Amy didn't want to know the names of the three men in front of him.

John, Joe, and Peter.

John was on the verge of losing his leg, Joe couldn't speak since Daryl had broken his jaw, and Peter had a severe concussion from the kick in the head. Edwin didn't seem very enthusiastic about keeping any of them alive. It should have been his first clue that these men would not see the light of day again. He tried to remind himself that the men in front of them used to be just like him before the end of the world. That it was wrong what they were all resigning them to. However, after hearing Andrea tell them about how they wanted to rape the women and slaughter everyone else it left him feeling very little sympathy.

"Just wait. Just wait. Just wait!" Peter had been mumbling the same thing for hours between bouts of crying. The doctor explained with the head injury it would be normal but Tony still turned away, his stomach turned.

"They're coming back for us." John whispered, mostly to himself since Tony refused to interact with them unless they tried to free themselves. Their arms and legs were tied to metal shower chairs they moved downstairs but Wade had removed the gags after a couple hours when Peter started to hyperventilate.

"You can tell our leader all about it when she comes down." Tony drawled, still not looking at any of them.

He could see Greg outside the room, keeping watch. Even though their prisoners were injured, they decided to keep a close guard on them. Wade and Jimmy were stationed in Amy's office with their walkies listening in. Something had spooked Amy, she had not even spoken to her sister after getting the doctor's word that she was fine, just in shock. He had asked Michonne since the Dixons had their own worries but the woman had been tight lipped about the whole thing.

"They'll want this place." John didn't sound like the thought brought him any joy, if anything he looked like he was about to cry. "They're the butchers and you're the cattle."

"Hope you're hungry." Sam opened the door with a wide smile, pulling a food cart behind him. Four silver platters were laid out and the room filled with the smell of seared buttery beef and fresh steamed vegetables. Greg and Wade followed closely with a long folding table that they placed in front of the prisoners. "Amy sent you lunch, Tony. Anna made it special."

"That was nice of her." Raising a skeptical brow, their leader had been on the war path since they returned with John and Joe. Not even her pregnant sister was safe from the blonde. Rumors were quickly spreading that Andrea would be bunking with the Nemours staff in the old maternity ward.

"Yeah, well, hope it didn't get cold." Sam winked at him when Tony took a seat. The silver platters were put on the table in front of them, the prisoners were practically salivating from the smell alone.

"Damn." Greg whispered when Sam gleefully lifted the cover with a dramatic flourish.

Anna had taken one of the prime cuts from the deep freezer and paired it with steamed green beans and mashed potatoes with gravy. The room was cold so everyone could see the steam lingering over his food and Tony almost moaned. It was like a commercial in real life. They had agreed they would be saving the steaks for a celebration, men attempting to force their way into the school wasn't something to celebrate.

"Don't forget to leave room for dessert." Sam said primly, really getting into the waiter persona. "The beautiful Anna prepared something really special this evening."

"It's lunch." Greg muttered to himself but Tony only had eyes for his meal.

"But…" Peter spoke up, his gaze focused hungrily on the platter in front of him and Tony suddenly remembered that they had tied their hands behind their backs. Even their useless legs were secured and Joe was whimpering in agony through the makeshift brace on his head. He would probably cry too if he was presented with a meal like this and not able to open his mouth. "Are you going to untie us?"

"Unfortunately, Amy said that we can't take that chance." Sam's eyes were large and sympathetic to their plight before breezily turning on his heel to push the cart out of the room.

"I'm not spoon feeding them!" Greg piped up before their resident botanist could leave, making the man pause.

"Oh, you don't have to worry about that." Sam grinned, all teeth and Tony shivered. The man was usually so sweet he worried he would get cavities. Always lavishing Anna and the kids with attention and looking on the bright side. The man wouldn't hurt a fly but there was something predatory about his grin. With a little skip in his step he quickly revealed the prisoners' meals.

"What?" John's heartbroken question had Tony stifling a chuckle. Three solo cups with thick straws were certainly a surprise. Each cup was only filled halfway with something thick, brown, and frothy, making him shudder.

