Chapter Nine

"We will not take this anymore

These words will never be ignored

You want a battle?

Here's a war"

You Want a Battle? (Here's a War) by Bullet for My Valentine

The lives that had always stuck with me the most were the bad ones. Not just bad in the sense that maybe I had been poor or lonely or lived in a place I hated, but bad in the way that every day felt like I was fighting to just see the sunrise the following morning.

My life as Elizabeth Walker in 1862 had been that way. Everyday had been a battle to feed her children and keep them alive. My life as Annie Craven in 1993 had been something straight out of a horror movie. Annie had lived on her fathers compound her entire life and had been forced into being a part of his religious cult. The cult had not been kind to women.

But my life as Catherine Dale during the 1940's would always be at the top of my list. Catherine had been a nurse with the 48th Surgical Hospital and was sent to northern Africa during Operation TORCH in the second World War. I'd scaled a ship, sailed into enemy territory with other nurses and soldiers, and been shot at by snipers. I had quite literally been in the middle of hell. I'd seen horrors most could only imagine in the abandoned hospital we had taken over to care for our wounded. No water, no electricity, limited supplies, constant sniper fire, and men dying everywhere you looked. That life had been one that had shaken me to my core and stuck with me for every life following.

It was Catherine Dale that flashed through my mind as I looked around me. It felt like I was back there, experiencing the worst life had to offer again. If this life hadn't been memorable enough for the obvious reasons, the pure carnage I was currently witnessing would have made it stand out regardless.

I was covered in blood from head to toe. I hadn't even had time to process what had happened or how I had gotten here, but I was currently standing in the middle of what had once been our outside dining area, surrounded by bodies. The smell of blood and rotting flesh hung heavy in the air. My eyes were burning from the smoke and my hands were shaking so hard that the gun I was clutching kept bouncing against my sore leg.

My eyes skimmed over the bodies closest to me. Bob. Lizzie. David. April. Others I recognized from around the prison, but hadn't talked to much. I wish I had taken the time to learn their names.

I felt small fingers wrap around my wrist and my eyes slowly made their way to the small boy standing to my left. Wide, hazel eyes stared up at me, partially covered by a mop of dark, blood splattered hair.

"It's gonna be okay," he whispered to me.

I nodded my head slowly, keeping my eyes locked on his, even though it didn't feel like it.

Twelve Hours Prior

I woke up just before the sun started to rise the day after our lake trip. I wasn't sure why, because I wasn't exactly known for being an early riser, but an uneasiness had settled in my chest in those early morning hours and made it impossible for me to fall back asleep. I stared at the mattress above me for a few minutes, willing the unsteady beat of my heart to calm down, before deciding maybe some fresh air would help.

I carefully climbed over Jax, who was still curled up under his blanket, and quietly threw on a pair of jeans, a t-shirt, and boots. Before I stepped out of the cell, I turned to look at my duffel bag. For reasons beyond me, I fished through it and pulled out my gun before tucking it into my boot. The cellblock was still as I made my way down the stairs. I could tell from the windows that it was still mostly dark outside and I found myself wondering again why on earth I felt so awake right now.

When I pulled open the door to the outside and stepped into the cool morning air, the small hairs on the nape of my neck stood up and my heartbeat thundered even louder in my ears. What the fuck?

I looked around, but didn't see anything out of place. The gates were closed, no one was outside, and I didn't hear anything besides the crickets and birds, but I couldn't shake the feeling of wrongness. My eyes narrowed at the outer fences, but other than the large group of walkers that were still congregating along the perimeter, nothing else caught my attention.

I took the steps two at a time and started walking across the outside dining area. Something wasn't right and I had lived too many lives to write this feeling off as insignificant, especially given the current reality I was living in.

As I paced the area, I still didn't find anything that would be cause for concern. Everything looked fine. The longer I spent out there though, the more that panic seemed to set in. My eyes scanned all three fences; the one that was closest to the prison, the second one that lined the field, and then the fence that the walkers were pressed up against. Still nothing.

I found myself thinking maybe I should wake Merle or Daryl, but what was I going to tell them? 'Hey, I have a really weird feeling in my gut and I don't know why but I'm nervous'?

Shaking my head, I decided that I would just do a quick walk around the second fence and make sure nothing looked off out there. The sun was just barely starting to peek over the horizon as I went to unlock the closest fence, however when I got there, I noticed that it was already unlocked and slightly parted.

