Together

Chapter 4

Carl's POV

The leader made their way to the front of the group. I recognized the leader to be a teenage girl, around my age.

Everyone in the group fanned out behind her. It was obvious that everyone respected her greatly. But why would they choose a young girl to be the leader.

She was attractive. That I knew. She had fair skin with choppy blond hair. It was curly in a way that I didn't know of it was naturally like that or if they actually had a curling iron in that safari jeep of theirs. Her piercing blue eyes scanned out group.

Then I noticed what she was wearing. She was wearing gray converse, high-waisted jean shorts, a gray shirt that had Mickey and Minnie Mouse on it, and a big black sparkly bracelet on her right wrist. The whole ensemble looked like something Rosita would wear, but more bohemian.

After she was done taking in the sight of us, she chuckled and said, "Well, dang."

The man that was talking to is before stepped forward with a pouty frown on his face. "Hey, that's what I said," he complained.

The girl looked back at him, a confused look on her face. "Shut up, Mike," she ordered.

Realizing that he just challenged authority, he stepped back.

She turned back to us. "Man," she said. "You got a lot of nerve coming on our land.

My dad looked at her in surprise. "Your land?" he asked, as if trying to find out whether he heard her right.

The girl simply nodded and pointed back to the entrance to the plaza. "Didn't you see the sign that said, "You Will Be Shot On Sight"?"

"Why didn't we get shot on sight, then?" my dad asked.

"I gave our sharpshooters a break today," she said simply while shrugging.

When my dad didn't answer, the girl smiled. "I take it you're the leader," she guessed.

He nodded. "I'm Rick Grimes," he introduced.

She nodded. "Who are the rest of your group?" she asked.

I listened to my dad as he spoke but kept my eyes on the girl.

Her piercing eyes laid on each member as they were introduced, lingering on me and Enid for a second longer.

Once the girl knew everyone's names, she looked down before making eye contact with us again and stating, "I'm JC, and this is my group." She gestured to everyone behind her.

JC went on to introduce everyone in her group, which took a lot longer than our group since she had more people. I could tell she really loved and cared about them, just by the way she said their names.

I almost forgot Enid was next to me until I felt her breath on my right ear.

"What are you thinking?" she whispered.

"I don't know," I whispered back, looking down at her. "She seems alright, but we are on her land. Who knows what she'll do to us for that."

Enid gave me a solemn look before we both glanced back at JC.

Once she was done introducing everyone, she turned back to us, her face hard.

"Now that we've exchanged pleasantries," she said. "You guys still haven't told me why you're here."

"We didn't know the place was occupied," my dad confessed. "We're just really low on supplies back at home and we're trying to find as much as we can."

After a moment, JC sighed, turned back to the man named Mike, whispering something to him.

They went back and forth for a bit before finally coming to a decision.

JC turned back to face us. "You guys can come stay with us for a little while," she offered. "We're pretty solid when it comes to supplies."

After recovering from a slight shock, my dad said, "You don't even know us."

JC smiled a little. "We can take care of ourselves," she assured.

My dad nodded, seeming satisfied.

I watched as Daryl stepped forward to be next to my dad. "Alright," he said, still seeming guarded. "How do we know you won't try anything?"

JC turned to look at Daryl and started laughing. "Oh, please," she said as if we were stupid. "We have 35 people and you have, what, 10? Trust me, if we wanted to kill you, we would've done it already."

She was underestimating us. That I knew. But I also knew that we might be underestimating them, as well. We now knew that they had sharpshooters trained to protect this place alone. Who knows what they're capabilities are?

My dad turned to face the rest of us. "What do you guys think?" he asked.

Everyone voiced their opinion except for me. I honestly had no idea. I could see the dangers but also the benefits of going back with them.

After everyone was done talking, my dad sighed in frustration. "Looks like it's half and half." He turned to me. "Well, son, looks like you get to be the deciding factor."

I sighed and looked over at JC. She was talking to her own group, probably getting their opinions on us. Her hair was blowing a little in the soft wind, making it look slightly like a movie and I knew what my answer was.

I turned back to my dad. "I think they seem alright," I said. "We should give them a chance. And if they pull something, well we've taken on worse, right?"

My dad smiled, obviously pleased with my answer.

"Alright," he said. "It's settled. But someone should go back to Deanna, Spencer, and Aiden and tell them where we are going to be gone for a couple days."

Rosita spoke up. "Me and Eugene can go back," she offered.

My dad nodded in thanks. "You guys can take the RV."

After everything was settled, we turned back to face JC's group, who had been done discussing for a while.

"Alright," she sighed. "Get in the jeep."

We said goodbye to Rosita and Eugene and piled into the jeep.

I watched as JC clambered into the driver's seat and started up the vehicle.

Soon enough, we were speeding off to an unknown place, none of us having a single idea of what was in store.

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Author's Note: I was so excited to write this chapter, you have no idea.

What do you guys think of JC's group? Are they actually good people? Or are they just playing Rick's group?

And what about JC? Will her and Carl have a romance? Will they be friends? Will they be enemies?

Please let me know what you think!