A/N: Hey, totally unrelated topic, but did you hear the tapes for Amber Heard and Johnny Depp...? I swear I thought I was listening to Rick and Amanda having a fight in a possible future when Rick pulls back, and Amanda starts throwing stuff at him, haha. And I swear, I was thinking making them having a relationship couching with Denise later in the story, to "talk" their problems, but wasn't knowing how I could get Rick to sit down in one... Hah! Now I really had to do it! And seriously, how relationships are always the same. I swear I found myself telling exact things for many, many times over the years. Even being Hollywood stars don't change it, I guess. Lol.

XXXX.

"I know it sounds insane," Rick bellowed out on his stand at the stone ridge of the cliff, where the army of the dead had crammed beneath their feet in the bowel, buzzing like a rotten, decayed beehive, "but this is an insane world."

The look over their faces told him it was more than that, worse than that, but Rick couldn't have them scarred right now. That was the whole point of this dry on, to show them, make them see how it was going to be tomorrow so they couldn't render at speechless at the nightmarish scene, much like they were now.

No. They had to do this. They needed to do this, then got to the living. All of them. He'd made a promise. "We have to come for them before they come for us," he continued with a certainty that made his voice raise higher, resolute, waving his arm behind at his back at the chasm where the hundreds of the dead had been gathered over two year, "It's that simple."

And it was. It was either them the living, or those monsters, the death. His eyes skipped across the valley and looked at the east side of the valley, where two other trucks had blocked the way at the same fashion at the west side where they stood now, with one difference that changed all. That path led to Alexandria. One of the trucks was still teetering at the edge, and even looking at it, was making his mind more determined.

They had to do this, before that truck slipped down and opened the way to Alexandria, they needed to do this. It wasn't a what if scenario, it was a when. It was that simple, as well.

Looking at his people, Rick went on explaining the plan further. They all had their assignments, and each detail had to be understood clearly and performed without mistakes. The success of the plan was depending on it. "Tobin hops off the truck," he motioned at the older man with his head as his arm pointed at the truck, "catches up with his team at red, and they stay on the west side of the road—" He turned to Daryl, "Daryl gets on his bike. Abraham, Sasha, and Beth follow him."

As he spoke, he saw the younger woman grasped Daryl's hand, nodding her head. Daryl was still looking not happy Beth was accompanying him, and Rick could understand. If Amanda had been here, he would've felt the same, the notion of her being out in the danger irked him, he hadn't let Carl come even though his son had almost begged him, but then again if Amanda hadn't gotten the miscarriage, and hadn't been still bleeding, Rick still knew he would've needed her here. They needed all capable fighters they could get. Beth was becoming a good one as well, a fact the younger woman had proved repeatedly.

"Glenn, Maggie, and Michonne will have the barricade—" A deep, roaring rumble cut his directives, reaching out to them from the other side of the quarry as a heavy dust raised, screening their sight. His body straining, Rick quickly twisted aside towards the roaring noise, and watched as the truck that had been tottering at the edge across them slowly descend over the cliff, on the jammed walkers down at below, smashing them all the while opening the road for the east… for Alexandria…

There was a stunned silence among them first, only that deep, roaring thunder as the truck fell, widened eyes watching the scene like they were all frozen in the moment, even himself, too shocked to speak as it hit the bottom. It hit him like a punch at his side. Rick jumped from his stone perch, "It's open!" he yelled.

It was open! It was damn open! Just the time they'd gotten here, the truck had fallen. Once again, Rick thought if it was just bad luck or a blessing, they—they still had so much to do—so much to go over, he—he needed to show them all. They couldn't tolerate any mistakes, not now, not with this, but still… it was a blessing.

If they hadn't been here… If they hadn't been here and that truck had fallen—it'd never been a what if, it was always a when…and it was now.

