KEZZ 1: Thank you!

RaphaeltheCowboy: I mostly did that chapter for Eugene. I won't be going to far off Daryl and Ani in the future because, honestly, those chapters just aren't as fun to write as the ones with them.

So, yeah, I'm changing some of canon. There's plenty I can change and still have the same outcome, so *sticks tongue out*...bite me where the sun don't shine...just kidding...please don't...Enjoy!

Deanna couldn't believe what she was hearing. Aiden was dead. Noah was dead. According to Glenn, it was a stupid accident that killed Aiden and Nicholas panicking that killed Noah. According to Nicholas, Glenn distracted Aiden which caused him to lose focus and Glenn had also wanted to leave him there when he was still alive. The basics of what had happened, how there had been an explosion, how Aiden had been impaled and Tara had been knocked out, all that had been the same, but when it came to what actually happened, the only two who knew were telling very different stories. How they were telling them was very different too. Glenn seemed resigned, like what happened happened and he was somehow to blame. Nicholas, though, seemed on edge, jumpy, and denying any and all responsibility.

Deanna wanted to blame Glenn, she wanted to so badly to blame Rick and his people after what had happened with Pete and the subsequent unrest that had been felt, but something didn't add up. Re-watching both videos, she resigned herself to waiting until Ani got back and then they would go over them together. Ani's history of being a forensic psychologist would help more than her own history of playing poker. She could only hope that Ani would be a professional and point out all the reasons for her argument rather than focus on one over the other. If Ani could remain impartial, Deanna was willing to listen to the girl's thoughts on the matter. One way or another, she was going to find out what happened to her son.

~x~

Ani held onto Daryl the whole day as they road along. The kittens were in the car behind them with Aaron, Ani turning to look back every now and then to get a chuckle at one of the kittens being sprawled out on the dash, the other sitting in Aaron's lap as the man looked flabbergasted. It wasn't until night had fallen that they'd finally made it to the destination Aaron wanted to hit, some fifty miles out from Alexandria. The kittens bounded into the long grass as soon as Aaron opened the door, bounding off in the direction a walker was coming from. Before the kittens could even get to it, the walker was down, one of Daryl's bolts sticking out the back of its head. Daryl and Ani trudged up from where they'd hidden the bike, emerging from the darkness as if they were meant to be a part of it to begin with.

"There's more of them around here than there used to be," Aaron remarked as Daryl went to pull the bolt from the walker, cleaning it on the thing's clothes. "Don't know if any people are-"

"Shh," Daryl said, Ani coming to stand beside him and look in the direction he was pointing. "Someone is."

Although it was small and far off in the distance, a campfire could plainly be seen in the night's darkness. It was almost like a beacon to the dead with how badly it stuck out like a sore thumb. Aaron wanted to hang back a bit, not go directly to the fire right away, just get closer. Ani could understand the caution in that; after all, it'd taken a few weeks of following their group before they got to go to Alexandria. It was only logical to watch and listen and see what they saw. It wasn't until after dawn and they were sure that the person had moved on that they carefully made their way through the woods towards the campfire.

The kittens ran ahead, Ani and Daryl slowly following along behind as they saw what the kittens had run to. Ani couldn't help the gag that came from her as she took in the severed arms and bottom half of a man, the head and and torso missing. Daryl quickly shooed the kittens away from the mess as Aaron asked Ani if she was okay. Sheepishly nodding her head and wondering what the hell was up with her ability to take in sights like this lately, Ani helped lure the kittens away by tossing the toy rat she'd made for them to chase far into the trees before going and standing next to Daryl.

"Whoever did this took what was left with them," he said, taking in the fresh blood. "This just happened."

"Within the last hour, maybe two," Ani agreed as she assessed the cuts and blood. "How didn' we hear it happenin'?"

"Dunno, but at least it didn't bring the walkers down on us," Daryl said as he continued forward, Ani and Aaron following behind him as the kittens came back, Bobby holding his 'catch' proudly in his mouth.

