Isaac roused, taking a few seconds before the ache in his back reminded him that he was lying on the ground. He shot into a sitting position and rubbed the back of his head with his sleeves to bush away any dirt. He looked around for Ace's yellow bag that he used to keep his head off the ground and saw that it was just beside where he was sitting.

He took a deep breath and went to mutter a curse when small babbling grabbed his attention. Judith was sitting upright on the ground near where Tara was sitting. Both of them had the same look on their face as they stared at him, with a little more judgment coming from the baby.

"Nightmare?" Tara asked. Isaac stared at her for a long time, barely able to comprehend what she said in his tired state. She tried again, "Bug?"

He shook his head. "No, uh, I have—" in his rambles, he truly understood her words. He looked around him, now checking for any insects that threatened to crawl on him. "God, I hope not."

"What?" She frowned.

Isaac ran his hands over his face. "OCD. I have OCD."

"Ah," she nodded. "I'll admit that wasn't any of my guesses."

"It never is," he mumbled quietly to himself.

Isaac wanted this to end, sleeping on the ground and being embarrassed by his natural reactions. He used to think it could never get any worse, that dealing with this before was just some kind of joke, but the apocalypse beat that out of him. He still wanted to think that this was as bad as it could get, until he remembered the flu, and a little start on the ground didn't seem so daunting.

What he needed was to make sure Eugene made it to Washington. It should have killed him that the others didn't seem that interested, but he didn't care. Eugene was going to make the walkers die, and he couldn't have been happier.

It wasn't long before the others began to stir as the sky grew lighter. Ace groaned as she rolled onto her back, but didn't push herself up until Daryl nudged her with his foot, saying that she had to get her ass up. She leaned her head into her hands and let out a loud breath that blew past the hair at the side of her head.

Ace didn't move as everyone began packing their things and watched them for the most part. Isaac sat with her, partly to keep her company as she came around to the idea of being awake. It was early, he could tell, because she didn't even smile as Rick came over to her and just looked up with hooded eyes.

"Give me the jacket," Rick said, holding out his hand.

Ace nodded, pulled off the jacket and held it out for Rick to take. He hung it from his arm when Ace spoke up. "I can carry it if you don't want to wear it."

"It'll be warm soon," he shook his head, "don't want you overheating."

After that, he went to check on the others. Ace finally stood up and stretched out, holding her arms over her head as she twisted around in place. As her hands came down, she tried to run her hands through her hair which got tangled in some knots on the way down.

Isaac stood up, and grabbed her bag, holding it out for her. "There's a jacket in your bag."

"Really?" Ace took it from him and opened the zip. Isaac nodded as she began rifling through, moving his stuff around to see underneath. "Oh, good. I like that one."

Her hand went to the zip, but before she closed the bag she frowned and reached in for something else. Isaac watched as she pulled out a black cube-like object with a small stick from the top. As she twisted it around, he saw that it was a walkie-talkie.

"Radio?"

"Yeah," she said quietly.

"Glenn's?"

Ace didn't acknowledge him and didn't even seem to hear what he said for a moment. It was like she was caught three seconds behind as she glanced up, "What? Oh, no. Sorry. It's mine."

"Is something wrong?" He asked cautiously.

Again silence. Ace turned the device over in her hands before dropping it back in the bag, "No," she shook her head. "No, I'm good."

He didn't believe her but didn't push as she knelt to attach the gear pieces to the back of her bag, heaving all of them over her shoulders to carry. It was around the same time everyone stood around, waiting for the order that it was time to go.

"Alright, everyone," Rick called to the group. "Let's move out!"

"I'm gonna go check for tracks," Daryl stopped him. "See what I can scrounge up."

"Okay," Rick gave a nod. "You know the path we'll be taking. Stay safe."

"You need anyone to go with you?" Ace asked as Daryl passed them. I'm

"I'm alright," Daryl shook his head. "Stay with the others."

Everyone started walking in line behind Rick. The silence was nice as they walked together, their steps in sync as Ace rubbed her eyes and yawned, which made Isaac yawn. He pulled his elbow up over his mouth and he breathed out.

