Isaac walked to the truck, following Ace who disappeared not long after the fight. He made sure that nobody needed any help with what they were doing before he decided to check in on her, knowing she had been alone for a short while now.
"Ace?"
He stepped up into the fire engine when he heard a sniff, and Ace wiped her cheeks with her hand to cover any evidence that she'd been crying before he arrived. She didn't look over at him and kept her gaze fixated on legs that were up across the seats in the back.
Isaac gave a sad smile, kneeling in front of her. "Hey, you okay?"
He saw her jaw move as she contemplated answering, but instead, she leaned her head back against the side, her chest bouncing as she breathed in a sad sniffle. Isaac didn't want to push and make her talk about it, knowing what she'd been through he was surprised that he didn't find her crying over all of this sooner.
Instead, he decided to change the conversation. "Do—we can try and find something to do if you want. Play a game? We could draw out that one where you have to try and make boxes in the dots?"
Ace wordlessly shook her head. Yeah, lame, he agreed. But what else did they have? He remembered what Maggie said in the church, that everything Ace used to consider a hobby had been turned into work when the apocalypse started. He was sure she did more than just fix cars with her dad, but anything else she did for fun was probably washed out of her routine.
"You could take a look at the, uh," Isaac breathed out, trying to remember what they said was wrong with the fire engine, "radiator?"
"Intake," she mumbled.
"Right," he remembered. Intake's on the roof. "Well, you've always wanted to fix a fire engine," he said with a smile. "This could be the dream. I know it won't be the same after everything. But, right now it's yours for the taking."
He waited for a response, biting his tongue when none came. What was he supposed to do? What did he do yesterday? He just remembered acting stupid, trying to distract her from the pain, but the pressure of doing it now seemed too overwhelming for him to tackle. Too much had happened.
"Do you need anything?" Another head shake. Isaac nodded. "Just give me a shout if you do."
Isaac got himself to his feet and walked to the door to leave Ace alone. He couldn't make her feel better, which probably just meant that she just needed the time to herself. If she needed them, he hoped that she would let them know.
"Isaac?"
He looked back over his shoulder quickly, thinking that she'd maybe changed her mind. "Yeah?"
"I really wanted it to be true," Ace said after a beat, her voice breaking.
Isaac nodded. "I'm sorry."
He waited, in case there was more, but Ace just turned her head to look at the wall ahead of her, and Isaac realised that he was probably in the clear. He stepped outside and joined Tara who was organising the bottles just outside the door.
Isaac saw Glenn coming back from down the road where he had been checking the herd. Glenn was worried that maybe with the wind changing every direction the walkers might smell them, maybe had even heard the commotion of Abraham yelling before so he went to check. He stopped by Eugene, leaning over him and speaking quietly to Maggie, but he did eventually walk across to Isaac and Tara.
"They got no clue we're here," Glenn announced.
"That's great news for GREAATIMM," Tara said. "In less great news for GREAATIMM, we just scraped the bottom of the water barrel."
"What is—?" Isaac watched as Glenn shook his head, trying to understand. "What's GREAATIMM?"
Tara gestured to the plastic water bottles lined up on the side of the fire truck, really spelling: G.R. .Abe.T. .Mar. GREAATIMM was probably for the best, Isaac noted. "Us. Group name. Solidarity. Band of brothers. The 'I' really threw me, but I got it in there." Isaac muttered a quiet thanks, with a chuckle. "GREAATIMM. Thinking about getting a tattoo on my knuckles." When Glenn said nothing, she almost winced. "Sorry, I'm just trying to think of something else, you know?"
"Yeah," Glenn nodded.
Isaac noticed that his eyes flicked to the truck behind them, being so close to Ace who had been waiting inside since the fight. He could tell that Glenn wanted to talk to her, but getting water for the group and making sure Eugene was awake was taking up a lot of his time. He got distracted when Maggie came around from the front of the truck, with Rosita and Martinez coming around to listen.
"Anything?" Tara asked, with her arms out to the side.
"No," Maggie said.
Silence followed as everyone tried to think of a solution. Glenn breathed out before asking, "Should we get him to the church?"
"Moving him could make him worse," she answered with a shake of her head.
"What will make him better?" Rosita asked.
