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We Can Change

Sedition

"In the unrest of the masses I augur great good. It is by their realizing that their condition of life is not what it ought to be that vast improvements may be accomplished." — Leland Stanford


Fat Joey sat at the leather couch, hunched forward slightly with his hands clasped together between his knees while he avoided looking toward the other side of the room where he could just barely make out a pair of legs belonging to someone’s dead body sticking out from the other side of Negan’s bed. Dwight was standing at one of the dresser, not caring who was looking as he changed out of the soiled sweatpants and sweatshirt he’d been forced to wear for who knows how long and changed into an extra pair of Negan’s pants, which he had to wear with a belt to keep them from falling off his waist, and a white T-shirt like Jo was wearing. There was a bottle of some sort of cologne atop the dresser or the stick of deodorant he could’ve utilized until he had time for a proper shower, but chose to forgo those luxuries for the time being.

Frankie and Yolanda sat together on the bed, holding hands for strength, with their chosen weapons on either side of them. Jo, meanwhile picked up Negan’s bat, which she had left in the room earlier and used it to lean on like a cane while she stared at the double doors with anticipation.

Tanya hadn’t made her way back, but Jo hadn’t given explicit directions to do such, so she could only assume the brunette would make that choice on her own or possibly head back to the Boudoir to be with Alicia and Amber until this all blew over. If it blew over.

“What do you need me to do?” Dwight asked, strapping the AK back around him and then began to tuck the handgun with silencer into the back of his pants.

“Keep that out,” she gestured to the handgun. When he did as much, she added, “I’m giving them two choices when they arrive: change their ways and work together with all the communities, for the betterment of everyone and not just the Sanctuary, or die. I think the choice is simple, don’t you?”

“Sure as shit is.”

“If they agree to change, but seem like they’re actually just full of shit, shoot ‘em. I know the things they’ve been party to; terrorizing other survivors for profit, senseless murder to assert power. Even if they weren’t the ones who pulled the trigger, they still stood idly by and let it all happen. But,” Jo sighed, dragging her gaze back to the doors. “I’m giving them a second chance at life. Let’s hope they choose smart. No more blood needs to be shed.”

“Would you like me to do anything?” Fat Joey asked meekly from the couch.

Jo turned slightly and looked over her shoulder at him. “Sure,” she nodded. “For starters, stop answering to Fat Joey. It’s shitty. What do you want to be referred as?”

He shrugged. “Just Joey, I guess, or Joseph.”

Jo looked over at the girls on the bed and smirked. “Now that would makes more sense to differentiate him from the other Joey that here, huh?” Turning back to look at Fat Joey, she smiled at him. “Joseph, it is.”

He smiled back at her and seemed genuinely happy, if not at ease, given the situation they were all in. “Thank you.”

Jo furrowed her brow. “For what?”

“Not being a dick. For actually giving a shit.”

“That’s what people should be doing. Giving a shit.” Exhaling a calming breath, she considered something for a moment. “You really want to do something for me?”

“Sure. Yeah,” Fat Joey—no—Joseph answered with an adamant nod.

“Stand outside the doors and greet everyone that shows up. If they have weapons on them, make them leave whatever they have on the desk outside. Make them wait off to the side of the desk, so that when the door opens, the others can’t see inside until it’s their turn to come in. Also, make sure to let them in one by one, and don’t give them any reason to think Negan or Simon or Arat isn’t alive and well in here, okay?”

Pushing himself up, Joseph stood and nodded once again. “Okay. I can definitely do that.”

“When you tell them that, and if they seem pissy about it, tell them it’s on Negan’s strict orders.”

“Okay.”

Stepping forward, Joseph made his way to the double doors and let himself out, and not a minute too soon. Moments later, several footsteps began to echo out in the hallway, along with the muffled voices of those that had arrived for the so-called preliminary meeting.

Yolanda and Frankie grabbed tighter onto each other’s hands as well as their weapons, should the need them at a moment’s notice to defend themselves. Dwight stood off to the side, twisting the AK around so that it hung behind him against his back while holding the handgun with silencer down at his side; more than ready to use it. Then there was Jo, who just stood there; a freshly wiped clean machete sheathed on her left, a handgun holster at her right, a pocket knife in her pocket, and Lucille still being used like a cane with her hand gripping the knob with her right hand while the end of the barrel was pressed against the floor.

The muffled voices seemed slightly more gruff when Joseph was probably telling them about leaving their weapons on the desk. Further talking carried on for a few more moments, and then a knock came, followed by the opening of the door.

“Shut the door behind you,” Jo spoke.

The person that entered was a man in his early to mid-forties with a little bit of grey in his well-trimmed beard and thin, but wavy light brown hair. He seemed understandably confused as he obliged and closed the door with the heel of his shoe.

“Um…where’s Negan?”

“Which one are you? Jared, Gavin, Gary or Wade?”

“Me? I’m Gavin. Who are you?” He then glanced at Dwight with confusion. “Weren’t you—?”

“Obviously not anymore,” Dwight cut him off, already knowing what he was gonna ask.

“Gavin,” Jo repeated. “I was told earlier that you head up a group that collects supplies from one of the communities. Which community is that?”

“I’m sorry, but who are you and where is Negan? We were told to come here for a meeting with him. And then there’s another meeting with everyone on the factory floor later? What’s the deal here?”

“Which community do you collect from?”

Without needing to be asked, Dwight raised his arm and pointed his gun at Gavin’s head. “She asked you a question.”

Gavin sighed. “The Kingdom.”

“How would you describe your interaction with The Kingdom and its residents?”

“Well, I don’t interact with the residents unless you mean King Ezekiel and a few of his soldiers. We don’t meet at the Kingdom, either. We have a prearranged drop point. It’s part of the deal Negan has with them. They provide the most food for us, so we’re more lenient with them.”

“How do you treat them?”

“Well, I like King Ezekiel. He’s a good guy, a bit weird with the whole king thing going on, but I respect him.”

Jo narrowed her eyes. “Respect. That’s a good word,” she muttered as she noticed the way Gavin’s eyes kept shifting between Lucille and her stomach. “Have you ever caused harm because the Kingdom couldn’t make their quota for the week? Have you ever killed any of King Ezekiel’s men or any other member of the other communities for any reason other than because they tried to cause you or someone you care about with unprovoked physical harm?”

