CHAPTER 23 | NEW HOPE

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  The two teens had headed back to the barn later in the morning, hoping that the day would be pretty relaxing. Sadly, that wasn't the case. Maggie and Sasha had gone outside for awhile, but came back with a new face.

The man was named Aaron and told them that he and his friend had been following their group for awhile. They wanted to 'recruit' them for their town, but Rick and a few others, especially Lauren, didn't buy it. He said they had cars for them all nearby, so a few of the group members went to check it out. To Lauren's surprise, he was telling the truth. It took a lot of persuasion, but Rick finally agreed to go to this town. It took a whole night of finding Aaron's boyfriend and fighting off a small herd to get there.

The sun was rising low in the sky when Lauren's eyes shot open. Her head had been leaning against the car window beside her, she was a bit dazed while trying to wake herself up. Then she remembered falling asleep for most of the ride there. In the drivers seat was Glenn, and next to him was Maggie. There were a few other cars and an RV, so Carl was the only one in the backseat beside her. Her stomach lurched at the memory of going to this town called Alexandria. Even if it was legit, she couldn't help but feel like it was too good to be true; she lost every ounce of her trust after Terminus.

"Hey, how'd you sleep," Carl whispered, inaudible to the adults who were talking to each other in the front seat. His hand reached towards her back, rubbing it softly as Lauren straightened her posture and took her head off the window. Memories of last night's treacherous dream flooded her mind.

She was stuck in a box. She didn't know why she knew, but she knew she was in a casket deep underground. Specks of dirt fell from above as she could barely move her laid down body. Her breathing was sporadic, she felt like there was no air to breathe. She felt claustrophobic in the tight, damp space she was held in.

Lauren attempted to cry out for help, but no noise escaped her throat. She banged ferociously and frantically against the wooden case above her, but she was alone.

She couldn't comprehend what he was saying, but Lauren could distinctively hear Joe's voice mocking her; his voice was so close the hairs on the back of her neck stood up.

Finally, a blood curdling scream erupted from her throat, making her wake up immediately.

Lauren shook her head, refusing to remember the dream any longer. "Not really." Her hand rubbed her forehead stressfully. The nightmares wouldn't stop. Even if Joe had finally died, he lived forever in her mind. And that scared her to death.

"Was it like the others?" He questioned softly, knowing her reoccurring dreams. She nodded, turning her head towards the landscape outside her window, not wanting to look at him and show how bothered she was by them. She hated showing her emotions, but he always saw them no matter what. He sensed she wanted space, so his hand kept itself placed on her's, rubbing his thumb against her palm soothingly. She almost smiled at the fact that he knew exactly how much space she needed.

After a few more minutes, Alexandria came into view. Carl seemed pretty excited about it, but Lauren kept to herself. Her leg bounced up and down nervously, anxiety filling up inside of her. She still felt no trust to this place, even if she was appalled by the size of their walls.

They could be just as 'innocent' as Terminus.

They car had stopped behind Rick's car with Michonne and Judith. They took a moment to wait for Rick to get out. Once he did, Glenn and Maggie got out of the car, leaving the two teenagers alone.

"Ready?" Carl asked, turning towards her.

Lauren grabbed the dagger that was stationed in her holster, pulling it out and exiting the car cautiously. The young brunette squeezed her knuckles tightly around the handle of the dagger. If anything suspicious happened, she was ready to strike.

The rest of the group followed, Lauren and Carl trailing behind the others. The steel gate slowly slid open as Aaron stepped through. A man with a light brown shirt stood behind it, a worried look on his face.

"Come on in guys," Aaron stated. Lauren gave a worried glance towards Carl, but they went through anyway.

There were a few abandoned and broken up houses outside of the gates, but once they ventured into the town Lauren felt like she was in a whole new world. The streets were lined with spotless homes, and the grass grew brightly green; it felt so untouched by the apocalypse.

The gate creaked shut behind them, Lauren kept her weapon closer to her. The empty pit in her stomach told her how much she felt distrust towards this place.

"Before we take this any further," the stranger began to speak, "I need you all to turn over your weapons. Stay, you hand them over."

Lauren tilted her head to the side, a shiver of nervousness trailing up het spine. This is exactly what happened at Terminus, she knew this wasn't a good idea.

"We don't know if we want to stay," Rick exclaimed, stepping towards the man.

"It's fine Nicholas," Aaron stepped in.

"If we were gonna use them, we would have started already," Rick continued. He had a point.

"Let them talk to Deanna first," Aaron decided.

"Who's Deanna?" Abraham bellowed.

"She knows everything you'd want to know about this place. Rick, why don't you start?"

Start with what?

➸ ➸ ➸

After around ten minutes of waiting for Rick to emerge from Deanna's house, a woman came by with a bin, ready for their weapons. Everybody was hesitant, but one by one they put their weapons inside. Lauren was one of the last ones to step forward, cautiously placing her dagger and pistol into the bin. Deanna said it was for safety, but Lauren thought the opposite. Safety for Lauren meant a weapon by her side at all times.

Aaron then led them to their houses. They would occupy 2-3 houses in total by the size of their group. Rick, Michonne, Lauren, Carl and Judith would remain in one house, the one they began to walk towards.

Lauren subconsciously reached for her dagger in her holster before remembering she didn't have it. An annoyed grunt escaped her lips as the three of them walked up the stairs to the porch.

Even with her doubts, stepping inside gave her a safe feel. But deep down, her trust issues still resided in her. She began striding into the living room, brushing her hand over the pristine couch. It felt so unreal; almost as unreal as Terminus's look of safety.

