A wee note - I am rather proud of the names I have given Callie's knives. I love it.
Callie sat in the barn in silence with everyone else as they all took their weapons in their hands and cleaned them out. She smiled up at Carl and raised a hand up as he held a knife out towards her, kneeling down in front of her to watch as she cleaned them all softly. Each blade was different from the others, however only a few of her original collection remained. She had named them all and scored their names into their blade – Avenger, Protector, Slice, Hunter, Zeus, Fury, Destroyer and Nemesis, the Brothers of Aggression.
"Everyone, this is Aaron" Maggie said, pushing the door open and allowing a man to walk into the barn. Everyone with a weapon stood to attention, training them on the man who stood in the doorway calmly. He was in his late twenties, with fair hair and an innocent face that made Callie stare even though she didn't want to. Daryl pushed past the man and looked out the door, before walking back in and standing in front of the group.
"We met him outside, he's by himself. We took his weapons and we took his gear" Maggie said, and Daryl stepped forwards, roughly searching the man for anything he could have hidden on his body. The whole group stood and stared at the man, none of them moving their eyes off of him. "Hi" he said, lowering his arms slowly back down to his sides. Judith started to wail, and Rick nodded at Carl to take her away from the group and calm her down, Zephy trailing along beside him.
"It's nice to meet you" Aaron said, moving forward to shake Ricks hand before stopping as a gun was raised higher. "You said he had a weapon?" Rick asked and Maggie bought forward a small hand gun. "There something you need?" Rick asked, placing the weapon in the back of his jeans. "A camp, nearby. He wants us to audition for membership" Sasha said, and Callie scoffed. "I wish there was another word. Audition makes us sound like we're some sort of a dance troupe. That's only on Friday nights" Aaron said, his humour lost on the group.
"It's not a camp, it's a community. I think you all would make valuable additions. But that's not my call, my job is to convince you all to follow me back home" Aaron continued, and the group looked at him warily. "I know, if I were you I wouldn't go either. Not until I knew what I was getting into. So, can you hand Rick my pack?" he asked Sasha, and she moved forward towards Rick. "Front pocket, there's an envelope. There's no way I could convince you to come with me, just by talking about our community. That's why I bought those" Aaron said, and Rick pulled out an envelope.
Callie moved to his side to have a look at what he was opening. "I apologise in advance for the picture quality... We just found an old chemist..." Aaron started. "Don't give us all that shit" Daryl growled from behind him, and Callie looked up and caught eyes with him. Even now, in this time of uncertainty, her eyes couldn't help but trail over his stature, his muscles and the way he glared at the stranger. The sight made her heart skip a beat and her body crave his touch, but she cleared her throat and concentrated on the envelope in front of her.
"You're absolutely 100% right. That's the first picture I wanted to show you because nothing I say about our community will matter, unless you know you are safe. If you join us, you will be" Aaron said, and Callie looked down at a picture of a wall. The quality was shabby, but she could make a faint outline of the barrier protecting their community. "Each panel of that wall is a 15 foot high, 12 foot wide solid slab of steel, framed by cold roll steel beams and square tubing. Nothing, alive or dead, gets through that without our say so" Aaron explained, and Rick stood up, the pictures in hand.
"Like I said, security is obviously important. In fact, there is only one resource more critical to our community's survival. The people" Aaron continued, and Callie stared at him, trying to work him out. "Together, we're strong. You can make us even stronger. The next picture, you'll see inside the gates, our community was first..." Aaron said, and Rick started to pace towards him. He cut him off with a massive blow round the head, which knocked him to the floor out cold and made Callie jump.
"Everybody else, we need eyes in every direction. They're coming for us, we might not know how and when but they are" Rick said, and Callie tapped Carl once on the shoulder, motioning him to follow her. She stood by a crack in the wall and looked through it, seeing nothing but trees. "Anybody see anything?" Rick called out. "Only a lot of places to hide" Glenn answered, clearly seeing the same thing as Callie. "Well, keep looking" Rick said, and Callie kept watching the trees.
Aaron came to a few minutes later, and Callie kept her eyes trained on the tree line as Rick conversed with the man. "Abraham" Callie heard Rick call, and Abraham looked over at Rick. "Yeah. I'll walk with 'em" Abraham said, his voice dark as he held his gun close to his body. "Rosita" Rick said, picking out the strongest of their group. "Okay" Rosita said, and headed for the door. "Callie" Rick said last, turning to her as she stood in front of him. "You got it" she said, making sure her Brothers of Aggression were secure on her waist.
