The Replacement

Part Twenty-four

Warning: character death

**********

"Where's Maggie?" Alden asks Negan once he dropped down into the train car and she hadn't followed.

Negan pretends to be baffled at her whereabouts himself.

"She-she was right behind me..."

Negan silently scanned their surroundings as the team debates amongst themselves on whether to go back and look for her.

Everyone reluctantly agrees to proceed on by heading forward through the train, car by car. They were struggling with trying to open the rusted car door until Negan decides to use his crowbar to attempt at it.

After some time, they finally manage to pry open the door and advance forward into the next car, directly going to start on the next door to in order to move on forward.

Suddenly the odd sound of banging could be heard, everyone scans the car in confusion as to what it could be making the sounds.

"Is that the roof?" Alden enquires.

"Walkers?" Negan remarks confused himself at what it might be.

Realizing it was coming from below and that the sound was in actual fact Morse code for SOS, they rush to open it.

A furious Maggie climbs out from the trap door, heading straight for Negan; pistol whipping him then.

"I slipped, he saw, and he left me to die..."

Negan gets back up from the ground, groaning in pain as he clutched his face.

"Ok... so what?" Negan remarks nonchalantly.

"You're just admitting it?" Gabriel stares at him in disbelief.

"You tried to kill her!" Alden accuses Negan.

"No, she was in trouble, and I didn't help" Negan corrects him. "There is a big difference..."

One of Maggie's people grabs hold of Negan, slamming him against the wall of the car as they all remind him that there was no one stopping them from killing him in that instant.

"She was just talking about murdering me..." Negan comments. Making sure not to make the mistake of accidently mentioning you.

"Sooner rather than later, and yet somehow I'm the big-ol'-asshole; cause I didn't risk my nuts for her? I have been a golden Goddamn asset for every single one of you."

"And burning Hilltop...?" Alden remarks furiously, "that helped huh?"

"I killed Alpha... alright, so yeah... I was helpful" Negan reminds him.

"If I hadn't done that, every person you know; their skull would be on a spike. I did what needed to be done, alright... I am trying."

None of Maggie's people seem to believe him; all of them wanting to get rid of him immediately.

As everyone waits for Maggie to decide on what to do with Negan, they're suddenly interrupted by someone calling for help while banging on the car door behind them.

Everyone rushes to it, noticing that it was Gage as they reached the door. Negan attempts to open the door with the crowbar, and that's when they notice the Walkers closing in from behind Gage.

Not being able to open it by himself, Negan asks for help, but Maggie refuses as that would let Walkers into the car they were currently in.

Alden objects to her reasoning and goes to help Negan. Maggie then signals one of her people to stop him.

"Maggie...?" Gage looks to her in disbelief. "Maggie!!! Open the door!!!"

As the Walkers begin closing further in on him, Gage begins apologizing as he pleaded with her to open the door and let him in.

Negan silently watched as Alden begged with Maggie to help Gage, but she refuses, choosing the safety of the rest of the group over saving him.

"I'm sorry..." Maggie looks to Gage.

"I can't."

Realizing his fate, with tears filling his eyes, Gage sneers at her.

"Liar..."

Grabbing a dagger in each hand, Gage stares Maggie directly in the eyes and stabs himself.

Everyone silently watches as his body gets torn apart by the horde then.

*****

The group continues on struggling to open the next car door while the sound of the Walkers outside continued on as they attempt to get inside.

Negan nervously paces up and down the car, getting the attention of both Maggie and Gabriel.

"What is it?" Gabriel asks him in concern.

"Bad memories..." Negan murmurs out, taking a seat to try and calm himself.

"Of what?"

Negan doesn't answer, choosing rather to bury his face in his hands as he sat in a daze.

This couldn't be happening to him again... He couldn't fail the woman he loved yet again. He failed Lucille because of the biker gang, and now he was going to fail Y/N because he was stuck underground, surrounded by a horde of Walkers.

Everyone was quiet within the cab; Maggie lights up a flare then and that's when they notice Gage's Walker getting up and joining the rest as they continued clawing at the door.

"You guys don't wanna look at him" Alden remarks.

"Why? Why won't you look at him?"

"All that is, is the shell of a man who died a coward..." Gabriel responds.

"That's a hot take..." Alden mutters.

"He was scared... but he didn't deserve to die like that. The worse way imaginable."

"There are worse ways..." Maggie comments in response.

"Lot worse."

She then proceeds to tell them a horrific story of her journeys before having met her new group.

"I don't feel anything when I tell you that..." Maggie steps closer to Alden thereafter.

"Do you understand me? Because that's what's out there, and seeing it... I lost something. And I don't think it's a bad thing that I did. Because it has made things so much clearer... what we have in Alexandria, what we had in Hilltop and Meridian. It's rare... it has to be. Compared to everything that's out there, because if it isn't..."

"It means we were lucky" Negan utters out in his still dazed like manner.

"It means, that nobody has it figured out. Nobody ever did... and nobody ever will."