"What?"

Aaron recoiled at my tone, blinking as though I was unreasonable. But how could he think my scepticism was strange? After everything we'd been through, I needed to keep a level head and not take his kindness at face value. The real question was what news could he bring to a group of strangers?

Still, he answered. "I am from a community. My job is to find people and bring them back so they can be recruited."

"Very military of you," I muttered, but he didn't seem like the type.

"That isn't how I'd describe it. It's more of an audition, for want of a better word," he said but smiled. "And nothing is guaranteed. I'm not the one who decides."

I have good news, you can have entry to our camp ripped away from your very eyes, and you could be turned back out onto the road if we don't like you. It seemed like a stupid deal because that meant we had to meet more of his people who would decide if we could stay or not. I didn't trust it, or him, no matter how nice he was acting.

"Put your things on the ground," I said, flicking my gun down to the ground in front of him.

Aaron nodded, removing his gun first. He leant down to place it flat on the ground. Next, he pulled his arm out of the strap from his bag. I watched him carefully, looking for places where he could have concealed weapons.

Isaac stepped over to me and whispered, "Ace, he seems okay."

"I don't care how it seems," I shot back in a quiet voice. (I'd been hurt too many times for that to matter.)

"He could have hurt us already," Isaac argued. "We didn't know he was coming, and we didn't see him."

"And that was stupid of us."

I regretted the words as soon as they came out, and Isaac's jaw set. Embarrassment and fear were my two main feelings at that moment. I was completely flustered over something that I should have seen coming, but I didn't see him coming and if it had been someone else, we could have lost our lives.

"He's right," Aaron said, with his belongings now on the ground. "I don't want to hurt anyone."

"Neither do I, so step away." Aaron nodded, taking a step backwards and following my demands in silence. I didn't look at Isaac as I said, "Keep your gun on him."

"Yeah," he muttered.

I ignored the tone, I had to or there was a chance I'd cry. Kneeling on the ground, looking through the bag without pulling anything out. The thing that caught my eye and realise that Aaron wasn't telling me everything was the flare gun because if he had a flare gun, he could signal the rest of his people. That meant there were more people here. I pushed things aside, seeing water, and a jar.

"You alone?" I asked.

"Right now, yes."

I couldn't tell whether it was a lie based on the flare gun. When I checked the next pocket, I found a brown envelope and held it up so he could see while continuing to check the pocket in case there was anything else.

"Oh, those are pictures of the community. They're in order of what I want to show your group. I'd much rather look at them with the others if you don't mind."

Pulling the envelope open with one finger, I took a peek inside and found a stack of pictures, to make sure he was telling the truth. He was, and they were—black and white polaroids of houses, walls. I shook my head, putting the envelope away. It was too good to be true.

Standing up I took the gun and his bag, before pointing at him and flicking my finger upwards. "Arms up."

"That is all I have," he said, gesturing to me with his head.

I frowned. "You expect me to believe that?"

"Not everyone walks around with three weapons," he tried to joke.

Clenching my teeth, I stared at him before saying again,"Put your arms up."

Aaron nodded, raising his hands as I went behind him and patted down his sides to find any other weapons, but he didn't have any. Who travels around with only a gun at hand? What if you needed to be quiet when killing walkers? I didn't understand.

"He's clean," I told Isaac and stepped to the side away from him.

"I told you," Aaron said. "Now, please. I want to extend the offer to the rest of your people, our community is big enough for all of you."

Taking big steps, I made my way back to where Isaac was standing with his gun lowered but still ready to shoot. I knew he wanted to take him back, to let Aaron pitch his camp to the others. But how was this any different from Terminus? Aside from the fact that there was a chance we may not be allowed in, even then, he could just be saying that.

"A community, it's what we've been looking for," Isaac said. "That's why we came all this way."

