"ACE!"
My eyes shot open to see the door open—not how I'd left it. Last night, I dreamt someone came into my bedroom, but I thought it was just a dream. Carl yelling upstairs now told me otherwise, and I shot out of bed, grabbing my gun from the beside table.
I sprinted up the stairs, stopping just around the corner from Jesus, who smiled when he saw me. Carl had a gun to the back of his head, and now he had me aiming one in front of him. He was good, but not that good, we had control of this situation.
"Ace," Jesus went to stand.
"Don't fucking move!" I yelled. "I won't fucking miss this time!"
Rick came out of the room, no shirt on, "Carl, hey, um . . ." he looked over the bannister at me, "Ace . . ."
Michonne was behind him. I didn't get to think about that before Daryl, Glenn, Maggie, Isaac and Abraham rushed up the stairs behind me, aiming the guns up at Jesus like I was. He didn't flinch—Jesus could probably take us all out anyway.
"It's— it's okay," Michonne said.
Rick looked down at Jesus who didn't even turn his head to look back at him. "You said we should talk. So, let's talk." Rick pulled on his shirt and buttoned it up as he nodded for us to move back downstairs. "Move."
Jesus stood, rehung the painting he'd been holding since I found him, and then waved a hand for me to lead the way downstairs with a smirk. God, I wanted to hit him—knowing I'd end up on my ass was the only thing that made me let his behaviour slide.
We walked into the dining room, where Rick made Jesus take a seat by the window. I sat in one of the chairs between Isaac and Carl, my arms crossed with my gun tucked underneath my elbow. Rick took a seat beside Jesus, his chair turned to him.
"So, how'd you get out?" Rick asked.
"Were you in my room?" I asked immediately after.
Jesus looked proud of himself, "One guard can't cover two exits or third-floor windows. Knots untie, locks get picked—entropy comes from order, right?"
"Right," Daryl crossed his arms and leaned back against the wall.
His eyes drifted to me. "And yes, I did go into your room. I thought it was in-house storage. Nice pyjamas, by the way." After a quick nod to my attire, he turned back to Rick. "I checked out your arsenal, I haven't seen anything like that in a long time. You're well-equipped, but your provisions are low."
Preaching to the choir, I thought. I was more concerned that Jesus was able to find all of these places without being stopped or seen by anyone. Did they only have one guard in the basement when he could walk up through the buildings?
"Very low for the amount of people you have," he continued. "54?"
"More than that," Maggie told him.
He nodded, "Well, I appreciate the cookie. My compliments to the chef."
"Yeah, she ain't here," Daryl said.
"You know how many people and how little food we have and yet you eat some of it," I crossed my arms.
"I didn't kill anyone," he argued. "Look, we got off to a bad start. But we're on the same side: the living side. You guys had every reason to leave me out there, but you didn't," he said, looking at Daryl. "I'm from a place that's a lot like this one. Part of my job is searching out other settlements to trade with."
Trade? The thought was a little frightening, and also comforting; people like the Governor only traded to get what he wanted and put fear into the groups around him. The deal we made for handing Michonne over we did for our protection, whether he would have left us alone after was another story. But Jesus seemed to only want supplies, and while I didn't like the idea of handing anything over, his group weren't attacking us.
"I took your truck because my community needs things, and both of you looked like trouble," he looked at me. "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."
"Do you have food?" Glen asked.
"We've started to raise livestock," he answered. "We scavenge, we grow. Everything from tomatoes to sorghum."
I didn't miss the irony that we lost all of our farm supplies because of him, that they were able to grow everything we only just got our hands on. I clenched my teeth, shaking my head as I turned away from him.
"Tell us why we should believe you," Rick waved a hand dismissively.
"I'll show you," he said. "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."
"Wait, you're looking for more settlements," Maggie pointed out. "You mean you're already trading with other groups?"
The thought hadn't crossed my mind, because I knew there were other groups out there: the remnants of the Wolves, the people from Hillcrest, Negan's crew. All of these people wanted us dead, except for Hilltop, seemingly. Were there even more good groups?
"Your world's about to get a whole lot bigger."
Rick turned to me. "Does the RV work again?"
"Yeah, it's good," I nodded.
"You guys have a mechanic?" Jesus raised a brow.
I leaned forward, extending a hand. "Nice to meet you, Ace Daniels. The Mechanic."