His resolves straightening back, he turned to his people— "We gotta do this NOW!" he yelled, running to them, "We're doing it now!" He waved his arm at Tobin, "Tobin's group, get moving, go!" he ordered at the older man, pointing at the trucks in front of them blocking the way. "Pull the truck, open the exit!"

They had to open the path from this side like now. They had to draw them away from the east—from Alexandria… from home. His mind went away—towards Carl, Judith, Amanda… and he stopped dead for a second. They didn't even know! They had to. This was just supposed to be a dry on but if they had to do this now, Amanda needed to know. They need to be prepared. If they fucked this up, they couldn't stay there clueless like lambs waiting for the slaughter until walkers arrived at their doorsteps.

His eyes skipped to Beth, then he knew his solution. He turned to the blond young woman but before he could speak to her, Carter moved up at him, "Rick, we're not ready!" the man cried out at him, frightened and panicked, "We can't do this now!"

Shaking his head at him, Rick passed by at the man, walking to Beth and Daryl. "We got no options!" He stopped at Beth, "Beth, you gotta get back and warn Amanda. They need to know it's happening now."

Beth started protesting, but Rick shook his head, "Take Maggie, too, we need to warn them—" he fixed a look at her, "Go!"

"But—"

"Man's got a point," Daryl came in, standing beside her, "They gotta know!"

"Maggie—" Rick yelled, turning aside for the bigger sister, "You go with Beth. Move. Glenn, the tractor factory," he continued, pointing at the other man, "We gotta clean it out. It gotta be quiet."

That tractor factory was the last place hadn't been still cleared out. They were going to do it while their way back on. Glenn nodded. "We got it. We'll meet you at the woods." With a look at Maggie, Glenn started running with Heath and his team. Rick glanced at Daryl and Beth as Michonne took the position at the other side of Daryl, forming up the defense line as Abraham and Sasha got in the car.

They were all ready, "Beth—Maggie, move, now," Rick shouted at them as they still staggered around, and shot a look at Daryl, "Daryl, get ready," Rick ordered at him, falling back away from them, his voice ringing in the air clear and high, the snarls and groans from the walkers coming closer and closer with each moment he kept screaming… Good.

"Rick—" Carter started again, but twisting aside slightly, Rick cut the man off.

He grabbed his collar and pulled at the man at his face. That was "This is how it's being outside," he sneered at the man, his voice pitched, and releasing his grip, he pushed the man an inch back, "If you want to go, go. We are finishing it off," he told the man determination turning his voice to a stone.

He drew out the flare gun off his belt, walking away from Carter, "Get ready to hit the flares!" he ordered for the last and stationed himself at the back as walkers started tearing themselves apart to pass through the trucks toward them, buzzing and bursting, almost like aroused, agitated to reach them.

No. They could not let that happen. He could not let that happen. He was not going to let that happen. Alexandria was their home. Where they'd get to live, where he was going to put it back together. For all of them.

"They're heading for home," Rick shouted. "We don't have a choice." They did not. "Tobin, at my signal!" he bellowed out, his mind wired determined, rising his arm up in the air as the truck's motor started, waiting for his command.

Then Rick roared up at the sky, lowering his arm, "NOW!"

It was insane, doing this—like this, without any real prep, it was more than insane, but if he had to do insane for keeping their home, Rick knew he was going to do it, as well.

He could do anything for his family. Anything. It was simple as that.

# # #

To say that Amanda was shocked would be an understatement… "What happened?" she cried out, looking at Beth and Maggie still in front of the gates, "How?"

"The truck at the edge—" Beth answered breathless, "It—fell. Rick was walking us through it, telling us how it was gonna be—then it just—fell." The younger woman shook her head, and sighed out, "Rick sent us to warn you."

Amanda nodded as panic started rising in her, too. They weren't ready. Goddammit! It was supposed to be tomorrow. They were supposed to have a whole day to get ready, get ready the town, get ready themselves. But then again, when they were ever that lucky. The best laid plans of mice and men…they often—no—always went awry, it was another fact she knew by heart.

But Rick was always adaptable, always.

