I don't own Total Drama and The Walking Dead.
Sorry if you find any grammar mistakes. I'm still learning English because it's not my first language.
mcgman651: You'll have to wait and see what will happen to Noah after the group will reach Alexandria. He felt like the right character for me to say something like this to the group, considering that despise all the crap that happened to him in this story (being kidnapped to Woodbury by Merle and afterwards tortured by him and Jose, suffering the flu, going through the deaths of Owen, Eva, Cody and Ezekiel, with the latter three happening in such a short amount of time and finally Izzy's mental breakdown) he never showed a desire to give up even for a second.
I have to agree with you when it comes to the second cast. It wasn't as good as the original but it still had some pretty good characters. The only character from this cast who I felt was truly meh was Staci. All I can say, without saying any spoilers to you is that some members from this cast will appear in Alexandria and Zoey, Cameron, Mike and Dawn might be among them :)
ThEndymam: You'll have to wait and see what will happen with Brick in this story :)
Darth krayt1: You don't need to apologize for this. I had the same problem as you. I couldn't see the reviews for the new chapters for about two days. Chef and Brick won't know each other. There will be someone from TD cast in Alexandria who who will know someone from the original cast from the time before the walkers appeared, though :)
Brendan: I hope you will like the characters who will appear in Alexandria! :)
Everyone from the group was awake at this point. They were slowly preparing themselves to go back to the road, checking and gathering their supplies, making sure they had everything they needed for the road.
"Hey." Maggie's head poked out from the entrance to the barn as it was slightly open. Everyone shifted their attention to the entrance to the barn as Maggie entered it, followed by Aaron, Brick and Sasha, the latter aiming her rifle at at the former two. She gestured to Aaron, "Everyone. This is Aaron." After introducing him, she gestured to Brick, "His friend over here is Brick."
The group's reaction to seeing Brick and Aaron was instant. A lot of them took out their guns and aimed them at Brick and Aaron, wary of the two strangers. Daryl, Duncan, Heather and Alejandro went outside the barn to check out if anyone else was there, watching their group from the distance, returning to the barn shorty after.
"We met them outside. There's no one else with them." Maggie said as Daryl, Duncan, Alejandro and Heather went back into the barn. Chef walked over to Aaron and began searching him for any hidden weapons. After finding nothing on him, he searched Brick, "We took their weapons and we took their gear."
Aaron eyed the group in front of him and Brick, "Hi."
"It's nice to meet you all." Brick added, being friendly with them as Judith started crying. Rick who was holding her in his arms looked at his son and Carl immediately knew what his dad wanted him to do. He came over to him and took his sister into his arms.
"You said they had weapons?" Rick asked as he looked at Maggie and Sasha. Maggie walked over to him, handing him Aaron's revolver and Brick's MP5. He checked the two weapons and looked at Aaron and Brick, "There's something you need?"
"They have a camp, nearby." Sasha explained, "They want us to audition for membership."
"I wish there was another word." Aaron admitted, "Audition makes it sound like we're some kind of a dance troupe. That's only on Friday nights. Um, and it's not a camp. It's a community. Me and Brick think you all would make valuable additions It's not our call, though. Our job is to convince you all to follow us back home."
"I know." Brick spoke next, "If I were you, I wouldn't go either. Not until I knew exactly what I was getting into. I was on your place a while ago when Aaron approached me and my friend Jo with the same offer back when the two of us were living on the road."
Aaron looked over his shoulder, "Sasha. Can you hand Rick my pack?" Sasha gave him a look and walked over to Rick, taking off Aaron's backpack off her back, "Front pocket, there's an envelope." Rick set the backpack on the ground and unzipped it, "There's no way I or Brick could convince you to come with us just by talking about our community." Rick reached into the backpack and pulled out an envelope, "I apologize in advance for the picture quality. We just found an old camera store last..."
"Nobody gives a shit." Daryl cut him off.
"The quality of the pictures is the last we're going to pay attention to right now." Noah added, his arms crossed.
Aaron shifted his gaze between the two of them and nodded, "You're absolutely 100% right." He looked back at Rick as Rick pulled the pictures out from the envelope, allowing himself to take a good look at the first picture which displayed a wall, "That's the first picture I wanted to show you because nothing I say about our community will matter unless you know you'll be safe. If you join us, you will be."
"Each panel in that wall is a 15-foot-high, 12-foot-wide slab of solid steel framed by cold-rolled steel beams and square tubing. A construction site which was never finished is close to our community and this is where we got all the materials from." Brick added, "Nothing alive or dead gets through that without our say-so. In our community we really care about the safety of our people. Me and Jo were truly amazed after seeing this wall upon arriving at this community."
"There's only one resource more critical to our community's survival." Aaron said as Rick shifted his gaze from the picture to him, "The people. Together we're strong. You can make us even stronger." Rick stepped forward and began walking his way towards him, "The next picture, you'll see inside the gates. Our community was first construc..."
Aaron never got a chance to finish what he was saying as Rick interrupted him in the middle of the sentence. He punched him in the face, knocking him to the ground. Brick's eyes widened in alarm as Rick wasted no time and punched him in the face too. Brick landed on the ground next to Aaron, unconscious.
"Rick." Leshawna said as Rick turned away from now unconscious Aaron and Rick, a few members of his group gathering around them, "You didn't have to do this."
"So we're clear, that look wasn't a "let's attack that man" look." Michonne said as Rick stopped next to her, "It was a "he seems like an okay guy to me" look."
"People from Terminus seemed friendly too." Chef pointed out as the friendly welcoming smiles from Gareth and Scott flew through his mind, being cautious about this entire situation.
Michonne looked at him, "Chef..."
"Let's see what this guy really is." Rick said as Daryl and Carol began tying up Aaron's hands together and Duncan and Alejandro began tying up Brick's hands together. Bridgette knelt down in front of them, with the intention of checking if Rick's punch did anything to the two strangers, "Everybody else, we need eyes in every direction. They're coming for us. We might not know how or when, but they are."
