Chapter 66 - A Change In The Game

I sit in one of the chairs in the auditorium with my head in my hand, my eyes closed as I try to calm my stomach from my morning sickness. This round was particularly bad and Daryl urged me to stay and rest in bed but I refused, there being too much going on to rest. I tune back into the conversation and look up to see Jesus and Rick talking, the rest of us listening to them.

"Your men are good?" Rick asks, looking towards the long haired man.

Jesus nods, "I never spend a lot of time on the Hilltop, Kal is our head of security. I had him gather the men, told him to get the best." He explains.

"You trust Kal's judgement?" Rick asks.

Jesus is quiet for a moment before he nods his head, "Yeah, I do."

Rick nods and Jesus turns and looks around the room, "What's the situation here?"

"Promising on our end, a few good shooters. These people know their way around guns." Sasha states after having trained with a few this morning.

"Good fighters too. These people have skills." Morgan adds, his grip tight on his stick.

"I think we can assemble a strong group between our three communities." Michonne clarifies as she folds her arms over her chest.

The doors to the auditorium open up and Ezekiel's booming voice fills the room, "Praise God for Jesus has returned!"

I roll my eyes at his comment as I hear him making his way towards our group, "I trust you've all compared notes and agreed that my men and women are more than capable. Now we discuss what comes next." He says, taking his spot in our small circle.

"Have you heard anything from Dwight?" Rick asks and I feel Daryl stiffen up from beside me at the mention of his name and I reach over and give his thigh a squeeze for reassurance.

"Couldn't he just kill Negan in his sleep? That'd put us at a clear advantage, I'd think." Glenn says, looking at us all.

Ezekiel shakes his head, "Negan never sleeps alone, I'm told. Dwight wouldn't make it out of there alive. He'll be useful to us, but it will have to be at the right moment. He gave us the locations of Negan's outposts. I say focus our forces on those, take them out."

Michonne nods, "Good plan. Our, well lack of a better word, army surely will outnumber whoever he has stationed there. And it'll start whittling away the saviours with each outpost we hit."

Daryl nods his head from beside me, "Agreed. We need to get some eyes on those outposts. See what's going on there. How many people, how armed they are."

Rick nods before letting out a sigh, "In the meantime, we need to get back to our community with some supplies in tow. They think we're gathering things for Negan's offering right now." He explains to Jesus and Ezekiel.

"We can't let on what we're actually doing here, I can't come back empty handed. And the saviours should be coming to collect in a few days if they stick to schedule." Rick says.

Ezekiel nods as he looks at him, "We have some supplies that you can take back with you."

"I also brought some with me from the Hilltop." Jesus adds.

"Thank you, it's greatly appreciated." Michonne says.

"Of course, anything to help out our new friends." Ezekiel says, his eyes lingering over towards Sasha, a small smile comes to my face as I look between the two.

"Well we should probably begin to head back, I want to get home before night fall." Rick states.

Ezekiel nods, "Of course, we shall meet again soon to discuss further plans for our attack."

"Glenn, you're staying here with Jesus right?" Sasha asks and he nods his head, "Yeah, I'll help Jesus train our guys. Get them somewhat ready before heading back to Maggie sat the Hilltop."

"Well be safe okay?" I say and he gives me a small nod, "I will."

"Alright, well then we will be going." Rick says.

"Thank you again for your hospitality." Morgan stares, turning to Ezekiel and the man pats him on the shoulder, "Any time my good friends."

I push myself up to my feet and Daryl steadies me with a hand on my elbow. I say a quick goodbye to Glenn and Jesus and Ezekiel gives me a warm smile before we turn and make our way to our rooms to grab our things. This trip seems to have made some headway towards the direction we all so desperately want. I just hope for all of our sakes that it goes the way the way we want it too. For too long we've been oppressed, now its time to take our stand.

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We pull up to the gates of Alexandria but they don't slide open for us like the usually do. I notice that no one is on watch in the guard post.

"What the hell is going?" I hear Heath ask.

"There's no one on the guard post." Aaron adds, concern in his voice.

"Michonne come with me, the rest of you stay here." Rick says, getting up and out of his seat.

My hands reach for the gun on my waist as the others do the same and Aaron climbs into the driver's seat. Rick walks forward towards the gate and pulls at it, it not moving an inch. Michonne looks around with her cautious eyes, her katana held firmly in her hands.

"Hello? Anyone?!" I hear Rick call out.

