A/N: Hello my lovelies! For once, I get a chapter out in a reasonable time! I know, weird, right? But a good kind of weird :)

This one is over 6,000 words, so it's long too! Timely AND long! You guys get a real treat today! And, exciting news, NEXT ONE WE FINALLY GET INTO ALEXANDRIA! I haven't been THIS EXCITED to write something since making it into the prison courtyard with the baby food. I hope you all like what I'm going to do in this lovely post-apocalyptic community. And, I put this is in an older chapter, but I'm going to write it again- There will be another OC added into the story! I was allowed the use of, "Sam," by his creator, ALLTIMEAOT. I don't know if you guys are happy about the addition of someone else, but I'm excited to write him. I just ask that you give him a chance! He's going to be a pretty damn cool guy.

The next morning is calm, sweet, and uneventful. We all feast heartily and drink to our hearts content, all the while having blissful conversations of how we want to plan our DC trip.

Wrong.

We really can't catch a break, can we?

Most of us sleep like shit after the storm calms down. We're all on edge from the possibility of walkers outside our door, hearing our every move, smelling the blood run in our veins. We're scared.

But the morning light shines through the cracks of wood and most of us manage to catch a wink or two of sleep. I'm not one of those people. Instead, I grab a tiny strand of rope off the barn wall, tying loose knots and untying them throughout the night. It keeps my hands busy and slows my mind from wandering. Lord knows what I'll think of.

My hands stop moving as the barn door opens, Maggie stepping in the doorway. She and Sasha went out earlier to watch the sunrise. "Everyone..."

She says it cautiously, slowly, like she's trying to prepare us for something. And as she opens the door all the way, I realize she is.

"This is Aaron." She introduces, waving to a man whom I've never seen before. Though his hands are raised, we all immediately stop lounging around. We stand up quick and raise our guns to him. My knife is in my hands in a flash.

Daryl passes by the three of them at the doorway, looking outside for any sign of others.

"We met him outside. He's by himself." Maggie explains slowly, tying to reason with our agitation and anger. "We took his weapons and we took his gear." Daryl comes behind him and pats him down in a quick frisk. Aaron doesn't object; actually, he pulls his arms from his side so Daryl can make a clean, full frisk.

As Daryl stops, the newcomer looks around at all of us wide, blue eyes. I take quick note of his curly brown hair and three layers of clothing: tee, flannel, and heavy jacket. He looks scared. You better be.

"Hi." He gives an awkward nod to Rick, who's currently holding Judith. But Judith begins to cry so he hands her off to Carl.

"It's nice to meet you." Aaron says, holding a hand out and moving closer to Rick so they can shake. Are you serious? Once the clicks of guns from our group are audible, he realizes his place and stops, his arms raised in surrender again.

"You said he had a weapon?" Rick ignores the handshake debacle and looks over to Sasha and Maggie. Maggie goes over to him and hands him a single revolver. He holds it up to show Aaron, and he puts it in the belt of his pants.

"There something you need?" Rick pointedly accentuates, "need," at the end. It makes the question sound more like, "Why did you come here? Who the fuck do you think you are?"

"He has a camp nearby." Sasha answers for him, apprehensive and sarcastic. "He wants us to audition for membership."

"I- wish there was another word. Audition makes it sound like we're some kind of a dance group. That's only on Friday nights." He laughs at the end, trying to lighten the mood. Not working, buddy.

He senses the awkwardness and general, "I don't care," emotion of our group, and tries to salvage the moment. "And it's not- it's not a camp. It's a community. I think you all would make valuable additions. But, it-it's not my call. My job is to convince you all to follow me back home." His eyes land to Rick, whose hands are twitching by his side. His immediate protection-mode is set up again, stronger than ever. "I know. If I were you I wouldn't go either. Not until I knew exactly what I was getting into. Sasha, can you hand Rick my pack?"