I looked to the gravel and dirt road on the other side of the fence and saw large boot prints heading away from the prison. Something in me instantly knew they were Merle's tracks. My heart felt like it skipped a beat and my chest felt tight. Merle was in trouble. I could feel it.

I rushed to pull the gate open wide enough for me to slip through and took off down the sloped driveway. I felt tears prick at the corners of my eyes for reasons I couldn't quite place, but I ignored them and kept jogging for the fence. I couldn't see too far off in the distance, as it was still pretty dark out, but that didn't stop me from trying.

As I approached the gates, the sounds from the walkers became overwhelming. Teeth grinding, guttural groans, and what I could swear was the sound of skin tearing on the chain link fence surrounded me. I pushed it all aside, even the smell of their decomposing flesh, and kept searching.

My eyes strained against the dim light of morning as I made my way through the small gate that led to the path between the two sets of fencing. I walked slowly, cautious to keep out of reach of the clawing, rotted hands of the dead.

I walked the entire perimeter and didn't find anything that would raise any red flags. As I stood there, staring out into the near darkness, I heard the unmistakable sound of metal tapping against the fence just to my right. My eyes darted to the side, seeking out the cause of the sound, and what I found had my body freezing instantly as fear and anger raged inside me.

Philip Blake stood there, face neutral and dusty eyepatch strapped to his head, as he held a gun to Merle's temple. Two men stood on either side of Merle, holding him in place, even though they had used a rope to tie the large man's arms down to his sides.

Blood ran down Merle's face from a cut on his eyebrow and his nose looked swollen. His eyes searched my face, trying to communicate something that I wasn't picking up on. I held his gaze for a moment before my eyes slid back to the Governor.

I was a firm believer that you could feel evil in some people and what I felt from Philip Blake confirmed that conviction.

He didn't say anything as he held my gaze, instead opting to gesture with his head to the small single person gate a few feet down that led to the outside. My breath caught in my throat and I fought to come up with some kind of plan to get myself and Merle out of this.

"Move," the man bit out, "Before I put a bullet in your friend's head."

Nothing but pure hatred swam through my veins. His voice sounded exactly as I remembered from the show, which only served to piss me off more.

"Run," Merle suddenly said desperately, before one of the goons holding on to him threw a right hook into the side of his head.

I immediately lunged at the fence, banging my hands against the cool metal.

"Don't you fucking touch him!" I barked, "I'll come out, just don't touch him."

"Oh, I think we found his little girlfriend, didn't we?" The taller, skinny male with stringy hair that was holding onto Merle's left arm chuckled.

But the Governor's eyes were locked on mine and I watched as recognition started to light up his one eye. "You were the one that helped him get away, aren't you?"

I held his gaze, not bothering to respond to him, which only seemed to anger him further.

"Get. Moving." His eye promised violence as I started slowly backing towards the gate.

I frantically took in my surroundings as I walked the few feet. The walkers outside were slowly making their way towards us. Which terrified me, but I still had my gun tucked into my boot. I didn't want to draw attention to it yet.

I unlatched the gate and pulled it open. The padlock that normally kept it locked clacked against the metal as I went to shut it again. Fear no longer burdened me. It had disappeared the moment that jackass had hit Merle and now the only thing I felt was an uncontainable fury.

As the gate closed, I felt the air shift around me. Before I could move, I heard a twig snap and a loud crack.

The last thing I remember was pain flaring in my head and then darkness swallowing up my vision.

"Wake the fuck up," a rough male voice commanded, "Time to make your debut."

I let out a groan. It felt like a marching band was performing a set behind my eyes right now, complete with symbols and those baton twirlers. I couldn't feel anything but hot metal against my cheek and something tight binding my wrists together.

"Get up," the voice came again, this time followed by long fingers wrapping around my upper arm and jerking me into a sitting position.

A grunt left my lips as my eyes slowly started to flutter open. It felt like I was looking at this strange man that I didn't recognize under water. Blurry edges clouded my vision and I couldn't seem to get my brain to function enough to piece together what was happening to me right now.

"Move," he barked, pulling me up to my feet.

