Saved

LIV

We watched from the shadow of the trees as Negan and his men angrily drove out of Alexandria. Negan basin the first truck, driving with Arat in the passenger seat, and I could see him yelling at her as they led the long line of trucks away, and I knew it was because we weren't there and they hadn't found us yet. 

I knew they'd be sending out more men to look for us, and that they'd be putting a watch on this place for if we came back. We needed to leave here fast. We wouldn't have long before sentries were put on watch, and if that happened there'd be no escaping him. 

When the trucks finally left, and we could no longer hear the roar of their engines, we sprinted for the closed gate. I clutched Dale's hand tightly in mine, nervous that they would come back, or that the loud noises of their trucks drew in walkers, either way, we needed to get past this gate. 

Daryl banged on it, making the whole thing rattle, and a moment later I watched as a shadow walked over to where the gate would open, and I heard a voice call over. 

"Who is it?" The voice said, and all I could tell was that it was a men, but it wasn't a voice I recognized. 

"Daryl." He responded, shuffling awkwardly on his feet, but he didn't need to be nervous, because almost as soon as he finished speaking the man ripped the gate open, and standing before us was a man I had never met, but Daryl seemed to know him. 

"Oh God. I'm so glad you're okay." The man said, pulling Daryl into an awkward, at least that's what it seemed to me, man hug, with the hand-shake thing and everything. 

"Uh. Yeah. Uhm, Aaron, this is my wife Riley, and our son Dale." He said ruffly, practically shoving Aaron of him so he could introduce us. Aaron turned his gaze to me and Dale, and then we were being pulled into a hug as well. 

"It's so nice to meet you. I'm Aaron, Daryl and I go on runs together." He explained, pulling back to beam down at us, and I couldn't help but smile back at the exuberant man. 

"Oh, God, come in." Aaron rushed out, suddenly realizing that we were still standing awkwardly outside of the community. Once we were all inside, he closed up the gates, making sure to lock it, and then he turned to look back at us. 

"Well, I can't leave the gate, but uhm, Rick should be around here somewhere, I'm sure you guys want to catch up. Just make sure you check in any firearms." Aaron said awkwardly, nodding towards the center of town, and my hand tightened automatically on my gun, and I could tell that it made Daryl uncomfortable too, even though our little family was probably the most well equipped to handle life without guns, it still made us more comfortable. 

"That won't be necessary. We won't be staying. None of us will, if everything goes well. Get ready for a town meeting." Daryl ordered, and Aaron looked pretty confused, but nodded anyway and so we turned away, and Daryl started walking through the town. It was gorgeous, a town that I never would have been able to live in. Giant houses, with beautiful porches, and everyone we passed seemed so much happier than anyone I had seen in years, even though Negan had just been here, and it was the apocalypse. 

But I didn't recognize a single soul, and no one seemed to pay much attention to us either as we made our way further into the maze of houses. Daryl finally turned right, leading us down a street of houses that looked exactly like the others, but what was different on this street, was the dead man laying in a pool of his own blood in the driveway, surrounded by a group of people. 

"What the hell?" I whispered, and Daryl glanced back at me, but didn't say a word as we walked up to the group of people. I watched as one of them bent down, and stabbed a knife into the man's forehead, putting him down for good. It looked like he had been disemboweled, his intestines laying on the ground around him, a large slash across his abdomen. 

"Rick?" I called, finally close enough to see who the man was that had put a knife into the man's head, and his face snapped up, meeting my eyes with his. I watched as a smile spread across his face, and then everyone else turned to look at us, and I recognized them. They were my family. They are my family. We took two more steps, together as our small family, before we were engulfed in the arms of the rest of our family. 

Someone was laughing, and there were tears hitting my neck, but I couldn't tell if they were from Rick who was hugging my front, or Merle who had squeezed his head between Daryl and I and was hugging both of us from behind. Everyone else managed to touch part of us, and poor Dale, he was wedged in the middle of everything. 

"Mommy!" He cried, and I glanced down in-between Rick and I, were Dale was being squished, and I could see he was panicking. Tears were building in his eyes, and he was starting to hyperventilate, and I immediately knew what was wrong. 

"Guys! Let go please Dale's claustrophobic!" I yelled, and suddenly no one was touching me except Dale, as everyone scrambled to get away from us. I knelt down in front of him, not touching him since I knew that only made it worse for him. 

"Dale, breathe. Open your eyes. Nothing is touching you. You're okay. Breathe." I whispered calmly, and when his blue eyes opened to meet mine, he took deep breaths, like I taught him and slowly he calmed down. Once he was calm, he reached over and grabbed my hand, and I knew he was okay. I stood up, and turned to face my family, who were all staring at me with wide eyes. 

"Everyone, this is my son, Dale. Dale, this is your family." I said gently, smiling at everyone, tears streaming down their faces as the looked at us, and when I felt a hand wrap around my waist, I knew who it was without even having to look, and I leaned a little into Daryl's side, knowing that soon, everything would be perfect. We were almost safe. 

When Daryl asked if we could hold a town meeting, no one questioned it, not even Rick who I think was still overwhelmed by us being there, but by the time everyone arrived in the little chapel that one of the group, Father Gabriel had created, everyone was wondering why we had called them there. 

Daryl was standing at the podium, and I was sitting behind him in a chair that Father Gabriel had found for me, and Dale was sitting on the floor, cleaning my gun for me. Everyone had found somewhere to sit in one of the pews, and everyone was talking, speculating why the normally so subdued Daryl Dixon had called a meeting. 

It wasn't until he cleared his throat, loudly, three times, that everyone quieted down to listen. 

"You all may not know me, but my name is Daryl, and that's my wife Riley and our son Dale. I've been with Rick and the rest of our group since the beginning of this, and Riley was a part of that group. She was separated from us... about four years ago now. When... well it doesn't matter to all of you. The point is, she's been with Negan and his group for a year. He captured her on the road, and made her stay with them. She can tell you all the rest later if you want to know but she was one of his lieutenants, and he still hit her so hard with his bat she became an amnesiac. But still, she stood up for us when we met Negan. She knows him, and she knows how he works. She says he's going to keep coming. And he's never going to stop. She says no matter what we do, it won't be enough. So, I say, that we leave. Riley and I hid an RV a few minutes away. And we are going to be leaving in the morning. Anyone that wants to come with us, can. It won't be easy, especially for those of you that have never been out there. But we done it before. We've started over before, and we can again. Riley and I will bring the RV here after this, and anyone that wants to join us, just put your stuff with ours, and be ready to leave at sunrise. If you don't stay, we can't protect you. We're going to go far away, and you'll be alone. So think carefully. I hope you all come with us, if not, be careful. Thank you." Daryl said gruffly, stepping away form the podium and holding his hand out for mine. 

I grabbed it, and without giving anyone the chance to say anything to us, we, along with Dale, walked out of the room without looking back. 

I couldn't help but smirk at the shocked silence we left behind, and the fact that my husband is hot as fuck, and all those women knew it, and they looked beyond pissed when he said we were married.