Airianna groaned at the pain flying through her leg. She had been trying to stave off infection for the past day or so, she couldn't even tell how long she'd been hiding in the warden's office. Her bandage supply ran out quick and she had ripped part of her pant leg to keep the wound free of the bloody fabric and to bind it. But she knew by the swollen skin around the puncture roles that she was getting an infection, and if she didn't make her way back to the group soon she would never recover.
She struggled to her feet using the desk as leverage. She knew that her leg was weak and she was worried she would not be able to hold her own weight. But she needed to try. The moment she tried to take a step toward the door her leg gave out and she stumbled back to the ground.
"Son of a bitch!" She gripped at her leg as the injured muscles spasmed from the excessive use.
She glanced around the room and reached for an umbrella leaning on the wall near the door. She knew it would be weak but would help her support her weight and keep it off her limb. She hopped to her feet once more, keeping her injured leg bent at the knee to keep it off the ground. And with the use of the old umbrella, she inched her way out the door.
She immediately regretted her idea as she cursed in pain, her movement greatly diminished by her situation. Airi kept her eyes peeled for walkers as she inched down the hall, stopping at the corner leading to the door she ran through before. She peeked her head around the corner and groaned at the single walker shuffling in the hall from one of the rotted doors. Airi knew she should've cleared the offices, but at least it was only one walker.'
Growling from behind her startled her and she turned just in time to catch a walker trying to bite the back of her arm. She slammed her knife into its skull but unfortunately drew the attention of the other one. She scrambled away from its lumbering form, but the umbrella snapped and sent her to the ground with the walker crawling after her.
She screamed as she held back its decaying mouth from ripping into her neck, hopelessly trying to reach the knife that was just out of her reach when a hammer swung down and smashed into the back of its head. A strong hand shoved the body off of her and she was met with the form of a tall, broad-shouldered man offering his hand to her.
"Are you okay?" The stranger asked as he helped her to her feet. She nodded as she attempted to get her bearings and noticed four other people behind the man. A woman who had similar facial features to him, a sister maybe, was glaring at her while another man was holding up a very injured woman with a teenage boy standing behind them.
"Are you bit?' The woman standing upright hissed as she eyed the wrapped injury on Airianna's leg.
The red-haired woman shook her head, "Fell on some rebar."
"We don't have time for this," The man holding up the othered injured woman snapped.
The man in front of her up glared at his friend, "She needs help."
"We need help!"
"Hey!" Airi hissed, stopping the arguing between the men. "My group's in this prison. I got separated from them a few days ago. If we can get to C block they can help all of us."
The smaller man scoffed, "Why should we believe you?"
"Look if you want to stay here while more walkers come, be my guest," She answered. "But I'm going."
"Wait, wait, wait," The tall man gently placed his hand on hers. "You can barely walk. You show us to your group and we'll get you there." He turned and gave a look to his other group members and smiled when the man and fully functioning woman nodded in agreement.
"Fine, come on," Airi relented. The man stepped aside and the woman holding the shovel threw Airianna's arm around her should while she wrapped her own around the doctor's waist. She pointed to the door around the corner and the group of six moved further into the prison. "My name's Airianna by the way."
"Tyreese, and that's my sister, Sasha," The man replied. "The other two are Ben and Allen, and Allen's wife Donna."
She peered back at the panting woman in Allen's arms, "What's wrong with her?"
"She got bit," Sasha muttered.
"Did you cut off the limb?" Airi questioned. "Or was it too late for that?"
The woman next to her furrowed her brow, "What do you mean cut it off?"
She rolled her eyes, "If a person just got bit on the arm or leg, you can cut off the limb to stop the infection from spreading."
She pointed to another turn in the hall as Tyreese kept his eyes focused on any signs of walkers, "How do you know that?"
"I'm a doctor," She pulled Tyreese back when She heard shuffling in the turn ahead of them and Sasha struggled to keep her straight. "We have to go back," She whispered.
"There are walkers that were following us," Allen snapped.