I couldn't even say that I was listening to him, because my mind was racing a million miles a second. All these questions built up under the surface that I didn't know how I was even so calm anymore. "How does he know so much about us? Rick's name, how many people we have. It's too weird."

"What are you going to do? Kill him?" Isaac looked annoyed, either because I ignored him or because of what I said earlier, and I didn't blame him.

But I had to keep my guard up. If I had already upset him, already ruined my chances, I thought it was best we both made it out unscathed. One of us had to be thinking straight. His hating me didn't matter if he was alive.

"I'm thinking about it," I admitted in a quiet voice.

And I was the only one because Isaac shook his head and avoided my eyes for a second. I felt a pang in my chest knowing that he was upset with me. Finally, he was able to look at me again. "I believe him."

"If you'd take me back to your people, I can explain everything," Aaron said.

Why was I even considering this? It made no sense to trust him, but Isaac did completely. Did he not remember what happened at Terminus? But maybe he was considering the good things we've had happen to us, like finding Tara after everything. She and Martinez were once against us.

Michonne was not inclined to help anyone when I found her, but I brought her back. The difference was that I needed Michonne. I needed her to help me find Glenn and Maggie at Woodbury, and she was the only one who could help us.

I had to weigh up how badly we needed what Aaron was offering us, and to be honest, it was quite desperate. Michonne and some of the others wanted to get off the road before it became too much. I hated being on the road too, but I didn't want to risk the group over it. But they were at risk anyway.

"This is the stupidest fucking thing I've ever done," I muttered to myself. Clenching my teeth, I let out a frustrated breath and aimed my gun at Aaron. After a second, I pointed it towards the direction of the barn for a split second. "Move."

"Thank you," he said as he passed me, "and I promise you won't regret this."

"Shut up and walk," I told him.

Aaron nodded and kept quiet, following Isaac who led him back to where the barn was. He probably already knew. I don't know how he knew all these things, but there was a chance he could have found us without me and Isaac split off from the group.

The weight crunched down on me as I saw the building through the trees, knowing the reaction the others would have over something like this. Isaac stopped to open the door, and Aaron was quiet, probably understanding what could happen to him if they thought he was a threat.

"Hey, everyone," Isaac called into the barn. "This is Aaron."

The second a new name was mentioned, everyone was on their feet with guns in hand. The sound of guns simultaneously kicking echoed throughout the room and everyone swarmed around in front of us. Daryl rushed past with his crossbow, took a look outside and turned back to pat Aaron down, checking for any more weapons.

Rosita came and closed the door behind me, chaining it up and locking it before keeping her eye on the man in front of me. She gave me a look to ask what the hell was going on, but I could only answer her with a shrug and a shake of my head. I had no explanation.

"We met him outside," Isaac said. "He was by himself. We took his weapon and we took his gear."

There was a moment of silence throughout the barn. The chain rattled against the door as Rosita locked it behind us, before turning around with her gun in her hand and keeping an eye on him. She gave me a look to ask what the hell was going on, but I only answered with a shake of my head and a shrug. I had no explanation that would help.

"Hi," Aaron broke the silence.

Judith immediately started crying in Rick's arms. He nodded for Carl so he could take her as she started fussing and crying, and he took her off to the side behind the plank wall away from Aaron and shushed her.

"It's nice to meet you," he added.

"You said he had a weapon?" Rick asked. Isaac looked my way and took the gun from me, walking it over to Rick. He turned it over in his hands before placing it in the hem of his jeans behind him, looking at Aaron. "There's something you need?"

"He has a camp nearby," Isaac said. "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 troupe. That's only on Friday nights," he smiled, but no one laughed along with him. Aaron cleared his throat. "Um, and it's not a camp. It's a community. I think you all would make valuable additions, but it's not my call. My job is to convince you all to follow me back home."

Daryl was shifting on his feet beside me, his eyes burning holes into the back of Aaron's head, who seemed to pay no attention. He waited for a response from anyone who would tell him we wanted his community, but as I expected, none came.

