Dead Man Walking | Rick Grimes

|105|

Michonne and I rode into the Hilltop, talking lowly about what we learned. The Sanctuary is good for trading in one thing: Ethanol, and we have yet to receive anything. While Rick took people from the four communities to work on the bridge, Michonne and I set out to find out about what happened to the Ethanol. Laura reassured us that they had sent it out last week as promised, so the question is: Where is it?

"Do you think someone's hijacking the carts?" Michonne asked lowly as we dismounted our horses, "Some of them still side with Negan and have that mentality," I pursed my lips and nodded.

"That's a very real possibility," I answered, "We'll get to the bottom of it," Jesus ran up to us and greeted us with a broad smile, embracing us before leading us to where Maggie was breaking in a new horse.

"How's Kurt and Thad?" Jesus asked us.

"Kurt's good," Michonne answered proudly, "He's working on making the irrigation system more effective with Siddiq,"

"Thad's driving us crazy," I chuckled, "He's been trying to crawl recently. He gets on his stomach and tries until his face turns red," Jesus chuckled and stuffed his hands in his pockets.

"I wish I could see that," He murmured. I patted him on the shoulder and squinted.

"You should go to Alexandria one of these days," I smiled, "I know Kurt is dying to see you, and Judith will be so happy to see her uncle, Jesus,"

"I'll take you up on that," He nodded. We stopped right outside of their makeshift corral where Maggie was standing.

"Did you find out what happened?" Maggie probed.

"They sent out the ethanol like promised," Michonne answered.

"Well, it's still not here," Maggie sighed, "They could be lying,"

"I don't think they are," I shook my head. There's a possibility that they are, but I don't believe they would jeopardize themselves like this.

"Maybe the guys who made the delivery were taken down by walkers, or they went AWOL, but we need the food," Michonne said, her voice light and slightly sympathetic. Maggie is against helping the Saviors out if they don't contribute, and while I understand it, they're also struggling. Their crops are dying; they don't have an adequate water source.

"We were hoping that you might send enough to tide them over while we figure this out," I leaned up against the corral, bracing myself for Maggie's answer.

"We can do it," Jesus said, "We have the surpluses," Maggie gave him a pointed look and clenched her jaw.

"Yeah, but for how long?" Maggie asked before turning her attention back to Michonne and me, "Till we get that fuel," She looked back towards a red tractor, "That tractor's not moving, which means the big fields don't get plowed, and the yield comes in short." But wait, didn't we get a plow from the museum? Why does she depend on something that depends on fuel?

"What about the plow we got from the museum?" Michonne asked, reading my mind. Maggie rolled her eyes and crossed her arms over her chest.

"I need a blacksmith to fix it, and I don't have one right now," Ah, yes, now I remember. After Gregory manipulated Earl into trying to assassinate Maggie, he's been locked up ever since. That was what? Almost two weeks ago? Two weeks since she put Gregory to death and locked Earl up.

"And how long is Earl going to be locked up for?" I asked, my eyebrow raising.

"I don't know," Maggie answered truthfully, "I haven't decided. This is the first time we've had to deal with something like this." This allowed me to start discussing the constitution I planned to write up.