Enid left the kitchen completely overwhelmed by what had just happened. She'd done what she thought was impossible. She saved the baby and Michonne. She had done a C-section, stopped a massive amount of bleeding, completed two blood transfusions and removed the knife. It was like every medical procedure that she had read about and watched Winston and Dr. Carson complete had come back to her in that moment, guiding her. She was exhausted, but she knew she still had work to do. The baby boy had to be checked on, and Michonne had to be monitored.

She opened her bedroom door to find Carl sitting on the floor with his sisters and Tommy, holding the baby in one arm while playing Candy Land with the other. He looked so natural, surrounded by children, that she smiled and paused to observe the view, unconsciously putting her hand on her own belly.

Soon he'll be holding our baby like that... But what if I go into labor early? What if there's something wrong? What if I have to have a C-section too? There's no doctor here. Dr. Carson is dead. There's no one to help me.

Enid broke down, sobbing as she leaned against the bedroom doorway. Her cries startled the gamers, and their heads snapped up to see the source of the noise. Carl quickly passed the baby to Judy and jumped up to wrap his arms around his wife.

"Enid? Enid! What happened? Are you ok?" he asked, holding her close so that her sobs fell into his chest. She didn't immediately answer, striking up that uncontrollable fear in Carl that he'd lost his mother again. He pulled back from Enid, trying to look into her eyes.

Enid, knowing that he wanted confirmation that Michonne wasn't dead, nodded. "She's ok… I saved her… I think I saved her". Enid's eyes were glancing everywhere but his, and Carl knew something was really bothering her.

Carl cupped both of Enid's cheeks with his hands and kissed her gently. "What is it?" he asked.

"Dr. Carson is dead… we don't have anyone for our baby… what if I need someone? What if I need surgery?"

Carl knew she was overwhelmed by everything that happened that night. In the span of a few hours she had been attacked by Walker People, and had almost lost her husband and family members too. Plus, she had lost her mentor who had taught her almost everything she knew about medicine. She and Dr. Carson had been close and his death was hard on her.

"I know Enid, I know you're scared now. But how about this, when you're getting closer to delivery we'll move back to Alexandria so Winston can take care of you. Ok? You'll be fine, our baby will be fine. And you just freakin' saved my mom and my brother. You're a rockstar Enid. I'm so proud of you baby."

Enid pulled her head away from Carl's chest, looked up at him and smiled. He leaned down and gave her a peck on the lips. "You need to rest now. You've been on your feet for hours."

"No. I have to give the baby a check-up. I need to make sure he's ok" Enid said tiredly, but Carl knew she wasn't taking no for an answer.

"Ok. But promise me when you're done doing what you're doing you'll lay down for a few hours."

Enid shrugged. "I'll try".

She took the sleeping baby from Judy and brought him back into the kitchen to check him out, Carl right behind her. Michonne was still laying on the table, now completely covered with the sheet to keep her warm. Rick was sitting on a dining room chair that was placed by the table, but had fallen asleep, resting his head on her shoulder. Carl, not wanting to wake him, moved over to Michonne and looked down at her. She looked pale, but she was breathing, and that was something. Carl smoothed her locks back and kissed her cheek. "Keep fighting mom" he whispered.

Carl then went over to Enid as she laid his little brother on the counter. "Enid, I have to go out there and see what's happening. I need to rally up everyone to get rid of the Walkers that are left, I need to find out who else we've lost, and I have to find Gregory. He's gonna pay for everything that he's done."

Enid sighed. She knew that Carl had to go back out there, she was just worried. Carl still didn't know that she was slashed in the thigh because Gregory had abandoned her, and she decided not to add insult to injury. Carl already had enough justification to kill that sad excuse for a man, he didn't need more. "Ok, be safe" she said as they kissed, and then Carl was gone.

Enid unwrapped the tiny baby boy from the towel. His body had gotten pinker which was a good sign that he was breathing well. When she moved the towel from his body and exposed him to the cooler air in the kitchen he began to cry and angrily flail his arms and legs. She noted that he was moving the leg with the stitches fairly well.

"So you're a little fighter too, huh?" she cooed to the baby. She took her stethoscope and listened to his tiny heart. His heartbeat was steady, but she could hear a small heart murmur which was to be expected from a preemie. Hopefully it would close up on its own. She rubbed her finger against his palm and he quickly squeezed his hand closed, gripping her finger. "Wow, and you have a strong grip too, just like your mama."

The baby's crying woke Rick, and he quickly went to join Enid. "Is he looking ok?" Rick asked. "Yep, for now. But he's not out of danger in the least. He has to be monitored to make sure he's breathing normally. His lungs aren't fully developed yet and he could stop…" Enid glanced at Rick's face and saw tears welling up in his eyes.

