Reviews:
Bucket Hat — It would definitely take more than a little distance to break them up... ;)
SlumberingVoid — I love how much faith you have in Rhys, aha! Barrington House later on is genuinely one of the saddest things to happen in the whole show. Fuck them whisperers!
—Six Years Since The Bridge—
-Kelly-
The small girl's gun was almost the length of her arm. The sickos she shot opened up a path for us to escape the herd. She put her considerably oversized stetson on her head of long braided brown hair, scratching one of her freckled cheeks and introduced herself as Judith Grimes.
There were five of us and only one of her. I shuffled uncomfortably, staying under Yumiko's arm to keep her up, blood rushing from the back of her head under the bandage and onto my jacket and the dirty hoodie under it. I wasn't sure if this little girl was too naive to realise that we could be anyone, or if she was just that confident.
"Judith!" "JUDE?" "Jude!"
The calls from the forest made us stagger back a few steps, realising she was not alone.
"I'm here!" Judith yelled back, motioning for us to follow her as she ran towards them. The five of us were almost out. Luke was hobbling with his stick crutch after the girl. Magna was running right behind him with her knives brandished. Connie was right next to me, looking worried about the sickos we left behind us. I sign to her that we lost them.
We met the voices.
There were more than three of them.
One, a man, had a long dark braided ponytail that draped over his vested shoulder, colourful bands holding it all together. He carried a freshly caught buck on his back but dropped it to pull out his knife. The next guy's beard was bushy and matched his curly brown hair. I had to double-take when noticing that his arm was metal, a prosthetic that looked dangerous with its mace hand. A blonde lady with a neck tattoo stared at us with her spear held high. A girl with black pigtails was holding a spear, too; a gun strapped to her chest. The last of them was a boy; he looked maybe eighteen, but I got the feeling he just had a boyish face. Handsome, with smooth freckled skin and defined eyebrows that curved at their ends. Above a pair of tidy glasses, his hair was raven black, long but pushed back behind his ears and reaching just above his shoulders. He was the only one besides the girl, Judith, who wasn't pointing a weapon at us.
"Our rig!" Luke gasped at them. "It got overrun by sickos."
Magna ran to Yumiko's side when she tried to stand on her own but collapsed to the floor. I nudged my sister's arm when it looked like she wasn't paying attention, and Connie signed with her hands that she'd keep watch for the dead.
"We owe our lives to Miss Grimes here," Luke pointed up from the thin tree he was leaning against for support, his arm wrapped around it.
"They still need our help," the small girl said to the man with the metal arm, pulling a water satchel down from his shoulder and dropping it by Yumiko. Yumi dived for it, drinking as much as she could, spluttering and puking on the floor after.
"We can't..." The pretty girl with the pigtails shook her head at Judith. "You know that." Then she whispered something in Spanish that she didn't want us to hear, like how we sometimes all speak in sign for the same reason. I suddenly find myself wishing I'd paid more attention in Spanish class back in high school.
"Hey, uh..." Luke pointed at the guy with the braid. "I dabbled in the culinary arts — once upon a time ago..."
"Luke," I hissed at him, taking the water once everyone else has had a drink beside Luke and me.
He waved me off. "You know, with a little bit of help, I can help whip this buck into a mighty fine ossobuco."
"Stew," the man growled uncomfortably. "We make stew. More mileage for the masses."
Luke wiped the sweat from his curly brown hair onto the sleeve of his blazer, looking confused.
"There are more of you?" Magna asked.
"Way more," Judith said. "With walls and—"
"Judith." "Jude!" The metal arm guy and blonde lady both glared at her.
The younger boy stepped forward, still not touching the machete with its red handle that sat on his hip. When he spoke I knew from his voice that he probably wasn't quite as young as he looked. But he still spoke softly. "What are your names?"
Luke waved in acknowledgement through his exhaustion, trying to catch his breath like the rest of us still. "I'm, erm, I— I am Luke."
"That's Mags— Magna..." he pointed to her as she tried to untangle her brown hair and keep her knives handy all the while.
"Back there is Kelly and Connie..." I smiled briefly, using my hands to convey what Luke and the boy had said to Connie.
"And Yumiko— or Yumi." She waved lazily from the floor, squeezing her eyes shut and holding her injured head.
The boy nodded. "I'm Mikey..."
He pointed to the girl with pigtails. "That's Rosita..."
Then the man with the metal arm and the blonde lady with her neck tattoo. "Aaron and Laura."
"Eugene." Mikey pointed finally to the man that dropped the buck. "And you've met Jude."
I heard a sudden crack of wood in the forest behind me. Growls and hisses spilt through the trees.
"Incoming," I barked with a husky throat, signing it to Connie before dragging her back.
