The Sheriff and The Archer

Chapter Fifteen: Safe

Carl and I climbed out of the car to see the whole lot staring at us. Most of them already knew. Abraham and Eugene probably know by now anyways. It doesn't matter.

"So, what's the plan?" God bless Michonne for getting us out of this awkward situation.

Instead of responding Rick looked at me and cocked his head to his left real quick. The two of us walked about twenty feet away. He asked me if I was okay to go back to Terminus. When I told him I was fine, Rick nodded and his arm made this huge circle, indicating to the others that they needed to follow him.

Within a few minutes we were all in one huge, silent clump. I clenched and let go of my bow a few times - yeah, you could say I was nervous - before looking up at the sky. Sunny with a few clouds: typical.

Ten minutes later we could see the gates in the distance.

"I - I should go first," I spoke loud enough for the whole group to hear. Carl looked back from his position next to his dad.

"No," Sheriff and his father simultaneously answered.

"Why not? I'd bet they'd rather see my face than any of yours. I think they still trust me," I made my case. Carl shook his head no while his dad stayed quiet.

"Aright, but you be safe. We'll be right behind you," Rick assured me.

"You can't. If they see any of you then they'll never talk. I have to get into Terminus alone. I'll say that you guys left me because you couldn't trust me," I explained. My dream... "If your people are there I can get them out tonight and meet you somewhere."

"No. That won't work. They still trust you, but not enough that they'd let you be alone all night. They know that you know that they are cannibals. Most likely, they don't keep new people in the same place anymore," Eugene rejected.

"He's right," Glenn agreed. From the corner of my eye I saw Carl let out a big breath, like he was relieved. Did the kid just pee his pants or something?

"Wait... how did you guys get in the first time? I probably would have noticed if you guys came the front."

"You never noticed anyone else come in the front," Daryl pointed out.

"I was always working indoors. That's where all of my chores were. And thanks, I know I'm very perceptive," I sarcastically replied. We glared at each other jokingly.

"Wanna go, Texas?" He yelled, slinging his bow over his shoulder and putting his fists up.

"Hells yeah, Georgia! I can take ya'!" We made a move for each other as I failed to hide my smile until Rick broke us up. We took one look at our fighting stances and laughed at ourselves. The both of us calmed down after a minute and I realized that this is the happiest I've been in a long time.

I mean, in Terminus I was always worried about surviving, and where my sister was, and why she ran away, but now I knew that she was really gone, and that I was with good people. I felt that I had enough time to be happy and carefree for a few minutes. I felt like I could finally make jokes again and sleep with both of my eyes closed. Of course, I also knew that I would never be able to thank them enough for this.

If I die today or even in the next five minutes... I'd be happy to have had this week with them. I wouldn't trade it for the rest of the world because in this moment I felt like I had people to turn to if I was ever in need. I knew they had my back and they knew I had theirs. I had good friends here and... whatever Sheriff is now. Anyways, I just felt safe, and "safe" is something rare these days.

Alrighty, guys. That's it for this chapter. Next chapter they'll make it into Terminus and some BIG STUFF (and thangs) will be going down. You'll actually get a lot more information in the next two or three chapters and you guys will find out where this book will be going.

Yeah, there wasn't any real Cade in this chapter, but I mean, they don't really know what they are yet. Plus, they have no alone time.