"I know. If I were you, I wouldn't go either," he said. "Not until I knew exactly what I was getting into. Isaac, can you hand Rick my pack?"

Again, another name that we hadn't told him and he didn't hear from us. How did he know? I didn't understand why Isaac didn't find that suspicious. Aaron knew too much about our group, and to be honest, if he hadn't found us out there he would have already known where we were hiding out from the walkers. It didn't make any sense.

"Front pocket, there's an envelope," Rick knelt and looked in the same pocket where I had found the brown envelope, before holding it in his hands. "There's no way I could convince you to come with me just by talking about our community. That's why I brought those. I apologise in advance for the picture quality. We just found an old camera store last—"

"Nobody gives a shit," Daryl said beside me.

Aaron barely looked back over his shoulder at him. "You're absolutely 100% right."

Rick pulled the pictures out from the envelope and stared down at the first one. I had a brief moment of panic, thinking that maybe I didn't leave them in the right order, whether that even mattered. I was so flustered I could barely think straight.

"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," he said. "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."

That was something I was curious to see because the fence around the prison was going to be our downfall if we hadn't been run out by the Governor. But it wouldn't matter if Rick didn't believe him. So I waited and watched his expression.

"Like I said, security is obviously important. In fact, there's only one resource more critical to our community's survival," Aaron said. "The people. Together we're strong, you can make us even stronger."

Rick looked back at Michonne, and she seemed impressed. Instead of acknowledging that, he turned back to me, meeting my eyes. I stared back, as he pulled up his leg and bent his knee for a second before nodding subtly to Aaron. To him, it could have looked like a stretch and was a gesture that took me a few seconds to understand.

As he marched forward, Aaron started talking again. "The next picture, you'll see inside the gates. Our community was first construc—"

When Rick was close enough, I kicked out the back of Aaron's knee and he fell to the ground. Before he could work out what was happening, Rick pulled his arm back and swung it down straight into the side of his face, knocking Aaron out in one go.

The others rushed over to him, to check him, see if he was okay. I didn't care, if Rick thought this was the best plan then I wasn't going to argue. Rick turned and walked towards the back of the barn, towards Michonne.

She looked between me and Rick. "So we're all clear, that look wasn't a 'let's attack that man' look. It was a 'he seems like an okay guy to me' look."

I clenched my teeth and glanced down, knowing that she was upset with me over this. Just another instance where I was only useful in the context of hurting someone. Isaac had been upset with me that I had considered killing him for knowing so much about us. I couldn't understand why no one else was as scared as me.

"He knows things," I announced. "He knew that we were a big group, your names. We never told him anybody's name, but he just knew them."

"We got to secure him," Rick said, nodding at me to thank for the information. When he turned to the back of the barn again, he told Carl. "Dump his pack. Let's see what this guy really is."

"He had a flare gun," I called out again, trying to get out every piece of information I gathered. My brain was running so fast I could barely even grab at a thought anymore. "I think he has some more people nearby."

Isaac frowned. "He said he was alone."

"He said he was alone right now," I reminded him. Isaac turned away, shaking his head as he knelt beside Aaron.

"Rick," Michonne tried to stop him as he passed, her eyes also flickering between me and Isaac. I had to walk away, rubbing my hands over my face to avoid eye contact with her or Isaac. I couldn't take the judgement.

"Everybody else, we need eyes in every direction," Rick continued with his orders, ignoring her. "They're coming for us. We might not know how or when, but they are."

"Me and Ace, we didn't see him," Isaac said from beside Aaron. "If he had wanted to hurt us, he could've."

Maggie was next to him with a wet rag in her hands, holding it against his face where Rick punched. Rosita had knelt at his side too, tying his arms behind his back to keep him restrained. I could tell Isaac wanted to fight more, but he knew nothing he said would get through to Rick.

Rick ignored him. "Anybody see anything?"

