We all get ready to leave. Daryl fixes the RV.
"Here. Homemade oat cake. Complex carbohydrates, omega-3s." Denise tries to hand Daryl and I food. I take it without hesitation. I'm starving.
"Nah, I'm good. We're gonna make a pit stop. I'll pick up something then." He says.
"Like rabies?" Denise scoffs.
"Is this 'cause I tried to get you that stuff?"
"Yeah. And you remind me of someone I used to know." Daryl takes the cake and studies it.
"Well I hope it tastes better than it looks. 'Cause it looks like shit." Daryl jokes.
"Shit's still better than roadkill. Okay, maybe-- just eat it." She walks away as I laugh. Daryl looks at me and smiles.
"She is just trying to help."
"I know." He says. As he wipes the grease off of his red rag. Jay comes running up to use and hugs me then punches me in the arm.
"Ow?" I say slowly. It didn't hurt.
"You guys are leaving and didn't tell me?" She goes up to Daryl and punches him in the arm. It didn't phase him.
"This guy, we need to know if he is for real or not. Who knows, if we don't go he might keep coming back." I sighed.
"Oh, he'll come back. Son of a bitch don't know how to stay away." Daryl says back as Jay giggles.
"Alright. You guys be safe." She hugs me. I kiss her forehead.
"We will." She lets go of me and runs over to Daryl wrapping her arms around him. He wraps his arms around her shoulders. I smile at the two of them.
"Daryl?" She asked.
"Yeah?"
"Where is my ring at?" Daryl's eyes go wide as he realizes Jay knows.
"I got you something better." He reaches in his pocket and pulls out the bird charm necklace.
"I was joking but thank you." She smiles brightly as he puts it on her.
"Lil Jaybird." He says.
"Let's chew up some asphalt!" Abraham tells us.
"Left you and Gabriel in charge of watches until I get back. You know how it goes." I tell her and hug her one last time.
"You guys come back." She says.
"We will." Daryl says as he shuts the RV. She heads over to the gate and stands by. We all pile into the RV as Daryl shuts the door and sits next to me. Rick drives off as Jay opens and closes the gate.
"Hey. Can I ask you a question?" Abraham leans forward looking at Glenn.
"Sure." Glenn leans forward.
"When you were, uh, pouring the Bisquick, were you trying to make pancakes?" I laugh a little looking down at the ground. He always has a way with words.
"Uh yes? Oh, okay, um it's something that we talked about, yeah. Why?" Glenn finally gets it.
"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 says.
"I mean, well we're trying to build something, me and her. All of us." Glenn says. I look up at Daryl and see he could be a dad. He would make a great dad and teach our kids to survive. He was great with Judith and Jay.
"You alright?" He asked me. Oh right, I'm staring.
"Yeah, perfect." I smiled.
"For the record, I see rain coming, I'm wearing galoshes. I double up." Abraham says. Rick presses on the brakes as I look around.
"Yo, Rick. What's going on?" Daryl asked looking out the window.
"We got a crash ahead. Looks like it just happened." Rick rolls up to a building complex as a car was turned over in a ditch. Walkers were around it.
"It's one of ours." Jesus says as he goes to look out the window. Walkers were hanging all over the car as we got out. I pull out my knife and start taking them out.
"If this is a trick, it won't end well for you." Rick holds his gun up to Jesus.
"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?" He asked.
"No. We got tracks right here." Daryl says as we follow him to the building. Rick knocks on it a couple of times.
"They gotta be in there." Jesus says.
"We moving in or what?" Abraham asked.
"How do we know this ain't firecrackers in a trash can?" Daryl says as he stand next to Rick.
"You don't." Jesus says.
"We'll get your people. You're staying here with one of us." Rick says as Jesus looks at Michonne.
"That's the deal." She nods her head.
"Will you stay?" Glenn asked Maggie.
"Yeah. Y'all go. Just be careful." Maggie says.
"I'll stay too. Just in case he tries something." I say. I pull out my gun and aim it at Jesus as Rick puts handcuffs on him.
"You sure?" Daryl asked as I nod my head had him. I'm sure I can handle this.
"Yeah. We're gonna be careful."
"Just hurry." Jesus says.
"Y'all hear me whistle, shoot him." Rick says as they head into the building.
"I will." Maggie and I both say.
"So this wedding?" Maggie says.
"Goddammit." I mutter as she smirks.
"Got it all planned out." She comments.
"Thanks Maggie." I chuckle. Soon everyone came out with a few others. We all get into the RV.
"You okay, Freddie?" Jesus asked the hurt guy. Nobody checked if it was a bite but Jesus's people say that he's not bitten. I hold my gun close to me as if he turns I'll put a bullet in his head.
"For a second back there, just when I thought he was gonna I saw my wife.
She died before all this. Just when I thought it was over, there she was.
Clear as day." He cries and laughs at the same time. I feel bad for the guy now. The RV jerks as it doesn't move anymore.
"Damn it. A storm must've passed through. We're stuck." Rick says.
"No worries. We're here." Jesus says as we all get out of the RV. I shove my hand gun in my back pocket and slide the sniper off my shoulder.
"That's us. That's the Hilltop." Jesus points at the fence. We follow Jesus on a path. We get to the front entrance.
"Stop right there." A man says on a guard post. They held spears.
"Whoa!" Jesus says. We hold our guns up to them.
"You gonna make us?" Daryl asked.
"Jesus, what the hell is this?" One of the guys asked.
"Open the gates, Cal. Freddie's hurt. Look, sorry about these guys. They get antsy standing up there all day doing nothing." Jesus sighs.
"They give up the weapons. Then we'll open the gates." The other guy says.
"Why don't you come down here and get 'em?" Daryl says.
"Gentlemen, look, we vouch for these people, all right? They saved us out there." The doctor guy says.
"Lower the spears." Jesus warns them.
"Look, I'm not taking any chances.
Tell your guy Gregory to come out here." Rick says.
"No. 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." That's the thing I don't trust them. Not one bit. Rick waves his hand in the air for us to lower our guns. I was the last to put mine down.
"Open the gates, Cal." Jesus says as they finally open the gates. We look around and follow Jesus. This place looks like a war camp. They had livestock and plants growing. Another station had a guy making spears. This is crazy.