'and there ain't no way to sweep up the mess that we've made' - dr. dog

the next morning, i woke up to an empty house. my heart immediately dropped, panic clawing at my chest as i bolted out of bed, looking around the house for lydia. where the hell was she? i raced through every room, calling her name, but nothing. i was about to lose it when i heard daryl's voice behind me.

"she left with carol yesterday. some run. she'll be back." he said, arms crossed as he leaned against the doorframe, trying to keep me calm. i barely had time to register what he was saying before there was frantic banging on the door. gabriel burst in, breathless, his face pale with shock. "dante... he killed siddiq last night... and he attacked rosita this morning."

my mind went blank, everything in me freezing as his words sank in. without thinking, i shoved past them both and ran straight to the infirmary, my legs moving faster than my thoughts. when i bolted through the doors, there he was—dante—cuffed to the bed, sitting there like nothing had happened.

i saw red. before i even knew what i was doing, i lunged at him, fist connecting with his face as hard as i could. "motherfucker!" i screamed as he recoiled from the punch, blood already trickling from his lip. i was about to hit him again, but daryl grabbed me, pulling me back, holding me tight.

"fuck this guy, man! an undercover whisperer? siddiq trusted him!" i yelled, my voice shaking with rage as i leaned into daryl's hold, my hands resting against my head. i couldn't wrap my mind around it. siddiq was dead, rosita had been attacked, dante had been right under our noses the whole time.

"where is she? rosita, where is she?" i asked, barely able to keep the panic from creeping into my voice. gabriel pointed to the back room, his face sombre. i wasted no time, running straight to her. when i walked in, rosita was sitting on the bed, looking pale and weak, tears streaking down her cheeks. i wrapped my arms around her, hugging her tightly. "i'm so sorry, ro." i whispered as the tears started falling from my eyes. we both cried, holding each other for what felt like forever, the weight of everything crushing us both.

in the corner, coco was crying in her little playpen, her tiny voice carrying through the room like she could feel everything like she knew her dad was gone. "what happened?" i asked, pulling back, my voice thick with emotion. rosita wiped her tears, her hand trembling. "i went to check on siddiq last night... i saw his lights were still on, so i brought coco with me. when i walked in..." her voice broke, and she looked down, her breath shaky. "he stumbled into me... he knocked me and coco over. i had to put him down, isa." her voice caught again as she held back a sob. "then dante came out of nowhere and attacked me from behind."

my chest tightened as i looked at her, her face pale, her body weakened from both her illness and the attack. her forehead was damp with sweat, her complexion a ghostly shade of pale. it was too much—all of it.

i sat with rosita for a while, holding her hand as she calmed down. neither of us said much after her story, but the weight of what happened hung thick in the air. eventually, she collected herself, wiping her face and nodding toward the door. we walked into the main room together, and i couldn't help but glance at dante, still cuffed to the bed. his face was bruised from my earlier punch, blood dripping from the corner of his mouth.

"i hope that fucking hurts." i spat, glaring at him as he sucked in a breath, then spat blood onto the floor.

"doesn't matter. none of it does," he said, his voice cold and detached. "watch enough people get incinerated, devoured alive, you see how ridiculous it is getting attached to ourselves. but knowing that sets you free."

i pulled out a cigarette, lighting it as his words crawled under my skin. "is that what you're doing? setting us free?" carol's voice cut through, and i turned to see her standing in the doorway. relief washed over me as i hoped lydia had come back with her. dante smirked. "if you learn that lesson, it'll only help you."

"what, so we can be more like you?" daryl growled from across the room. "accept the future." dante answered as if it was the easiest thing in the world. "siddiq depended on you," gabriel said, his voice trembling with anger. "why put him through all that hell at the barn just to kill him a year later? i can't see an ideology behind that."

"i liked siddiq." dante replied flatly, and rosita stood up, fury in her eyes. "oh, you liked him?" she shot back. "he wasn't part of the plan," dante explained, his voice devoid of remorse. "but he found out who i was. i had no choice." "what plan?" carol asked, her eyes narrowing at him.

"encourage your paranoia about us, which will push you into bad decisions," dante continued, his voice calm, like he was reciting some twisted sermon. "places like this? they're cruel promises to their people. they crumble at the smallest nick. hell, i'm gonna enjoy watching you all rip each other apart over what to do with me. just like with negan." his smirk returned, that sick, smug look that made my blood boil.

suddenly, i was on him. my fist connected with his face, sending his head snapping back. i didn't stop there—i grabbed him by his collar, yanking him off the bed, throwing him onto the floor. another punch landed across his cheek, and i felt the skin on my knuckles break. blood, both his and mine, splattered across the wooden floor.

"come on, enough!" daryl grabbed me, pulling me off him, but i wasn't ready to stop. i struggled in his grip, screaming at dante. "fuck you! you're nothing but a piece of shit!" i yelled, trying to break free from daryl's hold, keeping me from doing something i might regret—or maybe wouldn't regret at all.

as daryl pulled me out the door, gabriel questioned dante. "that's what you want, isn't it? a public reckoning? that's what you'll give me. because it's right."

"over my dead body." i muttered. i glanced back at dante, blood dripping from his busted lip. he stared at me, and i could see it—he thought he was winning. that smug look told me everything i needed to know. rosita stormed back into the other room, cursing under her breath in spanish. i could hear coco still crying, the weight of everything crushing her, crushing all of us.

"no one is actually kind. we're selfish. we're brutal," dante's voice droned on, like he was trying to get under our skin, trying to break us apart. "come on. even seeing all those heads on spikes didn't teach you what people are?"

i yanked away from daryl, storming back into the room, grabbing dante by his collar again. "you want to see brutal? i'll show you brutal." i threw him back to the ground, landing another punch, blood splattering across his face. "you think you know us? you don't know a damn thing." daryl pulled me off again, but this time, i didn't fight him. i was tired. exhausted. i wanted to keep going, but it wasn't worth it—not for this asshole. daryl dragged me and walked out of the infirmary, and i could still hear dante's twisted voice echoing behind us, taunting us like the coward he was.

.・。.・゜✭・.・✫・゜・。.