Bob was sitting in Julie's lounge staring at the blaring TV. Some English news broadcaster talking about the local weather and some village celebrating their church being 650 years old with a festival in the grounds. He was ecstatic, boring news was his favourite type of news. They were finally free- free from the dead, free from the never ending countdown that, when reaching 0 would only end up with him being on his own. He was never going to be alone again. None of them were. Sasha was currently squished between him and Tyreese who was holding Judith on one of Julie's three seater sofas. When they had first heard the news from Glenn about the obviously-somehow-magical-yet-not-magical transformation of the backyard they were all very confused. Hell, they still were. It wasn't something you really heard of apart from in books and films, a mere fantasy. Especially now and for some reason, some beautiful unknown reason, they had been chosen. Bob stretched out on the sofa and wrapped an arm around Sasha, planting a kiss on her cheek in the process.
"What was that for?" Sasha smiled up at him.
"Just happy, that's all." Returning her smile tenfold. Sasha sunk into his embrace, her head resting on his shoulder, her smile fading on her lips.
"How can you be sure? How do you know that this isn't all a weird, messed up dream or someone's sick idea of a joke? Or that the next door we walk through we'll be back… or someplace worse?" Sasha whispered. Bob waited a while before answering, it wasn't as if it hadn't crossed his mind already.
"We don't." He said simply, a smile still lingering as he looked down at her. He lowered his head as Sasha raised hers, meeting in a kiss.
"I'll be super pissed if it is." Tyreese finally says, breaking the intimate moment between the two of them. Both Bob and Sasha hum in agreement.
"I don't know what's worse anymore, not knowing or being faced with the reality that we got out." Maggie says from the other side of the room next to Glenn, her legs curled up underneath her on the sofa. "Beth… I'll never get to know what happened to her… while we're just sitting here." Her face scrunches up in emotion, unable to speak anymore, shaking her head with fresh tears streaking down her face and looking down at her lap.
Glenn's arm tightens around her. "Hey, Beth's strong. Maybe she got out, maybe the same happened to her and she's somewhere around here." As Glenn spoke from beside Maggie, he knew it was extremely unlikely that Beth was here too. The others may still have their doubts but Glenn knew, not by just the physical signs but also the feeling in his gut. They weren't in Georgia anymore. Maggie just nodded and started playing with her wedding ring, twisting it around her finger as she always did when she felt frustrated.
Michonne entered the room with Carl not far behind her looking clean and refreshed, a lot of them had already cleaned up and had taken a shower. Herself, Judith, Carl, Tyreese, Maggie and Glenn included. "Daryl and Carol are going to do a scope of the area to have a look at what we're facing here. While they do that we have to clear the cupboards and get ready for either a fight or a quick escape if we need one, maybe even both." Michonne says with her hands crossed over her chest, leaning with her back on the wall.
"Is that really necessary?" Glenn replies.
"Which bit?"
"Clearing out all the cupboards. Julie has put up with a lot of shit from us, especially from Rick. Should we really rock the boat any further?"
"We need supplies." Michonne says candidly.
"Glenn has got a point." Bob joins in. "What if it's all the truth? Should we really alienate our only ally in this…" Bob paused for a moment, as if looking for the right word. "…this new world?" Tyreese, Maggie and Glenn all nod in agreement.
"What? Julie is our ally now?" Sasha says in half disbelief, staring at Bob.
"She could be if we make her one" Bob declared. Looking around at all of them in turn and resting on Sasha. "Taking all of her supplies would be wrong. We should only take what we need."
"Fine, that's what we'll do then." Carl spoke out, being quiet to watch the debate until now.
Daryl had initially planned to go on his own but after Carol insisted that they go together, didn't put up a fuss to decline Carol's presence. She was just as good as him now and had more than proved to him and the rest of the group that she could do well in a fight. Hell, Daryl was more than impressed with how far Carol had come, her transformation into a badass had been great to watch. Not that he had agreed with her killing Karen and that other guy back at the prison but he understood her logistics of it all. Before they had left Julie's place they had decided to very quickly wash up just in case they were seen by anyone who wasn't a threat. Daryl didn't really see the point as he'd only become dirty again pretty soon.
There was one thing that both Daryl and Carol had already noticed about this place and that was that it was freezing. It had been the latter half of summer back when they were in their 'world' but this felt like the depths of winter. Just the night before the temperature had been uncomfortably warm. Carol had to borrow one of the coats in the under stairs cupboards although nothing that Julie owned would fit Daryl, his arms too thick with muscle and his shoulders too broad. He hadn't even tried the girly stuff and outright refused when Carol suggested that he should do, both Julie and assuming her housemate too were slender anyway if he had their clothes to judge by. Plus, whatever man was in Julie's or the other chick's life was built like a twig. Daryl felt himself shudder again, he was freezing his bits off and they hadn't even been out that long.
"You alright." Carol asked, obviously noticing Daryl shudder. They were only just down the road, roughly 8 houses down from Julie's. It was quiet and the street lamps were lighting the area nicely, it had been a long time since they had seen the luxury of street lamps.
"Yea, just cold." Daryl spoke, trying to thwart another shiver. It must have been below 32°F easy. They kept walking down the road, constantly looking around them for any signs of danger.
"Looks like we need to get you a coat Pooky." Carol gave him a playful nudge but Daryl just wrapped his leather jacket around him tighter.
"You need to stop callin' me that. Don't know what ya said to Julie but she started callin' me that too" he grunted.
