Red ~ TWD (Daryl Dixon)

Part of the Journey is the End

"It doesn't make any sense."

Maggie glanced at Barrington house then back at me, "I locked him up inside the house.  He knew I wouldn't let him walk around free.  He knew he was coming back to that.  He doesn't believe in anything except himself, and he'd have to believe in the Saviors a whole lot to send us into a trap and think it would work out for him."

"Unless Dwight didn't tell him," Daryl added, his tone deadly.

I shook my head.  "Whether Two-Face knew or didn't know is irrelevant.  The point is this," I pointed at the map sitting on a barrel between us, "Doesn't make a spit of sense."

Rick frowned, mouth frozen in an O.  Deadpool scratched the side of her head, shrugging slightly when Carol silently asked for a translation.  Merle tipped his head back, laughing hard but offering no help with my continued struggle to grasp his native tongue.  Apocalypse Barbie closed her eyes, nostrils flaring as she was mentally counted down from 10.  Glenn and Maggie shared a confused look before turning to my husband.

Daryl sighed, "Lick of sense Red.  Lick."

"Whatever."  He smirked, taking a long, slow drag of his cigarette.  "The point is this 'plan' is bullshit."

"Why?"  Glenn wasn't disagreeing with me.  He simply needed more information.  Not everyone saw the world the way I did.

"One, his biggest asset is his superior numbers, but this 'plan'..."

"Are you going to do the air quotes every time you say that?"

"If it annoys you, then yeah, I am."

Apocalypse Barbie shot me the finger and once again everything was right with the universe.

"As I was saying, this 'plan' involves breaking his group down into much smaller numbers, groups so small we could easily handle them."  Everyone nodded, following my logic so far.  "Two, why go through all the trouble to collect ammunition when he's got Billy Ray Cyrus pumping out crates of it by the truck load?"

"She's got a point," Carol agreed grimly.

"You think it's a trap?" Deadpool questioned.

"Yes."  Negan wanted us to think this was what he was doing.  The question was why and, more importantly, what did we do about it?  "See this open area of land here?"  Several people answered with a yes when I pointed at the map.  "This is supposedly where they're going to meet once all the groups collect the ammunition from their assigned locations."

"And that's important because...." Glenn prompted.

"See the elevation surrounding the valley?"

Merle exhaled harshly, cursing under his breath.  "It's at least 50 feet higher, givin' them sumbitches a direct line of sight straight into the valley."

"Exactly.  We'd be sitting ducks.  The Saviors would be attacking from the high ground and we'd have no cover or place to retreat to.  We'd be slaughtered."

"So...what do we do?"  Jesus' face had lost a little color and rightfully so.  This wasn't the way I planned to spend my morning either.

"We go."  Everyone's eyes snapped to me.

"You can't be serious," Deadpool replied.

"Just listen..."

"You just said it was a trap and now you're saying you want to walk right into it?" Apocalypse Barbie scoffed.

"I know but..."

"We're safer here."  Glenn put his arm around his pregnant wife, pulling her to his side.