The start

Buttons

Rick Carol, Daryl and I met in the woods. Told Deanna we would take Carol out shooting. We need to talk privately on how we can get some sort of protection. We could here a walker not too far away.

"Don't see it, but it's close. There's just one of 'em. We won't be here long." Daryl says walking back to us.

"So what do you think?" Rick asked us.

"We can go in when it's empty." Carol says.

"How is that? It's locked up at night." Risk says.

"The window. There's just a latch. I can leave it open." Carol states.

"A latch?" Rick asked.

"Yeah."

"What if one of those pricks shuts it?" Daryl asked.

"Wait a couple of days, leave it open again." Carol says. I could hear a walker sound out.

"It's getting closer." Daryl says.

"We need to do it sooner than later. Right now, they're not watching us.
Not worrying about meetings like this.
We may need the guns, we may not." Rick says.

"We will whatever way it goes." Carol says.

"This place will get over run sooner or later. So far they're lucky no one has come by to take it from them. They are weak and accept everyone." I point out.

"They're the luckiest damn people I ever met. And they just keep getting luckier." Rick shakes his head.

"How's that?" Daryl asked.

"We're here now." I nod my head. They are the luckiest people.

"They've got a couple of footlockers just full of 9 millimeter autos, Rugers, Kel-Tecs. Just tossed in there. They don't use them. They're never gonna know they're gone." Carol says.

"We could use those. I still have a silencer in my bag. I always keep it with me." I point on my back.

"Yeah but Someone's got one now, right?" We look at the blender where Rick had a gun hidden but someone stole it.

"Mmm. Listen, the others, we want them to try." Rick says.

"You, too." Carol looks at Daryl.

"So we keep it quiet. Just us. Here it comes." Rick says as the walkers stumbles toward us.

"I got him." Daryl says but Carol takes it out.

"We said we were taking me out shooting. I couldn't go back with a full mag."

"Lucky he came by." Daryl says as we walk past the walker.

"We should get back. You'll pull the latch, we'll pick our moment. Us, we don't need to be lucky." Rick says.

"What the hell's that? Is that a W?" Daryl bends down as we look at the carved out W on the walkers forehead.

"Yeah."

"That's not normal. Someone is carving them out." Carol says.

"Stands for walker, maybe?" I asked.

"Could be." Daryl says as we walk back to Alexandria. Deanna comes walking up to us.

"How was shooting practice?" Carol and Rick walk to the armory to turn in their weapons as Daryl and I stand by Deanna.

"She needs a little bit more work but after a few more practices she will get the hang of it." I smile at her.

"Great. I'm giving you one more day off until you officially start on gate duty. There is also a party I am hosting at my home. Everyone is invited. I hope to see you and Mr. Dixon there." She nods her head. I didn't think Daryl would want to go. It wasn't his cup of tea.

"We'll see what we can do. Thank you. I think Daryl and I will be heading out again to find some sort of meat." I tell her.

"That sounds lovely. See you two soon." She nods her head and walks with away. Daryl and I head back out. We walk through the woods for quite a while.

"Come out! Now!" Daryl aims his crossbow at the sound of twigs breaking. I pull out my hunting knife and hold it close to me.

"You can tell the difference between walkers and humans by sound? Can you tell the difference between a good guy and a bad guy? Rick doesn't seem to be an expert at that." Aaron reveals himself.

"Everyone and everything is a threat." I mumbled.

"There ain't much of a difference no more." Daryl lowers his crossbow.

"That how you feel about your people?" Aaron asked.

"Why you following us?" Daryl asked. I lower my knife.

"I didn't know I was. I came out to hunt rabbits. I know why you're out here. Mind if I join?" Aaron asked. Daryl looks at me as I nod my head slowly. I'm not sure what this guy is up to but he must be out here for some other reason.

"Keep up. And keep quiet." Daryl says as we continue our walk. We come across an open field and see a horse.

"I've been trying to catch him for months, bring him inside. His name is Buttons. One of the kids saw him run by the gate a while back. Thought he looked like a Buttons. I haven't seen him for a while. I was afraid it was too late. Every time Eric or I come close, he gets spooked." Aaron pulls out a rope and walks toward the horse. Daryl stops him and takes the rope.

"Have you done this before?" Aaron asked him.

"My group did. But they weren't out there that long. The longer they're out there, the more they become what they really are." Daryl says. He walks out there slowly to the horse.

"I ain't gonna hurt ya. All right? Come on, boy. Yeah. Just keep on eating. Yeah. Good boy. Yeah, you used to be somebody's, huh? Now you're just yours." It made me smile how gentle he was with the horse. A twig snapped as we could hear the walkers coming.

"Come on, they're coming!" Daryl yells as I pull out my knife. Aaron started shooting with his gun then ran out of bullets. He pulled out his knife as we stabbed the walkers. We were soon cleared.

"Come on." Daryl says as we continue walking.

"You ride horses?" Aaron tries to break the silence.

"I ride bikes." Daryl says.

"Never told me that." I glare at him.

"Never came up." Daryl says casually.

"I take it you don't mean 10-speeds.
I know you're feeling like an outsider.
It's not your fault, you know. Eric and I, we're still looked at as outsiders in a lot of ways. We've heard our fair share of well-meaning, but hilariously offensive things from some otherwise really nice men and women. People are people. The more afraid they get, the more stupid they get. Fear shrinks the brain. They're scared of you and me for different reasons. They're less scared of me because they know me. It's less and less every day. So let them get to know you guys. Y'all should go to Deanna's party tonight." Aaron says. It makes sense. Daryl doesn't trust this place which means this place won't trust Daryl. He has to fit in some way. He has to do something to contribute to Alexandria. That's how he can prove his loyalty. That's how everyone will trust him.

"I got nothing to prove. I met a lot of bad people out here doing a lot of bad shit. They weren't afraid of nothing." Joe didn't fear anything. He was ready to die a long time ago.

"Yeah, they were." Aaron says.

"How would you know?" I asked.

"Everyone is afraid of something. Dying, losing someone, walkers, guns, starvation, loneliness, being stabbed in the back, being vulnerable. It all comes down to the person." He tells me.

"What if you feel nothing? You feel numb and fear nothing." I asked.

"Then you might as well be counted as one of them." A walker stumbles forward as I stab it.

"Might as well." I say under my breath.