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RHatch89- Cheers

Carl wakes me up, noisily attempting to put his jeans on in the dark.

The curtains are closed, with faint light on the other side from the early sunrise giving the room a foggy look.

"Leaving?" I ask. Carl, turning his head to see me.

I look at the pile of blankets on the floor. He slept down there last night because I'm still a coward.

"Yeah," he nods, pulling a t-shirt over his head. "Thanks for letting me borrow some PJ's."

I snort at him. "You're welcome. Pretty sure they're yours anyways."

"I'll see you later, man."

"See you."

Carl leaves me alone in the big dark room, and I quickly decide that too many shadows are watching me. I get up and dressed before heading to change my bandages.

After my ear feels better, I creep down the stairs. I catch Glenn at the front door, halfway out with a slice of toast pinched between his teeth.

We have a momentary stare off. Both of us well aware that it's four in the morning.

"Going somewhere?" he murmurs through his breakfast.

"Not really sure," I tell him, moving the rest of the way down to the ground floor. "You?"

"Maggie's still at the crop field..."

"All night again?"

"Think so." Glenn looks solemn. He must be able to tell I'm lonely because he asks, "You wanna come?"

I nod, grabbing my worn shoes.

Maggie is exactly where Glenn guessed she would be, furiously working on a plant climber in Alexandria's bare garden. When she's not in her office or discussing the expansion, she's here, trying to make a dying field live.

The two of them talk.

"Still haven't seen a single bud," Maggie sighs as Glenn helps her tie a not around one of the climbers.

"Babe," Glenn smiles, "It'll grow."

I stand and wait patiently by a wild blackberry bush. It seems to be the only thing growing, and we didn't even plant it.

Just as I'm considering picking one of the low hanging berries, Glenn and Maggie rush past me. I run after them, unsure as to why, until we reach the top steps of the Brownstone basement across the street.

Denise is here, raving with a panicked look. Abraham and Minnie are with her.

"He's gone!" Denise yells.

"Who?" Glenn asks.

"The damn guy that Daryl and Rick scooped up on their run," Abraham says.

Minnie's standing by the door looking upset with herself. "I was guarding him... he must have slipped past me."

"Rick said the guy wanted to talk with them," Glenn mumbles to himself, working it out in his head. "Maybe he went to do that."

"101?" I ask.

Maggie agrees, telling Minnie to escort Denise home before the rest of us set off at a run towards Rick's house.

Abraham doesn't knock, bursting through the front door instead, the rest of us in tow. Daryl saw us running, adding another to our crusade.

A strange man is sitting at the top of the staircase, holding a painting of a queen of spades that Michonne found on a run last week. Carl is stood behind him, his gun pressed to the guy's temple. The stranger is wearing a long leather trench coat and looks unarmed. A grey beanie sits over his long brown hair, and he has a neatly trimmed beard to match. Rick and Michonne appear in the upstairs hallway behind Carl, both half-dressed.

Everybody aims their weapons at the man still sitting calmly on the stairs. I forgot mine, so I just stand there and try my best to look menacing.

"It's okay," Michonne waves a hand to all of us.

Only Abraham lowers his gun.

"You said we should talk," Rick says to the stranger, putting on a t-shirt. "So let's talk."

Morning light starts to fill the house as we all sit around 101's dining table. Carl, Michone, and I sit on one side. Rick, Maggie, and Glenn sit on the other. The stranger is sitting at the head of the table, nibbling at one of Carol's cookies, acutely aware of how many guns are out.

"His name's Jesus," Carl whispers to me, nodding when I give him a funny look.

Abraham is standing behind me, and I can hear his finger tapping rhythmically against his pistol. I'm keeping my eyes on Daryl for now, his held handgun bouncing against his thigh as he paces behind Jesus.

My eyes snap onto the new guy when he finishes his cookie, leaning forward and preparing to speak.

The hairs on the back of my neck go electric.

"I checked out your arsenal," he says. "I haven't seen anything like that in a long time. You're well-equipped, but your provisions are low-"

We all share looks between each other, troubled by how much this guy knows.

Jesus goes on. "-very low for the amount of people you have... fifty-four?"

"More than that," Maggie tells him, folding her arms diplomatically.

Jesus gives her a cocky smirk. "Well, I appreciate the cookie," he says. "My compliments to the chef."

