I don't own Total Drama and The Walking Dead.
Sorry if you find any grammar mistakes. I'm still learning English because it's not my first language.
mcgman651: Personally I'm indifferent towards this episode. I always felt like it was supposed to set up the introduction of the Hiltop and serve a role of a calmer episode after No Way Out. At first I considered Zoey as Duncan's new love interest back when I started coming up with the roles for the characters from the future generations, but ultimately didn't went with it and went with Sanders as Duncan's new love interest instead. :)
Darth krayt1: I never planned for Duncan and Izzy to become a couple. I could hear the Stormtrooper scream as well when I was watching the episode. I remember laughing when I heard this the first time I watched this episode when it came out :)
Brendan: I'm glad you like the idea of Duncan and Sanders together :)
ThEndymam: Personally I'm indifferent towards this episode. I always felt like it was supposed to set up the introduction of the Hiltop and serve a role of a calmer episode after No Way Out. I hope you'll the characters who will show up in the Hiltop. :)
rickgrimesdarlydixonglennrhee: Interesting choices for who will die in this season with the introduction of Negan and the Saviors. You'll have to wait and see if you're right :)
Jesus walked out of Rick's room, having managed to convince him and Michonne to talk with him. All he needed to do right now was to wait for them to get dressed. He looked around the hallway, noticing an interesting painting on the wall next to him. He walked over to the wall and stopped in front of the painting. He reached forward and took it off the wall before moving away from the wall. He sat down on the stairs, setting the painting on his knees as he continued to stare at it.
Carl walked out of his room with a pistol in his hand and aimed it at the back of Jesus' head a few moments later, "What the hell are you doing in our house?"
Jesus looked over his shoulder at him with a calm look on his face, taking his eyes off the painting, "I'm, uh, sitting on the stairs, looking at this painting and waiting for your mom and dad to get dressed." Carl titled his head with a questioning look on his face at the last part, having no idea what Jesus was talking about as Jesus smiled friendly at him, "Hi. I'm Jesus."
Carl proceeded to stare at Jesus with questioning look on his face, staying confused about the part where Jesus mentioned his parents. He looked over his shoulder a few seconds later, hearing how the door to his dad's room was opened. It was when Michonne and Rick appeared in his view. His dad was shirtless and had just finished putting his pants on himself as Michonne looked like she dressed herself in a hurry. It didn't took him long to put one and two together.
"Carl, hey, um..." Rick started to say to his son in an awkward manner as Carl looked at him and Michonne in suprise. Their attention was shifted towards the stairs before he could say more as Chef, Daryl, Chris, Glenn, Harold, Abraham, Izzy, Maggie Chris, Alejandro and Geoff entered their house and walked into the staircase, possibly in the search of Jesus.
"It's okay." Michonne reassured them there was no need for any of this as Glenn, Izzy, Abraham, Chris, Alejandro and Geoff slowly lowered their guns and looked up at Rick and Michonne in suprise, managing to put everything together rather quickly.
"You said we should talk." Rick said, paying no attention to the suprised looks his group had just directed his and Michonne's way, "So let's talk."
Duncan slowly opened his eyes as he woke up from his slumber. He wasn't sure why what had happened last night had happened, but he wasn't going to complain about it. He knew he was certain about one thing about last night, though. It was amazing. He let out a yawn and looked down at Sanders, the covers covering their naked bodies. She was snuggled up to him and rested her head on his chest, still sleeping. A smile slowly formed on his face as he watched her sleep. It wasn't long before Sanders herself woke up from her slumber.
He smiled at her as Sanders looked up at him, "Morning."
"Hey." She greeted him back, smilling back, "...So it happened between us last night."
"Yeah..." Duncan nodded in confirmation, "...So what do you think about it?"
"It was great. It was exactly what I needed after all this time." Sanders replied, feeling her face heat up as the memories of last night flew through her head, "So what does this mean about us? We haven't gotten much time to talk about it last night."
"It depends on what you think about it." Duncan answered.
Sanders rubbed the back of her head with a blush forming on her face, "I think we should give it a try if that's okay with you. I know what happened to Courtney and I don't want force you into anything if you don't think you're ready to be in a relationship again at the moment."
"I think we should give it a try." Duncan nodded, feeling certain with his decision. This is what Courtney would want him to do. She wouldn't want her death to make him stay away from having relationship and would want him to move on from her death.
"Alright. I'm more than looking forward to see if this will work out." Sanders smiled as Duncan smiled back at her before the two of them leaned it for a kiss. Once they released each other from their kiss, she asked him the question she felt like she needed to ask him, "What are we going to do now? Are we gonna tell the rest about us being a thing?"
It was when someone knocked on the door to Duncan's room, preventing Duncan from answering to Sanders' question. The two of them immediately forgot about their conversation and shifted their attention from each other to the door as it was slowly opened. It was when Geoff and Harold walked into the room, unaware about they were about to walk into the private conversation Duncan and Sanders were having with each other right now.
"Hey, man. Sorry to wake you up, but..." Geoff's didn't got a chance to finish what he was saying as his words died in his throat when he saw Duncan and Sanders laying in bed together. It didn't took him long to put everything together, especially after seeing the clothes on the floor, "...No way."
"Why did you knocked if you were going to enter the room, anyway?" Duncan asked with a slightly angered look on his face as Geoff and Harold stared at him and Sanders with a shocked look on their faces.
"I'm sorry, man. We thought you were alone." Harold apologized to them, breaking himself out of his shocked state as he looked away from Duncan and Sanders.
"We just came here to tell you that Rick needs all of us right now as something important came up." Geoff explained to Duncan why he and Harold came here to wake him up. He turned away from Duncan and Sanders and walked out of the room right after, wanting to give them some privacy, "We'll leave you two alone for now. Just like Harold said, sorry for interrupting you two."
Harold silently nodded in agreement and he followed Geoff out of the room, making sure to close the door behind him The two of them started walking away after leaving Duncan and Sanders in the room alone, making their way to the exit from Daryl, Carol and Duncan's house and exchanged glances with each other, feeling like there was something they will have to talk with Duncan later today.
"I think this takes the option of keeping our relationship a secret from everyone off the list." Sanders stated as soon as Geoff and Harold left her alone with Duncan, feeling slightly embarassed about what just happened.
"Yeah. It seems like it." Duncan nodded, already knowing his friends will ask him about it later today as he got up from the bed, "Come on. Let's see what Rick wants from us."
Sanders nodded as she followed his example and got up from the bed, "Yeah."
Rick, Jesus, Michonne, Carl, Abraham, Glenn, Daryl, Duncan, Bridgette, Alejandro, Emma, Maggie, Izzy, Noah, Geoff and Harold were gathered in the living room of Rick, Carl and Michonne's house, wanting to have the conversation Jesus wanted to have with them. Jesus sat in front of everyone, making sure everyone would have their eyes on him during this conversation as Chef and Daryl circled around him, because they were not a fan of him after everything he put them through yesterday.