With an heir of, "what the fuck?" she saunters over to Rick, shrugging off the tan backpack that rested on her shoulders. Aaron continues, "Front pocket, there's an envelope."

Rick goes to the front pocket, searching the bag as Aaron keeps talking. "There's no way I could convince you to come with me just by talking about our community." As he talks, he brings his hands down and folds them, as if he were some public speaker. "That's why I brought those."

Rick takes package from the pocket, and it's huge. It's stuffed with something. "I apologize in advance for the picture quality. We just found an old camera store last-"
"No one gives a shit." Daryl interrupts, spitting his words out.

Aaron turns to look to Daryl. "You're absolutely 100% right." Wow, are you serious?

He turns back to Rick as our leader pulls out the pictures and looks to the one on top. "That's the first picture I wanted to show you because nothing I say about our community will matter unless you know you'll be safe. If you join us, you will be. Each panel in that wall is a 15-foot high, 12-foot wide slab of solid steel, framed by cold-rolled steel beams and square tubing. Nothing alive or dead gets through that without our say-so. Like I said, security is obviously important. In fact, there's only one resource more critical to our community's survival. The people."

We all mull over his thoughts. Mom and Rick share a look but I can't tell what they're thinking. I know what I'm thinking. It's a trap. Obviously. Those places don't exist anymore.

"Together; we are strong." Aaron continues, holding on to our attention. And he's happy that he's got it. "You can make us even stronger. The next picture, you'll see inside the gates."

And suddenly Rick starts striding forward, quick and swift.

Aaron keeps talking, almost oblivious to Angry Leader 5000. "Our community was first constru-"

And he receives a fist to the face. The punch is powerful enough to knock him out on the spot. Not that I'm surprised. He looks like a twig. I'm sure Judith could punch him and he'd be out like a light. Thank god. He can't talk when he's knocked out.

Some of the others crowd around Aaron, grabbing him and bounding his wrists together. Rick just shakes his head at Aaron's unconscious body and turns back around.

"Just so we're clear," mom starts, seemingly confused and angry at Ricks action, "that look wasn't a, 'let's attack that man,' look. It was a, 'he seems like an okay guy to me,' look."

Rick disagrees, like the majority of our group. "We gotta secure him. Dump his pack. Let's see what this guy really is."

Thank you, Rick, for keeping your head on straight.

"Rick!" Mom hisses, clearly angry with his reaction.

He turns to the rest of the group. "Everybody else, we need eyes in every direction. They're coming for us. We might not know how, or when, but they are."

"Me and Sasha, we didn't see him." Maggie tells Rick, hoisting up Aaron's body into a sitting position. "If he had wanted to hurt us, he could've."

"Anybody see anything?" Rick calls out. Those not keeping their eyes on Arron are on a new patrol, peering through the cracks of the walls with practiced scrutiny. That includes me, just a few paces away from Glenn.

"Just lots of places to hide." Glenn answers.

"All right, keep looking!"

Through the corner of my eye I see Rick moving over to Carl, whom has kept busy by shuffling through the items in Aaron's bag. "What did you find?" Rick asks.

There's jars of food- baby- food, spread out, but the item that takes most of his attention is a bright orange gun. He hands it over to his dad. "Never seen a gun like that before."

Rick doesn't seem confused though. He takes the gun from Carl and pulls the tip down to look at the barrel. He gives a nod to his son before going back to Aaron. The newcomer is stirring back awake, groaning through what I assume is a splitting headache. Rick doesn't half-ass his punches.

"That's a hell of a right cross there, Rick." Aaron compliments. Oh my god. You get fucking punched in the face and you compliment the man? It's like you have a death wish written on your forehead.

Mom goes to the floor with a cloth and begins to dab at the fresh blood that's on Aaron's face, all mother-like.

Rick cocks his head to the side, bristling with anger. I get it, Rick. This idiot is overly compliant. It's a bad sign. "Sit him up."

"I think it's better if-" Mom tries to reason with him, but is interrupted by the pained man himself.

