Beth was gone.

Riley's eyes had closed with a new weight, one so burdening and heavy she couldn't find the strength inside of her to hold them up any longer. She'd heard the news from Daryl, whose expression was so bleak and beaten as the words left his mouth Riley couldn't stand to look into his face any longer. He didn't say dead, just gone. Lost somewhere out in that ugly, cruel, world without anyone to stand by her lonely side or protect her from the savagery that tickled her fair skin upon every open chance.

Beth had been with Daryl when the prison fell and everyone either scattered or died. According to him, they'd survived roughly but well enough for a few days before she'd been taken from him, bag dropped in the middle of the road after their hole-up house had been overrun by a crowd of walkers and she'd been driven away in a car going too fast for him to follow. Kidnapped. That's what had happened to her, Riley summed up. Beth had been kidnapped, and they had no clue as to whether the people who took her were good at heart or so evil they would do to her what the men had done to Carl and Riley the night before. Riley didn't want to think about it, although it was hard not to. She truly fought to believe that Beth was okay, that the car didn't drive her too far from her reach, that she was alive and healthy and knew that everything was going to work out just fine, even if Riley didn't believe it herself.

Beth was strong, a lot stronger than people made her out to be. Everyone viewed her as a weak, dumb, blonde girl who relied on other people to keep her alive, but she was much more than that. Riley knew it, and she knew Beth could survive whatever she was being put through right now. She held onto the hope that the Greene knew it too, and that she was standing taller than all the obstacles towering over her path, because if Riley lost Beth on top of everything, she didn't think she could handle it all.

"She's okay."

Riley looked to her side, a voice breaking her thoughts. "What?"

"Beth's okay. I know you're thinking about her." Samson said, a grim smile breaking his chapped lips. 

As it turned out, Riley wasn't insane, or delusional, or crazy at all. When she looked back at the house, Samson Carniage was staring back at her through the window. After a grenade has exploded on his way to the bus, he'd lost his sister, Ness, in the blur of the attack. He never made it to the vehicle, no idea if his sister had either, but afterward had been left on his own. He'd only made it so far out of the prison's perimeter when the group of men had found him, taking him into their circle without giving him much of a choice. It was only a few days before they'd run across Daryl too, leading to them stumbling across the four just last night.

"I'm not thinking about her." Riley said quietly, turning her head away. The lie slipped through her lips before she could stop it.

"If you say." Sam shrugged. "She's a fighter, though. She'll be okay."

Riley nodded. "I know."

They were quiet for a little, the only things breaking the steady silence being their footsteps on the railroads. Up ahead, Michonne and Rick walked next to each other, Daryl and Carl lingering behind them. Riley glanced over at Sam, soaking in his appearance with slight dread in her stomach. He looked horrid, in the least offensive way possible. That joyous sheen that once covered him head to toe was gone, diminished like a light bulb being shattered onto a dusty pavement that erased its once warm, bright, light. The contagious grin that used to tug the corners of his mouth annoyingly often was dragged down, the only smiles that came to his lips now were either fake ones or ones so dim it was almost sad to see the drastic change in it. Riley didn't even have to count the amount of jokes he made now, because he hadn't cracked one at all yet. It was scary, to think that only a few days had beaten him down so bad that the high point at which he once stood was swept from beneath his feet, landing him in a place far below where Riley couldn't even see him.

"How are you doing?" She asked, eyes running all over his face, trying to drain the worry from her expression before he glanced back.

Sam's gaze fell. "I've seen better days."

"Me too." Riley sighed, pulling at a loose thread on her jacket that flew in the wind. "It's been a rough ride, so far."

"Yeah." Sam let out a dry laugh. He swallowed, lips parting as he cracked his knuckles on one hand, his other fidgeting with his jeans. "Just so you know, I get it. How you feel, I mean."

Riley furrowed her eyebrows, looking over at him again. "What does that mean?"

"About last night, what they did to you. I know how you feel." Sam met her gaze, all jokes and foolery ran from his face, as if the surface of his appearance stood beside her, empty of any emotion or personality that once brought the sack of blood and bones that was him to life.

"How?" Riley asked, praying that the answer she was thinking of wasn't the one she was about to receive.

"Because they did it to me too." The boy's voice broke a little at the end, his eyes casting downward as they grew full with emotional distress in the form of pitiful water. "They just took it a little farther sometimes. Most times."

Riley watched the way Sam's jaw clenched tightly, his fingers still pressing against his knuckles desperately although no satisfying crack came from them. He inhaled a shaky breath, one that definitely did not fill his lungs with the air he needed to wash away the stressful scare in his body. Riley suddenly felt almost grateful that Rick had committed the merciless murders he did the night before, that he'd stopped things before they went farther than they had. It didn't remove the disgust the girl still felt on her skin, the fear every time a man spoke around her that somehow morphed into the brute's raspy, laughing voice right next to her ear. But still, she felt empathetic toward Sam, like they felt a mutual pain that no one should ever, ever feel, but somehow they did.

Riley drew her hand out a little, gently bumping it against Sam's before weaving her fingers between his own, giving them a tight squeeze. A squeeze of reassurance, maybe, or perhaps comfort or solace, she didn't really know. But she didn't feel like words could really get the message of what she wanted him to know across, so she resorted to holding onto the battered skin of his hand instead.

Sam flashed her a grateful glance, his own hand squeezing back before his gaze fell again, this time, carrying a little less of a weight on it, as if he were being granted a small break from the bricks being thrown at him every second.

In front of them, Carl's pace slowed, his feet dragging against the ground instead of taking actual steps. It took no less than a few minutes for Riley and Sam to fall into step with him, the three walking in an even line before the oldest boy lingered back a little. To give Riley and Carl space or himself, the girl wasn't quite sure, but she didn't comment on it, instead letting her own steps fall into a rhythmic pattern with the Grimes'.

Soon enough, the adults leading the group came to a stop, Rick kicking at a small board- or a sign, rather, that lay covered by dead leaves on the floor next to the train tracks. As his foot cleared away all the dirt and branches covering the wood, black letters stood out against its beige surroundings, the word "terminus" coming up clean in front of everyone's eyes.