"So, how'd you get out?" Rick asked as Michonne glanced to the side, feeling how Carl was staring at her right now with a smile on his face. Duncan did the same as he felt how Geoff and Harold were staring at him with smiles on their faces.
"Two guards can't cover two exits or third floor windows." Jesus replied, "Knots untie and locks get picked. Entropy comes from order, right?
Chris crossed his arms as he looked at Daryl and Chef with a slightly amused look on his face, "Didn't you two say you easily got this covered when I wanted to help you out with him last night?"
"I don't want to talk about it." Chef replied as he glared at Jesus.
"I checked out your arsenal." Jesus started to say, "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. 66?"
"More than that." Emma corrected him, "Way more than that."
"Well, I appreciate the cookie. My compliments to the chef." Jesus said.
"Yeah." Daryl grunted, "She ain't here."
Jesus looked around the people around him after hearing the tone Daryl used when he talked to him, "Look, we got off to a bad start. But we're on the same side- the living side. You, Chef, Chris 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 four 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."
Emma looked at him with an interested look on her face, "Do you have food?
"We've started to raise livestock." Jesus replied as Emma nodded in understanding, listening to everything he had to sa, "We scavenge, we grow. Everything from tomatoes to sorghum."
"Tell us why we should believe you." Rick said.
"I'll show you." Jesus answered as he shifted his gaze to him, "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."
"You're looking for more settlements. You mean you're already trading with other groups?" Maggie asked.
Jesus looked around everyone around him and smiled at them, "Your world's about to get a whole lot bigger."
Daryl and Chef worked together on the RV, preparing the vehicle to go on their journey to Jesus' community as the rest of their group was slowly getting ready to go on this travel. Emma walked together with Izzy and Noah towards the RV, having a conversation with them about this idea as Izzy and Noah were one of the people selected to go check out Jesus' community.
"Remember." Emma told them as the three of them stopped enxt to the RV, "Turn around and go back here the moment you'll see something shady about this place. Having a community we could trade our supplies with is a huge chance for our home, but this does mean we should get ourselves involved with some shady people."
Noah nodded in understanding, "I know. You don't need to tell me this. If this place will turn out to be legit, I'll do everything in my power to make sure we'll get as best trade deal as we can."
"I know." Emma smiled at him, "If there's one person in this place who can this done, it's you."
"Alright. Consider me flattered." Noah smiled back at her, "I'll see you when I see you."
"I'll see you once you'll return." Emma nodded at him and waved at him before walking off in her down direction.
The bookworm turned to look at Izzy and saw the look she had on her face right now, "What?"
"So you mean to tell me you and Emma are just friends?" Izzy asked him with a teasing look on her face.
"Here we go again." Noah rolled his eyes, feeling his face feat up, "How many times do I have to tell you this? Me and Emma are just friends."
"If you say so." Izzy smirked at him, "You two weren't totally eyefu..."
"Shut up." Noah cut her off, knowing where she was going with her words, "Let's just go into the RV."
Carl had just finished pouring the gasoline in the RV as Rick walked over to him with Judith in his arms. He looked at his dad questioningly, "You sure?"
"No." Rick gave him an honest answer, "But if he's telling the truth, this could be the start of everything." He paused for a second, debating with himself if he should bring this topic up or not before speaking up to his son again, "Look, I was gonna tell you about me and Michonne, but it just happened. It just happened. Last night. This is different."
Carl nodded and smiled at him, "It's cool."
"All right." Rick smiled and nodded back at him, "Well, get your stuff. Gabriel can take care of Judith while we're gone."
"No, I'm not coming." Carl shook his head, "Someone's gotta stay back, keep this place safe. A kid with a messed-up face probably wouldn't make the best first impression anyway."
Rick nodded at him and handed Judith to him. Carl took his sister from his dad and handed him the gas tank as Rick turned away from him and walked over to entrance to the RV. He walked into the vehicle and saw who was already inside. He saw Jesus, Izzy, Noah, Geoff, Bridgette, Chris, and Glenn split up around it, sitting on their seats as they awaited for the RV to leave Alexandria.
"Let's chew up some asphalt!" Abraham declared, standing next to the entrance to the RV as Maggie, Chef and Daryl walked into the RV. He wasted no time and followed them into the RV. He didn't close the door, though as there was one person who was going to join them. Duncan offered his goodbyes to Sanders and exchanged a quick goodbye kiss with her. He walked into the RV right after and was about close the door, but stopped himself when he saw Brick walking towards the RV.
Duncan raised his brow at him, "You're coming too?"
"Yes." Brick nodded in confirmation as Duncan moved to the side, allowing him to enter the RV "I talked with Jesus about his community and he told me something about his community that interested me."
Duncan shrugged, closing the door, "Alright."
The RV drove along the forested road, slowly making it's way towards Jesus' community as the group left Alexandria some time ago. Abraham stared silently at Glenn and Geoff since they hit the road, debating with himself if he should talk with them about something. Glenn and Geoff didn't saw him staring at them as they were too busy with the conversation they were having with each other right now.
Abraham shifted his gaze between Bridgette and Maggie, checking if they would overhear the conversation he was planning to have with Glenn and Geoff. Both of them were asleep right now, taking some sleep they lost last night because of the entire situation with Jesus and it didn't seem like they were going to wake up anytime soon. He nodded his head to himself, making his choice to have this conversation with them.
"Hey." Abraham called out for them, gaining their attention, "Can I ask you a question?"
"Sure." Glenn nodded, leaning closer to him.
Geoff leaned closer to Abraham, "What is it, dude?"
Abraham leaned closer to them and revealed the question he had in his mind fro them, "When you were, uh, pouring the Bisquick, were you trying to make pancakes?
"Uh..." Glenn struggled to answer to this question as he was taken by suprise by it, "Yes? Oh, okay, um... it's something that we talked about, yeah."
"...Maybe?" Geoff replied a few seconds later, taken by suprise by this question as much as Glenn was, "Uhm, this came out a suprise for the two of us, but neither of them are going to complain about it."
"Why are you asking us this?" Glenn wanted to know.
"No, I just..." Abraham started to explain himself, "Well, given the precarious state of affairs on any given Sunday, I am damn near floored that you or anyone else would have the cojones to make a call like that."
"I mean, well... we're trying to build something, me and her." Glenn pointed out, feeling awkward because of this conversation.
"Well..." Geoff started to say, "We have a home now where we can give our children a proper childhood."
"For the record, I see rain coming, I'm wearing galoshes. I double up." Abraham replied as Glenn and Geoff continued to stare at him. Their conversation got cut short as the RV slowed down in the middle of the road.
Daryl looked out of the window, wanting to see if they came across some trouble on the road, "Yo, Rick. What's going on?"
"Did something happened?" Chef wanted to know.
"We got a crash ahead." Rick explained, turning the vehicle to the right as he drove past a car crash where a car had driven into a ditch and flipped over to the other side, "Looks like it just happened."
Jesus took a look at the car crashed and felt how his eyes widened in worry. He immediately turned away from it and made his way to the exit from the RV, "It's one of ours."