"It's okay." Aaron gives a fake yawn to stretch out his jaw muscles, wincing with the movement.

"He's fine. Sit him up." Rick orders again. Mom is angry with the order but helps Aaron to sit up straight.

"You're being cautious." Aaron pants in his spot. "I completely understand."

He barely gets his words out before Rick interrogates him. "How many of your people are out there? You have a flare gun." He pulls the orange gun out to show it to our new prisoner. "You have it to signal your people. How many of them are there?"

Aaron huffs in his spot. "Does it matter?"

"Yes. Yes it does."

"I mean, of course," Aaron almost gives an eye roll to our leader, "it matters how many people are actually out there, but, does it matter how many people I tell you are out there? Because, I'm pretty sure no matter what number I say- eight, thirty two, four hundred and forty four, zero- no matter what I say, you're not going to trust me."

"Well, it's hard to trust anyone who smiles after getting punched in the face."

Damn right!

"How about a guy who leaves bottles of water for you in the road?"

And sure enough, when I look back to the table with all the packs supplies thrown over it, there's at least four bottles there, filled to the top with clean, clear water. Just like the shit we found in the middle of the street yesterday.

"How long you people been following us?" Daryl asks gruffly, anger lacing each word. He's a tracker; he doesn't like being tracked.

"Long enough to see that you practically ignore a pack of roamers on your trail." Aaron's voice quivers, but he keeps his cool. "Long enough to see that despite a lack of food and water, you never turned on each other. You're survivors, and you're people. Like I said, and I hope you won't punch me for saying it again, that that is the most important resource in the world."

The decree is met with silence. I look down to my feet, not wanting to think about what he said. It's too much to take in.

But I hear Rick as again, this time his voice harsh. "How. Many. Others. Are out there?"

"One." Aaron gives a full answer this time, simple. But when I look to his face, his expression is dull. He knows Rick won't believe him. Nor do I, really. Just one? Can't be true.

And Rick shakes his head, livid at the thought of just one person being out there.

And Aaron is smug in his response to The Look. "I knew you wouldn't believe me. If it's not words, if it's not pictures, what would it take to convince you that this is for real?"

You can't, because it's not. You're a liar.

"What if I drive you to the community? All of you? We leave now, we'll get there by lunch."

Oh, really? Take all of us to your community? Sounds like a death trap to me.

"I'm not sure how the 15 of us are going to fit in the car you and your one friend drove down here in." Rick points out, shutting down the idea.

"We drove separately. If we found a group, we wanted to be able to bring them all home. There's enough room for all of us!"

"And you're parked just a couple miles away, right?" Carol asks sourly.

"East on Ridge Road." Aaron nods. "Just after you hit Route 16. We wanted to get them closer, but then the storm came, blocked the road. We couldn't clear it."

"Yeah, you've really thought this through." Rick nods. Sounds like it.

"Rick," Aaron says, exasperated. "If I wanted to ambush you, I'd do it here. You know, light the barn on fire while you slept; pick you off as you ran out the only exit. You can trust me."

The plea is met with silence again. I shake my head. No, we can't. You're a liar. You're a liar.

Mom stands from her spot beside Aaron. "I'll check out the cars."

"There aren't any cars." Rick argues.

"There's only one way to find out." Mom raises an eyebrow slyly, as if challenging Rick to argue with her. He takes the bait.

"We don't need to find out."

"We do." Mom presses, firm in her tone. "You know what you know, and you're sure of it, but I'm not."

"Me neither." Maggie says, her arms crossed in front of her chest.

Through his thick beard (man, that thing is huge,) he grinds his teeth together in disagreement. With a shake of his head, he tells mom, "Your way is dangerous. Mine isn't."

"Passing up someplace where we can live? Where Judith can live? That's pretty dangerous." She waits a beat, just to see if he would say anything. "We need to find out what this is. We can handle ourselves. So that's what we're gonna do." She says it with such resolve that she doesn't leave Rick a place to argue.

