The next morning Mercedes laid on the ground with her head resting on her backpack.
"Hey, everyone?" Maggie called out as she and Sasha entered the barn with a strange man behind them.
Mercedes quickly sat up and the others grab their weapons. The Warren girl placed her hand over her gun just in case.
"This is Aaron."
"We met him outside. He's by himself. We took his weapons and we took his gear." Maggie added as Daryl patted Aaron down
"Hi. It's nice to meet you." The newcomer grinned
Rick looked towards Maggie. "You said he had a weapon in him?"
Maggie nodded before handing Rick a small handgun. Rick then turned to Aaron. "There something you need?"
"Said he has a camp nearby. He wants us to audition for." Sasha said slightly annoyed.
"Audition makes us sound like we're some kind of dance troupe." Aaron said.
"Are you a dance troupe?" Mercedes asked cocking a brow.
"Only on Friday night's." The man jokeed, chuckling. He then cleared his throat. "um... It's not a camp. It's a community. I think you all would be valuable additions. But it's not my call. My job is to convince you all to follow me back home."
He noticed that the group isn't convinced. "I know if I were you, I wouldn't go either. Not until I knew exactly what I was getting into." He then looked towards Sasha. "Sasha, can you hand Rick my pack? Front pocket, there's an envelope."
Sasha slowly handed Rick the bag. "There's nothing I could convince you to come with me just by talking about our community. That's why I brought those. I apologize in advance for the picture quality. We just found an old camera store last--"
"Nobody gives a shit." Daryl interrupted the man, getting annoyed by his constant talking.
Mercedes stood up and walked over to stand beside Rick. She looked at the pictures his was looking at. The first photo was of big gates.
"That's the first photo I wanted to show you. Because nothing I say about our community will matter unless you know you'll be safe. If you join us, you will be."
"These walls are huge." Carl mumbled as he and Michelle joined Mercedes and Rick's side to look at the photos.
"I ain't ever seen anything like it." Michelle added in awe.
Rick glanced at the three of them before sighing. He handed them half of his pile. The three teens backed away from him and huddled around each other. Mercedes held onto the pictures and slowly flipped through them. "No way." Mercedes mumbled shaking her head.
Suddenly Rick stomped over to Aaron and punched him in the face knocking him out cold.
"Damn." Michelle muttered shaking her head.
"So, we're clear, that wasn't a 'lets attack that man' look. It was a 'he seems like an okay guy to me.' look." Michonne seethed
"We got to secure him. Dump his pack. Let's see what this guy really is." Rick said before handing Aaron's bag to the three teens to go through.
The three walked over to a small table and started to rummage through the man's back. Carl pulled out an orange gun. "I've never seen a gun like this before." He mumbled.
Michelle suddenly took the 'gun' from him. "It's a flare gun, numbskull." She whispered before looking over her shoulder. "Rick, we found a flare gun."
Rick walked over and took it from her. Aaron groaned starting to wake up. Rick marched over to him.
"That's a helluva right cross there, Rick." Aaron chuckled.
"Sit him up." Rick demanded, Maggie and Michonne gently sat the man up as Mercedes, Michelle and Carl creeped over closer.
"You're being cautious. I completely understand." Aaron told him.
"How many of your people are out there? You have a flare gun." Rick growled, but Aaron seemed completely unbotherd.
"Does it matter?" He asked.
"Yes, it does."
"I mean. Of course. It matters how many people are actually out there, but does it matter how many people I tell you are out there?" Aaron paused for a moment. "I'm pretty sure no matter what number I say... Eight... Thirty-two.... Four hundred forty-four... Zero. No matter what I say, you're not gonna believe me."
"It's hard to trust a guy that smiles After getting punched in the face." Ross snapped from his spot standing against a near pillar with his arms crossed.
"How about a guy who leaves bottles of water for you in the middle of the road?" Aaron questioned.
"That was you?" Michelle asked completely shocked.
"How long you been following us?" Daryl grumbled.
Aaron looked over at him. "Long enough to see that you practically ignore a pack of roamers on your trail. To see that despite a lack of food and water, you never turned on each other. You're survivors and you're people." Aaron paused. "Like I said, and I hope you don't punch me for saying it again, that is the most important resource in the world."
"How many others are out there?" Rick slowly asked, his voice low and threatening.
"One." Aaron breathed out. He then laughed at the look at Rick's face. "I knew you wouldn't believe me."
"I believe you." Mercedes quietly spoke and all eyes land on her and she shrugged. "I believe him."
Aaron smiled at her, greatful that at least someone believed him. He then looked at the others. "What if I drove you to the community? All of you? We leave now, we'll get there by lunch."
Jesse cleared his throat. "There's nineteen of of us and a dog. I doubt we'll all fit in a car."
Aaron smiled at the man. "We drive separately. There's plenty of room for all of us."
"And you parked a couple of miles away, right?" Carol asked titling her head
Aaron eagerly nodded. "East on Ridge Road, just after you hit route 16. We wanted to get them closer, but then the storm came, blocked the road, we couldn't clear it." He explained.
7.9.23
8:43pm
1010words
End of chapter
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Mercy|TWD¹
FanfictionMercedes Warren was only thirteen when the world ended. The only people she had left was her dad and her teenaged neighbor, Ross. Together the three found people held up in a quarry outside Atlanta. Every since then they've survived together and soo...
