The house was grander than she had remembered, and way prettier on the inside than out. It's archways accented the structure of the ceiling, and a beautiful mural was painted delicately onto its white surface. How had something so pure, so delicate - so painfully beautiful, survived in a world like this?
A hand on her shoulder snapped her out of her thoughts. This seemed to be happening a lot lately, as she seemed to be too consumed by her head. She turned to face the person, meeting eyes with Enid Rhee. The girl smiled at Jane, and though the gesture took her back, it was a sweet thing. That was all they shared in the moment, because there were larger things at stake.
The girls moved forward behind the rest of the group, the ancient stairs squeaking beneath their feet.
"Where's Ellie?" She asked Enid, keeping her voice low for a reason she wasn't sure of.
"She's back in our trailer," Enid said, her voice sounding extremely careful. She knew that the glass was cracking between ellie and Jane, and she wanted anything but to further it. "She's missed you."
The whole group halted then, as they stood in-front of a rather large door. They had stood in-front of it before, when Jane had first visited hilltop.
"We've been trying to convince them to help us for days. Gregory won't budge." She whispered.
"He's a Coward." Jane spoke, a certain sharpness in her tone that twisted Enid's stomach a little. She wouldn't ever admit to herself that she was scared of Jane, but it was the truth. She'd heard about the things this girl has done, and could only imagine the things she was going to do. Her pretty smile and soft touch didn't fool Enid one bit. Yet, she was intrigued. Just like Carl, and Rick, and Ellie. These three specifically liked to read in between her lines, seeing the words scrawled unmistakably in crimson, the colour of deep red blood.
"I think we can convince them." Enid whispered back, as Jane just looked at her like she was crazy.
She couldn't imagine that the impact of her own words would ever influence anybody, let alone to do something good. She was no public speaker, she was no leader. She was a revenge artist - a killer, like some considered her. She was okay with the label because she knew it was true. She didn't have any intention to do good in this world - only to protect those around her. If that meant slaughtering everyone else, she could carry that out. But not a speech. Never a speech.
People didn't seem to like her anyways, so what was the point? Did Enid think Jane's words would make everyone follow her in awe? Surely she couldn't, because even Jane could see the slight fear behind Enid's eyes.
"You go." She told Enid, shaking her head in the process. Enid gave no protest, simply turning around to walk back out the front door of the manor. Jane looked up to her group then, only to find they had all already entered his office.
It was clear Rick had already started the proposal, because raised voices boomed and echoed along the old uninsulated walls.
"No! No way in hell. That was not the deal. You people swore you could take the Saviors out, and you failed.
So any arrangement we had is now done-" Gregory dwindled on, boring everyone in the room. Carl had already noticed Jane's absence, but quickly shrugged it off as Gregory started to rant. That's all she seemed to be doing these days - running off. It's all she'd ever done, between the prison, and then that night before the lineup, and then again to the sanctuary (which he could excuse since he was there too).
"We aren't trade partners, we aren't friends, and we never met." Gregory spat, as the group stood in solemn, angry silence. That was when Jane entered, only a minute or two after everyone else had. She stood with her arms crossed in the back, leaning against the bookshelves stacked with useless novels.
"Hmm? We don't know each other." He stated finally, slapping his hands on the wood of his grand desk. Carl scowled at the man, as the others did the same. Atleast negan was a good leader. This guy just sucks. He thought.
"I owe you nothing. In fact, you owe me for taking in the refugees, at great personal risk." He said, looking proud. Completely rejecting her hate for speeches, Jane felt like talking some sense into him right about now. Actually, she felt like knocking some sense into him with her solid fist.
"Oh, you were very brave staying in here while Maggie and Sasha saved this place. Your courage was inspiring." Jesus said, doing air quotes with his gloved hands. Jane had become quite fond of Jesus, and his act of protest was currently solidifying that. She still felt a little bad for laughing when he told her his name.
"Hey, don't you work for me? Aren't we friends?" The old man asked, putting on a pouty face that Jane was sure she'd see in her nightmares.
"Gregory, we already started this." Jesus replied, brushing his long hair back behind his beanie.
"You started it."
"We did. And we're gonna win." Rick said, placing his hands on his hips and staring Gregory down. No one was sure why Gregory was being like this, because if Rick Grimes ever stared at any of them that threateningly, they'd be right behind him. That wasn't to give Gregory any credit, though, because he was still as cowardly as he had always been.
