CHAPTER SIXTY-FIVE
"The Hilltop"
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Glenn and Jane lie in bed together, holding each other's hand, enjoying the quiet moment. "Hey," Glenn says and Jane looks over at him and watches him grab something off his side of the night stand. "I found something while I was away" Glenn mumbles as he turns back to Jane and takes her hand, placing a diamond ring on her ring finger. "It's beautiful but..." Jane trials off and Glenn furrows his eyebrows. "You have to ask me.. again" Jane says and Glenn chuckles before removing the ring half way off Jane's finger.
"Jane Monroe... will you marry me so I can change your last name to Rhee?" Glenn asks and Jane sighs and puts on a thinking face. "Oh.. that's how we're playing this" Glenn says before Jane burst out into laughter. "Yes.. I'll marry you" Jane replies and Glenn slips the beautiful diamond ring back on Jane's finger. "Too bad we can't have a wedding. I always dreamed about walking down the aisle" Jane says as she admires the ring.
"I don't need a large wedding cake to show that i'll love you forever" Glenn confesses as he looks into Jane's eyes and Jane looks back at him. "Ill love you forever too. With or without the cake" Jane says jokingly before Glenn leans in and places his lips onto Jane's, letting both of them share a slow, meaningful, and passionate kiss.
That same night Jane and Glenn sat down on there porch together. Jane was wearing a tank top so Glenn had brought out a blanket for her and they stared up at the night sky. "You think we're gonna be okay. Like all of us?" Jane asks as she looks over at Glenn. "For now. There's always something unexpect—" Glenn explains before him and Jane hear a gate open. The look over towards the sound and see Denise and Abraham running into the townhouse basement and Jane tosses the blanket off and grabs her gun out of her holster so Glenn and her can sprint over to investigate.
On the way, Jane and Glenn met up with Maggie and Daryl who saw Denise and Abraham rush inside as well. The group runs up the steps seeing a random person on the steps with Carl pointing a gun at his head and Rick and Michonne behind him although Rick has no shirt on. "It's— Its okay" Michonne assures as the group points there guns at the mysterious man.
"You said we should talk. So let's talk" Rick says speaking to the man on his steps. Later that day, the group, including Joslyn, gathered at Rick's house in the kitchen to talk to the man who calls himself Jesus. "So, how'd you get out?" Rick asks. "One guard can't cover two exits or third floor windows" Jesus rants as Jane and Carl look between Rick and Michonne then look over at each other with a slight smirk on there face but Jane can't lie and say she wasn't the tiniest bit shocked. "I checked out your arsenal. I haven't seen anything like that in a long time. You're well-equipped by your provisions are low. Very low for the amount of people you have" Jesus states as Glenn sits up in his straight and sets his gun on the table but points it towards Jesus.
"54?" Jesus asks. "More" Jane answers as her and Jesus lock eyes. "Well, I appreciate the cookie. My compliments to the chef" Jesus states. "She's unavailable at the moment" Joslyn states as she leans forward on the table looking to the man.
"I'm from a place. A place that's lot like this one. Part of my job is searching out other settlements to trade with. I took your truck because my community needs things, and both of you looked like trouble but... 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" Jesus explains as he looks around at the group in the kitchen. "Do you have food?" Glenn asks. "We've started to raise livestock. We scavenge, we grow. Everything from tomatoes to sorghum" Jesus states and Jane furrows her eyebrows not sure if she can trust this man.
"Tell us why we should believe you" Rick states, wanting to get straight to the point. "I'll show you. 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" Jesus states as he looks around at the rest of the group but it's obvious Maggie has noticed something.
"Wait, you're looking for more settlements. You mean you're already trading with other groups?" Maggie asks as she leans forward in her chair. Her statement made everyone look in Jesus's direction as he sat back in his chair comfortably. "Your worlds about to get a whole lot bigger" Jesus states and Jane looks down at Glenn then back over at Jesus with such curiosity.
