THE SUN WAS shining a little bit brighter than usual. Y/N found himself being hit by the rays, which cast a layer of light over the prison yard and warmed the young man. He leaned against the railing of the guard tower, looking over the area.

Soon enough, he felt a hand on his shoulder. He turned slightly and saw who joined him: Liliana. Y/N smiled at her, and she did so back.

"You've been up here a while." She remarked as he rubbed his back.

He shrugged and looked back out at the yard. "Sorry. It's just...feels right today, you know?"

Liliana kept rubbing his back and looked out at the yard as well. She, too, enjoyed the view and the warm feeling of the sun rays on her skin that was exposed from her tank top.

"The kid asleep?" Y/N asked about AJ.

"Knocked out." She replied with a chuckle. "Get ready for him to wake up in the middle of the night."

"I got it," Y/N said with a smile. "Don't worry about it."

Liliana turned to him, moving her hand to the back of his neck, where she caressed it. She kissed him on the cheek.

"I know you do."

Y/N smiled. Suddenly, he heard a callout from below. It was Tyreese.

"Y/N! My man!"

The young man looked over the railing. "What's up, Ty?"

"Hershel says to walk around the fences and make sure it's all right! He said to bring someone, and guess what? You're that lucky someone I chose!"

Y/N let out a sigh as Liliana chuckled. Tyreese called out again.

"Come on! Or am I interrupting something going on up there? You know Glenn and Maggie—!"

Y/N interjected. "No! No, it's alright! I'm coming!"

"Oh? So you haven't already?"

Y/N scoffed at his joke as Liliana laughed. Y/N went to the stairs and expected her to follow, but she stayed by the railing. He questioned her.

"I'm gonna stay up here a bit." She replied and looked at the view again. "It does feel right."

Y/N softly smiled and went downstairs, leaving his girlfriend and the mother of his child up on the tower. He soon joined Tyreese by the gate leading to the yard.

The man just stood there a moment and looked at Y/N. The young man arched a brow.

"What?"

He smirked. "You good?"

Y/N crossed his arms and looked up at the tower where Liliana was. It was like he already knew what he meant by that question. He was more than good with everything he had.

"I am. Really."

Tyreese smiled and patted his shoulder before motioning him toward the gate. Tyreese walked, and Y/N followed.

"I always gotta ask, man. You know I care—"

BANG!

Y/N's face was hit with blood splatter, and all he heard was white noise. He wiped the stain off his skin and looked down, seeing Tyreese on the floor with a bullet hole in his forehead. He didn't know what to do. He just felt...helpless.

BOOM!

He looked back upon hearing and feeling the rumble of the explosion and saw the entire prison in flames. The home where his friends were, where his family stayed, where AJ was...it was all gone. Again...he felt helpless. Hopelessness.

The young man suddenly heard the familiar whirring sound. Y/N turned around and saw a tank rolling up to the yard. He watched as it aimed its cannon upward at the guard tower...where Liliana was. It soon began to charge up its round.

Once more...Y/N was frozen in fear and wasn't sure what to do. Helplessness. All he can do was wail and reach out to Lili above.

"NO!"

Soon, the tank fired its round.

BOOM!

Y/N woke up with a quick gasp and was in a cold sweat. His vision adjusted to his dimly lit surroundings, and he quickly realized where he was.

The young man laid on a thin cloth in the woods, just a few yards from the road where the group's van was. Some were sleeping in it, while others decided to camp out outside. Y/N was one of them, preferring to stay out and instead give kids like Mika, Carl, and Judith space in the van to slumber comfortably.

Y/N looked around at the people in his immediate vicinity. He saw Daryl knocked out several feet away from him on a bed of dirt. Abraham was also resting against a tree. The same went for Ramon and even Noah.

Then, there was Sasha. She wasn't sleeping and was leaning against a tree, looking out with her rifle in hand. She would've instead been on watch rather than rest. The woman had mostly kept to herself since her older brother's death...which Y/N wholeheartedly understood.

Y/N looked at her for a moment before letting out a sigh. He also thought about Tyreese, but it wasn't just him. He thought of everyone else he had lost, like Liliana and AJ. He just couldn't get them out of his head.

He buried his face in his hands and laid back down on the thin cloth. Y/N had to go back to sleep, but he dreaded it...knowing that he'd just have those kinds of nightmares again.

• • •

THE GROUP WAS on the move and had been for the past few days. Since their van had run out of gas, they were forced to abandon it and were now on foot.

They walked together down the abandoned backroad. Rick was by the front carrying Judith, who started to fuss. Daryl, who was beside him, noticed.

"She's hungry."

"She's okay," Rick replied and looked at her. "She's going to be okay."

"We need to find water, food." Daryl added.

"We'll hit something in the road. It's gonna rain sooner or later."

After a moment of silence, Daryl started splitting off. "I'm gonna head out. See what I can find."

"Hey, don't be too long." Rick called out.

"I'll go with you." Carol said from behind.

He waved her off. "I got it."

Carol was not going to back off easily. She followed and smirked. "You gonna stop me?"

Daryl looked back and snickered, relenting and letting Carol join him. As they went off, the rest of the group continued down the road.

Y/N was walking alone, holding his bag and the compound bow on his back. He looked ahead seeing Mika walking beside Rosita. The Latina was talking to her, but he couldn't understand what she was saying. Still, he liked that they were conversing.

Carl went up to Y/N and spoke, bringing the young man out of his thoughts.

"Hey." He took something out of his bag. "Found this in a car when we were looking for water."

"What is it?" Y/N asked as he took the dinged-up booklet.

"Check it out."

Y/N looked at the item and saw that it was a comic book. More specifically, it was The Amazing Spider-Man #533.

"Damn. This part of the Civil War event."

"I know." Carl replied.