"Yes, with you being prisoners and all." Sam explained with a bright smile, gently placing the serving trays back onto the cart. "Michonne found those in a storage locker, twenty five hundred calories in a single serving! Everything you need! Anna was disappointed that it was one of those just add water deals! You know she was training under a critically acclaimed chef, people paid hundreds to eat her food before the fall. She loves to experiment but it did advertise that the beefy potato soup was completely vegan! We didn't want to presume your-"

"Alright, Sam." Greg cut him off with an amused little smile, the three men were looking from their cups to the steak Tony had cut into. The most beautiful shade of pink and very juicy, Tony let out a little moan at the first bite. Even before the end of the world, this had to be the best steak he had ever eaten. "-don't forget to bring me down some cookies if there are any left after the ki-if there are any left."

"Holy shit." Tony was having a religious experience, he had been to many cookouts and steakhouses in his life but he was glad Greg and Sam were still in the room so he could close his eyes and just bask in the moment.

"You know when I caught Bella and Marcus, I bowed out with maturity and grace." Greg commented, licking his lips when Tony looked up at the man. "My girlfriend of five years cheats on me but man, I don't think I've ever been so jealous. I've still got another three hours for my shift."

"Did you think we would let you suffer, my friend?" Sam asked from the doorway where he pushed the little white curtain on the cart aside to reveal two more covered dishes. "Jimmy is running another fold up table down."

"This is bullshit!" Peter suddenly screamed just when Sam pushed his cart out of the room. The bound man rocked forward on his chair with all his might, knocking over his cup with his face. Then tipped to the side and falling heavily on the floor with everyone just staring at him while he started to rock himself, still bound. "Just wait! Just wait! Just you wait!"

"Do you think you could…maybe let me smell your fork?" John asked hesitantly, straining to lean down and take a noisy slurp from his straw with a disgusted expression. Joe beside him was nodding eagerly, making pained little whimpers in his throat.

"Just you wait. Just you wait! They're coming. Just wait. They're coming and you'll see."

"Sorry man." Tony took another bite, smothering his green beans in potatoes and gravy, and taking great pleasure in the flavors. "We ain't been starving but man, there is no way I'm even sharing the air around my celebration dinner."

"Hey!" Jimmy opened the door with a cheap folding table in his arms. "You ready for dinner?"

"Hell yeah!" Greg barely spared the rest of them a glance before he was out the door. "Hey, you-"

As soon as the door closed their voices were cut off. The rooms were sound proofed and locked tightly, only being able to be opened from the outside with the pin code. Tony easily blocked out the prisoners' anxious whining and disgusted expressions while they ate their own blended meal. If he had been in the cafeteria he might have snagged a beer or a glass of wine. There were strict rules about drinking on campus but they could have up to two alcoholic drinks with their meals if they weren't assigned to security. He understood the restriction, there was no way they could really let loose with the world the way it was.

"-you celebrating?" John was talking again and it burned him that this asshole shared a name with his friend.

John Dewey was a good man, a good brother, who sacrificed his life for them. He made sure the man who was with the love of his life got home to her and the kids. Even though he had derided him about his obsession with Amy when he was alive, he could admit John had serious feelings for the blonde. It was just his bad luck that she was already taken. Tony believed that maybe if things had been different John might have gotten a chance to shoot his shot. However, the world was the way it was and-

"Fuck you!" Peter screeched, followed by the man slamming his head into the concrete floor.

"I'm trying to eat!" Tony grunted, his mouth still full of the last bite of his steak, and harshly brought his cutlery down onto the table before getting up from his seat. "Motherfuckers just can- Up you go."

"Just you w-AH!" Peter was back to rambling, letting out a belch when Tony lifted him by his chair to sit him upright. His shake was still splattered all over the table and dripping down on the captive's pants. "They'll come."

"Yeah yeah." Tony waved a hand dismissively, masking how unnerved he really was. They had been using satellite imaging to try and find their group. All they had found so far was more settlements. Some more established than others, Amy seemed particularly focused on a prison hours away. "I'm just waiting for them to come for you but in the mean time, this gravy is fucking perfection."

"What are you celebrating?" John asked, looking at his nearly empty plate with concern. "Fresh meat?"

"What?" Tony looked down at his remaining green beans in confusion. "No, this was back in the deep freeze. Jim kissed Patricia. He's been sweet on her since they met but you know…they were both mourning their spouses. Well, with the world the way it is, gotta shoot your shot, you know?"

