Disclaimer: Buffy The Vampire Slayer was Created by Joss Whedon and is property of many companies but not me. The Walking Dead was created by Robert Kirkman and the show, which is the world I am referencing in this, is shared with Production Creators Frank Darabont and Angela Kang.

Author's Note: So we're just gonna pretend I haven't spent who knows how many years writing "Arthur's Note" and not Author's Note. Y'all, come on, lol. I'll take it as a kindness.
Delving further into the AU this chapter

Wooh, one more chapter after this and I will have met my goal for the year lol.

[21]

There were enough biters for several loads, and though the bread truck made a few trips, only twice did they haul back biters for the pit. When Shumpert made an appearance on one of the return trips in Crowley's place carrying a list from the good doctor, Merle snatched the paper from his hand looked it over, "Aint man enough to come get his things his self?"

The large man was noncommittal, reaching for the list when Merle held it up to his still lit cigarette, letting the items burn away, "Must've flown out the window."

Martinez met Shumpert's gaze over Merle's shoulder, calling him over and within a few minutes began working their way through the trailer to find what items he could remember. By the time the back of the truck was filled, Merle had taken the driver's seat, Tim beside him, "Oh don't you worry now," he grinned, "I'll get it there safe, yes siree."

The truck was barely out of the lot before the truck's break lights flicked on, the body of the van lurching forward on it's wheels. Laughter peeling out the windows, it started up again.

"You think any of that is getting to the Doc?"

Martinez shook his head, removing his cap only to put it back on again, "Come on, I've got a box or two more to get." Moving his weapon from his back and into his hands, Shumpert held the door to let in the light as Martinez worked in the near empty trailer, gaze sweeping the parking lot to ensure none of the remaining walkers snuck up on them. If we could get that machine working, we wouldn't need any of these…

The sound of a car engine drew his attention, wondering what Merle could have felt was important enough to return for when the body of an old SJ came into sight, "We got company." Hoisting the butt of his rifle under his armpit he rolled back his shoulders, squaring up.

[Break]

The first thing Dawn noticed as they approached the school there were far fewer walkers than Shane had portrayed after his return minus Otis, fewer than even Patricia and Maggie had agreed they'd seen prior to that excursion. The trailer the woman had indicated was there along with – Dawn pulled her foot off the accelerator as Daryl leaned forward from the front seat, acknowledging they'd already been spotted.

"Will?" Dawn looked to the redhead for guidance, her request unspoken.

Reaching out of the head of them, the woman couldn't find anything but amusement in their thoughts followed by surprise, "Let's not jump to any conclusions." Behind her she could feel Daryl's suspicious, mistrust and images of the night they'd come together and the men that had torn their group apart.

Daryl's fingers itched for his bow, the weapon too bulky to pull from his back now that the seat around him was full from the earlier excursions through the day. Should've used the trunk, he cursed himself but they'd been saving the space in the third row for the medical supplies and equipment they had hoped to get from here when they hadn't been able to make any headway on the roads to the other spots. He reached for the gun in his belt as a second man came out of the trailer, box in hand,

"Pull over, over there." Chin jutting forward he directed to an area 30 feet from the trailer, opposite the vehicle closest to it in assumption it was theirs. While he kept his gaze on the two visible men, Dawn did as she was told, Willow looking for any others,

"I think it's just them."

Dawn nodded, acknowledging that it was just the two men though her friend wouldn't say it outright. Putting a pin in the thought they really needed to have a talk about Tara and Willow's abilities, she moved to unbuckle as the men didn't immediately approach the car, each wary of the other. Finally the second man set his box down, speaking to his partner who lowered his weapon but didn't set it down, and turned to raise his arm in greeting, breaking the ice.

The driver studied Willow's face as she leaned forward, reading the two men as Daryl cursed in the backseat, unable to pull the door lock open though he couldn't remember locking it. Decided, Willow unbuckled, opening her own door easily, "Stay here."

Dawn watched her cross the space with open space with confidence, longer limb swinging free by her side to show her hand was empty. Behind her, Daryl growled but kept in the backseat when the barrel chested man's eyes snapped to him as he started to move into the front seat. Dawn elbows him in the chest, shoving her arm between the two front seats to keep him from crawling over, "Stop it, we can get out if she needs help."