He smirked, nodding at the joke but shook my hand.
"Can check this place out, at least," Daryl agreed after meeting eyes with Rick.
"Alright," he said. "We can take a car and go, just us. Let the others stay here and keep this place safe."
I nodded, and the others seemed to agree.
"Are we heading straight out?" Abraham asked.
"Yeah, everyone get your things," Rick said. "I'll talk to Martinez, make sure he keeps an eye on this place while we're gone. We're leaving in twenty minutes."
I turned back to Isaac as we stood up, "I need to get dressed."
"I'll meet you in the RV," Isaac told me.
"Okay."
Leaving the others, I made my way back through the house to my bedroom. I grabbed some jeans and a black tank top, the gauze taped down showing under either side of the strap on my left shoulder. Then I reached for my holster and strapped it around me. I grabbed my bag for the day as well, not knowing how long we'd be away from this place. I wasn't going to chance to be without my supplies again.
When I was done, I headed outside to find the RV pulled up in front of the house. Carl was kneeling at the back of the caravan, shaking the petrol containers to check if they were full or not. He began to check the second one as I walked over.
"What are you doing?" I asked, eyeing the red canisters.
"Just making sure you have some spare gas," he told me.
"Thanks," I nodded. My eyes drifted to where his weapons should have been, but he had nothing, "You aren't coming?"
"No," Carl denied.
He was going to elaborate when Rick came out of the house with Judith in his arms and walked over to where we were standing. I took the red canisters and opened the back to put them inside, while Carl began to talk to his dad.
"You sure?" Carl asked.
"No, but if he's telling the truth, this could be the start of everything." He glanced back towards the house and let out a long sigh. "Look, I was gonna tell you about me and Michonne, but it just happened. It just happened, last night. This is— this is different.
"It's cool," Carl smiled.
Rick nodded, happily. "Alright.
I just gave a smile and shrugged my shoulders. Part of me thought I'd never actually see Rick with anyone after what he was like when Lori died, but the fact that he was able to be happy with someone else made me happy for him.
He looked down at Judith in his arms, who chewed on the dummy. "Well, get your stuff, Gabriel can take care of Judith while we're gone."
"No, I'm not coming," Carl said. "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."
"Carl," I pulled him into a hug. "Come here."
"It's okay," he said, and pulled back to take Judith from Rick. "You guys should get going."
"Are you sure?" I asked. "I can stay."
"Nah, go," he waved me off. "I'll see you guys tonight."
"Bye, Carl."
Everyone was already inside when I got in. I took a seat by Isaac on the steps leading into the RV, closing the door behind me so we could set off. Rick looked back to make sure all of us were there, before he started the RV and began to set off.
It was quiet for a while, and I sighed tiredly, leaning my head on Isaac's shoulder. "So, a lot happened yesterday, I guess," he asked quietly.
"We brought that knobhead home," I murmured back, nodding my head backwards towards Jesus.
Isaac shrugged and glanced back, "He seemed okay, all things considered."
"He kidnapped me."
"He did?" He raised a brow.
"Not knowingly, but, you know."
"I don't, but okay," he said. "But he wants to trade now. And, we could do with food. Maybe being civil just for that, helping each other out . . ." he couldn't quite express what he wanted to say. "I think this could be big for us."
I sighed, "I know."
"You don't have to like him," he added.
"I know. I'm glad you came."
"I wanted to come today, to see what that place is about," Isaac said. "I want to be a part of these things, not just sitting back and working when all the bad things start happening. I want to help."
"Learning architecture will be a big help," I reminded him.
"I know, but you know what I mean," Isaac said. "I can do both." He grinned, "Besides, I should come anyway to stop you from getting kidnapped again."
"That doesn't deserve to be treated as a joke," I pouted.
"I'm sorry," he grinned, but I could tell he wasn't.
Isaac kissed my temple and pulled me to his side as we left Alexandria.
The RV slowed down, after a while. I frowned. We couldn't have been there yet, could we? If Jesus' community was this close we would have found them before now. I stood up to see what was happening out the window.
"Yo, Rick," Daryl tapped at the window through the blinds. "What's going on?"
"We got a crash ahead," he said. "Looks like it just happened."
"It's one of ours," Jesus was on his feet, running for the door.
He jumped over me and Isaac in the doorway to get out of the RV as he ran towards the car. Rick gave me a gun and told me to pull my gun out and follow him, which I did. Jesus was walking around the crashed car when I got to him.
