The start

The bogeyman, he ain't shit

We all stayed in a room as they settled Gregory in his room. I sat in a chair next to Daryl as Rick sat on the end of it.

"Dr. Carson was able to patch Gregory up. He's in pain, but he'll live. So, what happens now? Things like that don't usually happen here, but, uh, it's settled." Jesus comes in the room.

"We heard the name Negan. A while back, Daryl and Abraham had a run-in with his men. Who is he?" Rick asked.

"Negan's the head of a group of people he calls the Saviors. As soon as the walls were built, the Saviors showed up. They met with Gregory on behalf of their boss. They made a lot of demands, even more threats. And he killed one of us-- Rory. He was 16 years old. They beat him to death right in front of us. Said we needed to understand, right off the bat. Gregory's not exactly good at confrontation. He's not the leader I would've chosen, but he helped make this place what it is, and the people like him." Jesus tells us.

"He made the deal." Maggie says.

"Half of everything. Our supplies, our crops, our livestock, it goes to the Saviors."

"And what do you get in return?" Glenn asked.

"They don't attack this place. They don't kill us." Jesus looks at the ground.

"Why not just kill them?" Daryl asked.

"Most of the people here don't even know how to fight, even if we had ammo."

"Well, how many people does Negan have?" Rick ask.

"We don't know. We've seen groups as big as 20." Jesus shrugs his shoulders.

"Now, hold up. So, they show up, they kill a kid, and you give them half of everything? These dicks just got a good story. The bogeyman, he ain't shit." Daryl says.

"Well, how do you know?" Jesus looks at him carefully.

"A month ago, we took his guys out PDQ. Left them in pieces and puddles." Abraham states.

"You know, we'll do it. If we go get your man back, kill Negan, take out his boys, will you hook us up? We want food, medicine, and one of them cows." Daryl tell him. Jesus looks at Rick.

"Confrontation's never been something we've had trouble with." Rick agrees. I don't like this.

"Wait a second." I stop them. I get up off the chair and pace.

"We don't know who this Negan guy is. As we are talking we are learning little by little. We barely have enough information. We can fight. We can protect ourselves. Sure, we could take this guy out. Just this guy. We don't know how many people he has. We don't know how many weapons he has. We don't know." Everyone looks at me.

"You said this guy comes in groups of 20 correct?" I point my finger at Jesus.

"That's right. Maybe even more people. I highly doubt he would bring all his people with him just to come here." He shrugs his shoulders.

"You have spears. You could have just stopped him at the gate. Why haven't you?"

"He has weapons. Automatic guns, knives, machetes and more. There's so many more of them. My people can't fight." Jesus shakes his head.

"Now look at the risk if we go against this Negan guy and his group. You seen the positives of what we'll get out of this. This guy gets us, this guy might kill a few of us. Maybe even take Alexandria away from us. Are we willing to risk that? Are we willing to risk all the people's lives in Alexandria? Are we willing to risk our own life? I am. I'm just making sure that we've all thought this through. Make sure that we've looked at it several different angles not just what we will get out of it." I finally say. Daryl stands by me. Rick thinks for a few minutes at the room was silent.

"We need this." Rick says.

"I'll take it to Gregory." Jesus says. He looks over me and nods his head. Something about this guy seems off.

Maggie came back and told us that there was a deal. The hilltoppers started providing us with supplies. We get to have half of their supplies today as we take out Negan and his group soon.

"Even Negan didn't get this much up front." Jesus says as we load up the RV. Rick sets the basket down as the guy that tried to choke Abraham to death comes walking up.

"What?" He asked.

"Jesus said you've been taking supplies to Negan since the beginning. We're gonna get Craig back." Rick says.

"The only way to get Craig back is to bring them Gregory's head." The guy asked in a matter of fact tone.

"We're gonna get Craig back."

"How?" The guy asked.

"We need to know what you know about Negan's compound. We need your help. We need you to come." Rick tells him.

"Yeah. Okay." The guy agrees as he gets in the RV. I go up to the bench and grab a basket and load it into the RV. I sit down in the RV as Daryl sits down next to me.

"Hey you." He pokes my stomach.

"Hey." I poke him back and kiss his lips. My head lays on his shoulder as he intertwines our fingers together. Everyone gets into the van as Rick starts driving out of Hilltop. Glenn pulls out a piece of paper and hands it to Michonne. She smiles at it and hands it to Daryl and I. It was an ultrasound picture. Daryl hands it to me as I look at it closely. She had to be a month or two. I hand it back to Daryl and point at the figure in the black oval.

"That's the baby." I say as I lean into his chest. He nods his head and hands the picture over to Abraham. His arms wrap around me. Jesus looks at all of us. He knows we are family. That we will protect each other no matter what. That's how the world works. Protect each other or fight each other.