Destination Life or Death

27.

We woke up to the sound of the top stair creaking. Carl grabbed his gun and nodded to me, "Stay here." he said quietly before leaving the room. "What the hell are you doing in our house?" I heard Carl speaking to someone, "I'm uh... sitting on the steps, looking at this painting, waiting for your mom and dad to get dressed." a man spoke from the top step. "Hi, I'm Jesus." he sounded young, no older than 25. I walked out of the room the same time Rick and Michonne walked out of Rick's room. Rick was shirtless and he stopped once he saw me and Carl. "Carl, hey, um...." he said looking at me, as I was standing in the doorway. "Sleeping together again?" he asked looking at Carl then me again. "Sleeping together now?" I asked, raising an eyebrow. Before he said anything, Glenn and Daryl came rushing in, meeting us at the top of the stairs. "It's okay," Michonne said down to Glenn and Daryl, "You said we should talk, so let's talk." Rick said from behind Jesus, Carl still pointed his gun at him. We all moved downstairs and sat around the dining table. "So how'd you get out?" Rick asked while sitting down next to him. "One guard can't cover two exits, or third floor windows. Knots untie and locks get picked. Entropy comes from order, right?" he said in reply. "Right," Rick said quickly. "I checked out your arsonal, I haven't seen anything like that in a long time, you are well equipped but your provisions are low. Very low for the amount of people you have." the room went silent for a few moments and I could feel how tense everyone was feeling. "Well, I appreciate the cookie, my compliments to the chef." he stopped the silence. "Yeah, she ain't here." Daryl said to him quickly. "Look, we got off to a bad start. 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." he said pausing while looking at all of us. "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." he said looking at Rick and Daryl, "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." he said smiling slightly. "Do you have food?" I asked quickly while looking at him then Rick. "We started to raise livestock. We scavenge, we grow. Everything from tomatoes to sorghum." he responded quickly. "Tell us why we should believe you?" Rick asked not moving his eyes from Jesus. "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 at all of us "Wait, you're looking for more settlements? You mean you're already trading with other groups?" I asked not looking away from Jesus. "Your world's about to get a whole lot bigger." he said looking between all of us.

Carl and I were filling the RV with the gasoline we had left. Rick came up to us with Judith. "You sure?" Rick asked, looking at us. "No," I paused and shrugged "but if he's telling the truth, that could be the start of everything." I added to myself quickly. "Look I was gonna tell you guys about me and Michonne, but it just happened..... It JUST happened last night." he said nodding and then staying quiet. "We understand," I said winking and then walking away to leave Carl and Rick to talk. I sat in the back of the Rv with Abraham, Glenn, Maggie, Daryl and Jesus. "Can I ask you a question?" Abraham asked Glenn, "Sure." he replied with a nod. Abraham sat up straight and leaned in closer to talk quieter, "When you were, uh, pouring the bisquick, were you trying to make pancakes?" he asked confused. I looked at Glenn and Abraham. "Maggie's pregnant?" I asked not taking my eyes from Glenn "Uh...yes?" he paused. "Oh, okay, um... it's something that we talked about, yeah. Why?" He asked, looking at me then Abraham again. "I just...." Abraham paused. "Given the precarious state of affairs on any given sunday I am damn near floored as to why you or anyone would have the cojones to make a call like that." he said quickly. "I mean, is it really that hard to think of?" I asked looking at them both. "We're trying to build something, me and her, all of us." Glenn replied, not looking away from Abraham. "For the record, I see rain coming, I'm wearing galoshes." Abraham paused. "I double up." he said nodding. I smiled and then moved to the front seat to sit with Carl, I grabbed his hand and placed it on my knee while he drove with the other. "Thank you for coming with me," I said smiling before he could say anything. I stood up while he slowed down the RV. "Yo, Dezzy, what's going on?" Daryl said from the back of the RV. "Someone got into a crash." I said looking at the tipped over SUV with blood leading away from it and walkers scattered on it "Looks like it just happened." I said, looking back at the group and then down the street we were turning on. "Looks like one of ours." Jesus said quickly while running to the back of the RV. We parked and got out to look and see if Jesus knew any of the walkers. "If this is a trick, it won't end well for you." Carl said pointing his gun at Jesus. "My people are in trouble, we don't have a lot of fighters.'' he said quickly. I put my hand on Carl's arm. "We need to see if there's anyone left," I said, looking at him and lightly pushing his arm down. We followed the tracks to a white building. Carl knocked on the door and kept his gun pointed towards the doorway. "We movin in or what?'' Abraham said quickly. "How do we know this aint firecrackers in a trash can?" Daryl said walking towards me and Carl who were by the door. "You don't." Jesus spoke quickly. "We'll get your people. You're staying here though." I said walking up to Jesus and handcuffing him. "Maggie, will you stay?'' I asked, looking at her then at Carl. "Y'all be careful." Maggie spoke from behind Jesus. "If you hear me whistle, shoot him." Carl said quickly before opening the door. Carl and I went down a hall while Abraham, Glenn and Daryl went the other way. We each killed two walkers before reaching a doorway that had two people inside. "Come on out '' I said, holding my katana facing the ground. "We aren't gonna hurt you.'' I said nodding while they stood with their hands up. "We're friends of Jesus." The woman replied. "There more of you?'' Carl asked from the doorway. "Two more. They ran ahead." she replied while I patted her down for weapons. We all met up once we got the four people and ran out to Jesus and Maggie. Once we were driving again I stayed in the front seat. "Do you trust him?'' I asked Carl who was still driving. "I'm still not sure." he said, shaking his head. "I hope we can trust him." he said looking at me for a second then looking back at the road. We ended up coming to a stop when we got stuck in some mud. We got stuck but luckily we had arrived. We all piled out of the RV. Jesus walked ahead. "That's us, that's the Hilltop." he said proudly, not looking back at us. We all shared confused glances as we stared at the large wooden walls.