"The one where Spider-Man reveals his identity."

"Bro, spoilers."

Y/N chuckled as he glanced at the comic again. He and Carl had shared a love for comics and would often talk about them at the prison. It meant a lot that Carl once again brought up their hobby despite their current circumstances and how Y/N was feeling.

"Thanks, Carl."

He nodded. "Michonne might take it if she sees that, though. I suggest you keep it in your bag."

Meanwhile, Sasha was walking alone as well. Gabriel was behind her, and she looked back upon feeling his presence. He was fixing the collar of his dirtied black shirt.

"I used to joke these things were leftovers from the days of hair shirts." He spoke as he walked beside her. "The church actually made...shirts out of hair. So if you wore it, you could atone just a little for your sins."

"I don't give a shit about hair shirts." She butted as she looked forward.

Gabriel knew she was feeling dispirited because of what happened to Tyreese. He still decided to reach out.

"If you ever want to talk about your brother..."

"Stop."

"Whenever you're ready, I'm here."

"You barely even knew him."

"I know you're in pain."

"You don't know shit." Sasha stopped and faced him. "You had a job. You were there to save your flock, right? But you didn't. You hid...like a coward. Don't act like that didn't happen."

Sasha kept walking, leaving Gabriel standing there as he took in the rather hurtful words from the hurt young woman.

They all kept walking. Over a dozen walkers trailed several yards behind them, trying to have their next meal. The survivors paid them no mind and kept moving, ignoring the constant snarling and growls.

"We can take 'em," Sasha told Y/N after looking back at the walkers.

Y/N turned around, too. He let out a breath and shook his head.

"Rick's right. We barely have anything left." He replied, mentioning their ammo and energy in the same breath. "No use in spending it all now."

Sasha looked back again and stopped. Y/N noticed and came to a halt as well.

"I can take 'em." She said again.

Y/N stared at her. He recognized her look. It was the same one Tyreese had when he lost Karen. The man had become reckless during their trip to the veterinary college, and Y/N didn't want her to act the same way.

"Your brother was pissed, too, after what he lost. It made him stupid." He told her.

"We are not the same." She shot back. "We never were."

"But it's still the same." He calmly replied. "It just is."

Sasha just shook her head and kept walking. Y/N watched her leave for a moment before following soon after.

The group had reached a bridge. They decided to deal with the trailing walkers by forcing them down the hill onto the road below. They didn't want to use weapons or exert too much energy doing so.

Rick, Glenn, Michonne, Y/N, Ramon, Sasha, Maggie, and Abraham were on one side of the bridge while the rest of the group stayed a safe distance away on the other side. They watched as the collection of walkers stumbled toward them.

One walker went after Rick, but her simply grabbed it upon its lunging and threw it down the hill. Two walkers reached for Abraham, and he did the same, shoving them down the other side.

One stumbled toward Y/N. Once it lunged at him, he moved aside and tripped it, causing it to roll down the hill. Ramon didn't even wait for his walker; he simply grabbed the walker by the collar and threw him off the road.

Sasha walked up to one walker, leaving the formation. She grabbed it by the shirt and stared at it as she gritted her teeth. Michonne called out in a harsh whisper.

"Sasha."

The woman brought her knife out and killed the walker.

SULK!

The rest of the walkers now tried to go after her since she was more toward the middle of the road. Rick unsheathed his red machete and walked forward.

"Stay in line. Flank her. Keep it controlled."

Rick brought the blade down on the walker in front of him and killed it.

SHANK!

Y/N brought off his knife, and the rest took off their respective melee weapons.

"Plan just got dicked." Abraham remarked.

Sasha went at more walkers, killing one with her knife.

SULK!

Something suddenly grabbed her shoulder, and she tried to stab whoever it was. It was Y/N who stopped her by grabbing her arm.

"Stop. Just get out of here." He said.

She broke away from him and went at more walkers. Everybody else did their part in dealing with the incoming undead.

SULK!

SVAASH!

SHANK!

SULK!

SVISH!

Rick killed a walker but was suddenly grabbed by another. It was about to bite into his arm, but fortunately, Daryl had arrived and pulled the walker off him.

Sasha was erratic in killing the undead.

SVISH!

She swung her arm and cut the throat of walker with the knife but accidentally nicked Abraham's arm.

The tall man simply looked at his cut and glared at her, but she just kept going.

SULK!

Sasha killed another but didn't see the other one coming. Y/N grabbed her arm and shoved her aside, dropping her to the floor but also saving her from being grabbed. Y/N stabbed his knife straight through its eye.

SULK!

The body fell to the ground. Y/N panted and glared at Sasha, who was also on the floor.

"I told you to stop."

Sasha panted as well as she got up. She was face to face with Y/N, sharing glares.

"Don't be stupid." Y/N reiterated. "You're not the only one that's hurt."

Sasha scoffed. There was a pregnant pause before she replied.

"What's it to you?"

"He was my friend—"

"He was my brother." She interjected. "He was nothing to you. So don't say even try that shit to me."

Sasha walked away, leaving Y/N standing there. The rest nearby didn't bother getting involved in the spat and decided to move along as well.

Y/N chose not to take what she said to heart...or at least he tried to. He sighed and soon followed the group across the bridge.

The survivors kept moving until they decided to rest on the side of the road. Daryl arrived after having split up to find some food but returned with nothing. He gave a nod to Rick and went to sit down with them.

Tara looked over and saw Abraham sitting alone and taking out a liquor bottle. He unscrewed the cap and took a swig out of it.

"So all we found was booze?" She asked.

Rosita nodded. "Yeah."

"It's not gonna help."

"He knows that."

"It's gonna make it worse."

Rosita just kept nodding. "Yes, it is."

"He's a grown man," Eugene said. "And I truly do not know if things can get worse."