"Just a lot of places to hide," Glenn replied.

"Same over here," Martinez added.

"Alright, keep looking." Rick walked back across the room to Carl. "What did you find?"

Carl was holding the flare gun I mentioned before, but had everything else laid out on the table. As I had seen when I searched the bag, there was nothing else harmful or important to us. I could barely focus anymore.

I heard heavy breathing from the ground and looked down at Aaron who was now moving his head. He groaned, his eyes coming up to the people around him. He looked back, probably realising that his arms were restrained.

And then he smiled. "That's a hell of a right cross there, Rick."

Rick tilted his head and nodded to the others. "Sit him up."

"I think it's better if—"

"It's okay," Aaron cut Maggie off.

"He's fine," Rick said. "Sit him up."

He opened his mouth, groaning and moving his jaw to adjust to the new pain he must've been feeling after the punch. A pained nose left his throat as Maggie and Isaac pulled him into a kneeling position between them. I came around to Rick's side in case he needed anything.

"You're being cautious," Aaron said. "I completely understand."

Rick ignored him as he tried to convince us he was good. "How many of your people are out there?" Aaron remained silent. "You have a flare gun, you have it to signal your people. How many of them are there?"

He sighed, shaking his head. "Does it matter?"

"Yes," Rick nodded. "Yes, it does."

"I mean, of course, it matters how many people are actually out there," Aaron agreed, but there was something about his tone that threw me. "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," even the first number was enough to put everyone on edge. "32, 444, 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," Rick agreed with a tilt of his head.

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

I stared at him, a frown on my face. Daryl looked back over his shoulder at the bottles on the table. I only realised now but the ones in his bag were the same as the ones we left on the side of the road, and it had to have been him that left them. None of this meant he or the water was good though.

"How long you people been following us?" Daryl asked, stepping past Glenn to look at Aaron.

"Long enough to see that you practically ignore a pack of roamers on your trail," he admitted. "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 is the most important resource in the world."

A silence settled in the barn, and I hated to admit that I agreed with him. The issue was that his people were also a valuable resource, and we didn't know a single thing about them. He knew everything about us, but we were blind to what they could potentially do when we arrived. We'd come across more sociopaths than anything and a whole community could be sitting right outside to kill us.

Rick took a step forward and stood over Aaron. "How many others are out there?"

"One," he admitted. Rick was silent, but I saw that he was shaking his head. I clenched my teeth, my gaze falling on the ground as Aaron met my eyes. "I knew you wouldn't believe me."

"How can we believe you? You just lied to us four fucking times to prove a point," I snapped.

"If it's not words, if it's not pictures, what would it take to convince you that this is for real?" He asked desperately. A look crossed his face as his eyes shot up towards Rick. "What if I drove you to the community? All of you? We leave now, we'll get there by lunch."

Michonne walked past me, standing at his side as he spoke. She gave me a look that told me I shouldn't do anything stupid again, before crossing her arms and listening to his suggestion. I, however, had the same concern as Rick.

"I'm not sure how the 18 of us are going to fit in the car you and your one friend drove down here in," he said sarcastically.

"We drove separately," Aaron told him. "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 asked behind me.

"East on Ridge Road, 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," he explained.

"Yeah, you've really thought this through," Rick said with a sigh.

Aaron was starting to get exacerbated, after dealing with me and Rick (who was just a far more stubborn version of me) he was completely out of options. "Rick, 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."

More silence. I couldn't tell whether Rick was contemplating going there or not, because his face remained blank. I waited for him to come up with something, to fix this mistake I made. Then again, if I hadn't met Aaron he would still have followed us, show up at the barn himself. It was only a matter of time before he made himself known. A conversation like this seemed unavoidable.

Michonne took a step forward, turning to me and Rick. "I'll check out the cars."

"There aren't any cars."

"There's only one way to find out," she shot back.

"We don't need to find out."

