Notes:

Sorry for no review section and not responding to my DM's last upload. I only just had the time to get it up! But here's an early chapter because it's ready.

Reviews:

Bucket Hat — 200 is honestly bonkers. Haha, perhaps hopscotch of certain death is better?

-Rhys-

Oh, those gates.

Why was it always those gates for Rhys?

After Glenn and Abraham.

After Alexandria turned him away.

After they lost Jesus.

After they lost Enid, Tara, Tammy...

After he lost Henry.

Rhys saw the Hilltop gates appear over the horizon, watching as they swung open to greet him with the others like they had a thousand times before. A strangling embrace from timber poles and welded steel trying to make him feel safe from all the sadness beyond its bounds.

Only it was Mikey this time.

And neither timber nor steel could hold out the sadness of that.

"They're back from the border!"

A group had gathered around the gate before they even made it through, Alden and Ymiko leading from the front.

"Oh my god, Kells," Yumiko gasped, rushing to take over from Jerry and help Kelly limp over Hilltop's threshold with the rest of them.

"What happened out there?" Alden asked, looking around and his face falling as he noticed the absences.

"Carol!" Kelly shrieked, her whole body still seething with rage as Yumiko held her on her feet. "She blew it up."

"The horde?" Earl asked, shoving his way through the crowd that was trailing them as they all followed Kelly and Yumiko towards the infirmary. "You got it?"

"We ended up in a cave with it," Carl told him, wincing at how odd that must have sounded, holding his wrist that Rhys was worried he may have sprained. "Carol blew up the cave to kill the horde."

"Did she get it?" Alden asked.

"Who knows?" Kelly cried. "But she definitely got Magna, Mikey, and my sister!"

Yumiko stopped short of the infirmary, everyone else halting, too.

"They're dead?" she asked with a pale face.

"We don't know," Jerry told her.

"So they're trapped down there?" Earl asked.

Rhys nodded, his head heavy from exhaustion. "Daryl's gone to find another way in. Aaron's headed back Alexandria way to let them know."

"Where are your mounts?" Alden asked with a grimace that Rhys wasn't surprised to see considering how many horses they'd lost. "And where's Carol?"

"She didn't follow us back," Carl told him. "We went back for the horses, but they were gone."

"The way it all came down," Jerry said glumly, "we'd be lucky if it got half the horde."

"Carl," Yumiko called over her shoulder after climbing the infirmary steps with Kelly, about to enter, "Judith and RJ will be here soon. Sasha's with them, Rhys."

"What?" Carl called after her looking perplexed under the layer of dirt smearing his face, but she'd already vanished inside, looking for Alex.

"Yeah," Alden groaned at them. "You've missed some stuff."

-Carl-

Alexandria had been attacked and Laura was left dead, killed by Beta along with a handful of others. Michonne was on a special mission to find weapons on some remote island. Meanwhile, Alpha's horde was most likely still intact, and they were missing people. Daryl and Carol included.

The caravan from Alexandria didn't arrive until the evening.

When the wagon did rattle into Hilltop unharmed it was a nice moment in the sea of soul-drainingly bad ones.

Judith yelled out for Carl, jumping off the wagon before it was even through the gates and running into her brother's arms. Carl lifted his sister off her feet, ignoring the strained groan that came from his aching limbs.

Rhys slammed into Sasha the moment she climbed down off the wagon, battering her with a hail of questions, the foremost being if she was okay after seeing all the cuts and bruises she was sporting.

Carl put his sister down to scoop RJ up in his arms once he ran to him and didn't let go until Judith pried open his vice-like grip to sneak in and join their family hug.

Marco hopped off the wagon next, and Rhys pulled him aside before he could ask the dreaded question that had already been asked in the painfully hopeful way he looked around for Mikey — Aaron must have told, but still he searched. Carl couldn't hear the words exchanged between them, but he saw Marco's face drain of colour as he covered his mouth with both hands.

Jenny screamed in both delight and fear as Jerry dove into the wagon to greet her with a bone-crushing hug, dragging her out as the wagon rocked violently. Rhys fussed over Sasha and Rosita's injuries as he called for someone to walk them up to the medical trailer to see Alex.