Moving through the woods with their weapons raised, Ani and Daryl became highly alert at the sight of another body tied to a tree. The blood and guts dropping from her torn stomach had Ani more than just gagging, moving behind a tree and puking up what little she'd eaten for dinner the night before. The poor woman wasn't even killed first, just tied up naked only to be ripped open by a wandering walker. She hadn't even turned yet, meaning that she'd been tied up about the time the other man had been killed. Ani couldn't help but wonder if they'd been the makers of the campfire as Daryl and Aaron approached the body; Ani couldn't bring herself to get any closer, especially since with the long blonde hair the woman reminded her of Beth.

"She was tied up," Aaron said. "And they fed on her. Tore her apart. This just happened?"

"Yeah," Daryl said with a nod of his head as he walked closer to the body, Ani stepping up behind Aaron.

"How the hell did this happen?" he asked.

"Betta question," Ani countered. "How the hell didn' we hear it?"

Daryl grabbed a hold of the body's hair, bringing it up to take a look at the face. A 'W' had been carved into the woman's forehead and Ani couldn't help but suck a deep breath in as the woman began waking up from her death. Now a walker actively trying to fight against the restraints of the ropes, Daryl did what he had to do and plunged his knife into it's skull, turning to look at Ani when he was done.

"You good? Normally don't get sick like that."

"Yeah, I'm good," she said. "Jus'...reminded me a Beth."

"Yeah," he said with a nod, having had the same thoughts himself. "Come on. Let's get back to the bike. I don't like this."

"Agreed," Ani replied as Aaron said, "Yeah."

~x~

"Ya gotta wear shades more often," Ani remarked as Daryl reached out to grab her, giving her a kiss before he released her.

Ani moved back a bit to give him space to get off the bike, watching as he pulled the shades off and grabbed his bow. Hers was on her back, though she was still using the blades much more often. If she was being honest, the only reason she'd brought it was if they happened to see some game trails. She was much better with her knives and now that she'd perfected throwing any kind, well, it just felt more practical to her to use the knives than to waste arrows and bolts they didn't have at the moment to spare. Entering the woods behind Daryl with Aaron following along, Ani clicked her tongue twice to get the kittens' attention, motioning for them to come to her. They'd already been out of the walls for two nights now, and Ani couldn't have been happier, nor did she feel more at ease. This was where she belonged.

They wandered semi-aimlessly, following what looked to be a rabbit trail until Daryl stopped and looked around, causing Ani to do the same. "Somebody came through here a while ago," he told Aaron.

"If we see them," Aaron told them, "we hang back, set up the mic, watch, and listen."

"Roga dodga," Ani quipped.

"For how long?" Daryl asked.

"Until we know," Aaron commented.

"So long 'nough for me ta say yay or nay," Ani joked, causing both men to look at her. "What? Knowin' how ta read people's the whole reason I'm out 'ere, ain' it?"

"We have to know before we can bring them back," Aaron insisted.

"Why? You send people away?" Daryl asked.

"Yeah."

"What happened?"

"It was early on," Aaron told them. "It was three people. Two men and a woman. Davidson was their leader. Smart as hell. Strong. I thouhgt they'd work out. They didn't. I brought them in and I had to see them out. Me, Aiden, and Nicholas, we drove them out far...Gave them a day's worth of food and water and we left them."

"They didn' fight back?" Ani asked, surprised that they hadn't even tried.

"We had their guns. We had all the guns," Aaron told her before looking around and sighing heavily. "I can't make that kind of mistake again."

They moved along the more obvious trail for a while before Ani pointed ahead of them while crouching down, pulling Aaron with her. Through the trees, something red was moving. Daryl took the binoculars from Aaron and confirmed that it was a person, the three of them staying back and moving more quietly through the branches. Aaron pulled a second pair of binoculars out and handed them to Ani, who thanked him, before pulling out the microphone and a set of headphones. They followed the man silently while making sure to keep enough distance from him to remain unnoticed but keep tabs on him. It wasn't an easy task as he stopped in the middle of a field to grab something, rubbing it in his hands before dropping it and rubbing his hands on his face.