"It's ok Rick, he's survived so much already. He's hanging in there. Hey, why don't you help me test him?" Enid asked, trying to get Rick thinking about something positive.

Rick nodded. "What do I do?"

"Move behind his head where he can't see you. We're gonna test his hearing. Ok, now clap." Enid ordered. Rick clapped his hands once and the baby's hands moved outwards in a startle reflex. "Ok, good. He heard that."

Rick smiled and bent down to kiss his son's forehead. "Sorry buddy".

Enid wrapped the boy up again. "I have a few more tests, but what's most important right now is that he eats and is warm. We don't have formula here, but we do have cow's milk. It's not the best for him, but it may be the only alternative for a while if we can't get him to latch on to Michonne, or she isn't producing milk yet. But we can try."

"She can feed him? Even if she's not awake?" Rick asked.

"Yes, if he can latch on. We'll have to help him, and be careful not to irritate Michonne's wounds."

Rick nodded his head. He'd do anything if it meant his son got what he needed.

Rick carried the baby over to Michonne and gently pulled down the sheet that was covering her. Enid quickly checked Michonne's heartbeat and was pleased to hear it was returning to normal.

"Ok, lay him on her chest" Enid ordered "make sure he isn't on a bandage".

Rick lay the baby on Michonne's chest and he laid the towel on top of the boy so he would stay warm.

"Now what?" Rick asked, "Do we have to put the nipple in his mouth?"

"Just wait" Enid said.

Rick didn't know what they were waiting for. His son was hungry and it seemed pretty cruel putting him so close to his food source but not helping him get it. He was about to tell Enid that, when he noticed his son slowly rolling and pushing himself up Michonne's body. Rick was amazed. Slowly but surely, the baby was actually crawling closer to a nipple.

"I… I've never seen this before!" Rick said. "How is he crawling?"

"It's called the breast crawl. Babies can smell the milk and they instinctively will crawl to it and latch on. I read about it in one of the pregnancy books I've been reading, but I've never seen it before either."

Rick was mesmerized. The boy finally made it to the nipple. It took more than a few tries, but eventually he found one and to everyone's delight he latched on and began to suckle. Rick, who was an emotional mess already, cried for the billionth time that night, and gently rubbed the baby's back as he ate.

"Ok, just watch him. When he's finished eating he'll definitely fall asleep right there. He'll have a hard time controlling his body temperature, but letting him sleep against Michonne's chest will keep him warm. Or he can sleep against yours if you think he'll fall off of her."

Rick nodded. "Go get some rest Enid, you've more than earned it. I'll keep an eye on them. Tell the kids to come in here so you can get some sleep."

Enid sleepily made her way out of the kitchen and noticed Lydia dragging the forgotten Walker People bodies out of the front door. Enid was grateful that the dead people were out of her living room, but now that her adrenaline rush was running low, she realized how exhausted she really was. She entered her room and sent the kids to the kitchen with Rick. She shut off the lights and before she realized she was in the bed she was asleep.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Carl walked out of his home onto the dark streets of the Hilltop. It was early morning and the sky was a dark blue. The sun would be rising in a little while. The air smelled rank with the smell of decomposing corpses. The streets were littered with walkers and humans alike, and the view was disturbing. It reminded him of how his father described Alexandria after their attack from a huge Walker herd. Carl had never seen the aftermath, because he'd been shot in the eye and was unconscious during the clean-up effort. Carl didn't see a single moving thing in the streets. He made his way to the front gates, hoping he'd see some of the Hilltop defense team, but he couldn't find anyone. It was like a ghost town.

His next stop was to check the big house, the last place where he saw members of the defense team gathered. As he walked towards the big house, he had an overwhelming urge to check Gregory's house first, just to see if that snake had actually gone home.

Carl turned and headed over to Gregory's house. If the man had any sense he'd had left the community already with plans to never come back, but Carl had the smallest of hunches he would find Gregory there. As he snuck up to the front porch and looked through the window he could see a light on in what looked to be the kitchen. The rest of the lights were off. Carl quietly tried the front door but it was locked. He snuck around the house and stood under the kitchen window. He heard at least three voices talking and he strained to hear what was being said but could only catch pieces of the conversation.

"Hurry..."

"...Enough food?"

"Doesn't matter, ...go while no one is outside"

"Where?"

"...think of something..."

"...weapons..."

"No time. The Grimes' will come looking for me."

It was Gregory, and he recognized the voices of Timothy, and probably that other man who had helped drag Carl to the Walker People camp.

