"Jesus!" Carl screamed, catching him as he fell to the ground. Jesus looked down at the spear in shock, seemingly mesmerized by the blood pouring from his chest.

"Jesus, you'll be ok" Carl said, "look at me."

Jesus' blue eyes flickered up to Carl's face.

"You'll be ok. Help!" Carl yelled to someone, but there was now a steady rain of arrows and spears coming over the wall, and people were taking cover. Another guard, Timothy, crawled over to where Carl and Jesus was.

"Help me get him to Dr. Carson" Carl said, and each of them took one of Jesus' arms to drag him to the infirmary.

Jesus moaned in pain and made sounds like he was trying to say something. "Shhh" Carl said, "don't talk", as a spear landed a few feet away.

"Carl…" Jesus gasped, every breath seeming to take so much effort "in… charge…now" he huffed.

Carl, still dragging Jesus, looked down at his friend and realized he wasn't going to make it.

"Wait" Carl said Timothy, and he crouched down, held Jesus' hand, and leaned in closer to Jesus to listen to what he was saying.

"leader" Jesus said, and then his eyes rolled up in his head and he went limp.

Tears poured down Carl's face. He felt Jesus' neck and felt no pulse. Carl let go of Jesus' hand and grief threatened to overcome him, when a more practical part of his personality took over.

We're under attack, Jesus is dead, there is no leader. You have to protect the people of Hilltop, you have to protect your family, you have to protect Enid. Get it together Carl, you can cry later.

Carl quickly took out a knife and put it through Jesus' head to prevent him from turning. He took a deep breath and turned to Timothy. "Put Jesus' body in a house, we'll deal with it later. Go door to door and tell everyone to stay indoors. If children aren't at the big house by now, keep them where they are, we're on lock down." Timothy nodded and dragged Jesus off with difficulty.

Carl snuck back towards the wall and tried to rally some of the people hiding there. "We're going to let them throw as many spears and arrows as they want!" he yelled, "they'll run out. They don't have an unlimited supply. Once they stop, we open fire!" the people on his defense team nodded their heads, and pressed themselves flat against the wall where they were out of the range of spears. In the distance, Carl could see others trying to limp their way to the infirmary. People were injured. He knew Enid and Dr. Carson would be busy trying to save people's lives.

Suddenly Carl spotted Rick running towards the wall, dodging spears as he ran. As much as Carl didn't want his father in danger, he was relieved that Rick was there. Rick made it to the wall and crouched down next to Carl. Rick immediately noticed something was wrong and Carl was trying to keep himself under control. Rick knew Carl too well. Rick's facial expression said everything he was thinking.

They're back. I'm here for you son. Are you ok?

Carl avoided Rick's eyes and his silent question and said "We're going to wait them out. When the spears stop coming, we fire."

Rick nodded, agreeing with the plan. He knew they had plenty of ammo to take most of the walkers and walker people down. Ever since Negan had been defeated, Eugene had been increasing his skill with weapon and bullet making. Alexandria now produced bullets for most types of handguns as well as for automatic weapons. They traded the bullets with the Kingdom and the Hilltop. Alexandria was the center of weapon making, the Hilltop was the center of food production, and the Kingdom was known for their horses, a valuable commodity for trade and travel as gas was harder and harder to find. Each town had a specialty that made them valuable to the other two. It allowed commerce and cooperation between the communities.

"Where's Jesus?" Rick whispered, and Carl's dark expression immediately told him everything he needed to know. A shocked look crossed Rick's face, but he knew he couldn't talk about what happened right now. Carl needed to be strong and he was holding on by a thread. Rick nodded his head and the two of them sat side by side quietly.

After 5 minutes the spears stopped coming over the wall as regularly. Carl knew it was time. He held up his fist in a signal to the defense team to watch him, he then silently signaled to get ready. They all grabbed their weapons. He opened his fist in a signal to fire, and simultaneously everyone rained down bullets onto the massive crowd of walkers at the gates. The real walkers either fell down dead or continued pounding at the walls, but the people who were mixed in began to run.

"Pick them off!" Carl yelled, aiming his gun at the back of a running walker person, shooting them in the back of the head. He then targeted another who looked like a rotting walker but was carrying a club. "Look for weapons!" Carl yelled, "that's how you can tell them apart!".

Rick stood next to Carl, taking out two more of the walker people. A third threw a spear directly at Rick which luckily hit the wall that Rick was hiding behind. After a few minutes, it was clear that the only things left around the wall were real walkers and dead bodies, but many of the walker people had escaped into the woods.

