𝐇𝐈𝐋𝐋𝐓𝐎𝐏
do re mi fa so fucking done with you

PUTTING one foot in front of the other, Octavia walked into the dinning room with her hands tucking her tank top into her jeans and she furrowed her brows as she sat down at the table. "So, how'd you get out?" 

"One guard can't cover two exits or third floor windows. Knots untie and locks get picked." Jesus shrugged, his lips smirking at her. "Entropy comes from order, right?" 

Smirking back, she shrugged. "Right." 

"I checked out your arsenal. I haven't seen anything like that in a long time. You're well-equipped, but your provisions are low. Very low for the amount of people you have," Jesus said quickly, furrowing his brows in thought and then asking, "Fifty-four?" 

"More than that," Octavia stayed truthfully.

"Well, I appreciate the cookie." Jesus cleared his throat, wiping the crumbs from his fingers. "My compliments to the chef." 

"Yeah, she ain't here," Daryl said angrily, his arms tightly crossed his chest while he stared down at Jesus. 

"Look, we got off to a bad start. But we're on the same side — the living side. You guys had every reason to leave me out there, but you didn't," Jesus began, turning his head back to Octavia. "I'm from a place that's a lot like this one. Part of my job is searching out other settlements to trade with. I took your truck because my community needs things, and you looked like trouble. Especially Octavia." She smirked at him. "I was wrong. You're good people and this is a good place. I think our communities may be in a position to help each other." 

Leaning forward, Glenn asked, "Do you have food?" 

"We've started to raise livestock." He nodded. "We scavenge, we grow. Everything from tomatoes to sorghum." 

"Tell us why we should believe you." Rick said, his voice rough while he sat back in his chair examining Jesus. 

"I'll show you," he offered them. "If we take a car, I can take you back home in a day, and you can all see for yourselves who we are and what we have to offer." 

"Wait, you're looking for more settlements." Maggie asked, her face scrunching into a tight and confused glance. "You mean you're already trading with other groups?" 

Smiling, Jesus nodded his head. "Your world's about to get a whole lot bigger."

ABOUT half an hour passed before the group started to feel the RV slow down on the road.

"Yo, Rick," Daryl called from where he and Octavia sat in the back. "What's going on?"

"We got a crash ahead," he said over his shoulder to them. "Looks like it just happened."

Getting up, Jesus walked forward and gasped. "It's one of ours," he said before racing out of the RV and down to the wrecked car that held one Walker inside.

Looking around, Rick turned Jesus towards him and glared. "If this is a trick, it won't end well for you."

"My people are in trouble. They don't — we don't have a lot of fighters. I know how it looks, but I'll play it out." He sighed and then ran his hand over his face. "Can I borrow a gun?"

"No," Daryl said sternly, shoving his way between them and looking over the mud in front of them. "We got tracks right here."

Following after Daryl, the rest of the group readied their knifes and guns, and jogged after him up towards a small building.

"They gotta be in there." Jesus said with his heavy breathing. "We moving in or what?"

"How do we know this ain't firecrackers in a trash can?" Octavia asked, her brows knitted together while trying to read over Jesus' body language.

"You don't," he said sternly, looking back to Rick.

"We'll get your people," Rick said, pulling the cuffs from his waist band. "You're staying here with two of us. That's the deal."

Turning around, Glenn looked to Octavia and Maggie. "Will you two stay?"

Nodding, Octavia grabbed her gun from her thigh and cocked it. "Yeah."

"Y'all go," Maggie agreed. "Just be careful."

"Yeah." Rick sighed, nodding to the doors after he cuffed Jesus. "We're gonna be careful." He pulled his weapons and nodded for Daryl to lead them in. "You hear me whistle, shoot him."

Raising her gun, Octavia held it to Jesus' head and clenched her jaw. "I will," she said with a deep promise.

IT took them only took about half an hour before the people were saved, and they were back on the road.

Traveling up to the front of the RV, Jesus furrowed his brows together and turned to one of his men that had been sitting there in silence the entire time with wide eyes. "You okay, Freddie?" He asked him. 

"For a second back there, just when I thought he was gonna —I saw my wife," he said, watching Abraham turn to the side. "She died before all this. Just when I thought it was over, there she was. Clear as day." 

Jesus rubbed his hand over his back before everyone flung forward with the RV.

Rick huffed before pressing the gas and then slammed his hands against the steering wheel.  "Damn it, a storm must've passed through," he said to everyone else behind him. "We're stuck." 