He wasted no time and quickly left the RV. He quickly ran over to the car crash, wanting to see if anyone was wounded in it and saw a walker crashed underneath. He couldn't notice any familiar figures near it, though. He turned to look behind him, hearing how everyone had just exited the RV and approached him from behind and saw Rick aiming his Python right at his face.
"If this is a trick, it won't end well for you." Rick let him know he shouldn't try anything funny.
"My people are in trouble." Jesus pointed out, "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?"
Rick shook his head, "No."
"Rick." Chef called out for Rick in an attempt to gain his attention as Rick turned away from Jesus to look at him and Daryl.
Daryl pointed at the sidewalk in front of him and Chef, "We found some tracks right here."
Not wasting any time, the group followed Daryl and Chef's lead as Daryl and Chef followed the tracks, taking their group towards the place the tracks were leading. The tracks took the group to a nearby building. Daryl and Chef stepped closer to the door to the building, letting their group know this was where the tracks were ending as Rick followed them to the door and slammed his fist against the door a few times. He aimed his Python at the door, waiting for anyone to give him an answer from Jesus' people, receiving none.
"They gotta be in there." Jesus said as Daryl, Chef and Rick turned away from the door to look at him.
"We moving in or what?" Abraham asked.
"I don't think we have much time to think about this." Chris stated.
"How do we know this ain't firecrackers in a trash can?" Daryl asked as Chef nodded in agreement.
"You don't." Jesus replied.
Rick stepped to him, "We'll get your people. You're staying here with Maggie, Noah and Bridgette."
Jesus sighed, knowing nothing he will say will convince Rick to let him come with him into the building as he held his hands out towards him and allowed Rick handcuff him, "Just hurry."
Rick looked over his shoulder at Maggie, Noah and Bridgette as he put Jesus's hands behind him, "You hear me whistle, shoot him."
"I will." Maggie nodded at him.
Rick, Chef, Chris, Duncan, Geoff, Brick, Michonne, Izzy, Glenn, Abraham and Daryl stepped closer to the building right after Rick made sure Jesus was handcuffed. Daryl opened the front door to the bulding as he was in the front of the group, allowing his group to enter it. the Dixon closed the door behind him a few seconds later, leaving Jesus outside with Bridgette, Noah and Maggie.
The group slowly headed further into the darkened building, keeping their guns in ready. They split up into smaller groups right after they entered the building, trying to get this over with as quickly as they could. Rick, Michonne, Brick and Chris made sure to stay on guard and stay close with each other just in case if anything was going to attack them as they headed into one part of the building together.
They walked into one hallway and started walking towards the room at the end of it. It was when the group of four came across two walkers. The undead didn't possess much of a threat to them as Brick and Michonne took them out before they could do anything to them. The group of four reached the room at the end of the hallway a few seconds later and saw three people inside it. The three people raised their hands the moment they set their eyes on Rick's group, immediately thinking they were some dangerous people.
"Don't worry." Brick said, "We're not gonna hurt you."
"We're friends of Jesus." Chris added, making the unknown people lower their hands, "We're here to get you out."
"Is there more of you?" Michonne asked.
"Two more." A black skinned woman replied, "They ran ahead."
Glenn, Daryl, Duncan and Geoff walked through the hallway in some other part of the building, keeping their weapons raised in the air just in case if any walkers or people will try to attack them. They were forced to stop in their tracks in the middle of a hallway as a walker attacked them from their right. Daryl reacted immediatelt and stabbed the walker in the head, killing it before it could do anything to him and his group.
He pressed the now deceased walker against the wall and gently and quietly set it down on the floor as Glenn, Duncan and Geoff took a look into the room the walker had just came from. The three of them noticed an unknown man inside it and turned around to look at Daryl to let him know about their recent discovery without saying any words to him. Daryl nodded at them and the four of them immediately headed into the room. The unknown man left his hiding and raised his arms in the air.
"Come on." Glenn told him, "We're with Jesus. Let's go."
The unknown man shook his head, lowering his hands, "I can't go with you. I'm looking for my friend. He's close, and he's hurt from the crash."
Abraham, Izzy and Chef walked together through the building, looking for Jesus' missing friends when the three of them heard some snarling from the left of the hallway they had just walked into it. The three of them wasted no time immediately headed in the direction of the snarling and came across what appeared to be a walker in the middle of the hallway. Abraham grabbed the walker and pinned it against the wall as Izzy flashed her flashlight at it, revealing it not a be a walker. It instead turned out to be a pale wounded man.
"It's not a walker. Let him go Abraham." Chef said as Abraham released the wounded man from his grasp, "Do you have him?"
Abraham nodded as he wrapped his arm around the wounded man, supporting him, "Yeah."
"Okay. Let's go." Izzy nodded, "The others are probably waiting for us."
The group made their way back to the vehicle after saving Jesus' people and got themselves into the vehicle, before going back to the road. When everyone went back to the RV, they knew the rest of the road to Jesus' community would be a torture because of the amount of people they had to put in the vehicle. They had to squeeze to fit in the vehicle and they barely did. Maggie, Glenn, Geoff and Bridgette looked at one of the people they saved from the building as the man was going through various medications in his bag.
The man looked up at them a few seconds later, feeling how they had their eyes on him and introduced himself to them, "Name's Harlan, by the way."
"Maggie." Maggie introduced herself to him and pointed at Glenn as Harlan smiled at her, "That's my husband, Glenn." She pointed at Bridgette and Geoff right after, "This is Bridgette, our doctor, and her boyfriend."
Harlan nodded his head at the information and set his eyes on Glenn and Geoff, "We're bringing back medication, so you may have saved more people than just us back there, you two."
Bridgette looked at him with an interested look on her face, "You're a doctor?"
"Yeah." Harlan nodded in confirmation, "That's right."
"You have any prenatal vitamins in there?" Glenn asked.
Harlan shifted his gaze to Maggie as soon as he heard Glenn's question, "For you?"
"Mm-hmm." Maggie nodded in confirmation, "Not only for me, though."
Harlan shifted his gaze from Maggie to Bridgette as Bridgette smiled at him and nodded in confirmation, "I see. Well, uh, I was an obstetrician before, and I most definitely owe you. So, I'd say you four just hit the jackpot."
Jesus sat down next to the wounded man, wanting to check how he was doing right now, "You okay, Freddie?"
"For a second back there, just when I thought he was gonna... " Freddie paused for a second, staring blankly ahead of himself, "I saw my wife. She died before all this. Just when I thought it was over, there she was." He let out a tearful laugh as Abraham overheard him and glanced to the side, thinking about his words, "Clear as day."
Rick moved the steering wheel to the left, wanting to turn the RV in this direction. He didn't got a chance to fully turn in this direction as the vehicle suddenly stopped in the middle of the turn. He tried to get it moving again, but he couldn't. It didn't took him long to realize what must have happened. The RV must have gotten stuck in the mud. He slammed his hand against the counter in frustation, knowing it will take them some time to release the RV from the grasp of the mud.