Carl glanced over at Riley, lips pulling up to form a faint smile to which she returned, a flitter of hope catching in her chest. They were close, so close to what might be their new home. Soon, if they were lucky, no more dangers would be creeping up on them and closing in. No more walkers or brutal creeps, the thought of "safe" made a quick appearance across Riley's mind, although she pushed it away to make sure she didn't get her hopes up. There was a good chance this place could really be their safe haven, but after the last week she'd been taught pretty strictly that there was always a downside to everything now, and that no matter what, there should definitely be an eye kept on it.

"We're getting close." Rick commented. His head raised, eyeing everyone in his group with a protective sense of leadership.

"Be there before sundown." Daryl said with assurance, readjusting the crossbow strapped onto him. His face was bloody and bruised, the wounds a reminder of the near death experience he'd touched the night before when the group of men had beat him, but here he was, traveling along side them in hopes of a new home. His perseverance gently inspired Riley to hold onto the wishes of a safe place after it all.

"Now we head through the woods." Rick finalized. "We don't know who they are."

Although a grim thought, it was a true statement. Sticking by Carl's side, Riley stepped off of the train tracks, her shoe colliding with the forest grounds as she slipped into the open arms of the woods surrounding her.

As they came upon the fence line, Riley could see a large building begin to create in the horizon. Written in thick, bold, words, Terminus came into view, its promise of a guarded society ringing true throughout the air. It felt surreal to be in the presence of safety again, of a place that might actually house living people where the word "community" truly meant something.

Rick dropped the bags he held to the ground, holding his gun tightly in his hand as he approached the fence, looking through the wired holes to examine the property in front of them.

"You nervous?" Carl asked quietly, the warmth of his breath creating a thick fog in the cold air.

Riley glanced over at him. "A little. You?"

Carl nodded. "Yeah, but I'm ready."

Riley smiled gently, hoping that they were coming upon something worth the nerves and the blood-filled experiences they'd been juggling recently. As she stood by the fence, face inches away from the rusted wire tangled in vines, the girl pictured a life where no more loss would come to her. Sure, maybe the only people she had with her right now were Carl, Rick, Michonne, Daryl, and Samson, but that was a big enough amount for pieces to be shed off, for people to die and be lost from their group forever. Perhaps in Terminus, they'd be safe again, she wouldn't lose them like she did Meg. Maybe, she might even meet new people, although a strange and somewhat harrowing thought, a thought that made Riley's stomach churn with nervous excitement. There were so many possibilities unfolding right in front of them, so many chances they were taking and so many things that they were risking, but for the sake of humanity again, they were doing it. 

Rick stepped back from the fence a few inches, the leaves wearing down to dust under the soles of his boots. "We all spread out. Watch for a while, see what we see, and get ready."

Everyone nodded their heads, and although each person's expression bore fierce bravery and risk, Riley could tell there was a flickering flame in the pits of their stomachs, buried down so deep that the light it produced was just barely visible. But it was there. And the only thing keeping it burning was the silent hope that they weren't making a big mistake, that they were about to take a step into a foreign land with the trust that everything would work out, and that everything would be okay.

"We all stay close." Rick said, voice firmly compacted with the melody of leadership. He turned back to the fence one last time before looking over at Carl. "You want to stick with me?"

The boy hesitated, a flickering expression dimming his face in an unusually uncomfortable light. "It's all right."

Carl stepped past Rick, walking closer to where Michonne and Riley stood amongst the forest branches. Riley watched the way Rick's body turned to follow his son, eyes trailing Carl's figure as it lingered near the other adult with what could argue was a confused hurt written along his features. 

To her right, Riley could see Sam move instinctively closer to Daryl, eyes cast to the ground as he silently followed wherever the older man stepped. Daryl made no move to oppose Sam's choice, didn't even give a look of annoyance or uncertainty, just let him stick to his side as they branched off into the autumn scenery.

With the sudden realization that Rick was alone, Riley felt a strange feeling overcome her. It was kind of hard to describe, as it felt like a mixture of emotions thrown into a pot and melted over a fire and then poured into her body through the top of her head where her brain distributed it all over. It wasn't exactly pity, or guilt, not even that she felt bad for him or like she owed him anything at all. But it was similar to that day on the road, that first day when the prison burned down and she, Rick, and Carl were searching around for a store to raid and a house to sleep in. Riley was almost immediately swept back to that exact moment, where she'd seen how Carl had turned his back on his father and left him half dead and carrying the weight of such an immense guilt. Riley remembered how she'd tried to be there for him, even though her own mind was so stuck on the brutality of Meg and Hershel's deaths and the fact she'd shot an arrow through a once living, breathing person's neck. She remembered how she thought it was almost her job to be there for Rick, to offer her shoulder to him and take care of him the way he'd done for her since she was little. It was because of that, and that only, that she stepped back from Carl one step.

"I'll go with you." Riley said, voice ringing awfully lonely in the cold, silent air.

Rick looked over at her, eyebrows furrowing as if trying to convince himself he'd heard the girl correctly. Riley gripped the straps of her bag tighter, only slightly wishing she'd stayed quiet before. She walked forward, leaving Carl and Michonne behind as she approached Rick. Once she'd been standing in front of him, the man opened his mouth, lips parting as he began to say something that Riley knew would only flip the switch and send her back where she'd just left from.

"I'm not doing this for you." She cut him off, making sure no unwanted conversation would be brought up then. Riley watched Rick blink, any previous words tumbling back down his throat. "I'm doing it for me."

Rick nodded, eyes falling downwards as he began to walk out. "Yeah. Yeah, okay."

The two walked along the trees in a confining silence, both avoiding awkward eye contact, each making sure that their arms didn't clash or elbows didn't bump. Riley felt incredibly uncomfortable, but at the same time that the situation was sad, it was almost amusing. She and Rick had never been like this, ever. Sure, they'd had disagreements and little arguments every here and there which resulted in Riley snapping at him and Rick telling her to correct her attitude, but nothing like this ever. And even in those little, meaningless, fights, the man had always caught up with her and offered an apology, and right after that it was like nothing ever happened. This was so strange, so weird, Riley almost didn't know what to do, how was she supposed to act? What was she supposed to say? The way she thought about it, Rick was the one who caused the whole thing, she was just reacting. But was her reaction too severe? There was a very obvious underlying thought that maybe she was doing too much, that everything she felt was completely invalid and that the only reason things were so much more complicated than they had to be was because she was feeling too many things and took it out on one small feat.

