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.
Darth krayt1: Yeah. I wouldn't call myself a big fan of Nicholas and Aiden as well. Didn't the change that I actually felt sorry for Aiden when he died because of how painful his death must have been. Izzy and Noah never were intended to a couple. I always intended them to have a close friend type of relationship :)
ThEndymam: I'm glad you like the chapter. I hope you'll like this chapter as well! :)
Brendan: You'll find out very soon what Duncan's new motorcycle is going to be :)
mcgman651: Those aren't all TD characters living in Alexandria. Two extra characters will be introduced at the start of season 6 alongside Heath. :)
Rick, Daryl, Carol, Chris and Chef were currently outside the walls of Alexandria. The group of five was gathered next to the abandoned shed in the forest where Rick had left a gun at shorty before entering the walls of Alexandria for the first time. They were about to discuss the matter of getting their guns back after they were taken away from them and put in the armory, but they were still waiting for one person.
A twig was snapped into half after someone stepped on it, making them shift their attention towards the source of the noise. They saw Jo walking towards them. The blond haired young woman had her hands in the pockets of her hoodie.
"You took your time." Rick said as he set his eyes on the blond haired young woman.
"I had to find a way to leave my work early and to make sure I won't be spotted leaving the walls." Jo replied as she stopped in front of him, "This kind of thing takes time, you know? Officer?"
Carol shifted her gaze from Jo to Rick, "I guess that's Jo."
"Yes." Rick nodded in confirmation.
"Can we even trust her?" Daryl asked, "We don't know anything about her."
"Relax, dirty boy." Jo rolled her eyes at Daryl's words, "We may not know each other but we now live behind the same walls and we have the same goal."
"She's right, Daryl." Chef agreed. If Rick was willing to trust Jo on this, then he was willing to trust her too, "She lived in Alexandria for quite some time now. We might need her help."
"Your heard him, dirty boy?" Jo said as Daryl remained reluctant about her help, "You need me just the same way I need you if we want to succeed in our goals. Alexandria won't last if we don't change things in there."
Rick shifted his gaze from Jo to Carol, "So what do you think?"
"We can go in when it's empty." Carol replied.
"How is that?" Chris wanted to know, "It's locked up at night."
"The window." Carol answered, "There's just a latch. I can leave it open."
"A latch?" Rick asked, seeming reluctant about Carol's idea.
Carol nodded in confirmation, "Yeah."
"What if someone shuts it?" Jo just like Rick seemed reluctant about Carol's idea, "Sam or Olivia will definitely notice something like this happening two days in a row if we will try again."
"Wait a couple of days, leave it open again." Carol replied.
Chef shook his head, "We don't have that much time, Carol."
"He's right." Rick agreed, "We need to do it sooner than later. Right now, they're not watching us. Not worrying about meetings like this. We may need the guns, we may not."
"We will." Carol nodded, "Whatever way it goes."
"They're the luckiest damn people I ever met." Rick stated.
Jo shook her head, "I thought the same thing to myself after I and Brick were brought into Alexandria."
"And they just seem to get luckier." Rick stated.
"How's that?" Chris asked.
"We're here now." Rick replied.
"They've got a couple of footlockers just full of 9 millimeter autos, Rugers, Kel-Tecs. Just tossed in there. They don't use them. They're never gonna know they're gone." Carol stated.
Daryl pointed at the blender on the ground, "Someone's got one now, right?"
Jo looked at him with a confused look on her face, "What are you talking about?"
"I hid a gun in here before we were brought to Alexandria." Rick explained, "Now it's gone."
"I see." Jo nodded, "Smart."
"Mmm." Rick hummed, "Listen, the others, we want them to try."
Carol looked at Daryl as Rick uttered those words, "You, too."
"So we keep it quiet." Rick continued, "Just us."
Chef nodded in understanding, "Understood."
Chris titled his head to the side when he heard something approach him and his group, "A walker."
"I got it." Carol stepped forward from the group and aimed her silenced pistol at the undead. She pulled the trigger and emptied the entire magazine on this one walker, finishing it off with a shot to the head. She turned around to look at the rest and saw Jo give her a questioning look on her face, "We said we were taking me out shooting. I couldn't go back with a full mag."
"Lucky he came by, then." Jo nodded in understanding and crossed her arms with a grin on her face, "I have to say, granny. I was suprised when I saw you standing here. You certainly don't look like the type to pull off this sort of thing."
"We should get back." Rick said. He set his eyes on Carol as the group started to head back to Alexandria, "You'll pull the latch, we'll pick our moment."
Chris walked in front of the group. He looked down at the unmoving body of a recently killed walker when he was about to walk past it. He narrowed his eyes when something caught his attention, "Guys." He called out for his group. He pointed down at the walker's forehead, "Is that a W?"
Chef stopped next to Chris and noticed that someone had carved a W on the walker's forehead, "Who would carve a W on the walker's forehead?"
"I don't know." Chris shook his head.
Daryl and Duncan were walking together through the woods which were near Alexandria, hunting down everything they could come across. They stumbled across each other shorty after Daryl returned to Alexandria with Rick, Chef, Chris, Carol and Jo and left the community together to do some hunting in the nearby woods. At first, Daryl wanted to go alone, but Duncan managed to convince him to allow him to join him.
Daryl and Duncan walked next to each other as they proceeded to make their way through the woods. Duncan titled his head to the side when he heard bushes rustling in the distance. He and Daryl exchanged glances, the two of them instantly knowing what to do. Duncan quickly aimed his bow in the direction of the rustling bushes and loaded an arrow onto his bow, ready to fire it at any second.