Carl managed a tight smile as Aaron approached him and his siblings, guiding Gracie through the small crowd with a hand on her back. She looked miserable, and Carl started to feel awful.

"We're gonna get Mikey back," he told her.

She tried her best to smile up at him.

"Hey," Earl called, approaching with his focus over Aaron's shoulder on a woman still sitting in one of the carriages. "Who is that?"

Carl saw Rhys quickly dodge past Sasha and weave through the crowd towards them.

Aaron glanced around, grimacing. "That's, erm— that's Mary. She ran away from Alpha's camp. She's been helping us out."

Earl didn't look like he cared. "What's she doin' here?" he grumbled impatiently.

"Hey," Rhys called, finally reaching them. "Hey, you okay?"

The tension in Aaron's face seemed to drop a little from the relief of seeing him.

"Not really," Earl answered. "What's one of them doin' here?"

"Her nephew is Adam," Aaron cut in. "She wants to see him."

"Ha, no," Earl scoffed, striding away from the conversation.

Aaron caught his arm. "Hey, Earl, we gonna talk about this?"

"You said you would bring people that wanted to see Alex. Not one of our enemies that wants to see my son!"

"She's not an enemy," Aaron tried.

"You don't know that."

Aaron looked to Rhys, but he shook his head.

Earl grimaced at them both. "You keep her away from my kid."

"Thanks for the help," Aaron grumbled.

"Told you, man," Rhys said. "I got you past the gates."

He went after Earl.

"She did help us with the horde," Carl said gently, touching Rhys arm.

Rhys jerked his hand away, and Carl could see he was going to stand his ground on this one.

"She's inside the gates, Aaron," Rhys told him. "But the rest isn't my problem."

"Alden was on the wrong side of a war once," Aaron argued. "When we met, you saw me as an enemy."

Rhys pushed his shoulders up to his head, mouth hanging open hopelessly. "They killed my little brother and my best friend, man. I can't."

Aaron went quiet, and before he could think of something to say, Rhys went after Earl.

"Why don't you all go see if you can find Eugene and radio home that we got here safe," Aaron suggested to Gracie and the other kids who had just watched that whole thing unfold.

Carl and Aaron watched the three scamper off towards Barrington House, the sun getting dangerously low behind it.

Aaron sighed, rubbing his hand against his forehead.

"We've got to keep them close," he said. "It only gets worse from here."

-Rhys-

"So what do you think of Hilltop, RJ?"

Rhys was sitting on one of the uncomfortable sofas in the study, watching Carl snuggle up with his siblings on the one across the coffee table from him.

A fire was burning high in the old, brick fireplace.

The windows held back the dark, and a strong wind rattled the house.

"Big," RJ said, voice all nasally from staring up at the high ceiling.

"And cold," Judith added.

Carl snorted, arm draped over her shoulder. "I don't think you'll get frostbite."

Judith rolled her eyes. "Been there."

Rhys found some joy in watching the three of them.

"Where's mommy?" RJ asked, looking up at his brother.

"You know where she is," he answered with a sly grin that Rhys could see was hiding something much more scared. "On a top-secret mission."

"And she told me we can call whenever we like," Judith added.

"How about we call first thing in the mornin'?" Carl suggested.

RJ nodded, letting out a monster of a yawn.

The doors leading out to the hall cracked open then. Rhys craned his neck around to see Sasha taking off her torn leather jacket, the black tank top underneath not doing such a good job at hiding all the damage from her fight with Beta.

Carl watched her wander over to Maggie's desk, leaning against it and smiling at them all. She looked exhausted. They all did.

Carl gave both of his siblings a nudge to the ribs. Refusing to cave to their complaints when he told them it was bedtime.

Sasha and Rhys bid them goodnight and when they were gone she took the siblings' sofa.

"How're we looking?" Rhys asked, watching Sasha stare at the well-stoked fire Carl had started.

"No one's back," she said. "Daryl and Carol are still M-I-A. The same goes for Mikey and the others."

"Right."