"Drop the bags down. Help me dig." Rick spoke up, holding out a large stick to the girl. In his other hand, another branch was held in his grasp, pointed at an angle toward the ground as he plotted to break through the dirty flooring.

Riley took the stick, trying to turn it at an angle as well and shove it into the hard packed ground, although most of her attempts mostly resulted in pieces of dirt flying away. Rick looked up, noticing the way the girl struggled to dig into the ground and create a fairly sized hole instead of just a more textured plain.

"Push it." He commented, causing the girl to glance up at him. "You don't have to keep hittin' the ground with it, just put it at an angle and push."

Riley's gaze stayed focused on him for a second before she looked back down, pointer finger coming up stuck with dirt as she picked at the skin of the branch. Repositioning it, Riley pushed down, wrinkling her nose a little as she shoved it harder until a satisfying chunk of the compacted dirt came undone, creating a small but considerable sized hole. Rick watched the small moment of success, deciding against making a praising comment.

It was like that for awhile, both Rick and Riley digging at the ground in silence, no words addressing the obvious elephant in the room. Riley felt odd, as she was still mad at Rick, but she didn't want to be. Or maybe it was the other way around, that she missed him and his protection and the warmth of consolation she felt in his hold, except that was all impossible because of the warning grudge standing between them. 

A few feet in front of her, Rick cleared his throat a little, giving the stick a harsh and final blow. Propping himself up against it, the man looked toward Riley, who purposely avoided eye contact with him, pretending to be completely focused on digging their hole to hide their bags and weapons. It was a little harder than it seemed though, as after about twenty seconds Rick's intense stare on Riley's working image grew undoubtedly obvious.

Riley looked up a little, catching the man in his ongoing stare, not quite knowing how to react as it seemed he didn't plan on looking away. "What?"

"We need to talk." Rick said, voice a little hoarse as Riley was sure there was an underlying of nerves hidden inside of him as the four words left his mouth and rained upon the girl's ears.

Riley looked down again, eyes trained on the growing hole in the ground and the tangles of branches and weeds. She could hear Rick inhale a deep breath, probably preparing for whatever he was about to say to her. In raw, honest, truth, Riley really didn't want to have the conversation beginning to lay itself down on them. It's not that she didn't care, because she did. Besides Terminus and the prison and finding Sawyer, this thing going on between them was one of the forefront issues plaguing her mind. It was more about how they were about to walk into a situation that could easily be titled as a life or death decision, depending on the people inside. It was also that there were already stressful strings being pulled inside of her and a conversation that she absolutely did not want to participate in was only adding onto the pile of fraught and demanding topics. However, Riley also knew it was inevitable.

"I know you're upset." Rick said, his sentence slightly hesitant as if trying to decide carefully what to say.

Riley hit at the ground some more, opting to not saying anything until she really had to. It was her way of staying close to the edge of leaving the conversation even though the doors were locked. She waited for Rick to continue.

"I'm not- I'm not trying to make an excuse for anything, but it wasn't my place to tell you."

"Yeah, when she was still alive." Riley's head came back up, her hands holding the stick firmly in place as its movements halted. "Were you ever going to tell me?"

"I did. I did tell you." Rick replied, eyebrows twitching slightly.

"After I brought it up. I mean, were you ever going to tell me on your own?" Riley's voice wasn't accusatory toward her last sentence, but almost as if she wanted Rick to prove her wrong, to tell her he actually was going to talk to her, to sit her down and tell her that Meg was bit before her death and would've died that day no matter what happened.

At first, it was just the blow of it all, after everything had happened it was like another bomb dropping after the last repeatedly, and that last factor had finished her off. Riley had thought the whole thing over multiple times since it happened, and came to realize she wasn't actually angry with Rick when he told her, but more angry at the situation itself. Angry with the world for all it was doing to her, tricking her to believe that things couldn't get worse than they were and then uncovering something that just made it all ten shades darker. At first, when the news hit her ears, Riley felt like the wind had been knocked out of her lungs, she was livid and exasperated and heartsick all at once, but she only really began to turn those feelings toward Rick when she realized that if she didn't bring Meg's name up, he might not have even mentioned it at all. She thought back to the guilt on his face, the way the topic seemed like one he wasn't ready for, like waking up too early and not quite knowing what to do. It was then that she really had wondered if he'd planned on telling her, and how long he was going to wait.

Rick let out a half sigh, pinching the bridge of his nose for just a second before letting his hand fall. "If I had to, yeah. Yeah, I was. But I didn't want it to be me, I wanted it to be someone else, like your brother."

Riley narrowed her eyes, watching the way Rick's body leaned against his stick, as if weighted by guilt. 

"I thought he would've had the chance to tell you, but then everything happened with the Governor and it just- it didn't work out." Rick raised his gaze back to Riley's face, his eyes staring into hers with a contrite expression. "I'm sorry."

Riley felt her walls begin to crack, like a slithering breakage in the stone surrounding her that began to tear down the force she'd put up. She didn't have to second guess the apology, as she knew it was sincere, that it was true. She just still felt that small feeling of conflicting confusion tweaking at her.

"When? How long were you going to wait?" She asked quietly, eyes brimming with hollow disappointment.

Rick's arm fell to his side, as if the whole limb flopped with another guilty burden. "I don't know."

Riley bit her lip, a little more discouraged by the things the man was admitting. Even though the truth was what she wanted, it didn't mean it raised her spirits or brought her pleasure, in fact, it seemed to be doing the exact opposite.

"I didn't want it to be me because I couldn't handle going through something else again." Rick started up, his words choking out as he began to come clean. "After the fall, I wasn't strong enough to do that, to tell you. I wasn't prepared, not in any way."

