sixty eight.

Daryl yanked me out of bed and dragged me down the hallway, bursting through the double doors and into the sunlight. He bolted towards his motorcycle which had been locked up in a bike rack while I took watch. I frantically scanned the area, my heart beating out of my chest at the thought that anybody could catch us at any moment. Daryl dropped the key to the lock, cussing under his breath. His hand shook nervously as he bent down and snatched it up. Someone began to creep around the corner, moments away from discovering us. I tugged on Daryl's flannel to alert him. My stomach twisted; I felt like I was about to throw up.

"Daryl," I muttered almost inaudibly.

"What the hell?" Joseph's jaw dropped as he skidded to a halt in front of us. Daryl gazed over at him, his body tensing. He wrapped his hand around a pipe and began to approach him. Joseph raised his hands in surrender, dropping the sandwich he held. "Whoa, man! It's cool, I swear! You can walk right out that back gate and I won't say anything to anybody, I promise!" Daryl raised the pipe up in the air. "No," Joseph hollered out in fear. Daryl brought the pipe down on his head, beating it in continuously while his blood sprayed out onto a nearby trailer.

"Daryl," I called out, hoping he'd stop so we could move on; Joseph was obviously dead at this point. He continued, rage surging through his body. I could hear him grunt with every hit he initiated. "Daryl," I hissed. He stopped and dropped the pipe. It loudly clattered when it hit the ground. "We have to go!" My legs began to shake in fear; I was pretty sure everyone in the sanctuary had heard us. Daryl rushed over to his motorcycle, wheeling it out and plunging the key into the ignition. He sat down and revved the engine. I climbed on after him, wrapping my arms around his waist as tight as I could. Daryl sped off out of the gate. The wheels kicked up dust behind us, the gasoline a sweet smell to me at the moment.

As the Sanctuary disappeared behind us down the road, I began to grin. I grabbed Daryl's hat and flung it into the air in celebration. I leaned forward and kissed his cheek, a giggle at the back of my throat. Daryl smirked, revving his engine a little harder in response.

It wasn't long before a white truck began to speed towards us from down the road. I lifted my head up and away from the crook of Daryl's neck. I could feel myself anxiously digging my fingernails into the back of my hand. What if that was one of Negan's men? We had no weapons to defend ourselves with and word would get out that we'd escaped. If it did, Negan would slaughter us. Daryl's body tensed when the truck came to a halt in the middle of the road. As we approached it, Daryl slowed. I faintly heard him growl at the sight of the door opening. My breath hitched in my throat as the person's boots hit the ground. We were dead.

The unidentified person revealed themselves and my anxiety didn't ease. A man with long hair, a beard, and a long leather trench coat stood before us.

"He's a friend," Daryl told me, relaxing. The man grinned at us as Daryl stopped his bike.

"You're alive." His eyes seemed to sparkle with excitement. "How did you even manage to get out," he asked. Daryl stayed silent, slightly bowing his head in disappointment; I could tell he didn't wanna speak about what he did to Joseph. The man furrowed his brow in sadness. "I understand." He shifted his focus over to me. "I believe we haven't met. My name's Paul Rovia, but my friends call me Jesus."

"Aften," I said timidly. He grinned again.

"Nice to meet you, but we have to hurry. I hijacked one of their trucks and knowing them, they'll be looking for it soon. You can follow me back to Hilltop. Halfway back I'm sinking the truck in the lake. Just keep going straight from then on without me," Jesus instructed. Daryl nodded and started up the bike again. Jesus stepped back into the truck, quickly turning it around. We took off behind him, the wind whipping my hair. A small smile tugged at my lips again as I rested my cheek on Daryl's shoulder.

We traveled a ways down the road before Jesus pulled off into a field next to a lake. Daryl continued forward to the gates of Hilltop which slowly swung open as we approached. Everything inside was serene, welcoming. I felt like just throwing myself onto the ground and looking up at the sky for the rest of the day; I was now free and I could do whatever I wanted and I missed seeing the bright blueness of the sky and warmth of the sun of my skin.

Maggie appeared outta nowhere and bolted over to us. I sprang off the seat, hurrying over to her. Gabriel had me thinking she'd died. Tears pricked my eyes as we held each other close, so much relief and love taking over me.

"You're okay," she whispered in my ear, relieved in return. I pulled away and latched onto her arms, still wanting to stay close to her.

"Are you feeling alright," I questioned, gazing down at her stomach. "Is the baby okay?"

"The baby's okay," Maggie promised me with a smile. "I'm healthy. Everything's okay with me." Jesus crept up behind us, breathing heavily from running all the way back here.

"I can see you guys are already reconnecting," he observed happily. "Daryl, I'll move your bike for you. You can come see where it'll be if you'd like to access it in the future." Daryl nodded, following after Jesus and his bike. I gently grabbed Maggie's hand, squeezing it and giving her a faint smile. She returned it. I abandoned her hand to join Daryl and Jesus who were wheeling the motorcycle behind a shed. Once I peered around the corner, Daryl quickly approached me. He wrapped an arm around my waist, kissing my head as Jesus talked to him about Hilltop. We were suddenly interrupted by the sound of Maggie yelling.

"Sasha! Enid!"

