethal spot, chances are they're not going to make it. Thank goodness Joan saved the day. I'm still in shock she saved him. Now the two of them are together, and let me tell you, I haven't seen Tom this happy since the day my group got to Alexandria. If I'm being honest, I never saw the two of them getting along, ever. Pretty sure none of us did. And now they're a couple. He's got to teach me how he does that. Speaking of the happy couple, they came out of their house, each with an arm wrapped around the other's waist.

"You two look like you were having fun." I said as they approached.

"Yeah, I'm not telling you about that." Tom chuckled.

"Yo love birds." Blackie called as he joined us. The rest of our groups followed.

"I'm gonna be the one to ask." Sebastian said, "What are we gonna do about Negan?"

"Yeah, I'm pissed about what he did to Tom." Paul said.

"We're gonna have to go out and find him again. Kill him on sight." Jon said.

"Or let him come to us, but that's more risky." Gene said.

"I could lure him." Joan said.

"No, that's even more risky." Bret chimed in.

"Yeah, now that you've turned against him, he won't hesitate to kill you." I said. We were all distracted by the gate opening. Looks like Rick and the others are finally back. Michonne stormed in first, and she didn't look happy. Once she threw her katana and grabbed her dreadlocks, I knew something was wrong. We all slowly made our way over.

"Everything alright?" Tom asked. Michonne said nothing. Instead, it looked as if she was holding tears back. She quickly ran into her house. Daryl slowly walked over, not looking happy either. I realized Rick wasn't with them. It seemed like the others did too.

"Oh god." Blackie said.

"Tell me he didn't-" Vince trailed off.

"What happened?" Mick asked, extremely concerned. Daryl remained silent.

"Daryl. What happened out there?" Tom sternly asked, his voice trembling slightly.

"Rick's dead." Daryl eventually said. My stomach dropped. Everyone had a look of disbelief on their faces.

"No." Tom quietly said, refusing to believe what he just heard.

"We got surrounded." Daryl started, "He started to distract the walkers to lead them away from us. We attempted to get them away from him and disperse them more evenly. There were too many. They got him before we could."

"No. Not again." Tom said, grabbing his forehead. "Not him too. Not the same way." It seemed as if he was having flashbacks to when Jeff was bit.

"It's ok." Joan said, pulling Tom in for a hug. Within seconds, Tom broke down into tears. As a result, the rest of us were tearing up. Rick was the first person to greet us when we arrived here. I assume it was the same way for Tom's group.

"Michonne and I talked, and we want you in charge Tom." Daryl said. Tom lifted his head up and looked at Daryl.

"Wh-what?" He stuttered...