"Come out!" Daryl ordered, pointing his crossbow at the rustling bush.
The two figures walked out of the bushes with their hands raised in the air, revealing themselves to be Aaron and Brick. They seemed to be quite impressed by Daryl and Duncan managing to tell the difference between the walking of walkers and humans.
Duncan lowered his bow, "You two?"
"You can tell the difference between walkers and humans by sound?" Aaron asked with an impressed look on his face. He had a silenced rifle wrapped around himself as Brick wielded his MP5 which this time had a silencer attached to it.
"I've been hunting with this guy ever since all of this started." Duncan replied, gesturing towards Daryl with his head, "I had enough time to learn."
"Can you tell the difference between a good guy and a bad guy?" Aaron wanted to know, "Rick doesn't seem to be an expert at that."
"There ain't much of a difference no more." Daryl gave him an honest answer.
"Why were you following us?" Duncan asked.
"We didn't know we were." Brick replied, "We came out to hunt rabbits."
"I know why you two are out here." Aaron added, "Mind if we join?"
Daryl stared at him and Brick for a second before turning away from them, beginning to walk further into the woods.
"Your friend doesn't seem to be a talkive type." Brick stated, watching Daryl walk away from him and the rest.
"Just keep up with us." Duncan replied as he turned away from them and followed Daryl into the woods. Aaron and Brick nodded and followed them.
Rick, Chef, Michonne and Sanders were in Deanna's house where Deanna was filling them in about their new job at securing the community. Noah, Maggie and Emma were in the house too. Maggie and Noah were here because Deanna assigned them to work with her and Emma was here because she already worked with Deanna long before Rick's group was brought into Alexandria.
"You protect and serve." Deanna began her explanation of the new work of Rick, Michonne, Chef and Sanders, "You patrol, walk the wall, watch out for the kids. If there's a conflict, you solve it. And people will listen to you."
"Because we're wearing windbreakers?" Michonne asked.
"Because they believe in this." Deanna replied, "Because I'm telling them to.' She set her eyes on Rick and Sanders as she uttered the next words, "A police officer used to live here. So we had these jackets and I wanted to make it official. So it's official. There's gonna be a government here one day." She looked at Maggie and Noah, "That's why I want Maggie and Noah working with me." She shifted her gaze from them to Emma, This is why I have Emma working with me." She shifted her gaze back to Rick, Chef, Michonne and Sanders, "There's gonna be a police force. That's why I want you two to start it. I see a vibrant community here with industry, commerce, civilization. Real lives. It might be horses and mills, but- what? Does that sound like pie in the sky?"
"No." Maggie said.
"Easy for you to say. You were living on the farm before all of this." Noah stated as Maggie elbowed him in the ribs, "What?"
Deanna watched the interaction between Maggie and Noah in amusement, already enjoying working with these two as Emma showed no reaction to it. Michonne, Rick, Chef and Sanders didn't react to this either as they were already used to this kind of thing from Noah.
"Can we talk security?" Rick asked, his hands in the pockets of his jacket as Deanna nodded, "We need a constant patrol along the walls. Not just looking for damage, but signs that anyone climbed in from outside. You can move right up the supports. That's what I'd do. People are the real threat now."
"Rick." Deanna already knew where Rick was heading with this conversation, "I know you think that we should all be armed within the walls. I- I can't do that. That's fine. You make these changes, we won't need to."
"What about Chris and Sasha?" Chef asked, "I talked with Chris yesterday. He told me yesterday something about you putting him and Sasha on the guard duty. They will be working in shifts on the clock tower, I believe."
"They are." Deanna nodded, "But it took some convincing from Chris to make me put them on this duty, even with their shooting skills. It was shorty after he let me know about his shooting skills during his interview. We didn't have anyone on the clock tower until now."
"What?" Maggie asked in confusion, "We saw someone up there earlier. "
"That was an empty rifle my son Spencer put up there." Deanna explained as everyone from Rick's group looked at her in disbelief, "He mans it sometimes, but not often."
"...What?" Chef couldn't believe his ears. Good thing Chris convinced Deanna to put him and Sasha on the clock tower. He didn't want to think what would happen if his fellow host failed to convince her.
Deanna shifted her gaze between everyone from Rick's group, "Look, there hasn't been the need..."
"Maybe there was no need so far, but it does not change the fact that you should have someone there long before we were brought into this place." Noah pointed out dryly as he just like everyone from his group couldn't believe his ears.
"Could we not talk about it for any longer?" Emma asked, putting her hand over her face, "She already put your friends on the clock tower. Shouldn't this matter?"
"I was planning to put my son Spencer instead of Chris or Sasha up there today." Deanna added as she wanted to change the topic of the conversation into something else, "I want all of you to have a free night today."
"Why?" Chef wanted to know.
"Tonight I'm hosting a welcome for all of you at my home." Deanna revealed, "I want you all of you to be there."
Daryl, Duncan, Aaron and Brick continued to walk through the forest. They didn't exchange many words with each other ever since they stumbled across each other and joined each other in their hunting. Brick and Aaron tried to start a conversation with Daryl and Duncan a few times but Daryl showed no interest in talking with them and Duncan wanted to focus on the hunting.
All of them glanced to the side once they heard something move in the distance, immediately recognizing this voice as something an animal would make. They slowly made their way in the direction of the noise and saw a black horse standing in the distance.