"Keep vigilant! They are out there and this isn't over. I'm going to check the infirmary and see what our casualties are. We'll have a town meeting in a few hours, and another team will come to relieve you from your posts." Carl said. Everyone nodded, and Carl and Rick hurried towards the infirmary. As they jogged, Rick noticed Carl wiping his eyes discreetly. He put his hand on Carl's shoulder, stopping him.

Carl turned towards him. "No. I can't… not right now" Carl said. Rick nodded and they continued on. As they approached the infirmary there was a line of people surrounding it, many with minor cuts and grazes from spears and arrows, but some with more serious wounds that were in need of attention. One woman had a whole spear sticking out of her thigh. If these people were outside, Rick was nervous to see what was happening inside.

They squeezed their way past the weary people and into the infirmary which looked like a war zone. The beds were packed and blood was everywhere. Dr. Carson was doing CPR on a man that had an arrow in his eye, but it didn't look like he was going to make it. After a minute of trying, Dr. Carson stopped CPR and put a knife through the man's brain. He looked up and saw Rick and Carl.

"We need help in here" he said, moving on to another patient that was slowly bleeding out. "I at least need you to remove the dead bodies to make room for the living" he said, nodding in the direction of the man he was just trying to save. "If we don't get this under control we may have walkers in here and outside in a few minutes".

Rick went to pull the man off the bed so another person could lay down, but Carl ignored Dr. Carson and said "Where's Enid?"

Dr. Carson who was putting pressure on a bleeding wound in someone's side said "Behind the curtain. She's doing surgery."

Carl immediately went to the curtain which was just a sheet hanging in the corner of the room, and cautiously peeked behind it. There was a woman laying on a gurney, unconscious. Blood was everywhere, and Enid was stitching a huge wound in the woman's upper arm. It looked like her arm had been flayed open. Although this was a dire situation, Carl smiled to himself. Enid had been practicing her stitches ever since they moved from Alexandria. Winston, a nurse that had been rescued from Negan's compound, had taught Enid many skills and stitching was one of them. Now she was using it to save this woman's life.

"Where's my gauze?" Enid demanded, not looking up from what she was doing. Carl was busy watching the scene and didn't respond. Enid quickly glanced over and saw that it was Carl and not her nurse's assistant Amy.

"Carl" Enid said, turning back to her patient, "what is happening out there? All of a sudden people started flooding in here with arrow and spear wounds. Are we under attack?"

"We were" Carl said "they're gone for now". Enid took her last piece of gauze and used it to try to soak up some of the blood around the wound so she could see inside better. "This woman had a spear in her arm. It hit an artery. I took it out but she's not under anesthesia, she could wake up any minute. I need to close her up fast, and I need gauze now".

Carl immediately turned to get Enid what she needed but she saw Amy, her assistant hustling back with a bucket of gauze. Amy nodded to Carl as she slipped behind the sheet to help Enid. Carl realized that the infirmary needed more helpers and he ran off to recruit more of the townspeople to be assistants.

In the meantime, Rick was trying to remove the dead from the infirmary and do walker control. He dragged the man that Dr. Carson had been working on to another room, and then did the gruesome job of searching for others in the crowd at the infirmary who may have passed away unnoticed. As he walked through the crowd he spotted Michonne on her knees doing CPR on a woman on the floor. He immediately ran over, angry that she was there.

"I told you to stay in the house with the kids!" Rick snapped at her, practically yelling in her face, his stress at the whole situation showing. Michonne continued pumping the woman's chest, she then leaned down, held the woman's nose and breathed into her mouth filling her lungs with air. Michonne ignored Rick as she continued pumping the woman's heart. Suddenly the woman took a small breath on her own. Michonne stopped and watched as the woman took another. A smile slowly spread across her face. Her eyes then moved over to Rick and her smile faded. "Help me up" she demanded, holding out her arm. Rick reached down and helped her lift herself off the floor.

"I know you're stressed, but don't ever talk to me like that again" Michonne said, staring into Rick's eyes. "I'm helping out. I'm safe. The kids are at the big house and I'm where I'm needed."

Rick looked into her eyes and calmed down. He had never yelled at her before, but seeing her out of the house and in the middle of the chaos going on at the infirmary scared him.

"Sorry" he mumbled "I know".

She reached out to touch his arm to comfort him and then immediately waddled off to see if Dr. Carson needed assistance.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Two hours later, most of the Hilltop was gathered in a meeting room at the big house. The only people not there was Dr. Carson who was still attending to the wounded in the infirmary, and the people on watch on the wall.

