You're Either The Butcher Or The Cattle

The entrance to the train car slammed shut behind them, feeling almost like a physical blow. Slats of sunlight pierced the darkness, striking random patches of ground and wall, creating fluctuating pools of light. Beth's hands clenched into balls by her sides, the metal of her father's fob-watch digging into her flesh, her heart thudding hard in her chest, guilt making it hard to breathe. She was to blame. Despite the doubts, despite their precautions, she'd failed her family. She'd brought them here. She'd believed there was still good people, and she'd been wrong.

Despite running, despite fighting, it had all been for nothing. They'd been herded like cattle into a designated area called 'A', before being cornered and corralled, reminding Beth of the way life was on the farm. There had been an order back then; a routine, everyone and everything had its place, humans and livestock alike. She'd believed all that had been long lost with the world ending, but the same system was still in place at Terminus, except they were the cattle now, Gareth and the others the butchers.

"Still think this is beautiful, Beth?" Carl sneered.

"That's enough," Michonne snapped, grabbing his arm. "We all made the decision to come here, not just Beth."

"They have the others," Rick said, his voice cracking. "Or they did. They could be dead for all we know. Maggie, Glenn" -

- "Rick?" a voice asked, startling them, silencing them. Then Glenn stepped out of the darkness and into the light, followed by Maggie, Bob, Sasha and four strangers Beth didn't recognize. The two groups stood staring at each other, both not believing what they were seeing, and as Beth's gaze met her sister's, the guilt faded into an all encompassing relief that almost overwhelmed her. Regardless of everything, she'd made the right decision to come here. What was left of her family was here, and her place was with them.

"You're here," Rick breathed, "you're here." His gaze travelled over them all, dwelling on each familiar face in turn, his heart clenching in his chest. He'd thought he'd never see them again, that they were lost to him. Yet here they were in front of him, alive. As he stared at the strangers, studying a short girl with black bobbed hair in particular, her shoulders hunching almost guiltily under his gaze, Maggie spoke up, her voice hesitant.

"They're our friends," Maggie said, glancing at the girl behind her, "they helped save us."

"There is still good people," Beth whispered.

As they worked on making make-shift weapons for themselves, using the silver chain of Hershel's fob-watch to sheer off long shards of wood from the inside of the train car, or turning their belts into spiked knuckle-dusters of sorts, each group apprised the other of their respective fates after the fall of the prison. The shock of a cure existing in DC had reverberated around Rick and the others, making Beth's voice shake as she spoke of Daryl, before falling silent, words failing her. She and Maggie hadn't spoken or even embraced, and Beth knew why, despite her best efforts to block it out, to lay it aside.

If Maggie had written Beth's name in blood, things would have been different. But Maggie had given up, and Beth hadn't, highlighting the shift in their relationship, throwing into relief what it really was. They'd grown apart, and it had taken for the prison to fall to shake off the dust concealing the change. Beth was no longer the little girl Maggie could boss about; she was a woman now, and somehow Maggie couldn't adjust to the idea. The relatively even tenor of events at the prison had hidden it, each sister becoming entangled in their own lives, somehow living apart under the same roof.

After the Governor's attack, Maggie had made a split-second choice, and she'd chosen Glenn, focusing all her efforts on finding him again. Except it was a choice that had come back to haunt her. Beth had survived; she had made it, when Maggie hadn't believed she was strong enough to. Beth stared down at the shard of wood in her hand, biting her lip. She tried to see events from Maggie's angle, how she'd not just lost a father, but also a husband and sister in the same breath; being forced to choose between family, being only able to search for one or the other, and not both.

But it kept coming back to the same thing that Maggie could and should have included Beth's name in her message. It was only four letters, but they meant forever, they meant family, and Maggie had forsaken these four letters. Yet despite Beth's turmoil, there was a sense of almost hope in the air, a grim triumph even. Despite the odds, they'd found each other again. They would fight their way out of here, alongside Abraham and the others. They'd take down Terminus together. They would survive together. They would forge a new future together -

"Four of them pricks are comin' our way," Abraham growled, peering through one of the narrow openings, the sunlight striking his greasy ginger hair.

"Right, you all know what to do," Rick said quickly, everyone getting into attack position, "aim for the eyes first, then their throats."

"Put your backs to the walls at either end of the car, now!" a man bellowed from outside.

Beth swallowed hard, trying to ignore the ache in her ankle, unwillingly remembering the blood she had shed, the blood she would have to spill now. Her gaze met Maggie's, her sister nodding slightly, almost in encouragement. Beth nodded back, life and death temporarily drawing them together again. Then something struck the roof, the rolling sound making them all glance up. A spray can of sorts fell through one of the slats, landing by Beth's foot. She stared at it in confusion, and then she was being dragged backwards by Abraham, his loud yell of MOVE! almost deafening her.

Then there was an explosion, the confines of the train car becoming engulfed in a cloud of grey smoke. It burned Beth's eyes, blinding her, the dust clogging up her throat and nostrils. She fell to the floor, coughing her guts up, retching almost, Maggie futilely calling her name, the syllables sounding almost strangled. The last thing Beth was aware of was the sound of stomping feet, almost like an army, and then her head was hitting the ground, the darkness claiming her for its own.

Stay awake with me
You know I can't just let you be
Stay awake with me
Take your hand and come and find me...

"Bethy? Bethy?"

"Daddy?" Beth whispered, her hand trying to find his.

"No, it's me, Maggie," the voice said, sounding frantic.

Beth's eyes fluttered open, her gaze settling with some difficulty on her sister's filthy face. "Maggie?" Beth said weakly, trying and failing to sit up.

"It's always the lil ones," Abraham said darkly.

"Shut up, Abe," Rosita said, her voice sounding strained. "When you came round, you thought you were in Las Vegas."

Somebody snorted, the sound quickly cut off, silence reigning instead. Beth's gaze travelled over those gathered around her, before doubling back and doing it all over again, panic rising in her. "Where are they?" she croaked, turning on her side, feeling like she was going to throw up. "Where are Rick and the others?"

"They took them away," Michonne said, her voice cracking.

For a moment Beth was back on that dark road, running through the darkness, trying to keep up with a car long gone. The tears welled up in her eyes, threatening to overflow, but Beth blinked them back, forcing herself to focus. She didn't cry anymore, that's what she'd told Daryl, and crying wasn't going to get him or the others back. Standing up, her legs shaking beneath her, her ankle now hurting more than ever, she turned to face the others, her lips thinning.

"Pick that up," she told Abraham, gesturing to the two or three shards of wood still scattered on the floor, overlooked in the chaos.

"You're not in charge, lil lady," Abraham said, puffing his chest out as he swaggered over to her. "I am."

"We've all got jobs to do," Beth said from between gritted teeth, "so goddamn get doin' them."