"We do," she argued. "You know what you know, and you're sure of it, but I'm not."

"Me neither," Maggie agreed from where she was standing.

Rick breathed out through his nose, his eyes falling on the ground. "Your way is dangerous, mine isn't."

"Passing up someplace where we can live? Where Judith can live? That's pretty dangerous," she said. "We need to find out what this is. We can handle ourselves, so that's what we're gonna do."

I looked at Rick out the side of my eye. He didn't seem to have another argument, which meant that we were doing what Michonne wanted. I didn't know if it was the right or wrong decision because when it came down to it, I wanted a community. But we had been hurt so many times before, I had the scars to prove it.

"Then I will, too," Glenn agreed after a moment of silence. "I'll go."

Rick turned to him, shook his head and looked over his shoulder. "Abraham."

"Yeah," he said, his voice low. "I'll walk with them."

Then Rick looked ahead. "Rosita?"

"Okay," she nodded.

"If there's trouble, you got enough firepower?"

"We got what we got," Glenn replied.

Rick nodded, reaching behind him and handing Glenn Aaron's gun. "The walkies are out of juice. If you're not back in 60 minutes, we'll come," he explained. "Which might be just what they want."

Michonne left with the others, leaving the door open behind them. My hand was on top of my gun as I stared out into the treeline, watching the nearby area I could see through the open door. Part of me prayed that the cars were real.

"If we're all in here, we're a target," Rick announced to the others.

"I've got the area covered," Daryl said.

"All right, groups of two, find somewhere safe within eyeshot," he said, and the others went for the door.

Isaac gave me a look but walked with Noah as they left the building. I bit my tongue, my eyes on the ground as he left. Carl stopped next to me when Rick grabbed him by the shoulder, and I went to follow him out of the barn instead.

"Ace, stay with me," Rick stopped me. "I'll need the backup if anything happens."

"Okay," I agreed quietly, watching the others leave.

Rick followed them to the door and closed it behind Carl as he was the last one out. He held it open with one hand and kept his eyes on the group as they walked away into their hiding spots. I met eyes with Aaron for a second but shook my head and turned to look through one of the gaps in the walls.

"When the world was still the world, I worked for an NGO," he started. "Our mission was to deliver medicine and food to the Niger River Delta. Bad people pointed guns in my face every other week. You're not bad people, you're not going to kill us. And we are definitely not going to kill you."

A breath shot out of me when I heard that. Sure, we won't kill you. I'd killed over a dozen people up to that point, and several others had killed too. If Aaron was in any way a threat to our people, we would have no choice but to put him down.

Judith started fussing, which got my attention. Rick nodded for me to get her, so I crossed the room and sat on the ground with her in my lap. Judith tried to stand on the dress across my legs, but it fell through the gap in the middle and she just jumped on the ground instead.

"Just because we're good people doesn't mean we won't kill you," Rick said, his eyes fixated on the gap in the door in front of him. "If the five of them aren't back in an hour . . . I'll put a knife in the base of your skull."

Aaron seemed convinced, not that he had any reason to think we were lying. I mean, I had a scar forming down my cheek and a willingness to shoot him the moment he stepped out from behind the tree. I could see the look in Rick's eye that showed he was ready to do it in an instant knowing that something could go wrong on the run. It was stupid of him to believe that we weren't even considering killing him because it had more than crossed my mind at this point.

Rick stopped in front of me, his head tilted as he looked down. He stayed quiet for a second before finally asking, "Why didn't you see him?"

I almost choked on my saliva hoping I misheard him. I could barely form a sentence as I stammered out. "What?"

"Isaac said you didn't see him," he repeated. "Why didn't you notice him coming?"

My cheeks went red and hot, and I could only look at him as I tried to think of the right excuse. It was hard to lie about it, because I should have been focused enough to see Aaron coming, and Rick knew that about me. I couldn't sit here and tell him that happened because I was kissing Isaac for the first time.