Jesus froze when he saw me with a gun.
"If this is a trick, it won't end well for you," Rick said from behind me.
"My people are in trouble," he argued. "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?"
"That's playing it out?" I raised a brow.
"No," Daryl denied him. He waved for the rest of us to follow him, "We got tracks right here."
We followed him and the trail over to a building, which Rick knocked on, aiming his gun at the door as he tried to listen for walkers and decide if it was worth the risk for us to go inside. There was silence from inside, no indication that anyone was still there.
"They gotta be in there," Jesus said.
"We moving in or what?" Abraham asked.
Daryl marched past Jesus, "How do we know this ain't firecrackers in a trash can?"
"You don't," he said.
"We'll get your people," Rick told him. "You're staying here with one of us."
Jesus looked around at the rest of us as if pleading for us to change his mind, but we all agreed with Rick's plan. Michonne shifted on her feet as she looked at him, and nodded, "That's the deal."
Glenn turned to Maggie. "Will you stay?"
"Yeah, y'all go," she nodded. "Just be careful."
It was probably better that Maggie stayed behind, seeing as she was pregnant. It was safer if she stayed out here because even if Jesus wanted to attack her, she knew to stay further away with her gun, not to give him the chance.
"Yeah," Rick said, pulling one of Jesus's arms to cuff them behind his back. "We're gonna be careful."
"Just hurry," Jesus told him.
"You hear me whistle, shoot him," Rick ignored us, talking to Maggie as we entered the building.
"I will."
Isaac and I followed Abraham down a hallway as we went inside. I stayed in the back, checking every doorway with my gun in one hand and my knife in the other. We didn't know that Jesus' people weren't going to attack us on sight and I wasn't about to die over a misunderstanding.
As I peeked into a doorway, a walker jumped out at me. I stumbled back into Isaac but threw my knife forward to stab it in the head. A sigh blew past my lips as they both looked at me, and I just nodded to say I was okay.
"Be careful," Isaac lifted my arm to balance me.
"Yeah," I agreed.
Abraham rolled his eyes. "Good Lord, watching you two is like drinking maple syrup straight from the tap. Giving me cavities."
"Thanks, man," I nodded.
More walkers came out of some of the rooms as he walked through an almost silent hallway. A figure limped out when Abraham grabbed them and slammed him against the wall, and I thought he was about to stab him in the head before I yelled, "Abe, that's a fucking person!"
Footsteps raced down the hallway as I glanced back to see Daryl, Glenn and someone else rush past us, "Come on, man! Let's go!"
The new person tapped his back, "You got him?"
Abraham helped the person from against the wall out of the building, with his seemingly bad leg. Rick and Michonne were followed by a man and a woman, who whipped around as we got out of the building. "Dr. Carson is he—!"
"I need to check him," the man who ran out with Daryl and Glenn, Dr. Carson said, as a now uncuffed Jesus helped Abraham lift the man into the RV. "Get him on the bed in the back!"
I was staring at the doctor as Maggie went back into the RV to help him, Glenn standing in the doorway between the kitchen and the bedroom. A doctor. We needed a doctor now that Maggie was expecting. Maybe this was a good idea after all.
The RV stopped, and I could tell by the way it was still roaring in pace that we were stuck. I looked back over my shoulder at Rick who muttered to himself, pressing his foot down on the accelerator to get us unstuck. "Dammit."
Worst idea ever.
And I pointed that out, "You're just digging us in."
"A storm must've passed through," he ignored me. "We're stuck."
Jesus stood up and looked out the front window, "No worries, we're here."
He left the RV, stepping in the deep mud that had formed a puddle. Rick and I followed after him, as the others helped Jesus' people out of the caravan. Isaac, who was just after me, cleared the whole puddle with a jump.
Up the dirt road was a large wall that looked like it was made out of vertical standing logs that had just been stuck into the ground. It looked rustic but strong, and if it kept the walkers out that was all that mattered. I could see the top of a roof behind the wall, but not much more than that.
"That's us," Jesus said. "That's the Hilltop."
He led us up the road towards his community when someone yelled out, "Stop right there!"
Everyone had their guns up and aimed at the walls in an instant, shocking Jesus who raised his arms in a placating gesture, "Whoa!"
The two men on the walls had spears aiming down at us. No guns, just spears.