Eugene and Mikey breezed past us. Eugene flipped the knife in his grip and sliced and cut his way through three sickos with ease. Mikey drew that machete on his hip and twirled it in his hand before cutting down the other two in one strong blow — straight through one skull and lodging itself into the other.
"We've got more coming," Mikey called back, yanking his blade from the second skull. "We should go."
"They need food and water and medicine!" the girl, Judith, spun to tug on Aaron's metal arm. "Mikey, tell him!"
I looked to Mikey with the rest, but he just shrugged, looking at Laura.
"It's your call, boss," Laura said back to Aaron.
"If they don't go, I don't go," Judith said firmly.
Aaron scrunched up his face and nodded. "Come on."
The ride back was uncomfortably tight in the back of their wagon. Mikey complained about not bringing a horse called Red Polo before sighing. The bags they had put over our heads were hot and made it hard to breathe. Mine had a tear in it that no one had noticed — though the wagon was covered, so I couldn't see anything more than the dead buck at my feet and Mikey's knee next to mine. When he pulled out a letter from his pocket, I could read that:
M,
I've got some stuff we need to talk about. I say need... I guess 'want' is a better word for it? Meet under the same oak as last time, yeah? Oh, and DB said you should bring apples this time.
I just about managed to get it all before he quickly stashed it away when the Hispanic girl, Rosita, started speaking to him.
"Don't tell me you've found a secret lover and haven't told me."
"It's council business," Mikey said quickly, sitting up straight.
"Bullshit," she snorted.
Laura, who we had only heard speak the one time, chimed in from the driver's seat out front of the wagon. I didn't dare to look in case I gave away my peaky hole. "Chill, Ro. Let M have his secrets."
"Thank you," Mikey sighed, his voice vibrating as we rolled over a bumpy stretch of road.
"Though," Laura added, "I'm on the council too, dumbass, so that excuse is total bullshit."
Mikey tutted.
"Knock it off..." Aaron's voice was gruff. "Keep your guard up with the newbies."
When the bags were finally pulled off our heads, we were standing before a colossal metal wall spanning what felt like miles in either direction but couldn't have possibly been that far. A square, green sign was hanging above the gates with worn letters painted on it in white.
Welcome to ALEXANDRIA.
Magna glanced back to the wagon, where Yumiko was left, her head injury looking worse.
The Eugene guy spoke with a monotone voice so recognisable it didn't matter if the bag was on or off. "Again, I feel the need to remind you that what we are doing is in direct and flagrant violation of the current security protocols."
"Yeah, we know," Rosita sighed. "Come on."
The gates opened and waited for us to enter.
"Let's see what it is..." Connie signed at us.
"Can't be worse than Jones Springs," I pointed out.
"Just like Jones Springs couldn't be worse than Coalport," Magna added.
"Oh, god," Luke groaned, shivering, "Coalport was a fossilised city of shit."
"You'll be safe here," Judith said with a thoughtful smile, walking back and offering her hand to Magna.
We all waited.
Magna took it.
Inside we all gawked at Alexandria's grandeur. I pointed to the slow-turning windmill and the crop fields below it. Luke spotted a guy playing his guitar on the porch of one of the new cabins that Mikey tells him only just went up last month. I could tell Luke was still upset we had to abandon his instruments back at the rig. Magna was staring at the meeting hall, its warm stone walls and tin roof that reflected the sun like a lighthouse's glass peak. A forge below it was smoking, and someone was treading grapes in a giant wine barrel.
Alexandria had its eyes on us, too. A crowd had formed, and a priest pushed his way to the front of it, parting the sea of heads like Moses and tilting back his round black hat so he could get a better look at us with one eye while the other, milky and clouded, seemed to watch us still in different ways. A man came running towards us with a scruffy black beard and his hair in a tight bun.
"Hi, Daddy!" A little girl chirped, running towards us from a playground.
"Gracie, stay where you are, okay?" Aaron called back.
The guy with the man bun was looking at Rosita with a baffled expression.
"There's another one in the wagon," Rosita told him. "Female with head trauma. She's conscious."
I figure he must be a doctor because, after a quick look at Yumiko, he nodded and said, "All right. Alex and the other nurses are on standby. I'll take her to the infirmary right now."
"I'm coming with her," Magna said. The boy, Mikey, put a hand on her shoulder only to be shrugged off. Then a muscular man stepped in front of her.
Tall, blonde, menacing.
"DJ, it's cool." Mikey waved him off. "I'm afraid you can't go with her yet," he told Magna.
Magna looked ready to argue, but before she could get the words from her open mouth the sound of horses whinnying came from the gate we walked through. It opened for two riders that galloped in like thunder on the horizon before sealing shut behind them.
Everyone except for our group seemed to tense up at the arrival.
"Woah," one of them steadied her steed. She was lean, with muscular arms that glistened with sweat in the heat. A sword bounced on her back as she rode up to us. She had dreadlocks that caught the wind as she rode; shaved on one side of her head.