Riley listened, taking in his words. What she basically summed up was that he wasn't emotionally or mentally assembled enough to bring up another topic to the girl that's cuts were so deep and blood so thick that it'd drown them both in ways the other could only imagine. It was fair, she guessed, a valid feeling. But as the person on the other end, it didn't extinguish the firing rage pent up inside her, only sprinkled water onto the flames.

"I know that you should've been told the second I had a chance to tell you. I know that. I shouldn't have let you sit with that guilt, thinking you could've done something to save her." Rick continued, his words breaking the thick glass in the air to sharp little shards, each piece raining down on them and cutting into Riley's skin so his message could seep into her blood.

The girl pondered his sentences, a new war beginning to break out inside of her. She couldn't exactly blame him for his reasoning, although she still kind of did. She didn't resent him for his silence before the Governor's attack, as there were still people there who held more responsibility in telling Riley, such as Meg herself or Sawyer too. It was fair to even place the blame on Riley, as she had turned her stepmother away when she tried to sit her down and talk to her about the bite. That was another reason why the girl was taking the whole thing so sensitively and harshly, because she knew a lot of it was her fault. Had she not told Meg to leave that one night, she would've been aware of the fact the woman was walking to an early death, Governor or not, walkers or not. Although the discard of the conversation had no affect on Meg's death at all, it still made its impactful appearance later on. The accountable mass of it all nearly broke Riley's bones even further, the intolerable feeling squeezing her lungs underneath the tight grasp of an iron fist until she forced herself to replay the scene of her sending Meg away over and over again, as if her only two options were to contemplate over her own idiocy or suffocate under the culpability.

But despite all of the self blame, Riley still shouldered it with Rick. It was only because he'd waited practically two days to admit to her that her mother was bit and rotting right in front of her, that although she fought and screamed and cried to keep her from being eaten alive by the walkers who'd attacked her, Meg would've been dead anyway. She was dead all along. 

Rick let out a half sigh from in front of the girl, as if the exhaustion of the past few days was finally catching up to him. "It was selfish, I know it was. You- you deserved to know what happened. Riley, I'm sorry."

Inside, Riley felt herself begin to deteriorate. Hearing the apology hit her ears was like throwing a  ball of hot lava onto an ice cube and watching it melt into thick water and run down and away. She knew Rick never wanted to hurt her, that he never wanted anything like this to happen. He was only trying to protect himself, to protect her. That hollowing feeling of betrayal and anger didn't fade, although it was overpowered. It was overpowered by the feeling of longing, by the little child inside of her who'd experienced the brush of death too many times in the past few days, whose stomach was empty and starved and whose eyes were heavy from keeping them open incase a new threat presented itself at any given moment. The little girl inside of her who'd just had her modesty torn from her the night before and was left trembling in a body that was forcefully gifted to another man, another man who Rick made sure would never see the light of day again.

"Would you do it again?" Riley asked, eyes drawn to the face of the man standing in front of her. "Would you hide something like that again?"

Rick shook his head, lips falling apart. "No. Never again."

Riley nodded, trying to swallow the uncomfortable lump in her throat that seemed keen on staying, restricting the air from flowing into her lungs. The only thing helping her believe the three words were the silent plead in Rick's voice, that expression of regret and yearning that pinned itself onto his face. He stepped forward, just one step, but enough to send an air of communication between the two of them.

"I put my own wants before what was right, and it was wrong. I won't do that again." Rick said, his voice lowering in volume.

He took another step forward, placing his hand on Riley's shoulder gently, careful to see if he was crossing any lines. But this time, he wasn't.

Riley nodded again, looking up at him. "I know. I believe you."

Rick's gaze fell to a softened reflection of the girl's, that strange fog they'd been stumbling in beginning to lift. His hand pulled her a little closer, but if it was intentional or not, Riley would never know. Letting her hand drop to her side, the stick she'd been holding collapsed to the ground, falling away like the steady wall between them that had just broken, its wreckage creating a path of steadiness. Almost as if instinctively, Riley walked a very few steps closer to Rick before his arms, built with muscle and beaten with bruises, wrapped themselves around her smaller body. 

Was this forgiveness? Riley thought to herself, as her head cushioned itself into the crook of Rick's shoulder. The whole situation was much easier to navigate with the spoken motive and explanation on Rick's behalf, as if the maze she was walking through before suddenly was cleared of all dead ends and secret passages. Sure, she still felt stiffened by the fact Rick had hidden Meg's bite from her for days without the thought of speaking to her for his own selfish reasons, but it was also a reminder of how he was still human too. This was still his first time living, surviving in a ruptured world with the task of keeping her and other people alive as well. It showed her how despite the flaws he had and the mistakes he made, he'd always found his way back to her, to her safety.

"You're my priority." Rick's voice was a whisper, his words getting mixed in the tangles of her hair as they slid down the strands and into her ears. "You were then, you are now, and you are in everything after this. I lost sight of that, but I won't again. Never again."

Riley's eyes shut tight to keep any emotion threatening to make an appearance inside. In the warmth of Rick's hold, she felt like herself again, like every version of her there ever was that was once held in his arms. She didn't feel like the disregarded and violated soul trapped in the body of the girl who lost her individuality to a man who served no purpose to the earth, who died right after it all happened. She knew that the minute Rick let go and they went back to the task of burying their guns, that grimy, dirty, feeling would return to her skin, but now, in the solace of his embrace, she was granted a minute of peace and a break from the treacherous path in which she was forced to stay on. 

Squeezing her arms tighter around him, Riley hid her face in the dirty material of his jacket, blocking out the image of the world surrounding her and the feel of disgust that covered her body. For right now, all that mattered was her and Rick, just that alone. 

Yes, she decided, body no longer tense from the stress and the hurt. It was forgiveness after all.

Regaining her balance, Riley stood up, eyes wandering Terminus's property. The whole place seemed kind of bleak, she couldn't hear anyone talking and there didn't seem to be much going on. She hoped that the whole community was on another part of their estate or inside, as the thought of going through all that they had just to end up in a rundown facility seemed extremely disheartening.

With a thump to her right, Carl stood up after landing next to her from over the fence. He glanced around before his eyes landed on her. Behind the glimmer in the blue irises, Riley could sense a wave of nerves that tickled him from the inside out. His gun was grasped tightly in his hands, like a matching counterpart to the jagged knife in the girl's. 