"You gonna make us?" Daryl called back.
"Jesus, what the hell is this?" The one with the black hair asked,
"Open the gates, Kal," Jesus told him. "Freddie's hurt," he turned back to us. "Look, sorry about these guys. They get antsy standing up there all day doing nothing."
"They give up the weapons," Kal demanded. "Then we'll open the gates."
"Big words for a man with a spear!" I called up.
"Why don't you come down here and get 'em?" Daryl agreed.
"Gentlemen, look, we vouch for these people, all right? They saved us out there. Lower the spears."
"Look, I'm not taking any chances. Tell your guy Gregory to come out here."
"No. Don't you see what just happened? I'm letting you keep your guns. Look, we ran out of ammo months ago. I like you people. I trust you. Trust us," Jesus turned back to his people. "Open the gates, Kal."
They wanted to relent more, but instead, they turned to open the gate using levers they had up top. The gate screeched as they pulled them open, letting us follow Jesus into Hilltop. They closed the large gate behind us.
Inside there were farms, chickens, pigs, and what looked like a blacksmithing area that they'd built up at the very front of the community. There were people everywhere, watching us as we came inside. Nobody was as armed as we were.
"There was a materials yard for a power company nearby," Jesus explained. "That's how we put up the walls. A lot of people came from a FEMA camp. Trailers came with them."
I frowned, "What's FEMA?"
"Federal Emergency Management Agency," Abraham answered.
"Oh . . ." I don't know why I kept talking. "They did a standup job."
"How did people find out about this place?"
"That's called Barrington House," he gestured to the red brick building, which was three stories tall, plus what looked like a sunroom on top and probably a cellar underneath. "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."
We had places like that where I came from, but I doubt everybody in Wales rushed back to the coal mines for safety. There were few guns in the UK and an overwhelming population density compared to America. Though, it did make me wonder how everyone was holding out over there, my old friends, family . . .
I shoved the thought aside.
"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. Come on. I'll show you inside."
Jesus led us through the large front doors into a massive foyer, with stairs that curled up to the second story. It was huge, bigger than the houses at Alexandria. All I could do was stare, taking in the room before me.
"Good gracious, Ignatius," Abraham whispered to himself. I raised a brow and glanced over my shoulder as if to ask, what? But Abraham never looked at me, and no answer came.
"Most of the rooms have been converted to living spaces," Jesus continued the tour. "Even the ones that weren't bedrooms."
"Redundant," I offered, bored.
"People live here and the trailers?" Rick asked over the top of me.
"We plan to build," Jesus nodded. "There's babies being born."
A set of double doors off to the side opened when an older-looking man stepped out, wearing a dark grey suit and a light blue shirt. We all stared back at him, as he came out from what looked to be an office space. So not every room had been converted to sleeping areas then, because that man needed an office? Okay . . .
"Jesus, you're back," he eyed the rest of us. "With guests."
"Everyone, this is Gregory," Jesus introduced. "He keeps the trains running on time around here."
"I'm the boss."
"Well, I'm Rick. We have a community—"
"Why don't y'all go get cleaned up, hmm?" Gregory completely interrupted him.
Rick tried to start again. "We're fine—"
"Jesus will show you where you can get washed up. Then come back down here when you're ready," Gregory leaned in close to Rick and said in a low voice. "It's hard to keep this place clean."
"Yeah," Rick nodded, trying his best to keep his face civil. "Sure."
Gregory glanced around at all of us as if to wave us towards the stairs when he stopped, stammered in his movement and dismissively waved a hand towards me, a gesture that encompassed the gauze taped to my collarbone and the cut on my cheek, "Horrible, you do those yourself?"
Isaac stepped towards him. "What the fuck is wrong with you?"
What did Carl say? Kid with a messed up face won't make a good first impression . . . sounds right.
"Watch your tone, young man," Gregory turned to face him.
Jesus cut in, "If you'll all follow me."
Isaac placed a hand on my shoulder, which I covered with my own hand to pull him with me. I was close enough behind Rick and Maggie to hear him say, "You clean up first. You talk to him."
"Why?" She asked.
"I shouldn't." I thought he was going to end it there, but he added, "And you gotta start doing these things."
"There's showers in the next room in there," Jesus said as we reached the top of the stairs.
Maggie went to clean up first, and the others followed her into what seemed like a bedroom, probably with a bathroom ensuite. As Jesus retreated, Rick stopped me in the doorway and let the others pass. "You okay?"