Gavin considered his words carefully; trying to suss out the situation at hand. “I have.”

“Why?”

“Because I had to.”

“Why did you have to?”

Gavin glowered at her. “Because I was expected to. It wasn’t any of King Ezekiel’s men, if that matters any.”

“On a whole, do you think it’s right, forcing people to hand over half of everything they’ve worked so hard for. Would you want to be in that position?”

His face softened then, and slowly he shook his head. “No, I don’t think it’s right, but it’s how I’m surviving.”

“That’s a good thing; you seeing that what you’re doing is right. It means you can change, that there’s hope for you yet.”

“What’s that mean? Seriously, who are you?”

“I’m Jo Grimes, and I’m in charge here at the moment. There is no Negan to answer to. There’s only me, so stop asking,” she bit out while lifting Lucille up and held it out toward Gavin’s face. She smirked as he instantly tensed. It was possible he was just well aware of all the awful things he knew Negan had done with it to people and feared the same fate or perhaps he noticed the dried blood upon it and that it was fresh blood and feared the same fate even more with the bat being wielded by a stranger now. “Things here are going to change from here on out. There will be no more supply runs to the other communities to take have their shit. If you want something, you will work for it the same as everyone else. Everyone contributes, everyone gets an even share. If someone is hungry and there is food, you feed them. If someone is cold and there are blankets available, you wrap them up. If someone is sick and needs medication, you give them the medication or the medical attention they need. The point system is over. As for the other communities, you’re gonna learn to work with them. Maybe you don’t have fertile land around here at the Sanctuary of your own and that’s why you take, take, take. If that’s the case, find some land, secure it and learn to harvest it. It’s early enough in the season. You start now, and you can be plentiful by the end of summer. So, my question to you is this: do you choose to change for the better and accept this new way of life or do you choose death?”

Gavin shot a look over at Dwight, who still aimed his gun. “I…” he began with a shrug and a frown. “I choose to change.”

Jo smiled. “I’m glad to hear that. I hope your friends out there follow your example.”

“Am I…am I free to go? Was that it?”

“Oh, hell no. I still don’t trust you as far as I can throw you. And I am in no condition to throw anyone, as you can plainly see,” Jo gestured to her stomach. “You get to stay here until I’m done with the others. More importantly, you get to live.”

“Uh, thanks?”

Jo used Lucille to point at one of the two chairs across from the couch. “Sit.”

Gavin sat down in the chair closest to him without hesitation. Jo watched as he leaned forward and folded his hands between his knees, much like Joseph had before on the couch, and watched the way his face expressed how lost in thought he was about what had just happened and what was happening.

Feeling more confident now, Jo shouted out, “Next!”

A moment later, the door opened and a man, younger than Gavin and with long brown hair, a beard and eyebrows so fair that it looked like he didn’t even have any. What bothered Jo most about how he looked was his beady eyes.

“Close the door behind you, please.”

The man glanced to his right and noted Gavin sitting down and then smirked over at Jo and how she was dressed in Negan’s leather jacket and holding Lucille. Closing the door after minor hesitation, he looked around the room and smiled at Yolanda and Frankie before practically sneering at Dwight.

“The fuck is all this about?” he demanded.

“Who are you?”

“I’m Negan,” he replied with a cocky grin while throwing his arms out wide at his sides.

Gavin sighed audibly and turned around to look up at the younger man; shaking his head. “Obviously there is no more Negan, dumbass. Just answer her.”

The younger man held Gavin’s gaze for a moment and then looked back at Jo; more thoroughly studying her. He walked closer to her and licked his lips. “This a game? A test Negan’s got going on?”

“Negan’s dead, fuckwit,” Dwight remarked. “His body is on the floor over there. His blood is still on the floor. And he’s not the only one who’s dead, so watch it.”

Jo looked over at Dwight and was quite grateful with how he so easily stepped up to the plate to be her right hand man in all of this. Negan’s widows were helpful, but only to an extent. Dwight, although lean, was the muscle she required. And now with Gavin, who seemed very willing to break with the old ways Negan had instilled at the Sanctuary, she had him in her corner, whether he realize it or not.

“Yeah, right,” the younger man muttered; not believing Negan was dead.

“I promise you, Negan is very dead and not coming back,” Jo insisted rather calmly. “Now, answer my question: who are you? What is your name?”

The younger man smacked his lips. “Jared.”

“Ah,” Jo muttered. “I was told about you, too. The exact words that were used to describe you, I believe, were ‘asshole’ and ‘trigger-happy’. Would you say that’s a fair assessment of yourself?”

“Bitch, fuck you. I ain’t staying here for whatever bullshit this is. Negan’s dead? A world of shit is gonna rain down on you if that’s true,” Jared taunted.

With a heavy sigh, Jo looked to Dwight who met her gaze when he felt hers on him. “Go on.”

Understanding her meaning, Dwight steadied his aim and fired a single shot into Jared’s head. His blood painted the doors behind him and his body fell backwards to the floor; limply like a deflated, lead balloon.

The girls jumped from the suddenness of the deed but seemed to plenty capable of keeping themselves composed. Gavin was considerably more composed. While the death had come suddenly indeed, he didn’t really seemed bothered. If Jo was properly reading his reaction, she’d assume he was actually relieved.

“I take it you weren’t best of friends with him?”

“Not even close,” Gavin admitted. “I was forced to tolerate him because he was part of my group that went to the Kingdom, but he was always trying to start shit. He was simply a bully who took pleasure in his job. He was brutal, antagonizing and whoever told you he was an asshole and trigger-happy was right on the nose. So, no, I wasn’t friends with him.”

“Good,” Jo smirked. “Then you won’t mind being a dear and moving his body out of the way of the door for me, will ya?”

Having no opinion one way or the other, Gavin nodded and stood up. As he stepped up beside Jared’s corpse, he crouched down and grabbed his former associate by the ankle and dragged him behind between the backs of the chairs and in front of the sideboard. Once Jared was successfully out of the way, Gavin resumed his seat in the same chair.

“Thank you,” Jo nodded. Turning back toward the door, she ignored the blood splatter and called out again for the next Savior. “Next!”

As the knob turned, in walked Laura, who was immediately confused and maybe even amused. “Yo, what’s the deal with the jacket and Lucille?” she asked before she noticed the small pool of blood she’d just stepped in. “Aww, what the fuck?” Looking down and then over where Jared’s body was, she quickly whipped her head back and then glared between Jo and Dwight. “What’s going on? Who killed Jared and where’s Negan? Why are you wearing that jacket?”