Maggie crouched down in front of Aaron and Brick and turned around to look at Rick, "Me and Sasha, we didn't see them. If they had wanted to hurt us, they could've."
"It doesn't mean we shouldn't be cautious, Maggie." Izzy pointed out, looking through the space between the planks in the wall at the area outside the barn.
"Anybody see anything?" Rick asked, ignoring Maggie's words.
"Just a lot of places to hide." Glenn replied, observing the area outside the barn.
Chris looked down at the pictures Rick had just dropped onto the ground, allowing himself to take a good look at them. The first picture he took a look at displayed three young people who were no older than the contestants from his show. One of them was a girl. She had her hair tied into two short pigtails and had a flower decorating it. Another person on the picture was a large black boy. He wore a baseball cap turned backwards and had a gold earing. The person between them was a short skinny black skinned boy with glasses over his nose.
Chef walked over to him a few seconds later, "What are you doing, pretty boy?"
"Just checking out the pictures." Chris explained, looking up from the picture he was looking at right now, "Was curious to see them."
"Mind if I have a look too?" Chef asked him another question.
Chris held the pictures he had just checked out to Chef, "Here. I already checked those out."
"Thanks." Chef gave him a grateful nod, taking the pictures from him.
"Harold." Rick approached Harold who was in the back of the barn, searching Aaron's backpack, "Find anything?"
"Some apple sauce, binoculars, couples bottles of water, a walkie-talkie which..." Harold began his answer as he picked up the walkie-talkie from the table he set it on along with the other stuff from Aaron's backpack and tried to turn it on, but it wasn't working, "Is not working and..." He picked up a flare gun and handed it to Rick, "A flare gun. It's been a long time since I've seen one."
Rick took the flare gun from Harold and looked down at it, checking if it was loaded. It was not. He looked at Harold again and nodded his head at him, telling him that he did a good job without saying anything to him. He turned away from him and made his way back to Brick and Aaron as the two strangers just regained their consciousness.
Aaron smiled up at Rick after setting his eyes on him, "That's a hell of a right cross there, Rick."
"I have to agree here." Brick nodded in agreement, "It's been a long time since I was knocked out so badly..."
"Sit him up." Rick said, his eyes set on Aaron and Brick.
"I don't think it's a good idea." Bridgette stated, turning around to look at Rick.
Maggie turned around to look at him too, "I think it's better if..."
"It's okay." Aaron reassured her.
Brick gave her an assuring nod, "We'll be alright."
"He's fine." Rick said, "Sit him up."
Aaron groaned as he sat up on the ground, "You're being cautious. I completely understand. Brick and Jo were wary of me too after I introduced myself to them. It had something to do with the community they used to live in."
Chef looked at Brick, "You used to live in another community?"
"Yes." Brick sat up on the ground, nodding in confirmation, "A month before I and Jo encountered Aaron we barely managed to leave the community led by a man who was running it like dictator. Jo would have told him to leave us alone in her own less friendly way but I managed to convince her to give Aaron a chance."
"How many of your people are out there?" Rick wanted to know, "You have a flare gun. You have it to signal your people. How many of them are there?"
Aaron sighed, "Does it matter?"
"Yes." Rick nodded, "Yes, it does."
"I mean, of course, it matters how many people are actually out there." Aaron nodded in agreement, "But does it matter how many people I tell you are out there? Because I'm pretty sure no matter what number I or Brick say... eight, 32, 444, zero... No matter what I say, you're not going to trust us."
"Well, it's hard to trust anyone who smiles after getting punched in the face." Rick pointed out.
"How about you trust someone who left bottles of water for you in the road?" Brick asked.
Chef narrowed his eyes at them, holding the pictures given to him by Chris in his right hand, "It was you?"
"Yes." Brick nodded in confirmation.
"You've been following us?" Chris wanted to be sure if he understood correctly.
Brick once again nodded in confirmation, "Yes."
"For how long you people been following us?" Daryl demanded to know.
"Long enough to see that you practically ignore a pack of roamers on your trail." Brick answered, "Long enough to see that despite a lack of food and water, you never turned on each other. You're survivors such as myself or Aaron and you're people."
"Like I said, and I hope you won't punch me for saying it again, that is the most important resource in the world." Aaron added.
"How many others are out there?" Rick wanted to know.
"One." Aaron gave him an honest answer as Rick looked at him, unconvinced by his answer, "I knew you wouldn't believe us . If it's not words, if it's not pictures, what would it take to convince you that this is for real? What if we drove you to the community? All of you?"
"We can move out as soon as you like." Brick added, liking Aaron's suggestion, "I'm certain many you will stop having second thoughts about this after seeing our community. If we will leave now we will get there by lunch."
"I'm not sure how the 15 of us are going to fit in the car you two and your one friend drove down here in." Rick stated.
"We have three vehicles." Brick explained, "We drove separately. If we found a group, we wanted to be able to bring them all home."
"What he said." Aaron nodded, "There's enough room for all of us."
"Where did you parked?" Chef wanted to know.
"East on Ridge Road, just after you hit Route 16." Aaron replied, "We wanted to get them closer, but then the storm came, blocked the road. We couldn't clear it."
Rick nodded his head, not convinced by Aaron and Brick's explanation in the slightest, "Yeah, you've really thought this through."
"Rick, if we wanted to ambush you, we'd do it here." Aaron said in an attempt to convince him that he and Brick meant well, "You know, light the barn on fire while you slept, pick you off as you ran out the only exit. You can trust us."
"I'll check out the cars." Michonne volunteered to go check out the cars.
"I can go too." Trent volunteered too. If there was a place he and his group could settle in, then he had to give it a try.
"There aren't any cars." Rick remained unconvinced.
"There's only one way to find out." Michonne stated.
Trent nodded in agreement, "We won't find out if we don't check it."