"What do you mean?" Carol asked with a puzzled expression on her face although she didn't take her eyes off her surroundings.
"She called me that damn name you gave me, thought you told her to call me that to cheer her up or somethin'." Carol looked positively puzzled and shook her head. "Pfft. Forget it."
"Bit weird." Carol put her hands in her pockets, one of which was where she kept her knife, a hand gun hidden in the back of her jeans. They and Rick had decided to hide any weapons on them just in case they came into contact with anyone who was a threat but to everyone else they seemed harmless. Daryl probably less so. Let's face it, he didn't look like a law abiding citizen, even if he was or at least used to be.
Daryl just grunted in agreement. They were nearing the end of the road and could hear traffic. It was… odd, unbelievable hearing the sounds of multiple cars and even a siren. Daryl and Carol exchanged a look and sprinted the rest of the way, coming to a busy main road. "The fuck?" Daryl gasped.
"It's like… it never even happened. None of it." Carol whispered, eyes wide. The sight of one or two other people walking down the pavements, one with a dog. "While we were living a nightmare they didn't have any of it." There were unshed tears in her eyes and for a moment Daryl thought she was going to have breakdown right there. She opened her mouth as if to say more but quickly closed it again, swallowing hard.
"Let's keep going for a bit. Check that this place is real and not a fake." Daryl was still stunned, as if his brain couldn't keep up with his eyes. He hadn't seen anything like this since it had all started.
"Daryl we don't have to, even I can see that we're somewhere else! Just look down the road, it goes on for quite a while and there's a tonne of traffic, life. They're not even driving on the right side of the road" she shouted in turmoil and no doubt exasperation. That wasn't the only thing that was different, sure the buildings were a bit different compared to what he was used to, slightly similar to the road they had just come from. A police car whizzed by them playing its siren, Daryl getting a really good look at the car which was obviously not American.
Daryl just nodded, he felt the annoying prickle behind his eyes but rubbed at them before it could turn into anything else. "That case we better get back. Before Rick and the rest of em tear the place down."
It didn't take them long to get back at the house, barely a few minutes as they sprinted down the road and barged through the door, letting it slam shut behind them. "Everyone!" Carol shouted at the top of her voice. It was obvious they all had gotten started as there were bags and even a few boxes of things by the door. "We need to put all of this back now!" The last bit she didn't shout as loudly, fully aware of the old lady next door and her prying ears.
"What's going on? What did you see?" Rick came barging through from the kitchen at speed.
"It's not what we thought. Julie is telling the truth, we're in England and there's an entire fully functioning civilization out there without walkers." Carol was shaking as she spoke, overwhelmed by the news herself. Rick started pacing, swearing underneath his breath. Daryl hadn't realised how quiet it had gotten until he realised that he could hear the sound of his own pulse raging in his ears. Everyone stood still, waiting for a new plan or idea that would solve a number of different issues that were suddenly arising.
"And you're sure?"
"On my life." Carol's voice quivered and Daryl just nodded his head, silently expressing the same.
"Right, everyone put the stuff back as you found it. If you've broken something fix it, hide it, I don't care as long as Julie doesn't see it" Rick commanded. "Shit!" He yelled, still pacing and rubbed at his eyes with one hand, the other resting on his hip. By this point everyone else excluding Rick, Carol and Daryl had jumped into action. Hastily putting things away, although by the sounds of it there was some confusion as to what went where.
"What's the plan?" Carol asked Rick, a look of uncertainty in her eyes.
"I don't know" Rick answered honestly. "Convince her and whoever else to let us stay I guess." Rick looked positively deflated. He knew that he had acted like a real arsehole earlier and even hurt Julie quite badly. Small pangs of guilt washed over him as he realised what he had done to Julie, someone who had somehow believed their crazy story who knew nothing about walkers and the shit hole they had come from. He still didn't trust her entirely but she was now their only hope in this world and he had likely blown it for all of them.
It was at that moment that Julie came in the front door, red faced and swollen with her make up all over her face probably caused by her crying as there were obvious tear tracks running down her face, although her eyes were dry at the moment. Rick just stared, opened and closed his mouth a few times, lost for words for once. Julie stared openly back between Rick, Carol, Daryl and then the stuff by the door.
They were all silent until Carol asked "Are you okay, Julie?" Julie just gave a watery smile and looked down at her feet, her chin wobbling. Rick had a horrible sinking feeling in his stomach, something was telling him that this had nothing to do with the boy she had been on a date with.
"Not really, no." She said quietly, pausing for a moment before continuing, swallowing a few times as if to hold back the emotion in her voice. "Could you guys do me a favour?" Julie asked in the same hushed tone.
"Yea, anything." Rick said desperately, the feeling of panic overwhelming him.
"I'm going to go upstairs and get changed and stuff. While I do that could you guys behave and just put everything back as it was?" Glancing at the boxes and bags of supplies they had accumulated at the front door. The three of them just nodded but otherwise stayed silent as Julie made her way up the stairs and kept so until Julie was out of earshot.
"Well shit." Rick huffed out.
AN: Only a small chapter this time because I want to ask those of you who read this a question which may change the future chapters. So as you've all noticed I've changed the writing style for this one- I found it difficult writing in first person in this bit so yeah, would you guys prefer it if I continue writing the story like this or would you rather I stay to first person for the Julie bits and just right in third person for bits/chapters on the group?
Also, I know it's been really slow paced up till now but that will change. :) And this work is also being published on Archive of our own- it's been edited slightly so it's actually a bit better than this version. The Author name is the same so if you want to read it over there you can.