Tyreese turned to loom at the other man when Donna screamed. The group turned back around to see a handful of walkers moving at them from where Airianna was trying to avoid. Tyreese started to attack them and Airi shoved Sasha's hand off of her, motioning for her to go help her brother. They took out a few more walkers before running past the rest, sprinting through the halls until they reached the generator room where they were cut off by walkers from both sides of the hall. Sasha and Tyreese went after the corpses closest to then While Donna wailed in pain and fell from Allen's grip. Her son ran to her side and Allen finally joined the other two in fighting off the walkers.
Airi grunted when a walker crawling on the ground pulled on her leg, sending her to the ground as well. She reached for her knife sheath but swore under her breath as she came up empty-handed. She instead used her good leg to kick the walker off of her as she struggled to crawl closer to where Ben was sitting with his machete laying on the ground next to him.
She reached the blade and lifted it to kill the walker lunging at her when a bullet went through its skull. She shot her head around to see Rick's son standing in the doorway with a silenced gun in his hand, "Carl?!"
"Airi?" He gasped. He looked between Eren's mother and the strangers before motioning to the hall he came from. "Come on. Hurry!"
Tyreese eyed the boy with surprise, but quickly swept the redhead into his arms and ran after the retreating figure. Sasha helped Donna back into Allen's arms as she and Ben followed the married couple after her brother. The group ran after Carl as he led them back to the cell block shooting the walkers coming at them when Allen dropped to the ground, exhausted from carrying his wife.
"You have to leave her!" Carl yelled at the man as he tried to pick her back up.
"No way!"
Tyreese passed Airi over to lean on Sasha and he rushed up to the couple, sweeping the crying woman over his shoulder and helping Allen to his feet, "I got her, come on."
They resumed their path through the tombs, passing through D block and the laundry room as they came closer to C block. Airianna groaned as Sasha dragged her onwards, but smiled all the same when she caught sight of the white arrows Glenn had spray painted to lead them through the maze of halls. Carl rapidly unlocked the barred door to the cell block and the group ran to safety, Tyreese collapsing with Donna to the ground when they finally stopped.
Carl relocked the door to keep the walkers from following, and Airianna let go of Sasha so she could go to her brother's side as Ben and Allen fell near their dying family member. Her sobs of relief mixed in the air with Donna's cries of pain as she slumped to the ground exhausted.
Carl ran to her side, but she weakly waved him off and gestured to the turning woman, "She got bit, Carl," The boy nodded and approached the ground with his gun raised.
"Oh god, Donna!" Allen wailed as she took her final breath.
Carl sighed, but cocked his gun, "I'll take care of it."
"Whoa, whoa kid," Tyreese said as he moved the gun's barrel away from Donna's head. "Wait a minute."
"She doesn't have that long."
"Who the hell are you?" Sasha snapped.
Airi panted as she pushed on the wall to get to her feet, "He's my friend, part of my group."
"Look, we can help you," Carl promised. "But first things first."
Tyreese shook his head, "No, we take care of our own."
While he and Allen debated on who should put the poor woman out before she turned, Carl walker up to Airianna's side and let her lean on him as they moved to the door separating the common room form the cells. He unlocked the door and helped the woman inside before locking it shut again, alerting Sasha's attention.
"Hey, what are you doing?" She walked over to the door to see the boy and the doctor on the other side. "Open the door."
"Kid, did you just lock us in here?" Tyreese asked from across the room.
Carl ignored their questioning when Beth walked out of a cell and froze at the sight of Airianna, "Oh my god, Daddy!" The older man hopped out of his cell on his crutches and paused when he met the other doctor's gaze.
"Airianna...Beth, get her to a bed now," He ordered when he caught sight of her bandaged leg. Beth ran to the injured woman's side and helped her limp over to the nearest cell, apologizing when she gasped in pain at each step they took.
Carl turned back to the others in the common room when he saw Hershel going into the cell after the two women, "This room is secure. You'll be safe. You have food and water."
