Daughter of the Fallen

Rock in the Road

You know, sometimes it's really hard to resist punching Gregory in the face.

As Rick kept trying to convince him to fight with us, I was on the verge of doing a little self meditation to remain in my seat.

"No!" Gregory denied for the 50th time. "No way in h*ll. That was not the deal. You people swore you could take out the Saviors, and you failed."

"We did a h*ll of a lot better than you did, didn't we?" I finally snapped.

He looked over at me and squinted his eyes. "Brittany, just stop talking."

I stood up. "You wanna say that again?" I challenged, taking a step forward.

Carl grabbed my hand, holding me back.

He rolled his eyes. "Anyway, any arrangement that we had is now done, null and void. We aren't trade partners, we aren't friends. And we never met. We don't know each other." He sat down and looked at Rick. "I owe you nothing. In fact, you owe me for taking in the refugees, at great personal risk."

"Oh, you were very brave for staying in here while Maggie and Sasha saved this place," Jesus shot back. "Your courage is inspiring."

I chuckled as Gregory responded. "Hey, don't you work for me? Aren't we friends?"

"Gregory," Rick spoke up. "We already started this."

"You started this."

"We did. And we're gonna win."

"These are killers!"

"Is this how you wanna live? Under their thumb? Killing your people."

"Sometimes we don't get to choose what our life looks like. Sometimes, Ricky, you have to count the blessings you have."

Maggie walked over. "How many people can we spare? How many people here can fight?"

"We?" Gregory asked. "I don't even know how many people we have, Margaret. And does it even matter? Are you gonna start a platoon of sorghum farmers? Because that's what we have. They're not gonna want to fight."

"You're wrong," I informed him, taking a step forward. "When people have the chance to do the right thing, they usually step up."

Gregory put his hand up. "Let me stop you before you break into song, okay?"

Carl gave him a death glare as I gritted my teeth, willing myself not to kill him.

"And by the way," Gregory continued. "Who would train all this canon fodder?"

My mom, Rosita, and I all volunteered.

"Rhetorical!" he responded. "I don't wanna know! I never wanna hear another word about any of it, ever."

"Would we be better off without the Saviors?" Rick asked, clearly fed up. "Yes or no?"

"Yeah. Sure. Okay."

"So what will you do to fix the problem?" Michonne asked.

"I didn't say we had a problem. You did. And what happens outside my purview is outside of my purview."

"What the h*ll, man?" Daryl spoke up. "You're either with us or you ain't. You're sitting there talking out both sides of your mouth."

Gregory stood up. "I think I've made my position very clear. And I want to thank all of you for not being here today, not having this meeting with me or being seen on your way out. In other words, go out the back."

Rick walked out and everyone followed him, but before I did, I walked up to Gregory's desk and leaned on it.

"And by the way," I told him. "It's Bree. Not Brittany. If you do happen to call me that ever again, I'll make it so that another word can't come out of your mouth ever again. Got it?" I flipped him off before walking out.

"We don't need him anyway," Daryl said.

"That's right," Rick agreed. "Because we have Maggie, Sasha, and Jesus here."

"And," Maggie continued as the door opened. "Enid."

We turned as Enid walked in.

"Hey," she said like she had something big to tell us.

"What's wrong?" my mom asked.

"Nothing," she promised. "Just...come outside."

We have each other confused looks before following her outside.

A small group of people from Hilltop were standing at the base of the steps.

Maggie walked forward. "What's going on?"

"Hey," one of the women greeted. "If you don't remember, I'm Bertie. And I owe my life to you all, twice over. All of us do. Enid says that you want Gregory to get us to fight the Saviors with you. Is that true?"

"Yes," Maggie confirmed.

"Do you think we could win? Do you think that we really could beat them? Us?"

"I do."

Bertie sighed. "Enid says you could show us the way. I'm ready." The rest of the group voiced their agreement.

Carl and I exchanged hopeful glances.

Good job, Enid.

•••

"It's a start," Michonne said optimistically as we made our way to the gate.

"We'll get more," my mom added. "But it still won't be enough."

"No, it won't," Rosita agreed.

"Well, we find the right stuff," Daryl explained. "Maybe we don't need the numbers. We'll blow them up, burn them to the ground."

"You said there weren't just soldiers with the Saviors," Tara mentioned. "That there were workers there. People that didn't have a choice?"

"Yeah," Daryl confirmed. "We gotta win."

"We need more hands," Rick strategized. "Another group. Negan has outposts. The geography, the distance works against us. We gotta get back. If they come looking for Daryl, we need to be there."

"You don't have to get back," Jesus offered. We stopped walking a turned to face him. "Not yet." He held up a walkie talkie. "It's one of theirs, long range. We can listen it, keep track of them."

"So if we're not going back, what are we doing?" I asked, crossing my arms.

"I think it's time I introduced you to Ezekiel," he answered. "King Ezekiel."

Rick voiced what we all were thinking. "King?"