Surviving. (Book Two.)

Chapter Fifty Seven.

Sarah; 

As we got closer to the destination, according to Jesus, the surrounding areas had me feeling like I had been here before and when we passed by the sign showing the name of the place, I turned to Daryl, "I've been here before." 

"Wha'?"

"Yeah," I nodded, "Back in highschool, we took an out of state trip to the Barrington House for our history class." 

"FEMA decided to use it as one of it's safe zones," Jesus said from up front, giving me a smile, "But before, it was a museum given to the state by the family who owned it." 

"Barrington House," I murmured, smile tugging at my lips, "I remember me and my boyfriend at the time, we snuck away from the tour group and fooled around behind the..." I trailed off when Daryl cleared his throat, "Right, you don't need to know that." 

"Anyway..." Jesus continued, "When people started heading out here, we found ourselves abandoned because, like so many government and military powers across the country, they left us, leaving us to fend for ourselves." 

"Why didn't you leave?" Maggie asked.

"We saw opportunities. The land is fertile and gives us enough crops and is good for the livestock and the location? It's pretty much perfect. The hill gives the chance to see anyone who's approaching." 

"And the walls? Did you put them up?" 

"We did," he nodded as the RV came to a gentle stop, "But as soon as we got them up, the Saviors came." 

"Who are the Saviours?" I asked once we had all disembarked from the vehicle, taking my gun from Daryl when he handed it to me.

"They're this group," he explained, gesturing for us to follow him towards the gates, "They rocked up, demanded that we give them half of everything we have. Gregory made the deal but they still killed a teenage boy just to get their point across. Since then, we've been giving the Saviours and their leader our stuff routinely." 

"Sound like a bunch of assholes." I heard Abraham mutter from behind me, causing a smile to creep onto my face, "Who's their leader?" 

Jesus didn't reply as the gates to the community opened and two guys popped up from behind the top of it, "You need to give in your weapons before you come in here." 

Jesus gave us a weak smile, "I'm sorry about them. They get a little antsy standing up there all day and to be honest, we ran out of ammo months ago." 

"We're not taking any chances," Rick muttered, "Tell your guy Gregory to come out here." 

"No," Jesus said lowly, "Don't you see what just happened? I'm letting you keep your guns. I trust you. So please, trust us." 

Rick stared at him but waved, giving Abraham and Daryl the signal to lower their guns.

"Open the gates."

They did so, slowly and inside, I saw that there were a few wooden stall like things scattered around before the magnificent Barrington House.

Jesus led the way in and my eyes were drawn to the few cows that were grazing nearby.

"It's just like it was when I came before. Except the...the cows." I murmured, smiling at Jesus as he led us to the house, "And I'm pretty sure the blacksmith places weren't operational."

Grinning, he practically ran up the porch steps.

"Where'd you get the stuff for the walls?" Glenn asked, making him stop.