Rick shook his head at them, "We don't need to find out."
"We do." Trent said, sticking with his point as Michonne nodded in agreement, "You know what you know and you're sure of it, but we're not."
"Me neither." Maggie agreed with Michonne and Trent.
"It can't hurt to look, Rick." Leshawna stated, agreeing with them too.
"Your way is dangerous, mine isn't." Rick stated.
"Passing up someplace where we can live?" Michonne argued, "Where Judith can live? That's pretty dangerous. We need to find out what this is. We can handle ourselves. So that's what we're gonna do."
"Then I will, too." Glenn said as Rick looked at him, "I'll go."
"I'll go too." Sanders said. Finding a new place to live was the main reason why she went with Rick's group. She had to give this a chance.
Rick turned around to look at Abraham, "Abraham."
"Yeah." Abraham nodded, "I'll walk with them."
"I'll back them up too." Harold said. If Leshawna wanted to give this entire a shot, then he was willing to give it a try too.
Rick looked at Rosita, "Rosita?"
Rosita nodded, "Okay."
"You can count on us." Geoff said as he and Bridgette exchanged glances.
Rick looked at Glenn and gave him a questioning look, wanting to be sure about one thing, "If there's trouble, you got enough firepower?"
"We got what we got." Glenn gave him an assuring nod.
"We'll manage ourselves, Rick." Harold said, grabbing his Striker 12 shotgun, "Don't worry."
"The walkies are out of juice. If you're not back in 60 minutes, we'll come. Which might be just what they want." Rick said as Michonne, Glenn, Trent, Maggie, Leshawna, Harold, Geoff, Sanders, Rosita and Abraham walked out of the barn, beginning to head towards their destination. Bridgette wanted to come too but Geoff convinced her to stay behind and guard the barn just in case if something went wrong, "If we're all in here, we're a target."
"I've got the area covered." Daryl said as he walked out from the barn, with Duncan, Carol, Bridgette, Izzy, Noah, Alejandro, Gwen, Heather, Tara, Sasha, Gabriel, Dylan and Eugene following him.
"I'll be on the roof if you'll need me." Chris grabbed Aaron and Brick's binoculars and began making his way to the exit from the barn, his rifle slouched over his back, "I will take a look around the area from it."
It was just a matter of time before almost entire group left the barn to scope the area, leaving Aaron and Brick alone with Rick, Chef, Judith and Carl.
"When the world was still the world, I worked for an NGO." Aaron began right after he and Brick were left alone with Rick, Chef, Carl and Judith, "Our mission was to deliver medicine and food to the Niger River Delta. Bad people pointed gun in my face every other week."
"Back in my old community." Brick began his own story, "The man who commanded it called himself Jericho. He had his private militia of people who were willing to do everything he commanded without second thoughts. His militia pointed their guns to my face many times. They almost killed me and my friend Mac before they forcefully brought me and him into Jericho's community where we would serve as workers. I see you are not like them at all."
"You're not bad people." Aaron added, "You're not going to kill us. And we are definitely not going to kill you."
"Just because we're good people doesn't mean we won't kill you." Rick stated, "If the ten of them aren't back in an hour... I'll put a knife in the base of your skull and Chef will do the same with Brick."
Michonne, Glenn, Maggie, Trent, Leshawna, Harold, Geoff, Sanders, Rosita and Abraham walked together along the road, making their way to the place where Aaron, Brick and their friend whose identify was unknown to them at the moment left their vehicles at. All of them held their guns in ready, just in case if something went wrong on their way there.
"Eyes open, everybody. weapon up." Glenn said, "You see someone coming at us, you fire."
Abraham nodded, "Copy that."
"So if we see someone, we just shoot them?" Trent wanted to know.
"It's a good question." Maggie admitted.
Sanders nodded in agreement, "I've been thinking about it too."
"What if they're someone like us?" Michonne asked, "What if Aaron and Brick are telling the truth? What if they're someone who has nothing to do with this?"
"I have to agree with you here, girl." Leshawna agreed with Michonne, "Rick, this white boy has my respect and nothing will make me change my mind about him but I think he is being too paranoid about this entire situation."
"We're ten people walking with guns." Harold said, "No one's coming up to say hello."
"But that's exactly what happened." Trent pointed out.
"If it's someone like us, we should be afraid of them." Glenn stated, "They said they were watching us, right? It means they saw us yesterday. And after everything we've done, why would he want us to join his group?"
"People like us saved a priest." Michonne said, "Saved a girl who rolled up up to the prison with the Governor and Jose." She looked at Sanders, "Saved a girl who hated the place she was living in." A slight smile formed on her face, but it quickly faded away, "Saved a crazy lady with a sword. They saw that."
"I don't know what they saw." Geoff decided to be honest with his group.
"I'm sure they saw how you were willing to take a risk for your group and take a sip from the water bottles." Michonne stated.
"Maybe." Geoff replied.
The group of ten reached their destination a few moments later. The place where they found the vehicles which belonged to Aaron, Brick and their unknown friend was in a complete mess, just like they excepted. A lot of trees which were knocked over by the storm last night were laying on the road. The small convoy of the three cars in front of them consisted of an RV and two cars.
"They were telling the truth." Michonne said, her eyes set on the three vehicles
"So far." Harold said, "We should take a look around the area before we'll make any judgements."
They started walking towards the vehicles with the intention of checking them but were forced to stop in their tracks because it was when they heard something or someone moving in the bushes.
Glenn immediately aimed his weapon at the bushes, "Not one step closer, asshole!"
Everyone aimed their guns at the bushes, ready to shoot whoever was going to come out from the bushes. It was when a couple of walkers came out from the woods, making everyone lower their guns.
Abraham slouched his M16 over his back and unsheathed his knife, "I got 'em."
"We got 'em." Rosita said, putting her AK47 down on the front of the car.
