"She tried to kill him—still wants to."

The tension didn't escape Rick when the others returned. Even once the news of Beth got to them there was still something that leaked under the surface. When they were situated on the side of the road, safe, (well, as safe as they could be) he went to Glenn who explained everything, leaving him seething about Eugene and his lie.

Rick flexed his hand, a mixture of concern and anger crossing his features. Was she so resigned that she would kill somebody they knew? Apparently. Still, it seemed more deserved than anything. "Do you blame her?"

"No," Glenn denied. "But tell me you'd have believed her if you were there."

He thought for a moment, considering the situation, before shaking his head. "It doesn't matter whether or not I'd have believed her, it's Ace. We don't know a damn thing about cars."

"It blew up, Rick," he tried to stress. "It wasn't some hidden damage or a burst tyre. The engine failed and we crashed. Abraham was out of line, he overreacted and Eugene lied. The rest of us thought it was an accident, but it couldn't have been anything else at the time."

Even after the fact, sabotage seemed far-fetched.

Rick shifted weight, leaning in towards Glenn. "Ace thinks we don't trust her, after everything. You said so yourself, she doesn't want to do repairs anymore in case she gets questioned on it. If she thinks we don't trust her, she's gonna start second-guessing herself and I can't afford any mistakes that come from that."

He made a face; Rick was right, but the conversation shifted from helping Ace. They were already talking about how this would affect the group. Losing her skills would have drastic impacts in the future, but that shouldn't have been the top priority at that moment. Ace needed time to heal and grieve from the events of the week, and she was already expected to jump back in.

But Rick noticed the look. "She does everything for us and not just the cars. I need that from her. I need to know she's giving a hundred percent on everything. And maybe that's selfish of me, but I know she'll do anything—whatever I ask. I need her to do that, because I can count on her no matter what."

She could do anything, but that didn't mean she had to. Glenn knew where he was coming from, though. Ace had proved herself more capable than him in many scenarios, and more reliable. The church was a clear example, where she crafted a silencer and killed two people while he froze up. It could have been him, Ace shouldn't have been the one to make those kills.

But she did because Rick trusted that she could—Rick didn't have that same faith in him. They both knew if Glenn had to act to save his family, he would, but he hasn't gone out of his way to do it. Admittedly, he also relied on the knowledge that Ace would be there and used her forced willingness to get out of those scenarios.

"Maybe not now," he realised, still not sure to the extent that Ace had bowed out.

"She'll come around," Rick assured. "It's better that she's taking it easy if she's hurt again."

Glenn nodded, but asked, "You need the cars looked at tomorrow?"

"I was hoping someone could take a look, but after everything . . ." he paused. "No. I don't want to go to Daryl with this—after what happened, he was with Beth. He needs some time. And Abraham? It's not worth starting something, especially if it's just going to set off Ace."

Glenn gave a nod. "I doubt she's forgiven him, but she was sitting with Abraham after the fact. I think they've reached some kind of understanding. I doubt he'd blow up over something like that, but I'm not sure how stable he is right now."

"This is why I needed Ace," Rick pointed out, and Glenn pursed his lips. "But I figure now she'll just brush me off or something. We got the cars running, there were no obvious problems or sounds. I might talk to her about it in a couple of days, and see where she stands. We'll make do for now." Rick thought of their last interaction at the church and shot a breath out of his nose. "That's if she's talking to me by then."

Glenn remembered the tension before they parted ways. "What happened with you two?"

All he knew was that Ace had a rough night and aside from her anger towards the agreement with Abraham, he guessed that the kills got to her. When it happened, she looked solemn, lost. She only seemed to get worse by the time morning came around, and then it was back to the anger over leaving the others behind.

"I told her to go with you," Rick gave his simple answer. Glenn didn't understand, so he decided to elaborate. "When you and Isaac caught the flu she was shaken up, worried about what might happen. I didn't want her to be that distracted or upset again, so I thought it was best that she went with you. Ace didn't want to go. She was too pissed at Abraham, and didn't see the point in leaving after we killed Gareth and his people."

"She was right, though. There was no point," Glenn said. "Any anger towards you right now should have been on me. You didn't have to step in."

Rick shook his head, telling Glenn no. "Things like this, it eats her up. She doesn't talk, not about the important things. Not if she thinks I'm expecting things from her."

Still, Glenn thought, she was already mad at him. There was no point in following Abraham with the threat gone, no point for Abraham to rush the journey. Rick could have kept her there, angry with Glenn, sure, but away from what happened with the bus. Maybe Abraham would have been calmer.

