The strange man named Jesus was sitting at the kitchen table with Rick, Michonne, Glenn, Maggie, and Carl. Rosie was told to go back to bed, but she knew she wouldn't be able to sleep knowing that a stranger was in the same house as her, so she decided she would listen in. She sat herself down on one of the stools at the counter, and eyed Jesus warily. Daryl was pacing around, and Abraham was standing up behind Glenn, crossing his arms and making himself tall.
"So, how'd you get out," Rick asked the man. Apparently, Rick and Daryl had run into him when they were out, and then brought him back to Alexandria because he needed medical attention. After Denise was done with him, they locked him in the house that was now being used as some sort of jail. Somehow, he'd escaped, and he wanted to talk to Rick, so that was why he was sneaking around their house in the middle of the night.
"One guard can't cover two exits or third floor windows. Knots untie and locks get picked," Jesus explained vaguely. Rosie didn't trust him, so she kept her gun on the counter in front of her, easy to grab.
Daryl, however, kept his gun in his hand, and he walked over to the wall next to Jesus, leaning on it as he stared Jesus down. "Right," he said, his voice low and gruff.
"I checked out your arsenal. I haven't seen anything like that in a long time. You're well-equipped, but your provisions are low. Very low for the amount of people you have," Jesus said. Rosie knew what provisions were. Provisions were what Olivia had her counting at the food pantry. Jesus was right; they were low. "54?" Jesus guessed the amount of people living in Alexandria.
"More than that," Maggie responded, her arms crossed over her chest. Noticing this, Rosie crossed her arms over her chest, too.
"Well, I appreciate the cookie. My compliments to the chef," Jesus said.
"Yeah, she ain't here," Daryl said. The cookie was made by Carol. Carol made really good cookies, and Jesus got to have one, which wasn't fair, because when Rosie asked if she could have one, Rick said no, you already had one earlier. That made Rosie dislike Jesus even more. She could tell that Daryl didn't like him either.
Jesus turned to Daryl with his eyebrows raised. "Look, we got off to a bad start," he said, sighing like he was exhausted, even though he was the one who broke into the house and woke everyone up. "But we're on the same side- the living side. You and Rick had every reason to leave me out there, but you didn't. I'm from a place that's a 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. 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."
Rosie hadn't thought about the fact that there were other communities out there. Sometimes she forgot that there were even other people left in the world. She hadn't seen anyone else in so long that it seemed like the people of Alexandria really were the last people left on Earth. That couldn't be true, though, because the world was huge, and Alexandria was just a small part of it. Maybe somewhere across the world, things were back to normal. Maybe there were no more walkers and everyone was back to their normal lives. But probably not.
"Do you have food?" Glenn asked, leaning his arms on the table. Food was what Alexandria really needed. Food was the whole reason Rick and Daryl were going out scavenging in the first place.
"We've started to raise livestock. We scavenge, we grow. Everything from tomatoes to sorghum," Jesus answered. Rosie didn't like tomatoes, and she didn't even know what sorghum was. Sounded like a shit deal to her.
"Tell us why we should believe you," Rick said to Jesus with a look on his face that said, sounds like bullshit. It was hard for him and Daryl to trust Jesus after everything they went through that day. Jesus had tried stealing their truck full of supplies, and then the truck ended up in a lake.
"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 said, looking around at the group.
"Wait, you're looking for more settlements? You mean you're already trading with other groups?" Maggie asked, leaning closer with a confused expression on her face. It was hard to believe that other settlements were around.
Jesus leaned back into his chair, a smile growing on his face. "Your world is about to get a whole lot bigger," he said, making both excitement and anxiety bubble up in Rosie's stomach.
•
After a lot of convincing, Rosie was allowed to go with the group on their trip to Jesus's settlement. There were a few reasons she wanted to go with, but the main one was that if she went with, she didn't have to go to school. The other reasons were that it had been a while since she had been outside the walls, and that she was curious to see what other settlements were like. She also wanted to see the animals that Jesus claimed to have.
For now, though, Rosie was just waiting. She had changed out of her pajamas and was all ready to go, but everyone else was still packing things up. Rosie was standing on her tiptoes, trying to see into the RV, which Daryl was fixing up so they could ride in it. She didn't have a clue what any of the parts did or what exactly Daryl was fixing, but she wished she did.
"Here," a voice said from behind them. Both Daryl and Rosie turned around to see Denise standing there with some kind of food in her hand. She offered it up to Daryl. "Homemade oatcake. Complex carbohydrates, omega-3s."
"Nah, I'm good," Daryl dismissed her, turning back to work on the RV. Rosie just wanted to know what made the carbohydrates so complex. "We're gonna make a pit stop. I'll pick up somethin' then."
Denise's hand dropped back down to her side and she tilted her head a little. "Like rabies?" she asked. Rosie snickered to herself and Daryl turned back to Denise, giving her an annoyed look.
"Is this 'cause I tried to get you that stuff?" Daryl asked, finally ducking back out from underneath the hood of the RV.
"Yeah," Denise said, rocking on her feet awkwardly.
