"Put up your hands!" Rick yelled as he pulled his rifle on a group that was huddled by a small fire. "Stay where I can see you or I will shoot you." His drawl was southern thick as he and his group surrounded the petrified man, woman and small child.
The woman immediately began to cry as she hunched over the wailing toddler, the man scooting before them while armed with a sharp stick in a wavering hand. Daryl lowered his crossbow at the sight and looked toward Glenn who also lowered his weapon. Rick, on the other hand, kept his rifle still and pointed ready to fire.
"Please!" The woman yelled as she grasped the child closer to her body. "We don't have anything! Please leave us alone!" Quietly she wrapped her free arm around the man's torso and shook as the group of six circled around them.
"Lower your weapon and we will lower ours, deal?" Rick asked and with a nod the man laid his stick down while everyone else lowered their weapons. Rick shouldered his rifle and walked around the small group, eyes tracing over every possession they had. A fire was nicely lit, thick clothes shielded them from the chilled winds, and three large bottles of water were at their feet as well as an abundance of dried meat that sat warmed by the flames.
"Where do you come from?" Rick asked as he knelt before the quivering man, looking no older than his late twenties. His blue eyes held youth as well as fear.
"We're not from anywhere." He gulped as he wrapped his arms around the woman and smaller girl. "Our group was run off by another and we've been in the woods ever since."
"How long?"
"About three weeks if I could keep up." He reeled back from Rick's intense gaze. "Please, we really have nothing to give you."
Rick shook his head and completely pushed his rifle toward Daryl who grasped it and shouldered it, showing that Rick was no longer a threat.
"How many walkers have you killed?" Rick asked the familiar question and stared the man dead in the eyes for an answer.
"What? Why are you aski-
"How many walkers have you killed?" Rick asked again with a bite to his teeth and immediately the man closed his lips as thoughts whirled through his mind.
"A couple dozen give or take since this all happened." His voice was firm but his eyes showed his trepidation as this burly man gazed into his soul.
"How many people have you killed?" Rick could see this question take the man off guard as he tightened his hold on the two girls.
"Five." He said without wavering and his blue eyes met the equal blue eyes of Rick as he asked his final question. "Why?"
"Fear." He said simply. "I don't condone killing but the the five people that I killed were just as evil as the things in these woods. They tried to steal what little we had, tried to steal my wife as well as my daughter for whatever use they wanted." At this the man straightened and stared the entire group in the eyes.
"As a Father and husband, I was protecting my own."
Rick processed his answers before nodded toward his group and standing to his feet. He offered the most sincere of expressions he was still able to muster before placing his hands on his hips and looking down toward the small family.
"We have a community not far from here; shelter, food, walls if you would like to come with us and not be in these woods any longer." Rick nodded toward his wife and small daughter. "We could give you something to better protect your family if you so choose it."
The man turned his head and locked eyes with the hopeful ones of his wife before cradling his daughter's head in his large hand. A better life? This was too good to be true in a world like this. Here are these people coming from nowhere and pointing their guns at them and then offering shelter and a place in their community.
You just don't come by that anymore; there's no more kindness in the world. The man looked away from Rick and his blue eyes gazed beyond the trees, skimming for a movement and ears perked for sound but there was none.
There was still kindness in the world; it was running through these woods like a spirit. She left the food, the water and even started the fires for them when they were too chilled to move. A lonely woman who ran beyond the trees and protected them for the weeks they were in her woods. She was the kindness that was still left in the world but now it seemed that there was more kindness to be offered and he could just hear her say, go with them.
He nodded and grasped Ricks offered hand and he was pulled up by the taller man, giving it a shake. "My name is Devin and this is my wife Abigail and daughter Heidi." Devin pulled his chilled family up and held them close and gave one last look to the woods before turning his eyes to group. "If you have the room we will gladly go with you. I hope we will be of use in your community."
Rick nodded and released the man's hand. "I'm sure we can find you a job. Come on, our vehicles are not far from here." With that the group escorted their new family to their cars to begin the journey back toward The Alexandria Safe Zone, unbeknownst that they were followed by a pair of eyes that were peaking beyond from a tree with a small smile to their face as they disappeared into the darkness of the woods once more.