Aaron had turned his eyes forward and didn't look over at the exchange between me and Rick. Part of me was glad that he wasn't going to give it away, that he was keeping his mouth shut about what I was doing when he showed up in the field.

I was shaking my head when I finally formed an answer. "I was distracted, wasn't thinking. It won't happen again."

Rick looked concerned, but not suspicious. His eyes trailed back to Aaron who kept his gaze ahead of him. It was stupid because his keeping this information made me start to believe that maybe he was good. He was just keeping his mouth closed so that Rick didn't find out, and I didn't understand why.

"You feeling okay?"

"Yeah, fine," I said truthfully, giving a nod.

After ten minutes or so, Judith began crying in my lap. She screamed and sobbed, putting her fingers in her mouth. Rick sighed, going to grab some of the food we foraged on the road for her to eat. He got a small wooden bowl and his gun.

"Judith, that is grating," I muttered.

She didn't listen.

I turned to Rick. "I think she's hungry."

"Yeah, I know," he grumbled, trying to crush the nuts with the back of his gun. "Just try to keep her distracted."

"You did see the jar of applesauce in my bag, right?" Aaron called out. Rick ignored him and continued trying to crush the nuts into the bowl for her as she cried in my arms. "This isn't a trick. This isn't about trying to make you like me. It's self-preservation. Because if the roamers hear her and come this way, I know I'll be the first to go."

"Shh, shh," I hushed her.

Rick walked over to me and took her in his arms, bouncing her gently to try and stop her from crying. I pulled myself up, taking overwatch as he tried to get Judith to calm down. "Alright, come here. Come here," he whispered, shushing her one more time.

When I looked back, Rick had moved over to the table where we dumped Aaron's things, eyeing the jar that Aaron was talking about. Then he reached down and took a spoon from the table, and went to flick the lid of the jar open.

"Rick?" I questioned cautiously.

"It's alright," he assured.

Getting a spoonful, he walked with Judith and the spoonful of applesauce over to Aaron and kneeled in front of him. When Rick held the spoon out, Aaron understood what we were worried about at that moment, and looked mortified.

Aaron stared at him wide-eyed. "You think I'm trying to poison your baby daughter?"

"We met people that would have eaten her," I said.

He seemed shocked for a moment but shook his head and looked at Rick. "I'm tied up and you've already expressed a willingness to stab me in the head. How would cruelly killing your daughter in front of you in any way help the situation?"

"Maybe she doesn't die," Rick said. "Maybe she gets sick. Maybe you're the only one that can help her and I just lose."

"I am the only one who can help her because I have applesauce," Aaron argued, "and we all win."

"Just fucking eat it," I muttered, throwing my head back. "What the fuck's wrong with you?"

Aaron cringed as he faced me, and then back to Rick with the spoon. "I hate applesauce," he finally admitted. "My mom used to make me eat foods I didn't like to make me more manly: salmon patties, applesauce, and onions. She was a very confused woman who tried her damnedest. I just bring the jar to show that we have apple trees nearby."

"Like you said, you'll be the first to go," Rick told him.

Aaron was hesitant but leaned forward and ate from the spoon, his face grim. I half expected him to spit it back out, but he would if he couldn't, because Rick would never feed it to Judith to keep her quiet. Rick seemed convinced though, and stood up to get applesauce for Judith.

"The community is big enough," Aaron told him when he was done with his mouthful. "We can find a place for you to live where even when she cries, no one, nothing can hear it outside the walls."

Rick stared at him for a second, a look I couldn't read. After a minute of saying nothing, with Judith quietened down, Rick looked down at his watch and said, "You got 43 minutes."

Aaron, bless him, sighed when the group returned after 40 minutes. They came back with a car and an RV, which—just for a moment—sent me back to the camp atop the quarry in Atlanta. I was reminded of our small group in the minute moments before everything started going bad for us.

