VIVIAN HAD JUST FINISHED BRAIDING DEBBIE'S HAIR BEFORE SHE BEGAN GATHERING THINGS FOR LIAM'S FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL,
The community had tracked the days since the outbreak, which meant she knew Liam's birthday. He had been three for a few months now, which kind of broke Vivian's here that she didn't celebrate him.
It meant he was allowed to start school. He was one of the youngest kids in the area, with Judith being the youngest, but he was allowed to join the other elementary schoolers.
Vivian wasn't sure she was ready to let him grow up.
"What's your plan for the day?" Vivian asked her brother as she put a notebook and crayons in a small bag for Liam,
"Gotta meet with Reg, make sure all the panels are working fine." Finn explained, "You nervous about your first day?"
"Nah, I'm ready to get out of the walls for a little bit. This place can be-"
"Suffocating?" Finn offered,
"Yeah." She sighed, zipping the bag up, "You'll pick him up at one?"
"Yep."
Vivian gave her sister a quick squeeze before rushing Liam out the door. She held his bag as he skipped down the sidewalk, giggling.
She was happy that he could be as loud as he wanted, and nothing would happen. No walkers would come for them.
He could be a kid. He would grow up and not be afraid of the monsters.
Vivian came to a stop outside the house that was being used as the school, and took a polaroid camera out of Liam's bag. She had him pose in front of the garage and snapped a quick photo.
Jillian would have loved this place.
She placed the photo in his bag before meeting with the woman who used to be an elementary teacher, who would be teaching Liam with the other kids.
Once she made sure he was settled, Vivian went to go find Glenn, Tara, and Noah, since they were assigned to go on runs just like her.
She found them outside some of the town houses, waiting for the Alexandrians who were going to join them,
"I'm happy for you." Glenn told Vivian when she met up with them, "For finding your siblings."
She gave him a small smile in thanks, "I just wish it was all of them. Sucks that I wasn't here sooner, maybe I could've saved them."
Noah stared at her for a moment, "Everything happens the way it's supposed to."
She nodded, knowing he was right.
Two men approached them, one of them Vivian recognised from the gate a few days ago. The other one looked like a military wannabe, with the way he was holding himself and the way he dressed,
"Glenn, Tara, Vivian, and Noah?" The other guy asked as they approached, pointing at each of them to assign the names, "Nice to meet you. I'm Aiden. You met Nicholas pulling gate duty."
The curly haired man gave them a small nod, "Hey."
"You're Deanna's son?" Glenn asked, sizing the man up,
"That's right." Aiden nodded, "I hear you got experience making supply runs."
"I saw your pantry. You guys seem to do pretty well." Glenn stated,
"Yeah, well, had some training before this. ROTC. Was nearing lieutenant when this shit blew in." Aiden explained,
"My dad did ROTC." Noah commented,
Vivian gave him a comforting squeeze. She knew family was a sensitive subject for him since Richmond. Since Tyreese.
"He didn't make it?" Aiden asked,
Noah shook his head, "Nah."
"I'm sorry. I'm sorry a lot these days." Aiden cleared his throat before walking towards the gates, "Come on, I'll show you the ropes."
Tara shared a look with the others, "We're doing a run today?"
"Just a dry run." He explained to them, "Show you the terrain outside the walls, see how you do. Weigh each other's sack a little, you know?"
Tara raised her eyebrows, "No, I don't, but cool."
Vivian smiled and bumped shoulders with her before asking, "What about weapons?" They took their guns when they walked through the gates. Vivian wasn't going out there without something to protect herself,
"Oh, yeah. We pulled out some sweet-ass biscuits for today." Aiden pointed to Nicholas, who pulled out a few pistols.
Vivian stared down at the hand gun, wishing it was hers. Instead, it was some random gun they pulled from the pantry.
The two of them led them out into the woods, "We've been increasing our radius mile by mile, spreading in a semicircle around the town."
"We've made it 53 miles out so far." Nicholas started,
"We break into two groups when we step outside our vehicle." Aiden explained, "If shit hits, we fire a flare. One group gets the other."
"Good system." Noah commented,
"It is. Still, you're standing here because we lost four people last month." Aiden added.
Vivan exchanged looks with the others, four people? That was a lot. Either they were dumb and dangerous or it was a really big herd that they couldn't escape from.
"What happened?" Glenn asked,
"We were on a run, roamers came out, they didn't follow the system." He answered,
"They were good people." Nicholas added,
"They were." The other man agreed, "They were just scared." He turned to the four of them, "Look, I can be a hard-ass. And I know I'm a douchebag. Someone's got to call the ball around here and that someone is me. If you're on this crew, you do exactly as I say."
"Sorry you lost your people." Tara spoke up,
"Yeah. We got ours." Vivian furrowed her brows, trying to understand what he meant by that before Nicholas spoke,
"Managed to snag one of the deadheads that took them down. Strung it up there." He pointed ahead of them,
"What? Why?" Vivian questioned,
"Now we have a little pregame ritual. Get our heads on straight." Nicholas answered,
"Remind us what we're up against." Aiden added,
It reminded her of the Governor. Of the heads he kept in jars. What was the point in keeping a walker strung up? So it could escape and get the jump on them?