A long time passed without either of them saying anything. Isaac watched as Martinez passed him, his SMG held in both hands against his stomach as his eyes trailed the woods for walkers, before he moved ahead. He was an asshole, Isaac thought. But he was vigilant.

Ace ran the back of her hand across her forehead and squeezed her eyes closed. She breathed out, her lips smacking together as she slowed a little. He could tell she was uncomfortable, warm or in pain and slowed with her to make sure she didn't fall too far behind.

"The other radio belonged to my dad," Ace said, breaking the silence. Isaac didn't miss that Glenn looked over his shoulder after she spoke, but he continued walking ahead alongside Maggie. "Mine—the one in my bag—it broke the night he got hurt on a run, and I couldn't talk to him."

This was the first Isaac had heard about Ace's family; they'd mentioned her dad in passing, she brought up that she couldn't find him the night Isaac tried running away. All he knew was that her dad was gone, but he couldn't work out what happened.

"I managed to fix it a little while ago, but I think the only signal it ever picked up was Terminus," she explained.

"Terminus?"

"It was one time, we didn't know what it was before."

Isaac nodded. "I'm sorry about your dad."

"It's okay," she said.

"When was the last time you heard from him?" Isaac asked.

"Not long after this started," she answered vaguely. So soon? With all the survivors he knew, how long he was able to last on the road with his mother, Isaac forgot how many families were ripped apart in the beginning days, and weeks. Ace continued, "I tried turning it on every so often, but he never answered. Whenever I couldn't sleep or something, I'd try. I stopped after a while—it was just getting too hard."

"I get it," Isaac said.

Ace went quiet and kept her gaze ahead. Isaac wanted to reach out and hold her hand, but he let her be. He didn't want to embarrass either of them by trying that with so many people around. Now all he could do was be there for her while they talked.

Isaac waited a little while to see if there was anything else she wanted to add or get off her chest before he decided to change the topic. There were opinions he wanted to hear from her. "Eugene told us about the cure after you were taken."

Ace looked at him, eyebrows raised. "Yeah?"

"Yeah," he nodded. "It's nota cure—not really."

"What do you mean?"

Isaac tried to remember what he said, not wanting to get anything wrong and turned Ace off the idea with illogical sentences. "He knows of some bioweapons, I think. He said that he was going to Washington to alter them so he could use them to kill the walkers."

Ace gave a slow nod, and he could see the cogs turning in her brain as she mulled it over. She had questions, but the curious look on her face fleeted, replaced with a frown she tried to hide when she realised that she would never get the answers.

"It's nothing about getting whatever it is out of us," Isaac added to the silence. "How'd he put it again? Fight-fire-with-fire."

"I'm sorry," she said. "I know you were hopeful for it."

Isaac shrugged. "I still am."

"You are?"

"Not in the same way," he told her, still upset that he had to live with the infection. "But walkers are still a huge problem for me. I can't just . . . kill them like you can. If he can make something and they all just die, it's still probably the best thing that's happened to me."

"Yeah," she said quietly.

Isaac didn't miss the tone. "You still think it's shit?"

Ace winced at the question, and Isaac knew he wasn't going to like the answer. "It's hard," she said finally. "The C.D.C. was destroyed—their job was to fix medical emergencies, and they're gone. I just find it hard to believe that he just knows."

"Vaccines used to have a five-year estimate before manufacture," Isaac said. "In most cases, it was longer than ten and that was before."

"And it doesn't seem strange that he's worked it out in less than two?"

"I guess he's going to use the first thing that works," Isaac shrugged. "Not go through all the tests that they needed."

Ace shook her head. "I'm sorry, it just doesn't feel right."

"So you don't think we should get him there?"

"I just want us all to stay together," Ace said. "I follow Rick, whatever he says. If that means they go their separate way, then fine."

What if it meant we went separate ways? Isaac wanted to ask. He didn't manage the words out because he was scared of the answer. Ace was devoted to Rick and her people—Isaac didn't feel as strongly for them as she did. He forgot that them being uninterested meant that she was also uninterested, with the bonus of being able to point out the inconsistencies in Eugene's story.