Michonne walked past me with a carrier bag that she had stuffed to the brim with tin cans, and she took them to the back of the barn and placed them down on the table. Rick waited for the others who had been on the watch to return before he inspected the haul on the table. He knelt as everyone removed their things from the bags, showing what they found.

He picked up a can, turned it over and nodded. When he stood, he turned to Aaron. "This, this is ours now."

"There's more than enough," Aaron obliged tiredly.

"It's ours, whether or not we go to your camp," he clarified.

"What do you mean?" Carl asked. "Why wouldn't we go?"

Michonne answered for him. "If he were lying, or he wanted to hurt us," her eyes moved over the others before landing on Rick. "But he isn't, and he doesn't. We need this, so we're going, all of us. Somebody say something if they feel differently."

I cast a glance around the room, wondering if my opinion was much different. Not anymore. Aaron had been through hell today (mainly because of my actions) but he was still trying to make us feel more comfortable. He was a good person, but that was not to say his group was the same.

We had lost three people over three weeks, and the loss had fallen heavily on the group. My reservations about the man tied to a beam across the room didn't mean we should pass up a potential community. The same thought process was passing through Rick's eyes as my gaze returned to him.

"I don't know man," Daryl got his attention. "This barn smells like horse shit."

Rick nodded, and then met my eyes as if to ask what about you?

"I'm not sure about it," I told him quietly, looking back over my shoulder to Aaron who did not hide that he was listening to us. When I turned back to the others, Michonne was quietly egging me on to finish my sentence."But I'm tired."

Rick was still nodding as I spoke, agreeing with me. "Yeah, we're going," he said. Michonne gave him a nod as if to say he was making the right decision. He turned around and took a step towards Aaron. "So where are we going, where's your camp?"

"Well, every time I've done this, I've been behind the wheel driving recruits back," Aaron said, which was when I sighed and stood up. Don't make me change my mind about you, I thought desperately. "I believe you're good people, I-I bet my life on it. I'm just not ready to bet my friends lives just yet—"

Michonne grabbed the map and cut him off. "You're not driving," she walked over to their side of the barn and handed the map to Rick. "So if you want to get home, you'll have to tell us how."

Aaron was quiet, contemplating. "Go North on route 16."

"And then?" She asked as Rick laid the map out on the ground.

Again, a beat, followed by a sentence that set off all kinds of alarm bells in my head. "I'll tell you when we get there."

"We'll take 23 North," Rick said. "You'll give us directions from there."

"That's—I don't know how else to say it, that's a bad idea," Aaron shook his head. "We've cleared 16. It'll be faster."

"Faster way to get us into an ambush," I muttered, crossing my arms. "If you want to take us back to the camp, tell us where the camp is for fuck's sake."

"You don't want to take 23, I promise you," Aaron tried telling me.

"You have no reason not to tell us its location." Just because we agreed to join too doesn't mean you have to start acting creepy. "Or did you forget you want to take us there?"

"We'll take 23," Rick decided. "We leave at sundown."

"We're doing this at night?" Asked Sasha who was now leaning against the table in front of her.

Rick looked back at her over his shoulder. "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 tried desperately. "You're trying to protect your group, but you're putting them in danger."

Rick grabbed the beam beside him and used to turn on his feet to face Aaron. "Tell me where the camp is, we'll leave right now."

Aaron shook his head, his eyes moving to the ground in front of him. I wanted to believe him more than anything, but I couldn't see his reasoning for withholding that information. He wanted us to live in the group, but he couldn't take us there and also have us be oblivious to its location. (That would only work on me).

Rick pushed his knees to stand up. "It's going to be a long night. Eat, get some rest if you can."

I've been on my holiday in Greece but I've been wanting to post this to see everyone's reaction, anyway I am home now so I get to see all the comments. Sorry if you hate me after it haha.

Anyway, hope you enjoyed and let me know what you think :)