"Waking up," was the answer. "If he doesn't . . ."
Eyes went back to Abraham who hadn't moved from his position on the road. Isaac understood the meaning, if Eugene didn't wake up today that meant that Abraham had killed someone in their group with his bare hands.
"What a shit show," Martinez finally muttered.
Rosita grabbed Abraham's water bottle from the side of the truck and walked it over to where he was. Even as she approached, her feet stomping as she marched, Isaac saw that he did not attempt to look at her. He just stood beside Glenn and watched.
"Come on, you haven't had anything to drink all day." She waved the bottle in front of him, placing a hand on her hip. "Take the bottle." No response. "Seriously, my six-year-old nephew didn't pull this shit." As she held it closer to him, he smacked the bottle away and water went flying out. Rosita breathed out, annoyed as she looked at it, and leaned down to look at him. "Don't do this, Abraham. Look at me!"
"Don't," he whispered.
"Look at me!" She yelled.
Abraham pushed himself to his feet, towering over Rosita who had to take a step back. Isaac could see the fear in her eyes, but she stared back at him nonetheless. What made Abraham look away from Rosita was when a gun clicked behind him, and Maggie was now ready to shoot.
She cocked her handgun and said, "Sit down or I'll put you down."
Abraham turned to face her, his face almost sad as he stared at her. Neither of them made a move, and Isaac watched with a clenched fist at the thought of having to watch someone die in front of him. Eventually, Abraham turned and sat back down where he was.
Isaac and Glenn heard a noise from behind them, and they saw Ace in the doorway of the fire engine with her hand on her gun. When she saw that Maggie had it under control, she dropped her hand and watched. Ace turned back into the fire engine when she realised she had eyes on her.
"Well, what's next on the agenda?" Tara asked.
Glenn looked at Isaac, nodding his head for him to follow to the back of the truck. When they regrouped, Glenn asked, "How is Ace?"
"Better than . . . that." His voice was quieter as he gestured to Abraham. "But, not great. She's just kind of crushed, I guess. And I think she's in a lot of pain, too, so even if she wanted to do anything she can't."
Maggie turned to join them, her eyes partly on Abraham as she spoke. "If her hip is fractured I don't think we want her moving too much, so it's good. Give her a chance to rest, get over what happened. She needs that time."
"What about the truck?" Tara asked.
"There's not much we can do aside from wait," Rosita answered after a beat. "Both the people who know what else to do are currently out of commission."
Isaac looked back at the open door of the fire engine. "And I don't think Ace is going to want to fix the truck after the way she was treated."
"She said she's done," Glenn added.
"Done?" Maggie asked cautiously. "Done with what?"
"Mechanics. Doing this for us, I guess," he finished, rubbing the back of his neck.
"Yeah, we should work on our apologies to her," Tara said, "maybe write a song and dance."
"I'm not dancing," Martinez said.
"Just a little number."
"Not even a fraction," he shook his head.
Tara looked back to the fire engine where she could see Ace's legs as she laid across the back three seats. "I mean, she told us she didn't do anything wrong with the bus, I just . . . I didn't know how to believe her, you know? She is just a kid."
"I should have," Glenn said. "I've known her long enough, I just . . . it blew up."
"There was nothing else to think about," Martinez said. "I mean . . . no one knew that Eugene lied."
"Ace did," Isaac said.
"I'll work it into the song," Tara gave a nod. "But we need to work out our next steps."
There was a pause where even Isaac didn't know what they should be doing. Eugene couldn't be moved until he woke up or died, at which point they'd either get Abraham in the truck or leave him behind depending on what Glenn decided—Isaac didn't want to know. He knew they'd be on the road back to the church before nightfall because Ace would not wait here any longer.
"We need more water," Glenn said finally.
"There's a creek up the road a few miles southwest of here," Rosiate said, hanging the AK over her shoulder.
"Y'all go," Maggie said. "I'll stay here."
"You sure?" Glenn asked.
"I am," she said quietly.
"I can stay too," Isaac suggested, "keep watch at least." (For walkers, or Ace making sure the job was done with Eugene. Whatever.)
Glenn's jaw set as he turned to Abraham, and he said in a voice that Isaac barely heard, "Okay."