"No worries, we're here." Jesus smiled, looking through the windshield with a bright smile. "That's us. That's the Hilltop." 

Leading them outside, Rick, Michonne, and Octavia checked their surroundings before waving everyone off the RV.

The area looked untouched by everything. By people and mostly by the undead.

When Rick nodded everyone forward, they followed after Jesus and the other Hilltoppers towards two very large wooden gates.

"Stop right there," a man called, he and one other both holding spears as if ready to throw them. 

Immediately seeing the threat, everyone single one of Rick's people grabbed their guns and cocked them—aiming for the men up above.

Gasping at the suddenness they all moved in, Jesus threw his hands up. "Whoa!" 

"You gonna make us?" Rick asked them, his brow arched with one hand holding his pistol to them. 

"Jesus, what the hell is this?" One of the other men on the gate called down to the familiar face of one of their own. 

"Open the gates, Cal. Freddie's hurt," Jesus shouted back before turning back to Rick. "Look, sorry about these guys. They get antsy standing up there all day doing nothing!" 

"They give up the weapons," the other man shouted. "Then we'll open the gates." 

"Why don't you come down here and get 'em?" Daryl scoffed, moving forward to stand beside his girlfriend,

"Gentlemen, look, we vouch for these people, all right?" Harlan shouted, his arms wrapped around Freddie tightly to keep him standing. "They saved us out there." 

"Lower the spears!" Jesus demanded after a single moment. 

"Look, Rick and I are not taking any chances," Octavia told him. "Tell your guy Gregory to come out here," she demanded, clenching her jaw.

"No, don't you see what just happened? I'm not letting you keep your guns," he said turning back to the group behind him, every one of them on edge now. "Look, we ran out of ammo months ago. I like you people. I trust you. Trust us." 

Rick took a breath and turned his gaze back to Octavia, as if silently asking for her call. She looked back at him and then to Jesus — who was looking to her as well. She took a breath and lowered her gun, sliding it into her holster and nodded. 

Jesus turned to Rick who shrugged weakly and then he smiled before turning back around. "Open the gates, Cal." 

When the gates opened, Octavia's eyes widened at the camp they had built.

"Hey, thanks again," Harlan said while walking away from the group stepping inside. "Come see me whenever. I'm just over here in the medical trailer, okay?" 

"There was a materials yard for a power company nearby. That's how we put up the walls," Jesus began to explain to them.

Octavia scanned the high walls around them and then turned to see the large mansion-like house that seemed to be the center of Hilltop.

"A lot of people came from a FEMA camp. Trailers came with them," Jesus finished.

"How did people find out about this place?" Glenn asked, his brows rose with shock at all the people here. 

"That's called Barrington House. The family that owned it gave it to the state in the '30s. The state turned it into a living history museum, every elementary school for 50 miles used to come here for field trips," Jesus told them, pointing to the house. "The place was running a long time before the modern world built up around it. I think people came here because they figured it'd keep running after the modern world broke down. Those windows up there let us see for miles in every direction. It's perfect for security."

He smiled and then turned and waved them forward. "Come on, I'll show you inside." 

Following Jesus slowly, the group stepped inside the massively large house and gasped.

Abraham was the first to say, "Good gracious, Ignatius." 

"Most of the rooms have been converted to living spaces," Jesus told them, his hands sliding into the pockets of his jeans. "Even the ones that weren't bedrooms." 

"People live here and the trailers?" Octavia asked, turning to the man with the amazing beard.

"We plan to build." He smiled, his eyes drifting to Maggie's stomach. "There's babies being born." 

As he said that, two wide doors to the side of them flung open and an older man stepped through with a large smile.  "Jesus. You're back," he said and then quickly dropped his excitement and sighed. "With guests." 

"Everyone, this is Gregory," Jesus said moving across the room to his leader. "He keeps the trains running on time around here." 

"I'm the boss," clarified for them each rather quickly and harshly. 

"Well, I'm Rick," Rick said, stepping forward with knitted brows. "And this is Octavia." He gestured to the Winchester who stepped up beside him. "We have a community—" 

"Why don't y'all go get cleaned up, hmm?" Gregory cut him off, avoiding any type of eye contact with him, and instead looked over the women in the group. 

"We're fine," Rick said sternly, suddenly showing the rest of them how much he already hated Gregory. 

"Jesus will show you where you can get washed up. Then come back down here when you're ready," Gregory insisted, this time finally meeting Rick's eyes. "It's hard to keep this place clean." 

"Yeah." Rick scoffed at him and watched him step back into his office. "Sure." 

