Shambles- The Walking Dead [Alden x Maggie] [1/2]

50- Trap

Alden took the letter back to Maggie and, as expected, he was immediately told to help the people of Meridian. She wanted to go too, but Alden convinced her to stay back instead. He and Carl gathered some basic gear; their weapons and some rations. Kelly and Daryl decided to join too and the small group set off into the woods, following the silent stranger. They'd been walking for hours when they realized it was probably further away than any of them expected. They had to camp out in the woods overnight.

Come morning Mask still hadn't said a damn thing. By now they had accepted it and continued their way onward again. As they walked Kelly searched any place they passed where her sister could hide out. When she finally mentioned that she was looking for her sister aloud to Mask he reached out and squeezed her arm.

"Hey, uh, buddy. Are we nearly there yet?" Alden asked. "We've been walking for over a day now."

"Look." Daryl pointed to a rising smoke stack in the distance.

Mask saw it too and set off running in that direction. Carl cursed under his breath as they all followed behind him, running as fast as they could.

They crossed about half the distance when they came across a man with a sword. He waved his hand frantically through the air and Mask ran to him, without getting his kama's ready to attack. Now Daryl, Carl and Alden knew that this other stranger belonged to the same group that Mask belonged to.

"They found us," the other man panted. He had his long brown hair tied back in a low bun and wore a long coat with a thick dark gray scarf around his neck. "Who are you?" he asked as he looked past Mask to them.

"Alden," he introduced himself. "Your friend here saved my life. Saved our people. He doesn't seem to talk but we saw Georgie's letter. We're here to help."

"Cole," the man replied. He nodded to Mask. "And that's Elijah. He's gone through a lot lately but he's a good fighter. That's why we sent him ahead. To see if we could actually trust you. Seems like we can."

"Carl." He pointed back over his shoulder. "And they're Daryl and Kelly."

Alden nodded back to the rising smoke. "If that's where you were holding out... where'd your people go?"

"I'm guessing everyone ran from the fire into the woods. They're scattered," Cole replied. He shook his head. "I don't understand how they found us. We were so careful."

"Who's they?" Carl asked.

"The Reapers," he replied. "I was out hunting and when I came back two of our people were burned to a crisp. I didn't actually see the Reapers, but I know it's them. Otherwise they would've come back once the fire was out."

"Okay, then let's find your people," Daryl said as he continued to walk, the others following behind him quietly. Staying quiet was safer anyway.

As Daryl tracked some footsteps through the forest they all looked around for any signs of, well, anything. Alden couldn't see the trail Daryl followed but trusted his instincts completely.

"The trail splits here," Daryl said.

"Let's split up too," Carl insisted. "I can track too and it's faster this way."

"No way." Cole shook his head. "Splitting up is too dangerous."

"You were alone just a second ago and every second could be the difference between one of your people making it out alive or dying," Alden countered. "And we're all capable fighters, aren't we?"

"You don't know how dangerous the Reapers are," he stressed.

"We want to find your people as fast as possible. Alden's right; splitting up is fastest," Carl said calmly.