Naomi
"You sure you're okay to come with us?" Aaron asked.
"Yes," I sighed. "For the last time, yes. I've already wasted so much time in bed, not looking for my sister. I can't sit still anymore. Pete says, I'm fine."
He looked at me like a disapproving teacher. "He only said that because you bullied him into it."
"He said it of his own free will!" I said. "You can't bully that asshole into anything."
"Aaron," Eric said, coming into the hallway from the kitchen. "You're fighting a losing battle."
"Fine," Aaron sighed. "But if you feel faint or weak or..."
"I'll let you know," I promised. But this was the best that I'd felt since I'd got here. Partly because I'd rested, but it was also down to being allowed out for the first time in over a week. I was full of renewed energy. Finding Mia felt a damn sight more achievable than it had when I was wandering the woods on my own. Deanna even had maps. I'd spend my time confined to bed tracing different routes that she might've gone, following every train track that went North. I had a list of places I wanted to hit. It made me giddy to think about the amount of ground we could cover in a car, rather than on foot.
"Okay," Aaron said. "Ground rules before we go. If we find anyone, we do not approach them."
"We watch them from a distance, I know," I said. "I was the last person you did that to, remember?"
"And we watch them until we decide that they are safe to bring back here," he said, ignoring my previous point. "We'll need your judgement on that."
I nodded.
"And if we approach, we do it carefully," Eric said. "No weapons on show, an offering of food or water to show that we come in peace… try not to let them trap you in a pit."
He grinned at me.
"Alright, I'll not make that mistake again," Aaron said, with a slight eye roll. "You good to go?"
Eric and I nodded.
We packed up a car with supplies that we could give to anyone we found out there; mostly bottled water and a little bit of food. I sat in the back, pouring over one of the maps I'd marked up with routes I thought that Mia might have travelled, towns with train tracks running through them. We'd drive slow and keep a lookout for anyone on the roads or in the forest that might need help. Sometimes, we'd park up somewhere. Aaron and I would leave Eric to guard the car while we searched an entire area.
My initial optimism was misplaced. Two and half weeks of searching turned up nothing. Not even any strangers. Occasionally, we'd think we'd found someone, only for it to turn out that they were freshly dead enough to still look alive from a distance. I tried not to let it get to me. I told myself that Mia was out there somewhere, just waiting for me to find her.
"Hey, you see that?" Aaron said quietly. He stopped walking, squinted at something. We'd been walking for a while, having left Eric with the car about an hour before. According to my map, we were about to come up to another road. So far, we'd found nothing but corpses.
"What?" I asked.
"Over there," he pointed through the forest. Between the distant trees, towards another road, I could see a group of people moving incredibly slowly. "You see them?"
"Yeah," I said, watching their heads move slowly in and out of sight between tree trunks. "Shit, that's a big group. You think they're alive?"
It was hard to tell from so far away, their glacial pace meant it could be a horde of the dead.
"Impossible to know until we get closer," Aaron said. "You ready?"
"Yes," I said, and a little thrill ran up my spine. After so long without finding anyone, this was a big moment.
We kept our distance from them, moving closer to the road but staying ahead of them, which wasn't hard because of how slowly they were moving.
"I don't think they're dead," I said quietly. "They're moving too independently, I think some of them are talking to each other too."
They were too far away to know for sure, I worried that my hope we'd found more survivors was clouding my judgement. We couldn't see any details in their faces, and they weren't close enough to tell if they smelt dead yet.
"I agree," Aaron said. Another jolt of excitement burst through me at the thought that I wasn't alone in hoping they were alive. "They don't look like they're in such good shape."
"Should we help them?" I asked. It was a lot of people to help. It was also a lot of people to be overrun by if they decided they wanted to take Alexandria for themselves. "A group that big could-"
I stopped talking. All of my words, all of my thoughts came to an abrupt halt.
I saw him.
I knew it was him from the way he walked, I'd have known that walk anywhere. Slightly apart from the others, head down, crossbow slung over one shoulder. Every hair on my body stood on end. I stood up before I realized I'd done it. Opened my mouth to yell his name. Aaron grabbed my arm and pulled me back down.
