The Kingdom

Chapter 30 The Kingdom

POV Justin

"Why are you really here?" Negan asks me placing his bat on his desk.

"Me?" I say pointing the finger at myself and looking surprised. "Can't I just check on my uncle?" I asked innocently tilting my head.

"Sassy little shit." Negan whispers shaking his head as he pours himself a glass of alcohol.

"I know I have put off this topic for a long time, largely because I had other things to attend to." I say while waving my hands dismissively. "The Kingdom and Hilltop." I say casually.

Currently, these communities do not represent any threat to me, however, I do not intend to underestimate them as it happened with Negan in the television show. Their geographical location is beneficial to make them satellite settlements of my empire.

"What do you want to do with them?" Negan asks me holding his chin. "They continue to pay tribute to the Saviors without any inconvenience. I thought you didn't care about those people and that we saviors continue to benefit from them." He comments narrowing his eyes at me.

"Old habits die hard, huh?" I say smiling a little. "I plan to annex them to us eventually, by force if necessary. However, I want to avoid losing people greatly." I say snatching the glass of liquor from Negan's hands and starting walking towards the window.

"Don't get me wrong, if I want to get this all working…" I say pointing out the window at the various workers repairing the facilities, putting up some defenses, and the various guards patrolling the surroundings. "An exaggerated amount of people is necessary." I say dropping the glass of liquor to the ground, breaking it into many pieces, and spilling the liquid. "They are the most valuable resource right now." I whisper as I turn around looking intently at Negan.

However, Negan is looking at me with wide eyes. "Damn it boy! You made my pulse race with that monologue. Did you have it rehearsed? Because it was great." Negan exclaims smiling slightly. "The most valuable resource, huh?"

I just can't tell him that I need more meat shields. The more people under my command, the better chance I have of surviving.

"I guess that answers my question as to why you didn't just kill us all when we entered the city 2 months ago." He says nodding his head. "It's not what I would have done, but it's effective. Hell, half my men wet his pants."

"However, even though they are an important resource, under my command people swim or drown." I say with a small smile spreading across my face. "There is no room for incompetence or insubordination." I say walking towards the office door with my back to Negan.

"You come?" I ask as I turn my head towards him.

"Where?" He asks a little confused narrowing his eyes.

"I am going to make a king and his people bow down to me." I say with an innocent and charming smile.

At that Negan's laughter was heard throughout the place.

Hours later.

I am currently inside a vehicle on the side of the road a few minutes from The Kingdom.

"Are you sure about this?" Negan asks me looking me up and down. At that, I jump out of the vehicle.

"You're just like Mike. Both of them worry excessively." I say waving my hands dismissively. However, from the nearby trees, two walkers appear slowly approaching my direction. "I'll be fine." I say pointing my finger at the approaching walkers, then the walkers' skulls are pierced by bullets without making a sound.

"Snipers with silencers." Negan whispers.

"Do you think I would go out without protection?" I ask while I raise an eyebrow in Negan's direction.

I'm a little paranoid that I don't know what I might find outside the security of the Pentagon. A hostile group? cannibals? The CRM? And most dangerous of all, meeting a goddamn god. With Wesker I was lucky, however, I have no idea if I'll ever meet another like him. But I will be ready if that day comes.

"Are you paying attention to me?" Negan asks me, to which I simply shake my head with a smile.

"I mentioned all the flaws in your plan, but you know what? Fuck off." Negan says shaking his head. "Then, don't call me to rescue you." he says snorting.

"Your way of worrying about me is quite strange." I whisper as I grab a backpack from the backseat along with a skateboard.

"No one would suspect a sweet child seeking refuge." I say with a smile as I start to skate down the path in the direction of The Kingdom. "Bye~Bye!" I exclaim as I walk away and in the process raise my right hand showing the middle finger.

It's time to meet the King!

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POV Ezekiel

The Kingdom

After the fall of civilization, the survivors formed a wall made of scrap around an institute to protect it, thus delineating a habitable perimeter where we settled.

They needed a leader to keep order within the community, so I took on that role. I am known as King Ezekiel and the community gradually evolved into a medieval lifestyle as its inhabitants became my subjects.

However, our peace did not last long enough because a group of bandits calling themselves the Saviors threatened my community claiming half of our supplies in exchange for not attacking us.

I managed to make an agreement with them and agreed to their demands. Knowing that I would lose if I went to war against them, I then kept the deal hidden from my community.

My people deserve to continue living their days in peace without worrying about the danger that lurks in the shadows.

"Good morning, My King." Jerry says moving closer to me interrupting my thoughts.

"Good morning, Jerry." I say nodding my head. "Walk with me." I say as I make a subtle sign with my hands for him to follow me. As I walk I watch my subjects doing their chores, some planting crops, others washing clothes, preparing food, and children receiving classes, all of them with smiles on their faces.

