The group had been moving for hours, searching the woods and the areas around the safe zone. Rick and Daryl, leading the charge, were determined to put an end to the nightmare that had taken Taehyung and Jihyo from them. They couldn't let their souls be trapped in this cursed existence. The walkers that once embodied love, now shuffling aimlessly through the broken world, no longer deserved to roam.

"We can't let them keep roaming like this," Daryl muttered, his jaw clenched tightly. "Not after everything. Not after what they meant to us."

Rick's eyes were focused ahead, a deep frown etched on his face. "They were the reminder of what we've lost, Daryl," he said. "I just... I never thought it would end like this. We can't let them keep wandering around like... like that."

The group, still walking in silence, began to pick up their pace as they neared a familiar spot. The trees grew denser, and the landscape seemed strangely nostalgic to Rick. There was a heaviness in the air that he couldn't shake off. Something tugged at the back of his mind, but it wasn't until they reached a small clearing that he realized why.

This place... it was where they had first met Taehyung and Jihyo.

Rick stopped in his tracks, his heart pounding in his chest as the memories flooded back. He could see it so clearly-Jihyo, standing with that bright, innocent smile, and Taehyung, so protective of her. He had tried to make sense of it back then, why they looked so different from everyone else. And now, this-this haunting, cruel reality.

"Daryl..." Rick's voice was strained. "This is where we found them."

Daryl, who had been scanning the area for movement, froze as well. His eyes flickered to the trees, to the ground. The once peaceful place now felt wrong, like a shadow had descended upon it.

"Shit," Daryl muttered under his breath. "So, what now? Do we just-"

But before he could finish, they heard it. A low shuffle in the distance. The unmistakable sound of footsteps. Rick's breath hitched, and Daryl instinctively raised his crossbow. Slowly, the group moved forward, weapons at the ready.

There they were.

Taehyung and Jihyo. The two of them, still holding hands, shuffling forward through the forest. They were more decayed than before, their clothes torn, their faces nearly unrecognizable. But the thing that made Rick's heart drop into his stomach was the same thing that had once made him feel a sense of hope-their hands were still linked.

They hadn't let go.

Rick felt his throat tighten. He could see them from a distance, their bodies moving, still intertwined. He could hear Daryl's shallow breath beside him, the frustration evident on his face. The walkers, so lost in their own zombified world, had continued forward, just as they had once walked together through the hellscape of this world.

"Goddamn it," Daryl hissed under his breath. "We need to end this now."

Rick took a few cautious steps forward, as if trying to confirm if what he was seeing was real. But as he moved closer, something felt different. There was an odd stillness in the air, almost like a whisper.

He stopped in his tracks. The walkers hadn't noticed them yet, but the sensation of a voice-soft, faint-lingered in the air. It was Jihyo's voice. He couldn't be sure, but it sounded like her, like she was speaking to them. He froze, straining his ears to hear.

"Daryl..." Rick whispered, his voice trembling. "I-I think she's talking. It sounds like... Jihyo."

Daryl squinted at the walkers, his brow furrowed. He could hear it too now, but it wasn't like before. It was soft, almost imperceptible, as if a distant memory was calling out from the grave. It was like Jihyo was still trying to speak, her voice carried on the wind.

"Thank you," Rick heard faintly, just barely above the rustling of the leaves. "For everything."

Rick's breath caught in his throat. "Did you hear that?" he asked, barely able to believe what he was hearing.

Daryl nodded, his jaw set. "Yeah... it's... it's like she's thanking us."

Taehyung's voice then followed, just as faint, but unmistakable. "I'm sorry, Rick... I'm sorry... Jihyo... she's happy."

The words felt like a gut punch. Rick's eyes welled with unshed tears. His heart ached with every syllable. He thought he was hearing things-maybe it was the wind, the stress, the grief-but it was too real. Too familiar.

But Taehyung's voice lingered in the air as if they were still here, still connected, even in death. Their bond, the one that had made them different, even in the face of death, was still alive somehow. Even through the horror of their undead existence, they had found a way to communicate.

The weight of it all fell heavily on Rick's shoulders. The sense of hopelessness, the deep grief that never seemed to end, was suffocating. He wasn't sure what he had expected, but this... this felt wrong. His hands tightened around his weapon, but his body couldn't move.

"I don't want to do this, Daryl," Rick said quietly, voice shaking.

Daryl glanced over at him, his eyes hardened, but there was a vulnerability in them. "We can't let them stay like this. They're... they're not them anymore."

Rick nodded, though his heart broke with the thought of ending what had once been so pure, so full of life. He turned to the others. "Get ready."

But before they could advance, something in the air changed. The wind shifted, and for a split second, it felt like the world itself held its breath.

Rick looked back at the walkers. Taehyung and Jihyo's hands were still linked, their slow shuffle continuing forward. And even in their undead state, there was something... peaceful about them. It wasn't like the walkers that had taken so many lives. It wasn't like the countless others that had destroyed everything they had loved.

This was something different. A bond that transcended death.

"Do we end this now?" Daryl whispered.

Rick clenched his jaw, his grip tight on his gun. The pain in his chest was unbearable. He didn't know the answer. He didn't know what to do.

But as he stood there, looking at them-his heart shattered by the realization that even in death, they were still bound together-he finally understood the truth:

Some bonds are stronger than death. And some things, no matter how broken the world is, are meant to last.