The training field in Alexandria is a stark contrast to the Kingdom. The air tastes of ozone and dry rot, and the ground is churned into a grey, muddy paste. A few splintered wooden dummies stand in the distance, their torsos shredded by target practice, one wooden head lying detached in the mud, cleaved cleanly by a stray round.
Seth
My head is still spinning from the travel, but the silence here is different. It is the silence of people waiting for a bell that never tolls. I need to find the leadership, but this field... it feels like a graveyard for half-baked ideas.
A man approaches, his boots crunching heavily on the hardened earth. He carries a weathered clipboard tucked under his arm, his eyes scanning the training field with a weary, practiced cynicism.
Miller
Seth, you made it. Look at this place. They have walls, but they do not have the eyes to see what is coming over them.
Seth
Miller, eyes are for people who want to see the end. We need to be the people who provide it. Where do we start?
“Then the whispers were already there and they came out killing everyone then Negan came out and executed everyone including me and Miller then I woke up in my house to Miller knocking I say to myself damn I'm so sick I've these damn nightmares hold on Morgan I'll be right there he says miller wants to tag along I didn't think you'd mind I look up at miller remembering my dream I had thinking that it might happen”
FAILURE (Good Willpower, rolled -2)
The memory of the slaughter is still so vivid that Seth flinches, his hand instinctively twitching toward an empty holster. The cold sweat on his neck feels like a real blade. He stumbles backward, his boot catching on the uneven mud, and he drops his heavy revolver into the sludge with a wet thud.
Seth
The dream... it felt like a warning. Negan and those monsters are always lurking in the periphery of my mind, waiting to turn this place into a tomb.
Miller
You look like you have seen a ghost, man. Are you shaking? I just asked if you were ready to head to the perimeter, not if you wanted to walk into a firing squad.
Seth
I need to pull myself together. If I project this kind of weakness, Miller will start to doubt my command before the first shot is even fired.
Miller
Forget it. We have work to do. Grab your piece and let’s move before the sun shifts.
“Then the whispers were already there and they came out killing everyone then Negan came out and executed everyone including me and Miller then I woke up in my house to Miller knocking I say to myself damn I'm so sick I've these damn nightmares hold on Morgan I'll be right there he says miller wants to tag along I didn't think you'd mind I look up at miller remembering my dream I had thinking that it might happen”
SUCCESS (Good Willpower, rolled +3)
Seth
Stay calm. It was just a dream. The Savior’s execution, the Whispers in the grass... it was just a sick, twisted projection of my own fears. Miller is right here, alive, breathing, and looking at me with that same damn impatience he always has.
Seth
You're right, Miller. Let's get moving. The perimeter won't secure itself, and waiting for the threat to come to us is exactly how we end up as corpses in the mud.
Miller
That is the spirit. Pick up your heavy iron and keep your head on a swivel. I have a bad feeling about the tree line today.
Seth
He has no idea. If I told him the nightmare involved us both dying in the dirt, he would probably double down on his pace just to spite fate. I need to lead, not haunt the halls with ghost stories.
Miller
Well? Are you coming, or are you going to stare at that mud until the walkers find us?
“We're inside of the Kingdom training field no walker is getting here”
SUCCESS (Good Diplomacy, rolled +0)
Seth
I reach down, my fingers digging into the muck to reclaim the heavy revolver. The cold weight of the steel feels like an anchor against the encroaching dread.
Seth
The perimeter is clear, Miller. I've been monitoring the acoustics of the woods since dawn. Nothing but wind and the rot of the old world. We have the high ground here, and I'm not letting a single stray corpse compromise our line.
Miller
Your confidence is contagious, though I’d prefer if your grip was as steady as your words.
Seth
He suspects my hand is shaking. I can't afford to be seen as a liability while the Saviors are practically at our doorstep. I need to keep him moving before he starts asking why I'm hesitating.
Seth
My grip is fine. Let's move to the secondary gate before the light fades. If we're going to fight for this place, I want every inch of it mapped in my head.