Beside her was someone that looked strangely familiar. His hair was a similar length to Mikey's, as was the dusting of freckles on his nose. But his hair covered his ears and was curled in light brown waves. His eye was piercingly blue, while the other was a gaping hole in his skull; cracked skin around it with a few locks of brown hair falling in front. Like Mikey, he seemed young. Someone rushed forward from the crowd to grab their horse's reins and the two riders dismounted.
Someone passed the woman her bag from the saddle, but she tossed it aside to the grass, marching straight up to us. The one with the missing eye followed but kept a healthy distance, choosing to observe over confront.
I heard the name Michonne whisper its way throughout the crowd like a plague.
"You wanna tell me what this is?" the woman asked, eyes glazing over us and looking at the one Mikey named DJ.
"Five unknowns," DJ told her. "All clean, one headed to the infirmary."
She paced along with us, stopping at Magna who she frisked.
"All clean?" she asked like it was funny. "You sure about that?"
"Indeed," Eugene told her. "They're whistle-worthy, clean as a-wise. They surrendered their weapons willingly and submitted to standard frisk procedure."
I suddenly started worrying about Yumiko's necklace and Magna's belt buckle.
She looked at him with a respect that felt earned. "And why are they here?"
"My call," Aaron told her softly.
"It's not your call to make."
Everyone's tails were between their legs. Aaron bowed his head and took a step back from her. Not one person dared to meet this woman's eyes as she scanned the crowd. All except two. The one she arrived with; his eye firmly observing the back of her head, thumbing at the empty leather holster on his hip. The other—
"I decided," Judith said sweetly, stepping forward and staring up at her. "They needed help."
I saw the boy with the missing eye smirk a little. That's when I realised where his familiarity arose from. The freckled cheeks and brown hair of the two matched perfectly.
"Judith..." the woman with her sword knelt down to meet the girl's eyes, "you know the rules. You all do."
The one with the missing eye finally spoke, tension smashing like a vase on concrete with his gentle words. "I guess they brought them here anyway."
The smirk was gone from his face, but I knew I saw it.
"One of them is badly hurt," Aaron quickly added on to the back of that. "Siddiq is checking her out, but— look, no disrespect to either of you —but maybe their fate is something we should decide together."
The priest, with his misty eye, nodded. "It'll be dark soon. First thing tomorrow, we can bring them before the council for a vote."
The woman with the sword smacked her lips, glancing back to the boy who shrugged — not like he didn't care, but like he was amused to see where this would go.
"Okay." She nodded. "Put them in holding."
Before we were escorted away by DJ, I watched Judith run up to the boy with his missing eye. She pulled the revolver that was far too big for her off her hip, handing it over.
"Thanks for letting me take it out," Judith said.
"Did you fire it?"
"Well, obviously not," she said sarcastically, in a somewhat distinct Virginian accent.
He smirked at her again, sliding the gun into the empty leather holster on his belt. "What did you fire at?"
She rolled her eyes. "Fine. I had to help the new people get away from a huge horde... you would have done the same!"
The conversation went on, but DJ was ushering us away.
-Mikey-
Mikey readied his horse shortly after the new group were put into holding, securing a bag of fresh apples from the orchard to Red Polo's tan saddle before mounting up. Aaron caught him at the gates just before he rode out.
"Hey, hold up, Mikey!" he called, out of breath and running up to the horse. "Where are you off to?"
"You know where," Mikey told him, winking unsubtly.
"I thought we were doing that tomorrow?" Aaron asked, glancing around nervously.
Mikey held up the letter he had been reading on the wagon ride home.
"Right," Aaron nodded, scratching behind Polo's ear when he nipped at his beard. "I forgot about that. Make sure you're back before dawn... the council is voting, and you could make the difference."
"Aren't Michonne and Carl just gonna veto it?"
"Maybe not," he shrugged. "If you get back home before, maybe you could chat to Carl... nudge him?"
Mikey laughed at that.
Aaron sighed, looking over his shoulder at the gate guard before whispering. "Say hi for me."
"Will do."
Aaron let go of the reins, and Mikey kicked Red Polo into a canter out of Alexandria.
The meadow was open, empty, and immense. Soaring trees grew on either side of a thin and slow moving stream, hanging low to let the tips of their leaves drink from the cool surface of the shallow water. A wide, muddy and trodden trail ran through long and reaching peppermint-green grass. This is where Red Polo dragged his hoofs in the direction of distant rolling hills.
"C'mon, Red," Mikey groaned.
The horse whinnied back at him.
"Right."
When they eventually got to the top of a tall hill that homed the oak tree mentioned in his letter, Mikey smiled. A tall, dark horse with a pale mane and muscular legs stood towering over someone that was sat with his back to the tree. He looked up from a satchel in his lap that he had been rooting through.
