Welcome one, welcome all!

Thank you all so much for the reviews, love and alerts. Also many thanks to those who said what they'd like to see happen (I love it when readers give input, to me it means that you really love the story) :)

Also, I've read some reviews (and pm messages) about people hoping Maddy meets Negan soon...

Makes me wonder, what do you guys want to see happen regarding the whole Negan ordeal ;)

Let me know!

Enjoy this new chapter!

Alexandria.

A dream? A sanctuary? A trap?

There weren't many other options aside from those three. However when the gate shut behind us a fourth option popped up in my head. A prison. For now I had to change my attitude. If I knew what was currently going on with my health and my body, perhaps we didn't even had to be here. But supposedly there was a doctor inside these walls. A real doctor. Crazily enough it felt like my one chance to not die of a fever or some disgusting couching snot fit.

I couldn't even walk properly. I felt like a baby deer, but then one who after an hour still wasn't able to walk on its four legs and I only had two. Luckily I didn't even had to ask for help or support. Daryl carried me in his arms, something he hadn't done so far and I honestly wondered where he found the strength to hold me in his arms.

But we didn't get very far. We were stopped by some man from Alexandria the moment we'd sat foot inside. Someone yelled at him and the stranger yelled back. Daryl shifted his weight on his foot, carrying me was finally starting to have an affect on him.

"I'll take her." Someone said and I could feel Daryl squeeze me tighter against him.

"It's okay, Daryl." I wasn't sure if that voice belonged to someone from our group or from this place. But suddenly I found myself being lifted higher and dropped against someone else.

"Maggie, go with them." That was undoubtedly Rick's voice. "You stay with her and don't let her out of your sight."

I was too tired to protest, but the fact that someone I knew was coming with me made me feel a bit better.

Whoever was carrying me was incredibly strong and a fast walker. Before I knew what was happening the light changed from sun to a darker shade, meaning we must have entered a building.

"It's okay, Maddy. We're here." Maggie said to me.

"Pete! We have a situation!" The man holding me shouted and I flinched.

"Is this the woman from that new group Aaron and Eric brought with them?" A new voice said, which was probably Pete.

"We are." Maggie answered, her voice sounded cold. "You the doctor?"

"Evidently." The reply came sounding just as short as Maggie's question. "The name's Pete Anderson. Surgeon. Put her down on the table, Aiden."

Surgeon? Did he say, surgeon? He wasn't going to cut me open was he? Something cold, but soft touched my back and legs. The man who'd been carrying me, named Aiden, set me down on a table. I started to moved.

"Hold her down, please." Pete Anderson said. "I can't examine her if she moves like that."

"Maybe you should talk to her first, explain what you're planning on doing? My father was a doc,- veterinarian. He told me the best way to treat a patient is through,-"

"I'm sorry, little lady. But she is a human, not a dog. Now if you can't help out, I'd rather have you leave."

Maggie didn't protest and instead gave the man a cold glare.

"Thank you. Now, Aiden, hold her down while I take off her shirt."

The moment Pete's hands began to unbutton my shirt something stirred inside me. I know if this had been back before the walkers, back when I hardly ever visited a doctor, I wouldn't have done what I was about to do.

With the last bit of strength that I had, I punched the doctor in his face.

He yelped, Maggie let out a gasp as a new pair of hands grabbed hold of me and pushed me back down on the table.

A loud laugh sounded throughout the room. A familiar laugh which funnily enough calmed me down immediately.

"You can't be left alone for one minute, ey Toots?" Merle Dixon chuckled and he approached the table.

"Who the hell are you? How did you get in here?" Pete asked him.

"Names Merle Dixon, you quack! And you, fancy pants, I'd take a step back if I were you." Merle threatened Aiden.

"It's okay, Aiden." Pete nodded at him. "Let her go. I can handle it from here."

With a glare that lasted a couple of seconds, Aiden let go of my body and stepped away from the table. "I'll just stand at the wall, just in case." He said.

"Now, will you let me help your friend?" The doctor asked, his voice jittery but I wasn't sure if that was because I'd hit him or because Merle managed to crash the party.

"Sure, doc. If you need a hand, let me know. Careful though, I only have one." Merle snickered and I closed my eyes as I heard Maggie say to him.

"You have a horrible sense of humour."

::::::...::::::

Perhaps I compared this place to our former so-called safe haven because of my current situation. I started to realize that most of my symptoms were quite similar to the disease which had killed quite a lot of people, not to mention animals, at the prison. Due to the lack of medication people had died. If this was indeed the same disease from the prison, I was one of the lucky ones thanks to this place.