"It's okay," she told them then, pushing the panic away, keeping her voice clear and certain, "They got this," she assured them with a certainty she didn't feel quite herself. But she had to stay coolheaded and focused, much like how she always wanted Rick to be…a leader always had to stay coolheaded and focused…

A leader…? That was what she was now? She never wanted to be one, never wanted to lead anything… She'd taken the hospital, because she'd had to, otherwise Dawn would've run the place down the ground and O'Donnell and Lamson should've never given that kind of responsibility, that was how she'd always thought, why she'd done what she did but Rick had told her to be the woman she was and take the responsibility, and perhaps it was the time she started heading the words. She always ran away from responsibility. Much like every other time, Rick was right again.

It scared her—being responsible for anything—making decisions…taking risks, and what if she decided wrong and screw up everything, like she usually did…? A life as a plain city cop was so much easier, a life she only did what was needed, only did what she was told to… whenever she tried to take matters in her hands, they usually ended up getting screwed… Joan, Grady, Whitney, Noah…

But Rick needed her now, needed her to keep this people at line, needed her to keep their home safe and secure. And Amanda didn't want to disappoint him. He believed in her, he loved her, loved her the way he'd never loved anyone before, and they were going to be a family, all of them, together. She was still not sure if she could do it, but if Rick believed it—believed she could do it, and it made her believe it as well. Maybe she was really getting courageous, fearless. It felt strange, though. She'd always been wary—always looking for shadows at the corners. It felt weird but maybe it was because she'd never felt like this before.

Then she had realized what was really that thing had made her feel like something was melting in her insides like she was under summer sun—that feeling— for the first time in all of her life, she was feeling truly loved just for being who she was.

"It—it was insane," Beth almost gasped, bringing Amanda back to the present, "It was just insane."

Amanda looked at them, steeling her mind, hushing the dubious little voices in her mind. She was not going to disappoint Rick. "Rick will deal with it," she assured them again, her voice getting even more ascertain, "This is a blessing," she continued, giving them a look, "If they weren't there today looking out and that truck fell—we would've been screwed," she told them, because it was also truth.

It was still a blessing, their good fortunes. It couldn't be just a merry coincidence. God, or a higher being—or something still wanted them to live… "We do our part, too." She turned to Spencer, "Spencer, get back to the watch tower. You won't come down from there no matter what. Walkers still might come—some of them will come. We will need to deal with them if it happens."

Spencer nodded and Amanda watched him quite with satisfactions heading her words and left without any word. She couldn't get any acting out from the bold, fool man right now. She turned to Beth and Maggie. "Go find Rosita. We need more watch out points." She turned around, looking around the town, "Everyone should get a gun too in any case. The town's divided in four sections, for each part we need to stash weapons as well for emergencies."

"Why?" Deanne asked, frowning.

Well, maybe God or something still wanted them to live, but they wouldn't do it with pray circles. "We need to be ready for a fight. If we got cornered, or walkers overrun, or something, and if we couldn't get to the armory, then we're doomed."

When Grady had overrun, her first reaction had been getting to the armory. Without weapons you could only survive this world so long…not only because of walkers, as well. As Beth and Maggie already knew it, so they nodded, too. "Yeah."

Amanda nodded back, "Let's move," she told them, turning on her heels, but just before they started walking away from the walls, a scream came up from the platform, from a man Amanda didn't know his name for sure, once again she had realized, and her eyes widened she watched the man burst into flames and fall down…

Then another Molotov cocktail hit at the platform and Amanda knew it.

COME ON!

"The Wolves!" she shouted, "Take cover!" she screamed, pulling Beth under her as she threw herself under the platform, pulling back her gun with her other hand.

So much for higher beings wanting them to live… She should've known. She really never learned her lessons.

And it was just never ending… never.

