"Nowadays people are just as dangerous as the dead."
~Father Gabriel
He felt the presence of a body beside him before he saw it.
Rick remained motionless in the bed, blinking several times up at the ceiling. He didn't need to look over at the window to know it was morning.
"Morning, sunshine," a feminine voice spoke, startling him from his groggy state. He could already imagine the smirk on her face; he didn't need to turn over to see it.
But he still turned to his side to confirm his original thoughts. And he was glad he did because her smile is more beautiful than he could ever imagine.
"Mornin'," Rick replied, grinning back at her.
"I didn't think you would stay." Rosita traced her fingers along Rick's rough palm.
"Why's that?" Rick's smile faded at this, changing instantly into an expression of worry.
Rosita only shrugged, lifting her head to look at the blinded window. Rick could not read her, which furthered his concern that he did something wrong.
"Hey, what is it? You can tell me," He reassured, reaching out to her. But something stopped him from doing so.
A scream so bloodcurdling that it sent chills down both their spines.
Rosita and Rick didn't waste a moment as they leaped off the bed, dressing quickly and grabbing their weapons in the process.
The previous night's events long forgotten in their minds.
Netanya was practically bursting with excitement as she approached the house where Glenn was held.
Her anticipation was so great that she didn't sense something was wrong.
That perhaps her plan had gone awry.
"Glenn?" She called out, pressing her ear against the door. When there was no answer, she couldn't prolong the suspense any longer. She pushed open the door, prepared to see Glenn's dead body lying on the cell floor.
What she wasn't prepared for was the slumped corpse of Irene to suddenly lunge off the ground at her.
Netanya let out a shriek of surprise and horror, blocking the walker from biting her with her strength.
With no weapon in hand, Netanya could only shove the walker backwards and run out of the room.
The walker let out a terrifying growl, snapping its mouth as it gave chase to the woman. It was slow and clumsy, not much of threat so Netanya put some distance between her and it.
There were no other people in sight; nobody she could call out to for help.
Suddenly, a gunshot rang out and the walker fell to the pavement at once. Blood poured out of the bullet hole and pooled around the body, making its way to Netanya's shoes.
Netanya took in deep breaths as she glanced up at her shaking granddaughter, who stood with a gun raised. She could see the traumatized look on Cindy's face, knowing this had been her first kill. Cindy had always hesitated to kill something that had once been human.
"W-What happened?" Cindy sniffled, looking at the body of her former friend.
"...Glenn." Netanya practically snarled as she pronounced the name.
Hurried footsteps approached the pair from the left. Carl, who had raced out of his house as soon as he heard the commotion, halted in his place at the sight in front of him. He recognized the walker to be Irene and immediately suspected this had to be connected to Glenn somehow.
He wasn't sure why he thought this. There was no external injury to the body to show how she originally died.
But call it intuition or a sixth sense... he knew.
"Where did she come from?" He demanded.
"The cell," Netanya replied, already starting to turn back towards its direction.
More quickened footsteps were heard, but this time from all around. Shock, anger, confusion, and alarm were evident on the Alexandrians' faces as they came upon the gruesome scene.
"How-She-How?" Rick was at a loss for words, unable to process that he had just seen this woman alive the day before.
"I know who did this," Netanya snapped; her eyes burning with vengeful fire.
"...No..." Rick's stomach dropped at the implication. Netanya was wrong... She had to be. Dammit! She couldn't be right about Glenn again!
He needed to confirm this, breaking into a sudden run. Everyone else followed behind him anxious to see what had killed this woman.
Rick nearly smashed into the door as he had failed to slow down. He panted in fear as he gazed at the empty and ajar cell.
People poured into the room from behind, gasping as they realized what their situation now meant.
"Everyone! Listen up! I want you all to search every inch of this place! Leave no corner untouched!" Rick clenched his fist in frustration. "We need to find Glenn as soon as possible."
He angrily pushed past the crowd, ignoring their questions and pleas. He made his way to the Alexandrian gate, wanting to see how much shit he was in.
He noticed immediately what had been taken. It was the only one of its kind.
"Dad!" Carl shouted, running up to him. "What's going on?"
