Things kept happening one after the other, and it didn't seem to be getting better.

Very few from the run arrive back, and those that did were injured and defeated. But they were safe from the herd, at least that's what they assumed. Until Rick came running back to Alexandria, being followed by hundreds of walkers.

"You never realise how loud they are, until there is hundreds by your front door." Harriet commented wisely, as she Bryce and Cas stood on the wall, watching the walkers aimlessly try to walk into the wall as though it would help them break through.

"When theres just a few of them, they don't make as much noise, but altogether, I just want to keep shooting at them until they're gone." Cas agreed. "I guess it proves life after death."

"I really worry about what goes on in your head sometimes." Bryce said. "At least the wall is holding up."

"For now." Cas replied pessimistically.

"Positive, I like it." Harriet teased him critically, but she laughed anyway. "Come on, in sure theres something better to do than to stare at them all day, they are kinda gross.

"Yeah, I want to see what they think we can do about it." Cas agreed, the three climbed down the watch tower and headed toward the house, Rick had already made one of his big speeches, which of course not everyone agreed with, and everyone who had been staring at the wall had dispersed.

"I've never been around so many, not even at Terminius, I avoided most of it there." Bryce commented, "its terrifying."

"What's terrifying is being on the other side of the wall." Cas responded, "God they're so loud."

"Yeah, I wish they would just go, but that's not going to happen." Harriet agreed.

"I should go and get my bandage changed." Cas mused, not wanting him to go alone just incase he tried to jump the wall or do something stupid, Bryce and Harriet went with him.

Denise, the girl who had the most experience and therefore chosen to be the new doctor was sat puzzling over a copy of grey's anatomy when they arrived.

"You needed that changing days ago." She said, looking up from her book. "Sit down."

"How is he?" Bryce asked, looking at the unconscious man who had risked so much, who Denise was clearly struggling to save, as Cas pulled his shirt off so she could change the bandage.

"If you're not careful, you'll get this infected." She warned him. "He's not doing too good, I don't know what else to do."

"You'll get there." Cas told her, surprisingly encouraging.

She flashed a smile. "Thanks." Whe finished wrapping a clean bandage around Cas' middle. "Off you go."

"Thanks Denise." Cas pulled his shirt on and followed both Harriet and Bryce out of the door.

As they found out, Rick's plan was to wait for Sasha and Abraham to return and lead the rest away, which didn't seem the safest plan but was inevitably the only plan they had and the only thing that could really happen.

And that was terrifying.

They didn't even know if Abraham and Sasha were alive, or if they would get back before the walkers broke down the wall.

^^^
Bryce lay awake that night, the sounds of the walkers too much to bare. He wasn't sure how Cas had managed to get to sleep, but the way he was screwed up into a ball with his hands over his ears might have had something to do with it. Although it saddened him to see the boy sleeping with a weapon in one hand again, as though he didn't trust the walls, nor the locks on the doors and windows.

Bryce couldn't blame him for that. Cas had seen so many communities fail, no wonder he hadn't wanted to stay, Bryce just hoped that Alexandria could get through this. It was the first place that had really felt like home since it all began.

The sounds of the walkers were beginning to overwhelm him, and he knew he wouldn't be able to sleep, and so he got up.

Alexandria was silent, and the only other person he could see was Rick stood on the wall, watching the herd. He climbed the scaffold to stand beside him.

"Hi Rick."

"You should be asleep." Rick told him, he was staring past the herd and into the distance, hoping to catch a glimpse of the others who were still out there.

"I can't sleep." Bryce explained himself, "do you think Sasha and Abraham will come back soon?"

"Soon." Rick agreed. "But we should be prepared for the worst."

"The worst?"

"That they don't come back, we'll have to find another way to get rid of the herd." The man turned to look at Bryce, which the younger found fairly intimidating. "When you were on patrol, did you see anything?"

"We ran back when we heard the siren." Bryce told him, "we knew something was wrong."

"You didn't take Cas with you right?" Rick asked.

"No, he wanted to but he's not strong enough yet." Bryce replied.

"Good, I don't want him out there at the moment. I'm worried his family are part of a hostile group." Rick mused. "We'll get through this you know."

"I hope so, we can't lose this." Bryce agreed. The walkers were shifting up against each other, batting their rotting limbs on the metal of the walls. He looked away, he couldn't bare it. It was too much to stay too close to it for so long.