-Rhys-
-That Same Morning-
A second wagon tagged along in the end. Turned out Eugene needed more space for the parts to improve Hilltop's radio than just one wagon could provide. Carl tried asking him why he needed to improve Hilltop's radio, and Rhys revelled in watching Carl pretend to understand what Eugene meant by 'geographical apex points'.
Rhys was sat squished between Carl and Judith in the driving seat of the lead wagon. He was trying to read, but gave up after he started to feel queasy— what with all the bumping and swaying. That, and reading while Hilltop's walls were compromised felt like a bad joke to him. So instead, he made an attempt at braiding Carl's hair. He liked doing it when he was stressed. He was pretty sure he got that from Enid.
"Hungry?" Judith asked him, offering a jelly bean from a small, knitted pouch she fished from her little satchel.
"Sweets?" Rhys asked, nodding as he gave up on the messy braid. "You might be my favourite Grimes."
Judith smirked, shaking a couple out into Rhys' extended palm. "Not like there's much competition."
"Hey," Carl laughed across at her.
Michonne was riding alongside their wagon on Judith's side. She was smiling at the three of them.
"Ever wonder how much candy's out there?" Michonne asked, still biting back a playful smirk.
"That's still edible?" Carl asked.
She nodded.
"Four hundred billion pieces," Judith said.
"Five hundred billion," Rhys said. "Now, if it's over, I'm closest."
"Hey!" Judith laughed. "No fair."
"Seven," Michonne exclaimed with a triumphant laugh. "I win!"
"You guys are such losers," Carl snickered.
"Pfft," Rhys scoffed. "Whatever, Grimes. You used to play Monopoly by yourself."
"Oh, tell me you didn't," Michonne groaned, her unimpressed side-eye piercing into Carl. "That's low, man."
Before Carl could stutter out an excuse, Rhys darted in to answer.
"Oh yeah, when we were kids, I'd sneak into his room from the porch roof and catch him battling with himself over a thimble and a shoe."
"And we're the losers?" Judith hummed judgingly.
"I miss the days of you sneaking in through my window," Carl sighed, giving the reigns a gentle lash when the horses hooves started to drag against the road, and they began to slow.
Michonne shook her head. "Your dad only got wise to it when the porch started to leak from that one real bad storm."
"You knew?" Carl asked.
She gave him that knowing Michonne look. "I know everything. Your dad did, too."
Then she glared down at Judith. "Don't get any ideas, young lady."
They all fell into a comfortable quiet after that. Listening to the wheels on the car-wagons squeak as they spun weightily and the horses clattered their hooves against the hot roadway. Rhys' hand rested comfily on Carl's leg, his eyes on the road ahead as he waited for them to cross-over into Hilltop's territory.
Michonne's eyes were on the trees.
"You're worried," Judith told her.
"Oh no," Carl told his sister, not taking his eye off the road. "She's focusing. There's a difference."
Judith gave them both a quizzical glance. "I saw Carol's bandages... I know the Skins shot at her."
"Carol shot at them," Michonne corrected her.
"Is that why they took more land?" Rhys asked.
"No," Carl sighed. "That happened because we crossed the boarder."
"Their boarder," Rhys grumbled.
"Will they take more?" Judith asked.
Michonne furrowed her brow. "I don't want you to worry about this. That's my job, and I happen to be very good at my job."
"Okay..." Judith relented, but soon after, a cheeky smile began to grow across her face. "But I can be a fresh set of eyes... or a pair of friendly ears."
Carl and Michonne looked at each other, both sporting the same proud smiles that they didn't try to hide.
"Alpha said she would release the horde if we ever crossed her border," Michonne explained. "Carol took a shot at her, and she only took land."
"Maybe their rules are changing," Judith suggested.
Rhys shook his head. "People like her... I don't see anything changing."
Michonne made an agreeable grunting noise. "And when you start negotiating with a bully, there may be no end to how much they try to take."
"Sometimes, though," Carl said, "sometimes we can teach bullies a better way to live... sometimes we can find a way to live together."
"Yeah, Mikey tried his best," Michonne tutted at him. "But sometimes you gotta fight."
"Can we live with the Skins?" Judith asked.
Rhys worked very hard to hold his tongue. He must have tightened his grip on Carl's leg, because he moved it slightly.
