The news spread through Jackson like wildfire. Ellie was brought in by Dina and it looked bad. Beth would never forget how broken and bloody the young woman was. If Joel were to ever see that... Oh, she couldn't even imagine what he would do. As soon as Maria saw the battered Ellie on the back of Dina's horse, she grabbed her and took her straight to the infirmary. Tears stained poor Dina's face, and Beth let Dina go after Maria while she put the horse away. Jesse didn't even come back with them. Was he okay? Her chest hurt just thinking of all the horrible things that could have happened to the kids. If Ellie was this bad, and considering how dangerous she was herself, who knows what shape Jesse was in. She quickly got the horse checked into the stable and hurried back to the infirmary to see Ellie and Maria to find out what happened. Whatever it was, it didn't look good. Beth herself knew first hand how vile hunters were on patrols, who knows what they were capable of with a young woman.

She ran as fast as she could to help with Ellie's care, ignoring the sharp pain in her chest again. When she got in, she demanded to know where Ellie was with reception and they escorted her straight to her. Things like this just doesn't happen in Jackson, everyone was scared and in shock. When she came up to Ellie's room, Dina was standing in the doorway to block her from going in. Beth tried reasoning with her but Dina would not let her in.

"Beth I can't let you in there, Maria said nobody could come in." Dina cried, tears running down her cheeks. "You don't want to know yet. I'm... I'm so sorry."

Beth was thrown off by Dina not calling her by her full name. Nobody called her by her nickname except Joel. Oh shit. This must be bad. Her heart started pounding, and she panicked. Was Ellie going to make it? Oh god, Joel can't live without her. Shit! She tried to maneuver around Dina but she threw herself against the door spread out like a starfish. She couldn't take this. Her anxiety was too much. She took a deep breath to control her breathing and tried to compose herself. It was hard, and Dina looked at her with such a deep profound pity that it turned her stomach. What was going on? Why was this being treated like a top-secret mission?

She gave up trying to push Dina into letting her by, and sat down in the chair on the opposite wall. Dina couldn't look her in the eye, and she turned away to compose herself. Her heart went out to the kid, she couldn't imagine the trauma she just went through. Her puffy eyes said it all. The hallway got eerily quiet as they waited for Maria to emerge from the room. As the minutes crept by she couldn't but notice how Jesse hasn't been brought in yet. That poor kid. If he was laying out there somewhere she was going to find him and bring him home. No resident of Jackson would rot out there in that vile world. Not while she still drew breath.

After what felt like an eternity, Maria finally came out of the room. Dina rushed past her and disappeared in the doorway, and Beth tried following her but Maria stopped her. Her face... Beth would never forget the look on her face. Something was seriously wrong. She started panicking again.

"What's going on? Why is everyone acting like this? Where's Jesse? Is Ellie oka-"

"Come with me."

There were tears in Maria's eyes. Which made Beth's heart start racing. Maria never cried. Never. This was bad. Ellie wasn't going to make it. She allowed Maria to pull her into town, and into her home that she shared with Tommy. She stopped at the door, took a long shaky breath, and looked back at Beth. "Listen, whatever happens, I need you to keep a level head okay? This is bad, and I'm going to need your help."

A million questions ran through her head, but she kept her mouth shut. She had to be strong for Maria. She had to. Maria went inside her home and Beth followed closely behind, and she gave her a small list of things to gather while she went into her closet and started looking through Tommy's clothes. Beth did her best looking through the unfamiliar surroundings and gathered some small odds and ends to bring back to Maria. When Maria finally came out, she had an outfit of Tommy's draped over her arm. Who was those clothes for? Was Tommy and Joel back from patrol? Maria saw Beth's confused face and a silent sob escaped the older woman's throat. Beth was at her side in an instant but Maria quickly composed herself and they headed back out to the infirmary. Her side and chest were killing her with all of the walking, but that didn't matter right now. What mattered was getting back to Ellie so she wouldn't be alone, until Joel got back and could be with her.

When they arrived, she saw a Jackson horse tied up outside the building. The horses were hardly ever in the heart of town. Was that Jesse? Did he finally make it back? Oh god, she hoped so. His family would be devastated if he never came back. Maria saw the horse too and quickly picked up her pace. Beth almost had to run to keep up with her. The further she got into the building, the more the knot in her stomach tightened. Something was wrong. There were dozens of people everywhere, all of their faces were timid, and their eyes were dark. Usually one didn't see this big of a commotion unless someone died. Who died? Did Ellie die while she was gone? Her heart plummeted to her feet and she got nauseated. Oh god Joel, I'm so sorry I failed you.

Tears filled her eyes as Maria shoved through the crowd, pulling her in tow. How did she survive and a young woman with her whole life ahead of her couldn't? What kind of God would allow this to happen? How cruel. Maria walked past Ellie's door, which caused her to be confused. They walked further down the hall and Jesse was standing in front of the last door. He looked numb; completely devoid of emotion. That terrified her. Would he recover from what he had seen?