"What's he doing?" Aaron asked.

"Wild leeks," Ani answered.

"Son of a bitch knows about how to keep mosquitos off of him," Daryl finished explaining for her as she'd only said what he'd grabbed, not what they were for. "Come on."

Daryl pressed forward, the kittens running a little further ahead. Even though she wasn't putting them in her bag anymore, they were pretty damn good about not running too far ahead. As they entered the woods again, they lost sight of the guy in the red poncho, Ani and Daryl keeping their eyes out for his tracks more than looking for the man himself. It wasn't too hard until they got to a road, the tracks becoming much less noticeable the further they traveled. Ani was about to tell them they should try the woods a bit again when Aaron spotted something a little further up the road. Lifting her own binoculars, she saw the factory and the parking lot, but had a bad feeling about it.

"We checked the forest," Aaron argued. "We checked the roads. We can't find him. Sometimes they slip away, it happens. But, you don't come across something like this every day."

"We do this now, that means we give up," Daryl warned him.

"Home is fifty miles back. We've been out here for two days now. It's time to go," Aaron informed him. "You saw it last night, and the day before. There's bad people out here."

"That's why we oughtta keep looking for the good ones," Daryl insisted.

"Shouldn' be givin' up so quick," Ani agreed. "'Sides, I don' like the feel of it."

"We need more people," Aaron told them. "And we'll find them. But when we do, we'll need to feed them."

Daryl and Ani shared a look, both wincing at the thought of giving up before Ani sighed and began tapping her knife on the fence as Daryl told him, "Alright."

"This is so dumb," Ani commented, her 'spidey senses' wigging her out pretty badly as her hands started to shake.

Giving a signal to the kittens, they went off into the woods, climbing a tree close enough to the road that Ani could still see them, but far enough away that they would remain safe. There was no way she was risking their safety in what she felt was an ill begotten place. It took a little bit of time as there had been quite a few walkers just roaming around, but the three of them managed to clear the factory lot. Prying the gates open, they carefully walked through the lot until they found the loading docks and climbed the ramp. There were three different semi trailers that were seemingly untouched by the test of time sitting in the loading docks while two more were situated at the ready to load. This was a jackpot if they ever hit one, but Ani still felt something was off, Daryl watching her cautiously as she looked around.

"Huh," Aaron said before laughing and sinking to his knees. "Wasn't sure I'd ever seen one of these." As she and Daryl looked at the trailers, Aaron explained, "Listen, I don't like giving up either, but the guy is in a red poncho. You can see him from a mile away. We've got a lot of miles here, and no sign of him. But, if we come away with a trailer full of cans, I'd say that was a good trip. Here we go," he said, holding his Alaska license plate in his hand as Daryl bent down to open one of the trailers.

Ani had walked to the opposite corridor and saw just as he unlatched the door the rope that connected to a pulley system, following it with her eyes and yelling, "Daryl don'!" just as he cracked it.

None of them were expecting all five trailers to spring open, cutting them off as Daryl and Ani used their knives to kill walker after walker, but there was no way they were going to be able to fight their way through, not with Aaron falling behind. Daryl pointed to under a trailer, both he and Ani grabbing Aaron and trying to push him in before scrambling under themselves. Many of the walkers were anointed with a 'w' on their foreheads, making Ani suspect that whoever was carving it into the walkers had set this trap, not just that they happened to be there. Daryl picked up a chain and grabbed at Ani's shoulder, catching her attention as he began to crawl out the other side. Grabbing onto Aaron and pulling him with her, she followed suit as walkers began falling to the ground on the side they'd crawled from.

Aaron was grabbed by his bag, forcing Daryl to leave his back open for a walker had Ani not been able to get a knife thrown into its skull. Picking up Aaron's bag, she threw it on her shoulder as Daryl picked up his bow, the three of them dashing like mad men and pushing the walkers away as they tried to reach the gate. Realizing it was a futile effort, Ani yelled for Daryl, telling him to check the car he was closest to. She and Aaron held of the dead as Daryl yelled at them to hurry up as he threw himself into the vehicle. Ani climbed in as fast as she could, right over the console and into Daryl's lap as Aaron was already climbing in behind her. He had to slam the door shut on the head of a walker to get it to shut, but when it did, Ani had to hold Daryl for a moment to calm down before she climbed into the back. They were well and truly trapped.