"I'm not sending anyone out there to look," she added. "We can't spare the people. Alexandria was struck at its heart... Hilltop needs to be ready for the same thing."

"Ezekiel's headed out at first light to look for Carol. Kelly, Luke, and Yumiko are going back to the mines as soon as Kelly's ankle stops swelling up."

Sasha sucked on her cheeks, nodding. "I won't stop any of them."

"I'm headed out first thing, too."

Sasha thought for a second until she realised.

"Lydia?"

Rhys nodded.

A frustrated groan came from somewhere deep in Sasha's chest.

"Sash—"

"We're not staying out past sunset," she sighed.

Rhys blinked at her. "Thank you."

A few minutes passed. They discussed what the most sensible places to look for her would be, and what their next move should be for Hilltop when they got back. When Carl walked back in, Sasha reared her head.

"Heard you killed Dante," she said.

Carl slowly nodded, joining Rhys on his sofa and putting a hand on his knee when Rhys pulled his feet up onto the cushions.

"The big one is mine," Sasha told Carl, rubbing the swollen and stitched gash on her bicep.

"Understood."

"Ah, Kell, this is nuts..."

Rhys had woken up before Carl, and just walked in on what felt like a family argument that Luke, Yumiko, and Kelly were having on the porch. It was still early, so he'd hoped to get the porch to himself before setting out to search for Lydia.

No such luck.

The three continued to bicker as Rhys kept to himself, dropping his holster, spear, bow, and his boots on the porch steps and sitting down to pull the latter over his moth-eaten, red socks. Kelly was sat to his left, binding her sprained ankle in bright white gauze. Luke was to Rhys' right, bouncing his mace up and down on his lap nervously. Yumiko stood behind them, slotting arrows into the holder on her compound bow.

" Morning, Rhys— You can hardly walk, Kelly!" Luke waved a lazy hand in Rhys face as he continued their dispute.

"I'm not leaving my sister out there," Kelly told him with a dragging and dry tone. "I'm going with you guys."

After lacing up his second boot, Rhys grabbed his thigh holster that was fitted with the several knives he'd spent last night sharpening.

He prayed they weren't going to ask him—

"You coming with us, Rhys?" Luke asked.

Shit.

"I'm looking for Lydia today," he told them matter-of-factly, picking up his bow and testing the strings tension.

Kelly scowled at him. "Not Mikey?"

Rhys pouted at her, trying not to let his frustration get the better of him.

"Nope," he said calmly.

"They're alive," she hissed at him.

"I am aware."

"Then why—?"

"Knock it off, Kells," Yumiko interjected, turning to look at them and walk down the steps until she was in front of the three. "You should be more focused on binding that leg proper, yeah?"

"We're getting them back, Yumiko," Kelly hissed, standing up to face her. "Why don't you believe that?"

Yumiko cocked her hands on her hips, scowling. "What if we don't? All we're ever gonna know is that that damn ceiling caved in."

"If you think that they're dead, why are you coming with us?"

The two were nose to nose, and Rhys took it as his cue to leave, grabbing his quiver that Jenny gifted him a lifetime ago with its blue beaded flowers and swinging leather tassels.

Luke grabbed his arm, as if pleading not to be left alone with the other two. But before he could actually beg Rhys to stay, or Rhys could yell at him to let go, they both heard the revving of Daryl's bike pulling up outside the walls, watching as the gates creaked open.

Yumiko tried her best, but no one could have beaten Rhys to where Daryl slammed on his brakes in front of Barrington House.

Before Daryl could dismount, Lydia climbed off from behind him.

Rhys marched up to her, furious and emotional.

"Are you okay?" he asked in a panic. "Are you hurt? Where have you been? How could you just leave like that? With your mom out there you know it's—"

"I'm okay," she said quietly. "Rhys, I'm good."

Sasha came bursting out of Barrington House's front door and flying off the porch.

Must have heard the bike, Rhys thought.

Her eyes lingered on Lydia for only a second before—

"Did you find them?!"

"We didn't get that far," Daryl said.

"What does that mean?" Yumiko asked, frowning at him as he climbed off his bike.

