rag doll | TWD

[39] the distance

here i go again --- whitesnake

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[POV]

JJ and Maggie led Aaron back to the barn to meet the others. 

"Hey, everyone..." JJ went in first. "This is Aaron." 

That woke everyone up for sure. Daryl was the first to march over, going out of the barn and making sure there was no one. 

"We met him outside. He's by himself." JJ assured them. "We took his weapons and we took his gear."

Daryl began checking Aaron for weapons, despite what JJ had just said. 

"Hi." He greeted, and immediately Judith started to cry. Aaron looked to Rick. "It's nice to meet you."

"You said he had a weapon?" Rick asked his sister, who took the small handgun over to him. "There something you need?"

"He has a camp nearby." Maggie stated. "He wants us to audition for membership."

"Yeah, like a damn country club." JJ commented. "Should've used a different word." 

"I wish there was one. Audition makes it sound like we're some kind of a dance troupe or rock band. That's only on Friday and Saturday nights." Maggie and JJ looked to each other. No one said anything, so Aaron went on, "Um, and it's not-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."

"That's a kidnapper's job too." JJ muttered to Maggie. 

Aaron looked to the blonde, then back to her brother. "I know. If I were you, I wouldn't go either. No until I knew exactly what I was getting into. Maggie, can you hand Rick my pack?" 

Maggie took the backpack over. "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 looked back at him, "You're absolutely 100% right." He watched as Rick went through the 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 15-foot high, 12-foot-wide slab of solid steel framed by cold-rolled steel beams and square tubing."

"Mm, that sounds legit." JJ nodded. Daryl took a step in front of JJ so that she wouldn't keep interacting with the stranger.

"Yes, very legit." Aaron copied. "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."

"The next picture you'll see inside the gates. Our community was first constructed-" Rick walked over to Aaron, knocking him out with a singular punch. 

"So we're clear, that look wasn't a 'let's attack that man' look." Michonne told Rick. "It was a 'he seems like an okay guy to me'." 

Michonne and JJ were on the same wavelength. They wanted to trust the man, hear what he had to say. 

Rick ignored her, "we got to secure him. Dump his pack. Let's see who this guy really is."

"I already went through his pack." JJ snipped. 

"Might've missed something." Daryl reasoned. 

"Everybody else, we need eyes in every direction. They're coming for us. We might not know how or when, but they are."