Fire With Fire // D. Dixon

chapter nineteen

Chloe Grimes stood up from her spot around the fire, following after Daryl Dixon.

She watched carefully as he paced around inside the front of the barn. Chloe hated seeing him so upset or angry, and he had been like that a fair amount of times, but always away from the group. He knew that it was best to blow off steam away from the others, he didn't want them to see him like that.

Chloe stepped closer to the archer, placing a gentle hand on his shoulder as she spoke softly, "Hey, you doing alright?"

Daryl turned to look at the girl, "Yeah..." He noticed that her hair had fallen messily out of her ponytail and into her face. He was careful when he stepped closer to her, brushing the strand of hair behind her ear as he watched her eyes.

Chloe felt her body tremble from the softness of his touch, finding the kind nature of his actions to be heartwarming. He wasn't usually one for physical displays of affection, but it was a time that they both needed it. A sign they were both still human.

The sudden and rampant noise of the doors swinging brought him down from his sudden display of affection. He stepped over to shut them back, as did Chloe. What shocked them both was the sight of a cluster of walkers just at arm's reach of the barn doors.

"Shit!" Chloe shrieked, helping Daryl wrap the chain links together in a bind. The pair pushed their entire body weight against the door as the walkers hit the other side. It was not enough, nowhere near enough to stop them.

The rattling noise of the barn doors shaking was loud enough to have gained the entire group's attention. One at a time, they all ran to the doors. Together, they leaned and pushed against the doors. The snarling of the walkers sounded just as the high-pitched whistle had reached their exhausted ears.

With a look between Daryl and Chloe, they knew right then and there. The tornado was here.

-X-

The sight of the outside world in the morning was shocking.

Entire trees had been uprooted and thrown hundreds of feet away, walkers had been impaled by bits of trees, debris littered the surrounding area, and there was a clear path through the forest. The same path that the tornado had taken, just shy of a hundred feet from the barn.

They'd been so lucky. They survived.

"Look at this..." Sasha looked around in awe, "should have torn us apart..."

"It didn't." Maggie said, smiling at the two girls.

They had survived.

-X-

Chloe had gone back into the barn, helping the group with whatever they needed.

Instinctually, Chloe went and sat by Daryl. She watched as he carefully cleaned his bow, taking note of his ability to see in dark areas.

She was interrupted from her thoughts by Maggie, who entered the barn with company, "Everyone...this is Aaron."

The news had brought the entire group to their feet, armed. Chloe watched as the man, Aaron, looked spooked, she noted that he didn't appear to be shocked, but certainly spooked by the firepower.

"We met him outside, he's by himself. We took his weapons and we took his gear." Maggie explained, but the group maintained their positions. That being, with all sorts of different guns and knives aimed directly at his throat.

"Hi..." Aaron spoke, watching the group cautiously, "It's nice to meet you-" Rick stopped him from walking towards him.

"You said he had a weapon?" Rick asked, just as Maggie walked over to him and handed over his gun, "There something you need?"

"He has a camp nearby...he wants us to audition for membership." Sasha explained, making the group eye Aaron quizzically. Chloe thought about it, what exactly was this guy up to?

"I wish there was another word. Audition makes it sound like we're some kind of dance troupe," Aaron laughed, "That's only on Friday nights."

There was silence.

Sensing the pressure, Aaron continued, "Uh, it's not a camp. It's a community. I think you would all make valuable additions. But, it's not my call. My job is to convince you all to follow me back home."

"No way in hell-" Chloe scoffed, looking at this man with suspicion. Rick's gaze didn't move away from Aaron.

"I know, if I were you, I wouldn't go either. Not until I knew exactly what I was getting into. Sasha, could you hand Rick my bag?" Aaron turned to Sasha, who paused for a moment to think about it. She then obliged with a heavy sigh.

"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 apologize for the picture quality. We just found an old camera store last-" Aaron was then cut off.

"Nobody gives a shit." Daryl spat, glancing at this man angrily as he placed himself protectively in front of Chloe. He felt like this 'Aaron' guy was up to something, he didn't want anybody getting hurt by this idiot, especially Chloe.

"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," Aaron speaks more confidently now, "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 and Michonne exchange a glance, before looking back at Aaron. The man looked clean, like he had abundant access to clean clothes, running water, and supplies. They couldn't deny that. But it was all suspicious, far too good to be true.

"Together, we're strong. You can make us even stronger-" Aaron was quickly sent to the floor, curetsy of Rick's fist.

-X-

"So we're clear; that look wasn't a 'let's attack that man' look. It was a 'he seems like an okay guy to me' look." Michonne argues, but Rick stands firm by his decision. You can't afford to make the wrong ones these days.

"You know we can't take that risk anymore..." Chloe spoke up, making Michonne look away from her. Michonne knew it was true, what if this guy was just another rapist? Another murderer? They didn't know for sure and that uncertainty was enough to justify their actions.

"We got to secure him. Dump his pack. Let's see what this guy really is." Rick orders everyone to make sure he's not going anywhere. Not on their watch, that is.

"Rick-" Michonne attempts to stop him, but he persists.

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

"Me and Sasha, we didn't see him," Maggie explains, "If he had wanted to hurt us, he could've." Rick takes that information, but he simply can't risk it. He has people to take care of, protect. He had painstakingly failed that job many times before, he has to do everything in his power to not fail again.

"Anybody see anything?" Rick asks, pacing around the barn. He was making Chloe nervous, but she knew he was just trying to keep them safe and out of harm's way the best way he knew how.

"Just a lot of places to hide." Glenn says, glancing outside of the barn through a crack.

"All right, keep looking." Rick told him, and Glenn did as he was told. They all did.