"They can." The Latina replied.

There was a moment of silence afterward. Suddenly, they heard rustling and some growling coming from the tree line. It was a pack of four dogs, all dirtied and bloodied from their mouths. They had collars on but were far from domesticated after being out and about for so long.

They barked at the group and kept growling. Just like the humans, they were indeed hungry. Everyone sat up and gripped their weapons as they readied for the animals to attack. Mika sat beside Y/N and looked on, fearful of the rabid dogs.

PFFT! PFFT! PFFT! PFFT!

The dogs whined as Sasha's silenced assault rifle quickly dispatched them. The threat was quelled, and they all were relieved. Mika wasn't sure what to feel, as she was always a dog lover growing up. To see them be killed that way had her speechless.

Y/N just looked at her and rubbed her back, offering the solace that he could. Rick pondered in thought as he stared at the dogs' bodies before standing up and picking up some twigs.

Everyone looked on as he snapped them in half and placed them on the floor. He knew they were all hungry. Now, they had something to feast on.

After cooking and eating the dog meat, the group continued their travels. Beth walked with Ramon but saw her sister ahead, seemingly dispirited. She went up to Maggie and walked beside her.

"Here." She handed her a bottle of water. "Take a drink."

Maggie feigned a smile and took it, drinking from it. She handed it back to Beth.

"You...you can talk to me, Mags. Are you all right?"

The eldest Greene took in a breath before replying.

"Just thinking..." There was a pause. "About Daddy...about you."

Beth nodded and looked down. Maggie continued.

"After what happened to him...after I lost you...I just...believed everyone was dead. I didn't think I'd find you. Then, I did. I'm so happy, so grateful, but there's this part of me that thinks...it's too good. That it can just be taken from me again. It scares me."

Beth felt for her sister. He hugged her arm and rested her head on her shoulder, to which Maggie rested her own head on Beth's.

"I'm here now. Just think about that."

Maggie nodded, and they kept waking as Beth continued holding her.

Behind them, Abraham walked with Sasha. He held his liquor bottle and offered her some, but she declined.

"You know it'll just make things worse." She replied.

"The way you're going, you're what's gonna make things worse." He said.

Sasha did not like what he was inferring. Abraham tried to ease the tension.

"Hey, you're with friends." He added.

She glared at him. "We're not friends."

Sasha walked ahead and left the former army man alone. He tilted his head and took another swig from his bottle.

They stumbled upon a group of abandoned cars on the road. Carl was the first to notice, and he let his father know.

Some split off to look for supplies in them. Y/N decided to check out a car that was the farthest away by himself.

Y/N went up to it. It had very tinted windows, and I could barely see what was inside. The layer of dirt caked onto it surely didn't help either.

He tried opening it but it was locked, and the young man sighed. He thought about somehow breaking the window but didn't want to exert the energy or make any unwanted noise. Then, he remembered the pin he had in his pocket.

Y/N crouched down and used the pin and his knife to try to pick the lock. It was yet another trick he had learned, not from his father...but from his older brother. He'd always tell him that a good ol' lockpick would one day save him time...or maybe even his life.

Finally, he got the car door open. Y/N sat in the driver's seat and reached for the glove compartment. There was barely anything inside, only papers such as the car's registration. But beneath it, he did find a tin of mints.

"Better than nothing."

Y/N closed the compartment and looked back to check the backseat. But...he was soon met with a gruesome sight.

There was a baby's car seat that was caked in dried blood. Y/N could not imagine what had happened...he didn't want to.

But as he kept looking at it, all he pictured was AJ. He remembered the bloody scene he saw in his room back at the prison when he tried looking for him. Those images were burned into his brain.

Y/N shot his eyes forward and started to hyperventilate. He gripped the steering wheel and rested his forehead against it, trying to control his breathing and calm himself down. He took a deep breath and let it out, closing his eyes as he did.

Once he was calm, he got out of the car and shut the door. He leaned against it and was surprised to see Mika outside, having just come over.

"Oh! Uh, hey, Mika."

"Are you okay?" She asked upon noticing his body language.

Y/N kept looking at her. For some reason, instead of focusing on the precious face of the little girl, all he could imagine was her covered in blood.

Beaten. Violated. Dead. A corpse to be feasted on by the undead. All that innocence...gone.

Y/N shut his eyes and felt dread in his heart. He could not understand why. He just felt stuck. He felt lost. He felt helpless...like in his dreams.

"Uh...I—" Y/N stammered and swallowed hard. "Go back with Michonne. Tell her I'm going to head in the woods. I"ll...I'll come back."

Y/N immediately turned around and walked away. Mika watched him go into the tree line. 

"Okay..." She replied lowly.

Y/N walked through the woods. After some time, he saw a barn in the distance.

The young man stopped and looked ahead momentarily before kneeling and resting his arms on his knee. He kept on staring.

It reminded him of the barn his parents had on their property in Cumberland County, Virginia...which was his hometown growing up. It brought back memories...both cold and warm.

He could picture himself and his older brother playing around the barn and even working in it whenever their father had chores for them to do. He saw his lovely mother calling for them to return home for dinner. Then there was the frequent yell from their father telling them they couldn't eat until they were done with what the had to do. The yelling was mainly focused on Y/N, the least inexperienced and timid at the time.

Their father smacked the back of his head and shouted at him to be quick as he walked back to their house. Y/N cried, but his older brother was there to support him and even offered to help get it done.

"I got you, Junior. Come on."

Y/N continued kneeling and looking out at the barn as the apparitions of his past faded. He took a breath and tried to fight back the tears, but it was useless. He let out a sob and looked down, shutting his eyes.

