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The next morning everyone just sat around the barn doing whatever. Adelaine had Mia laying in between her legs playing with one stuffed animal they had while Evan was sat next to them with his head on her shoulder. She was running her fingers through his hair with one hand.
"Hey." they all looked to the entrance of the barn where Maggie opened the doors. "Everyone, this is Aaron."
Everyone immediately cocked their guns and aimed them at the man. Adelaine stood up and pushed Mia behind her while Evan walked over and pulled Maggie away from Aaron.
"We met him outside he's by himself." Maggie said as Daryl began to pat Aaron down. "We took his weapons and we took his gear."
"Hi." Aaron spoke and Judith began crying in Rick's arms. Carl took his little sister and walked over to Adelaine. "It's nice to meet you." Aaron tried to walk towards Rick but stopped when guns were cocked in his direction again.
"You said he had a weapon?" Rick asked. Maggie walked over and handed him a pistol.
Mia tugged on Adelaine's jeans and made grabby hands so Adelaine lifted her up onto her hip.
"There something you need?" Rick asked Aaron.
"He has a camp nearby." Sasha told him. "He wants us to audition for a membership."
"I wish there was another word." Aaron said. "Audition makes it sound like we're some kind off dance troupe. That's only on Friday nights." he tried to joke but everyone just continued staring at him. "Um, and it's not a camp. It's a community. I think you all would make valuable additions. But it's not my call. My job is to convince you all to follow me back home." they all looked at him skeptically. "I know. If I were you, I wouldn't go either. Not until I knew exactly what I was getting into. Sasha can you hand Rick my pack?"
Sasha walked over to Rick and handed him the backpack. Adelaine moved to stand next to him.
"Front pocket, there's an envelope. There's no way I could convince you to come with me just by talking about our community. That's why I brought those." Aaron said as Rick pulled out the envelope that had several pictures in it. "I apologize in advance for the picture quality. We just found an old camera store last--"
"Nobody gives a shit." Daryl cut him off.
"You're absolutely 100 percent right." Aaron nodded. Rick pulled out the pictures from the envelope. "That's the first picture I wanted to show you because nothing I say about our community will matter unless you know you'll be safe. If you join us, you will be. Each panel in that wall is a 15-foot-high, 12-foot-wide slab of solid steel. Framed by cold-rolled steel beams and square tubing. Nothing alive or dead gets through that without our say-so. Like I said, security is obviously important. In fact there's only one resource more critical to our community's survival. The people. Together we're strong. You can make us stronger."