"Yeah," he said quietly. "I guess."

Ace looked at him, but he didn't meet her eyes. His stomach did a flop and his shoulders hunched. Chills ran through him as he punished the both of them with a silence that he couldn't fill. He wanted her to believe it so badly, that she could be her person and see the good in this. But he knew she couldn't; one of the things he first noticed about her was how much she was willing to do for her people, and what they would do for her—the same as they did for him.

Michonne helped him get stronger, and while the progress would slow, Isaac did see changes in his body that proved she was there for him. Glenn watched over him while he was losing himself, and came up with solutions to make him more comfortable. And Ace had always been there, trying to get him back to his family and giving him options to leave if it became too much.

Could he do it? Could he leave the people who have been protecting him for the better half of six months? He didn't know that he could. What he didn't expect was the amount of guilt that came along with the half-baked idea.

There was a sound from the trees that made most of the group pull out a gun, including Ace who stepped to the side to see around Glenn. When the person stepped out, Isaac saw Daryl step out from behind one of the trees with a string of squirrels in one hand.

"We surrender," he half-joked, raising his hands.

He walked near Rick to talk to him quietly, and Isaac saw Ace watching them. Something happened for her to be this interested in their conversation, and Isaac didn't know what to think. He looked between her and the two men at the front when Rick turned to face the rest of them.

Rick whistled and flagged his fingers to the group. "Keep close."

He stopped to talk to Abraham. "Ready to get some concrete under your feet?"

"I think it's time," Rick agreed.

"That is sweet music to my ears, officer," Abraham said with a smile. "Take the next road we come to, try to get back to going North until we find a vehicle. Good?"

"Good."

Rick stopped and turned to the rest of them at the back, waving his hand. "Tighten it up."

Ace nodded and walked ahead with Glenn and Maggie. Isaac walked faster, keeping close so that he would not have to be told again, but Rick walked near him. Isaac tried to make it seem like it didn't confuse him, so he kept his head forward and tried to ignore Rick.

"You good?" He asked.

Isaac gave a nod. "Fine."

"You look a little lost."

I am, he thought. Isaac shook his head, "I'm okay."

"If you need anything, let me know."

Isaac nodded as Rick took off down the side of the group to get to the front of the pack, walking with his son. Isaac's eyes fell to his feet, and he breathed out a sigh, following the group until they came to a halt in front of him.

"HELP!" Someone cried not too far away from them. Rick raised a hand to stop the group. "HELP! ANYBODY, HELP!"

"Dad, come on!" Carl shuffled on his feet ready to run, but waited for confirmation. "Come on," he begged again. "Come on!"

Rick was hesitant but flagged his people to follow him as he took off alongside his son. They ran into a clearing with a group of rocks and a large grey boulder in the middle surrounded by walkers. On top of the boulder was a man, kicking to get away from the dead. Isaac could see a white collar under his black shirt as they ran up to him.

Carl shot the first walker. Rick ran past him and slammed one of the walkers into the side of the boulder, with Michonne using the gun in her hands to take out the one next to him. Carol stabbed the fourth one in the back of the head and pulled it away.

"Ace!" Rick yelled out a wordless order.

Ace stepped forward, kicked the walker in the knee and swung the point of the axe at the walker like she was playing baseball—or rounders, as she so frequently corrected the people that said baseball. As a last walker came out from the boulder behind Ace and Carol, Daryl shoved past Isaac, raised his crossbow and shot. He moved to get his bolt back.

"I think that's it," Ace called out.

"We're clear," Rick agreed. "Keep watch."

Isaac took a glance around, but most areas were covered by the people around him, so he stepped closer to Ace and looked up at the man who was cowering on top of the boulder.

"Come on down," Rick told him. The man slid down from the top of the rock, landing on both his feet. "Are you okay?"

There was no response from the man. He held up a finger, before keeling over and throwing up on the ground next to one of the walkers.

"Oh, come on!" Ace complained, taking a step back.

