Chapter 64: Future


CPOV

~A year and a few months ago~

"Mom?" I called out to my mom as I walked to her side of the room. She'd decided she needed some quiet time, some time alone but I kept overthinking everything that involved Kat. She needed space away from the rest of us.

Her head turned to glance at me, a small smile on her face as the light had gone in them the second we believed Kat had died. "Yes, baby?" she called out to me. As I slowed my pace, I got to the floor and kneel on the ground.

For a second, I hesitated to say something. "I think we should go back to the farm. Kat might of left us a sign, maybe she's still somewhere there," I was trying to get her to listen as dad had slowly approached us.

I didn't want to give up on her so soon. "We can't go back," dad threw my idea, my plea out the window the second I said it.

"Mom, she's got to be out there. She wouldn't just-" I wanted to say more but mom stopped me before I could. Her bottom lip trembled as tears began welling at the bottom of her eyes. Blurring her vision, she gradually blinked her tears away and I watched them fall.

How she shook, I knew this topic was still sore. "We can't baby," she cut me off. "It's too dangerous and if we find Kat there as one of them...I-" she couldn't finish her sentence as her eyes fell to the floor and her hands held onto my shoulders.

"Listen to me," she encouraged me to listen to her closely. "Kat is dead," she was sure of this. "We need to remember her for what she was. A strong, smart, beautiful and hopeful girl," the list made my eyes burn as tears began to form, blurring my vision as I blinked my tears away.

Mom's eyes were sad but she spoke confidently in her words. "She's gone. Wherever she is now, she's with grandma and grandpa," she tried to comfort me in this time of pain. "We need keep living, to keep moving forward and being strong for her. In memory of her," mom said as she wiped my tears away with sad ones rolling down her face too.

Unable to break my gaze away from her, as the tears continued to build, I pulled her in for a hug and sobbed into her chest. The tears didn't stop flowing out my eyes as I fought against them. "I miss her...so much," I cried, my voice low and tired sounding from the tears.

"I know, baby. I do too," I could hear the sniffles of mom silently crying with me. A skill some people had, that I didn't. As we held each other, I shut my eyes and did my best to let Kat go.


PRESENT DAY...MPOV

Finally arriving, others had helped take Scott, rushing him to the infirmary as he was on his last limbs. Watching them go, I tried to catch my breath and found myself looking out for anyone. For Carl, for Carol, for anyone that looked familiar.

The was when someone noticed me. "Michonne!" I heard Maggie call out to me as she jogged over to me. "What happened?" she asked, curious to know why we took so long getting back, when all we had done was go for a test run. "Where's Glenn?" she looked behind me only for a second, like she expected him to appear not far after me.

Explaining to her that the truck collapsed, opening the trail, that we needed to execute Rick's plan there and then. How everything was going well, up until the horn blared, everything eventually felt calmer, sadder as I tried to explain how we got caught up in a town and overrun by walkers.

"The town was overrun," I told her. "He split off with Kat and Nicholas. He had this idea that...if he lit a fire, it would stop the walkers from coming here. Kat tried to go instead. She wanted to," I tried to explain the complications the best I could to her.

As she listened, her eyes were glued to me, Rosita was listening to the story too, hearing everything that had happened while we were out on the test run. "The fire never got lit. We had to keep going. I'm sorry," I apologised, hating that I had to break the news to her that I didn't know what happened to Glenn, or Kat.

I was already dreading the moment I'd have to explain to Rick and Carl what happened to Kat later. "He said if they got stuck, they would find a way to send us a signal," I was giving Maggie the slimmer of hope that we all had.

None of what I said, could be comforting enough but if I gave her hope that Glenn was still out there, it might work the same on Rick and Carl. "A signal?" Maggie wanted to make sure she heard me right.


RPOV

After killing a few walkers during my escape from the RV, I had done my best to run back home, dodging walkers, killing them and returning back to Alexandria with a quickened pulse and sweat coating my skin. The blood, the guts and dirt had all clung to my skin.

The sun beating my down as I pushed my way past walkers to get back home. "Open the gate!" I had yelled as I got closer to the gates. "Open the gate!" I shouted again, as I was leading a herd back home, walkers were starting to come out of the wood works and wandered around out of the woods. "Open the gate now!"

Finally, they heard me. Maggie, Michonne and Rosita all worked to open the gate together. All as I dodged, raced ahead and pushed a walker out of my way. Tumbling to the floor, I collected myself quickly, before the herd came over me.

As soon as I got back inside, I panted and heard the gate close behind me. The walkers went to enter but as I tried to catch my breath, everyone had gathered around, to see the walkers at the gates. Everyone was terrified, as they stared at what laid ahead of them, surrounding their walls and what I had lead by an awful accident.

Some were gearing up for a fight but others were just horrified to see the monsters that lurked outside their home. "Rick?" Michonne walked over to me. "Rick," this time it wasn't to call to me, but to get my attention. "What happened out there?" she asked as I finally caught my breath a little more.

Turning around, I saw Michonne, Maggie and Rosita all waiting for what I was about to say. As was Deanna but she looked to be more lingering in the background. Everyone else stared at the gates with fear. "Where's Carl and Judith? Are they safe?" I asked them instead of answering their question.

"They're in the house, they're safe," Maggie assured me they were fine.

Nodding, I felt relief to know they hadn't been attacked by the wolves, that the bodies must of been from the attack I could only assume happened. "Good, good," I nodded, muttering my relief to hear my youngest kids were fine. "Kat and Glenn? Where are they? I didn't see the smoke," I wondered what happened to those I had left to go their own way back.

Glancing around, I didn't see Glenn or Kat anywhere, or any of the others that had gone with Michonne. "We didn't see it either," Michonne sighed out. "Kat went with Glenn and we didn't see them on our way back. Glenn told us to go," Michonne tried to explain what happened. "What happened?"

Michonne had been more curious to know what had gone so wrong, that I had brought back a part of the herd with me. "Got attacked by the guys wearing a 'W' on their foreheads, killed them before they could kill me," I stated, waving my hand to past the gates, towards where the walkers were.

Wiping at the sweat that was dripping down my face, down my forehead, I didn't want to lose sight of anything. "One was firing shots, missed me and that busted the engine," I explained what had gone terribly wrong. "I tried to bring the herd to Abraham, to Daryl...I couldn't," my failures, they were owned by me and no one else.

I couldn't have predicted that the smoke wouldn't go up, or that those men would attack me. I had high hopes we could pick up the pieces but everything became half shambled. "Rick, your hand," Michonne's eyes went directly to my cut palm that was still wrapped in the cloth I had found.