"People are very excited about tonight's celebration." Jerry says with a smile on his face as he follows closely behind me.

Today we will perform a small play in the institute's auditorium along with a small celebration for the excellent harvest.

"My subjects deserve peace. They all deserve to be happy and I, as their King, will grant it to them." I exclaim dramatically drawing the attention of nearby people who smile in my direction.

"You are a good king, that is why I will always follow you." Jerry says nodding his head. In that, Benjamin along with his little brother Henry approach us.

"My King." Benjamin says bowing slightly as his little brother teases him. "We have brought you an apple from the orchard." He says, then his brother offers me an apple.

"For you, Your Majesty." Henry whispers handing me an apple. Given this, I put my hand in his hair and proceed to mess it up.

"Thank you both for being good subjects and excellent people, your father would be proud of you." I say as both boys quickly nod their heads and walk away to do other activities. Their father died a few months ago and since then I have taken care of both of them.

"Do you have news of what is happening in Washington?" I asked without expecting any positive response. At that Jerry shakes his head as he has done several times we have brought up this point.

"The last thing we could see from a distance is that they were building barricades with abandoned vehicles around some areas, it is very dangerous to approach these people without knowing their intentions." Jerry explains with a little sigh. "We have enough with the saviors." He whispers.

Luckily we have managed to meet our delivery quotas with the saviors thanks to the large number of crops we have, however, I highly doubt that they will remain happy if we only continue to send them vegetables or fruits.

However, my little walk was interrupted when one of the guards stationed at the main gate detected movement approaching the gates of the Kingdom. Given this, I personally went to the gates followed by my faithful custodian Jerry along with some guards.

"What did you see?" I ask one of the lookouts.

"I'm not sure, I think it was a kid." He responds confused with binoculars in his hands. Immediately afterward Dianne takes the binoculars and begins to observe the surroundings.

"I see it!" Says Dianne looking through the binoculars. "Sure enough, he is a kid and he is coming towards us on a skateboard." She says with a bit of disbelief in her voice.

Shortly after, in the distance, I watch as a kid riding skateboard approaches, however, a walker gets in the way of the kid and us.

"The walker will crash into the child." Jerry exclaims. At this, I clench my fists. We can't shoot at this distance, the bullet can go through the walker and hit the poor kid.

"Open the door!" I exclaim as my subjects proceed to open the door, maybe we can still make it in time. However, what I saw next left me with my eyes wide open and I was not the only one with the same reaction.

The kid did not slow down when he saw the walker. On the contrary, he began to skate faster and then crouch down, thus unfolding some kind of accessory on the skateboard since a sharp blade unfolds in front of the skateboard and on its sides.

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In that, the boy does a kind of stunt with the skateboard and in the process decapitates the walker. "Gotcha!" He exclaims in the distance as he keeps skating towards us, the boy doesn't seem to have noticed that we're looking at him.

Shortly after, the boy comes to our doors looking at us all curiously until his gaze stops at me and a smile spreads across his face. Did he recognize me?

The kid stomps on his skateboard and the blades quickly retract as if it were just a normal skateboard. The most curious thing is the design of the skateboard, it seems to be a new skateboard with these strange modifications and a red symbol in the whole middle of the skateboard. This is the symbol that represents anarchy.

"Hello everyone." He says with a charming smile. "My name is Justin, I like chocolate and I'm currently lost."

"I am pleased to see that you are well after you dealt with that walker in such an unusual manner. I am King Ezekiel, welcome to The Kingdom." I say with my characteristic monarch smile.

"A king? That's so cool!" Justin says looking at me intensely with emotion. However, why do I feel so uncomfortable? At this, I cough a little. "Well little Justin, you surely had a long journey to get here, so let me extend you my hospitality.

"Dianne, please show our guest around and prepare a room for him. I'll meet up with him later." I say with a smile on my face as Dianne nods her head and politely leads the boy away from us.

Shortly after, Jerry rushes up to me. "There's something wrong with that kid, did you see how I look at you for a second?" He whispers.

"I thought it was my imagination, I also noticed that the boy's clothes are very clean, too clean to have spent a few days on the road or in the woods." I say with my hands behind my back. "And that skateboard is new."

"Are you implying that he?" He says quickly, at that, Jerry's eyes widen at what I want to imply.

"I want you watching him at all times." I say in an authoritative voice.

"Yes, My King!" Jerry exclaims resting his medieval ax on his shoulder before walking away from me.

In the distance I see how the kid seems excited by everything around him, for a normal person it would seem genuine emotion, however, for a trained eye like mine, all this is nothing more than an act. After all, I can also play a role.

I squint at the kid. What is he plotting? What does he want? Who really is he? At that, the kid turns in my direction and gives me a smile.