Carl could only see red. A rage boiled up inside him unlike anything he had ever felt before. Even worse than what he felt after those Claimers had tried to rape him on the side of the road, or when Negan had slaughtered Abraham in front of them. He wanted all three of them dead for what they had done.

Subtleness gone, Carl smashed the kitchen window with his gun, causing shards of glass to fly everywhere. He barely registered he had cut himself, but he didn't care. He climbed through the window, startling the three men.

"Carl?!" Gregory gasped, his eyes wide and terrified, but Carl wasn't in a chatting mood. He pulled his knife and drove it through the third man's chest. Timothy turned to run and Carl threw his knife, hitting a bullseye in Timothy's back. Timothy screamed and collapsed to the floor but he wasn't dead. Carl aimed his gun at Gregory's face and approached him.

"Please Carl. Please. I was just trying to do what I thought was best for hilltop. That's all... Are you gonna murder me? You know how that'd make you look?"

"Like you?" Carl asked, "Because of you people are dead. Because of you those Walker People got in here. They tried to kill my mom and they almost killed her baby! They tried to kill my pregnant wife! You have the blood of dozens on your hands. You are a fucking coward!"

"Carl just... just calm down..." Gregory started. His words made Carl snap, and he pulled the trigger, blasting a hole through Gregory's head.

Timothy had been trying to quietly crawl out of the kitchen unnoticed, but Carl quickly caught up to him and ended him with a knife through the head. As Carl looked down at the three bodies, he felt justice had been served. It was because of these men that the walker people could even get into hilltop, and so many lives had been lost as a result.

Carl left the scene and continued on to the big house to find the rest of the defense team.

Xxxxxxxxxx

Lydia grunted as she dragged the heavy bodies of Alpha, Beta, and Gamma into the quiet street. Other bodies lay outside too, as if they had been put on the curb for trash pick up. She dropped the bodies of her leaders on the ground with a plop.

They had found her while she was living with her father and two older brothers in the back of an old tractor trailer. Her family had lived in the cramped quarters for months, eating and sleeping inside at night, and venturing out to scavenge for food or go fishing during the day.

When she first met Alpha, Lydia was fishing with her brothers while her father had gone a few miles down the road to check out an abandoned gas station.

Alpha and a few other masked people had come out of nowhere, quickly slaughtering her brothers as Lydia stood there stunned and horrified.

Lydia had never seen anything like the crazy people who looked like walkers and killed as savagely. As she stood before Alpha, shaking, she gave Lydia a choice. "You can die with them or you can be strong with us". Lydia stared at these skin wearing people for a while, too frozen in fear to speak or move a muscle.

"Well, girl?" another one asked.

Lydia opened her mouth, unsure of what she was going to say, when a rustle from the bushes startled them all.

"Lydia, boys, did you catch anyth…" her father began, when a spear flew through the air and pierced his stomach.

"Dad!" Lydia screamed, suddenly able to move again, and she raced over to him as he gasped in pain, completely bewildered about what was happening. Lydia pulled a knife and held it towards the skin wearers as she crouched over her father.

"She's useless" one of them said, "end her"

"No! Wait. She may be strong yet" Alpha said. Alpha approached Lydia and Lydia stood up as tall as she could, ready for an attack. She knew this woman could kill her in a second, but something came over Lydia. She wouldn't let her father die at this woman's hands. She wouldn't allow that to happen.

"He is dead" Alpha said, looking over at Lydia's father who was gasping for breath, his eyes wide. It was obvious that he was bleeding out. "And when you realize that he's dead, we will be gone and you will be alone. You may end him, and prove that you are strong enough to join us, or we will leave you here alone, and you will die like the rest."

Lydia looked down at her father whose eyes were now closed. He was taking his last breaths. She kneeled down and whispered in his ear "I love you dad. Thanks for protecting us for so long. I'm gonna let you go join Lynel and Louis now. You guys wait for me, ok? I'll be ok here… I'll survive. I promise." Her father didn't respond, but his breathing was getting slower and slower, and blood was virtually pouring out of him. Lydia kissed his cheek, held up her knife, closed her eyes, and stabbed her father in the head. Unable to continue to look at him, she picked up his book bag, and turned towards his murderers.

"Yes, I think you'll do just fine" Alpha said, "I will call you Sigma."

Thinking back on that moment, Lydia realized that she had no choice. She had to do what needed to be done to survive. She had lived with those people for over a year, but she had never considered them family. They were just necessary for her survival, that was it. And now they were no longer necessary. Now she was in a town, with people who didn't live in the woods like animals, and fight each other for dominance. She was with a family that had true love for each other again. Maybe she could fit in with them, but even if she couldn't, she would be fine living in one of the houses by herself. She just didn't want to be alone in the world.

