The next day I was quite nervous. I was in the town that I told Rick to meet me in, and although at first, I was excited, I'm kinda worried now. How do I go about talking to them? Should I even talk to them? Or should I keep up my whole mysterious font?
I want to talk with the bow guy. He's cool. But I don't think he likes the fact that I followed him back to the group without him noticing, which is understandable I suppose.
Shane also seems cool, but also pretty scary. I've seen him when he's kind, but when he's angry he kind of scares me. Reminds me of the drunk men at the bar when they'll try and hit on the waiter women. They're creepy.
Rick seems very kind too, but it's kind of annoying at times. He has this rule of not killing the living, which I find stupid, but then again he's a cop. That's what a cop should be I guess. Rick seems like the perfect example of what a good human being should be. It unnerves me.
I decided I'll wait up on a roof while looking over the road. There are only a few zombies wandering around since most of the zombies that were in my town at first have been killed off by yours truly. There still are a few zombies that come wandering in from other towns however, I believe there might even be some coming from the city soon enough. The city zombies are probably getting hungry now that there's barely any life in there, so they'll be moving out to search for their prey. That'll be annoying, but I could survive it.
While waiting, I started to hear engines coming near. Up ahead is who I believe to be Daryl on a motorcycle and 2 other cars including the RV. The Zombies are attracted to them because of the noise so I start shooting them off with my bow and arrow. I don't have to worry about getting them back since I have more than enough back at the HQ. I spend a lot of time making more to kill off time since some days I don't really have much to do.
I can tell the drivers of the vehicles notice my shooting, so I stand up from where I hid and wave at them to follow me. As I run towards the woods while shooting off zombies coming near, I keep glancing behind me to see if the cars are following.
Once I'm near the edge, I pause and sign for them to stop. There are some zombies walking toward us, but I ignore them. I walk up to the closest vehicle which is the motorcycle and calmly tell Daryle what to do.
"Go down the tracks that have red markings, keep going forward and you'll make it to my place. Don't worry about the zombies, I'll hold them off and then head over to you guys later. You lead while the other cars follow. Once you see large fences then you're there." He nods, although still glaring at me. I'm starting to think that's just his default expression.
He starts to do as instructed as the other cars follow, not questioning what's happening but they probably watched me talking to Daryle and assumed he knew what he was doing.
I continued shooting zombies nearing me, missing every now and then but not caring. I enjoy the adrenaline you get when facing zombies, mainly just hoards of them though since it's easy to take out a single one or two.
Once I took out most of them, I decided then that I should head back. I took the shortcut which should have me at my destination before the others. They couldn't take this path because they brought vehicles and I have to move between trees and large rocks. I know this pathway by memory so it's second nature for me to move forward without hesitation.
Once I arrived, which was about 5 minutes later, I notice that the others have arrived at the same time. I went forward and opened the three-layered gate that took so much sweat and blood out of me to create. Waving over to them, I nodded towards the drivers to park inside. There should be enough space for their vehicles on the field.
As long as they don't park on any of my crops then we're good.
After they do so, they then start to exit their seats, looking around in wonder. Mainly just the kids though, the others seem very tired.
"You guys made it here in one piece so that's good, who did you say needed medical help again?" I spoke up to everyone, as they glanced back at me nervously.
"It's nothing very serious but the kids have some scratches here and there, while Amy over here got some shards in her legs" The said girl exited the RV with the help of her sister, face grimacing at the movement.
"Ah, okay just follow me into the living room and I'll get out the med kit" They did as I was told while letting their eyes dance around the place. I could see Carol and Sophia look over to where my garden is and her gaze lingers. The kids have their eyes on the 2 black cats on the porch of the mansion that we start to enter, but they refrain themselves from reaching out.
As we enter, I tell them all to take a seat and then grab the med kit I keep in the kitchen. When I return everybody except a few are seated.
