Afraid of the Living - Carl Grimes

☆ six

2993 words (oh jeez)

Leah's POV:

Maggie and I are in the garden. We're setting up some wooden posts. Glenn says hi to both of us and helps me tie the string around the wood. I was having trouble with it. Maggie explains that the posts can help maximize our crop yield. Whatever that means.

"Still haven't seen a single bud." Maggie looks down, disappointed.

"Babe. It'll grow. It's gonna be okay." Glenn smiles at her.

I look over and see Denise rushing Abraham inside. We all run over to see what's going on.

We walk into Rick and Michonne's house. There's a man sitting on the steps, Carl is pointing a gun at him, and Rick and Michonne are half naked. Interesting. Daryl gets his gun out, I pull out mine and cock it back, getting ready to shoot if needed. Glenn puts his hand on his holster, and Maggie gets out her knife.

"It's- It's okay." Michonne reassures us.

"Why are you two-" I start saying.

"You said we should talk. So let's talk." Rick interrupts.

~~~

Now, we're all sitting at their kitchen table.

"So, how'd you get out?"

"One guard can't cover two exits or third floor with windows. Knots untie and locks get picked. Entropy comes from order, right?" This Jesus guy explains.

"Right." Daryl is circling around the guy.

"I checked out your arsenal. I haven't seen anything like that in a long time. You're well-equipped, but your provisions are low. Very low for the amount of people you have. 54?"

"More than that." Maggie is eyeing him.

"Well, I appreciate the cookie. My compliments to the chef."

"Yeah, she ain't here."

"Look, we got off to a bad start. But we're on the same side- the living side." I look over at my friends when he says that. He has a point.

"You and Rick had every reason to leave me out there, but you didn't. I'm from a place that's a lot like this one. Part of my job is searching out other settlements to trade with. I took your truck because my community needs things, and both of you looked like trouble. I was wrong. You're good people."

"The fuck we are." I muttered.

"Swear." Maggie scolds me.

"Sorry." Carl laughs at me.

Jesus continues talking.

"And this is a good place. I think our communities may be in a position to help each other."

"Do you have food?" Rick asks.

"We've started to raise livestock. We scavenge, we grow. Everything from tomatoes to sorghum." The hell is that?

"Tell us why we should believe you."

"I'll show you. If we take a car, I can take you back home in a day, and you can all see for yourselves who we ate and what we have to offer."

"Wait, you're looking for more settlements. You mean you're already trading with other groups?" Maggie looks confused.

Jesus leans back and laughs.

"Your world's about to get a whole lot bigger." My eyes widen slightly.

There's more people out there.