She headed for the door, leaving a kiss on her sisters head and looking over at Carl, who nodded once back at her. As she headed for the door, Daryl's arm reached out and brushed over her stomach, resting on it as he looked down at her. She held her hand over his and turned her head to look up at him, resting one hand on his cheek and pressing her lips gently against his before moving away. "Walkies are out of juice. You're not back 60 minutes we'll come" Rick said, and Michonne nodded at him.
Callie headed out with the small group, her body close to Glenn's as she did. They walked silently in the direction of the cars Aaron had spoken about. "Eyes open everybody, weapons up" Glenn called as they walked down the road, and Callie pulled Zeus gently out of her belt, gently resting her hand on its hilt. "If you see someone coming at us, fire" Glenn said. "Copy that" Abraham answered, and Callie squinted into the distance. She hung back with Abraham as he turned and looked behind them, glancing at her.
"Which one you got today?" he asked, and she squinted up at him. "Zeus. He's the lightest but the strongest one I have. One of my originals" she said, and Abraham chuckled lightly to himself – he had always been fascinated with the names she chose for her knives and how close she was to them. The group slowed down as they got to the trees, and they stopped as they spotted cars ahead of them. "He was telling the truth" Michonne said, and Callie loosened the grip she had on Zeus.
An RV and a small car sat in front of them with no signs of life nearby. The twigs nearby snapped under someone's foot and Abraham leapt forwards with his gun raised. "Don't take another step forwards asshole" he shouted. Callie rolled her eyes as a walker emerged from the trees, and blew a strand of hair off her face as she took a step backwards. Rosita and Abraham both stepped forwards and took down the walkers with ease, moving on to the RV and checking it for the other person Aaron had spoken about, while Callie checked out the inside of the car.
It was empty, besides a water bottle and some mints in the glove compartment and a first aid kit in the boot. "Call, cm'ere" Abraham called, and Callie motioned the other three over to the RV. Abraham stuck a hand out of the door with a can of Spaghetti hoops in it, and Callie grinned at him.
The 6 of them had connected back with their group, their bags now heavy with cans of food that could last them weeks. Callie stood back next to Carl as Rick evaluated how much food there was, and he turned to Aaron. "This if ours now" Rick said, holding a can up. "There's more than enough" Aaron answered. "Ours. Whether or not we go to your camp" Rick said, and turned back to the group. "What do you mean, why wouldn't we go?" Carl asked, and Callie folded her arms across her chest. "If he were lying, or he wanted to hurt us. But he isn't, and he doesn't" Michonne responded.
"We need this, so we're going. All of us! Somebody say something if they feel differently" Michonne said sternly, and Callie nodded in agreement at her words. "I don't know man. This barn smells like horse shit" Daryl said as he noticed Rick looking uneasy. "Yeah. We're going" Rick agreed, and Callie smiled at him. "So where are we going? Where's your camp?" Rick asked, looking back towards Aaron. "Every time I've done this, I've been behind the wheel, driving recruits back. I believe you're good people, I bet my life on it I'm just not ready to bet my friends lives on it just yet" Aaron spluttered.
"You're not drivin'. So if you wanna get home, you'll have to tell us how" Michonne said, standing in front of him. Callie turned to Carl and smiled, brushing some hair out of his eyes as the others tried to get the location of the camp from Aaron, who was reluctant to give away any information. She brushed a hand over her knives and made sure they were all in place before taking a seat on the floor next to Zephy. Callie reached up and took a can of Spaghetti hoops down off the table, smirking at Abraham as he grumbled a little, and handed it to her sister.
"You better eat, we're gonna leave soon" Callie said, and Zephy nodded, taking the can out of her sisters hand and opening it carefully, alternating bites between her and Judith who found it easy to eat the soft food. "Hey call" Daryl called, and Callie stood up and brushed herself down, nervously walking over to the other side of the barn. "You need to eat too" Daryl mumbled, and opened another can of spaghetti hoops. Callie smiled and took the can from his hand, sharing her meal with him as her sister was doing with the baby.
Time went faster than she had anticipated, and before long she was packing her bag with the remainder of the food. "Callie, I'm taking Glenn and Michonne in the car with me. I want you to stay with the others in the RV, keep an eye out and honk once if you get into trouble" Rick said as they stepped outside the barn into the night. "Sure thing" she answered, and smiled at him softly, following after Carl into the RV and sitting down on one of the chairs next behind the driver's seat, keeping an eye on the road.