"Yeah, she ain't here," Daryl growls. I can tell he's not coming round to this guy's charismatic conduct.

Jesus frowns at him. "We got off to a bad start. But we're on the same side... the living side. You and Rick had every reason to leave me out there, but you didn't. I'm from a place a lot like this one, and part of my job is searching out other settlements to trade with. I think our communities may be in a position to help each other."

"Do you have food?" Glenn asks. I watch nervously as his finger glides along the trigger of his handgun, resting on the table.

"We've started to raise livestock. We scavenge, we grow. Everything from tomatoes to sorghum." Jesus sits back, looking pleased with the attention he's taken from the room.

"Tell us why we should believe you," Rick says, pointing at him.

"I'll show you. If we take a car, I can take you back home before nightfall. You can all see for yourselves who we are and what we have to offer."

Maggie has a tangled look on her face like she's trying to work out something I've missed. She leans across the table, her chair legs scraping. "Wait," she says, "you're looking for more settlements? You mean you're already trading with other groups?"

Jesus smiles, the first time he has since this conversation started on the staircase. "Your world's about to get a whole lot bigger."

Carl and I help fuel up the RV, talking about the strange morning.

"Think this guy's legit?" Carl asks.

"I don't know... that's why we've got to go find out."

Carl nods, chewing on his bottom lip, a sentence brewing only for Rick to walk up to us with Judith on his hip.

"This could be the start of everything," Rick interjects, clearly having heard our conversation.

Carl's sentence must have gotten lost somewhere in his brain because he just nods at his dad.

"Well, you boys go get your stuff." Rick points to the house with his head, Jude taking up his arms. "Gabriel can take care of Judith while we're gone."

"No, I'm not coming," Carl shakes his head.

Rick squints at his son. I do too.

Carl continues, "Someone's got to stay back and keep this place safe." He shrugs. "Kid with a messed up face probably wouldn't make the best first impression anyways."

As Rick hands Judith over to Carl, I speak up.

"I'm coming."

Rick glances at me.

"I am," I tell him. "If Maggie's going with, so am I."

Rick's eyes quickly flicker between Carl and me before he nods, turning to get on the RV.

Carl's watching me.

"We'll be back before dinner," I say to him, only it looks like I'm telling the RV because I'm too scared to look at Carl right now.

I see him nod in my peripheral.

"Kid with a messed up ear," I chuckle, building the courage to look his way, "maybe I can make them pitty us enough to make a deal."

Carl frowns like he feels bad.

"It's fine," I say. "You're cool with me going?"

"I guess," he nods. "Like you said, we've got to find out."

Michonne tells me to get my stuff quickly, and I do. I decide to put on my poncho, feeling nostalgic after seeing Rick wear his dusty brown, fur-collared coat.

I'm the last to hop in the RV, and just as I'm about to close the door, I hear shouting.

"Wait, I'm coming too!"

I look out, spotting Mikey sprinting down the street towards us, a rucksack on his back and a pistol in his hand.

Michonne peers out the door with me, shaking her head and holding up a hand to stop him. "No, you're-"

"My brother said it's fine," Mikey practically jumps past us and onboard. "Let's go meet the new people!"

Michonne looks at me, worry in her eyes.

I shrug. "Fine with me."

-Carl's POV-

When they're gone, the rain takes over. It's light and comes as spits of grain. It starts when the RV leaves for the new community. The rest of us are left behind to deal with the weather.

I jog my way to Enid's, walking when I feel sick from motion blur.

I knock on the pantry door until it opens.

"Carl?"

It's Olivia.

"Oh, hi," I stutter, feeling like I should have gone easier on the knocks.

"Can I help you?" she pushes her square glasses up her short nose before folding her arms.

"Is..." I pause, trying to think, the interrogation not making it easy. "Enid," I finally manage. "Is Enid home?"

Olivia hmm's at me, and I'm not sure why. She disappears back into the house, Enid appearing after. She's wearing a backpack.

"Let's go," she takes my hand and pulls me away without asking. Whisking me towards the lake.

We beat our way through several bushes. I ask what we're looking for on the overgrown side of the lake, but Enid hmm's at me the same way Olivia had.

"She's scary sometimes," I tell Enid's back as she wrestles with a bramble bush tangled in her hair.