Isaac watched as they walked into the treeline, heading to the creek that Rosita mentioned. Martinez and Tara stuck by each other, with Rosita just ahead of them following Glenn. They walked in silence for the most part, coming down a lane made of trees split down the middle.
There was a fallen electrical pole in the middle of the clearing with walkers trapped underneath, reaching up to grab at the group as they arrived. Tara stepped around it, looking at the bodies for a second to make sure they were stuck.
"Just stay here, guys. Don't get up," Tara said. "There is nothing for you in Washington."
"That's not funny," Rosita scolded.
"It's not not not not funny," Tara argued, confusing herself.
Glenn looked back over his shoulder. "Hey, I get that we're all dealing with things in different ways—"
"Listen," Tara interrupted him. "I don't know what to do without DC anymore, but I'm not dealing with it," she said. "I'm over it. I just want him to be okay."
Martinez scoffed. "He's going to be just fine. Abraham's the one that's been carting his ass around since Texas. He's lucky a beating is all he got."
"We don't know that he's going to wake up," Rosita said.
"He's lucky Ace didn't get to him," Martinez shrugged. "Then he wouldn't be getting up."
Rosita scoffed. "You're condoning her trying to kill him?"
"Hey, I stopped her, didn't I?" Martinez questioned. "I didn't do that for him."
"Yeah, but Eugene wasn't strong," Tara continued. "He isn't fast. He doesn't know how to use a weapon. The truth hurts, but he's useless. He had one skill that kept him living. Are we supposed to be mad at him 'cause he used it?"
"Damn right," Glenn muttered and turned back to look at her. "My sister thought she almost killed nine people because of him. She didn't deserve to go through what she did these past few days, but she did because of him. I'm not doing my job right looking after her if I'm not pissed."
Maggie didn't know what to do with her time. Aside from keeping an eye on Abraham so he didn't lash out or try to hurt himself, there was nothing else she could do. She realised that Abraham wasn't the only one she had to watch out for, checking through the window to make sure Ace hadn't left the fire engine.
Still, until one of them made a move, she was stuck. Eugene had to wake up on his own, and Isaac had his watch covered, occasionally walking around the other side of the truck keeping an eye on the treeline hidden by the big red vehicle that blocked the view in any direction.
She spent a second watching Isaac with the gun across his lap as he bounced his foot on the ground, his eyes flickering between down the road where the herd was and towards the trees in front of him, as he had been doing for a good thirty minutes.
"Very vigilant," she commented.
Isaac almost jumped when he realised she was watching him. "I just don't want anything bad to happen."
"You don't have to just sit on watch," she said. "If you're getting bored you can draw. If you sit on the roof you'll still have a good view of the area."
"I'm okay," he shrugged. "It's kind of nice not to be doing anything."
She nodded, partly understanding. In her mind it felt like there should be more going wrong, so she couldn't enjoy the quiet time they were having. Not only that, but she needed to be on her feet in case Eugene woke up, so she could help him. She also needed to be on her feet for the other scenario, to put him down. Isaac wasn't the best with bodies in any situation, but she hadn't seen him around walkers who were actually in the group.
Then again, she couldn't gauge what Isaac was feeling about Eugene. She expected him to be angry that he lied, or sit around like Abraham because he had lost something so important to him—something he wanted so badly. Killing all the walkers would've destroyed most of the added stressors he had. But Isaac seemed relatively calm, willing to help out like it didn't even happen.
She pushed it to the back of her mind, just happy to have the extra help with Abraham dormant and Ace injured. Then she remembered Ace sitting in the truck beside them. She expected Ace to be like Isaac, maybe a little snippy that nobody believed her, but on her feet, working. Ace typically worked to avoid her problems, but she guessed that Abraham had tainted Ace's enjoyment of fixing things, at least for a little while.
Maggie tapped his shoulder to get his attention, and Isaac glanced back at her. "Have you checked in on her yet?"
"Not since after the fight," he answered quietly. "I don't know what to say. I know it's good that she's resting, but . . . I don't know. I've never seen her like this."
"I have, once," Maggie said.
Isaac didn't want to be pushy or ask about their proximity to Ace. But with the grim look that came across Maggie's face, his curiosity peaked. "What happened?"