Geoff put his own gun down on the front of the car next to Rosita's AK47 and unsheathed his machete. He made his way to Rosita and Abraham with the intention of helping them. He swung his blade at the nearest walker and hit it in the head, killing it. He took his machete out from the walker's head as Abraham and Rosita took care of their own walkers.
"Let's split up." Glenn said right after Abraham, Rosita and Geoff took care of the walkers. He pointed at the closest vehicle to him, "I, Maggie and Geoff will check this car over here." He pointed at the second car, "Harold, Leshawna and Michonne will check the car over there." In the end he pointed at the RV, "Abraham, Rosita, Trent and Sanders will check the RV."
Everyone nodded in understanding after hearing his plan. The group split up into three smaller groups and went to search the vehicles to which they were assigned to. Abraham, Rosita, Sanders and Trent made their way into the RV and began searching it. Rosita, Sanders and Trent searched the back of the vehicle as Abraham went to the front of it and searched through some cabinets, eventually finding something he hadn't seen in a long time. This something were a couple of cans of Spaghettio's. He took one can out from the cabinet and walked back to his group, with the intention of showing them his recent finding.
"Gracious Ignatius." He said, eyeing the can in his hand as he walked over to Rosita, Sanders and Trent, "Oh, it has been a while."
"I think I saw Rex eat three cans one night." Rosita recalled a certain memory after setting her eyes on the cans.
"Four." Abraham chuckled, "Son of a bitch knew if he didn't toss 'em back, I'd have come for 'em."
"I used to live on those things." Sanders smiled bitterly at the memory.
Rosita looked at her, "Really?"
"Yeah." Sanders nodded in confirmation, "Me and my friend McArthur used to live on those things back in our time in the police academy."
"Rosita." Abraham called out for Rosita as Rosita looked at him again, "Back at the fire truck, after Eugene..." Trent tensed up slightly, remembering how Abraham reacted to Eugene revealing himself to be a liar as Sanders stayed silent. She was told about this incident by her new group and knew that right now was not the time to ask them about it, "Did you think I was gonna hurt you?"
"No." Rosita shook her head at him, "It's not you."
The group that left to check if Aaron and Brick were telling the truth about their vehicles eventually made their way back to the group. The three vehicles were parked outside the barn and the supplies the group of ten had gathered in them were standing on full display in the barn. The entire group was gathered around the supplies, taking a good look at them, because it had been a while since they saw so many food and drinks in one place.
Rick picked up a single can of food and came closer to Aaron and Brick, showing it off to them, "This, this is ours now."
Brick nodded in understanding, "Alright."
"There's more than enough." Aaron nodded as well.
"It's ours whether or not we go to your camp." Rick said. He turned away from them and made his way back to his group.
"What do you mean?" Carl asked, "Why wouldn't we go?"
"They weren't lying to us, Rick." Chris said, "Maybe we should give them a chance."
"If they were lying or if they wanted to hurt us..." Michonne shifted her gaze between her group, "But they aren't, and they didn't. We need this. So we're going, all of us. Somebody say something if they feel differently."
"I think we should give this a try." Chef said as Rick looked at him. He might have been quite skeptical about Aaron and Brick but right now he was startling to lean more into going with them after ensuring that the didn't lie to them, "They weren't lying to us, Rick. Maybe they didn't lie about the rest as well."
"I don't know, man." Daryl spoke next, "This barn smells like horse shit."
"I don't think anyone from here wants to live in the said barn." Duncan nodded his head to Daryl's words.
"I doubt anyone here wants to go through the same thing as we did last night." Alejandro stated, voicing his agreement on giving Aaron and Brick's community a try.
"Yeah. We could use a better place to sleep than this." Heather voiced her mind about this matter. The thought of being able to sleep on a normal bed again after all this time was making her want to check Aaron and Brick's place out.
Noah looked at Aaron and Brick, "Will we be allowed to leave if we won't like your community?"
Brick nodded in confirmation, "Of course. You won't be forced to stay in there if you won't like it."
"Which we hope won't be the case." Aaron added to which Brick nodded in agreement.
Noah nodded his head at him and shifted his gaze from Brick and Aaron to Rick, "You heard them."
"Yeah." Rick shifted his gaze between all the members of his group after hearing out how they were all willing to check out Aaron and Brick's community, "We're going." A couple of members from his group smiled upon hearing his words. He turned away from them and walked over to Aaron and Brick, "So where are we going? Where's your camp? "
"Well, every time I've done this, I've been behind the wheel driving recruits back." Aaron replied, "Brick was never in a situation like this either ever since he was assigned to this job."
"We believe you're good people." Brick added, "I've bet my life on it and I'm sure Aaron will do the same. Just neither of us are ready to bet our friends' lives just yet."
"You're not driving." Michonne looked down at them as Chef pulled out a map set it down on the ground between Aaron and Brick, "So if you want to get home, you'll have to tell us how."
Aaron looked down at the map between him and Brick and answered, "Go north on route 16."
"And then?" Chef wanted to know.
"We'll tell you when we get there." Aaron replied.
"We'll take 23 north." Rick decided, "You'll give us directions from there."
"That's a bad idea, sir." Brick said, "We've used 16 many times before. We've practically cleared it. It'll be faster."
"We'll take 23." Rick stick with his decision, "We leave at sundown."
"We're doing this at night?" Sasha asked, suprised by Rick choosing to head out during the night.
"That's a bad idea, Rick." Harold said, "We will not know what will await us if we go this way, walkers or people."
"Look, I know it's dangerous." Rick told them, "But it's better than riding up to the gates during the day. If it isn't safe, we need to get gone before they know we're there."
"No one is going to hurt you." Brick said.
"You're trying to protect your group, but you're putting them in danger." Aaron added.
Rick leaned his head closer to them, "Tell me where the camp is, we'll leave right now." When Aaron and Brick remained silent, refusing to give him an answer he wanted, he turned away from them and looked at his group, "It's going to be a long night. Eat. Get some rest if you can."