"We gotta talk," Daryl told them as a crowd started to grow, Jerry joining with his breakfast tomato still in hand.

"D, I'm sorry," Luke sighed, trotting down the porch steps toward them, lifting his mace onto his shoulder. "We gotta get out there and find our people, man."

"No," Lydia warned them. "You can't go out there."

"Why?" Rhys asked her, only just noticing the fresh cut across her cheek.

She stared at him. "My mother's coming."

If there was one thing Sasha was good at...

If Rhys had to pick a single item off the list of many...

It would be lighting a fire under people's asses.

In less than twenty minutes, a meeting had been called, and she had corralled what felt like the whole community inside Maggie's old office. She had enlisted Rhys in helping her move the huge old desk against one of the walls just to fit everyone in— the same desk that Rhys strategically sat himself on to stay away from the stage light. Carl was in the tall, oak chair beside him, RJ on his lap.

Yumiko was the last to enter after chatting with some of their scouts in the hall.

"We good?" Sasha asked her.

She nodded. "I grabbed Felix and Penny like you asked— they'll go check the closer roads for any sign of that horde and report back."

"Good," Sasha said sternly before turning back and addressing the room of people who were anxiously waiting for her to speak. "We all know the situation. Alpha is on her way—"

"You can't stay here!" Lydia cut in, jumping to her feet from her spot beside Earl on one of the two sofas. "Even if you took out half her herd, she's got thousands left. You can't stay here."

Earl snorted, glancing at Sasha, then over to Rosita and Daryl. Daryl was looming behind him with an expression deep in thought.

"Those skins could march straight to Alexandria for all we know," Earl said.

"Yeah, but, we're right in their way," Daryl grunted.

"Maybe she goes around us," Earl told him.

"She doesn't need to go around you!" Lydia cried, she spoke as if she already knew her mother would find a way to keep her alive. To get her back. Rhys' grip on the desk edge below him tightened. "She'll just run through you."

"I'm not running again," Jerry spoke from the back of the room, Nabila and his eldest by his side. "Hell, no."

"Lydia's right," Dianne argued from the door. She stood beside Aaron and Alden, in front of them a chair from which Luke was biting his nails nervously. "We can rebuild anywhere."

"C'mon, we can't," Earl chuckled nervously, a bitter stubbornness in his voice as he gestured to Aaron. "How many scouting missions you been on, son — hundreds? Have you ever seen a place like Hilltop?"

Everyone looked at him, so Aaron shook his head reluctantly. "I mean, no..."

Yumiko scoffed. "We have a few dozen able-bodied fighters here. Maybe. Do you like those odds? Cause I don't."

Everyone took a moment to chew on that — nervous glances were passed around like bread and wine at communion.

"I don't like it either," Aaron sighed. "No, we don't have to die here."

"If we don't fight here," Carl pitched in, "we will have to fight elsewhere."

Rhys could see by how tightly he was clinging to his brother that Carl didn't want this fight.

"Alexandria has more people," Aaron told him. "And, it's held off hordes before."

"Oh, and you think we haven't?" Earl barked. "Carl's right, we're gonna have to fight, and if we die, we die fighting for a place that means something. Can you think of a better way to go?"

"Yeah," Aaron laughed. "We go with my daughter's life intact. Judith's, Ezra's, RJ's... and Adam's. You want me to keep going?"

Earl's face drooped as he sat back, deflated by the mention of his son.

"We can't give up on Hilltop," Rhys said quietly, people shifting in their seats to see him. "So many people have died for it."

"I know," Aaron said heavily, and Rhys could see Jesus' name on his mind. "But we'll just be more names on that list."

"All right, let's get the kids out first," Daryl said. "Everybody pack up, we're going to Oceanside. Grab weapons, food, whatever you can. We'll regroup there."

Everyone started to shuffle towards the exit.

"Sasha," Earl said suddenly, everyone stopping at the name. "For the love of Christ, speak, won't you?"

Everyone looked at her as she stood by the window, her arms folded and brow furrowed.

"Me?" she asked, raising an eyebrow to glance around at them all. "I'm not gonna make anyone die for this place. But I'm not going anywhere."