"You scared?" He asked, his voice a low whisper.

"Do I look scared?" Riley replied, although her response was half a joke and half a genuine question, as she knew the large possibility of this whole thing landing on their unlucky side was very, very, practical.

Carl grinned, although the smile was a little shaky. He looked over at his dad, who shared a grim expression with their whole group before raising a finger to his lips, gesturing a silent cover over them all. With that, he began to move forward.

Riley gripped the handle of her knife, trying to focus all of her worries and uncontrollable nerves into the grasp and not on her feet so she wouldn't end up tripping. She stuck close to Carl, other times near Michonne, as Rick covered the front and Daryl the back. As she'd usually noticed, Samson stayed near the redneck as much as he could. The dog, she'd realized, was beginning to hang back a little bit, slowing down as they accelerated.

Riley glanced back at it, watching the way it lingered by the back of the group until it stopped overall. "Selva."

Her voice was quiet, trying to draw as little attention as she could. "What are you doing? Come on, boy."

But the dog didn't move, sniffing at the ground a bit before a low growl left his throat, his snout wrinkling in a faint snarl. He backtracked a few steps, body tensing ever so slightly.

"Selva?" Riley stopped following the group, trying to motion for the canine to follow as desperately and quietly as possible.

"Riley?" Carl's voice suddenly broke through to the girl, his footsteps deeming closer as he came forward. "What are you doing? We have to go."

Although his tone was slightly urgent and sentences so quick they nearly merged together, Riley only spared him one glance before turning back to Selva, who let one more warning growl leave his mouth before turning and running off.

"Selva, no!" Riley whisper-shouted, but the dog was off, no hint of coming back in his trail.

Carl's hand worked its way to her wrist, giving it a tug as he began to try and pull her back. "Just let him go, come on."

Riley spared the animal a final glance, before turning back around and following Carl to where the four older members of their group lingered around a side wall, next to a metal door. Despite the disappointment of having the dog leave, Riley felt a new, strange, tug in her gut. Her dad had always told her that animals know best, "It's like they have a sixth sense for danger, they can always tell when it's around." He'd said. Riley knew that Selva was a stray, living in a threatening world in threatening times, he'd definitely be good with that sort of thing paired with his animalistic reflexes. A small ache in her subconscious had her worried they were about to walk into something that wouldn't be so easy to leave.

Rick shared a glance with Daryl up in front of him, one hand clasped onto his gun and the second on the door frame. With a silent three second count between them, Rick threw back the door, leveling his gun up as he and Daryl filed inside, closely followed by Michonne, Samson, Riley, and Carl.

"Terminus. Those who arrive survive. Follow the tracks to the point where all lines intersect." A woman's voice echoed through some type of mechanical machine throughout the building.

Knife still raised, Riley shared a confused look with Carl, whose grip on his gun became strangely tighter, as if preparing himself for the worst. As the made their way throughout the halls and through doors, the group stumbled upon a large room, where a woman with short, white, hair sat at a desk with headphones covering her ears and a microphone against her lips. She continued reciting her lines.

"There are maps at the crossings to help guide you with your journey. Sanctuary for all. Community for all."

Daryl slowly walked into the room, leading everyone behind him with his crossbow raised. Riley cast her glance around the room, taking in the sight of people working in some sort of labor, carrying boxes and conversing with each other. It was some sort of odd organization, everyone with a job who carried it out successfully.

"Those who arrive survive." The woman stated. As she began to repeat her lines, Rick looked over at Daryl and Michonne, who gave him a solemn nod. Putting his arm down with his gun at his side to appear as no threat, the Grimes walked forward to the desk, approaching the lady with the headphones.

"Hello." He said, watching as the lady halted her speaking and everyone in the room turned to them. "Hello." He repeated again, louder this time.

Suddenly, being the center of attention in front of the room full of people, Riley felt extremely uncomfortable, as if she could physically feel the gazes being ran up and down her. She swallowed a little, clutching her knife in her hand although she kept it hidden by her side to appear as innocent as possible.

A young man with brown hair near the back of the room with the rest of the workers dropped his paintbrush with an annoyed huff. "Well, I bet Albert is on perimeter watch."

He walked around a table and into the middle of the room, approaching Rick's group with a look nearing boredom. Riley watched his body language, the way he was so nonchalant about a bundle of armed strangers wandering into his home. He seemed like he wasn't worried at all, like he knew he was safe, he was secure and protected. In some way, that eased the girl's nerves just a little.

"You here to rob us?" The man asked, coming to a stop.

"No." Rick said. He walked forward, putting his gun back into its holster. "We wanted to see you before you saw us."

The man chuckled a little with a small nod. "Makes sense. Usually we do this where the tracks meet."

Stalking forward, the man cleared his throat. "Welcome to Terminus. I'm Gareth, looks like you've been on the road for a good bit."

Rick nodded his head. "We have." He turned to the five behind him after gesturing to himself. "Rick. That's Carl, Riley, Daryl, Michonne, and Sam."

Gareth lifted a hand to wave, examining the people laid out in front of him. All he received, though, was a round of cautious looks and stiff bodies.

"You're nervous, I get it! We were all the same way." Gareth began to walk forward again, offering up a smile to ease the tension. "We came here for sanctuary, that what you're here for?"

"Yes." Rick said, his tone strictly even.

"Good. You found it." Gareth spoke, a soft smile across his neat lips as he made clean eye contact with each individual standing in front of them. Riley felt a flip in her stomach when their eyes met, although she wasn't quite sure if it was from nerves or relief. Perhaps, eye contact with any person who wasn't Carl, Rick, Daryl, Michonne, or Sam seemed quite out of the normal recently. 

"Hey, Alex. This isn't as pretty as the front. We got nothing to hide but the welcome wagon is a whole lot nicer." Gareth called up a new man from the group of people in the back of the room. "Alex will take you, ask you a few questions. Uh, but first, we need to see everyone's weapons. If you could just lay them down in front of you."

