Chapter 10

March 12, 2014

Dwight made his rounds on his first day leading charge of security as Sasha temporarily located to Hilltop to be with her recently born godson. It was an idea that he was slightly envious over but as for his own goddaughter, Noelle was being well looked after by her two parents while he and Sherry made efforts to visit as often as they could. It made sense for Sasha to help because Maggie had been running a community and caring for a newborn on her own. Sasha found it pertinent to provide assistance where she could.

He meandered around Alexandria's new outlines as large metal beams were starting to go up. With the growing boundary, forty more homes would be included in the safe zone. Some houses had some wear and tear to them from four years of neglect but the ones with too much destruction would be torn down by the construction crews and then replaced with various crops of vegetation or barns with livestock.

Dwight walked down one new street as his eyes kept on glancing towards one of the smaller homes in the entire Alexandrian neighborhood. He recognized that particular house. It was the same house where he, Carol, Aaron, and Daryl made an explosive next to that put an abrupt end to the grenade battle with the Saviors. He remembered encouraging Carol and Aaron to wade out the rest of the fight inside the home as all the Saviors would begin to retreat soon after.

Stepping right in front of it, Dwight stopped and placed a hand on the white picket fence while observing it from thirty feet away. From the outside, he could already tell the roof needed to be fixed and supposed there was some water damage because of it. One window was broken but Earl had an extension of his blacksmith shop where workers knew how to fix it easily enough.

Curious, Dwight opened the gate and walked up to the house. From the looks of it on the outside, the front was directly between both ends of the home with two matching windows on each side. Under each window were wooden flower beds and over the small front porch was a pergola with dead outgrowing vines overtaking the wooden trellis leading up to it. Dwight knew that would have to be fixed and maintained but knew Sherry would like the feature if he gave the trellis a fresh coat of white paint so it wouldn't look run down.

He then opened the front door and took a deep breath. As he predicted when seeing the two front windows, there were two large rooms on each side of the main entrance that were used for different occasions. In the main entrance were stairs that lead to an upstairs that Dwight could see from the outside but knew it was a small living space. Beside the stairs was a hallway that lead to Dwight presumed to be more rooms.

To his left was a decent sized living room area with a built in entertainment center that was wall-to-wall. The ceilings didn't look as damaged much to Dwight's surprise. Not surprisingly, the TV that had once been attached to the wall was missing as he assumed looters cleaned the place out long ago. He wasn't particularly worried as he knew where to find another if he felt the need for it. The living area was carpeted but again was stunned at how nice it appeared.

Crossing over the main entrance to the other side of the house, he saw a spacious kitchen with an equal sized dining room. The large table from the previous owners remained where it had been before. From the size of the small house and the large main rooms, Dwight could deduce that whoever lived there before had been a small family but enjoyed entertaining others.

Dwight walked up the stairs to see a wooden loft with wall-to-wall windows on all sides to overlook the outside. It almost reminded him of a lighthouse or a lookout point. Beneath the windows were three foot tall bookcases that encircled the entire space. Sherry would like all the space for her books, he thought and smiled at the concept.

He went back downstairs to look down the hallway where one small bedroom and bathroom was. There was a larger master bedroom with an adjoining bathroom as well but by the time Dwight saw that part of the house, he had already been sold. It was perfect.

…

"Well it's structurally sound enough," Tobin began, "Roof will need to be replaced, new roof vents, caulking repair. I'll put in an order for the new front window along with the other houses that are being renovated. Have anything to trade for that?"

"Tell Earl that I am collecting almost every album created," Dwight offered, "If he's been missing a song, I'll try and find it."

"Same goes for me," Tobin responded and handed him a list. Dwight took a glance and saw the list of musicians with the band Creedence Clearwater Revival as number one, "I forgot to add that Carol has been craving some Carpenters music as well."

"Consider it done," Dwight said with a grin as they both shook hands, "Do you do special requests on home renovations?"

"It'll cost extra," Tobin answered honestly, "Construction has been a high commodity lately. What do you need?"

"A deeper bathtub in the master bathroom?" Dwight inquired, "Teach me to install it and I can scavenge whatever you want."

"La-z-boy," Tobin said before Dwight even finished his sentence, "Hilltop had one when we were there for Carol's side injury. Slept like a baby on that."

"Sure thing," Dwight agreed, "If you need anything else, let me know. What you're doing for me shouldn't be paid with just an armchair and a couple of albums though."

"It's the simple things in life, isn't it?" Tobin replied as they both walked out of the house, "But I guess if I think of something else, I'll let you know."

…

Megan decided to visit Alexandria for a long weekend with her friends. Taking a wagon ride with the supplies being driven from one location to the next, she didn't mind the extra stops they took to unload any trades that each community had to offer. With a pistol on her hip, she became an extra pair of eyes to be on the lookout for walkers that could spring onto the road at any given time.