Most people had noticed that Jesus was nowhere to be found and Carl had to explain what happened to some people who had asked, but he now had to officially address it, and he hadn't had time to register it himself. He took a deep breath, steeling himself against the tears that threatened to sneak out of his eyes.

"We were attacked by the same people who were here yesterday. The walker people." Carl explained. "We have many casualties, Dr. Carson told me thirteen deaths in total, including…" Carl's voice broke in emotion. "Including Jesus, who got hit with a spear". The room was silent.

"Before he died, Jesus told me that I was in charge, and I will take on that responsibility until we have time to vote in an election. But until then, we need to rally together to help everyone get through this loss, and we need to have a plan to fight back." Carl paused, and before he could continue speaking Gregory stood up.

"How do we know Jesus left you in charge?" he said loudly, addressing his words to the crowd around him "Did anyone else hear him say this?"

Carl looked at Gregory in shock, surprised by the tone of his words. Carl quickly recovered and angrily said. "Actually, yea. Timothy was right there when he said it."

Gregory turned to Timothy who was sitting a few chairs away. "Well?" Gregory asked him.

"I… I didn't hear him say anything" Timothy said, looking down. "He was just breathing hard."

Carl was speechless at Timothy's words. Timothy had been on the Hilltop's defense team for a year and had never once hinted at disliking Carl or being disloyal.

Gregory took the opportunity to speak again. "I find it hard to believe that Jesus wanted Hilltop to be led by an 18 year old boy. We all know you have contributed a lot here Carl." Gregory said in a slightly condescending manner "and you are in charge of Hilltop's defense, but that still didn't stop this attack, and the deaths that resulted. We need someone more experienced to lead us."

Before Carl could say anything, Rick leaped up from his chair. "And who would that be?You?" Rick said, pointing in Gregory's face. "What exactly have you done for the Hilltop since your people stopped following you? What do you contribute? Nothing. Carl may be 18 but he has more leadership abilities and more combat abilities than you'll ever have. The only thing you're known for is rolling over for Negan like a dog. And I bet that's what you'll do for these walker people too."

Carl put his hand up towards Rick, warning him to stop talking. Michonne, who was equally pissed off and glaring at Gregory put a hand on Rick's arm, silently telling him to calm down, and Enid who was sitting up front looked like she wanted to strangle Gregory.

Rick slowly took his seat, and Carl diplomatically continued. "Like I said, after this is over we can hold an election for a new official leader. But Jesus put me in charge, at least for the interim, and together we can handle this threat. This isn't the time for us to be at each other's throat…"

Gregory quickly continued. "I'm not comfortable with that, and to be honest I'm slightly suspicious. I find it suspicious that Rick and Michonne just happened to be here this weekend, Carl just happened to find this walker people boy, and when the walker people attacked us because we are holding one of their own, Jesus just happened to die leaving Carl in charge. With Rick, leader of Alexandria, here to assist his son of course. First of all, why wasn't the boy returned to his people to begin with? We would have avoided this mess in the first place!"

Carl was starting to get angry. "He wasn't returned because they were abusing him!" Carl said, raising his voice. "I'm not going to return a child to his abusers".

"So thirteen people had to die because of this one child who isn't even one of ours?" Gregory yelled, addressing the crowd. There was a mumble amongst the crowd and Gregory smiled slightly. He enjoyed being the center of attention, and he knew he had everyone's attention now.

"Gregory just shut up and sit down" Enid said, barely controlling her anger "before you make yourself look like more of a fool."

"Oh and can we now address the obvious?" Gregory said, still on a roll. "It seems the Grimes family is multiplying like rabbits, and growing in power every day. Two babies on the way, total control of Alexandria, and now total control of the Hilltop? All we need is one of the Grimes in the Kingdom and they have a monopoly on all of us!". At those words the mumbling of conversation turned into a roar as people turned to their neighbors to agree or disagree with what was said.

Gregory, enjoying the conversation, glared at Carl as Carl glared back.

"We are not going to let you turn us against each other" Carl said, bunching his hands up so they didn't shake in rage. Rick was silently seething from his seat but he reluctantly decided to allow his son to fight his own battle. Michonne's gaze didn't leave Gregory and she had a death grip on her katana. Enid was staring at Carl with a look that said 'if you say the word we'll all jump him'.