"If she was with me, she would have been at the church when Daryl came back, she would have been with me when we took hostages from the hospital. But she wouldn't have been there, she would have been constantly worried about what happened with you or Maggie . . . or Isaac. Distracted. It could have gotten her killed," Rick explained. "I told her to go because even if she was still worried about me, she would have been away from the main conflict. If she was angry or sad or distracted, she would have been safe."

What Rick didn't account for was the conflict there would be within the group, and maybe some of it was caused by him, sending Ace there pissed off and upset, still wiping the blood of their enemies from her hands—it was a recipe for disaster.

"And now there's Beth, too," Rick added, letting out a shaky breath. "They were close, spent a lot of time together, especially over the Winter." He was referring to Ace and Beth constantly shoved in the same room or bed because of their proximity in age. They had to be close, to give them as much privacy as teenage girls could get in the apocalypse. "It'll take some work, but she'll be okay. We'll keep an eye on her for a while, keep her off her feet."

Ace wasn't the only one they had to keep an eye on, Glenn thought, but for entirely different reasons. His eyes drifted to Noah, their newcomer, who'd perched on the edge of the camp. He was joined by Isaac who sat nearby on his coat, drawing in his book.

Apparently, he looked out for Beth, or maybe it was the other way around. Both of them ended up in that horrible situation, neither had a choice. Keeping him around was just another reminder that they should have listened to Ace, stayed in the church and maybe saved Beth. Again, if he could have gone back and changed it, he would have.

"He's staying?" Glenn asked, his eyes fixed on the boy.

Rick was nodding, but he looked unsure. "Beth wanted to get him out of that place. We lost a hostage, and the woman gave some bullshit excuse as to why the trade was uneven, wanted him back, to work I guess. That's what they were doing to them."

Glenn gave a nod, his eyes distant. He was aware of the basic knowledge of the group that killed his sister-in-law, able to piece together snippets he heard without needing a full rerun. He didn't want to think about it any more than he had to.

"I'll talk to him, but as far as I can tell, he's got nowhere else to go," Rick finished. "Beth saved him, I don't want to kick him to the curb."

"I wasn't trying to say I wanted him gone," he clarified. "Just, we got nowhere else to go either."

"I know, we'll find something. We did it before, we can do it again." Rick realised that Glenn was worried about living on the road again, but he couldn't say for sure there was something out there. As much as he believed there was a place for them in the Winter, finding the prison was a fluke. Right place, right time. It took them almost a year to get that lucky. "Even if we can't, we'll be okay."

Rick left Glenn to comfort Maggie and crossed their makeshift camp on the side of the road. He gave Ace a glance who was balled up at the back of the open trunk, but she paid him no attention, didn't pay anything any attention. Rick would have spoken to her if he thought he'd get more than silence as a response.

Rick crossed the camp to find Noah, when near the cars, he found Martinez looking through the spare ammo they had lying around. All the guns had been handed out across the group by this point, and some had spares in their own bags. He wasn't sure of all the weapons Martinez had, but the only gun he'd really seen was the SMG.

Martinez looked up, before placing the ammo box back into the duffel bag. "I was just taking inventory—not for anything really," he answered a question before Rick had the chance to ask. "I've just not gotten the chance to see what kinds of weapons we have around here, and I didn't think many people would want me doing it before . . ." Martinez glanced back up at Rick, realising they probably weren't comfortable with him doing it now. "I can stop."

"No," Rick waved him off dismissively. "You're one of us now, I don't expect you to turn around and kill us in our sleep."

"Should've told Ace that when I saved her from the gunshot wound," Martinez tried joking.

Rick glanced at the car where Ace was asleep beside Carl and Judith in the back of the open boot, each tucked into their coats to keep warm. He never got the chance to speak to Ace after what happened, as she spent most of her time comforting Carl once he learnt about Beth's death.

"How is she?" Rick asked after a beat.

Martinez shrugged. "Not sure, we haven't really spoken since Eugene . . ." he trailed off, before shaking his head and going back to what he was doing. "I'm just keeping an eye on her, giving her a chance to rest so she can finally heal."

"Thank you," Rick said. "You've always been there for her."

"I got a soft spot for her, she's grown on me," he admitted. "Not that she doesn't boss me around like crazy."

Rick chuckled. "Yeah, she does that with everyone. She's earned it, though. She's a good kid."

They all were, Rick acknowledged as he glanced over his shoulder to Isaac who was drawing in his book, not too far away from Noah. Noah was just sitting quietly, not talking to Isaac but close enough to be in his company. Then he reminded himself what his main goal was before he ran into Martinez.

