Heavy breaths left my mouth at the images of walkers. I sat up abruptly, my muscles protesting at the sudden movement. A hand settled on my shoulder and I flinched away.

It was only the sound of Glenn's voice that calmed me down. He was holding Dorian with one hand and touching my shoulder with the other. I let out a sigh of relief and collapsed back on the makeshift bed.

"Are we in the clear?" I asked.

Last night there was a really rough couple of hours where all of us huddled together at the door holding back a herd of walkers trying to get in. Whenever I moved, the ache I felt reminded me of the danger.

"Yeah, the storm seems to have wiped out the majority of them." he replied.

Dorian made a sound making Glenn jump into protective uncle mode. It almost would've made me smile if I hadn't just woken up after a night of fighting off walkers.

I rubbed my eye. "Alright, I'm up."

Glenn moved so I could get up and move around. Every muscle in my body instantly sent off alarms that it didn't like that. And here I thought I was in perfect shape.

I was going to go join Rick and the others when I saw Daryl on his own on the other side of the barn. Heading towards him was practically instinct. I couldn't fight it even if I wanted to.

He stilled as I plopped down next to him on the ground. At first I didn't say anything. But we had to talk about it.

"It's okay if you're upset with me."

Talking to him alone should've been my priority. It was practically an ambush last night. I tried to justify it with a 'he's moved on' logic. But deep down I knew neither one of us truly ever felt like it was over.

He shrugged. "Not your fault."

I bit my lip at his detached comment. There wasn't a lot I could expect from him. He was handling it better than expected and I should've been content with it.

"Letting you go was. You deserved better than that." I said.

Better than the shitty treatment I gave him. All because I was scared of how loving someone who's not my family might put them in more danger. It made a lot more sense back then.

Now it just feels like an excuse that's left a sour taste in my mouth.

"Does he make you happy, Josephine?"

"Yes."

"Does he make you happier?"

The question made me freeze on my spot next to him. My palms started sweating as I felt his eyes directly on me. How was I supposed to answer that?

Regardless of what I say, he won't be pleased with the answer. It won't make a difference in the long run. I opened my mouth to reply.

"Everyone, this is Aaron." Maggie's voice spread out through the barn.

Within seconds, every single person in here had a weapon on them. It was pointed straight at the stranger who looked like he hadn't experienced a fraction of the same storm that we did.

"We met him outside, he's by himself. We took his weapons and we took his gear." Maggie explained.

Daryl went to the door to check if there's anyone else outside. After not seeing anything, he closed the door and searched Aaron. Quite roughly judging by the way he tensed up.

"Hi." he replied.

As if on cue Judith started crying. My eyes flickered to the twins who were guarded by Abby while Dakota and Tara held one in their arms. We were understaffed for so many babies.

"It's nice to meet you." Aaron said as he stepped closer to Rick.

Out of pure instinct, I aimed my gun at him as soon he got anywhere near. He winced and stopped moving. I inhaled slowly before lowering it a little bit.

"You said he had a weapon?" Rick asked.

Maggie handed him a gun. After checking how many bullets it had, Rick promptly put it in his own belt while making direct eye contact with Aaron. A show of force, if you will.

"There something you need?" Rick asked.

The man looked out of place among our people. For one, he was clean and put together. There was also a lack of hostility in him. Something that was unforeseen these days.

Unless you're cannibals preying on your next meal.

"He has a camp, nearby," Sasha paused, "he wants us to audition for membership."

My eyes narrowed. An action that didn't go unnoticed by Aaron. His focus seemed to shift to me for a brief moment. My gun was still raised but at least not directly at him.

"I wish there was another word. Audition makes it sound like we're some kind of dance troupe. That's only on Friday nights." he joked.

Not a single person cracked a smile or an amused shake of the head. What he didn't know was that a part of me wanted to laugh. Just because of the absurdity of this man making a joke while surrounded by people who would kill him without blinking.

"Uhm, and it's not a camp. It's a community. I think you all would make valuable additions. But it's not my call. My job is to convince you all to follow me back home."

A tough sell for us these days. There hasn't been a single group of people who hasn't betrayed us since the prison. His sunny personality wasn't helping his case as much as he thought it was.

"I know. If I were you, I wouldn't go either. Not until I knew exactly what I was getting into," Aaron said before turning his head slightly to the side, "Sasha, can you hand Rick my pack?"

His knowledge of our names surprised me as much as it made me uncomfortable. He knew too much and we knew too little.