All he could think about was what he had lost. First, it was his father, who, despite being a terrible person, was still his dad. Then, he lost his mother, the light of his life. Y/N then willingly cut ties with his older brother upon entering the MLB and becoming famous, which he wholeheartedly regrets now. Then, upon the collapse of society, he lost many more people like Liliana, AJ, Erica, Hershel, Bob, and Tyreese.

He wasn't sure how he could keep going. He was afraid to lose more people. He was scared to lose Mika. He had promised Liliana that he'd take care of her, but as days went on...the more he began to think he couldn't. The people back there had a better shot than him.

Again, he felt helpless.

Y/N opened his eyes and kept looking down. He then reached for his M1911 pistol in his holster and took it out, holding it in front of him. Slowly...he brought the gun barrel to the underside of his jaw.

"Hey."

The voice startled him, and he immediately put the gun down, hiding it by his waist. He turned around and saw who it was: Rosita.

"Am I intruding or anything?" She asked.

Y/N shook his head, discreetly putting the gun back in his holster. He cleared his throat and wiped his eyes.

"No...no. You aren't."

Rosita nodded and approached him, standing and looking out at the barn as he kneeled. She put her hands on her waist.

"You know...my tío Henry had a barn in Texas." She said. "Hated it, though."

"Why?" He asked.

"He never cleaned it. It was never clean. That was until my cousins and I decided to do it for him. But then, I came back a year later, and the idiot had it dirty again."

Y/N let out a chuckle at her story. He spoke.

"I...I, uh—" He pointed. "I grew up in a farmhouse in Virginia."

The Latina looked over at him and crossed her arms. She was surprised to hear that since she knew he was a famous athlete.

"Really?"

He nodded. "Yeah."

"Would have never thought. I pegged you as a suburbs-straight-to-ivy league type of guy."

"Wow." He chuckled.

"What?"

"Assumption much?"

"I'm being honest." She replied. "But hey, a humble start is way more interesting."

Y/N nodded as he fiddled with his fingers. He looked back at the barn ahead.

"Greatness from small beginnings, you could say." He replied.

She nodded. "That's a great way to put it. Come up with that yourself?"

"Nah, I got it from a video game I used to play."

She snickered, and Y/N did as well. Rosita wasn't sure if he was being sarcastic but brushed it aside anyway.

"Come on, the little one is waiting for you." She said as she tilted her head to the side.

Y/N knew she was referring to Mika. He took in a breath and nodded before getting up and walked away.

Rosita watched as he did and glanced back at where he was kneeling. She also took a quick breath and let it out...exhaling in relief.

Y/N and Rosita rejoined the group on the road, but they were standing around an assortment of water bottles and jugs that were left there. Y/N looked on in confusion.

Rick went over without a word and handed a sheet of paper to Y/N. He read what was written on it in his head.

FROM A FRIEND

Y/N dropped it and looked around. He took the pistol out of his holster and gripped it. Everyone else who was armed had already done the same.

"What else are we gonna do?" Tara asked.

"Not this," Rick replied. "We don't know who left it."

"If that's a trap, we already happen to be in it." Eugene chimed in as he stared at the water. "But I, for one, would like to think it is indeed from a friend."

"What if it isn't?" Carol replied. "What if they put something in it?"

Eugene didn't respond and immediately went for a bottle. He picked it up.

"Eugene." Rosita scolded.

"What are you doing, dude?" Tara asked.

"Quality assurance." He replied and brought the bottle to his lips.

Abraham stepped up to Eugene and slapped the bottle out of his hands before he could sip. Not a word was said as Abraham returned to where he was, and Eugene stood there like a child he had just been punished.

"We can't." Rick told him.

There was just silence between all of them. Suddenly, they heard thunder rumbling above...then a clap.

Soon enough, it began to rain...and it poured heavily. The once anxious and dejected group members were now in high spirits after feeling the cool raindrops hitting their skin. They let out laughs and exclaimed joyfully.

Rosita and Tara laid on their backs on the road and let the water fall on them. Glenn knelt and washed his face with the rain that hit him. Noah let out a satisfied laugh as he rubbed his wet hair. Beth opened her arms and laughed as she looked up into the sky. She was soon grabbed by Ramon, who spun her around in the rain.

Y/N looked up as well and let the rain hit him. Nearby, he saw Mika also enjoying the rain, feeling refreshed as she opened her mouth and rehydrated with the droplets that hit her tongue. The young manlooked at her and smiled.

Then, there was Gabriel, who began to cry. To him, the sudden rainstorm signified the tears of the Lord, who likely was weeping because of what man had become.

"Oh, God. I'm sorry, my Lord." He cried. "I'm sorry."

"Everybody get the bags," Rick told them, bringing out bowls and bottles. "Anything you can find."

Judith cried, and Carl used his hat to shield her face from the rain. There were more thunderclaps as well as the booming of it.

Rick, as well as the others, looked up and saw the dark clouds in the distance. The storm was becoming more severe.

"Let's keep moving." Rick exclaimed over the roaring thunder and rain.

Y/N immediately thought of a place where they could shelter. He turned to him. "There's a barn."

"Where?" Rick asked.

Y/N ended up leading the group to the barn he had seen earlier. Rick went in first, holding his revolver in one hand and a flashlight in the other. Y/N, Daryl, and Carol were behind him with their weapons drawn.

Abraham and Maggie followed them and helped secure the area. Maggie had opened a door and saw a decaying male walker held up in the room. He looked elderly, and it immediately reminded her of Hershel.

It crawled toward her, but Maggie quickly dispatched it with a stab to the head.

SULK!

Carol walked over and looked into the room, too. They both saw that the man had a hunting rifle in the corner of the room.

"He had a gun..." Maggie spoke. "He could have shot himself."

"Some people can't give up," Carol replied, then looked at her. "Like us."

Later, they all settled in the barn and were ready to turn in for the night.

