The RV rolled into Alexandria, immediately taking the right to drive along the fence that was being deconstructed now the expansion had enclosed a few more houses of the surrounding town. Isaac stretched up, twisting out the kinks in his back.

Ace was always in his sight, he spent his time trying to read her expressions. She was overthinking, thumb rubbing the scar on her face, restless in her posture as she leaned forward or tucked in her knees. If he thought he could try and pull her back without drawing any unnecessary attention, he would have.

Isaac leaned in, his forehead touching her temple as he reached for her hand. God, he couldn't get enough of her, he was not afraid to admit. If he thought new rules hadn't been implemented in the Grimes' house to quell any repeat events between the two teens, he'd offer to stay with her that night to make sure she slept before tomorrow.

If she even wanted to go—but despite her reservations he knew she would. She'd be back and forth on the fight, seeking opinions that no one would hand out because the decision was ultimately hers. In the end, Ace would feel too guilty and do what she knew was expected of her.

They kind of needed Ace if a fight broke out.

Rick pulled up on the side of the road as some of the others began to get up and leave the RV, he thought that maybe they were at the storage building until he leaned out of the window beside him to talk to someone Isaac couldn't see. "Get Olivia. She should inventory what we have, we'll meet her at the pantry."

"You have food?" Sasha asked.

"Yeah," Michonne, who was then outside, said. "Enough for another month."

"I need everybody in the church in an hour," he added.

"What is it?"

He was quiet on the deal they made, and started up the engine before he said, "We'll talk about it."

There was a moment of silence before Carol asked through the window. "Rick, what's going on?"

"We're gonna have to fight," he admitted, before driving them back to the storage building.

He continued to drive to the storage building when Ace offered to move all the things into the building. She knew Rick wanted to go around and tell everyone about the meeting, and she said she wasn't feeling overly chatty at the time.

Isaac offered to help her, and they worked on moving the food out into the storage. Rick told Jesus and Andy to help him move the medicine to the medicine so Denise could have a look at what they were given.

His eyes trailed to Ace as she rifled through one of the boxes, muttering something like is this only going to last a month? They worked for thirty minutes before he decided to speak up, now knowing they could talk without having all the prying eyes on them.

"How are you?"

Ace looked like she was about to make a sarcastic comment, just for a moment, and then shook her head. Wasn't worth it, apparently. She was quiet, mulling, but she wasn't keeping secrets from him anymore. He was starting to notice the difference, how agitated she had been when planning to take Alexandria versus now, solemn.

Eventually, in a quiet voice came, "I always hated this bit."

"What bit?" He asked.

"The . . . the waiting. When you know something is going to happen, and you just have to get through the hours until it does," she explained. "I could do something at the prison, fortify, prepare, but it's a little different when we're actively going to—" she cut herself off with a shaky breath. "I just want this to be over."

Isaac wanted to say that he felt the same way, but since the world ended, everything had happened to him so suddenly. His mom, the Governor . . . there was nothing to prepare for because everything was unknown until the very last second. Now, knowing what was going to happen, filled him with a sense of ease.

Even if they were going to slaughter dozens of people.

Ace stared at him, maybe waiting for him to have any kind of reaction or agree with her. When she realised he didn't, she pushed down on her knees to stand and shook her head. "Of course, it's probably just me."

"I doubt it," Isaac assured her. "Obviously, I didn't want this to happen, but if it's going to keep us going here, and we take out a group that has tried killing us already, then I don't see the harm in getting the upper hand while we still can."

"I don't need the reasoning explained to me." Her voice was sharp, her shoulders tense.

"I know you don't." He knew not to take it personally, she was on edge, rightfully so after what she had to do in the last few weeks. "I know you, out of anyone in this group, have probably already weighed up whether this is the best move for us. I don't expect it makes it easier."

Her jaw visibly moved as she bit her tongue, holding back more comments. Part of him wanted to hear it, but he knew it was probably something that he wouldn't like. Even when she wasn't trying to be mean, her accent made her sound bitter and condescending. Though, he assumed the accent wouldn't have been to blame if she let herself talk.

"What?" He asked quietly.

Ace waved him off.

A breath shot through his nose, and he nodded. "I know I haven't done anything like this before, so if I'm missing something, do tell."

"I wasn't going to say anything constructive."

"That's okay."

