A New Beginning

Trouble

The three finally arrive at the gate of Alexandria and AJ pulls in. AJ gets out of the car as Jake, a man who's currently on watch, begins approaching him. "Thank God you're back, AJ, we need-" The man gets out of the backseat of the car and aims his Colt 1911 at Jake. "The hell is this and why is he here?!" Jake yells while aiming his handgun at the man. "We had some trouble. He said he just wanted to come here and take some things since we took from his home." AJ tries to cool the situation down. "Are you out of your fucking mind?!" Jake yells at AJ. Derek gets out of the car and approaches Jake. "We had no other choice, prick." He says angrily. The man continues to laugh at Derek and Jake. They both look over at him. "This is too good." He says while laughing. "The fuck are you on about?" AJ questions. "The fact that these two dick licking, ass kissing bitches are fighting over you." The man jokes. Jake rolls his eyes and Derek stares at the man with hatred. "We're not done." Jake says to AJ before walking off. "Let's just get this over with." AJ suggests. "Right behind you." The man says while aiming his gun to AJ's back. They approach AJ's house and enter as many others watch them. Some are whispering to each other and doubting AJ. "Look at this dump." The man says while kicking a chair over. "You live in a fucking hole!" He says while purposely knocking a lamp over. The bulb shatters and spreads glass all over the wooden floor. "Oops." The man sarcastically jokes. He begins laughing while Derek and AJ stare at him with disgust. The man notices a picture near the lamp that he knocked over and picks it up and stares at it. The picture had Jeremiah, Clementine, and AJ smiling while staring at the camera. "Who was this?" The man questions while pointing at the woman in the photo. AJ stares at the man and feels rage build up inside of him. "Don't you touch my fucking picture." He fires at the man. The man laughs. "Who?" The man asks again. "My mother." AJ responds. The man turns the picture around again. "Well goddamn was she hot. I would have banged the hell out of that pussy." He comments. He then notices a younger version of AJ. "This is you." He says with a smile on his face. He begins laughing. "If only your parents could see what a little bitch you've become." The man comments. He knows he's getting inside their heads. He sets the picture down. "Go wait outside." The man orders. "What?" AJ asks. The man approaches him. "Did I fucking stutter?! I said go wait outside!" He yells. AJ and Derek continue to stare at him as they walk out of the house. The man begins knocking furniture over and making a huge mess inside AJ's house. Once he feels like he done enough, he exits the house and faces them. "Take me to your most valuable spot." The man orders. "I'm not taking you anywhere." AJ says in a dark tone. "YOU WILL OBEY MY ORDERS OR I WILL START DRILLING HOLES INTO THE PEOPLE HERE, DO YOU UNDERSTAND?!" The man yells with anger. Derek stares at him and wants to attack but restrains himself. AJ stares at the man in the eyes with burning hatred as he feels rage build up inside of him. AJ spits on the ground next to the mans shoes and the man laughs. "Fucking pathetic you are." And he shoves AJ off of the porch and walks down the stairs with his gun aimed at AJ. Derek begins walking behind the man as he already knows Derek's plan. He turns around quickly and aims his gun at Derek. "Ah, ah, ah." He says. "You stay right here." He orders. Derek and AJ look at each other and AJ mouths to him. "Play it cool." He mouths. Derek nods. "Fine. Go." Derek says. The man chuckles and focuses on AJ. "Let's go, friend." He jokes and they continue heading to the armory.

