Chapter Fifty-One
Following Jesus's escape stunt, there was a short manhunt before we found him in Rick's house. There was also an awkward moment where everyone saw a shirtless Rick and Michonne exit the same bedroom…
I couldn't say I was surprised that there was something going on between Rick and Michonne. It wasn't the ideal way for everyone to find out about it, but I don't think anyone could say they didn't see it coming.
"So how'd you get out?" Rick asked Jesus once he was fully dressed. Everyone who had bust into Rick's house in search of Jesus—there was a lot of us—crowded around Rick's kitchen table in order to hear him out.
"One guard can't cover two exits. Or third floor windows," Jesus said as Daryl moved to stand near him, glaring all the while. I stayed where I was, but I couldn't help but to smirk at Daryl and his obvious annoyance with this Jesus guy.
"Knots untie and locks get picked. Entropy comes from order, right?"
"Right." Daryl answered, even though Jesus's comments were directed at Rick.
"I checked out your arsenal. I haven't seen anything like that in a long time. You're well equipped, but your provisions are low. Very low for the amount of people you have. Fifty-four?" Jesus guessed at how strong our town was.
He was right about our provisions. The crops were still too young to bear any food, and we were running low on other things.
"More than that," Maggie told him, meeting his gaze coolly.
"Well, I appreciate the cookie. My compliments to the chef." Michonne had given Jesus one of Carol's cookies when he mentioned he hadn't eaten since the day before.
"Yeah, she ain't here," Daryl told him, moving forward. I didn't know why Daryl had such a problem with Jesus—I honestly already kind of liked him—but it was amusing to watch.
"Look, we got off on a bad start. But we're on the same side—the living side. You and Rick had every reason to leave me out there, but you didn't. I'm from a place that's a lot like this one. Part of my job is searching out other settlements to trade with. I took your truck because my community needs things, and both of you looked like trouble. I was wrong. You're good people. And this is a good place. I think our communities may be in a position to help each other."
"Do you have food?" Glenn asked.
"We've started to raise livestock." I raised my eyebrows, impressed. If they had livestock they were probably doing as well as we had been before the prison fell. "We scavenge, we grow. Everything from tomatoes to sorghum."
"Tell us why we should believe you," Rick said, making a motion with his hand that clearly showed he did not believe Jesus.
"I'll show you. If we take a car, I can take you back home in a day, and you can all see for yourselves who we are and what we have to offer."
"Wait, you said you're looking for more settlements. You mean you're already trading with other groups?" Maggie asked him.
Jesus gave us a smile, the kind of smile you might give someone right before indulging a secret.
"Your world is about to get a whole lot bigger."
It was decided we would go with Jesus, see where it is he lived. We would have been stupid not to, in my opinion.
But of course, Rick wanted us to go all together. Which meant we needed something we could all ride in. Our only vehicle big enough was an RV, and it needed some work.
"Think you can fix it up, Daryl?" Rick had asked. Daryl nodded before motioning for me to follow him. We both knew I wouldn't be much help, as Daryl could do it all himself. I'm certain he just didn't want me out of his sight with Jesus around. Daryl obviously didn't trust him.
Everyone else got things ready to go while I handed Daryl various tools.
"Here," a voice behind us made us both turn. It was Denise, a bag of something brown and grain-like in her hands. "Homemade oat cake. Complex carbohydrates, omega-3s."
"Nah. I'm good," Daryl grumbled at her. I rolled my eyes and took the bag from her.
"Thank you, Denise." I gave her a smile, too, but she was looking at Daryl. I think she wanted to be his friend, but Daryl had always been like a prickly cactus.
"You best hope that tastes better than it looks. Cause it looks like shit," Daryl said once she walked away.
"Daryl, it wouldn't hurt you to be nice. I think she's trying to repay you for the run."
Daryl had told me that Denise had wanted the soda as a present for Tara.
I shoved the bag from Denise in Daryl's pocket as he shrugged and stuck his head back under the hood. After a few more tweaks, he shut the hood and tapped it, letting everyone inside know it was ready.
"Let's chew up some asphalt!" Abraham yelled.
It was a pretty decent drive. Rick drove, Michonne in the passenger seat beside him. I alternated between peeking out the window and laying my head on Daryl's shoulder. Maggie slept most of the way, Glenn's hand resting on her belly. It had just started to round out a little.
Abraham was talking to Glenn about who knows what when the RV started to stall.
"Yo, Rick, what's goin' on?" Daryl asked, looking over my head to see out the window.
"We got a crash ahead. Looks like it just happened."
Rick pulled off the road a little to see the crash better.
"That's one of ours," Jesus said, standing up from his seat just behind Michonne.
Glenn shook Maggie awake while the rest of us followed Jesus's lead.
"That's gnarly," I told Daryl once we were outside and could see the walkers stuck in the undercarriage of the crashed car. Daryl was walking slowly, carefully keeping his back to the RV as he looked around.