Sasha handed his backpack to Rick who placed it on the ground. I couldn't help but glance at it in curiosity. What does he think he could possibly show us to convince us to go with him?

"Front pocket, there's an envelope. There's no way I could convince you to come with me just by talking about my community. That's why I brought those. I apologize in advance for the picture quality. We just found an old camera store-"

"Nobody gives a shit."

My eyes lingered on Daryl for a moment too long. My heart skipped a beat upon remembering his question. Whoever Aaron turns out to be, he has my gratitude for showing up when he did.

"You're absolutely 100% right. That's the first picture 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. Each panel in that wall is a 15 foot high, 12 foot wide slab of solid steel framed by cold rolled steel beans and square tubing. Nothing alive or dead gets through that without our say so. Like I said, security is obviously important. In fact, there's only one resource critical to our survival. The people."

It's a nice speech, even if it sounds like something you would've heard back before the world ended. I wonder if he was a salesperson. He definitely has the talent for it.

Even if it's not doing him any favors as far as his credibility goes.

"Together we're strong. You can make us even stronger." Aaron stated.

Rick looked at me, trying to see which way I was leaning in this situation. And to be honest, I didn't even have an answer to that. We've been double crossed before by people who seemed as cheerful as him.

But I wanted to believe him. If he was speaking the truth, it's what we've been looking for. A home. Safety, shelter, supplies. A place for our children to grow up in peace.

Whatever he saw in my eyes wasn't enough to convince him, so he turned his attention to Michonne. It stung for him to turn to someone else, even if it was the right thing to do.

He then strode towards Aaron who kept on with his speech. Before he could even finish his sentence, Rick's fist made contact with his face successfully knocking him out. A sigh left my mouth as I lowered my gun.

So we've chosen the paranoid route. Got it.

"So we're clear, that look wasn't a 'let's attack that man look'. It was a 'he seems like an okay guy to me' look." Michonne protested.

Rick turned his back on her as if though she didn't say anything at all. I furrowed my eyebrows before glancing at Michonne who seemed as confused as I was.

"We got to secure him. Dump his pack. Let's see what this guy really is." Rick said.

Michonne frowned. "Rick."

Carl took the backpack and took it to the side for inspection. My eyes were drawn to the unconscious Aaron. I wanted to believe him. I think a part of me already did, but it was foolish.

Until I realized he was the same age as Ryan was. Or at least he looked like it. They shared similar features, but realistically they couldn't have been more different.

Yet he screamed of Ryan to me. The realization made my breathing speed up as I stepped further away from him.

"Everybody else, we need eyes in every direction. They're coming for us. We might not know how or when, but they are." Rick said.

I made my way to Dakota and motioned for us to switch places. She tilted her head in confusion but complied. Dorian's little head peeked out over the blanket he was wrapped in.

Shallow breaths left my mouth as I tried to focus on him. He is Ryan's blood and he's the one I need to protect. Not a stranger who simply acts like my deceased brother.

"Me and Sasha, we didn't see him. If he had wanted to hurt us, he could've." Maggie argued.

I closed my eyes and rocked Dorian. A moment later, I felt a hand on my arm. It was Abby looking at me with a frown on her face. I forced a weak smile, though it didn't make her leave.

Instead she squeezed my arm before placing herself between Aaron and us. Warmth spread through me at the gesture. She didn't understand why I was upset but she knew it was because of him.

"Anybody see anything?" Rick asked.

Glenn inhaled sharply. "Just a lot of places to hide."

Him and the rest of the group looked between the cracks in the wood of the barn. Daryl and Carol were tying Aaron up while Rick spoke to Carl.

The flare gun they found caught my attention. He wouldn't keep that around unless he had someone to contact. Rick was right about that.

Aaron didn't come alone.

"That's hell of a right cross there, Rick."

"Sit him up."

Maggie tried to protest, but a now conscious Aaron reassured her that he was okay. It was clear that Rick didn't particularly care as he repeated his demand.

"You're being cautious. I completely understand." Aaron said.

I bit my lip and looked away. There should be no eye contact between me and that man. I don't like this new vulnerability that I'm experiencing.

It feels like it'll get me and our group killed.

"How many of your people are out there? You have a flare gun, you use it to signal your people. How many of you are there?" Rick demanded to know.

It could be anywhere from one to fifty. Though a bigger number would be more difficult to hide. That's the one advantage we have going on for us.

"Does it matter?"

"Yes. Yes, it does."

After all the death and destruction we've seen, it really does. Rick isn't stupid. He needs to know their numbers so he can calculate our probability of winning a fight.

