A/N: Look this fic's character list! I got FFN to add Alex and Martin to the list for TWD.

Thanks again to all my lovely readers and reviewers, hope to hear again from you soon!

The apparent Amazon warrior who attacked Martin was their best bet for a good meal. Though Gareth had a feeling he may have exaggerated her size. Regardless, they took to traveling back the way they came in search for her.

During their voyage, Martin was the quietest he had ever been. In fact, a full hour went by where no one at all spoke a single word. Gareth knew what he had done would put a strain on their group, but he hadn't anticipated such a prolonged silence.

Eventually spotting a few squirrels in a row of trees, Gareth told his people to halt. Again, without a peep, Martin lifted the rifle from his back holster. The knuckles of the fingers that slid down to grip the trigger were reddened from the earlier rough contact with his teeth.

"No, no, no," Gareth interrupted his action. "There's only one round left in that thing. Don't waste it on a squirrel. Kaylee, you hop up there and see if you can toss a knife into one."

"I'm not a monkey," Kaylee replied. "And I don't know how to toss knives."

"Yeah, but you're the smallest and lightest."

"And I have the shortest limbs. Shouldn't someone with long limbs do it?" Her eyes darted between Gareth and Cynthia.

"Me?" Cynthia questioned. "I'm klutzy as hell."

"Well, uh," Albert began, raising his hand, "I used to climb trees for fun. I was pretty good."

Gareth nodded. "Yeah, alright. Go for it."

Kaylee unsheathed her knife and handed it to Albert. Accepting it, he then placed its handle between his teeth. After reaching the tree, he latched onto a thick bottom branch with his hands, pulling himself up and scaling its trunk and adjoining branches.

Gareth had to admit he was impressed. Kaylee may not have been a monkey, but Albert sure was.

While the remainder watched Albert's stunt, Gareth strolled over to Alex, earning him a watchful glance from Theresa a few feet from her spouse's side. "I haven't seen you drink since last night," he commented.

Alex turned his gaze to his brother, then edged back and crossed his arms. "I'm fine."

"Once again, no, you're not. If you don't drink, then you'll be exhausted within an hour. What we found earlier is plenty for you to have without depleting us to death."

"And what'll you do if—" he began, then sighed and let his arms drop to his side. "Fine." He turned and stepped behind Theresa, unzipping the backpack she wore.

A crackling echoed from a nearby tree—one other than the one Albert climbed—followed by a slim branch falling through its limbs and lightly hitting the ground below. Gareth looked to Cynthia and Martin since they were the only other two equipped with firearms, and gestured his thumb over to the tree in question.

Skulking over to the base where the stick lay, the three stopped by its trunk with weapons ready to be discharged. Gazing up, Gareth spotted the edges of two sneakers and jean-covered legs perched on a thick branch by the trunk. The rest of the person was obscured by just enough brush below to hide them.

"I know you're up there," Gareth announced. "Are you going to come down, or should I come up there myself?"

"I don't got nothin' you want!" a woman's high-pitched voice returned.

Gareth wondered if she was Martin's monster-truck assailant. For that reason, he decided against shooting her dead from the ground unless he had to.

"Who says I want something?" he asked.

"Everyone wants somethin'."

"We can wait here all day. And if Albert knives some squirrels, we might let you have some if you come down." She gave no reply. "What's your name?" he tried again, only to still be met with silence. "Alright, I'm Gareth. And you must have seen the rest of us. The guy next to me is Martin, the redhead's Cynthia, shortest girl is Kaylee, next shortest girl is Theresa, the guy next to her is Alex, and I already told you your fellow climber is Albert. Your turn. It's only fair."

The girl shifted on the branch, briefly exposing her left hand, and replied, "Beth."

Wait... wasn't that the name... Beth—Maggie's sister who Rick and company were so eager to rescue from Atlanta.

Can't be...

If somehow, the ill-fated woman had gotten away and sat before them in a large tree, Gareth would have to play the next few hands of cards carefully.

"Okay, Beth," he began, "now that we know each other, why don't you come down?"

"Why?"

"We'll let you have some squirrel. We wouldn't let you stay up there without offering you anything. We're not animals."

