𝘐𝘯𝘷𝘪𝘴𝘪𝘣𝘭𝘦 𝘚𝘵𝘳𝘪𝘯𝘨 // 𝘋𝘢𝘳𝘺𝘭 𝘋𝘪𝘹𝘰𝘯

ᴀʟᴇxᴀɴᴅʀɪᴀ

Children are laughing. There's children. My eyes fall to Rick who's holding Judith, she stares at him with wide eyes and I smile. Carl smiles beside me, bumping his shoulder with mine. "Don't get too hopeful." Carol mumbles, standing on my left.

Shaking my head, my smile falters as the gate slowly opens. Yeah that's right, there's a gate. The thought of having what we once did in the prison fills me with a new type of hope. A cautious one, but a grateful one. If this really works out, I'm gonna kiss Aaron.

Another guy stands on the other side of the gate, a gun in his hands though he looks like he doesn't have a clue on what to do with it. Carl sticks close beside me as we walk closer, into the community.

"We brought dinner" Daryl is the first one to speak and I shake my head, a chuckle escaping my lips when the man in front of us takes a step back. Daryl stands, a possum in his hands, swaying yet dead.

Aaron stares at Daryl for a moment before turning to Rick, "Before we take this any further, I need you all to turn over your weapons." Abraham sighs behind me and my shoulders stiffen. For the past months we've relied on these weapons to keep us safe and alive, now were just supposed to hand them over? "You stay, you hand them over" The man behind Aaron speaks up, his voice deep.

Rick looks at him, "We don't know if we want to stay." Aaron calls the man Nicholas as he sighs, raising his gun slightly.

"Let's just go talk to Deanna first alright?" Aaron's voice raises, afraid we won't listen to him. Rick asks a question but I don't hear it, I'm too focused staring at the clean streets ahead of me. Houses line the clean pavement, people walk on fresh green grass. None of them have dirty clothes or hair. They all look healthy and happy.

We follow Aaron closely until we make it to a big white house. We wait outside until a woman with dark hair and black glasses comes out the side door, a trolley with her. I watch as we line up, placing our guns and even knives onto the table.

When it gets to me I glare at Aaron and than at the woman. Placing my gun on the table, I grimace when I hear it clink against the other weapons. Aaron motions with a pointy finger towards my belt and I give him a sarcastic nod, sliding my gun out and then my knife with a huff.

When I turn around Daryl stands up, walking over to me. The group sits on the deck, waiting to be called in for their meeting. "Wat are we thinkin?" He mumbles, looking around.

"I don't know yet, one part of me wants to jump up and down the other wants to run." He nods, wrapping his arms around my waist and pushing me in. We hug for a moment, the anxiety in my chest finally easing. "Hugging in public" I fake a gasp, "what will the citizens think Daryl?" I punch his arm, pushing away from him with a smile.

He just stares at me with a hazy smile, a look in his eyes that I can't quite read. "Scarlet?" Aaron asks suddenly and I turn to find him motioning to the door. Rick, Maggie, Beth, and Glenn have gone I guess it's my turn.

I don't know what to expect but I know my heart is racing. Turning around to give Daryl one last smile, he nods, mumbling a "go get em" and I'm suddenly walking towards the door then down a narrow hallway.

My boots thump against the clean wooden floors, the yellow walls are decorated in picture frames, all surprisingly full with pictures of people smiling. I stop to look at one, it's of people smiling in front of the gate, their faces full and happy.

"We took that one three months ago, it's still my favourite" a sudden voice makes me fall still, craning my neck to the side to see a small woman standing at the end of the hallway, leaning against the frame of a large opening that has to lead to an even larger room. Where are we?