Chapter 75-Richmond
Jesus's P.O.V
The group stopped two miles away from the community. "Okay, you two will stay here," Jesus says to Charlie and Alden. "If we aren't back by night, you go back. You tell them what happened," Jesus tells Charlie and Alden, who nodded. "Everybody ready?"
The group nods as they start to follow Jesus as he leads them toward the community. They walked for about an hour until they saw the gates. "Stop!" A man shouts as he raises his gun, followed by the rest of the men on the wall.
Looking around, Cole muttered, "Holy crap it's actually Richmond."
"We aren't here to start trouble. We have an offer." Jesus says loud enough for them to hear. "We would like to talk with the person in charge!"
They watch as the men on the wall talk quietly before one of them leaves. The air around them was tense. The gates opened a few minutes later, and a man walked out with his own group of men behind him, Jesus noticing immediately his stiff poster and walk, seeing the man likely had military training
"If you really mean no harm, you won't mind handing over your weapons," The man says. Jesus nods as he reaches for his gun and pulls it out. He holds it out to the man who takes it. Jesus nods to everybody else.
"We give up our guns, but we keep our knives. Can't be too safe nowadays," Jesus offers with a smile
"Deal," The man says as he nods to his men, who start to collect their guns. "I'm David Garcia."
Jesus shakes his hand. "Paul Rovia, but my friends call me Jesus."
"You said you had an offer. What kind of offer?" David asks him, raising a brow at him warily.
"An offer that will benefit us all," Jesus says. "Are you the leader?"
"We have a council," David says. "I'll take two of you to them. The rest of you will go to holding."
"Carl, you'll come with me," Jesus tells Carl, who nods. "Al, your camera?"
Al nods as she holds it out to Jesus. "Okay, you two follow me. Badger take the rest of them to holding," David orders a tattoed man named Badger, who nods as David leads Jesus and Carl away.
Morgan's P.O.V
Morgan walked outside with Coco in his arms. He sat down on the stairs. "It's so quiet," Madison says as she walks up to him.
"We should get rid of Negan more." Morgan grinned, the man never knowing when to stop talking.
"They'll all be sick of him by the time they get back," Madison says with a smile back. "Rosita, okay?"
"Yeah, she's sleeping. This one doesn't seem to want to sleep," Morgan says. After a moment, he then confessed softly "I've been thinking about Daune a lot."
"You had another kid, Morgan. It makes you think of the one you lost," Madison says gently, putting a hand on his arm. "I don't know how you did it. I couldn't imagine losing Alicia or Nick."
"I didn't deal with it for a long time. I just cleared," Morgan sighed, not imagining what to happen when Coco heard of it. "You've heard about that by now."
"When you attacked Carl, Michonne, and Rick in King County. Yeah, Rick told Shane and me about it. You lost everything, Morgan. You had no one. I would say you've made up for what you did. You've saved a lot of people, Morgan,"
"I've killed just as many." Morgan says.
"Morgan, we all have a body count," Madison says. "You should try and get her to sleep. From experience, it's easier when Rosita and Coco sleep at the same time."
Morgan nods as he stands up and walks inside.
Carl's P.O.V
Carl and Jesus walked into a large building that resembled a church. Walking inside, they saw three people waiting at a large table at the front. "Welcome to Richmond," The woman says to them pleasantly.
"This is Jesus, aka Paul Rovia and Carl Grimes. This is Joan. She is our head of communication, Clinton, our head of food and rations, and Paul, our head of medicine. I'm the head of security," David says.
"You came in with a big group, and you look well-stocked," Joan says, raising a brow in appreciation.
"We are. We come from a group of communities: the Hilltop, Alexandria, The Kingdom, the Sanctuary, and the Campgrounds. These communities are a part of an alliance, up North." Jesus says.
"How far up North?" Clinton asked.
Winking, Jesus grinned "Well don't want to give everything away."
"And we would like to offer your community a place with us." Carl says.
"Hold on a second, how do we know you are telling the truth?" Joan asks. Carl turns on Al's camera and holds it out to three. He holds two tapes out to them.
"That has all the communities on it. I lead Alexandria," Carl says.
"Kinda young aren't you?" David asked.
Carl's lips tightened and Jesus just smirked "Hey trust me this guy's braver and smarter then the majority of the people out there, I think a friend of his called them 'steel plated balls'"
"Dear god, don't let Negan hear you quoting him, he'd never let you hear the end of it," Carl said with an appreciative smirk.
"Are the other leaders here?" David asks.
"No," Carl says. "The leader of the campgrounds is Daryl, Morgan, John, and Shane. You'll see him in that. He's wearing a vest and holding a crossbow. John has a cowboy hat, Morgan is carrying a stick probably, and Shane is beside a blond woman. The leader of Hilltop is Beth and her girlfriend, Tara. Beth is the blond, and Tara is the woman beside her. Ezekiel and Carol lead the Kingdom. Carol is here, Ezekiel is the man with dreadlocks, and the leader of the Sanctuary is Reilly and Arat. Reilly is the man with the beard, and Arat is the woman with the short hair." Carl explains.
"And the man with the cane. He is in quite a few shots of Alexandria, and the rest." Joan says.
