may contain spoilers from the latest episode of the walking dead
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"I don't think we should be back together, yet. But I want you here." I told Rick, feeling his hand on my stomach.
"I'll be here." He replied, nodding.
"I'm scared." I mumbled.
"I am too, but I'm here. We'll do this together. I'll make sure you're safe, and we'll get Denise to check the baby every week." He assured me.
-
I stood up from my bed, angry that I couldn't sleep.
I walked across the Tara's old room, which is now Rick's, and found him watching some kind of movie.
"What's up?" He asked.
"I can't sleep." I mumbled.
"And what do you want me to do about it?" He inquired, smirking.
"Shut up and move over." I answered.
He moved over before moving the covers back.
I crawled into the bed before laying down beside him.
"You just miss me." He teased, putting an arm over me.
"I said to shut up and move over, not flirt with me and cuddle." I sassed.
"Pregnancy mood swings already?" He asked, smirking.
I ignored him and closed my eyes, hearing some man talking on the TV about dolphins mating.
"What are you watching?" I asked, turning over to face him.
"A documentary." He answered.
-
"You're pregnant?" Carl asked.
"Yeah." I replied.
"Do you know what it is?" He asked.
"No. Are you mad?" I inquired.
"No, I think it's cool." He replied.
"You do?" I asked.
"Yeah, I'll get another brother or sister." He replied, half smiling.
"You're a great big brother to Judith, and I know you'll be a great big brother to this baby." I replied, smiling.
"I know you're not mom, but I think of you like a second mom- you have been since I was born." Carl replied.
"I think of you as my own, and we better stop or I'm gonna end up crying." I replied, standing up from the couch.
"Are you coming with us to Jesus' community?" Carl inquired.
"Yup." I replied.
-
"What's going on?" Daryl asked as we pulled up to where a car had wrecked.
"It's my people- they're in trouble." Jesus announced.
After a few minutes of following tracks, we came to a building.
"I'll stay out here with him." I stated, aiming my pistol at Jesus.
"Whistle if you need us." Rick replied before walking inside with Abraham, Michonne, Daryl, and Sasha.
I nodded, keeping my eyes on Jesus.
"I heard you're pregnant. Congratulations." Jesus replied.
-
I watched as everyone walked back out with four people from Jesus' group.
"Thank you for helping us." Jesus replied as we got in the RV.
"You're expecting?" A man asked as I sat down in front of him.
I nodded, "How'd you know?" I inquired.
"Rick asked for prenatal vitamins." Abraham replied.
"Of course he did." I mumbled.
"I'm a doctor. Actually, I was an obstetrician before the world went to hell, so I think you hit the jackpot." The man replied with a smile.
"I'm Harlan." He replied.
"I'm Sam." I replied.
I half smiled before leaning back in my seat.
-
"This is it. Hilltop." Jesus announced as we walked up a small hill after getting the RV stuck.
"Jesus, what the hell?" A man yelled from on top of the wall which looked to be a platform.
"Stop right there." Another man ordered.
"You gonna make us?" Daryl asked.
"Open the gates, Cal." Jesus ordered.
"Freddie's hurt." Harlan replied.
"Look, sorry about these guys. They get antsy standing up there all day doing nothing." Jesus explained.
"They give up the weapons. Then we'll open the gates." Cal replied.
"Why don't you come down here and get 'em?" Daryl asked.
"Gentlemen, look, we vouch for these people, all right? They saved us out there." Harlan announced.
"Lower the spears." Jesus ordered.
"Look, I'm not taking any chances." Rick replied.
"Tell your guy Gregory to come out here." I ordered.
"No. Don't you see what just happened? I'm letting you keep your guns." Jesus replied.
"Look, we ran out of ammo months ago." Jesus mumbled.
"I like you people. I trust you. Trust us.
Open the gates, Cal." Jesus ordered.
I watched as the gates opened before we all walked inside the settlement.
"Hey, thanks again. Come see me whenever. I'm just over here in the medical trailer, okay?" Harlan told us before walking over to the trailer.
"That's how we got the walls up. There was a materials yard for a power company nearby. A lot of people came from a FEMA camp, and the trailers came with them." Jesus explained.
"How did people find out about this place?" I asked.
