"NO! No way in Hell," Gregory immediately said, turning down Rick's offer. All Hilltop — most precisely, Gregory — had to do was agree to work with Alexandria on our attack back on Negan and the Saviors. "That was not the deal. You people swore you could take the Saviors out, and you failed. So, any arrangement we had is now done — null and void, huh? We aren't trade partners, we aren't friends, and we never met. Hm? We don't know each other."

Gregory took a seat down in his chair that has always lied there in front of his desk. He looked behind himself and says directly to Rick, who was front and center, "I owe you nothing. In fact, you owe me for taking in the refugees – at great personal risk."

"Wow, man," I found myself saying, shaking my head while having my arms crossed over my chest. "You are such an ass-wipe and coward."

Somewhat sarcastically, Gregory turned his attention towards me and asked, "Didn't I exhale you from ever coming back here?"

I rolled my eyes and somewhat grinned with a dry laugh, too. "Yeah, but when it comes down to my friends now, they are what matters. We need to recruit the Hilltop, in order to officially take down Negan and the Saviors."

Paul immediately picked up the pieces, which made Gregory turn his attention back over to him, seemingly almost forgetting that Paul and myself were twins. "Oh, you were very brave staying in here while Maggie and Sasha saved this place. Your courage was inspiring."

"Hey, don't you work for me?" Gregory countered onto Paul. "Aren't we friends?"

"Gregory," came Rick's warning tone as he took a brave step forward up to his desk, "we already started this."

"You started it," Gregory tried telling Rick, his attention fully on the leader of Alexandria now.

"We did," Rick immediately countered and raised his tone back at him, too. He was using his left hand out to motion from himself back to Gregory. "And we're gonna win."

"These are killers—"

"Is that how you want to live?" Rick asked, cutting Gregory off before he could finish. "Under their thumb, killing your people?"

"Sometimes, we don't get to choose what our life looks like," Gregory calmly replied, which only made my blood boil more. "Sometimes, Ricky, you have to count the blessings you have."

"You sick son-of-a-bitch," I growled, taking a huge step forward. Yet, I felt Tara's hand touch my arm to hold me back from doing something that I would probably soon regret. "It is because of you that everyone from here is even dead right now. You let Negan come in here and take what he wants."

"How many people can we spare?" Maggie immediately asked, just as Gregory looked from me to her in a split-second. "How many people here can fight?"

"We?" Gregory scoffed, almost laughing at what she just said. "I don't even know how many people we have, Margaret."

"Her name is Maggie," I quickly came in to correct him, earning a quick look from Maggie.

"And, does it even matter?" Gregory continued to ask Maggie than to pay attention to me. "I mean... 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 suddenly spoke up to say, which I kept my eyes on her the whole time. "When people have the chance to do the right thing, they usually step up. I mean, people just—"

"L-Let me stop you before you break into song, okay?" Gregory suddenly rudely interrupted her, placing his hand up and clearing his throat. I wanted to snap Gregory's neck for talking to Tara like that. "And, by the way, who would train all this cannon fodder?"

"I will," Sasha chirped, arms crossed with confidence.

"Give me a week," Rosita added while being propped up on one of the chairs.

I raised my hand and stepped forward again. "And, I'll help them. We can do this."

In a sarcastic and annoying sing-song voice, Gregory contradicted, "Rhetorical, okay?" A beat later and back in his normal tone, he continued, "I don't want to know. I never want to hear another word about any of it – ever."

Frustrated, Rick stepped forward and motioned towards Gregory, himself. "Would we be better off without the Saviors, yes or no?"

Somewhat giving in and rolling his eyes, Gregory mumbled out, "Yeah. Sure. Okay."

Stepping up now was Michonne, who placed her hand on Gregory's desk, as she had stepped in front of Rick now. "So, what will you do to fix the problem?"

"I didn't say we had a problem. You did," Gregory argued, turning to look and point up at the woman. "And what happens outside of my purview, is outside of my purview."

"What the hell, man?" Daryl suddenly growled from being on my right while Tara was standing to my left. "You're either with us or you ain't. You're sitting over there, talking out of both sides of your mouth."

Almost looking like he was now offended, Gregory stood up and began to work on the wrist of his jacket. "Well, I-I think I've made my position very clear," he countered in a very normal-toned voice, placing his fingers onto his desk. "And, I want to thank all of you for not being here today and not having this meeting with me, o-or being seen on your way out. In other words, go out the back."

Taking a step forward, I was about to end Gregory right here and now — if it was not for Tara and Daryl, who both immediately grabbed my arms and dragged me back to them.

Rick was slowly nodding; as if, he was actually accepting this. He glanced back at all of us, and I shook my head back to him, and he dimmed his eyes in return. Somehow, he turned back to Gregory in silence before he led the way out of his room. We all followed behind one by one.

However, before I finally left, I stopped for a moment at Gregory's desk. Placing a hand on the top of it, I looked over at him and threatened, "You get any of us killed by saving your own ass... I'll come back here and snap your neck. Watch your back, you pussy."

He was speechless and almost dumbfounded, too, like a deer in the headlights. I headed out with Rick and them as we were all talking shit on the way out.

I heard Rosita growl out, "Walking ballsack."