"Nope," Isaac spun and made his way to the opposite end of the group, stopping somewhere near Rosita who rolled her eyes—whether it was at him or the priest, he wasn't sure.

"Sorry," the man panted as he straightened up. "Yes, thank you. I'm Gabriel."

"Do you have any weapons on you?" Rick asked immediately.

Gabriel chuckled and looked around at the people around him, stopping when he realised that he was being serious. "Do I look like I would have any weapon?"

"We don't give two short and curlies what it looks like," Abraham said.

"I have no weapons of any kind," Gabriel assured quickly. "The word of God is the only protection I need."

"Sure didn't look like it," Daryl said.

"I called for help. Help came," he said. Isaac saw that it was Ace's turn to roll her eyes, and this was directed towards Gabriel. "Do you have—have any food? Whatever I-I had left, it just hit the ground."

Carol took a step forward, reaching into his pocket before holding out his hands. "We've got some pecans."

"Thank you," he accepted graciously. Judith babbled and cooed in Tyreese's arms, which got Gabriel's attention. "That's a beautiful child."

Rick didn't answer and just stared at Gabriel who was getting more uncomfortable by the second.

"Do you have a camp?"

"No," Rick said and tilted his head to the side. "Do you?"

"I have a church."

"Hold your hands above your head," Rick demanded in a low voice.

As Ace holstered her axe, her hand touched her gun and she stepped forward. It was like they were on their wavelength, Isaac noticed. No one seemed surprised by the request, but Ace was one of the only people who could work out what it meant.

Gabriel did as he was told as Rick started patting him down, feeling for any weapons concealed in his clothes. "How many walkers have you killed?"

"Not any, actually," Gabriel answered.

None? Isaac frowned. If there was anyone who was most likely to have skated by in the apocalypse, it would have been him. How had this man gotten away from it for so long? He couldn't tell whether he was suspicious or jealous of the priest.

"Turn around," Rick said. "How many people have you killed?"

"None."

Isaac thought all the same things—how? He started to realise that these were probably the questions that were supposed to be given to him before he joined their group, but no one ever got around to it. They all knew about it, at least the ones from the prison, but after everything that happened to him, they just assumed he was good.

"Why?"

"Because the Lord abhors violence," Gabriel said.

Rick didn't accept the answer, and because of that, Ace with her hand hovering over her gun didn't accept the answer. "What have you done?" He asked. "We've all done something."

"I'm a sinner," Gabriel confessed. "I sin almost every day. But those sins, I confess them to God, not strangers."

Rick's jaw set and Isaac watched him make eye contact with Ace and then Daryl. They were planning something, each taking part in the wordless conversation before eyeing Gabriel up. Ace ended off with a shrug.

"You said you had a church?" Michonne said.

Gabriel nodded but remained quiet for a second. "I, uh. I can show you if you'd like somewhere to rest. I don't have any supplies for you to have, I wish I could do more after you saved me."

"Please," Michonne said before Rick could deny it.

And so they followed him, to the unwillingness of Rick and his peers.

"Hey, earlier, were you watching us?" Rick asked.

"I keep to myself," Gabriel said. "Nowadays, people are just as dangerous as the dead, don't you think?"

"No, people are worse," Rosita called from beside him.

"Well, I wasn't watching you. I haven't been beyond the stream near my church more than a few times since it all started. That was the furthest I've gone before today," Gabriel explained, and after a moment, his tone changed. "Or maybe I'm lying. Maybe I'm lying about everything and there's no church ahead at all. Maybe I'm leading you into a trap so I can steal all your squirrels."

He stopped when he realised that he was getting from the people around him. Nothing but glares and tense jaws from the people behind made Gabriel realise that joking around with these people wasn't the best idea.

"Members of my flock had often told me that my sense of humour leaves much to be desired," he said.

"What humour?" Ace whispered, and Tara snickered beside her.

"Yeah, it does," Daryl agreed.

Gabriel nodded and continued walking, failing to avoid the low-hanging branch that hit him in the face. He stumbled under it and continued leading the group to his church. It was maybe a ten-minute walk before they arrived.

