Safe haven, Rick Grimes

107. WELCOME TO THE COMMONWEALTH

Chapter one hundred and seven

"Welcome to the commonwealth." 

It had been thirty days since that offer as Daryl was leading the way, Judith, Caroline and Rick held onto him, as older Daryl walked behind them through a dark hallway, where all around them they could hear walkers, and as they turned the corner, walker hands reached out for them, they continued walking, as walkers could be heard along a fence and another slammed into the glass on their right, a door in front of them opened, as a walker was there, Judith, Caroline and Rick's grip on Daryl tightened "get him, Daryl. Yeah, get him!" they voiced, as Daryl stepped forward "wait, wait.." older Daryl told them.

As Daryl swung punching the walker "ow! What the hell?" the man asked, as older Daryl walked up "I'm sorry, man. His sisters and brother were scared and he tends to choose to fight instead of run. Come on, guys." he shared, moving Daryl forward and letting Judith, Caroline and Rick pass in front of them, as they headed out of the haunted house and into the halloween fair that the commonwealth was throwing.

"Your gonna get yourself thrown in juvie." older Daryl told him, playfully shoving him "why what happened?" Jerry asked, as him and his son walked up "he punched the guy." Judith told him, as Jerry laughed, handing her witches hat to her to go with her costume, Caroline was cowgirl and Rick wanted to be cool like his brother and not dress up "apples?" Jerry asked, as Daryl looked to the game where apples were swinging on string and kids tried to catch them in their mouthes "pass." he said, walking off, Rick followed him along with Judith and Caroline.

The four of them headed toward's the bakery, and seeing Carol "how's everything going?" she asked "haunted houses are not our thing." Rick shared, as Carol hummed "understandable." she told them "I don't think fairs are our thing." Daryl shared, and Carol knew what he meant "I'll take a witch hat." Judith told her, as Carol grabbed the parchment paper and grabbed the cookie "good choice." she told her, handing it over, the four turned walking off and as they did, a girl walked up to them "hey, your the new kids, right? I heard you all lived out in the wasteland, killing rotters?" she asked.

"Wasteland?" Daryl asked, sounding offended "I didn't mean any offense. I more so meant that there's probably nothing you four are afraid of." the girl shared "you and all your people are." Rick shared, and as he did, the girl laughed "come on, I'll show you where all the good candy's at. And I'm Mei." she told them "Jude. Daryl, Caroline and Rick." Judith introduced them "cool names." Mei told them, as her and Judith walked off, Rick furrowed his brows "it wasn't a joke." he told them, as he and Caroline followed after them, Daryl trailed behind them.

The crowd then started cheering, as he quickly spun around seeing the leader Pamela, she walked past him, handing him something pink and fluffy on a stick, Rick, Caroline, Judith and Mei along with the rest of the kids got one as well.

Where she soon was standing on stage for something called a costume contest, as a drummer gave a drum roll "and first place goes to..dressed as our very own Mercer, Celeste!" Pamela voiced, as the crowd cheered and applauded, the girl went on stage "and this years grand prize is.." Pamela was saying, as the assistant handed it to her, Pamela held it up "ten lottery tickets!" she voiced, as the crowd applauded "Mercer? That's Daryl and Rosita's boss, he said he's a.." Daryl was saying "a dick." Rick said.

And when he did, Judith noticed some of the guards looking in their direction "and he also said not to say that outside of the house." she shared, walking him off, Caroline and Daryl then noticed how they were being watched as they followed after them.

Having headed to the record store, Mei had found them there, a country record was playing, as they looked through the bins of records, Mei pulled one out "you have to get this. It's so good." she shared "we don't have any money." Judith shared "oh. Don't you get an allowance?" Mei asked "what the hell's an allowance?" Caroline asked, as Princess walked out "hey! Grimes kids, who's your friend?" she asked "Princess, this is Mei and we only met her a few hours ago." Daryl shared, as Princess hummed "you guys need any help?" she asked "um, I think I'm ready to check out." Mei shared, handing her records over.

Princess took them and began to write them down "oh, rock on. Good taste. Well," she said, handing them back over "pleasure doing business, and come back any time guys." she shared, walking back inside, Mei then took the record from the pile and held it out to Daryl "what are you doing?" Daryl asked "I know you don't trust me." Mei told him, as Daryl raised his brows "and you think giving me a hunk of vinyl that spins is gonna change that?" he asked "no, but it's a start." Mei told him, as Daryl took it.

Having gone back home to their apartment, loud music was playing and people were shouting, as Daryl was trying to pull the football out of dog's mouth, Judith was drawing, as Caroline and Daryl were sitting against the wall, the door unlocked and older Daryl walked in, holding food in his arm "we weren't sure if you were coming back." Caroline shared, as older Daryl kicked the door closed "sorry. Long line at the kitchen." he shared, walking further in, a child could be heard crying "here you go." he told them, kneeling down and putting the containers of food down, Caroline and Rick walked over.

"How was your day?" older Daryl asked "what?" they all asked "how was your day!" older Daryl voiced, as the light fixture began to swing "it was great although Daryl scared away our new friend. She gave us this as a start to our friendship." Judith shared, showing him the record "you ever heard of motorhead?" she asked "it's good stuff." older Daryl told her, as he looked to dog and Daryl "both of you enough. Come eat." he told them, as dog dropped the football and headed over, Daryl threw it to the side and walked over "I just don't trust her." he shared, sitting down, dog began eating out of the tub "no!" Daryl voiced, moving his head out of it.

"Why not?" older Daryl asked "cause she doesn't know anything about the outside and anything she does know just makes no sense." Daryl shared "like an allowance." Caroline mentioned "can we get one?" Judith asked "how about we just keep that on the it makes no sense pile until my job settles and we'll come back to it." older Daryl shared "were staying here?" Rick asked "do you wanna stay? Even after Alexandria's all cleaned up?" older Daryl asked "I don't know." Rick told him "it's only been a few days." Caroline shared "it's nice. I think as long as our mom knows where to find us, I want to stay." Judith shared, but Daryl remained silent, which older Daryl noticed.

Three days later, older Daryl was wearing the armor for the commonwealth as he looked in the mirror, footsteps could be heard, as Judith walked up, she was wearing a light blue polka dot dress, as Caroline stepped next to her, she was wearing a white shirt and a light blue skirt "come here." older Daryl motioned over, as Daryl walked up, wearing black pants and a light blue button up shirt, Rick stepped up wearing the same thing "we look ridiculous." Daryl told them, as they all chuckled "alright, I got you guys something." older Daryl told them, walking away from the mirror, he took the blanket off the table, revealing a record player "yes!" Judith voiced, turning and hugging him, she went and grabbed the record.

Older Daryl kneeled down and opened the player, as Judith came over and took the record out, putting it on the turner, she moved the needle onto it and turned it on, as a song started to play called eat the rich.