It was a very fair, very reasonable request, but upon the call Riley felt something inside of her tighten. After the past week or so, even the thought of trusting a stranger- no matter how clean or how fed or how supported he seemed- was nearly revolting. Riley had made a silent promise to herself to not get put in that position again, to not land two feet in a place where she'd be stuck. She glanced over at Rick, who nodded to them all with a firm "all right" leaving his mouth before he crouched and laid down his gun.

With a little hesitance, Riley bent close to the floor, laying her knife down carefully. Although that blade served her the most protection, hence its size and sharpness, she still relied on a last resort, keeping quiet about the small pocket knife hidden in her boot.

"I'm sure you understand." Gareth's voice added gently, eyes trained on Rick.

"Yes, I do." Rick's gravelly tone replied. The small clatter of guns and crossbows and knives being dropped to the floor encased the room for a short, few, seconds before they were all drawn up to their full heights again, lined perfectly straight as the two men walked over and began to pat people down.

From next to her, Riley could see the man Alex moving his hands along Daryl, whose face was beaten down messily. "I'd hate to see the other guy."

"You would." Rick's said, a warning lacing his tone like an undercurrent.

Alex moved onto Riley, and her eyes closed to get the view washed away. She counted his steps, and although it only took four to get to her, it felt like a hundred, a hundred long strides taken as she sat there in suffocating anticipation. His hands squeezed over her shoulders, running down her body and the longer his skin stayed on hers, the more she could feel the bile rising into her throat. She swallowed it down, trying to breathe in a fresh breath of her to recycle the dirtied oxygen kept inside, all of her fighting to get her to stay still and not kick the man patting her down and run straight out of the room right then and there. Every time his hands came down again was a reminder of the night before, of how that disgusting, older man had laughed in her face as his blistered fingers danced across her body. It didn't matter that she had clothes covering all of her now, that she was being checked to make sure she wouldn't hurt anyone, all that mattered to her was that every part of her body that man touched was instantly washed in a new wave of burning fire.

Stop, she wanted to say, to add an extra "please" at the end to strengthen her pleas, and it just made her realize how pathetically weak she sounded, she didn't even think to fight back at him, just beg him to stop so she could curl into a ball and try and cry herself away from it all. God, she'd never felt so sick, so delicate and fragile that if a single man even touched her she'd break. 

Riley opened her eyes, realizing how strange she must look, standing there with her eyes closed and her chest moving frantically up and down as her nails dug into the skin of palms from where they were suspended in the air. She took a small glance downward, where the man was kneeling by her feet, hands running down her shins. She could practically feel herself flinch with the urge to gag and rip her body away at the angle she was looking down at him on, with the feeling of his breath on her legs through the material of her pants.

Just a few more seconds, she thought to herself. Just a few more and then you're done. 

She quickly realized he was edging closer to where her knife was hidden in her boots, his hands deeming a little too close. Alex glanced back up at her as he patted down her ankles, perhaps checking if she was okay, as she'd been strangely quiet and tense throughout the whole check. Riley offered him a little, fake, smile, to try and show him that she was friendly in a sense. Alex smiled back, standing up and moving over to Carl. Riley glanced over, a wave of relief so intense it nearly knocked her down overcoming her. As she watched the man pat Carl down, she could see the tenseness in his figure as well, the discomfort in his face. But his eyes, they stayed glued on Riley, a thick lining of concern swimming in them as he looked over at her, at the way she'd reacted to something as little as a ten second pat down. As he went through it as well, Riley wondered if he'd felt the same thing she had.

Alex continued onto the conversation they held before. "They deserve it?" He asked, patting down Carl's torso.

"Yes." The boy said almost instantly, voice strained. His gaze fell down, stuck to the floor as he blinked a little. Riley watched him, hoping he wasn't reliving his own traumatic experience in his head. God knows she had too many times.

"Just so you know, we aren't those kind of people, but we aren't stupid either." Gareth commented, his tone a gentle warning. "And you shouldn't be stupid enough to try anything stupid. As long as everyone's clear on that, we shouldn't have any problems. Just solutions."

All six people lined in front of him nodded, their obedience being perfectly displayed.

"Okay." Gareth said, clapping his hands together. He began to walk back to where he was, Alex going down the end of the line and handing everyone back the weapons they had dropped, all the way from Michonne to Rick until he was finished.

"Follow me." He smiled, turning away.

Riley walked forward, her chest nearly bruising from how hard her heart was pounding against it. It was terrible, really, how that incident last night seemed to have its longing effect on her. Truth be told, it wasn't that long ago, but from the near meltdown she'd crossed with just now, she had a feeling that trauma wouldn't be leaving anytime soon.

"Hey," Carl whispered, his body falling into step beside her. "Are you okay?"

Riley nodded, scratching the curve of her eyebrow with her pinky finger. "Yeah, I'm fine."

Carl's eyes narrowed a little, drawing across her face with a look of disbelief, but he made no farther push. "We're safe now. My dad trusts them."

Riley gave a weak smile, trying to believe what he said, but a little part inside of her couldn't help but linger around Selva's disappearance, of the way he growled at the place and left upon instant.

"Yeah." She said.

Alex led them through a few hallways and out of a door, which brought them back outside again. The sun was powerfully hot on that day, raining down beams of heat that warmed Riley's skin within seconds, alighting her dirty hair in a lightened wash.

"So, how long's this place been here?" Daryl asked Alex, crossbow in clutch as they walked outside.

"Since almost the start. When all the camps got overrun, people started finding this place. I think it was instinct, you know? Follow a path, some folks were heading to the coast, others out west, or up north, but they all wound up here." Alex replied, his little history lesson bringing Riley to a little more of a comforted spot.

Since almost the start was a long time, meaning they'd been pretty successful at Terminus. Good amounts of food, of healthcare, perhaps even complete protection from walkers. It seemed almost perfectly trustworthy.

Alex led them to a woman who stood behind a grill, her face shaded by umbrellas in the simmering heat. 

"Hi." She smiled at them all. "Heard you came in the back door. Smart. You'll fit right in here."

Riley glanced around, the whole place seemed deserted. She heard no voices, saw no people. This woman's lines seemed almost artificial. But maybe that was just the part of her who'd seen and undergone too much the past few days that was manipulating her mind. She hoped she was just overthinking it.

