G.I. Jane

The Distance

Shaylee's POV

"Hey." Maggie says as she opens the barn doors

"Everyone...this is Aaron." Maggie says as we all raise our weapons and aim them at him

"We met him outside. He's by himself. We took his weapons and we took his gear." Maggie says as Daryl pats him down

"Hi." Aaron says before Judith begins to cry

"I'll take her." I say softly as I set my rifle down before taking Judith from my dad's arms

"Shh." I whisper to her as I bounce her in my arms

"It's nice to meet you." Aaron says

"You said he had a weapon?" My dad asks before Maggie walks over and hands my dad his gun

"There something you need?" My dad asks

"He has a camp nearby. He wants us to audition for membership." Sasha states

"I wish there was another word. Audition makes it sound like we're some kind of a dance troupe. That's only on Friday nights." Aaron says but we all stay silent

"Um, and it's— it's not a camp. It's a community. I think you all would make valuable additions. But it's not my call. My job is to convince you all to follow me back home." He adds as we all continue to stay silent

"I know. If I were you, I wouldn't go either. Not until I knew exactly what I was getting into. Sasha, can you hand Rick my pack?" Aaron asks before Sasha walks over and hands my dad his backpack

"Front pocket, there's an envelope." Aaron says before my dad pulls out the envelope

"There's no way I could convince you to come with me just by talking about our community. That's why I brought those. And I apologize in advance for the picture quality. We just found an old camera store last—" He starts

"Nobody gives a shit." Daryl says from behind him

"You're absolutely 100% right." Aaron says as my dad pulls the pictures out of the envelope

"That's the first picture I wanted to show you because nothing I say about our community will matter unless you know you'll be safe. If you join us, you will be. Each panel in that wall is a 15-foot-high, 12-foot-wide slab of solid steel framed by cold rolled steel beams and square tubing. Nothing alive or dead gets through that without our say-so. Like I said, security is obviously important. In fact, there's only one resource more critical to our community's survival. The people. Together we are strong. You can make us even stronger. The next picture, you'll see inside the gates." Aaron says as Rick starts to walk over to him

"Our community was first construc—" He starts but is cut off by my dad knocking him out with one punch to the face

"So we're clear, that look wasn't a "let's attack that man" look. It was "he seems like an okay guy to me" look." Michonne whispers to my dad

"We gotta secure him." My dad says

"Dump his pack. Let's see who this guy really is." My dad instructs Carl

"Rick." Michonne says but he ignores her

"Everybody else, we need eyes in every direction. They're coming for us. We might not know how or when, but they are." My dad says

"Me and Sasha, we didn't see him. If he had wanted to hurt us, he could've." Maggie says

"Anybody see anything?" My dad asks ignoring Maggie

"Just a lot of places to hide." Glenn replies

"Alright, keep looking." Rick instructs as he walks over to Carl and I