My knees buckled and I could feel myself starting to fall forward, but his bruising grip on my arm righted me. I felt my shoulder almost pop out of socket, but I didn't have time to register the pain, because he was dragging me, causing my feet to sloppily attempt to support my weight. My eyes kept trying to close, but I put every ounce of energy I had into keeping them open.

It wasn't until I was shoved to my knees and looking up at the prison from the outside that everything began to rush back to me at a dizzying speed.

Even though my eyes still felt heavy, my mind began to become more alert. I saw Rick in front of me, on the other side of the fencing, staring at me with horror on his face. When his eyes shifted to my right, so did mine. Merle was kneeling there, his face still swollen and slightly bruised with his arms tied to his sides, but his eyes locked on me.

I shook my head and closed my eyes tight for a second. Merle and I had taken Hershel and Michonne's place. My chest felt tight and pulling air into my lungs became extremely difficult as a sobering thought hit me: one of us was going to die here. I knew how this played out on the show and me telling Daryl and Merle what to expect had barely altered the outcome.

I felt tears well up behind my eyelids.

"None of that now, angel. We're gonna be just fine," Merle whispered, his voice raspy as he tried to console me.

Before I could respond, I heard screaming from the top of the gravel road that led up into the prison. My eyes slowly opened as I sought out the source of the noise, only to find a small figure running from the fences closest to the prison.

"Don't touch them! Don't you hurt them! Give them back right now!"

I squinted my eyes, trying to see what was happening.

"Let them go! Lettie!"

Jax. Jax was running towards us.

"Get him! Someone get him back!" I yelled, my voice breaking.

I watched as Daryl wrapped his arms around the boy and started dragging him back towards the other figures lined up outside the prison. That didn't stop my little man from making a whole lot of noise, though.

"Put me down! We have to save them, Daryl! Give them back to me, you… you fucking asshole!"

Despite the fact that I was probably living my final few moments, a sad smile tugged at my lips and a laugh that was more of a broken sob fell out of me as I glanced over at Merle. "He spent too much time around you."

"I've never been more proud of someone in my fuckin' life," Merle whispered sincerely.

And then it started. Rick and the Governor's back and forth. Rick offering to share the prison, the Governor basically telling him to fuck off, but my eyes stayed locked on the people closest to the prison. Jax was still yelling and trying to get past all of the adults who were keeping him from running towards Merle and I. Daryl had started pacing back and forth like a caged animal. I couldn't clearly see his face from where I was, but I could feel the anxious hostility rolling off of him.

I knew that if something happened to me, Jax would be safe. Daryl wouldn't let anything happen to him. Neither would Merle. But for the first time ever, I found myself afraid to die. I had always known what was next for me. Another life, another body, another set of problems. I didn't know if that still held true now, though, which I was honestly fine with. If there wasn't another life after this one, I was okay with that, but I wasn't ready to leave this one yet. I wasn't ready to leave Jax or Merle or Daryl. I couldn't let us die here.

I held onto that thought as I heard the Governor jump from the tank. I looked over to Merle, who was still watching me.

"You take care of my baby brother for me, ya hear? Tell 'im… tell 'im I'm sorry. And take care of yerself and that boy, angel," he whispered as the Governor's footsteps got closer to us.

"Merle, no. Listen, we're getting out of here. You and me, Merle. Together." My voice came out like a plea, like I was begging both of us to believe that we weren't going to die in this field together.

Merle opened his mouth, but before he could say anything I felt a rough hand dig into my hair and yank upwards. Pain erupted as the fingers made contact with the sore spot from whatever had hit me on the head earlier and I immediately felt like I was going to black out again. Darkness started encroaching on my vision and my breath came out in short bursts. Cold metal dug into my throat as I was jerked back into the chest of the Governor. His fingers released my hair and his arm came to press against my chest, keeping me close to him.

I heard Jax screaming my name over and over and a deeper yell followed close behind. Daryl.

"Don't! She has a kid here. A son! We can make this work! We can all live here together! It doesn't have to be like this," Rick desperately begged, his eyes wild as he looked at me.

"Take me! Leave her alone and just take me," Merle pleaded, "I'm the one that ya wanted anyway, right? I took out most of yer men, I left Woodbury, I turned my back on ya! Kill me, ya one eyed fuck!"