"Naomi!" he hissed. "What the hell are you doing?"
"I... I know him..." I said. I could feel my heartbeat in the back of my throat, knew I'd be looking at Aaron like a wide-eyed madwoman.
"Who?" he looked back at the faraway group. "One of them?"
I nodded.
"How can you tell? They're so far away," he squinted at them. I tried to think of a way to explain it that wouldn't make me sound crazy. But how do you describe knowing someone else so well you'd recognize them before you'd know your own reflection? Or the overwhelming feeling that part of your soul had been ripped from you and was now returning?
"Hey," Aaron said softly, turning back to me. "Hey, you okay?"
I hadn't realized there were tears in my eyes until he asked. I wiped them away. He saw my hands were shaking and took hold of both of them to steady me.
"Yeah," I said. "Yeah, I just... I didn't think I'd ever see him again... I..."
I couldn't carry on. While I'd never thought Daryl was dead, I'd never in a million years expected our paths to cross.
"Okay," Aaron said, trying to keep me calm. "I assume this is someone you're happy to see and not…?"
He trailed off. Took me a second to realize he was checking that this wasn't someone from Terminus.
"Yes," I said quickly. "Yes, he's an old friend. From before."
"Okay, good," he looked relieved.
"I can't believe he's here," I said, more to myself than him. I stood up again, ready to run to him.
"Stop," Aaron pulled me back down again. "We still have to observe them."
"But I know him," I protested. "We don't have to do any of that wait-to-introduce-ourselves bullshit. I can just-"
"No, it's too dangerous," he said. "We stick to protocol."
I could feel my blood starting to boil. "Alexandria would be lucky to have someone like Daryl-"
"Keep your voice down, Naomi," he hissed. It was hard. Felt like I was losing my damn mind. I could see Daryl, he was within shouting distance, but some asshole I'd only known a few weeks was stopping me from running to him. It was hard to keep my cool. Aaron took a deep breath, looking at me like I was a bomb about to go off, which was fair enough because it was exactly how I felt. "I'm sure he'd be great for Alexandria. But if you come running out of the bushes yelling, how do you think the people he's with will react? They could shoot you dead before he even knows it's you."
It was a fair point.
I sat back a little, felt myself deflate.
"So what do we do?" I asked. I didn't know how long I could wait. Felt like there was a fire burning in the pit of my stomach.
"We stick to the plan," he said. "Observe them for a little while and then make our approach."
"But-"
"We don't even have enough car space to take them all back if they want to come," he said.
"We can do it in shifts," I said. "Just take a few at a time."
"There are two spaces in the car," he said. "I doubt they're going to want to be split up into twos with three complete strangers. Look, I understand how infuriating this must be for you. Finding an old friend still alive when the world's turned upside down… it's big. But you're not thinking straight."
"Fine," I said. "So, what next?"
"Head back to Alexandria," he said. "Get some more supplies for them, a vehicle big enough to transport them all."
It was both exactly what I'd expected him to say and the last thing I wanted to hear. White-hot frustration rose up inside me. I looked back at Daryl walking on the road, could feel him slipping away from me again.
"I'm not leaving," I said. How could I?
"Naomi…" Aaron sighed. "You know the drill."
"What if we lose them?" I said. "What if they don't keep following the road? They could turn off into the woods at any point."
"We won't. They've clearly been following this road for some time," he said. He took hold of the map and opened it out. "At the pace they're going, I think we could make it to Alexandria and back before they reach this bend in the road here. We'll leave them out some water and take it from there."
He pointed to the place on the map he was talking about. I wanted to scream, considered it for a moment because then at least our cover would be blown, and he wouldn't be able to hold me back anymore. But, the rational side of my brain was still functioning, and it knew that he was right. If I'd been part of that group, and some crazed woman I didn't know had come running towards us, I'd have shot first and asked questions later. Aaron's plan was the most sensible.
