meanstreak
rick grimes 𝘹 fem!𝘰𝘤
© WANDARYEN ──── 2024

We sat down at the dining room table with the sunrise now peaking through the windows and Paul sitting at the end of the table while being surrounded by a few of us.

It was Rick, Michonne, Carl, Glenn, Maggie, and I sitting at the table as Sasha and Abraham stood near the door.

I had my arms crossed over my chest as Rick was leaning forward with his arm over the table. "So, how'd you get out?" He was the first to ask the question.

Paul looked between the handful of us before shrugging his shoulders in defeat with a small smile. "One guard can't cover two exists." Daryl slowly circled behind him, making sure he wasn't going to make any sudden movement's against us. "Or third floor windows," Paul explained. "Knots untie and locks get picked. Entropy comes from order, right?"

"Right," Daryl agreed as he now pressed his back against the wall.

Paul looked down at his hands as Rick leaned back in his chair. "I checked out your arsenal," he admitted. "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. 54?"

"More than that," Maggie spoke up from beside me.

He slowly nodded his head, "well I appreciate the cookie. Compliments to the chef."

"She's not here right now," Daryl muttered.

Paul glanced over at Daryl then sighed before shifting in his chair to face the three of us like we were grouped back on the road. "Look, we got off on the wrong foot. We're on the same side — the living side. You, Rick, and Sienna had every reason to leave me out there, but you didn't. I'm from a place that's a lot like this one," he explained. "Part of my job is searching out other settlements to trade with. I took your truck because my community needs things. And the three of you looked like trouble."

"I was wrong," He admitted, continuing. "You're good people. And this is a good place. I think our communities may be in position to help each other."

"Do you have food?" Glenn was the first to ask.

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

"Tell us why we should believe you," Rick suddenly spoke up.

Paul looked over at Rick, "I'll show you. 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."

I shifted in my seat — resting my arms across the table, pointing into the wood. "You said this is your job — finding other settlements to trade with?"

Paul looked over at me now and nodded his head. "So theres more than one settlement that you're trading with?" A wide smile slowly stretched across his face as he leaned back in the chair, raising his eyebrows at me. "Your world's about to get a whole lot bigger."

"This is either going to be the best decision or the worst," I admitted as I stood between Rick and Carl while Rick held onto Judith. "But there's only one way to find out," I added before dropping my arms and gently squeezing Carl's shoulder. "Are you coming with?"

He shook his head and smiled. "I'll stay here and keep watch. A kid with a messed-up face probably wouldn't make the best first impression anyway."

I shook my head and wrapped my arms around his shoulders, pulling him into my chest tightly for a hug. Our height difference was only but an inch, giving me the chance to rest my head on top of his whenever we embraced each other in a hug.

"We'll be back," Rick promised as we pulled away and he handed Judith off to her brother. "I promise."

I leaned forward and kissed Judith's head before picking up my bag from the ground and swinging it over my shoulder. Rick and I entered the vehicle first, myself getting situated in the passenger seat while Rick sat behind the wheel.

Maggie and Glenn were next, followed by Sasha, Abraham, and Michonne.

The drive was quiet and Maggie was already fast asleep in the seats behind us with Glenn by her side.

The drive was becoming longer and longer than what I originally thought it would take. I kept glancing over at Rick to read his facial expressions, making sure he wasn't having any worry or second thoughts. But for the moment he seemed calm and collected. I almost wanted to ask how he felt about the situation, but with Paul sitting right behind me, I didn't want to stir up any unnecessary arguing.

"That's it," Paul spoke up. "That's hilltop."

I leaned forward in the seat and saw the large red walls coming into view the closer we got. I could barely make out a house towards the back of the settlement, my eyes slightly widening at the view as Rick parked the van out front.

We climbed out with our weapons in grasp, still being cautious as Paul walked out in front of us to greet the two men on watch behind the wall. "I brought back a few people," Paul called out. "They're willing to trade with us. I want them to speak with Gregory, open up."

"We're taking their weapons," one replied back.

"I'm not taking any chances," Rick spoke to Paul. "Tell your man Gregory to come out here."

Paul shook his head and turned to Rick. "I can't do that. I'm letting you keep your weapons, but that's it." He turned back around and called up to his men again. "Open the gates Cal!"

After a silent moment, the tall rusted gates slowly started to open and Paul led us into the settlement. I looked around the area to take in our sights, noticing the crops and very little people they had here at camp. There was the big white house, untouched by the dead and ruins, with trailers parked on the opposite end of the wall.

Paul led us up towards the one standing house — opening the front door and we all gathered inside, but immediately taken back by the beauty the house held.

Everything was still so well put together. Clean and spacious for anyone who lived here. Paul said it was turned into a museum awhile back, that the pictures were still hanging up on the wall with candles and vases.

"Most of the rooms have been converted to living spaces," he explained. "Even the ones that weren't bedrooms."

lPeople live here and the trailers?" Rick asked as he turned his head around to take in the view of the house. "We plan to build," Paul nodded.