As the begging continued, a calmness had washed over me, because two things were working in my favor right now. The first being that I was finally able to get the rope around my wrists untied, like I'd been slowly trying to do since Rick and the Governor started talking. The only good thing that had ever come from living in that cult in Oklahoma was that I had gotten really good at getting myself out of rope.

The second was that when the Governor had jerked me into a standing position, I felt cold steel rub against the lower part of my calf. My gun was still in my boot. Whatever idiot had been tasked with tying me up and throwing me into the back of the truck I had been pulled out of hadn't thought to search my boots. Or hadn't done so well, at least.

I readied myself for what I was about to do, because it was highly likely that I still wouldn't come out of this alive.

When I felt the blade at my neck let up the smallest little bit as the Governor screamed something over my shoulder at Rick, I seized the opportunity without a second thought.

I leaned my head forward as far as I could, ignoring the pain of the blade in my neck and then snapped my head back as hard as I possibly could, right into his face. Bone crunched as I made contact and black spots clouded my vision again. I felt the knife drop away and the man stumbled away from me. It took only a split second to regain my bearings before I was moving.

As I spun towards the man I kicked the dropped knife towards Merle. I didn't wait to see if he took the hint because I was pulling my gun from my boot and aiming at the Governor's head. His hands were pressed to his nose in a futile attempt to stop the bleeding. Realization flashed in his eyes a second before my thumb hit the safety and my pointer finger pulled the trigger.

Blood spatter hit me in the face and then his body fell to the ground with a thud. I looked up to the people in front of me, who were staring back with wide eyes.

The asshole in the tank screamed, "KILL ALL OF THEM!"

Before they could move, the gunfire started from our side of the fence, but I stood frozen in place. I had just killed someone. Not even a walker, but an alive someone. A person. Even if that person had been a psychopathic megalomaniac who had killed a ton of innocent people, it still made me want to throw up.

As I stood there staring down at the body with bullets flying past me so close they ruffled my hair, a body tackled me to the dirt. I didn't even try to fight the person off. I was in a state of shock that was so strong I barely registered the pain in my head.

"Hey! Angel, look at me! This is not the fuckin' time to check out!" Merle yelled in my face from above me, "We have to fuckin' move!"

Everything after that felt like it happened in a blur. I barely registered the tank firing at the prison or Merle dragging me to cover behind a maroon truck. He gently shoved me into a sitting position and crouched in front of me.

"Goddamn it, Scarlett! Look at me! Look. At. Me!"

Merle's hand gripped my cheeks and jerked my face up to meet his.

"Our people are still up there, ya hear me? They need us right now. You can lose your shit later all ya want, but right now we need to fight, alright?"

My eyes stayed on his face but there was not a single thought in my head.

"Jax, Scarlett! Jax is up there and they are heading right towards him! Daryl, Rick, Carl, all of 'em!"

Jax. Daryl.

I blinked once. Twice. Oh my god. Jax.

I was on my feet with a hard grip on my gun and suddenly the sounds around us penetrated the wall my brain had started to build. I had to get to Jax.

"And we're fuckin' back," Merle muttered under his breath, standing up. I finally realized then that he was untied and had the knife I had kicked towards him in his hand. "Ya ready for this? Stay close to me."

He turned and we were running. Everything I had disassociated from registered at once. Bodies everywhere, gunfire, yelling, flames. The tank was rolling up to the prison, having already taken out our walls.

Merle was a force as he ran through the mangled fence. Anyone that he crossed went down quickly as he jammed the hunting knife into the side of their neck or, in one guy's case, their eye. It was a feat to keep up with him, but I managed to stay close.

As we neared the prison, my legs almost gave out as I took in the sight before me. The other cell block was completely gone, as was the watchtower. But what almost made me completely lose it was the sight of the bus I knew they were planning to use for an escape. It was nothing but a crumpled ball of metal and fire. Bodies and body parts were strewn across the area next to it.

I couldn't stop the sob that escaped my throat or the anger that clawed its way through me.

I ran past Merle, raising my gun and firing at a woman who had her own gun on Carl. I didn't stop as I fought my way through the chaos. I needed to find Jax. I wouldn't believe that he had been on that bus. I couldn't believe he'd been on it.

I shot at another man who was standing beside the tank and he dropped when my bullet pierced his skull. As I came up on the side of the tank, I watched as Daryl, just like he had in the show, jumped up and threw a grenade down the barrel. His eyes locked with mine when his feet touched the ground.