“Dwight killed Jared because I let him. Negan’s not here anymore and I’m wearing his jacket because I killed him,” Jo cut to the chase. “You know, Native Americans used to scalp their victims and keep the scalps as trophies, as disgusting as that is. It was also believed Celtic tribes used to do the same thing, but it was less common. Then there’s the whole matter of fallen soldiers having their shoes removed after death and because good shoes weren’t that easy to come by. And why let good shoes go to waste, right?” Jo gestured to the jacket. “Same thing, I guess. Perhaps it’s a trophy or perhaps I just liked it and didn’t see the point in letting some dead asshole take it to his grave.”

Laura practically sneered at Jo. “Why?”

“Because he was a horrible human being. Can you honestly say what he built here is good…for everyone?” Jo shook her head, answering her own question. “No, it’s an unfair situation for too many people. There should be anyone higher on the food chain, so to speak. Everyone should be equal and treated equally. They deserve to be equal. The communities this place takes from every week deserves to be equal. There will be no more taking from anyone if you haven’t earned it. Everyone is going to work together for the betterment of each community as a network. If you work together, trade with each other, then life can be better. There will be no more oppressing anyone or senseless murder to get supplies this place can’t be bothered to find for itself or grow for itself. I don’t want to hear an excuse that there’s no good soil around here, because soil can be found. It can be transported from one place and a hothouse can be built. There is more than one way to grow your own food instead of taking from others or killing for it.”

“So, what do you want from me?” Laura questioned, folding her arms across her chest like a moody teenager.

“To change. To be better than this,” Jo answered. “Everyone has the ability to change, to grow and to learn from the mistakes they’ve made. I’m giving you the chance to start over. To do good in this world instead of perpetuating harm and fear. I mean…is that the kind of person you want to be? Is that the kind of person who saw yourself becoming? A villain? ‘Cause that’s what the Saviors are, I don’t care what excuses you try to tell yourself to help you sleep at night. The Saviors are villains. So, will you change? Will you help turn things around here and work with the other communities instead of forcing them to work for you? Or…”

“Or what?”

“Do you choose death?”

“Those are my only options? Submit or die?”

“It’s not submission. You’re not going to be under anyone’s thumb. You’re a finger on a hand and that hand is part of a larger body. That body is every community working together as one.”

Laura chewed the inside of her bottom lip and shrugged. “I guess,” she huffed. “I’m not good at farming and shit, though.”

“Okay, well I’m sure you have other skills that you can offer and that’s a bridge to cross when we get to it. I just want to know that you understand, and I want to know if you can agree to change your ways.”

“Yeah, yeah. As long as I don’t have to end up like Jared, I’ll fucking learn how to churn butter if I have to.”

Jo smirked. “Cool,” she muttered. “That wasn’t so hard, was it?” Off Laura’s silence, she gestured to the chair beside Gavin. “Take a seat.”

After a brief moment of hesitation, Laura crossed in front of Gavin and dropped down into the seat. “What did you do with Negan anyway?”

Jo nodded toward the other side of the bed. “He’s over there on the floor, covered with the duvet from the bed.”

“No, I mean, how’d you do him in?”

“What does it matter?”

Laura shrugged. “I’ve always wondered how anyone could possibly off him, and here you waltz in and do it. Maybe I’m just a little impressed.”

“I pretended to get emotional and cry and when I got him to hug me, I bit his throat out.”

“Holy shit.”

Gavin and the widows perked at that, too. While the widows had seen the state of her when she first came into the Boudoir after killing Negan and Simon, she hadn’t explained how she’d done it and neither had they seen his body since it had been covered. Only Dwight had bothered to pulled the duvet back and sneak a peek.

“Then I hit him on the head with this bat, twice,” Jo continued, holding Lucille up. “Then Simon came in, so I had to kill him. Then Arat. They’re over there on the floor, too.”

“You said no senseless murder.”

“They posed a serious threat. With Negan dead, either Simon or Arat would’ve easily stepped in and filled his shoes and this way of life that was created here would’ve continued, unchanged. But you lot, you have the ability to change and make sure things change for the better.”

Laura slumped back into her chair and, like Gavin before her, seemed lost in thought about what was happening.

Confident that the interaction with the younger woman was over, Jo brought her attention to the doors once again. “Next!”

As the knob turned and the door opened, Jo watched as a man who seemed even older than Gavin stepped inside. He was mostly bald, with bald hair around the sides of his head, reminding her of Homer Simpson. He had oddly arched eyebrows and a very long, pointed nose that Jo couldn’t help but be weirded out by.

“Hello,” she greeted.

“Hi,” he replied, looking around at everyone present and then, like Laura, noticed Jared’s body. But, unlike Laura, he didn’t seem to give a shit. Turning to look at Dwight, he nodded rather politely. “I see you’ve been freed. How’d that happen?”

“Jo happened,” Dwight replied, gesturing to Jo with a cock of his head.

The balding man brought his gaze back to Jo and nodded while assessing her appearance. “So, Negan’s dead, too, I take it? He’d never let that jacket and especially not Lucille out of his position unless they were pried from his cold, dead hands.”

Jo chuckled, almost admiring how this man got straight to the point. He seemed like someone who would be rather easy to work with and to convince, and she would be correct. He turned out to be Wade, the Savior who had actually been in charge or going after Dwight, Dwight’s wife Sherry and Sherry’s sister Tina, and only came back with Dwight, who was then locked up for the last couple of months. Wade expressed no hard feelings to Dwight; he was just doing his job. When given more or less the same spiel that was given to Gavin and Laura, he wasted no time in surrendering, so to speak. He waved that figurative white flag and threw his hands up as he explained he didn’t care what regime or whatever was in charge so long as he had a place to call home, clean clothes and food in his stomach. The only reason he took so easily to his work as one of Negan’s lieutenants was because of his military background and an unashamed, lifelong need of approval from his “superior officer” and Negan had filled that role with ease. Willing and able to change and accept a different way of life that benefited every community, the Sanctuary included, Wade took a seat on the couch across from Gavin and Laura.