"Fine," I mumbled.
"I know you aren't fine," he said quietly. "Don't listen to him, Ace. You're beautiful, regardless of what happened. Okay?"
"Okay . . ."
Rick nodded for me to follow the others into the room.
Isaac held out his hands for me from where he was on the ground, waving me to sit between his legs, which I did. I leaned back against his chest, some of the tension easing. He leaned in to kiss my cheek from behind and then leaned his head against my own.
After a moment, he murmured into my ear, "Don't listen to him, he's a jackass."
"I am horrible."
"No you aren't," he denied immediately.
"I look horrible."
"No you don't."
"Do I look like I'd cut myself—"
"No."
"—and if I was going to cut myself, why would I choose my own fucking face?"
"He's a dick." I shook my head. "Ace, look at me," I glanced back, "He's a fucking dick. I mean, Rick doesn't even want to talk to him, probably because he'll kill him. And I know you'll try to kill him if you get the chance."
I pouted, "I wouldn't try."
"I know—"
"I'd do it."
Isaac opened his mouth, but instead just nodded to agree with me. "Yeah, okay."
"I just feel so stupid," I mumbled.
"How come?"
"Carl didn't want to come because of his eye and what the people here would think if they saw it," I explained. "Carl just has it so much worse than I do and I'm sitting here complaining. Like, it's probably better that the jackass made fun of me."
"Maybe." He shrugged, "Doesn't make it right though."
"I suppose not," I huffed. "I should go back out and dig out the RV. No point washing up if I'm gonna be traipsing in mud."
"You're clean anyway," he murmured, leaning back down onto my shoulder and kissing just on my jaw. "Don't bother."
I raised a brow, "How can you tell?"
"Well, you don't stink, you aren't covered in mud or blood, and your hair is doing the big poofy thing it does now when you get it wet," he listed, an unwilling smile tugging at the corners of his lips. "Just wait until we have to leave."
"I don't know if I can be in here around that prick," I mumbled.
"Yeah, me either," he agreed. "Let's just wash up quick, just so he doesn't say anything on that front, and if he pisses us off then we can go look around or something. Okay?"
"Okay."
We had moved down to the foyer after cleaning up, and I sat down on the steps as we waited for Maggie to talk with Gregory in his office. You couldn't hear anything through the big wooden doors, and nobody tried. We trusted Maggie to convince Gregory of a good trade . . . I wasn't even sure what we were offering.
Isaac had his notebook out as he stared out the window down to the front of the community, sketching what he could see outside I imagined. I leaned my head in my hands and watched him for a while, enjoying how focused he looked as he drew the scenery.
"He doesn't want to trade," Maggie said as she entered.
"So what the hell are we doing here?" Rick turned to Jesus.
"What did you offer?"
"Bullets," she crossed her arms. "You don't have any and with the things we've seen out there . . ."
"We want to generate trade—Gregory does," Jesus tried to stress. "But ammo isn't something we urgently need."
"Well, how's that?" Rick tilted his head.
I wanted the answer to that as well because we were always in a situation where we needed our guns: the Governor, Claimers, Terminus, Wolves, the herds. If we didn't have guns at those times, more of us could have died. How was Hilltop just sitting here untouched by all the people who seemed to want us dead?
"The walls hold," he said. "We just brought in more medicine. Gregory wants the best deal possible."
"Yeah, well, we want things, too," Daryl snapped.
"We need food," Rick agreed. "We came all this way, we're gonna get it."
"I will talk to him and we will work this out," I could tell Jesus was trying to diffuse us, because we were adamant on getting food today. We needed it, and we deserved it after yesterday. "Circumstances change. We're doing well now, and you will next."
"We wouldn't have needed your help if you didn't sink our fucking truck," I snapped.
Jesus opened his mouth, but then just nodded. His eyes turned back to Rick, "I will make him understand that. Can you give me a few days?"
Silence.
I didn't look at the rations, because my chest hurt knowing that we were low, but I didn't know how many days we really had left in us if we didn't get more food somehow. The trade seemed like the quickest and safest way for us to do that.
"We can," Michonne finally nodded.
There was another moment of silence before Rick nodded, "Yeah."