"Joslyn, are you sure you don't want to come?" Jane asks and Joslyn smiles and nods her head. "Yes, I can stay here and keep things sane with Carl" Joslyn says and Jane nods her head before pulling her sister into a hug. Rick, Michonne, Glenn, Jane, Maggie and Abraham board the motor home with Paul aka Jesus and drives out of Alexandria and on there way to a community called Hilltop where Jesus is from.
Jane and Glenn sit together and Jane rests her legs on top of Glenn's. She looks out the window watching all the trees go by and her hand slowly moves up towards her stomach and she begins to think if a child is worth bringing into a messed up world like this. "Hey" Glenn whispers as he grabs Jane's hand rubs the back of it with his thumb reassuringly. "Are you okay?" Abraham asks and Jane and Glenn both turn there heads to face him. "Yeah, I'm fine" Jane answers as she sends a to Abraham and lets out a sigh before turning back towards the window.
"Yo, Rick. What's going on?" Daryl asks as Rick slows the motor home as they approach an overturned car. "We got a crash ahead. Looks like it just happened" Rick says as he parks the motor home. Jesus recognizes it and rushes out of the car and begins searching the wreckage for his people.
Everyone follows Jesus out of the motor home with their weapons in hand. Rick walks over to Jesus and points his revolver at his head. "If this is some kind of trick it won't end well for you" Rick states as Jesus looks around. "My people are in trouble. 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?" Jesus asks and Daryl scoffs. "No. We got tracks right there" Daryl states as follows tracks to a nearby building. Maggie and Jane pull out there guns and point them at Jesus and guards him as Rick's group searches inside the building.
"Thank you by the way" Maggie mumbles over as they keep an eye on Jesus. "For what?" Jane asks as she keeps her finger on the trigger. "For saving me the other day when the herd came and I'm sorry I couldn't save you" Maggie apologizes and Jane sends her a smile before looking back at Jesus. "I was only doing what was right" Jane states as her and Maggie continue to guard Jesus until the group had come back.
The group continues on towards the Hilltop. One of the newcomers, Harlan, introduces himself as a doctor to Jane who sits in the back with him while everyone else sat up front up. "Uh— Jane and that's my husband Glenn who's watching us like a hawk" Jane says as she point over to Glenn who smiles guiltily. "You said you're a doctor?" Glenn asks as he slowly walks into the room and tries to keep quiet. "Do you by chance have any.. prenatal vitamins?" Glenn asks and Harlan looks over at Jane who smiles. "But keep this between us please.. I haven't told the others yet" Jane whispers and Harlan nods his head and smiles, admitting he used to be an obstetrician. "I'd say you two just hit the jackpot," he says making Jane and Glenn smile at each other in excitement.
"Thank you" Jane states and Harlan nods his head. "Of course" He replies before going through his bag of medicine again.
A few minutes later, the motor home gets stuck in mud, forcing the group to disembark. "We're stuck" Rick calls out and Jane sighs as her and Glenn walk towards the front. "No worries, we're here" Jesus says and Jane furrows her eyebrows before the group leaves the truck one by one. Glenn gets out before Jane and helps her out of the motor home so she doesn't slip in the mud. Jesus points ahead to a massive wall. "Thats us. That's the Hilltop," he says.
Jesus leads the group to the main gate, where spear-wielding guards order Rick's group to disarm. "They put down there weapons. Then we open the gates" The men say as they guard Hilltop. "Why don't you come down here and get them then?" Daryl asks hostile before Harlan interrupts. "Gentlemen, look, we vouch for these people, all right? They saved us out there" Harlan defends. "Lower the spears" Jesus orders before a Rick gets tired of the stand off. "Look, tell your guy Gregory to come out here" Rick states and Jesus shakes his head. "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 begs as he looks to Rick. Jane slowly puts her gun in her holster and locks eyes with Glenn who sets his rifle to the side but keeps it attached to his body.