Clearing his throat, Jesus motioned them upstairs. "Follow me," said gently. 

Taking the stairs with Rick beside her, Octavia turned to him when he grabbed her arm. "You clean up first," he said quietly. "You talk to him first. I can't. If I do, I'll probably punch him in the face. You do better at self-control than I. So, will you? I can get Maggie if–"

"No." Octavia shook her head. " I don't trust him. Maggie is pregnant. I don't want her near him, got it?" She gave him a look and he nodded.

"Yeah. I don't trust him either."

OCTAVIA'S fist was clenched when she rose it and knocked against the wooden door. She stood there for a moment and listened to his feet moving across the floor and then the doors flung open.

"Gregory," she greeted, raising her head slightly.

Smirking in the most sexist way possible, Gregory snapped his fingers and pointed at her. "Olivia, right?"

"Octavia," she corrected him immediately and walked into the office, giving little care to the fact he hadn't invited her in just yet.

"That's pretty close." He shrugged, closing the doors behind her.

Scoffing, she turned back to him and pointed out, "Not even a little."

"She calls them like she sees them. I like that." He smiled at her, his eyes running up and down her body.

Octavia was no longer a pale while skinned girl anymore. Her skin has grown darker from the constant sun on her, and she had also grown skinner with the lack of food. Her cheek bones were more prominent and so was her jawline which looked like their could cut someone.

She ignored his comment and walked across the room towards the fireplace.

"I — I came to this place once before, when it was a museum, this, um, Chamber of Commerce thing. Love that painting," Gregory said, his hands clasped behind his back. "I never figured it'd be mine, yet here it is. It's like it was waiting for me the whole time."

"Hmm." She nodded, turning around and walking passed him to sit herself down on the couch behind them.

"Jesus told me your group saved Dr. Carson," He said, turning slowly to join her. "Obviously, a doctor's a rare commodity today, so I want to thank you for bringing ours back."

"My friend Glenn did," she clarified for him sternly.

"I'll be sure to thank him, too," he said, nodding his head to her and lowering himself down.

"This place, what you have here, has been here since the start?" She asked him, motioning around them.

"That's right," Gregory told her.

"And how have you survived here?" She asked.

"You're looking at how. I'm good at this and I don't get hung up on the details," he said smugly before leaning himself back against the couch. "Where you live, is it as nice as the Hilltop Colony?"

Shrugging, Octavia thought of something to say. "Nicer," she stated, smirking. "And it's different."

"How do you feed everyone?" He asked her, getting to the point. "Jesus said you had land for gardens, but no crops."

"We just started planting," she admitted, knowing that Maggie was working harder than ever to get the crops to grow.

"Planting what?" He asked, cocking his head to the side. "Cucumbers, tomatoes—"

"Oh, crops — soy, corn, hemp, sorghum. Garden stuff."

He cut her off, causing Octavia to bite her tongue. "But you have guns, so I assume you have a decent weapons cache."

Raising her brows, she shrugged. "It's decent."

"And your infirmary, is it stocked?"

"Is yours?" She snarked back and he chuckled lightly. "We came here hoping to talk trade. Do you have enough here for that?"

"You see what I have here. You see what I've built," he said, avoiding the question once again by trying to boast himself with praise he didn't deserve. "Jesus said that your food situation was challenged right now. You don't keep people fed, it comes apart."

Octavia's jaw locked into place and her fists began to clench together. She was seconds from jumping over the small coffee table to ring him out by the neck but she composed herself.

"Let's speak the common tongue here, huh? You don't have shit," Gregory spat back at her and leaned forward on his knees. "Now, I'm happy to help. I'm a nice guy but we can't just give things away for free. How's this? Since you can't offer much, I'll let your people work here for their share. You'd be a welcome addition to the community, a smart and beautiful woman. Getting back to that common tongue, I can tell ya, I can make it worth your while."

"I'm just gonna stop you right there," Octavia  told him strongly, her eyes narrowing the longer she looked at him.

"Listen, honey."

"Stop coming on to me with calling me honey." Octavia snapped and he flinched ever so slightly. "You don't have any ammunition."

"Who said that?" He asked her, a smirk covering his wrinkled lips again.

"You're low on medication," she continued, avoiding the answer like he had done. "You obviously don't have any ammunition. You're low on medication. I need things. We need things. You see where I'm going with this?"