"These are killers. Is this how you want to live? Under their thumb, killing your people?" Rick continued, shaking his head.
"Sometimes we don't get to choose what our life looks like. Sometimes, Ricky, you have to count the blessings you have." Something about his tone was so insulting. He spoke with confidence that he didn't have, looking at the group like they were kids just going into first grade.
"How many people can we spare? How many people here can fight?" Maggie demanded rather than asked this, her hands placed together neatly behind her back.
"We"?" He scoffed, "I don't even know how many people we have, Margaret. And does it even matter?
I mean... w-w-what are you gonna do? Start a platoon
of sorghum farmers? 'Cause that's what we got. They grow things. They're not gonna want to fight."
And now, he was laughing. Laughing at them, though he had no right.
"You're wrong. When people have the chance to do
the right thing, they usually step up." Tara said, as he continued to laugh a little more. Though Jane didn't exactly agree with Tara's statement, she appreciated the fight that Tara had in her. "I mean, people just-"
"L-let me stop you before you break into song,
okay?" He declared, cutting her off.
"You'll die either way. Soon, this place will be gone, just like everything always is. What's an old prick like you going to do about it?"
Finally, he was silenced. So Jane continued.
"You're going to sit here, too scared to get your hands dirty, watching everyone else fight a losing battle. Then you'll die. We can help you and your people. Or we can leave you to rot." Carl and Daryl watched intently as she spoke, intrigued in her point. She was right - of course she was. Carl felt almost proud of her, but not in an achievement kinda way - in a 'I want to show you off to everyone as my girlfriend because you're the coolest person I've ever met' kinda way.
Gregory cleared his throat, the look of disbelief on his face turning back to his smug smile.
"That's not your problem. And look at us, we're still standing. You are, too. You're theory's been proved wrong, uhm, whatever your name is."
"Jane Peletier."
"That's a lovely name. And, by the way, who would train all this cannon fodder?"
"I will." Sasha replied eagerly, and Rosita was quick to add to that with a "me too."
"Give me a week." Jane said, almost startling the others. She had un-stiffened from her position at the back of the room, and had now vacated in-front of Gregory's desk, speaking directly down to him.
"Rhetorical, okay?" He said, almost singing. "I don't want to know. I never want to hear another
word about any of it, ever."
"Would we be better off without the Saviors, yes or no?" Michonne asked, narrowing her eyes and keeping her hand steady on the hilt of her katana.
"Yeah. Sure. Okay."
"So, what will you do to fix the problem?" She continued, a grimacing look slapped across her face.
"I didn't say we had a problem. You did. And what happens outside of my purview is outside
of my purview." He was just speaking bullshit at this point - like in school, when you didn't know what to write in an essay, so you just waffled on. Not like Jane or Carl would know about that, anyway.
"What the hell, man? You're either with us
or you ain't. You're sitting over there talking out of both sides of your mouth." Daryl said, swinging his arm in a frenzy like he was always doing. Jane forgot how much she missed even his most annoying of habits.
"Well, I-I think I've made my position very clear. And I want to thank all of you for not being here today and not having this meeting with me or- or being seen on your way out. In other words, go out the back."
★
"Walking ballsack." Sasha proclaimed, once they were all out of the room.
"Wanna knock that idiot's teeth out." Michonne added.
"I was ready to put a bullet in his head," Jane said, looking as angry as the rest of them.
"Yeah, well, we don't need him anyway. 'Cause we have Maggie, Sasha, and Jesus here." Rick said, gesturing to them all. The large manor doors opened, making a horrible screeching sound. In came Enid Rhee, who wasn't half as bad as the ear splitting sound. As weird and unpredictable as their relationship was, Jane couldn't help but be happy to see Enid again. She could clearly draw similarities between the two of them, and well, if she was friends with Ellie and Carl, she must be one of the good ones.
"And Enid." Maggie finished, as everyone turned to look down at the girl past the large banister.
"Hey, um.." she started, trailing off.
"What's wrong?" Sasha asked, concerned about the young girl.
"Nothing. Just..." she laughed a little, "Come outside."
The group hurried after her, wasting no time in getting out of the Barrington house. All of hilltop's residents were gathered outside, with eager looks on their faces. Gregory was right about one thing: the hilltop was small. Only around 50 people stood in-front of them now, smiling. It was kinda creepy.