Rick could only lower his head, sinking to his knees. His body started to shake violently as hysterical laughter erupted from him.
Carl took a few steps back in fear. He didn't understand what was so funny about Glenn escaping.
"Don't you see, Carl?! We've been tricked! Hoodwinked! Duped! Outsmarted! From the very beginning!" Rick kept laughing manically.
"...Dad..."
"We gave him far less credit than he deserved!" Rick's sides were beginning to hurt from his laughter. He wiped away tears from his eyes, but kept laughing nonetheless.
"He was in control this whole time. He was the damn puppet master and we were too stupid to realize it."
The jeep hit a bump, jolting Glenn awake from his much-needed slumber.
"Glad to see you're still alive." Maiya grinned, peering at him from the side. "Thought you might have turned on us with that snoring."
Glenn stared back at her incredulously; his jaw slack and tears welling up his eyes. "Am-Am I finally dead? Is this what this is?"
"Glenn, you're alive. I'm alive. I don't know how... but we are." Maiya's smug expression turned into a softer one of compassion.
"How... did I even get in here? I-I don't remember..." Glenn wiped his fallen tears from his face, wanting to get a clearer look of his sister.
"You passed out and I had to practically carry you over here." She suddenly groaned. "What happened to my small brother? You've gained some weight from the last time I've seen you. Or should I say muscle?" She chuckled, tears spilling from her eyes.
Unsure what to say next, Glenn quickly embraced her. He wanted to believe that this was not some sort of hallucination; some sort of dream. He wanted to know that she was indeed real.
Maiya's breath hitched in her throat, making a sort of gasping noise. She too thought that Glenn was perhaps an illusion and that he would soon fade away. But then he touched her and she knew he was here. He was alive.
"Forgive me, Glenn. I don't deserve to cry. I have no right to. When all this happened, I hardly thought about you all. Maybe once or twice... but I thought you were all dead. I thought we would never see each other again." Maiya covered her face with her hand, ashamed of her tears.
"No, you have every right to cry. Don't ever think that you don't," Glenn choked out. "I was the same way. I thought the world was too cruel to allow this. I didn't want to hope one day...This world, for once, has shown me kindness."
They held each other, crying in silence for the remaining time on the road. The silence wasn't broken until Jeffrey, who had been driving, said,
"Commander Rhee, we have arrived."
Glenn let out a small laugh at this. "Really? Commander?"
Maiya let go of him, laughing as well. "I'm not so arrogant to have come up with that myself. They did."
Once the vehicle entered the gate and parked, Maiya hopped out, going around to her brother's side to help him out. He leaned on her, wrapping his arm around her to be held upright. But he felt his knees buckle, threatening to topple over once again at the sight before him.
A heavily-secured, magnificent, relic of a time gone bye greeted him.
A part of him wanted to weep as his eyes took in the grand castle. Another part of him felt his spirit soar. And a sliver felt shame because his friends couldn't witness this beautiful sight.
"How did you even secure this place?" Glenn shook his head in bewilderment.
"It took everything we had- Immediately when we found it, we started building a wall. Thankfully, there were a lot of materials here due to the sculpture gardens," Maiya explained, enjoying Glenn's astonishment. "Our architect here made sure of that," She gestured towards Jeffrey, who took great pride in this statement. "Jeffrey- every one of our members is the reason I've been able to survive.
"I thought Alexandria was paradise when we first entered... But this... This is.." Glenn couldn't even find the words to continue as they walked towards the front steps.
"If you're impressed by this, wait until you see the inside!" Maiya was so caught up in her bliss she didn't notice Jeffrey had cast a sideways glance towards her.
"Maiya, wait. I would like to explore the inside... But I want to talk to you more first. It's been... months, years, I don't know anymore since I've last seen you. I have so much to tell you. I have so much to ask." Glenn smiled earnestly. "And I want to hear what you have to say too."
Maiya paused, thinking this over as every resident approached her curiously. They only had a vague grasp of what was happening; that their leader's brother had been found. But they still were suspicious of who he really was, what connection he had to Alexandria, and his journey to reunite with his sister.
