Rough Around the Edges

by lifizzell

You're either one of the living or one of the dead. Jordyn Ryder preferred being around the dead because she hated feeling. What happens when a hunter comes into her life and makes her feel something with her permission? The world is falling apart but other things are built. Daryl/OC story.

15. Chapter 15 - The Journey

Chapter 15: The Journey

Everyone gathered around in the kitchen. They had cleared off another table to put all the food they found in the RV. Rick looked at a few of the cans. He walked over addressing the other man. "These are ours now."

Aaron just nodded his head not fighting with him. "There's more than enough."

Rick turned. He wanted to make himself clear to the stranger. "These are ours whether or not we go to your camp."

Aaron was going to protest, but Carl interrupted first. "Why wouldn't we go?"

Michonne stepped forward. "If he were lying or if he wanted to hurt us… but he isn't… and he doesn't. We need this. So, we're going, all of us." She paused looking around at everyone in their group. "Somebody say something if they feel differently."

Ryder took her chance to step forward. "I don't trust him."

Michonne stood her ground. "Ryder, you know that our group needs this."

"No, we don't. We have been surviving without the help of other people. Just because he said nice words and has food doesn't mean that he's safe."

"He hasn't lied to us yet." Michonne tried her damnedest to convince the blonde to follow the group.

Ryder threw her hands in the air. "Yet. That's exactly what I'm talking about. He hasn't lied to us yet. There's still a chance that he will lie to us."

"Ryder, we aren't like you."

The blonde stopped her pacing looking over to the dark-haired woman. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"We can't keep running around on empty. We aren't machines like you are. We aren't trained for situations like this. We need this place, all of us."

Ryder stopped talking. She looked around at the entire group. She could see that even though they had been able to sleep in the house for a night, they were still exhausted. It wasn't the tired exhausted that they were before. They were exhausted of being out here. They needed a break. She saw what Michonne was saying. She just didn't trust Aaron or his offer. It sounded too good to be true.

The blonde walked over to the stranger sitting in the chair. She knelt down in front of him and looked at him directly in the eyes. She didn't waver, and she didn't blink. "If anything happens to anyone in this group then I will not hesitate to remove your head from your body." Before Aaron could say anything, she turned and walked through the crowd of people. She went upstairs not wanting to be around anyone right then. She pushed open the door making it slam into the side of the house. The blonde found the perch on the railing that she was so fond of.

Ryder looked down at the car and RV that was sitting in the driveway. She sighed to herself. If she had made the wrong call, then she wouldn't just kill the man sitting in the chair downstairs. If she had made the wrong call and ended up killing her group or most of them she would have to leave them. This group was the last one that she could be with. She couldn't keep coming into people's lives and ruining them with her stupid mistakes.

The blonde looked down, and she saw people loading their things into the two vehicles. She heard the familiar sound of the balcony door opening and closing behind her. She could tell with the sound of the steps on the wood that it wasn't Daryl. She turned from watching everyone loading to see that Rick had stepped out on the balcony with her.

"We have a plan." Rick hiked up Judith on his hip.

"What's that?" Ryder turned back watching everyone.

"Take Route 23 to the camp. He won't tell us how to get there fully, so we leave at night." Ryder just nodded her head understanding the plan. "Michonne, Glenn, Aaron, you and myself will be in the car while everyone else stays in the RV."

Ryder nodded her head again. She didn't disagree with the plan so far. She heard him start to leave the balcony. "Rick." The older man turned back around facing the blonde who was now looking at him. "I'm sorry for losing it earlier today. I didn't mean to make it sound like you didn't care about the group."

It was Rick's turn to nod his head in understanding. "I know. I also know how much you care for everyone. Don't worry about it."

Ryder just watched him leave through the door bouncing his baby daughter on his hip. She closed her eyes leaning her head against the house. She had to hand it to the man. She had an unlimited amount of respect for him. He was leading a group of 16 including himself. He was trying to raise a baby and a teenager during the end of the world. He was also trying to do all of it without having a wife around. If he wasn't super dad then she didn't know what to consider him.