"Don't worry about me, we need to worry about the problem we got at our gates," I averted any worries towards me, back to the threat beyond our walls. Outside our gates, as they blocked off the gate, where people needed to come back in through.

Everyone had glanced behind me, to the gates that were shaking from the force impacting against it. Walkers were beginning to pile up against each other and would soon snap it off its hinges, if we were as unlucky as we were lately. "What do we do?" Rosita asked me, hanging on to each word I said.

Panting, I looked behind me, the gate wouldn't hold it and the walkers were only going to cause noise. "The walls will hold," I felt sure of this. "We wait it out, hopefully they'll get bored and find something else to draw them away."

If they didn't leave soon, they were going to cluster up against the gate, the walls. We needed to move them, to spread them out or to draw them somewhere else for now. To clear the gates, in case someone came back.

Maggie nodded slowly, sadly, like she too had been suffering the same pain I have, not knowing what happened to Kat or to Glenn. I had to have faith she got out of there. She wanted me to have faith. "Get yourselves cleaned up, we all need to after what happened today," Maggie encouraged, as she too was just as dirty but wouldn't. Not yet. She needed to see if Glenn would come back.


CPOV

Sat there with Judith, I had been staring at the paper Enid left me for what felt like years but had most likely been less than hours. Hearing the door swing open and heavy footsteps come through, I got up and rushed to the door. No longer expecting a threat to be coming in through the door.

Upon laying my eyes on my father, I rushed over to him and hugged him. "Dad!" I called, relieved to see he was home, even if he was in a mess. "What happened out there?" I wondered why he was absolutely covered in blood, dirt and sweat. "Where's Kat?"

Not seeing my eldest sister beside him, had thoroughly freaked me out, made me wonder what exactly had happened out there. "You okay? Is Judith okay?" he was frantically looking between me and behind me.

His hands reached out to take my head in his hands. "We're fine," I assured him all was fine with me and my baby sister. "Dad, where's Kat? What happened?" I tried again with asking him. I needed answers.

"Those attackers didn't come in, did they?" dad was ignoring my questions and it was beginning to annoy me that he was doing his best to avoid it.

With a soft sigh, I felt my shoulders slump with my answer. "No," I answered him.

All they had done, was stay outside, torturing people and luckily, no one dared come in to our house. Not a soul. "Good," dad nodded, his hand went to rest on the back of my head. After a long time, he didn't say anything as he glanced around the room, as though he were looking for something.

Finally, his mouth opened and said the words I feared he'd say. "She's still out there," he said to me but didn't look at me. "She went with Glenn, was supposed to send me some sort of smoke signal...she never did," dad began explaining what was meant to happen after I assumed the barricade didn't hold.

They had been out there for a while, which only convinced me that they were busy with that. "Damn..." I sighed, hearing this news. I didn't feel any fear or worry. Kat was capable of surviving out there, by herself. She'd proved it way before we opened our eyes to it. "She'll be back..."

"You're so sure," dad caught on to my positive attitude to the news. I didn't fear that Kat wouldn't come back, in my gut, I knew she was still out there.

Neither her or Glenn were dead. I had to believe that. Dad's eyebrows were furrowed, stunned by my certainty. "We've got to be," I shrugged a shoulder and kept my eyes focused on his. "Nothing's killed her yet," this was a fact. "She'll do whatever it takes to get back to us. I know it," I had to stay positive because so far, my sister was still surprising us with her willpower to live.

"So will Glenn," I was sure of this. Glenn and Kat, they had to come back to us. For our sake and for Maggie's. It was clear that there had to be someone positively thinking that they were still out there somewhere.


RPOV

Unable to clean myself up, the best I could do was drink some water and head back to the others. Now that I knew Carl and Judith were safe, I had to face the others, who were all gathered near the gates, terrified of what I lead back to them. Examining all the panels in the walls, I made sure to get help from some of them men to keep the panel that could crumble to stay strong by reinforcing it with logs to keep it steady.

"You can hear it. Some of you saw it. They got back here, half of them. Still enough to surround us 20 deep. Look, I know you're scared. You haven't seen anything like this. You haven't been through anything like this. But we're safe for now," I tried to sooth them into the reality of this all. If they were afraid, it was normal but they couldn't let fear control them.

Everyone was stood around, listening to me speak, afraid of what was outside their gates. "The panel the truck hit seems intact. We reinforced it just in case. Either way, the wall's gonna hold together," everything would be fine, or so I had to assure them. There were ways around the issues we were facing. "Can you?" I asked them. No one had answered my question.

My mind had wandered back to my daughter, to Glenn, to the others still out there. "The others, they're gonna be back," I had to be sure of this. Taking the spirit of my son's into my own positive thinking.

"They're gonna be back," Rosita had agreed with me, nodding as she tried to keep her own hopes up. She had to, for Abraham.

Nodding, I was pleased that our group was having faith that we would see our loved ones again. "Daryl, Abraham, Sasha, they have vehicles. They're gonna lead 'em away, just like the others," I was sure that these three were more capable of anything to get back to us.

"And Glenn, Kat and Nicholas are gonna walk back through the front gate after," I pointed to the front gate. Maggie was nodding, hopeful that the ones we loved out there, would return safely to us. Kat has to come back. She has to.

Looking to Carl, he looked at me proudly, like he too was pleased with my words of hope. Carl was right, they could handle themselves out there. We had to believe in that. "They know what they're doing, and we know what we need to do. We keep noise to a minimum. Pull our blinds at night. Even better, keep the lights out. We'll try to make this place as quiet as a graveyard, see if they move on," this was going to have to be our next steps. If we were going to survive the herd knocking on our walls, we needed to draw as little attention to us as possible.

"This place is a graveyard," Francine interjected with a disheartened tone.

The banging, the growling, it all continued outside our walls and Francine was still upset over the attack. There were no words I could find to sooth a situation like this. I had no answer for what happened. I wasn't here.

Nodding, I could agree that this was a horrible thing that happened but there was no way I could have predicted this to happen. "The quarry broke open and those walkers were heading this way. All of them. The plan that Rick put into place stopped that from happening. He got half of them away," Aaron spoke up, trying to support me, defend me after everything that happened.

The way Aaron spoke up, it was like he was gearing himself for a confession. "I was out there recruiting with Daryl. I wanted to try to get into a cannery and scavenge, and Daryl wanted to keep looking for people. We did what I wanted...and we wound up in a trap set by those people," he admitted with shame.

What came next, was completely unexpected. "And I lost my pack. They must've followed our tracks. Those people who attacked us...they found their way back here because of me," Aaron had confessed with a sad look on his face.