I turned my head to look around the room. It was small with only a few beds and I was the only one there. Aside from Merle and Maggie being with me yesterday, so far no one else had visited, at least not to my knowledge.

If I turned my head in just the right angle I could catch a glimpse of bright green leaves hanging in front of a window. The sun was shining brightly,, indicating it was morning and I had thus spent the entire night in this bed. I wondered where everyone else was. Were they safe? They had to be, why else was I still alive?

I tried to push myself up with my elbows when suddenly a noise caught my attention. It was the sound of a door opening in the distance. Frantically my eyes searched for anything I could use as a weapon to defend myself. There was nothing near me I could use and I cursed inwardly.

There was only one thing left to do. I pushed myself off the bed and landed on the floor with a loud thud. I turned and dragged my body across the floor under the bed. Footsteps increased their pace and I watched quietly as a pair of shiny brown shoes entered the room.

The person who owned those shoes didn't make a sound either. The feet moved and then halted a few feet away from the bed.

"You can come out now. I promise, I mean you no harm." The voice said. Female, older than the women in our group. Around Carol's age. It was an empty promise, but of course the woman did not know that.

Last times anybody had promised me they meant no harm I almost got raped or eaten.

"Are you alone?" I asked the woman. My voice sounded quite hoarsely, but she must have heard me for she took a few steps back.

"I am."

Warily I pushed myself from underneath the bed. Head and hands first. The woman in front of me wasn't very tall. She had brown shoulder-length hair and wore a clean light blue denim blouse. She smiled warmly, her hands raised to prove she was also unarmed.

"Hello, Madison." She said. "Do you need help getting up?"

I clenched my jaw at her comment as I grabbed hold of the end of the bed and pulled myself up. My legs wobbled but I managed to sit down on the mattress just in time before they caved.

"How do you know my name?" I asked.

Again she smiled and stepped forward with her hand extended towards me. "Rick told me. I'm Deanna Monroe."

There was something about her. This wasn't just some random person living in this so called safe-zone, Alexandria. The way she carried herself reminded me of my former boss. Someone who wasn't afraid to take the lead.

"What is your full name, Madison?"

"I'm sorry?"

"Your full name. I know Rick is called, Rick Grimes. Daryl's is,-"

At the mentioning of Daryl's name my eyes widened and I shifted in my seat. "Daryl? Where is he? Is he alright?"

Deanna cocked her head and without answering my question, walked across the room and pulled up a chair along with a video camera.

"What is this?" I immediately asked.

"Something I do whenever somebody new enters our community. You're not the first, I assure you. In fact, everybody else in your group as been willing enough to allow me to capture our first conversation on film."

I was dead.

I had to be.

This was madness.

"Madison?"

I looked up at her. There was that polite smile again.

"Would you kindly?"

A red dot blinked next to the lens of the camera, indicating she'd already been filming since the very beginning. How was that possible?

"My name is Madison Jane McArthur."

Deanna nodded and sat down on the chair a few feet in front of me. "Scottish, isn't it?"

"What?"

"McArthur. It's Scottish. It means noble one. In fact your name means, strong, gracious and noble one."

I was right about one thing, this woman was mental. It felt as if I was being interrogated by either a cop or a therapist.

"It's a hobby." Deanna explained. She cleared her throat and continued.

"I was a Congressperson, Ohio, 15th District. Before the incident."

I arched an eyebrow. "Incident?"

"Perhaps incident is the wrong word." She smiled. "But I take it you know what I mean."

It was apparent what she meant. But to call it an incident, after everything we'd gone through. After everything the world had gone through. It was practically an insult.

"What was your job? Before all of this?"

My job? Had she asked all of us these questions? I could hardly imagine any of us would answer honestly, or even answer them at all.

"My job was,- quiet. I was a librarian."

"Where?"

"University of Georgia. Athens."

Deanna nodded with interest before leaning forward and folding her hands together on her knees. "You wouldn't happen to have a degree in education, do you?"

A dizzy spell hit my head and instead of replying I made my way back to the other side of the bed to lie down again.

"You're asking a lot of questions." I said as I closed my eyes.

"Well, I make it a habit of getting to know each and everyone of the people we allow in here. Despite the fact that I've heard some things about you from the others, there are still things I want to know."

I let out a groan. "I'll be more than happy to answer them once I feel better."

"Pete told me you'll be feeling better in no time." Deanna said and I opened one eye to look at her.

"Who?"

"The man you knocked to the ground. Our doctor." She explained.

Ah, yes. I remember him. "In my defence, I thought he was going to cut me open."