"If I could just get him on his own," I said. "I know he'd-"
"Naomi, you need to be careful," he warned me. "You said it yourself, people are different now. He might not be the person you remember."
It felt like an absurd idea.
"Not Daryl," I said. "The rest of the group, I get your point. But not Daryl."
He sighed. I knew he meant well, but he had no idea what he was talking about. The only thing I'd ever been able to depend on, the one thing I had always known to be true, was that Daryl would never intentionally hurt me. Whatever had happened to him in the time we'd been apart, however he'd changed, I couldn't imagine a world where that was no longer true.
"Promise me," Aaron said. "Promise me you will not go running out there, and you will not approach him unless he is on his own."
"I promise," I said.
"Okay," he said. "Come on, we won't be long."
I took one last look back at Daryl. And we left.
Daryl
The walk was long. Hardly anyone said anything. Not about Grady, not about Beth, not about Tyreese when we lost him. I think not having a destination we knew we were heading to made everyone tense. The cars breaking down didn't help. Walking took a lot out of everyone. All our energy. No food or water.
We let a group of Walkers build up behind us. They were slower than us, it wasn't worth wasting our energy taking them out one at a time. We waited until we got to a bridge, took them all out at once. In the middle of it all, Perla cut her leg. It bled for a while, but we managed to stop it. Two days later, it looked a little infected. Day three, she had a fever. She slowed down, Lucas offered to carry her at the back of the group. We all hoped her body would find a way to fight the infection on its own, but she only got worse. If we didn't find a pharmacy soon, I wasn't sure she'd make it.
I kept thinking that we must be getting close to somewhere, else why would there be a road? Why build a road if it just kept leading you nowhere?
We turned a bend in the road. The people walking in front of me stopped. I stopped too, looked up. A few yards ahead there was a small cluster of water bottles. Just sitting there. Nobody around them, nothing to guard them. They looked full too, not like someone else who'd been walking on this endless fucking road had just dropped them because they were done. There were so many. Probably enough for one each, though I was too tired to count them. They were too perfectly placed to have fallen from a vehicle if someone had been driving them somewhere.
Rick walked forwards and picked something up. A piece of paper was lying on top. He read it and then held it up for us to see. Just three little words on it:
'From a Friend.'
Neat. Like someone had printed it on there.
I stared at it. Felt like time stood still around me. I was aware that the others were arguing about whether or not to drink it, but I could hardly hear them.
"I think it's okay," I said, looking around at the trees. I grabbed the piece of paper off Rick. "I think Naomi wrote this."
They all looked at me with this patronizing mix of worry and pity, like I'd lost my mind and was the last to know it.
"Daryl, I know you want to find her," Rick said gently. "But there's no way you could know that."
"Nah," I said. "There is. That's her handwriting, I know it."
"Listen, man…" he said. I could predict the lecture that was coming. I knew he was about to spout some cop bullshit about handwriting analysis not being reliable evidence even when it was some kind of expert looking at it. But I knew her writing. Didn't need no damn expert to tell me how close a match it was. I'd spent years reading her essays, testing her on notes that she'd made, binders full of whatever shit was important to her at the time, received years of Birthday and Christmas cards. I'd forget how to write myself before I forgot the way her words looked on a page.
"Look, give me one," I said, reaching for a bottle. "I'll drink it, and then you'll see."
Eugine picked up a bottle and tried to hand it to me. Rick slapped it out of his hands. Water, poisoned or not, went everywhere.
Fuck this.
"Naomi!" I yelled at the trees. Heard something rustle. Could have been the wind, could've been a whisper but Rick spoke over it.
"Shut up," he said. "You don't want to bring more Walkers out here, do you?"
"Shh," I held up a hand, trying to listen to where that rustling might've come from. "I think I heard something."
"It's just the wind, man," Rick said. I shook my head. Kept listening. He sighed, "I am not putting our lives at risk because you're running around chasing a damn ghost."
I could've punched him. I wanted to. There was so much white-hot rage in me that I was ready for a fight, but I swallowed it down again. We were all hurting, starving and desperate. That mix can turn even the best of us into assholes. So, I just said, "Fuck you, man."