"Steak…for a kiss?" He almost couldn't hear the man's words but it brought a smile to his face that he quickly hid. No, this was someone's idea of playing with their minds. Manipulate them into talking with the opportunity for real food.

"Now, you want to tell me about these people who are coming?" Tony was tempted to lick his plate clean after his last bite but he was quite stuffed. "I'm sure we can arrange for you to have some dessert if you feel like talking."

"We ain't saying shit!" Peter didn't look at him, his eyes were focused on John with a warning fury in them. "When they get here, you'll see! You're all cattle and-"

The door burst open, Amy strode in with Michonne closing the door behind them and looking very pale. Without a word the blonde grasped Joe by his hair, yanking his head back to slit his throat from ear to ear. John and Peter jerked uselessly in their chairs, screaming in horror while Joe could do nothing but gurgle before his head fell forward bonelessly. Michonne slapped a couple of legal pads on the table along with pens while Amy used Joe's shirt to clean his blood off her knife.

"No dessert." Amy said steadily, stepping around the table so she was by Tony's side. He was shocked by the sudden attack but he had been a soldier and seen enough death since the world ended. A little blood would not part him from the best meal he had ever had. "You write down everything you know about those people. I want names, descriptions, hobbies, and how often they take a shit. The more detailed, the better chance you get to live a little longer to see if your friends turn up."

"Fuck you, bitch!" Peter shouted, shaking his head adamantly but John was frozen, staring at the dead man beside him.

"John, you agree with him?" Amy dismissed Peter who was practically frothing at the mouth. "I gotta tell you, we can keep you here for quite a while. We don't like wasting resources afterall."

"Just wait. Just wait. Just wait. Just wait." Peter rambled to himself, turning to Joe with mounting horror. It was as if the man did not understand what was happening around him.

"No, please." John whimpered, closing his eyes tightly and flinching when he met the unimpressed faces watching him. "You don't understand."

"Then, explain it to me." Amy said placidly, taking a seat next to Tony and looking all too put together for just slitting a man's throat. "Maybe, you'll give me something good and I'll let you live longer…"

"I wasn't with them, please!" John looked to Tony and Michonne with naked desperation, startling badly when Amy reached over with a bloody hand to grasp his chin to make her meet her eyes. "I wasn't with them."

"You made it sound like you were just the navigator." She squeezed his jaw, making his mouth part while he panted wetly like a dog. Tony was a soldier, he had to take a deep breath to settle his nerves. This seemed extreme but he had to remind himself that they weren't coming to the school to make friends. "Explain how you ended up with them."

"We were…" The man sobbed when Amy finally released his face, only to fold her bloody hands on the table in front of her. He hated that the man shared a name with his brother, a man who sacrificed his life for them. "They found us…We were just trying to survive."

"Get to the point." Michonne barked, her face set into a harsh scowl but skin was still ashen.

"They came at night." John's voice was quiet, filled with grief. "They put the men in chains…but the women….god, my wife! They hurt them so bad!"

"So, how did you go from chains to leading them to our home?" Amy asked, her tone taking on some empathy.

"I was from here…when we first evacuated we didn't make it to Atlanta." Tony nodded, it made sense, Brian did say the security took most of the school in the beginning and it was a long drive to Atlanta. "We were okay, but they came and…then one of the women killed herself and before we knew it…all the women and most of the children were dead….they turned on us then. It didn't matter, they said…please. I just wanted to live."

"Continue."

"One of the boys talked about the school." He paused, taking a deep shuddering breath. "I was one of the last ones, they said if I showed them where the school was they would let my brother and the boy go."

"Did they?" Amy asked, her brow furrowed in sympathy.

"No."

"So you were going to lead them anyway?"

"They heard the broadcast….Terminus…" John glanced over at Peter who was still watching the dead man like a hawk. "Joe and Mike said that the radio was obviously fishing for women…why else would they advertise?"

"And what made you think that there would be women here?" Tony asked curiously, making sure to keep a close eye on Joe's corpse. He noticed that Amy had not damaged the brain, what a way to give their doctor what he wanted.

"My brother…he worked on the security team here….it's how my family got on the buses." John admitted, closing his eyes with a pained expression. "Ron said they left the rich kids and the wards with some staff…everyone knows that the wards are chosen for their brains or beauty. I thought it would be easy…I could get away."

"So, you decided to sacrifice a bunch of kids?" Michonne's face was gaining color and the glare on her face was cold as ice. "You brother out there in the driveway?"