It was almost pitch-black outside when everyone met around the cars. Ryder was watching everyone taking note. She wanted to make sure that everyone was in their correct place during the trip. If something went wrong, she didn't need anyone getting lost. She was the last one in the leading car. She was about ready to climb in when she felt a presence behind her.

The blonde turned closing the door. Daryl had been standing behind her waiting to talk to her. "Don't like you bein' in a separate car than me."

Ryder smiled at him. "It'll be fine. You will see me when we make it to the camp."

Daryl wanted to lean down and kiss her, but he stopped himself. He didn't know if she wanted him to, but he wasn't ready to let everyone else know. To be honest, he didn't know what they were. They hadn't made anything official. Right now, he didn't even know if she felt the same way he did. The hunter watched Ryder get into the car while he made his way over to the RV.

Glenn was driving the car with Rick in the passenger seat giving him directions on how to get to the camp Aaron told them. Aaron was sitting in the back between Michonne and Ryder. The blonde had heard everyone talking, but she didn't bother joining in. She was on alert since she didn't trust the man sitting next to her. She was waiting for the other boot to drop.

The blonde was watching the trees pass by as they made their way further away from the house they had been staying at. She turned in her seat looking back to see if the RV was behind them. She sighed inwardly happy that they hadn't been split up yet. Daryl was staying with them. She just wanted to get to the camp, so she didn't have to be so on edge about this entire thing.

Ryder leaned down grabbing the dog tags that she had wrapped around her ankle a long time ago. She laid them back around her neck grabbing hold of them. Whenever her squad would be caught in a dangerous situation, she would hang onto her dog tags. It reminded her that she was still alive. They reminded her that she was trained and that even if she couldn't trust anyone else in the world, she could trust herself. She closed her eyes breathing deeply gripping the tags.

She heard Rick open the glove compartment and heard metal rattling around. She opened her eyes as Aaron adjusted himself in his seat. "Um, I'm trying to collect all 50 states. Put them all on a wall in my house."

The word house didn't go unnoticed. She left it alone because he was probably just trying to get them excited about something that didn't exist. Michonne, on the other hand, believed the other man. "You have your own house?"

Ryder heard Aaron give Michonne a confirmation sound. "See for yourself."

The blonde closed her eyes keeping hold of her dog tags. She heard Michonne ruffling around in a bag. Ryder assumed she had grabbed the envelope that had the pictures in it. The blonde could hear Michonne flipped through the photos. She could hear the other woman start flipping through them faster until she stopped. "Why don't you have any pictures of your people?"

As soon as Michonne stopped talking Ryder's eyes shot open and looked over catching Michonne's eyes.

Aaron casually explained himself, but Ryder didn't believe anything he said. "Oh, I took a picture of the whole group, but I didn't get the exposure right. When I tried to develop it later, it just…"

Ryder was about ready to interrupt him, but Michonne beat her to it. "Did you ask him the questions?"

Ryder looked to the front seeing Rick half turn towards the back, glancing over at Glenn. "No."

Michonne stared at the man sitting next to her. She no longer looked so trusting of the other man. "How many walkers have you killed?"

Aaron looked between the two women. "I'm sorry, what?"

Ryder looked over at the man sitting between them. "Answer the damn question." She brought her hand down to her knife in her boot. If something happened while they were in the car, she wanted to be ready.

The blonde watched the man sitting next to her. She looked out of the corner of her eye, catching Glenn's eyes in the mirror. She glanced at Rick, but he didn't move from his position. She turned back to the man who was very obviously awkward and confused. "I don't know. A lot."

Without missing a beat, Michonne fired back another question. "How many people?"

"Two."

Ryder kept watching the guy. She glanced at Michonne. The other woman's eyes flashed to her but returned to Aaron. Ryder knew what Michonne was going to ask next. She had been asked the questions when Rick first found her in the woods. "Why?"

Aaron swallowed sharply. She could see that he felt uncomfortable admitting to what he had done. "Because they tried to kill me."

The blonde relaxed and she could see that Michonne was starting to relax a bit too. "It's still strange that you don't have any of your people in the photos."

Aaron smiled awkwardly. "I know. I assure you that there are people there. I'm not trying to trick you guys."