"The glass will hold for a while," Aaron said hopefully.

"Maybe," she and Daryl said at the same time.

"Maybe we can make it so they can't see us," Daryl said, looking around and realizing they had next to nothing to use. "In a couple hours, somethin' will come by, and they'll follow it out. There's gotta be something here we can use to block the view."

"Got the seats," Ani suggested, moving to take her knife out to cut them as Aaron pulled a piece of paper out from between the sheets. "What's that?"

"A note," Aaron said, showing it to them.

Trap. Bad people coming. Don't stay.

"Well shite!" Ani said, pounding the seat with her fist in frustration. "We're gonna have ta run for it."

Daryl's own nerves were worked up beyond belief. His girl was trapped with him in the middle of a fucking nightmare, the dead piled against the car so deep that they were blocking out what sunlight there was through the clouds. Ania was having problems controlling her breathing as she tried to focus and not panic. Looking back at her, their eyes met, and he knew what he was going to have to do. He wasn't going to let her die in this place. While he didn't want to be back in Alexandria, he wanted her there, safe behind the walls home offered. Daryl turned around and looked out the window, chuckling quietly as he made his choice.

"What?" Aaron asked.

"You know, I came out here to not feel all closed up back there," he said. "Even now, this still feels more like me than back in them houses. That's pretty messed up, huh?"

"You were trying," Aaron said as Ani squeezed him as best she could from the back seat.

"I had to," he said, holding one of Ania's arms in his hand and squeezing it before grabbing her hand and pressing a kiss to the palm.

"No you didn't," Aaron said as he watched the pair, Ani half laying on the console between him and Daryl to look at the man. "Listen, I saw you with your group out there on the road. Then you went off on your own by the barn. Whatever happened between you two, you just held each other. And then the storm hit, and you led your people to safety. That was it. That was when I knew I had to bring you people back. You guys were right. We should've kept looking for the guy in the poncho. I shouldn't have given up. You didn't."

Daryl released Ani's hand with one last kiss, wishing he could press it to her lips as he pulled out a smoke and his zippo, "I'll go."

"Nah!"

"I'll lead them out. You guys make a break for the fence," he said as he lit it.

"Hell nah, D! Ya ain' fuckin' leavin' me like that! Ya can'! I told ya, if ya go, I go! Ya ain' fuckin' doin' it, Daryl!" Ani yelled, her voice almost breaking at the thought of losing him.

"This was my fault," Aaron said.

"It wasn't a question. This ain't your decision. It ain't nobody's fault. Just let me finish my smoke first," he said, looking at Ania's distressed face. "You go, you get her out and you don't look back."

"Daryl, please," Ani pleaded, trying to make it clear to him how stupid this was.

"Only way for you to get out," he told her. "You gotta live for the twins, right?"

"Not without ya!"

"She's right," Aaron said, the thought of leaving Daryl to fight by himself not sitting well with him. "You don't draw them away. We fight. We go for the fence. We do it together. Alright? Whether we make it our not, we do it together. We have to."

"He's right, baby, please," Ani pleaded, her hand gripping the sleeve of his jacket to hold his arm to her chest. "We can do it tagetha, I know we can. Please, don', jus' don'."

