Dead Man Walking | Rick Grimes

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Rick and I remained silent as we hastily got dressed. I shrugged my shirt on and grabbed my knife again, tucking it in my holster. Rick pulled on his pants and fastened his holster when we heard voices from the hallway. I hastily crawled across the bed and stood behind Rick as he opened the door, his eyes landing on Carl and Selena as they talked to the man.

"Carl, Selena," Rick swallowed thickly, "Um," I felt my cheeks heat up slightly as embarrassment coursed through me. Loud boot steps echoed in our house, and Daryl, Glenn, Abraham, and Maggie came racing in, pausing at the stairs with their guns drawn. I stepped forward and extended my palm to them, looking at the unknown man.

"It's okay," I reassured our people. Rick stepped forward and fidgeted with his shirt, slowly slipping it on while I adjusted my shirt, realizing that I had put it on the wrong way.

"You said we should talk," Rick said to the man as he buttoned his shirt, "So let's talk."

~*~

The sun started rising in the sky, the light coming through our windows in the kitchen. The man, Jesus, sat at the head of the table while Rick and I sat on either side of him. I leaned back in my chair and crossed my arms over my chest as I stared at the man.

"So, how'd you get out?" Rick asked as he leaned on the table.

"One guard can't cover two exits," Jesus shrugged as if it was no big deal, "Or third-floor windows," I shifted in my chair, pointing my body towards the man, "Knots untie, locks are picked. Entropy comes from order, right?"

"Right," Daryl answered with a head nod, stalking around the room with a gun.

"I checked out your arsenal," Jesus nodded, "I haven't seen anything like that in a long time. You're well-equipped, but your provisions are low. Very low for the amount of people you have," He looked around the room, eyeing each person as he asked, "54?"

"Give or take a few," I answered, gaining his attention. He looked at me and gave me a simple head nod.

"Well, I appreciate the cookie. My compliments to the chef,"

"Yeah, she ain't here," Daryl growled, glaring at the guy. The man sighed and shifted in his chair, looking at Daryl straight in the eyes.

"Look, we got off to a bad start, but we're on the same side—the living side," Jesus said, "You and Rick had every reason to leave me out there, but you didn't." He turned to all of us, his bright eyes on me, before snapping back to Rick and Daryl. "I'm from a place that's a lot like this one. Part of my job is searching out other settlements to trade with. I took your truck because my community needs things, and both of you looked like trouble," I watched as Rick looked out the window as he thought, a smile on my lips at how handsome he looked, "I was wrong. You're good people, and this is a good place. I think our communities may be in a position to help each other."

"Do you have food?" Glenn asked from where he sat at the opposite end of the table. Jesus nodded and intertwined his fingers together on top of the table.

"We started to raise livestock. We scavenge, we grow—everything from tomatoes to sorghum." He explained. I leaned forward and bit my lip, unsure of everything he said. Could this be the beginning of a real future here? Or is this some cruel joke he's playing to lure us outside?

"And we believe you why?" I asked, gaining his attention. Jesus smiled at me and brushed his hair behind his ear.

"If we take a car, I can take you back home in a day, and you can all see for yourselves who we are and what we have to offer." I took in his words and thought about it. If this is real, this could be just what we needed. Maggie is having trouble getting our garden set up, and with her being pregnant, there's only so much she can do until she needs to start taking it easy.