The group came upon a set of chains that were hanging from a tree, with rotten flesh and flies buzzing around it.
The walker had escaped, what a surprise.
Vivian rolled her eyes as the two men cursed and looked over at Tara, wishing they could go and do something useful like going on an actual run and finding supplies.
"Help me find it." Aiden stated, moving to lower the chains that were wrapped around the tree.
"Look at this shit. Blood's still wet. It's nearby." Nicholas stated before letting out a loud whistle,
Glenn approached him, "Hey, hey, hey. It's gone."
"It took down one of our friends. It's nearby, we're not letting it go." Aiden told him,
"What do you think you're doing, torturing it?" Vivian questioned him, crossing her arms over her chest, "It doesn't feel like we do. It doesn't think like we do, chaining it up doesn't do anything."
"It makes us feel better." Nicholas replied,
"You know, it used to be a person, too." She moved her gaze between the two men, "Instead of stringing it up, you should put it down. Put the person it used to be to rest."
The walker came up behind Aiden and he moved to the side, dodging its' advances. It approached Nicholas, causing Noah to raise his gun, "The rest of you, back off." Aiden demanded as he came up behind the walker, grabbing the arms and pulling it back.
The rotter turned onto Aiden and he let go of it, pushing it away slightly. It got pushed over to Tara, who grabbed onto its' back and its skin began to peel. It began to go after Tara and Vivian quickly took out her knife and stabbed it in the head,
"What the hell?!" Aiden yelled at her,
Vivian rolled her eyes as she wiped her blade off, "Yeah, what the hell?"
"You almost got her killed!" Glenn exclaimed, motioning to Tara,
He stepped up to Glenn, the two of them chest to chest, "I told you all to stay back! I told you to listen to every damn thing I said. I told you that."
Vivian put her knife back in her sheath, "Whatever, I'm not waiting around to get killed by these guys." She looked back at Noah and Tara, "Let's go."
They all headed back to the gates in silence. She could feel Aiden's gaze on her back, but she ignored it. Once they got inside the walls of Alexandria, he spoke,
"You four need new gigs. You're not ready for runs yet."
Vivian let out a small scoff, her lips tilting upward slightly, "Yeah, pretty sure you got that backwards, bud."
"Hey! Hey." Aiden grabbed her arm, pulling her to a stop. Vivian looked around, noticing the crowd that seemed to be gathering before making eye contact with clueless man, "Look, we got a way of doing things around here."
"You tied up walkers. And when it escaped, instead of letting it go, you called it back. And then, instead of killing it, you tried to tie it up again and instead of it working, it escaped your grasp and almost got Tara killed. And if I hadn't stepped up, it would've." Vivian listed off,
"It killed our friend." Aiden tried to reason,
Vivian pointed towards the gates, "Out there, stupid is dangerous. And if this is the way you run things-"
"Look, I'm not having this conversation with you." Aiden interrupted her, and she felt her blood boil, "You obey my orders out there."
"Then we're just as screwed as your last run crew." Glenn stated,
Aiden stepped away from Vivian and turned to the Korean. Once again, they were chest to chest, "Say that again."
"Back off, Aiden." Tara called out as Aiden pushed Glenn back slightly,
Noah tried to step between the two, "Come on, man. Just take a step back."
Aiden pushed Glenn again, "Come on, tough guy."
"No one's impressed, man." Glenn told him, "Walk away."
"Aiden!" The voice of his mother, the leader of this community, caused him to step back, "What is going on?"
"These guys got a problem with the way we do things." Aiden said, not breaking eye contact with Glenn before turning to his mother, "Why did you let these people in?"
"Because we actually know what we're doing out there." Glenn commented,
The man turned quickly, with his fist raised. Glenn quickly reacted, ducking to avoid the hit before landing one on his own. Aiden landed on the ground and Nicholas jumped Glenn.
Before Vivian could react, Daryl jumped on him, pinning him onto the asphalt. He went to land a punch, but Rick ran up and wrapped his arms around the hunter,
"Let's not do this now." He whispered to him,
Aiden stood up and turned to Glenn, but Vivian squared up to him, "You want to end up on your ass again? Back off." She spat into his face,
Rick pushed Daryl back, keeping him separated from Nicholas as the guy scurried away. Marcie grabbed his arm tried to keep him from attacking anyone else.
"I want everyone to hear me, okay?" Deanna addressed the community, "Rick and his people are part of this community now in all ways as equals. Understood?" She asked, turning to look at her son,
"Understood." Aiden shrugged,
"All of you, turn in your weapons. Then you two come talk to me." She pointed at Nicholas and Aiden before dismissing them.
Vivian stood there, watching them go before following with Tara and Noah, "Thanks for sticking up for me." Tara told her,
She gave her a small nod, "They're idiots. Not surprised they lost people going on runs." Vivian exchanged looks with the both of them, "If we go on runs, we keep our guard up. Don't trust them."
No doubt, people were going to die. But Vivian wasn't going to let them be her people.