( Notes : Hope everyone had a happy holidays! Thank you for letting me have a couple days off to celebrate! But I'm back now so... enjoy :3 ))
Everyone was cleaning themselves up, polishing their weapons and using whatever they found about to strip down to make firewood.
Merle took off his metal prosthetic and winced in pain. Carol saw this and went over. All along his stump were blisters.
"Why didn't you say anything?" She demanded, going into her bag to get out a first aid kit.
"Didn't want ya worryin'." He said, examining his sores. One was weeping clear pus.
Carol took out an alcohol wipe and began to clean up the arm. "Don't be so stupid next time."
Merle grinned up at the woman, a sparkle in his eye, "As long as ya promise me you'll kiss it better."
Carol blushed slightly, rolling her eyes fondly.
Daryl saw this and shook his head with a smirk.
Carl and Hedley were sitting face to face. Carl was determined to get his friend to speak again.
"I heard you. I know you can do it. Carl. C-A-R-L. C-arrrrllll." He said, sounding out his name. "Now you try."
Hedley did try, opening his mouth and making a weird croaking noise.
"Cuh. Cuh. Cuh."
Hedley tried to match the sound but got nowhere. He made a noise of frustration, flapping his hands angrily as his body refused to cooperate.
Rick watched beside them, Judith exploring the floor around her at his legs.
"Don't rush 'im, Carl."
"But Dad, he spoke! He actually did it. But now its like he forgot how."
Michonne raised an eyebrow, "Bug hasn't spoken for years, Carl. Its harder for him than most people."
It was Eugene who spoke next, "Selective mutism is a severe anxiety disorder where a person is unable to speak in certain situations. Its common in autistic people. Others may experience so much pressure for their selective mutism that they become mute in all situations, with all people."
Daryl went up to them, "Enough. He's ain't no show dog. He'll talk again when he's ready to."
Hedley looked up at Daryl, still stimming lightly but had a small smile on his lips. Daryl ruffled his hair and nodded to Rick, who nodded back.
The easy air left when Maggie and Sasha came in with a stranger.
"Everyone. This is Aaron."
Everyone got to their feet, grabbing their weapons.
"We met him outside." Said Sasha, "He's by himself. We took his weapons and we took his gear." Daryl patted the man down and nodded to Rick.
The leader handed Judith to Carl and Hedley stood protectively in front of the two, gripping tightly to his bow.
"Hi." Aaron said. "It's nice to meet you."
Rick ignored him, "You said he had a weapon?" Maggie gave him the gun she found on the man and put it in the back of his pants before looking back at Aaron, "There's something you need?"
"He has a camp, nearby. He wants us to audition for membership." Informed Sasha.
"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." No one laughed at his attempt at a joke. "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. My job is to convince you all to follow me back home." The words made Hedley frown, not liking it. Rick took a threatening step forward. Aaron continued, "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?" Sasha froze for a moment then took Aaron's bag to Rick. "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 took the envelope out of the bag. "I apologise in advance for the picture quality. We just found an old camera store last -"
"Nobody gives a shit." Daryl interrupted.
"You're absolutely 100% right." Aaron stutted, gesturing back to the photos in Rick's hands, "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're strong. You can make us even stronger. The next picture, you'll see inside the gates. Our community was first construc-"
Rick punched him hard in the face and Aaron was out like a light.
"If you didn't do it, I would've." Merle said as he and Daryl took the unconscious man and tied him to one of the barn's beams.
Rick ordered Hedley and Carl to search Aaron's bag and as they did, Carol held Judith.
"Anybody see anything?"
"Just a lot of places to hide."
"All right, keep looking." Rick then went to the boys, "What did you find?"
Carl handed his dad an orange gun, "Never seen a gun like that before."
Rick nodded. Hedley then tapped Rick and showed him a small jar. It was baby food.
Hedley then took out his flipbook and wrote something. 'He's been watching us'.
Rick huffed, unhappy. He then stormed to a now awake Aaron, holding the orange gun.
"That's a hell of a right cross there, Rick." He said, groaning in pain.