"Well, they said we could," Michonne told her. "But you never take your enemy at their word. You measure them by their actions. So when their actions are unexpected..."
She shrugged like the rest was obvious.
"What do you think, Rhys?" Judith asked him, nudging his ribs with her bony elbow.
"Some bullies only do what they do because they're scared," he said. "Lydia followed her mother out of fear. I'm sure more of them are scared."
"What about Alpha?"
Rhys grimaced, considering how to put it.
"When we go out hunting," he started, "why do we hunker down and wait for the animals to come to us?"
Judith frowned at his question. "Because they're afraid of us and they run away."
Rhys nodded. "And what about people? How do we know that when we bring them into our communities they won't just attack everyone?"
Judith thought about it.
"People want to be safe," she said finally. "We know that they care more about being safe then they are likely to hurt people."
Rhys found himself looking at the trees now— swallowing their path as their leaves hung overhead and bent inward on the road.
"Alpha's not afraid," Rhys said. "And she cares about nothing. You can't predict what someone like that will do. You can't live with someone if you can't predict them."
Judith frowned, tapping a finger against her knee. "So we have to try and predict what she'll do next?"
"We do," Carl said. "Sadly, we haven't been too good at that yet."
Judith scrunched her face up as if in thought. "You guys know how when we want RJ to go to sleep, the fastest way is to let him run around?"
Michonne giggled at her. "Right."
Carl nodded.
Rhys pictured it and snorted.
"Because then he'll be so tired that RJ will put himself to sleep," Jude went on. "Maybe the Whisperers wanna keep us fighting back until we get so tired that they have the advantage."
All three of them were staring at the little girl, stunned.
"That is not bad, kiddo," Michonne said.
"I knew RJ would eventually be good for something!"
Carl chuckled at her, knocking the rim of her hat down over her eyes.
"So am I right?" she asked, grabbing the sides of her hat with both hands and pulling it back up to look at them all. "Is that the kind of bully they are?"
Michonne frowned in thought.
Carl was nodding like he was working through the same process.
"Yeah," Rhys told her. "Think you've got them pegged."
They arrived at Hilltop's walls later that night.
The fog was thick again, but the full moon kept the dark countryside well-lit against its haze.
Michonne had spotted Ezekiel wandering into the woods on his own a few hours before and had broken off to talk with him. Now that Ezekiel was riding with them, Rhys was noticing just how much quieter he had gotten since the Kingdom fell.
They knew they'd be in for a fight when they arrived...
They just didn't realise how big that fight would be.
Moments after the guards opened the gates for them, they were jumping off the walls and running up the hill towards the big-house.
"What's going—?" Michonne started, but they didn't stop
Then they heard the groans and bursting splinters from Hilltop's wall beside the stables.
Rhys saw where the tree had fallen atop their walls.
Then he saw its weight lean and press until it the wall tumbled under the oak.
A sea of walkers began to flood Hilltop.
They jumped off the wagons, and Rhys grabbed their weapons from the back of their wagon while Michonne rushed to help Carl close the gates.
Judith was staring up the hill, eyes wide.
Rhys handed her sword to her, grabbing her shoulder. "You stay close to your brother and your mum, got it?"
"What about you?" Judith asked with a trace of panic in her voice.
"Once we're up there I need to find—"
"Let's go!" Michonne barked, catching her sword when Rhys tossed it at her before throwing Carl's machete to him.
Once they were up the hill, Rhys lost the others in the midst of all the shoulder barging and shoving from the crowd of people trying to help. He tried not to think about it, putting down a walker with his spear that had gotten trapped in the sand school's fence.
Rhys spotted Yumiko as he fought his way closer to the breach. She was pulling her knife from a walker's skull that was trapped under a section of the wall.
"Where's Sasha?" Rhys barked at her over all the yelling and groaning, kicking back one of the dead as it tripped towards him over part of the stable that had been flattened by the wall.
Yumiko fired an arrow through the dazed walker's head. "Around here somewhere, mate!"
Rhys thanked her before pushing further towards the breach, tossing one of his knives as he moved— then another— and another.
The walkers didn't seem to have an end.
He found himself surrounded as he fought further into the crowd of walkers and away from the living, losing his spear in a particularly stubborn head. He grabbed a mace from Earl's blacksmith table as he passed it and swung it through head after head, jettisons of red shooting out left and right.