But he saw my clenched up fists, the anger in my eyes, assumed I was about to lash out and got real close to me.
"Walk it off, Daryl," he told me. "Walk it off."
I turned away from him, from the others and walked into the woods. I used to like how quiet it was there, how it reminded me of times in my life I was actually kind of happy. It didn't work this time. Too much had gone wrong, I'd lost too much.
I wanted to yell, scream, punch something until my fists were bloody. Why were there never any goddamn Walkers to tear into when you really needed them? But I was trying to cope with things differently now. Anger; punching things, throwing things, yelling at people I cared about... none of them had done me any good.
I pulled out a smoke. Not a healthy substitute for anger either, but at least this one only hurt me. I sat down by a tree, lit up and inhaled. Did nothing for me. No relief. No joy. The emptiness inside me just grew. I stared at the lit end, red and glowing.
The smell reminded me of Naomi's house. Her Momma's off-brand cigarettes burning in an ashtray somewhere while she tried to stop herself from smoking something else. Made my eyes sting.
I'd failed.
I'd fucking failed and now I everything reminded me of it. Even these damn smokes.
Rick was probably right; that water was poisoned, and I'd almost killed everyone because I was desperate for any kind of sign that the path I was searching was taking me in the right direction. Anything that said she was still alive. But seeing that sign, pretending it might be from her, had given me the same hope as seeing that hospital car.
And look how that had ended up.
Beth was dead.
If we hadn't gone looking for her, maybe she wouldn't be.
Everything I did only seemed to make things worse. If Naomi had survived this long without me, maybe she didn't need me at all. Maybe me tracking her down would only end the same way as Beth. Maybe I'd just wind up causing her death too. After all, Naomi's life had been so much better without me in it. The things she'd done - graduating college, getting out of Georgia, her career in Washington, taking care of Mia - it had all been without me. She'd never needed me the way I'd needed her. Why did I think it would be different now? The fuck would she want with someone who constantly let down everyone who gave a shit about him?
I pushed the lit cigarette into the skin on the back of my hand. Felt it burn. A painful, welcome distraction from the pain of everything else.
"Don't do that, dumbass," I thought I heard her say. Like my burning need to see her had called her ghost out of the woods. "It'll scar."
It sounded so real, so much like her. Was Rick right? Was I losing it?
I stopped, threw the cigarette to the ground. Saw an unfamiliar boot stomp it out. Hardly dared look up in case I really was losing my damn mind. A bag swung into view. A familiar teddy bear keychain swung with it. Knievel. That dumbass bear. I had to be imagining this, right? No way, after all this time, that she'd be carrying that bag around. Or, that he'd still be attached. But he was grubbier than I remembered, missing half of his shades.
I looked up.
Her eyes, bright and blue, met mine.
I couldn't speak. Couldn't breathe in case it blew this dream away. She looked nervous, staring at me like I might be the one to disappear. Her lips opened like she wanted to say something, but couldn't. I think mine did the same. And then she gave me that smile. That perfect, just-for-me smile that I could never get right when I pictured her.
"Naomi?" I said, and my voice cracked.
"Hey," she said, her breath was a little shaky. I got to my feet. She did not disappear.
Had she really done this? Had she really managed to find me, at the end of the world, in the middle of fucking nowhere, right when I needed her the most?
"Hey," I said, it sounded so small and stupid for such a big moment. I'd thought so much about finding her, I'd never thought about what I'd actually say. Or do. Heart beating so loud, I took a step towards her. She reached out for me.
"Back up!"
Rick.
I heard his footsteps, saw her look to something just behind me and raise her arms above her head. I wiped my damp eyes on my sleeve and turned to look at him. Gun raised. Pointed right at Naomi.
No.
I stepped between them, "Put the gun away."
"This Naomi?" he asked me.
"Yes," I said, too worried about him pointing his damn gun at her to feel smug about being right. "Put the gun down."
