Red ~ TWD (Daryl Dixon)

Holding Out for a Hero

"Take us through it one more time." I drug my teeth across my lips, leaning a hip against the kitchen island. Rick eyed me carefully, not backing down, but somehow still looking apologetic. "I'm not doubting your plan, but there's a lot of moving pieces. We need to make sure everyone's on the same page."

That was fair. Unfortunately, I tended to get somewhat defensive when questioned. Was it too much to ask for people to just shut up and color?

By the look on everyone's face, yes, yes it was.

"I'll lead a group to The Sanctuary. We've already eliminated the lookouts covering our approach so getting into position won't be an issue."

Daryl stiffened beside me, chewing on his thumbnail so vigorously I was afraid he was going to gnaw the digit right off. My plan involved us being separated, and needless to say he wasn't a fan.

"You and Daryl will get the The Kingdom and Hilltop positioned on the opposite side of the bridge. Jesus' guy will handle blowing the bridge so all you need to do is make sure you're clear of the blast radius. When they're in position you lite those assholes up."

I was confident in the plan, but Rick was right, there was a lot happening. Timing was everything. If anything was late, or god forbid too early, it could all come tumbling down.

"The walkers are the final blow. The explosion will draw them to The Sanctuary where hopefully the structural integrity of their walls will be compromised by the blasts." Even if they weren't a horde surrounding the place was just as effective. "Once the group that gives chase is in the kill box we release the rest, cutting off their escape routes."

"Why not just blow The Sanctuary and leave it at that?"

Aaron's question wasn't a bad one, but it still made me bristle with annoyance. They didn't see things the way I did. To them, blowing up The Sanctuary then letting the walkers finish them off was good enough. To me, it was a risk. We couldn't be certain our bombs would penetrate their walls. They could find a way to escape the walkers, or wait them out. I wasn't willing to take those kinds of risks. We had to be all in, willing to risk everything, including our lives if we wanted to see this through.

"Inside the Sanctuary Negan has the advantage. If we can get him out in the open he's vulnerable. We can't leave things to chance, and that exactly what we'd be doing if we simply blew up a few bombs and kept our fingers crossed." I looked around the room before continuing, "Everybody good?"

"What if he doesn't go for it?" Carl asked.

"He'll go for it." Carl and Deadpool shared a skeptical look that made me sigh. "A man like that won't be able to let this slide. He can't. It's a direct threat to his hold on not just us, but all the communities. If word spreads we challenged him and he did nothing then he'll have bigger problems than us throwing up the middle finger."

The trouble with ruling through fear was you needed to maintain the status quo. If you loosened your hold, even a little, it opened the door for rebellion. Any and all slights had to be squashed, immediately, or you risked losing everything.

"Any more questions?" No one spoke up. "We need to go. Hilltop and The Kingdom will be at the rally point soon."

The meeting dispersed and we all filed outside. The vehicles had been reinforced with pieces of steel courtesy of Merle and his redneck welding skills. It wasn't foolproof, but some protection was better than no protection.

Daryl lingered, still gnawing on his poor thumbnail. I continued to check my gear, giving him the time he needed to compose his thoughts.

"I don't like it Red."