Suddenly, a walker he thought he'd killed grappled onto the arm holding his knife, its mouth wide and teeth bared. Rhys swung around and stuffed the mace into its slack jaw, twisting the spiked ball as it bit down, watching its jaw tear and explode outward into a gory mess. He quickly yanked his arm from its grip and stabbed it through the skull.
Another stumbled at him as he tried to take a breather, and Rhys desperately pushed his hand against its chest to keep it away, his momentum taking them both down to the floor.
A terrifying groaning of wood and loud crash sounded out from somewhere behind the walkers. Maybe more of the wall. Maybe the stables. Rhys didn't have time to look with the walker pinned under him.
Kneeling over the walker, unarmed, he started to pummel its face with his fist. Each blow leaving less and less of its face until there was nothing on the ground above its neck but blood and bone beaten into the earth.
Staggering to his feet, Rhys saw Judith and Carl fighting back-to-back just ahead, quickly barging through the horde to reach them.
"You okay?" Carl gasped, blood soaking his face as he stared at Rhys' bloody fists.
"Good. You two?"
They both nodded.
Judith slashed the leg off one with her short katana, waiting for it to fall to her level before sticking it in the eye.
Carl hacked down one after another with his machete, barely breathing as he did so. It reminded Rhys of how Rick used to get when clearing the walkers— a roaring engine focused on knocking down the dead like dominoes.
Rhys spotted Sasha, maybe at the same time she spotted him, because she was barrelling through the herd toward them. Hacking body after body to the ground with her axe as it reflected moonlight off its crimson-painted steel.
When she reached them, Rhys grabbed her arm, yelling in her face. "Where's Downy?! Dusty and Mel?"
She yanked her arm out of his grip, using it to cut down a walker. "We got them all out before the wall fell!"
A wave of relief washed over Rhys, one that quickly had to take a back seat as more walkers pressed down on them.
Rhys could hear Ezekiel yelling orders from his horse as he galloped around, chopping rotten heads off with his sword.
Michonne's katana was singing as it split the skulls of multiple in one slice, then three more again.
Connie and Kelly were helping Earl and Alden hold up what little of the fallen wall panel was still standing, forcing the walkers to funnel in through the small gap they had created.
Eugene had lured a small cluster into the sand school, trapping them to be taken down easily from the outside.
They all fought.
Fought until their skin was coated in thick, stinking blood.
It was a long, hard night.
After several long, hard nights.
And by the time the sun had almost risen, they had won.
Everyone was dead on their feet.
A whole new horde inside Hilltop's walls.
Most people fell where they finished fighting.
Rhys stumbled towards the porch but collapsed on the steps, dropping his knife and mace on the way, not sure where his spear was.
He watched Eugene make it a little further than he did.
Scott didn't even make it to the steps.
Connie and Kelly fell down on Rhys' left. Yumiko and Jerry collapsed on his right. Luke sat on the step in front of him, leaning back against Rhys' knees.
Rhys was too exhausted to tell him to get off.
"You're a hero, little dude," Jerry laughed, bumping his shoulder.
"Huh?" Rhys replied, chest burning from all the panting.
"You and the Alexandria brigade really saved our asses from this," Luke told him over his shoulder waving his hands in the direction of the breach.
"Would have helped if I hadn't left," Rhys said.
"Don't do that," Kelly groaned, translating for a very annoyed-looking Connie. "It doesn't have to be us or them."
"Thanks, guys."
When Rhys got the chance and his breath back, he danced his way out of the little crowd gathered around him on the steps.
Alden and Earl had picked a handful of people to help them with the breach. Rhys looked for Carl or Sasha but found only Judith.
"They need guards for the breach," she told him. "Want me to take the first watch?"
Rhys smirked at how damn much she reminded him of her brother.
"What?" she asked.
"Nothin'," Rhys dismissed the smile. "Maybe get some rest instead?"
Judith nodded. "Rodger dodger."
Once he made it into the house, Rhys tried going straight for his room...
If only he could be so lucky.
"Rhys, wait up, mate!"
He stood at the top of the Barrington House staircase, hand still resting on the banister. Yumiko was a few steps below him. Rhys turned around to face her, noticing the bandage wrapped around her wrist— the only clean thing she was wearing.