"Open the gates, Cal" Jesus orders and The gates open, revealing a large manor house and a farming community inside. Jesus explains the house was once a living history museum. Jane nods her head as she looks around, admiring the place and looks over an smiles at Glenn before Jesus takes the group inside, where they meet Gregory, the community's leader. "I'm Rick. We have a community—". "Why don't y'all go get cleaned up, hmm?" Gregory asks interrupting Rick. Jane furrows her eyebrows at the way the man's presents himself and his confidence. "We're fine actually" Jane states as she looks around at her people before looking to Gregory. "Jesus will show you where you can get washed up then come back down here when you're ready" Gregory says as he takes a few steps towards Rick and the group.
"I'm sorry what are you trying to say?" Jane asks and Gregory chuckles a bit. "I'm saying you're sticking up the place so please... wash. up" Gregory demands and Jane raises her eyebrows before scoffing in disbelief at his disrespect. Annoyed by this man, Rick asks Maggie to speak with Gregory on the group's behalf.
The group sat together outside of Gregory's office while Jesus assures Rick he can convince Gregory to make a fair trade with Alexandria. They hear a commotion outside and a resident rushes inside putting everyone on high alert. "They're back," a resident tells Gregory. Glenn grabs ahold of Jane's hand and walks outside with her and the rest of the group and they walk outside as a Hilltop team returns from a mission. "Nathan, what happened to everybody else? Where's Tim and Marsha?" Gregory asks. "They're dead" Nathan states and Jane furrows her eyebrows in confusion and shock.
"Negan?" Gregory asks and Nathan nods his head. "We had a deal" Gregory declares, "He said it wasn't enough. Was the drop light?" The man behind the man asks and everyone looks to Gregory and Gregory states that the drop wasn't light. "They still have Craig" The women says. "They said they'd keep him alive, return him to us, if I deliver a message to you" the man states as he steps towards Gregory and rests a hand on his shoulder "I'm sorry," he says, stabbing Gregory in the gut.
"Woah!" Jane shouts as she rushes to the man who has stabbed Gregory and pushes him away. "I have to!" He screams as he swings his arm but before he can hit Jane she ducks and Rick grabs his arm, kneeing him in the stomach and knocking him to
the ground, punching him repeatedly. Jane widens her eyes as she rushes over to Gregory and checks his wound.
"We just have to stop the bleeding" Jane declares as she turns around and sees Abraham being choked by another one of Hilltop's residents. "Hey!" Jane shouts as she rushes over to the man and kicks him in his head knocking him over. "Bitch!" The women that was apart of the mission team shouts before she grabs ahold of Jane's hair and wraps her other hand around Jane's throat. "Ugh!" Jane grunts as she uses he elbow to bend the woman's forearm making the women cry out in pain. "Ah!" Jane groans as she grabs the women by her hair and slams her face into her knee making her fall back onto the ground with a broken arm and blood pouring out of her nose.
The other man was now on top of Rick, threatening to kill him if anyone moved an inch. Rick surprised him and stabbed him right in the neck letting the blood pour out of the wound and down onto Rick. Rick turns to face the Hilltop residents with blood staining his face and clothes. He furrows his eyebrows in confusion and looks around confusingly, "What?" He asks and Jane sighs and shakes her head before looking down at the women she had just fought.
"Nathan! You killed him" The man Jane kicked in the screams. "He started it" Glenn declares as he shrugs her shoulders. The women Jane had just fought stood to her feet and walked over to Rick and swung at him but Rick ducked and the women punched Glenn instead. Jane walked to the women, grabbed her neck and tossed her onto the ground roughly before sending her one good punch to the face and using her boot to step on the woman's already broken arm causing her to let out a painful scream and beg Jane to stop. "Don't ever touch my husband again" Jane mumbles as she steps on the women's broken arm even harder before finally releasing the pressure and turning to Glenn who sent her a nod so she knew he's okay.
Jesus calms astonished residents by pointing out Ethan initiated the bloodshed. Harlan rushes to Gregory's side. Abraham remains on the ground after the fight, stunned by his experience. It's as if he's had some kind of realization, or found some sort of peace. Jane and Daryl walk over to Abraham and help him, "Are you okay?" Jane asks and Abraham nods his head. "I'm better than alright," he says making Jane smile as she pats his back.