"What stuff?" Rosie asked.
"Just pop," Denise answered, shrugging her shoulders a little.
"What's pop?" Rosie asked, scrunching her face up to show her confusion.
"Oh, yeah. Um, it's soda," Denise answered. She turned back to Daryl, fidgeting with the oatcake in her hands. "Anyway, you just remind of someone I used to know," she said. After a few more moments of awkward silence, she offered up the oatcake again. This time, Daryl actually took it.
"Well... I hope it tastes better than it looks. 'Cause it looks like shit," he said, pocketing the oatcake. Rosie furrowed her eyebrows at him.
"Shit's still better than roadkill. Okay, maybe- just eat it," Denise murmured awkwardly before walking off.
Once Denise walked off, Rosie turned back to Daryl. "You're rude," she said, glaring up at him. He only scoffed in response, then moved her out of the way so he could slam the hood of the RV shut again. "Why'd she call soda 'pop'?" Rosie asked.
"'Cause she's from Ohio or somethin'. Go get in the RV, I'll be right there," Daryl replied, lightly pushing her over to the RV.
So Rosie went around to the door of the RV. Abraham was standing there with a large gun in his hands. Rosie wished that she could use that gun, because it looked really cool, but it was almost as big as her, so she couldn't. When Rosie passed him, she gave him a smile, and he gave her a smile back. Once she was inside, she heard him yell, "Let's chew up some asphalt!" She didn't know what it meant, but it sounded cool anyway. After that, Maggie joined everyone in the RV, then Abraham himself, then Rick, and then Daryl, and then they were off.
The ride was mostly quiet. Maggie had fallen asleep, and Rosie was seated in the back, reading a book that was titled Midnight on the Moon. It was another one of the Magic Treehouse books, like the one Rosie had read back at the farm. She didn't know that there were more of them, but Liam ended up having a few, and he let her borrow them. Her favorite was still Dinosaurs Before Dark, though.
"Hey," Abraham's voice said quietly. Rosie peeked up over the top of her book, just to make sure that he wasn't talking to her. Glenn sat up straighter, because apparently he was the one Abraham was talking to. "Can I ask you a question?"
"Sure," Glenn said, nodding his head a little. Abraham sat up and leaned in closer to Glenn. Confused, Glenn did the same thing.
"When you were, uh, pourin' the Bisquick, were you tryin' to make pancakes?" Abraham asked, his voice quiet. It seemed like he was trying to whisper, so no one else could hear him, but Abraham had been a sergeant, which meant that he had a loud, booming voice. So when he was trying to whisper, it honestly wasn't that hard for Rosie to hear him.
"Uh... yes?" Glenn murmured, a completely confused look on his face. After a moment, he took a sharp intake of breath, as if he was realizing something. He looked back at Maggie and then chuckled a little. "Oh, ok, um... it's something that we talk about, yeah. Why?" Glenn asked. Rosie didn't understand what the hell they were having a conversation about. No one had any pancakes, so it made no sense that Abraham was asking about them.
"No, I just... well, given the precarious state of affairs on any given Sunday, I am damn near floored that you or anyone else would have the cojones to make a call like that," Abraham said. Now Rosie was even more confused than she was before. It was like Abraham spoke in riddles, and she had no idea how to decipher them.
"I mean, well... we're trying to build something, me and her. All of us," Glenn said.
"For the record," Abraham said, his eyebrows raised. "I see rain comin', I'm wearin' galoshes. I double up."
"What's a galoshes?" Rosie asked, closing her book all the way now. Abraham and Glenn both turned to look at her, and they had awkward looks on their faces. They didn't know she was listening in on their little conversation.
"Uh, they're things you put over your shoes to protect them from rain and stuff," Glenn answered, now leaning back into his seat. Rosie was about to ask why you wouldn't just but on rainboots, but then the RV suddenly slowed to a stop, and that made her completely forget all about the galoshes.
"Yo, Rick. What's goin' on?" Daryl asked, moving the blinds out of the way so he could look out the window. Rosie moved to stand on her knees and see out the windshield. There was a car in a ditch, and there was a ton of blood splattered around it.
"We got a crash ahead. Looks like it just happened," Rick answered. As they got closer, Rosie could see more and more. There were too walkers trapped in parts of the car, all mangled and bloody.
"It's one of ours," Jesus said, suddenly standing up and going towards the door in a rush. Rick parked the RV and got out to follow him, his gun in his hand. Everyone else followed after him. Rosie was told to stay in the RV, but she didn't. When they got outside, Jesus was looking around the car, and Rick pointed his gun at his head.
"If this is a trick, it won't end well for you," Rick said, his voice threatening.
"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 asked, holding his hand out as if Rick would actually give him the gun.
"No," Daryl denied it quickly. Rosie turned to look at him, and he was looking at the ground. He pointed to it. "We got tracks right here," he said. Quietly, the small group followed the tracks with their weapons ready, until they reached a building. It was old and worn down, and the white paneling had a green tint to it. Rick went straight up to the door and banged on it three times. With his gun raised, Rick waited for a moment, but there was no response.