He felt to blame for the wolves attacking. It was normal, it was a mistake. A costly one but it wasn't intentional. People were deeply saddened by the confession, so much so, I had, for the first time, seen Deanna walk away.

After all of that, I didn't know how to end this speech or how to finish the meeting with them all. Not after that bomb had been placed in front of us all by Aaron. "There'll be more to talk about," I tried to end it in the lightest way possible.

Tobin was gazing over to Deanna, watching while she walked off numbly, her body swaying. Was this how I looked when I lost Lori back at the prison? "Deanna? Deanna?" Tobin called out to her but she didn't turn around, didn't look back and kept walking.


MPOV

Entering my room, I felt a little weary after everything. Death had surrounded us out there, from walkers, to other survivors perishing because of the breakout of walkers from where they were being held. Returning to the house, I had gone to rest for a while, to clean all the dirt, mud and blood off of me.

Annie. Sturgess. Carter. David. So many of us had died out there today and I was already worried that maybe, Kat and Glenn were going to be added to that list. Whilst stood looking in the mirror, I had been blocking my vision to someone stood behind me. "Michonne," I heard Carl's little voice call out to me.

Turning around, I had hardly spoken to him since I got back. I didn't know how to tell him that his sister was missing. I didn't have the heart to tell him yet, I couldn't find the words. "Carl," I responded with my own calling of his name. "I'm so sorry for not coming to you and telling you what happened with your sister," I apologised, forcing myself to say the words I'd been trying to figure out all this time.

Carl shrugged a shoulder. "It's fine, dad told me," he assured me there was no hard feelings between us with my attempt at avoiding him. I was avoiding him, only because I didn't know how to break it to him. "I actually have faith that Kat and Glenn will make it back to us," Carl was biting on his bottom lip, tugging at a piece of skin that was chapping off his lips.

His confidence reminded me of Kat, of the time after the farm. "Good," I nodded, leaning against the bathroom counter. "Times like these, we need to stay positive," were the only words I could imagine Kat would say.

Letting out a small laugh, my eyes fell to the floor as the thought of Kat made me smile. "Or at least, that would be what Kat would say," just the thought of Kat, it was enough to remind me of just how capable she was to fight for something.

Without her even knowing if her family were safe, alive, she fought. Now that she knew they were home, safe and worth fighting for, I knew she would have enough energy to fight. "Yeah," Carl agreed with me. "That's what I was thinking too," his small smile had began appearing sadly on his lips once my eyes rose to look at him.

How silent Carl became, how his eyes fell and how he swallowed hard, made my brows crease to form a hard line between them. "It's why I have faith even if...even if maybe I shouldn't," Carl's voice cracked slightly before he cleared it and returned his gaze back up to me.

They softened a little, with sadness mostly and it hurt to think he forced himself to stay positive, even if he felt he shouldn't. "Carl..." I couldn't argue with him. All we could do, was hope and wait.

He hadn't moved but he did shift on his feet a little. "Seeing as Kat isn't here..." Carl began to speak. "I would normally tell her something like this but I trust you just as much as I trust her," Carl was digging his hand into his pocket.

I was curious as to what he was searching for. "What's going on Carl?" the way he had spoken to me, made me fear that maybe this was a secret he wanted to keep with Kat. That only because she wasn't here, he decided I was as good a choice as any.

"Enid," was Carl's quick answer. "She got out during the attack," he informed me of what Enid had to do with anything.

Furrowing my brows deeper, I knew something wasn't entirely right. Enid being out there, sounded like something horrifying to me. "How do you know?" I asked him.

Him making an assumption like this, was huge and from what I saw, I didn't find any faces amongst the pile that resembled Enid. "She left this behind," he said as he pulled a letter out from his back pocket. The words 'Just Survive Somehow' were on the paper. "Someone needs to go out there."

Carl sounded determined, like he was trying to either convince me to get someone to go out, or he would more likely go out there himself. "And you think it should be you?" I wondered why he sounded so confident.

Kat wouldn't want you out there alone. Neither would Rick. I wouldn't let him go out there. I'd die out there before he could. "Someone has to," Carl mumbled a little, his eyes held onto mine as our gazes met.

This wasn't my business but what I could recommend, was he didn't do something stupid without talking to Rick first. "Talk to your father," I said, handing him back the letter as my eyes glanced to the words written on paper.

Lightly taking the letter back, he looked annoyed by my suggestion. "He wouldn't understand," he was sure about this. "Thanks for the talk," he sighed out as he put the note back in his pocket and turned around.

"Carl," before I could stop him by calling out his name, he'd already rushed down the stairs and left through the front door.


RPOV

Watching Jessie had been dragging a body out, she looked to the pile of murderers and then to a shovel. Instead of adding her attacker onto the pile, she began to dig a hole for the woman who attacked her. "Don't," I panted, grunting when I lowered the body of one of our people onto the side that were for those that needed to be buried.

Strolling up to her, had caught her attention but my firm 'don't' had forced her to stop digging. "We don't bury killers inside the walls," was my rule when it came to who deserved to get buried and who didn't.

Sighing, Jessie had looked away from me, back to the body and then back up into my eyes. "We aren't going out there," she pointed out to me truthfully. "So what do we do?" she asked the question I felt dread to answer.

"We wait," was all I could say. I had to wait. For them. For her.


CPOV

Stepping outside for some air after the talk I had with Michonne, I was determined, I was confused and I felt completely helpless like I had before. Back when Kat had been out there and I thought she were dead. It was that same feeling this time but over two important women in my life. Both Kat and Enid were out there and I had no idea if they were alive.

As I walked further into the town, closer to the gates and to the walls, I had seen people writing names up on the panels. My eyes instinctively drawn to it as I scanned it. David. Sturgess. Adrian. Nicholas. Glenn. Kat. Seeing those last two names, felt like a nightmare. She can't be dead. She can't be.

Shaking my head, trying to clear any thoughts in my mind, I wandered past houses, down streets and eventually found Ron hiding behind one, sat on the grass and playing with his knife, digging it into the grass and pulling it out from the soil. "Hey. You okay?" I was cautious as I walked over to him.

Ron's eyes never looked up to meet me as I stalked closer to him. "Why wouldn't I be?" he grumbled in a tone that made me think he really wasn't okay.

Hopeful that maybe Enid had come back, or was just hiding somewhere, I didn't want the feeling I had to be true. That Enid was out there. "Have you seen Enid?" I asked him.

"Not since I saw her with you," he still wouldn't look at me while he answered my question.

Normally, we were fine. We had been fine before the problems started between my dad and his. Now that things got so fucked up, I wanted to give him space so we could hopefully rebuild our friendship. "I think she went over the wall just before the herd came and now she's trapped out there," my voice was soft, my assumptions made clear to him.