I could hear the gate creak open and footsteps hustling past where we stood. Daryl and I emerged from behind the shed, me trailing the tiniest bit back if something was wrong. Rick, Michonne, Tara, Carl, and Rosita stood in front of us. A large smile spread across my face as Rick glanced over in our direction while he pulled away from hugging Maggie. He made his way over to Daryl and I, a few of the others staggering behind him. Daryl bowed his head, his bottom lip beginning to tremble as him and Rick engaged in a warm embrace. A tear trickled down my face my as I tightly wrapped my arms around Tara. I never wanted to leave her or the group ever again. I was free. I was safe. I was with my family.

Once we separated from each other, I made my way around the group to hug everyone. When I got to Rick, he held me tightly in his arms. His hand rubbed the back of my head to comfort me while I melted into him. I sniffled, trying to recollect myself. He was sort of like the father I'd never had.

Daryl pulled out Rick's gun from his back pocket and handed it over to him. Rick pulled away from me and took it with elation, looking it over. Everyone was beaming with happinesses. The energy was high and we felt ready to conquer; we were all finally together again, safe at last. Rick turned around and led us straight to the large mansion ahead. Daryl grasped my hand, holding it tight so I wasn't be able to drift away from him. We trudged into the house and swarmed a middle aged man at his desk.

"Maggie said that her people could take care of the Saviors, except all they've done is put our community at risk," Rick began as he took a confident stance. "I'm asking you to help convince Ezekiel to attack the Saviors. We'll win, but we need to wait for the right moment and for that, we need you."

"No," the man stated, agitated. "No way in hell! You people swore you could take the Saviors out and you failed. Any arrangement we had is done. We aren't trade partners, we aren't friends, we never met. I owe you nothing. In fact, you owe me for taking in the refugees which, in fact, puts each and every one of our lives at risk!"

"You were very brave staying in here while Maggie and Sasha saved this place," Jesus interrupted him, blatantly annoyed. "Your courage was surely inspiring." The man shot him a glare.

"Gregory, we already started this," Rick attempted to reason with the man. "And we're gonna win. Do you really wanna live under their thumb while they kill your people?"

"Sometimes we don't get to choose what our lives look like, Ricky." Gregory leaned back in his chair. This guy really pissed me off and I just met him; he was a coward, someone who was all bark and no bite.

"How many people can we spare," Maggie questioned, stepping forward. "How many are able to fight?"

"We," Gregory sneered. "I don't know how many people we have, Margaret, but does it even matter? What are you gonna do, start an army of farmers? That's all we got here and farmers aren't gonna wanna fight." I clenched my fists in anger, about to explode.

"You're wrong," I called out from the back of the room. "When people have the opportunity to do the right thing, they usually step up. People just—"

"Let me stop you there," Gregory interrupted me. "Who are you?"

"Aften," I spat, crossing my arms. He stared at me for a moment before he cleared his throat.

"Alright then, Aftonia, who would train everybody," he challenged, blatantly disrespecting me.

"I will," Sasha offered.

"Rhetorical, okay? I don't wanna know and I don't wanna hear another word about any of this, ever."

"Would we be better off without the Saviors, yes or no?" Rick raised his voice.

"Yeah," Gregory nodded.

"Then what'll you do to fix the problem?" I raised my brows boldly.

"I didn't say we had a problem. You did. What happens outside my purview is outside my purview," he answered.

"What the hell, man," Daryl spoke up, the volume of his voice escalating with each word he spoke. "You're either with us or ya ain't. You're sittin' over there talkin' outta both sides of yer mouth." Gregory sighed and stood up.

"I think I've made my position crystal clear. Now, I want to thank you all for not being here and not having this meeting with me or not being seen on your way out. In other words, go out the back," Gregory smirked, waving us away. Rick nodded and slowly began to lead us out of the entrance to Gregory's office.

"I swear, I was about kick that fucker's ass," I hissed. "He'll only give a damn if somethin' happens to him."

"We don't need him anyways," Daryl muttered. Enid burst through the doors of the house, breathing heavily.

"Come outside," she smiled before turning back around. We all trailed behind her, soon seeing a large group of residents standing below the steps.

"Hi," a woman greeted us. "I'm Bertie. I owe my life to you all, twice over; a bunch of us do. Enid says you want Gregory to get us to fight the Saviors with you. Do you really think we could beat them? Us?"

"I do," Maggie said. Bertie sighed.

"Enid says you could show us the way and I'm ready."

"Me too," a man called out from the group.

"Yeah," another woman beamed. "Let's do this!" The residents all nodded in agreement excitedly as they began to disperse after a few moments with a newfound purpose.

"Well," I sighed, smirking to myself. "It's a start..."

"If we find the right stuff then maybe we don't need the numbers like we thought," Daryl suggested.

"We need more hands. Negan has outposts; the geography, the distance works against us so we need another group," Rick stated. "We gotta get back. If they come looking for Daryl and Aften, we need to be there."

"You don't have to get back, not yet anyway." Jesus pulled a walkie-talkie out from his back pocket. "It's one of theirs; long range. We can listen in and keep track of them."

"So if we're not going back, what are we doing then," Michonne questioned him. Jesus smirked.

"I think it's time we introduced you to King Ezekiel."

"King," Rick scoffed, rolling his eyes at the silly name.