"What, are you gonna give us a bottle of aspirin and a box of bullets?" He chuckled, shaking his head at her and getting to his feet. "Our communities can help each other." Genevieve pointed out the plain and hard truth. "Thank you, Olivia." He huffed and adjusted his jacket. "Been a good talk."

Ignoring the blunt disrespect he had given her, Octavia approached his desk and scoffed. "We can help each other."

"We're doing fine?" he challenged her. "Are you?"

"WE want to generate trade. Gregory does." Jesus sighed. "But ammo isn't something we urgently need." 

"Well, how's that?" Rick asked him. 

"The walls hold. We just brought in more medicine." Jesus shrugged. "Gregory wants the best deal possible." 

"Yeah, well, we want things, too," Octavia said sternly, her arms crossed. "We need food and we came all this way, we're gonna get it." 

"I will talk to him and we will work this out. Circumstances change," Jesus said looking over each of their faces. "We're doing well now, and you will next. I will make him understand that. Can you give me a few days?" 

Nodding her head, Michonne answered for Rick, "We can." 

"Yeah." He sighed before the slamming of the gates echoed through and Jesus turned to the doors rather quickly with Gregory following him. 

"What's wrong?" Maggie called to them, the rest of their group following behind. 

"They're back!" The people of Hilltop shouted when the group stepped outside and saw a small group of people coming in. 

"Nathan, what happened to everybody else?" Jesus asked, jogging down the stairs. "Where's Tim and Marsha?" 

"They're dead," the man that they learned to be Nathan said, holding back tears.

Nodding, Gregory then asked, "Negan?" When his guess turned to be facts, Gregory huffed. "We had a deal." 

"He said it wasn't enough," Nathan said harshly to his leader. "Was the drop light?" 

Shaking his head, Gregory swallowed. "No." 

"They still have Craig," Ethan said, his eyes staring at the ground. "They said they'd keep him alive, return him to us, if I deliver a message to you." 

Shrugging, Gregory waved him onwards. "So, tell me." 

"I'm sorry," Ethan said, he reached into his waistband and shoved his hand forward. It wasn't until Gregory screamed and was on the ground bleeding before everyone realized he had been stabbed.

Rushing forward, Octavia was the first to swing her fist. But, he swung the knife at her, which she caught his wrist twisted it, kicked him in the gut, swung him to the ground, straddled him and started punching him.

"Get off of me!" Ethan screamed. "I had to!" 

Rick barreled into the guy who had just got the upper hand on Octavia, but got knocked to the ground, and straddled by the guy. "Stay back! Anybody who tried to stop me is killing my brother!" He held a knife to Rick's throat,

"Drop it," Octavia hissed and the guy turned to her, giving Rick enough time to stab him in the neck, killing him.

They looked up to everyone to see them all looking at them in shock.

AFTER sitting in the office for what had to of been almost two hours, Jesus walked in and addressed the group. "Dr. Carson was able to patch Gregory up," he said. "He's in pain, but he'll live." 

"So, what happens now?" Glenn asked, his arms crossed over his chest as he stood next to where Maggie sat. 

"Things like that don't usually happen here, but, uh, it's settled." He nodded, rubbing his neck forcefully. 

"We heard the name Negan," Octavia spoke up on the subject. "A while back, Daryl and Abraham had a run-in with his men. Who is he?" 

"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," Jesus told them, his lips licking nervously like just talking about him would make him appear. "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." 

"He made the deal." Octavia nodded, realizing quickly what had happened.

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

"And what do you get in return?" She asked furrow. 

"They don't attack this place," he stated. "They don't kill us." 

"Why not just kill them?" Maggie shrugged, her face turning back to Jesus with utter curiosity. 

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

"Well, how many people does Negan have?" Rick asked him, lowering himself down onto the edge of the desk. 

"We don't know," He admitted. "We've seen groups as big as twenty."

"Now, hold up. So, they show up, they kill a kid, and you give them half of everything?" Daryl asked, pushing up to his feet and looking over at Jesus. "These dicks just got a good story. The bogeyman, he ain't shit." 

"Well, how do you know?" He asked for further proof on that statement. 

"A month ago, we took his guys out PDQ." Abraham shrugged from the couch. "Left them in pieces and puddles." 

"You know, we'll do it," Daryl said waving his arms out like it was nothing. "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." 

Shrugging at the idea, Octavia said, "Confrontation's never been something we've had trouble with."

"I'll take it to Gregory." Jesus shrugged then. He didn't see the harm in the idea, so he turned and left them to discuss. 

Taking a breath, Octavia looked up and saw all eyes already on her. "Who's ready for another fight?"