A humoured grin grew upon his features. "What makes you think she isn't dead?" he asked me in return, shaking his head slightly at the likelihood that he was amused I had faith she was out there.

Just like Kat, I had to hope Enid was alive. "Come on, man," his negative thinking, it wasn't helping anyone. Scoffing to himself, he put his knife back in his holster and got to his feet. "Look...I'll go find her. I just need your help. If you maybe climb up-" I was offering him to give me a hand, rather than wasting my time.

Once he was on his feet and fixed his pants, he turned to face me and stopped me from saying anything else. "I'm not helping you, Carl," he refused.

Feeling him already beginning to rebel against me too, I didn't know how else to save our friendship or our friend. "This isn't for me. It's for Enid. Your friend," I was doing my best to convince him to let me leave.

"My girlfriend," Ron corrected me, his voice raised a little as he stared directly into my eyes now. "Or, I mean, 'cause she was anyway, right?" he was still suggesting that perhaps she had died out there.

Not accepting that she was dead, I couldn't do that or think that way about Kat either. Neither of them were dead. They had to be out there. "So you want to just leave her out there?" I was confused as to why he was being so negative, as to why he would let her die out there and not want to bring her back.

Squinting at me, he took a step closer to me. "So leaving Enid out there isn't okay but it's fine to not go out there to look for your own sister instead?" he was perplexed as to why I was more worried about Enid than I was about Kat. "How does that work out, Carl?" he questioned me, my sanity and my relationship with my sister.

"Don't-" I warned him, my voice a little more firm as I took a step closer to him. Realising my intimidating stance, I stepped back a little. "Kat knows how to handle herself out there," I answered him the only way I could do.

Scoffing, he nodded his head and looked away from me before looking back at me. "I thought Enid did too," he retorted, flipping my own words against its head. "I told her to stop going over the wall, I told her there's bad people out there and that it's stupid and dangerous," Ron said after a few moments of silence.

Discussing Enid, it was really getting Ron mad and the more we were talking, the closer he stepped towards me. "Not if you know what you're doing," I defended Enid and her actions. Enid was smart, she was capable, just like Kat was I would hope.

Silence fell as we stared each other down for a few minutes. Ron wasn't cracking and I didn't see any light of him being convinced in his eyes. "Well, I'm not gonna let you go," he rejected me, firmer than what Michonne had earlier. Turning my back on him, I walked directly to the side of the wall that had no walkers around it. Ready to climb up the same way Enid always had.

"Carl," I heard Ron call after me and then footfalls coming closer. "Carl, you're not going out there," he was confident he was going to stop me as he took hold of my shoulder and tried to pull me back.

Feeling my shoulders tense, I had felt him pull on my shoulder and instantly, I spun around ans pushed him back. "Back off," I ordered him to keep the heck away from me. There was a look in his eyes, that he was ready for a fight, ready for a struggle and he wasn't going to let me leave. "Alright," I whispered, gearing myself up for a fight with him.

If he wasn't going to help me, he wasn't going to stop me either. Shoving me, I glared at him and took him by the shoulders. We had struggled on the spot before I shoved him harder to the ground. He fell flat on his back and coughed. "I'll tell your dad," was the only weapon Ron had against me, or so he thought.

Ignoring him, I turned my back on him and fixed my shirt off my shoulder. "He'll go out there to find you, then other people will go with him. If Kat comes back before you do, she'll go out there and look for you, too," he was listing all the people I cared about, all the people I knew would go in search of me.

Stopping, I had turned to listen to what he had to say and felt my heart stop at the mention of the ones I cared about most. "And then somebody's gonna die. Huh?" he gave me the ultimate fear of mine that I knew could potentially happen if I left. "You saved my life and now I'm saving yours," this was his excuse for making me not go out there.

His eyes had met mine, he was sure this was the case. Shaking my head, I walked back to the house and knew better than to leave when the sun was starting to set. If I leave, it has to be tomorrow. Right now, it's getting late and sunlight will be here for only a few hours more.


RPOV

Stood over a watch point, I was keeping an eye on the gates, making sure the walkers didn't get in and hoping that the others would be back soon. It was starting to get dark and I thought that Daryl, Sasha and Abraham would of almost made it back by now. I wanted them back. I wanted Kat and Glenn back home safe too.

"Daryl, Sasha, Abraham, you copy?" I called into the walkie talkie but nothing came back, not even static and even if I heard it, it was difficult to listen out for with the walkers knocking on the gates.

"Rick?" I heard a small voice call up to me. "Can I come up?" it had been Ron asking me for permission to join me up on the watch point.

The tower was in shreds, so the only way we could see, was through the small perch by the gates. "Yeah," I allowed him to join me up here. Slowly, the boy climbed up the ladder and joined me up on the watch point. The way Ron looked down at the mass of walkers outside our gates, made me know that he never saw a herd this big, or what was out there.

To me, it was a sign that Ron had never been out there before. "You haven't seen it," I stated the obvious by how his mouth hung open in a way that was both shock and surprise.

"No," he agreed with me. "Enid, she, uh..." he mentioned the girl I knew both Carl and him were fond of. "She used to sneak over the walls, spend time out there. You know, I don't know why. She just wanted to," slowly, he turned to face me as I would shift my gaze between him and the distance beyond the walkers. "But, um...I think she went out there after the attack," he made a huge assumption.

Everytime I looked out there, I was expecting Kat to show up with Glenn, or Daryl to ride up with Sasha and Abraham. I was expecting something. I was hoping, for something. As soon as Ron revealed this to me, I was shocked to hear this, coming from him. "What, she's still out there?" I asked him.

If she was out there and hadn't come back, there was a high chance that perhaps she was dead. Looking out into the distance, it worried me to know that a girl the same age as Carl was possible out there, alone. "Yeah," he answered me when I looked him straight in the eye. "We don't know where she is," Ron had told me honestly.

Glancing out there, I was shocked that the girl had sneaked out and could possibly have met her demise out there, alone. I had hoped Carl wouldn't do something as stupid and reckless as that. "You know, but she knows how to take care of herself. And we can't go out there," he laughed towards the end.

"Carl wanted to try," these words made me look at Ron concerned and he could hardly look me in the eyes hereafter. "I stopped him. I told him I'd tell you if he did. And then, um-I don't know. I just thought I should tell you-" the boy was mumbling his words, ratting my own son out to me.

The thought that Carl would dare to go out there and look for a girl he hardly knew, was something that worried me deeply. "Do you know where he is now?" I was beginning to feel panic, that maybe he'd left without talking to any of us about it other than Ron.