When he saw the older women approaching, he moved out of the way. When his eyes settled on Beth, his expression changed into the deep sympathy that Dina had given her. What the hell was all that about? Maria gave him some items that Beth had gathered and told him to go shower. He nodded and dragged his tired feet back down the hallway. Maria clasped the door handle, and looked back at Beth again.

"Before we go in, there's something I need to prepare you for," She started, "Earlier this morning, there was an incident. A horrifying one at that."

Tears filled her eyes again, and Beth was starting to get annoyed. Of course there was an incident. Did she forget the shape Ellie was in? Why weren't they with her? Who was in this room separated from everyone else? Right as she opened her mouth to say something, the door to the room opened. A very beat up Tommy limped out. Instant dread hit her like a truck. When did Tommy get back? Did that mean Joel was back too? She gasped as her set on Tommy, but he didn't look like himself. He was battered almost as bad as Ellie, and his eyes were red and puffy like he had been crying. What the fuck happened out there?

"Tommy?" She exclaimed breathlessly, "When did you get back?"

Tears started streaming down his cheeks. "I'm so sorry Beth. I tried but I wasn't strong enough..."

Beth looked back at Maria for answers but Maria was crying too. Tommy took the clothes from her and kissed her cheek before limping off. Beth was dumbstruck as she walked him walk away. He used her nickname too. Maria clasped Beth's hand in hers, her cold fingers trembled as she grabbed the door with her free hand.

"You're going to have to prepare yourself for this."

Dread, fear, and realization instantly smothered her. The air was ripped from her lungs. Joel was the only other person with Tommy. Joel is in that room. If Tommy was this bad, how bad was the love of her life? Her throat started burning as tears threatened to overflow. Maria couldn't look at her. Beth didn't waste any time. She shoved Maria's hand out of the way and flung open the door to the room.

There was so much blood.

It was everywhere.

In the room, there was one bed. There was someone laying on the bed, but there was a sheet over their face. The sheet was soaked in blood, it was just a big lump of blood in the middle of the room. She heard Maria's soft cries and apologies behind her. The floor swayed beneath her, threatening to knock her over. Her ears started ringing and the world around her melted away until it was just her and... him.

Her screams rang out over the infirmary hall. The screams ripped through her throat but she couldn't feel the pain. All she could do was look at the love of her life lay lifeless under a fucking sheet. Her tired legs caved underneath her and she fell to her knees as gut wrenching wails filled the room. Maria tried to comfort her but she couldn't see her through the tears. She just got her life together; she was going to start her life with him TODAY. Why did it have to be him?! She was finally happy for the first time since she lost her children and now, she was empty yet again. God gave her a second chance just to take it from her. Had her sins finally caught up to her? Was he the collateral of her divine punishment? What did he do to deserve this? Such a damaged soul, taken in such a brutal way.

Maria had to drag her out of the room with the help of Dina, who she hadn't realized was in the room. They gave her such looks of pity; it made her sick. Their tears made her cry even more. This wasn't fair. The love of her life. She never got to sleep next to him, she never got to hear his deepest secrets, she never got to feel his warmth under the sheets. They had just begun and it was all over. All those years she watched from the background, was just on borrowed time. She begged God to trade places with Joel so Ellie still had her dad, but there were no answers from such a ruthless higher power.

As they dragged the wailing Beth past Ellie's room, Ellie came out. Dina tried pushing her back into her room but her eyes were trained on Beth. Ellie's eyes were full of tears, and when they locked eyes they understood each other's pain. Ellie waved off the two women escorting Beth and took her arm instead. She was silent, and allowed Beth to cry and to grieve as they walked back to her home. She wasn't ready to go home, but they needed to. Ellie was covered in blood and needed a bath and some fresh clothes. When they approached her house, she did the best she could not to look at the house next to hers. Ellie avoided it altogether and just turned her back to it.

They went inside, and Beth did everything she could to compose herself. Her entire soul was broken all over again, every inch of her body was killing her, and her throat felt like it was about to close up, but she looked at the young woman in front of her and knew she needed a mother right now. She needed someone to hold her. As soon as the door shut, Ellie wiped a tear that escaped.

And then another.

And another.

The tears spilled down her cheeks and she quickly lost control of herself. Beth ran to her side as Ellie collapsed and started sobbing. Beth wrapped her arms around her and her motherly instincts kicked in. It hurt her heart to hear such anguish and grief come from her. She missed the days she held her babies when they cried. She needed Ellie as much as Ellie needed her. The poor girl trembled in her arms, unable to control herself. She quietly cooed in her ear and stroked her hair as Ellie cried out to the God she didn't believe in for answers. Answers that could never be answered.