Maggie laid by herself on one side of the barn, her back to the rest, but her eyes still open. Sasha was on another side, in her thoughts and still distant. Across from her was Abraham, who also sat alone and was drinking his liquor. Eugene, Noah, Tara, and Rosita were in the middle of the room, sleeping on the ground.

Rick, Y/N, Daryl, Ramon, Michonne, and Carol sat around a small fire in the corner of the barn. Nearby were Carl, Judith, Beth, and Mika, all huddled up together and sleeping. Rick turned to the kids and stared at them.

"They're gonna be okay," Carol reassured him. "They're resilient. They bounce back more than any of us do."

Rick nodded and looked back at the fire.

"I used to feel sorry for kids that have to grow up now. In this. But I think I got it wrong. Growing up is getting used to the world. This is easier for them."

"This isn't the world," Michonne replied. "This isn't it."

Y/N looked over at Mika. He fiddled with his hands and looked at the fire, too.

"It might be." He added. "It might."

"That's giving up." Michonne butted.

"It's reality."

"Until we see otherwise, this is what we have to live with." Rick said.

There was a moment of silence. All they could hear was the thundering and pattering of rain outside and the crackling of their small fire. Finally, Rick spoke once more.

"When I was a kid...I asked my grandpa once if he ever killed any Germans in the war. He wouldn't answer. He said that was grown-up stuff, so...so I asked if the Germans ever tried to kill him. But he got real quiet. He said he was dead the minute he stepped into enemy territory. Every day, he woke up and told himself, Rest in peace. Now get up and go to war. And then after a few years of pretending he was dead...he made it out alive."

They all listened to Rick. He continued after a moment of picking at the fire with a stick.

"That's the trick of it, I think. We do what we need to do, and then we get to live. But no matter what we find in DC, I know we'll be okay. Because this is how we survive. We tell ourselves...that we are the walking dead."

Once again, there was quiet. Daryl spoke and shook his head.

"We ain't them."

He sat up and snapped some branches to add to the fire.

"We're not them." Rick told him.

Daryl was ready to get up and leave, but Rick stopped him.

"Hey." He said softly. "We're not."

The redneck stood up and looked at all of them before putting his gaze back at Rick.

"We ain't them."

• • •

THE NIGHT HAD become hectic once a horde of walkers almost overran the barn. But everyone worked together to keep them at bay, and the doors closed. They were a tandem of survivors, but above all...they were like a family.

The heavy storm dealt with the horde outside, and they went back to sleep. By the time Y/N woke up, it was morning. He turned to see Mika sleeping soundly near him, and he rubbed the top of her head.

He thought back to the day before when he was about to end his own life. Y/N now couldn't comprehend why he even thought to do that. It was selfish of him to want to free himself of this hell while still leaving the people he cared about in it...people like Mika.

After what he experienced the night before during the storm, how they all worked together and protected one another, he realized what he had.

Y/N wasn't going to take it for granted. Instead of thinking about what he lost and could lose, he had to think about what he had now and what they could all do in the future.

Later, they all awakened and sat around the barn in silence. Two people were missing, though: Maggie and Sasha. They figured they had gone out on a run together.

Suddenly, the barn doors creaked open. Maggie entered and called out.

"Everyone..." She gestured at the man behind her, who was being held at gunpoint by Sasha. "This is Aaron."

The people near the doors, like Y/N, Rosita, and Daryl, drew their weapons. Rick also stood up and unholstered his revolver.

"We met him outside. He's by himself." Maggie added. "We took his weapon, and we took his gear."

Daryl went over to pat him down, and Sasha shut the doors. The rednecked nodded and let them know he was clean. With his hands still up a bit, Aaron looked at them all.

"Hi."

Judith started crying, and Rick handed her to Carl, who softly shushed her. Aaron reached out to shake the leader's hand.

"It's nice to meet you."

He stopped upon the rest, holding up their guns and cocking them. Rick spoke to Maggie.

"You said he had a weapon?"

Maggie walked over to Rick and handed him the man's snubbed revolver. Rick checked it and put it into his waistband.

"There's something you need?" He asked Aaron.

"He has a camp nearby," Sasha said, glancing at their guest. "He wants us to audition for membership."

"I wish there was another word." He chuckled. "Audition makes it sound like we're some kind of a dance troupe. That's only on Friday nights."

He expected some of them to laugh, but they were as stern as possible. Aaron shook his head.

"Um, and it's not a camp. It's a community." He clarified. "I think you all would make valuable additions. But it's not my call. My job is to convince you all to follow me back home."

He was still met with silence as well as Rick's serious gaze. He continued.

"I know. If I were you, I wouldn't go either. Not until I knew exactly what I was getting into. Sasha, can you hand Rick my pack?"

Sasha took a moment before walking over to Rick and handing him the backpack over her shoulders. Aaron explained the contents as he checked it.

"Front pocket, there's an envelope. There's no way I could convince you to come with me just by talking about our community. That's why I brought those. I apologize in advance for the picture quality. We just found an old camera store last—"

"Nobody gives a shit." Daryl cut in.

Aaron turned around and nodded. "You're absolutely 100% right."

He continued as Rick checked the photos. He saw one of the walls.

"That's the first picture I wanted to show you because nothing I say about our community will matter unless you know you'll be safe. If you join us, you will be. Each panel in that wall is a 15-foot-high, 12-foot-wide slab of solid steel framed by cold-rolled steel beams and square tubing. Nothing, alive or dead, gets through that without our say, so Like I said, security is obviously important. In fact, there's only one resource more critical to our community's survival. The people."

Rick stood up and looked back at Michonne and Carl. Everybody else was taking in the man's words.

"Together, we're strong," Aaron added, also noticing that Rick was walking up to him. "You can make us even stronger. The next picture, you'll see inside the gates. Our community was first construc—"

WHAM!

