Didn't See That Coming | The Walking Dead(1)

Part 77 (If This Is The Next World...)

An hour after the group returned to Alexandria, Rick had called a meeting in the church. Nearly everyone in Alexandria had shown up to hear about what had gone down at the Hilltop. CJ sat near the back of the church as she listened to Rick. She was scratching the back of her hand and bouncing her leg nervously as she felt that same uneasy feeling from before. 

When she was with Josh, CJ would often wake up with the same feeling. The fear of not knowing how the day was going to go was always lingering at the back of her mind. Even on the days when Josh wasn't angry, when he was nothing but good to her. The few good days in amongst the bad were still tainted with that underlying thought of, 'something is about to go wrong'.

You know that feeling you get when you can sense that something is wrong, even though nothing bad has actually happened yet? Well, that's how CJ felt. And she had no idea why. As Rick talked about fighting the Saviors, she felt her stomach turn with the thought of starting a fight. 

"... And we can work with the Hilltop. Maggie hammered out a deal," Rick went on to explain. "We're getting food, eggs, butter, fresh vegetables. But they're not just giving it away. These Saviors, they almost killed Sasha, Daryl and Abraham on the road. Now, sooner or later, they would've found us. Just like those Wolves did. Just like Jesus did. They would have killed someone. Or some of us. And then they would try to own us. And we would try to stop them. By then, in that kind of fight, low on food, we could lose. This is the only way to be sure, as sure as we can get, that we win. And we have to win. We do this for the Hilltop, it's how we keep this place. It's how we feed this place. This needs to be a group decision. Anybody objects, here's your chance to say your piece."

CJ was glad she chose to sit by herself at the back, because she was sure she could hear her heartbeat. Why am I so nervous? she kept asking herself in her head. She should be ready to stand by this plan. She was ready. She just couldn't shake this feeling.

There was a moment of silence before Morgan stood up, and everyone turned their attention to him. "You really think we can do it?" he asked. "We can beat 'em?"

"What this group has done, what we've learned, what we've become," Rick nodded. "All of us, yes. I'm sure."

"Then all we have to do is just tell them that," Morgan replied.

"Well, they don't compromise," Rick said.

"This ain't a compromise," Morgan shot back. "It's a choice you give them. It's a way out. For them, for all of us."

"We try and talk to the Saviors, we give up our advantage, our safety. No. We have to come for them, before they come for us," Rick argued firmly. "We can't leave them alive."

"Where there's life, there's possibility," Morgan spoke with meaning.

"Of them hitting us," Rick countered.

"We're not trapped in this," Morgan said, turning to address not just Rick, but everyone. "None of you are trapped in this."

Rick sighed with his hands on his hips. "Morgan... They always come back."

"Come back when they're dead too," Morgan said.

"Yeah, we'll stop them," Rick responded. "We have before."

"I'm not talkin' about the walkers," Morgan muttered.

"Morgan wants to talk to them first," Rick spoke to the group, slightly agitated. "I think that would be a mistake, but it's not up to me. I'll talk to the people still at home. I'll discuss it with the people on guard now, too. But who else wants to approach the Saviors, talk to them first?"