"You are trying to divide us when we need to come together. I'm not going to address the vileness you just threw at me and my family, because it's not about us, it's about everyone. We are going to have a funeral tonight for those we've lost, and I want all of you to know that the Hilltop defense team is working on a plan to take out the walker people as we speak. I will continue to update the residents as new information comes in, and we will do everything in our power to prevent an attack like this again. In the mean time we need to stay united against all things and people that would tear us apart." Carl directed the last sentence at Gregory. He then stepped down from the platform, signaling the end of the meeting. Carl reached out, grabbing Enid's hand, and Rick stood up taking Michonne's hand, and the four of them immediately left, leaving the people to talk.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXxx

That night, there was a large bonfire made in the center of the town, and all thirteen casualties, including Jesus, were cremated together. As the bodies burned, the townspeople stood around in silence, remembering the people and thinking about what lay ahead.

The entire Grimes family was there, including Judy, Joy, and Omega. They all held hands, comforting each other. Carl, who was holding hands with Enid and Michonne took comfort from the two women who he knew had his back no matter what, and he ignored the stares of the people who he now recognized as Gregory's followers.

Carl noticed that Omega was receiving angry stares himself, and Carl quickly motioned for Omega to come over to him and he placed the boy between himself and Enid, both of them wrapping their arms around him. Carl tried to make it as clear as possible that Omega was now a Grimes.

After the funeral, everyone went back to their own homes. Before Carl could leave, Timothy appeared in front of him.

"Um, Carl? Can I talk to you for a minute?" he asked shyly.

Carl stared at Timothy in disgust. "Why?" he snapped. Enid, who was standing next to Carl, stared Timothy down.

"I… have to talk to you about… what happened" he said, looking at Enid. "Can I talk to you alone?".

"No" Carl said. "Whatever you have to say to me you can say in front of my wife."

Timothy nodded, looking down. "Gregory threatened me. He… he knows things about me… things he said he'd tell if I didn't do what he wanted. He told me to say I didn't hear Jesus say that you were in charge. I'm sorry…". Carl rolled his eyes.

"But Gregory also sent me here to tell you… he said that he's willing to talk to you… to compromise about leadership. He said that he has many followers and if you try to lead Hilltop on your own you'll be met with opposition. But if the two of you lead together, you can get things done for everyone's benefit."

Enid looked at Timothy in shock. "Who the hell does Gregory think he is? He's gonna try to blackmail his way to the top? Fuck him!"

Carl smiled slightly at Enid's outrage. He slipped an arm around her waist to comfort her because he could see she was getting angrier by the second, but Carl also couldn't believe Gregory's boldness.

"Why didn't he come to me himself? Are you his errand boy now?" Carl said to Timothy.

"He… he and his followers are about to have a meeting at his house. That's where he is." Timothy said. "His followers don't all agree with him, some of them follow him because he has dirt on them. He goes around watching people and finding out things about them to get what he wants. But he is powerful, and a lot of people are on his side."

Carl turned away from Timothy. "You can go now, you delivered your message."

Timothy walked away, and Carl turned to Enid. "What do you think?" he asked.

"Like I said, fuck him!" she repeated. "He tried to make it seem like we have a plan to take over all the communities. Like we're gonna breed everyone else out. He disrespected us and was a smug jerk about it. There are more people who respect you then follow him. You shouldn't worry about a disgruntled group of people when the majority are with you."

"But if the two of us lead together, all of the people will be with us. There won't be a disgruntled group." Carl said.

"Carl" Enid said, looking him in the eyes. "There will always be a disgruntled group. It doesn't matter what you do. Gregory won't be happy unless he is the sole leader of the Hilltop. You know that."

Carl nodded. "But it doesn't hurt to try does it? I hate Gregory as much as you do, but he has led Hilltop before. He does have more experience in terms of how Hilltop works, and I have more experience in terms of planning and strategy. If the two of us come together, Hilltop will be better off for it."

Enid shook her head. "Carl, I don't trust him for a minute."

Carl nodded. "Neither do I. But I'm gonna go to this meeting and see what he has to say."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Carl walked up to Gregory's house and knocked on the door. He could hear people milling about inside. Finally, another member of Hilltop's defense team, Yana, opened the door and her eyes got wide. "Um… Carl! What are you doing here?". Carl quickly brushed past Yana, hurt by her betrayal.

How many more of my people secretly work for this jerk?

Carl slowly made his way through the house, getting a good look at the rest of Gregory's followers. Some of the faces he was surprised about, but others he wasn't. There had always been a small group of people who didn't like how quickly Carl had risen to power at Hilltop, especially with Rick being a leader at Alexandria. He just didn't realize how many people weren't on his side.