"Then I will, too." Glenn pipes up. "I'll go."

Rick seems so lost at the thought of the two going. It spikes up my heart rate. Mom and my closest friend. My family.

"Abraham." Rick calls to the ginger. Abraham is still against the wall, peering out for Aaron's one friend. Rick doesn't even need to ask. Abraham nods to his silent request with a grin. "Yeahh. I'll walk with 'em."

He walks over to the others as Rick calls out, "Rosita?"

She nods. "Yeah, okay." She heads over to Abraham.

"If there's trouble, you got enough firepower?" Rick asks Glenn.

"We got what we got." Glenn answers sourly. Rick takes out his Python and gives it to him.

As the mini group gets ready (Maggie included,) Daryl grabs Aaron and pushes him against a beam, tying the newcomer to it.

"The walkies are out of juice." Rick informs them. "If you're not back in 60 minutes we'll come."

Mom nods. And Rick adds, "Which might be just what they want." She almost rolls her eyes at him, I can tell. I know that look. But she doesn't, she chooses to keep the peace. She heads out with the others and the door is pulled shut behind them. My heart pounds quick in my chest. Please be safe.

Rick begins to strategize to the rest of us. "If we're all in here, we're a target."

Daryl gruffly says, "I got the area covered." He grabs his crossbow and heads out the door, most of us following. That includes me.

"All right, groups of two, find somewhere safe within eyeshot." Rick orders. We all head out, with Carl and I taking the back end of the group. As we leave I feel a hand going to my shoulder, reassuring and firm.

I turn to see its Rick. He does the same to Carl. A silent way of saying, "Stay safe." I give him a smile as I walk out the door. I can feel his eyes on us, up until he closes the barn door.

Carl and I go in different directions, finding other people to keep watch with. The whole group quietly breaks off into pairs. He's with Carol, I'm with Tara.

I don't know anything about her. All I know is that she was with Glenn for a while after the prison. Knowing that Glenn likes her make me think that she can't be too bad, but still. Glenn likes everyone. He's just that kind of guy.

My knife is held tightly in my hand, held up in warning. She has a gun; I can't tell what type though. We're near an opening to the woods, just a couple yards from Eugene and Noah. We head further into the brush, keeping away from the other group. We want to be spread out, not clumped together.

When we don't see anything, she lowers her gun to point to the ground. I keep my knife raised.

"So, your name's Alyssa?" Tara asks, attempting to make small talk. I nod, though I'm not looking at her. My eyes are fixated to the brush.

"Glenn told me." She says. "How old are you?"

I shrug. I lost count. Maybe 14? Maybe 15? I mean, 16 feels a bit far stretched but I guess I wouldn't be too surprised. At any rate, I've lost count.

"You don't talk much, do you?" It's a statement. From her voice, I can tell she's off-put by my silent answers. No. No, I don't. Not anymore.

So I shake my head. And she nods to me.

"You don't talk; I talk too much." Tara gives a humorless laugh. "What I wouldn't give to have your problem."

No. You don't want this. I vigorously shake my head at her in an attempt to get my point across. She gives me a look of confusion, but shrugs her shoulders.

So much for small talk.

"Hey, get your asses over here!" Abraham shouts, gaining our attention. Not that he's shouting to us in particular; more like he's shouting to the rest of the group.

Tara and I look at each other, shrug, and hop through the rest of the green to see the tiny group (mom, Glenn, Maggie, Rosita, and Abraham) all standing outside an RV. They hold cans in their hands, and their arms are overflowing with how many they hold. My eyes widen at the sight. So. Much. Food. And an RV.

"We hit the dickin' jackpot!" Abraham grins, a jovial laugh escaping his lips. My eyes wander to the RV and I put two and two together. So, Aaron didn't lie about the car. It could fit all of us. But that doesn't mean that his community is real. A small part of my brain whispers, "But it could be." My rational side shuts the thought down. It can't be. It's not real.

