Hope//C.G *Finished*

Them In The Distance

While Rick and them, took Noah home. Carl spent his time trying to keep me happy. "Baby" Carl whispered, and I looked at him, but then looked back forward. "Don't shut me out babe" He whispered. Carl sat close to me taking my limp hand into his. I clenched my eyes shut as I tried not to cry. I squeezed Carl's hand as I sighed as tears went down my face. I then took a shaky breath, as I turned to Carl. "I love you. I love you. I love you" I whispered as I laid on his chest and started sobbing. "I got you now" He whispered. "Shh."

 When they returned everyone except Carl and I did their rounds on going out to find food or water. Course it didn't work, but you had to keep hope. Then the major storm rolled in. I sat against a support beam, as our people came in soaked. I just held my knees to my chest, as it started to get dark. I laid my head on Carl's chest, and he held me close as the thunder rumbled. "Hershel would always say gods bowling, and making the angels cry because he's winning." Carl chuckled and looked at me tucking hair behind my ear. Carl slid his hand into mine and held it tightly. "I love you" I whispered, and he kissed my head, before whispering "I love you too."

Waking up the next day I looked up and around, noticing Maggie and Sasha gone, before settling my eyes on Daryl. He looked at me to. I slipped from Carl's arms and walked over to him. We sat there in silence until I spoke 'You should get some sleep." Daryl looked at me before saying "Yeah." I looked around and settled my eyes back on him "It's okay to rest now." I turned as my eyes settled on Noah. "He was tough." I nodded, "He was." I agreed, and it fell silent between us again. "So was she. She didn't know it, but she was." I turned back to Daryl, before he said "She kept saying how she wanted to be brave like you. You gave her courage." I scoffed and said, "She gave me the strength to keep going if anything" Daryl nodded. "Get some sleep teddy bear" I teased and kissed his cheek. I went back over and was about to cuddle up next to my boyfriend. When I turned noticing Judith was up. I smiled and carefully slid her out of Rick's grip holding her to myself.

Soon everyone else woke up and I was bouncing Judith back and forth, as the barn doors opened. "Hey" Maggie called out and we turned to her. "Everyone... This is Aaron. We met him outside. He's by himself. We took his weapons and we took his gear." Daryl started patting him down, and I backed up until my back hit the wall. Daryl nodded closing the door, and the chains rattled. "Hi." Aaron spoke, and Judith started crying. I bounced her more shhing her. She finally calmed down, and Aaron took a couple steps up "It's nice to meet you." Except more guns were drawn on him. Aaron stopped his hands in the air. "You said he had a weapon?" Rick asked, and Maggie nodded walking up to Rick and handing it to him. "There's something you need?" Rick asked, and Sasha spoke up "He has a camp, nearby. He wants us to audition for membership." Aaron looked at Sasha before turning back to Rick. 

"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. I know. 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?" Aaron spoke, and I raised an eyebrow. Sasha brought Rick Aaron's pack, and he called out "Front pocket, there's an envelope. 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..." Daryl cut him off "Nobody gives a shit."

"You're absolutely 100% right." Aaron told Daryl before turning to Rick, "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. 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 just walks up and decks him knocking him out with all the force he put behind it.