He took off towards me, and before I knew what was happening, he had hauled me in his arms and was running us away from the area. I felt heat roll over my face as the grenade exploded, shooting flames out of every orifice of the tank. Fire blasted out of a hole on the side, right where I had been standing.

As Daryl sat me back on my feet, I heard him.

"Lettie! Lettie!"

My head snapped to the right as Jax rounded the back of the tank. Our eyes connected and I felt just about every emotion humans are capable of as I ran towards him as fast I could. Jax launched himself at me. I wrapped my arms around him as he clung to me, sobbing into my shoulder.

Everything that came after that moment felt like an out of body experience. Like I was watching the show again and none of it had a direct impact on me. Eventually the gunfire stopped and the only sound that surrounded us was the crackling of fires and the crumbling of concrete.

Present

As I stood there with Jax's hand in mine, I felt like I was going to collapse under the weight of all of the emotions fighting for dominance inside me. This was my fault. I had prevented nothing, except for Hershel's death and the group separating. The prison was still in ruins. People were still dead.

Footsteps sounded to my right and a heavy hand clasped around my shoulder.

"Ya alright, angel?" I heard Merle's heavily accented voice ask.

Rage hit me like a ton of bricks, almost stealing the breath from my body. I spun on the man and, without a thought in my head, I shoved him.

"Don't you ever fucking do that to me again, Merle Dixon. Do you hear me?" I snarled, attempting to push him again, which didn't even make him so much as stumble, "Don't you ever try to sacrifice yourself for me again!"

Merle's face held nothing but pure shock. Eyes wide, mouth gaping, eyebrows raised. "What the fuck are ya talkin' 'bout? I was tryin' to save yer ungrateful ass!"

"You told him to kill you! You tried to trade your life for mine and if you ever do that again, I swear to God, I will fuck you up," I bit out. As I stared at his dirty face, my chest heaving while I fought to take in enough air, that anger that had been so quick to erupt, morphed back into a bone crushing sadness. My voice started cracking when I began to speak again. "I need you, you fucking idiot. I will lose my mind if something happens to you, Merle. So worry about your damn self and don't do that to me again."

His face softened as I finished. "I'm not going to do that, Scarlett."

"Me neither," Jax's small, defiant voice said. I looked down at the boy, who had crossed his arms and was staring up at me with an angry look on his face. "We're always going to try to save you. Right, Merle?"

Merle barked out a surprised laugh. "Right, squirt."

Before I could open my mouth, the sound of multiple sets of footsteps had me looking up.

Daryl appeared next to Merle, his body angled towards me. He was filthy. Dirt and blood covered his face and arms. His eyes seemed to do a quick scan of Jax, before doing the same to me.

"Ya alright?" he rasped, eyes zeroed in on mine.

"Yeah, I'm okay," I responded quietly.

He gave me a quick nod as more people started appearing around us. Rick, Glenn, Maggie, Carol, Hershel, Beth, Michonne, Tyreese, Sasha, Zach, Karen, and Carl with Judith in his arms formed a half circle. Every face I saw held some semblance of the same emotions I was feeling. Fear. Anger. Relief. Sadness. Because this was it. Out of all of the people that had lived in the prison, there were only seventeen still alive. Over thirty people dead and I felt responsible for every single one of them.

Everyone was quiet as we looked at each other and the mass destruction that surrounded us.

"I'm sorry," Glenn said, emotion causing his voice to break, "I was on watch last night. I fell asleep. It's my fault."

"I was supposed to come take over for you at six and I didn't wake up. It's just as much my fault," Tyreese said, his head hanging.

As the group continued to try to shoulder the blame between all of them, my eyes fell to the ground. It wasn't anyone's fault but mine. I had the opportunity to fix this and I hadn't done enough. I had basically done nothing, actually.

Rough fingers tapped my wrist.

I looked up to find Daryl staring at me with an intensity that held me in its grasp. He shook his head once and narrowed his eyes on me. He leaned towards me, so close that his lips grazed my ear when he spoke.

"Not your fault. None of it."

He pulled back and gave me a stern look before folding his arms in front of his chest and focusing back on the group.

"I hate to break up this truly touching moment," Merle drawled, "And I know we're all not in the best shape right now, but I feel like it's important for y'all to know he only lured the walkers away that were on the fence line out about a mile or two this mornin'. And with all that noise we just made, they're likely to show back up at any minute."

