A Survivor's Diary of the Apocalypse (TWD/Daryl Dixon)

S7Pt12 - Rock In The Road

We wound up following the men to the outside of an old movie theatre, and were led into one of the showing rooms. The doors opened as Richard walked inside, and Jesus followed behind him like normal. As soon as we stepped inside, we heard chains rattling, and then we saw it.
There was a tiger on the stage on a chain leash, and he was next to a man sitting in a throne-like chair.
I stopped walking sooner than the rest of the group and just stared at him.
"Babe, that's a fucking tiger." I said, a little scared by the tone of my voice, and couldn't take my eyes off of it.
"I know." Daryl said, and slowly grabbed my hand. "I know.."
"Jesus! It pleases me to see you, old friend." The man said, who I'm guessing is King Ezekiel.
"It pleases him indeed." Another new guy said, standing next to a young boy, about Carl's age, and they were standing by Ezekiel's side.
"Jerry." He said, and Jerry quieted down, and then he spoke again. "Tell me, what news do you bring good King Ezekiel? Are these new allies you brought me?"
"Indeed they are, your majesty." Jesus said and then looked at us. "This is—"
We were still as standing back cautiously, mostly because of the tiger standing about 50 feet in front of us.
"Oh right. I forgot to mention that—" Jesus said and began walking back towards us.
"Yeah, a tiger." Rick said and shook his head, trying to hide his anxiety.
The tiger then roared at us and laid down next to the throne. I jumped at the noise and pushed my back against the wall.
"Not fucking cool guys." I said under my breath and closed my eyes.
"Out of all the horror in the world, you are scared of a big cat?" I heard the King call out at me.
"You're damn right I am." I called back out and saw them watching me as if my fear was amusing.
The group started to slowly walk forwards with Jesus, but I refused to go any closer. I don't know what it was, but the tiger scared me to my core.
"This is Rick Grimes, the leader of Alexandria, and these are some of his people." Jesus said.
"I welcome you all to the Kingdom, good travelers. Now what brings you to our fair land?" Ezekiel asked. "Why do you seek an audience with the King?"
"Ezekiel—King... Ezekiel. Alexandria, the Hilltop, and the Kingdom, all three of our communities have something in common. We all serve the Saviors. Alexandria already fought them once, and we won. We thought we took out the threat, but we didn't know then what we know now. We only beat one outpost. We've been told that you have a deal with them, that you know them. Then you know they rule through violence and fear." Rick explained, but the King was just looking at Jesus.
"Your Majesty, I only told them of the—" Jesus began to speak.
"Our deal with the Saviors is not known among my people, for good cause." Ezekiel said and Jesus bowed his head. "We made you a party to that secret when you told us of the Hilltop's own travails, but we did not expect you to share—"
"We can help each other." Jesus blurted out.
"Don't interrupt the King." Jerry said in a deep voice and stared at Jesus.
"We brought you into our confidence. Why did you break it?" Ezekiel asked him.
"Because I want you to hear Rick's plans." He said.
Ezekiel then looked at Rick. "And what plans have you, Rick Grimes of Alexandria?"
"We came to asked the Kingdom, to ask you, to join us in fighting the Saviors. Fighting for freedom, for all of us." Rick said and looked at the group.
"What you are asking is very serious." Ezekiel said.
"Several of our people, good people, were killed by the Saviors, brutally." Michonne then said and stood next to Rick.
"Who?" Morgan then asked.
"Wouldn't you like to know?" I said rudely and everyone looked at me.
I stared at Morgan and remember all the pain and death that was caused by Negan. First it was,
"Abraham." I said, and you could hear the pain in my voice. "Glenn... Spencer, Olivia. Eugene was taken. So was Daryl. I was..." I said, and the group watched me as they were finally about to hear the answer to all their questions. "I was raped by his men... but Daryl and I escaped, and every second we are out here, we are targets."
I saw some heads in the group bow and Daryl was watching me intently. Morgan then shook his head and looked away.
"You gonna say you were right?" I then said and crossed my arm and prosthetic. "You gonna say you knew this was going to happen? That's why you left, same with Carol?"
"No... I'm." He said and looked at me. "I'm just real sorry they're gone."
"Negan murdered Glenn and Abraham. Beat them to death, in front of all of us." I said, a few tears streaming down my cheeks. "Did almost the same thing to Daryl if I didn't promise to 'serve' him." I said, and remembered everything like it was yesterday. 
"He terrorized the Hilltop. Set loose walkers just to make a point." Sasha then said, speaking up for Maggie's new community.
"I used to think the deal was something we could live with. A lot of us did. But that's changing. So let's change the world, Your Majesty." Jesus pleaded.
"I want to be honest about what we're asking." Rick then said. "My people are strong, no doubt about it, but there's not enough of us. We don't have guns, not enough, at least. Not a lot of weapons, period."
"Negan took everything from us." I said. "And he won't stop."
It was all quiet and then Richard looked at King Ezekiel. "We have people, and weapons. If we strike first, together, we can beat them. Your Majesty, no more waiting for things to get worse beyond what we can handle. We set things right. The time is now." He said and then looked at our group.
"Morgan." Ezekiel then said. "What say you?"
"Me?" He asked surprised.
"Speak." Ezekiel said.
"People will die." Morgan said. "A lot of people, and not just the Saviors. It... if we can find another way, we have to."
"There is no other way." I spoke up, annoyed with Morgan's peaceful ways. "Your ways don't work, they'll kill all of us."
"Maybe Kelley, but... maybe it's just about Negan— just capturing him, holding him. Maybe— I..." Morgan said, trying to plead with me.
"If I get my hands on Negan, he's dead. There is no capture, no holding... I'll kill him." I said seriously, and he just stared at me.
"The hour grows late." Ezekiel said and stood up, and so did his pet tiger.
I turned my attention towards the big cat and I forgot he was even there. The tiger softly growled, and I was standing as still as a statue, now scared again.
"Rick Grimes of Alexandria... you have given the King much to ponder." Ezekiel said.
Rick sighed and took a single step closer to the stage. "When I was younger, my mother told me a story. There was a road, to a kingdom, and there was a rock in the road. And people would just avoid it, but horses would break their legs on it and dis, wagon wheels would come off. People would lose the goods they'd be coming to sell. That's what happened to a little girl. The cask of beer her family brewed fell right off. It broke. Dirt soaked it all up and it was gone. That was her family's last chance. They were hungry, they didn't have any money. She just... sat there and cried, but... she wondered why it was still there... for it to hurt someone else. So she dug at that rock in the road with her hands til they bled, used everything she had to pull it out. It took hours, and then... when she was gonna fill it up, she saw something in it. It was a bag of gold."
"Alright." Jerry said, getting into the story.
Rick just nodded and looked back at Ezekiel. "The King put that rock in the road because he knew the person who dug it out, who did something, they deserved a reward. They deserved to have their life changed for the good... forever."
Ezekiel looked around at his people and then nodded. "I invite you all to sup with us, and stay till the morrow."
"Yeah, we need to get back home." Rick spoke for us.
"I shall deliver my decree in the morn." Ezekiel sternly said, and banged his staff on the ground twice.
The tiger shook his head and yawned at us, showing his teeth, before following Ezekiel back off stage.
We just took a deep breath and all looked at each other, and Rick shrugged his shoulders.
It's looks like we didn't have any other choice at this moment, so we went along with the King's plans.