Sasha glared at him, "Open this door."
"I can't," He denied.
The woman sighed, "Come on, man. We're not animals. Don't do this. We helped your friend, didn't we?" When he remained silent she slammed on the door, "You can't just leave us in here!"
Tyreese walked up to her and placed his hand lightly on her arm, "Sasha! Back away from their door and let the man go. Look around you. This is the best we've had it in weeks," He gestured to Carl, "His house. We got other things to do. We don't want any trouble." She nodded her head and he led her back over to their grieving group members.
The Sheriff's son waited until they had their attention back on their group before running into the cell where Hershel was working on Airianna. She laid on the bed passed out while an IV drip was attached to her left arm. Hershel sat on the bed with her injured leg in his lap as he cleaned the wounds and started to stitch them shut.
"How is she?"
Hershel glanced to the boy, "She has a slight infection from this injury, but she'll be fine now that's she's here. We're lucky we found her in time."
Carl frowned, "We didn't find her though, She found us. We didn't even look."
"Now we both know you, Oscar, and Daryl did," Hershel noted. "And you found Sophia because of that."
"But she was still out there," Carl muttered. "We gave up on her."
Hershel finished his stitches and started to wrap the wound in clean gauze, "Well it's good she didn't give up on us. She'll be out for a while, and she's heavily dehydrated. Be sure to give her lots of water when she wakes up." Carl nodded as the man rose with his crutches and left the room to inform Beth of her condition. Carl glanced at Airi before he swept from the cell and out the other door on the far end of the block.
He walked out the side door to the courtyard and wandered up to where Axel and Sophia stood on watch, "Hey, Sophia. Got something you might want to see."
Sophia quirked her brow but followed after her friend as they wandered back into C block. She slowed when she heard unfamiliar voices in the common room, but Carl grabbed her hand and pulled her to one of the empty cells. Her breath caught when she noticed Airianna sleeping on the bed and kneeled to the floor next to her, gently taking the woman's hand. She started to sniffle as she looked over the redhead's worn-out body.
"The new people found her in the tombs somehow," Carl muttered. "She cut her leg, but other than that Hershel said she'd be okay."
Sophia nodded as she jumped to her feet, "I gotta get Eren." She moved out of the cell and Carl waited for her to come back with the little toddler. The boy's guggling got louder as she came back with him on her hip and Eren squealed in happiness when Sophia brought him to Airianna's side.
"Mama, Mama!" He poked his mother's cheek with his tiny fingers and giggled as she leaned closer to him in her sleep. "Mama!"
The two children beamed at the toddler's cheers and Sophia turned her head slightly to glance at the door to the common room, "So who are they?"
"No idea just heard screaming in the tombs and I found them in the generator room," Carl explained. "One of them was bit, but I think they took care of her."
"We should let them bury her," Sophia suggested.
"In the morning," Carl agreed. "We'll let them and Airi rest for right now."
The girl nodded and carried Eren back to his bed to put him back to sleep. She slipped into Daryl and Airi's bed next to Eren and slowly fell asleep, feeling better than she had ever had in the past few days.
Noise near her side woke Airianna from her deep sleep and she groaned at the dull pain in her body. Her eyes fluttered open and she turned the corners of her lips up when she saw Hershel next to her, "Hi Hershel, how are you doing?"
The man chuckled, "I should be asking you that, judging by the hole in your leg."
She waved her hand, "Just a stupid piece of metal. How's it doing by the way?"
"Swelling went down," Hershel commented as he looked at the wound he was wrapping again in sterile bandages. "And the stitches are holding well. If you feel like it, you can join us for breakfast."
She grunted and sat up in the bed she had been placed in the previous night, trying to ignore her leg pain as she slowly got to her feet, "Guess I'm not winning any races for the time being, unlike you."
Hershel grinned at her joke as he walked with her to the common area, "I suppose not, running would only break your stitches and make recovery worse," He nodded to Carl as he opened the door for the two of them. "You're lucky it missed the bone."