"I have to speak to Noah," he said after a beat. "Find out what our next move is."

His eyes landed on Ace before he decided to make his move, still worried about the girl. Martinez noticed and said. "Don't worry, I'll keep an eye on her."

"It was secure. It has a wall, homes, 20 people. Beth wanted to go with him, she wanted to get him there. It's a long trip, but if it works out, it's the last long trip we have to make."

"And what if it isn't around anymore?" Glenn asked, his eyes fixated on the ground in front of him.

"Then we keep going."

"Then we find a new place," Michonne corrected.

Rick nodded, in partial agreement. What was there to agree with? Martinez wondered. There was nothing else for them to do if the community was gone. He eyed the boy next to him, seeing his face drop at the mention of the town being gone.

"Well, what are we waiting for?" He asked with a tilt of his head, trying to bring some life back into the conversation. "Let's get this show on the road."

"I'll take this," Rick tapped the bonnet of the car Ace was in. "Sasha, you want to drive the other one?"

The group was careful to separate certain members at this point, Abraham and Eugene, mainly. It was an unspoken issue, one that Abraham fixed when he climbed into the car where Ace was resting. They spoke after the incident, and maybe they weren't okay, but they were civil. (That was currently unknown for the other evil because she never gave him the time of day. Nobody wanted to sit with Eugene.)

When they were sure that there would be no fights, Rick gave some small orders to make the cars more comfortable for their journey and worked on choosing which supplies they needed to take up their precious space.

Martinez was the one to realise Maggie was still at the far end of their makeshift camp. He looked around for Glenn, who was busy making some more room in the trunk and ripping out the plastic liners that covered the metal.

He decided to tell her himself, a mistake, in hindsight.

As he walked over to where she was sitting, he saw her wiping her eyes with the back of her hands before clutching her knees. Maggie got no sleep the night before, which was one of the reasons she didn't notice the others packing.

The same reason she didn't notice the walker that was heading her way. Her eyes snapped up when it growled, but Martinez was quick enough to kick the thing back. He used his boot to roll the head to the side before plunging the blunt end of his metal bat down into the temple, crushing the brain.

He glanced back at Maggie, who was standing now, knife in her hand. "I had it."

"I'm sorry. I was coming to tell you that Rick wants to head to the kid's old town when I saw the walker." He paid careful attention to saying the word walker because Maggie was in a fragile state and he didn't want to remind her of the Governor's nomenclature just then. "Rick said your sister wanted to get him there."

"Her name was Beth," Maggie snapped, her voice low. "And don't talk about her. You don't get to talk about her."

"I'm sorry," Martinez had no ground to do anything other than apologise. "I'm not trying to overstep, I just wanted to let you know."

"Why are you here?" She asked immediately.

"Here?"

"With us," she clarified with a bite in her tone. "Why are you here? You shouldn't be here."

Not a single word surprised him. Honestly, the most shocking part was that it took her this long to say those things. Glenn had been quiet on the matter, but he sensed the discontent from both of them, probably to be civil for Ace. But she deserved to hate him and deserved to tell him to hit the road.

Back at Woodbury, he manned the cells. He aimed a gun at her while she stood helpless after the Governor's assault. What he needed to know was how much she meant in that moment, because if this was something that clouded her opinions of him, rightfully so, then he couldn't stay.

Finally, he settled on a response, "I don't have to be." (Just say the word).

Maggie understood what he meant, and stared right through him. If she needed him gone, then he would leave. It was that simple. Ace might argue, but he knew it was the right thing to do. The last time he decided to leave was for his own safety, this was different.

After a long moment of silence, she just walked away and sat in the trunk of the car where Ace was resting. Glenn placed a hand on her arm, and a kiss on her head, before sitting beside her. Glenn met his eyes for a second, but there was nothing in his look that indicated any emotion. To Martinez, her silence meant enough to him, enough that she wasn't making him leave just yet, but he knew better than to get in her way.

Which meant that he was riding with Eugene.

"Nice, motel!" Tara commented.

The group stopped at the first buildings they found, taking the time to stretch their legs as they decided whether they wanted to stop for the night. Across the other side of the road was a petrol station and a bar across the road. It was quite close to a town, which the group decided to go around in case there were a lot of walkers. Getting stuck would only delay the trip to Richmond, and they wanted to get Noah back.

"Inn," Martinez corrected for no particular reason.

Tara frowned. "What's the difference?"