"Commander, I agree. There will be plenty of time to show him around," Jeffrey said warily, glancing at Glenn skeptically. "We still need to know about Alexandria..."
"Like you said, Jeffrey, we will have plenty of time. First, I want to show my brother around The Castle," Maiya retorted. "Glenn, we can discuss everything as we walk around." Glenn nodded tiredly, knowing his sister hadn't changed her stubbornness and it would be pointless to try and fight her.
She gave an order to her top subordinates to prepare a feast for dinner. They would dine like royalty tonight, seeing that the occasion called for it. Immediately, Dante and Jeffrey scattered to start their preparations.
"I am not sure where to begin," Maiya confessed sheepishly as she led Glenn inside.
"With the tour or with the conversation?" Glenn stared wide-eyed at the ceiling above. Yeah, he had to be dead and his sister was really an angel guiding him to heaven. This castle was too breathtaking to be real.
"Both actually," She giggled.
"So... she and I got married in the prison.." Glenn cast his eyes downwards, feeling as if would break down any second. Maiya and he were currently in the large garden, sitting on one of the last remaining sculptures; The Moon Garden Gates.
"Can you believe that, Maiya? The brother who was always too shy to talk to a girl married a beautiful woman. It just took the freaking apocalypse for it to happen."
She clung onto every sentence he spoke, taking in every word and letting it fill her with joy. "What happened next?"
"...Things were good for a while... But what came after was only pain and war and death. Her father was killed in a battle for the prison... The prison was destroyed... Everyone got separated... She lost her sister in another senseless battle... We had just found each other... We thought we would find her too. But we arrived too late. We were so close! Dammit! She had to see her sister's lifeless body be carried out..." Glenn raised his voice despairingly. "I thought finally we could be happy! Maggie deserved to be happy..."
"...You don't have to continue, Glenn," Maiya comforted him. "I know this must be-"
"No. There's still more you have to know. There's still more..." He took in a deep breath before continuing. "That was all in Georgia. We decided to honor Beth's wish to try and find her friend, Noah's family in Virginia. We were supposed to come here originally because of some ridiculous lie. Eugene- he claimed to be a scientist... he told us he knew that there was a cure..."
Glenn didn't notice that Maiya's eyes briefly blackened at this, but quickly returned to normal.
"So that's how we ended up here... We came across Aaron, who was a scout for Alexandria. He took us back there... And war... death... sorrow.. pain... it all followed us here. Noah. Eugene. They're all dead." A distant look crossed Glenn's face.
"Maggie and I wanted to start a family... She became pregnant. But then our leader did something stupid. He killed the wrong people...Well, I guess the right people. We were captured... Forced on our knees... Told one of us would die... Would be beaten with a bat..." Glenn's speech was slowly becoming less coherent.
"Maggie was sick! She wasn't supposed to be there! I tried to get to her! I saw everything... the blood... the beating... Daryl... She was sick... She must have gone into shock or something... He killed her too. She was pregnant... He claimed it was for mercy? He did me a favor?" Glenn wore a haunted expression while Maiya looked absolutely horrified.
"This world... it just takes and takes and takes. I was supposed to be a husband... A dad... A friend... I was supposed to be with her... They were all supposed to... To live."
"Glenn. That's enough..." Maiya couldn't bear to see her brother relive this tragedy. This story...His suffering..it made her want to put a gun to her head and pull the trigger.
She may have not been a genius like her colleagues, but she knew who he was talking about. She had to face the same horror... the same capture... position... threat.
But she had been much luckier.
Oh, how she wanted to vomit out her guilt and terror. She should have stayed behind at The Sanctuary! She shouldn't have fled... She could have finished this.
She could have prevented this.
"Is... Is this man still alive?" Maiya asked; a surge of vengeance coursing through her veins. She would end him this time. This time... he wouldn't stand a chance against them. She wouldn't give him that chance.
"No... He's dead too. But this time... I was the one who took his life." A sadistic glint flashed in Glenn's eyes. "I took it with a metal bat wrapped in wire... and a wooden one with nails in it."
"Commander! Sorry to interrupt, but dinner is ready," Dante entered the garden, greeting them both.