Airi smiled at Carl, "Yes, I suppose so. Just happy to be breathing."
"Aren't we all," Carl chimed in as he shut the door behind them. Hershel wandered over to the newcomers and started to patch up their small wounds while Carl shuffled Airi over to the other table where Sophia and Beth were sitting with the two youngest group members, "Airianna, this is my baby sister, Judith."
Airi gave the little girl a sad smile, "Lori would've loved that name."
"I guess," Carl muttered as he scuffed his feet on the ground.
Sophia lifted Eren in her arms and once Airianna was sitting on one of the tables she passed the boy to his mother. Airianna held back tears of joy as she wrapped her arms tightly around her little boy, rocking him softly in her arms as she kissed his cheek. She glanced up at the familiar faces of the group but paused when she noticed so many of them missing.
"Where is everyone? Are they…"
Beth shook her head, "Maggie and Glenn got kidnapped by this other group so Rick, Daryl, and Oscar went to rescue them."
She breathed a sigh of relief and gave the teen a smile of acknowledgment before she turned her gaze to where Tyreese and Sasha were standing near Allen. Hershel was slowly giving the widower a small set of stitches for a gash on his leg while Ben watched the older man's every move carefully.
"You can take those stitches out yourself in a week or so," Hershel explained as he tied the finishing knot.
"Thank you," Allen muttered.
"Pretty nice having medical training," Tyreese offhandedly noted.
"It'll only get you so far," Hershel replied. "Besides, Airianna here is our main doctor."
Tyreese nodded, "Yeah she told us," He motioned to the man's leg. "You were bit?" Herschel gave a small nod and Tyreese looked away. He and Sasha shared a small look before they turned their eyes to the injured doctor and the blonde next to her holding a small infant.
"How old is the baby?" Sasha asked.
"Barely a week," Hershel responded as Beth moved to prepare some formula for Judith.
Sasha carefully walked over to the pair, "To be honest, we never thought we'd see another baby. Beautiful."
Beth smiled, "Thanks."
"How are you feeling?"
The teen stuttered, "She's not mine."
Sasha frowned, "Where's the mother?" When no one replied she glanced away. "I'm sorry."
Beth walked away and paused for Carl to let her back into the cell area so she could feed Judith privately. Tyreese watched the girl go before he turned back to the redhead still holding the other small child, "Man, you people have been through the mill."
"Haven't we all?" Airi muttered as she shifted Eren in her arms.
"It's only getting worse out there," Tyreese elaborated. "Dead are everywhere. And it's only making the living less like the living."
Sasha nodded in agreement, "You're the only decent folks we've come across."
Hershel quirked his brow, "You've been out there all this time?"
"Our neighbor Jerry, he was one of those survivalist nuts. Everybody on the block thought he was crazy. Always preparing for the end of the world," The brother said.
"Who knew?"
"Jerry knew," Tyreese continued. "He had a bunker under his shed in the backyard. Sasha and I stayed there until we ran out of supplies. Allen and Ben were the first two people we ran into when we finally crawled up out of that hole around Jacksonville."
"Long way from home," Airi muttered.
"Yeah," Sasha answered. "Used to be a bunch of us. Twenty-five at one point. Our camp was overrun six, seven weeks ago."
"And...And Donna, she, uh…" Tyreese glanced up at Allen and over to the corner of the room where her body was covered by a tarp.
"We'll see that she has a proper burial," Hershel promised.
Tyreese smiled, "I appreciate you taking care of us. For a while, we didn't know who we were dealing with."
"Neither did we," The older man agreed. "Bringing Airianna back was a good sign for us. She means a lot to our group."
Ben scoffed, "Yeah a doctor does seem pretty important."
"More than just a doctor," She said to the teenager. "My husband and son are here with this group and Sophia." She moved and wrapped her left arm around the little girl sitting next to her, "She means a lot to me. Hell, everyone does."
"And we've had our problems with people," Hershel added.
"I must be the first brother in history to break into prison," Airi and Hershel chuckled at Tyreese's joke.