"It's beautiful," I sighed with a smile. "It reminds you of home a little bit, doesn't it?" I looked towards my sister and she nodded in agreement.

Suddenly the doubled doors to my left opened wide and an older man was standing in the center. "Jesus," he greeted Paul. "You're back — with guests." Paul nodded his head and gestured towards the older man. "Everyone, this is Gregory. He keeps the trains running on time around here."

Gregory held his arms up, "I'm the boss."

Rick nodded finally, "well I'm Rick, this is Sienna." He nodded to me beside him. "We have a community — "

"Why don't yall go get cleaned up, hm?" Gregory suggested while gesturing towards the stairs before placing his hands on his hips. I raised my eyebrows as Rick stood still in his spot. "We're fine."

"Jesus will show you where you can get washed up," Gregory turned to Paul then started walking towards Rick. "Then you can come back down when you're ready." He stood toe to toe now with Rick — causing me to eternally sigh while taking one cautious step to the side. "It's hard to keep this place clean."

Rick ran his tongue on his lower lip, "yeah, sure."

"Follow me," Paul requested, walking past Rick and started going up the stairs as we slowly followed behind. I walked behind Rick and Maggie followed beside me as Rick slightly turned his head to speak towards us. "You two clean up first, you talk to him."

"Why?" I furrowed my eyebrows.

Rick inhaled deeply, "I shouldn't." He admitted and I looked over my shoulder, down towards Gregory as he watched us disappear to the second floor.

When my sister and I finished cleaning up just like Gregory had requested, we walked back down to the first floor and entered his office calmly while the others finished getting cleaned up or waiting outside by the stairs.

"Gregory," I greeted the man with my sister following behind me.

He was sitting at his desk with a pile of papers spread out in front of him and an empty glass sitting on his desk. "Susie and Natalie right?"

I narrowed my eyes at the man a little too quickly. "It's Sienna and Maggie," I corrected gently as my sister shut the door behind us. "That's pretty close," he waved his arms and my sister furrowed her eyebrows. "Not really."

Gregory laughed before standing up. "She calls them like she sees them. I like that." He walked towards the both of us and gestured towards the room, in which we entered fully and started to look around.

I was memorized by the amount of books he had in his office, my fingers already itching to look at his collection. Or, the collection he found.

"I—I came to this place once before, when it was a museum." He began to explain, "this chamber of commerce thing." I exhaled slowly and watched him take a seat on a love couch before my sister and I sat down in the chairs across from him. "What you have here," I begin, "has it been here since the start?"

Gregory nodded, "that's right."

"And how is it--how have you survived here?" Maggie asked.

"You're looking at how," Gregory shrugged. "I'm good at this. And I don't get hung up on the details. Where you live, is it as nice as the Hilltop colony?"

I nodded my head but then shrugged, "Yes but different. We're a town."

Gregory slowly nodded his head, "how do you guys feed everyone? Jesus said you had land for gardens but no crops."

"We just started planting," Maggie explained.

"Planting what?"

"Cucumbers, tomatoes."

Gregory leaned back in his chair, "oh, crops — soy, corn, hemp, sorghum." Maggie nodded her head, "garden stuff."

"But you have guns, so I assume you have a decent weapons cache."

I adjusted myself in the chair and slightly leaned forward, "It's pretty decent. Keeps us alive," I admitted truthfully.

Gregory met my stare now, "and your infirmary, is it stocked?" I inhaled gently through my nose as I narrowed my eyes at the man. "Is yours?" I then challenged. "We came here to talk trade, just like Jesus promised us. Do you have enough here for that?"

Gregory squinted his old eyes at me, "you see what I have here. You see what i've built. Jesus said that your food situations was challenged right now. You don't keep people fed, it comes apart." His voice became stern and his stare was much more intense now. "Let's speak the common tongue here, yeah?" He then leaned forward and rest his elbows across his knees. "You don't have shit. Now i'm happy to help, i'm a nice guy. But we cant just give things away for free." I ran my tongue over the inside of my cheek as we both continued to let the man speak. "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, smart and beautiful women. Getting back to that common tongue, I can tell ya, I can make it worth your while."

I exhaled slowly, "Respectfully, I'm going to stop you right there."

"Listen honey--"

I heard Maggie mumble something inaudible beside me but I chose to ignore her. "Don't call me honey," I spoke sternly. "You don't have any ammunition," I pointed out the obvious.

"Who said that?" He asked.

I tilted my head to the side, "you're low on medication and your man Jesus couldn't attack me or my husband with a gun. He was empty handed. Nobody leaves empty handed to go on a run." I then sat up straighter and adjusted my shoulders. "You need things and we need things."

"So let's work together," Maggie nodded.

"What, are you gonna give us a bottle of aspirin and a box of bullets?" Gregory practically chuckled while rubbing his hands together.

"Our communities can help each other," Maggie pressed.