Ace shook her head. "I don't want a relationship where we treat each other like punching bags."

"I don't want that either," he agreed, but her expression still made him wonder. "Is this about what you said at Hilltop? That you feel obligated because you're more . . . capable?"

Capable was the light way of putting it.

"You don't have to go if you don't want to, Ace," Isaac assured her. "I don't think anybody would blame you."

"So I sit back while a pregnant woman goes to fight?"

"I doubt Maggie is going," he denied.

Ace tilted her head and pursed her lips. "If you say so."

He paused for a moment to think about it, before slowly realising. "She . . . she's going to go, isn't she?"

"Ding ding," Ace said as she walked out.

Isaac was floored for a moment, but he should have guessed. He'd known this group long enough to realise how selfless they could be.

He chased Ace out of the storage room, "The point still stands. If you don't want to go, then you don't have to."

"What else am I good for?"

"Are you serious?"

Ace sucked in a breath, stopping on the pavement as she turned to face him. "One day the petrol we scavenge is going to a, run out, and b, oxidise. When we have no way to get fuel, then what good am I as a mechanic?"

"You think about stuff like that?"

"It's been more of a recent train of thought."

"How come?"

"In the early days I thought things would go back to normal, after that—" She choked off, and Isaac doubted that she'd even finish her sentence. But she looked up at him through her lashes and said, "After that, I doubted that I'd ever live long enough for the petrol to oxidise."

Isaac ground his teeth. "What made you think about it now?"

"I thought maybe there was a chance this place could be fortifiable," she said truthfully.

Isaac reached for her elbow. "It is."

She didn't look convinced—not anymore.

"So when you thought we'd be able to stay here forever and call this place home, you immediately went to, my job isn't going to exist in a few years?" Isaac managed to get her to stop walking. "Ace, you have other skills, more than most."

"Every job I can do is dependent on the current needs," she said. "You plan for the future. Maggie farms, Daryl hunts, we're always going to need food. Denise being a doctor and Rosita's medical training from Pete." She didn't have to explain why those were important. "And not that he sees it yet, but Rick is going to have to be involved in a whole lot more than what our next fight is."

She looked physically pained, and it made Isaac's heart clench to see her insecurities in full force.

"I made a lot of talk, but I meant what I said at Hilltop. If anyone should be in this fight, it should be me. But, that's what I do. I build, and I fight."

"You're only going to need one of those for the rest of your life," Isaac promised. "I don't know when the fighting is going to end, but the building, expansion, we're always going to need people working on that. At least for our lifetimes."

"I'm just back to like I was before," she said. "It's getting harder to believe that I'm going to be around long enough for that to be a possibility."

"Please," he said quietly, rolling his eyes. "You're going to outlive us all."

Ace clenched her teeth. "This conversation is getting a little morbid. Want to save this energy for the slaughter? We should head over to the church, the meeting should be starting soon."

"Yeah," Isaac agreed.

Most of the group had been gathered at the church with a few exceptions, people on watch who couldn't stop working and others who didn't generally get involved in these kinds of discussions. Isaac sat beside Ace at the front right of the church, and Rick waited for a few more people before starting.

"This is Jesus and Andy," Rick began as he stood at the head of the church. "We took a trip with them to their community, Hilltop. They have things there we don't have yet, grown farms, and livestock. All the things we're working towards. And we can work with the Hilltop."

Isaac glanced around the room, nosy more than anything. He started feeling like Ace where he wondered how many of those people would be involved in the fight, whether they would even care what Rick chose to do. Rick was putting it to a vote, sure, but how many people would help when they decided to fight?

"Maggie hammered out a deal, we're getting food: eggs, butter, fresh vegetables. But they're not just giving it away," he continued. "These Saviours, they almost killed Sasha, Daryl, and Abraham on the road. Now, sooner or later, they would've found us, just like those Wolves did, just like Jesus did. They woulda killed someone or some of us, and then they would try to own us."

Isaac knew that was the only reason Ace was on board with this plan, because as Rick spoke, he could see Ace out of the corner of his eye, shaking her head, huffing and muttering under her breath. She wanted more planning, more thought, but because she knew if the Saviours got to them first, they'd be working to give away supplies that they didn't have. They'd lose someone. He gripped her hand in his own, his thumb running over the back.