As the rest of our group finds the RV, all of us grab as many cans as we can carry and we all head back to the barn. Aaron gives an exasperated sigh as he sees us set his food down on the table. His eyes follow each of us with a dejected gaze.

"You see this?" Rick take the top can, Spaghetti-O's, and crouches down in front of Aaron. "This, this is ours now."

"There's more than enough." I can hear the sadness in Aaron's voice, though he tries to be happy.

His expression stays downcast as Rick continues. "It's ours whether or not we go to your camp."

"What do you mean? Why wouldn't we go?" Carl asks from my side. Why would we? I raise an eyebrow towards him.

"If he were lying, or if he wanted to hurt us- but he isn't." Mom takes Carls' side. "And he doesn't. We need this. So we're going, all of us. Somebody say something if they feel differently."

"I don't know, man." Daryl says from his corner. He shakes his shoulders as he looks to Rick. "This barn smells like horse shit."

And that's what flips the switch in Ricks' brain. "Yeah." He says quietly. "We're goin'."

And I don't know if I'm happy or sad. Do I want us to go? It's not real, I tell myself. Aaron's a liar. But, is he? Do I just want him to be a liar?

What if he's telling the truth? Can I handle it?

Rick turns back to Aaron. "So where are we going? Where's your camp?"

Aaron seems taken aback by the sudden change of heart. "Well, every time I've done this, I've been behind the wheel driving recruits back. I believe you're good people. I've bet my life on it. I'm just not ready to bet my friends' lives just yet."

The group as one entity gets angry. You're telling us we can't come, after preaching to us all day that we should? Ugh.

"You're not driving." Mom goes to him. "So if you want to get home, you'll have to tell us how."

Aaron seems at war with himself. Trapped between a rock and a hard place. But he sighs and finally tells us, "Go north on Route 16."

"And then..?" Mom presses.

"I'll tell you when we get there."

Rick puts a map on the ground. "We'll take 23 north. You'll give us directions from there."

"That's- I don't know how else to say it- that's a BAD idea. We've cleared 16. It'll be faster."

"We'll take 23." His eyes bore into Aaron's, daring him to fight back. "We leave at sundown."

"We're doing this at night?" Sasha asks.

"Look, I know it's dangerous. But it's better than riding up to the gates during the day. If it isn't safe we need to get gone before they know we're there."

"No one is going to hurt you." Aaron interrupts, exasperated. "You're trying to protect your group, but you're putting them in danger."

Rick says simply, "Tell me where the camp is, we'll leave right now."

Aaron just shakes his head, dejected. So Rick just throws his hands out as a, "I knew it," gesture. As he stands up, he tells us, "It's going to be a long night. Eat. Get some rest if you can."

He heads out the door, most likely to take watch for us. Mom follows suit, closing the door behind the both of them. Abraham heads to the table and stabs the top of a can of Spaghetti-O's. He pops the top and holds it out to all of us.

"Hungry?" He asks all of us, a grin on his face.

By nightfall, we all break into two groups. The bulk of us take the RV, including me. Aaron, Rick, mom, and Glenn take the car in the front. The RV, driven by Abraham, takes the back since Aaron is going to give the car group directions.

Everything seemed fine at the start of the trip. Abraham and Rosita are at the front, talking and having a laugh. Or a chuckle. Not an actual laugh. Until Abraham hollers out a, "Woahh!" and spins the RV, harshly hitting the brakes and we all lunge forward.

"What the hell happened?" Carol immediately stands once she gains her footing, and runs to the front. "Where are the others?"

"I dunno." Abraham grunts out. He puts the RV in reverse and pulls us off back to the start of 23 north. "They flew off the road. Looks like walkers."

"Aaron said they didn't clear it." Maggie's nails dig into the flesh of her palms. Glenn's in that car.

I audibly gulp. Mom's in that car. Rick's in that car. I can feel a hand sneaking into my own and tightening its grip. I don't even need to look to know it's Carl. He's freaking out. I'm freaking out. Maggie's freaking out.

