Future Ghosts • TWD

57. Sanctuary for All.

The five of them rushed through the doors of Terminus, Rick and Daryl leading the pack. Nothing met them on the other side, so they continued on down a hallway, following the sound of a woman's voice. She spoke calmly and clearly, reading off the same words over and over. Daryl peaked around the corner and began to lower his weapon.

"Those who arrive survive," the woman's voice was saying as Daryl, Rick, Michonne, Carl, and Rosie trailed into the room. "Terminus. Sanctuary for all, community for all. Those who-"

"Hello," Rick said, stepping to the front of the group. The woman jumped a little and pulled her headphones off. "Hello," Rick said again, but this time louder. Rosie stood in between Carl and Daryl, her eyes scanning over the large building. It looked like some old, empty factory.

"Well, I bet Albert is on perimeter watch," one man said with a sigh. The man put down what he was holding and walked closer. Rosie took one step back, without even thinking about it. "You here to rob us?" the man asked.

"No," Rick said. He started walking forward, closer to the people from Terminus. "We wanted to see you before you saw us."

The man laughed a little, but Rosie didn't get why. He shook his head. "Makes sense," he said. He started walking closer again, which  made Rosie nervous, but she didn't move away this time anyway because nobody else was. "Usually we do this where the tracks meet," he cleared his throat and opened his arms out wide, "Welcome to Terminus." His arms dropped back down. "I'm Gareth. Looks like you've been on the road for a good bit."

"We have," Rick said, nodding his head. "Rick. That's Carl, Rosie, Daryl, Michonne."

Gareth waved his hand at the others, but they didn't wave back. "You're nervous. I get it. We were all the same way," he said, like it was funny. Rosie didn't like him, she decided, but that was something she was going to have to get over if they were really going to stay. "We came here for sanctuary. That what you're here for?"

"Yes," Rick said.

"Good. You found it. Hey, Alex," Gareth said. He turned to look at another man from Terminus, who had curly, brown hair. Alex started approaching, too, with a big smile on his face. "This isn't as pretty as the front. We got nothing to hide, but the welcome wagon is a whole lot nicer. Alex will take you, ask you a few question. Uh, but first, we need to see everyone's weapons. If you could just lay them down in front of you."

Rosie looked over at Rick, wondering if he was going to do this. If Terminus was bad and these people were going to kill them, now would be the time. After a few moments, Rick nodded and pulled his gun from his holster, placing it on the ground. "Alright," he said.

"I'm sure you understand," Gareth said.

"Yes, I do," Rick said, keeping eye contact with Gareth as he unloaded all of his weapons out onto the floor in front of him. Soon, Carl, Daryl, and Michonne followed. Rosie would have to, but she didn't have any weapons on her. She didn't know where her knife was. She figured it was still on the belt of one of the dead Claimers, but she couldn't be sure.

Gareth approached Rick, and Rosie watched as Rick held his arms out. She didn't know what he was doing it for at first, but it made more sense when Gareth started patting him down like a police officer would.

The curly-haired man, Alex, approached Daryl and did the same thing. "I'd hate to see the other guy," he said as he patted Daryl down. Rosie had heard that expression before- it was something people said when you had a black eye. Daryl had one. The Claimers gave it to him. Daryl didn't look Alex in the eye. He didn't like Alex, Rosie could tell.

"You would," Rick said, his voice deep and serious. He was warning them- threatening them, in a way.

Alex moved on to Rosie. Rosie didn't hold her arms up like Rick and Daryl did. She knew she was supposed to, but she really didn't want to. Without her control, her arms squeezed in close to her body as she visibly tensed. Her heart rate picked up.