Daryl glared, tense as they waited through whatever conversation was being had, minutes ticking by and he as he studied their body language. The man standing guard for the shorter one didn't relax, his attention divided between the walkers still in the area and the car. When two of the dead meandered out of the woods it took them a while to find their way to the back of the Jeep, shifting their bodies listlessly against it's metal shell. Though the guard could see them he didn't move to shoot, and Dawn cranked the manual window down and waited for them to reach the driver's side as Daryl's door continued to disagree with his choices.

By the time the two bodies fell beside the Jeep, Willow was walking back, the shorter figure picking up his box and following his partner to their own truck. A bit out, "Who the hell are they?" welcomed her return.

Willow met his eyes for a moment before nodding for Dawn to start the car again, the gas preserved after the first 10 minutes of idling. She shared what she found was more important than their names, "They're from a community, Caesar says they already cleaned out the trailer and taken things back to their base. The quiet one is Shumpert."

Blinking, Dawn looked after the truck as it started, "A community? How many people? Where?"

Daryl cut through her questions, ignoring them as his own had been delayed before, "What they waiting for?"

"Us."

[Break]

The gates to Woodbury were roughly 10 feet high, flanked by tractor and eighteen wheeler tires stacked high on into walls that crossed the length of the street on either side of the metal doors. Dawn stared, leaning over the steering wheel as ahead of them the dark haired man Caesar waived to one of the guards standing watch from above, "Open the gates!"

One of the two guards turned and disappeared below the wall, steady movements suggesting a descent down a latter or stairs. A moment later the doors pulling apart and letting them in, Caesar angling his truck to prevent them complete entry until they'd stopped for a search by the guards. Neither woman objected to the brief search, their clothing not chosen for hiding weapons and Dawn turned over the knife she'd brought, leaving the other tool in the car. Willow shrugged when they questioned her lack of weaponry as Daryl jerked under a more thorough pat down.

Refusing to take his bow from the car when they'd admitted to needing to confiscate it he took a step at the young man who approached to open the car to take it, "The fuck you think you're doing?"

The young man stopped, looking to his superior, Daryl already yelling he knew just what he left and how much he had, not being able to take his shit with him didn't mean it had to go anywhere. "My bow is in the car, the car's locked. If it ain't here when I get back I know who I'm coming after for it!"

Both the superior and the young man looked to Caesar for direction who just shook his head, Shumpert his shadow, "Stay with the car, make sure nothing goes in or out of it." Both men nodded, the original guard returning to his position up top as the kid leaned against the grill watching as they were led into town.

For a rural area, the small community of Woodbury would have been a social hub: a library and post office in view, as well as two office buildings. The road they were on had two intersections, transitioning from business to home zoning. As they crossed one to the other, Willow was surprised not to see a grocer's market on this side of the square, wondering if that meant there was a larger chain store in the town, taking in the raised garden beds the survivors had filled the medians with to supplement their food.

Taking in the calm as they approached the square, the witch continued her scanning for mental signatures, finding both active and dozing in the buildings. The Scooby's radius of what she could hear had expanded since she first developed the ability a decade ago, so the numbers she found were impressive, able to count double their own group in the small area, from those very few seemed to be thinking of the dead outside their walls. As they approached the end of the housing district, only a handful of minds seemed to be considering how to maintain the town's peace.

"This must've taken weeks to clear," Dawn acknowledged their hard work, a feat they had not managed themselves. Caesar nodded, knowing the boss liked to tell the story himself when he was trying to impress upon who they met,

"A good leader can focus his people." Looking back, he met Shumpert's gaze, the taller man nodding. Between them Daryl listened but his gaze drifted to the rooftops, watching for dark outlines blocking the stars above them. Ahead a curtain shifted and light filtered out one of the windows at ground level ahead of them, Caesar gesturing at Shumpert as he went inside. In turn, Shumpert watched each in his charge, not attempting to relieve their wariness with conversation.

Finally, the door opened.

