Future Ghosts • TWD

82. Knots Untie.

The strange man named Jesus was sitting at the kitchen table with Rick, Michonne, Glenn, Maggie, and Carl. Rosie was told to go back to bed, but she knew she wouldn't be able to sleep knowing that a stranger was in the same house as her, so she decided she would listen in. She sat herself down on one of the stools at the counter, and eyed Jesus warily. Daryl was pacing around, and Abraham was standing up behind Glenn, crossing his arms and making himself tall.

"So, how'd you get out," Rick asked the man. Apparently, Rick and Daryl had run into him when they were out, and then brought him back to Alexandria because he needed medical attention. After Denise was done with him, they locked him in the house that was now being used as some sort of jail. Somehow, he'd escaped, and he wanted to talk to Rick, so that was why he was sneaking around their house in the middle of the night.

"One guard can't cover two exits or third floor windows. Knots untie and locks get picked," Jesus explained vaguely. Rosie didn't trust him, so she kept her gun on the counter in front of her, easy to grab.

Daryl, however, kept his gun in his hand, and he walked over to the wall next to Jesus, leaning on it as he stared Jesus down. "Right," he said, his voice low and gruff.

"I checked out your arsenal. 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," Jesus said. Rosie knew what provisions were. Provisions were what Olivia had her counting at the food pantry. Jesus was right; they were low. "54?" Jesus guessed the amount of people living in Alexandria.

"More than that," Maggie responded, her arms crossed over her chest. Noticing this, Rosie crossed her arms over her chest, too.

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

"Yeah, she ain't here," Daryl said. The cookie was made by Carol. Carol made really good cookies, and Jesus got to have one, which wasn't fair, because when Rosie asked if she could have one, Rick said no, you already had one earlier. That made Rosie dislike Jesus even more. She could tell that Daryl didn't like him either.

Jesus turned to Daryl with his eyebrows raised. "Look, we got off to a bad start," he said, sighing like he was exhausted, even though he was the one who broke into the house and woke everyone up. "But we're on the same side- the living side. You and Rick had every reason to leave me out there, but you didn't. 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 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."

Rosie hadn't thought about the fact that there were other communities out there. Sometimes she forgot that there were even other people left in the world. She hadn't seen anyone else in so long that it seemed like the people of Alexandria really were the last people left on Earth. That couldn't be true, though, because the world was huge, and Alexandria was just a small part of it. Maybe somewhere across the world, things were back to normal. Maybe there were no more walkers and everyone was back to their normal lives. But probably not.

"Do you have food?" Glenn asked, leaning his arms on the table. Food was what Alexandria really needed. Food was the whole reason Rick and Daryl were going out scavenging in the first place.

"We've started to raise livestock. We scavenge, we grow. Everything from tomatoes to sorghum," Jesus answered. Rosie didn't like tomatoes, and she didn't even know what sorghum was. Sounded like a shit deal to her.

"Tell us why we should believe you," Rick said to Jesus with a look on his face that said, sounds like bullshit. It was hard for him and Daryl to trust Jesus after everything they went through that day. Jesus had tried stealing their truck full of supplies, and then the truck ended up in a lake.