Didn't See That Coming | The Walking Dead(1)

Part 65 (Community)

The following morning, the group were going about their own business, each of them keeping to themselves. No one was really moving much. All of them were silently wondering about what the plan was. 

CJ was sat fiddling with her necklace, trying to tie a not in the string so she could wear it until she was able to fix the clasp. Carl was sat behind her, the two of them sat back-to-back when the door opened, and Maggie came in.

"Hey," she called out. "Everyone? This is Aaron."

CJ, along with the others were quick to stand up and grab their weapons, watching the man that followed Maggie into the barn. Daryl grabbed his crossbow and headed outside to check there was no one else around before coming back inside and patting Aaron down for weapons.

"We met him outside, he's by himself," Maggie told the group. "We took his weapons, and we took his gear."

Judith started crying in Rick's arm and he handed her over to Carl, barely taking his eyes off the stranger.

"It's nice to meet you," Aaron greeted, carefully taking a step forward. Everyone tensed up when he moved; he froze and held his hands up.

"You said he had a weapon," Rick said, looking at Maggie. She went over and handed Rick a small handgun. He checked it for ammo before tucking it into his waistband. "There something you need?" he asked Aaron.

"He has a camp. Nearby," Sasha answered. "He wants us to audition for membership."

"I wish there was another word," Aaron spoke nervously, but sounded friendly. "Audition makes it sound like we're some kind of a dance troupe. That's only on Friday nights," he joked. No one responded and he gulped nervously at the stern looks he was receiving. "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 to follow me back home." He looked around at everyone. "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 hesitated for a moment before heading over to Rick and taking Aaron's bag off of her back, handing it over. CJ kept her gaze on the stranger, her gun by her side as she gripped it tightly.

"Front pocket, there's an envelope," Aaron said. Rick knelt down and unzipped the bag.  "There's no way I could convince you to come with me just by talking about our community. That's why I brought those. I apologise in advance for the picture quality," he chuckled. "We just found an old camera store last-"

"Nobody gives a shit," Daryl cut him off bluntly.

Aaron turned to look at Daryl. "You're absolutely, one hundred percent right," he nodded slightly before turning back to face Rick, who was looking at the pile of photos. "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 fifteen-foot high, twelve-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."

Rick turned his head to glance at CJ and Michonne, who were both stood to his left. Michonne gave him a small nod before he glanced at CJ, who did a similar thing. To them, this guy seemed real. He was clean, friendly.

"Together we're strong. You can make us even stronger," Aaron smiled. Rick looked down at the pictures again before slowly walking over to the stranger. "The next picture, you'll see inside the gates. Our community was first constr-"

He didn't have to time to finish his sentence before Rick punched him in the face and knocked him out. 

He came back to the others and Michonne scolded him. "So we're clear, that look wasn't a 'let's attack that man' look. It was a 'he seems an okay guy to me' look."