Chapter 21: To Chance
"It's a community. We all pull our weight." A tall man with a black beanie cap stood before all of us.
"You need to give us a minute." Rick studied the man.
"Of course." The man politely stepped aside and waited by his car across the street leaving us to discuss the situation.
"What's going on?" Daryl looked to Rick.
"This man is offering us a place to live. That is if we pass the interview."
"What are you talking about?" I questioned.
"This man, Tyreese, he goes out looking for survivors and takes them in. They have a community, homes, food, safety."
"How do we know he's telling the truth and not just a psycho?" Sam exclaimed.
"We don't. The question is, are we willing to take that chance?" Rick looked to all of us.
"What does he mean about an interview?" I looked across the street at the man waiting patiently.
"The man who runs the place just doesn't take anyone in. They want to make sure we are not threats, savages. They have children and elderly they need to keep safe." Rick explained
"We've all prayed for a safe place and now that it's being offered, it feels weird." Glenn confessed.
"We've been through too much." Sam sighed.
I quickly walked over across the street.
"How do I know you're not bull shitting with us?" I got in Tyreese's face.
"Lana." Rick grabbed me from behind pulling me away from him.
"You don't. I'm not going to force you to go with me but you are more than welcome to. We take care of our people." Tyreese took a step back from me as if I was going to hurt him.
"And how…"
"Lana..." Rick interrupted me but I quickly interrupted him.
"No Rick! It could be another Woodbury! Another Governor!" I backed away from Rick and Tyrese.
Daryl's right hand gripped my wrist and dragged me away from them.
"She's been through a lot, we all have." I heard Rick excuse my behavior to Tyreese as Daryl led me to the living room of the house.
"You need to take it down a notch." Daryl gently squeezed my arms.
"You're telling me to calm down!" I backed away from him. "What if it's a trap?"
"Could be, but what if it's not." His fingers gripped around my waist to bring me closer to him.
"We take caution going. Look for anything suspicious." Daryl explained and I backed up again. "Hey, I'm not going to let anything happen to you." He pulled me back in to his breathing space. I sighed leaning my head on his chest. Hearing his gentle breathing calmed me down a bit. Everyone walked in the house and I took a few steps back from Daryl.
"So what's the plan?" Rick quickly looked us up and down.
Daryl looked to me waiting for an answer.
"We go." I sighed looking down to the floor.
"Dad, I don't want to go." Carl spoke up.
"Why not son?" Rick got down on one knee to his level.
"We've been through so much. We trusted a group and look what happened to mom, and The Governor." Carl confessed to Rick.
"We all have each other watching our backs; I won't let anything happen to you. I promise. We need to see if this is real, that's what we've been fighting for isn't it?"
Carl looked down to his feet and slightly nodded.
"Let's start packing." Rick stood up and walked outside to inform Tyreese of our decision.
After everything was packed and set to go Rick decided to get to know Tyreese better to make sure he was the real deal, so he went in the car with him.
Glenn, Sam and Carl traveled in one car and Daryl and I in another. We were now on the road to what we all hoped and prayed is sanctuary.
The car ride was painfully quiet. We had about a two and a half hour drive and forty-five minutes barely passed.
I felt Daryl's eyes glance over at me while I was gazing out the window. He then intentionally cleared his throat.
"What?" I looked to him.
"Nothin'."
"What?" I questioned him again.
"You're quiet."
"I don't know what to say." I looked down to my feet.
A silence grew again. Both of us thinking of what to say to one another.
"Tell me about yourself." I suggested.
"What do you mean?" He kept his eyes on the car ahead of us.
"What did you do? Were you a taken man? Things you liked to do for fun? Favorite color? How old are you?" I went on.
"Why you wanna know?"
"Gee, I don't know, maybe because you know some things about me and all I know is that you are good with a crossbow. I would like to know some things about the man I've banged."
"Banged?" He chuckled with a slight smirk brightening his face.
"Never mind." I looked out the window avoiding contact with his figure.
I felt an immense awkwardness between us. A silence brewing once again.
"Red." He croaked.
"What?" I looked to him as he was clearing his throat.
"My favorite color is red. It's a strong and powerful color, very sexy. Especially that night at the cabin when you changed into that red night shirt."
I felt my cheeks tingle as I looked back out the window. The ice broke and we finally started talking.
The car that Tyreese and Rick were driving in started slowing down ahead of us. Fences with barbed wire made its self visible and we finally stopped. Tyreese got out of the car and made his way to the two men opening the gate. Daryl rolled down the window as Rick walked over to us.
"We're goin in. They will tell us where to park the cars and we will have our interview. If they are the bad guys Tyreese is hiding it real good. I couldn't get anything out of him. He seems legit." Rick informed.
"Alright then." Daryl looked to Rick walking away to inform Glenn and Sam in the car behind us.
Anxiety hit me like a rock starting from the pit of my stomach and expanding throughout my whole body. Daryl looked over to me and noticed that my breathing started shaking and that I was tensing up.
"I got you." Daryl's right hand reached over to mine giving it a light squeeze to ease the tension.
We rolled up to the gates and two men with shot guns were hand signaling us where to park our vehicles. A few walkers found their way to the gates and the two men released fire into their bodies until they collapsed to the ground. We all got out of the cars and gathered around Tyreese as the two other men walked towards us. Out of the blue a tall bearded man with a clean dark blue suit approached us.