In The End | Daryl Dixon

Chapter 44: From A Friend

"Everyone... This is Aaron." Maggie slowly opened the barn doors. 

It didn't take long for everyone to be at their feet with their guns raised at the unknown man. Daryl shoved past us, checking outside to see if we had been followed before coming back in and patting him down.

"We met him outside. He's by himself." Maggie said.

"We took his weapons and gear, D." I said, which he simply ignored as he still patted him down.

"Hi." Aaron said, cautiously.

Judith began to cry in Rick's arms, so he carefully handed her off to Carl.

"It's nice to meet you." Aaron took a step forward to try to introduce himself, but stopped when all of the guns were raised higher. 

"You said he had a weapon?" Rick asked me.

I walked over to him, and gave him the small revolver. Rick flicked open the chamber, and took a look inside before tucking it away in his waistband.

"There somethin' you need?" His voice was deep, and threatening when he spoke. 

"He has a camp nearby." Sasha answered for him. "He wants us to audition for membership."

"I wish there was another word." Aaron said, "Audition makes it sound like we're some kind of dance troupe. That's only on Friday nights." He smiled at his own joke, but everyone else stared at the man. "Um, and 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." He must've realized how absurd he sounded, "I know. If I were you, I wouldn't go either. Not until I knew exactly what I was getting into. Sasha can you hand Rick my pack?"

Sasha hesitatingly handed Rick the pack, and Aaron started speaking again. "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."

We all watched as Rick pulled out a yellow envelope from the pack.

"Now, I apologize in advance for the picture quality. We just found an old camera store last-" 

"Nobody gives a shit." Daryl cut him off. 

Aaron turned to him, "You're absolutely 100% right." 

Rick opened the envelope and pulled out a stack of pictures, the first being what looked to be fortified walls.

"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. Nothing alive or dead gets through that without our say-so." 

As he was speaking I noticed Rick slowly stand, the photos still firmly in his hands. 

"Like I said, security is obviously important. In fact there's only one resource to our community's survival. The people. Together we're strong.  You can make us stronger." 

Aaron started talking more about the other pictures, but apparently Rick had heard enough. Rick strode over to Aaron, and in one punch Aaron was out cold on the dirt. 

"You seriously think that was necessary?" I asked with my arms folded over my chest. 

Rick gave me a squinted look, tilting his head. As if questioning if I had even experienced anything we had went through.

"Secure him." He stared me down. "Carl dump his pack. Let's see who this guy really is."  

Carol handed me some rope that she found, so I could tie his hands behind his back.