"We ain't gonna hurt you!" Cynthia added from his left. "Promise."

After a few moments, Beth stirred and began a slow and steady descent downward.

Gareth glimpsed at his people, their bodies tensed and ready to take action. As uneasy as they clearly were over the events of earlier that day, no note of it was present in that moment.

Beth reached the bottom of the tree, hopping off the last branch and hitting the ground with a thud. Accompanying her, was a rope slung around her shoulder with a black trash sack tied to it.

Gareth analyzed her face as she turned to face him, searching for a family resemblance between her and Maggie. Her upturned chin and delicate lips reminded him of Maggie's, that was for sure. Though the rest of her, fair skin and a head full of platinum blonde hair, did not. However, he considered the similarities too great for a coincidence.

"See? Nothing to worry about," Gareth reassured her, then gave a come-hither gesture to Theresa, Alex, Kaylee, and the now ground-level Albert.

The four strode over behind him as Beth watched them with tight lips. Her eyes settled on Martin and a flash of fear crossed her face.

"I remember you," she accused, taking a small step back.

"What are you talkin' about?" Martin began. "You—"

"Is that the one?" Gareth interrupted. "The six-foot tall Wonder Woman?"

Martin sighed and mumbled, "Yes."

Gareth narrowed his eyes, looking back and forth between the two. "You know, I think you were off by a few inches." Beth's lips parted and she backed up toward the tree. "Wait, wait, he told us he chased someone outside the house because he thought he could rob them. I'm sorry about that, he's kind of the impulsive little kid in our little family."

She looked Martin up and down. "You were just tryin' to steal from me?"

"Yeah," he confirmed, his voice flat. "Sorry. I saw you and acted on an impulse. Like Gare said, that's what I do."

She looked back to Gareth. "I thought he might... that he was gonna..."

Gareth let out a knowing breath. "Of course you did. What woman wouldn't? But I promise he was just seeing if you had anything to steal. I know that's not much in the way of comfort, but you know how it is out here."

She gave a nod. "Yeah. Yeah, I do."

"And we aren't robbing you now, even though we obviously could. Besides, you must have super strength. You did a number on him. So, you see any squirrels up there?"

Beth moved her hands to the garbage sack and untied its knot, then dumped out two dead squirrels and a rattlesnake.

"Damn, you're stronger and a better hunter than Martin," he joked. Martin cracked a smile at the remark, one Gareth could tell was devoid of sincerity. "How long have you been alone?"

"Um... a few days. Got separated from my group."

The hospital. Noah. If they said they knew Noah—if Alex said he knew Noah—then her distrust may diminish, Gareth figured. The problem was figuring out a way to get her to mention the place.

"So, I assume you're looking for them?"

She nodded.

"How'd you get separated?" Cynthia asked.

"I... was in this place a long way from 'em, trapped with someone else from my group. I busted us out and she knew where everyone else was. So, we fixed-up a truck and she told me where our people were. She was hurt, so she couldn't drive and I had to, even though I'd never driven before... so it was a bumpy ride.

"When we got to where she said they were stayin'—in this church—we saw it'd burned down and was smolderin' and smokin'. We looked all in the rubble, but didn't find no bodies in there, so we hoped they got out. Then, a whole horde of walkers showed up and I..." Her jaw quivered. "It all happened so fast. One minute I was with her, then she was gone. I didn't see any get her, but after I got away, she was just gone and I never found her."

So, she hasn't even laid eyes on Rick since getting out of Grady.

Her face lit up. "Have you seen 'em? A big group, um—"

"No, sorry," Gareth replied. "We haven't seen anyone but loners in weeks."

The hope on her features vanished.

He turned to Albert. "Albert, why don't you get back up in that tree and get us some more squirrels. Beth can help you, she has the hunting skills and strength of an Amazon warrior."

Beth's lips almost formed a smile before she asked, "Why don't you just kill me and take my haul?"

"Because we want to help you find your group."

"Alright, what's the deal?" Theresa asked Gareth in a whisper just far away enough from the campfire to have a bit of privacy. "We've been going along with it, but what are you doing?"

"She's one of them and she doesn't know who we are. In fact, queen bitch might not have even told her about Terminus."