"And we would try to stop them," Rick said. "But by then, in that kind of fight, low on food, we could lose. This is the only way to be sure, as sure as we can get, that we win— and we have to win. We do this for the Hilltop, it's how we keep this place. It's how we feed this place. This needs to be a group decision. If anybody objects, here's your chance to say your piece."

Isaac wasn't sure the last time Rick asked the group for an opinion. Ace had told him once that Rick revoked the group's voting rights to keep them safe in the Winter, but by the time they found Isaac, he had taken a step back.

Something creaked behind them, and Isaac glanced back to see Morgan standing at the back of the church. "You're sure we can do it? We can beat them?"

"What this group has done, what we've learned, what we've become, all of us—" Rick nodded his head. "Yes, I'm sure."

"Then all we have to do is just tell them that," Morgan said.

"Well, they don't compromise."

"This isn't a compromise," he argued. "It's a choice you give them. It's a way out, for them and for us."

"We try and talk to the Saviors, we give up our advantage, our safety," Rick told him, and he was right. At that moment, the saviours didn't know their location or their intentions of attacking. If they made themselves known, they could be followed back. "No, we have to come for them before they come for us. We can't leave them alive."

Morgan shook his head, "Where there's life, there's possibility."

"—Of them hitting us."

"We're not trapped in this." Morgan looked back to the others around the church, "None of you are trapped in this."

This conversation between Morgan and Rick only reminded Isaac of the day the Wolves brought in, that while they had been slaughtering people in the streets, Morgan had then refused to take them out. He fought, but Isaac doubted he would be involved in the slaughter of the Saviours for food.

"Morgan . . . they always come back," Rick tried to convince him.

"Come back when they're dead, too."

"Yeah, we'll stop them. We have before."

"I'm not talking about the walkers."

Ace clenched her teeth, her head drifting off to the side, her chest rose as she sucked in a breath, and she refused to look at Rick at that moment. She didn't want to show just how unsure she was about the idea. But Isaac knew it was more than that, that what Morgan said had hit her close to home.

Rick turned back to address the group, "Morgan wants to talk to them first. I think that would be a mistake, but it's not up to me. I'll talk to the people still at home, I'll discuss it with the people on guard now, too, but who else wants to approach the Saviors, talk to them first?"

Aaron stood up behind them, "What happened here, we won't let that happen again," he turned to Morgan, who didn't look upset with the decision, "I won't."

"Looks like it's settled," Rick decided. "We know exactly what this is. We don't shy from it, we live. We kill them all. We don't all have to kill. But if people are gonna stay here," he started walking down the middle of the church, "they do have to accept it.

That was more like the Rick that Ace had described to Isaac.

"Isaac! Dinner!"

Isaac perked up from his room, following the sound of Maggie's call downstairs. He put down the book he was reading, putting a pencil on the page because even in the apocalypse, he refused to be the monster that dog ear his books.

Before leaving his room, he grabbed the walkman that Aaron let him keep.

Maggie was in the kitchen, stirring some of the food she made while Glenn set the table. She came out with the saucepan and dished out some of the food as Glenn sat at the head of the table, not even noticing Isaac.

"This one?"

"Yeah," Glenn said, "it's just us."

Isaac nodded and sat to the left of Glenn, pulling out the walkman, "Is it okay if I . . . ?"

"Of course," Maggie smiled.

It was weird, having dinner with just the two of them. Glenn was so close to Ace that sometimes it felt weird that he was the one living with him, and the only thing that made it feel more normal was how close he was to Maggie.

"We need someone on the perimeter keeping watch," Maggie argued. "That could be me. That would be safe."

Isaac pushed his headphones back, his eyes flicking between her and Glenn, who ran a hand over his face, the corners of his lips pointed down. He didn't want Maggie to go either, but he didn't know how much they'd appreciate him stepping in.

"Safer."

"Whatever safer looks like now," Glenn murmured.

"I . . ." Isaac stopped as they both shot to look at him, probably forgetting he was there. "I could take the perimeter, so you don't have to."

"Isaac." Her face softened. "I have to be there. I made that deal. It wasn't my idea, but I led us into this. I have to come."

Jesus, it was like talking to Ace.

But he was starting to see what she was talking about, how this was the worst part of the fight—having to make these kinds of decisions, who should stay and who should go. But Maggie, with the pregnancy, should stay at Alexandria and be safe.