The church was a small white building, seemingly in the middle of nowhere. It was surrounded by trees that towered over it, and separated from the road by a very small wooden fence. Leaves covered the road and the ground around the building.

Gabriel approached the door with his keys to unlock the building, but Rick stopped him. "Hold up, can we take a look around first? We just want to hold on to our squirrels."

Gabriel was hesitant but handed over the keys anyway. Ace stepped into the stairs behind Rick, pulling out her gun. They entered the darkened room leaving the rest of them out there to watch Gabriel. Isaac wanted to go in with her, make sure she didn't get hurt any more than she already was, but he stood outside with Tara. Abraham and some of the others who stayed outside went to take a look around the building.

"I spent months here without stepping out the front door. If you found someone inside, well, it would have been surprising."

"Thanks for this," Carl said and passed him.

Abraham stopped next to Rick on the porch steps. "We found a short bus out back. It don't run, but I bet we could fix that in less than a day or two. Father here says he doesn't want it. Looks like we found ourselves some transport," when there was no response from Rick, Abraham asked. "You understand what's at stake here, right?"

"Yes, I do," Rick answered in a tone that said otherwise. "Now that we can take a breath—"

"We take a breath, we slow down," Abraham interrupted him, "shit inevitably goes down."

"I could take a look at it," Ace offered to Rick quietly.

Isaac thanked her for it, even if she wasn't doing it for him. Ace helping Abraham meant that Rick would be far more likely to consider going with them.

"We need supplies no matter what we do next."

"That's right. Water, food, ammunition," Rick said, and moved up a step. "Ace can look at it while we get that done."

Isaac felt a breath shoot out of him. He wanted some indication that Rick was considering it, thinking about the possibility of travelling alongside Abraham and his people, even if they didn't care so much

"Short bus ain't going nowhere," Daryl said. "Bring you back some baked beans."

"One way or another, we're doing what Rick does," Glenn added as he walked past. "We're not splitting up again."

"What he said," Tara said next.

Bob stopped next to him. "We want to roll with you, but . . . what she said."

Isaac stopped near Abraham on his way in for a second, feeling the eyes burning into him like he should have a different answer. He did have a different answer, but he couldn't say it. He followed Bob and Sasha into the church.

"How'd you survive here for so long?" Rick asked. "Where did your supplies come from?"

"Luck," Gabriel said. "Our annual canned food drive. Things fell apart right after we finished it. It was just me."

Come here, Judith.

"The food lasted a long time. And then I started scavenging. I've cleaned out every place nearby. Except for one."

"What kept you from it?" Rick asked.

"It's overrun."

"How many?"

"A dozen or so," Gabriel said. "Maybe more."

"We can handle a dozen," Rick gave a nod.

"Bob and I will go with you," Sasha said. "Tyreese should stay here, help keep Judith safe."

"That'll be okay?"

"Sure. You ever need me to watch her, need anything for her, I'm right here."

"I'm grateful for it. And everything else."

"I can come," Isaac said. "If you need more hands."

If Isaac was staying with them—which he was, because there was no other option—then he wanted to be useful to them. He wanted to be able to help the group and go on runs, not sit around and wait for the day to end.

Rick looked at him and gave a nod. "That would be good, thanks."

"I'll draw you a map," Gabriel said.

"You don't need to. You're coming with us," Rick said.

Isaac wondered how Gabriel was surprised. "I'm not gonna be of any help. You saw me. I'm no good around those things."

"You're coming with us," Rick repeated in a low voice.

Isaac regretted offering to join them on the run the minute he stepped out of the door. Ace stayed to work on the bus which meant that he had to work with the adults going. Some of the others split into smaller groups to get some supplies from other places that they found in the phone books.

Rick walked ahead with Bob, looking back occasionally to get directions from Gabriel. Isaac just walked along behind them, with Sasha behind them and a gun in her arms.

"Strange to see you offering to help out," Michonne said.

Isaac frowned.

"I just want to do something."

"It can be boring, out here like this. Back at the prison, you had your hobbies," Michonne said. "How was that going, by the way?"