He turned away from his group and walked out from the barn, closing the door behind him. His group watched him leave in silence, before starting to prepare themselves to head out to Aaron and Brick's community in a few hours. Michonne walked out from the barn a few moments later to have a talk with Rick. She saw him inside of one the cars, working on something in there.
"I'm thinking you, me, and Glenn drive with that guy and Chef, Chris and Duncan should drive with the other one." Rick said to her as soon as she approached him, getting himself out of the car, "Carl and Judith are safer in there." When he saw the look Michonne was giving him, he asked, "You okay?"
"When you said that we were going, was that for real?" Michonne replied with a question of her own, "Or are you just trying to get this guy to tell you where his camp is?"
"We're going." Rick responded.
"Whatever it takes to get there." Michonne said.
"Just as long as we get there. When you first came up on the walls outside Woodbury... What did you hear?" Rick wanted to know.
"Nothing." Michonne replied.
"And Terminus?" Rick asked her another question.
"Nothing." Michonne gave him the same answer as to previous question.
"Sometime tonight, we'll be outside his camp's walls." Rick began, "And without seeing inside, I'm gonna have to decide whether to bring my family in. He asked me before what it would take for me to believe it was real. Truth is... I'm not sure if anything could convince me to go in there. But I'm gonna see. I'm gonna see."
The group left for Aaron and Brick's community during the night. Rick, Michonne and Glenn drove went Aaron in one car as Chef, Chris and Duncan drove with Brick in the other car. The rest of the group drove in an RV. The group had to squeeze to fit in the vehicle and they still barely did. They had to endure it, though, because their didn't group had any other vehicle that coud take them to their destination.
Chris stared the darkened road in front of him from his seat in the front as a car with Rick, Glenn, Michonne and Aaron drove in front of him. He looked away from the road and opened the glove compartment of the car and noticed two license plates inside. He reached into the glove compartment and pulled the plates out. He looked at them with a confused look on his face before turning around to look at Brick, "What are those?"
"Aaron is trying to collect all fifty states." Brick explained his reason for keeping those plates in his car as Chris nodded in understanding, "I've been helping him out with it. I was planning to give him those after bringing you guys to our community."
"I see." Chris nodded in understanding, putting the license plates aside.
"Why is he collecting them?" Duncan wanted to know, sitting next to Brick.
"He wants to hang them on the wall in his house." Brick explained.
Duncan's eyes slightly widened, "He has a house?"
"Yes." Brick nodded, "So do I. I live in my own house with Jo."
"Brick." Chef called out for Brick, his hands on the steering wheel.
Brick looked at him, "Yes, sir?"
"You mentioned something about a man named Mac back when you told how ended up in Jericho's community." Chef reminded Brick, "You never mentioned him, though when it came to yours and Aaron's community. Why is that?"
"He's dead." Brick revealed, "He was murdered by Jericho two days after Jericho's militia brought us into his community. Mac was wounded and Jericho didn't want to waste his medical resources on him. He put a bullet through his head right in front of me."
"I'm sorry to hear that." Chris voiced his condolences, "What was he doing before all of this?"
"He was a SWAT member." Brick answered.
"A SWAT member?" Chef replied, "Is this the reason why you're carrying an MP5 with yourself?"
"Yes." Brick nodded, "The MP5 I use right now used to be is. I'm using it to this day because this way I can remember my fallen friend."
"I'll talk with Rick about your MP5." Chef said right after hearing the reason why Brick carried Mac's MP5 with him, "I'll tell him to give it back to you as soon as possible."
"Thank you, sir." Brick said in a grateful tone, nodding his head.
"I can't help but wonder about one thing, though. Why would Jericho kill Mac even if he was wounded?" Chef asked him another question, "A SWAT member such as Mac would be a valuable addition to his community."
"Mac was emotionally unstable. He lost his entire family shorty after all of this started. He was a wreck when I came across him." Brick explained, the last words he ever heard from Mac flying through his head, "I think he was about to give up when I stumbled upon him."
"I see." Chef nodded, "Poor guy."
"Yeah. We all lost someone important to us in this new world." Brick agreed as Duncan glanced to the side, thinking about Courtney right now, "I'll be honest with your right now. I can't imagine what kinds of things you've been through out there but it seems all you made some good companions on the road and this is something we can't take for granted these days. I do hope we will get to see each other as comrades too."
Chris and Duncan stayed silent as Chef smiled upon hearing Brick's words, taking a liking in the young man after hearing his words. Perharps he shouldn't have been too cautious about him back when he and Aaron introduced themselves to their group. He still felt like there were a couple more questions he had to ask him.
"How many walkers have you killed?" He asked him.
"A lot." Brick replied, "I don't think anyone keeps the count of that."
Chef nodded and asked him another question, "How many people have you killed?"
"Five." Brick gave him an honest answer.
"Why?" Chef wanted to know.
"Because they left me no other choice. It was in self-defense, sir." Brick explained, "Three of those kills happened when I and Jo were fleeing Jericho's community."
Chef nodded in understanding, "What about Jo? How did you meet her?"
A fond smile formed on Brick's face upon being asked this question, "It was the same day Mac and me were brought into Jericho's community. She was a member of the resistance working against Jericho. She was accompanied a by a few more people. I managed to become friends with some of them during my time in Jericho's community. There was a man by the name of Robert Marston, a former businessman, a woman by the name of Evelynn Rose who was in a biker gang before all of this, a man by the name of Todd Flicker who was brought into Jericho's community around the same time as I and Mac and a woman by the name Kyoka Wong who came to our country from Japan through the foreign student exchange program and unfortunely never got a chance to return to her country. They asked me to join them but I refused."
"Why did you refused?" Chris asked.
"Because I had to take care of my wounded comrade. I wanted him to get all help he needed." Brick answered, "I quickly changed my mind about joining them after I saw how Jericho put a bullet through my friend's head."
