Present Day

Kelly stuck close to her sister. The man with the bow led them down the street and up to a house with a large wraparound porch. There was a young girl sitting on the steps, sorting through a basket of fresh eggs. A tall lanky man sat a few steps above her, sharpening a long machete. He had wavy brown hair that fell to about his shoulders and looked to be in his mid to late twenties. Younger than Kelley would have assumed that the leader of a group this size would be. But when he stood to his full height and regarded her with an intense stare, Kelly knew this was the man they came here to meet.

"LoriAnn," he said, using the girl's name to catch her attention, "..take the eggs inside to your mother and stay there." The girl looked up from her task. Seeing three strangers in front of her house, she hurried to follow her father's instructions.

"There's two more we took to medical," Daryl said, "both women. One was limping. The other had a head wound." The man came down from his porch and gave Daryl a whack on the back.

"Thanks," he said, "I can take it from here." Daryl nodded. He turned to head back down the sidewalk. Pausing halfway, he turned back towards the man with a smile on his face. "I fergot I ain't seen ya since yesterday. Congratulations on the election." The man closed the small distance between himself and Daryl and they hugged in the funny rough way manly men always did, whacking each other's backs. Once Daryl was heading down the street, the man turned to the newcomers and introduced himself.

"I'm Carl Grimes," he said, sticking his hand out towards Connie first since she was the closest to him. Kelley spoke up from her, giving Carl her sister's name and explaining that she was deaf. Carl nodded. He shook Kelley's hand next. Then Luke's. He gestured for them to follow him inside his house, holding the door open until they all got inside. He led them towards a living room, stopping short once they passed through the doorway.

A very tall man was stretched out on the couch, his dirty boots scuffing against the fabric arm of the couch. He had gray hair that was buzzed down almost into stubble. His arms were stretched out, one dangling off the side of the couch and the other bent and tucked under his head.

"Negan!," Carl hollered at the man, "What the hell are you doing in my living room?"

Kelly noticed that the tall man did not seem phased at all by Carl's loud angry tone. He lifted his hand and scratched at the stubble on his face.

"Taking a nap," he responded in a tone that indicated he felt it was clearly obvious what he was doing and only a moron would need to ask. When he finally turned and saw not only the irritated look on Carl's face but the small group of strangers behind him he added, "Sammie said it was cool."

"Oh no I did not," a woman who Kelly could only assume was Sammie hollered from the kitchen. The woman appeared in the doorway a moment later, rubbing her purple stained hands off on her apron. Like Carl, she appeared to be in her mid twenties. Her long sandy blonde hair was tied up on top of her head in a sloppy bun. The little girl that brought the eggs in was hovering next to her. "Jessica sent him over here with the blueberries and I said he could stay for coffee. Not set up camp in our living room."

"I could stay and help you interview these outsiders," Negan offered with a smirk and an appreciative glance towards the shorter black woman. The one in the tight jeans. Carl took a deep breath. Then he walked back to his front door and held it open, pointing towards the front porch with his free hand.

"Out!," he ordered.

Negan didn't move quickly. But at least he moved. The man swung his long legs down off the couch and strolled casually towards the door, seemingly unaffected by being ordered outside like he was a dog. He gave Carl a pat on the shoulder as he passed through the doorway. Once he finally made his way out onto the porch Carl slammed the door shut behind him.

"It's a long story," Carl said, not offering up any further explanation for the scene the outsiders just witnessed. He pointed them towards the couch that Negan recently vacated, taking the chair opposite of it for himself. Carl never interviewed outsiders himself. That was something Deanna always took care of. This group was small enough that they were not to be considered a huge threat. And while Carl didn't mean it in a misogynist way, the group was almost all women. Which at least meant they weren't likely to have any issues with them raping or harassing any of the women in Alexandria. The only man of the bunch didn't look like much of a fighter. He sort of looked more like Eugene 2.0 without the mullet. While the man's character was still in question, Carl didn't regard him as a physical threat.

Carl knew Deanna did a lengthy interview process with newcomers. She asked them about their lives before the turn. And had them tell her basically their entire life story. Carl didn't have time for that. He was trying to get down to his celebration breakfast at the bar. And he wasn't sure he would want to do it even if he did have time. He pondered a moment and then asked the outsiders a series of three simple questions. The first one was the easiest to answer.

"How many walkers have you killed?"