Next in the room was a much younger man, somewhere in age between Jared and Gavin, with a darker skintone and an interesting tattoo around the back of his bald head. He looked mean with the scowl he walked into the room and had the posture of a soldier, making Jo wonder if maybe he had served in one of the armed forces before the world fell apart and that’s while falling into his place as a soldier for Negan had seemed like a good choice for him.

“As you’re the last male here, I can assume you’re Gary,” Jo commented.

“Yeah,” he confirmed with a nod.

Watching him cast a subtle glance down at his right as he took notice of Jared’s body lying there, Jo waited for how he might react. When he looked upon the faces of the other three seated sullen and quiet, he seemed more intrigued than confused or angry.

“This is a coup.” It was a statement and not a question, as he brought his attention back to Jo. He didn’t even bother to give Dwight the courtesy of acknowledgement and had probably been so conditioned by Negan that it seemed like he didn’t even dare to spare a brief glance at either Yolanda or Frankie.

Jo shrugged. “Pretty much, yeah.”

“How’d you do it?”

“By being pregnant and playing the damsel in distress,” Jo admitted. “Most men can’t handle seeing women cry. They feel the need to console and protect. For Negan, that was his fatal mistake. He shouldn’t have agreed to hug me.”

“D’you stab him or something.”

“She bit his neck out,” Laura offered up, momentarily pinching the bridge of her nose with her thumb and index finger as if she suddenly had a migraine.

“No shit.” Again, Gary seemed intrigued. “Alright. So, what do you want with us?”

“Change,” Jo replied simply, and then went into the same spiel all over again; but tried to condense it because the least amount of time spent on convincing these top dogs to play nice and change their spots, the sooner she could take the same spiel to the entirety of the Sanctuary and then, after that, head home.

When all was said and done, more or less, Gary nodded as he took in everything Jo had expressed to him. “Something like this ain’t gonna change overnight.”

“I don’t expect it to. I still expect there to be some dissention, but for the good of all the people, change has to happen. Change will happen.”

“Those who resist? What happens to them?” Gavin asked.

“Imprisonment until they see the error of their ways, banishment or death.”

“Jared didn’t banishment or imprisonment,” Laura pointed out.

“Because he was hostile,” Jo replied plainly. “You were brought here because each of you apparently has sway in this place. I’m sure there are others, too, especially at the outposts. But, with if the others can see you’ve accepted to change things here and to do away with the ways you’ve gotten by at the expense of others, there stands a very good chance others will follow. After all, once the first domino falls, they all are soon to fall.” Feeling slight discomfort from having stood still in the same place for a while now, Jo was growing a tired. It was a long day, she hadn’t slept much the night before, and she had eaten very little earlier. She needed to get to the punch. “So what is your choice? Change or death?”

“Wait—those are my only two choices?” Gary questioned, sounding slightly insulted. “I don’t get imprisonment or banishment like the others?”

“Well, you’re not like the others.”

Gary huffed. “‘Cause I got people who would follow me if I fought back, right? You need me to keep them in line. If I become some upstanding citizen according to your new world order, they will too?”

“That’s the idea.” Dwight took a step closer to her and whispered in her ear; supplying her with a tidbit of information that would put the nail in the coffin of Gary’s slight indecision. “I mean, what would your mother think if she were still alive? You joined the rank of soldier to get her medicine and proper medical care, but her condition was too far advanced for Dr. Carson to do much more for her except ease the pain. What would she think if you were given this opportunity to change and threw it away? What if this opportunity had been present when she was still alive? Imagine how other people like you might feel if they didn’t have to work for points or become some soldier who facilitated the oppression of other survivors when there was another way. You can all work together as a democracy instead of a dictatorship. I’m not an idiot. I know you’ll still need leadership, but have everyone vote in a counsel; a group of people to bring about the change so that not one person has more power than the next.”

Gary cast his eyes down and shoved his hands into his pants pockets. “Yeah, okay. I’ll admit…honestly, that does sound better.”

“So, do you agree to change?”

“Yeah,” Gary nodded. “I do.”

“Good to hear. Now take a seat.” Jo turned and nodded thanks to Dwight for that bit of help and then glanced over at the two widows who seemed more at ease now, too. Aside from Jared, getting these so-called top dogs to heel was going surprisingly well. “Send in the last one!” she called out at the door.

“Alright, so, what’s with all the mystery over this—” The redhead that entered into the room stopped in her tracks, still holding onto the doorknob. She stared directly at Jo and narrowed her gaze. “Who the fuck are you, lady?” She turned and looked at Dwight next. “Who the fuck let you out?” Back at Jo, she scowled. “Where’s Negan?”

Jo sighed, trying to remind herself this was the last of the so-called top dogs she was going to speak with before the meeting on the factory floor. “I’m Jo, Dwight was let out on my orders and Negan’s dead. Now, let’s get down to brass tacks, shall we?”

“Excuse me? ‘I’m Jo.’ You’re not in charge here and if Negan were dead, how come no one has found out about it?”

“You’re finding out about it now. It’s currently a need-to-know basis at the moment.”

The ginger woman scoffed and rolled her eyes. Joseph appeared behind her in the doorway but was stopped from entering when she slammed the door shut in his face, but it was unlikely she knew he was about to come inside with her back to him. Taking half a step forward, she looked upon the four seated either in the chairs or on the leather couch, and then she lowered her gaze to the floor behind the chairs and saw Jared lying there dead. Her fists clenched at her sides and then she looked back at Jo before taking another step forward, causing Dwight to aim his gun at her, but she seemed unfazed.

“Take another step, Paula. I dare you.”

“So you killed Negan?” Paula questioned; sounding quite skeptical. She looked from side to side and chuckled. “Where’d you do it? Did you shove him down some stairs? Did you break dipshit over here out of his cell and have him sneak up behind Negan and then pull the trigger? Oh, or maybe that stomach of yours is a decoy and you hid a knife underneath your shirt and stabbed him.”

Too tired for this shit, Jo threw a look at Dwight. “Watch her,” she muttered before sauntering behind Dwight and walking round to the other side of the bed. While still managing to hold Lucille with right hand, she crouched down and pulled the duvet off Negan and then grabbed one of his ankles. “Yolanda, be a dear and give me a hand.”

A moment later, Yolanda was at her side and grimaced down at the sight of Negan’s dead body. “Damn girl, you really did bite his neck out didn’t you,” she whispered; half impressed, half grossed out.