"Slapped some fancy new yellow paint on it," he said, waving a hand to the building. "And it says on that giant sign up there."

"Tacky," Tara frowned after following his gesture as he pointed up to a big sign with a spiky sun and the words Days Inn. Further below there were the common seller items to get people to book a room. "But free wi-fi, I could get behind that. And it has the best rates in town."

"That clear it up for you?" Martinez asked jokingly.

"No, what inn has bedrooms that open into the parking lot?" She looked around, and then gently slapped his arm. "But it does have that gazebo out front. It adds to the cute little town vibe if it wasn't for that twenty-foot sign."

"I'm thinking we'll stop for the night," Rick interrupted as he walked over. Martinez gave a silent thanks for being saved from the conversation as the group gathered to discuss the plan. "If the place is secure, that is."

"It's a lot of rooms," Sasha commented.

"Enough for all of us," Tyreese pointed out. "Get some privacy for the night. It's gonna be a long ride cramped in those little vans for 250 miles. Hell, I'm glad to be stretching my legs now and we've barely got started."

"We'll want the rooms upstairs," Martinez recommended. "Stairs in the middle have a door we can lock, the only issue is the ones up the side to that balcony, but we can barricade that, at least. If not we'd have to board the windows downstairs, and we don't have daylight left for it."

"It's still a lot," Carol said, turning in her seat to lean out of the car. Martinez noticed how she held her ribs. He heard bits and pieces of what happened to the other group in their separation, knowing how much pain she must be in after getting run down by the car. "We might be here a while."

Rick nodded in agreement, his eyes trailing back to the open car where his kids were. "Ace, you wanna stay here, keep an eye out?" He asked, rather than telling her what to do. "Keep an eye on Judith and Carl for me?"

That was the thing to get her attention. "Okay."

Rick wondered whether she'd even do it, which was a first for him. Carol seemed to notice the hesitance on his face, as she whispered. "I'll look out for them. Check some of the cars around here."

"Thank you," he nodded, before addressing the rest of the group. "Some of us will head over to the gas station. We'll see if there's anything left. Some others can come with us and take a look at the bar. I don't expect there to be much left, maybe guns if we're lucky, but it's worth a look."

"I'll check the gas station," Michonne said and turned to Isaac. "You come with us."

"Yeah," Rick agreed. "Gabe, if you want to come. Stand between the bar and gas station, keep an eye out?"

Gabriel nodded. "I can do that."

"You coming with us?" Rick asked Daryl, who was quiet for a while.

"Nah, I'm prob'ly gonna head out behind the bar," he answered. "See if there's anything 'round here to hunt."

"Okay," Rick nodded.

"I can look at the bar," Abraham said absently, his eyes staring off into the distance.

"I'll help you," Glenn said. There was a cautiousness in his voice that Glenn had never used with Abraham before, Martinez caught. Probably just from the constant fighting they had to do when Eugene finally told the truth. Even he could admit that Abraham was an intimidating person. He then looked back over his shoulders to Maggie. "Yeah?"

Maggie nodded absently.

The group gave her a concerned look, but they didn't want to tell her to stay in the car and rest up in case she got upset. At least Glenn could keep an eye on her if she went with them. Besides, the place looked quiet enough.

"Martinez," Rick said, snapping him from his thoughts.

"Yeah," he answered, a little surprised to be addressed.

"Take the others and start clearing the bedrooms. Start with the bottom floor so no one gets flanked when they go upstairs, and drag any bodies out afterwards. We shouldn't be too long, so we'll probably meet up with you guys before you finish most of the rooms anyway."

Martinez wiped the shock from his features, not sure why he was being asked to keep an eye on a whole group of people. Rick was beginning to trust him? Maybe. He wasn't going to let an opportunity like this go to waste. "You got it."

"Does your group have a radio?" Rick asked.

Tara nodded. "I do."

"I do as well," Carol said.

Sasha took a step forward, rifle in her hands. "There were some cars down the street. Me and Ty can walk down there, and see if they have anything to siphon before it gets dark. Might as well get it done now, right?"

"Right. Okay, yeah," Rick nodded. "You guys work on that, see what's down there. Doesn't look to be any more buildings but the cars might have some good supplies."

Everyone separated, going to do what Rick had ordered. "Let's look in the reception building first," Martinez said. "Some of the rooms might be locked, don't want to waste any time realising there might be some keys here."

Off to the side of the reception area was a dining room with wooden tables and metal bases, not the neatest of rooms after the wear and tear, but they could see the style that was being set for the inn was still maintained in the room. They entered, and Martinez looked around the corner to search for more walkers.