Maggie's eyes flickered to the truck. The back door was closed—something Ace must've done when no one was looking—so Maggie seemed confident enough to relive the moment without her hearing.
"I don't know for sure," she said, sitting beside Isaac on the side of the truck. "But there was this one day in Winter where Ace felt a little sick, so she stayed in the car while the rest of us looted."
Isaac wanted to ask her to stop, already seeing where the story was heading. He thought maybe she got stuck in a herd or ran into some people. It was obvious to him when they met that Rick's group had suffered through more people than he and his mother found on the road, but he thought the war with the Governor would've been their first encounter.
"The horn went off, so Rick and some of the others ran off to help her. When they got back, her face was covered in bruises, kind of like now," she paused, and Isaac remembered her bruised face after the claimers. "She ran off upstairs and locked herself away, and they told us she was close to getting choked out by some guy who wanted the car."
He swallowed but nodded. Isaac assumed that it was her first brush with death before she got shot in the chest or killed her first people. And he was now fully confident that she killed before he joined the group, seeing the ways that she was willing to do it now. The murders at the church put it into perspective for him.
Maggie continued, "Ace was quiet for the next few days. She just stayed in the car or ignored people if they spoke to her—it was almost like she didn't hear anyone talking. Glenn was so worried, he didn't know what to do or how to make her better."
"What helped?" Isaac asked.
"Daryl was there for her a lot," Maggie recalled. "But mostly time. She still wasn't a hundred percent after Wiltshire," Isaac didn't know where that was, just assumed it was somewhere they stopped on the road. "I did hear something about Daryl knowing who her dad was. Nobody wanted to bring it up in case it put her back in her shell."
"Ace said she lost her dad in the first week," Isaac said, confused. The time didn't line up for Daryl to know him but only met Ace a few weeks later. That was unless Maggie meant—
"Before," she corrected. "He knew her dad before. Worked in the garage when Ace was little."
Isaac nodded. "I suppose it doesn't help that we don't know if he's made it back."
"I hope so, for her sake," Maggie agreed. "I don't think she can lose anyone else right now. It was bad enough that she could barely look at Rick when we left."
"I saw that," he said quietly.
"It'll be better when we get back," she assured. "The others will be there and they'll make up. She didn't want anyone to split up after getting us all back together, and I don't blame her. She didn't believe Eugene and she was right. She'll be better when she gets back to the rest of her family."
"I hope so," Isaac agreed.
Maggie waited another moment in silence, before standing up. "I'll go and talk to her, see how she's doing. She's probably dying in there with the sun beating down on a big metal box, so we might have to help her out."
"Okay," Isaac nodded. "Just let me know."
Maggie opened the door and stepped into the fire engine, seeing Ace in the same position she had seen through the open door earlier, sitting across the back seats with her good leg pulled up and her bad arm resting across her lap.
"Hey," Maggie said, stepping up into the truck to see Ace. "It's boiling in here, come sit outside. It'll be better for you with the breeze, and you can sit with Isaac."
She knew pushing the Isaac idea onto her might be a little much, but Maggie knew they both liked each other very much and enjoyed the other's company. Even if she was upset right now, she heard them laughing together the night before so maybe he could be the one to cheer her up again.
When there was no answer, Maggie sighed. She sat down on the seat facing her, and grabbed the first aid kit from the ground, checking inside for the items. Abraham needed the first bandage she found, needing to wrap his hand when he came around again, but she was looking for something else.
"Here we go," she said, pulling out a small beige roll. "This must've been in here already, I don't think there would've been compression bandages in the bookstore."
She moved across the gap and sat on the smallest gap beside Ace.
"Let me see your wrist," she said gently, and she saw how Ace winced as she held her arm up. There was some swelling, and some bruises, but she could see that it wasn't as bad as Isaac's when he was brought to the prison. Hopefully, that meant that she wouldn't be hurt for as long. "This is going to hurt a little, but I have to do this tight so the swelling goes down."
Maggie tried to wrap it up as gently as she could, but she saw Ace's eyes prick with tears when she pinched the edge against her skin, holding it in place. Maggie apologised quietly and continued wrapping the bandage tightly around her twist, noticing Ace flinch the hardest when she reached the joint below her hand.
Ace seemed better when Maggie got the bandage around her hand, before working her way back down.