“I worked with what I had,” Jo whispered back as Yolanda bent at the knees and grabbed onto Negan’s other ankle. As they worked together to drag Negan’s dead body back around the bed to where Jo had been standing, they let his legs drop and both stood back to allow Paula, as well as the others, full view of their former leader’s corpse in all its glory. Jo turned and glared right back at Paula, using Lucille as she pointed at the body. “I bit his neck out with my bare teeth and when he was so stunned, gurgling and choking on his own blood, I took Lucille here,” she disclosed, raising the bat open like a trophy she’d one at some sporting event, “and struck him twice upon the head. And it only took two hits to make sure he was dead and never coming back. And then, I did the same thing to Simon when he came in to check that everything was okay.” Jo moved closer to Paula, making a play to assert herself as the dominant one in this room and in this situation. “After all that, I had Tanya called Arat here and did the same to Arat.”

Paula’s scowl turned to that of disbelief and concern, but then switched to anger. “You cunt.”

“I’m giving you a choice, Paula. You can either give up the way you’ve been living here and how you’ve helped take from other communities and help oppress and murder them…”

Or?”

Or you can die.”

Paula literally laughed in Jo’s face. “What a crock,” she muttered. Turning and looking at the seated four, she shook her head at them. “You gave up the fight because this knocked up bitch told you to?”

“There doesn’t have to be a fight anymore, Paula. Negan’s dead,” Dwight remarked. “He was the one leading us. He was the one who convinced him doing everything we did was the way to go. But it’s not the way to go. There’s a better way, a way where everyone can have the same opportunities to survive in this world.”

“We just gotta work together.”

Paula smirked and shook her head. “There will never be a world where everyone has the same opportunities. This world, the world before…they were both fucked and we are all fucked up. Anything I had that ever meant anything to me is gone. Anyone I ever loved is gone. All I had was this place and what I could do. I wasn’t some weak peon who did whatever the charming man with a bat told me to. I joined him because he helped me become who I am.”

Jo licked her upper lip and considered her next choice of words. With a smile, she asked, “And who are you now?”

Paul smiled back, but her smile was laced with malevolence. “Why, I’m Negan, of course.”

Jo looked to Dwight, who looked at her with an expression that suggested he was wondering if he should shoot Paula or not. Jo, however, shook her head at him. “Well, if you’re Negan,” Jo began, leaning Lucille over her shoulder. “Then I guess you can die like him, too.”

Raising the bat back up, Jo swung at Paula, but Paula threw her arms up to block the hit; but still got hurt in the process anyway. Enraged, the redhead threw herself at Jo. At the same moment Jo attempted to step out of the way, Dwight fired a shot at Paula but she was only struck in the abdomen. The shot was enough to stop Paula in her tracks, though, as she looked down at her fresh, gushing wound and touched it carefully; as if making sure it was real.

“Goddamnit,” Paula groaned. Dropping to her knees, she tried throwing a look over her shoulder at Dwight. “You fucking asshole.”

Gathering her wits about her, Jo readied Lucille again. “So, I guess you’ve made your decision,” she remarked, staring down at the ginger before her. “There is no place in the new world for anymore Negans.”

As Paula glared up at her, Jo brought the bat down.



Everyone walked in silence on the way to the factory floor. They all knew what was expected of them and the role they had to play during this meeting, and they went forward having agreed this was all for the better. Having agreed to turn their backs on how things had been run, they now flanked Jo like her very own Secret Service. While she took comfort in this allegiance, she refused to rest on her laurels. She would not become comfortable in this place because it wasn’t her home. She was viewing this all as if she were some corporate executive tasked by the company she worked for to rebrand and update one of the company’s older branches. She was only passing through.

While the main entrance to the factory floor was on the ground floor, Jo needed a perch of sorts so she can see everyone and they could see her. It was Joseph who told her where Negan used to speak to everyone from; on the catwalk just above the factory floor and there was an entrance from the second floor they could easily access.

As a show of good faith, Jo let the surviving top dogs retrieve their weapons and carry them. Yolanda had grabbed Alicia and Amber from the Boudoir and told them to follow the others and Tanya ran into them all on her way back up to Negan’s room.

Dwight led the way, with Joseph directly behind him and then Jo directly behind him while the four top dogs walked along on either side of her and all five widows trailed behind her. In her right hand, Jo still held Lucille, and she was still wearing the leather jacket. In her left hand, she carried a tote bag by its short, fabric handle; the contents of it a mystery for the time being.

Once they’d reached the appropriate door, Dwight stopped and turned around to face Jo. “You should head out last,” he suggested with a slight smirk. “Make an entrance. It’s what Negan did and he’s what their used to and what they’re react best to.”

“I’m not here to be another Negan.”

“Says the lady wearing his jacket and holding his bat.” Dwight rolled his eyes and snickered. “Those people on that factory floor need to be won over. You gotta show them who’s boss, even if it’s just a temporary thing.”

With a nod, Jo understood and agreed. “Alright.” Looking between Wade and Gavin, she gestured for them to head out first. “You two, and then you three,” she spoke, looking secondly between Laura, Gary and Joseph.

As Dwight opened the metal door, the quintet walked out onto the catwalk. The sounds of the boots echoing throughout the large room, which was already bustling with sound from many voices, footsteps and clanking from who knows what. The footsteps of the quintet began to slow and that’s when the widows were ushered out next. Where they were all going to in the factory floor, Jo hadn’t any idea. That hadn’t been discussed, but she could assume they would stick close to the catwalk where they all had a safe distance from the floor in case things went south.

Dwight turned to Jo then. “I’ll give you an introduction.”

“As long as it’s nothing akin to some sports announcer,” she smirked.

Smirking back, Dwight sauntered out of the door and along the catwalk while Jo hanged back; waiting. She listened as his footsteps also came to a stop and how he cleared his throat to garner attention.

“Alright, everybody. Eyes forward,” he demanded. “Your full attention and compliance is required for this meeting. You know the drill.”

Jo stole a glimpse out the door and saw Dwight beckon subtly to her as he walked over to the top of the stairs that led down from the catwalk. Inhaling a deep breath, Jo pulled her shoulders back and stood up straight as she took her first step forward and each step she made was slow and purposely heavy. For the sake of grabbing everyone’s attention and giving them an entrance they were used to, as Dwight had advised, Jo tried to inspire awe, but was sure she just looked nothing more than a tired, pregnant chick in a leather jacket. Keeping a very still expression, falling back on the tried and true resting bitch face, she sauntered along toward the center of the catwalk with Lucille resting upon her right shoulder.