Gregory suddenly stood up after snapping his fingers, "thank you Natalie and Susie. Been a good talk."  He started walking towards his desk and I looked at my sister, nodding my head for her to take the shot now. She nodded in agreement and we both stood up, her presence now standing in front of the desk as I stood to the side with my arms crossed over my chest. "We can help each other."

"We're doing fine," Gregory insisted. "Are you?"

I exhaled through my nose and the both of us exited his office silently to step out with the others who were waiting patiently. I took a seat on one of the benches beside Rick and dropped my head into my hand as my elbow leaned against the arm rest.

"Well he's a dick." I muttered and Rick placed a hand over my knee.

"We want to generate trade, Gregory does." Paul spoke up in front of all of us. "But ammo isn't something we urgently need."

"Well how's that?" Rick asked.

lThe walls hold. We just brought in more medicine," Paul sighed. "Gregory wants the best deal possible."

Daryl was pacing beside me as he spoke up, "Yeah, well, we want things too."

"We need food," Rick agreed. "We came all this way, we're gonna get it." He looked up towards Paul and Paul slowly nodded his head. "I will talk to Gregory, and we will work this out. Circumstances change. We're doing well now, and you will next. I will make him understand that." He held his arms out by his side as he looked to Rick. "Can you give me a few days?"

I nodded my head and sat up straight, "we will. If that's what it takes." I then looked over at Rick and we shared a small glance before he nodded his head in agreement.

Paul softly laughed just as he was about to turn away until we heard some commotion coming from outside and the front door suddenly opened. A man walked in and it took a second for Gregory to come out of his office. "They're back."

Gregory looked at the man and slowly nodded his head before he started making his way to the front door with Paul. I furrowed my eyebrows and we all immediately got up from our spots to follow them outside.

"Nathan! What happened to everybody else?" Gregory called out as three people started walking towards us. "Where's Tim and Marsha?" I could sense the sudden arise of panic in his voice as we followed him to meet up with the guests.

"They're dead," the man in front spoke.

Gregory stood in his spot now as we gathered behind him. "Negan?"

The man nodded, "yeah."

Gregory placed his hands on his waist now, "we had a deal." I glanced over at Paul in confusion and he slightly raised his hand like he was asking for us to wait a moment.

"He said it wasn't enough," the man Nathan explained. "Was the drop light?"

"No," Gregory spoke.

"They still have Craig," the girl spoke up now.

Nathan nodded, "they said they'd keep him alive, return him to us, if I deliver a message to you." He placed his hand on Gregory's shoulder. "So tell me?" Their leader spoke with a hint of worry.

Something in the air started to shift immediately until the man Nathan apologized to Gregory before pulling out a knife and stabbing Gregory in the stomach.

We quickly acted as Paul, Maggie, and I pulled Gregory away with Michonne and Rick pushing back Nathan as he screamed. "Get off of me! I had to!"

He pushed Michonne back before punching Rick in the stomach. I watched worriedly as my husband grabbed a hold of his arm and kneed him in the stomach before knocking him down on the ground.

Rick punched him in the face repeatedly — forcing me to let go of Gregory for my sister and Paul to take inside.

A fight started to break out between the other man and Abraham before Daryl could step in, breaking the mans arm to help Abraham up.

Glenn and I were about to run up and help Rick as he was now lying on his back with a knife to his throat. "Nobody try anything or I kill him!" Nathan shouted.

"You kill him and I'll have your head snared on a pike out front." I spat out heavily, my eyes widening with anger brewing in my system.

His head turned in my direction until Rick pulled out his own knife from his pocket and stabbed Nathan in the throat. His blood started to pour out onto Rick's face until he pushed his now body off of him and stood up.

"Nathan! You killed him!" The one with the broken arm shouted from the ground.

"He tried to kill Gregory, then me!" Rick shouted back.

Suddenly the woman came running up and thrusted her fist against Rick's face, sending him on the ground.

"Oh shit," Daryl muttered to himself but loudly enough for me to hear as I charged towards the woman. Her focus still remained on Rick's until I grabbed her by the back of her neck and shoved her to the ground. "Touch him again — I dare you." I purposely shifted my gaze amongst the group of strangers, waiting for someone else to put their hands on him.

When no one moved, I purposely stepped over the woman and leaned down, helping Rick back to his feet.

"Everyone, this is over!" Paul shouted as he came running over to stand in the middle of things. "It's over. Ethan was our friend, but let's not pretend he was anything more than a coward who attacked us."

I placed my hand over Rick's chest, not caring about the blood he wore after killing Nathan but intentionally protecting him against anyone else.

"He did this!" Paul slightly shifted on his feet then gestured around our group. "And these people stopped him."

I could hear the girl sobbing behind me as she clinged to Ethan's dead body, I glanced at her briefly before looking back towards Paul and Rick. "Put the gun down," he ordered calmly. "You've done enough."

When everyone lowered their weapons and started to back off, Paul turned to us with his hands now at his side. "You need to know — that things aren't as simple as they might seem. Just give me some time."

"Alright," I gave him a single nod before crossing my arms over my chest. "Mind telling us who this Negan is that seems to have you all in distress?"