Rick immediately knocked the man out cold with a punch across the face, also hurting his hand a bit. Aaron fell to the floor, and Y/N immediately went to tie him up with the help of Ramon. Rick just gazed down at the unconscious man, not trusting the descriptions of the safe haven he was supposedly from.

As he walked back, Michonne glared at him, not liking that he just assaulted the guy.

"So we're clear, that look wasn't a let's attack that man look." She said. "It was a he seems like an okay guy to me look."

"We got to secure him." He told her, then turned to Carl. "Dump his pack. Let's see what this guy really is."

"Rick." Michonne spoke.

He ignored her and called out to the rest.

"Everybody else, we need eyes in every direction. They're coming for us. We might not know how or when, but they are."

Maggie replied as Y/N and Ramon tied Aaron up.

"Me and Sasha, we didn't see him. If he had wanted to hurt us, he could've."

"Anybody see anything?" Rick asked, ignoring what she said as well.

"Just a lot of places to hide." Glenn answered after peeking through the cracks.

"All right, keep looking."

Moments later, Aaron woke up. Maggie wiped a wet cloth over the area he was hit.

"That's a hell of a right cross there, Rick." Aaron remarked with a chuckle.

"Sit him up." Rick ordered.

Maggie spoke. "I think it's better if—"

"It's okay." Aaron cut in and groaned,

"He's fine." Rick gestured. "Sit him up."

They did as told. Aaron moved his jaw around.

"You're being cautious. I completely understand."

"How many of your people are out there?" Rick interjected and took out a small orange gun. "You have a flare gun. You have it to signal your people. How many of them are there?"

Aaron sighed. "Does it matter?"

"Yes. Yes, it does."

"I mean, of course, it matters how many people are actually out there, but does it matter how many people I tell you are out there? Because I'm pretty sure no matter what number I say...eight, 32, 444, zero...no matter what I say, you're not going to trust me."

"Well, it's hard to trust anyone who smiles after getting punched in the face." Rick butted.

"How about a guy who leaves bottles of water for you in the road?"

Y/N looked over at the bottles of water they had nearby, which reminded him of yesterday when they ran into the package from a friend.

"How long have you people been following us?" Y/N asked Aaron.

"Long enough to see that you practically ignore a pack of roamers on your trail. Long enough to see that despite a lack of food and water, you never turned on each other. You're survivors and you're people." He said sincerely. "Like I said, and I hope you won't punch me for saying it again, that is the most important resource in the world."

"How many others are out there?" Rick asked again.

Aaron took a breath through his nose. "One."

Rick stared at him and looked at his people. He did not believe him.

"I knew you wouldn't believe me. If it's not words, if it's not pictures, what would it take to convince you that this is for real?" Aaron asked, then immediately, a bulb lit in his head. "What if I drove you to the community? All of you? We leave now, we'll get there by lunch."

"I'm not sure how all of us are going to fit in the car you and your one friend drove down here in." Rick retorted.

"We drove separately. If we found a group, we wanted to be able to bring them all home. There's enough room for all of us."

"And you're parked just a couple miles away, right?" Carol asked.

"East on Ridge Road, just after you hit Route 16. We wanted to get them closer, but then the storm came, blocked the road. We couldn't clear it."

"Yeah, you've really thought this through." Rick said coyly.

Aaron slightly scoffed at his notion.

"Rick, if I wanted to ambush you, I'd do it here. You know, light the barn on fire while you slept, pick you off as you ran out the only exit. You can trust me."

There was silence. Ultimately, Michonne spoke.

"I'll check out the cars."

"There aren't any cars." Rick butted.

"There's only one way to find out."

"We don't need to find out."

"We do," Michonne interjected. "You know what you know, and you're sure of it, but I'm not."

"Me neither." Maggie added.

"This is a risk." Y/N finally spoke up. "We don't know what's out there."

Rick agreed and spoke to Michonne. "Your way is dangerous, mine isn't."

"Passing up someplace where we can live? Where Judith can live? That's pretty dangerous. We need to find out what this is. We can handle ourselves." Michonne spoke more loudly. "So that's what we're gonna do."

Mika chimed in on the situation, which surprised the group.

"We can't all be scared of what can happen. Or even if this man seems weird."

Aaron glanced at her and smirked at her comment. Mika continued.

"Why not give him a chance?"

Y/N glanced at her, not knowing what to say. Glenn took in her words and ultimately agreed.

"Then I will. I'll go."

Rick still wasn't keen on the idea but understood there was no convincing them, especially Michonne.

"Abraham." He called out.

"Yeah." He gripped his rifle and walked forward. "I'll walk with them."

"Rosita?" Rick called next.

She nodded. "Okay."

Rick went up to Glenn. "If there's trouble, you got enough firepower?"

"We got what we got." He replied.

Rick handed him Aaron's revolver, and the man took it.

"The walkies are out of juice." He told Michonne's group. "If you're not back in 60 minutes, we'll come. Which might be just what they want."

They left the barn. Rick continued ordering them.

"If we're all in here, we're a target."

"I've got the area covered." Daryl said.

"All right, groups of two, find somewhere safe within eyeshot."

Everyone else started to leave the barn. Rick called out to Y/N.

"Stay here with me. If anything goes bad, we gotta be the last line."

Y/N nodded, understanding if everyone else was attacked or taken, Rick wanted Y/N with him to exact retribution.

He gestured at Mika to follow the rest, to which she did. It was now just Rick, Y/N, Judith, with Aaron tied up in the barn. Rick went over to close the door.

"When the world was still the world, I worked for an NGO," Aaron spoke to them. "Our mission was to deliver medicine and food to the Niger River Delta. Bad people pointed guns in my face every other week. You're not bad people. You're not going to kill us. And we are definitely not going to kill you."