"She's just like that with you," Enid laughs, kicking the spikey plant into submission.

"Why?"

"She thinks you like me."

"I do like you," I tell her.

"No, like-like me."

"Oh, Right."

Enid finally finds what she's looking for, hidden behind a shrub. The Gazebo. Older than the last time I saw it, most of its paint faded and chipped away.

"I forgot..." I try. "This place, I forgot about this place."

"It's our secret garden," Enid tells me, hopping up onto the decking and brushing leaves off the bench.

"Is this where you and Rhys always go?"

"Maggie found it the other day," Enid shrugs. "It's not so secret anymore... but no one else comes here."

"Why do we need somewhere secret?" I sit next to her on the bench, the leaves she missed crackling under me.

Enid doesn't answer me, taking off her spotty backpack and unzipping it, slipping out a bottle of rum.

"So you want to be pirates?" I raise an eyebrow.

"Secret pirates," she corrects me, unscrewing the cap. "Secret pirates in our not so secret garden."

I take the bottle when Enid offers it to me first. I take a small sip, the taste not being my favourite. Enid drinks the same amount when I hand it back. The taste is clearly not her favourite either.

"Where'd you get it?" I ask when she hands it back.

"It was Pete's, but he died. Then it was Jessie's. She died too."

"I know," I nod. "Sorry about Ron."

"Me too," Enid half-smiles, looking at my bandage.

"So you stole the drink?" I decide to ungracefully change subjects.

"You can't steal from dead people," Enid tells me. "They're dead. Besides, we're pirates, remember?"

Enid dives her arm back into the backpack after handing me the bottle. She pulls out an old polaroid camera, snapping a picture of me and the bottle before I can react.

I rub my eye from the flash, checking the other is still covered. "Why'd you do that!?"

Enid shrugs. "Aaron, he let me have the camera... I think he still feels bad about leading the wolves here with those pictures."

I take the polaroid picture from her when the camera spits it out. I look at myself, the bottle and a supprised eye staring back.

"Are you still scared of me?" I ask her, thinking back to that day in the woods.

Enid shakes her head, taking the rum back, taking a much braver sip this time. "I don't think so?"

"Thanks," I say sarcastically.

"Why'd you ask?"

I'm still staring at the photograph, my thumb picking at the edge.

Enid asks a different question when I don't answer the first. "Do you like me?"

"Do I...?" I trail off.

Enid rolls her eyes at me, rolling the bottleneck between her palms. "Well?"

"I guess."

"Cool," Enid nods.

"Is that bad?" I ask her then.

She laughs at me. I'm not sure I can see the funny side.

"You can like more than one person," Enid smiles, something you don't get often. A smile that warms you up on wet days like today.

"You like me, but you love Rhys, right?" she asks.

"Yeah."

"Then it's not bad."

I drink.

"Who do you like?" I ask then.

"Not exactly drowning in options," she shrugs.

"I guess that's good," I point out, "since you'd be a pretty bad pirate if you were drowning."

"You and Rhys are dating," she tells me. "Why should I like anyone? Seems overrated to me."

I laugh at that.

"What about Mikey?" I ask.

She laughs then.

"Mikey's sweet," she says.

"Ouch."

"No," she shakes her head. "I don't mean it like that. We're just friends."

"Wait," I say, examining the picture of myself. "Did you want us to be pirates because I'm wearing an eyepatch?"

Enid snorts, doing that side-eye thing she does when she doesn't want to admit something.

I laugh at the picture. "I like it."

"Wanna take more?"

"Hell, yeah."

So we do. We take pictures of each other. Enid does a handstand, and I snap it up with the camera flash, laughing at her when she falls in a heap on the decking, taking a picture of that too. We climb up onto one of the watchtowers and take pictures of the walkers and the forest. We take pictures of the houses, the rain, the lake, and the people. We take pictures until the camera runs out and the rain gets heavy. The world stolen in our camera.

A/N

I'll be honest, this chapter was going to have the whole trip to Hilltop in it as well, but it came out as like 6000 words, so I decided to keep the Hilltop stuff for next chapter. Found the Enid and Carl stuff in one of my older drafts from a side story I never added and liked how it fitted in here. There you go, a small insight into the birth of this chapter!

Next Time: Road trip!