A groaning fills the air and I see a walker stumbling towards their direction, however Michonne stalks forward and takes it out effortlessly with one clean swing of her arm. The head of the walker rolls along the ground when the inside gate opens up, Olivia standing there breathless and wide eyed. The both of them quickly open the gate and Aaron drives forward. He parks the RV and the rest of us climb out in time to see Rick looking at Olivia with a confused look.

"Spencer's dead. Negan, he...Negan gutted him." She says with a thick voice.

We all look at her with wide eyes and Sasha steps forward, "We have to-" She begins but Rick cuts her off, "No, I'll handle it. Olivia, where is he?"

"He's in Spencer's house." She whispers fragilely.

Rick's jaw tightens before he turns and takes us all in, "Aaron, Heath, Morgan and Olivia, I need you to go check in on everyone and see if they're okay. Also tell them to be on alert in case anything happens."

They nod and begin to jog off towards the house while Rick turns and begins to storm off, the rest of us towing in line behind him. We soon reach the house and I see Negan relaxed back in a chair on the Monroe's front porch, a few saviours sitting around him drinking from glasses.

"I thought we had an agreement?!" Rick yells, his voice furious.

A smile comes to Negan's face as he speaks in a relaxed tone, "Oh Rick, so good to see you my friend. I'd stand up and shake your hand, but I've been playing pool for the last three hours and my shoulder is absolutely killing me. I'm a bit out of practice. Ice water?" He asks, holding out a glass.

Rick walks up the steps, "You killed one of my people. What happened?"

"One moment please." He says, getting to his feet and grabbing Lucille from beside him as he walks to Rick, "I'm not going to say another word until you say 'Thank you Negan.'"

"Explain yourself now. Or you and your men don't leave this place alive." Rick says.

Negan throws his head back and laughs before letting out a breath and holding Lucille up in front of his face, "Lucille, give me strength."

He lets put another breath before turning and looking at Rick once more with a tilt of his head, "I understand our relationship started with me beating the holy hell out of your friend's head. The gravity of that event is not lost on me. Let me assure you of that. I do not believe we will ever share a meal together and tell each other our deepest darkest secrets."

He straightens his head up and his eyes narrow slightly, "That said, God damn it I do feel like I have to bend over backwards in my attempts to show you just how reasonable I can be."

"Is this a joke?" Rick asks.

Negan chuckles and shakes his head, "How soon they forget, answer me this. After your son hid in one of my trucks and machine gunned a few of my men to death, What did I do? Did I gut the boy? Or let a few of my boys beat him? As an aside, I'll reveal that was an empty threat. As much as I love violence... I absolutely hate sexual violence. It's... Unseemly." He states, glancing over towards our group.

His eyes sparkle slightly at the sight of me before he turns and looks back at Rick, "No... I let your son go, I brought him back safe and sound. Like some kind of of apocalyptic Santa Claus."

He reaches forward and taps Lucille against Rick's chest, "Let me put it to you this way, Rick the prick who will never give me the benefit of the doubt because I had to kill one measly friend to get him in line. The next time someone asks me to kill you and put them in charge... I might just take them up on it."

His words strike a chord, Spencer wanted Negan to kill Rick? I mean I know he hated the deal with the saviours and was mad about Rick's decisions, but I just thought that was in line with what the rest of Alexandria was feeling. Never did I think that he was mad enough to do something like this, to betray us this badly.

"Now... Show me what you got." Negan says.

Rick looks at him for a long moment before turning and walking down the steps. Negan smiles and follows down after him, his saviours right behind him. We turn and follow after Rick as we go back towards the gates and the RV, ready to give them their half of our haul. Once we arrive, Rick opens up the door and the two of them step in.

"This'll do." Negan says, approval in his voice, "Load it up boys."

"You mean load up half." Rick says as Negan steps out of the RV.

He turns and looks at Rick, his hand rubbing over his chin before he points to Rick, "You know what, keep all of it. Consider it payment for the traitor. I didn't realise it'd ruffle your feather so goddamn much."

Rick steps down and shakes his head, " No, you take half. A deal is a deal."

Negan shrugs, "Fine by me. You heard the man. Load up half."

The men walk forward to the RV and begin to grab the supplies. Negan smiles as he watches them before turning and his eyes locking on me. A wide smile comes to his face and he begins to walk over, Daryl stiffening up from beside me. I reach out and grab his hand, giving it a warning squeeze as Negan comes to a stop in front of me.

"Hello beautiful, you're looking mighty fine today." He says, his voice dripping in sexuality.

A smirk comes to my face, "And you look like shit."