"What?"

"Working out?"

Isaac shrugged, rubbing the back of his hand with his palm. The skin crumbled under his touch but stopped hurting not so long ago. "It's okay I guess."

"Kept up with it?" Michonne asked.

"I did at the prison," he said. "I think it was helping. I wanted to keep doing it but I couldn't do anything on the road. Just walked a lot."

Michonne smiled. "Yeah, I remember it being like that. How long were you on your own?"

"A couple of days," he guessed—it all felt like one long, never-ending day until he found Ace.

"Rough, isn't it?" she asked.

"Yeah," he agreed.

Michonne shrugged and said. "Being here probably isn't much easier for you now, though."

"What do you mean?"

"I know you want to go to Washington," she said. "A lot of them do, they're just so happy to get everyone back that they don't want to lose each other again."

Isaac tilted his head and looked at her. "I don't want to abandon anyone."

"But you want to go," she said.

He breathed out and his eyes fell to his feet. "The walkers being gone is one of the only things I've cared about since this started."

"You don't have to feel guilty about wanting it," Michonne said. "The others do want to go, but you have to understand that Rick isn't going to make them do anything without the means to keep them alive."

"I know it sounds bad, but I don't think I care what most of them decide," Isaac admitted.

"And Ace?"

He clenched his teeth together and looked away. Ace is the exception.

"You have to know that she isn't leaving them," Michonne said. "Rick, Glenn, Daryl, they've all been with her since almost the start. They've been together too long, been through too much for whatever Eugene has been working on to split them up. If it isn't the right move, Rick isn't going to do it, which means that Ace isn't going to do it."

"I know," he said. "That's why I don't have much of a choice."

"I'd like to agree with you and say there isn't much of a choice," Michonne started. "But I have no idea what it is like inside your head. If you did that to your hands because you were sick," she gestured to his hands as she said it. "It's gotta be hard. If I were you, I'd be having second thoughts too."

"I don't want to abandon anyone," he repeated.

"I know," she said with a nod.

Michonne stopped pushing the subject after that, knowing that it was a hard decision for him. Isaac leaving would upset Ace, but Ace would never leave her people after what happened. Abraham would probably be more than happy to accept him because Abraham didn't care one way or another. Sure, he wanted the help, but he was more than willing to do it alone.

When they came into a small town, Gabriel started walking ahead to show them where they needed to go.

"We're here," Gabriel announced. "This was the foodbank, it served the whole county. All the cans at my church were going to end up here."

Rick entered first with the AK raised and he moved into the room.

There was a hole in the ground, which splashing sounds came from. Isaac smelled what was down there before he even entered the room, and when Rick realised that the ground was stable, he flagged his fingers and told them all to join him.

"If a sewer could puke, this is what it'd smell like," Bob said.

Isaac followed Michonne's eyes up to the holes in the ceiling. "The water's been coming down that hole for a while," she said. "Slimed this place up good."

"We can use the shelves to block them," Sasha suggested in a quiet voice.

"Yeah, that's it, Sasha," Rick agreed. "There's our way. Down those shelves."

They all stood up and moved around the hole by the shelves to jump down when Isaac realised what was happening. Whether they expected him to go down there or not, the thought of the plan being to dive into water filled with corpses had him on the verge of a panic attack.

"I can't go in there," Isaac announced, getting all eyes on him.

"You don't have to," Rick said, looking back down at the water.

"We wouldn't ask you to," Michonne assured him with a hand on his shoulder.

"No, we wouldn't," Rick agreed. "Stay up here, keep an eye out."

Isaac nodded at him gratefully, and he was happy when Rick returned it. They walked over to the shelves where Sasha mentioned climbing down and crowded around the area when Rick stopped and looked back at Gabriel.

"Hey," he called. "I said you're coming with us."

Gabriel opened his mouth to protest, looking at Isaac. Rick just gave him a look that said it didn't matter what he said or did because he was going down there with them no matter what, and Gabriel stopped himself before any words came out.

Isaac unwillingly watched as they climbed down into the water and started pulling the shelves in the way so the walkers couldn't reach them. They started stabbing through the shelves, and the bodies dropped down into the water.