"Now, why would he do that?" Her brow furrowed as she asked that question. I couldn't tell if she was serious or not.

Had this woman not been out there? Had she not met the type of people who roamed the world now.

"That was a dumb question, wasn't it?"

I figured by now that Deanna really didn't mean any harm. The way she spoke, the way she smiled at me, her entire demeanour in fact show that this was all a routine for her. Something she'd done before. Perhaps this was her way to cope with this or perhaps it meant she really was ignorant to how the world now worked.

"Listen, I know this may seem surreal. Honestly, every single one of you have been incredibly sceptical. But I hope that in time, all of you, will see that this could be the real deal for you. I am certainly willing to take that risk with you and your group, unless,-" She paused and narrowed her eyes.

"Unless, I,- or Aaron rather, was wrong about you people. I'd very much like to know what you think. Are we making a mistake taking you in?"

She must have asked the others this as well. Getting everyone's opinion on if we were safe. Not kill, murder or take over this entire community.

I looked up at the ceiling. A slight throbbing spreading across my forehead. "I can't speak for the others. But I don't strike unless I have a good reason to."

Deanna nodded and she stood up from her seat. "And what would be a good reason?"

"Hurt those I love."

"Have you ever killed someone?" Deanna now stood next to me, her eyes searching mine, a hint of worry behind them. "Living people?"

I swallowed the lump in my throat, thinking back to Philip Blake, Nate, Norris. Men who'd tried to either kill me, Sophia or Daryl. And then Andrew flashed through my mind. The only one I'd successfully killed, albeit out of kindness, not out of hate. "My husband or rather my would-be husband. He got bit when this all started."

Deanna's face softened. "I see. Thank you, Madison. For your honesty." She placed a hand on my shoulder and squeezed it. "Get some rest. I'm certain this place will soon be filled with people who want to know how you're doing."

::::::...::::::

The chance to rest was short-lived indeed. I must have closed my house for about fifteen minutes when I heard the distant tread of heavy boots entering the room. A pair of rough but warm hands grabbed hold of mine and I opened my eyes to see Daryl standing next to the bed.

He stared at me for a while but eventually his lips turned into a lopsided smile. "Hi." He said.

I blinked and smiled back at him. "Hi."

He leaned forward and pressed his lips against mine. Warm and surprisingly soft, he lingered for a moment before moving back.

"You got some colour back." He continued and lifted one hand to cup my cheek.

I leaned into his touch and inhaled deeply. Surprised by the smell which hit my nostrils, I raised my head and looked at him with a puzzled look. "Your hands smell like,- soap?"

"I washed them."

"Oh?"

"They have warm water."

My eyes widened. "Warm water?"

"Working showers."

"Showers,-" I mouthed with disbelief. Warm water and showers? This was it. This was a dream.

Either that or I had indeed died and gone to heaven.

"This can't be real." I said to him. "What is this place?"

Daryl motioned for me to move aside so he could lie down next to me. He raised his arm and placed it underneath me neck to then wrap around my arm and shoulder, as I moved closer against him.

"Surreal. But it seems real enough. They've given us three empty houses to move into. And they all have showers and even electricity."

"You're kidding?" I looked up at him and he shook his head. My brow furrowed and I averted my eyes. No wonder Deanna told me most of our group had been sceptical.

"You don't trust it." Daryl stated. He gently caressed my upper arm, with his clean hands.

"I wish I could say I do."

Daryl suddenly huffed. "Seems like most of us don't trust it."

The way he said it made it seem as if Daryl wasn't one of those people.

"You're not worried the same thing will happen to us here as it did with the prison?" I asked quietly. Daryl rested his scruffy chin on the top of my head and rubbed it for a second, thinking about my words. After a couple of seconds he spoke up.

"After everything that happened to us since the prison, we deserve a break. You deserve a break."

He suddenly moved to sit up straight and pulled me along with him. With one hand he gracefully grabbed the side of my chin and tilted it, forcing me to look into his blue eyes. "If we had listened to Rick and hadn't gone with Aaron,- you would have,-"

But Daryl didn't finish his sentence. I could only guess what it was he was going to say. Deep down I knew very well what would have happened if we hadn't defied Rick. For now I pushed the thought to the back of my mind and let Daryl kiss me deep and passionately which we hadn't been able to do in a long time.

And thus that concludes chapter 88 and the official first day in Alexandria.

Also, Merry Christmas to all of you lovely people!

I hope you're having a good day whether you do or don't celebrate this holiday.

2019 is coming to an end and I can only hope 2020 is going to be a good year for everyone.

Hope you enjoyed this chapter,

Thanks for the love.

And until 2020 ;)