The Next World

Chapter 23

"Ethan! You killed him," the man whose arm Daryl had broken shouted.

"He tried to kill Gregory, then me," Rick said.

The woman came rushing up and punched Rick.

"No!" I screamed.

Michonne quickly knocked her on her ass.

"Don't," she said.

"Rick," I said reaching my hand to him.

He took it and stood back up.

"Drop it now!" Cal ordered.

Rick had pulled out his pistol and aimed it at him. I aimed mine at the other guard.

"I don't think I will," Rick said.

"Everyone, this is over! It's over. Ethan 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," Jesus said standing in the middle of us and them.

It took a few seconds before anything was said.

"What can I do?" Rick asked.

"Put the gun away. You've done enough," Jesus replied.

Rick went ahead and stowed away his gun. I went ahead and did the same.

"You need to know that things aren't as simple as they might seem," Jesus said.

"Yeah. That much we can see. You gonna tell us what the hell that was all about?" I asked.

"Let Dr. Carson help out Gregory first. Then we'll talk after," he said.

"All right," Rick said.

I looked over to my left and saw Daryl helping Abraham up. I walked over to them.

"You okay?" I asked Abraham.

"Damn near peachy," he said with a chuckle.

"Good. Now, come on. Let's get back to the house," I said.

Daryl came up, took hold of my hand and followed me to the house. Maggie, Glenn and Jesus had helped Gregory to a room upstairs. Maggie and Glenn came back down while the rest of us waited for Jesus in Gregory's office. Rick had gone to get the blood off his face. I stood over by a window with Daryl at my side.

"Dr. Carson was able to patch Gregory up. He's in pain, but he'll live," Jesus said coming in through the door.

Rick had joined us looking less bloody.

"So, what happens now?" Michonne asked.

"Things like that don't usually happen here, but, uh, it's settled," Jesus said.

"Now, who the hell is this Negan guy?" I asked.

"A while back, Daryl and Abraham had a run-in with his men. Who is he?" Rick said.

"Negan's the head of a group of people he calls the Saviors. As soon as the walls were built, the Saviors showed up. They met with Gregory on behalf of their boss. They made a lot of demands, 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. Said we needed to understand, right off the bat. Gregory's not exactly good at confrontation," Jesus said.

"He's not good at a lot of things. I'm sorry you lost one of your people," I said.

"Thank you. He's not the leader I would have chosen but he helped make this place what it is, and the people liked him," Jesus said.