Once A Dixon, Always A Dixon (Daryl Dixon)

Story of Alexandria

Setting: Barn, Season Five

*Nico's POV*

In five seconds flat, everyone's guns are on this new guy. Daryl walks outside and checks if anyone followed him. 

"We met him outside," Maggie explains. "He's by himself. We took his weapons and we took his gear."

"Hi," Aaron says. As if on cue, Judith starts crying. Sebastian whimpers in Harley's arms.  

"It's nice to meet you," Aaron walks up to Rick. A gun cocks, stopping Aaron in his tracks. 

"You said he had a weapon?" Rick asks. Maggie hands him a 22 Magnum Revolver. 

"There something you need?" Rick asks.

"He has a camp nearby," Sasha says. "He wants us to audition for membership."

"I wish there was another word," Aaron smiles. "Audition makes it sound like we're some kind of a dance troupe. That's only on Friday nights."

I snort. I'm really starting to like this guy. 

"Um, and it's not a camp," Aaron adds. "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. I know. If 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 walks up to Rick and hands him the backpack. 

"Front pocket, there's an envelope," Aaron says. "There's no way I could convince you to come with me just by talking about our community. That's why I brought those. I apologize in advance for the picture quality. We just found an old camera store last--"

"Nobody gives a shit," Daryl snaps. 

"You're absolutely one hundred percent right," Aaron says sheepishly as Rick looks at the pictures. "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 fifteen-foot-high, twelve-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. Like I said, security is obviously important. In fact, there's only one resource more critical to our community's survival. The people. Together we're strong. You can make us even stronger. The next picture, you'll see inside the gates. Our community was first construc--"

Rick cuts Aaron off by knocking him out with a punch. 

"Okay, was that really necessary?" I roll my eyes. 

"So we're clear," Michonne hisses, "that look wasn't a 'let's attack that man' look. It was a 'he seems like an okay guy to me' look."

"We got to secure him," Rick says. "Dump his pack. Let's see what this guy really is."

"Rick," I rub my eyes. 

"Everybody else, we need eyes in every direction," Rick ignores me. "They're coming for us. We might not know how or when, but they are." Carol and Daryl start tying Aaron up. 

"Me and Sasha, we didn't see him," Maggie says. "If he had wanted to hurt us, he could've."

"Anybody see anything?" Rick asks.

"Just a lot of places to hide," Glenn responds. 

"Alright, keep looking," Rick orders. He walks over to Carl, "What did you find?" Carl holds out an orange gun. A flare gun.

"Never seen a gun like that before," Carl says. 

I walk over to Aaron, who's starting to wake up.