Glimpsing down on what was somewhere close to a hundred or more people kneeling upon the factory floor with their heads bowed, Jo realized this was how they likely greeted Negan when he entered a room; like he had been a king, this had been his castle and they were his subjects bowing to show respect. Their demeanors didn’t seem like they felt respect for Negan. They looked almost as if they were cowering; as if they feared looking or moving the wrong way could set him off and get themselves killed. A few faces dared to glance upward at her and were understandably confused.

Lowering Lucille, she tapped it twice along the metal railing. “You can stand up,” she bellowed; grabbing the attention of the majority who still looked down toward the floor. “I’m not your master. I’m here to tell you that your way of life here is going to change.”

“Who are you?” someone called out.

Jo sighed.

She was getting really tired of hearing that today, but it was to be expected.

“My name is Jo Grimes and I’m a survivor like the rest of you, and like you I have done what I can to survive I this world. The only difference is that I have never forced anyone to work for me. I have never taken anything from good people without earning it. I have killed countless undead and I have killed the living, but I have never murdered innocent lives for the sake of asserting power. I have done things I regret, I have experienced horrible things that still haunt my nightmares and I have lost too many people I love. Sickness, self-sacrifice, being attacked by the undead: those are the deaths that, while horrible, have come to be the kinds of deaths that are expected these days. Being murdered by horrible human beings who feel no remorse? That’s never okay. It’s not okay to oppress people and make them work to points when others get whatever they want by agreeing to help further that oppression. When the people I know and care about need anything—food, water, clothes or medicine—and if I have it, I give it to them, no strings attached. Shouldn’t we all live equally? Shouldn’t help each other instead of holding each other back?”

There were plenty nods and murmurs of agreement among the crowd, yet there were also those that seem somewhat disgruntled and still confused by what Jo was doing there, speaking to them.

“Where’s Negan?” another voice questioned; something else Jo was tired of hearing.

“There is no more Negan,” she answered. “The era of Negan and his ways are over. From now on, there is no more point system. From now on there is no more pillaging other communities and taking half their belongings. If you want to survive, you have to work for it and you have to work together. You have to come together with each community and share; be it goods, supplies or skills.”

“Where is Negan?” a third voice repeated; more adamant than the second.

With a sigh of light frustration, Jo leaned Lucille down against the lower railing and then began to open up he tote. Reaching in, she grimaced as she grabbed on to what she’d been carrying around in said tote and pulled out Negan’s head; raising it high. She wasn’t surprised by the sounds of gasps she heard nor was she surprised by the mixture of horror and relief she saw upon everyone’s faces.

“Negan is dead,” Jo answered as blood dripped from the severed neck. “I can understand how some of you might find this upsetting. And I know it may make me seem like a hypocrite, considering some of things I just said. Murder is not okay, and I did kill him. It wasn’t in self-defense, either. It was a necessary evil I chose to do to free everyone from the oppression and whatever levels of servitude he implemented.” Stuffing the head back into the bag, she set it down at her feet and braced her hands along the railing. “I have only just recently, within the last month or so, become aware of the name Negan, and only yesterday did I find out the extent of what he had been capable of and the terror he had spread throughout multiple communities. One day. It took me one day to decide this wasn’t right. One day to decide he had to stop and that if no one else was going to step up to the task then I sure as hell would. I came here, alone and unarmed, at eight months pregnant, knowing the risks; knowing I could be killed, my unborn child could be killed and that I would never see my husband and my daughters ever again. It was a selfish decision I made, and one I made that I didn’t even tell my husband about. He went to meet with one of the other communities, to open a trading partnership, because he is a good man who thinks of the betterment of life for everyone. You deserve better leadership, and not necessarily just one person standing over you, barking orders as you just barely get by. You deserve to live, not just merely exist. So, things will change.”

“How?” A man down below, with long dark hair and an unruly beard stepped forward among the crowd.

With a gun strapped to his hip, he had the opportunity to use it on her if he really wanted to. Whether or not he’d succeed in taking the shot would remain to be seen, because it also remained to be seen whether or not Dwight or the other fivesome would bother or be quick enough to prevent it or retaliate. But none of that is what Jo wanted.

“How do we change?” he continued. “We don’t have the kind of tools or proper areas for growing our own food. We’ve relied on the other communities to give us enough to feed everyone here.”

“That’s exactly the point,” Jo replied. “You’ve depended on others to give you food, supplies, and anything else that was taken from them at literal gunpoint and on threat of death. Maybe not you, personally, but Negan and whoever he sent out for those supply runs did. Every week, the same thing. These communities could be spending their time growing or finding food for themselves, but whatever they manage to scrape together, they have to give away half of it? How about work with them? Go to them and utilize some of their land to grow food for here alongside them. Or how about earn the food you take by working for them. Set up a bartering system. They have things you need and maybe you have things they need. So, make a trade. Maybe a few people from each community comes together and all go on one large supply run a month and scavenges for everything and anything that can be found and used. It would be better with a safety in numbers anyway, and with how well armed your arsenal here is, it would definitely help. At the end of each supply run, everything is separated equally or by necessity of who needs more of a certain thing than the others. I’m not going to go through details about how you should go about this change. This is something you have to figure out for yourselves, but if you work with the other communities, you can see how they make it work and learn from them. Life can be better for everyone and we can make it a better world for our children to grow up in and for future generations to inherit.”

Jo took a step back. Her mouth was dry, her feet and lower back were sore from standing for so long and she was getting really hungry. Plus, she was tired, and she was sure it was showing.

Tired as she was, though, she wasn’t about to show weakness anytime soon in case dissention sprung forth.

Gripping the railing a bit tighter, she cast a glance at Dwight. “You know, the only reason Dwight was imprisoned here for the last couple of months was for wanting to leave. That was his crime, and he was locked away, in the dark, not knowing one day from the next; just waiting for his number to be up.” Jo removed one of the hands from the railing and placed it flat upon her chest. “I’ve been in that position. I tried getting away from a terrible, controlling man who led a community I was part of in Georgia for a short time. I tried getting away. I won’t go into the details of that situation, but I ended up locked away in a windowless cell in some basement for six months. I never wanted to be in that situation again and I don’t want that for anyone else. I want everyone to have the same chances in life to live freely, without the fear of someone else forcing them into positions they are uncomfortable with. The only thing we should be afraid of is the dead, not each other. Don’t you want that kind of life?”