"Here, lay down and relax your muscles. Have some painkillers so it'll hurt less" as I continue to start instructing the sister on what she should do, I move to the kids which causes their parents to shift a bit.
"Don't worry, this is just for the scratches to make the pain go away, and so it heals properly" I try to make my voice non-threatening. The others in the room just watch as I move around and start tending to their wounds. They seem tired but on guard. Especially Shane, who looks to be wary of being here. I wouldn't be surprised if he tried to argue with Rick when it came to asking for my aid.
"If you don't mind me asking, what exactly happened back there," I said while still tending to their wounds. They all tensed and didn't say anything, so Shane spoke up "Everything was going alright for the first night... we met a man, the only living person there, and a scientist. Found out the next day that there's no antidote and one thing led to the other. Guy tried to lock all of us up in there and let the building self-destruct, killing everybody who stayed back. In the end, he let us go, but Jacqui stayed behind..." I hummed as I listened to him explain, and when he finished I also happened to finish bandaging the woman's leg.
I connected the dots and suppressed a sigh. I guess it's understandable why they would have wanted to commit suicide. The man probably didn't want to be alone once it happens or had the sick thought that he was doing them a favor. That also explains why they're wary around me, who knows what I might do since I'm still practically a stranger to them.
"Well, you don't have to worry about me doing anything similar, I plan on surviving this all and I don't mind lending a hand to other people like me" I stand up and let out a low whistle, confusing everybody. We hear small footsteps coming towards the living room, and looking towards what it is, we find the 2 black cats that were on the porch.
I look at the felines and nod towards the kids. They seem to understand what I mean and make their way over to both Carl and Sophia's vicinity, hopping onto their lap. The 2 kids have stars in their eyes as they hesitate before placing a hand on their heads. The adults nearby them are wary but don't make a move to take the animals away from them. Rick just smiles at the sight.
"The one with the blue collar is Lily, while the other one is Ace," I tell the kids who nod shyly while still petting the soft creatures.
"Thank you... again for helping us" Rick says after a moment of looking at his child. "It was no problem," I tell the man, and then I make my way over to the kitchen. "I made food before you all arrived, feel free to eat your heart's content" I call out to all of them, taking out the food and placing it all on the table. I made this all in the morning before they were set to arrive. I decided to make butter chicken and rice. It was the easiest recipe I knew to make, I first had it one time I entered an Indian-food store. The man who owned the store was very kind and didn't mind sparing some food for me. Although that was back when I was 10, he and his family moved to another country because of some complications.
"Oh, you're too kind... are you sure you can spare so much food," Lori said from behind, although looking at her and the others, I could tell that they haven't eaten in days. I just hummed "Don't worry, I'm the only one who really lives here so I have more than enough food to give out. I also recently started on my garden outside, if you haven't seen it already, so my food supply is doing pretty great." I looked up towards her, and then made a gesture for them all to sit.
They rushed to a seat, there being enough for them all since I made sure to prepare everything beforehand. I don't plan on eating right now since I have to count the number of people and see who's gonna stay where.
They hesitated for a moment before Daryl took the lead and started eating. After his first bite, he started going back for more and more. The man kept on stuffing his mouth, and that encouraged the others to do the same. "This is so good," Carl says while in between bites. His parents laugh warmly at him while directing grateful looks to me. I just nod and make my way to the fridge to bring them some drinks. I bring out a variety, of water, juice, and coke. I'm not sure what they'd prefer, so I just cock my head when they all seem to wear gobsmacked expressions at the sight.
"I'm not sure what you guy's would prefer, but help yourself" I smiled again behind my mask "More cups are on the top left pantry. I'll bring some down" everybody seems to be looking at me strangely, but I shrug it off.
"I'll be back, just need to grab something from my room," I tell them while making my way upstairs. I could feel some of their stares on my back as I make my way to leave. Once I make it to my room, I grab my notebook and write down a list of people I'll be hosting. I counted them 3 times, and it turns out that there are 12 of them. I'll have to ask who's planning on rooming together, and if they want to have their own room then that's fine.