Daryl took in the tears running down her face and the serious look on Aaron's before turning his head away and chewing on his lip. "Alright," he said, taking his final drag and picking up his knife, Ania letting go of his arm with a cry of relief. "You ready?" he looked behind at Ania, seeing her readying a dagger in one hand and a throwing knife in the other. "You ready?" he asked Aaron. "We'll go on three," he said, all three of them getting ready to open their doors, Ani choosing to go out the same side Daryl was. "One. Two-"

Whatever happened to three Ani wasn't sure. All she knew was there was a thud on Aaron's side and Daryl was pushing his door open. Shoving hers open with Daryl's help, she instantly threw her knife, taking out the walker closest to them. Daryl pushed two walkers away as she got out, shoving one herself as he passed her. Moving as a unit and only killing the walkers they couldn't just push past, they managed to work their way around the car, fighting with Aaron and a newcomer. Ani couldn't help the joyful yell that made its way out of her as they broke through the fence, Daryl swinging it with all his might towards Aaron before bringing his bow up and taking out a walker as he moved to get in between Ani and the newcomer. Daryl paced while looking at the darker man, Ani observing his calm demeanor and the fact that he was neither scared nor quizzical. If anything, he looked to be in a state of total peace.

"That was—oh-Thank you," Aaron said as he tried to catch his breath. "I'm Aaron, that's Daryl and Ani. And the twins," he said, watching as the kittens ran up to Ani and Daryl alike, one of them having caught a bird, dropping it at Ani's feet.

"Did ya get that for me, Bobby?" Ani asked as she bent down and picked the bird up, showing it to Daryl as she pet the kitten's head, scratching under its chin.

"Morgan," the newcomer introduced himself as he cleaned the blood from his...

"A stick?" Ani pondered aloud, earning a chuckle from the man.

"Why?" Daryl asked, wanting to know what business a complete stranger had risking their lives to save them from their own stupidity.

"Why?" Morgan repeated. "Because all life is precious, Daryl. Even those kittens of hers."

While Ani and Daryl just looked at Morgan trying to figure him out, Aaron warned, "Whoever set that trap, they're coming. But I have good news. We do. We have a community, not too far from here. Walls, electricity, it's safe. If you'd like to come join us-"

"I thank you," the man said. "But I'm on my way somewhere. Fact is, I'm lost, so...if you could tell me where we are," he said, handing Daryl a map.

Ani stood up next to Daryl and looked over his arm at the map, noticing Abraham's handwriting in the corner. "Ya know Rick?" she asked.

"Do you?"

"This map was given ta him. We left it behind in a church," Ani said before her eyes went wide and she sucked in a breath. "Ya the Morgan! The one Rick wanted me ta talk ta! Neva got the chance ta go back, though, with everythin' that happened. Kinda forgot. Think 'e did, too. But then again, ya did stab 'im."

"You do know him," Morgan stated. "Well, I think I can change where I'm going. I'd appreciate you allowing me to come with you."

~x~

When they got back, Ani was met with Denise's concerned look as the woman fretted over the few cuts and bruises Ani had gotten on the run. It was then that she learned of Tara's condition, walking into the infirmary and seeing Eugene and Abraham sitting there. Denise double checked Ani, Daryl, Aaron, and Morgan for injuries as Eugene told them what happened on the run. Ani couldn't help the tears that fell down her face as she learned of Noah's demise, her heart going out to Deanna and Reg as they mourned their loss. Apparently, things had gotten interesting last night as Rick had pulled a gun out and waved it around, telling everyone they needed to change after a couple walkers had gotten in. Gabriel had been a dick and left the gate open and unattended when he was covering for Spencer, who needed to take a leak. Thankfully, no one other than Rick had been injured, Michonne having to cold-cock him over the head and knock him out to stop his little tirade. Deanna had requested Ani's presence after they got back to talk to her about a few things, Rick and the gun being one. The other involved Nicholas and Glenn; Ani could only assume it had something to do with how the trip ended so badly.

"Want me to walk you over?" Daryl asked, the look she gave him telling him she was still pissed at what he'd tried to pull at the trap.

"No thank ya. I can take care a meself," she said, turning on him and going to leave.

"Dammit, Ania! Stop!" he said, reaching out and grabbing her wrist, pulling at her and causing her to stumble. Catching her with her back to his chest and wrapping an arm around her waist, he said just loud enough for her to hear, "I had to get you outta there. I had to."

"Nah, ya didn'. Not like that," she said just as quietly, her whole body shaking with the emotions she was refusing to let out, not wanting to have a meltdown or fight with Daryl in front of everyone. "I'll see ya back home."