"We've been trying to catch him for months, bring him inside." Aaron said as he and Brick were familiar with this horse, "His name is Buttons. One of the kids saw him run by the gate a while back."
"Buttons?" Duncan was confused by the choice of the name.
"Thought he looked like a Buttons." Aaron explained as Duncan gave him a confused look, still not understanding the choice of a name.
"We haven't seen him for a while. I was afraid it was too late to catch him at this point." Brick explained, pulling out a rope from his bag, "Every time we come close, he gets spooked." Duncan and Daryl nodded, putting their weapons away in order to help Brick and Aaron catch this horse, "Has either of you done this before?"
"Our group did." Daryl replied, "But they weren't out there that long. The longer they're out there, the more they become what they really are."
"Daryl has an unpleasant experience with horses." Duncan revealed as Brick gave him the rope, "Remember when happened back at the farm with one of Hershel's horses?"
Daryl shook his head at Duncan bringing up this situation, "This wasn't the best day for you either."
"Yeah." Duncan nodded as he ran his hand through his cheek, the memories of his unpleasant encounter with Timothy flying through his head.
"You ready?" Daryl asked as Brick and Aaron exchanged glances at their conversation these two had with each other.
Duncan nodded his head, "Let's go."
Duncan and Daryl pushed themselves into a walk towards the horse, making sure to be careful and quiet as they didn't want to scare it away. Duncan readied himself to use wrap the rope around the horse as Daryl walked in front of him, beginning to whisper things to the horse.
"We ain't gonna hurt ya." The Dixon said as Duncan walked past him. The animal continued to feast on the grass, "All right?"
"Come on, boy." Duncan was inches away from the horse, "Yeah. Just keep on eating." He slowly leaned down towards it's head, ready to wrap the rope around it, "Yeah, you used to be somebody's, huh? Now you're just yours." He was about to wrap the rope around the horse's head but it was when everything fell apart. A twig was snapped in the distance. This noise scared off the horse as the animal ran off, "Dammit! We were so close!"
"Walkers!" Brick shouted as Daryl and Duncan looked where the twig was snapped and saw a group of walkers walking towards them.
"They're coming!" Daryl screamed, getting his crossbow ready as Duncan threw the rope aside and readied his bow.
Aaron fired his silenced rifle, killing a couple of the undead before running out of bullets as Daryl fired his crossbow at one walker from the group, the bolt hitting it in the head, killing it instantly. Having no time to load another bolt onto his crossbow, he threw his crossbow on the ground and charged at the undead with his knife in ready. An arrow hit the walker in the head before he could reach it, though.
He looked over his shoulder and saw Duncan who was putting his crossbow to good use as Brick fired his silenced MP5 at the remaining walkers from the group, killing all of them. The group of four looked around themselves, wanting to know if there were any walkers around.
"I saw the horse run that way!" Brick shouted, pointed in the direction the animal had ran off to.
Daryl picked up his crossbow from the ground, "Come on."
Not wasting any time, Daryl, Duncan, Aaron and Brick ran in the direction the horse had ran off to. Daryl and Duncan walked in front of Brick and Aaron, following the tracks the animal had left.
"You ride horses?" Aaron tried to start a conversation with Daryl and Duncan.
"I ride bikes." Daryl replied.
"Same here." Duncan added, "Didn't have an opportunity to ride one for a while, though."
"I take it you don't mean 10-speeds." Aaron stated.
"I know you two feeling like outsiders. Zoey mentioned how quiet Duncan was for most of the conversation she had with him and Sanders." Brick said as Duncan sighed, remembering how shut himself off in the conversation after his talk with them about them not knowing how to use a gun. It wasn't because he didn't want to talk with them. It was because he couldn't believe Zoey, B and Cameron didn't know how to shot, "It's not your fault, you know. I and Jo, we're still looked at as outsiders in a lot of ways. We've heard our fair share of well-meaning, but hilariously offensive things from some otherwise really nice men and women."
"People are people." Aaron added as Brick nodded in agreement, "The more afraid they get, the more stupid they get. Fear shrinks the brain. They're scared of you and me for different reasons. They're less scared of me because they know me. It's less and less every day. So let them get to know you. You should go to Deanna's party tonight."
"Party?" Duncan asked, confused by the mention of the party.
"You don't know?" Brick asked in return, "Deanna in hosting a welcome party for your group tonight."
"This is the first time I hear about it." Duncan answered.
"I got nothing to prove." Daryl said, "I met a lot of bad people out here doing a lot of bad shit. They weren't afraid of nothing."
"Yeah." Duncan nodded in agreement. The tone of his voice darkened as he thought about Joe's group, "You don't want to know what happened after we found ourselves stuck in one group."
Aaron and Brick exchanged glances, the tone of Duncan's voice was enough for them to understand they didn't want to know more about the group he and Daryl must have traveled with at one point.
"Just try." Aaron said, "That's all we're asking."
The party had at Deanna's house was about to start. A few of the residents of Alexandria had already arrived at the party. Rick, Carl, Judith, Carol, Chef and Chris were the first people from the group to arrive at the party. All of them were dressed neatly for the party. Deanna noticed them arrive at the party and excused herself to Kitty and Emma as she was having a conversation with them and walked over to them.
"Welcome." She offered them a welcoming smile.
Carol smiled back, "Hi."
"Thank you for the invitation." Chris smiled at Deanna.