Ryder looked back out the window watching the trees go by and the walkers stumbling out of the woods. A few minutes later she heard the license plates moving around. She looked through the crack between the seat and the body of the car. She could see Rick looking at a piece of paper, but she couldn't read what was written on it with it being so dark.

Rick turned around looking at Aaron pointing to the paper. "What's this?"

Aaron leaned forward trying to see what Rick was talking about. "A list of your names."

"I see that. There's a yes next to some of the names and a maybe next to others."

Aaron moved around in his seat fidgeting. "I had to evaluate everyone in your group. It just means the chance you will be accepted into the community."

Ryder leaned up snatching the paper from Rick's grasp. She skimmed down the list. Her eyes stopped when she found her name. "Why is my name blank?"

The man sitting next to her didn't look over at the other woman.

The blonde moved into his space making him look at her. "What does this mean."

"I…it means you're the one that's going to have the hardest time getting into the community."

Ryder looked at Rick but went back to staring at Aaron.

Rick could see the look in the blonde's eyes. "If we don't all get to go then all of us are leaving."

Aaron looked around to all of them. "I'm sorry. It was only my job to find and evaluate people. I don't choose whether they are allowed in or not."

Glenn glanced behind him. "Why would Ryder hav…"

Ryder looked ahead of Glen at the road. "Glenn!" She pointed to the road.

Instead of hitting the brakes Glenn slammed on the gas.

"Glenn!" Rick yelled with his gun out.

"They are right behind us. They would have hit us. Now they can get through."

Ryder, Rick, Michonne, and Aaron were looking around out the windows as they were slowly being violently covered in blood from the walkers they kept hitting. By now Glen's windshield was completely covered in blood and walker body parts. Some must have gotten stuck under the car as they kept driving through because Glen spun out. Everyone was breathing heavy looking around, but they couldn't see anything around them.

All four of them stepped out of the car. Ryder and Glen ran to the front of the car wiping off the windshield and throwing pieces of walkers off the car. Rick and Michonne ran to the back of the road where they had just come from. "I don't see them."

Glen stood on top of the car trying to look over the heard of walkers that had covered the road they had just emerged from. "No, they're gone. They got away."

Ryder's stomach dropped when Glen had told the group that he couldn't see the RV.

Rick and everyone ran back to the car piling back in. "All right, we'll circle back around and find them. Let's go."

Aaron was taking deep breaths. "They're ok?"

Michonne didn't even look over at him. "Yeah."

While Rick was looking at the map, Glen took extra time to wipe off more blood from the windshield. He jumped back in the car just as Rick explained the new route. "All right, we can take a left a couple of miles up 23. Jefferson Avenue."

Aaron was looking around through all the windows. Especially, the back one since he could see all the walkers closing in on their car. "We got to get out of here."

Glen tried starting the car, but it just sputtered. The white, now red car wouldn't roll over and run as it had been. He kept trying to start it, but it wasn't going. Everyone could see the walkers getting closer.

"Michonne," Ryder yelled as she jumped out of the car. The blonde ran to the front pulling walker pieces out from the front of the car. Michonne ran around to the front with Ryder and helped pull more arms and guts from the front. The blonde was lifting the hood as much as she could while Michonne was trying to make a path for the engine.

Ryder heard Glen stop trying to start the car. She looked up and was about to yell at him to not stop, but that was when she noticed that all three of them were looking up in the sky behind her and Michonne. The blonde looked behind her in the sky seeing a flare dropping down over by the water tower.

Ryder and Michonne went around to the sides of the car they were sitting on. "Did you see that?"

Before Michonne could get a response while opening the door, the same door was thrust open knocking the other woman on her ass.

The blonde reacted instantly running around the car and into the woods. She could faintly hear Rick yelling after her to leave him alone and that they needed to find the rest of their group. She didn't care right now. If this was a trap and he was going to meet up with the other person, he had with him then she was going to follow him. She heard Michonne yell something at Rick, but she was too far into the woods to make out what she said.

Ryder was leaping and sprinting after Aaron. He had a head start, but she could still see him moving through the forest. "Aaron! Stop!"

