Disclaimer: I DO NOT own The Walking Dead or any characters you recognize from the show, I am just playing with them and will return them (mostly) unharmed.
This story is set after S5 E1 "No Sanctuary" and is AU from that point on, so that means no Alexandria or Hilltop. I am going to assume that The Prison is located at the same place as the Lee Arrendale Correctional Facility in Alto, GA and Terminus is somewhere between Cornelia, GA and Toccoa, GA on the Squaw Creek Southern Rail-line. Should give you some basic RL geography to go by.
Chapter 1: Angels Come To Town
The ragtag group of survivors had continued to follow, just out of sight, the rail tracks north. Two days after escaping Terminus Daryl had seen the signs of a group passing and had informed Rick. After talking with Ford, they decided to see who the group was and if they were from Terminus. Better safe than sorry, was the consensus.
The group fanned out to surround the smaller group of four men when they found them. After making sure everybody was in place Rick and Daryl stepped into the clearing where the men were camped. The men startled and reached for their weapons when they saw him.
"Hands where I can see them", Rick demanded taking aim at one of the men's head.
"Whoa, whoa, whoa! We aren't causing any trouble and mean no harm", the oldest man said raising his hands above his head. He looked about Hershel's age in a jean jacket with a pair of wings in flight sewn over the right breast pocket and the name Pete sewn over the left.
"Where did you come from?", Rick asked.
"We came from the south a bit, doing some scouting. Was returning to the rest of our group up north a bit farther", the old man answered.
"Why were you scouting around here?" Daryl demanded. The men exchanged a look.
"Answer the question", Rick said taking a step closer to the men.
"We are new to the area, was just seeing who was around.", the old man answered them, "My name is Pete, by the way. Now why don't you lower your gun and lets talk like civilized people."
Rick relaxed his aim but didn't put his gun away and motioned for Daryl to lower his crossbow. The men in the clearing breathed a sigh a relief once the weapons were no longer aimed at them.
"I'm Rick, this is Daryl. We just came from the south, got captured at Terminus."
"Joey. You the ones to blow the place to kingdom come?", one of the other men asked. He looked in his mid 20s with blond hair, blue eyes, and tanned skin.
Rick nodded, "Something like that."
"Good riddance to bad rubbish. Names Terrence", the third man introduced himself. He was dark skinned and wiry with a complicated weave in his black hair.
"I hear the restless shifting in the woods. Why don't you invite the rest of your group to join us?" Pete said.
Rick glanced at Daryl who whistled the "All Clear". The four men watched with curiosity as the rest of the group trickled into the clearing and gathered around and behind Rick, Tyreese with Judith being the last.
Pete whistled in awe, "Damn, had no clue there were so many of you. Heard some movement, figured there were only 3 to 4 of you." He shrugged, "Oh well", Pete clapped the last guy, the one Rick had held at gun point, on the shoulder, "This is Roberto, he's mute. Can hear fine and make some basic noises, just cant speak." He gave a quick wave when he was introduced.
Daryl had been watching the men and had noticed all of the had the wings in flight on their coats. "Whats with the wings?" He asked pointing them out the rest of the group.
"It's just something our group started wearing. Where you headed?" Pete said.
Ford answered "Eugene here knows the cure. We got to get him to D.C. so he can end this shit storm."
The men exchanged another speaking glance before Terrence spoke up. "We got a base at an airfield a few miles north of here with connecting bases all the way to Pennsylvania. We could get you to Eastern Virginia by air and gather an escort to get you the rest of the way to where you need to go. If you want."
"Me, Rosarita, and Eugene would appreciate the ride and escort. Don't know where the rest of the group are headed", Ford said.
"We are just looking for somewhere safe", Rick explained.
Terrence nodded, "Well you are in luck then. Because the Angels have come to town." The other men chuckled before Joey explained. "We call ourselves the Angel Flights. We got bases from the west coast to the east coast and anywhere in between. Got a booming trade route through the skies with communities all over the country. I'm sure we can find somewhere you could fit in, no matter where you want to go."
"Really?" exclaimed Carl, "That's cool!"
"Yep, so if you want to join us at base and are willing to answer a few questions we should be able to find a good fit for you guys."
The survivors exchanged looks between themselves and Glenn said, "Not sound ungrateful, but we just got suckered into a "sanctuary" and then were nearly killed. How do we know you guy are legit?" The others voiced their agreement to Glenn's words.
"Well, uh, I guess you are just gonna have to trust your gut and each other. The choice is up to you, we aren't gonna make you come with us, but we will show you on a map where the base is and you could come in when you want. We will even give you tokens for the gates so our people know you talked with us and have an invitation," Pete offered, "Take the night to talk about it amongst yourselves and you can let us know in the morning. In the meantime, why don't you get setup for the night and join us for supper?"