I went back downstairs with my notebook and pen in hand. Looking around, I see that everybody is still eating, not really in the mood for talking. Although they look happier, except for T. Dog who lost his wife.
I clear my throat and suddenly everybody's attention is on me.
"I just wanted to know who's planning on rooming with who? I have enough rooms, so if you want one for yourself then that's fine" I tell them calmly. They seem to have gotten tense thinking I was probably going to ask for something in return for helping them. Which is once again, understandable.
"Hey, am I the only one confused here? You've got to be planning something if you're willingly helping all of us so much. What's your deal?" Daryl says instead, which causes me to just blink at him. Rick intervenes "Now, you don't know that-" "No, he makes sense. The same thing happened in the CDC, the guy seemed nice at first but then almost tries to kill all of us the next day. How do we know this is any different?" Shane says from his seat opposite Rick.
I just hum and take on a thinking pose. Their eyes are on me and it's kinda making me nervous.
"How about, to make you guys feel safer I can ask something of you in return for me helping?" I offer to them after a moment of thinking. This seems to confuse some.
"Ah, about that, we don't exactly have much on us," Glenn says awkwardly, and I just smirk behind my mask. "Actually you do" I turn to Daryl and everybody else is on guard. The kids are just curious and confused about what's going on.
"What?" He narrows his eyes at me and I smile. "For the duration of your guy's stay, you have to give me lessons on using a bow!" I announce, which causes everybody else's eyes to widen. "That's all?" Andrea asks. I take up a thinking stance again and then an idea pops into my mind. "Well, how about those who know how to garden help me out there? I'm not really experienced with plants and all" I blush a little under my mask.
Carol hesitantly raises her arm "I can help if you'd like, I used to have a garden myself before everything went down..." I smile at her, although she can't see it "Yeah yeah, that's perfect! Okay so are those conditions alright with you guys?" I look back to Shane, then to Daryl who seems to like just glaring at me. Shane sighs, "Yeah, I'm fine with that" Rick smiles "Okay, perfect, so we're all good now? Great"
"Yeah, so can we go back before? I need to write down who's with who" I ask while pulling out my notebook and pencil.
"Right, well me and Lori will stay in a room, along with Carl of course" Carl whines from next to him but it's ignored. I nod and write that down and then turn to the next person. "Me and my daughter Sophia will be great, thank you," Carol tells me quietly, and I nod.
"You said we can have our own room right? I'd like one of my own" T. Dog says
"Yeah, actually can everybody who wants their own room just put your hand up?" Everybody except the two sisters put their hands up. "So I assume you two are sharing?" "Yeah, if that's okay," Andrea says while holding the younger one's hand. I nod again and look over my notes.
"So that's 8 rooms needed for you all. There are 4 unoccupied rooms in this house which I just call house 2, house 1 is the house on the left which has 3 unoccupied rooms. Then there's house 3 which I thought I wouldn't need but that's fine, I'll set it up. There are 3 unoccupied rooms in house 3 so yeah, pick which room you want and you can stay there for the rest of your stay" I closed my notebook and then glanced back at them all, who'd finished eating.
"I have spare clothes for all of you so you guys call all have a shower while I clean up over here. There are 3 bathrooms in this house, and 2 bathrooms in the other two"
"Ah, I can help clean this all up" Lori comes in to assist "No no, it's fine. You guys can just get cleaned up, and grab some clothes and other necessities in the living room, I prepared them all already before you all came."
Rick comes forward "I can help wash these-" I once again deny the man, "It's fine, just get yourselves settled in"
They do as instructed and leave, although some try to stay back and help, I wave them away.
Sighing, I get back to cleaning up while pondering about how I'll go about dealing with the group of people. Should I remove my mask around them or offer them guns? I'll see if I can trust them first and then decide. I'll have to ask how long they plan on staying. Unless this is a permanent thing, which honestly I wouldn't mind the company but I'm not sure whether I can trust them or not.
