VI

—/<3/—

"This is where your people are?" Rick asked the boy. He nodded and lead them towards the entrance. Daryl and Rick kept their eyes on him, just in case he tried anything. They needed him after all, they wouldn't be able to make the trade without him, if they didn't have the kid, they were walking straight into the viper's den. Rick had stashed the guns elsewhere, not wanting to take all of them with him, but he carried a few, just in case things went sideways.

They walked past the entrance slowly and Rory eyed the two guards they had stationed there. The guards stared right back, guns clenched in their hands. The boy held his hands up at them and they seemed to relax a bit, but still regarded them suspiciously as they walked through the front doors.

"Woah, hold it right there gringos," a voice commanded as they rounded the corner. Rory inwardly cursed at the group of men that had weapons raised against them. "I see you've got my boy, but where are my guns?"

"They ain't here," Rick replied, slowly raising his hands. "Are you the leader?"

"You could say that. You here for the asian fella?" The leader asked.

"And Merle. You have him here?" Daryl questioned, crossbow raised.

"I ain't got no one here with that name. You want the boy back, bring me my guns."

"They weren't your guns, they were mine. I dropped them trying to get away from a heard of walkers," Rick told him.

"Out here no one owns anythin'. You find it you take it. We claimed them so they're ours."

"And yet they were still in the road when we took them back. By your logic, that makes them ours." Rory huffed. The leader's eyes flitted over to meet hers for a second, first frustration shining within them, and then recognition.

"Ain't you the singer from that band? We have your boy here." The leader lowered his gun and motioned for one of his men to leave the room. "He showed us pictures of you, said he needed to find his bandmates. He's using up a lot of our valuable resources right now."

"Mikey and Jonah are dead." Rory furrowed her eyebrows.

The leader was about to reply when an old woman walked slowly out of the back room, softly pushing her way through the crowd of armed men. T-dog and Daryl lowered their weapons at the sight of her. The old woman whispered something to the leader and then all the men ran off. The leader cursed and then signalled for Rory's group to follow him into the back.

"Glenn!" Rick called, his eyes locking with their friends. He looked unharmed but seemed to be sad.

"You've just been sat here? We though you were being eaten by dogs or something!" T-dog exclaimed. Glenn looked behind him to the two Chihuahuas laid in the dog bed.

"What's goin' on here?" Rick asked.

"The old man had an asthma attack," Glenn told them.

"Is this a nursing home?" Rory questioned, eyeing the layout of the room and the amount of elderly people in there.

"Yeah," the leader sighed. "Look, we ain't bad people but we do have something to protect. These people can't look after themselves so it's up to us to do it for them, that's why we needed the guns."

"You a nurse?" Rick turned to him, a look of realisation and sympathy washing over his features.

"I am, but most of the men we just picked up off the streets, like your boy," he motioned to Rory. "We're running out of the medical equipment we need to keep these people alive and we can't keep them safe without weapons."

Without a word, Rory tore off her backpack, opening it and digging around for the things she'd foraged a couple days ago. She pulled out two plastic bags and handed them over.

"What is this? A bag of tree bark and flowers?" The leader scrunched up his face in confusion.

"That willow bark and leaves and the flowers are Echinacea. If you boil the willow into a tea, it can be used as an anti-inflammatory, reduce fevers and headaches. Echinacea is anti microbial. It can be used to fight viruses, bacterial infections and colds. You can either crush it into a paste or make it into a tea. It can be poisonous if you drink too much of it though, so be careful when giving it to the elderly." Rory explained.

"You can have these too." Rick said, taking out a few guns and boxes of ammo from his own bag. "You keep these people safe, you hear me?"

"Loud and clear, thank you. You can take your boys and go, we won't cause you any more trouble." The leader sighed as if a weight had been lifted off his shoulders. "Where did you get these plants?"

"The woods outside the city. Be careful when picking Echinacea. The ones with medicinal properties kind of look like daises and the cone is raised higher than the petals. Don't pick anything else or it could be the wrong plant."

"Rory?" A familiar voice called from the doorway. Rory looked over, eyes widening at the man in front of her, his blonde hair tousled and longer than usual. His brown eyes shone with happiness as he hobbled over with the help of a crutch, his left ankle wrapped tightly with bandages.

"Mikey? You're alive?"

"Do you not want me to be?" He joked. He stumbled a bit as he pulled her into a hug, crushing her to his chest. "Is everyone okay? Are you with the others? I haven't seen anyone since the bombs dropped...God that had to have been about two months ago now."

"Niamh and Archie are alive, they're back at our camp. Jonah's gone."

"Jonah's dead?" Mikey pulled away from the hug, his already pale face turning a deathly shade of white. Rory nodded. Mikey, Jonah and Archer had all been inseparable since they were kids, just like she and Niamh had been. Rory had been preparing herself for their deaths since the day everything went to shit, to protect herself from the heartbreak of her closest friends dying, but Mikey was the type to hold onto hope even in the worst possible circumstances, he'd probably been betting that everyone was still alive.

"Rory we gotta go before it gets dark," Glenn announced, breaking up their little reunion. "Are you coming with us?" He turned to Mikey.

"Can I? My ankles broken and I'll be more trouble than I'm worth until it's healed..."

"We got women and children who've never held a gun or a knife in their lives, you can help them with the chores around camp until you're healed." Rick patted him on the shoulder.

"Seriously?" Daryl asked. "Don't you think we've taken in too many people lately?"

"We've taken in three, Daryl." T-dog rolled his eyes.

"And they've both been related to camp mates we already have, it's not like we're taking in random people." Glenn added.

"Okay then, I'll come." Mikey nodded. "I'm Mikey by the way, Niamh's boyfriend."

"We can do introductions later, we need to get back to camp," Rory said.

—/<3/—