The Walking Dead: Danielle Grimes

113. The Kingdom

Danielle's POV

Jesus left Hilltop with us, we all piled into two cars. Jesus rides shot gun and directs Rick as he drives the first car. Daryl and I sat in back with Michonne beside me.

The silence that filled the car is thick and I glance at Daryl seeing him staring mindlessly out the window. He seems different somehow, like he's further away. His whole body radiated tension and I would hold his hand but it's gripping his knee tightly. His hand hasn't left there since we got in the car.

The car slows catching my attention. Rick parks in an empty parking lot and he and Jesus get out first. I nudge Daryl with my knee and he startles looking down at me. I nod my head to the car door signalling for him to get out. He nods and gets out, me following.

"It's called The Kingdom?" Rick asks in disbelief. "Yes." Jesus responds and when he sees Ricks incredulous look, he shrugs. "I didn't name it." He says holding his hands up.
Rick nods suspiciously. "How much farther?"

"Well technically we're already here." He hesitates and a smirk crosses his face. "I mean, we're always here, but here we are, at The Kingdom." He gestures around us. "It's the outer edge."

Daryl steps up, his hands clenched into fists at his sides. "Hey, what the hell are we waiting on?" He grumbles.

Jesus smiles and points towards a driveway that is flanked by trees. "We're waiting for them." I look to where he's pointing to see two men on horses trotting down to us. Each man looks to be wearing a paintball outfit.

"Who dares trespass on the sovereign land of the-" the man hesitates as they approach. "Oh shit, Jesus is that you?"

"Why are they dressed for laser tag?" I ask sarcastically out loud making the boys laugh and Jesus smirk at me. Rick shakes his head at me like he can't believe I'm making a joke right now.

Hey, in my defence humour is my coping mechanism.

The second man pulls his horse in front of the firsts and glares down at Jesus. "Who are all these people Paul?" He asks aggressively.

"Hey Richard," Jesus greets not at all bothered by the mans greeting. "It's nice to see you." The man deflates a little. "It's good to see you too." He agrees. "Your friends, who are they?" He asks as his eyes flicker over each of us, his eyes lingering on me a bit longer than I would like. And off course Daryl sees and steps closer to me.

Good to know he's still possessive over me.

Jesus glances over his shoulder at Rick. "This is Rick grimes, he's the leader of a like minded community. These are some of his people. We would like to request an audience with king Ezekiel."

Richard swings down and approachs us. His gun is in his hand making me and Daryl shift our weight. Richard doesn't look at us as his entire focus is on the people in the cars. "Get out of the car." He orders. Rick nods and the others pile out.

"You say they are a like minded community? Like minded how?" Richard ask Jesus as he stands near him. Jesus glances at us. "We live, we trade, we fight the dead.....sometimes others."

Richards head snaps to Jesus at his cryptic words and I have a feeling he already knows who he's talking about. "Line up." He orders. The others comply except me, Daryl, Liam and Rick. Daryl tenses beside me. "This is a waste of time. Let's go." He grumbles restlessly.

Richard however isn't intimidated by Daryl. "Maybe your right, The King is a busy man and it's a dangerous world. We don't usually allow a pack of strangers to waltz through our door."

Michonne steps forward beside Rick. "We want to make the world a less dangerous place and we are all here to show The King how serious we are about that."