XLVI

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Delilah's eyes opened wide as her body jolted her awake. Shane's hand went to her leg at her sudden movement. "You okay?" He asked her, his hand stroking her hair. "Yeah. Bad dream." Delilah shrugged lifting her torso off the floor. She rubbed her eyes and looked around the barn. A few were still asleep. Daryl sat by the doors with a weapon ready.

Delilah frowned at the sight of her exhausted big brother. He stared off into nothing. "He's not doing okay." Shane sighed noticing her look. Delilah shook her head. "No. We all aren't. You know?" Delilah formed her mouth in a line and rested her head on Shane's shoulder.

A few minutes pass and Maggie comes peeking into the barn from outside with Sasha behind her. "Guys," she warned calmly. The group jumped up at the strange tone. "This is Aaron."

A blonde, clean guy came out from behind them. Rick, Daryl, and Shane immediately jumped up with their weapons, Abraham not too slow behind them. "He approached us outside, he's by himself. We took his weapons and gear." Maggie assured them making Shane search him.

"It's nice to meet you." Aaron said confidently, his hands in the air.

Rick ignored him. "You said he had a weapon?" Rick asked making Sasha step forward and handed him a pistol.

"There something you need?" Rick asked the nervous blonde in front of him.

"He has a camp nearby. He wants us to audition for membership." Sasha explained while shrugging her shoulders.

"I wish there was another word. Audition makes it sound like we're some kind of dance troupe. That's only on Friday nights..... um, it's not a camp. It's a community. I think you all would make valuable auditions. But it's not my call. My job is to convince all of you to come back with me. 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 looked at Aaron before looking at Rick and grabs the pack giving it to Rick. "Front pocket, there's an envelope."

Rick kneeled down in front of the pack and opened the pocket carefully. He pulled out black and white pictures. "There's no way I can convince you to come with me. By just talking about our community. That's why I brought those. I apologize for advance for the picture quality. We just found an old camera store last-." Aaron nervously rambled.

"Nobody gives a shit." Abraham interrupted him sternly. Aaron looked at him and nodded.

"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 of 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." Aaron pushed with determination in his voice.

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