# # #

At the intersection behind the barricade they had erected to close the road at Marshall and Redding, Rick stood with Michonne. Glenn and his team were returning from the factory and Tobin's team was already at the west side of the woods ahead so it was only two of them now, waiting for Daryl and his parade arrive. A tensed feeling was stretched out in the silence between them, and Rick wasn't sure if it was because of the moment or something else.

Since they'd arrived at the barricade, they had barely spoken to each other, only for a few quick directives for a few times, heads kept up, staring ahead. Then Michonne's eyes skipped at his hand and she glanced at his ring—but without saying any word, she turned back and continued to look ahead.

Rick almost sighed out.

He didn't want to things be like this with Michonne. Michonne was a part of his family too but he also knew Amanda was right, there was that—that…thing between them, and Rick was starting to get the idea that it had to finish. Michonne would play it along, but Amanda would never. But it still disturbed him. Michonne and him—they'd been through a lot. She'd saved him more than once, she was his family, but his wife was what she was.

He could see it much clearer now, how she'd wanted to keep things plain and simple for herself, building herself a cage not to get hurt, even running away from responsibility but her walls had crumbled down, and Amanda was having problems with managing her emotions now, she was oscillating between breaking up with him at the morning and begging him to make her his wife at the evening, waking up crying in his arms and picking up a fight the next moment. Rick needed to keep her…coolheaded, as well, like she wanted him to be, and he knew so long as this platonic thing between him and Michonne stayed, sooner or later, sooner than later Amanda would lose it again.

And Rick didn't want that. He wanted her like last night, feeling enough secure and loved to open up to him the way she had, sharing a part of her old life. He'd never loved anyone before the way he loved her, he had never lied to her, never, everything with her was turmoil but he couldn't help himself. Every time he'd thought of slowing down, Rick had taken it a step further; he was losing it, too, fucking her like that in the church…

And he was really losing it, because he'd really started thinking of her naked instead of the army of dead approaching him…just as she had been scared of… He shook his head, turning his mind back to the present, facing at the wall. He stared at it, slowly muttered, "It'll hold."

Michonne nodded slowly, "Yeah." She paused, giving him another glance, and it looked like she wanted to add something more but the low rumble of the bike reached out to them, snapping her out of it.

Rick approached to the peek hole between the plates and saw Daryl at the curve, slowly taking it as the red car of Abraham and Sasha followed him, leading the parade towards them. "They're coming," Rick warned her, getting back, pulling out the flare gun in the meanwhile. He raised the gun, started shooting up flares to draw walkers towards them as Michonne followed his example.

The first impact of the walkers crashed into barricade in a few moments later. They waited in silence as the plates shook, trembled, and groaned, but held back. The rest of the dead then followed, bangs and thuds crashing heavy on the metal, groaning, and the snarls and growls of walkers kept coming as they slowly took the curve, and Rick listened to them his heart beating at his throat.

It had to hold—for their family, for all of them… it had to work. They still had so much to…live. They wouldn't…die.

With the last part of the walkers passed through, and the noises they made dwindled, Rick started breathing regularly again. Turning away, they rushed into the woods to find the rest of them.

Through the woods he could see the walking parade of the dead, following up Daryl and Sasha and Abraham. Before they made to the green rendezvous point they finally met up with Glenn and Tobin's party in the woods.

"It's working—" Carter remarked looking at him, bafflement in his tone, sounding…surprised, "You were right. We did it."

"We got no choice," Rick only said back in return, like he'd already told him before. In his times in the war, when Rick asked him how he could endure it, his grandfather also used to say that a man could do, could bear most anything when he had to, an example Rick had also started to follow by his heart.

The man extended out his arm, a look of appreciation over his face, and Rick thought perhaps Amanda was right. Perhaps they finally understood they should be glad to have him for being the man he was. Rick took the offered hand and they shared a brief hand shake before he broke it to wave them over around him.

They'd managed it so far, but it wasn't finished yet. Not until they herded them to the green for letting them to Daryl and his escorts for the rest of the way.