Ron seemed pretty calm as he met my gaze. "Yeah, he's back at the house," these words were the ones that soothed me. "I saw him on the porch with Judith," Ron gave me the whereabouts of my son, of where he was last seen. "I can keep guard, if you want," Ron offered.

If he had thought I was going to let him keep guard, he had another thing coming. He's just a kid and he is nowhere near as capable as Carl to look out for this town. He has no idea what he's doing up here. "Down there, they're guarding the place now," I pointed to the walkers at our gates. "This is just about keeping an eye out for the others that aren't back, looking for a sign from Glenn...and Kat," it was hard for me to say her name at the end as I took a deep breath and focused on what was at a distance.

"Alright," the information I had given Ron, seemed to be something he could work with better.

Placing my hand on his shoulder, I was only going to leave him for a moment so I could go check in on Carl. "Thank you," I thanked him for coming to me with this information and for the offer.

I hadn't rejected him yet but he could watch for the others, I was only going to take a few minutes to check up on Carl. "Um..." Ron stopped me in my tracks as I went to walk past him. "So I was thinking about what you said back at the quarry. And, uh, I mean, you're right. I need to know how to protect myself and my mom and brother," he was grinning at me as he said these words, all of which left me a little curious as to why the sudden change of heart.

In the back of my mind, something didn't feel right about this but I knew I had to try and trust the kid. He couldn't go against me and there was no reason to. The only reason, was that I had been the one to kill his father, under the command of Deanna. "This place. So can you teach me how to shoot?" he asked me after adding on the final thing he wanted to protect.

Looking him directly in the eyes, I knew Jessie wanted to teach him herself but he came to me. I wasn't going to turn him away. I couldn't. If someone was asking me for help, I had to show them. This was supposed to be my job in all of this.

Taking out my gun, I removed all my bullets and directed my revolver to the walkers beneath us. "There's your target," I encouraged him to come forward. Stepping closer to me, he took my gun gently from me and began aiming at the walkers. "Just relax," I said before I began to teach him how to shoot without any bullets to practice with.


CPOV

Checking in on Michonne, I had seen she was in hers and Kat's room, staring at the shirt of Kat's that had been left on the bed for later. She had planned to change into something more comfortable, more the style of the Grimes family, a shirt. I saw Michonne's fingers run over the fabric before she slid her sheathed her sword.

Watching her get to her feet, I wondered just where she was going. "Where are you going?" I asked her, trying not to surprise her as she turned and met my gaze before I spoke.

"Out," was her blunt answer but her expression was soft when she saw me.

Glancing outside, I could see the sun was starting to set, the warm tones in the sky was telling us that soon enough, nightfall would come upon us. "How? Past the gates?" I wondered if this was her plan because it was going to be impossible.

Then again, if she had opened the gates for only a few to pass, she could easily have covered herself in guts, took two of them and walked with them. Although, something told me that a space as tight in a herd like that, was only trouble for her. "No," she answered me with a small shake of her head.

Squinting, there was only one other option I could actually come up with. "You're going to climb the wall?" I tried this method and she hummed. "Why?" I had questioned her the moment she'd given me an answer that I finally could process.

Looking to her feet, she then raised her head to gaze into my eyes. "To find Kat and Glenn...maybe Enid along the way there, too," she was informing me of the vague plan she had.

But that wasn't what I was asking. "Why?" I tried again.

I knew she was going to go out there and look for Kat. There was no way she'd be able to catch up with Abraham, Daryl and Sasha in a few hours but maybe, she could catch up to Glenn and Kat. "I can't sit around and wait for something to happen," she sighed out, shaking her head softly as she would open up to me. "I don't want to lose anyone else again..."

Memories of all that we had lost had come down on me. She had a point. It was one of the reasons I wanted to go out there and find Enid. "Especially not Kat," I figured it out.

For Michonne, she'd lost lots of people in the past but I remembered how she told me that Kat, that me, dad and Andrea had all brought her back. Andrea died and she was angry, if Kat was dead too, she needed to know the truth. "Your sister means more to me than you know," Michonne was nodding to me.

"She's my best friend, my rock and not having her here...it worries me," her tone was soft, serious and I knew she was genuine about this. Kat had been with Michonne before she'd got back with us. Since the farm, they'd been together and looking out for each other. It was normal for Michonne to feel so strongly about looking for Kat.

But I knew Kat. "She'll be back," I was sure of it. She'd done it once before, I could only hope she could magic herself back every time she could. "But I'm not going to stop you," there was no point convincing her not to go.

I wanted to go but Michonne was more experienced and skilled going out there alone. If anyone could find her, it would be her. "She sure would..." Michonne laughed, her smile wide at the thought of my sister. "She'd offer to go instead of me," she pointed out the one thing we could all agree on when it came to Kat.

"It's not like you would let me go out there if I asked you to," I crossed my arms but smiled sadly, knowing if I had offered, she'd turn me down. No question.

Michonne had let out a sad laugh because she knew I was saying the truth. "You know, Kat always dreamed of somewhere like this, a place where she could see you, your mom and dad all living happily again. Somewhere that, felt almost like how it did before," Michonne told me something I didn't know about Kat. "Somewhere you could all be safe."

Hearing this, it made my arms fall to my sides again and eyes soften as I stared at her. Kat wanted something like this. We keep finding places like this. Places we can call home and I can say that I am glad we found each other. "Sometimes, I think that was what kept her going," Michonne snickered, the memory of the time they had before the prison clearly glazed over her eyes as she got lost in her thoughts.

"Well," I lightly cut in. "We found this place...it might not be what she pictured but..." I was trying to be positive because it was facts. The only difference was, was that we were here without mom and a few others she might of imagined back then.

Remembering mom, it made my heart sink a little. That kind of pain, losing a loved one, it never leaves and I finally figured that out. "It's close enough," Michonne had finished for me, her lip twitching at a corner as she spoke the words.

Silence had invaded our space for a few minutes, enveloping us whilst our eyes met in sad comfort. "I'm going to go look for them because I'm the only one who can," Michonne announced. "Your dad has to wait for the others and you, have to be here for Judith," she was giving me reasons as to why me or my dad couldn't go out there instead.

Glancing behind her, through the window and at the sunset, I saw that the sun was slowly going further down, almost to the point that it was too dark for her go out there now. "Tomorrow," I said one word, leaving her perplexed. "Leave tomorrow," I clarified. "It's getting dark out there and I need a hand with cleaning Judith's play area before dad gets back," I gave her an excuse to stay.