I sat down on the main stairs, leaning my head in my hands. Part of me wanted to leave, dig the van out of the puddle Rick had revved it into. The other part of me wanted to have a look around, but the people here didn't seem too happy to have let us into their community, so I kept rooted to my spot.
Jesus walked over to me, and I raised my eyebrows as I looked up at him, "I'm sorry."
"No, I mean, it makes sense," I straightened up. "You get sent out to be the people's person, lull them before they meet that knob. I get it."
"The people here can't fight," he reminded me. "That includes him. I mean, Rick doesn't go out and recruit people, does he?"
"How many walkers have you killed?" I recalled him to yesterday, where Rick had asked him that exact question. "How many people have you killed? Why? At least my leader tries to get to know whether you'd be a good asset, not whether people spend their time maiming themselves."
"I'm sorry," he repeated.
"He shouldn't lead," I crossed my arms. "He's weak, and he's a dick. He's going to get himself killed because of what comes out of his mouth long before you need his protection. Teach your people to fight, and take over."
"I can't lead," Jesus shook his head.
"Yet you spend so much time offering to influence the person who does," I hummed thoughtfully. "Interesting."
"I am very sorry," he tried again.
I gave him a fake smile, "I am horrible."
Someone burst in through the front doors, and Gregory left his office at the noise, "What's wrong?"
"They're back," the man said.
Who's they? I glanced at Isaac out of the side of my eyes, and he met my gaze. Gregory followed the man back outside, and I chased after them next. The person didn't sound happy about whoever it was, but I couldn't tell whether they were waiting for members of their own group and something bad happened, or bad people were here.
Outside were two men and a woman,
"Nathan, what happened to everybody else?" Gregory asked. "Where's Tim and Marsha?"
"They're dead," Nathan, the man with the long dirty blonde hair tied back in a bun and a darker beard, answered.
"Negan?"
"Yeah."
Negan? So, these people had met Negan or at least his group and Jesus thinks that they don't need ammo to deal with him. Yeah, that made sense. I mean, we needed a rocket launcher to live through an encounter with one of his groups but Jesus can deal with it using spears and knives.
Though, if anybody could . . .
"We had a deal," Gregory said.
"He said it wasn't enough," the man standing behind them said. "Was the drop light?"
"No," he didn't sound convinced.
"They still have Craig," the woman spoke up.
"They said they'd keep him alive, return him to us, if I deliver a message to you," one of the men said.
"So, tell me," Gregory offered.
The man placed a hand on his shoulder, "I'm sorry."
Before anybody could stop him, he slammed a knife straight into his side and Gregory groaned out in pain. What the fuck? I thought these people were a part of the same community—the irony of how I desperately want Eugene dead has to be ignored, but rest assured, my outrage and shock was all the same.
Maggie and Jesus caught Gregory as Michonne pulled Nathan away from him, with Rick helping her. "GET OFF OF ME!" He screamed. "I HAD TO!"
Michonne grunted as she was thrown away, and with the same arm, Nathan swung around with the knife to try and stab Rick. Rick caught his arm, pulling him forward as he kicked his knee up into Nathan's stomach, knocking him to the ground.
The man in the red jumper grabbed Rick after he landed his first punch, pulling from the top of the man before Abraham ran at him, giving Rick the chance to pin Nathan again. The man with the red jumper had overpowered Abraham, though, and wrapped his hands around his throat.
I went to rush forward when Daryl held up a hand to stop me, sprinting for the man that was strangling Abraham on the ground as his face turned red. Daryl grabbed the man's arm and pulled it back, twisting it in a way that made it look like he'd broken his elbow, and the man cried out in pain, falling away from Abraham.
Rick lost the power struggle with Nathan, who rolled them over and held the knife to his throat. Glenn reached for his knife and rushed to help Rick, "Hey!"
"Stay back! Anybody who tries to stop me is killing my brother!"
"Drop it," Michonne said menacingly.
But it didn't matter, because Rick plunged his knife upwards into Nathan's throat, cutting upwards and to the side and blood came cascading down all over him, dying his white shirt red as he pressed a hand into his face to keep the body away from him. He rolled over, pushing Nathan onto the ground beside him.
Rick, covered in blood, looked around at all the people staring at us—him—with horrified expressions. He squinted and shook his head, confused at how he was suddenly the bad guy for killing the person who stabbed their leader. "What?"
"Nathan!" The man in the red jumper writhing on the floor yelled. "You killed him."