He clenched his teeth. "You shouldn't, even if you made the trade."

Glenn wanted to agree, he could tell. The way his eyes flicked between him and Maggie, how he opened his mouth to agree but decided not to argue with his wife. Women should never have had to work during pregnancies anyway, especially not with something as important as this.

"I do."

Later that night, Rick called the group in so Andy could explain what he remembered from going to the Saviour outpost. He didn't know if he was supposed to be in there, but he wanted as much information as he could before they did this.

Ace was sitting on a sideboard, her eyes distant as she stared off. He didn't know if she was listening, probably deciding as Andy spoke whether she wanted to carry out the plan. Really, they needed Ace there, Isaac knew that much. She was the one who could make bombs and had killed people before so she wouldn't freeze up.

But he also knew she had a rough couple of weeks and he didn't want her to go if this was just going to make her feel worse than she had been anyway. Ace had been involved in a lot of fights up to that point, and it was starting to take its toll.

"Describe it," Rick said.

"Rectangular building, big satellites on it," Andy explained simply.

"Any windows?" Rick asked.

"I don't remember any," he said. "I think they made it so there's only one way in."

"Guards outside?"

"Yeah, two of them, at least."

"And you don't know how many people they have?" Michonne asked.

"No. Uh, I mean, no. I saw a place where they stored food. It wasn't that big, so . . ." Andy trailed off.

Rick raised a brow, "You've been inside?"

"Yeah," he nodded. "They had us load in supplies one time."

Glenn leaned forward to place another piece of paper down on the table in front of him. "What do you remember?"

Andy began drawing a T shape to show the hallway where the pantry was located. As he wrote the label on a box sticking off to the right side, Maggie asked, "And you didn't see any other rooms?"

"No, it's a big place," he shook his head. "This is the hallway I saw. There is more."

"And every time, they had you bring things into here?" Michonne tapped the paper where the pantry was.

"Jesus . . ." Andy trailed off as if remembering something. "We brought a couple spears for them. Two of the Saviours took them down this hallway. Now, they must've done something with them because they didn't come back with them."

"Maybe a weapons locker, an armoury," Jesus agreed.

"Okay," Glenn waved a hand over the map. "We get in there, secure the armoury, that's how we end it."

"That's how Carol ended it here," Maggie added.

"But we don't know if they have an armoury or where it even is," Andy said.

Daryl shifted on his feet, "Well, we've gotta lot of good guesses."

"I wouldn't call it a lot," Martinez scrunched up his face as he stared down at the map.

"We've done more with less," Daryl said pointedly.

Ace huffed out a laugh beside Isaac, and he glanced at her questioningly. Maybe they meant the night they snuck into Woodbury—Ace told him about it but he'd forgotten that they fought with the Governor before he attacked the prison with a tank.

"We go in at night while they're sleeping," Rick decided.

"The guards won't be sleeping," Andy said. "Like I said, I think there's only one way in and there's no way to bust through that door without waking up the rest of them."

"We don't need to, they're going to open it for us, let us walk right in," Rick said. "They want Gregory's head, right? We're gonna give it to them."

"I need more," Ace said, her eyes never leaving the map. Isaac knew immediately her head jumped to killing Gregory and just taking his head to the Saviours, which was probably okay with most of Alexandria but not Hilltop.

"Tomorrow, we're gonna head out with the group that's going into that building and look for a walker," Rick said. "Chances are, we're gonna find one we can pass off as Gregory, fix it up, cut the hair if we have to. It doesn't have to be perfect, just good enough. Just enough to get us through the doors."

"We're gonna want a sniper or two outside," Martinez said. "I know you all don't like it, but I did help ambush a lot of groups. If they get wind of what we're doing, they're gonna scatter. Yeah, we need people to get to the armoury to hold out there, but we can't risk any of 'em getting away."

"He's got a point," Michonne agreed, her face grim. "His group ambushed the National Guard."

"Yeah, an' those guys were trained," Daryl agreed. "Can take these guys out the same way, easy."

Ace pursed her lips, as if holding back a sarcastic comment. Isaac knew she wasn't fully on board with the plan, but it was too late to back out now.

They were out early the next morning—they had to get ahead on their plan before the end of the night.