Daryl gravitated towards his son, and Merle was a step in front of Carol, shielding Judith using his body.
"You're being cautious. I completely understand."
"How many of your people are out there?" Rick asked, voice deep, "You have a flare gun. You have it to signal your people. How many of them are there?"
"Does it matter?"
"Yes. Yes, it does."
"I mean, of course, it matters how many people are actually out there, but does it matter how many people I tell you are out there? Because I'm pretty sure no matter what number I say - Eight. Fourhundred. Zero. No matter what I say, you're not going to trust me."
"Well, it's hard to trust anyone who smiles after getting punched in the face."
That made Merle snort, gaining a punch in the back by Carol.
"How about a guy who leaves bottles of water for you in the road?" The words made everyone's blood run cold.
Daryl growled, "How long you people been following us?"
"Long enough to see that you practically ignore a pack of roamers on your trail. Long enough to see that despite a lack of food and water, you never turned on each other. You're survivors and you're people. Like I said, and I hope you won't punch me for saying it again, that is the most important resource in the world."
"How many others are out there?" Rick asked again.
"One." He said, noticing Rick's disbelief and huffed, "I knew you wouldn't believe me. If it's not words, if it's not pictures, what would it take to convince you that this is for real? What if I drove you to the community? All of you? We leave now, we'll get there by lunch."
"I'm not sure how the 15 of us are going to fit in the car you and your one friend drove down here in."
"We drove separately. If we found a group, we wanted to be able to bring them all home. There's enough room for all of us."
"How fuckin' convenient." Merle scoffed.
Carol spoke, "And you're parked just a couple miles away, right?"
"East on Ridge Road, just after you hit Route 16. We wanted to get them closer, but then the storm came, blocked the road. We couldn't clear it."
"Yeah, you've really thought this through." Rick was still hesitant.
"Rick, if I wanted to ambush you, I'd do it here. You know, light the barn on fire while you slept, pick you off as you ran out the only exit." Aaron looked around, voice steady and strong, "You can trust me."
Daryl glanced at Hedley, eyes roaming the gashes on the boy's face. "We can't trust you just 'cause you say."
"I know you're worried about your son." Aaron said, almost pleading, "After what happened to him which I could only imagine as nothing more than horrific. But we have kids too. Toddlers, children, teens. He doesn't have to be alone. He could experience what its like to be a kid. Isn't that what you want?"
Daryl swallowed thickly, looking at Rick. Rick looked back, shaking his head slightly.
After a private moment of discussion between the main adults, Rick went up to Aaron and asked, "So where are we going? Where's your camp?"
Aaron stuttered, "W-Uh, Well, every time I've done this, I've been behind the wheel driving recruits back." Everyone narrowed their eyes at him. "I believe you're good people. I've bet my life on it. I'm just not ready to bet my friends' lives just yet."
Michonne looked down at him, "You're not driving."
"So if you want to get home, you'll have to tell us how." Rick said, holding a map on the floor.
"Go north on Route 16."
"And then?" Michonne ordered.
Aaron sighed, "I'll tell you when we get there."
Rick growled, shaking his head, "We'll take 23 north. You'll give us directions from there."
"That's a bad idea. We've cleared 16. It'll be faster."
Rick wasn't having it, "We'll take 23. We leave at sundown."
Sasha frowned, "We're doing this at night?"
"Look, I know it's dangerous. But it's better than riding up to the gates during the day. If it isn't safe, we need to get gone before they know we're there."
"No one is going to hurt you." Aaron persisted, "You're trying to protect your group, but you're putting them in danger."
"Tell me where the camp is, we'll leave right now." Rick said and when Aaron refused to comply, the leader stood and announced to the group, "It's going to be a long night. Eat.
Get some rest if you can."
Rick went outside and Michonne followed him.
Hedley turned to Carl, who was lifting Judith back into his arms. He took out his flipbook.
'Do you trust this?'.
Carl read it and said, "I trust my dad to keep us safe. If this is a win then good but if its another trap, our dads will get us to safety. Its worth a shot though."
Hedley nodded, agreeing with his friend.
Judith gurgled, making the boys chuckle.
It was worth a shot.