I even heard Sasha say, too, "Wanna knock that idiot's teeth out."

"Yeah, well," Daryl was grunting just as I followed up behind him as we exited Gregory's office. "We don't need him, anyway."

"Yeah, that's right," Rick immediately agreed with Daryl. "Cause we have Maggie, Sasha, and Jesus here. Tess, too, if she stays."

"I'm not," I also immediately barked out and Rick slowly nodded. Maggie looked dead at me, frowning, but I tried to ignore her damning glare.

The door to the mansion opened and we all turned towards the intruding light. "And...," Maggie began, looking dead at the source of the sudden light. "Enid."

Enid walked up in a very nervous style and her voice matched it, too. "Hey, um—"

"What's wrong?" Sasha immediately asked her, somewhat cutting her off.

"Nothing," Enid claimed, shaking it off. "Just..." She stopped to chuckle. "Come outside."

Maggie led the way as we did not question Enid and decided to just "follow the leader" in this situation. We exited out the library and Enid led us to the courtyard. A bunch of people that I know very well from my time here was standing out there and waiting for us. It was Bertie, Wesley, Andy, Freddie, and Eduardo.

"What's going on?" Maggie asked, taking a step down the stairs below us.

"Hey," Bertie said with a smile. "So, if you don't remember, I'm Bertie. And,  I owe my life to you all, twice over. A bunch of us do. Enid says that you want Gregory to get us to fight the Saviors with you. Is that true?"

I could not believe that they all were stepping up on their own two feet to even ask the question. It was always fear that consumed the people of the Hilltop. Even myself, included, used to be so scared. Not anymore, though, thanks to Rick and Alexandria as a whole.

"Yes," Maggie simply replied, calmly nodding her head.

"Do you think that we could win?" Bertie continued to ask all the right questions. "That we really could beat them? Us?"

"I do," Maggie agreed, still staring down at her people.

This is when I decided to take a step forward and say to them, "You're not weak. None of you are. If I can make it, you all can, too. We just have to keep going and fight just a little bit more."

Sighing somewhat loudly, Bertie nodded and took what we had both said in. "Well, Enid says you could show us the way. I'm ready."

Altogether, people behind her began to agree with her as all the voices got tied-up and I could no longer identify whose voice belonged to who. Though, it all sounded positive and music to my ears.

Maggie nodded while Rick looked to Michonne and the rest of us, seemingly happy about this new development. Rick intertwined his fingers with Michonne's while I spotted Carl smile over at Enid, too. She shrugged it off, but you could no deny how the both really felt.

—

"IT'S a start," Michonne claimed as we all walked along with her.

"We'll get more," Sasha tried telling her.

"It still won't be enough."

"No, it won't," Rosita suddenly placed her own opinion out there, too.

"Well, we find the right stuff, then maybe we don't need the numbers," Daryl said from beside me as I tried keeping up with him. "Blow 'em up, burn 'em to the ground."

"I won't argue with you there," I agreed with him, nodding. "All of 'em deserve to go out that way."

"You said that there weren't just soldiers with the Saviors, that there were workers there," Tara suddenly countered both myself and Daryl in one swing. "People didn't have a choice."

"We gotta win," Daryl and myself said in unison, for some reason. We were both thinking the same exact thing.

"We need more hands, another group," Rick continued on from there without caring for what we were saying from behind him. "Negan has outposts. The geography, the distance works against us. We gotta get back. If they come looking for Daryl and Tess, we need to be there."

"You don't have to get back," Paul suddenly said from behind us, which made us all stop in unison and stare back at him together. "Not yet."

"Paul," came my warning tone as I shook my head. "You can't stop us."

"I'm not, Tess," he breathed out before revealing out from his belt a walkie-talkie. "It's one of theirs, long-range. We can listen in, keep track of them."

I slowly nodded and, without thinking, blurted out, "I have one, too." They all looked at me in question – especially Daryl, Paul, and Tara. I shrugged and cleared my voice. "Not with me. I... Um... It's back at Alexandria with my other stuff. It's not exactly theirs, but my talkie connects with one of the Saviors there."

"Who?" They all seemed to ask in unison, eyebrows together and meanings forward in question.

"D... Dwight," I breathed out, gulping afterwards. Daryl looked like he wanted to hit somebody, most likely myself. "I've only had it for a short period of time because he took my other one that it is connected with."

"What the fuck, Tess?" Rosita suddenly questioned of me, taking a brave step towards me. "We're screwed now."

"No, we ain't," I countered, pointing down to the ground. "If he leaves it on, then it may pick up their other signals, too. It's with my stuff back at Alexandria, if we could just go back and—"

"We can't risk it," Rick interrupted, shaking his head and glaring down at the ground. He, then, looked up at me with his normal facial expression painted across his face. "You can't go back to Alexandria. Not now."

"So, if we're not going back, what are we doing, then?" Michonne asked above everybody else, including myself.

Paul suddenly looked right at me with a smile that I have not seen in a while from him. "Should I tell them about the King?"

I grinned back and nodded frantically. "You should. Go ahead."

Turning towards the rest of the Alexandrians, Paul announced, "I think it's time we introduced you to Ezekiel. King Ezekiel."

Before anyone could say anything, Rick asked almost causally and confused, "King?"