Her body jumped slightly at the sound of running water, twisting around to look into the kitchen and watch Carl staring at the sink with amazement. They had actual running water, she couldn't believe it. But she couldn't give her hopes up, this place could still be bad.

But the thought of a hot shower made her grin.

➸ ➸ ➸

After Rick had taken a shower and left the building with Carl, Lauren called dibs on the bathroom. Shutting the door and locking it, she dropped her backpack to the floor, anxiousness and excitement coursing through her veins. One by one she discarded of her dirt covered clothes, watching them drop to the floor. She felt a bit too vulnerable, until she twisted the shower tap and watched in admiration as water sprouted from the shower head.

Laughter filled the room as she got under the water, feeling the beads of hot water roll down her body. She could practically feel the dirt coursing off her skin, cleansing her for the first time since the prison. It felt so good to feel warm water on her body. Lauren felt like she could simply melt under the droplets of water.

After a good twenty minutes of sanitizing herself, she turned it off, and stepped out, drying herself off with a clean, white towel. She immediately missed the feeling of the hot pellets on her skin. Lauren then wrapped the towel around her body, fastening it tightly.

Rubbing the condensation off the mirror, she studied her clean features. The last time she looked at her reflection was after the prison incident. She was shocked at how clearly she could see herself, she almost forgot what she looked like.

She almost forgot how much she had grown up.

Now not a speck of dirt stained her skin. Her emerald green eyes didn't look so dull anymore, she could tell how much lighter they were now. She smiled, examining her teeth. They weren't very white to say the least, but they weren't horrible, since she always brought around a toothbrush and toothpaste in her backpack.

Her dark brown, wet hair clung to her skin, it was so long it reached her stomach. Now she didn't need Maggie's help with cutting it, since there was a pair of scissors lying on the white counter. She slowly picked them up, aiming them towards the part of her hair she wished to cut from. Reluctantly, she began snipping away at the hair, cutting from just above her chest. It felt so satisfying, like a weight had lifted off her shoulders, watching the strands fall to the ground.

After about ten minutes of cutting, she was satisfied with the length. She knew she needed it, it was time for a cut for awhile now, since the last time it had ever been trimmed was before the outbreak.

This was a new start. And surprisingly it was going well.

➸ ➸ ➸

"Hello, I'm Deanna," A woman suddenly stated, Lauren turning around to face an older woman with short grey hair standing by a doorway. It was Lauren's time to have the meeting, and she had been waiting inside her living room for a few minutes before she emerged.

"Lauren...Lauren Martin," she introduced.

"You cleaned up nice, it's a good cut," she commented, gesturing towards Lauren's hair. Lauren smiled lightly and nodded in thanks. She wasn't sure of what to do, but Deanna caught on to that.

"You can sit there if you'd like," she suggested, pointing to an armchair beside Lauren. Nodding, the young girl sat herself down. She suddenly noticed a camera stood up beside where Deanna sat.

"What's with the camera?" Lauren questioned, pointing towards the object.

"I usually film my interviews, if that's alright with you."

Lauren didn't care for why she was doing it, so she nodded in agreement.

"So, can you tell me a little bit about yourself Lauren?" Deanna began.

Lauren shrugged nonchalantly. "What's there to tell? It's not like I have hobbies, or...anything to do but survive."

"Good point. But I wasn't talking about hobbies, I'd like to know how you got to be in this group. Are you related to somebody in there?"

Lauren shook her head while leaning back more comfortably in the chair. "No, I'm not related to anybody. I-maybe almost a year ago, I came across their camp. It was...a giant prison. But it got overrun after awhile."

"Were you alone prior to meeting them?"

Lauren gulped. "Yeah."

Deanna smiled, "You survived out there all by yourself?"

Lauren's breath got slightly shaky, remembering the fact that she wasn't alone, and the memories were resurfacing. "N-no, I came across groups sometimes."

Deanna nodded, not getting into the subject too much. "I saw the way you acted when you came in, you don't trust this place, right?"

Lauren's back tightened, crossing her arms. "Yeah. I've seen enough evil that I can barely trust a peaceful sanctuary anymore. Terminus, we tried to go to that place, but...they were really bad people. We almost got killed."

"I see. I guess me telling you our town is safe won't change your mind, but tell me, is there any reason you'd want to stay here?"

Lauren looked downwards in thought. "For the baby, she deserves a roof over her head."

Deanna nodded while thinking of another question. "I know what tired eyes look like. And I don't mean from sleep, I mean from life. You've been through a lot, correct?"

Lauren bit the inside of her cheek, nodding in agreement.

"What makes this place different than the other groups you've encountered? Why do you think your view on trust could change?"

Lauren looked up at the woman in thought. "That I have other people to think of now. I may be tired of life and everything it's given me after the outbreak but some people aren't. Judith, she has a whole life ahead of her. She won't even remember the old world. Before this group, I was on my own, and I only thought of myself. I-I wasn't a good person. But some people in that group gave me a chance, and saw right through that."

Deanna smiled. "Was it Carl?"

Lauren held back a smile. "Yeah."

"You two, you need each other, in a world like this. You're lucky to have this group." Lauren nodded in agreement.

Letting out a deep breath, Deanna stood up, and turned off the camera.

"That was all. I hope to see you in the community again sometime Lauren."

Lauren nodded with a smile, walking out of the house with a sigh of relief.

Maybe this place wasn't another Terminus, maybe it was another group just like theirs.

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[2284 WORDS]

a/n: heyyy guys so if you didn't know i just published a prequel for this book thats a more in depth show of lauren's backstory in the apocalypse. please check it out if ur interested!

also wtf 20k reads??? you guys are unreal, tysm, seriously. this fanfic is my bby and im so glad you guys take time out of ur day to read it. ily all. xoxo