"Sasha—" Daryl started.

"Way I see it," she spoke over him, "we've been tracking this horde for months. Trying to find it so we can destroy it. Well, now it's headed here to our turf — that bitch at the head of it. I say we get the kids out safe, then we turn those freaks into the dead they love so much. But, by all means, you all do what you need to do."

"I'm with you," Alden said quickly, raising his hand.

"You can count on me," Jerry called out much to Nabila's dismay as his hand shot up, too.

"Me, too," Rosita said, standing. "For Siddiq and all the others we've lost."

And one by one Rhys watched as the room filled with raised hands.

Everyone was staying.

-Carl-

"I wanna fight," Judith told her brother as he and Rhys walked her and RJ down towards the gates.

Carl and Daryl had volunteered to lead the caravan out of Hilltop for the children and those too sick to fight. Two small wagons would take them to Oceanside, away from what seemed like almost a sealed fate here.

"I know you do," Carl told her, pulling back the tarp covering the back of the wagon so she could climb in.

Judith didn't, glancing back at Rhys, who was holding RJ's hand and leading him down the steep hill towards them, Carl's hat on his head and Daryl's vest swaddling his tiny body.

"Don't look at me," Rhys chuckled to her, letting go of RJ's hand to lift him into the wagon.

Judith folded her arms stubbornly.

"Jude," Carl sighed, crouching down to place a hand on her shoulder. "Please, no arguing — not today. I need you to be strong for your brother." He smirked. "Brothers."

She groaned, swiping his hand off to climb into the wagon with her younger brother.

Carl turned to Rhys.

"You know I wish I could make you get in there, too?"

Rhys laughed breathily — nervously.

"I know," he said.

"Once me and Daryl have gotten them there safe, we're gonna take his bike straight back."

Rhys smiled. "I'll see you then."

They kissed.

Lydia appeared behind them.

"Room for one more?" she asked.

Carl nodded to her, squeezing Rhys' shoulder. "You can ride up front with me."

She gave him a tight-lipped smile.

"Hey," Rhys said, catching her wrist before she passed them. "I'm glad you decided to go with them."

She frowned at him. "It would be stupid not to."

RJ started to cry.

"Everything okay?" Carl asked, climbing up into the wagon with them to brush away his tears.

"Are we leaving because it's dangerous?" RJ croaked.

"We are," Judith said, throwing her arms around his shoulders and giving him a tight squeeze.

"Because we could die?" he asked.

Carl sighed deeply, nodding.

"Then why isn't Rhys coming?"

Judith and Carl went very quiet. Maybe they didn't have an answer, but Carl knew it was because they were wondering the same thing — he also knew that he'd be doing the same thing. The wagon creaked as Lydia turned to look through the back at them.

"Hey," Rhys said with a skip in his voice, trying to avoid sounding worried. He reached into the wagon and gripped RJ's knee, smiling at him. "You know how when you're scared and can't sleep, Carl or your mom will stay with you until you fall asleep?"

RJ nodded. "To make the bad things go away."

"I've gotta do that for Hilltop," Rhys explained. "Just until the bad things go away, then I'll be right behind you."

Carol and Ezekiel showed up as the wagons were leaving, both looking worse for wear as they dragged themselves past the convoy and the trailers until they reached the house.

Daryl led from the front on his bike.

Carl drove the lead wagon with Lydia beside him.

Dianne led the one behind them.

Daryl stopped after a turn on the wood-covered track.

A tree lay in their path.

Two bodies hung from the trees above — Hilltop armour and already turned.

"Felix and Penny," Dianne said, her teeth gritted.

Daryl looked at Carl who returned him the same sunken expression, both confirming each other's thoughts.

They knew this game.

They'd played before.

"All the roads are gonna be like this now," Daryl said, turning back after dismounting his bike to check the blockade. "We ain't gettin' through."

"He's helping them," Carl said, a cold sweat running down his back as he glanced to look at Judith, RJ, and Gracie in the back.

"Who?" Dianne called out.

Daryl grimaced at them. "Negan."