"That's called Barrington House. The family that owned it gave it to the state in the '30s. The state turned it into a living history museum. Every elementary school for 50 miles used to come here for field trips. The place was running a long time before the modern world built up around it. I think people came here because they figured it'd keep running after the modern world broke down." Jesus answered.
"Those windows up there let us see for miles in every direction. It's perfect for security." Jesus added, pointing to the top of the gorgeous building.
"Come on. I'll show you inside." Jesus continued, motioning for us to follow him inside.
"Good gracious, Ignatius." Abraham commented.
"Most of the rooms have been converted to living spaces. Even the ones that weren't bedrooms." Jesus replied.
"People live here and the trailers?" Sasha inquired.
"We plan to build. There's babies being born." Jesus replied.
"Jesus. You're back. With guests." An older man stated, coming out of a room beside Daryl.
"Everyone, this is Gregory. He keeps the trains running on time around here." Jesus declared.
"I'm the boss." Gregory announced.
"Well, I'm Rick." Rick replied.
"We have a community--"
"Why don't y'all go get cleaned up, hmm?" Gregory replied, cutting Rick off.
"We're fine." Rick replied.
"Jesus will show you where you can get washed up." Gregory pushed.
"Then come back down here when you're ready. It's hard to keep this place clean." He continued.
I looked to Rick, realizing he was already done with Gregory's shit.
"Yeah. Sure." Rick replied.
"Follow me." Jesus ordered.
"You clean up first. You talk to him." Rick ordered me as we walked up the stairs.
"Why?" I whined.
"I shouldn't. And you gotta start doing these things." He replied.
"Start? I do these things all the time." I hissed.
-
"Gregory." I called out, walking into his office after cleaning up.
"Mackenzie, right?" He asked.
"Sam." I corrected.
"That's pretty close." He replied.
"Not really." I replied.
"She calls them like she sees them.
I like that." He stated.
"Come in, let's chat." He added.
"Yeah." I mumbled.
"Jesus told me your group saved Dr.
Carson. Obviously, a doctor's a rare commodity today, so I want to thank you for bringing ours back." Gregory replied.
"Daryl saved him." I replied.
"I'll be sure to thank him, too." He stated.
"This place, what you have here, has been here since the start?" I asked.
"That's right." He replied.
"And how-- how is it-- how have you survived here?" I inquired.
"You're looking at how. I'm good at this. And I don't get hung up on the details." He replied.
I looked around before crossing my arms.
"Where you live, is it as nice as the Hilltop Colony?" He asked.
"It's just different." I answered.
"How do you feed everyone? Jesus said you had land for gardens, but no crops." He replied.
"We just started planting." I answered.
"Planting what?" He interrogated.
"Cucumbers, tomatoes. Garden stuff." I replied.
"I see you have guns, so I assume you have a decent weapons cache." He replied.
"It's decent." I answered.
"And your infirmary, is it stocked?" He inquired.
"Is yours?" I fired back.
"We came here hoping to talk trade." I continued.
"Do you have enough here for that?" I asked.
"You see what I have here. You see what I've built. Jesus said that your food situation was challenged right now. You don't keep people fed, it comes apart." He replied.
I tapped my foot on the floor before stopping soon after.
"Let's speak the common tongue here, huh? You don't have shit. Now, I'm happy to help. I'm a nice guy." He replied.
I mentally rolled my eyes, waiting for him to continue.
"We can't just give things away for free.
How's this? Since you can't offer much, I'll let your people work here for their share." He replied.
"You'd be a welcome addition to the community, a smart and beautiful woman. Getting back to that common tongue, I can tell ya, I can make it worth your while." He added.
"Let me stop you right there." I replied.
"Listen, honey." He replied.
"Stop coming on to me with calling me honey. You don't have any ammunition." I stated, uncrossing my arms.
"Who said that?" He asked.
"You're low on medication. You need things. We need things." I replied.
"What, are you gonna give us a bottle of aspirin and a box of bullets?" He inquired.
"Our communities can help each other." I continued.
"Thank you, Mackenzie. Been a good talk." He replied.
"We can help each other." I replied.
"We're doing fine." He stated.
"Are you?" I asked as he opened the door to his office.
