Anna tilted her head to the side and leaned forward, trying to get a better look at the painting hanging over a bookshelf. She liked the way the brush strokes had provided texture to the autumn landscape that was portrayed.
"Excuse me," came a soft voice.
Anna turned to see the red-headed woman, Emma, standing there, a notebook in her arms.
"I just wanted to grab a book," she said, pointing at the bookshelf.
"Oh, sorry," Anna muttered, stepping aside to allow her access.
Emma bent at the waist and scanned the titles before finding the one she was looking for and pulling it out.
"Thank you," Emma said turning to leave.
"What kind of books do you have here?" Anna asked before she could think better of it.
Emma paused and turned to face Anna again.
"Most of them are older novels like Little Women, Hard Times, Pride and Prejudice," she explained. "There's about three books from this decade—kids' books from the FEMA camp."
"I had to annotate Hard Times at university," Anna grimaced.
"I did Tess of the d'Urbervilles," Emma laughed.
"That's a long one," Anna said, raising her eyebrows. "I barely made it through Hard Times. I applaud you."
Emma smiled. "So, you were studying English?"
Anna nodded.
"Did you manage to graduate before the world went to hell?" She asked. "Not that a degree is exactly helpful nowadays."
"I had two more semesters left," Anna sighed. "All that money, wasted. But I guess the whole concept of money doesn't really matter anymore."
"I don't think it was wasted," Emma said. "We learned a lot with the time we had."
"Shakespeare doesn't keep you warm and fed," Anna pointed out.
"No," Emma agreed, "but being able to escape from all the bullshit of the world helps make things a little easier."
It was quiet for a moment, both standing awkwardly as they waited for the other to say something.
"So… what do you do here exactly?" Anna asked, pushing her hair over her shoulder.
"I mostly record things for Gregory," Emma shrugged. "Day to day stuff."
"Kind of like what I do," Anna nodded. "I interviewed everyone in our community and recorded their experiences."
"Oh? That sounds like a good idea," Emma mused. "Maybe I—"
The office doors opened and Maggie stepped out, shutting the doors behind her.
"Is he always such an ass?" Maggie asked as soon as she saw Emma.
"Yes," Emma said simply.
"What happened?" Rick asked from the other side of the room.
"He won't trade, says we don't have anything he wants," Maggie explained, clearly agitated. "How do y'all not need ammo?"
"So, what now?" Abraham asked, rising from his seat.
"We want to generate trade," Paul insisted. "Gregory does. But ammo isn't something we urgently need."
"Well, how's that?" Daryl grunted, pacing beside her.
"The walls hold," Emma said. "And we just got in more medicine."
"Gregory wants the best deal possible," Paul said.
"Yeah, well, we want things, too," Daryl snapped. Anna reached out and placed a hand on his wrist to stop his advance on Paul.
"We need food," Rick said. "We came all this way, we're gonna get it," Rick said nonchalantly.
"We will talk to him," Paul said glancing at Emma. "And we will work this out. Circumstances change. We're doing well now, and you will next. We'll make him understand that. Can you give us a few days?"
"We can," Michonne said.
"Yeah," Rick agreed.
The front door swung open and a harried man walked in. Gregory emerged from his office.
"What's wrong?" Gregory asked.
"They're back," the man said.
Gregory nodded to Emma and Paul and everyone filed out of the house. Outside, two men and a woman were walking up the hill.
"Nathan," Gregory called. "What happened to everybody else? Where's Tim and Marsha?"
"They're dead," the bearded man at the front said.
"Negan?" Gregory asked.
Anna furrowed her brow.
"Yeah."
"We had a deal," Gregory said, hands on his hips.
"He said it wasn't enough," the man in the maroon sweater explained. "Was the drop light?" He asked.
"No," Gregory insisted.
"They still have Craig," the woman said.
"They said they'd keep him alive, return him to us, if I deliver a message to you," Nathan said, approaching Gregory.
"So, tell me," Gregory said.
"I'm sorry," the man said, placing his hand on Gregory's shoulder before plunging his knife into his stomach.