"Hey, keep an eye out will you?" Callie said to Carl, and she stood up and headed for the toilet. "Where the hell are they?" she heard Daryl growl, and she frowned and headed out the toilet back to the rest of her group. "I don't know, but I need to get this done up properly" Maggie said, and Callie pushed through the group. "Please, I know a place we can go that is safe, I have a flare gun and that will attract your people to us" a man said in a pained and panicked voice.
"Who's this?" Callie asked, and everyone quietened down. "Eric. We ran over his foot" Abraham said in a by-the-way voice. "Hi Eric" Callie said, and looked down at his ankle. "This needs to be tied up and supported or he can't walk" Maggie said, and Callie looked at her friend. "We don't have the stuff in here but I know a place we can wait, and you're people can..." Eric said. "I heard you. Take us there" Callie said authoritatively, and Eric stuttered before nodding and giving directions to Abraham.
"You trust him?" Daryl asked, standing close to her body as she stared ahead of her. "I don't know, but he has a flare gun and Rick will see that. And they'll all come back" Callie said, and Daryl nodded. She took a seat next to Carl, and the two stared ahead as the RV drove through the roads to an old village. "We'll park up here, walk the way" Abraham said, parking up the vehicle and stepping out the door, his weapon raised. Callie waited until everyone had left the RV before she stepped out herself, Daryl close by as they jogged to a nearby warehouse.
"I'll keep watch" Callie said to the group, and they all nodded as she stood outside with Daryl, her eyes fixed on the darkness as she held the flare gun above her head. She pulled the trigger and sent the red flare sky high, watching it as it reached its peak then slowly and gracefully fell back to earth. The two stood in silence, not knowing what to say to one another in the silence around them. "What changed?" Callie asked after a brief silence.
"What?" Daryl asked, and Callie bit her lip. "What changed?" she asked, turning to look at him. "Nothin'" Daryl answered, and Callie scoffed. "I'm not stupid Daryl, I know something has changed. You aren't the same anymore, not since..." Callie started, veering off as she knew she was starting on a touchy subject. She saw him physically tense up as she spoke, and she sighed softly. "I know it's hard. And no amount of me or anyone saying we're here for you will make you feel any less upset, but I love you. Nothing will change that, and part of loving someone is being there for them when they need you the most" Callie said, and Daryl nodded.
She smiled at him and looked back into the distance. "They're here" she said, and walked over to the door, banging on it and opening it so the group could pour out to meet the others. "You're okay" Michonne said happily, and embraced Callie as the two shared a laugh of relief. The group moved into a shop next to the warehouse and chatted amongst themselves about where they were going and what to do next. "Excuse me, excuse me everyone" Aaron said, and Callie turned to look at him. "Thank you. You saved Eric. I owe you, all of you. And I will make sure that debt is paid in full when we get to our community" he said. "When we get to Alexandria... Now I'm not sure about you but I'd rather not do anymore driving tonight. Um, maybe we can hit the road tomorrow morning?" he asked.
"That sounds fine. But if we're staying here tonight you're sleeping over there" Rick said. "You really think we've gotta do that?" Maggie asked. "Well it's a safe place. We don't know you" Rick answered. "The only way you're gonna stop me from leaving right now is by shooting me" Aaron said, leaving Rick without anything to say as he looked at his group. Glenn spoke to Rick silently in the corner, and Callie slid a hand into Daryl's as they stood together. "Alright" Rick said, and the group all took to the floor.
The next morning, they piled into the RV and hotwired a car, driving silently towards their new destination. Callie sat silently in the RV opposite Noah, who stood up with a bottle of water and some medication and headed to the back of the RV. She stood up and moved next to Carol, resting her head on her shoulder as the boys and Maggie played a game at the table. No more than a few minutes later the RV started to chug to a stop in the road. "We're Outta gas" Abraham said, and Callie sighed, leaning over and honking twice before the coasted to a stop.
They all piled out the RV and rested on the side of the road as Glenn tried to fix it. Callie picked at the weeds on the road, the sun beating down on her head. The RV revved back to life and everyone cheered, gathering all their things together as they waited for Rick. Callie piled everyone back into the RV and watched as they drove, seeing a fence draw closer and closer. As they sat there, she listened to the sound of children shouting and playing, and her heart lifted.
She opened the RV door and stood on the road, her hand holding Zephy's as they waited for the gates to open.