"Okay, everyone, listen up," so he started as they formed up a circle around him, "We need to finish this. We have to keep moving and fan out down that thing front to back. Like we talked, cops at a parade." They all nodded. "Glenn, you take the back. You got the other walkie—" Glenn nodding, started moving his group, taking the radio from him. "Tobin, you take the front. Others—" His gave fell on Carter briefly, "You're with me. If it gets sloppy, we fire our weapons and pull them back on the track."

They all nodded again, "Okay, move out. Eyes open. Stay alert."

The flare guns kept firing at the line, just like Rick had ordered, keeping the herd on the track—a few times a few walkers broke the line and each time Michonne or he dealt with it before it could cause problems, protecting their defense line, and it was so close now to the green, where the ditches along the road would have protected them from any returning herd—it was so close, they were almost there…

"We did it!" Carter let out a laugh of joy, leaning against a tree, "We really did it!"

Another of his friends came next to him, resting his back against the tree as well to catch at his breath. They'd all been running like hell for almost an hour now, Rick could feel the sweat running down across his back, plastering his shirt over his body, his hair wet with perspiration as well. Nodding, Rick moved his arm where he rolled up sleeve of his shirt left his skin open and wiped off his forehead.

They were almost done. Just as the moment the thought came to him, something—a slight of movement caught his attention with the corner of his eyes, turning aside, he grabbed the walker's neck that suddenly appeared next to him out of nowhere, and stabbed him at the head.

Carter was staring at him with wide opened eyes as Michonne dealt with another two with a sweep of her bleed, and Rick turned to them, "Let's go."

Before they moved again, thought, Carter's friend, suddenly started screaming as another walker got him at his face, ripping off his neck just in front of Carter's face. "Carter!" Rick snapped at the man as his face turned ashen, his friends howling in agony, getting eaten up— "Carter, kill him!"

His eyes flicked at Rick for a second then finally he moved, raising his hand, and stabbed the dead in the head wobbly. They both fell on their knees at the ground, and Carter started vomiting.

Rick rushed to the bitten man's side, and holding him, he brought his hand over mouth as a few walkers had already broke in. Michonne moved away from them to deal with them again as Rick lowered his eyes at the man. "You gotta keep quiet," he warned the man as his other hand went to his knife again.

They got no choice. Carter was looking at him now, straightened back—and Rick knew the man had finally understood how it was being out there—doing this… Looking at his face, Rick stabbed the bitten man back at his head.

Pulling back at his feet, he wiped the blood off over his jeans and sheathed his knife back at his belt. They did it, they were going to do it, but not all of them was going to see it. And that fact now was clear in the eyes of the group, the realization of the world they lived, the real world, dawning on them. If you slipped off even for a tiniest of second, you were dead. It only took a second, only a second between life and death.

Rick gave them a brief look before nodding away again, "We need to finish this," he told them again. That was what important. They needed to finish this. At any costs. "Get moving," he ordered flatly before he turned on his heels and started moving away.

Just before he walked a few feet away, another high-baritone voice echoed in the air, and Rick turned to see who was again screaming this time—who had lost that second—who had gotten bitten but a second later he understood it wasn't screaming.

No. No one was screaming. It wasn't even sound like a voice, it was too mechanic, sounded like… "It's…it's like a horn!" Glenn supplied for him, his eyes wandering around.

Then everyone panicked. His radio cracked, "Rick, what's that sound?" Tobin cried out from at their point, "Walkers-they're breaking the line—!"

Rick started running over the road to check it. They were—they were leaving the road, but not towards them—no, they were going toward the other side…towards east…towards…home.

"It's coming from home!" Glenn shouted as he understood the same as the mean time Rick screamed at the radio, "Tobin, hit flares and guns with all you got. Pull them back here!" He drew out both flare gun and his Colt Python at the same time and stared firing them, his mind a maelstrom, fear and worry turning his stomach to stone cold.

Something had happened back at home, something had happened, and walkers were coming, too.