Paul and Emma rushed forward to catch Gregory as he fell, while Rick and Michonne shoved the bearded man away.
"Get off of me!" The bearded man shouted, pushing the two back. "I had to!" He insisted as he swung at Rick.
Rick caught his arm and swung him around, dropping him to the ground before crouching over him and slamming his fists into the man's face. The man in maroon attempted to pull Rick away, but Abraham tackled him.
Anna readied her stick and looked between Rick and Abraham struggling with their assailants; Daryl charged past her to help Abraham.
"Hey!" Glenn called, pulling his gun as he ran towards Rick.
"Stay back!" The man warned, holding a knife to Rick's throat. "Anybody who tries to stop me is killing my brother!"
"Drop it," Michonne ordered, ready to pull her sword. The man turned his attention to Michonne, and Rick seized the opportunity to drive his own knife into the man's neck. Blood seeped out onto Rick's arm and splattered his face.
He shoved the man off and stood, then noticed everyone staring at his blood covered form.
"What?"
"Nathan!" The woman cried, punching Rick across the face before Michonne shoved her to the ground.
"Don't," Michonne hissed.
"Drop it now!" Cal demanded, approaching with his fellow guard, spears aimed at Rick.
"I don't think I will," Rick sneered, pulling his Python.
"Everyone, this is over!" Paul said, rushing to get between Rick and the others. "It's over. Nathan was our friend, but let's not pretend he was anything more than a coward who attacked us. He did this. And these people stopped him."
"What can I do?" Rick asked.
"Put the gun away," Emma said. "You've done enough."
Rick lowered his gun.
"You need to know that things aren't as simple as they might seem, "Paul said. "Just give me some time."
Anna went to Daryl and checked him over for injury.
"You alright?" She asked.
"I'm good," Daryl assured.
She looked to Nathan, sprawled out on the ground in a pool of his blood, the woman crying over his body. Then she looked at Jessie and wondered what she would do if someone had taken him or Daryl.
She thought she might have done the same as the dead man.
Anna stood at the window beside Daryl, twisting her stick in her hands as she watched Paul and Emma enter the room.
"Dr. Carson was able to patch Gregory up," Paul said. "He's in pain, but he'll live."
"So, what happens now?" Michonne asked.
"Things like that don't usually happen here, but, uh, it's settled," Paul assured.
"We heard the name Negan," Rick said. "A while back, Daryl and Abraham had a run-in with his men. Who is he?"
"Negan's the head of a group of people he calls the Saviors," Paul started. "As soon as the walls were built, the Saviors showed up. They met with Gregory on behalf of their boss. They made a lot of demands, even more threats. And he killed one of us—"
"Rory," Emma said. "He was 16 years old."
"They beat him to death right in front of us. Said we needed to understand, right off the bat. Gregory's not exactly good at confrontation. He's not the leader I would've chosen, but he helped make this place what it is, and the people like him."
"He made the deal," Maggie said.
"Half of everything. Our supplies, our crops, our livestock, it goes to the Saviors," Paul nodded.
"And what do you get in return?" Glenn asked.
"They don't attack this place. They don't kill us," Emma shrugged.
"Why not just kill them?" Daryl asked.
"Most of the people here don't even know how to fight, even if we had ammo," Paul sighed.
"Well, how many people does Negan have?" Rick asked.
"We don't know," Paul said.
"We've seen groups as big as twenty," Emma elaborated.
"Now, hold up," Daryl said, pushing off the wall. "So, they show up, they kill a kid, and you give them half of everything? These dicks just got a good story. The boogeyman, he ain't shit."
"Well, how do you know?" Paul asked.
"A month ago, we took his guys out PDQ," Abraham shrugged. "Left them in pieces and puddles."
"You know, we'll do it," Daryl announced. "If we go get your man back, kill Negan, take out his boys, will you hook us up? We want food, medicine, and one of them cows."
Paul looked from Daryl to Rick.
"Confrontation's never been something we've had trouble with," Rick said.
"I'll take it to Gregory," Paul said.