Axel smirked as he brought the man a bowl of noodles, "Makes me the first white boy that didn't want to break out."
Hershel sighed, "Tyreese. Like I said, we have a much larger group. A close-knit group. I wouldn't get too comfortable here."
He then turned and crutched back to the barred door leading to the cells, "We wouldn't be a problem," Tyreese insisted.
Airianna stood from her table and motioned for Sophia to follow Hershel, "It's not up to us."
"Then who?'
"Rick, our leader," Airi supplied. "He's got us through some tight spots and his word is the final say. And I'm sorry to say but he doesn't trust quick."
She limped to the door to join the rest of her group when Tyreese called out once more, "Please, you can see what kind of people we are."
"Look, I gotta take care of Eren right now, but I'll come help with Donna," The man sighed but relented.
She carried her son over to Beth and Sophia's cell and passed the bubbly boy to the young girl before she painfully climbed the stairwell to her and Daryl's room. She shed the filthy clothes she had been in for the past few days and slipped on a clean tank top and long-sleeved shirt as well as a fresh pair of jeans. She tossed the mange pair she had ripped up outside of the cell so she would remember to throw them away. After her clothing change, she limped back to the common room and helped Allen and Tyreese carry Donna's body outside to the courtyard, Sasha and Ben trailing after them.
"Where did you say we could bury her?" Tyreese asked as they slowly lowered the body to the ground.
She pointed out to the filed where there were fresh graves from her group's members, including the two unmarked ones that were meant for her and Sophia, "Back of the field near the other graves," She stepped away from the others as she moved closer to the cell block. "I'm going to grab some shovels."
Sasha and Tyreese nod their heads as she slowly walked back into the building and collected two shovels leaning against the wall. As she came back to the courtyard she noticed Allen and Tyreese hotly glaring at each other and she quietly moved towards them to catch their conversation.
"What's your problem?"
"How about a little common decency? This isn't what we do."
"Your living in the past Ty, so are you. This is survival of the fittest, plain and simple."
Airianna dropped the shovels to the ground, shocking the four people out of their heated argument. Allen and Tyreese gave the woman fearful looks, both worried she had heard them but for different reasons.
She eyed the group, "Found the shovels."
"Thank you," Allen muttered as he moved to grab them off the ground, but Tyreese and Sasha shoved him aside and picked them up instead.
"Need any help digging?" She offered to the siblings, slightly ignoring the father-son duo.
"No, we'll manage," Tyreese replied. "Hope you feel better."
"I will. Let me know if you need anything else," She turned on her heel but paused. "Oh, Allen?"
The father rolled his eyes, "What?"
She smiled, "Next time you threaten my group I will put a bullet through your skull, and that's a promise." She walked away, leaving her threat hanging in the air over the small group of four.
She waited in the cellblock until she knew they would be busy digging before she grabbed a rifle and set herself up in the courtyard's tower to keep an eye on Ben and Allen. She trusted Tyreese and Sasha enough, but she knew the other two were clouded with guilt. Or perhaps they were just crazy. All she knew was that she would sit in the tower with her rifle aimed at the two until Rick and the others came back. She luckily didn't have to wait long as the green car reappeared up the road driving towards the prison.
She climbed down from the tower, swinging the rifle over her shoulder. As she opened the door at the bottom she noticed Tyreese, Sasha, Allen, and Bob walking back into the cellblock to attempt to avoid Rick for a little while longer. Airi glared at Allen as he walked through the door before she grinned at the car as it pulled into the courtyard. She watched as Maggie and Glenn hopped from the car and she gasped at the Korean's beat-up face.
"Glenn, holy shit," He froze at her voice and craned his neck, his mouth dropping open when he caught sight of her. She staggered over to her friend and tightly hugged him.
He froze for a moment before wrapping his arms around her, "Please tell me I'm not crazy. You're really here right?"
She pulled away and moved to pull Maggie into an equally tight hug, "Yes, I'm here."