It was hard to stay calm. I wanted to yell at him but didn't want to make the situation worse. He looked around me, at where she was standing. He held up one of the bottles of water.
"Was this you?" he asked her.
"Yes."
"There anything in it?"
"No, sir," she said, all polite and calm. "Just water."
"Yeah?" He threw it at her. She caught it, looked surprised. "Drink it."
"Rick, she ain't gotta-"
"It's okay, Daryl," she said. Hearing my name in her voice again sent a shiver up my spine. I looked back at her. She opened the top, took a few big gulps. Held it up to show Rick.
"All of it," he demanded.
"Rick!"
"It's okay," she said again like she'd expected it. Planned for it. She started drinking the rest of it. I glared at Rick, who would not look at me. When she was done, she held up the empty bottle. "It's safe."
"You alone?" he asked her.
"No," she said. I knew the rest of the group would feel on-edge about this, but I was relieved to hear her say it. "My friend Aaron is back by the road. We have someone else waiting with the cars."
"Three of you?" he said. "That's all?"
"That's all," she said. "But we have a community, not far from here. There are more of us there. Plenty of food, water and shelter for all of you too. If… if you'll come."
She glanced at me. I hoped she knew I'd go wherever she was.
"We're not going anywhere," Rick said. I turned back to him.
"Rick, man! I know her, you ain't gotta do this-"
"No, Daryl," he said. "You don't know her. You knew her. Things are different now. People are different now. The person you think she was, might be gone."
It shocked me into silence. All I could feel was the panic rising in my chest. Had she found me just so I could lose her all over again? I couldn't see someone else I cared about get shot right in front of me.
"Put the goddamn gun down, man. I won't ask again."
Rick looked from her to me and back again. My hand moved to my crossbow, slung across my shoulders. I saw a flicker of shock in his face. If this was what was needed to keep her safe, I'd deal with the consequences later.
"Wait!" Naomi said before things could escalate any further. "How about I just hand over my weapons? Then we can all just... relax."
She kept her eyes on Rick, slowly laying down two small knives. I watched her take out a pistol and set that down too. She raised her arms again.
"And the bag?" Rick asked. She opened it and tipped the contents towards him so that he could see it for himself.
"Just a book and some snacks," she said. I almost wept again. Despite anything Rick might think, this was the girl I'd always known.
"Okay," he said. He looked at me. "Get her weapons."
While I was distracted bending down to pick them up, Rick side-stepped me and grabbed her by the arm.
"This friend of yours," he said, dragging her ahead of me. "Get him out here."
"Let her go!" I yelled, but they were already heading back towards the road.
The fear of seeing Rick's gun pointed at her was turning back to anger, and I didn't know how long I could keep a lid on it. I heard her call for someone up ahead. She still sounded so damn calm. I started running. Yelled for Rick, he ignored me. When I got to the road, a guy had stepped out. His hands were raised above his head. Now Rick's gun was on him, not Naomi. I didn't dare to relax.
"This is Aaron," she said.
Before Aaron could say anything, someone called from behind us.
"Naomi?"
It was Lucas, he'd stepped away from Perla to see what was going on. I watched her turn to him. Saw her face light up. "Lucas!"
She ran towards him. I saw Rick turn to keep an eye on her, but as she was unarmed, kept his gun on Aaron. As she hugged Lucas, I looked away, hoping that would stop the sharp twist in my stomach.
"What's going on?" Lucas asked.
"We've come to offer help," Naomi said. "There's a whole community not far from here. Space for all of you."
He heaved a huge sigh of relief. He'd helped us out back at the church, but given his links to Terminus, Lucas still wasn't anyone's favourite person.
"Not so fast," Rick said. "Nobody's going anywhere until we know we can trust you."
"We can trust her," I said. Rick glared at me. I glared right back.
"Do you have antibiotics?" Lucas asked, ignoring Rick and me.
"Yes," she said. "We have a doctor. Is one of you hurt?"
She glanced at me again, like I was her first concern. My heart hurt.
"It's Perla," Lucas said. She looked back at him, I saw the hope in her eyes. Knew it was about to be crushed.
