burning love

The Distance -49

We all stare at the stranger in terror. Some of us begin looking outside through the cracks in the wood, to just check our surroundings.

"Who is this?" Rick asked with venom dripping from his words.

"This is Aaron." Maggie said.

"We found in the field, we were sitting in. He has a secure place for us, Rick." Sasha finishes. Rick looked at Aaron not sure what to say to him. Aaron slowly reaches into his bag and some of us move in on him and he puts his hands up.

"Sasha will please grab the yellow envelope from bag and hand it to Rick." Aaron asked Sasha. Sasha reaches for the item and hands it to Rick.

"We want you guys to join our group, to audition, so to speak. We think you would be a valuable asset to the group. If you open up that envelope you will see that we have a very secure place for you guys to stay. We have water, food, electricity, and so much more. It's very secure..." Aaron began rambling as Rick looked at some of the pictures. Rick then looked at Aaron and walked up to him, punching him in the face knocking him out. We all stared at Rick questioningly.  Rick takes Aaron's bag off of him and starts to take things out and inspecting them. Aaron begins to wake up from his knock out, with a smile on his face, he really is a crazy son of a bitch. Rick looks to Aaron questioningly as he pulls out a red flare gun. Aaron explains that he's not alone and that the he's suppose to use the flare gun if something bad were to happen. He started explaining to us where his partner was and where the vehicles were. Rick didn't believe him and said that nobody was going anywhere.

"Rick it doesn't hurt to check." Michonne insisted. Rick hestitated but he finally gave in.

"Fine but I want you, Glenn, Abraham, and Rosita to go check it out the rest of us stay here." Rick instructed the following people began packing and preparing for their search. Me, Daryl, Neveah, Bailey, Rick, and Judith all stayed behind and waited for the others to return. Daryl sat with Bailey, and they played in the dirt together. I held Neveah, while Rick held Judith. Out of nowhere Neveah began to cry which caused Judith to cry.

"I have applesauce in my bag." Aaron said over the sound of the children crying. I tried to shush Neveah. Rick looked through Aaron's bag pulling out two things of apple sauce. Rick made Aaron try the apple sauce first to make sure that it wasnt poisoned, at first Aaron refused claiming that he hated apple sauce, that his mom made him eat it alot as a child. After we knew that it was safe, we feed the kids and what Neveah didn't eat I gave to Bailey. I handed Daryl Neveah as he tried to get her to go to sleep. I sat down across from Aaron and rested my head against the wall closing my eyes.

"Ya know if you join our community the walls are so secure that nobody on the outside will be able to hear you kids cries. They will be completely safe." Aaron said to me and Rick as he looked between us. I just kept my mouth shut not knowing what to say. I look up at Rick and for some reason, I trust Aaron. I stand up and walk over to Rick, I whistle and get Daryl's attention he walks over to me and I look at them both.

"I think he's telling the truth, Rick. Think about it, a future for Carl, Judith, Bailey, and Neveah." I said looking at him with pleading eyes. Rick looks to Daryl for answers and Daryl just nods his head agreeing with me.

"Fine, we will check out your community, but I want a map." Rick says walking over to Aaron.

"I can't give you a map, but I can give you directions." Aaron said and he started to explain to Rick how to get there. Rick insist on taking his own route when he finds out where it is. but Aaron explains to him that that area hasn't been cleared for walkers yet, but Rick says he doesn't care.