"This party is for you. It wouldn't be right if I didn't invite you." Deanna looked at Rick, her smile refusing to leave her face, "Thank you for coming." She shifted her attention from him to Judith, "You know, I didn't get a chance to interview this one. I envy her."
"Why?" Chef asked.
"She'll get to see what this place will become." Deanna explained, "Come. Come on in."
She walked further into the house and Rick's group followed her. All of them were feeling a bit uneasy. Everything just seemed so normal. Rick, Carol, Chef and Chris exchanged glances with each other and split up, intended to talk with some guests at the party. It was shorty before Abraham, Rosita, Noah and Izzy arrived at the party. All of them felt the same way.
"I don't know about this." Abraham stated.
Rosita pointed at the table, "They have beer."
"I'm gonna try." Abraham nodded and walked towards the table to get himself a beer.
Rosita smiled in amusement and looked at Noah and Izzy, "I'll see you two later."
"Sure thing." Izzy nodded as Rosita followed Abraham towards the table. She looked at Noah with a questioning look on her face, "Do you have anything in mind? Because I don't what to do to be honest." Noah stayed silent, his eyes staring at something or rather someone ahead of him which earned a confused look from Izzy, "Hey? You in here?" She glanced away from him when the door was opened and Glenn and Maggie walked into the house, "Hey you two."
"Hey." Maggie smiled at her, "You and Noah just arrived too?"
"Yeah." Izzy nodded, "We were about to join the others."
"Let's go, then." Glenn nodded, "We can hang out together at the party." Glenn was about to walk further into the house to join the party but Noah standing in his and Maggie's way stopped him from doing so, "Noah?" Noah said and did nothing. He just continued to stare ahead of him, ignoring his friends, "You okay, man?"
Noah shook his head as he broke himself out of his trance, "Yeah."
"Are you sure?" Maggie asked.
"I'm fine." Noah insisted, refusing to tell them he was staring at Emma in the dress,"I just lost myself in my thoughts."
"You lost yourself in your thoughts?" Glenn asked, "This doesn't happen to you."
"It happened now." Noah said, not wanting to talk about it and walked further into the house, "Let's just go."
Maggie, Izzy and Glenn exchanged looks as Noah walked away from them to join the others at the party. Maggie and Glenn followed him a second later. Izzy remained where she stood for a second, growing concerned for her friend. She shook her head as she followed her friends into the party. Perharps Noah was sick or something. She will have to ask Bridgette to check on him tommorow.
"You two are Rick, right?" Rick was grabbing himself something to drink when an unfamiliar voice called out for him. He turned to the source of the voice and saw Deanna walking towards him with an unknown man by her side.
"Rick, this is my husband Reg." Deanna introduced the man standing next to her to Rick.
"You're a pretty remarkable guy." Reg stated.
"How's that?" Rick wanted to know.
"I watched the tapes." Reg revealed, "All of them. The things those people said about you. The things you did for them."
Rick nodded his head at Reg's words and quickly changed the topic of the conversation to something else, "Didn't you build that wall out there?"
Reg chuckled, "Yeah, I did, with help. A lot of it. And it's a damned incredible achievement. But it's a wall. 28 lives in this world? I think you have me beat. "
"Well, we're standing behind that wall right now, dear. So let's call it a tie." Deanna said, letting out a chucle. Rick and Reg let out their own chuckles at her words.
"Well, I'm glad you're here." Reg nodded and held out a glass to Rick, "Now, take a glass." Rick smiled, taking the glass from him as Reg chuckled, "There you go." He poured himself and Rick some whiskey, "Welcome."
"Thank you." Rick nodded his head at Reg and took a sip from his glass. He glanced to the side when he heard how someone just arrived the party. He saw Jessie walk into the house, followed by Ron, Darren and Pete. He took another sip from the glass, observing the family
Geoff and Bridgette arrived at the party a few seconds later. Geoff scanned his surroundings in an attempt to spot someone familiar and a smile grew on his face when he saw Brody handing out drinks to the guests. He and Bridgette walked over to Brody right after they noticed him. A large smile grew on Brody's as soon as he noticed his old friends walk over to him.
"There you two are. I was waiting for you to arrive." He said, "Want something to drink?"
Geoff nodded, "Sure thing, bro."
Brody nodded as he poured an alcohol drink into a red plastic cup and handed it to Geoff, "Here you go, man."
"Thanks." Geoff smiled and took a sip from the cup.
"What about you, Bridge?" Brody looked at Bridgette, "You want something to drink?"
"Yes." Bridgette nodded, "But can you pour me something without alcohol?"
"Sure thing." Brody nodded and poured some water into another plastic cup before handing it out to Bridgette, "Here you go."
Bridgette nodded and took the cup from him, "Thank you."
"Man." Brody shook his head, "No matter how many times I look at you two, I still can't believe you're here."
"Same here." Geoff nodded in agreement, "Want to hang out at the party? I missed partying with you."
"You know it." Brody immediately accepted Geoff's offer and poured himself his own drink. He and Geoff clinked cups as Bridgette smiled at their interaction, "Just like the old times."
After what seemed like forever, Duncan, Daryl, Aaron and Brick managed to track down Buttons. The horse had just ran into the open field between the woods which had a group of walkers walking around it. The undead quickly noticed a black horse running into the field and followed it as Daryl, Duncan, Aaron and Brick rushed into the field in order to get the horse.