He headed out of the office, followed by Emma.
"They have food," Rick said, turning to the window facing the front of the house. "We don't. We don't have enough of anything. Except us. What we can do."
"So, that's the trade?" Anna asked.
"It's gonna cost us something," Maggie said.
"Anyone who doesn't want to do this, I won't make you," Rick said, turning to face the group, looking specifically at Anna for a moment.
Anna thought he would say more, but he turned away and began speaking quietly to Michonne. Daryl paced back to the window and leaned against it.
"We need that food," Daryl said quietly.
"I know."
He glanced down at her thoughtfully.
"I didn't think you'd go for it."
"You just said it. We need the food. It's them or us."
Daryl nodded, his jaw set.
"What do you think of these people?" Anna asked.
"Gregory's a prick," he muttered, and Anna snorted. "The rest are alright, I guess. We could help each other. And you? What do you make of 'em?"
"I talked to the redhead, Emma. She seems nice," Anna shrugged.
Daryl hummed in response when the door opened. Paul and Emma had returned.
"Gregory's up. He wants to talk—" Rick stepped forward. "To Maggie," Paul said, holding his hand up. "He wants to talk to Maggie."
"You got this," Glenn assured Maggie.
"Deanna was right about you," Rick added as Maggie walked past.
Anna watched as the woman left to negotiate their terms.
"Even Negan didn't get this much up front," Paul said as he carried a basket full of supplies into the RV.
They were loading up half of everything Hilltop had to offer. Anna was impressed with what Maggie had managed to get out of the deal, to say the least. She passed the bin she was carrying through the RV door to Glenn before turning to find Emma standing just behind her.
"Here," the woman said, holding out a covered wicker basket. "Thought you might like these," she explained quickly.
Anna took the basket from Emma, surprised at the weight. Balancing it in one arm, Anna lifted the lid to look inside; books. There was nothing but books inside the basket.
"These were some of my favorite books here," Emma said when Anna looked up at her.
"Thank you," Anna said. "I'll, uh—I'll return the favor," she assured.
"You don't have to," Emma said.
"I want to," Anna insisted.
"Well, you'll get your chance, I guess," Emma said. "I'm coming with you guys."
"Oh?" Anna asked, finally noticing the pack on her back as she led Emma inside the RV.
"Yeah," Emma said, following her. "This is something I want to be a part of."
There was a light in her green eyes that reminded her of someone—someone she didn't want to think about.
"So, did you graduate?" Anna asked, changing the subject as she set the basket on the ground beside the rest of the supplies.
"Yeah. Just before it all went to hell," Emma said. "Hey, so I was thinking—I'd like to do that interview thing you told me about. What questions do you ask people?"
"I'll show you all of my interview stuff when we get back to Alexandria," Anna answered when everyone started climbing into the RV and getting comfortable. They were going to be squished the whole way to Alexandria. Anna remained standing as Emma took a seat and the RV started up.
"You gonna sit?" Daryl asked, sitting in his usual spot and taking up the last of the seating.
"I figured I could stand," Anna said.
"Sit your ass down," Daryl huffed, about to pull himself to his feet.
Anna pursed her lips, ready to protest, but then but she had a better idea. Without warning, Anna plopped down in Daryl's lap—careful not to hurt him as he fell back—and wrapped her arms around his shoulders.
"You're right, this is much better," Anna teased.
There was light laughter all around.
"Get off," Daryl growled.
"I don't think I will," Anna hummed as the RV lurched forward. She leaned forward and planted a kiss on his cheek for good measure.
Contrary to his portrayed attitude about the situation, Daryl laid his hand on Anna's knee as they traveled down the hill and hit the road, his other hand finding her lower back. Anna smiled and leaned into him, letting her right hand drop to the hand on her knee so that she could play with his calloused fingers.
Glenn passed a photograph to Michonne, who smiled at it before passing it to Anna. She looked at it, angling it so that Daryl could also see the black and white still of Maggie's womb before they passed it to Abraham.
No matter what was happening now, that little white dot was their future.