"Fancy," Tara commented. "If the bedrooms all stink or something we could hold up in here."

"I found some keys," Eugene called from behind the desk

"We'll look downstairs first, then move on to the bedrooms," Martinez said.

As they made their way to the door, Tara stopped at a board with a map of the nearby area around the inn and Tara stopped. "Come see what's around," Tara read aloud. "There's a creek right behind the inn. We could fill up some jugs with water. We might need more if we're going to be on the road for a while."

"Give me the radio," Martinez held out a hand as Tara handed him the radio. He pressed the button and spoke into the device. "Hey, once we're done with these rooms we're gonna head down to the creek. Gather some water."

"Sounds like a plan," Rick's voice came back.

After making sure the reception building was clear, they went back outside and rounded the corner to the bedrooms. They stopped by the first couple of doors, and Martinez started organising the keys to separate between them.

"We'll each take a side. Meet in the middle and then head upstairs," he scoffed as he struggled to separate some of the rings. "I think some keys are missing, do you think Ace can pick a lock?" There was no answer as he finally got all the right keys, holding out the other set to the rest of the group. "Who's going to the other side?"

"I'll come with you," Tara said.

Martinez gave a nod and chucked the keys to Rosita. "Alright, the rest of you can look in the other ones."

"Sure thing," she said.

As the other group walked down the line of rooms, Rosita made sure the rooms were all closed before they started at the end. Tara and Martinez barely had to move as they picked the first bedroom on the ground floor to search.

Tara held a knife in her hand as Martinez unlocked the door, leaving the key in the lock when he pushed it open. "Don't forget the bathroom," he said and crossed the room to peer inside. "All clear."

"Cute bedrooms," Tara said. "Maybe it is an inn."

"I don't know," he shook his head as they left the room. "I'm with you, what inns have bedrooms that open to the parking lot?"

"It does give motel-that-found-out-it's-the-only-murder-free motel. But hey, if that means they put effort into making it look nice, then what the hell," she shrugged, and then grinned over her shoulder. "Did you expect to be in a conversation about an inn for this long?"

"Today or in general?" Martinez asked.

"Both."

"No."

They continued through the rest of the rooms, all having the same layout in reverse. There were some suitcases left over, things left behind from previous guests, but all the rooms were livable for the night. He was building up hope for a nice warm bed.

On the other end, they met up with Rosita and Eugene who had finished all the rooms on their sides. Martinez and Tara had fewer rooms, so they had to wait for the others to catch up, but it didn't take too long and all the rooms seemed to be empty.

"All clear?" Martinez asked.

"Yeah," Rosita answered answered.

"Nothing dead or alive," Eugene followed up. "Seems like this place has been abandoned for a hot minute. Most of the rooms still have integrity, should be a good place to hang our hats for the night."

"We should head upstairs," Rosita said.

"Yeah, then head down to the creek," Martinez added.

The group checked the rooms upstairs as well, splitting up again so they weren't searching for too long. From the balcony, they could see Carol searching the cars in front of the motel. It wasn't long before they made their way back down to head off to the creek. Martinez grabbed whatever they could to hold water, which was when he realised they only really had the individual water bottles anymore. Still, he grabbed some empty bottles and an old milk jug.

"Hey," Carol called before they could leave. "I found this," she held up two five-gallon bottles of water. "Someone's emergency kit I think. Still, gives is a big reserve for the next few weeks."

"Thanks," he said. "These'll do just fine."

The four of them headed into the woods behind the inn. They found the creek in a secluded area that was very pretty. There were wildflowers at the top, with the stream running at the bottom of two rock faces, carved out by. the waters itself. They weren't too high up, ten or so metres, but they had to find an easier place to climb down if they wanted the water.

"We see a few walkers heading into the woods behind the inn," Carl said. "They look like they're coming down from the town. Just some wandering."

"Thanks, we'll keep an eye out," Tara responded and clipped the radio to her belt. "Now, how do we get the water?"

"Looks like there's a better way down over there," Rosita pointed downstream.

They walked downhill as more boulder shapes filled the creek, giving them a safer path to the bottom. Rosita, Martinez and Tara climbed down while Eugene opted to stand up at the top. Martinez thought that was for the best, he only recently had a concussion, last thing they needed was him slipping on the rocks.

"Gonna be a bitch climbing out of here," Martinez panted.

