5 | CAMCORDER

Roxanne's face was in agonizing pain when she had woken up. Her cheeks all the way down to the base of her neck was sore from smiling so much. Smiling— something she couldn't seem to stop doing since she and Rick had shared her first kiss. It had been so long since she had felt butterflies in her stomach like this before, and it felt kind of nice.

Kali began to fuss —the neighbors had dropped her off earlier— and Roxanne immediately fed and changed her, like she routinely did. Following the quick routine, Rox took Kali outside, deciding that fresh air would do the baby some good, despite the loud groans of the monsters just beyond the wall.

She trailed the wall until she caught a glimpse of some blood drooling down the side of the metal wall. Rox touched it with her free hand and observed it. Bleeding was such a natural thing, she never really stopped to think about how symbolic it really was.

Roxanne broke her train of thought when she spotted a movement in her peripheral vision. Her eyes turned to focus on the figure, and she recognized the man as the priest— he had asked earlier if she wanted Kali to be baptized. He was placidly pasting white flyers everywhere, reminding that there was going to be a prayer circle that day.

For a moment, Roxanne considered the offer— but brushed the thought away as she had more important thing to tend to. Life behind the walls of Alexandria had almost consumed her. Simple things such as prayer circles, taking a walk in the park with Kali and much more seemed to rise to importance in Rox's mind because of the lifestyle behind the wall.

Roxanne eyed Rick, who emotionlessly trailed through the priest's path and tore down his flyers. Roxanne grew a sudden flicker of rage at the man who she was crushing on moments ago. "Hey!" She yelled from afar and jogged up to him.

He spun on his heel, surprised at the abruptness of her voice. "Put 'em back." She ordered as soon as she reached him.

"What—" Rick began.

"Put. Them. Back." Roxanne demanded.

Rick's eyes seemed to flicker with dismay and he obeyed, placing the delicate flyers back where they were. Roxanne shot a shy smile over to the priest and he returned the kind action. Roxanne turned around and bit her lip, noticing the effects the community was giving her. She was beginning to become soft and kind. Something she never was since the apocalypse started. Traces from her life before the zombie take-over seemed to become more evident the more time she spent here.

Rick coughed awkwardly, and Roxanne turned back around— this time with a blank expression wiped across her face. "I was going to teach the boys how to shoot... you wanna come?" Rick invited.

"You've never seen me shoot before." Roxanne scoffed, knowing that his offer was just an excuse for her to be around him.

"I have a feeling you're a good shot." Rick smiled at the ground, too embarrassed to make eye contact. Rox nodded slowly, accepting his offer unsurely. She had just rebuked him for his behavior and he responds with an invitation?

"Fine." She side-eyed him.

"Oh! Uh— I— uh... I can take Kali if you'd like." The priest, Gabriel, offered.

Roxanne looked at Gabriel, questionably. "Okay... no baptisms while I'm gone, alright?" Roxanne joked. Gabriel gulped. Roxanne widened her eyes.

"You were really going to baptize her while I was gone?!" Roxanne exclaimed.

"Well— uh..." Father Gabriel scratched his head, attempting to find an explanation for his planned action.

"Whatever." Roxanne rolled her eyes and handed him her child. He immediately showed off his pearly smile to Kali when she was settled in his arms, and he began to mutter something about the lord to her. Roxanne scoffed at his happiness with Kali and faced Rick and the two silent teenagers, whom all had been staring, quietly, at the exchange between the priest and Roxanne.

"What are they gonna start with? Handguns?" Roxanne reverted the topic.

* * *

"If we could somehow get outside the walls, get back to our cars at the quarry, we could use them to draw them away." Rick spoke of the walkers, all piled up outside of the walls.

Michonne, Rick and Roxanne all silently sat together on the patio, coming up with ways to rid themselves of the monsters laying beyond.

"We'll set up more watch points. Coordinate the shooting of guns and flares so we could pull them out in even directions." Michonne laid out some ideas.

"Are there any sewage plans here? We could go through tunnels to get to the other side and draw them out from there." Rox added.

"We'd need to get all of our people on it: Carl, Tara, Rosita, Carol." He listed.

"What about everybody else?" Michonne questioned.

"Well, let's just keep this to our own for now." Rick stated.

"And I'm one of your own?" Roxanne inquired.

"Well, ye—"

"Rick, you've know me for about a week now. These people have known you for months." Roxanne mentioned.

"Look, if we had the time to bring the people along, sure. But we haven't had a chance to catch our breath." Rick threw out a random explanation.

"Really?" Michonne asked. "We're in here together. We're catching our breath, right now. Anything else is just excuses."

Rick shook his head in slight agreement. His eyes wandered over to the figure approaching behind Michonne. "Deanna." He called, Roxanne recognized the name. She was the founder of the community, yet she had never got the chance to meet her.

"Rick." Deanna climbed the stairs and joined he trio on the patio. She carried some things in her hands.

"What's that?" Rick asked, nodding over to her hands. Although her hair was frizzed and crazy, she still maintained a somewhat composed aura around her, gaining Roxanne's respect. In her hands, she carried a rolled up paper and a camera.

"Plans for the expansion, and something undisclosed for our newcomer that I have yet to meet, Roxanne." Deanna sweetly hands Roxanne the camcorder and continues on about the plans.

"We've got a few other things on our plate right now." Rick scoffed.

"I know." Deanna bored her eyes deep into his. Michonne gladly accepted the plans.

"These are for what Alexandria can be after this. Because one way or another, there's gonna be an after this." Deanna seemed to have had latched onto some kind of hope for this community. It was inspiring, actually, yet, it seemed so useless at a time when work needed to be done. Deanna walked away, feeling accomplished in delivering the message to Rick.

* * *

Roxanne slumped on her couch, fumbling with the camcorder in her hands. She opened it and began scrolling through its memory. There were videos, of everyone in the community. She watched a few of them, noting that they were interviews. Maybe they were used to analyze the people joining Alexandria.

Roxanne realized that she hadn't been interviewed for joining Alexandria. Then, she realized that the gift of the camcorder was a message. She didn't know what the message was. A call to action? A threat? A warning? She didn't know, she could only assume one thing: that she wasn't apart of the community because she was so unlike them.