"That happened in the fight?" he asked.
She shook her head, flexing her hand a little. "Fell over trying to get my boots off."
Rhys scoffed, sounding as exhausted as he was.
"You needed something?" Rhys asked when she kept looking at her wrist all distracted.
Yumiko nodded, glancing up at him, a small smile tugging at her lips. "Going to stick around?"
"Maybe," Rhys told her. "There's still some stuff happening at Alexandria that needs me."
She looked disappointed but nodded.
"Mind if I get some sleep?"
She nodded again. "See you in the morning."
His room was cold. No fire lit on arrival like the day of the storm. Rhys shivered a little, moving to open the balcony doors, letting some of the Virginian heat into the room that managed to keep itself chilly at all times.
He stepped out onto the creaky boards that overlooked the Hilltop Colony, walking across them to the edge and placing his hands on the railings.
Hilltop was still fairly active despite the early hour.
With the wall having been an all-night affair, people were only just starting their chores that couldn't be missed. Feeding the hungry cattle, checking the rest of the wall for breaches, collecting water for each trailer from the well.
Rhys waved back at a few people who spotted him and stopped to smile. He kept his eye on the wall, though, watching the guards that Sasha must have put on there until they could get started fixing it properly.
Rhys heard the boards behind him creaking again, sighing with relief when Carl's chin rested on his shoulder from behind rather than it being a voice of someone asking him more questions he didn't have answers to.
"Not going to bed?" Carl asked, bringing his hands around Rhys' middle and swaying the two of them gently.
Rhys pushed his head back into Carl's, closing his eyes for a moment. "I was waiting for you."
Carl kissed his shoulder, squeezing his middle gently. Then he pulled Rhys back from the edge to where he'd brought up a bucket of water and a sponge.
"You're disgusting," Carl told him.
"You, too."
Rhys sat on the wooden boards. Carl perched behind him and tugged the gore-soaked t-shirt over his head before reaching into the bucket.
The sponge was ice cold when Carl pressed it against his shoulder blades.
"So we just got off the long-range with Daryl," Carl said.
"You make that sound like a bad thing..."
"Negan... something happened, and someone died."
Carl paused, sponge pressed against Rhys' spine. He waited for Rhys to respond.
"Fuck..."
"Yeah," Carl breathed. "Fuck."
"Who?"
"Margo," Carl told him. "The lady that was with the Highwaymen."
Rhys flinched when the cold water hit his neck and icy trails snaked down his back, but he settled into it. "Is Gage okay? I know he's been hanging out with her."
"He's being questioned. Same with Alfred."
"Questioned?"
Carl scooched around Rhys on his knees so they were facing each other, dipping the sponge into the bucket and squeezing out the blood before pushing it against his chest and holding it there. "It was Lydia... she's saying she was attacked by them, that Negan saved her."
Rhys watched him with his breath held, asking quietly. "Is she okay?"
Carl nodded, keeping his eye on Rhys' chest. "Daryl said she's pretty bruised up."
"Negan killed Margo because she attacked Lydia?"
Carl sighed like he wished it was that simple.
"Negan says it was an accident. Gage and Alfred say that the two planned it together."
"Lydia said she was attacked?"
"She did."
"I don't think she would lie."
"So you think Negan's telling the truth?"
Carl took Rhys' chin between his thumb and finger, making him look up as he dabbed at his blood-crusted cheeks.
Rhys exhaled. "When is Negan ever telling the truth?"
"It's not often," Carl admitted.
"Negan telling the truth and Lydia telling the truth don't have to line up."
"No," Carl said, letting go of Rhys' chin and dropping the sponge in the bucket. "But... do you think Negan's lying?"
Rhys sighed, frustrated. "No. No, I don't think he would kill someone like her. I don't see the reason. Doesn't benefit him. Honestly, I try not to give a shit about him."
Rhys helped peel Carl's shirt from his skin, carefully washing the blood from his body. When he was done, he got them some clean clothes from the dresser in his room. Carl's eye lingered on Rhys' nakedness as he clumsily slipped into a new pair of underwear then jeans. Rhys did the same. They'd seen each other naked a hundred times before, but both were still somehow enraptured by the other. They both figured that was a good thing.
