Andrea and the others didn't expect that they would return this quickly when they left.
Now, there's an additional car coming home with them.
The guards at the gate were at first confused and wary of the new arrivals, but when they saw the familiar car leading the front and T-Dawg sticking half his body out of the window. They immediately relaxed their vigilance. Carl, who was by the fence, quickly opened up the gate with Carol's assistance.
"Thanks kid!" T-Dawg greeted them as they drove past, while the kid curiously looked at the second vehicle. Jack and Carl stared at each other for a moment, as the former greeted him with a nod before they drove past him.
"Whoa, we have new people joining us!" Carl couldn't help but become excited as he turned to look at Carol before running after them.
The people inside the vehicles alighted at the yard before the second gate since they weren't allowed to pass through, especially with some new faces in tow.
"You people turned a prison into a survivor base. Great idea since this place already had its own walls." Coming down the vehicle. Jack couldn't help but remark while looking at their surroundings.
Andrea was coming down the car when she heard him. "Yeah, it's a great place. Slightly away from the main roads and it's surrounded by woodlands where we can gather necessary resources we need."
On the other hand, T-Dawg went over to the gate and had a long talk with Maggie and Hershel with the fence between them.
"It hasn't been that long since you left, but you already came back. With new faces to boot. Do you think they're trustworthy?" Maggie inquired since they were already bitten once.
Back then, there were also new faces who came to join them. Turns out they had started making plans to have a forceful takeover of the prison. It was fortunate that they were discovered on time and managed to prevent a disaster.
As the proverb says, "Once bitten, twice shy".
They will never let something like that happen again and every new face would be treated with caution.
T-Dawg looked behind and saw Andrea chatting with them before turning his attention back to the people in front of him.
"I honestly don't know. Let's just do the usual and place them in Cell Block E, then observe them before making a collective decision." He responded.
After the ordeal that happened before, Cell Block E was turned into a temporary shelter for newcomers. It's to separate newcomers from the main group to avoid conflicts and to slowly integrate themselves into the community before being moved to the other cell blocks.
"Alright. Inform them while we have someone prepare their quarters." Magie said after the three of them finally came to a decision.
T-Dawg nodded in response before turning around and went back to where Andrea and the others were while Maggie ordered someone to prepare the things the newcomers will need on Cell Block E.
Seeing T-Dawg coming over, Andrea cut off her conversation with Jack and the others and met him halfway. "How is it?"
"They were given the go, but as planned before. They will have to stay in Block E for the time being until they are deemed trustworthy enough to be allowed to move in with the others." T-Dawg answered while giving the newcomers behind her a look.
"That's good. We don't want another of that happening again. It was already fortunate that Amy was able to discover their plans in time." Andrea agreed. Even though she had a good impression of them, being cautious wouldn't hurt.
T-Dawg didn't say anything and just nodded in response. Andrea made her way over to Jack and the others and broke the news to them.
"Alright. For now, your group will stay in our temporary quarters until your group is deemed safe and trustworthy enough to join our community. Don't worry, you can still interact with others. Only your place of sleep is different from ours." So that they can understand it better and not assume that they were being discriminated against after being invited, Andrea gave them a simple rundown on their current arrangement.
"Alright. That's reasonable." Listening to her words, Jack felt that there's nothing wrong with being cautious and immediately agreed with their arrangement. Though some of his companions looked a little dissatisfied, they didn't utter a word since they also thought they would probably do the same if they were in their shoes.
Soon, this group of newcomers was led past the second gate under the scrutinizing gaze of the people living inside this community.
"Why are they looking at us with such intensity?" one of the women walking behind Andrea couldn't help but ask aloud.
"Don't take it to heart. They're just wary of newcomers because of something that happened in the past." Andrea explained, but didn't elaborate further than that.
Tom seemed to not mind the looks being thrown towards them and was even smiling at them. "I think there might have been people who probably did something stupid like trying to take over this place."
"Ahem."
Those words Tom said in passing caused Andrea to clear her throat while T-Dawg looked a little uncomfortable.
"Yeah, that's what happened." Andrea responded since it was no use in trying to hide, and they soon arrived at the door of Block E.
Jack grew curious and asked. "What happened to the people who did it?"
While T-Dawg is opening the door, Andrea looks at him and responds in a grim tone. "We..killed them."
Hearing her response, instead of being scared, it actually brought relief to Jack and the others.
"What's with those faces?" Andrea was expecting something worse from them, but she grew startled when she saw the relieved expressions on their faces.
"We were worried that you let them go after that. Good thing, you didn't." Jack answered. His words made T-Dawg pause in opening the doors to the cell block and looked at them.
"And why do you think that's a good thing that we killed them?" Though it was mostly Daryl who dirtied his hands. Almost everyone, including Andrea treated it as a community wide consensus, like they did the killing together.
"It only means this community wouldn't last long if you had allowed them to be free. They'd just come back here for revenge, and with more people. We can't apply morals from before to our present circumstances." Jack wasn't shy to share his opinion, and the others couldn't agree more with him.
"You make it sound like you've gone through a similar circumstance." T-Dawg looked at them with intrigue.
Jack just smiled and responded. "I think that's a story for another day. When I'm face to face with the leader of this community."
Dadada!
"Well, I think you're gonna have to stay here for a while then." Andrea responded to him while T-Dawg opened the door to the cell block.
She didn't elaborate further and immediately led them inside. Jack wanted to ask what she meant by those words, but he didn't get the chance as she had already disappeared inside the building.
Walking past T-Dawg, he paused in his tracks as he wanted to sate his curiosity and turned to him. "What did she mean by those words?"
T-Dawg just smiled. "You're gonna find out later."
Soon, this group of newcomers settled into their quarters.
To their surprise, they even voluntarily surrendered their weapons to them. Earning some points from Andrea and T-Dawg due to their willingness to cooperate.
When the two finally left the cell block, Jack and the others gathered together by the stairs.
"Are we really planning on staying here?" says one of them.
Jack thought for a moment before responding. "If they are truly and sincerely looking for people to join their community and help it grow. Then why not? I'm sure it's not only me who's tired of the constant moving without a place to settle down. But if we're only brought here for something devious, then we'll let them know that we won't go down without a fight."
"They seem like decent people though." Tom said, which immediately attracted reactions from his companions.
One of them let out a snort, followed by a laugh. "Pfft! Yeah, the previous ones were "decent" people and look where it got us. Homeless for weeks."
"I noticed they have kids though. Which the others did not have. I don't think they'd do something stupid with the presence of children around them. But let's hope Tom's right this time because the word "decent" seems to not like him at all."
"Hahaha!"
Her words brought laughter from around her, easing the tense and grim air around them.
"Alright, enough about this. You heard the lady earlier, they have working showers here! Woo!" For the first time, the serious facade that Jack had always worn until now crumbled when he finally remembered the showers that were mentioned earlier.
"Yeah! It's been months since I last had one!"
"I hope they have hot showers."
Looking at the smiles on their faces, Jack also couldn't help but crack a smile, especially when it reminded him of something.