It had been a few months, but Rhys looked the same. His red cheeks flexed as he grinned. His skin was a tan olive colour, and his hair had turned lighter, almost brown, in the summer heat — long and wavy on top, but cut short and close at the sides. He was wearing a red t-shirt over black jeans. His hammer was set down in the grass beside him. When his emerald eyes met Mikey's, he jumped up. They hugged tightly after Mikey dismounted.
The two talked for a long time. Mikey fed Downy Beardy the apples Rhys said he 'requested', which the towering beast gobbled up from the palm of his hand greedily, nodding his head as if in approval. Rhys cut one of the apples into two, offering half to Mikey.
"I'm fine," Mikey said, smiling at him.
"You're so lucky having an orchard, I swear," Rhys told him. "We only just planted ours last year."
"Okay, farmer boy," Mikey laughed, poking at his cheek in gest to Rhys' very obvious farmer tan. "Hilltop grows just about everything else."
"Which reminds me," Rhys said, fishing through his bag, pulling out a bottle of Hilltop home brew moonshine. "Might not have grown it, but here. Payment for the apples."
Mikey laughed, pushing it back when Rhys held the large bottle out. "They're a gift."
Rhys didn't give up, so Mikey took it. "Thanks."
"Oh," Rhys paused, looking into his bag again. "Here..." he handed over a small clay cup, painted sky blue with small and poorly illustrated trees on the sides.
"What's this payment for?" Mikey asked, holding it up to the sky and studying the shoddy work.
"No, that actually is a gift," Rhys smirked.
"And did Hershel make it before Maggie left with him?"
Rhys barked a laugh. "Asshole, give it back then!"
"No, no," Mikey chuckled. "Thank you."
"There's a lady that makes them back home," Rhys told him. "I thought the trees would... add something."
There was a short pause. Mikey watched Rhys close his eyes and feel the breeze on his face. The scars that he had were faded and old.
"So... this," Mikey said, handing over the letter from his pocket. "It's very ambiguous. What do you need-slash-want to talk about?"
Rhys didn't speak, instead rummaging through the pockets of his jacket laid on the grass beside him. Mikey noticed that he wasn't wearing his guitar string bracelet anymore— he hadn't done for a long time, but it still made Mikey sad every time. Rhys finally fished out a new letter and handed it to Mikey. The front had tidy writing in cursive letters.
Hilltop Colony — Rhys Washburne.
"What is this?" Mikey asked, raising an eyebrow.
"A rider brought it through a few days ago," Rhys explained. "Read it."
Mikey drew the letter from the neatly signed and torn open envelope. Rhys watched intently as Mikey scanned through.
"Oh," Mikey said after finishing it.
"Yeah."
"Why does she want you," Mikey asked. "I mean... you."
"Beats me," Rhys said.
"Are you gonna go?"
"I think so..." Rhys shrugged. "I see her point."
"Also, it's not every day you get an invitation from a Queen."
Rhys shook his head. "I guess."
"Do you know why she doesn't want the King to know you're coming?"
"I read the same letter you did, dude."
"So if you've made up your mind... why'd you call me out here?"
Rhys held up his — almost finished — second half of the apple. "I missed Alexandria's apples."
Mikey shoved him.
"Okay, sure, I might have missed you, too." Rhys' face went a little softer than usual then. "Enid was talking about you the other day. She misses you."
Mikey nodded, the corners of his eyes crinkling as he thought about it. "It's better she doesn't know about us coming here. Just me, you, Jesus, and Aaron."
"Sasha knows," Rhys said.
"I figured." Mikey nodded. "You know, even if Michonne found out, I don't think she'd be as angry at us as she still is with Tara for jumping ship... stealing the charter, medicine, ammo — am I missing anything?"
Rhys shook his head. "Have you tried bringing up the fair with the council again?"
Mikey shook his head back. His gut was feeling all kinds of twisted guilt. Normally it's Jesus that brings this up and Aaron that explains why they haven't.
"I've tried. Siddiq, Aaron, Gabriel, Nora, Kyle... they try, too. It's only Laura that thinks Michonne is right... but she's our head of security. She just vetoes every time we vote."
"What about Carl?"
"He normally backs Michonne's plays, but..."
"But?"
"I don't know. I think he's been thinking about it more and more lately. But after what happened..."
"I know."
"I'm sorry, Rhys."
"Hey don't be sorry," Rhys said, holding up the last of his apple and laughing when Downy Beardy hoovered it from his fingers. "We're still happy to see you."
They both started laughing when Downy Beardy did his head nodding again and whinnied at them.
A/N
This is my third or fourth angle at hitting this first 'post-time jump' chapter from, and it's become one of my favourites. It was really important to me for the tone to match the show after the time jump. I loved being introduced to all the changes and mysteries I'd missed in the jump, so starting with a member of the new group definitely helped work in that mystery feeling.