She could see that he didn't show any sign of him stopping. Ryder pushed her legs faster to catch up to him. Finally, she was gaining on him. She got up behind him and tackled him to the ground. He was thrashing around yelling at her trying to get her to let him go.

"Shut up!" She yelled at him in her sergeant's voice. Aaron instantly stopped moving around trying to get her off him. She looked down at him. She could see that he was scared. He didn't seem like he was trying to betray them. He legitimately looked scared. It was like he may know who set off that flare and he was scared that something was going to happen to them. Ryder pulled her machete from her thigh and cut the rope that was binding his hands.

Ryder stood up no longer sitting on him. Before either of them could say anything, they heard gunshots going off in the distance. "Go ahead. I have other things to worry about."

The blonde started to leave to where she heard the gunshots, but Aaron stopped her. "Do you want to see Daryl again?"

She stopped looking at the other man from the corner of her eye. "Do you know where they are?" She started to pull her machete from her pouch not trusting the ominous way he was talking about the other people in the group.

Aaron held his hands up trying not to make himself look intimidating. "Just trust me. They are probably with my partner."

Both of them reacted to more gunshots going off in the distance. They seemed closer this time. "Come on." The blonde took off running in the direction of the shots.

It took them a minute to pinpoint where the shots were coming from, but finally, they ran into a clearing seeing Michonne and Rick trying to fight through a group of walkers. Ryder threw Aaron one of the other revolvers that she had grabbed. Aaron and her cleared the rest of the walkers with their guns.

Rick and Michonne turned around staring at the two of them. Aaron threw the gun in front of Rick with his hands up. "If you really want to tie me up again, that's fine, but hurry up."

Before Rick could answer Ryder spoke up. "Where's Glen?"

Michonne looked around behind her and Aaron. "We thought he was with you two."

The blonde just shook her head. "No. I haven't seen him since I left the car."

Aaron looked around frantically making sure no walkers were going to find them. "We need to hurry."

Ryder pointed the way to the highway. "Go with Aaron and see if you guys can go find the rest of the group. They are either the way of the flare, or they are on route 16."

Rick stepped forward. "I'm not leaving you out here alone."

She shook her head. "If you don't then we are all leaving Glen out here. Just go! I can find him and then I'll make my way toward the water tower where I saw the flare."

The other man hesitated, but Ryder just yelled at him to leave before he could say anything to stop her.

Rick sighed nodding his head. He turned and went the way to where route 16 was. Michonne did the same thing, and Aaron just watched her uncertainly.

Ryder didn't care. She couldn't leave another person out in the dark alone. Glen was still around her, and she was going to find him. She started to run around in the woods along the road that she knew was next to her. Instead of being silent she was yelling out Glen's name. She knew that it wasn't the smartest thing to do, but she needed to make noise for him to find her. Whenever she came across a walker stumbling toward her, she used her desert eagle instead of her crossbow.

The blonde stopped for a minute catching her breath. She had been running for 15 minutes trying to find Glen. She hadn't heard anything around her other than the noise that she was making. She took in a breath and cupped her mouth with her hands. "Glen! Where the hell are you!"

"Ryder?" The blonde turned around seeing him emerge from a row of bushes.

The blonde sighed in relief. "Finally. I was beginning to think that I was never going to find you."

"Where's the rest of the group?"

"They went to the water tower where they saw the flare go off earlier." She took a couple big breaths calming down her heartbeat.

"Why are you still out here?"

Ryder moved through the bushes to the road. "I'm out here trying to find you. Now that I did we can go find the rest of the group."

Glen followed behind the blonde. "Thanks. I got turned around in all the walker chaos and trying to find Aaron."

The blonde Just waved her hand over her shoulder dismissing his thanks. "No need. You would have made it yourself. You were right next to the road." Ryder pushed a branch out of the way and stepped onto route 16. "I just couldn't go back knowing someone was still out here."

Ryder looked over at Glen. "Ready?"

Glen watched her confused. "For what?"

"It's a jog to the water tower." The blonde pointed up to the tower over all the trees.

Glen rolled his eyes wrapping his gun around to his back. "Let's go."