"We will be there shortly. Thank you, Dante," Maiya forced a smile; she suddenly didn't feel so hungry anymore. What replaced that feeling was dread.
"Glenn... Are you ready?" Maiya clenched her hands together tightly, thinking how soon she would have to reveal all of her secrets. Secrets that might make her lose her brother again.
"Yeah... I didn't realize how hungry I was," Glenn responded numbly.
"It is a big dinner. Only the best for our leader and her long-lost brother," Dante grinned.
As Maiya and Dante started to talk, Glenn fell back from their hurried pace. What they said sounded grave, but it was lost upon Glenn.
Something else caught his attention as they walked back; a weathered and barely readable sign.
With a solemn and darkened expression, he read the large font:
Enid A. Haupt Garden.
"The cars are all ready. Is everyone else ready?" Rick packed the last bag into the truck.
"Yeah, Rick," Rosita answered wearily. "Everyone's ready to go."
"Listen up. I want you all to go in pairs," Rick ordered to Rosita, Abraham, Michonne, Tara, Sherry, Dwight, and Carl. " Carl, you're obviously coming with me. We will head to The Kingdom to see if Glenn may have stopped by there. I need a pair to go towards The Sanctuary, Hilltop, and D.C. We need to check every major place to see if anyone has seen him or if he is there."
It was decided amongst the group that Michonne and Tara would head towards D.C. Sherry and Dwight would go to The Sanctuary, and Abraham and Rosita would go to Hilltop.
"I don't know, Rick. Shouldn't we just... give up on him?" Abraham suggested, believing there was no point in chasing after this man.
"No! We have to find him! Despite everything, he's still our family... I screwed up. I screwed him over... I realized that too late. I screwed all of you over so bad...My failures... My mistakes... My decisions... they all got people killed. So this will be my last decision as leader. Please, just do this for him... For Maggie... She deserved a better leader... She would be a better leader."
Everyone exchanged sorrowful glances with one another, but kept quiet at Rick's words. The fight in them was slowly dying out like the remaining embers of a once passionate fire. Each step they took seemed to only lead to more disaster and heartache. To more death.
They were just exhausted from it all. They wanted nothing more than for all of this to end. The hope of living was turning into a hope for dying as each day passed.
"Okay... For her.." Tara finally muttered.
No one even had it in them to fight her on that.
Maiya had barely touched her food, which Jeffrey had noticed.
"Commander, are you alright? Is the food bad?"
"No, Jeffrey. I'm just not hungry from all the... excitement," She replied convincingly. He nodded and returned to eating, but he still watched her from the corner of his eye.
"Glenn, how is the food?" Maiya questioned, hiding her unease with a smile.
"It's great! Just like everything in this place," He smiled back. His normal mood seemed to return as he looked around at everyone seated at the long table, thanking them for such a delicious meal.
"I'm glad you like it. I guess Alexandria's food isn't too good?" Jeffrey joked. This earned him glares from both Maiya and Dante.
"Um, how did you know I was from Alexandria?" The memory of Jeffrey mentioning this earlier made Glenn look at Maiya, knowing she was the only one he told that.
"Actually, this is the perfect opportunity to tell you how we found you. I never knew you were in Alexandria," Maiya answered before Jeffrey could open his mouth again. "We...were told about Alexandria from one of its former members. So I sent scouts to see what type of community Alexandria was. When I found out you were all thriving, but in trouble, we decided to head over."
Glenn looked puzzled by this. "Former members? Who was that?"
"We never got his name... he died from a monster bite sadly," Maiya took a sip of her glass.
"I don't understand... Trouble? Why would you head over for that?"
The residents all looked at each other tensely. Maiya, not wasting a moment, responded to her brother's questions.
"We are a strong community. Incredibly strong. But we also need help..." She paused. "We want to unite each community to help in rebuilding civilization if possible. Alexandria seemed to be strong as well."
Glenn swallowed, hearing his heart beat rapidly at the mention of that philosophy. That cursed philosophy that killed and destroyed so many lives, including his.
He couldn't seem to escape it either.
"But not only that..." Jeffrey murmured, looking down at his lap.
"He told us... that my brother was there. Richie... but these days I guess everyone calls him Rick."