There were nods among the crowd, which she took as a positive sign.

“You can have that life. You just have to commit to changing how things are done here. You have to turn your back on this current situation you’ve been in and look to a brighter future. All of you, each person in every community, near or far, can come together and rebuild society the way it should be,” Jo continued to speak, feeling quite passionate about what she was saying. Perhaps in another life she could’ve been a politician. “Maybe I’m reaching, but we have the means to create a utopia, the undead aside.”

She wasn’t sure what else to say. She had gone into this expecting shouts of anger and protest, of Saviors rallying together to fight back and attack her.

But nothing like that was happening.

Despite having always tried being optimistic, she was so used to preparing for the worst that when things went well, like this moment, she was at a loss.

As the crowd began to clump together in smaller groups to talk among themselves for the moment, Dwight slowly broke away from the others on the stairs and sidled up beside Jo.

“We’re gonna put this place right, thanks to you,” he muttered, talking to her but staring out at the crowd. “You took on a crazy fucking task and came out the other side unscathed. I mean, you got close to Negan after knowing him for, like, five minutes, and you killed him like it was nothing. Not to mention you did it pregnant as fuck.” Turning to look at her now, he eyed her and smirked. “I don’t know if I’m impressed, turned on or both.”

Jo chuckled. “Well, you’re welcome, I guess.”

Dwight nodded. “Yeah. This shit ain’t gonna be easy to smooth out overnight, obviously, but you put the wheels in motion for us. Thank you is an understatement.”

“Honestly, my motivation was to kill Negan so the threat of his existence and everything he’d done to the other communities wouldn’t reach mine. It was a preemptive strike.”

“Huh.” Dwight furrowed his brow, looked forward again. “I had you pegged for someone from Alexandria.”

“Oh? Why’s that?”

“They always seemed the most motivated to get out from underneath Negan’s thumb.”

“What about Jesus and the Hilltop? Didn’t they ever seem motivated enough to you?”

“Jesus, yeah, definitely, but when I first came to him, he hadn’t yet been able to rally any of his people together.” Glancing back at Jo, he shrugged. “I guess there’s been more rallying going on since I’ve been out of play.”

“If you thought Alexandria had more motivation to fight back, how come you didn’t go there with your plans to defect from this place? How come you sought out Jesus?”

“It was closer and I didn’t have a lot of time to spare when I was away from this place. I had to make the most of my time and it was easier to do by going to Hilltop, and I just lucked out that Jesus was an eager beaver.”

Jo smiled. She met Dwight’s gaze and held it for only a moment before returning her focus back upon all the people below on the factory floor. “Until this place can get its bearings and chooses a council to govern it, it’s gonna need strong leadership to guide it through to the next phase.” Her green eyes scanned the crowd, and then over to the fivesome on the stairs and the widows standing there, waiting for whatever came next. It seemed like everyone was waiting on Jo to give the word. “I think it should be you, and hopefully they elect you to be on the council after that.”

“If they don’t?”

“Then you have two choices.”

“Uh-oh,” Dwight muttered teasingly.

Jo rolled her eyes. “Nothing like that,” she remarked, getting his meaning. “If they don’t want you to be on the council, you can just continue on here as a regular, every day Joe; earning your keeping and making a new life for yourself.”

“Or?”

“Or…or you can make a new life for yourself somewhere else and not worry about someone coming after you to bring you back against your will.”

“Where else would you suggest?”

Jo turned sideways to look more upon Dwight. “Well, I’m sure the Hilltop would have you. Especially with everything you’ve done to put all of this in motion.”

“But I didn’t—”

“You took a risk to seek out the Hilltop and you gave Jesus enough information about this place. If you hadn’t done that, Jesus would’ve never found my community; he would’ve never brought us back to the Hilltop and told us everything about Negan and what the other communities have been dealing with. If you hadn’t made that choice months ago, I wouldn’t have been inspired to come here and do what I did, as horribly draining as it’s been, both physically and emotionally.” Jo looked down and brought a hand to her forehead. “I’ve been lucky enough in this new world that any man who has tried to hurt me, or violate me in anyway, I’ve been able to kill. But those times were much, much, much different situations than this. This…this is on a whole other level. I had a plan in mind for what I wanted to do, but a lot of it has also been me flying by the seat of my pants. So, thank you.”

“Well, what now?” he asked, bypassing the thanks; possibly because he felt awkward receiving it.

They both look down at the crowd of anxiously awaiting faces.

“Now?” Jo repeated. “Now we begin.”



The truck came ambling down the road at a decent clip; passing an abandoned, half off the road and a disemboweled walker off to the side of it. Rick leaned forward, gripping the dashboard, as if doing that would somehow get him there sooner or provide him with a better view of the Sanctuary before it was fully in sight. Before they reached the end of the road, though, Jesus pulled off to the side and drove slowly within the tree coverage, which the van and the car following them mimicked. Wasting no time, they all began piling out of their respective vehicles, armed with their weapons of choice as they gathered together as a clump on the road.

“Alright, we separate into groups of three, as even as we can make it. We spread out and find cover. I’m going right up to the front door. My plan is to reach out and simply make contact at first; see if I can talk to Negan. If Jo’s here and she’s…and if she’s done anything, and if she’s still alive but locked up, I’ll see if I can talk to Negan about letting her go. I’ll…I dunno. I’ll figure it out as I go along,” Rick spoke, looking between several of the faces staring back at him before, buckling slightly under the fear raging through him. “We can’t go in there, guns-a-blazing. We don’t have the manpower or enough weaponry and ammo between us. We gotta do this smart. We gotta do this—”

“Jo,” Finn muttered.

“Yeah,” Rick nodded; his hands planted upon his hips. “We gotta do this for her, so that she can make it out of there alive, if she isn’t…she’s gotta make it out of—”

“No, idiot,” Finn continued, pointing over Rick’s shoulder. “It’s Jo.”

Turning around with little to no hesitation, Rick looked up the road and saw two figures staggering slowly toward Rick and the others.

Jo and Aaron.