Rick stared outside through the crack of the door.

"Just because we're good people doesn't mean we won't kill you." He coldly replied. "If the five of them aren't back in an hour...I'll put a knife in the base of your skull."

They waited for the group to return. In the meantime, Judith had been crying as she was hungry. Aaron offered the applesauce in his pack, but Rick would not feed it to her until he knew it was safe.

So, he went up to Aaron and told him to eat it. After a whole speech about how he didn't like applesauce and how his mother used to force him to eat manly foods, he relented after Rick showed no care for his reasoning.

Aaron ate some, and that was good enough for Rick. He walked off to feed Judith the applesauce jar.

The tied-up man smacked his lips in disgust. Y/N, who leaned against a beam across from him, just stared at the man as he held his knife. Aaron looked back at him.

"Uh, hey. I know you." He spoke.

Y/N didn't respond and kept looking at him. Rick fed Judith and glanced up at the two of them. Aaron cleared his throat.

"You're L/N. Yankees' shortstop. Uh, congratulations on the win last year. Or, well...two years ago."

The young man still didn't respond. It was evident that he didn't care about that part of his life anymore. Aaron let out a breath through his nose.

"Yeah, I get it. The past is the past. That doesn't matter anymore, does it?"

"No." He finally spoke.

"But again...we shouldn't just erase that part of our lives. What made us...us. At my camp, my friends can use the skills they studied and mastered to benefit our community. And we learn new things as well from each other."

Y/N kept quiet again. Aaron continued.

"We got a baseball player back home. Maybe you two can work together and start some league."

The young man shrugged as if whatever Aaron said wouldn't sway him entirely.

"Yeah. Sure." He said with a scoff.

There was another moment of quiet. Y/N looked over at Judith being fed by Rick, and Aaron took notice. He decided to speak again.

"That girl...the little blonde one that left...is she yours?"

Y/N turned to him, still not responding, but looked down. The non-answer pretty much told Aaron what he needed.

"It's just that, seeing you two together the last couple of days, I would've reckoned you were her father. But...the responsibility instead fell onto you, didn't it?"

This time, Y/N just nodded. Aaron sighed.

"You've been doing a good job. She seems strong. You definitely have the dad gene down if you ever end up having your own."

Y/N kept looking down and played with the knife in his hand. Upon hearing Aaron's remark, Rick looked over, knowing it must've affected his friend. Their guest took notice of their expressions, and it quickly dawned on him.

"Oh...I—I'm sorry." He stammered. "Sorry for your loss. I didn't—"

"Just shut up." Y/N interjected, still fiddling with his knife.

Aaron did as told and kept quiet.

Later on, and luckily for Aaron, the group came back in under an hour. Everyone settled back in the barn and examined the food and supplies they retrieved from Aaron's RV. 

"This, this is ours now." Rick told Aaron as he held a can of food.

"There's more than enough." He replied.

"It's ours whether or not we go to your camp."

"What do you mean?" Carl asked. "Why wouldn't we go?"

Michonne chimed in. "If he were lying or if he wanted to hurt us...but he isn't, and he doesn't. We need this. So we're going, all of us. Somebody say something if they feel differently."

Everyone was quiet. Finally, Daryl spoke to Rick and surprisingly agreed.

"I don't know, man. This barn smells like horse shit."

"Yeah," Rick muttered and cleared his throat. "We're going."

Michonne was content with Rick's choice and also somewhat proud. He turned and looked at Aaron.

"So where are we going? Where's your camp?"

"Well, every time I've done this, I've been behind the wheel driving recruits back." He answered. "I believe you're good people. I've bet my life on it. I'm just not ready to bet my friends' lives just yet."

"You're not driving." Michonne cut in. "So if you want to get home, you'll have to tell us how."

Aaron thought about it for a moment. Ultimately, he relented.

"Go north on Route 16."

Rick laid his map out on the floor and wrote on it.

"And then?" Michonne asked him.

"I'll tell you when we get there."

"We'll take 23 north," Rick said. "You'll give us directions from there."

"That's—I don't know how else to say it...that's a bad idea. We've cleared 16. It'll be faster."

Rick was not going to be swayed. "We'll take 23. We leave at sundown."

"We're doing this at night?" Sasha asked.

"Look, I know it's dangerous. But it's better than riding up to the gates during the day. If it isn't safe, we need to get gone before they know we're there."

"No one is going to hurt you." Aaron butted. "You're trying to protect your group, but you're putting them in danger."

"Tell me where the camp is, we'll leave right now." Rick shot back.

Aaron stayed quiet. Although he trusted the group, he didn't want to expose his community's location so easily.

"It's going to be a long night." Rick stood up and turned to the group. "Eat. Get some rest if you can."

Rick, Glenn, Michonne, and Aaron were leading the way in the man's car. Y/N was with the rest of the group in the RV, driven by Abraham.

The young man went toward the front and looked out the window. The ginger glanced at him but kept his eyes on the dimly lit road ahead.

"Don't start backseat driving, or I'll whomp your ass."

"You really think you can?" He replied with a chuckle. "One day, we're gonna have that fight."

Abraham looked at him and snickered before turning back toward the road.

"Glad to see Barry Bonds here ain't no pussy." He muttered to himself.

Suddenly, Glenn's car in front of them swerved upon hitting a couple of walkers. Abraham sat up at attention and moved as well, avoiding a few that they passed by. They looked ahead and saw a horde of walkers on the road.

"Shitsticks!" He exclaimed.

As Glenn's car continued running over walkers, Abraham decided to make a sharp left into the next road. There were more walkers ahead, and he maneuvered past them as everybody in the RV held on for dear life.

"Down there! There!" Y/N shouted as he pointed to another street.

"What I say about backseat driving?!"

"Just fucking turn!"