As they parked up in the middle of the road, the RV in front honked, followed by the rest of the cars. Isaac watched as Rick stood up from the front seat and stepped out, following Ace who was sat opposite him at the table to stand outside.

The cars were finished in seconds, all they needed was a sharp sound to draw the attention of some walkers.

"Aaron, Rosita," Rick called out to them. "You start here, we'll peel off every quarter mile, meet back here in a couple of hours. See what we got."

He rolled his shoulders, a hand on the back of his neck as he tilted his head back. Hopefully, it wouldn't take long, how hard could it be to find a walker and make it up to look like someone? Should be easy. . . but just in case it wasn't, Isaac prepared to stand around for the long run.

As he glanced around, he spotted Rosita seemingly fighting with Carol while Martinez raised his hands placatingly. Isaac noticed how the older women stiffened up, the same look on Rosita's face when Ace tried killing Eugene back on the road. Something wasn't right, but he didn't know what was causing all the tension.

"Isaac," Rick's voice cut through his thoughts.

Isaac always felt a weight settle on his chest when Rick spoke to him now, after the days of teasing from the other group when they found out he and Ace had slept together. He swallowed and turned to look at him, "Yeah?"

"Why don't you take a rifle? Get up on the RV and practise aiming something this big around," Rick offered, holding the rifle towards him. "Don't shoot, we don't wanna draw any unwanted attention, but you can at least get a feel for it. It'll be good for you to know."

He frowned, "I'm coming in with you today, we need as many people looking for the armoury as we can spare right?"

"I know, but we're bound to have more fights, more situations where we need someone who can be on the lookout or ready with a sniper," Rick explained. "It makes sense that it's you, keeps you out of the fight, out of the blood and gore."

"I can fight," he said. "I killed the Claimer."

"You did," Rick nodded. "I'm just trying to help you, find a way for you to help out that'll keep you out of your head. Gabe is gonna be waiting outside today, ready to pick anyone off that runs out." He stopped, taking a breath as he thought about the right way to say it. "You know what you're capable of, and I don't wanna tell you what you should and shouldn't do, but if you want to get involved, I want you to think about it."

"Actually, I have a plan for me and Isaac to do now," Martinez said. "I was thinking me and him head down to the outpost, stay in the woods like we did at Terminus. Maybe we'll be able to spot more guards, more people, but more importantly, we might be able to get a layout of the place."

"You're not heading inside," Rick cut in.

"I'm not fucking suicidal," Martinez waved him off. "Big buildings like that have fire exit maps posted everywhere. It's highly unlikely that there's only one exit, but sometimes those maps show the layout inside too. If I take Isaac down there with his book and scope, he could draw the map out, we can compare it with the ones Andy drew. It's not gonna show where the armoury or anything is, but we can get a better idea of what rooms they could have used."

Eventually, Rick nodded.

"It's a good idea," he turned to Isaac. "You want to do that?"

"Yeah," Isaac agreed.

"Good," Rick said. "Don't take any risks, keep low."

"Can't risk getting spotted before we head inside," Martinez agreed. "We'll be careful, but we're gonna be a little while."

Isaac knew they'd probably spend the same time walking there as it would take to get the group walker heads that looked like Gregory. It was a long walk to the outpost because they had to draw in the walkers with sound and they didn't want to get heard by the Saviours.

"Think about what I said," Rick told him as he turned to leave, offering him the rifle.

"Yeah," he agreed, following Martinez away.

They headed down the road, and Isaac pulled the rifle over his shoulder. This was probably better for him anyway, he wasn't sure he wanted to be involved in gathering walkers to make over to look like Gregory and sitting on watch and aiming a gun around would be a little boring.

Scouting ahead actually brought some excitement to his chest. It had the thrill of getting up close and being secretive around the Saviours' home and gave him an application for his drawings, actually being able to use something he was good at to help the group.

"You think you're gonna do it?" Martinez asked.

Isaac glanced out the corner of his eye, "Learn snipers?"

"Yeah."

He nodded, "It's probably good for me, I just don't like when people recommend it like they know what's best."

"But he did know what's best," Martinez argued.

"Yeah," Isaac agreed.

Martinez snorted out a laugh, "To be a teen again."

Isaac glared at him.

"If you're gonna do it then you should talk to Sasha, get her to show you the ropes for a day. Take more watches. Hell, you'll be able to do that work you're always doing on the towers too."