"I see three here!" Rick called.

He thought about pulling out his gun to help them, but he didn't trust his aim enough to keep the rest of them safe at the angle he was standing. As he contemplated ways to help them, he saw Gabriel wading away through the group, rushing through the water to get away from a woman walker.

"We have to get, Gabriel," Rick said and looked up.

"What happened?" Bob asked.

"I don't know," Rick looked up towards him next. "Isaac! Call them over to you!"

Isaac nodded, and kneeled next to the hole, testing the ground to make sure it was going to hold. Isaac called, trying to get the attention of the walkers that were pushing against the shelf. He let out a sharp whistle which got one of their attention before he clapped his hands together. "Hey! Come on! Come on! I'm up here! This way!"

When some of the walkers had turned his way, reaching up to grab him, Rick addressed the others. "All right, we'll push down the shelves on the ones in front of us. We'll fight through and I'll grab him."

They pushed down the shelves on some of the walkers, which drew the attention away from Isaac. He kept calling and yelling, even reaching for his gun when one got close to Michonne. She reached back to get something on the shelf, but Isaac lowered his gun and shot the walker.

She looked up at him and nodded, but he moved his attention to the others in the group. Rick had fought his way over to Gabriel, grabbing the woman walker before she could get a chance to grab him. He slammed the head against the shelf as Gabriel almost slipped under the walker in relief.

When the room had quietened down and most of the walkers had gone, Bob moved over to one of the plastic boxes with food inside. "I know which way it's gonna break."

"Bob!" Sasha yelled.

"I can't see him!" Isaac called to her.

She moved over to where Bob was, as he came up from the water, holding the walker that grabbed him. He pushed it away and managed to throw it so it landed on one of the spikes Sasha grabbed a box that Bob wanted earlier and started slamming it down into the walker's head.

"You okay?" asked Sasha, still panting. "Bob, you okay?"

"I'm fine now," Bob said with a smile.

Isaac felt useless for the most part. When they got back to the prison with the supplies on carts, he spoke to Ace for a little while. She was in the middle of fixing the bus when they got back, needing to lie underneath as she called out words of encouragement to him, telling him that he helped Michonne and the others by drawing the walkers away. He reluctantly agreed.

When she finished, she came out from under the bus and went to join the others inside after their big win. Ace sat next to Glenn, and Isaac took one of the pews for himself, sitting there and drawing some of the people around the room. He started with Ace, and then Glenn beside her in the pose he could see them in. It dawned on him with all the drawings of her in there that he'd never let her look in the book ever.

As the others gathered their food and laughed and talked, he didn't see when Maggie came over to him with a plate in her hand. "You should eat."

Isaac was hungry, so he didn't argue and took the plate from her. "Thanks."

"What are you working on?" She asked.

"Just . . . everyone, I guess," he shrugged.

"They're really good," she said, stealing a glance over his shoulder. "I'm glad they found your stuff in there, or all those would've gone to waste."

"They're not exactly useful now," Isaac shrugged.

"No, they are," she nodded. "It's good that you have a hobby, Ace doesn't have anything like that. Anything she enjoyed before is just work for her now."

Isaac gave a nod and looked her way. At the prison whenever she was invited to hang out with the other kids, people her age, she never had any time. He assumed her hobbies were cut off because she was swamped, but the work, what she did, was all she could do anymore. No wonder she was burnt out.

"And it's just good to have them," she continued, "something to show us, the people who made it."

It made him feel a little better about it, still having things to draw. He almost left those things behind at the prison when he wanted to fight, but Ace made him get them. She kept him away from what happened and because of her he still had a way to cope with what was happening.

"Thanks," he said quietly.

"I'd like to propose a toast," Abraham called out, standing at the front of the group. "I look around this room, and I see survivors. Each and every one of you has earned that title. To the survivors!"

"Survivors!"

"Cheers!"

"Survivors." The group cheered.