"They gotta be in there," Jesus said, his voice all panicky.
"We movin' in or what?" Abraham asked Rick, his hand on his gun.
Daryl moved around to the front, closer to the door. "How do we know this ain't firecrackers in a trash can?" he asked, referring back to how Jesus had tricked them before.
"You don't," Jesus said exasperatedly, tossing his hands out from his sides. That didn't really help his case, in Rosie's opinion. He was just confirming what they already knew.
"We'll get your people. You're staying here with one of us," Rick said. Jesus sighed and looked defeated.
"That's the deal," Michonne said, confirming it.
Glenn turned to Maggie. "Will you stay?" he asked her. He'd been a bit more protective of her ever since they knew she was pregnant. He didn't want her or the baby to ever get hurt.
"Yeah," Maggie said. She stepped closer to Rosie, putting her hand on her shoulder. "You're staying with me," she said. Rosie sighed. She wanted to go with, but she understood why they didn't want her to, so she listened anyway. "Y'all go. Just be careful," Maggie said.
"Yeah. We're gonna be careful," Rick said, putting handcuffs around Jesus's wrists.
"Just hurry," Jesus said, his impatience and irritation clear on his face and in his voice.
"Hear me whistle, shoot him," Rick ordered.
"I will," Maggie said. She pulled her gun out of its holster and pointed it at Jesus's back as the others disappeared into the building. After that, it was a waiting game.
•
Rick and the others returned back out of the building about five minutes later. They had a few new people with them, and one of them was hurt pretty badly. Rosie was instructed not to talk to any of them, because Daryl was still on edge. They all seemed pretty nice to Rosie, though. One of them was actually a doctor, and he had medicine. Glenn and Maggie were pretty happy about that, because he was actually an obstetrician. By eavesdropping, Rosie figured out using context clues that an obstetrician must've been a doctor for pregnant people. Since he was a professional, Rosie thought about asking him how people got pregnant. She didn't, though, because she wasn't supposed to talk to any of them.
After awhile, the RV slowed to a stop again. Rosie looked out the window and saw that the ground was covered in mud and puddles. She thought that maybe Abraham would want his galoshes right about now.
"A storm must've passed through. We're stuck," Rick announced to the rest of the group. Rosie huffed, annoyed, because nothing ever went right for them. RVs were bad luck, in her opinion. Something always breaks, and then they get stuck again.
"No worries," Jesus said, standing up to look out the windshield. "We're here." Both anxiety and excitement bubbled in Rosie's stomach again. One by one, they all trailed out of the RV, leaving boot prints behind in the mud. Rosie wished that she had some galoshes now, but rainboots would be even better. Standing between Daryl and Maggie, Rosie looked over to where Jesus was looking. There was a big, long wall made up of metal and wood. "That's us," Jesus said, a somewhat proud smirk on his face. "That's the hilltop."
Together, the group marched through mud, following Jesus's lead. So far, the place looked promising. It had walls, and it had a doctor, so it was obviously doing alright. Maybe Jesus was right- maybe they could help each other. Rosie hoped so, because every time she counted the food in the food pantry, there was less and less. They had to run out eventually, and then they'd be back to eating squirrels and rabbits.
"Stop right there!" a voice shouted. Within a second, Rosie's gun was out of its holster and pointed up at the voice, with the safety off, along with everyone else in the group.
"You gonna make us?" Daryl shouted back to the person.
"Woah!" Jesus exclaimed, holding his hands out to try and ease everyone's nerves and make them put their guns down. No one did.
"Jesus, what the hell is this?" one of the people at the gate asked, a spear in his hand. Rosie didn't know what he thought he was gonna do with that spear. It was a spear. Why didn't they have any guns?
"Open the gates, Cal. Freddie's hurt," Jesus shouted up to the person at the gate, apparently Cal. He turned back to the Alexandrians. "Look, sorry about these guys. They get antsy standing up there all day doing nothing."
"They give up the weapons. Then we'll open the gates," Cal said. Rosie scoffed. There was no way in hell they were giving up their weapons. That'd be the stupidest thing they could do in this situation.
"Why don't you come down here and get 'em?" Daryl threatened.
"Gentlemen, look, we vouch for these people, alright?" the doctor said, moving to the front of the group in order to talk to Cal. "They saved us out there!"
"Lower the spears," Jesus ordered.
"Look, I'm not taking any chances. Tell your guy Gregory to come out here," Rick said, lowering his gun as he spoke to Jesus.
"No. Don't you see what just happened?" Jesus asked. Rosie didn't know what he meant. "I'm letting you keep your guns. Look, we ran out of ammo months ago. I like you people. I trust you. Trust us." Rosie looked to Rick, awaiting his decision. He took a moment, considering his options, and then turned to the rest of the group, instructing them to lower their guns. Albeit reluctantly, Rosie did so. "Open the gates, Cal," Jesus demanded.
And the gates creaked open, revealing the Hilltop behind them.
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I'll edit this later tonight but for now it's unedited
I edited it now guys so if there are any typos that means I was unobservant and wrong not once but TWICE