philophobia|| the walking dead

twenty-nine.

CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE,
king ezekiel.

"No! No way in hell." Gregory yelled, "that was not the deal. You people swore you could take the Saviors out, and you failed. Any arrangement we had is now done- null and void. We aren't trade partners, we aren't friends, and we never met. Hmm? We don't know each other?" Gregory sat down and the entire group stared at him. "I owe you nothing. In fact, you owe me for taking in the refugees, at great personal risk. One even had a baby!"

"Oh, you were very brave staying in here Maggie, Sasha, and Aiden saved this place. Your courage was inspiring." Jesus said sarcastically to the man.

"Hey, don't you work for me?" Gregory asked him and Aiden scoffed and rolled her eyes.  "Aren't we friends?"

"Gregory, you already started this." Rick stepped up.

"You started it." Gregory turned his attention from Jesus to Rick.

"We did. And we're gonna win." Rick said confidently.

"These are killers." Gregory rose his voice.

"So are we," Aiden shrugged.

"Is this how you wanna live? Under their thumb, kill your people?" Rick quizzed.

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

"How many people can we spare? How many people here can fight?" Maggie stepped up and asked Gregory.

"We?" He asked, "I don't even know how many people we have, Margaret. And does it even matter? I mean... w-w-what are you gonna do? Start a platoon of sorghum farmers? Cause that's what we got. They grow things. They're not gonna want to fight."

"You're wrong." Tara said from beside the Dixon couple. "When people have the change to do the right thing, they usually just step up. I mean, people just-" Gregory stopped her.

"L-let me stop you before you break into song, okay?" He cleared just throat, "and, by the way, who would train all this cannon fodder?"

"I will." Sasha stated.

"Give me a week." Rosita said.

"I will, douchebag." Aiden piped.

Gregory looked at the three women before stating in a sing-song voice, "rhetorical, okay? I don't wanna know. I never want to hear another word about any of it, ever."

"Would we be better off without the Saviors, yes or no?" Rick said. Aiden could feel the anger radiating off of his body.

"Yeah. Sure. Okay." Gregory replied.

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

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

"You think we don't have a problem because you're the Saviors bitch." Aiden said loudly. Gregory looked at her, shock wrote all over his face.