-
"We want to generate trade. Gregory does. But ammo isn't something we urgently need." Jesus explained as we all stood out on the porch.
"Well, how's that?" I asked.
"The walls hold. We just brought in more medicine. Gregory wants the best deal possible." Jesus replied.
"Yeah, well, we want things, too." I replied.
"We need food," Rick stated, "We came all this way, we're gonna get it." Rick continued.
"I will talk to him and we will work this out. We're doing well now, and you will next. I will make him understand that." Jesus replied.
"Can you give me two days?" Jesus asked.
"We can. Yeah." Rick replied.
I watched as Gregory walked outside and over to where four people walked into the settlement.
"What's wrong?" Jesus asked.
"They're back." Gregory answered.
"Nathan, what happened to everybody else? Where's Tim and Marsha?" Gregory asked.
"They're dead." A man with a ponytail answered.
"Negan?" Gregory asked.
"Yeah. We had a deal." Nathan replied.
"He said it wasn't enough." Another man added.
"They still have Craig. They said they'd keep him alive, return him to us, if I deliver a message to you." Nathan replied.
"So, tell me." Gregory ordered.
"I'm sorry." Nathan replied, sticking a knife into Gregory's stomach.
My breath hitched in my throat as we all ran over, Rick tackling Nathan to the ground before punching him in the face repeatedly.
I knocked out a girl, who tried to come at me, with the bottom of my pistol before running over to where Nathan was on top of Rick.
"Drop it." I ordered, Nathan putting a knife to Rick's throat before I aimed my gun at him.
Nathan turned his head to look at me before Rick stuck a knife into his neck, blood pouring out onto him.
"What? Nathan!" A girl screamed, "You killed him." She cried.
"He tried to kill Gregory, then me." Rick replied.
The girl punched Rick before she turned around and I nailed her right in the eye, knocking her down.
"Don't." I ordered.
"Everyone, this is over! It's over." Jesus yelled.
"Ethan was our friend, but let's not pretend he was anything more than a coward who attacked us." Jesus announced.
"He did this. And these people stopped him." Jesus confined.
-
"Dr. Carson was able to patch Gregory up. He's in pain, but he'll live." Jesus announced, walking into house.
"So, what happens now?" Sasha inquired.
"Things like that don't usually happen here, but, uh, it's settled." Jesus answered.
"We heard the name Negan." Rick stated.
"A while back, Daryl and Abraham had a run-in with his men." Rick added.
I looked to Daryl, this being the first time I've heard this.
"Who is he?" Rick asked.
"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." Jesus explained.
"Gregory's not exactly good at confrontation. He's not the leader I would've chosen, but he helped make this place what it is, and the people like him." Jesus continued.
I looked down at my feet, feeling nauseous.
"He made the deal. Half of everything.
Our supplies, our crops, our livestock, it goes to the Saviors." Jesus added.
"And what do you get in return?" Michonne asked.
"They don't attack this place. They don't kill us." Jesus answered.
"Why not just kill them?" I inquired.
"Most of the people here don't even know how to fight, even if we had ammo." Jesus replied.
"Well, how many people does Negan have?" I inquired.
"We don't know. We've seen groups as big as 20." Jesus answered.
"Now, hold up.
So, they show up, they kill a kid, and you give them half of everything? These dicks just got a good story." Abraham replied.
"The bogeyman, he ain't shit." Daryl added.
"Well, how do you know?" Jesus asked.
"A month ago, we took his guys out PDQ. Left them in pieces and puddles.
You know, we'll do it. If we go get your man back, kill Negan, take out his boys, will you hook us up? We want food, medicine, and one of them cows." Daryl answered.
"Confrontation's never been something we've had trouble with." Rick replied.
"I'll take it to Gregory." Jesus replied.
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DOUBLE UPDATE BECAUSE IM STUPID AND ACCIDENTALLY PUBLISHED 99 THIS MORNING WHICH SOME OF YOU SEEN AND I HAD HEART ATTACKS
sorry it was a boring chapter and can we just talk about that gif ^
I'm at the hotellll and I'm so bored send help
when I walked out of Walmart I almost got hit by a car so I started singing HIT ME BABY ONE MORE TIME