"Are we going back soon?" Ace finally asked in a quiet voice.
"Soon." (Hopefully.) Maggie thought it was best not to bring up Eugene to her, not now at least. "If the others haven't left the church already we'll pass them on the way back," she promised, trying to give Ace more confidence that they would have to leave a little later. "We haven't gotten off the path that Rick has, don't worry about that, okay?"
Another quiet question came. "Do you need me to do anything?"
Maggie could tell that Ace was dying just sitting in the fire engine, but there wasn't anything else for her to do. Ace always had to be busy, but her eyes filled with tears every time she shifted in her seat and what she needed more than anything was some pain pills.
"No, it's okay," she said. "Just get some rest, stay off your feet. You can sit outside if you want?"
Ace shook her head. Maggie wasn't surprised; the fire truck was blisteringly hot, but outside were the two people that put her in this situation. She would probably do the same if she were in Ace's shoes, so she just nodded and stood up.
"Do you want me to get you anything?"
Ace thought for a second, before nodding. "Can you get my water, please?"
"Of course," she nodded,
After getting Ace's water bottle for her, Maggie then decided to do something about Eugene who was being watched by Isaac on the side of the truck. She placed her hand on his shoulder as she passed him and went to get the ladder from the back, but when she pulled back and it got stuck, she sighed. It wasn't worth it when she could pawn the job off onto someone else.
Maggie stepped around the truck, seeing Isaac sitting on the side of the metal platform on the side with a rifle across his lap, his eyes fixed on where thousands of walkers were looming just a mile down the road.
"Isaac," she called, getting his attention. "Help me with the ladder?"
He nodded. "Yeah, okay?"
He leaned the rifle against the side of the fire engine,
"Why do you need the ladder?" He asked, looking up at the top of the vehicle.
"I'm going to make some shade for Eugene with those blankets," Maggie said as they came around the back of the truck, "keep the sun off him as best we can."
Isaac nodded, standing in front of the ladder. "Okay."
"I thought you'd be more upset about all this," she said, seeing how willingly he was helping her. She'd seen Isaac grieving, and she thought he might be the same way knowing that there was no end to this. "All things considered."
"I mean, I am." Isaac jumped up, grabbed a rung of the ladder and kicked himself off the back of the fire engine, pulling the ladder out in one movement. He landed back on the ground and rested it over his shoulder. "But, what he said he was going to do—" Isaac shrugged. "It's not really what I wanted. I mean, yeah, the walkers being gone is great and all, but people were still going to turn. I'm still going to turn. I just wanted the infection out of me."
Maggie grabbed the other end of the ladder, lowering it onto her shoulder. "I'm sorry, it must be hard living with it."
"I'll be okay." They walked the ladder across to the front where Eugene was lying, and when Isaac put the top end against the fire engine window, he continued in a quieter voice for only Maggie to hear. "Ace went through worse over this. It seems stupid, but I think if I get upset over it then she won't. And then she'll be on her feet and hurting herself worse." Maggie stood up and smiled at him, and he rubbed the back of his neck. "I just want to make sure she's okay."
"It's good," she assured. "It's nice that you're doing that for her."
This was the happiest she'd felt since the news, seeing what Isaac would do for Ace. She was happy until her eyes landed on Abraham, and then she felt herself get angry, seeing him checked out over this when Isaac was so mature.
"Get the blankets," she told him.
"Yeah," Isaac nodded.
When Isaac was busy, Maggie marched over to Abraham and snapped at him. "Get over yourself. You're not the only one who lost something today," when she turned back to the fire engine she said. "It's never gonna get any better than this."
Isaac heard her but pretended he didn't as he laid the first blanket across the ladder to cover Eugene. She grabbed another blanket from where Ace was and brought it out to Eugene. Maggie joined him, making up enough shade that at least his head was covered.
After walking back and forth in front of the fire engine, patrolling with her gun, Maggie stopped to watch the direction of the herd. When she was sure it had not smelled them or was coming that way, she stepped back and popped her head into the truck to find Ace.
Her heart jumped into her throat when she didn't see her there, with the back of the truck empty. She pushed herself back and immediately turned to find Isaac, hoping she might be with him.
"Isaac?"
He came around the vehicle when he heard his name. "Yeah?"