Daryl took one walker out with his crossbow as Duncan stabbed another one right in the head with his knife. Aaron fired his silenced rifle at one walker, killing it with a shot to the head and yelped as he was grabbed by a walker that was on the ground. The walker brought him down to the ground as Aaron pulled out his machete and cut it's hand off in order to free himself from it's grasp.
It was when Daryl came to his rescue. The Dixon stomped on the walker's head, making it explode into pieces as Aaron got himself back on his feet. A few more walkers slowly started to surround them as Brick and Duncan ran further into the field with the intention of getting Buttons. Daryl and Aaron quickly took care of the walkers that surrounded them and followed Duncan and Brick.
Brick and Duncan managed to reach Button a few seconds later. The horse was slowly getting surrounded by the group of a few walkers. Brick and Duncan acted immediately. Duncan quickly loaded an arrow onto his bow and killed a walker which was a second away from touching Buttons as Brick ran closer to the undead and fired his silenced MP5 a few times, taking out every walker in the area.
After making sure there wasn't a single walker in the area, Duncan walked over to Brick and held out a rope to him, "Here. You are the one who was trying to catch it for months."
Brick nodded and took the rope from Duncan. He carefully walked over to Buttons, ready to wrap the rope around it's neck as the horse didn't ran away from him like it always did. It instead afllowed him to wrap a rope around it's neck. Brick smiled to himself, gladdened that he managed to finally catch Buttons as the horse touched his cheek with it's head almost as if it was thanking him for saving it from the walkers.
"I'll be dammed." Aaron smiled as he and Daryl catched up to Brick and Duncan. The view of Brick wrapping a rope around Buttons' neck and Buttons not running away was enough to make him smile, "After all this time, we finally caught Buttons. Good job, Brick."
"It is not only my merit." Brick smiled back at Aaron, "It is the merit of all of us." He shifted his gaze between Daryl and Duncan, "We all did our best to keep the walkers away from our new friend."
"If you say so." Duncan shrugged, internally rolling his eyes at Brick's talk as Daryl stayed silent.
"Let's go back." Aaron said, "We need to show our new friend his new home."
Everyone agreed with him. They turned in the direction of Alexandria and started to make their way back to their community, with Brick leading Buttons towards it's new home.
The party at Deanna's house continued and everyone seemed to be having a good time. Everyone from Rick's group spent their time with their new neighbours, getting to know them a bit better.
Chris and Chef were approached by many guests at the party as many people in Alexandria still couldn't believe a celebrity such as Chris McLean was now living in their community. It also sparked a few jokes about how celebrities wer dealing with it the world behind the walls. Chris had a clearly forced smile on his face as Chef tightened his grip around his glass, almost breaking it in the process as the two of them proceeded to listen to what their new neighbours were saying to them.
Leshawna and Harold were dancing together. Leshawna's dance moves earned a lot of weirded out looks from the people at the party, just like they did everytime when she danced in front of other people, but Leshawna made sure to ignore them and just enjoyed dancing with her boyfriend. Heather and Alejandro were talking with Dakota and Sam as Heather and Dakota hit it off pretty well.
Sanders and Dylan were talking with Zoey, Cameron and B as Zoey and her friends took a liking in Sanders ever since their conversation yesterday. Sanders didn't mind talking with them because she took a liking in them too and this way she could introduce Dylan to them. As they continued to talk with each other, Zoey asked Sanders if Duncan was at the party, because she and her friends couldn't find him anywhere and Sanders told her that she hadn't seen him seen for a few hours now. At the same time it made Sanders wonder why would Zoey think she would know about Duncan's whereabouts.
"There you are. I've been looking for you." Kitty smiled at Izzy as she walked over to her, Maggie and Glenn. Her smile faded from her face and was replaced with confusion when she saw the look Izzy had on her face, "What's wrong?"
"Noah." Izzy replied as she pointed at Noah. Kitty looked in the direction she was pointing at and saw her sister standing next to Noah who was staring at her with a large smile on his face, "Something is wrong with him. I've never seen him act like this before. I've never seen him smile this much before. Maybe he's sick or something. Maybe I should go ask Bridgette to check him once this part is over."
"Or he just likes my sister." Kitty suggested. Izzy's eyes widened upon realization as Kitty smiled in amusement after seeing her reaction. She and Izzy looked at each other and shared a laugh as Maggie and Glenn smiled, the former now understanding what those glances Noah was sending Emma's way during their job meant, "Yup. That is one serious crush."
"Everyone!" Rock's voice sounded in the middle of the room, "Trent is going to sing a song!"
It was when everyone's attention was brought towards Trent. Trent was holding a new guitar which he had gotten a few moment ago from Rock and Spud as a welcoming gift from them. Trent was more than happy to receive this gift from them because his old guitar was lost in the prison and promised to sing a song right now a way to how his appreciation of this gift.
He stayed silent for a few seconds after noticing how everyone had their eyes on him, realizing how long has it been since he got an opportunity to perform in front of a group of people. He pushed those thoughts out of his head a few seconds later and smiled at the people looking at him, "Any suggestions?"
He didn't have to wait long as someone from the crowd asked, "Do you know something by Half Moon?"
Trent didn't thought long about the answer as he happened to own a few songs by Half Moon in his room before the world became what it is today. He nodded his head at the resident of Alexandria who requested a song by Half Moon, letting them know he will sing something by him. He began playing his new guitar, filling the entire room with the sound of his instrument as everyone stared at him, waiting for him to start singing.