"Thank god," Maggie breathed. "Where the hell were you hiding?"
"Administration, in the warden's office."
A noise of surprise came from behind her and she grunted when another pair of arms joined Maggie's, "Thank God you're alive."
Maggie stepped away as the doctor and leader reunited, "Were you doubting me, Mr. Grimes?"
Rick shamefully looked away from his friend, "Honestly, your bloody flannel gave us pause."
She nodded and lowered her arms back to her side, "Don't blame you. You had the rest of the group to think of," She glanced around and narrowed her eyes. "Where's Daryl? Did he hop out to help Carl by the fence?" She leaned over to gaze at the young boy guarding the fence closest to the walkers. She frowned when Rick refused to meet her gaze, "Is he dead?"
"No, no, he's alive," Rick insisted. "He...We ran into Merle."
She crossed her arms, "Merle? He's alive?"
Rick nodded, "We found him at Woodbury...and Daryl thought you were gone, so he-"
"He's gone."
"He asked me to take care of Eren, said he wanted him to stay here and be safe," Rick whispered.
"But...But he left. With Merle," Airi muttered as she processed what Rick was saying. "He left our son."
"He thinks you're dead," Rick weakly defended.
"He left our son! She screamed. "You lost your wife, but you're still here for Carl and Judith. But No! Daryl left with his brother who has done nothing to ever help him. He...He left Eren. He left me." She sniffled and smacked away Rick's hand when he tried to offer comfort.
"I'm sorry."
She turned her head and stormed away from the leader, rushing into the cell block to avoid the looks of pity she got from him, Maggie, Glenn. She lept of the starts to her and Daryl's cell and collapsed to the bed, sobbing into her pillow. She paused when she heard footsteps outside the cell and raised her head to see Sophia standing outside the door with tears trailing down her cheeks. She sat up and opened her arms for the little girl and she fell into her, gripping onto the woman as her only lifeline.
Beth peeked her head in on the two, "Rick wants to talk to Tyreese and the others soon."
Airianna sighed and pulled away from Sophia, "Thank you, Beth," She groggily got up from the bed and offered her hand to the twelve-year-old.
"I'm sorry that Daryl left," Beth muttered. "We're weaker without him."
"No, we're not. He's weaker without us," Sophia rammed her shoulder into the teen as she rushed out of the cell.
"He'll find his way back," Airi quietly added as she started to walk with Beth. "Not sure if I want him too, but he won't stray far. He's not that kind of man."
Beth furrowed her brow, "Why would he go with Merle then? He sounds like a jerk."
"Men like Merle have a way of getting into your head, make you think you deserve the abuse," The mother explained.
"Even with people like Daryl?"
She nodded, "Merle only learned how to express love with anger, defensiveness. It was all Daryl was used to from his brother and father until I worked my way in."
"We thought you were dead, Daryl lost hope," Beth guessed.
"Merle was the nail on the coffin though," She conceded. "He always was the wedge between us. He's the reason we broke up before I left for college. Made Daryl think I was going to drop him like a wet rag when I got a degree."
"Will you forgive him if he comes back?"
"I'm not sure if I will when he returns," She grumbled. "But that doesn't mean I won't still love him."
When she and Beth reached the common room she separated from her and sat on one of the tables, opening her arms for Sophia to sit next to her. Most of the people in the room gave the two females a wide birth until Maggie brought Eren over to his mother. She took her son from the short-haired girl, leaning her head lightly on his as she sadly glanced at his dark brown hair.
Rick watched the broken family unit with guilt churning in his gut, but attempted to ignore it to focus on the four newcomers, "I'm Tyreese."
"Sasha, Allen, Ben," Hershel introduced the rest.
"How'd you get in?" Rick started.
"Fire damage to the administration part of the prison, the wall's down," Tyreese explained. "Ran into Airianna there and she led us through the tunnels to the generator room."
The leader raised his brow, "That side's completely overrun with walkers. How'd you get this far?"
"We didn't. We lost our friend Donna."