"Hey, Mary, would you fix each of these new folks a plate for me?" Alex requested, turning to the lady.

"Why do you do it?" Michonne asked Alex, her voice eerily straight. Riley looked over at her, the woman's suspicion beginning to light a fuse to the nerves in her gut. "Why do you let people in?"

"The more people become a part of us, we get stronger." Alex answered casually as he walked over to the grill and took a plate from Mary. "That's why we put up the signs, invite people in. It's how we survive."

He turned back to Carl, handing him a plate. "Here."

Carl held the plate, nose wrinkling a little as he smelled it. The boy turned around, looking at Riley with a skeptically distrustful glare in his eyes. He held out the plate a little to her, and the girl stepped closer, leaning down just a little to seem as relaxed as possible. Once the scent hit her nose, she perked up a bit, eyebrows drawing inwards as she glanced up at Carl again. Something was off, and it wasn't just the smell of the meat. Riley looked at the adults around them, her eyes catching on Rick, whose expression bore that of danger upon first sight.

He walked over to Alex, body rigid as his strides grew a little faster. The Terminus man was about to hand Samson a plate of the strange meat when Rick knocked it out of his hands and brought him into a chokehold, gun to his head.

Backing up with the rest of her group, Riley raised her knife, head whipping around as she saw the surrounding members of Terminus catch sight of the scene. Michonne's katana was drawn, Carl's gun held up, Daryl's crossbow aimed at Mary's head, and Sam with an axe clutched into his grip. At least they were armed, but they were outnumbered. 

In his palm, Rick held a watch, its metal cord slinging from Alex's pocket. "Where the hell did you get this watch?"

"You want answers? You want anything else?" Alex's voice was desperate but controlled, the panic apparent as the cool metal of the gun pressed against his temple. "You get 'em when you put down the gun."

"I see your man on the roof with a sniper rifle. How good's his aim? Where'd you get the watch?" Rick's voice was threateningly livid, his hold on the man growing tighter.

Riley looked all around her, a fair split between armed people and shocked faces looking back at her. The grip on her knife tightened, although she knew it wouldn't do much defense against a loaded gun.

"Get behind me." Carl whispered, his aim trained on a man whose gun pointed at Rick's head.

"What?" Riley turned to him, focus slightly out of control.

"Get behind me, between me and Daryl." 

Riley shook her head. "No way, what if you get hit?"

"What if both of us get hit? Then what?" Carl breathed, his eyes leaving his target and meeting hers for just a second.

"We won't." Riley muttered, more to herself than anything. 

Behind them, Rick was still going back and forth with Alex, the line between panic and threat in the two voices the only thing allowing her to differentiate who was who. For now, until someone made the first move, she was positive no shots would be fired, but until then, she wasn't moving. The smallest flicker in their positions could mean a bullet flying through the air and killing someone, and she didn't want to start that trend, not if she could help it. Besides, there was no way in hell she was leaving Carl to be the only standing target for these people, the more options they had, the bigger the chance that both of them would end up alright if even possible. Still, she was going to take that chance.

"Rick, what do you want?" A new voice suddenly interfered throughout the thick, tense, atmosphere. Riley's had snapped over to the sound, her eyes falling onto the man from before. Gareth.

"Where are our people?" Rick asked evenly, his voice steady and grip on his gun so tight Riley could practically feel it on herself.

"You didn't answer the question." Gareth marked.

Rick spun Alex's body around, finger coming down hard on the trigger as a bullet sliced through his brain. Blood rained down onto the pavement and almost like jumping off of a cliff and into the rocky waters below, Riley was instantly thrown into a world of a violent haze.

Gunfire was the only thing Riley could hear beside Rick yelling at his group to go. She waisted no time in following his orders, feet racing across the ground as they ran down an alleyway. Rick's gun fired three more shots, body moving with intense speed along the property.

"Get down!" He shouted, pushing the group away from the attack. "Go!"

It was almost like the fall of the prison again, a hectic attack that rained bullets around Riley and death at nearly every corner of her vision. All she did was run, run wherever Rick went and her ears were only open to his commands. Her grip on her knife was so tight she could feel the skin beginning to get irritated, but it was like her muscles wouldn't let her release it. She could feel a sharp burn in her thighs, taste blood in her throat on every exhale as she ran, her stamina running low as they cut corners and ran through alleyways and back again. All around them, bullets shot toward each individual, although none made a pierce on a single piece of flesh. It was strange, as Riley was quite sure that these people's aim wasn't that bad, it was probably even harder to be that terrible than good. Yet, somehow, they kept missing.

Running to a dead end, Riley's chest breathed heavily, her head whipping around to look for any escape possible. Then would be a great time for Selva to come to her aid again, but what could a dog do against a shower of bullets? 

"Help!" A voice shouted from somewhere around them. Riley glanced toward the windows, but no one was there. "Help!"

"What the hell?" Daryl muttered, his own body turning this way and that.

"Let us out!"

"Is it a trick?" Riley asked to whoever was nearest to her, her words directed to no one in particular.

"It doesn't matter. Just keep going." Samson waved to her desperately, axe still swinging by his side as he ran.

"In here!" Rick shouted, opening a door that led them into a large room lit with candles. The walls flickered with watery shadows, no light beside the burning wick appearing in the open space. Flowers littered the ground and black paint was bolded on the walls.

"Is this some sort of sacrificial honeymoon extravaganza?" Samson asked, hands falling to his knees as he heaved, glancing around the room.

Daryl shook his head. "I don't know what the hell this place is."

"These people," Michonne said, voice shaky from her out of breath lungs. "I don't think they're trying to kill us."

"No, they were aiming at our feet." Rick replied, his body circling as he read the words on the walls.

Never trust. Never again. We first, always.

"What the hell?" Riley's voice was barely audible, but it wasn't for anyone else to hear. She was starting to think Sam was right- or at least a little bit, anyway. Maybe they did stumble upon some weird sacrificial shit, and they were about to be hung up on the walls and killed for this place.

"There." Rick pointed to a door leading outside, making a beeline for it, but as soon he was a few yards away it was shut.

Backtracking, everyone glanced around the room again.

"There." Daryl said, running to another door.