In the Armory

AJ and the man enter the armory and the man smiles as he notices everything. "Seems like you're pretty well stocked." The man responds. AJ still stares at the man with hatred in his eyes. The man approaches AJ and they stare each other down. "You're gonna quit looking at me like that, or this community will be no more." He threatens. AJ still stares at the man. The man evilly smiles. "You got balls, kid." He grabs an M16 off the stock and hits AJ in the stomach with it. AJ falls to his knees instantly. The man crouches and smiles as he watches AJ in pain. "Oh, what happened badass?" He teases. "Thought you were tough." AJ looks at the man again with hatred. The man raises the M16 and slams the gun onto AJ's back. AJ instantly falls onto the ground flat. The man grabs AJ's arm and forces him on his feet. "No time to weep! On your feet!" He yells. AJ still stands there with hatred in his eyes. "That's what my drill sergeant always told me. He used to beat on me, too. Made me the man I am today." The man says. "You're no man." AJ begins. The man stares at AJ and waits for him to finish. "You're just some old asshole who's off his medication." AJ snarls. The man smiles and gets in AJ's face and laughs. He then grabs AJ's collar and drags him outside of the armory. He throws him on the ground and AJ looks up, noticing the others staring in shock as their leader gets relentlessly bullied. The man comes out with the M16 and fires rounds into the air. Some scream as he does this. "I need everyone on their knees!" He yells. Some immediately obey while others don't. "If you don't obey, AJ will lose his arm!" He threatens. That threat caused more citizens to get on their knees while some still remain standing. AJ, sitting up, stares at the ones standing. "I'm not doing what this asshole orders." An individual says. The man chuckles. Derek stands there, watching everything and giving the man the death stare. "I'm gonna kill you." Derek threatens. The man glances over at Derek and smiles. "Your best chance is right now, prick." He responds. Derek stands there, tempted to attack but doesn't want to risk AJ or the civilians dying. "No?" The man questions. "That's what I thought." He kicks AJ down onto the concrete and drops the M16 and pulls his knife out. He holds AJ's arm out and sets his knee on it so that AJ can't move it. The man then looks back up at Derek and smiles. "Gonna do what I ordered now?" He questions. The ones standing finally kneel while Derek still stands. "What are you doing?!" Sam yells next to Derek who's currently kneeled. Derek glances down at him. "I'm not falling for his games. I know he's bluffing." He comments. The man smiles and raises the knife. "Am I still bluffing, asshole?" He questions. Derek still stands up. The man chuckles and slams it down on the ground next to AJ's arm. This causes more citizens to panic. "Derek, please! Do what he asks!" A woman yells. "I'd listen." The man suggests. Derek then sets himself on his knees. The man smiles and stands up. "You all answer to me! If I see you assholes don't have your offering, one person will die each time you are low! If it keeps happening, I'll just kill Alvin here, understand?" He says. "Understand?!" He aggressively yells. The citizens all reply "Yes." The man smiles and walks off. AJ gets up and brushes the dirt and pebbles off of him while other stand up and look at him in disgust. Derek approaches AJ and stands next to him while the others walk off disappointed. Derek and AJ remain standing there by themselves. "What are we gonna do?" AJ asks scared. Derek looks at him then back to the distance. "We're gonna kill him." He says in a dark tone. AJ looks at him. "That won't work. We tried fighting him and he whooped our asses. How can you think that we're just going to automatically kill him?" He questions. "He can fight, sure, but the grumpy old asshole can't dodge bullets. He isn't a fucking superhuman." Derek responds. "How would we do it?" AJ asks. "We know where the asshole lives. We go to his house at night while he's sleeping, and we cut his throat. Then these people won't have to fear anything." "Derek, killing him will only make them worry more and look at us different. It's bad enough they see me as weak, last thing we need is for them to leave and make us weak." AJ replies. Derek then chuckles. "Fine, I'll do it." He says with determination. AJ stares at him with a scared expression on his face. "Derek, he'll kill you." He pauses. "He mentioned a drill sergeant, so he must have been in some sort of military before the world went to Hell. He would hear you coming and either hurt you or kill you. Shit, even he could bring you back here and kill some innocent people here because of a stupid task you want to do." Derek begins walking away. "Where are you going?" AJ calls out from behind. Derek turns around. "To complete the task that you refuse to make." Derek answers. AJ sprints towards Derek to try to stop him. "You can't do this, Derek." He begins. "This will only make things worse." Derek shoves AJ. "You can't stop me." He snarls. AJ stares at Derek as he can't believe what he's hearing. He runs up to catch up with him and begins walking next to him. "You think about Dad!" AJ yells. "This isn't what Dad would want us to do." Derek then stops and looks at the ground. "He would want us to work things out with this guy, I know it. Violence will only make things worse for you, for me, for these people, and for our allies." AJ finishes. Derek clenches his fists. AJ notices this. "Oh, you want to fight me now?!" He yells. "Then fucking take your anger out on me!" He exclaims with his arms wide open. Derek slowly turns his head and stares at AJ. "Come on! You want to get violent?! Fucking hit me!" He yells at Derek. Derek spits on the ground and walks away. AJ stands there angry and scared. AJ walks to his house and enters inside and notices the mess that the stranger made. "Fucking asshole." He says to himself. He begins cleaning up the mess and notices the picture and grabs it. He stares at it as tears begin forming in his eyes. He can't fight it. He begins to cry. "Mom, Dad, please forgive me as I have failed you.." He weeps. He hugs the picture and drops to his knees and continues crying.