Ellie Dixon

Hilltop

The RV was coming to a stop. Jesus had convinced us to go to this Hilltop place. It was me, Maggie, Glenn, Sophia, Rick, Michonne, Carl, dad, Abraham, Eric, Aaron and obviously Jesus. On the way there, we'd had to make a stop to save a few of Jesus' friends from walkers when they'd been cornered in an old store.

"A storm must have passed through. We're stuck." Rick announced to us all.

"No worries. We're here." Jesus responded.

Dad stepped out of the RV first, into a very large and very muddy pile of, well... Mud. He turned around and put his arm around my waist to carry me with one arm, before placing me on the dry grass. He went to do the same for Sophia, but she was already two feet in the mud, staring up at the wooden walls on a small hilltop in front of us.

"That's us. That's the Hilltop." Jesus stated.

We started walking along a path, up to the gates. Weapons in hand. "Stop right there!" A man ordered us, as he and another man were clearly standing on platforms, hidden behind the wooden walls. They pointed their spears at us, so we pointed our guns at them.

Jesus put his back to them, facing us with his arms out. "Woah."

"You gonna make us?" Dad questioned.

"Jesus, what the hell is this?" The same man asked.

"Open the gates, Cal. Freddie's hurt." Jesus ordered, still with his hands up, but now standing sideways so he could see both his people and our people depending on how he angled his head. He then turned to us. "Look, sorry about these guys. They get antsy standing up there all day doing nothing."

"They give up the weapons. Then we'll open the gates." Cal replied.

"Why don't you come down here and get them?" Dad suggested, his tone clearly showing that he was suggesting a fight, not a peaceful hand over.

One of the men we rescued, who's a doctor, stepped forward. "Gentlemen, look, we vouch for these people. They saved us out there."

"Lower the spears." Jesus ordered.

Rick stepped forward to talk to Jesus. "Look, I'm not taking any chances. Tell your Gregory guy to come out here."

"No." Jesus instantly denied, turning back to Rick. "Don't you see what just happened? I'm letting you keep your guns. Look, we ran outta ammo months ago. I like you people. I trust you. Trust us." Jesus tried, Rick seemed hesitant but he nodded. Jesus turned back to his men. "Open the gates, Cal."

The only part of the wooden walls that was metal, was the gates. They slowly squeaked open and revealed this new community. In the centre was a large brick house, more like a mansion, probably did class as a mansion. Around the outskirts, was metal caravans, not sure what they're called, but it seemed to be people living in them. To our left I saw wooden shelters, they seemed to have a blacksmith. Then, I saw them... The chickens. "Oh my god, the chickens." I said happily, trying to run forward to them, but dad grabbed my shirt and pulled me back, a subtle shake of his head was enough for me to not pull out of his grip. "But I wanna see the chickens." I muttered.

As we passed the chicken coop, there was a nice looking lady inside who was feeding them. She smiled at me when she saw me gawking at the little clucking animals. "You can look at the chickens later, El." Sophia gently pushed me away from the chickens.

"But they're so cute." I complained, as we continued walking up a path towards the big brick mansion. 

I had missed most of was Jesus had said about the walls, but I tuned in eventually. "That's called Barrington House. The family that owned it gave it to the state in the thirties. The state turned it into a living history museum. Every elementary school for fifty miles use to come here for school 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 would keep running after the modern world broke down." He then pointed to the very top of the house where there seemed to be a miniature tower. "Those windows up there let us see for fifty miles in every direction. It's perfect for security... Come on, I'll show you inside."