Tara began filling one of the two-litre jugs as the others kept watch. There weren't a lot of places to escape if walkers came down, which was the thing that worried Martinez the most. Eugene was up top, but if anyone was coming then he most likely wouldn't be able to deal with it.

"If you pass that jug up here, I can take it back to the cars now," Eugene offered as Tara heaved the jug out of the water.

"You should just wait here with us," Tara said.

"It'll give you less to carry out of the creek," Eugene said. "And it's a short walk back to the cars."

"It'll be fine," Rosita took the bottle and struggled, but managed to lift it to Eugene. "Let's get the rest of these filled."

As they began to fill me next few bottles, they heard shots coming from behind them. Martinez stood, now wishing that Eugene was standing at the top of the creek so he could look out for any dangers for them. "You guys hear that?"

"I hear shots with Rick's group," Carol spoke over the radio, answering his question. "I'm going over to help them."

"Probably some walkers," Tara began saying as she reached for the radio.

Rosita frowned. "Must be a lot if they're using guns."

"Let's just get the water then we can get up there and help them," Martinez said.

"Okay, Carol" Tara answered over the radio. "Make sure they're okay—"

"HELP!" Eugene yelled. "It's got me! Help!"

Rosita's head snapped in the direction of the yelling they heard. "Eugene!"

Despite the yelling, and how far away Eugene sounded from the creek, Martinez still heard the distinct groans that told him walkers were closer than they needed. With Rosita yelling, she was just going to draw them into the creek and make it more difficult to get to Eugene.

"Stop!" Martinez tried to warn, but it was too late.

Walkers came tumbling over the edge of the creek, their feet giving out as they lost their balance. There were so many, more than Carl was describing, which meant there had been wandering inside of the woods, probably drawn in by the chatter from earlier.

"Fuck!"

"We gotta get out," Tara tried rushing forward, but Martinez grabbed her arm.

"We have to take the walkers out first, don't need someone getting bit as they try climbing out!" He reached for the bat in his bag and pulled it ready to use. "Get on the radio and tell Eugene to pipe down!"

She nodded and stepped behind them, pulling out the walkie. "Eugene, we're working on getting to you. Just hold on!"

Rosita pulled out her knife. "How many are there? Ten? Fifteen?"

"Something like that," Martinez nodded.

"Let's do this," she muttered.

She stabbed the first one as it got closer, needing to back away so they weren't fighting over the obstacles of corpses they left behind. But the more they backed away the more they pushed themselves upstream, where it was getting harder to climb out. They had to kill the walkers.

One by one, the three stepped forward to take out their walkers as they came close. Martinez swung his bat around, slamming it against the head of the walker and crushing it against the stone face.

Eugene was still yelling in the background. "We're in the middle of something! We can't get back there!" Rick called over the radio.

Tell me about it, Martinez thought sarcastically as he killed the closest walker. He almost lost his footing over a slippery rock, but Tara caught his arm and helped steady him. He nodded to her gratefully, blowing out a sigh.

"Aren't there people in the car who can help him?" Rosita asked frantically.

Oh, there's someone, Martinez thought. But what were the odds that Ace was going to leave Carl and Judith alone to save Eugene? Still, the others seemed to consider it for a second, before Tara reminded them, "Carol said something over the radio about helping Rick when she heard the gunfire over there."

"So that leaves . . ." Rosita trailed off. "Fuck."

"Ding ding," Martinez blew out a breath as he stepped forward, striking the next walker with the bat.

There was a beat as she contemplated, her face contorting. She pushed the next walker away and stabbed her knife up into the back of its head before her eyes immediately snapped back to the cars. "There's no way she doesn't hear him."

"If anyone gets out of that car, they'll be spotted. It'll draw the walkers in that direction, and there's kids in that car. Ace isn't going to put them at risk. Eugene just needs to hold on until we can fight our way to him."

They continued as they were, killing the walkers until the numbers dwindled enough for them to run back to the boulders. Tara took down the last one, falling over the top of it as her knife pierced the skull.

"Is that all of them?" Tara panted.

"Down here," Martinez nodded. "Quick, we have to help Eugene."

Rosita was the first one to reach the top, but she immediately froze before getting her body up. Martinez pulled his body up beside her to see what made her stop. Towards the edge of the woods, Ace was standing over Eugene, watching as he desperately tried to push the walker away.

"What are you doing?!" Rosita yelled, sprinting off. "Kill it!"

Martinez pulled himself out of the creek and lowered a hand to Tara. "Come on, quickly."

As he pulled her up and helped her gain her balance, Tara saw what the problem was. "Oh, God."

