Excess Baggage (Aaron/ Gabriel backstory)

He felt himself fading. Heavy eyelids flickering, but he feared if they closed, it would be for the last time. After all he had been through, after everything he had lost, Gabriel never thought his life would end like this. Caged like an animal, awaiting slaughter. He would be butchered like a hog and consumed by the savages that once ruled Terminus, if he actually made it to his culling date, whenever that may be...

It was freezing inside of the train cart that he was being kept in. There had been five other prisoners, all traitors of Sanctuary, but the last of them had been taken away to meet their horrible fate over a week ago. It had been that long since he had seen any of the Termites. The food rations that were meant to sustain him until slaughter had stopped...

He was starving and sick from being exposed to freezing conditions. Trapped in total darkness with no hope, his will was beginning to leave him...

**************************************

The Tree Top community had suffered severe damage after a winter storm had destroyed several of their houses and demolished their food storage. Most of their harvests from warmer months had been lost. It had sent the community into a panic, but Carl assured his people that everything would be okay. They would rebuild, and he would send the scouters out to scavenge for food and supplies to sustain them until the weather was fitting to regrow their crops.

Glenn and Mikko usually worked good together, so they were sent to search areas West of Tree Top. Aaron and Daryl made up the second duo, and headed East. Dwight would sometimes be sent out, but as of late, had been dealing with a debilitating cough.


Aaron had left his four year old daughter with Michonne. While he knew she was in capable hands, being a father made these outings a little more difficult for him. Most of the children at Tree Top had two parents, but he was a single father. If he didn't come home, who would raise his daughter? He knew that the community would take care of her, but Gracie had already experienced so much loss in her short life. Her parents were Saviors and had been murdered by Rick's group during the war between groups. He didn't want her to go through even more loss.


Daryl had noticed his partner's quietness as he drove their four wheel drive weather and walker proof military hummer through the thick snow covered roads. It was dark and still snowing, but the high beam flood lights made the journey doable. "Wanna talk about it?" Daryl offered. He usually wasn't one for conversation, but Aaron was his friend. His brother. He would never forget the man's kindness when he and his people were new to the Alexandria community. Daryl and Aaron had a kinship; they were both outsiders.

Aaron spared a soft smile despite his worries. "I just hate leaving Gracie, you know? Fatherhood changes you.."

Daryl gave a quiet nod in agreement. He understood. Leaving Sandy was never easy, but he knew it was necessary. The kids would starve in the coming weeks if food was not found soon. He would go hunting for game, but they needed more than just meat.  "Yeah, it does." There was a moment of silence. "You thinkin' you ain't gonna make it back?"

Aaron gave a small shrug, not really wanting to confirm that concern, but surely it was something that Daryl sometimes felt, too.

"You'll make it back. We both will. And with food. Hell, maybe even some toys for the kids." Daryl tried to sound confident, even if he did have those lingering thoughts in the back of his mind. He couldn't afford to think too deeply on the 'what ifs'.

Aaron managed a soft grin. "You're a good friend, Daryl. I hope you know I always have your back."

Daryl gave a nod. "Same, brother."

They had driven for miles before the first sign of hope came into view. With the darkness and flurries, it was difficult to make out the settlement. It was rugged at best. Tents scattered out, most had been damaged by the snow. Poorly built wooden sheds that had no doubt been shelters. A few large train carts could be seen off in the distance. It wasn't much, and Daryl had his doubts as he stopped the vehicle.

"Prolly not worth our time..."

Arron frowned as Daryl fired up the engine and put the vehicle in reverse. "We've been driving for hours, Daryl. We should at least check it out. It looks abandoned. Maybe whoever was here had to leave in a hurry and left supplies behind."

Daryl had his doubts, but finally gave a nod. He hoped that his friend was right and this wasn't a waste of their energy.

(To be continued...)

Daryl and Aaron searched the settlement, their flashlights shining in the darkness as they rummaged through the tents. Some of the small shelters hid the remains of the more unfortunate members of the community. It appeared there had been an attack. The heads of some of the victims had been removed from their bodies.