"What happened to the rest of them?" Chef wanted to know.
"I don't know." Brick replied, "We got split up on the day when we were about to take down Jericho. Our inside man from his personal militia. A man by the name of Michael Rivers was supposed to give us an access to armory. Our plan changed when Jericho's community was attacked by a group of bandits. I and Jo had to flee otherwise we would most likely perish during their attack."
"I'm sorry to hear that." Chef said, "I can't imagine how hard it must have been for you leaving Jericho's community without knowing if your comrades will are still alive or not."
"I hope they're still alive and are doing well whenever they are right now." Brick said, "At least I still have Jo by my side." He smiled and flushed slightly. "She's very important to me."
Chef opened his mouth to reply to Brick's words but his words died in his throat once he set his eyes on the road ahead of him,"...Holy shit!"
It was when he noticed a large group of walkers ahead of them. It wasn't long, a few seconds to be exact, before they crashed into a walker, it's blood splattering all over their vehicle. The car in front of them didn't stop and continue to drive forward. Having no other choice, they proceeded to drive along the road, running down every walker in their way, covering their car in blood and guts.
The vehicle in front of them stopped a few moments later which forced Chef to stop his vehicle too as he didn't want to crash into them. It was the last thing their group needed right now. He, Chris, Duncan and Brick got themselves out of their car as Rick, Michonne, Glenn and Aaron got themselves out of their own car. Glenn quickly got himself on top of his car, trying to spot the RV with the rest of their TV.
Chef looked at Glenn, "Can you see them?"
"No." Glenn replied, "Walkers is all I can see!"
"They must have took another turn." Chris stated.
"All right, we'll circle back and find them." Rick declared.
The group's reaction to his new order was instant. Everyone quickly got themselves back into their vehicles. Chris and Glenn only stayed outside for a brief moment to wipe the blood off the front windows of their vehicles.
Rick looked down at the map of the area, "All right, we can take a left a couple of miles up 23. Jefferson Avenue. Jefferson Avenue."
Glenn nodded his head, understanding where he should head now as he twisted the key in the ignition, trying to start up the car again. Unfortunely, there was something wrong with the car, because it was not starting up.
Aaron's eyes widened in panic as he noticed the walkers getting closer to them, "We got to get out of here."
The group in the other car was not doing any better. Chef continued to twist the key in the ignition over and over again, but unfortunely the car was not willing to work with him.
"Dammit." He cursed, "The engine's is probably clogged."
"I'll handle it." Chris' reaction was immediate. He got himself out of the car and ran to the front of it. He started to pull the limbs and guts that were clogging the engine. As he continued to do this, Chef was still trying to start the car. He looked over his shoulder and saw Michonne doing the same with her own car, "Michonne? You're having the same problem?"
"Yeah!" Michonne confirmed, taking out another limb from the engine.
It was when a flare was shot up in the distant. Rick, Michonne, Glenn, Chef, Chris and Duncan watched it in confusion as they didn't knew what it meant, but Brick and Aaron immediately knew what it meant. The two of them, especially Aaron panicked after seeing it.
Aaron's eyes widened in panic, "Shit."
Brick shook his head in worry, "Oh no."
"What the hell?" Chef asked, looking at the flare in the sky.
Rick quickly turned around to look at Aaron, "Who did that?"
Chef and Rick didn't receive answers to their questions as Brick and Aaron kicked the doors of their cars open. Michonne who happened to be standing in front of the door that Aaron had just kicked open was knocked to the ground. Brick and Aaron wasted no time and quickly ran into the woods, heading towards the place where they saw the flare as Chris walked over to Michonne and brought her back on her feet.
"Michonne, Chris, leave them!" Rick shouted to Michonne, getting himself out of his car with Glenn as Chef and Duncan got themselves out of their own car, "We need to find our people."
"They saw that flare." Michonne pointed out, looking in the direction Brick and Aaron had just ran into, "They'll think we shot it. This is how we find them."
Everyone agreed with her without saying any words. Everyone took out their weapons and prepared themselves to face off the walkers on their way to the place where the flare came from. They ran into the woods, sticking close to each other as didn't want to get separated in the forest in the middle of the night, shooting. They proceeded to make their way through the forest, making sure to either shot or stab every walker on their way.
Unfortunely, Glenn and Chris got separated from their group a few moments later, even though they did their best to stay close to their group. A walker approached Chris from behind and grabbed him by the arm. Chris' reaction to it was instant as he pulled himself away from the undead, causing it's arm to be torn off. He punched the walker in the head, making it stumble backwards, before grabbing it by it's shoulders. He shoved the undead towards the nearby tree and bashed it's head against it.
He looked at the bloody remains of the walker's head before looking down at his bloody hands.
"Chris?" He turned in the direction of this voice and saw Glenn. He wasn't alone. Aaron and Brick were with him.
"Glenn?" He said, "I see you found Aaron and Brick."
"Yeah." Glenn nodded, "I saw them fighting a walker shorty after I got separated from the other's. Do you know where they are?"
Chris shook his head, "No."
"We should go." Glenn said, "They must be close."
Chris, Brick and Aaron nodded. The group of four quickly ran into the darkness, trying to find Rick, Chef, Michonne and Duncan.
"Glenn! Chris!" Rick called out for the missing members of his group as he, Chef, Michonne and Duncan proceeded to fight off the undead, making sure to stay close to each other as they did so.
He aimed his Python at one of the approaching walkers and pulled the trigger, but his gun didn't fire. It meant only one thing. It must have ran out of the bullets. Having no other option to choose from, he pulled out the flare gun Harold had given him back in the barn and fired it at the walker. The flare hit the walker in the eye. The walker continued to move towards him and the rest as the flare began frying up it's head from the inside.
