Future Ghosts • TWD

68. Alexandria.

The group who went to check out the cars came back with what Abraham described as an ass-load of canned food. It was about five times as much as Rick, Daryl, and Rosie brought back from her house. There were lots of spaghettios and even two liters of soda. Rosie hadn't seen soda since that gas station, before they even got to the prison!

"This, this is ours now," Rick said to Aaron, who was still stuck leaning up against one of the posts in the barn.

Aaron nodded, but he looked tired and defeated. "There's more than enough," he said. Rosie didn't like the idea of going to this man's community at first, but now that she knew it had spaghettios and soda, she was starting to change her mind. Sure, he still could've been lying and trying to trick them, but if he was, Rick would just kill him.

"It's ours whether or not we go to your camp," Rick said, his voice tense and low, like it was a threat. It's ours, and if you try to take it, we'll kill you.

"What do you mean? Why wouldn't we go?" Carl asked his father, sounding annoyed. He was a lot more convinced than Rosie was, and Rosie was already pretty convinced. He didn't want to pass up a chance to be able to live safely.

"If he were lying or if he wanted to hurt us... but he isn't and he doesn't. We need this," Michonne said. Her face was tense and her voice was stern and gruff. She meant was she was saying. They needed this. They couldn't live on the road like they were anymore. They just couldn't. They were tired. "So we're going. All of us," Michonne said, looking around at the group. Rosie looked up at Daryl's face, trying to figure out if he agreed- because she wasn't going anywhere he wasn't going- but she couldn't tell what he was thinking. "Somebody say something if they feel differently," Michonne said.

"I don't know, man," Daryl said. Rosie sighed a little, thinking he didn't want to go. "This barn smells like horse shit," he finished. Oh?

"Does that mean ya wanna go?" Rosie asked.

"Yeah," Rick said, answering instead of Daryl. He gave a firm nod. "We're going." Rosie's stomach knotted up, but she wasn't sure if it was nerves or excitement. This place had soda, but that didn't mean it was good. What would it be like there? How different would everything really be? Rick turned to Aaron again. "So where are we going? Where's your camp?" he asked.

"Well, every time I've done this, I've been behind the wheel driving recruits back. I believe you're good people. I've bet my life on it. I'm just not ready to bet my friends' lives just yet," Aaron replied, stuttering like a mess. Rosie rolled her eyes, even though she knew Daryl didn't like it when she did that. He wasn't paying attention to her right now, anyway. She just didn't understand why the Aaron guy would spend so much time trying to convince them to go there, but then say he didn't trust them.

"You're not driving," Michonne told him with an authoritative tone to her voice. She stood tall and intimidating in front of Aaron. "So if you wanna get home, you'll have to tell us how."

Rick crouched down a few feet away with a map and a pen in his hands, and Aaron sighed. "Go north on Route 16," he said. Rosie watched as Rick traced a line on the map. She didn't understand maps very well. They were hard to read.

"And then?"

"I'll tell you when we get there," Aaron said.

Oh, you gotta be kiddin' me, Rosie wanted to say, but didn't.

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

Aaron let out a nervous laugh. "That's- I don't know how else to say it- that's a bad idea," he said. The more he talked, the more he made it so they didn't want to trust him. If his job was convincing them, he was doing only a mediocre job at it. "We've cleared 16. It'll be faster."