Abraham started again when they all quietened down. "Is that all you want to be? Wake up in the morning, fight the undead pricks, forage for food, go to sleep at night with two eyes open, rinse and repeat? 'Cause you can do that, I mean, you got the strength, you got the skill."

Isaac wanted to believe it for himself, but for some reason, he couldn't. He looked back down at his drawings and went to continue what he was doing when Maggie nudged him with her elbow. He looked at her, and she must've noticed his look because she was giving a stern expression.

"Thing is, for you people, for what you can do, that's just surrender.Now, we get Eugene to Washington and he will make the dead die and the living will have this world again. And that is not a bad takeaway for a little road trip."

Judith made some babbling noises across the room, and Rick bounced her a little to keep her quiet, shushing her gently.

"Eugene, what's in DC?"

Isaac was a little more interested now because he knew where this was going. Abraham was asking them to join him in Washington. Isaac looked at Rick, who didn't seem like he was listening. Everyone had a blank look on their faces, apart from Glenn who had his usual smile. Ace leaned her head on his shoulder and looked at Eugene.

"Infrastructure constructed to withstand pandemics even of this fubar magnitude," Eugene said.

"That means food, fuel, refuge. Restart. However this plays out, however long it takes for the reset button to kick in, you can be safe there. Safer than you've been since this whole thing started," Abraham explained. "Come with us. Save the world for that little one," he nodded to Rick. "Save it for yourselves. Save it for the people out there . . . who don't got nothing left to do except survive."

Judith once again babbled in Rick's arms, and he chuckled and leaned closer to her.

"What was that?" The room laughed as Rick continued talking to the baby. "I think she knows what I'm about to say. She's in. If she's in, I'm in. We're in."

More cheers. Isaac felt like a weight had lifted off his chest and he breathed out. They were going with him. They were joining him and that meant he didn't have to abandon the people that had done so much for him.

Ace didn't seem phased, which didn't bother him. If Rick and her family were joining them in Washington, then it meant that she was coming too whether she agreed with Eugene or not. He didn't have to worry about leaving her behind because he didn't want to lose her. He and Ace didn't have a lot, but he did like her.

Now that he could breathe, he looked down at the book in his hands and took a bite of his food. Maggie was busy talking to Tara, so he left them to talk. He reached down and grabbed the fork to eat the food he had brought while he looked back up at Ace and Glenn for his drawing. They were talking now, laughing, joking, moving—it was killing him. He loved it.

He looked up when someone sat on his other side. Isaac looked up and had to suppress a frown when he realised who it was, and how out of the blue it felt for Daryl to want to see him. There was no other reason for him sitting there. The last time he spent time with Daryl was right outside of Terminus, and it was weird then.

"Can we talk?" Daryl asked.

Isaac nodded.

"I didn't want to stay with them for as long as I did," he said, and Isaac knew he meant the claimers. "I knew it was them—what they did—but there was nothing I could do about it. I hated them, God, I hated them. But I was on my own."

Isaac nodded, not looking at him as he listened. He couldn't look at him, now suddenly reminded of the claimers and what he did, his mother. Daryl was a big part in a lot of that and he was suppressing that because most of it wasn't his fault.

"I lost Beth that day," he continued. "I just stuck with them to have people 'round. I was gonna leave 'fore I saw you guys on the road."

He nodded, his eyes falling to his feet. There was nothing he could think to say that wouldn't make him upset. He wanted to blame Daryl for everything, even showing up with the claimers, but he couldn't.

"I'm sorry," he finished.

Isaac nodded, deciding if he even wanted to answer. Daryl got the jist and stood up, but Isaac stopped him. "I know why you did it. I don't blame you."

"I know you're pissed at me, for a lot of shit," Daryl said. "I get it. I don't 'spect you to like me after what I did. I am sorry. I shoulda taken you that night to get her."

"You were thinking about your people," Isaac said.

"Well now you're my people," Daryl smiled at him. "As much as ya hate it."

Isaac couldn't help the smile, but nodded and looked ahead instead. Daryl gave a nod, but he didn't have anywhere else to go, so he hung around while Isaac thought about what he said. And he did think.

"I don't hate it."