Back to back, Daryl and Aaron where surrounded, they thought they could handle the numbers, until the numbers betrayed them. They were too many. As Aaron was trying to wedge his knife out of a walker's skull, Daryl was keeping the rest at bay. Aaron was getting close to giving up when the knife sliced out of the skull and he lost his footing. His back hit the ground, which knocked the breath out of him. Walkers were piling up on Daryl, one of them lunged on top of Aaron, desperately trying to get a taste. Aaron struggled to keep the dead corpse at a distance with his forearms, but the distance was growing smaller and smaller.

Aaron tried to think his way out, but it wasn't working. His thoughts were running wild behind his wide eyes. Suddenly his mind was silenced by a thump sound of walkers falling, and he felt the dead weight of the one on top of him. He shakily crawled his way out from under it, to see that the knife that killed it had no handler. He pulled it out and pulled himself to his feet.

Daryl was just starting to see how the dead around him fell to the dirt one by one, when a shout alerted him towards the thick trees.

The woman stood on a big branch a few trees away, shouting at them to run towards the cabin, but shouting more to attract the walkers to her instead. At that moment, Aaron first noticed the cabin; it was secluded and almost completely hidden within the trees. He rammed his knife into another walker then turned and started running, looking back to be sure Daryl was doing the same. They both looked around for the woman, but she was nowhere to be found, So they kept going until they reached the door of the cabin.

The moment Daryl put his foot of the wooden steps before the door, he pulled it back quickly as a kitchen knife was impaled near where his foot was. Alarmed, Daryl tightened his hold on his hunting knife. He was about to lift his crossbow when the woman was suddenly standing in front of him. She waited for him to lower his weapon, but he didn't.

"you aren't afraid of me, why so persistent?" she said quietly, as she eyed them fully, "lower it, it is unnecessary" she rolled her eyes, but she didn't let them in until they lowered their weapons. She gestured to the door. No giving us her back, Aaron thought, but still not raising her weapon.

Daryl entered first, to find the man, Hades, staring right at him, pointing two guns, one silenced, at them. They were being cautious, Daryl thought, the girl didn't raise her weapon because she new her companion is ready. Once they all walked in, she closed the door and walked around them, now safely giving them her back. She walked to Hades and sat on the arm of his chair.

Now, Daryl can see them both with intense details, the woman didn't look American, she had the raw type of beauty. What caught his eyes first was her hair, which, braided, reached her thighs. That might be inconvenient in this world, he thought. But she looked so capable he couldn't call her stupid for having such long hair. She had several weapons on her, some with holsters and some she seems to have on anyway. She had a shotgun strapped to her back, but she had nothing in her hands. He recognized the type (weapons within reach, but doesn't need to wave them around to prove a point). She sounded so logical, polite, and gentle a minute ago, you wouldn't have believed she was carrying weaponry.

"He will put down his guns when you put down yours" she said. Looking at their eyes confidently. Aaron thought maybe she has done this before.

She did not scream her command, she worked in deals, back and forth. If they wanted to no longer be at gunpoint, they will drop their weapons in return. Aaron looked at Daryl and began to lower his gun until in reached the floor. Daryl followed his lead because otherwise they wouldn't go anywhere with this, but he kept his guard up, always.

The woman placed her hand gently on Hades' shoulder, and in response he lowered the guns and put them at his feet. Hades returned his gaze on them. He looked powerful, with his wide shoulders, and his longs legs. He sat on that worn chair like he was king, Aaron thought, with his queen to his right always. Closer and in detail, hades had long hair, knotted at the back of his head, he had a beard too. Daryl noticed a few stray hairs covering a scar at his left eyebrow. He never stopped analyzing them, its like he's reading their clothes, their stance, and their belongings.

"Thank you, for earlier" Aaron said, looking at both of them, "my name is Aaron, this is Daryl"

Hades looked at them and placed his hand on the woman's back, most likely communicating through her.

"Are the rest of your group close by?" she asked after a moment, looking at then expectantly, "you're too clean, you don't have everything you own on you" she explained.

"No, our community isn't close by" Aaron said, "but we were on a supply trip"

The woman grabbed her pack, and without breaking eye contact, threw two granola bars at them. "Here," she said quietly, "you won't find supplies in these woods"

Hades look up at her then pointedly looked at the ground next to his feet. She took off the strap of her .22-caliber shotgun, and sat near his left foot cross-legged. She placed her hands on her knees. "Eris" she said, "Hades" she cocked her head to the right towards him.

Eris didn't sound worried, or scared. Hades was simply sitting there since they came in, unreadable.

"Nice to meat you two" Aaron smiled, "will it be ok if we spent the night here with you?"

Eris smiled back, and looked up at Hades. When he leaned back in his chair, she looked back at them.

"It'll be dark soon anyway" she said, her face turning neutral, "I ask you to not lift your weapons off the floor, we will all spend the night here, all within each other's sight" then she smiled sweetly "be smart and agree, and you might get free dinner"

"Yes, we are not a threat to your safety, I promise you that" Aaron assured them.