Ryder and Glen took off jogging toward the water tower in the distance. It had been a while since Ryder had run this much. The last time that she had run more than she had recently was when she was running from the herd that was at the prison.

They slowed down when there was a town in the distance. They could see into the town and noticed the RV parked next to a building. Ryder started walking with her desert eagle ready. She didn't know if she was walking into an ambush or not, but she was ready if she was. The blonde looked back at Glen who had his gun up too.

Ryder brought her hand up to her mouth when they entered the edge of town. She whistled the way they always did when they got separated and needed to get her groups attention. They walked further down the path, and she heard the return whistle noise.

The blonde smiled when she saw the hunter walk out from the edge of one of the buildings. She started jogging over to the group that had gathered outside at their arrival. Maggie ran out of the door and straight into Glen's arms. Rick walked over and put his hand on Ryder's shoulder. She looked up at his smiling face. "Thanks for making it back."

Ryder smirked at the other man. "You doubted me?"

Rick patted the woman's shoulder again and went into the garage they were currently held up for the night. The blonde was going to continue when she felt two arms wrap around her in a tight hug.

Ryder smiled hugging Maggie with one arm. She was still awkward at showing affection, but she was working on it and trying to get better. "Thank you for bringing him back."

"There's nothing to thank me for. Anyone of us would have done it."

The rest of the group piled into the door they had exited out of. Ryder decided to stay back and not go in quite yet. She walked over and sat on the hood of a car across from the door. Her smile that she had held when she saw her group faded.

Ryder couldn't stop thinking about what Aaron had said in the car before they hit that herd of walkers. She remembered looking at the list, and she was the only one that didn't have anything written by her name. She didn't even make it in the maybe category. Ryder sighed leaning back on her hands looking up at the stars. What would happen if the camp doesn't like her? What would happen if the rest of the group is invited in, but she isn't? Ryder knew that Rick was serious when he said that if their entire group isn't accepted, then they wouldn't stay but she couldn't be that selfish. She couldn't allow those people to live as they had been. Michonne even said they couldn't keep living like that. The blonde closed her eyes. She could live that way if she needed to. She was built that way. She was built to live alone and to survive at all costs. She needed to talk to Aaron and figure out if there was a huge chance that she wouldn't be accepted into the camp.

Before she could open her eyes and sit up, she felt the metal warp next to her. She opened one eye and saw that Daryl had made his way away from the group and had found her. Ryder leaned forward leaning her arms on her legs. She picked up a leaf that was on the hood and started picking at it. She was still feeling awkward with Daryl alone. She didn't know how to handle herself. Especially, when someone apparently liked her. That was newish territory for her.

"Didn't think I was gonna see you 'gain."

She looked over at Daryl. She could hardly hear what he was saying. Apparently, he was shy, and this was new to him too.

"You doubted me too?" Ryder smirked looking back at her mangled leaf.

"I trust you. Jus', not other people or walkers." Daryl looked over at Ryder looking through his hair.

Ryder didn't say anything. She just nodded her head a couple of times. She jumped down from the hood. "I need to go talk to Aaron." She gave him a small wave before walking back into the building.

The blonde made her way past people laying down trying to get some sleep or still awake doing things she couldn't see. She found her way into the back of the building. There she saw Aaron sitting next to another man she didn't recognize. Aaron and the other man looked up at her. She made a point to look at Aaron. "I need to talk to you."

Aaron was about ready to make an excuse to not leave the other man, but the stranger spoke up for him. "Go ahead. It's just a broken ankle. I'll be fine."

Ryder watched as the other man looked at the stranger and then led her over to a room away from everyone. She figured he knew what she wanted to talk about since he was making sure they were away from everyone. He walked over and stood in the doorway of a room making sure he could still see the other man laying down. Then, he turned his full attention to the blonde.

Ryder crossed her arms. "Am I going to be accepted into the camp."

"Community." Aaron corrected. "To be honest, I'm not sure. The rest of the group won't be a problem. Daryl and Rick may give our leader an issue, but she needs strong people."

Ryder squinted at the other man. She didn't understand why she was such an issue if Rick and Daryl wouldn't be for the leader. "Why am I different?"

