𝐔𝐧𝐜𝐞𝐚𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐃𝐞𝐯𝐨𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 || The Walking Dead

[10] strangers with s'getti rings

He shook his head, regretting his words as he turned back to Sasha. "Um, and it's not a camp. It's a community. I think you all would make valuable additions. But it's not my call."

"How would you know?"

"Dani." Lucia hissed.

"No one else is questioning the guy." She argued. Lucia shot her a sharp look and, for the sake of keeping the peace, Dani snapped her mouth shut.

"My job is to convince you all to follow me back home. I know. If I were you I wouldn't go either. Not until I knew exactly what I was getting into." The group stared at him, blankly. "Sasha, can you hand Rick my pack?"

As she did so, he continued giving directions. "Front pocket, there's an 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." Rick pulled out the envelope, the others watching over his shoulders. "I apologise in advance for the picture quality. We just found an old camera store last—"

"Nobody gives a shit." Daryl cut him off.

Dani shrugged in agreement and let her gun lower. She wasn't sure what it was, but something about Aaron felt trustworthy. She hoped that trust wasn't misplaced. Letting her eyes flick back across the group of people, they made their way to the woman like a moth to a flame. One way or another she always looked back at Tara.

It was hardly the time, but she couldn't help herself. Tara stood with her gun held loosely in front of her body. Her slightly tousled hair was down, draped over her shoulders and her skin had a shine to it that was probably gross but Dani didn't care. They were all gross in there.

She held her breath as she watched Tara's eyes flick around the room, her brain repeating itself in a loop. Look at me, She begged. Anything to show that you think about me as much as I do you.

Tara watched the man turn to Daryl. "You're absolutely 100% right." He said awkwardly. Dani sighed internally. "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."

From her position, Dani could see the photos just enough to make out the supported walls. Lucia had moved and stood by Michonne, assessing the images with a keen look in her eye.

"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." He explained thoroughly. Dani decided he could've been a real estate agent in his past life. He was good at it. "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're strong. You can make us even stronger." Dani noticed the look Rick and Michonne gave each other. It didn't fill her full of confidence for the guy. "The next picture, you'll see inside the gates. Our community was first construc—"

They never did hear the end of that sentence. Rick Grimes had already stormed forward and knocked the poor man out cold with just one punch. Dani winced at the impact, watching him hit the ground like a sack of bricks. She felt a little bad for him.

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

"We got to secure him. Dump his pack. Let's see what this guy really is."

"Rick."

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

"You think we're in danger?" Dani asked.

"Can't take chances."

"Yeah... but from that guy." She pointed to the unconscious Aaron on the ground.