"Damn it. A storm must've passed through." He muttered under his breath and looked over his shoulder at his group and Jesus' group to inform them about this, "We're stuck."
Jesus got up from the seat to take a look at the place and nodded his head to himself, immediately recognizing this area. He gave Rick a reassuring pat on his shoulder, "No worries. We're here."
He walked over to the main door to the RV and opened it, before walking out of the vehicle. He started walking forward himself towards something in front of him as the rest followed him out of the RV. He stopped a few seconds later and everyone stopped behind him. It was a wooden wall made out of logs appeared in Rick, Chef, Chris, Daryl, Duncan, Noah, Geoff, Bridgette, Izzy, Brick, Abraham, Glenn, Michonne and Maggie's view.
"That's us." Jesus exclaimed as he pointed at the wooden wall in front of them, "That's the Hilltop."
He looked over his shoulder to look at Rick's group for a second and returned his gaze to the wooden wall of his home a few seconds later. He pushed himself into wall and the rest of the large group consisting of people from Alexandria and the Hiltop followed him. The group was forced to stop in their tracks when they were about to reach the gate to the Hiltop as two men on guard aimed their spears at them.
"Stop right there." An asian man demanded from Rick's group as Rick's group wasted no time and immediately aimed their guns at him and his friend.
"You gonna make us?" Daryl replied, aiming his machine rifle at him as Jesus held out his hands between the two group in a defensive manner, trying to stop them from breaking into a fight.
"Jesus, what the hell is this?" The asian man wanted to know what was going on right now.
"Open the gates, Kal. Freddie's hurt." Jesus wasted no time and quickly reassured Kal there was no need for this. He turned to look at Rick's group with an apologetic look on his face right after, "Look, sorry about these guys. They get antsy standing up there all day doing nothing."
"They give up the weapon." Kal voiced his demands, "Then we'll open the gates."
"Why don't you come down here and get 'em?" Duncan asked.
Harlan got himself between the two groups, "Gentlemen, look, we vouch for these people, all right? They saved us out there."
"Lower the spears." Jesus added.
"Look, I'm not taking any chances." Rick said as Jesus and Harlan looked at him, "Tell your guy Gregory to come out here."
"No." Jesus shook his head at his words, "Don't you see what just happened? I'm letting you keep your gun. Look, we ran out of ammo months ago. I like you people. I trust you. Trust us." Rick nodded his head at him after staring at him for the few seconds. He signalled his group to lower their guns as Jesus turned away from him to look at Kal again, "Open the gates, Kal."
The gate was opened a few moments later, allowing Rick's group to enter the Hiltop alongside Jesus' group. Rick's group allowed themselves to take a good look at how the Hiltop looked like behind the gates. What immediately caught their attention was a large house standing in the center of the place. It didn't took them long to realize this is where Gregory must have been living. The rest of the community consisted of a few trailers where they assumed the common folk of this community were living.
"Hey, thanks again." A man from Jesus' group voiced his gratitude for saving them to them.
"Come see me whenever. I'm just over here in the medical trailer, okay?" Harlan said as looked at Glenn, Maggie, Geoff and Bridgette.
"We will." Bridgette nodded at him in understanding as Harlan and the rest of Jesus' group split up for them, heading towards the infirmary where they would give Freddie's wound a proper treatment.
"This place looks nice." Chris stated.
"The fence isn't only made of wood." Izzy said, seeing it wasn't only made of logs of wood as she pointed at the fence. She looked at Jesus questioningly, "Where did you get the rest of the materials?"
"There was a materials yard for a power company nearby. That's how we put up the walls." Jesus explained, "A lot of people came from a FEMA camp. Trailers came with them."
"How did people find out about this place?" Abraham asked.
Jesus pointed at the house in the center of the Hiltop, "That's called Barrington House. 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 50 miles used to come here for field trips. The place was running 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. Those windows up there let us see for miles in every direction. It's perfect for security."
"Hello, Jesus." It was when a young female voice sounded from the side. Everyone looked over to the source of it and saw a young woman with light blond hair who was carrying a box walking over to them, "I'm glad to see you have made it alive back from your journey. I see you brought some friends with you."
Jesus smiled at the young man and turned to look Rick's group. He pointed at the blond haired young man as she stopped next to him, "Everyone. This is Dawn. A good friend of mine."
"I sense many conflicting auras in this group, but I can see many colors that show that you are good people who know how to survive." Dawn smiled at Rick's group in a friendly manner, "Welcome to our home. I do hope we will get along."
Abraham looked slightly weirded out by it, "What is she talking about?"
"Dawn can read auras." Jesus explained.
Dawns shifted her smile to Jesus, "It seems like I was right about your aura showing something is going to happen before you headed out on your supply run, Jesus."
Jesus nodded in confirmation, "Yes. You were right."
"Reading auras? Perfect." Noah rolled his eyes, "At least we know this place has a running mental asylum."
Glenn elbowed him, "Dude."
Noah looked at him questioningly, "What?"
"It's okay." Dawn assured them she was not offended by this, "Many people, Gregory included, reacted the same way when they learned about my ability."
"I was planning to take them to the house next." Jesus said, "Will you come with us?"
"Of course." Dawn nodded and gestured towards the box she was carrying, "I was about to head there myself as Gregory wanted me to get something for him."
Jesus nodded back at her and pushed himself into walk towards the house, "Alright. Let's go."
Brick stepped forward from this group, "Would you like some help with the box you're carrying? I can carry it for you if you want to."
"You don't have to help just because you were teased a lot a child." Dawn stated.
Brick tensed up a little, rubbing the back of his head, "W-What? Who told you that?"
"It's right there in your aura. Between your control issues and your need to be dominated." Dawn explained as she turned away from Brick and his group and followed Jesus into the house. Brick turned away from her and looked back at his group, seeing the way they were looking at him right now.
"Need to be dominated?" Duncan chuckled, "Now I can see why you like Jo so much."
"Let's just follow them into the house." Brick replied with an embarassed look on his face as he turned away from his group and followed Jesus and Dawn into the house. His group wasted no time and followed him.
The group didn't had to walk for long as they made their way to the house several seconds later. Jesus pushed the door open and walked into the building, followed by Dawn. The two of them stepped to the side, with Jesus making sure to keep the door open as Rick's group slowly made their way into the building, one by one. Rick's group looked around themselves upon entering the house and all of them had to admit one thing. Jesus' wasn't kidding when he said that this place used to be a museum. Everything about this house looked very clean and expensive.
Abraham looked around himself in awe, "Good gracious, Ignatius."
Izzy nodded in agreement, "You can say that again, Big A."
Chris sighed, "This surely brings back memories."
Michonne looked at him, "Don't tell me your house looked like this?"
"I think you already know the answer." Chris replied.
"Most of the rooms have been converted to living spaces." Jesus explained, "Even the ones that weren't bedrooms."
"People live here and the trailers?" Rick asked.