'I'll just continue to observe them for a while and make my decision then"
I woke up around 4 am the next day. Everything went smoothly the day before, there weren't any problems although everybody was still tense and on the lookout for anything popping up. Which I can respect, especially after what they all just went through.
I continued to start making breakfast for everybody, just basic bacon, and eggs with some bread to the side. Before everybody retired for the night, I asked the adults if they wanted to eat together in house 2 or if they were okay with just grabbing whatever from the kitchens. They seemed to be more comfortable with the first option so I made sure to sort out what kinds of food I plan on making them. I first asked what they were allergic to though, and also asked for their preferences. After writing everything down, I bid them all goodnight and made my way to my room.
Now in the present, it hit 5 am when somebody entered the kitchen where I just finished off the last batch of bacon and eggs, which I put on a large plate in the middle of the triangular table. The person is revealed to be none other than Rick Grimes. He offers me a smile and awkwardly shuffles over to a seat.
"Good morning Vi"
"Morning Rick, help yourself to some bacon and eggs. There's also bread over here if you'd like some" I gesture to the other plate filled with cut up pieces of bread.
The man smiles again thankfully, grabbing a plate.
Not long after, his wife Lori arrives and then more people start piling in.
It's no surprise so many of them are awake already, even though they don't have anything urgent they need to get to. When living in a world like ours, it's hard to get a long peaceful sleep without nightmares plaguing the mind. Not to mention the fact that they are in unfamiliar territory.
They offer their thanks, drooling when faced with the breakfast on the table. While they all dug in, I looked over some of my notes, thinking to myself while not really paying attention to my surroundings.
"You aren't going to eat?" Amy asks from her seat next to her elder sister. She nervously stares at my notebook and then back to my mask that I still haven't taken off around them. I notice that everyone else is also staring at me now, eating slower.
"No, I've already eaten. I'm actually planning on going out soon so I might not be back for a couple of hours" I tell them, which makes some of them curious. Mainly the kids.
"Where are you planning on going?" Carl asks and immediately gets a look from his mother.
"Just mapping the place outside the town, familiarizing myself everywhere" 'also planning on setting up more cameras. I'll have eyes almost everywhere soon' I think to myself, smirking behind my mask.
"What about the lessons with Daryl, and the gardening thing with Carol?" Carl continues to ask, even when under the gaze of his mother.
"Hm, well we can reschedule that in two days. I have to settle some things and then I'll be free, just focus on settling yourself in. Me going out is pretty normal so you'll get used to it" I tell him before walking away to my room, planning on getting my things to go out.
The others in the room watched as I left, not saying anything because they either were still intimidated by me, too tired because it was 7 in the morning, or just doesn't fucking care.
I look forward to lessons with Daryl and gardening with Carol.
Daryl is cool, I especially enjoyed watching him as he hunts back up the hill. The way he effortlessly uses his bow and arrow, as if it's second nature to him. And the way he always doesn't seem like he gives a shit, not caring how dirty he is or about he talks to others. He's just so effortlessly cool.
Then there's Carol who I think is okay. She's not cool like Daryl but she's definitely not weak. Physically, yes, but mentally? She's pretty awesome. People don't seem to realize just how hard it is to turn their back on somebody they loved, no matter how much they hurt you, you always can't help the way you still care for them. I know that any victim that goes through this kind of abuse, wishes they hated the person for it.
But I can also see how protective the woman is of her daughter, she's meek when it comes to something harming her, but when it comes to Sophia, that's where it draws the line for her. She tries to protect her daughter to the best of her abilities, and although that doesn't stop the bruises on the little girl, I can at least respect her for that.
Some mothers aren't as kind.
Although I look forward to the time I'll be spending with the two, I can't help but feel nervous again. Because the two were still adults, and I never took kindly to them.
Sighing again, I look over myself and nod. 'Time to head out'.