# # #

"It's Wolves," Amanda repeated behind the platform, as Maggie pulled Deanne underneath as well, "It's them—" She saw a man tumbling down from the walls with ladder ropes, and she shook her head… Just as the moment she had decided to keep this place, they got attacked.

There was no bitter irony now in her, it just steeled her determination. She was not going to let this happen. She was not. Not this time. She was getting bored every time she tried to be something more, something else happened too. Grady overran when she decided to lead, the church got overrun when she just decided to stay, trusting Rick, Whitney and Noah died just when she started believing she could protect them—no, she wasn't going to let that happen again.

What if Rick returned and found Alexandria burned down while he was doing all those insane things to keep them safe. No. He'd said Alexandria was going to be their home—where they got the living, where he put it back together, where they could be a family—

Family!

Her heart stopped.

Carl and Judith!

She pulled back at her feet. She needed to find Carl and Judith! If something happened them… while she was here—and Rick came back—No… no… She shook her head… "I need to find Carl and Judith," she told Beth, taking a cover against the other side of the platform's leg, checking out the yard behind the gate. She found more than a dozen men already inside the perimeters, jumping down from the ladder ropes… rotten men with rotten flesh, and with rotten heart.

She remembered Shirewilt, trembling, then shook her head. No. That wasn't going to be the fate of Alexandria. Not their home. She turned to Maggie and Beth, "You go to armory," she told the sisters, "They don't have guns. We must stop them before they find the armory and take the guns." Her eyes skipped to Deanne, "You stay here and hide."

The older woman shook her head, "No. I want to help!"

"Then hide! Cover yourself." Amanda snapped. Beth and Maggie both had guns. And they knew how to fight. Deanne didn't. "Protect as much as you can, but our priority first is the armory," Amanda told them. She knew it was awful, but it was just what it was, if they lost the armory, they lost it, as well, and she felt like a hypocrite too, going to find Judith and Carl as sending them to the armory, but she just couldn't let them alone. She just couldn't. Carl might have protected himself, if he had to, Rick had raised his son good and well, but if Judith was alone with Carol or someone else…

No, she couldn't risk it. She just could not. If it was selfish, even it was hypocritical she didn't care. She just had to protect the baby girl… She couldn't lose her, either… she just couldn't.

Without waiting for them, Amanda started running towards the house. She killed two men just before they had sliced a woman's—another woman she didn't know her name—guts, and briefly paused over their dead bodies. Everything around her was in chaos, Molotov cocktails burning the town—and Amanda ducked and ran as the police officer as she was all the while. She gunned down another just in front of their house before she rushed inside—and climbed the steps for their room hurriedly. Her heart at her throat, she opened the door and found Carl and—Enid sitting in the middle of their room, their backs at each other, a gun in Carl's hand.

Amanda felt relief washing over her body as she looked at them, breathing out loudly, and offered a silent prayer to whomever was listening out there above—and prayed for the suspicious nature of Rick Grimes leaving a gun for his son while he was away.

For a second, her eyes caught at the disheveled bed where Rick and she had fooled around in the morning after they were done with talking—the rumbled sheets, her clothes still at the ground—despite everything a heat raised over her neck as knowing that Carl had seen it—she moved her eyes from it, and found Carl. "Carol brought me here to look for Judith," the boy explained, "she's got a gun. She's going to armory."

Great minds think alike, Amanda told to herself, and nodded, "Beth and Maggie too. They just came back—"

"Why?"

Amanda shook her head, Carl didn't know what was happening now, not when they were attacked. "Nothing. I wanted to check on you." She moved toward the cot, and bending she took the little baby girl in her arms and hugged her tightly, her gun still in her hand.

The feel in her arms made her almost cry with relief, that baby smell in her nostrils, and she bowed her head and placed her nose into Judith's soft hair, breathing her scent deeply—Judith started wheezing, Amanda slowly shook her head, "It's gonna be okay, darlin'… Mommy will keep you safe, don't worry…" she murmured into her hair.