"We plan to build. There's babies being born." Dawn replied as Jesus nodded in agreement.
It was when something the sound of someone opening a door sounded behind next to Daryl and Chef. Everyone looked over to the source of it, wanting to know who it was and saw a middle aged bearded man in a suit. The middle aged man looked around himself, setting his eyes on Dawn and Jesus as soon as he noticed them among the group of unknown people.
"Jesus. You're back. With guests." The middle aged man spoke up as he looked between Jesus and Dawn, "It seems like you stumbled across Dawn on your way here as well."
Jesus pointed at the middle aged man and introduced him to Rick's group, "Everyone, this is Gregory. He keeps the trains running on time around here.
Gregory gestured towards him and he stepped closer to Rick's group, "I'm the boss."
Rick nodded at the information and introduced himself to Gregory, "Well, I'm Rick. We have a community..."
"Why don't y'all go get cleaned up, hmm?" Gregory interrupted Rick, pointing in the direction of the bathroom as Rick's group looked at him weirdly.
Noah deadpanned at him, "Is this seriously the first thing you have to say to us?"
"We're fine." Rick replied.
Gregory took a few steps towards Rick, "Jesus and Dawn will show you where you can get washed up after Dawn will bring the box to my office. Then come back down here when you're ready. It's hard to keep this place clean."
"Yeah. Sure." Rick nodded at him, seeing nothing he will say will convince Gregory to let go off it as Dawn walked into Gregory's office. The blond haired young woman set the box on the desk and made her way to the rest.
"Follow me." Jesus said once Dawn made her way back to them. He and Dawn started leading Rick's group up the stairs towards the place where their guests could get them clean as Rick's group followed them.
"You two clean up first. You talk to him." Rick whispered to Maggie and Noah as Maggie and Noah silently nodded at him to show their understanding of his words.
Daryl looked out of the window in the room on the upper floor of the house, watching how the residents of the Hiltop were minding their own business right now. He wasn't the only one in the room, though. Abraham, Chef and Izzy were with him, waiting for the rest of the group to get their business done as Maggie and Noah already went to talk with Gregory about their possible trade deal.
"How long do you think Rick and Michonne and Duncan and Sanders been ugging bumplies?" Abraham asked Chef, Izzy and Daryl, trying to start a conversation with them.
Daryl looked away fron the window and looked at him with a tiny smirk on his face, "I don't know."
"Same here." Izzy nodded.
"I'm guessing it must be something new as I don't think even Carl knew about this and he lives with them." Chef voiced his theory on this matter, referring to Michonn and Rick. He didn't know what to say about Duncan and Sanders, though.
Abraham got up from the chair he was sitting in for the past few minutes and looked between Daryl, Chef and Izzy, "Has any of you ever thought about it? Settling down?"
"You think shit's settled?" Daryl replied as he turned away from Abraham and walked out of the room.
"I haven't thought about it to be honest." Chef replied, "There was a time in my life when I searched for a woman I could settle with. It was right after I left the army. I haven't looked for someone for a long time, though and I don't think I will anytime soon. I think I'm perfectly fine with being on my own at this point."
"I see." Abraham nodded in understanding, playing with a necklace around his neck as Chef turned away from him and followed Daryl out of the room. The red haired man looked at Izzy right after, "What about you, Izzy?"
"Why are you asking us this question, Big A?" Izzy raised her brow at him, "Is this about you and Rosita?" The way Abraham looked at her after she uttered those words quickly made her realize Rosita wasn't the woman Abraham was thinking about, "Oh, I see. It's about Sasha? Am I right?"
"How do you know about this?" Abraham replied with a question of his own, not hiding this fact from his friend.
"I can see it from the way you two have been acting around each other for the last two months." Izzy explained, "I have to deal with Noah and Emma and their "Only friends" stuff on a daily basis so this kind of thing between my friends became easier for me to notice."
"I see." Abraham gave her a look of understanding, "I just don't know what to do. I've been constantly thinking about this for a few days now and I still don't know what to do?"
"Just do what will make you happy." Izzy gave him some advice, "If you think Rosita will make you happy, stay with her. If you think Sasha will make you happy, go with her. I know Rosita will be hurt badly if you will leave her for Sasha and will be angry at you for a long time, but nothing good will come out staying with a person you don't think is right for you."
Abraham nodded at her with a grateful look on his face, appreciating the advice, "Thanks, Izzy."
"That's what friends are for, right?" Izzy smiled at him.
Duncan crossed his arms, leaning against the wall as he waited for Maggie and Noah to be done with their conversation with Gregory about their trade deal. He turned his gaze to the side, hearing someone walking over to him and saw Geoff and Bridgette.
"Hey." He greeted them.
"Hey." Bridgette nodded at him and pointed at him, "I don't think Gregory will appreciate you will continue to lean against the wall."
"Yeah. You're probably right." Duncan nodded back at her and moved away from the wall, "It will for the best if you won't get grandpa angry."
"So you and Sanders?" Geoff asked out of the sudden.
Duncan crossed his arms and shifted his gaze between them, "So this is what you want to talk about?"
"I'm just curious, dude." Geoff explained, "Sorry if this makes you angry."
"I'm not angry. To be honest I kind of excepted this conversation to happen since you woke up." Duncan assured his friend no harm was done, "The stuff between me and Sanders. It's still pretty fresh. It just happened last night. I don't know what else to say to you."
Geoff smiled at him, "You don't have to say much, bro. We're happy for you."
"Yeah." Bridgette smiled at Duncan as well, "It's great to see you've managed to move on from what happened to Courtney. I'm sure she would be glad if she saw you right now."
Duncan smiled back at them, "Thanks."
Maggie and Noah walked down the stairs together, with Maggie walking ahead of Noah and Noah staying close behind her. The two of them looked completely cleaned up from their travel from Alexandria to the Hiltop as they were making their way towards Gregory's office.
"So have you made up your mind about it?" Maggie asked him, having just reached the lower floor of the house with Noah.
Noah raised his brow at her, "About what?"
"About becoming a godfather for my and Glenn's child." Maggie replied, "It's been several days since I and Glenn came to you with this question and you still haven't given us the answer."
"We haven't talked about it, again?" Noah asked with a slightly suprised look on his face as Maggie nodded in confirmation, "Alright. Color me suprised. I thought we already had this conversation. I must have been too busy with the stuff back in Alexandria to remember it."
"Probably." Maggie nodded, "So. Have you made up your mind, yet? You know you don't need to force yourself into this if you don't want to."
"I did." Noah replied, "My answer is yes. You can except me to become your child's godfather."
"Great. I'm glad to hear it. I'm sure Glenn will be glad to hear about this as well." Maggie smiled at him, "Hopefully our child won't get the attitude from their godfather."
Noah smiled back at her, "I take a great pride in it, you know?"
He and Maggie chuckled at the conversation they were having with each other right now and stopped in front of the door to Gregory's office a second later. Maggie knocked on the door a few times, signalling Gregory someone was coming and pushed the door open. She and Noah stepped into the room and saw Gregory sitting on a chair next to his desk with his back turned to them.