They chased after Rosita. It was only when they made it over to her that Ace swung the axe down, piercing the skull and killing the walker immediately. The spike got caught in the head, and before she could pull it free the force of the walker falling to the ground dragged her down with it. She caught herself with her good knee which cracked on the pavement and her hands on the axe that hit the ground with a clunk!

But the bend in her other leg sent a pain shooting up her hip. Ace remained on one knee, feeling enough eyes on her to lead to embarrassment, but she held her ground as she breathed heavily in and out through her nose. After a long moment of silence, she heard this irritating sound.

"Thank—" Eugene swallowed, nodding frantically. "Thank you, I thought—"

"Don't," Ace growled.

Eugene nodded again, stepping away as she remained, knelt on the ground, breathing heavily through her nose. Ace placed the elbow of her bad arm on her knee and pushed herself up, wincing visibly before walking past the group who just stared at her.

"What the hell is wrong with you?!" Rosita finally snapped.

Ace stopped, eyed her, but made no attempt to fight back. Rosita was waiting expectantly for an answer that never came because, after a moment of silence, she turned away and slowly limped back towards the car. Martinez thought it best that Ace backed off, for Rosita's sake. She didn't want to get into a fight with her now.

As Ace returned to the car, the other half of the group ran over from the petrol station and bar they had been searching before the shots went off. Rick's eyes followed Ace as she stormed away, watching her climb back into the car.

"Is Ace okay?" Rick asked.

"She had to kill a walker that grabbed Eugene," Martinez answered before Rosita could weigh in.

"She was going to let him die," Rosita snapped.

"But in all fairness, she did save him," Tara tried to calm her down.

"As long as everyone's okay," Rick agreed.

"You aren't going to do anything about it?" Rosita asked. "She's your group!"

Rick blew a breath out through his nose. "Let me get one thing straight here, if you're staying, you're in my group. If you're gonna act like you're not, then I have no problem with what Ace did. And why should I do anything about it now when I let Eugene stay after what he did to her?"

"She left him to die," she tried again, her voice low.

"It wasn't her job to be there," Rick said. "She's injured, she wasn't meant to leave that car. It wasn't safe for her or my kids."

Rosita opened her mouth to continue arguing, but she saw the look in his eyes that told her it was better to keep quiet. Instead, she clenched her teeth and turned away, letting out a long breath through her nose. Eugene was alive, which was the good news.

Rick turned to Martinez. "Did you manage to get water?"

He went to say yes until he noticed the jug that was once filled on the ground, less than half empty from where Eugene dropped it. "We did, but we'll have to do it again," Martinez answered. "Sorry, we got caught up with the walkers."

Rick was nodding, already understanding the reason before Martinez answered. "Daryl isn't back yet, gather what you can now before we have to hit the road," his eyes landed on Rosita, and his head tilted. "Go with him."

"Okay, yeah," he said. "On it."

Rosita just squinted at the order and turned away to keep her mouth shut.

"The rest of you come with us, we can finish looting the buildings before we go," Rick said to the others.

The group split off. Martinez and Rosita climbed their way down the creek to reach the water. They walked down in silence, and he thought that was best for a while because Rosita was still seething. He didn't want to get into it, because he wasn't able to see it her way and any word on the matter would put them into an argument.

As they reached the bottom, Rosita dropped the jug into the stream, turned it on her side and held it in place with her foot as the water rushed into the bottle. Martinez squatted downstream from her, holding the jug to collect water. As his legs became numb, he shifted his weight, but before kneeling.

"We should just gather what we can now and clean it up later when we get the chance," he decided to break the silence. "Can start a fire, boil it, filter it the way you showed us."

However, Rosita wasn't listening. When no answers came he looked back over his shoulder to see that she was just staring off into the distance, her jaw set and her arms crossed. She leaned forward, her elbows resting on her thighs, muttering to herself. "I can't believe him."

"He's looking out for his kids," Martinez waved her off. "He's got more right to be concerned about Ace than he ever did to be concerned about Eugene." (Especially after what he did to her, he thought, copying Rick's reasoning.)

"If we're a part of his group like he says then he should care that she's trying to kill one of us," Rosita argued. "She was going to let him die!"

"She tried killing him the other day, you're shocked?" Martinez tried to joke.

He knew enough that he wasn't surprised by Ace's actions, nor did he believe that she should be reprimanded for her actions. If Eugene had listened and stayed with the group then he wouldn't have needed to get help from someone who wants him dead.

"She's unhinged," Rosita snapped, crossing her arms.