"Looks like they're cleaning it now. Just wasn't part of the damn plan." Abraham grunts. As he flips the RV once more he puts it back in drive and we go back a different street.

"What do we do?" Tara asks.

"We gotta take 16 north instead." Abraham says it simply.

"Just like Aaron said." Maggie agrees, but her eyes are glassy. She looks to the ground, almost fixated in a certain spot.

"Just like Aaron said." Sasha echoes the words.

Then we drive silently for what feels like a few miles. I don't know; I'm not good with measuring space. But our drive is interrupted once again as someone runs into the middle of the road, waving his hands manically in the air.

"Mother dick!" Abraham shouts, and slams down on the brake again. We're all pulled forward harshly in our seats and groan. The RV is put in park and we all head out, weapons drawn. Just in case.

"Who th'hell are ya?!" Daryl calls out. He went out the door first, his crossbow pointed proudly at the new guy.

"Er-Er-Eric." He stutters, hands held in the air in surrender. With at least six guns pointed at him, I'm not surprised. "Where's Aaron?"

"He's with some of ours. They were thrown off the road down 23 north." Abraham answers, gun still pointed at Eric.

"Why 23?" Eric seems genuinely worried. He slowly pulls his hands down, as do the guns. "We never cleared that."

"We know." Maggie says. "They'll find us. They always do."

"There's an empty building just down this road. We've been there before, it's empty. Aaron will know to meet us there." Eric explains quickly, pointing behind him. "It's safe, I promise."

Though we're normally more cautious, we have no choice. We don't have a map, we don't have Rick, and there's nowhere else to go.

"Show us the way." Abraham speaks for us. His voice doesn't sound sure, but that doesn't seem to bother Eric.

"I can." Eric nods, then blushes slightly in embarrassment. "But you guys kinda took my car. And the buildings kinda far."

Oh, yeah. The RV. Whoops.

We're all silent for a moment, deciding whether or not to let him with us.

But again, we're put in a tight spot. And again, Abraham speaks for us. "Hop in. Front seat."

"Th-thank you." Eric says. We hop into the RV first, Abraham and Eric coming in last. The ride, though very awkward and quiet, is quick and we make it to a dark building towards the end of an old, abandoned town. In front of the dark building are the remnants what seem to be a car crash, the hunks of broken metal and tires lying on the street.

"There's an open garage right next to it." Eric points to the open space.

"Got it." Abraham gruff out. He parks it and we all pile out. Daryl and Carol go out first into the dark, making sure that it's safe for us. When they signal us out, we have to pass by the fucked up cars and tires, careful where we step. Most of us are fine. Eric isn't.

"Ah!" He manages to step wrong and go to the ground, hissing through his teeth in pain. His hands immediately go to his ankle, holding it tightly.

"You okay, man?" Daryl asks, going over to the man on the ground. Obviously not.

"It's probably just sprained. Get my pack off." Eric huffs out. Daryl hastily yanks the backpack from his shoulders and hands it to Eric. He grabs something out- a flare gun, just like the one Aaron had. He points it to the sky and pulls the trigger. The bright orange light blinds me for a moment as the flare flies through night.

"Now they know where we are." Eric sighs through his pain. "They can find us. Can I get a hand up?"

Maggie goes over to him and pulls him up, wrapping an arm over his shoulder and letting him rest his weight against her. They hobble together toward the door, and Daryl opens the door and lets us in.

It's dark as hell, but once we get situated we light a few candles and drop our supplies down in the main room. Maggie takes Eric into the back room, allowing him some privacy while she takes care of his ankle.

And we all wait for the rest of us. For our group to come back.

It's a while before they return. I almost begin to worry at the amount of time that passes. But I keep my thoughts in check. They've had worse. They're fine… I hope.