Gregory turned his chair around to face them and pointed at them, "Natalie and Neal, right?"
"Noah." Noah corrected him about his name, rolling his eyes. He couldn't help but sigh internally, though. Why? It was because it reminded him of Lindsay.
"Maggie." Maggie corrected him about her name right after Noah corrected him about his.
"That's pretty close." Gregory stated.
Maggie shook her head, "Not really."
"How is this close?" Noah raised his brow.
"They call them like they see them. I like that." Gregory chuckled as he got up from his seat, "Come in, let's chat."
"Yeah." Maggie replied as she and Noah walked into the office and started to make their way towards the nearest chairs. The two of them looked around the room as they continued to walk towards the chairs. A large painting in the middle of the wall in front of them immediately caught their attention.
Gregory closed the door to his office and followed Noah and Maggie, immediately noticing how they were looking around his office, "I- I came to this place once before, when it was a museum, this, um, Chamber of Commerce thing." He stopped between Noah and Maggie who were looking at the painting, "Love that painting. I never figured it'd be mine, here it is. It's like it was waiting for me the whole time.
"Hmm." Maggie hummed in understanding as she turned away from the painting and sat down on the chair next to her. Noah and Gregory wasted no time and followed her example. Noah took his seat next to her as Gregory sat down in front of them.
"Jesus told me your group saved Dr. Carson." Gregory said as soon as he took his seat, his eyes set on the two people around him, "Obviously, a doctor's a rare commodity today, so I want to thank you for bringing ours back.
"My husband saved him." Maggie corrected him as Noah nodded in confirmation.
"I'll be sure to thank him, too." Gregory nodded in understanding.
Noah crossed his arms, "This place, what you have here, has been here since the start?"
"That's right." Gregory nodded in confirmation.
"How have you survived here?" Noah wanted to know, "Jesus told us you have no ammo and only have spears to defend yourself."
"You're looking at how. I'm good at this." Gregory replied as Noah rolled his eyes. He opened his mouth to make a comment about Gregory's modesty. He didn't get a chance to say anything, though as Gregory continued, "And I don't get hung up on the details. Where you live, is it as nice as the Hilltop Colony?"
"It's just different." Maggie replied.
"How do you feed everyone?" Gregory wanted to know, "Jesus said you had land for gardens, but no crops. We just started planting."
Gregory raised his brow, "Planting what?"
"Usual stuff you'd see at a farm." Noah answered.
"But you have guns, so I assume you have a decent weapons cache." Gregory stated.
Maggie nodded at him, "It's decent."
"And your infirmary, is it stocked?" Gregory asked.
"Is yours?" Noah replied with a question of his own, "We came here hoping to talk trade. Do you have enough here for that?"
"You see what I have here. You see what I've built." Gregory replied, "Jesus said that your food situation was challenged right now. You don't keep people fed, it comes apart. Let's speak the common tongue here, huh? You don't have shit. Now, I'm happy to help. I'm a nice guy. But we can't just give things away for free. How's this? Since you can't offer much, I'll let your people work here for their share. You two would be a welcome addition to the community, a smart and beautiful woman and a smart young man who isn't afraid to speak his mind."
"So you're looking for some people to do your labor?" Noah interrupted him with an unimpressed look on his face, "I don't know what my friend over here things, but I don't think this is going to work. You don't have any ammunition. You're low on medication. You need things. We need things."
"What, are you gonna give us a bottle of aspirin and a box of bullets?" Gregory asked.
"Our communities can help each other." Maggie replied as Noah nodded in agreement.
Gregory got up from his seat, tensing up slightly, "Thank you, Natalie and thank you too Neal. Been a good talk."
Maggie followed his example and got up from her seat, "We can help each other."
"We're doing fine." Gregory replied, beginning to walk towards his desk.
Noah crossed his arms, "Are you? Your reaction says otherwise."
Rick's group was gathered in one room in the building, having just been informed by Maggie and Noah that Gregory was not interested in the offer the two of them have made him. The group was talking with Jesus and Dawn right now about the possibility of making Gregory change his mind about the deal offer Maggie and Noah made him during their conversation.
"We want to generate trade. Gregory does. But ammo isn't something we urgently need." Jesus told Rick's group.
"Well, how's that?" Chef asked.
"The walls hold." Dawn replied, "We just brought in more medicine. Knowing Gregory, he wants the best deal possible."
Daryl crossed his arms, "Yeah, well, we want things, too."
Rick nodded in agreement, "We need food. We came all this way, we're gonna get it."
"I will talk to him and we will work this out." Jesus reassured him.
"Circumstances change." Dawn added as Jesus nodded in agreement, "We're doing well now, and you will next."
"We will make him understand that." Jesus said, "Can you give me a few days?"
"We can." Michonne replied.
Rick nodded in agreement after a few seconds of staying unresponsive, "Yeah."
It was when everyone heard some commotion outside. They ended their conversation and stepped closer to the window to take a look out of the window to see what was happening outside as Gregory walked out of his office, having been allerted by this commotion as well. All of them shifted their attention to the front door as it was opened and a man walked into the house.
"What's wrong?" Gregory asked him as soon as he set his eyes on him.
"They're back." The unknown resident replied as he turned away from them and walked out of the house.
Gregory, Jesus and Dawn immediately followed the unknown man and walked out of the building, realizing what was going on right now the moment they heard him mention someone coming back as Rick, Chris, Daryl, Chef, Michonne, Maggie, Bridgette, Izzy, Noah, Duncan, Geoff, Abraham, Brick and Glenn followed them out of the building, wanting to know what was happening right now.
The large group of people walked down the hill upon walking out of the house and saw a small group of three people in front of them. Gregory, Dawn and Jesus stepped closer to the group of three as Rick's group crowded behind them. A bearded man stepped forward from the group of three and stopped directly in front of Gregory.
Gregory looked at the bearded man questioningly, "What happened to everybody else? Where's Tim and Marsha?"
"They're dead." A man replied.
"Negan?" Gregory asked as Abraham, Daryl and Duncan looked at each other as soon as this name was brought up by him.
The bearded man nodded in confirmation, "Yeah."
"We had a deal." Gregory pointed out, putting his hands on his hips.
"He said it wasn't enough." A man replied.
"Was the drop light?" A woman next to him asked.
Gregory shook his head, "No."
"They still have Craig." The bearded man took one step towards Gregory, "They said they'd keep him alive, return him to us, if I deliver a message to you."
"So, tell me." Gregory replied.
The bearded man put his hand on Gregory's shoulder and looked at him with an apologetic look on his face, "I'm sorry."
Gregory looked at him with a confused look on his face, not understanding why would he apologize to him. He got his answer just a second later as the bearded man stabbed him right in the gut. Gregory gasped in pain as Rick's group immediately jumped into action. Rick and Michonne started taking the bearded man away from Gregory as Dawn, Jesus, Maggie and Bridgette grabbed Gregory and gently set him down on the ground.
