All of Us (The Walking Dead)

Chapter 4

"Alexandria...?" I said, reading the sign as Glenn started to escort me through the gates.

"Yup, that's the name of the community," he replied happily.

I looked back at Rick and the other man as they carried boxes from the car filled with items they must have picked up on their run. I turned back and looked into the community, because first impressions could tell a lot. Were there women? Were there families? Were the people walking around of their own free will? Did they look happy? 

As Glenn guided me towards the building where I would be questioned, I was getting stares from some of the people walking by. But, more importantly, they checked off the items on my list. So far, so good.

We walked into a building and Glenn told me I could take a seat in front of a long table with many chairs.

"Rick and Daryl will get the other people on the council and they'll be here soon," he said, sitting down beside me. Daryl, that must have been the guy with the crossbow.

"So, you're all on the council too?" I asked, hoping I was right. I felt a little better with my fate knowing that at least three of them knew me a little more than the rest of the strangers who would decide if I stayed or not.

He nodded. "Rick and Daryl are. I'm not," he said. I was confused why he wasn't on the council, but didn't ask questions.

I was honestly a little nervous, not knowing what to expect for questions. I didn't really want to talk about the groups I had been in before, because that meant I would have to talk about the people I had lost along the way and relive those memories. I was also nervous being in this community full of strangers after being on my own for so long. I still couldn't be sure if they were good people; only time would tell.

"You look nervous," Glenn commented. I tried to calm myself down, not wanting to give these people a reason to distrust me.

"It's just weird... being with new people after being on my own for so long."

Glenn nodded his head. "I understand that. And I get it's hard to trust people these days, I really get that, but I've been with these people here for a long time, and we've been through so much together. I didn't know any of them before this all started, but we became a family. It's a good place, you'll see," he finished.

I knew I had just met him, but I really felt like I could trust Glenn. He seemed genuine, and his words put me at ease a little.

"Thanks," I said lightly, looking down at my hands.

The doors to the room opened and in walked Rick, followed by people I didn't know, as they made their way to the long table and sat down. Behind them, the third guy, who Glenn had mentioned was named Daryl, slowly walked in eyeing me, but never sat down at the table. He stayed at the door and leaned against the frame, his bow across his back.

I turned back to look at the people sitting along the table, which was quite frankly very intimidating.

Rick smiled and addressed me. "Sloane, I'm glad you chose to come back. I told everyone how you initially said no to our offer so that you could see if you could trust us, and everyone is intrigued. See, we don't usually let many people into our community anymore. You still seem pretty skeptical of us, so I'm sure you're well away that there are a lot of bad people out there nowadays who would want to hurt us or take away our community. We used to let people in, but after recent events," he paused as a few of the council members looked at each other. He continued "we haven't wanted to take any chances and put ourselves at risk. We just want to ask you some questions and get to know you more before we make our decision," he finished. I nodded and waited for the first question.