A small laugh escaped her as she gazed at me with a smile on her lips. She really cares about us. We make her happy. I can feel it. I can see it. "Tomorrow," she agreed with my suggestion before she followed after me to Judith's bedroom, cleaning up her play area together as we would laugh and smile at one another.


RPOV

While I was out, doing a patrol around the place, making sure everyone's lights were out and they were keeping noises to a minimum, I had heard a scream in the distance. Running as fast as I could to where I heard the scream, I had seen Deanna screaming and stabbing a walker repetitively with a broken bottle top.

Taking my knife, I rushed over to her, crouched down and stabbed the walker at the back of his head. Grunting as I yanked my knife back out and felt the body go limp above my hand. Letting it drop, I looked at Deanna and noticed how she was panting, she had been letting out all her pent up anger on the walker and I hadn't been sure she would of survived if I hadn't saved her.

She might of had it pinned but it had been grabbing for her. Why she didn't kill it with a stab to it's head before I got there, I wasn't sure. Something was wrong with her, I could see it in her eyes because that had been me not long ago. "Carol said she got one of them, but she couldn't find the body. He must have been under there," I pointed towards a space under one of the houses that had been pulled at a part under the porch.

Noticing the W on his forehead, I had remembered that Carol had told me she saw one get away but he had been bleeding. Where he must have been, was under a porch, as I saw Deanna slowly raise herself but she was shaking.

Offering her my hand, I wanted to help steady her. Blood covered her face, her clothes and her hands. The sweat that made her hair stick to her bloody face showed she really had put all of her anger into killing that walker. "I want to live," she said with an exhausted look on her face. "I want this place to stay standing," was her biggest hope.

Panting, I was still trying to catch my breath from the run there but stepping closer to her, I knew she was feeling the same way I had when Lori died. She was numb, lost and trying to find her way back. Even if she meant her words, she didn't have her head in the right place yet. "You need to lead them," I advised her.

These people, they needed her. They looked to her for guidance, for order. The same way mine had while I had been lost from the pain of losing Lori. Chuckling to herself, she didn't keep her eyes off of mine. "They don't need me, Rick," she told me. "What they need is you," she spoke like this had been a statement.

What I had felt, was like she was handing me over a baton, a lantern, like I was supposed to be the next leader or something. The one who was going to take this place to the finish line. Not wanting to argue with her, deep down, I knew she was right.

Deanna was weak, she didn't know what life was really like out there and I did. I was a leader before. I knew how to lead people, to teach them to survive and to expect the unexpected always. Looking to the floor, to the walker, I knew she was right. Stepping over the walker, Deanna began collecting a tray of something off the floor. Joining her, I began helping her as I tried to store the things she dropped back in the basket.

"What I wanted for this place, was it really just pie in the sky?" she asked me with a slight humorous tone in her voice.

Looking into her eyes, I couldn't lie to her. I couldn't say that what she wanted was pathetic because it was something we could achieve but with a right way of doing it. People out there weren't always civilised and we needed to be smart, strong. Life out there, wasn't perfect but if we worked together and worked at it correctly, it was achievable. "No," I answered her honestly.

With a small smile on her face, she began collecting the things again and I helped her. "What were you doing with all this?" I asked, once we began clearing the rest of it back inside the basket.

I realised the food was a huge amount than what we were supposed to use from the pantry after the rationing began. "I was returning it," Deanna explained to me. "Spencer, he took it from the pantry," she gave me further details of just what her son was capable of after giving the speech he gave.

Swallowing hard, I realised what a piece of shit he could be in that second. Made me trust him a little less. If he could give a speech and go against all he said, it was a kind of liar I didn't know if I could trust. "You know, I saw him today, talking to our people. Convincing them not to take more than they needed of our rations," Deanna laughed a little. "He sounded like a true leader," for something that should of sounded proud, she sounded disappointed.

Letting a little laugh, I remembered how Kat was quick to take over whenever I was failing back in the prison. How she could take charge, sounding more like a leader than I did sometimes, it made me proud of her. I was proud of the woman she became before my very eyes. "I can relate to that," I nodded, a small smile cracking over my features.

A smile was rare for me but with Kat, with my children, they were my reason to smile. The thought of her out there though, had my smile falling and eyes glued to the ground. "Kat," Deanna had figured out who I was talking about, who I was thinking about. "She'll make it," she was sure of this, nodding her head slowly.

"If she's anything like you, she'll find a way to get back here," her certainty sounded like a comfort to me. If there was any clarity in her, I was hoping this was it. "Spencer, he-he's not cut out for this world," she was sure of this much, what I had heard from Maggie, was that Spencer hid with Deanna, instead of fighting against the wolves.

Regardless if she was right about it, I was going to do my best to help him, to make him confident in himself. "Kat's strong and she's got hope, Spencer doesn't," all the words Deanna said, was bringing my daughter higher up and Spencer further down.

If he had been here, I was sure his confidence would of fallen even more. Which was something I didn't want for anyone. "Don't say that about your own son, he-" I went to argue with her, to make her see that not having faith in him, wasn't going to help any of us.

"I thought, for only a second, that he would become a great leader, be the one these people needed," she cut in, stopping me from saying anything positive about Spencer. "I'm weak Rick. I'm not the same person I was before. Everyone can see that. You need to lead them," we had stopped clearing things up and had stayed crouched, staring at one another. "Not me. Not Spencer. You."

Again, I couldn't disagree with her. Not when these people needed a stronger leader, someone that knew the world out there. I had hopes that if I had been here when the wolves attacked, less of us would of died and if they were all trained properly, then they might likely have stood a chance against them.

Instead, none of them fought and those that did either really did try or were saved by someone from my group. "You know, I thought for the longest time, that my daughter Kat, had died back at the farm. The place where we met Maggie and her family," I began opening up to Deanna, she needed a story to help her build herself back up again.

"A herd came through, almost as big as this one," I glanced to the walls and Deanna followed my line of vision, we could still hear the walkers growling outside our gates from where we were. "We got separated. Michonne found her, protected her. But what I felt, that pain of thinking my child was dead...it was crippling," I admitted to her.

Thinking that Kat was dead, it almost killed me. My baby girl, being out there, dead, it was an awful thought for any parent to hold onto. A child was supposed to die after a parent had perished. Those were the kinds of thoughts that plagued me and hurt my heart the more I had thought about it.

Deanna had lost a son and her partner. I had lost my daughter and my wife at one point. Until we had attacked Woodbury, I found Kat and felt a little more at ease. "When she found us, I had a part of me back again and more," I tried to give her some hope. "What we think of our kids...sometimes, they have the ability to prove us wrong," Kat had done as much by surviving the one time I genuinely believed I had lost her.

