Daughter of the Fallen

How It's Gotta Be

I woke up later than usual the next morning, the sun coming through the blinds, making bright lines on the bed.

Stretching, I sat up and checked the time.

11:00 a.m.

I cursed under my breath. I promised Matthew I'd help him out with wall reinforcements at 10:30.

Looking over, I saw that Carl wasn't next to me.

Well, I had slept in really late. He was probably already up and running.

As I ran my hand through my hair, I was surprised when a smile came onto my face for no reason. That hadn't happened in so long.

I chuckled softly and got out of bed. I went over to the window and pulled the blinds up.

When I did, my smile grew when I saw Carl sitting in the rocking chair with Judith on the porch. He looked about as happy as I felt.

I walked out to go meet him after seeing a note in the kitchen that Matthew didn't need my help after all.

Carl turned as I opened the door and he paused for a second before smiling gleefully. He put Judith down and walked over, pulling me into a long kiss.

It surprised me a little, but then I didn't know the source of my good mood, either.

He pulled away. "Hey," he greeted with a smile on his face. "Sorry, Judith and I were just hanging out."

I smiled and crossed my arms, shrugging. "It's fine. Sorry I slept in so late."

He waved it off. We sat down on the steps with Judith. I leaned into him as he slipped his arm around me.

"What have you been doing all morning?" I asked.

He hesitated before shrugging. "Just helping out with some things. Oh, by the way, Michonne went out for a bit. She'll be back soon."

I nodded and turned to him as he sat up.

"Look at what I found." He brought out a camera. "Come on."

I chuckled and nodded. He turned the camera towards the three of us and I leaned forward as we all smiled and he snapped the picture.

He looked at me. "Perfect," he said, happiness and what sounded like sadness mixed in his voice.

•••

I walked through Alexandria alone, surveying everything. Tara and Rosita were unloading supplies and I waved to them as I passed.

Suddenly, the feeling that something really bad was gonna happen crashed down on my shoulders. I looked around and called to everyone within earshot. They all immediately looked at me.

"Stay alert, okay?" I called. "Just in case."

•••

That night, I was walking when I saw Carl and Michonne talking. I hadn't seen Michonne all day. I started walking towards them when I heard a loud clanging sound.

I froze for a minute before running over to the two. They glanced at me and we were all about to talk but someone was quicker.

"You may be wondering why the h*ll your lookouts didn't sound the alarm," Negan's amplified voice rang out from outside the walls. Carl and I stepped forward. "See, we are polite. I mean, I don't know when they're gonna wake up from that kind of shot but they should wake up."

I tensed up and pulled out my gun. Percy and Rachel were the lookouts. They had a baby.

"So let's just cut through the cow sh*t, you lose. It's over! So you're gonna line up in front of your little houses, and you're gonna work up some apologies, and then the person with the lamest one is gonna get killed. Then I kill Rick and Bree in front of everyone and we move on.

I turned as everyone slowly approached us. I didn't care if I died, but I was going to let it happen to anyone else.

"You have three minutes to open this gate," Negan continued. "Or we start bombing the sh*t out of you!"

"They got out," Michonne whispered in horror behind me.

I grabbed Carl's arm. "Come on."

The three of us ran over to everyone else as the whistling started.

I got a headcount while Carl started packing up supplies. Half of the people were here.

"You need to make it look like we're sneaking out the back," Carl told Michonne. Get to the woods, halfway to the quarry, and cut the lights. Get enough of a lead on them, hit them, and get away on foot. You know where we'll be. Just have to get the guns, get everyone else here, and we'll meet you there."

We turned as Negan called, "Two minutes, people! Dig deep. I want these apologies to be memorable. Bonus points for creativity! Make up a poem, sing a song. I love that sh*t."

Carl sighed and continued. "Get going. There's gonna be people in the infirmary, they're gonna need your help." A few people ran towards the infirmary.

Tara stepped forward. "We got guns, we can fight them."

"We will," Rosita agreed. "But not now. Carl's right."

"Carl," Michonne spoke up. "We can't just let them have this place."

"We can," he argued. "All we need to do is survive tonight."

She looked like she was going to protest again.

"I agree with Carl," I added. "And this is my show, remember?"

She hesitated before nodding.

"Alright, let's go!" Carl called.

Everyone looked at me.

"You heard the man," I agreed. "Go! Stay together and stay safe!"

They all ran off and Negan called that there was one minute left.

I took a deep breath. "Alright, I'll go deal with Negan."

Carl nodded. "I'm coming with you."

"No," I immediately denied. "I'm not letting anything happen to you."

"You made me your coleader, remember? You're not going back on that now. And besides, I'm not letting you go alone."

I knew the time was running out and I nodded. "Okay, come on."

We started running toward the gate, not being able to tell whether or not we were running towards our death.