Abraham turned the wheel, and they drove onto the next street. There were still walkers but way less than what they had seen before.

Suddenly, they saw a car on the road. Some walkers were pounding on the doors, and Y/N could see someone inside. Part of him wanted to tell Abraham to keep going, but he felt he needed to help.

"Someone's trapped in there."

"The hell you saying?"

"Stop!"

Abraham braked and stopped the RV. Y/N immediately grabbed his bow and left the vehicle. Maggie, Rosita, and Daryl saw their companion go and immediately ran out.

Y/N drew his bow and killed the walker by the car.

THOKK!

The rest looked back and saw the survivors, but the tandem of the four were able to dispatch them immediately.

SULK!

WHACK!

THWICK!

SULK!

With them down, Y/N went over to the car. He opened the door, and a man inside, frantic and scared.

"Everything's all right, man." He reassured.

"You—you're with Aaron?" The man asked.

Y/N nodded. "Come on."

"I-I can't. My...my ankle."

Y/N looked down at his foot. The man explained that he had broken it while trying to hide from the horde earlier. Maggie ran over and saw the injury.

"We'll get you inside. Make a splint for you." She told him. "No worries, it's just a volleyball injury."

The man, Eric, let out a breathy chuckle. Y/N and Maggie ended up helping the man out of the car and taking him to the RV.

THWICK!

SULK!

Daryl and Rosita dealt with nearby walkers. Eric spoke.

"There's a garage along this route. We'll be safe there. Re—Reach for my waistband."

"What?" Y/N asked.

"My flare gun! Aaron needs to know where we are."

The young man nodded, taking the flare gun out from the small of his back and pointing it up at the sky. He fired.

SPWISH!

It lit up the surrounding area and the sky above. Afterward, five of them immediately returned to the RV and drove away.

Thankfully, Glenn, Rick, Michonne, and Aaron were able to regroup with them at the garage building. Aaron was very relieved to see his husband again, and Eric explained that Y/N and his group saved him.

After having a moment with him, Aaron came out and spoke with everyone else.

"Everyone. Thank you. You saved Eric. I owe you. All of you. And I will make sure that debt is paid in full when we get to our community. When we get to Alexandria. Now, I'm not sure about you, but I'd rather not do any more driving tonight."

For the first time, his remark garnered a chuckle out of a few of them. He continued.

"Maybe we can hit the road tomorrow morning."

"That sounds fine," Rick spoke. "But if we're staying here for the night, you're sleeping over there."

Rick pointed near the door of the garage, far away from them. Aaron did not like how he was going to be away from Eric.

"You really think we got to do that?" Maggie asked, disagreeing with Rick's request.

"It's the safe play." Rick replied and looked at Aaron. "We don't know you."

"The only way you're gonna stop me from being with him right now is by shooting me." He retorted.

There was tension between them. Ultimately, not caring what Rick did, Aaron started walking toward the room. Rick tried to get in front of him, but Glenn got in between them. He spoke to the leader.

"Rick, he told us where the camp is. And he really was only traveling with one other person. They're both unarmed. One of them's got a broken ankle. I want us to be safe, too. I can't give up everything else. I know what I said, but it does matter."

After a moment, Rick relented. He trusted Glenn and decided to put some trust into the men that would take them to the community. He nodded and let out a mutter.

"All right."

• • •

IT WAS THE middle of the day. They stopped on the road as Glenn and Abraham replaced the RV's dead battery with a spare that was in storage.

Everyone else stood around talking amongst each other. Y/N leaned against the side of the RV, holding his bow over his shoulder. Ramon walked over to speak with him.

"Quit looking so down, man." Ramon said as he leaned against the RV, too. "Making me sad just seeing you."

Y/N stifled a chuckle and shook his head. After a beat, he responded.

"Tell me...what do you think about all this?"

Ramon pondered for a moment.

"I think....it's worth looking at. Those guys look all right to me, and that's saying something after the assholes we've run into."

Y/N nodded, looking ahead at Beth and Mika, where the older girl played rock, paper, scissors with the little one. Ramon also eyed them.

"When we were at the gates of Woodbury, what did you hear?" Y/N asked.

Ramon shook his head. "Nothing."

"And Terminus?"

"Nothing." He repeated.

Y/N breathed through his nose, also thinking back at those times. Times when a supposed safe haven ended up being a nightmare.

"We're about to be outside their gates...and I will have to decide whether it'll be safe for us. For my family. There will always be that part of me that...fears the unknown."

"No matter what happens, we're gonna be together," Ramon reassured him. "But...trust me...it's gonna be all right."

"What makes you so sure?" Y/N asked.

Ramon turned to him and patted his shoulder. He nodded.

"Just a feeling, brother. Just a feeling."

The gates of Alexandria were right ahead. Rick stopped his car, and their RV came to a halt right behind them.

Y/N was one of the last to exit the RV. He looked on at the walls, and once again, there was the fear of the unknown creeping inside him. He wasn't sure whether to feel safe...or uneasy.

But, as he stood there in silence, something joined the sounds of the wind and the ruffling of leaves around them...

Faint music.

Children playing. Laughing.

The chattering of people inside.

It paled in comparison to his experiences initially showing up to Woodbury and Terminus. It wasn't quiet. It wasn't a facade. This time...it was lively. It was real.

He felt someone grab his hand, bringing him out of his trance. Y/N looked over and saw that it was Mika, who softly smiled at him. She was looking forward to what was behind the walls.

Slowly but surely, Y/N's stoic expression changed to a warm one. He smiled back and gripped the little girl's arm.

"You ready?" He asked.

She nodded. "Yeah."

Nearby, Rick got out of his car and held Judith. He kissed the top of her head and gently rocked her.

The man soon joined the rest of his group...his family...at the front gates of Alexandria.