Silence. Pure silence.

"The fences are in no way fixable," Glenn murmured.

"What're we going to do then?" Tyreese asked, looking around.

"I think the only thing that we can do now is leave," Carol said, "We can't stay here. The other cellblock was completely demolished and ours took a hit to the side. All of the fences are down. If that herd comes back, we're dead."

"Where would we go?" Beth questioned in a small voice.

The group went completely silent again and all I could think was "not fucking Terminus, that's where". When no one offered up anything, I opened my mouth.

"I think we should head North. Maybe we could check out what's happening around DC."

There was no way I was actually going into the capital, but I knew we would find Abraham, Sasha, and Eugene and eventually Alexandria if we headed that way.

"Didn't you come from the North?" Rick asked, tilting his head at me.

"I did, but there was this place someone told me about. A community with water and electricity and walls. I didn't believe them, but now I'm thinking it might be worth checking out. It's in Virginia somewhere. I have a general idea of where it might be."

Which was a lie. I had no fucking clue how to find Alexandria, but I hoped we would get lucky enough to stumble upon Aaron or Eric.

"Electricity?" Beth asked, with her eyes wide.

I nodded my head. "I'm not making any promises, but I think we should try, if you guys are up to it. Worst case scenario, it doesn't exist and we find a place to call home somewhere else."

"Fuck it. I'm down. Always wanted to get outta Georgia for good anyhow," Merle offered in support, sending a wink my way.

"We have the truck, two SUV's, a car, and Merle's bike," Daryl supplied, "I checked just now. And enough cans of gas to get us there."

Rick put his hands on his hips and his eyebrows pulled together. "Let's take a vote. We either head to DC or come up with another plan."

Heads nodded. Everyone but Rick voted to head to DC. Relief washed through me. We could make it in Alexandria. I would sit down with Daryl and Merle and let them know exactly what to expect so we could come up with a plan. I wouldn't let this happen again. I hadn't done enough and people had died because of it.

"Alright, then. It's settled. We're heading out for DC. Everyone start packing. We leave in thirty minutes," Rick said, unease evident on his face.

"The infirmary is still intact enough that we need to pack up the medication we have. All of it. We don't come by that stuff often and It'll be helpful in the long run," I said.

"Tyreese and I will go get it," Sasha said softly, "Our cell block was destroyed. We can't get in there to get our clothes, so we'll focus on that."

I looked at the woman, her hurt voice pulling on my heartstrings. "I think the clothes I have will fit you. They might be a little baggy on your waist, but you're more than welcome to anything I have. You too, Karen. Whatever you guys need." The women murmured their thanks.

"Grab what you can, everyone."

And we all split up, scattering as we set out to grab supplies and belongings. Jax and I gathered our clothes and packed them into our bags before helping clear out our food supply. As I helped load everything into the truck, I secretly hoped this meant that we wouldn't have to eat dog at any point on the road, like they had in the show. I was not mentally well enough to participate in that.

It was decided that Merle would ride his bike to scout ahead and Daryl, Jax, and I would ride in the truck, with most of our supplies in the back. The rest of the group would split into the other three vehicles. As I threw the last box of canned food into the bed of the truck, a thought hit me. Tara.

I looked around. Had she died? Had she taken off? I looked around the outside of the prison for a few minutes, but came up empty handed. A sadness settled in my chest. I liked Tara's character on the show, but we didn't have time to wait around for her to maybe be here. I didn't even know if she would want to come with us, now.

I heard Rick call out for everyone to load up and made my way back to the group. As I settled into the front seat of the truck we had just been in yesterday, the overwhelming guilt and grief of what had happened weighed on my chest again. It didn't feel like I was ever going to be able to get over my lack of action.

As Daryl got in the truck and fired up the engine, I tried to bring myself back to the present. I had to get a hold of my emotions if I was going to be able to fix everything.

We started moving, joining the line of cars that was forming. I swallowed hard as I looked back at the prison, sending a silent apology to everyone I had let down.

A rough hand clasped around my thigh, squeezing it once.

"Not your fault," Daryl rasped for the second time.

"It sure feels like it," I whispered, turning to face forward.

His hand flexed on my thigh again. "Don't let it eat you up, Broadway. We're gonna be alright."