She was… She would die before anything would happen to Judith.

It was clear like a crystal in her mind, so simple, so unequivocal, like it'd been always there from the start—from the first time she'd asked Rick to accept to give the little baby to her arms at the barn— Judith was her baby girl… she was her feisty little baby angel, getting cross whenever she was in the mood—pulling hair and all, just like Amanda… She kissed the baby's soft sunshine hair and swore to herself she was going to do everything—anything to protect her, her little baby cub.

She gently placed the baby back in the cot. A lioness always protected her cubs from other predators. She knelt in front of Carl and Enid, "I need to go to armory, too. You stay here. " She looked at Enid, "Do you have a gun?" she asked.

The girl shook her head. Turning her gun in her palm, Amanda extended the handle of her gun to the girl, "Take it."

"But—it's…it's—"

Amanda cut her off, "It's okay. I'll handle it. Got my knife." She fixed her eyes at them, "Protect yourself, protect Judith. Shoot at anyone that steps inside this room—don't ask question, don't ask anything. Just shoot at the head." Her eyes bore at Carl's, and the young boy nodded. Amanda leaned further and hugging him with one arm, she briefly brushed her lips over his hair too and pulled back before the boy would say anything. She stood up, "Stay sharp, stay safe."

With that, she turned on her heels, and stalked out of the room, taking her knife in her hands.

She started moving toward north of the town where the pantry was—and then saw fires at that direction. She closed her eyes with a hiss and started running, from one house to the another, carefully staying out of the sight, her back against the houses' walls—she killed two other men and a woman, sneaking up on them behind, slitting throats—as silent and deadly as a lioness, moving along at the north, the wall at her left… She could still see it, she wanted to see it… They still needed to keep a close watch on it and she wondered what the hell Spencer was doing at the bell tower—and she heard it—the whipping sound in the air from the sniper shot—she lifted her head and saw Spencer taking a shot…then she heard another thing too as metal planks rumbled and trembled at her left side violently, and she watched as something hit at the wall from outside with a loud bang.

Then a horn-a horn of a vehicle, like a truck, screeched in the air.

Amanda swore out loud. "Shit!"

She started running to the wall, then stopped dead at her tracks when a big, sinewy with muscles man cut her path. "Little pretty girl—" the man hissed between ragged, yellow, decayed teeth, his face so covered with dirt and mud it wasn't possible to see his features, his hair caked and plastered at the sides of his face.

Amanda clutched the handle of her knife tightly as the man smiled down at her, eyeing her with a saucy smile that turned bile in her stomach, "Little pretty girl—" he repeated again, his smile growing wider, the horn blaring in the air.

"Move away," Amanda ordered firmly, standing her feet apart in defensive position.

In answer, he only smiled more. Amanda eyed the man again. She was more than twice at her size, perhaps in thrice, his torso broad and muscled—and Amanda briefly wondered how he could manage to stay that way in two years in the wild at the end of the world. The implications didn't calm her down.

In a fair fight, she didn't have a chance against him. She had to be smart, played her hand well. Things could have been a bit easier if she didn't have a miscarriage a week ago. If they started fighting, she would've started bleeding again.

Every time you start bleeding, your chances for another pregnancy lowers down a bit further, she recalled Denise's words, something in her piercing, and she remembered Judith, she remembered Carl, she remembered Rick.

He believed in her, trusted her—trusted her to keep their…home safe, and she was going to do it, no matter what. It was simple as that. Rick was not going to return and find only ashes and death. She would die before she let that happen!

"It could be easier for both of us if you just leave," she bit off to the man, starting circling him, the sounds of honking still in her ears, her voice raised above it, "If you stay, you're gonna die."

The man laughed, "You're brave for a little girl." He paused, his eyes following her, "If you stay, you're gonna cry," he told her back.

