What a load of bullshit.

A hand lays gently on my right shoulder, the slight pressure breaking me out of my thoughts.

"What's wrong?" A familiar voice asked with his trademark heavy southern accent. I turn to face him, tilting my head back so I could look into his blue eyes.

I had joined him, setting up my bed of blankets and pillow on the floor beside him as the others claimed their spots on the living room floor.

Daryl had claimed the window seat, his reason for this was threefold.

To keep vigil over Judith in her crip

To keep an eye outside through the window

To watch over me

"What?" I ask him, raising my right hand to cup his cheek, gently pushing his long hair out of his eyes so I could directly into his eyes, stroking my thumb on his cheek, taking in the dark bags under his eyes.

The past couple of weeks had wearied us all down, taking blow after blow.

Now, here we were in Alexandria, where we could take the time to rest, to let our wounds stop bleeding and heal.

He scoffs and takes my hand from his face and kisses the palm of my hand.

I smile at this action, he rarely shows affection in front of people and was too shy to do so most of the time.

"You just said what a load of bullshit it was, what bullshit?"

"Oh, sorry, didn't realize I said that out loud?"

"Yeah, you did, what's up?"

I shake my head, pulling my hand back as I lean back, resting my head on his leg.

"I was just reflecting on my audition with Deanna. I followed his orders and kept my real past from her. I was sitting there, either telling the truth, the half-truth, or straight-out lies about my past when it struck me, ever since my talk with her, I've just been reflecting on the past, all the way to the beginning of this mess."

"It has occurred to me that you still haven't divulged that information to us either. I request that you rectify this matter immediately," Eugene interjects.

I shifted forward so I could peek across the corner of Judith's crip to look at him. Usually, he'd only be able to meet my gaze for a moment or avoid my gaze entirely, but tonight he held it.

"It's been a long time since I've said this and I cannot believe the words are coming out of my mouth, but I agree with Eugene." Abraham joined in, stepping up from sitting on the chair's arm to settle down on the seat.

"Hmm, you know I am tempted to say that it's classified and that no one in here has the necessary security clearance to hear the details, but security clearance doesn't mean a damn thing anymore."

I took a moment to organize my thoughts.

"Well, come on now, we need our bedtime story darlin'," Abraham chimes up again.

"Give me a moment, it's a lot of memories to sort through, you and everyone else better settle down, because this is going to be one long bedtime story" I counter back.

Daryl is rubbing his hand up and down my back, trying to reassure me.

"Alright then, well, everyone knows D-Day, August 25, 2010. The day when Wildfire was declared a global pandemic. To most of the world's population that is when this all began. When, in truth, it started 132 days before then. Ironically, it all began on my birthday. April 15, 2010. All my plans for the day were thrown out when the CDC received a report, within an hour of receiving that report, Candace, Jenner, and I were on the CDC jet flying across the Atlantic Ocean."

I took a moment, glancing at everyone in the room.

I laugh as I reflect on the beginning days that led to our current predicament.

"You know if I knew then what I know now, I would have done everything in my power to blow that building off the map, even if it meant killing myself and all of the staff with me. It would have saved us from this hell."

"What was your destination?" Eugene asks me.

"France, final destination La Biomédicine DDMI, where the Wildfire virus was created."