And next thing you know, the signal is echoing down the street. The old whistle that we used to use at the prison all the time. The voice is distinctly Ricks. Carl, Maggie, and I bound from our seats and go to the sound. Daryl comes out too, whistling back to them.

"Dad!" Carl says gleefully, giving Rick a big hug. I head over to mom and do the same.

"You okay?" She asks me, her hands moving down my arms and her eyes peering around, looking for any marks. I nod strongly for her answer, and she hugs me again.

"Your sister okay?" Rick asks Carl, still hugging his son tightly.

"Yeah, we're fine." Carl assures. As a group we begin to walk into the building.

"Eric? Eric?" Aaron calls out, his voice riddled with worry. "Eric?"

"In here." Eric calls. Aaron runs to the other room in relief. The group lets them have their moment, their relief of finding each other again. Just like we did.

As we settle back in, I sit on some hunk of rusted metal, mom following suit. She settles beside me and grabs my hand. She holds it tightly, and I'm grateful for the lifeline. I let myself breathe a deep sigh of relief. We're okay. We made it out here. We're alive.

"Excuse me." Aaron calls out for our attention, standing in the doorway of Eric's room. "Excuse me. Everyone."

He looks to all of us, an unmeasurable amount of gratitude in his features. "Thank you. You saved Eric. I owe you. All of you. And I will make sure that debt is paid in full when we get to our community."

He smiles to all of us. "When we get to Alexandria."

Alexandria. It has a name. Alexandria.

Maybe he's not lying after all.

"Now, I'm not sure about you, but I'd rather not do any more driving tonight. Um, maybe we can hit the road tomorrow morning." Aaron chuckles a little bit in the middle. I almost crack a smile.

"That sounds fine." Rick agrees. Like look, bewildered, to him. But then I realize, he sees it too. That this is real. "But if we're staying here for the night, you're sleepin' over there." And he points to a corner of the room. Ah, there's my paranoid leader again.

"You really think we gotta do that?" Maggie asks, with disdain.

"It's the safe play. We don't know you."

This strikes a chord in Aaron. "The only way you're gonna stop me from being with him right now is by shooting me."

Oh. They're together. Cool

Aaron begins to head back to his boyfriends room, attempting to pass by Rick. Glenn holds him back.

"Rick," Glenn whispers, still holding back Aaron, "he told us where the camp is. And he really was only traveling with one other person. They're both unarmed. One of them has a broken ankle. I want us to be safe, too."

While he vouches for the two, we all watch silently. Waiting to see what Rick has to say. Moms grip on my hand tightens a little, and I know what she hopes for. She's wishing that he'll say okay. And though I can't wrap my mind over the thought of this Alexandria, I think I want it, too. So I give hers a half-hearted squeeze back.

"I can't give up anything else." Glenn tells Rick through clenched teeth. "I know what I said, but it does matter."

And Rick thinks for a moment, pondering to himself. We so wait anxiously for his response.

And he nods to Glenn's words. "All right." So Glenn takes his hand off of Aaron, and he sprints back to the back room. The rest of us hunker down for the night here, attempting to get some rest. Tomorrow's going to be a long, stressful, I-don't-know-how-I'm-going-to-function day.

The next morning is more relaxed than normal. At least for the beginning. We don't hurry like we normally do. For the most part, we would all wake at daybreak and hit the road, thirsty and hungry. Today, we get up after the sun has risen and we eat out of two cans of peaches (and the small jar of applesauce is given to baby Judy.)

When we finally hit the road in the RV and the car, there's this sort of... Calm and unease amongst us. Were we happy about going to Alexandria? Scared? Nervous? Is it even real? Is what Aaron and Eric told us a complete lie? Maybe a bit of everything. I know that I'm feeling every little bit of it all.

We're on the road for a few hours- and for every second my stomach was twisted in knots- before the RV decided to stop working. So we take a quick break and step outside onto the road. Aaron tells us that we're so close to Alexandria that if we really wanted to walk, we would probably get there before the sun goes down.