Amanda stopped for a second, not because of the words, but because she saw the backpack the man had over his shoulder, "Where did you find that backpack?" she asked, her voice rough, and she knew the answer even before the man's smile twisted further, shaking his head at her.

"The little man cried too when we found him—" he answered.

Anger swept over her like a wildfire, "What did you do to him?" she shouted.

"We saved him," the man said back, "We set him free."

Sick, it was sick, she couldn't even understand what the words meant… Amanda had seen that backpack before-before Aiden and his team had gone for the supply run, she had seen it hanging over Nicholas's shoulder… Her voice raised higher, "Is it how you found us? You found Nicholas?" she questioned.

The man shook his head, "Names ain't no importance, he was a little one. We set him free."

She had to be smart… she couldn't fight like this… She had to… her thoughts stopped dead as with a scream, the man charged at her. With an arm he caught hers with the knife, with the other he grabbed at her mid-section and shoved her down like she was nothing.

She screamed as she hit the ground at her side, and her eyes flashed with pain as he hit her at her stomach with the side of his foot. She dropped the knife down, pain inside her legs sent a surge through whole body, cutting her half inside, and shutting her eyes tightly, she folded herself—the man grabbed her at the hair and slammed her down the ground again—and Amanda felt wetness between her legs—and she knew what that meant… Judith, Carl, Rick, they all flashed over her eyes, and opening her eyes over the tears of pain, she saw another kick coming at her. She caught it before it crashed at her, and raising her on her knees with determination set in her face, she punched forcefully at his crotch.

The wolf man doubled over, crying with pain and quickly raising at her feet, ignoring the pain and blood running over her legs, she buckled down and slipped under him against his back, and using the momentum and her own back as leverage, she flipped him over her shoulder back on the ground.

The man shouted with pain, and his eyes widened, caught unprepared— "I'm not a little girl, you fucking moron!" she hissed between her teeth, holding his wrist, and swirling over his body, she wrestled with him on the ground for a tight grip, straddling him. He moved back, punching her at her side.

She howled with pain again, feeling blood running out of her even faster, and her head started feeling dizzy—but she didn't let him go—she clenched his neck with her legs as he started moving—her back arching with him, still not letting him go.

His fist punched at her again, and she heard herself letting out wails, but still didn't let him go—she could never—never… She could do this, she could do everything for her family, to keep them safe—

Gathering every ounce of strengthen she could find in herself, she tightened her legs, pain cutting her half, her blood painting his dirt covered face red—Amanda lifted her neck and screamed, her voice screeching over the blares of the horn— and his hand reached out and found her neck too where he crouched between her legs, and started choking her, too. Her hands flew over at his hand, holding his wrist— She felt elevated, her back arching even further from the ground, and she closed her eyes, her hands still at his wrist, and over her closed eyes, she saw Rick together Judith and Carl, and herself with them… Alexandria… their home… where they were going to be a family. All of them.

She let out an inhuman scream through his grip, tightened her hips and twisted.

She heard the twig of breaking bone, just before she slumped back down on the ground… She crawled back away from the dead body like a snail, lay there sprawled out on the ground, trembling, and stared at the sky, at the shining sun, the horn of the truck still blasting in her ears… pain cutting her in half, her legs wet and sticky with her blood—

Then she cried.

A/N: I feel bad, but, I love sacrifice theme in stories, and I was so waiting for this part for Amanda, making her choose to sacrifice her chances for having a child-a clear theme for leaders in any story, too. I wrote this part of the story with Serpents from the show, the song they used when Rick left Carol back at Season 4, and somehow it set the mood for me perfectly. I was listening to that song while making them fighting scenes, and I think that song works very nice for them, too. I kinda can't decide which is better, Toxic or Serpents. :)

I know Rick's parts with the herd had a little change from what actually happened at the show, but it was so good at the show, I didn't want to change it much, but instead chose to focus on his mental state.

Hope it was good, and you've enjoyed it.

Please, review, and tell me what you think, in these days, motivation means a lot for me! (Real life is hectic)