The walker fell to the ground a few seconds later, the flare in it's eye illuminating the area around Rick, Michonne, Chef and Duncan. It gave the group of four a good look at how many walkers were coming their way for the first time since they went into the woods. Needless to say, there were many of them. The group of four readied themselves to face the large group of the undead, but fortunely for them someone else took care of their job for them,
It was when they heard the sound of a few people firing their guns from behind them. The bullets cut through the group of the undead like a hot knife through butter. The walkers fell down on the ground, one by one. Rick, Chef, Michonne and Duncan turned around to see who was firing those weapons and saw Glenn, Chris, Aaron and Brick. All of them were holding their guns.
"If you really want to tie us up again, that's fine, but hurry up." Aaron said as he put his revolver down on the ground.
"What he said." Brick nodded, putting down his MP5.
"No time." Rick replied, picking up up Aaron's revolver and Brick's MP5 from the ground. He turned away from them and pointed in one direction, "We're going that way."
The group of eight eventually managed to make their way out of the woods and made their way to the nearby road which fortunely for them didn't have a single walker walking on it. They started walking down the road, making their way to the place where they saw the flare, allowing themselves to catch their breath after running through the wood for the past few minutes.
"Where are they?" Rick asked Brick and Aaron.
"I don't know." Aaron replied as Brick nodded in confirmation.
"If this is a trap to get us back where you want us, your people are going to die tonight." Rick told them.
Chef glanced towards the place where they saw the flare. "The flare was towards the water tower."
It was when they pushed themselves into run towards where the flare they believed to have come from. As they reached the location which turned around to be a garage building with a badly looking car and a badly looking van standing next to it. Rick let out a few whistles, trying to get his group to come to him and the rest, if they managed to make their way to this place.
It was when Daryl came into their view. He waved his hand at them, telling them to come closer to him and slammed his hand against the door to the garage building. The door was open and a few members of their group rushed out of the building. Maggie rushed over to Glenn and hugged him, Harold, Bridgette and Geoff rushed over to Duncan and greeted him, Carl rushed over to Rick and hugged his dead and Chef shook hands with Daryl.
"Your sister okay?" Rick asked as he released his son from his embrace.
Carl nodded, "Yeah. Yeah, we're fine."
"Eric?" Aaron called out for a man named Eric, "Eric? Eric?"
"In here!" A voice sounded inside the garage building.
Aaron quickly rushed into the building as Brick followed him. Rick watched them run into the building before following them, wanting to know who this Eric was. After making their way to the source of the voice, Aaron and Brick saw a man laying on the ground, his feet wounded leg in a splint.
"I'm okay." Eric assured them, his eyes set on Aaron, "It's like a volleyball injury. It's a broken ankle. At least that's what Maggie and Bridgette said. I like them." Aaron slowly walked over to him, his eyes set on Eric's wounded feet, "It's not a big deal."
Aaron knelt down in front of Eric and put his hand on his wounded feet, "Oh, my God."
"I'll just go to the infirmary when we get back..." Eric tried to say but was interrupted by Aaron. Aaron shoved himself at him and pressed his lips against hi as Brick smiled at the reunion between them. Eric smiled lovingly at Aaron as Aaron released him from the kiss, "Oh..."
"When I saw that flare go up, I... I thought..." Aaron couldn't find the right words to express how worried he became after seeing the flare.
"You were worried, were you?" Eric's smile was not leaving his face.
Aaron sighed, "Yeah."
"This is your fault, you know?" Eric playfully asked.
"Is that so?" Aaron replied with a question of his own.
"Because I love you." Eric smiled, "And because when I'm worried, I do stupid things. And when I do stupid things, I wind up underneath a rust bucket surrounded by roamers who roll a rear passenger tire onto my left ankle." Aaron chuckled as Eric turned away from him and reached into his bag, "Hey, something good came out of today." He pulled out a license plate and handed it to Aaron, "While I was waiting for you, I searched through the neighborhood. I found that." The look on Aaron's face made him realize one thing, "You lost the license plates."
"I lost the car." Aaron explained with a sheepish smile on his face, "My and Brick's car."
Eric laughed, "Maybe it's for the best. The two monstrosities out front can run. They're so ugly, it'll scare the roamers away." He and Aaron shared a laugh together as Brick who watched the scene from the distance let out a chuckle. He turned away from Aaron and saw Rick standing in front of them, behind Brick, "Hi. I'm Eric."
"Rick." Rick introduced himself to him, shifting his gaze between Aaron and Brick.
"Excuse me." Aaron excused himself, knowing where Rick wanted him right now and got up from the floor. He and Brick walked outside where the rest of Rick's group was at the moment, "Excuse me. Everyone. Thank you. You saved Eric. I owe you. All of you."
"I knew we were right to trust you." Brick smiled at them gratefully, "Thank you for saving Eric. He's a good friend of mine."
"I will make sure that debt is paid in full when we get to our community." Aaron added, "When we get to Alexandria."
"We will make sure to let our leader know what you did to save Eric." Brick said, "You have my and Aaron's word."
"Now, I'm not sure about you, but I'd rather not do any more driving tonight." Aaron said, earning a few nods of agreement from Rick's group, "Maybe we can hit the road tomorrow morning."
"That sounds fine." Rick's voice sounded behind Aaron and Brick. The two of them turned around to look at him as Rick pointed at the corner of the room they were in right now, "But if we're staying here for the night, you two are sleeping over there."
"You really think we got to do that?" Bridgette asked.
"It's the safe play." Rick replied, "We don't know you."
Aaron shook his head, "The only way you're gonna stop me from being with him right now is by shooting me."
"Rick." Brick came in Aaron's aid, "Aaron just saw Eric after he got scared out of his mind for him and his safety after seeing the flare. You shouldn't keep them away from each other."
"Rick." Glenn got himself in front of Rick, "Rick, they told us where the camp is. And they really were only travelling with one other person. All of them are unarmed. One of them's got a broken ankle. I want us to be safe, too. I can't give up everything else. I know what I said, but it does matter."