"Perla's with you?" Naomi looked behind him, where a weak Perla was sitting on the road. "Is-"
"No," Lucas said quickly. "She's... it's just her."
"Oh," she said, and the light in her eyes dimmed a little. But then, because it was impossible to keep her down for long, she turned back to Rick, "I know you haven't decided if you're coming with us yet, and that's fine. But please let me take Perla. We have a doctor, antibiotics. If she has an infected wound, it could save her life."
Rick hesitated.
"C'mon, man," I said. "Let her take the kid."
"She needs it, dad," Carl said quietly.
Rick sighed. "Fine."
"Thank you," Naomi smiled at him. Don't know how he could keep glaring at her after that. I watched her run to Perla, scoop her up.
"Quit being an asshole," I said to Rick. "You heard her. They got a place with food and water. Medicine. Let's go."
"Daryl," he sighed. "I get why you want to believe her, I really do. But we can't just take their word for it."
"I have pictures," Aaron interrupted. "Of Alexandria… if you'd like to see them."
Rick nodded. Aaron lowered his hands, reached back slowly to take his backpack off. He unzipped it and pulled out a stack of polaroids, handed them to Rick. I peered over his shoulder as he flicked through them.
"Ain't any people in these," I said. "Could've got these anywhere."
"Funny," Naomi's voice at my shoulder made me jump. She was closer than I expected. "I said the same thing. Told you we should've taken news ones."
She glanced at Aaron. Perla was clinging to her back, not looking so good.
"Tell Eric what's happened," Aaron said. "And take the smaller car."
"Will do," she said and started to walk away.
"Wait!" I said. She turned. I held out the gun and the knives she'd surrendered to Rick.
"Woah," Rick said. "What are you doing?"
"I ain't letting her wander off with a sick kid and no protection," I said. I could tell he wanted to argue with me, didn't want either of them armed in case he lost the upper hand. But he seemed to know better than to try and stop me. Naomi walked back, shifting the way she was carrying Perla on her back so that she could take them from me. Her fingertips brushed against mine.
"Thank you," she said as our eyes met. "I'll see you soon."
I nodded because it sounded like a promise.
And then she walked away.
She stepped off the road and into the bushes. And she was gone again. Way too soon.
It already felt like a dream.
"I'm going," I told Rick. I didn't need to see any more. "Can't stop me."
"You trust this guy?" he asked, nodding to Aaron.
"No," I said, looking off in the direction she'd gone. "But I trust her."
"Daryl, you don't know her anymore," he said. "You don't know what kind of person she is now. She could be leading us right to another Terminus."
"We could be walking into a trap," Glenn agreed.
"Naomi was in Terminus too," Lucas said. "She left because of the way things were there. If this place was anything like it, there's no way she'd be out here trying to convince us to join them."
It was a good argument. I wished I'd been calm enough to think of it myself. Nobody trusted Lucas, so having him vouch for her might not have been the best thing for her case.
"You said her sister was missing?" Rick asked me.
"Mia," I said. "Yeah. Why?"
"What if they've got her?" he said. "And they're using her to force Naomi into coming out here and leading us into a trap."
"Nah," I said. "That ain't it."
I knew Naomi would do anything for Mia. But I'd seen the hope that Mia was here die in her eyes. You can't fake that.
I wondered if Rick and I would stand here arguing about it until we died on this road, either from Walkers who came by without us noticing or starvation or thirst because he wouldn't let us drink out of those damn bottles. Then, Carol stepped forward and said, "I think we should go."
Thank God.
"You trust these folks?"
"I trust Daryl," she said. "I trust his judgement. If he thinks we should go, then we should go."
"If they have ample food and water, as they suggest, then I am inclined to agree," Eugine said, a few other people nodded. Carol stepping up had clearly made other people feel like they were free to disagree with Rick.
Rick was still shaking his head.
Carl adjusted his hat, looked his dad in the eye. "We'd be prepared for a trap this time," he said. "We should at least make sure that Perla is okay."