"Get off of me! I had to!" The bearded man screamed, pushing Rick and Michonne away from him.
Rick quickly made his way back to the bearded man and brought him down to the ground. He started punching him in the face as the man who came back with the bearded man grabbed him by his arm and threw him into the ground, away from the bearded man. It was when Abraham came in Rick's aid as he charged right into the unknown man, taking him away from Rick.
The bearded man and Rick quickly brought themselves back on their feet. The former tried to charge at the latter, but unfortunely for him Rick was faster than him. The sheriff deputy got himself on top of him, holding him by his clothes as Abraham gritted his teeth, finding him pinned to the ground by his opponent. The man on top of him wrapped his hands around him neck, beginning to choke him.
It was when Chef came in Abraham's rescue. The co-host of Total Drama grabbed the unknown man's arm and held it close to him. A loud snap echoed the area as Chef broke the unknown's man arm. The unknown man screamed in pain as Chef pushed him to the side. He looked down at Abraham, checking if everything was alright with him as the bearded man got the upper hand in his fight with Rick. He pinned Rick against the ground and held a knife to his throat.
"Hey!" Glenn shouted, rushing over to him.
"Leave him alone, dude!" Geoff added, running next to Glenn as he pulled out his machete.
"Stay back!" The bearded man shouted, making everyone stop in their tracks as he looked around himself, letting out one deep breath after another, "Anybody who tries to stop me is kill my brother!"
"Drop it." Michonne ordered.
The bearded man glanced to the side in his direction, unaware he was just making a fatal mistake. Rick immediately used this to his advantage and stabbed him in the beck. Blood poured from his neck and spilled down right at Rick, painting his face and clothes in it. Rick pushed the bearded man off of him, placing his now lifeless body on the side. He got himself back on his feet and looked around himself, seeing the way the residents of the Hiltop were looking at him right now.
"What?" He asked them, confused by the way they were looking at him.
"Ethan!" A man who just had his arm broken by Chef cried out, holding his broken arm in pain, "You killed him!"
"He tried to kill Gregory, then me." Rick explained as an unknown man rushed over to him with an angered look on his face and punched him in the face, knocking him to the ground.
Michonne immdiately reacted to this. She pushed her to the ground and glared down at her, "Don't."
Kal stepped towards Rick's group with his spear aimed right at them, "Drop it now!"
Rick got himself back on his feet and pulled out his Python. He stepped closer to Kal and aimed it at him, "I don't think I will."
"Everyone!" Jesus shouted, getting himself between them, "This is over!"
"Jesus is right. It's over." The blond haired young woman nodded in agreement as she quickly joined him, "Ethan may have been our friend, but this doesn't mean we should allow this to cloud our judgement. He attacked first, forcing these people to stop him."
"What can I do?" Rick asked, still aiming his Python at Kal.
"Put the gun away. You've done enough." Jesus replied as Rick lowered his Python, "You need to know that things aren't as simple as they might seem. Just give me and Dawn some time."
Rick's group was in the library now, waiting for Jesus and Dawn to arrive there and inform them about Gregory's state as Gregory was taken straight to Harlan after Ethan stabbed him in the gut. All of them turned their attention towards the entrance to the library, having just heard someone just walk through it and saw Jesus and Dawn. The two of them stopped in the middle of the room, making sure everyone had their eyes on them.
"Dr. Carson was able to patch Gregory up." Jesus informed them, "He's in pain, but he'll live."
"So, what happens now?" Duncan asked, leaning against the bookshelf.
"Things like that don't usually happen here, but it's settled." Dawn replied.
"We heard the name Negan." Rick stepped closer to Jesus and Dawn, "A while back, Daryl, Duncan 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." Jesus explained, "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 And he killed one of us Rory. 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 a deal with Negan." Dawn added, "Half of everything. Our supplies, our crops, our livestock, it goes to the Saviors."
"What do you get in return?" Geoff asked.
"They don't attack this place." Jesus replied, "They don't kill us."
"Why not just kill them?" Daryl asked.
"They don't have ammo to do so." Noah replied for Jesus and Dawn, "Were you paying attention when they told us about this?"
"This isn't the problem reason." Jesus pointed out, "Most of the people here don't even know how to fight, even if we had ammo."
"How many people does Negan have?" Rick wanted to know.
"We don't know." Dawn replied, "We've seen groups as big as 20."
"Is there something else you can tell us about this Negan?" Chris asked.
"I saw his aura." Dawn replied, "It was tainted. It had a dark stain on it. He must have suffered a great loss at some point of his life. It still doesn't excuse the atrocities he and his Saviors are committing."
"Now, hold up." Daryl wanted to be sure if he understood everything correctly, "So, they show up, they kill a kid, and you give them half of everything? These dicks just got a good story. The bogeyman, he ain't shit."
Jesus looked at him questionigly, "Well, how do you know?"
"A month ago, we took his guys out PDQ." Abraham replied, "Left them in pieces and puddles."
"You know, we'll do it." Daryl replied, "If we go get your man back, kill Negan, take out his boys, will you hook us up? We want food, medicine, one of them cows and a couple of your chickens."
"We would like a mare as well." Brick added.
Dawn looked at him questionigly, "A mare?"
"I talked with him back at their community." Jesus explained, "They have a horse back at their community named Buttons. They would like one of the mares from our horse stable so they could breed more horse." He looked at Brick questionigly, wanting to be sure if he got everything correctly, "Right?"
Brick nodded in confirmation, "Right."
"Very well." Dawn nodded at him, "I'll take you the stables after we will finish this conversation."
Jesus turned to look at Rick, "Are you sure about this?"
Rick nodded at him, "Confrontation's never been something we've had trouble with."
"I'll take it to Gregory." Jesus nodded back at him and headed out of the room, beginning to make his way to the infirmary.
"Let's go." Dawn told Brick as she followed Jesus to the exit from the room, "Let's go find a mare for you and your community."
Brick nodded as he followed her, "Right behind you, Miss. My name is Brick, by the way."
"Nice to meet you." Dawn replied.
Brick walked closely behind Dawn as the two of them walked out of the house. He looked around himself, feeling how all the unknown people had their eyes on him right now as he followed Dawn towards the Hiltop's horse stables. It didn't took them long to reach their destination. It took them only several seconds to be exact. The first thing Brick saw upon setting his eyes on the horse stables was the view of a blond haired boy talking with an older man about something.
"Dwayne! Junior!" Dawn called out for them as the said two stopped the conversation they were having with each other and turned around to look at her and Brick.
Junior smiled at her, "Hey, Dawn."
"Is there something we can do for you?" Dwayne asked with a friendly smile on his face.
"Yes." Dawn nodded in confirnation and gestured towards Brick, "What mare do you think would be the best to give our guests? They have a horse in their community and would like borrow a mare from our community to breed more horses."
Junior put his hand in his chin in thought, "Hmm. I think I know a perfect mare for this. Come on. Let's go get her."
Dawn nodded at him and looked at Brick, "I'll be back in a second."