Their last stop before Alexandria was the ammunitions factory. The driver of the wagon rang a bell to indicate that he was waiting and they had ten minutes to hitch a ride or wait for another mode of transportation to head their way. Megan smiled at the man who tended to the horses as the sense of adventure stirred within her. Since their fuel was running low, they had to figure out new ways to power their things. To her, wagons felt very much like the computer game Oregon Trail. Like the new frontier, the wagons brought a future full of promise and hope for something better. Megan had a way of looking at the brighter side of things even if her anxieties threatened to break through at inconvenient moments. Regardless, she had to remind herself that she was still alive and that every day she had was something special.

Only one person emerged from the ammunition factory as he walked while burying his face into a novel. She remembered his name being Eugene and could recognize his dark brown mullet anywhere. Upon conversations that she had with him before, she knew him to be quite a character and rather intelligent even if it came across as somewhat pretentious at times. Despite him seeming awkward to most, Megan always enjoyed his company and saw that he was genuine to who he truly was.

Taking his gaze away from his book to climb into the wagon, he did a double take when seeing Megan. His face immediately reddened as he took a seat and ignored her altogether. Intrigued by his reaction, Megan made a light giggle just as the wagon began to tread onwards to Alexandria. She was shy by nature but could read when someone appeared to be just as extroverted as she was. Already feeling livened by helping with the supply runs, she felt brave enough to approach Eugene in conversation more so than she would have any other day.

Finding a seat on the wagon floor beside Eugene, he pretended that she wasn't there and continued to read his book. Megan nearly blushed at his indifference and started to feel self-conscience as if she had done something wrong in the past to merit the cold shoulder. On the verge of already giving up and feeling that her bravery had been spent, she began to scoot over as Eugene looked up slightly dumbfounded.

"Do I have something on my face?" Eugene asked getting straight to the point of his agitation.

Surprised that he was thinking she was only there to chastise him about a minor thing, she shook her head and turned beet red. "No, I...um… just wanted to ask what you are reading."

"You wanted to ask what I was reading?" He repeated while remaining unconvinced.

"I saw you walking towards the wagon and you didn't even glance up until seconds before you hopped in," Megan reasoned, "Figured that whatever you were reading must have been really good."

Eugene considered what she said before answering. Instead of saying anything, he closed his book and handed it to her but Megan still noticed that his posture appeared stiff and uninviting.

Megan studied the book that he had given her. "Living Off the Grid by Dave Black," she read from the front cover, "Are you the one that's coming up with all these ideas for us?"

"Well, they are not devised from my own expertise," Eugene admitted, "I just read books about it and show others how to implement it in their day-to-day life."

"I wouldn't discredit yourself," Megan replied while thumbing through the pages, "You are like the resident specialist when it comes to a lot of things that we use. I think it's really great."

His shoulders seemed to relax from her compliment and he almost smirked. She hadn't ever really seen Eugene smile before but like everything else, it seemed genuine.

"Megan, right?" Eugene asked.

She nodded. "And you're Eugene."

"That I am," Eugene responded with more warmth than she had grown used to from him, "Heading to Alexandria?"

"Just for a few days," Megan answered kindly, "Thought I could use a vacation."

"Sounds nice," Eugene remarked.

"What about you?" Megan inquired, "You ever go to the other communities just to get away?"

"I go to other communities because people want me to fix a gidget of theirs," Eugene replied with melancholy as Megan immediately sensed some bit of resentment with it.

"I'm sure they are thankful for your help," Megan tried to console but gave him a little smile with apology, "I'm sorry that your job is thankless."

"I shouldn't complain," Eugene mumbled.

Megan was unsure of what to say to make him feel better. Instead she looked down at the book that he had been reading and knew of at least one way to lift his spirits.

"I'm staying at Barbara's house when I am in Alexandria," Megan started, "I brought some movies with me if you would like to come over sometime to watch them with us. I would love the extra company."

Eugene glanced up and furrowed his eyebrows. "Do you need help hooking the television up to power?"

"No, I'm pretty sure that's already taken care of," Megan established.

"What movies will you be watching?" Eugene then questioned. Megan was realizing that he could be a hard sell when he wanted to be.

"I brought Fifth Element, Beetlejuice, Pulp Fiction, and Aliens," Megan clarified, "I don't know what kind of movies you were into before but…"

"Aliens," Eugene quickly said, "It's been awhile since I watched that one but I think I can still quote it word for word."

Megan beamed and knew she got him to be a part of the fun night. She hated to see when someone felt left out. And he of all people deserved a friend. She felt as if she desperately needed one as well and felt his personality almost attracted hers and vice versa. It was definitely something she looked forward to - which was a feeling she hadn't experienced in a long time.