Carl spotted Gregory in the living room, talking to two young women. The way he was staring at them made Carl feel sick. He was definitely checking them out. Carl made his way to the living room, catching Gregory's attention.

"Carl!" Gregory said, acting surprised as if he didn't ask Carl to come. "I'm so glad you decided to come by. Let's go to my office where we can speak in private, it's a bit crowded in here." He said, gesturing to his followers. Carl immediately understood what Gregory was really saying.

All these people are on my side.

Carl was livid, but he followed Gregory into his office. Gregory sat at his desk, and Carl sat in front of the desk. Carl couldn't help but feel like a kid sent to the principal's office, and he was sure that was the way Gregory wanted him to feel.

"Tea?" Gregory asked, pouring himself a cup. Carl ignored the question.

"What did you want to discuss?" Carl asked, cutting to the chase.

"Well, I think the points I brought up during the meeting are valid, and those people who follow me agree as well. The Grimes family does have a lot of political power, maybe a little too much. It would look better if the two of us put our heads together and work together for the future of Hilltop." Gregory said, pouring Carl a cup of tea anyway.

"And you're willing to work together? I've never known you to be a man who willingly shares power."

Gregory smiled. "Yes, you do know me well Carl. And I admit, I do like being in charge. The people followed Jesus because they truly liked him. He was charismatic, brave, a people person, a warrior, a leader that could rally everyone to fight for a single cause. He had some traits that I didn't have." Gregory said, sipping his tea.

"But you have some traits that I don't have too. You're brave, you're strong, you're a warrior. As you know, fighting isn't quite my style. And I have traits that you don't have. I'm charismatic, I'm a people person, I'm a leader. If we work together, we can be for each other what the other is lacking. Together, we can be what Hilltop needs." Gregory said, leaning back in his chair.

Carl stared Gregory down. "If that's what you wanted, why did you start with that bullshit during the meeting? Why didn't you just say what you're saying to me in private?"

Gregory shrugged his shoulders. "I know what the people want. They want drama, they want excitement. I only said what they were thinking, and it made them pay attention. My little speech tonight brought more people to my side, and if that didn't happen, we wouldn't be having this conversation right now."

Carl stared Gregory in the eyes. As much as he hated to admit it, Gregory was right. They did each have traits that the other lacked, but Carl still didn't trust Gregory for a second.

"I don't trust you. I know that you want to be leader. I know that you try to blackmail people to make them do what you want. I can't lead with someone I don't trust." Carl said.

Gregory took another sip of his tea. "Getting out of this situation with the walker people is in everyone's interest, including mine. I wouldn't do something that would jeopardize that. Whether or not you trust me, or I trust you, is irrelevant. We both have people who trust us. If we join forces, we can defeat the present threat, and then we can worry about each other later."

There was silence for a minute as Carl thought.

"Look, if you're still on the fence you don't have to make a decision tonight. Enough happened today and we both need time to decompress. But let's at least toast to the possibility of joining forces."

Gregory held up his cup of tea, encouraging Carl to do the same. "To new alliances" he said, clinking Carl's cup. Carl didn't repeat Gregory's saying, but as Gregory brought the cup to his lips, Carl did as well.

They both took a sip and put their cups down. "Well" Gregory said, suddenly happier for some reason. "I'll let you go home now and think about my offer. I really think it's best for all of us." Carl stood and walked out of the room without another word. He squeezed past Gregory's followers who were still staring at him, undoubtedly wondering why he was in Gregory's home after the public display seen at the meeting.

When Carl left the house it was dark outside, and because of the attack very few people were out on the street. The bonfire from the funeral was still burning and a few people were around tending to the flames as they continued to consume the bodies, but besides that the streets were empty.

As Carl walked, his eye began to get blurry. At first he thought he was about to cry, but he realized he couldn't clear the blurriness no matter how many times he blinked. The blurriness turned to dizziness and suddenly everything around him was spinning.

Whoa… what? Carl thought, but he realized even his thinking was blurry. He couldn't form full sentences.

Poison… he… poison?

Carl immediately put two and two together and realized he'd been poisoned.

Infirmary…

Carl tried to head for the infirmary but his legs felt like jelly and they immediately gave out. Once he fell he could see two people heading towards him as if they were waiting for this to happen. As they approached he tried to explain what was happening.

"Gregory… poison…" he whispered.

"Yea, we know" a voice said, and he immediately recognized Timothy. "Just pass out already"

Carl tried to fight the poison, tried to will himself to stay awake, but his body was shutting down system by system. The last thing he remembered was the men laughing as they dragged him away.