my tears ricochet

Chapter Eighty

"I'm looking for Rick," the man said as he lifted both hands up into the air slowly. "I'm only here because I want to speak to him."

"He's four houses down," Aaron scowled. He brought his gun out and slid the safety back, an audible click in the stillness of the upstairs hallway. "That door? That's not the one for you."

Ivy kept her knife tight against the stranger's spine. It was easier to focus on the movement of it than to picture Beth and Enid sleeping on the other side of the door, unaware to the danger creeping up on them.

"Can I turn around?" Aaron caught Ivy by the shoulder and nudged her backwards some, widening the gap between them and the the man. He moved slowly as he revealed his face. "Hi. I'm Jesus."

His hair was long and Ivy could just barely make out the bruising along his temple in the darkness. She felt the vibrations through the floorboards as the front door slammed open, people rushing up the stairs in their boots. Daryl and Abraham had their guns out and trained on the stranger as they came into view.

"So? Can we talk now?" Jesus asked, hands waving slightly as he took in the hallway crowd.

"He wants Rick," Aaron called, not turning. "Must've come through the window."

A door opened up fully and Eric was slowly coming into view. "I can go get him. I'll get Deanna and Michonne on the way and we can have this discussion as a group."

Aaron nodded and the man came around, his hand catching his shoulder for a brief second before vanishing down the steps. "We're going to move downstairs and away from that door. Think we can do that?"

"Hey, I'm just the guest."

Daryl snapped something and Ivy flinched, not quite hearing it. She risked turning and saw his face through a slant of moonlight. "Get over here."

For a brief moment, Ivy was torn between keeping put or following Daryl's command. But she relented, snapping her switchblade shut and crossing the slight distance as the men kept their guns trained on Jesus. Daryl physically blocked her from view with Abraham's aid and she felt safer beside them both, aware of the way Daryl knowingly read her movements and adjusted slightly when she tried to peer around him.

Aaron slipped behind Jesus and led him down the stairs while Daryl and Abraham kept point. They made their way to the dining room where the table was still covered in bits of coloured string and jars of beads from earlier. Jesus took the chair he was directed to and gazed out at the remains, processing the scattered bits and pieces as well as the different chairs shoved out of place. "Please tell me that wasn't a room full of girls up there."

Ivy felt Daryl twitch.

"My intentions were just to find Rick. I wasn't trying to disturb the peace."

"Well, you disturbed it," Daryl sneered, his foot catching a chair and dragging it out for Ivy to sit in. He stood behind her with a hand on the back of her neck, refusing to move.

Rick suddenly came around to corner with Deanna and Michonne. "I'm here. Now how the hell did you end up here?"

Jesus tilted his head slightly. "One guard can't cover two exits. Or third floor windows. Knots untie and locks get picked. Entropy comes from order, right?"

He exchanged a look with Deanna, both edging forward for the lead in conversation. It was different seeing Deanna with a gun in her hand. They were all evolving into a new kind of Alexandria. "Right," Rick ground out, uneasy with the stranger.

"I checked out your arsenal. I haven't seen anything like that in a long time. You're well equipped but your provisions are running low. Very low for the amount of people you have here. Fifty four?"