Rick un-holstered his gun and aimed it at Jesus. "If this is a trick, it won't end well for you."
"My people are in trouble." Jesus looked genuinely scared. "They don't—we don't have a lot of fighters. I know how it looks, but I'll play it out. Can I borrow a gun?"
"No." Daryl answered for Rick. "We got tracks right here."
The tracks led us to a house. Rick pounded on the door.
"They gotta be in there," Jesus said. I'm not sure he was trying to convince us so much as he was trying to convince himself.
When no signs of life came through after Rick's knock, Abraham asked, "We moving in or what?"
"How do we know this ain't firecrackers in a trash can?" Daryl asked. I looked at Glenn, but he shrugged. Neither of us knew what Daryl was talking about.
"You don't!" Jesus said, sounding exasperated.
"We'll get your people. You're staying here with one of us."
"That's the deal," Michonne told Jesus with a little shake of her head when he turned to her. It was decided Maggie would stay with Jesus while the rest of us went inside.
Rick secured Jesus's arms behind his back with a pair of handcuffs.
"You hear me whistle, shoot him," he told Maggie.
Inside we found four people and a few walkers. Jesus hadn't been lying to us. We took his people on the RV with us.
One of them, Freddie, had been hurt in the crash. His leg was cut and bleeding, but he was sitting beside Jesus nearly catatonic, like something much worse had just happened to him.
"You okay, Freddie?" Jesus asked him. It was nearly impossible not to eavesdrop in such tight corners. I was leaning against Daryl, playing with one of the strings on the side of his vest, but I was listening.
"For a second back there, just when I thought he was gonna…I saw my wife. She died before all this. Just when I thought it was over, there she was. Clear as day."
I wondered who 'he' was. I looked up at Daryl, but he just shrugged.
The Hilltop, as Jesus called it, was smaller than Alexandria. And it was literally on a little hill, surrounded by a high wooden fence.
Jesus let us keep our guns when we came inside, which was mighty kind of him considering Daryl and Rick knocked him out and tied him up to take him to Alexandria.
The Hilltop had obviously not been a town before the apocalypse. It was really just a collection of trailers with a fence around it.
"Stay with me," Daryl said softly as we started looking around the place.
"Well, I planned on it," I whispered back to him.
"How did people find out about this place?" Michonne asked Jesus.
"That's called Barrington House," he told her, pointing to the only building with a foundation in the whole place. "The family that owned it gave it to the state in the '30s. The state turned it into a living history museum. Every elementary school for fifty miles used to come here on field trips. The place was running for a long time before the modern world built up around it. I think people came here because they figured it'd keep running after the modern world broke down."
The inside of Barrington House definitely looked like a museum. None of the furniture in there looked comfortable.
Jesus was explaining to us how people lived in Barrington House when his name was called. We all turned to see an older man in a suit. Strangely, he kind of reminded me of Deanna.
"You're back. With guests."
"Everyone, this is Gregory. He keeps the trains running on time around here."
"I'm the boss," Gregory told us, as if it weren't obvious.
"Well, I'm Rick. We have a community—"
Rick didn't get any farther than that, because Gregory interrupted him and suggested we get cleaned up.
Apparently we were too dirty and rough to be in Barrington House. Jesus showed us upstairs, so we could wash our hands and faces and make ourselves presentable enough for Gregory's high standards.
Interestingly enough, Rick insisted that Maggie should be the one to talk to Gregory instead of him. He probably wanted to sock the guy as badly as I knew Daryl did.
"How long do you think Rick and Michonne have been ugging bumplies?" Abraham asked Daryl and I while we waited outside Gregory's office.
He was sitting in a fancy upholstered chair, watching Daryl pace anxiously while I looked at the paintings.
"I don't know," Daryl shrugged.
"I don't think it's our business to know," I told Abraham when he waited for me to answer.
"What about Glenn and Maggie? Y'all ever think about it? Settling down?"
I exchanged a surprised look with Daryl. Abraham was referring to having a baby. I shook my head vigorously, looking from Daryl to Abraham.
"You think shit's settled?" Daryl asked.
"I'd rather have a dog. Can we get a dog?" I interjected. Daryl threw me a glance and smirked.
"Sure, soon as you find one."
Daryl turned away to continue looking through the lace curtains. He was being a nosy spy with these Hilltop people, entirely on edge. I honestly wasn't too worried.
Jesus had already told us that the Hilltop didn't have a lot of fighters. It was obvious just looking at them.
But they did have resources. And Jesus, at least, wanted to trade. We needed that.
I pulled Daryl away from the window, forcing him to walk around the room with me.
"I promise, if the situation arises, you can beat someone up later. But until then, it might be a good idea not to freak out the people we might be doing business with."
Daryl blew his breath but didn't comment.