She gave a sharp shrug. "So? She's meat."

"Opportunities like these don't fall into your lap every day."

She shifted her weight onto one foot. "Okay, we follow her group and then what?"

"I'm not..." He glanced over to where Beth sat among the others, chewing on a piece of cooked squirrel. "...sure if... give me a little bit of time to think."

"And we'll all talk it out this time?"

"This time?"

"You didn't give us a chance to speak up when you decided to strip Martin of his dignity."

"Because you're so upset to see him lose it?"

"No, because Kaylee tried to say something and you shushed her. You said you weren't going to be our dictator. And..."

"And?"

"And that you would never hurt us just to hurt us."

Gareth scoffed. "Okay, if we had voted for making him throw-up or not, what would you have voted for?"

"In a rational mindset? Yeah, I would have voted that way. But you just wanted to punish him and were thrilled you got a chance to."

"Are you trying to tell me you didn't enjoy it all?"

"You told me that I could hate him, but to be civil and to make it so we can all live together. And now, you've acted on hating him and it's pretty obvious you've driven a wedge between us." Her voice had risen to a near shout, making the others turn their vision to them, including a wide-eyed Beth.

"We'll take a vote when I decide on whatever this is, okay?" Gareth whispered. "Then we'll all be happy-go-lucky again." He stepped away from her before she could reply and made his way back over to the group. Settling beside Beth, he offered her a reassuring smile.

Theresa marched over to her former place by Alex and sat herself down. Grabbing her half-finished piece of rattlesnake, she bit into it roughly. Gareth didn't have to ask to know she was fantasizing it was Beth's rib.

"Thanks again for sharing with us, Beth," Gareth said, attempting to avert Beth's attention from the woman across from them.

"Didn't seem like I had a choice," she replied, turning her gaze to him.

"There's always a choice."

"So, you really wanna help me find 'em?"

"We've been wandering aimlessly for a long time now, and a mission would be great for all of us. You said they're going to Washington?"

"That's what Carol, um, the woman who got me out of Atlanta, told me while I was drivin' back."

"Atlanta?" Alex asked, leaning forward a tad.

"I got taken by these people to a hospital. They—"

"Grady Memorial?" Kaylee interrupted, her brow furrowing.

Good girl. Pride flushed through Gareth. Time after time of non-verbal communication between him and the others had paid off.

Beth's posture straightened. "Yeah. How do you know?"

"Me and Martin got taken by them a while back."

"No kiddin'?" Martin said. "Small world."

"Wow," Gareth said. "Really small world."

"How'd y'all get away?" Beth asked.

"We traded for them," Gareth explained. "We had a little settlement back then where there were plenty of deer and we brought them fresh meat."

"I just barely got out. Still can't believe I did."

"Did you know Noah?" Alex asked.

"Yeah!" she beamed. "He got out, I helped him. I got caught, the first time I tried to get out I was tryin' with him. But he's out for sure."

Alex smiled wide. "Really? Man, that's awesome."

"How'd you meet him? I thought just Kaylee and Martin got taken?"

"Oh um, well, they wanted a token of good faith that they'd come back with the meat, so I offered to stay and I met him then. Did he ever... did he ever show you a drawin'?"

"Drawin'?"

"Yeah, I had my sketchbook with me and showed him my stuff. I gave him one 'cause he liked it so much."

"Oh, no. Sorry. Dawn and them might have taken it. But he's real good at hidin' stuff."

Just as Gareth had hoped upon Alex revealing he and Beth shared a friend, she relaxed her shoulders and continued conversing with him.

Her presence was a game-changer. The obvious course of action would be to reveal who they were, taunt her, and dine on her. Except she wasn't at all involved in destroying their home. In fact, she probably had no idea her group ever visited a place called Terminus. She may not have even seen any of the signs.

Yes, Theresa was right: Beth was meat. And Gareth decided they would give up their pursuit of Rick and company because it wasn't a fair fight.

Despite that fact, Gareth pictured his group meeting up with hers in Washington with their sweet Beth at their side. The thought of them seeing their beloved Beth having become one of them through and through was sweeter and richer than Bob's leg had ever been.