Walking out, she took a deep but shaky breath before making her way towards Deanna's. She could understand his reasoning, but Ani couldn't just not be mad at Daryl for offering himself up as bait. Especially not for her. What kind of choice was that? To sacrifice himself for her right in front of her for her to live on knowing she might've been able to do something about it? She furiously wiped at her eyes, not even knowing why she was being so emotional about something that didn't even happen. It was never going to happen, to be honest, seeing as Aaron was too kind-hearted to abandon a friend like that. Trying to get herself under control, she took a breath and knocked on the door. Reg answered and after a few kind pleasantries, he led her into the foyer where Deanna and Spencer were sitting.

"Ya asked me ova?"

"Ani, yes. Thank you for coming. I wanted to ask you if you knew about Rick and the armory?"

"Oh," Ani said, fidgeting momentarily before removing the gun she'd kept hidden on her since that day. "Yeah. I kinda wanted a gun too. Ya know, in case they came back. Was neva gonna use it or pull it for anythin' but that, mind ya."

"Well, Rick certainly doesn't have the same je ne sais quoi when it comes to knowing when to show his hand and when to play it close to the heart."

"I don' think Rick eva played poka or Rummikub, bein' honest. He's got bitch face, happy face, scary face, and mad face, but the man ain' got no poka face."

"Unlike you," Deanna offered.

"Grew up with mine. Perfected afta years and years a pretendin' ta be somethin' I ain'. Whateva Rick said, he was tellin' the truth. Ya people are like me kittens. Ya can stumble ya way ta killin' a bird, but without trainin', ya neva gonna take down a buck. But I'm assumin' ya wantin' me ta solve whateva mystery happened on that run, yeah?"

"Yes, actually. Glenn and Nicholas have very similar but different descriptions of what happened. I was wondering if I could use some of that forensic psychology you know to get to the bottom of it."

"I can do that."

"Are you sure you can be impartial?" Deanna asked as Ani sat down next to her.

"Ya asked me ta do me job as a forensic psychologist and walk ya through what I see, yeah?" Ani responded.

"That's right."

"Alright then, that's what I'm gonna do. Don' matta who it is, what it's about, who it's about. This is what I love doin', so I'm gonna do it ta the best a me abilities. 'Sides, in all the world, we got names for orphans, names for widows. But ain' a single name for a parent who looses a child. Ya deserve ta know what happened, not jus' what might have happened."

"Thank you, Ani," Deanna said as she rewound the video she'd taken of Nicholas first.

She watched as Nicholas began talking on the screen, twitching and refusing to keep his eyes trained to one spot, immediately saying, "He's nervous. Really nervous."

"Aiden was trying to save us," he said on screen. "From a roamer. He was shooting at it. Then Glenn distracted him."

"Ya see how twitchy he is? How his eyes are calculative? He ain' sayin' the whole truth right 'ere. Somethin' else happened that 'e ain' sayin'."

The video continued with him explaining what happened with Tara and how they found out Aiden was still alive, "They wanted to just go, I didn't. I wasn't gonna leave him."

"Well, I can' say whetha or not 'e wanted ta stay, but I know a crock a crap when I hear it. Me people, we wouldn' jus' leave someone. Ta be honest, we'd've shot 'im in the head 'fore leavin' 'im. We ain' the kind a people ta let othas suffa if we don' gotta," Ani said as Deanna asked Nicholas about Tara in the video, his response an automatic defense. "Ya made 'im defensive 'ere. Didn' like the insinuation that 'e wanted ta leave, but that makes me think 'e would've."

"Why?"

"'Cause normies like 'im don' normally become defensive like that. Not that quickly, not unless they're already on edge. Not sayin' somethin's entirely fishy, jus' sayin'. He's a bit defensive."

"Then, when we got into the lobby, when we got trapped. He was hitting on the glass, pushing my door open."

"See how he ain' lookin' at the screen no more?"

"I saw that. I had my doubts."

