Chapter sixty nine
"She's the one you should follow."
"They have guns. A lot of them. I saw it." Tara shared "what?" Rick and Scarlett asked "that group. Um, the woman I met. They have an armory. They have guns." Tara shared "what stopped you from telling us before? Did they threaten you?" Scarlett asked her "I made a promise." Tara told her "are you ready if this goes south?" Rick asked her "it won't." Tara said "if it does. You don't need to feel bad." Rick told her "I do feel bad. I will." Tara shared "Tara, you don't have to." Scarlett told her
Where they all headed out there, bringing the RV, the van, Daryl was even riding with them on his motorcycle, as Jesus, Gabriel and Daryl collected some of the guns from the river, Aaron, Eric, Scarlett, Rick, Tobin and Scott were all on a boat as they all were heading across to what Tara called oceanside, they all had made it over there as they were following Tara through the woods.
Where Scarlett was standing by a tree, as she climbed up, having the shot gun around her, Rick helped give her an extra boost "once your up. Watch for the signal." Rick shared "once she get's in there it'll only be a matter of time. They don't exactly seem trusting." Scarlett shared "you good?" Rick asked her "I'm with you." Scarlett told him, smiling, as she continued to climb, Rick smiled back at her as he squeezed her ankle as she headed up.
Waiting up there, the explosions they were setting up could be heard in the distance, looking through the scope, Scarlett saw two of the women running out, as she shot in front of them down at their feet, the two stopped running, as she shot two more shots at the armory doors, Daryl, Jesus, Aaron and Eric walked up to them "on the ground now." Daryl told them, as the woman on the left did so, the other remained standing "those hands put em on your head." Daryl told them, as the one on the ground did so "please." Jesus told the other, as she then got down.
Jesus and Aaron went up to them, taking their weapons and tying their hands, Daryl pulled out his bandana and waved it around, Scarlett moved her shotgun to the right side of the tree, looking down to where the rest of them were gonna run, as another explosion soon went off, all the woman and little girls came running, Enid and Francene came out "everybody down!" Francene voiced "hands on your head." Tobin told them "everybody stay calm." Scott said, as they all got down on the ground with their hands up, Gabriel, Michonne and Carl were there "we don't want anyone to get hurt." Carl told them "stay down and listen to what we say." Michonne told them "we want this to go as simply and as peacefully as possible. All of you can make it that way." Gabriel shared.
As Daryl and Jesus walked up with the woman who went for the armory "get down over there. Keep quiet." Daryl said, as Rick walked behind them "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 shared, as Scarlett noticed an older woman and a teenage girl walking up with Tara, where the older woman had a gun aimed at her back, as Scarlett aimed her's at the woman's head.
"Nobody's taking anything. You need to let everyone go right now and leave right now. Just walk away or this one dies." the older woman shared "yeah, we'll leave you alone. But we're taking your weapons with us. That's not gonna change." Rick shared "it's Natania, right?" Gabriel asked "put the gun down, let's talk about what we can change." Rick shared, as Natania now had the gun aimed at Tara's head "no. Leave right now." she said, as Tara looked up into the tree and at Scarlett "Scarlett, don't!" she called out "we just wanna be left alone." Natania said "yeah, we'll leave you alone. Just let go of her now. Or will kill you. None of us want that." Rick shared.
"They want us to fight the saviors." the teenage girl shared "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. But if you don't want to listen to Rick, Scarlett, the one in the tree aiming a gun at your head who will shoot you before you even get a chance to take the shot. She's the one you should follow. She's a wife, she's a mother, and she's a fighter. Where I barely knew her for a few days before I watched her gut a man because he tried to kill her son and baby girl. And in that moment I knew I'd follow her. And when the saviors came she wasn't scared, she looked out for her son, the one standing right there." Tara shared.
As everyone looked looked at Carl "she stood up to Negan. Told him to leave him alone. Made sure he looked at her rather then their friends who were beaten brutally. Where in return she was dragged in front of her friend and forced to be right in front of him when he died. And right after her it he made her stand up and run into the woods and had six of his men hunt her down with the intent to kill her. But she with no weapons, killed them all. Even chopped one of their heads off and handed it to Negan himself before holding a knife to his throat and making him bleed all so he couldn't hurt her husband and son. She can change things!" Tara voiced.
"She did that?" a little girl asked "yes." Tara told her "then maybe we should try." the one who was hesitant to get down on the ground shared "it's not over! They've forgotten. You've all forgotten. Some of you actually want to fight them? Follow this woman you barely know? 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!" Natania voiced.
As Scarlett moved the gun away from her, she saw walkers coming their way "Rick, walkers!" she called out, keeping her eye on them "everybody up! Get the children behind us! They're coming." Rick shared "first shift join em on the line, knives out. Dead only. Dead only." the one woman shared "everyone shots within ten feet of the line. That's it." Rick shared, as they all began shooting, Scarlett shot one of them, reloading, she then shot another, where the walkers bodies began to drop one after the other.
Where when they all were dead, Scarlett had climbed down from the tree, walking over to them all and when she did, the one who had been hesitant to get on the ground walked up to her and shook hands with her "no. We're not fighting them with you. So take your damn guns and go." Natania shared, as she walked off.
They all were then taking their guns and as they did, a little girl named Rachel and and a eighteen year old named Cyndie were standing with her "did you really kill six men all on your own?" Rachel asked "I did. And now with these guns we'll kill more and when it's over we'll bring them back." Scarlett shared, as Cyndie stepped closer to her "I wanna go with you. Some of us do, but not all of us, and it has to be all of us. My grandmother thinks you all will be dead." Cyndie shared "I understand. And she's not wrong. Some of us may die. Me and my husband may die. But we are willing to do it, if it means everyone else get's to live free, safe and unafraid." Scarlett shared.
As Rick walked up behind her "come on." he told her, as Scarlett turned walking off with him "hey." Cyndie said, as Scarlett turned to her "thank you. For what you're doing." Cyndie shared "tell that to me when it's over." Scarlett told her, turning and walking off with Rick, Tara came walking up to her "I'm sorry about telling them about what you did. I mean I wasn't even there..I honestly just went off what people told me and I think it kind of got miscommunicated." she shared "you don't have to be sorry. The saviors killed all their men and sons, you thought fast on your feet giving them someone they could trust, someone who understood them. It gave them the courage to fight just not all of them and I understand that." Scarlett shared "okay." Tara told her, as Scarlett put her hand on her shoulder "are you okay?" she asked her "yeah. You were right. I don't have to feel bad." Tara told her, as they continued walking.
It was night by the time they made it back home, where Rosita was there to open the gate for them, they all got out and walked up to her "hey, are you okay?" Enid asked "where's Sasha?" Jesus asked her "there's someone here." Rosita shared, as she turned walking off, Scarlett, Rick, Daryl, Jesus and Michonne all followed her.
Heading into the building that had the cell, they headed down, as Rosita opened the door it, they all saw Dwight sitting there, as he stood up, Scarlett and Daryl lunged at him, as Rick grabbed Scarlett, he held her in one arm while he was holding Daryl back with the other "whoa, whoa, whoa!" he voiced, as Daryl kept trying to past him, Rick kept him back "he says he wants to help us." Rosita shared, as Rick furrowed his brows, turning and looking at Dwight "that true? You want to help?" he asked.
"I do." Dwight told them, as Rick put Scarlett down, Daryl pulled her toward's him, as Rick stepped toward's Dwight "okay." he said, stopping in front of him, he pulled out his gun and aimed it at his head "get on your knees." he told him, as Scarlett, Daryl, Michonne, Jesus, Tara and Rosita stared at him.