Rhys sat behind Carl after they'd cleaned up, legs tucked around his sides. They hadn't put on their shirts yet, finding comfort in the contact of skin. Rhys kissed where a scar was on Carl's shoulder blade, tucking his nose against his neck, chest pressed against his back.
"Are you going back for her?" Carl asked.
Rhys shook his head against Carl clean skin. "I trust Mikey. Are you going back for Negan?"
"No... I trust Gabriel and the others."
"Wanna get some sleep?"
"Can I sleep for a million years?"
"More like four hours..."
"Then no."
-Carl-
Despite their hesitation, the boys ended up fast asleep on a sofa in the downstairs hall. Carl woke up at the sound of people talking. He saw Michonne and a few of the others gathering by the door. He looked over to Rhys, head on the sofa arm, knees tucked to his chest as he slept soundly. Carl felt bad for having to wake him.
When they joined the small meeting in the main hall, there were ten of them. Luke, Michonne, Scott, Yumiko, Sasha, Eugene, Carl, Rhys, Dianne— and Judith listening from the stairs.
"I'd like to head out, right away," Michonne announced, frowning at Carl. "Our two wagons— some supplies if you can spare them. Rachel called from Oceanside not long ago... said there was a sighting."
"Rachel's sure it was them?" Yumiko asked.
"Sure is a strong word," Michonne told her. "But she swears that one of those creepers were watching them. Too damn close to where that mask washed up. It might be nothing, but in case it is one of them... you know as well as I do they move as a pack."
Eugene nodded in agreement. "Where there's one, you can bet your last dollar there's a hundred more. Much like the order of Blattodea."
Carl and Rhys glanced at each other, confused, but Luke seemed to get it because he raised his eyebrows at Eugene and responded, "Ah, the illustrious cockroach family."
Eugene looked shocked.
Luke grinned and gave him a wink.
"Supplies won't be an issue," Sasha told them. "Besides, I'm coming with you."
Yumiko grimaced. "Is that really a good idea?"
"Oh yeah," Sasha said. "Since Rhys is staying his ass here to help you pull this place back together."
"He is?" Yumiko asked.
"We are," Carl said, taking Rhys' hand before he could speak.
"You are?" Michonne asked.
Carl nodded. "Daryl said Alexandria is handling things. Hilltop could use the help."
"You really think they're planning another attack?" Scott asked.
Michonne didn't look hopeful. "Walkers at Alexandria, a tree here, and now Oceanside? First time, coincidence. Second time might be bad luck. But a third time... we should check."
"Michonne," Luke piped up nervously, looking around at the rest. "If you don't mind, I'd love to join you. I'm feelin' the Ocean calling me."
Yumiko grinned at Rhys, and he snickered back. "And by Ocean, you mean..."
"Jules," they both said in unison.
"Whaaaa— what are you even... pfft, what are you even talking about? Never even heard of her."
They both stared at him for a painfully long time.
"Oh, yes, of course!" he smacked his forehead with an open palm. "The very tall woman with the... face and... quiet, you two."
"Count me in, too," Dianne chuckled.
"In that case, Eugene, you'll need to lead a wagon back to Alexandria."
"Actually," he grumbled, "I'll be staying put. Much like my amigo Luke here, I feel an energy calling to me, urging me on to help our good neighbours by employing my expertise in architecture and engineering to plug the metaphorical gap tooth in the metaphorical smile that is the Hilltop's fortifications."
Most people looked around clueless.
"I've fucking missed you, Euge," Rhys laughed.
"You wanna fix the wall," Michonne clarified for those in the room not versed in the language of Eugene.
Eugene frowned like he'd made that clear. "...Yes."
"Appreciate it, Eugene," Sasha said.
Michonne nodded. "We'll bring back some supplies so you can do it faster."
"What about me?" Judith squeaked from the stairs where she was listening as she cleaned her sword.
"Well," Michonne smiled, "I could leave you here with your brother and Rhys... but something tells me I'm gonna need my pair of friendly ears over at Oceanside."
"Really?" Judith beamed.
"You good with that?" Michonne asked Carl.
He chuckled, shrugging. "Don't see why not."
A/N
Sorry about the wait on this one, it was a big ol' chapter and I only just found the time to edit it!
Happy readin'