Violent Delights

4. A New Threat

   Aaron had joined Daryl, Jesus, and Wren on the hunt for Eugene. Their first stop brought them to a large field that sat just below the hill they were scouting on. Down in the valley of the field was quite a large herd of biters—but something was off about them.

They were just walking in what looked like circles. Not ever venturing out into the nearby woods to look for anything living they could feast on.

"That's about 130, 140 of 'em." Daryl said, coming up behind where Wren, Jesus and Aaron were crouching beside a fallen tree, his loyal dog following closely beside him.

Jesus turned his hard, quizzical stare from the odd biters towards Aaron, "You ever see them do this before?"

Aaron's face was contorted in an uneasy concerned expression as he looked from the biters to Jesus. "No. Never."

Wren continued to assess their surroundings just like Bo had once taught her. "Something's not right. I can feel it in my gut." She spoke as softly as possible to the others.

"Rosita's back trail goes right through 'em. We should get the horses, circle 'round, then we'll pick it up on foot." Daryl's voice was calm and casual and all three of his companions turned to look at him with concerned faces.

"What about them?" Jesus asked.

"What about 'em? They're just millin' around." Daryl spoke as if he were talking about a couple of neighborhood kids playing in the street and not a hoard of blood thirsty monsters.

"That's not normal."

"No." Daryl kept his hard glare on the herd down below as he observed them. "No it ain't." The leaves above them rustled from a small gust of wind. "We should go. There's a storm comin'." Daryl turned away from the rest of the group that continued to sit and watch the biters, and whistled for his dog to follow him.

Aaron got up and headed back towards the horses with Daryl, but Wren and Jesus stood up and gave each other worried glances before giving the biters one last look and following Aaron and Daryl.

The morning had turned to late afternoon and the four of them were walking through a field that would hopefully lead them to Eugene without going through the strange herd of biters. Wren, Jesus, and Aaron were all making small talk, but Daryl? Daryl stayed ahead of the group with his dog.

"Daryl says he's been trading with Hilltop again." Aaron spoke up about the curious loner. Wren could tell that they both knew Daryl very well, but at some point there had been a disconnect.

"He used to come like clockwork a couple of times a year. Never stayed, tough. The gaps between the trips got longer and longer. Prefers it out here, I suppose." Jesus explained, and the pieces of the puzzle started coming together for Wren as she listened quietly beside Jesus.

"Sounds like somebody else I know." Aaron chuckled as he glanced up from watching the ground he walked on to make eye contact with Jesus, who in turn chuckled right back.

"We used to be explorers. The whole world was ours to rediscover."

"Well, we were out looking for people. Offering them a chance to be a part of something bigger." Aaron's words resonated with Wren. She still remembers clear as day, when she and Bo were found by Maggie and her group from the Hilltop all those years ago. "Because of you, we were able to find each other." Aaron glanced again at Jesus and Wren couldn't help but notice the double meaning behind his words. "Maybe showing those people a way forward, is the next step in that."

"I just don't think I'm—"

"—I do." Aaron cut Jesus's sentence off. "I think you'd be a damn good leader if you'd just stop fighting it."