Rick stared at Glenn for a second before nodding his head, "All right."
The group hit the road the next morning, driving towards the community which now was known to them as Alexandria. The RV was in the front of the small convoy which consisted of the three vehicles. It was followed by a badly looking car and a badly looking van. Everyone were doing something to kill some time. For example, Eugene was playing cards with Tara, Harold and Izzy in the RV as Noah watched them play from his seat, holding an opened book in his grasp while Sasha and Sanders were cleaning their guns.
Rosita was sitting the the front seat next to Abraham who was driving the RV. A smile formed on her face as the city of Washington came into her view, fairly pristine and almost untouched by the new world.
"Abraham." She called out for Abraham, pointing at the city of Washington, "Look." Abraham looked at Washington, the view of the city bringing a smile to his face. He turned away from this view and looked at Rosita with a smile on his face, "Eyes on the road, champ."
Abraham turned away from her and looked at the road ahead of him again. He looked away from it again a few seconds later. He looked at a red sign which was saying low voltage in the RV's battery, "How much longer we got?"
"Looks like we're a little over halfway there." Rosita replied, "Why?"
"We can make it." Abraham looked away from the sign, setting his eyes on the road again. He nodded his head firmly, a smile forming on his face, "We can make it."
The group was forced to stop in the middle of the road a few moments later. There was something wrong with the RV and Abraham, Glenn and Harold went to check it, even though the former already knew the reason why it stopped. His suspicions were quickly confirmed. The RV's battery was dead.
The red haired man slammed his hand against the RV in frustation, "Can't win. Might as well paint it red, put a ladder on it."
"All we need is another battery." Glenn stated.
Abraham looked at him like he had just grown the second head, wondering why Glenn was so casual about it, "Where in the hell are we gonna find another battery?"
"Right over here." Harold replied as he walked away from Abraham, followed by Glenn.
Abraham followed them and saw Harold lift up a hatch, revealing a spare car battery. He looked at them with a suprised look on his face, "How'd you two know those were there?"
"We used to have someone who owned an RV in our group a long time ago." Harold explained as Glenn gave Abraham a knowing smile, the two of them remembering everything Dale had taught them about the RV's, "He showed me and Glenn a few things."
As Abraham, Harold and Glenn went to install the new car battery which would hopefully make the RV work again, the rest of their group was discussing what they were going to do upon reaching Alexandria.
"Do you think we're going to get our own house like Aaron and Brick?" Leshawna asked, talking with her friends about what they were looking forward the most in their new home, "Because I sure hope so. I can't wait to finally lay down on a warm bed after all this time! My body definitely needs it. My and my sugar baby could lay down on a warm bed for hours and do nothing else."
"I wonder if they'll have working shavers there." Trent said, looking at Alejandro, "There are a few people in our group who could use a good shaving."
"Trust me, amigo." Alejandro gave him an assuring nod, rubbing his beard. Heather might have liked his beard but it was ovegrown a little at this point because it's been a while since got a chance to properly take care of it, "I intend to keep this thing on my face because mi amor likes it, but making sure it will look decent enough will be one of the first things I'm going to do in our new home."
"Warm water." Heather said which didn't suprise many as she was a known lover of warm long showers before all of this, "Warm water would be nice."
"I just hope it will be better than the hospital." Sanders said, "The main reason I went with you guys was because I wanted to find a better place to live where I won't be forced to turn blind eye to terrible things happening around me."
"Come on." Michonne said to Rick. The two of them sat next to each other on the front of the badly looking car, "The fight's over. You've got to let it go. I know it's hard. After it's kept you... Warm and fed and... Alive. But the fight... It turns on you. You've got to let it go."
"That's what Bob was trying to tell me back at the church." Rick revealed, "What to risk. When it's safe. When to let someone in." He sighed, "The rules keep changing."
"They did for me." Michonne pointed out, offering him a slight smile.
Rick stayed silent, offering her a nod of his head in response. It was when his attention was brought towards the RV as it was started up by either Abraham or Glenn or Harold. His group started cheering, starting to ready themselves to go back to the road.
"Before we get going, I got to... I got to take a moment." He said to Michonne, walking away from her.
He walked into the woods and made his way to an old shack. He crouched down next to the building and eyed the pile of thrash scattered around him, trying to find something he could use. He spotted an old blender cup a few seconds later. He picked it up and unlocked it. He put a pistol inside it and locked the cup again. Whatever was about to happen in Alexandria, he wanted to make sure that it was safe, because it was his family who was at stake.
The group finally managed to reach their destination. The front gate of Alexandria appeared in their view. The small convoy of three vehicles stopped in front of the gate upon reaching it, the people inside the vehicles staring at the closed gate in front of them. The view of the gate leaving many of them in awe, even though many of them saw the pictures Aaron, Brick and Eric had with them.
Rick stopped the badly looking car with him, Carl, Michonne and Judith inside in front of the gate and awaited cautiously. It was when he felt how relief slowly overcame his whole body because it was when he heard the sound of children playing on the other side of the wall which assured him that the area is safe enough for him and his family. He shifted his gaze from the gate to Michonne.
Michonne smiled at him, placing her hand on his, "You ready?"
"Yeah." Rick nodded, "Yeah."
It was when the entire group got themselves out of their vehicles and started walking towards the closed gate with their eyes not leaving it, all of them wondering what was waiting for them on the other side...
Alexandria is here! You guys have no idea how much I'm looking forward to write the next few chapters about the characters settling in Alexandria.
Have you seen the trailer for Resident Evil 4 remake? I'm really looking forward to play this game as this is my favourite Resident Evil Game. I really hope the game is as long as the original and I hope that they perfectly adapt the original creepy atmosphere (especially Salazar's castle) and modernize it, basically just like they did in Resident Evil 2.
Let's end this chapter with a quick question: What kind of jobs do you think TD characters will get in Alexandria?
Hope it wasn't that bad. See you in another chapter.