"I went to the well but the rim was dry, where did she go that girl of mine?
Looked for her and I looked inside and saw the life I'd like to hide.
Well I found myself on the edge of a cliff, tried to take the pain and get my throat cut.
But I missed her so much my sweet Mrs. and my rotten feet just wouldn't budge.
So I took my axe and cut down that tree, where we had once begun.
And I swore to god from that day forth that I'd never hold a gun.
Cause if I did, they'd lock me up and I would surely run.
Killed so many in your name girl, that I'd never see the sun.
Was invited down to hell drank from his glass it felt just fine, I asked him where's that girl of mine?
The devil just smiled and left me behind, I smiled back and finished my beer and said adios I didn't shed any tears.
Joy descended but the flames are around, well and that devil he sure likes to gamble.
I tried to stand tall and knock down that big old wall.
"Everybody" I tried to stand strong but courted death all along.
Sing it now!
I tried to stand tall and knock down that big old wall.
I tried to stand strong but courted death all along."
The crowd erupted into cheers, clapping and whistling as everyone clearly enjoyed his performance. Trent smiled, allowing himself to enjoy the cheers of his audience as he had forgotten how it felt like to have an audience that enjoyed his perfomance. He bowed to his audience, appreciating the cheers he was receiving right now for them. It made him feel like the world was normal again...
Daryl and Duncan were looking at Deanna's house as they were staring it from the distance, hearing how the people were having fun in it. The two of them remember the words Aaron told them about giving this party a chance. Duncan let out a sigh and was about to take a step towards the house. He stopped right away, though. It was when he saw how Daryl turned away and started to walk away from the house.
"Where are you going?" Duncan asked as he followed Daryl along the street, forgetting about the party.
"Somewhere else." Daryl replied as Duncan catched up to him.
Duncan nodded in understanding, realizing that Daryl couldn't do it, "I'm coming with you."
"No." Daryl shook his head, "You were about to go into the house. Don't turn back just because I didn't want to."
"Whatever you say." Duncan replied, "I still won't go there. It's just a party. Nothing will change if I won't go there."
"Fine." Daryl said, "Just don't go complaining to me about it later."
"Don't worry." Duncan replied, "I won't."
"...Daryl! Duncan!" Aaron's voice called out from them. They turned in the direction of it and saw Aaron and Brick standing on the porch of the house next to them, "Hey."
Daryl looked at Aaron and Brick with a questioning look on his face, "Thought you were going to that party over there."
"Oh, I was never going to go 'cause of Eric's ankle." Aaron explained with a smile on his face, "Thank God."
"What about you?" Duncan asked as he pointed at Brick.
"Jo didn't want to go." Brick replied, "Parties aren't really her thing. They're not my thing either to be honest."
"Why the hell did you tell us to go, then?" Daryl wanted to know.
"We said try." Aaron pointed out, "You did. It's a thought that counts thing."
"How about you join us for a dinner?" Brick offered as Aaron nodded in agreement, "Eric and Aaron prepared some spaghetti."
Daryl and Duncan exchanged glances with each other, silently debating with each other if they should accept Brick's and Aaron's offer.
Rick and Carol stood close to each other as they watched how Olivia just arrived at the party which meant only one thing. With her, Sam and Dakota at the army, the armory was left without anyone on guard. This was their chance to get the weapons from the armory without anyone noticing.
Carol gestured towards Olivia, "Look, she's here, which means it's empty, so..."
"I'll go with you." Rick said.
"No, remember..." Carol shook her head at his offer and walked past him.
"You're invisible." Rick instantly knew what Carol wanted to say.
"Mm-hmm." Carol nodded in agreement, heading towards the exit from the house.
"Hey, Rick." Rick looked in the direction of this voice and saw Jessie pointing at Pete. He came closer to them as Jessie introduced Pete to him, "Your friend Chef told us we can find you over here. This is my husband Pete."
"Hey." Pete smiled friendly as he extended his hand towards Rick for a handshake. Rick nodded and shook his hand, "Good to meet you. Bridgette told me many good things about you. I wanted to thank you for taking on being our constable. If we keep growing at this rate, we're gonna need even more."
Rick nodded, "I hope so."
"You want to come by my office next week?" Pete asked, "I'll take a look at you." Rick nodded as Pete reached down and grabbed his empty glass, "I'm going to get us a refill."
Jessie put her hand on his shoulder, "Oh, I can do it."
Pete looked over his shoulder at her, "I'm on it."
"Having fun?" Jessie asked as Pete walked away to refill Rick's glass.
Rick smiled and nodded, "Yes, I am."
Jessie smiled back, "That's kind of a stupid question, right?"
"No." Rick chuckled, shaking his head.
"Still, this place has a pretty amazing view." Jessie stated.
Rick looked around himself, "Yeah?"
"Yeah, take a look." Jessie looked over her shoulder. Rick looked in the direction she was looking at and saw the members of his group having fun as they watched how Geoff and Brody were checking who could drink more drinks in the same amount of time. Izzy ignored the drink battle between Geoff and Brody as she, Glenn and Maggie and Kitty watched Noah and Emma have a conversation with each other with a knowing smiles on their faces. Jessie looked back at Rick and continued, "Ordinary life like before. Well, not like before."
Rick shook his head, "No."