Upstairs, the Governor was the only inhabitant in the former apartment building, the room open but for the bedroom and one other door. Dawn and Willow were both seated on the couch, the younger of the two leaning forward over crossed legs, Willow's back straight with one elbow perched on the arm of the couch, her legs together and tilted to the side, each facing the man who'd held their attention for the last 15 minutes explaining how their town had come to be.

Uncomfortable sitting when he was already at a disadvantage, Daryl kept his back to the wall closest the window where he could see everyone, Caesar included. When they'd arrived the Governor had minimized any show of concern at the three unknowns, likely discounting the women as a threat given Willow's disability, Dawn's size, and wanting to show confidence in his the new man's presence. Never mind that one of his men was in the room still and armed. Though a gun wasn't visible at his waist, side or protruding from his boot, the hunter doubted the man was unarmed. Then again, being his apartment maybe he didn't need to be, he could imagine any number of places something could be tucked away. His attention was drawn to the redhead as she made an imploring sound,

"Caesar was saying we might be able to work out a trade?" The seated man grinned, seeming to find something funny as the named guard shifted at the door.

Dawn and Willow shared a look and the Governor's hand rose from the armrest, gesturing it was nothing, "I just, don't think I've heard his first name in a long time." His grin was conspirative, a joke they were privy too, "I doubt more than two or three of our guys could tell you his name if you asked."

"Is that how it is for most of the town? Martinez, Shumpert, Governor?" Dawn ticked off the names that were confirmed surnames and the man who had only been introduced by his title.

"Helps us remember where we come from, the families we lost. Who we represent."

"Governor is a title, not a name." The two exchanged looks but the man smiled again in the moment after Daryl and Martinez has shifted their gaze to one another, sizing up the other,

"That's an astute observation." His smile was brief, beginning to just look elsewhere then refocusing, "I guess some memories are harder to carry than others." The room was filled with a somber silence for a moment as he seemed to ruminate, Daryl fighting to keep his gaze on the group instead of to search for what Willow's eyes had suddenly widened at. Did he imagine it?

The town's leader carried on, "Mine is also a reminder of the people I'm in charge of, the responsibility I carry. And if there is a way we can help each other, a responsibility that will include your and your group as well." Reaching for his glass he took a sip of water, offering again to get them some which had earlier been turned down.

"So, Martinez had said you have someone in your group in need of medical care, we're happy to help of course, but those kinds of supplies are hard to come by. What is it you think you can trade for that?"

Daryl shifted, wanting to cut the women off before they could relinquish what could benefit the town, uneasy with how they welcomed them in their front doors so quickly. How the man didn't seem concerned with their knowing where they were. Even if they did have walls, guards, ammo – something unsettled him. In the midst of Dawn's answer, Willow's eyes found his, hazel green holding steady conveying… he settled down, looking off as they talked food, medical training.

"Not that the psychiatry didn't have it's place in the old world, but what could that do here? The biggest problem we have is one for the entire world, how do you plan to talk people out of that?"

Hearing the predetermined phrase of needing to consider all they had to offer over night, Shumpert moved to face the door as the Governor opened it, gesturing their visitors out, "Shumpert will show you to your quarters for the night, and in the morning I'll see if I've come to a decision."

Martinez nodded to the man as he followed out after Daryl, the man's cordial smile staying in place until he shut the door, knowing his men would see the group to a secure location for the evening. He hadn't had time or the privacy to reprimand Martinez for bringing to many into their town, driving separate and not blindfolding them as was procedure. They were exposed, a thought he didn't take kindly too. Finding the occasional straggler had been one thing in the beginning when they were still building their community, and while they had rooms available they were reaching capacity to feed everyone.

What had been said that his lieutenant had broken procedure so egregiously? Fist forming, he paced beside the table with his notebook, stopping and tapping the cover harshly as he argued with himself, cooling his thoughts before he spun out. It wouldn't do any good to consider that now, he'd examine that later, redirecting he considered the offer they had made- though they didn't need the hands that the additional people offered, the food would be a great boon, especially if it was as much as they had indicated. And the girl, maybe she could be to use of Milton….

Reaching up he rubbed the pads of his fingers against his eyelids and poured himself a real drink.