"He tried to kill Gregory, then me," Rick dismissed him.
The woman ran over and punched Rick, who grunted and covered his face. Michonne kicked her and knocked her to the ground immediately, "Don't."
"Drop it now!" Kal was behind us with spears.
I ran past Rick and pulled out my gun, "Get back or I shoot! I'm not fucking playing anymore!"
Jesus ran, holding his arms up between me and Kal. "Everyone, this is over!" He looked back at me. "It's over. Nathan was our friend, but let's not pretend he was anything more than a coward who attacked us—he did this. And these people stopped him.
The woman Michonne had dropped was now crying over Nathan's body.
"What can I do?" Rick asked.
"Put the guns away," Jesus answered and met my eyes again. "You've done enough."
Rick nodded for me to copy his actions as he holstered his Python. I clenched my teeth and did as instructed, just as Kal and the other man from the front wall lowered the spears. Jesus thanked us with a nod.
"You need to know that things aren't as simple as they might seem," he explained. "Just give me some time."
After Gregory was brought into his room by Jesus and Dr Carson, Jesus thought it was best that we came inside out of the way of the people of Hilltop so we weren't seen as they tried to get over the death of Nathan. It was a miracle that Jesus still thought we were able to make a trade with this community seeing how badly his people must have hated us at that point.
"Dr. Carson was able to patch Gregory up," Jesus explained as he came in. "He's in pain, but he'll live."
"Just horrible," I almost smiled as I said it.
Isaac glanced my way.
"So, what happens now?" Michonne asked.
"Things like that don't usually happen here, but, uh, it's settled," Jesus explained.
"We heard the name Negan," Rick stood up from where he was leaning against the desk. "A while back, Daryl and Abraham had a run-in with his men. Who is he?"
"Negan's the head of a group of people he calls the Saviours," Jesus answered.
So, Negan was a real person and not just some cult figment that the group had invented. That isn't to ignore how these people believed in their leader, claiming to take supplies in his name and not for themselves—maybe he was just that frightening. To be able to send out a group of people who were so loyal that they committed those atrocities in his name meant he had to be doing something right.
Well, not right . . .
"As soon as the walls were built, the Saviours showed up. They met with Gregory on behalf of their boss. They made a lot of demands and even more threats. And he killed one of us—Rory. He was 16 years old. They beat him to death right in front of us," I could hear the pain in his voice. "Said we needed to understand, right off the bat. Gregory's not exactly good at confrontation. He's not the leader I would've chosen, but he helped make this place what it is, and the people like him."
"He made the deal," Maggie realised.
"Half of everything. Our supplies, our crops, our livestock, it goes to the Saviors."
"And what do you get in return?" Glenn asked.
"They don't attack this place, they don't kill us."
"Brilliant fucking trade," I scoffed.
"Why not just kill them?" Daryl asked.
"Most of the people here don't even know how to fight, even if we had ammo," Jesus reminded him.
"Well, how many people does Negan have?" Rick was next.
"We don't know," he shrugged. "We've seen groups as big as 20."
"Now, hold up," Daryl marched forward. "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."
I mean, he sounds like shit. If he wasn't, how did Negan get so many people willing to do such horrible things otherwise? I mean, half of the Governor's men didn't know what happened outside the walls and most of the cannibals at Terminus were locked away starving. But Negan didn't just show up and command a group of people to kill a kid out of nowhere, he had to do something to get them on board, and by the sounds of it, it wasn't any good act.
Jesus looked less convinced than I felt, "Well, how do you know?"
"A month ago, we took his guys out PDQ," Abraham said. "Left them in pieces and puddles."
"You know, we'll do it," Daryl said. "If we go get your man back, kill Negan, take out his boys, will you hook us up? We want food, medicine, and one of them cows."
I clenched my teeth but didn't step in just yet. They wanted to seem sure in front of Jesus and I wasn't on board with this plan. Only so many people at Alexandria were able to fight, and while we had more people willing to do so than Hilltop, we still couldn't judge that against the Saviours.
"Confrontation's never been something we've had trouble with," Rick shrugged, tilting his head with a smile.
Again, he seemed less than convinced, but he nodded, "I'll take it to Gregory."
Jesus left the room to talk to Gregory about the new deal, leaving us to the now silence of the room. Isaac spoke up from where he was standing with his notebook at the window, "They're burning that guy outside."