"That's my Dad. Rick Grimes is the former leader. He got injured in a bridge explosion, hurt his leg, and helps me lead. So does my step-Mom Michonne and my girlfriend, Enid."
"You have children?" Joan asks.
"I have an adopted daughter, Arya. Daryl has two kids, and Beth has a nephew. Ezekiel and Carol have a son, and Morgan just had a daughter. Jesus has a child with his boyfriend, Aaron." Carl explains. "And the overall alliance was founded by Rick, Ezekiel and Jesus here."
Jesus looked sheepish "Wait wait hold on-"
"You introduced all the communities to each other, I say that makes you a 'Founding Father.'" Carl grinned, his one eye twinkling.
"I must say, I am impressed. What you have built is something. How long have they been standing?" Clinton asks.
"Alexandria, since the start, it was led by a woman named Deanna Monroe." He closed his eye in remembrance to the former leader "She's dead now. Walkers got in once, but we fought 'em back, and we won." Carl says.
"How many people?" Paul asks.
Jesus was about to answer but Carl said "Enough." He gave him a look, but decided to keep silent.
"What is this offer?" Joan asks.
"Trade and protection. We work together, all of us. We trade supplies. We protect each other against enemies. We work together to remake the world, a better one then the one before." Jesus says.
The four glanced at each other...then back to them, Joan standing "Let us speak alone, Max can take you to your group and make sure you are all fed, and we will meet again in an hour." Joan tells Jesus and Carl, who nods. "Do you mind if we hold onto this camera until then?"
"That's fine." Carl tells them before the two of them follow Max.
Alden's P.O.V
Alden looks at Charlie, who was sitting with her back against the car they were behind, arms crossed with a scowl. "You aren't happy about being here? He soon says with a smirk.
"And you are?" Charlie says as she looks at him. "You're girlfriend is in there."
"I'm well aware of that." Alden deadpanned. "You're mad because you think they are treating you like a kid."
"I feel useless, Alden. They think I'm a piece of glass." Charlie growls.
"No, they don't. They know you can handle yourself, but if you were to die, the people back home, Daryl, Alicia, Daniel, Merle, Ofelia, and Rachel. It would hurt them, break them. If this group caused it, it would put them on a warpath. Have they ever told you how Dwight caught Daryl, Glenn, Michonne, and Rosita?"
"I know that Dwight killed Denise, and Dad hunted him, and they got caught," Charlie says, not sure where he was going with this.
"He knew her for a few months. She was his friend. What do you think he'd do if something was to happen to his daughter?" Alden asks Charlie.
"I get it," Charlie says with resignation. "Daniel's in there too."
"Yeah, that sucks for them. I hope they don't try anything," Alden says. Charlie chuckles and nods.
"Poor bastards."
Jesus's P.O.V
Jesus and Carl walked back into the building an hour later. "We have talked about your offer, Mr Rovia."
"And?" Carl asks as Jesus rolled his eyes at the formal time
"We are willing to join your alliance, but we need our own insurance." Joan says.
"What do you need?" Jesus asks, cautiously.
"David has offered to join you on your way home. He will look at these communities. If he agrees to join, then we will trust him, and we will join. If that is the case, then you two and your leaders will return, and we will join you,"x" Joan says. "If he does not think this is the best move for our people, then we will leave each other alone," Joan tells Jesus and Carl, who nod.
"Okay, if it is okay with you, we would like to leave today," Jesus tells David.
"Let me get my gear, your group will be waiting by the gate with your gear, and when I get there, we will get on the road," David says. They nod as they leave the building and head to the gate. After David arrives they began to make their way back up the road, heading back to the communities.
Joan's P.O.V
Joan looks at Badger and Max as they walk into the building after Clinton and Paul have left. "What do you need ma'am?" Badger asks her.
"I need you to get rid of the group that we just met." Joan says.
"What?" Max asks, eyes wide
"Take a group, follow them, and once they are fair enough away, kill them. You saw how many of them there are, they easily have enough supplies to last us a few years at least." Joan says slowly. "Got it?"
"What about David?" Badger asks.
"Kill him too, you know that he's been getting suspicious from some of the raids" Joan tells him. "Once he is dead, you can take his position. Leave one of them alive. We'll need to find out the exact location of these communities so we can get rid of them as well," Joan says. "Both of you go."
Badger nods with an eager grin as Max nodded once, impassive, as they leaves the room.
Carl's P.O.V
The group had gotten Alden and Charlie and were now walking down the city streets. They stopped by a building when they heard people speaking. They withdraw their guns as they hear the voices getting closer. The group stops when they round the corner and see the group. "We aren't looking for any trouble." A large man says.
"Javi?" David says as he stares at a man with a bat and a woman in his arm, complete shock in his eyes
"David?" He says as he stares at the man back, with equal surprise. David was about to speak again when gunshots went off, and a body fell to the ground.
Thanks for reading. So the community is Richmond from the Walking Dead, a New Frontier. Clementine and Kenny are in this story, Why can't they be? The next chapter will pick up right from this spot and reveal who the body was. As always, suggestions, ideas, and feedback are welcomed. Until next time.