Every ounce of fear and worry that had been weighing heavily down upon Rick’s shoulders was immediately lifted. Breathing a sigh of utter relief, Rick began walking forward; slowly raising his arms and outstretching them. While he looked upon her with tears stinging his eyes, Jo was smiling back at him as she wobbled over.

“What are you doing here?” she asked, as Aaron made a beeline for Jesus.

“I should be asking you that,” Rick replied, pulling her into his arms and reveling in being able to hold her; that he hadn’t lost her.

Jo responded by snaking her arms around his waist as far as her interloping stomach would allow her to. She rested her head down upon his shoulder and smile with contentment to be there in his arms, where she always wanted to be. “I had to do this. I’m sorry I didn’t tell you,” she muttered softly; her exhaustion catching up with her even more now.

Pulling back and holding her at arm’s length, Rick scowled. “You have no idea how fucking stupid this way or how fucking scared you had me. I thought I’d come here and you’d be dead.”

“Well, I’m not, and I’m sorry I scared you.”

“I was pissed.” He cocked his head to the side slightly and gritted his teeth. “I still am.”

“Sorry,” she repeated, but she less like she actually was sorry and more like a child who was hiding a fantastical secret. The way she bit her lip and was barely making eye contact with him were the dead giveaways. “Would you still be pissed if I told you this trip was successful?”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean…I killed Negan.” Off his surprised look, she smiled a tired smile. “I was all surprisingly easy, too. For the first time in our lives, in this new world, a plan went completely well, from beginning to end.”

“H-how? How’d you do it?”

“I played the Trojan horse card. Walked up, played the pregnant damsel in distress card, pretended to faint, and then they brought me inside, because even an asshole isn’t gonna abandon a pregnant woman like that,” she began to explain. “I was brought to their doctor, taken somewhere to shower and change into clean clothes and even given a little something to eat and drink. I made friends, too, with Negan’s wives. Then, I met with Negan, alone in his bedroom where we talked.”

“You just sat down and talked with him? What, like, old friends?” The anger Rick was still feeling was slowly slipping away and he was becoming more intrigued by his wife’s prowess.

Jo nodded. “Pretty much. He was curious to know about me and what had brought me here. I edited my life story; changed some important parts and fabricated others. All to suit my cause. Then I got emotional, I started to cry. Like most men, he hated seeing a woman cry and I asked if I could be so bold as to ask for a hug because it had been so long since I had hugged another human being and felt safe. I was pleasantly surprised that he agreed to it, and that was his fatal mistake.”

Rick waited for her to say more, but she didn’t right away. His impatience got the better of him, though. “Well, how did you do it?”

“I fell back on a tried and true favorite,” she answered sarcastically. “Let’s just say McGruff the Crime Dog would be proud because I took a bite out crime.”

Letting that information move around in his head, Rick stared back at her as it him with what she actually meant. “Like what I did to that Claimer?”

“And like I did to the Wolf at that gas station,” she confirmed.

“Huh.”

“Yeah.”

“So, just like that?”

“Well, then, I bashed his head in a couple times to make sure he wouldn’t come back, and then I killed his right hand man and then three other of his top lieutenants. I also had that guy Dwight freed. He’s been alive all this time, imprisoned in there. To say he swore loyalty to me right away would be an understatement,” Jo explained. “Then I convinced a few other soldiers to change their ways, so to speak, and then I held a meeting with everyone inside. I explained that things were gonna change and that they had to work with the other communities instead of taking from them or killing them.”

“How’d ya manage that?” Daryl asked, having been walking up and listening in.

“Well, showing them Negan’s head kind of helped,” she replied, throwing a look at the archer. “But I think it was just that I talked to them and not at them. And I think they just liked what I said. And I think they’re gonna be fine now. I mean, it’s not going to be this immediate overnight change for them all, but it’s gonna happen, and I think sooner rather than later.” She smiled then. “I might’ve also won them over by tossing Lucille into the furnace and burning it. I think, for them, it was their Berlin Wall and I knocked it down, and suddenly it became very real to them that they were free of Negan for good.”

Shaking his head in amazement, Rick brought his hands up to either side of Jo’s face and pulled her in for a kiss. Jo reciprocated without hesitation; covering her hands over his.

“My sister, the badass,” Finn called out proudly.

Apparently the others had been walking up and been close enough in earshot of everything she’d just said, but Jo had been so engrossed in talking to Rick that she hadn’t noticed anyone else.

Though, that wasn’t exactly anything new for either of them.

When they were together, to an extent, the world around them ceased to matter.

“So what happens now?” one of the Hilltoppers who Jo hadn’t met yet asked.

“Well, we can go back and I can introduce you to some people,” Jo suggested, looking among the group. “Some key players in this change of regime, I guess you could say. I kinda instilled Dwight as their temporary leader until they can get their shit together and elect a council of their peers to govern them. But I think meeting outsiders, truly getting to know people from other communities could definitely speed up the process a little bit.”

Jesus stepped forward and slapped a hand down onto Rick’s shoulder and grinned at Jo. “I’m glad you woke Aaron and me up last night,” he remarked. “I was skeptical and I worried about how Rick would react. I mean, I assumed he would murder me and I think he contemplated it a few times after I told him where you’d gone. But I’m glad I played my part in getting you here. I’m glad you managed this when no one else could’ve even dared to dream it.”

Jo shrugged, trying to let the compliment roll off her. “You’re not even focusing on the best part yet,” she said, eyeing each person and smiling even brighter.

“Which is?” Rick egged.

“Well, we might have some skirmishes ahead of us with the outposts,” she replied. “But now there won’t be a war. Now we get to live.”


Notes

Comments

I absolutely love this story. I love how you re wrote the whole story but still kept the basics and changed who dies and when. I absolutely love that you kept Sophia alive because I really wished they had left her alive in the tv show. I love what you did with Negan. Absolutely perfect.

AliKook AliKook
4/23/19

@Grimesgirl63 @Loul461

Thank you :)

The ending is perfect

Loul461 Loul461
7/7/17

Thank you so much for this wonderful story. I'm very excited to hear that you are planning a sequel, and will be working on "The World We Live In".

Grimesgirl63 Grimesgirl63
7/7/17

I know we are getting to the end but I just do not want this story to be over. This chapter was great as usual and I can't wait for the next update. Glad that your ankle is better and you are settling in with your grandmother. Now, if you could just get that "e" key to work again!

Grimesgirl63 Grimesgirl63
6/30/17