Now that Carl was on side, I knew it would be hard for Rick to keep arguing. He looked to Michonne, who shrugged. "It couldn't hurt to take a look."
Yes!
Too many people Rick trusted were on my side. He couldn't argue with that many of us. Our situation out here was pretty bleak. Even if other people were wary of Naomi, taking our chances with new people sounded worth it. Aaron led us through the woods. I hoped we might catch up with Naomi, but there was no sign of her. We reached another road. They'd parked a big RV just out of sight of us. There was another guy there, guarding it with a gun. Stood up when he saw Aaron.
"Are you okay?" he asked, looking at us all with the same suspicion most of us were probably looking at him with. "Naomi said there were a few… resistant members."
"All fine," Aaron said quickly. He looked at the rest of us. "This is Eric. Eric, this is Rick."
"Hi Rick," Eric said, without a smile.
Rick glowered at him and said nothing.
"This is Daryl," Aaron pointed at me.
"Oh, this is Daryl," Eric looked at me like it was a bit of a surprise. I felt myself getting embarrassed. I knew Naomi had probably told them a bunch of nice stuff about me that meant they'd have a picture of me in their heads that didn't match what they saw in front of them. "Nice to meet you."
I just nodded, pointed to the RV. "In here?"
"Yup."
I climbed in the back. Rick rode up front with Judith. The whole journey, I felt sick. Couldn't tell if it was travel or nerves.
We came to a stop. I looked out of the window, saw a big metal gate. Caught a glimpse of high walls. I heard the engine switch off and leapt up to open the door. Part of me expected her to be there when I opened it, but that was dumb. How would she even know we'd arrived? I stepped out of the RV, waited for everyone else to pile out after me.
I could hear people talking, the sound of kids playing beyond the walls. I looked back at Rick, could tell by the look on his face that he'd heard it too. The gates opened. We walked through.
It was just like the pictures Aaron had shown us, which somehow made it weirder. I'd assumed they'd been taken right at the start of all of this; before gardens got overgrown and houses fell apart. But this place was untouched.
The guy who'd opened the gates looked at all of us. "Before you go any further, I need you to hand over your weapons. If you want to stay, you hand them over."
"We don't know if we want to stay," Rick said, his Python in one hand and Judith balancing on his other arm. I looked around, kept expecting to see Naomi's face.
"Let them keep them," Aaron said. "Let them talk to Deanna first."
"Who's Deanna?" Abraham asked.
"She knows everything you'd want to know about this place," Aaron said. "Rick, why don't you start?"
Rick looked back at us all. Gave me a look that made it clear that if things were to go wrong, he'd be holding me personally responsible. He nodded to Aaron and followed him. We kept pace behind them, taking in the place as we walked. The houses were massive, suburban rich-folk homes where the curtains twitched as people looked at us walking past. Wasn't somewhere I'd have felt comfortable being even before the world ended.
I looked at the ground as we went, didn't want to make eye contact with any of them.
We stopped at the house Aaron said belonged to Deanna and Rick went in alone. I felt uneasy about. At least he was armed, but anything could happen to him in there. I'd felt so confident in this place when it was Naomi telling us about it, but now I wasn't so sure. What if Rick was right? What if they were using Mia to get to her?
"Where's Naomi?" I asked Aaron while we waited outside for Rick.
"She's probably with Perla," Aaron said. I could tell by the tone in his voice that he was trying to keep me calm. It wasn't working. I'd only feel better when I saw her again, knew she was safe and here of her own free will.
"I want to see her," I told him.
"You will," he said. "Once you've all spoken to Deanna."
"All of us?" I said. That could take hours. "Thought it was just Rick?"
"Don't worry," he gave me a reassuring smile. "I'll make sure you go next."
When Rick came back out, he told us all to hand over our weapons. Whatever Deanna had said in there must've convinced him. I didn't feel much better. Didn't like being unarmed and weak. Didn't like that they still wouldn't let me see Naomi.