The group of survivors setup a watch and the rest wandered over to see what was in the pot over the fire. "Mmmm, that smells delicious," Carol said, "Where did you find the spices?"
"One of the groups we trade with grows them," Pete answered using a cup to dip out some of the stew, "Got chicken and vegetable stew." He picked up a packet from beside the fire and showed it to her, "Another one of the groups takes the spices and adds cooked dried chicken, vegetables, and noodles to them then packages them, just add water and boil." He took a sip out of the cup, then offered it for her to try.
"Its like those premade soup packs I used to buy at the store!" Carol exclaimed as she took a sip of the broth and hummed and then passed the cup on to Maggie for her to try. " Tastes like my momma used to make it!" she exclaimed taking another drink before passing it to Glenn.
"Yep, Joey get a few more cups and bowls out and grab another soup packet and some more water." Joey nodded and went over to their packs to dig out three extra cups and two bowls with another packet and brought them to Pete who handed him an empty jug. "Take Roberto with you." Pete said.
"Sure, c'mon Robbie lets go get some water." Daryl melted out of the trees and followed them to the stream and back. Pete nodded his thanks and offered the hunter a cupful of soup when they got back. Daryl took the cup with a gruff thanks then went back to where he was sitting on the edge of the firelight. "Don't speak much, does he?" "He speaks when he needs to," Rick said.
Pete motioned to Judith in Rick's lap, "Can she eat solids yet or does it need to be mashed for her?" Rick looked down at Judith, "She should be fine with just the broth." "Nonsense, Robbie will you toss me some of that supplement powder?" Robbie dug around in the pack and then tossed a small container to Pete who dipped out some of the broth and added a little of the powder to it and stirred it in. "There that should be a little more filling than just the broth, keep her full longer too." "Thank you." Rick said as he fed Judith carefully out of the cup.
"Well I hope the rest of you don't mind sharing bowls, doesn't look like we got enough to go around," Terrence said as he filled the rest of the bowls and handed them out. "It's your food, why don't you eat? I'm sure we can find something else." Sasha said. Pete chuckled, "My wife would skin me if I didn't feed you. Go ahead and eat, that's why I had Joey and Robbie go get the extra water, so we could make another batch. Besides these packets are only supposed to feed up to six anyway, there would've been enough to go around, but everybody would've still gone to bed hungry. I don't know about you folks, but I haven't had to do that for a good long time."
When Terrence had dipped the last bit out of the pan he poured some fresh water in and built up the fire so it would boil faster. Terrence gestured to them, "Go ahead and eat, next batch should be done in 15 minutes or so, and I want one of those bowls!", he joked. With that reassurance the ones with food started eating. Everyone made pleased sounds at the first bite, then finished as quickly as they could.
Sure enough, about 15 minutes later the next batch was done and handed out to the ones that didn't get a bowl the first time. The clearing was filled with more pleased hums as the rest of the group finished the second batch. "That was good." Bob said, "I might come with you just for the food," He joked. The men chuckled.
"We best turn in for the night. You folks are welcome to the fire so you can decided what you are doing in the morning." Pete said as he stood up, the rest of the Angels followed him to their bedrolls.
After they had settled down and fallen asleep Tyreese spoke up, "I don't know about you guys, but I was thinking of going with them, just to see what they got to offer."
"I agree," said Tara, "I get a good feeling about them."
"They knew we had surrounded them," Michonne said, "They knew and let us do it."
Daryl nodded in agreement, "They wanted us to feel secure, when we came back from getting the water they reset some sort of alarm system around the camp. They knew we were here before we did."
"I didn't hear an alarm of any kind when we came in, did you?" Glenn asked.
"Nope, asked the kid, Joey, how it worked. He said that when it is triggered, it sends a tone to their ear pieces, that they use to communicate with each other. So no external sound to alert the trespassers they have been caught."
"How do they know when its Walkers and not people?" Maggie asked.
"Said it reads heat signatures, Walkers have a low body temp so it is a different tone than one of a live human."
"That pretty ingenious," Sasha said and the rest of them agreed.
"So the question is, do we go with them in the morning or not?" Rick asked.
"Why don't we do a show of hands?" Carol said, "All those who think we should go with them?" Everybody raised their hands. "Well looks like its unanimous, we are going with them. Let get some sleep and we will tell them in the morning." Rick said.
"I'll keep watch," Daryl said, "I don't care if they do have the fancy alarm system, I feel too exposed to sleep without someone keeping watch." "I'll join you," Glenn said. Rick nodded, "Me and Carol will relieve you in a few hours so you can get some sleep," he said. Carol agreed as she laid near the fire.