"Go!" Rick yelled, sprinting to the exit before they were locked in for good.

Riley ran as fast as her body would physically let her, desperate to get outside again, even if the snipers on the roof were ready. They slipped out quickly, efficiently, running out onto the pavement and dodging the array of bullets once again. With a sharp turn to their right, the group ran toward the fence line, escape so close in sight that the girl was motivated to run even faster than before. But then, Daryl stopped.

Lined at the fence, guns were trained at them, men and women with soulless eyes staring right back at them. All of them halted, their imminent defeat walking toward them with open arms. With their weapons just barely raised anymore, Carl and Riley shared a glance. It wasn't of worry, or concern, even, just a look that read a bind of connection, that read their mutual collapse in that shitty situation.

"Drop your weapons! Now!" Gareth yelled from the rooftops, his voice carrying a dangerous warning. "Now!"

With no other option but to oblige, Rick, Daryl, Michonne, Sam, Carl, and Riley all dropped what was once in their hands. The pressure was immaculate, being surrounded at all angles with multiple snipers trained on their heads manipulating them incredibly.

"Ringleader, go to your left." Gareth commanded, looking directly at Rick. "The train car. Go. You do what we say, the kids go with you. Anything else, they die and you end up in there anyway."

Breathing heavily, the Grimes spared a long glance at both Carl and Riley, his decision coming to him immediately the second his eyes fell upon them. Turning to his left, he went.

"Now the archer." 

Daryl obeyed, eyes following Gareth with a burning rage the whole time he walked, but his stare had no effect on the man.

"Now the samurai."

Michonne walked over, keeping her composure as she clenched her fists tightly. The adults were all gone, there were only three left. Riley glanced between Sam and Carl, who did the same. She felt her heart pounding in her chest, her hands slick with sweat and unbearably empty without her knife.

"And now the axeman." Gareth demanded, looking at Samson.

The boy, although many years ahead of the two left, glanced at Carl and Riley, a near pleading expression cast upon his face. Riley could feel her heart crumble, splinter into sand, and then diffuse in the acids in her stomach as she watched Sam turn and leave. It was like those final words stripped him of any energy he had left, like he was already dead, gone. Seeing his face empty of any of his old emotion was like seeing everything from her past be wiped away with just one cloth. As his body grew smaller in the distance, so did the reminder of everything there once was.

"Stand at the door. Ringleader, archer, samurai, axeman, in that order." Gareth called down, watching the oldest of Rick's group line up next to the train car.

Riley looked over at Carl, who stood only about a foot away. The boy's head turned, face shaded by his hat, but still, his face was so full of fear Riley could see it anyway. He nodded ever so slightly.

"It's okay." He mouthed, lips trembling slightly.

Riley nodded back, although she knew it wasn't. It wasn't okay, not at all. It was all so screwed up that it was nearly laughable, but Riley knew that she couldn't laugh right now, not even if she tried. She just wish she were still asleep on Michonne's lap in that little blue car earlier that morning, where none of this ever happened.

Silence was surrounding the whole courtyard, everything so tense it was almost like running in water. Carl's breaths were short, as if he were fighting for the air to come into his lungs and keep him alive. He reached out, interlacing his fingers with Riley's just to remember that there was still warmth left in the world.

"My kids." Rick shouted, his voice echoing throughout the grounds.

"Go." Gareth yelled down to them, his voice still strict although a little gentler now. 

Walking on shaking legs, Carl and Riley walked the distance over to Rick, Daryl, Michonne, and Sam, the trip seeming much longer and much more threatening than it really was. Riley felt slightly grateful for the chance to move, as she felt stuck, encased on display with all the guns pointed at her head. Still, though, she knew that she was walking toward what was most likely an imminent death. Now, after this, there was no escaping. 

"Ringleader, open the door and go in." Gareth ordered, his voice fading the farther Riley got.

"I'll go in with them."

"Don't make us kill them now." The man warned, and a sharp round of clicks told Riley he wasn't joking. Squeezing Carl's fingers a little tighter, she swallowed back the lump in her throat, and she kept walking.

Ahead of her, Rick walked up the steps slowly as to keep his eyes set on Carl and Riley walking closer and closer. He slid open the door, the loud sound reverberating throughout the property and rattling the girl's eardrums.

Filing in one by one, Rick, Daryl, Michonne, and Sam disappeared into the dark void inside of the  train car, leaving Carl and Riley alone until they were close enough to climb the steps. 

"Lady's first." Riley said quietly, catching Carl's eye. He smiled gently, although it fell soon after. He moved a little bit, trying to shield her body from the pointed guns before climbing up right after her. 

Once the two of them had molded in with the pitch black, Daryl rolled the door back into place, shutting all the light out. Riley's eyes barely adjusted, the darkness so thick she could only see what was a few inches in front of her. Rick's calloused hand found its way to the back of her neck, pulling her closer with Carl still at her side. His fingers still forged with her's.

For a minute, only silence remained, only shuddering breaths and pounding hearts standing against the darkness. It was all a simple reminder of how they'd walked straight into a dead end. There was no more fighting, no more help, no more nothing. Now, they were as good as dead.

A shuffle behind her sent Riley's body turned around, pushing her back up against Rick's body as the image of multiple people began to emerge from the darkness. Riley felt her heart begin to drop as a fear so volatile began to present itself. Her hand tightened in Carl's, her back pressed further against Rick's front, but there was no attack, no violence that laid out.

A person began to approach, walking closer until the girl could almost nearly make out its whole figure when a second one came from behind it.

"Riley?"

a/n - i am so beyond sorry this chapter took so long 😭 i was so busy and people kept inviting themselves over to my house so i could find no time to write lmfao, next chapter won't take as long i promise

- i snuck in a few carley scenes to this chapter, although most of it revolved around riley and rick and her feelings and thoughts etc. but next chapter is literally all about them so dw

- this chapter defo has a ton of mistakes cus i had no time to read it over, but i'll do that tmr/this week so they'll be gone soon 

- thank u guys sm for 30k reads ur insane i love u all so much💗💗 have a good night and thank u for everything <33 votes and comments are appreciated and i'll see u guys in next part :))