"No…he tried to run." The last word was barely a whisper and Tony had to swallow back his own emotions. His John would never have done such a thing, even when they were stuck in that little town with three useless civilians to keep alive, running had never been an option. "They killed him. They killed him! Then they ate him!"

"You should have brought him up right away." Edwin complained once they wrangled the walker into a cage with a muzzle strapped to its face and thick mitten taped to its hands.

Joe had taken hours to turn while John and Peter were forced to sit beside it. Amy hoped it would make them more forthcoming after promising they would take the body away once they wrote out everything they knew. Peter was still refusing to talk, just rocking himself and mumbling about his group coming for him. Amy almost regretted killing Joe but Edwin said that he would be the first to succumb to his injuries without surgery. Since they weren't going to waste resources on asshole cannibals, it really felt like the best method to encourage them to talk.

"Ed, you've got a fresh specimen." Amy rolled her eyes, her eyes cutting to Tater and Herschel who led the walker into the science wing.

Some were still uncomfortable with giving the doctor test subjects but knew better than voicing any objections. They all remembered Wendy and Randal, Greg, Marcus, and Bella had not cared either way. As far as everyone was concerned these men could not join them and they could not risk letting them go. While Amy would prefer just killing them, Edwin was certain he could find a cure.

"Well, I lost all the readings from his death." The doctor complained but he was already focused on circling the cage.

"Ya got two mo' bodies down in de basement!" Tater exclaimed with a huff, rolling his eyes before he left the room with Herschel hot on his heels but not before the old man glared at them with a judgemental frown.

"He's right, Ed." Amy reached out and grasped the man's arm, forcing him to focus on her. He had deep bags under his eyes and in only a couple of weeks lost enough weight for his clothes to hang off him. "You have live bodies down there that we are keeping specifically for you. We can keep them alive as long as we need to so it's not like you're in a time crunch like at the CDC. You're the only one with a chance of figuring this out so you need to take care of yourself."

"I promised Candace." He whispered shamefully, meeting her gaze and Amy pulled the man into a hug when she saw the devastation in his eyes. "I promised Candace I would continue her work but…at the end, it was so easy to just wait it all to be over. I have a real chance to do something here."

"Edwin, you are doing something here." Amy pulled him away from the cage, taking a seat and forcing him down beside her. "We have people here who need you, over fifty people are depending on you for more than some cure that could take years to discover and decades to actually become effective. We don't have the resources to get this out into the world."

"You don't think I know that?" He barked before taking a shuddering breath, his shoulders falling and he looked completely exhausted. "You think I don't know that? My wife was the one with the brain that could do this and…I was too much of a coward to leave the lower levels to help anyone. She was bit while I was hiding in a storage room doing inventory. The only thing she asked of me when she was dying was to fix this, to continue what she started."

"That was incredibly selfish of her then." Amy said without a hint of shame, she hated deathbed requests. She hated last words. Her father told her to look out for Andrea before they left, now everytime she thought about locking her in a closet her father's voice would pop in her head like an annoying alarm. Daryl had been pushing himself since John's death, Amy didn't know what the man said but she could tell it was eating him up inside and making him doubt himself.

"You didn't know her." Edwin looked offended and was looking ready to get up but Amy reached out and grasped his arm. "She was the most selfless person to ever exist. We met while a viral outbreak of SARS spread through Southern Africa. I was brought in with a company who paid off my debt for my work…Candace, she was a volunteer. She cared about the world."

"I'm sure she was wonderful but leaving you in this world with an impossible task is selfish." Amy said softly, wrapping her hands around his own. "We need you in the long term, Ed. You're one of the smartest people here and you can't say you wouldn't say the same thing if anyone else was working themselves to death like you."

"I know I can…I can't." His words broke her heart, he leaned forward until his forehead was on her shoulder while he cried. "I have to at least try."

"Well, you have to take care of yourself while you're trying to find a cure. There's no shortage of walkers and we have plenty of people who are more than willing to learn from you." Amy conceded gently placing her hands on his shoulders to ground him. "You can't go on like this, Edwin. Take some time and eat something before going back to the dorms, get some sleep. You'll work better once you've rested."

"Merle's awake." Mary threw the door open with a bright smile, looking at them expectantly.