"Yeah, I know."

They continued walking for ten or so minutes towards where Andy told them the building was. As they got closer, Martinez nodded for them to dip into the woods to remain unseen by any saviours that may be on guard.

"What was all that with Carol and Rosita?" Isaac asked after a while, having nothing to do but think back to what she saw when they pulled up on the road.

"Just something that happened when the herd got in," Martinez said vaguely.

Isaac rolled his eyes, "Descriptive."

"Sorry, kid. Carol wants Rick out of the loop, which means keeping Ace out of the loop," Martinez said.

And he was the connection to Ace.

It was probably for the best that he didn't know seeing as he made such a fuss about Ace and Rick's plan to take Alexandria, the fact that she didn't tell him. He had already kept Maggie's pregnancy from her, which made him feel worse about the rule he made against secrets, so it was probably best he didn't have anymore.

"Was it bad?" He asked.

"It— Look, it's just about someone in the group, and I don't wanna be the reason they get kicked out or leave or something," Martinez said. "It's just better if this all stays quiet for a while. It's not anything that needs to be brought up while we're planning an attack on another community."

"Might want to tell Rosita to be more subtle about it then," he said.

"She's pissed off . . . That, and Abraham called it quits yesterday."

Isaac's brows shot up into his hair, "He did?"

"He did," Martinez nodded. "Did it nice, she said he went about it the right way. But she's still upset about it. I think that's one of the reasons she's as annoyed as she is about the other thing right now."

"I'm not surprised," Isaac agreed. "Why did he do it?"

"He likes someone else."

Isaac nodded in understanding. "Kinda surprising they're both here after it."

"Got a job to do," Martinez waved him off. "Can't let relationships get in the way of something this important."

"I guess not," he agreed.

Of course, work was more important than relationships now. But if someone got angry enough, maybe after a breakup, then there was always the chance that they'd try to kill someone or let them die if the opportunity showed itself. Not necessarily a breakup, but Ace almost let a walker eat Eugene because no one was around to stop her.

Martinez said Abraham did it nice anyway, so maybe Rosita wasn't that angry with him. But who else did Abraham like? Maybe that was dipping into his personal life too much, and the chances were that they'd know soon anyway, but after the week of people picking on him and Ace, he didn't care all that much.

As a barbed wire fence came into their view, they knew they'd found the Saviour's outpost. It was a large building with a huge satellite on top, as Andy had described. Isaac stopped, dropping behind a burh when he saw a man standing on top of the roof, circling.

"Holy fuck."

"It's big," Isaac frowned.

"Not as big as Terminus."

"More people than Terminus, though," Isaac shot back.

"True," Martinez nodded for him to follow. "We'll go around, see what we can see and then head back. Don't wanna be hanging around here for too long."

"Yeah," Isaac agreed, his eyes never leaving the building.

Surprisingly, he didn't have any second thoughts about being there for the fight. He didn't want to let the group down and seeing the possible threat in front of him only solidified that this was something they had to do.

He kept close to Martinez as they walked around, low to the ground behind bushes as they kept an eye out to find anything that might help them when they got inside. It was minutes before Martinez stopped them with a grin on his face, lifting binoculars to the building.

"Take a look at that."

Isaac raised his gun to see a fire exit, one that Andy probably didn't know about. Then again, Andy had said that they made the front entrance one of the only ways into the building, so the exits were probably blocked off on the inside.

Beside the red door was a sign on the wall, with colourful rectangles to display the rooms and floors inside the building, and arrows showing the quickest ways to get outside in case of a fire.

Isaac went prone, laying the rifle through the barbed wire fence as he pulled out his notebook and a pen. He laid his head on the gun so he could look through the scope and see the fire exit sign and switch between that and copying what he saw.

"This isn't going to help us find the armoury," Isaac said as he drew the first part of the map.

"No, but we'll have options. Andy can look at what you draw and then work out how far inside they took him when he delivered that stuff into the building," Martinez explained. "Follow where he said those guys went with the spread to find the armoury."

"Yeah," Isaac said, constantly switching between the scope and the book. "Okay, almost done."

"Take your time," Martinez said. "Well, maybe not too much, don't want to get caught with our asses out."

It took another minute, before Isaac grinned, "Done."