"Yeah, no." Jessie sighed, "I mean- I mean, it's better. Not out there, in here. You know, everyone's been through it somehow. Everyone. And a lot of things disappeared. But a lot of bullshit went with it. They're all from totally different backgrounds, different places. They never would have even met. And now they're part of each other's lives. They are each other's lives. I'm just saying, we all lost things, but we got something back. It isn't enough, but it's something."
"No, it was a tie, man." Jessie and Rick looked in the direction of the voice and saw Carl having fun with Ron and Mikey, "You saw it, right?"
The view of his son having son and having a chance to be a kid for once was enough to bring a smile to Rick's face, "Yeah, yeah, it's a pretty good view."
"Mom!" Darren called out for Jessie as she ran over to her and Rick, making them look down at him, "There's no more cookies."
"Well." Rick said as Darren looked up at him, "I happen to know the cookie maker. She's a good friend of mine. And I might be able to see about her making a whole batch just for you."
Darren looked down at Rick's hand, noticing that there was something missing on it and looked up at his Jessie, "Mom, he doesn't have a stamp."
Jessie playfully titled her head to look at Rick, "Oh?"
"Do you want a stamp?" Darren asked.
"Sure." Rick nodded as Darren pulled out his stamp and stamped a A letter on Rick's hand.
Jessie smiled and pointed at the letter on Rick's hand, "See? Now you're officially one of us."
"Yeah." Rick nodded with a smile on his face.
"Hey, Darren." Ron called out for his younger brother as Darren pushed himself into a run towards him.
Jessie shook her head, losing the count of how many times she told her younger son to not run, "I'll see you later."
"Yeah." Rick nodded as Jessie went after Darren.
Daryl and Duncan were now sitting in Aaron's house, eating the spaghetti Brick and Aaron had offered them several minutes ago. Aaron, Eric and Brick watches with smiles on their faces as Daryl and Duncan feasted on spaghetti as Jo paid no attention to them, because too occupied with eating her own portion.
Daryl wiped himself into his sleeve after finishing his plate of spaghetti, "Thanks."
"Yeah." Duncan nodded, having finished his portion a few seconds later. He picked up a glass of wine and took a sip from it, "What he said."
"Mmm." Eric hummed as Daryl and Duncan looked at him, "When you're out there, if you happen to be in a store or something, Mrs. Neudermyer is really looking for a pasta maker. And we're all really trying to get her to shut up about it. I mean, we have crates of dried pasta in here, but she wants to make her own or something. I really think she just wants something to talk about, so... if you see one out on your travels, it would go a long way to..." He paused when he saw the looks Brick and Aaron were giving him, "I thought it was done."
Jo looked at Brick and wiped the pasta sauce off her lips as she had just finished her spaghetti, "You didn't ask them already?"
"Ask us what?" Duncan asked as Daryl nodded his head at the question.
"Come on." Brick smiled as he and Aaron got up from their seats, "Let us show you something."
Duncan and Daryl exchanged glances and got up from their seats. Brick and Aaron took them to the garage door and Brick opened it. He and Aaron walked into garage and Daryl and Duncan followed them. Duncan's eyes widened in suprise once he saw what Aaron had in his garage. The garage was filled with a bunch of spare parts for the motorcycle and two half repaired motorcycles. The first motorcycle was a dark green 1992 Honda CB750 Nighthawk and the other one was a red 1992 Honda CB750 Nighthawk.
"When I got the place, there was that frame and some parts and equipment." Aaron began as Duncan and Daryl walked into his garage, "Whoever lived here built them."
Daryl walked over to the table and picked up one of the parts laying on it, "It's a lot of parts for two bikes."
"Yeah." Duncan nodded, running his hand through the red 1992 Honda CB750 Nighthawk.
"Whenever I came across any parts out there, I brought them back." Aaron explained as Daryl and Duncan paced back and forth across the garage, making sure to eye everything it had to offer, "I didn't know what I'd need. I always thought I'd learn how to do it, but I get the feeling you two already know what to do with it. And the thing is, you two are going to need a bike."
Duncan turned around to look at him, "Why?"
"We told Deanna not to give you two a job because I think I have one for you." Brick explained, "We'd like you to be Alexandria's other recruiter."
"I don't want Eric risking his life anymore." Aaron added.
"You want me risking ours, right?" Daryl asked.
"Yeah." Aaron nodded in confirmation, "Because you two know what you're doing. You're good out there. But you don't belong out there. I know it's hard getting used to people getting used to you."
"I understand right now you need to be out there sometimes. So do I." Brick crossed his arms, "But the main reason why I want you to help me recruit is because you do know the difference between a good person and a bad person."
Daryl bit his upper lip and nodded his head, accepting Aaron's and Brick's offer, "I got nothing else to do."
"You can count on me." Duncan nodded his head at the offer.
"Great." Brick smiled at them, "I'm looking forward to work with you in the near future."
"We'll get you some rabbits." Daryl said as Aaron and Brick chuckled.
Aaron shook his head with a smile on his face, "Great."
Having unlocked the window earlier, Carol sneaked into the room where the weapons were being kept. She walked over to the crate where the pistols she had mentioned to Rick, Daryl, Chef, Chris and Jo earlier this day were being kept and opened it. She reached into the box and started pulling out weapons from it, placing all of them in the bag she brought with herself.
"...What are you doing?" She instantly turned around to the face the owner of this voice and saw Darren looking at her with a confused look on his face.
Carol walked over to him, "Darren, what are you doing here?"
"I followed you." Darren explained, " I was hoping you were going to make more cookies, but then you came here."
