Several minutes after Andrea and the rest came back, a familiar school bus was also driving over towards the prison.
'Whoa, what's up with today? How come everyone is returning not long after they have left?' At the tower near the second gate, Hershel spotted a school bus in the distance and wondered why another group was returning.
At the gates, Mady stuck his body out of the window and waved at the guards at the tower.
Carl and Carol saw Mady, but they did not immediately open the gate since they had to wait for a "go" signal from the watchtower.
The guard on the watchtower named Derek, saw that it was Mady driving the school bus instead of either Rick or Daryl, and his expression became grim.
So he slightly leaned over the guard rail and signaled to the people below not to open the gate yet.
Screech!
The school bus slowly came to a screeching halt, and Daryl suddenly stepped out of the bus. He gave Carl and Carol a look before turning his attention to Derek. "What's wrong? Open the gate, man! We're in a hurry!"
Obviously, for safety reasons, Derek at first wanted to bar the school bus entry to the community, not that he does not trust Mady, but due to protocols implemented before that only when accompanied with key members of the community, that vehicles and recruited survivors are immediately allowed entry.
With his appearance, Derek and the others had the gate opened as the school bus drove past them.
Daryl walked up to Carol and Carl, then he spotted the unfamiliar vehicle behind Andrea's. "There are new faces too?"
Carl nodded. "Yeah. Seems like you guys also encountered others."
"Yeah, some kids around your age. All weak due to lack of food. It's already a miracle they survived this long out there." Daryl gave him a glance before turning his attention to the kids coming down the school bus with Mady.
"How's my dad?" Carl was curious about the kids, but he was more worried about his dad.
Daryl slightly smiled. "He's doing fine, kid. We've camped out not far from here. Come on, let's talk as we walk."
Carol wanted to say something, but eventually kept mum when Daryl barely recognized her presence after his short greeting.
While walking beside him, Carl looked up. "How far from here?"
"Several miles." Daryl responded in a gruffed tone.
Carl gave him a dubious look with a smile. "That's not close."
Daryl just smiled as two arrived beside the bus with Mady and the kids waiting for them.
"Alright. I'm not good with speeches, but welcome to our community kids. It does not look much since this was a prison before, but it's safe and secure as long as you follow the rules we have here. We got enough food to feed ya, just enough to not make you hungry and weak. Of course, food does not come for free. You also need to contribute, even by a little. Alright?" Daryl addressed the kids while being a little awkward. Shortly after that, he placed his hand on Carl's shoulder and pulled him closer.
"This is Rick's son, Carl. If you have any questions or just want someone to hang around with, then you can talk to him." Daryl emphasized Rick's name so that these kids wouldn't underestimate him, just cause he's younger than most of them.
Carl lightly smiled at the newcomers. "Hello. You can count on me with the things around here since most of the adults are busy. Don't worry, there are also others before you who recently arrived here several minutes ago and joined us."
Noticing that he had gotten more mature with the way he had conveyed his words, Daryl smiled at the kid.
"You guys talk. I'll need to talk to the others first and deal with your arrangements" Daryl said. Pushing the responsibility to Mady and Carl, with the latter mostly doing the talking.
Daryl walked to the gate while greeting Hershel at the top of the watchtower. Who had taken over guard duty from Dale.
"What's up?" Daryl walked over.
Dale, who happened to be manning the gate this time responded. "Andrea's group also just recently returned with a few new faces. Now, it's your group returning this time. Just what is happening out there?"
"I don't know, but there has been a lot of human activity around us lately." Daryl responded with a slight shrug of his shoulders.
Dale stared at him for a moment before looking further behind him. "All kids? No adults with them?"
Daryl slightly shifted his position to look behind him. "Yeah, they were discovered in a small neighborhood a few miles down here. We still have space, right?"
"Yeah, but since all of them are kids. Then they will have to live in Block B with someone's supervision since the people that Andrea took with her are occupying Block E." Dale shared his assessment for the kid's arrangement.
"Then let's go with that, and have two people to look after them during the night." Knowing that it's not a good idea to have the kids live with strangers, Daryl also agreed with Dale.
"Alright, you go talk to those kids while I'll have Maggie assign someone to be their caretaker." Nodding to each other, the two men turned around and went their separate ways.
The checkpoint at the second gate seems somewhat useless since everyone was easily allowed entry to the core area of the prison after just short discussion.
It makes one wonder why they even have it.
Daryl and Mady escorted the kids towards Block B, and midway, two survivors joined them. A man and a woman, a couple who once ran a foster home. They were found and rescued along with their kids and foster kids during a sweep of Glenn's group around the northern outskirts of Georgia.
Daryl looked at the couple and slightly smiled at them. "I had a hunch Maggie would assign you two for this task."
"Well, at least Marcus and I can finally put our skills to use. Taking care of children." The woman smiled at him before ignoring him and introducing herself to the children.
Her husband just smiled at her actions. He greeted Mady with a nod before turning to look at Daryl. "They're so thin. Where did you find them?"
Daryl wasn't sure how many times he was asked this question. He had to admit he was getting tired of hearing it over and over again. "Not far from here. They said those teenagers were the ones looking after them. Sounds like they're great kids if that were true."
"Sounds like they indeed are. After all, it's not easy out there since places like malls, groceries or marts are the most dangerous places. These kids must have lived off of nature, and ransacking homes from time to time." Marcus expressed his thoughts on the kids' way of life before this. Daryl also had to agree since he has first hand experience that there was indeed more human activity around places that still have food.
The people eventually arrived at Block B after many twists and turns, and arrived at people preparing the beddings, clothes and other necessities in the cells.
Mady and the woman helped the kids and assigned them their own rooms before leading them to the showers to freshen up, while Marcus and Daryl stood at the entrance watching them silently.
As the kids disappeared out of their sights, Marcus turned to Daryl. "Right, when you go back out there. Please don't forget to gather more antibiotics and antiseptics."
Daryl slightly frowned as he remembered they just got two boxes of antibiotics and a couple of boxes of antiseptics a couple of days ago. "Didn't we get those just a couple days ago?"
Marcus just smiled. "As my wife, Helen always says to me, it never hurts to have more. Ohh, remind Rick to start looking for baby formulas and diapers too."
"Alright. I'll keep that in mind." Daryl nodded. Giving him his due respect since the guy is one of the only two doctors within the camp.
Meanwhile, a small convoy of a Silverado and a familiar motorcycle is currently cruising along Highway 20 in Alabama, heading east.
Inside the Silverado, Jose looked at his Aunt.
"We've been on the road for two days now. How far is Atlanta, Aunt Rosita?" The kid had grown bored and was feeling impatient about Atlanta.
The journey that should have taken them eleven hours had taken them days due to minor and major complications on the road, mostly small walker herds blocking the roads.
Looking at two siblings sleeping at the back through the mirror, Rosita gave her nephew a glance as she responded. "In a few hours, Atlanta is not far off now."
Noah smiled and didn't say anything. He turned his attention back at the passing scenery outside the window.
Rosita looked at her nephew, and once again felt a little guilty when she remembered her brother who died saving her.
She was sad about her brother's death, but glad that her nephew is still with her.
Her nephew, who should have been dead, was still alive due to Michael's appearance.
Even though Michael does not know what will happen in the future because of Noah's continued existence or taking Rosita ahead of time.
At this point, Michael simply doesn't care.
He'd just face any problems head on with a combination of his brains and brawn, and a little cheat along the way.