"Tread lightly," Martinez warned. "She's a kid, and she's done more for you and your people than they deserve at this point. "Besides, you seem to be ignoring the fact that Eugene almost blew nine of us up the other day."

"What he did to the bus was unintentional, he didn't know it'd cause a crash. That girl was going to let him die!" Rosita went quiet for a moment, her face contorting as she stared at him. "You saved him the other day. What? Change your mind?"

Martinez stopped, thinking of a way to convey why he did what he did. "How many people do you know that she's killed? Two? Three? I can personally guarantee that it's more. I didn't stop her to help him—I did it for her. She's sixteen, she doesn't need that shit over her head, no matter how much she deserves it."

This seemed to rattle her, throw her off her game as she realised just how much Ace had done. It should have been obvious anyway, seeing as many of them were still alive because she killed someone in Terminus and the church.

Still, he continued, making his point clear, "The last thing she needs right now is you calling her a villain because she wants justice for someone who gaslit and manipulated the people who trusted her into believing she was the cause of nine people almost dying."

"You didn't believe her either," Rosita said.

"I never, ever said that." He reminded her, "In fact, I was the first person to jump in when Abraham started yelling at her." There was a moment of silence between them when he spoke up again. "Oh, and speaking of, I suppose you're breaking up with him?

Her brows shot upwards. "What?"

"Well, you're pissed that Ace tried killing Eugene," Martinez began with a smirk. "Abraham did the same thing, but you spent your time trying to take care of him. If you hate what Ace did so much, I can't imagine you'd feel any different about Abraham?"

Ace perched on an electrical box as she waited for Daryl's return. She just wanted to get back on the road, because at least then they'd be doing something. The time she was taking to heal was driving her crazy, but she couldn't work, not yet. She needed time away from fixing things. Sure, she'd continue runs or killing walkers because anyone could do that, but she had no intention of working on a car any time soon.

Rosita caught her eye as she walked over, stopping just before Ace. "Can we talk?"

Ace gave a shrug that said there was a 50 percent chance that she probably wouldn't be listening if Rosita started talking. Rosita decided to take that chance and came to stand beside where she was sitting on the electrical box.

"I'm sorry," she said. "I yelled at you and I shouldn't have. And I said some things that were wrong of me too. I don't know you, I don't know what you've been through, but I know why you're pissed at him and that should be enough."

Rosita sat and waited for an answer that she knew was never going to come. Ace didn't care about what she said, having not heard any of it and having so little care about what Rosita thought about her. But she did agree that Rosita should have been more understanding of her problems.

"Before the church, I was preaching the whole feminism thing and I couldn't back it up, but I'm going to from now on. I knew what you were capable of, Glenn was always raving about his sister, the teenage mechanic. I shouldn't have told you to back down from something that you've spent your life doing," she explained. "I get that now."

(Good for you). Ace just rolled her eyes but then pulled her leg up onto the box so she could it on it. Ace put her elbow on the other leg and leaned her head in her hands, taking a glance around the area for any potential threats. Honestly, a walker would have been a good distraction for the moment they were having.

"I know you hate him, that you want him dead. And I can't excuse what he did, but I can't get on board with killing him for it," she explained quietly. "He's my friend."

Ace had a friend like that, one that she couldn't let die even after his group made an attempt on her life. But the difference was, Martinez had always been accountable for his actions. When Ace asked if he knew the Governor would shoot her, he said yes.

Eugene was a manipulator and a liar, and people died because of him. Even when it came to light that he didn't have a cure, he contributed nothing to the group. Since entering her life, he made it hell, and all Ace could say with a pause between each word was, "Make better friends."

Rosita let out a quiet laugh, hands slipping under each elbow as she leant her arms atop her legs. "Are we cool?"

"Fine," came Ace's simple reply.

Because, despite her tone, it was true. She didn't have it in her to be mad about the bus, Rosita jumped to the same conclusion everyone else did and assumed Ace made a mistake. Sabotage, even now, seemed far-fetched. Really, she should have felt worse about the apparent questions on her sanity, but Rosita apologised for comments Ace didn't even know she made.

Her attitude didn't come from a grudge against Rosita, even if that was how it seemed at that moment. Ace was overworked and underpaid in the sense that she got no respect from the people she dedicated her time and energy, and it was catching up to her fast. She couldn't change her situation, but she could be mad about it.

And that was her plan, for now.

Ta dah, a sunday update. It's a miracle. I really struggled on this one because as I mentioned, not a single feeling about Beth's death is mentioned between the group. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed and let me know what you thought :)