"Well, I could make more." Carol took another step towards Darren and gave the most convincing smile she could give right now, "I could make a whole batch just for you. Would you like that?"
"Yes." Darren immediately nodded his head at her offer, "I mean, yes, please."
"Okay." Carol nodded, "But you've got to promise me you can keep it secret that I came here."
"But I'd have to tell my mom." Darren said, "I mean, I tell my mom everything."
"You can never tell anyone, especially your mom." Carol's smile faded away from her face, her expression becoming more cold as she took another step towards Darren, looking directly into his eyes with her cold ones, "Because if you do... one morning you'll wake up... and you won't be in your bed."
Darren backed away from Carol and pressed his back against the wall, "Where will I be?" Darren backed away from Carol.
"You'll be outside the walls far, far away tied to a tree. And you'll scream and scream because you'll be so afraid." Carol told him coldly, "No one will come to help because no one will hear you. Well, something will hear you. The monsters will come. The ones out there. And you won't be able to run away when they come for you. And they will tear you apart and eat you up all while you're still alive. All while you can still feel it. And then afterwards, no one will ever know what happened to you. Or you can promise not to ever tell anyone what you saw here and then nothing will happen. And you'll get cookies. Lots of cookies."
She smiled down at Darren and backed away from him as Darren let out one terrified breath after another, "I know what I think you should do."
Sasha was trying to keep herself together as she walked through the crowds of people. she had arrived the welcoming party for her and her group a few minutes ago, arriving at it much later than everyone else did. She wanted to stay in the back but Deanna approached her and asked if she could join everyone else at the party, telling her that she didn't had to talk with anyone if she didn't want to. All she had to do was listen.
Sasha reluctantly and stepped in between the groups of people having conversations with each other. Her breathing started to become less shaky as she continued to listen to the people around her, everything around her making painful memories of Tyreese, Bob, Beth and Ezekiel and their deaths fly through her head. This party felt to her exactly like the party her group had at Gabriel's church shorty before the surviving members of Terminus attacked them which resulted in the deaths of Bob and Ezekiel.
"Sasha." An unfamiliar female voice brought her out of her painful memories. She looked in the direction of it and saw a dark skinned woman standing in front of her with a friendly smile on her face, "Honey, what's your favorite meal? I'd love to cook it for you sometime. I'm doing it for all the new arrivals."
"I don't know." Sasha tried to end this conversation as soon as possible.
"Of course you do." The unknown woman insisted, "Everyone has favorites. So what's yours? Whatever you want. I'm just worried that I'll end up cooking something you hate, you know?"
"You're worried?" Sasha looked at her in disbelief as she couldn't believe her ears, "That's what you worry about?!"
The unknown woman was taken aback by Sasha's sudden scream. Sasha let out a deep breath, feeling how everyone at the party looked at her. She shook her head and stormed off towards the exit from the house.
It was the next morning. Sasha was leaning against the fence and had her arms folded as she stared ahead of herself through the main gate at the area beyond it, her rifle handing down from the shoulder it was slouched over. She heard someone approach her but didn't paid attention to whoever it was, keeping her entire attention at the area in front of her. It was when Deanna stepped into her view. The leader of Alexandria stopped in front of Sasha as Sasha had no other choice but to look down at her.
"I'm trying to figure out what it is." Deanna told her, "What it is exactly."
"This..." Sasha looked over her shoulder and gestured towards everything around her. She looked back at Deanna and shook her head, "It isn't real."
Sasha, you've been through a lot and I accept that, but what you just said... that's bullshit." Deanna stated, putting a box of bullets in Sasha's hand.
Sasha raised her rifle, resting it against her shoulder as Deanna turned away from her and opened the gate, allowing her to step through it. Sasha stepped through the gate, beginning to walk towards the tower as Deanna closed the gate, watching her walk towards the gate.
Rick, Carol, Daryl, Chris, Chef and Jo gathered for another meeting of theirs in the same place in the forest outside the walls of Alexandria as they did yesterday as they knew won't be bothered by anyone there. There was only one reason why decided to do another meeting, even though they had their last one not so long ago. Carol managed to get her hands on the pistols from the armory last night and was now intending to hand them out to everyone from the group.
"Take your pick." She told them, showing off her gains from last night to everyone around her.
"Don't mind if I do." Jo said, taking one pistol for herself.
Chris took pistol for himself too, "I feel safer already."
"Look, I've been thinking." Everyone looked at Daryl after those words left his mouth, "Do we really need these?" He pointed at the pistols Carol got for them last night, "I mean, things go bad, yeah, sure. We do what we gotta do, but it's like you said. We don't need these for that."
"Are you serious right now, dirty boy?" Jo wanted to be sure if she didn't misheard it.
"Right now we don't." Carol pointed out.
"We have to be ready for anything Daryl." Chef stated, taking one pistol for himself, "We don't know when we will have to use them."
Daryl looked at Carol, "You wanted me to try, right?" He shifted his gaze from her to Rick, Chef and Chris, "I'm good."
Carol, Rick, Jo, Chris and Chef exchanged glances after seeing how Daryl just refused to take a pistol from himself. Carol went to hand the pistol to Rick and Rick grabbed it without hesitation and put it in the back of his pants, wanting it to be in a secure place where the other people won't spot it. The group left their meeting place and made their way back to Alexandria shorty after. They split up to do their own activities right after arriving back at Alexandria.
Hope it wasn't that bad. See you in another chapter.