They stayed on her floor, huddled together for hours while they cried with each other, and for each other. Ellie watched the horrific end of Joel with her own eyes, and you just don't recover from things like that. Before outbreak day, she learned a lot about mental health when her oldest committed suicide, and dedicated every second she had to learning how important mental health is and how to take care of those who had illness of the mind. She knew Ellie was going to have PTSD from today, and as much as she wanted to shield her from the horrors of it, she knew she couldn't. The damage was already done. She would never be the same. After seeing the love of her life in that bed, Beth would never be the same either.

Last night she was talking and kissing Joel, and in a matter of less than 24 hours, all of her hopes and dreams shattered. Her life was turned upside down, as was his daughter's. She allowed herself to grieve the family she never got to have, she grieved the love of her life, she grieved the future she was going to have, she lost everything. Ellie was all that was left of him, and she was just as broken as Beth was.

A few hours later the evening was quickly approaching, and it started to darken up outside. Ellie had cried herself to sleep in Beth's arms, and Beth just stared at the ceiling; she was completely devoid of feeling anything anymore. Ellie needed a bath to wash all of the blood off, so Beth gently woke her up.

"Ellie. Ellie baby, you need to get cleaned up."

Ellie jolted awake, hyperventilating and staring at her wide eyes until she realized she was safe. She calmed herself down and sat up, groaning from sleeping on her hardwood floor and from the pain of whatever those monsters did to her out there. She didn't notice before but Ellie's face was badly bruised and swollen, as was most of the rest of her body. Beth stood up and stretched, ignoring the throbbing pain that was yelling at her. She helped Ellie up off of the floor and took her to the bathroom to start the water. She filled a bucket of water and placed it on the counter. Ellie cupped her hands in it to splash her face.

"You have warm water?"

She asked, her voice hoarse from sobbing.

"Yeah, me and Joel both do. We built this contraption outside that gathered rain water and it sits out in the sun to heat up. All I have to do is suck on this hose and it will bring some water up here to bathe in. It's not very warm, but it beats cold water for sure"

Beth retrieved a cloth that was drying on the line in the window and handed it to Ellie. She was grateful.

Beth left Ellie to clean up and went to her closet to grab some clothes for the young woman. She knew she probably had clothes at her house, but it was just something to get her by until she went home. She took the clothes back to the bathroom, noticing how hard it was to just pick up her feet. Her whole body felt as if it were filled with sand. She gently knocked on the door and shielded her eyes to give Ellie some privacy, and put the clothes on the counter for her. Closing the door behind her she went back to her room to lay in her bed. Her bones screamed for joy when the comfort of her bed enveloped her. Looking out of the window, she tried to process what was happening, but her brain refused to. She intellectualized her feelings instead of actually feeling them. She felt shut off from herself, and completely alone. She saw Joel's back porch through her window, and noticed how empty it felt now. She would no longer be lulled to sleep by his guitar, or hear his soft singing at night. She would never tap her foot with him, or eat dinner with him, or anything. It was just radio silence on the other side of the glass, and it scared the shit out of her. What was she going to do now?

Ellie snapped her from her thoughts when she gently knocked on her open bedroom door. "Thanks Ms. Tabetha, for everything."

"Please Ellie, call me Beth."

She flinched at the nickname, and tears filled her eyes. She nodded. "Okay. Beth. Thank you. I'm going to find Dina and talk to Maria, but he needs to be buried soon so don't miss it."

It hurt to hear that nickname come from his daughter, but it was also comforting in a way. She nodded at the young woman, and she left. The moment she was alone, tears spilled down her cheeks again. She wasn't ready to say goodbye, but she had to. She trudged to the bathroom and used the left over warm water and a clean cloth to clean up the best she could. She took her time getting dressed in fresh clothes to give herself the time to muster up the courage to see this through. To say goodbye and to let the love of her life go. Forever.

Everyone gathered at the Jackson cemetery for his funeral. Tommy and Beth were a mess, and Maria was left to comfort them both. Ellie held her composure in front of the others excellently, Beth was proud of her. Dina stayed by her side the entire time, not letting her be alone for a second. There were no words to be said, because who could call upon a God who left his creation to die and suffer in a world like this? It was so quiet, so grim, and so timid. Nobody dared to disturb the grieving family of one of the most important men of Jackson. A strong leader, a dependent helper, and a skilled protector of Jackson. Everyone grieved the loss of such a man. Tommy with the help of Jesse lowered his brother into the dirt, and they all silently said their last goodbyes. Everything was a blur to Beth, each moment blurred into the other until she had no concept of time or her surroundings.

Even after everyone had left to the big dinner prepared for his funeral, Beth stood right where she was and just stared at the disturbed earth in shock, disbelief, and in grief.

Nothing was right, and it would never be right again.