Daryl wrinkled his nose as they moved to the next tent, discovering a similar sight that had met them time and time before. A headless corpse, but this one clung to an infant that had been left to starve to death. The sight caused Aaron to have to fight back tears.

"This happened prolly a week ago...cold weather preservin' the bodies." Daryl commented, deciding to not bring attention to Aaron's emotional struggle. He also found the sight disturbing, but no use getting upset over it. They had to keep searching.

They were able to salvage a few boxes of canned goods, but searching the shed revealed what the community primarily feasted upon. Humans. What appeared to be a young woman was hung up by her ankles. Her abdoman had been cut open and guts dumped into a large metal barrel. Her skin had been partially removed from her body.

On a nearby table, another person had suffered a similar fate. A man. His reanimated head rested beside his butchered remains, eyes staring at Daryl and Aaron, angrily snarling and chomping...

Aaron felt his stomach churn and the non existant contents were expelled from his body, leaving behind the awful taste of stomach acid...

"I'm sorry.." He apologized to Daryl for having to witness his weakness.

"Don't worry about it. We need to move on, though. Termites live here...those assholes are still around..."

Aaron gave a nod as he wiped his mouth with the sleeve of his coat. "Maybe we should check out those train carts. See if there's more food..."

Daryl shook his head. "Nah. I been to Turminus before Carol blew the place up. I know what those train carts are used for. They hold people. They keep em there til they're ready to eat 'em. If they had people in there, they're dead and have turned. Last thing we need is to open one of those up and get swarmed by Walkers. I told ya yer makin' it home. We make that happen by not doin' somethin' stupid."

Aaron shoved the blade of his knife through the snarling reanimated head with a quiet apology. He frowned at Daryl's words. "What if there is someone in there and they're not dead? We should at least get close enough to hear if there is something going on in them."

"It ain't our problem." Daryl huffed. All of their losses had hardened him. His people were now his only concern.

Aaron however still wanted to believe there was good in this world and people worth saving, but he learned long ago there was no arguing with his friend. That didn't mean he had any intentions of leaving without making sure...


(To be continued....)

The two headed back towards the vehicle, but Aaron did a quiet detour. It was only when Daryl arrived back at the humvee that he noticed that his friend was no longer with him. "Dammit, AARON!" He called out, frantically shoving the box of canned food into the hummer before taking off in the direction of the train carts. It was no doubt, that's where Aaron had gone. He hoped that he made it in time, before Aaron got himself killed...


Daryl ran through the snow, the cold air stinging his lungs. He reached his destination, finding his missing friend with an ear pressed against one of the train carts.

"What the hell was that, huh? You shoulda told me you were comin' here..."


Aaron knew it would have done no good to argue with Daryl his need to make sure. He placed a finger against his lips, signaling Daryl to be quiet.  Daryl was irritated and had so much more to say, but was cut off when Aaron called out to any potential survivors. "Anyone alive in there?"

"This is a waste of time, let's go!" Daryl huffed.

Aaron frowned at his friend. "I just need to know, okay? I need to be able to sleep at night..."

Daryl rolled his eyes and gave a defeated sigh. If they were doing this, he may as well check the other cart so they could get moving.


The voice was faint, but somehow managed to penetrate Gabe's subconscious. At first, he thought it was a figmant of his imagination. But then, the voice came again. A sense of urgency washed over him and he struggled to get to his feet, but weakness caused him to stumble, his dead weight hitting against the cold metal of the wall. It hurt his already badly bruised body, earning a yelp that would go unheard.

He tried to call out, but his sore throat was dry. His voice was nothing more than a pained whisper. He tried to stand, but he just didn't have the strength.

This was it. His only hope of survival wouldn't even know he was in here. He was going to die in this train cart. Gathering up what energy he had left, he tried to bang against the wall...

"Nothin' in that one. Guess the last of 'em got slaughtered." Daryl informed as he rejoined his friend.