She looked down at Alpha and said, "I don't need you anymore. I'm not alone." She then turned her back on the corpses and sat down on the porch of the trailer, keeping watch for the people who welcomed her into their home.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

When Carl entered the big house, words escaped him. There were bodies everywhere, blood was on the walls, and he noticed a path of bodies leading up the stairs. It looked like a massacre. In the midst of the carnage, 5 defense team members were arguing.

"We need to patrol and see if there are any more Walkers in the gates!"

"I'm not going back out there. It looks like everyone is dead. We're better off conserving our bullets and hitting the road. We can get to Alexandria or the Kingdom by foot in a day or two."

"Are you kidding me? We need to follow those Walker People. They escaped out the tunnel again. They know how to get in and they'll keep coming until we're all dead."

"We're already dead! Did you look outside?"

"Carl wouldn't want us to…"

"Carl is fucking dead!"

"Hey!" Carl said, interrupting the conversation.

All five heads turned to look at him.

"You're back?"

"Where the fuck were you? We thought you were dead!"

"Yea, I escaped from them. I had help. We need to kill the remaining Walkers and check on everyone in the houses and trailers. Where's the rest of the team?" Carl asked.

"This is the team dude, everyone is dead. The whole fucking town is dead." Benny said.

"They're not. There has to be people alive and we're going to help them. Let's go." Carl said.

"Where were you this whole time?! We needed you. When did you get back? 'cuz we saw your dad, but you were nowhere to be found. We didn't know what to do. You were supposed to lead us and you were gone!" Iona said, raising her voice at Carl.

Carl felt rage rearing its ugly head in him again. "You think I don't know that?" he yelled, "I wish I was here, but I got drugged by Gregory and kidnapped and dumped with the enemy! I found my way back as fast as I could. I tried to get back here. And once I did…" Carl felt tears welling up in his eyes and he took a moment to suppress them. "The Walker People tried to kill my pregnant mother, and my siblings, and the little boy who was terrified of them. They broke into my house and stabbed her in the stomach!" Carl yelled, and the others gasped. "My wife had to do a C-section on her with no medicine, no anesthesia, nothing! My mom and my brother almost died tonight. They still might. My whole family almost died tonight. My family needed me, and I was there for them, and I won't apologize for that. But I'm not with them right now. I'm with you. Trying to save our town. So let's go and save some more families before we really are all that's left."

The team nodded and the five of them followed Carl outside as the sun rapidly lit up the sky.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

For two hours, Carl and the remaining members of the team wandered the streets of Hilltop looking for stray Walkers. They occasionally came across the bodies of members of Hilltop's defense team, who had bravely gone outside to stop the attack. Once these members were found, Carl would quickly stab them in the head and then they'd have a quick 30 seconds of silence before they moved on. Once they were sure that there were no more Walkers outside, they began checking the houses, looking for hurt or injured residents. Some people had barricaded their doors and the Walker People couldn't bust their way in, sparing the people inside. Others weren't so lucky and had been slaughtered. The team quickly put a knife through these people's heads, or put down their corpses.

As they walked through the streets, some residents who had been afraid to come out of their homes before, came out and also started checking on friends and neighbors. As Carl and his team were walking towards the infirmary which he knew was the site of a massacre, he was approached by two people, a man and a woman, who he recognized as Gregory's followers. Carl took a deep breath. He knew this wouldn't be pretty.

"Where's Gregory?" the man demanded, scowling at Carl.

Carl continued walking, ignoring the man.

"Hey! I'm talking to you!" the man shouted.

Carl spun around. "Why don't you try checking his house?"

The man advanced on Carl. "I did already, and I found him dead, shot in the head. Timothy and Maxwell were dead too. Slaughtered!"

"That's a real shame" Carl said, turning back around to continue towards the infirmary.

"You walk around here like you're some kind of God! Like you're better than the rest of us! Like you can do whatever you want just 'cuz your daddy runs Alexandria. You're under the law just like the rest of us. You can't go around killing people. I know it was you Carl, the Walker People didn't carry any guns. You killed Gregory didn't you? Didn't you?" the man screamed at Carl.

Carl stopped walking and slowly turned around. He walked back over to the man with a calmness that was almost scary. The man and his female companion took a step back.

"Yes. Yes, I did." Carl said. The members of the defense team and the two Gregory followers all gasped. It was uncomfortably silent as they stared at Carl, no one knowing quite what to do.

Suddenly the woman looked at the members of the defense team and yelled "Arrest him! He's a murderer. Arrest him right now!"