the sound of kids laughing calms me down, but the sound of the gate opening makes me tense up. we meet the man who opened the gate. "this is nicholas," aaron says.
"if you're on our ground, you're going to have to hand over you weapons," nicholas says and i hold onto my bag.
"no, we don't even know if we're gonna stay and i'm not going to leave my people defenseless," rick protests.
"you can keep your weapons until after you speak with deanna," aaron intervenes.
"who's deanna?" abraham asks loudly and i face palm. i hear carl chuckle quietly next to me.
"she's our leader," aaron says and takes us to a building where deanna comes out.
"well, if it isn't newcomers," she says and scans us, stopping on me. "and an old friend? how unexpected." everyone looks at me and i smile awkwardly, looking down at the ground. carl pulls me into him. "i'll just take the group's leader inside," rick follows after her and they disappear behind doors.
"i guess the haircut didn't work," carl says and i furrow my eyebrows. "come on, i know what you were trying to do the minute i found out you've been here."
we're taken to a lady, olivia, who manages the armory. "you guys can sign out your guns whenever you go outside the walls but inside here we store them for safety," she says. i'm not hesitant to give her my gun because i know i have plenty more in my duffle bag. rick comes back and daryl goes to get interviewed.
then aaron takes us to our assigned homes. two picturesque colonial houses next door to each other. we all decide to stay in one house for a while and go inside. i follow carl into one of the rooms upstairs and he walks into the connecting bathroom, turning on the faucet. i put my bag down but turn when i hear a squeal. "there's warm water," he squeals and i smile softly. we hear the shower come on in another room and i laugh.
"hey, is this were you met those guys you told me about? maybe you can take me to meet them later, you know, if they're still here," carl asks and i nod. "can i get the pictures you have?" i take them out and hand them to him. "i was thinking since we finally have a place to hang these up, we can, you know?"
i put my hand out and i take some tape out of my bag. daryl comes in. "your interview, kid," he says and carl looks at me.
"you got it?" he asks and i nod. he leaves and after a while, there's a knock at the door. i put the picture i have in my hand in my pocket and i go downstairs to answer it. it's jessie.
she looks taken aback from seeing me, but shakes her head. "hello, i... i'm jessie," she says and stares at me. "i'm sorry, you just look so familiar."
"that's jade," i hear rick say and he comes to the door.
"jade," jessie says. "oh my god." she gives me a hug. "your hair. you're so grown up. ron's been talking about you all this time."
i smile. "she hasn't been talking," rick says. i look up at rick and furrow my eyebrows at his shaven face.
"oh, that's alright. i'm jessie," she says, handing rick a bin of food. i take it from him and go set it down in the kitchen. "you know, i could cut your hair for you." rick accepts it and invites her in. i smile at the two of them.
"i have two boys, ron and sam. i think maybe if jade took your boy to go meet them, it could help her, you know, seeing some old faces," jessie says and rick looks at me. i smile and nod. i go outside and walk for a while.
~
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