"Where's Ace?" Maggie asked frantically.
"What do you mean? She's not in the truck?" His eyes shot to the door, and then back to Maggie who shook her head. "Shit, I don't know."
Maggie had the same thought as Isaac at that moment and rushed past to find Eugene still on the ground under the ladder, untouched.
"You don't think she'd—" Isaac cut himself off. No, she would. But Eugene was still alive for now. Isaac did another 180, scanning the area. "Maggie."
Maggie followed his eyes behind her, to where Ace was standing a short distance behind Abraham, her water bottle in her hand. She must've been at the back of the fire engine when Maggie missed her. Ace took more steps towards Abraham. Her hand went to her gun out of instinct, but Abraham made no move. Maggie couldn't tell if he knew she was there.
"Should I do, uh, something?" Isaac asked after a moment of uncertainty.
She didn't know how to answer. Abraham had tormented Ace for days, and she was worried about him lashing out like he did with Rosita. But understanding what people were going through was one of Ace's skills.
"Just . . . just keep an eye on them for now," she decided, her voice unsure.
"Okay," Isaac breathed out, his head tilting to the side.
Across the road, Ace was testing the waters. Abraham could see her shadow, whether he knew it was her or not was a different story, but he knew someone was there. Eventually, she pushed herself forward, stood beside him and stared into the distance for a moment. Ace winced as she sat down, placing Abraham's bottle on the ground beside her.
Abraham didn't move to look at her. Ace stole a few glances, but she tried keeping her eyes forward to make him more comfortable, pulling one knee to her chest and resting her wrist on the opposite thigh.
They sat in silence for the longest time before Ace decided to speak. "I don't think you should get over yourself," she said, her voice quiet, understanding. "This has been your life since Texas, and now it's . . . gone."
Nothing. Not that Ace expected any different. Abraham was in a state of grieving, and it was hard to talk after losing something that big. He truly believed that Eugene was going to save the world and that he would do the same by proxy. That was stolen from him.
"I know it doesn't seem like it, but there are other reasons to get through this," she continued. "The world's going to keep on, then you have to find something that keeps you going with it. Otherwise, your days are just going to be . . . this. Anger, regret. It doesn't have to be that, even after what you did."
Ace waited, hoping for the words to sink in. She never expected him to respond, just wanting to tell him the things she needed to tell herself to get herself out of the fire engine. He seemed like he needed it more.
"Did you want Maggie to shoot you?" She asked quietly.
Abraham's eyes flicked to her for a second, before his gaze turned back ahead. "I thought I did . . . but I didn't."
Ace nodded, keeping her eyes forward. She thought as much, with the sadness hidden behind his eyes as he contemplated making Maggie shoot him. It was the reason she didn't pull her own gun out and end it herself. Abraham was coming to terms with what he'd done to Eugene, thinking he deserved it, but he didn't.
Eugene had manipulated him over learning to survive, making him believe in something bigger when he knew he couldn't do anything about the walkers. She assumed that Abraham had similar problems with his strength or his anger.
"I could have done it," she said, "a few minutes ago. I was standing there, ready. They didn't notice."
Abraham didn't look over, but asked, "Why didn't you?"
"You don't want him dead."
There was a gurgling behind them that made Ace and Abraham jump, and Abraham reached for his knife. "Hell—Hello?"
Maggie turned and rushed over to him. "I'm coming."
Ace met eyes with Isaac for a second, and he smiled at her with a nod before going to follow Maggie. Ace turned away from them, not caring about Eugene's status. She knew that she was not lucky enough for him to be dead.
"Stay right there, don't try to move," she told him quietly. "You're gonna be okay."
As Ace said, Abraham held a silent relief. He realised that Eugene was alive, Ace watched as he picked up her water bottle, taking a gulp. That was all she needed to happen, she was okay letting Eugene live if it meant helping Abraham out.
Okay, I have officially caught up with myself after next chapter and I have no plans for the 17 day gap. I also have no plans for the chapter in the episode that follows the 17 day gap, and after that, there is another 7 day gap. So, if Sunday chapters stop in two weeks it's because I'm pulling my hair out as I write a chapter I've been trying to write for the better part of 8 weeks.
Anyway, I hope you enjoyed and let me know what you thought :)