It was the main reason why I was trying to have faith she was still out there. "It's not how we process it, or accept it, it's how we move forward with it. Have faith in him, show him the right path. He'll follow..." I had confidence that Spencer would go down the right path after learning from his mother, after leaning on one another like they should at a time like this.

Standing up, I handed Deanna back her basket and her eyes were soft, warm and the way she looked at me with admiration, made me feel as though maybe, just maybe, she had hope again. If Kat was here, I'd hope she'd be proud of me. "Thank you, Rick," Deanna said with all the softness in her tone of voice. She appreciates me and my words...I hope.


MPOV

Grabbing my things, I knew I had promised Carl that I wouldn't be leaving but I couldn't keep that promise. Not when all I could do, was sit there and think about Kat, think of the times we spent, the days, the nights, the pain and the fights. All of it. She's your best friend. Get up and help her get back. She'd do that if you were out there.

My thoughts plagued my every attempt to get some rest. Carl had been in his room, reading some comics before bed so I knew if I was sneaky, I could slip out unnoticed. Leaving, I had taken my sword and headed to a wall. The first foot that I placed to climb up, was all it took for a recognisable voice to call to me. "You leaving again?" I heard his voice ask me.

Sighing, I turned around and saw Rick stood behind me, looking at me curiously as he clenched his jaw and squinted at me. "Yeah," I answered him. "Someone's got to go out there and find them," I couldn't lie to him.

I saw no point in lying to him. "How?" he questioned me but before I could answer, he was already talking. "You think that climbing up that wall, you're going to somehow avoid the herd?" he bombarded me with his questions. "We're surrounded, Michonne," he reminded me. "You can't-we can't risk that," Rick was showing a kind of concern that slowly huffed out of him.

He was taking breaths between his small sighs. "Every day is a risk, Rick," I shook my head at him with a sad smile crossing my features. "Kat could be in danger out there right now and you're worried that letting me out there is a risk not worth taking?" I questioned him back, he didn't want me out there, looking for his daughter? That sounded far more absurd to me than anything else I heard today. "That's your daughter and my best friend out there," I reminded him what she meant to us.

Glenn was family too but Kat had direct impact on us because for us, her connection to us was stronger. She was his flesh and blood and my soul companion. "I know," Rick nodded, his jaw tensing at the reminder. "But you know Kat, I'd say you know this version of her better than I do," he said to me confidently.

Rick took a few steps closer to me, his footfalls were heavy and slow. "She's brave, smart and she knows how to survive out there," he was confident in his words when it came to referring to his daughter. "From what I heard, you taught her what she knows," his eyes smiled at me as they gazed at me softly.

"Only some," I agreed with him partly. "The rest was all her," I stated the facts. Kat was a smart girl and she did that by herself.

Remembering of the time we had shared with Andrea, I remembered how she was the smart one, I was the skilled fighter but Kat was the brains of how we could get out of any situation. "Which only convinces me more that she's got what it takes," Rick was feeling sure that Kat was going to make it.

He had faith that she'd be returning with Glenn through those gates. Myself, I wanted to feel that way too but I didn't know. Something didn't feel right. It was already dark and she wasn't back yet. "It's not just Kat or Glenn I'm worried about," I sighed out.

Since Carl wanted to go out and find Enid, I knew that it was best for me to leave early enough to make sure Carl didn't do anything stupid. With me being gone, he had less of a chance to go out there alone. "Enid," Rick figured it out without me even saying it. "Ron told me," he informed me of who would of told him. "Did Carl talk to you?" he was a little stunned to be figuring out that Carl had spoken to me and not to him.

Frowning, my eyes fell to the ground as I said the next few words. "I told him to talk to you..." I did inform him that I had advised Carl on what to do instead of going out there. "This was the only way I thought would get him to stay here," I was trying to explain that me leaving, was the sole plan I had to make sure Carl stayed in Alexandria's walls.

Nodding, Rick was swallowing and clenching his jaw as he glanced around. "If Enid is out there, we'll find her once this is over," he said, making me feel like us not leading the walkers to her, was the thought that came to Rick when it came to the search of Enid.

"Who knows? Maybe Kat or Glenn found her and are bringing her right back home as we speak," Rick was being completely positive when I'd heard he'd had a few doubts earlier. "We don't know what's going out there and I need you here," he shrugged his shoulders, his hands going to his hips. "We need to have faith that they are still out there and are coming back."

"How?" I asked him, I wanted to keep a strong positive mindset but with nightfall on us and no sign of Kat or Glenn, it worried me far more than I wanted to admit.

Silence had enveloped the fresh night, as we gazed at one another for the longest time without saying anything to one another. "We just got to," was the only thing he said to try and convince me to stay. He needed me and I wasn't going to abandon him if this was true.


RPOV

Going back on patrol, I saw that Jessie's lights were still on in the garage, approaching her house, I saw that she was stood there, fondling a shirt that had a hole in it. My steps were slow, quiet but her eyes had found mine almost instantly. "Those bodies by the graveyard...the reason I wanted to wait was...was Glenn. Kat," saying her name right now, it made me tremble to think my daughter was still out there.

All I could do, was hope and wish for her to come home. That they had all made it out and were going to be back soon. "We don't know if they are still out there. And Daryl, Sasha, Abraham. I wanted them back by now," the list was just ongoing of those I was waiting on. "I wanted those things gone. I just wanted to wait," I told her. "I needed to wait," I explained that there was more than just a want behind this.

Nodding, her eyes were sad. For me, for those I was missing here. For all of them out there we were waiting for. "For her," Jessie could understand that my main worry, had been my daughter. It was her I needed to wait for. "You said it could go on a while," she tried to change the topic a little.

"I did and it could," I agreed, nodding a few times.

Her eyes became a little firm as they didn't look away from me. "Rick, it already has," she corrected me. "They could still be alive. We're not moving past that," she was going to support me on this. "You know, it's just-right here, in this moment...this is it, this is what it is," she tried to give me the same kind of speech I heard she'd made with others.

"'This is what life looks like now,'" I quoted her words.

When I looked back to her face, she looked stunned, almost shocked and upset to find out I knew about this speech she gave everyone. "You heard about that?" she nodded along, her eyes falling to the ground with slight sadness. "I wasn't saying there wasn't a future," she tried to explain what she meant. "There's gotta be," she wanted to be hopeful but her voice trembled a little as she placed the shirt back onto the line. "Tell me there's more," she pleaded of me.

I didn't know what to say, or how to say it but I knew that sometimes, actions were better than words. Not denying my feelings for her any longer, I took a few slow steps closer to her and brushed some hair away from her face. My blue optics gazing into her light greens. As I leaned in to softly caress her lips with mine overlapping hers, she returned it. Our eyes shut as we just let the moment take us where it wanted us to go.