"Alright." Brick nodded in understanding as Brick and Junior walked off together to get the mare for him. She turned his gaze to Dwayne after a few seconds, "Is this your job here? Taking care of the horses?"
"Yes." Dwayne nodded in confirmation with a sheepish look forming on his face when he uttered the next words, "I actually got this job thanks to my son. This kind of stuff wasn't really my forte. I used to spend a lot of time in the office when the world was still normal and wasn't really surrounded by animals. My son was taught in this kind of thing by Dawn shorty after we joined this community and I got taught in this kind of thing by him."
"I see." Brick nodded in understanding, "You seem to have a strong relationship with your son."
Dwayne smiled sadly at him, "Of course I do. I'm doing the best I can to give him a good like in the world like this. He's the only thing I have left of my wife. She died in the first few days of all of this."
Brick's eyes widened at the information, "Oh. I'm sorry for making you bring this up."
"It's okay. You didn't know." Dwayne reassured him no har was done, "What about you? Your and your friends are from a community Jesus had come across, right?"
"Yes." Brick nodded in confirmation, "I live there with my girlfriend Jo."
"Your girlfriend?" Dwayne smiled at him, "It's great to see people forming relationships in the times like this. It gives me a sense of normality."
"I'm sorry to interrupt your conversation." Dawn's voice rang through their ears, making them end their conversation. They looked over to the source of it and saw Dawn and Junior walking towards them, the latter leading a black mare towards them, "This girl over here is Athena. I hope you and your horse in your home will get along with her."
Brick smiled as he stepped closer to Athena and gently patted her, "Hey there, girl."
"Promise to take good care of her, okay?" Junior asked.
"I will." Brick nodded in confirmation as he proceeded to pat Athena, "Don't worry."
Maggie and Noah walked over to the door in Gregory's personal room, having been informed by Jesus about him waking up from his slumber and showing interest in talking with both of them again. They exchanged glances with each other as Noah knocked on the door, waiting for Gregory to give them any signal. The middle aged man told them to come in a few seconds later. Noah pushed the door open and walked into the room, followed by Maggie. The two of them saw Gregory laying on his bed.
"Sorry for the gloom." Gregory apologized to them as Maggie and Noah stopped in front of his bed, "They have me on these antibiotics that make me sensitive to the sunlight. This is agony. It's like somebody's twisting my intestines with a cement mixer."
"Don't be a crybaby. It could've been worse." Noah replied.
Maggie nodded in agreement, "You're lucky we were here. Jesus told you about our offer?"
"He did." Jesus nodded in confirmation, "What makes you think you can do what we haven't done?"
"We've handled people like Nega and all of them are dead now." Noah replied.
"We can get your man back." Maggie added.
"I don't know if Craig's worth the trouble." Gregory gave him an honest answer, "I mean, it's his brother who did this."
"He was fighting to save someone he loves." Maggie pointed out, crossing her arms,"He was afraid."
"That makes him weak." Gregory stated, "Frankly, I don't know if I want him back in our gene pool."
"My dad used to tell me forgiveness takes more strength than anger." Maggie replied.
Gregory nodded, "Yeah, I guess. He's a hell of a cook. He makes these amazing baked eggs with green tomatoes.
"You give us supplies, we'll save Craig and take care of Negan and the Saviors, permanently." Noah voiced his offer to Gregory.
Gregory laughed at his offer, "I'm sorry, I find this whole conversation pretty funny. I mean, you balked when I proposed that your people work for our supplies, but now... sn't that exactly what's happening here?" See, I had leverage and I used it. See? It wasn't personal."
Noah crossed his arms, "We need food. You have it. We're willing to work for it.
"Then, I'll get supplies for your people." Gregory replied.
"Good." Noah nodded, "Glad to see we're finally getting somewhere."
"I'll talk to Jesus and Dawn and they'll make the arrangements." Gregory replied, "See, this was fun. Exciting."
Maggie took a few steps towards Gregory's bed, setting her hands on the frame, "Half."
"Excuse me?" Gregory wanted to be sure if he didn't misheard her.
"You heard my friend correctly." Noah nodded in confirmation, "Half of what you have. We saw what happened out there. Negan's expecting more supplies from this place. And more and more. And if it keeps going like that, pretty soon you won't have anything left."
"What happens then?" Maggie added, "Without ammo, without fighters... you'd be a dead man. So half of everything you have right now or the deal's off."
"You see?" Noah asked, "Now we have leverage."
Gregory clapped his hands, letting out a groan, "Congratulations. You have yourself a deal."
The group was gathered around their RV, slowly packing everything they had gotten from Gregory as part of their deal into the RV as Jesus and Dawn were helping them packing everything into the vehicle. Rick stopped what he was doing for a second as he saw Abraham and Chris walking towards him with a man who had his arm broken by Chef earlier today.
The unknown man looked at him questioningly, his arm having been patched up by Harlan earlier today, "What?"
"Jesus and Dawn said you've been taking supplies to Negan since the beginning." Rick told him, "We're gonna get Craig back."
"The only way to get Craig back is to bring them Gregory's head." The unknown man pointed out.
"We're gonna get Craig back." Rick repeated himself.
"How?" The unknown man wanted to know.
"We need to know what you know about Negan's compound." Rick responded, "We need your help. We need you to come."
The unknown man nodded at him after a few seconds of thought, "Yeah. Okay."
"Alright." Rick nodded back at him as the unknown man turned away from him and walked over to the RV, before getting himself into the vehicle. The sheriff deputy walked over to the last basket food and picked it up. He turned towards the RV and started walking towards it with it.
"You got room for two more, right?" Jesus asked as he approached him with Dawn, the two of them carrying their own baskets of supplies, "I mean, we're talking about righting the world here. Plus, you still have my knives."
"I would like to come as well." Dawn added, "I may not be much of a fighter, but I would like to see your community with my own eyes. I'd also like to meet Buttons and see if he gets along with Athena."
"Alright." Rick nodded at them as Dawn and Jesus nodded back at him. The two of them went into the RV, joining the rest of the group inside it as Rick walked over to Michonne instead of following them into the vehicle. He looked at her questioningly, "Hey, you up for this?"
"It's gonna be a fight." Michonne stated.
"We'll win." Rick replied, "We have to."
"We'll win." Michonne nodded in agreement.
She and Rick went into the RV right after. She took her seat on the front passenger as Rick took his seat on the driver's seat and started up the vehicle. The group left the Hiltop shorty after. On their way back to Alexandria, Glenn, Maggie, Bridgette and Geoff started exchanging the ultrasound photos of their babies with the group and needless to say, it got a lot of smiles from everyone.
We're getting closer and closer to Negan's introcution. Only five more chapters left in season 6...
Valve recently announced a new update for TF2 and I'm super excited for it as it will the first proper update in over half a decade for this game (I honestly thought I was dreaming when I learned about it). Now all we need is the last comic and I can say I will die as fulfilled TF2 enjoyer.
Hope it wasn't that bad. See you in another chapter.