Aaron shifted to his other foot. He brought his arms up and crossed them like she was doing. She watched him as he awkwardly avoided the question. "You like being out there."

Ryder rolled her eyes. "What?"

"You can deny it all you want." Aaron stepped back away from the woman in front of him half a step. "You like being out there." He pointed to the woods where Glen and her, had just come from. "Whether it's by yourself or with a group I can tell you would rather be out there in the woods surviving with the walkers than living in the community we have and the houses we live in."

"How do you know that?"

"I've been bringing people back to the community for a while. That means I must evaluate a lot of people. You aren't the first one that has had the same mentality."

Ryder watched the other man. "If your leader doesn't want me around then fine but just make sure they accept the rest of the group. They can't be out there any longer. I see that now." Before Aaron could say anything, she walked past him into the big room and sat down laying her crossbow next to her. She leaned against some shelving and closed her eyes.

The blonde heard someone clear their throat. She opened one eye looking over at the other guy Aaron was sitting next to. "I'm Eric. Nice to meet you." He smiled warmly.

Ryder half smiled. "Ryder." She closed her eyes again.

The blonde was sitting in the back of another rusted out car. Rick was driving with Michonne sitting next to him. This time Carl had Judith sitting next to her in the back seat. She sighed. She didn't want to leave. She had started to create something with these people. They were her family. Now she was going to be ripped away from them. Ryder looked ahead as Rick stopped the car. She watched the gates, but nothing was happening. Michonne and Rick were talking up front. She could see everyone getting out of the RV.

Ryder leaned over and grabbed Judith gently. She grabbed her blanket as she heard someone open the door next to her. She turned and handed Rick, his baby. After she got out of the car and walked up with everyone.

The blonde stayed in the back of the group. Everyone turned when they heard a commotion, and something knocked over a trash can sitting off to the side of the road. Daryl turned and immediately shot at an opossum trying to scurry away.

The gate opened just as Daryl picked up the animal with a bolt through its midsection. The people inside the community looked at their group somewhat disgusted. Daryl held up his kill to them. "We brought dinner." Ryder couldn't help but smirk. It was rare for him to make jokes but when he did, they were pretty funny. Even if no one else thought they were.

The group slowly made their way into the fences. Ryder was the last one through the gate. Everyone in the group watched as the gate closed behind them. There was a man standing off to the side. He walked over to them. "Before we take this any further, I need you all to turn over your weapons. Stay, you hand them over."

Rick walked forward. He still had his python drawn. "We don't know if we want to stay."

Aaron looked around to everyone. He turned to the other man. "It's fine, Nicholas."

Ryder stepped forward from behind everyone. She had her crossbow out like Daryl. "Trust us. If we wanted to use them, we would have already started."

"Let them talk to Deanna first." Aaron was going to continue, but the ginger in the back cut him off.

"Who's Deanna?"

"She knows everything you'd want to know about this place. Rick, why don't you start?"

The group walked further into the community. Aaron stopped by one of the houses. "This is my house. You guys are welcome to stay here until Rick gets back. Deanna is going to want to talk to all of you individually."

Rick walked over and handed Carl Judith. The group all made their way onto the porch while Rick was escorted a few houses down. Ryder didn't bother with going in the house. Aaron wasn't so bad anymore, but she couldn't be too sure about everyone else around there. The blonde sat on the front steps of the porch. She looked around at the white picket fences and all the nice lawns. It was like this place hadn't been touched by what was outside. The blonde laid on her back with one leg down and the other one propped up on the step. She closed her eyes.

Since she had talked to Aaron, she had been preparing how to tell everyone that she wouldn't be allowed to stay. Aaron had made it pretty obvious that she wouldn't make the cut. She could lie, but that would make the rest of the group look bad. She didn't need to get everyone kicked out because she wanted to be with the group. She couldn't blame Aaron or the people in the settlement though. He was right. She would rather be out among walkers instead of being like a caged animal behind the walls. She didn't want to forget what the world was like now because the people who forget get dumb and stupid and make terrible decisions that get them killed.