It was like we were clutching onto the hope that life had more meaning to it than just surviving. Than suffering. That something good could come out of all of this. That there was hope in something, even if it was as small as the chance of love, I wanted her to feel it. I wanted to feel it, with her. Her hands held onto my shoulders, on my neck, my face. It didn't know where to go as we held onto one another and let the kiss grow deeper. Surrendering ourselves to what we'd been holding off on for what felt like forever.


CPOV

Judith had woken up, crying for attention as I went to search for Michonne, I had seen she was still in her room, trying to get some sleep. More than likely, she would leave in the morning and leaving at night, it was a good chance to slip out, had my father not been patrolling the area and I knew I would of been screwed if I got caught.

Instead, I picked Judith up and took her outside, feeling that she was a little warm, I decided to sit out on the porch with her sat on my lap. "Kat. She'll be walking through those gates...just you wait and see," I mumbled softly to her as I pointed at the gates. "You'll be scooped up in her arms in no time. Just like the first time," I was keeping positive about this, as I knew I should be.

"Before you were born, Kat was out there, for a long time...surviving. Fighting with Michonne and Andrea by her side. We lost Andrea but Kat always made it. She'd been out there with them, fighting for months, all while we thought she died," I was telling Judith of the story I loved most about Kat when it came to this world.

There were many more stories about Kat that I loved to tell her but it would have to be for another time. "When mom died, I thought that was it, that those I loved would disappear the more I failed them. Days passed, weeks, then one day, Kat surprised us all and walked through the gates of the prison," the story felt dark at the start but eventually, it was so bright especially about the part that Kat reappeared into our lives.

Despite this not being a bedtime story, it was a good story to tell Judith anyway. Something I needed to hear to boost my own hopes up. "She was alive when we all thought she was dead. She's done this before, she fought the Governor, killed a man with her bare hands for me..." I listed all the incredible things I knew Kat was capable of doing on her own.

The more I thought about Kat, the more I wondered what mom would of thought if she knew all of this. "Kat is going to walk through those gates, because that's what Kat does. She's a survivor and while she has us, she has something to fight for," I was confident in this. "And that, is why she'll be walking through those gates. Wait and see," I whispered to Judith, bouncing her on my lap before I kissed her head softly.


EPOV

Rounding a corner, I felt something following me, like it was a walker that had spotted me after I'd done so much running, trying to escape Kat after she followed me out of the building. Trying to lose her, I didn't want to get caught with her and have her drag me back home. Just as I rounded the corner, I felt a hand slap down on my mouth and drag me into a building with them.

Struggling against them, I was squealing and wriggling out of their hold. "Stop. Stop, stop," I heard a female whisper in my ear. "Enid..." how they knew my name, made me realise exactly who it was that captured me. "I need you to be quiet," she told me before slowly removing her hand from my mouth.

Ducking down, the walker began walking past the door and past the window. The door didn't look sturdy or like it could lock properly. As soon as the walker left, Kat had pulled a heavy desk to block it from having anything enter through it, blocking them any entry into the building. "Did Carl follow you?" Kat asked me the second we were safe.

"No," I answered her instantly, wanting to get away from her as quickly as possible again.

Glancing at all the exits as she spoke, Kat was nervous, I could see she was hoping to keep us safe and was doing things right by blocking the windows, the doors and locking us in tight where she could. When I looked around, I noticed a few walkers had been killed, more than likely by Kat, as they looked fresh.

Checking out one window, Kat had said her next words while glancing outside sneakily. "What happened back there?" she asked me a question I wasn't wanting to answer her.

Knowing that sometimes, answers needed to be said and if she asked me about Carl, there was no way I could say no to talking about him. "What always happens to the good places," I stated to her, thinking it would be obvious to her. "People attacked us, they did exactly what I expected," I informed her in detail.

How she looked at me, made me realise that maybe she had been through something similar before. "Carl? Judith? Are they?..." she wanted to know if her siblings were dead, by how her voice shook a little, I knew it had to be that.

My eyes fell to the ground as I began looking around, searching the room for anything good to take. "No, not when I left and the fight was dying down when I escaped," I would answer her list of endless questions. I already had plans to escape, to leave her there and run away from there as fast as possible.

Moving to the back door, I went to drag the desk back so I could leave but Kat quickly rushed over and shoved it hard against the door. "You're not leaving," she threatened me. Or at the very least, instead of it being protective, it felt more like an order to me.

Frustrated, I didn't like being caged somewhere I evidently didn't want to be. "Why?" I glared at her. "Why can't you just let me go? You got your answers and I don't want to be here," I tried to make her see reason.

Somehow, I felt like she wasn't going to give up and no matter what I said, she was going to stop me from leaving for now. "Carl wouldn't forgive me and I couldn't forgive myself either," was her reason. "Now sit down, be quiet and get some sleep," she ordered.

Going to open my mouth and argue back, she stopped me by butting in. "I'll wake you up when it's your turn to watch," was her excuse as to why she needed me around.

It was getting dark and I couldn't go out there while it was dark. It was always the main fear of mine and I could hardly ever sleep when I was alone out there. Now that Kat was here, I thought I might as well use it to my advantage and would take turns with her throughout the night. Each hour that we either slept or kept watch, was boring. Until towards the end.

Eventually, I sneaked over to her small pouch, took some of her food and dumped it into my backpack. As soon as dawn came, I lifted the desk only a little and stepped outside. Leaving Kat alone, I was sure she'd wake up, hating me for leaving her behind and not changing shifts as she heavily slept through the hours that remained.

I needed to get away from her. From Alexandria and I needed to be alone. Losing more people, wasn't what I could live with anymore and losing a home, was not my plan. That was never home to begin with. It was a fairy tale land that I was never a part of.


A/N: Hope you enjoyed this chapter! This was the 3 out of 7 chapters that I posted today. As a treat, for all of you who have been reading along for a long time, you have more to read now. As we desperately need to get closer to latest episodes of the walking dead because...I have huge plans ahead. From season 6, 7, 8, 9 and now, 10! There are lots that will be happening now. So stay tuned for when we get to the later stages.

Please, leave a review, I love to know what you think and enjoy the rest of the chapters!

Questions to answer in the reviews:

1) What did you think of this chapter?

2) Are you enjoying this season you are currently reading so far?

3) What was your favourite scene in this chapter?

4) Did you think I could of added something else in this chapter?

5) What did you think of the final scene? Do you like Enid's POV or would you of preferred it to have been Kat's POV?

Much love,

HeroJustInTime90