After the altercation Jane and the rest of the group went to the library and waited for Jesus. Jesus returned and let everyone know that Gregory was okay and he was going to make it. "It may be none of my business but who's Negan?" Jane asks as she crosses her arms over her chest. "Yeah, awhile back Daryl and Abraham had a run in with his men. Who is he?" Rick asks as he walks towards Jesus. "Negan is the head of a group 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 if we needed to understand, right off the bat" Jesus explains and Jane's blood boils more and more as she listens to the story of a man named Negan and his group called the Saviors.
Jesus also explains how the Saviors agreed not to attack the Hilltop in exchange for half of their supplies. "What do you get in return?" Glenn asks. "They don't attack this place. They don't kill us" Jesus explains and Jane scoffs. "Why not just kill them?" Daryl questions. "Most of the people here don't even know how to fight, even if we had ammo" Jesus states and Jane sighs, "Then that's a problem" Jane mumbles.
"How many people does Negan have?" Rick asks and Jesus shrugs his shoulders. "We've seen groups as big as 20" Jesus states and Jane widens her eyes. "Now, hold up. So, they show up, kill a kid, and you give them half of everything?" Daryl questions and Jane shakes her head. "There's no way they have that much power" Jane states and Jesus shrugs his shoulders, "Sadly, they do" He replies.
"What if we killed Negan" Daryl suggests and everyone looks to him in slight confusion. "We kill him, his boys, and we can make a deal" Daryl suggests and Jesus starts to look more intrigued. "We do this and you hook us up with food, medicine, and one of them cows" Daryl adds and Jesus looks over at Rick. "Confrontations never been something we've had trouble with" Rick states as he shrugs his shoulders and Jesus agrees to take the offer to Gregory.
Rick's group loads the motor home with supplies from the Hilltop while Jane and Glenn met up with Harlan in the medicinal trailer. "I know I gave you meds but I can give you something better" Harlan offers and Jane furrows her eyebrows as Harlan sets up an ultrasound for the two of them. Jane's eyes beam with excitement. "Go on, lay down" Harlan says and Jane lays down on the medicinal bed as Harlan gets the ultrasound set up.
"It's gonna be cold" Harlan states as Jane lifts her shirt up some and he pours a decent amount of ultrasound gel on Jane's stomach and rubs in with the transducer. "And there... it is" Harlan says as he stops moving the transducer around and stops once he finds the fetus. "Woah" Jane mumbles as she stares at the fetus on the screen. Glenn interlocks his and Jane's hands before they look over at each other with excitement. "We're really having a baby" Jane declares and Glenn nods his head as places a kiss on Jane's forehead.
"I think you'd want this" Harlan says as he hands Jane and Glenn a picture of the ultrasound. "Thank you so much" Jane says as she stares at the ultrasound photo with such admiration as Harlan helps wipe the gel off of her stomach.
Jane and Glenn meet up with the group at the motor home since they were about to leave. "Hey, where'd you guys go?" Rick asks as the rest of the group walks over to Jane and Glenn wondering where they were. "Um.. the doctor Harlan gave us an ultrasound" Jane confesses as she hands the picture to Rick. "You're pregnant?" Maggie asks as she looks over at the ultrasound picture and back over at Jane who nods her head. Rick lifts his head and locks eyes with Jane, he looks happy for them but he couldn't lie and say he was a bit unhappy. "Congratulations" Rick says as he hands the photo back to Jane and rubs his hand onto her secretly.
"That's amazing" Michonne says as she and Maggie walk up to Jane and bring her into a hug. "Thank you" Jane mumbles before the rest of the group congratulates both Jane and Glenn and gather up in the motor home. Rick's group leaves the Hilltop and in the motor home, Glenn circulates an ultrasound photo of the baby. Abraham and Maggie gaze at the photo and Abraham smiles at Glenn.