Rori Rhee has survived this long, been through so many death. Yet she still had Carl, her parents, and the rest of the group. Except, she's slowly losing her family and herself. After Beth's death, it felt like she would never be happy again. Her Au...
We continued to walk for what felt like hours. To be fair, it probably had been hours. We were barely moving. All of us were so hot and exhausted we walked so slow. I hated this. I had gotten so comfortable in the prison.
I walked side by side with Carl. He held Judith in his arms. I couldn't help but think he would be a great Dad someday. If we survive that long.
"Hold up," Rick said. The group stopped and formed a circle. On the road, there were water bottles with a sign that said: "From a friend."
"Nobody touch them," Rick ordered. He turned around when Daryl stepped out of the forest. Rick handed Daryl to piece of paper.
"What else are we gonna do?" Tara asked.
"Not this. We don't know who left it," Rick said. Gosh, it sucks to look at the water bottle and not be able to drink them. I was so thirsty.
"If that's a trap, we already happen to be in it. But I, for one, would like to think it is indeed from a friend," Eugene said.
"What friend? It could be poisoned," I huffed, crossing my arms. Everybody stared at the water. Eugen stepped forward, grabbing one.
"Eugene," Rosita said in more of a warning tone than anything.
"What are you doing, dude?" Tara asked.
"Quality assurance," Eugene simply said. Abraham stepped forward and knocked the water out of Eugene's hand.
"We can't," Rick said as Abraham stepped away from Eugene. Thunder rumbled loudly and for a second a became worried. My worry disappeared when it began to pour. Water droplets hit my face and my clothes were soaked but I didn't care.
"Oh, come on Carl! Dance with me!" I said grabbing his hand that wasn't around Judith. I pulled his body closer to mine and put my other hand on Judith's back. Carl used his free hand and spun me. I laughed, spinning towards Dad.
I grabbed Dad's hand and pulled him up from his crouched position. He placed one hand on my waist.
"I'm sorry, my Lord," I heard Gabriel cry.
"Everybody get the bags. Anything you can find," Rick said. Dad stopped swinging me around, his eyes focused on the sky. I looked up too. The clouds were dark. And I mean really dark. "Let's keep moving."
Judith cried loudly and Daryl turned to look at Rick, shouting, "There's a barn!"
"Where?" Rick immediately asked.
"Through the forest. Not too far from here," Daryl replied.
"Alright. Let's go," Rick said. We all followed Daryl through the muddy forest and towards the barn. We all raised our weapons as Rick opened the barn door. Michonne, Eugene, Rosita, Tara, Carl, and I all stayed outside in the pouring rain waiting for the okay.
"It's clear! You can come in!" Rick yelled after a minute or two. We all hurried to get out of the storm.
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The thunder was loud and annoying. It was hard to get any sleep. We made a small fire but for the most part, it was dark. The wood was too wet and we had a hard time keeping the small fire lit. I fell asleep next to Carl, Judith pressed in between us.
I was jerked awake when I heard banging and groaning. A flash of lightning lit up the barn for a moment. I shared a look with Carl, who was now wide awake. The whole group, minus Carl, me, and Judith were pushing the barn door shut. Carl and I quickly ran towards the door, leaving a sleep Judith on the floor. Judith cried loudly but didn't move. There was so much lightning and thunder. Our shoes slipped against the muddy ground. It was awful.
After an hour or two of pressing against the barn door the storm lightened up and little and the walkers left. Everybody returned to their original positions.
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The next morning, it was no longer raining. The sun shined brightly through the cracks of the barn. There wasn't much to do. My attention turned to the barn entrance.
"Hey. Everyone..." Mom entered the barn with a man behind her. "This is Aaron." The adults jumped to their feet with their weapons raised. "We met him outside. He's by himself. We took his weapons and we took his gear."
"Hi," Aaron said. Judith began to cry and I took her from Rick. Rick nodded thanks. I bounced her on my hip. Carl gave her his finger to hold onto. She slowly stopped crying.
"It's nice to meet you," Aaron stepped forward but stopped.
"You said he had a weapon?" Rick asked Mom. Mom walked over and handed it to Rick. He looked the weapon over before placing it on the back of his belt. "There something you need."
"He has a camp nearby. He wants us to audition for membership," Sasha answered for Aaron.
"I wish there was another word. Audition makes it sound like we're some kind of a dance troupe. That's only on Friday nights," Aaron chuckled lightly. "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. 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 stared at Aaron before walking towards Rick. She took the backpack off her back and handed it to Rick.
"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. And I apologize in advance for the picture quality. We just found an old camera store last--"
"Nobody gives a shit," Daryl interrupted Aaron. Aaron turned slightly to look at Daryl, who was behind him.
"You're absolutely 100% right," Aaron nodded before turning back around to look at Rick. I looked over Rick's shoulder to look at the pictures. Their community did look nice. Safe.
"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 even stronger," Aaron explained.
"The next picture, you'll see inside the gates," Rick began to walk towards Aaron. "Our community was first construc--" Aaron was cut off by Rick punching him, successfully knocking him out. I gasped, covering Judith's eyes.
