Ashes // THE WALKING DEAD

Distance

The Beginning Of The End
Episode 16

Everyone was awake now, Daryl sharpened his knife, Dad sat on the floor with Judith while everyone else kinda did their own thing for the time being. Sasha and Maggie were gone, They took off before any of us woke up. Daryl said they went to watch the sunrise.

"hey." Maggie's southern accent pierced through as she slowly opened the barn doors.

We all turned our attention to her. "everyone..this is Aaron." She stepped out of the way, allowing a man with dirty blonde hair walk inside, Sasha following close behind. Guns went up immediately, and this Aaron guy raised his arms in surrender. Daryl quickly marched over with a protective and unhappy expression on his face, He looked outside to make sure nobody else was with him before closing the barn door.

"we met him outside. He's by himself. We took his weapons and his gear." Maggie looked at Rick while still standing next to Aaron.

Daryl patted the mysterious man down to make sure he didn't have anything else on him that he might've been hiding or had tucked away. Nobody said anything for a little while, Aaron deciding to break the silence first. "Hi." He spoke softly. Judith instantly started crying as she reached over for carl who was standing a half foot away. Rick nods to carl and he grabs his baby sister, she stops crying instantly.

"you said he had a weapon?" Rick finally spoke. His voice a little hoarse. Maggie walked over handing the gun to rick.

"He said he has a camp nearby. He wants us to audition for membership." Sasha stood there in the same spot.

"I wish there was another word for it. Audition makes it seem like we're some kind of dance troupe. We're not. Uh— It's not a camp.. It's a community. All of you would make very valuable additions. My job is to convince you all to follow me back. Sasha could you hand Rick my pack?" Aaron asked politely.

Sasha stood there for a moment before walking over to give the backpack to rick. "There's an envelope in the front pocket. You'll see some photos. I apologize for the quality— we found an old camera-" Aaron's smile quickly faded.

"nobody gives a shit." Daryl cut him off. I stood close to dad, Seeing him look through the pictures.

"The first photo being of high walls. "nothing in our community will matter unless you know you'll be safe. Each panel is a 15-foot high 12- foot wide slab of solid steel. Nothing dead or alive gets inside without our say so." Aaron explained the first picture.

Everyone didn't say anything, and just looked at each other while Aaron continued to speak. "we're strong, But you could make us even stronger. The next picture you'll see inside the gates-" Aaron went on, Rick walking over and punching him in the jaw, Knocking him out cold instantly. Everyone rushed over to Aaron.

"we need eyes in every direction. They're coming for us." Rick looked around the barn.

"Me and Sasha didn't see him. If he wanted to hurt us he could've." Maggie kneeled down to Aaron while daryl searched him again.

"See anything?" Rick ignored Maggie and turned his attention to Glenn who was peeking outside.

"Just a lot of places for someone to hide. Nothing else right now." Glenn kept staring outside.

Rick walks over to Carl and i, We we're searching through Aaron's bag. "What'd you find?" Dad asked.

"never seen a gun like this before." Carl hands over a small orange gun.

"It's a flare gun. You shoot it into the air to show someone where you are." I explained it him while dad took it and walked away.

"hell of a punch." Aaron finally came to.

"You're being cautious about it. Trust me i get it." Aaron sat up, His knees resting in front of him.

"I wanna know how many people you have out there. You have a flare gun to signal your people. How many?" Rick showed the flare gun.

"i'm pretty sure it doesn't matter how many people i say are out there. Eight.... 32.. 444. Zero— no matter what i said you're not going to trust my word. Those bottles of water? I left those for you." Aaron sat there making us feel more anxious about the situation.

"You left those? How long have you been following us?" I stepped forward, Now standing next to Glenn and Daryl.

"long enough to know you're all survivors." Aaron kept sitting on the ground, His hands tied behind his back.

"I asked how many people are out there." Rick asked again getting a little annoyed.

"One. I can drive you to the community." Aaron wiggled around.

"I don't think the 15 of us are going to all fit in the car you and your one friend drove down here. If i wanted to ambush you.. I would've set the barn on fire while you slept and picked you off as you run out of the only Exit. I want you to know.. want all of you to know that i can be trusted." Aaron tried to plead his case again.

"We could go check the cars. We need to find out if this is real or not." I stepped closer to rick.

"we don't." Rick shook his head.

"yes, we do. If he's saying the truth.. This could be a place where we can survive." I tried to change his mind.

"your way is dangerous, Mine isn't." Rick still didn't agree.

"Dad. We need to find out what this place is. I think we know well enough by now that we can all handle ourselves. We're checking it out." I didn't give him a choice at this point.

"I will too. with her" Glenn agreed.

"Abraham." Rick turned. "you too Rosita." Together they both walked over. "you got 60 minutes.. If you're not back by then we'll come lookin." Rick finally agreed and allowed us to search for the cars. He stayed behind with Aaron and Judith.