You're My Forever (Sequel To Angel In Hell)

Chapter 26

*Skylar*

I was standing with Daryl a few feet away from the group. My heart was racing and I was trying to think of the right way to phrase what I had to say.

"So what did you wanna talk about?" Daryl asked.

I started to hear my heartbeat in my own ears and I could hear myself breathing.

"Well- um-"

Daryl looked at me with a worried expression.

"Babe you okay?"

"Yes, I just-"

"Love what's the matter? You can tell me" he told me resting a hand on my shoulder.

I was starting to feel really hot. I opened my mouth to  try and speak but nothing was coming out.

"Um-" I muttered again.

"Everyone this is Aaron" came Maggie's voice.

Instantly my head turned in that direction. Maggie came in further followed by a man and Sasha.

"He's by himself. We took his weapons and his gear."

I glanced at Daryl who was now looking in that direction. He looked at me.

"We'll finish talking later" he said.

I nodded. Phew, at least for a while I was off the hook.
****************

We all stood on guard looking  at Aaron. He was clean, very clean. He didn't have a speck of dirt I'm him. It just made me all the more curious about him.

"Hi" he said.  "It's nice to meet you."

Rick looked at Maggie and Sasha.

"You said he had a weapon?"

Maggie handed it to him and he examined it. That's when his eyes locked on Aaron again.

"There's something you need?"

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

A camp? Somewhere safe for my baby to grow up?  Aaron sighed.

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

Nobody said anything. Was he nuts? We weren't exactly best friends.

"I know" Aaron continued.  "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? Front pocket, there's an envelope."

I watched Rick reach into his pack. He pulled out a folder. And pulled out photos. I walked up next to him and looked down at the photos.

"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 told him.

I wanted to chuckle but I didn't. I took the photos from Ricks hand and looked at them. There were pictures of houses. But what I was really interested in was the picture of the wall I seen.

"You're absolutely one hundred  percent right. 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."

I looked at Aaron.

"How did you build the wall?"

Rick looked at me and shook his head. Aaron looked around at all of us and continued to speak.

"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-"

"Oh my god Rick."

He just walked up and punched the guy. I knelt down next to him. His ear was bleeding. I signed and looked up catching Michonnes gaze. She turned Rick to face her.

"So we're clear, 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. Dump his pack. Let's see what this guy really is."

"Rick" I said.

"Everybody else, we need eyes in every direction. They're coming for us. We might not know how or when, but they are."

What? What the hell was he doing? I didn't sense not see any signs of a threat. I was about to plead to Daryl but he was looking out a window on guard to. Maggie knelt down next to me.

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

"Anybody see anything?" Rick asked.

I sighed. He completely ignored us.

"Just a lot of places to hide. All right, keep looking.  We're going to find out what he's up to."

If anything Rick. If anything.
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