For the Love of a Woman

Chapter 9

"All right," Daryl said as he loosened his grip and guided her to a chair.

Gabriel sat down on the sofa. Ezekiel sat next to him. Alden and Morgan continued to stand. Negan took a seat at the table. Daryl sat down in a chair next to Magna.

"Connie left me a letter stating that you guys were with a community before the Ohio one. Is that truth?" Gabriel asked.

"Yes," Magna answered. "But, it's more of . . . a very large city . . . a kingdom."

"What kind of kingdom?" Ezekiel asked.

"One that makes Alexandria look like a ghetto," Magna stated.

"How did you guys end up in it?" Daryl asked.

Magna nodded. "Yes. It's best that I start from the beginning. A year after the shit hit the fan, we came upon a school."

"We who?" Morgan inquired.

"A group of forty - me and Yumiko being among the forty. Boss, which was what we called him most of the time back then, led the pack. Anyway, we came upon a school in New York. We stopped to scavenge for supplies. We were surprised to find a group of twenty inside. Among that group were Connie and Kelly. Connie was living in New York at the time as a writer. Kelly lived with her while attending private school. Anyway, we all became friends and the boss convinced the group of twenty to come back with us to Hampton." Magna picked up her glass and took a sip.

"Okay, so what happened then?" Negan asked.

Magna swallowed the liquid. "As time went on, we continued to collect supplies, building material, and . . . people. Yumiko and I had gotten close to Connie and Kelly and Connie and the boss . . ." she trailed off.

"Connie and the boss what?" Daryl pushed harshly.

"They . . . got closer," she slurred as she turned to look at him. "They developed feelings for each other. At the time, he was a good a man. People praised him to the hilt, giving him credit for everyone's survival and providing a way of life for them. It took six years to build what is now known as the Hampton Kingdom."

"What went wrong?" Daryl asked.

"He did – and others," Magna answered. "All the adulation went to his head, which also triggered his history buff slash folklore side. But, the people around him didn't help either - calling him a king and stating that Hampton was the kingdom he built. In no time, we were living a fantasy King Arthur lifestyle with an army so big that it's split up in legions like the army of ancient Rome; a lieutenant at the helm of each one who answers to him."

"How many? In total?" Gabriel asked.

"Hmmm. A year and a half ago it was over five thousand," she mussed.

"People!" Alden yelled with shock.

"Hell, I would think so. Can't keep a kingdom in line with an army of jellyfish," Negan said.

Daryl rolled his eyes at Negan's comment. "What kind of weapons they have?"

"Swords, spears, knives, guns - they can make their own bullets, but the ingredients to make gun powder were becoming hard to find before we fled Hampton. Oh, and bombs."

"What kind of bombs?" Negan asked.

"Basic homemade dynamite sticks. Find or make rubber tubing, get some cannon fuse, caps to hold in the gunpowder, and voila," she dragged out.