Aaron gave a nod and was about to walk away, but then he heard something or someone fall against the inside wall. And then, the faint knocking. His eyes widened and he looked at Daryl. "Hear that? Someone is in there..."

"Prolly a Walker..they didn't answer ya..."

Daryl's warning was not enough to detour Aaron, who immediately went to unlock the latch with some difficulty due to its rusted state... "Maybe they're hurt and can't respond..."

With a sigh, Daryl assisted with unlatching the door and the two slid it open. Aaron held his gun at the ready, Daryl's crossbow aimed into the darkness. Arron climbed inside, followed by Daryl. "I'll cover ya. Let's make this quick.."

The illumination of the two flashlights were blinding to Gabe, who had spent weeks inside complete darkness. He tried to shield his face with his arms, every movement excruciating. He was relieved and scared all at once. What if his would be rescuers had malice intent?

"Put your hands where we can see 'em!" Daryl ordered. Gabe tried to comply, but raising weak arms was torment.


Seeing his condition, Aaron put his gun away and moved closer, then knelt beside him, checking for any obvious injuries. His tattered and torn clothes hung loose on his thin frame. Gabe's bloodshot gaze drifted to his helper, the tension leaving his body when it was made obvious that they were here to help.

"No obvious bites.." Aaron called out to Daryl, who was still maintaining distance, crossbow aimed at the stranger's head.

"I'm Aaron, that is Daryl...what is your name?"


Gabe squinted at the intrusiveness of Daryl's flashlight. It was obvious the man didn't trust him. Gabe couldn't blame him. There weren't many people left in the world, but most of them were bad. Gabe had met his fair share of the bad ones. Saviors, Termites, The Whisperers, and Reapers.

"Gabe.." Gabriel managed to reply with a hoarse whisper.


"Leave 'im some food and water and lets go..." Daryl told Aaron.

Aaron gave his friend a look of disbelief. "We can't just leave him. He's weak..."

"Ain't our problem. We opened the cart, he's free. No excess baggage..."Daryl did not want to run the risk of something going wrong.

Gabe was growing worried. He knew that if these two left him, it was a death sentence in his condition. He was too weak to make it to someplace safe if the Termites returned. "I..I won't be a problem..." He managed through a series of painful coughs.

"What happened to helping people, Daryl? We used to scout for survivors... let's not forget who we are!" Aaron firmly replied, his voice pleading.

"You know what happened. We've lost too much. I ain't riskin' my people. Now let's go!"

Aaron gave a nod, but his features made it clear that he was not going to comply. "Okay. You go ahead. I'll stay and make sure he gets someplace safe." He was not giving this up.

Daryl gave his friend a look of disbelief. "You gonna risk yer life for 'im? What about Gracie?"


"If I leave someone out here to die, the person I am has already died, Daryl. Same goes for you, and you know that. We have to preserve our humanity, or we end up one step closer to becoming like the enemy." Aaron's tone had became shaken with his emotions. The group was straying away from what they used to be, and it saddened him.


Daryl knew he was not winning this one, and there was no way he was leaving Aaron behind. He had made him a promise, after all. He would return home to his daughter. If this meant bringing home a stranger, then so be it. They would just have to be cautious. He finally moved closer to Gabe, shoving his crossbow in the man's face. "You try anything, I'll put an arrow through yer brain." He warned. "Where are you from? How many people have you killed? How many walkers?"

It seemed that Daryl was giving in, which was a relief for Aaron. He wasn't looking forward to staying out here, but he was determined to stand his ground on this.

Gabe fought to stay conscious, unfazed by the crossbow. He tried to answer Daryl's questions but he was just too weak and lost consciousness before he could utter a word.

"Great. Now not only is he excess baggage, but dead weight..." Daryl huffed as he shouldered his crossbow and pulled one of Gabe's arms around his shoulder, Aaron lifting from the other side.


"Maybe if you had not asked so many questions.." Aaron lightly teased, trying to lighten Daryl's mood. "Thank you, Daryl. I knew the real you was still in there somewhere."

"Whatever. Wasn't about to tell Gracie I left yer ass out here..."

(To be continued... )