Aaron took Rick and Carl away to show them the place we'd all be staying. And then it was my turn to go in and see Deanna. Her house was full of pointless shit. Paintings that must've cost a lot back when money still mattered. Decorative crap. Neat little cushions on all of her dumb furniture.
She had food out on her pointless coffee table, I liked that.
She had a camera out recording everything I said, I didn't like that.
"You're welcome to sit, Daryl," she told me. "I won't bite."
"Yeah, I'm alright," I told her. Didn't plan on being there for long. I couldn't sit still, just paced back and forth like my feet knew we had someplace else to be.
"Daryl, do you want to be here?" she asked.
Only if Naomi does.
Didn't much care where I was if she was there.
"The boy and the baby," I said. "They deserve a roof, I guess."
"Aaron told me that you requested to be in here next," she said. "Any reason for that?"
I looked at her. She didn't look dangerous, just looked like any other rich asshole. But those folks are good at getting other people to do ugly shit for them. If she knew there was a connection between Naomi and me, would she try and use it?
"Nope," I said, playing it safe. "Just wanted to get it over with."
"We all contribute here," she said. She talked to me like I was dumb. I thought I was done with people treating me that way. "Are you willing to contribute? Become part of our community?"
I shrugged, "If it's one worth becoming a part of."
"It is," she said with a smile. "I'll find a job for you. For all of you."
"Okay," I said. She stared at me, didn't say anything else. "Can I go now?"
"If you must," she said.
"Great," I headed for the door and didn't look back. Aaron had returned, without Rick and Carl, and was waiting for me. "What a waste of time that was."
"Sorry," he said. "Everyone who comes here has to talk to Deanna."
"Fine," I shrugged. Couldn't give a shit about Deanna or her damn rules "Can we go now?"
Didn't have to say anything else, he knew what I was asking.
"She is just finishing up with Perla," he said. "But she lives with us, so if you want to wait for her at ours, that would be fine. Or I can show you to the house we've got for you guys and you can-"
"I'll come wait," I said. There was no way in hell I was letting anyone sidetrack me with any more pointless shit. If Naomi had been forced into doing this somehow, if she was lying or in any kind of danger, I'd know when I saw her.
"Alright," Aaron nodded. "Let's go."
The more we walked, the more nervous I was. Everything Rick had said, about things being different now, about her being different, they really stuck in my head. What if it wasn't like before?
What if it is?
That was somehow worse. The though that things could be as good as they once were now that the whole world was so shit... it was a lot of happiness to lose if something went wrong.
We turned a corner, and there she was. At the other end of the street. Eyes down, looking at the road in front of her, she looked tired and worried. I stopped in my tracks.
What if she ain't forgiven me?
She'd seemed happy to see me, but... the blood, the glass. Could I ever be forgiven for any of that?
Aaron called her name. My heartbeat loud in my ears, and she looked up at him. Then looked at me. Stopped walking.
My Naomi.
I damn near fell down.
I took a few steps and then I started to run. Everything blurred, melted away, except her. I think I called out her name, but I can't be sure. I was so overwhelmed by her being here that she was all I could see, all I could think. Almost within reach. My feet pounded the pavement, my arms reached out towards her.
She started running too.
I could feel every moment behind us. Every laugh, everything we'd done to protect each other, every scar she'd helped heal, every dumb fight we'd ever had. Every day I'd got to spend with her had been a joy I'd let slip by, not realizing how good I had it until I'd lost her. The pain of losing her had never left me. I felt every moment; from when she'd sat down beside me to share her stolen gas station sandwich, to seeing her house go up in smoke, to her finding me in the middle of nowhere at the end of the world. We'd shared so much and been through so much together. But it wasn't enough. I needed a lifetime more of those moments.
She was in my arms again.
Real and solid. I hadn't dared to truly believe it until her arms were wrapped around me, the smell of her hair in my nose, her warm body against mine. So aware now, of everything I'd taken for granted the first time around, I wouldn't do that again. I had a second chance. This time, it would be different.
I felt it all; the pain of all that I'd lost, the overwhelming joy of holding her again. Through it all, I felt the burning desire to never let her go.