"They were gonna kill me. Or maybe they were trying to. Or they just didn't care," Nicholas said, Ani pointing to the screen and pointing out the wobble in his voice and how it was a sign of panic, another indication that his version of events were partially falsified. As he covered his eyes and then looked back towards the camera, not at, he said, "And if I didn't push back, I'd be dead, too. They did this," he insisted. "It was them."

"But you all came back together," Deanna's voice sounded in the recording, Ani giving the woman a knowing look as she watched, realizing that Deanna had been doubting Nicholas herself. "How did that happen?"

Ani watched as Nicholas began squirming in his seat, once again not looking at the camera. A normie would normally look into a camera or at the person speaking to them when they were telling the truth. Looking away and squirming were obvious signs of discomfort or distress, which made Ani even more certain that the man was hiding something. She needed to see Glenn's video to be sure, but there was definitely something fishy about Nicholas's explanation.

"Nick's fishy as all hell. 'Specially how 'e's tryin' ta point blame when ya tell 'im how it's gonna be. Right there, he's tellin' ya we gotta go and sayin' ya see it too. He's tryin' ta make ya doubt by sayin' ya see the same thing. Not sayin' ya don'. I mean, we are pretty fuckin' frightenin' and I did kill a man. Nick's got every right ta his point a view, but the man's still hidin' somethin'. See how he's openin' 'is mouth, wantin' ta say somethin' and fidgetin' in his seat?" she asked Deanna who nodded. "Textbook guilt. It ain' grief or remorse 'e's feelin' it's anxiety and guilt. Somethin' happened. Need ta see Glenn's video ta be sure."

Deanna moved a few files around on her computer until she found Glenn's file, bringing it up as she said, "I thought he was a little too on edge, but Aiden was his best friend. I wasn't sure if it was just because of grief or not."

"Could be part a it, but even in grief, there's too much movement, too much distress in 'is movements. Somethin' definitely was eitha withheld or outright changed in 'is story."

"I saw the grenades," Glenn said on the video as Deanna hit play, no twitching, eyes steady, almost as if he was watching it all over again, his expression solemn. "I tried to stop him."

"So that's what happened. Bet ya bottom dolla that's what Nick was leavin' out. Glenn didn' distract Aiden, 'e was tryin' ta warn 'im."

"He was gonna run, but we made him stay," Glenn said in the recording after a similar explanation of what happened with Tara. "I tried, and then he just ran. And Aiden, he told me to go. That his last crew wasn't the one that panicked. He and Nicholas panicked and that's what got them killed. I tried and he just. He pushed me away and Noah pulled just as the walkers got to him. I couldn't..." the video of Glenn looked down. "I couldn't get Aiden out of there without help, and I couldn't stop the walkers."

"That's actual remorse."

"I thought so, too," Deanna agreed. "He seems much calmer than Nicholas."

"Yeah, he is. He's definitely tellin' the truth. All a it, from 'is perspective."

"All he had to do was hold the door. But he panicked. Noah, I had him. I had his hand. I tried. I watched him die. I couldn't save either of them. I was gonna leave him out there. After I knocked him out for getting Noah killed. But I couldn't. I couldn't save either of them, and I wasn't going to leave him to die too."

"Professionally, they're both tellin' the truth, but Glenn's paints the cleara picture a what happened. He's remorseful, not talkin' out 'is ass like Nick seemed ta be. Ya were right ta tell Nick not ta go out anymore. The man's gonna get 'imself killed out there."

"How so?"

"Y'all don' know what the fuck ya doin' out there," Ani said with a look that told Deanna she thought she was being dumb for asking. "Ya people, more a them are gonna die if ya ain' careful! Gun trainin' for everyone. Knife and machete trainin'. And for fuck's sake, some people shouldn' be sent out on runs and Nick is one a them. Ya want me ta take up arms for ya as a forensic psychologist, fine. But I'm gonna go all the way. I wanna see all the videos a everyone. I'll tell ya who would be good for what as far as their states a mind."

"Are you really willing to do that?"

"If it keeps someone else from gettin' killed beyond these walls, I'll start right now."