"Mr. Daryl?" she looked him in the eyes directly, and waited.

"Yea, if you follow the same terms" Daryl said.

"We will not reach our weapons until you decide to reach yours" she promised, "Do we have an agreement?" her voice soft as if she was asking if he wanted more wine. Daryl nodded and put down his pack.

When Daryl and Aaron sat against the wall, Eris looked at them for a moment with her head tilted, "You said community" she said. She looked at them seeming amused by Aaron's choice of words.

Hades rolled his eyes, and began skinning a couple of rabbits, leaning his elbows on his knees.

Aaron felt they saw enough signs to understand that the couple was strategic, trusting but cautious. Above all, they where feeding him and Daryl with no gain in return. He looked at Daryl. With a silent agreement between them, Aaron looked back her.

"Yes, we have a community a few miles from here" Aaron started, "we would like you to join us"

Hades looked up from his bloody hands to Aaron, then to Eris. She looked back and pointed at Aaron, "I told you" She said to Hades. Hades smirked at her and signed something, then went back to looking at them suspiciously, while calmly preparing the game for dinner.

The clueless look on Aaron's face made her explain, "you're not here by accident, are you?" She said, eyeing them "I bet you weren't even on a supply run"

Their fast deductions had Daryl and Aaron doubting their next move, Daryl thought about grabbing his crossbow but Eris seemed to have read his thought, "don't, " she warned "I promised as well as you did that the weapons remain on the floor" she adjusted her position, straightening her back as she continued "now we do have questions, but the deal is only standing as long as you keep them floored" she sounded reassuring and calm, but the tone came of capability, and power, not fear.

Daryl relaxed his hands, "a deal's a deal" he said, nodding. He has more respect for her tactics now.

"Good" she said, "were you following us?"

"Yes" Daryl replied, there was no point in lying to them.

"Why?" she asked, tilting her head to the side.

"Because we need people like you" Aaron said, "to make us stronger. We came to recruit you"

"I never thought I'd hear it again" Eris mumbled looking at her partner, "first it was sanctuary, now it's community"

Daryl's eyes snapped to Eris at the mention of a sanctuary. "Ya know a place called terminus?" He asked in disbelief.

Hades look at him, and nodded.

"It's over though" Eris added, "it blew up after we got out" she had her hands clenched at her knees, and she was looking anywhere but their eyes.

Hades lifted his hands and signed something with his bloody fingers.

"Forget terminus," she said looking back at them, "we have questions"

"We will answer as much as we can but its not our call" Aaron explained, "you see, our job is to bring you to our community, and there you will be interviewed, it's our leader's decision, not ours"

Hades signed some more.

"How many people in that community of yours?" Eris asked. She still thinks the word community is amusing, Aaron thought.

"43" Daryl said.

Both Hades and Eris raised their eyebrows in surprise.

"And how, pray tell, is this number of people kept in line?" Eris asked. She was questioning their governance. Smart questions to go for first, Daryl thought.

"Our leader was a congresswoman" Aaron said.

Hades rolled his eyes boringly and signed something.

"What is he saying?" Aaron asked.

"That a politician for a leader gets you nowhere" Eris said plainly shrugging, "really, sometimes it's a mistake to assign a authoritative figure from before to be a leader at the end of the world"

Hades signed some more, as Eris delivered his questions. The usual.

"How long has this place been there?" She asked.

"Almost two years now" Aaron answered.

"Did you recruit all those people?" She asked, "this doesn't seem like your first try"

"Not all of them, no" Aaron said, "but I've recruited before, latest one of them being Daryl's group"

"Meaning the most of the 43 has been there for two years" she mumbled quietly, "probably the boring types too"

Daryl raised his eyebrows at her thoughts, She still didn't ask about the walls, he thought.

Just as he finished the thought, Eris stood up from the floor by Hades, and started pacing slowly around the armchair he was sitting on, her hands together behind her back. "People-talk never ends, talk to me about the place" she said, "I don't remember anything significant that's nearby"

"Our community is surrounded by a steel wall, that's secure all around the safe zone" Aaron started, "it's basically a big neighborhood, one of those eco-based, energy preserving ones from before, I have pictures in my pack if you'd like to see"

"No no don't show me now, I'll just point things out and start criticizing you, I'll probably boss you around too, I'll just annoy everyone in the room including me, don't know if we'll go with you yet, and I'm already judging the leader. I think I'll spare you the headache" Eris said in a quick breath, they almost didn't catch what she was saying. Hades snorted a quiet laugh, then she looked at them, as if she just realized that she was rambling, and smiled shyly "sorry" she whispered, as she went to stand behind Hades, rummaging through her bag until she pulled out a bottle of meds, popped one in her mouth, and looked back at them.

Hades' expression turned from amused to curious after a moment. He signed something lazily, and leaned back in his chair.

"what is it you want form us then?" was what she voiced.