Daryl walked out onto the balcony that connected to the room we were in, watching as the people of Hilltop gathered at one of the walls with Nathan wrapped in a sheet. They brought firewood out to help the body burn.
"I don't know about this," I said as we went out onto the balcony. "I don't know if I can take another fight."
"Ace, you killed ten people yourself," Rick said.
"That's only half of the largest group they saw," I argued. "I mean, what if he has bigger groups? Hell, those were just groups away from the outpost they have, people they can spare. They could have an army as big as the Governor had a community. Besides, that group I killed wasn't nearly as brutal as the Saviours."
"You don't—" Glenn stopped, taking a shaky breath as he said, "You don't have to be involved with this one if you don't think you can take another fight."
"I can't just let you all do it," I snapped. "I mean, I know I sound like a bitch when I say this but you haven't killed anyone, and I don't exactly know what my number is but I'm getting up there. I just . . . I don't know. We're trading fighters, right? Well, I can fight. I don't know if the trade-off is going to be worth it."
"I'm telling ya, Ace," Daryl said, "S'just a story, ain't nothin' but talk."
"I just don't know," I shook my head. "If we're doing it, then I'm in. But I want to know that we thought about this before offering to murder a group of people."
"They have food, we don't," Rick said. "We don't have enough of anything. Except us. What we can do. This is the trade."
"It's gonna cost us something," Maggie agreed with me.
The door opened up again, and Jesus came back into the room. "Gregory's up, he wants to talk—to Maggie. He wants to talk to Maggie."
"You got this," Rick said. "Deanna was right about you."
He took the trade.
Except, I didn't realise how much we were taking from Hilltop right away. I assumed that we would get Hilltop's people back and then they would give us the supplies we wanted, but Maggie told Gregory that we wanted half of their stuff upfront before we even attacked the Saviours.
I hated us for it, and there was a sinking feeling in my gut as Jesus said, "Even Negan didn't get this much up front."
"Negan killed someone up front," I said quietly to justify it.
"No, it's good," he said. "It's good that you guys could make this trade, you need this stuff."
I shrugged, my eyes on the ground as I loaded a box into the RV. I followed Rick back to the things that had been packed away for us to take, as the man in the red jumper, Andy, I heard his name was, walked over to us with
"What?" Andy asked.
"Jesus said you've been taking supplies to Negan since the beginning," Rick said. "We're gonna get Craig back."
"The only way to get Craig back is to bring them Gregory's head," Andy argued.
"We're gonna get Craig back," Rick told him.
"How?"
"We need to know what you know about Negan's compound," Rick said. "We need your help. We need you to come."
He nodded, "Yeah."
"Okay."
Me and Rick grabbed the last few things to bring to the RV, when Jesus crossed us again, "You got room for one more, right? I mean, we're talking about righting the world here. Plus, you still have my knives."
Rick smiled at him as Jesus walked away.
Isaac nodded for me to sit beside him, and we waited for the others to come and join us. He pulled out his notebook and opened it for me to see, showing me sketches of the walls of Hilltop from the inside, the farms, blacksmithy and gate shown in the drawing.
"It's good,"
"Just getting ideas for the future," he said.
"And the trade?" I asked. "Are you going to be there for that?"
Isaac thought for a second. "These people attacked Daryl, Abraham and Sasha already. They were going to kill us before they even knew who we were. I— if that is what the whole group is like, then maybe taking them out won't be such a bad thing."
"Unless we die doing it," I said.
"That is the other thing," he said. "If you're there, I'm there. I don't want to let you do something like that alone."
I wanted to thank him, but part of me didn't want him there to kill the Saviours. He seemed adamant that he was going to be there, and the only thing that would stop him was if I backed out, which wasn't going to happen. I couldn't let the others do it alone.
When everyone had come back to the RV, Jesus and Andy took the back to ride with us. Maggie and Glenn were the last ones to make it back. Rick drove us out of the gate of the Hilltop community and back towards Alexandria.
After a while, Glenn leaned forward to hand me a piece of paper, which I took to see an ultrasound of their baby. Isaac leaned his head on my shoulder to look at the picture, his arm coming around me to thumb over the shape. And I thought, maybe this could work.
I can't remember if I proofread this, I don't think I did so if there are any mistakes then I am sorry. But I do have an exam coming up so I'd rather you read a shitty chapter than have to wait haha
Hope you enjoyed and lmk what you thought :)