Apparently, Glenn knows how to work on RVs, so he puts a new something-or-other in it whilst the rest of us hang around. I'm resting against the car with mom, Rick, and Carl (who's holding Judith in his arms.)

"The fights over." Mom says, looking to Rick but I know it's meant for both of us. She knows how well I sleep, how guarded I am. The same is for him; always looking over his shoulder, always thinking fifteen steps ahead. Never thinking he could rest. "You gotta let it go. I know it's hard. After it's kept you... Warm, and fed, and alive. But, the fight... It turns on you. You gotta let it go."

I look down to my hands in my lap. They're shaking. I tighten them into fists to stop it, but it doesn't. I don't know how to stop it. I can't think that. There's always a fight.

"That's what Bob was trying to tell me back at the church." Rick answers. "What to risk. When it's safe. When to let someone in." Mom gives a smile to him at that.

What? What was that look for? Excuse me!

He smiles back momentarily before his face turns into a frown. "The rules keep changing."

The smile is still planted on her face as she adds, "They did for me." Her eyes to down to his hand that rests on the good of the car, and she softly rests hers on his. He doesn't object.

Oh my god. Are they F-L-I-R-T-I-N-G?!

Silently, I begin to slap Carls shoulder behind me. I watch his eyes follow the hands and bug out of his head. Right? What is this? And the best part is that the two don't seem to realize that we're watching them.

Suddenly the engine of the RV roars to life and we all begin to cheer. However, I keep my eyes on their hands, watching as they jump away from each other like they were on fire. With a chuckle, mom turns to the rest of the group and claps along with them.

"Before we get going, I gotta take a moment." Rick tells her. She nods to him and he walks to the group.

My eyes bore into the back of her head while her gaze follows him. When she turns back to look at us kids, she raises an eyebrow. "What?"

My wide eyes look from her to Ricks' retreating figure to the rest of us. I give nonchalant-not so-nonchalant shrug of my shoulders, and walk to the other side of the road, where the metal barriers are. We're high up on a hill, and can see everything from here. All these monuments and tourist attractions in front of my eyes. It's a gorgeous sight.

"Now you can say that you've been to DC." Glenn strides beside me, taking in the view.

I nod to him. It reminds me of the conversation we had back in the church. I was supposed to tell him about cake in explicit detail. I never did.

"It's beautiful here. I've never seen a view like this." He comments, his hands resting on the barrier. "I wonder what it looks like from Alexandria."

Me too.

He gives me a sweet smile; one of those gentle, knowing, real smiles that only Glenn could make. "C'mon, we need to get going." His hand goes to my back and we walk together to the RV. He sits with Maggie once we sit down, but they're only across the table from me. On my side is Carol.

The ten minute drive there is quiet, but not our normal quiet. This one is full tension and nervousness, so much so that it could be cut with a knife. The prospect of an actual community is so unbelievable, and so scary that most of us would probably rather fight a whole herd on our own. I know that I would.

But then we come up to gates. Actual gates. And this huge wall around, built with stainless steel. Just like Aaron said. This is real. Oh god, this is real.

I look to the couple in the back, resting on the bed because of Eric's ankle. I can hear a laugh come from him and they hold hands. "Home." I hear Eric say. It's real. I have to repeat the mantra to myself.

And the best part of this? There are children laughing. I can hear it from here, with the windows down in the RV. I can hear them running around in grass, giggling as they play some version of tag. My heart leaps out of my chest and I think again, it's real!

We all get out of the RV and car, moving closer to the gate. When mom gets out of the car, I run over to her.

Ohmygod mom! Do you see this? Do you hear this? It's a real place.

"Excited?" She asks me. We walk together to the gate and my swinging hand meets her own. I grip hers tightly. Scared.

I'm so scared.

A/N: FINALLY! WE'RE HERE, EVERYONE! I am SO fucking excited for the next chapter! Anyways, please tell me if you all liked this one! I love getting reviews and PMs from all of you :)