…

Sherry glanced through all the layouts as Rick and Carol were working on various things in Deanna's house. It was the first real spring day of the year as they kept a window open to let the warm air inside. Judith was playing with toys on the living room floor while the adults went about their business.

"This lot," Sherry said and pointed at it for Carol to see, "That house can be torn down and we could easily put two greenhouses there. It was one of the bigger houses anyways."

"And it's right next to the reservoir," Carol said quietly to herself in thought, "Would be easy to water what we have growing in there."

"That's what I was thinking," Sherry agreed, "Then this house can be renovated for the water mill next to the dam. Eugene has plans as to what that mill powers, right?"

"Eugene just says it'll even out the power source so we don't use everything up from our solar panels," Rick explained, "Even though our panels can power Alexandria easily, we are expanding. Eugene wants any heavy duty power uses to be run by the dam so personal homes and industry aren't competing with each other."

"Do we have a layout of the houses that are fitting within our new boundaries?" Sherry asked him.

"Not yet," Carol responded for him, "Tobin is checking on all the homes and which ones are livable or not. When he's finished with that, we'll have all that information available."

"Sounds great," Sherry said and looked at all the future plans for Alexandria. Already, the community was better equipped to be independent unlike Sanctuary that required taxing from the get-go. She was proud to be involved with everything that their home was building. It fulfilled her so much more than anything had in their new world.

The front door opened as Dwight walked through into the living room followed by Tobin. The three-year-old Judith quickly stood up and raced towards Dwight while he opened his arms wide to pick her up. Sherry glanced up and smiled at the sight knowing that Dwight fit the title of everyone's favorite uncle very well. He carried Judith over his shoulder as she laughed uproariously and meandered towards the dining room table where all their work was placed.

"Working hard?" Dwight asked while Judith continued to laugh. He pretended to ignore her as if nothing was out of the ordinary but smiled to Sherry with a wink.

"Put me down!" Judith exclaimed delightedly as Dwight didn't need to be asked twice and placed her on the ground. She gave his leg a hug and then returned to playing with her toys.

"Yeah, we're just establishing what goes where," Sherry told as she kept looking at the plans to double check if they were correct. "Later tonight, I'm going to get a house count of our new boundaries just to guesstimate for future group arrivals and which houses would be best for them."

"Uh…" Dwight started and placed his hand over hers across the table, "I actually need to talk to you about that."

Sherry raised an eyebrow and peered at him skeptically. "What?" She questioned.

"If I asked you to promise me that you won't go towards the new boundaries, would you do it?" Dwight inquired with some worry, "Just trust me."

"Why?" Sherry pressed further.

"Just trust me," Dwight repeated back hopefully.

Sherry took a deep breath while having a difficult time letting go of a project that she was enthusiastic to tackle. There was so much land to sort through for the community that she was determined to stay in the loop and on top of things.

"We'll give you blueprints and layouts of the new area to help you stay informed," Dwight assured as if reading her mind, "I promise you that in return."

"As well as the amount of bedrooms in each house and floor plan sizes?" Sherry quizzed.

"Yeah, you'll receive all of that," Dwight assured, "Do we have a deal?"

Sherry groaned but stuck her hand out for him to shake on it. "Fine," she relented as he beamed. "Am I going to know why I can't go over there?"

"Eventually," Dwight said cryptically and leaned over to kiss her on the cheek, "I have to get back to my shift on the wall. I just wanted to stop by and say hello."

"Well, hello," Sherry answered and grinned, "You have been making that a habit to come say hello every day."

"Does it bother you?" Dwight asked almost nervous.

"No," Sherry clarified, "It's welcome anytime."

"Oh, good," Dwight uttered before stepping around the table then guiding her to the hallway away from everyone else. Slipping a hand underneath her jacket to feel her bare back, Dwight brought his body closer to hers and planted a deeper kiss on her lips, "I really love you, Sherry."

"I know," Sherry assured and kissed him back while enjoying the mood he was in, "I love you too."

Dwight moaned briefly at what Sherry said and held her face with both of his hands. "You know all I ever want to do is make you happy."

"You'll be glad to know that you're succeeding," Sherry revealed in a low whisper and kissed him one more time then took a long sigh, "But I have some work to do."

"I should probably get back to the wall as well," Dwight said regrettably, "Can I see you sometime tonight?"

"Of course you can," Sherry consented, "I'll see you after my work is done."

"I'll be done around dinner," Dwight said and reluctantly took his hands off her body to walk out of the house.

Sherry shook her head while watching him stride away then took a deep breath to get ahold of herself once more. Before entering the dining room, she looked into a hallway mirror to see if her face gave it away that she had been messing around with Dwight. Fortunately for her, she appeared somewhat normal and went back to business.