Wings

Control

The same leaves over and over again!
They fall from giving shade above,
To make one texture of faded brown
And fit the earth like a leather glove.
Before the leaves can mount again
To fill the trees with another shade,
They must go down past things coming up.
They must go down into the dark decayed.
They must be pierced by flowers and put
Beneath the feet of dancing flowers.
However it is in some other world
I know that this is the way in ours.
— "In Hardwood Groves"
by Robert Frost

__________________________

Remy

The ride home was nerve wracking. Negan had shifted from controlled to manic once more. He was insisting on a little 'family' role play. Right now, they were in the middle of a game of "I-Spy". Carl squirmed a bit when one of the things Negan spotted was his exposed eye socket. Finally, when that lost its interest, he moved onto 20 questions.

As they entered the gates of Alexandria, Remy saw that word had spread quickly about her 'friendship' with Negan. Eugene looked at her as if he'd seen a ghost. She tried reaching out for him, but he ignored her entirely.

Negan dismissed her. "Gonna have a word with Sheriff Taylor about little Opie here, Doll. I won't need you for that. But if I were you, I'd stick close. The natives don't seem very friendly." He made a pointed glance over at Eugene. His grin widened. Then he and Carl went on to Rick's.

Dax! She hoped he'd been fed! She didn't have to wonder for long. Gabriel approached from the back of the house with the dog at his side.

She bent down and the great beast slammed into her. Her arms wrapped him tightly as he wiggled and she breathed in his earthy dog smell.

"I thought you may be looking for him when you came home," he said.

"I don't know how to thank you, Gabe," she told him, straightening. "Has he been fed?"

"By every person he begs from. He's a favorite here and so are you."

"I don't know about that," Remy said. "Looks like some people think I'm with them."

"I won't lie, my dear, there has been speculation. But I knew it wasn't in your character. You were the one to convince me, remember? The others will come around. They've been with you longer. They ought to know."

"Thank you for saying that," she sighed. "And thanks again for looking after Dax. You let me know if I can do anything for you."

"I can any time. He's good company. But what about you? Negan has Daryl. Where are you with that?"

"I don't know, Gabriel. It's horrible. He's got him moving walkers around a fence. No weapons. No telling how they're keeping him. But Rick will know what to do, right? We'll get him out."

"Do you still pray?"

"I haven't stopped," she replied. "And I won't. We're going to win. We have to. And we can't take any more loss."

"I've started praying again as well," he told her.

"Oh! Oh I'm so glad!" She hugged him tightly and he stiffened and patted her briefly. She took the hint and let him go. He smiled awkwardly and headed back to the church.

She and Dax headed up to her room to grab her bag. She didn't want Negan's guys poking through it for her meds. She carefully stashed it in the attic crawl space above the closet.

Dax, she put under the porch, hidden by the underpinning. She put a bowl of water under with him and then closed the gap. After that, she took herself to Rick's.