One girl stepped forward, towards Maggie, Enid, Sasha and Jesus. She had a sweet face, and looked extremely tidy considering the world nowadays. The only thing that gave her away was the pair of gardening gloves strapped to her hands, that promised mounds of dirt to fall with each flick of her finger.
"Hey. So, if you don't remember, I'm Bertie. And I owe my life to you all, twice over. A bunch of us do. Enid and Ellie say that you want Gregory to get us to fight the Saviors with you. Is that true?"
Jane's heart almost stopped at the mention of Ellie's name. She looked over at Enid, and sure enough, Ellie was right there with her. Ellie's eyes found Jane's, and she didn't know how, or why considering their last conversation, but she found herself smiling.
"Yes." Maggie spoke, clearly, projecting her voice into the large crowd. Jane watched their faces as they caught on, almost uniting together whilst Bertie went on. They looked eager, but they did not look ready.
"Do you think we can win, that we really
could beat them? Us?" Bertie asked, hopefully.
"I do." Maggie said, confidently.
"Well, the girls say you could show us the way."
One by one, they all started to pipe up, with their own intentions and opinions. Everyone started join together, looking up to the group of people who were going to lead them through everything. As much as Jane hated having to declare her leadership and knowledge over them, she was able to admit to herself that this was nice. Half of her didn't expect anyone to fight, hell, the Alexandrians wouldn't.
"It's a start. We'll get more." Michonne said, looking out fondly over the sea of heads. Jane's eyes averted over to Carl, and there he was, staring right back at her. There was something about him being in the middle of everything that worried her a little. He looked as willing to fight as the others did, and yet, that was something she wanted to take away from him. Snatch it out of his hands like she was taking a toy from a misbehaving child. Still, in the pit of her nervous stomach, she could still fathom him fighting alongside her. No doubt, he'd look beautiful doing it.
"It still won't be enough." Jane said, still looking at Carl.
Rosita sighed, crossing her arms as she tapped her foot on the wooden porch below. "No, it won't."
"Well, we find the right stuff, then maybe we don't need the numbers. Blow 'em up, burn 'em to the ground." Daryl suggested.
"You said there weren't just soldiers with the Saviors,
that there were workers there. People didn't have a choice." Tara said, raising a new point.
"We gotta win." Daryl grunted.
"We need more hands, another group. Negan has outposts. The geography, the distance works against us. We gotta get back. If they come looking for Daryl,
we need to be there." Rick explained, conveying the issues at hand. Problems just kept appearing out of thin air - building up on one another just to be smashed down. She couldn't let anyone get near Daryl ever again, that's for sure.
"You don't have to get back. Not yet." Jesus said, snaking his free hand into one of his large pockets. When he revealed what was inside, Jane internally smiled. in his hand was a jet black walkie talkie, the rod extended out towards the sky grandly. That would buy them all the time in the world and more.
"It's one of theirs, long range. We can listen in, keep track of them."
"So, if we're not going back, what are we doing, then?" Michonne asked, mimicking Rick by placing both her hands on her hips.
"I think it's time we introduced you to Ezekiel. King Ezekiel." Jesus declared, a smile creeping its way across his face.
"King?"
★
The drive was long, and hot. Jane could practically swim in her own sweat, as it trickled down her body - damp and gross as ever. Oh, how she missed AC's.
Carl sat beside her, of course. Beside him, was Daryl, and in the front was Michonne and Rick.
"So...he calls himself king?" Jane asked, trying to start up a conversation to distract from the horrid temperature.
Rick kept his eyes on the car upfront, as it lead the way.
"Yea. It's probably gonna take awhile to get used to that." Michonne said, turning her head to glance at the three.
"I dunno. It's kinda cool to have a king, y'know? Its not like we have one anymore." Carl said, looking out the window - examining each and every sharp branch that sprung out from the walls of bush and shrub.
"Carl, we didn't have one anyway." Jane said, giving him a wide smile - the kind she only directed to him.
The adults chuckled, but swiftly moved on once they observed that the car in-front had came to a sudden halt. They were still surrounded by rough forest, each tree as identical as the next. The road was barely visible now, as the earth had taken it back as one of its own.
They were here.
★
Sorry for the wait on this chapter, I've been rewriting the old chapters so beware of editing and stuff 😣 anyways, the sillies are quite cute this chap. I'm so ready for Ellie and Jane to make it up ☺️