"I found them in the generator room with Airi," Carl chimed in. "Brought them back here."
"You brought them here?" Rick asked.
"He had no choice," Hershel explained. "They had Airianna and she was severely injured. She's still healing."
Rick spared a look at the female doctor, watching for her confirmation of the story. When she rolled her eyes and nodded her head he relaxed slightly.
"I'm sorry about your friend," Rick muttered. "We know what that's like."
Tyreese glanced at Rick, "Hershel said you could use some extra hands. We're no stranger to hard work. We'll go out and get our own food, stay out of your hair. You got a problem with another group, we'll help with that, too. Anything to contribute."
Rick shook his head, "No."
"Please," Sasha pleaded. "It's like 'Ten little Indians' out there. It's just us now."
"No."
"Let's talk about this," Hershel suggested. "We can't just keep-"
"We've been through this," Rick snapped. With Tomas, Andrew. Look what happened."
"Axel and Oscar weren't like them," Airi reminded. "And Tyreese and Sasha are really good people." She ignored the glare she knew Allen was sending her.
"And where's Oscar now?" Rick posed. "I can't be responsible."
"You turn us out, you are responsible," Tyreese noted.
"Rick," He turned at Hershel's voice and stepped closer to the older man. "You've done so much for us. I appreciate that, we all do. We owe you our lives. We've done everything you asked without question. And I'm telling you, you're wrong on this. You've got to start giving people a chance."
Rick glanced at the siblings' worried faces and moved his eyes around the room, gauging the reactions of his group. Most seemed to agree with Hershel's words, but he paused on Airi as she bore her gaze into one of the people behind Sasha and Tyreese. He watched the disheveled man behind the pair glare right back at the doctor, stopping when he noticed the leader observing his actions. He sighed and reluctantly nodded his head, he could at least offer some sort of probationary period to watch the strange man's interaction with the redhead. He looked up from the ground to look at Hershel when a form behind his head drew his attention to the upper balcony in the common room.
He froze when he focused on the woman standing their drape in a white dress as she observed the scene. He shot his gaze from her, but he could still feel her eyes burning into him, "No, no. No, no, no, no, no." He shook his head as he continued to mutter and glance at the balcony, and Airianna grimaced as she watched the confused look forming on Rick's face, "Why are you here? What do you want from me?"
She rose from her seat when Rick strode past their group to stand under the empty balcony. Carl carefully stepped closer to his father when he noticed his movement as well, "Dad?"
"Why are you, no-" He continued to keep his gaze locked on the same spot on the balcony as if he was talking to somebody standing there. "I can't help you. Get out!"
"Whoa, whoa, whoa," Tyreese whispered when Rick swung around and started moving closer to him and Sasha.
"Get...Get out!"
"Whoa, it's all good," He tried to allay the frustrated man.
"What are you doing?" Sasha hissed to her brother.
"Rick," Airi calmly said as she moved closer to the man, lifting her free arm towards him. "There's nothing-"
"There's nothing to worry about," Maggie cut her off as she placed her hand on Rick's arm. The leader instantly jumped back as if he was scalded by water.
"You don't belong here! Get out! Please!" He whipped out his gun and waved it at the stop her was fixated on and everyone jumped away from him. "Get out! Get out!"
Tyreese pushed Sasha back, "We'll leave, we're going. Okay? Ain't nobody got to get shot here. We're going."
Rick crouch on the ground as he wailed, "What are you doing here?!"
Glenn stepped closer to the newcomers and started to push them towards the door, "Just go. Go! Go!" He led the four away as Rick continued to scream and wail in the room.
Airianna motioned for Sophia to move and she passed her son to the girl as she rushed to Beth and Maggie's sides. She gently moved closer to the leader as he started to calm down.
"Rick, she's not there. She never was," He glanced at his friend's face as he absorbed her words and started to cry.
"Why won't she leave?" Rick sobbed.
Airi shrugged her shoulders as she kept her distance from the unhinged man, "She will one day, I promise."