Didn't See That Coming | The Walking Dead(1)

Part 87 (The Kingdom)

"Oh, look. Another person who just showed up at my gates and expected asylum," Gregory rolled his eyes. "Listen, sweetheart. What happens outside of my purview, is outside of my purview."

"What the hell, man?" Daryl snapped, taking a step forward to stand slightly in front of CJ. "You're either with us, or you ain't. You're sittin' over there talking out both sides a' your mouth."

Gregory slowly stood up straight and lowered his tone. "I think I've made my position very clear. I wanna thank all of you for not being here today. And not having this meeting with me or being seen on your way out. In other words, go out the back."

All glares were on Gregroy as the group slowly filtered out of the room. CJ put her hand on Carl's shoulder, the two of them walking out together after Rick.

"Walking ballsack," Rosita cursed.

"Wanna knock that idiot's teeth out," Sasha snapped.

CJ muttered, "I'll hold him down for you."

"Yeah, well we don't need him anyway," Daryl shook his head.

"Yeah, that's right," Rick agreed confidently. "Because we have Maggie, Sasha and Jesus here."

"And... Enid," Maggie added right as Enid came into the hall from outside.

"Hey," she smiled. "Umm..."

"What's wrong?" CJ asked.

"Nothing," Enid replied quickly. "Come outside."

The group all made their way outside to be greeted by a small crowd of Hilltop's people gathered in front of the steps, waiting for them. Maggie moved to the front of the group.

"What's going on?" she asked.

"Hey... So, if you don't remember, I'm Bertie," the woman at the front of the crowd began, sounding almost nervous. "And I owe my life to you all, twice over. A bunch of us do. Enid says that you want Gregory to get us to fight the Saviors with you. Is that true?"

"Yes," Maggie replied.

"Do you think that we could win?" Bertie asked. "That we could really beat them? Us?"

"I do."

"Enid says you could show us the way," Bertie smiled faintly. "I'm ready."

The group behind her followed with mutters of agreement, all of them willing to learn to fight, so that they could be free of the Saviors too.

Rick started leading the other toward the gate, glad that even if Gregory was afraid of fighting, his people weren't.

"It's a start," CJ said.

"We'll get more," Sasha added.

"Still won't be enough," Michonne sighed.

Rosita agreed. "No, it won't."

"Well, we find the right stuff, then maybe we don't need the numbers," Daryl suggested. "Blow 'em up. Burn 'em to the ground."

"You guys said there weren't just soldiers with the Saviors," Tara recalled. "That there were workers there. People that didn't have a choice."

"We gotta win," Daryl said with a shrug.

"We need more hands. Another group," Rick pointed out. "Negan has outposts. The geography, the distance works against us. We gotta get back. If they come looking for CJ and Daryl, we need to be there."

"You don't have to get back. Not yet," Jesus spoke up. He pulled a radio out of his back pocket. "It's one of theirs. Long range. We can listen in, keep track of them."