"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? Because I'm pretty sure no matter what number I say, eight, thirty two, four hundred and forty four, zero? No matter what I say, you're not gonna trust me."

Dakota frowned at his words. Her eyes found mine and I shrugged. The man had a point. It was going to take a lot for him to prove trustworthy. Not because of who he is but because of who we had to become.

"Well it's hard to trust anyone who smiles after getting punched in the face." Rick said.

"How about a guy who leaves bottles of water for you in the road?" Aaron shot back.

I tensed at the knowledge that he was the one to leave those bottles. On the other hand, it also filled me with relief. At least we knew who it was, who the potential threat was.

"How long you people been following us?" Daryl asked.

I lowered Dorian into his makeshift bed watching his eyes wander over the room. So innocent, so unaware of the danger he and his sister could be in.

"Long enough to see that you practically ignore a pack of roamers on your trail. Long enough to see that despite a lack of food and water, you never turned on each other. You're survivors and you're people. Like I said, and I hope you won't punch me again for saying it, that is the most important resource in the world."

His speech didn't affect the others as much as it affected me. It spoke of people as something good instead of an enemy to be taken down. And I was so tired of having enemies all the time.

Rick stepped closer to him with a very familiar look on his face. "How many others are out there?"

"One." Aaron replied.

The silence that followed was deafening. It seemed so unlikely that there was only one more person out there. Aaron was right about it though. We wouldn't and we didn't believe him when he said the number.

"I knew you wouldn't believe me," he shook his head, "if it's not words, if it's not pictures, what would it take to convince you that this is for real?"

Seeing it, I thought to myself. That was the only way anything became real these days. Everything else felt fabricated when offered by strangers.

"What if I drove you to the community? All of you? We leave now, we get there by lunch." Aaron spoke earnestly.

I glanced at Rick and I knew he wasn't buying it. Even though everything Aaron was saying was reasonable, it could also be a lie. For the first time in forever, I think I might be among the few who trusted in a stranger.

Like I said, it's probably only because he reminds me of Ryan and it's foolish to make choices based on that but... I wanted to believe him so badly.

"I don't know how the twenty of us are gonna fit in a car you and your one friend drove down here in?" Rick argued.

The twins and Judith could be in people's laps but it was still more people than one car could hold. More than even two cars could hold.

"We drove separately. If we found a group, we wanted to be able to bring them all home. There's enough room for all of us." Aaron reassured us.

Carol narrowed her eyes. "And you're parked a couple of miles away, right?"

I shifted my weight from one foot to the other as I realized how bad this was looking for Aaron despite his best efforts. My eyes went to Michonne who seemed to be the only one who didn't distrust him immediately.

If it came down to it, I think I could count on her support in convincing the others that this was a lead worth following. Even if it's a trap, at least we'd know.

"East on Ridge Road, right 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 offered an explanation.

Rick scoffed. "Yeah, you've really thought this through."

I bit my lip as I pondered Aaron's story. Either he's a really good liar or he's telling the truth. In my eyes, it didn't matter. Even if he was leading us into a trap, I believed we were capable of surviving it.

"Rick, if I wanted to ambush you, I'd do it here. You know, light the barn on fire while you slept, pick you off as you ran out the only exit. You can trust me."

Despite the bewilderment in his voice at the thought of hurting us, his explanation of how he could've come after us but hasn't, didn't really help him. If anything, it proved he was smarter than he looked.

"I'll check out the cars." Michonne said.

I volunteered to help her and was met with protesting from Rick. He and Michonne argued on whether Aaron was telling the truth and the importance of finding out. Maggie spoke up agreeing with us.

Rick took a deep breath before looking at all three of us. He trusted all of us but he also thought he knew better.

"Your way is dangerous, mine isn't."

It was the same as the situation with Beth. One way is safer than other. But as seen before, both can go to shit.

"Passing up someplace we can live? Where Judith and the twins can live? That's pretty dangerous. We need to find out what this is. We can handle ourselves, so that's what we're gonna do." Michonne stated.

Glenn spoke up agreeing with her. It wasn't long after that we had a team of six of us going to check out Aaron's car. Rick didn't like it. I could see it in the way he was shifting his weight.

"The walkies are out of juice. You're not back in 60 minutes, we'll come. Which might be just what they want." He said.

We made eye contact and I nodded at him. Whatever this was, I could handle it. I could also prove him wrong. It seems it was time our roles switched.

If he was going to be the 'shoot first' guy, then I had to be the moral compass.