❝𝐈𝐍 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐂𝐑𝐎𝐒𝐒𝐅𝐈𝐑𝐄- 𝐫𝐢𝐜𝐤 𝐠𝐫𝐢𝐦𝐞𝐬❞

the stranger; sixteen

tw: medium spicy!

"Everyone... this is Aaron," Maggie said, slowly opening the barn door.

In an instant, Carl, Rosita, and Rick sprung into action, guns raised as they eyed us entering with Aaron.

"We took his weapons and his things," Maggie said.

Looking around, it was clear everyone was tense, and rightly so. Aaron was alone, and while part of me wanted to trust him, past experiences made it hard to trust anyone again.

"He's got a community," I added, trying to ease the tension. Rick shot me a skeptical look.

"If you look in my backpack I have photos.. we have walls, mounds of steel walls. Nothing... dead or alive comes through..." Michonne gave Rick a look and he nodded.

"In the next photo, you'll see..." Rick interrupted Aaron with one swift blow, sending him crashing to the ground unconscious.

I watched, my eyes wide in shock as Aaron went down.

"You could've at least listened to him like we did outside," I voiced my frustration. What if he was telling the truth?

"You shouldn't have done that," Rick retorted, pacing back and forth.

"None of you should've," Rick's glare bore into Maggie and Sasha. I had to resist the urge to roll my eyes.

We waited in tense silence for a few moments. I grabbed a cloth, dampened it with water, and gently dabbed it against Aaron's forehead. If he intended to kill us, he had plenty of opportunity by now. Besides, he seemed to be alone, or so I thought.

"Do you think we can trust him?" Carl's voice broke the silence as I continued tending to Aaron.

"We won't know until he opens his mouth," I replied, uncertain.

A few minutes passed before Aaron stirred, groggy from his unconscious state.

"That's a hell of a right cross you got there Rick," he remarked, rubbing his jaw.

Aaron spent the next little while trying to convince us of his intentions. He claimed to be from a community, responsible for the water bottles we found and insisted he was travelling with just one companion. He explained about the cars waiting ahead, and his mission to recruit survivors, and expressed interest in having us join his group. But every time I glanced at Rick, I could tell he wasn't buying it.

"They're onto us, gotta be a few of them in the woods," he scrambled, looking out the windows.

"Rick we don't know that, not for sure," I pleaded.

"We know that," Rick replied coldly. It seemed as if nothing would change his mind. I understood his loyalty but this was a fine line bordering paranoia.

I could tell the group was torn, unsure of what to do next. Glenn seemed hesitant, and so did Abraham and Michonne.

Aaron had convinced us that there was a car waiting a few miles north. Glenn and the others volunteered to go check it out. Daryl seemed reluctant, but he eventually agreed to join the search.

"It'll be there, I swear I'm not lying," Aaron pleaded earnestly.

"We don't give a raccoon's balls what you swear," Abraham said, as he headed towards the barn doors. He had a way with words that one.

As the group left to investigate the car, I decided to stay behind to keep watch. I didn't want to leave Judith and Rick alone with this stranger.