T U C K E R × twd

twenty

.twenty
FRIEND OR FOE

I JUMPED AWAKE when I felt something kick my leg. Sitting up, I rubbed my eyes and glared at dad who was staring down at me. Everyone seemed to be up already, sorting through their stuff and handing out bottles of water to each other. I mentally kicked myself for sleeping in for so long, I could be helping with something but instead I was napping.

Looking at dad again I saw that he was fiddling with his crossbow, most likely trying to either clean it or tighten the wire. He paused his movements and sighed "You needed the sleep Tuck" he muttered so only I could hear him.

I nodded, not even bothering to try and argue with him. The extra sleep actually made me feel pretty good. The headache that had seemed to linger for a couple days had gone, and I no longer felt like any sudden movement was going to make me chuck up everywhere. Taking the wrapping off from around my wrist, I held my forearm and gently rotated my hand around. I winced whenever a spike of pain shot up my arm and decided that I needed to keep it wrapped for a bit longer. I was halfway through tightening the bandage when Maggie poked her head through the door.

"Hey, everyone" she announced loudly, before pushing the door open and stepping into the barn. A strange man followed in after her, Sasha right behind him. Everyone tensed and stared at him. He was clean looking, clean shaven, his hair looking like it was well looked after. His clothes looked new, maybe he'd washed them. It was clear he had a camp, and that it was a stable one. "This is Aaron"

When he fully stepped into the barn, everyone jumped up and swung their guns to point at him. There was an echo of clicking as we all cocked them, ready to defend each other. I found myself following along with everyone, raising the gun that dad had given me up. I hadn't had a chance to use the gun yet, and I doubted that I actually would as I was much more of a hands on type of fighter. Much to my dad's dismay.

Not taking any chances, dad jutted his chin towards the door. Together we rushed forwards and barged past Aaron. He turned left as I turned right. The tree line looked empty, apart from the walkers that had been taken out by the storm. I couldn't see any signs of life, there were no sounds of footsteps either. My side was safe.

"We met him outside, he was by himself" Maggie tried to explain. Dad whistled to me, and we stepped back inside. I swung my gun around my shoulder as dad passed me his crossbow, I tensed my arms and kept it pointed at Aaron as dad patted him down "We took his weapons and we took his gear"

Aaron sighed, looking really uncomfortable as dad harshly checked him for weapons. When satisfied he stepped back and held his hand out towards me. I passed his crossbow back and walked away from him, standing next to Noah. Like it was second nature, I felt myself putting me in between Noah and Aaron.

"Hi" Aaron finally said awkwardly, his hands up to try and show us that he wasn't a threat. From what I could tell, Maggie hadn't lied about taking his weapons and shit, and Aaron wasn't here with bad intentions.

Judith started to cry, her wails echoing around the small space. Rick passed her to Carl, the younger boy shushing her.

"It's nice to meet you" Aaron said again, stepping forwards to hold his hands out. We all reacted instantly and adjusted our guns, making Aaron movement fault. He gulped and glanced at each of us.

"You said he had a weapon?" Rick asked, frowning as Maggie walked towards him and passed Aaron's gun over. He quickly checked it over, before shoving it into his belt at his back. "There's something you need?"