Ryder fell asleep waiting for her turn to talk to the leader. She wouldn't mind some sleep before she was grilled and kicked out.

The blonde felt herself being moved. She opened her eyes looking up at the ceiling of the house. She was still on the porch. She looked over and noticed Daryl was moving her side with his boot. "My turn?"

Daryl nodded his head. "Yup. Last one."

Ryder leaned up and hopped down off the porch. "Perfect." She made her way over to the house that she remembered Rick entered. She found the front door and knocked. There was a small blonde-haired woman that answered the door. She smiled warmly and let Ryder into her home.

She walked over and sat in the chair the other woman wanted her to sit in. The camera sitting behind the couch didn't go unnoticed. Her eyes swept around the room. She was trying to see if there was going to be any surprises waiting for her.

Ryder heard the other woman sit down across from her. "Do you mind if I film this?"

The blonde shrugged her shoulders not giving the woman a comment. She looked out the windows watching the people walk by.

"How long have you been out there?"

Ryder turned back to Deanna. "Since… it all started."

"How did you all find each other?"

"I'm sure you asked Rick all these questions."

Deanna nodded. "I did, but I want to hear what you have to say."

"I came across him and his group. He found me about a month later hunting in the woods by their compound."

Ryder saw Deanna adjust in her seat. Ryder didn't stop watching her. She wanted to see what this woman was like. "A month later?"

"I didn't want to join their group at first. Preferred to be out on my own."

"What did you do?"

"I don't think it matters anymore does it?"

Deanna smirked. "Rick thought the same thing. It does matter. Trust me."

She watched the other woman. They were both staring each other down. They both weren't giving away any tells or way to read each other. Ryder had to hand it to the other woman she was good. She gave up and looked out the window again. "Army Ranger. Special Ops."

"Will you be able to live in a community like this?"

This was the question. She assumed that Deanna had gotten all the information from her that she needed. She didn't need to answer her question. "I think the better question is will you allow me to live in this community."

Ryder noticed the shock on the older woman's face, but she schooled back her cool demeanor. "Daryl was in here right before you were. He wouldn't sit. He seemed like he didn't want to be here, but I could tell that he really wanted to. I could see that he wanted himself and everyone to try to have a life here."

Ryder leaned forward looking the woman in the eyes. She leaned her arms on her knees. "What about me?"

"You don't. You show on the outside that you want to be here, but you don't. The opposite of the way he felt."

The blonde stood and grabbed her crossbow. "Don't hurt my people or I will come back." She scowled down at the older woman. She didn't flinch away from her like most people would.

Ryder left the house slamming the door shut. She walked down the road but instead of stopping at the house they had all been gathered at she didn't stop. She grabbed the strap of the crossbow and kept walking. She saw Daryl take off after her after calling Rick from the house.

The blonde stopped walking and turned around to meet Daryl and Rick. The hunter was the first one to speak. "Where are you goin'?"

"I don't belong here, and Deanna knows it. What do you think that interview was for?"

Rick stepped forward. "Then we are all leaving."

Ryder smiled at the older man. "I can't ask you to do that."

She could see that Daryl was starting to get worked up. "Not askin' us for nothin'. You ain't leavin'."

"You guys need this. This community will be good for all of you. You guys can't stay out there any longer."

Rick didn't say anything. She knew that he knew she was right. They couldn't keep having close calls out there. This community was a great thing to happen.

The hunter turned looking at Rick. "You can't be serious. You're goin' let her jus' walk out?" Rick didn't respond. "I'm goin' with."

He was about ready to turn and go get his crossbow, but Ryder stopped him. "You can't leave Daryl. These people need you." He was going to protest again, but she stopped him. "You want to be here as much as they do. Even if you don't outwardly show it."

The hunter couldn't say anything after that. Rick spoke up again. "Be safe."

Ryder smiled sadly. "Always. Make sure you guys watch out for one another no matter what."

The blonde turned and made her way to the gate. She heard the gate opening, but then she couldn't believe her ears. "Jordyn?"

Ryder stopped walking but didn't turn around. There wasn't any way that it could be her.

Slowly, she turned around and sure enough there she was. "Victoria?"