He chuckles, his eyes alight, "I love our interactions, they're always my favourite part of the trip."

"Why don't you just back off huh? She's not interested." Daryl says, taking a step towards him and cutting me off slightly.

A wave of fear overcomes me and I squeeze Daryl's hand. Negan turns and looks at him, his eyes roaming over him. He lets out a soft chuckle before he speaks, "You're the one Dwight shot aren't you? Tell me, how's that shoulder coming along?"

"Fine enough to beat your ass." Daryl states, his tone threatening.

"Is that so?" Negan says, lifting the bat up and laying it across his shoulder.

I step forward and push Daryl back slightly before looking between the two men, "Why don't the both of you just take a step back and calm down?"

Neither one of them moves for a long time, Daryl glaring at him and Negan looking at him smugly. After a moment Negan takes a step back and I let out a small breath. He turns and looks down at me, mischief in his eye, "If you ever feel like spending the night with a real man Bree, feel free to come knocking on my door. I'm sure you'd make a lovely addition to my wives."

"I wouldn't count on it." I state.

He glances over and takes in Daryl's stance before turning back to me, "Think about it."

He gives me a wink before turning back and walking over towards his men. I turn and look up at Daryl, "You should not have done that."

"What? I'm supposed to just stand back and let this prick through himself as my pregnant partner?" He asks, anger in his tone.

I shake my head as I hold onto his arm and lower my voice, "No, but you need to be more careful. He's unpredictable, we don't want to set him off and put the plan in jeopardy. I know that you hate it, but I can handle guys like him."

"I know, and that's what I hate." He mutters.

I hear a truck starting up and I see a few of the saviours climbing into the back as Negan smiles at Rick, "Well, as always, it was a pleasure doing business with you. I look forward to seeing you next week."

Rick doesn't say anything and Negan chortles before turning and making his way towards his truck. I watch him climb into the front and soon it begins to drive away. Daryl and I walk forward towards Rick and I see Carl making his way towards us, with Carol not too far behind.

"Shouldn't we shut the gate?" Morgan asks.

"Not just yet." Rick murmurs before turning to Carol and Carl, "The both of you shut the gate behind us, and then gather up everyone who can shoot and line them up on the wall. Keep your head down."

"Okay." Carl nods and Carol looks at him confused, "Wait... What's going on?"

"Sasha is up in one of the buildings with her rifle. We're going to kill him while their numbers are low." Rick states before he turns to Michonne, Morgan, Daryl and myself "Let's go!" He says, pulling out his gun.

We all follow after him immediately, guns in hand as we run after the truck. A gunshot rings out from above and the truck screeches to a halt, the doors opening up. Rick aims his gun and shoots one of the saviours in the head.

"Nobody moves!" Rick commands before turning and looking back at us, "Keep these guys pinned."

He turns and makes his way towards Negan who leans against the truck, blood covering his face. Rick aims his gun at him, "You ever hear the one of the guy who brought a baseball bat to a gun fight?"

All a sudden a gunshot comes out of nowhere and hits Rick's hand. Consecutive gunshots follow and I feel a bullet graze my hand, my gun falling to the ground as I cradle my hand to my chest.

"Surprised?" Negan snickers, "I assume I can trust your sniper can take me out while they see you are in so much danger."

A malicious smile comes to his lips as he steps towards Rick, "You ever hear the one about a stupid asshole named Rick who thought he knew shit but didn't know shit and got himself killed? It was about you, you got that right?"

He reaches forward and pokes Rick's chest roughly, "You push me and you push me and you push me Rick. You know what happens when I reach breaking point right? What happens to you?"

"You think I-" He begins when Negan cuts him off.

"You do not get to talk right now!" Negan yells in his face, "You just killed two of my men, you were going to kill me. You get to listen. How fucking stupid are you? You lead these people, you have to know something." He says, gesturing to the rest of us.

"Did you really think we didn't have a lot guns simply because you never saw them? You still use guns on the dead? What the hell is wrong with you? Guns are saved for much more dangerous, but slightly less prevalent, living. The thinkers." He says, tapping his temple with his finger.

"You ever notice how sometimes my visits are off by a day or two? You think that's just because I'm late? Or just early... Like I got stuck in traffic or just left too soon? Organising ten guys to get here, that's be a piece of cake. The rest, the back- up team..."

People begin to walk out from every direction, all of them armed. There has to at least be twenty other people making their way towards us, "...That takes a little more planning and scheduling."

He steps forward and gets right into Rick's face, "In case you haven't noticed, you're fucked."