Running...

I miss Glenn.

Sweating...

I miss Abraham.

Panting...

I miss my brother.

Escaping...

I miss my home.

- ♕ -

"THIS way," Alden ordered, holding the heavy door to the stairwell opened while keeping a look-out. I threw my backpack on in the meantime. "Hurry up."

"I'm coming," I hissed back as I ran passed him, halfway down the stairs before he finally closed the door behind us. Then, he began to shuffle down the stairs behind me, too.

He had figured out that I was lying about what Sherry had said to me. I don't know how, though. He wanted to leave, too, and I am not sure if this was a trick or not - but, I have done warned him that if this is... I would kill him, no questions asked.

"If you put myself and, above all, my home in danger," I had said to him after he agreed to leave with me and Daryl, "I will kill you, Al, no questions asked. Don't make me, though."

He had his own small backpack on his back with some of his things inside while mine held about the same stuff, too. We had only stuffed in our bags things such as our toothbrushes, toothpaste, few clothes folded, bandages, weapons, and ammo, etc. Just some basic survival gear, just in case.

I could not legitimately wait until I was on the outside with Daryl and to embrace him for as long as I wanted - without some dumbass over my shoulder, telling me not to. I hate Negan, man. I absolutely despise that son-of-a-bitch.

The side-door entrance was in the clear view, but before we could get there, I stopped real quick to snatch my gun out. Alden almost did not stop, clearly out of breath and wanting to get out as soon as we could, too.

"Hold on," I whispered, pulling out my PPK Stainless Steel with a silencer on it. It is small, but it is steady and a good weight for me. It is a .22 and it holds up to eleven rounds, which is pretty good for me.

"Hey," I heard somebody suddenly call out, and the voice did not belong to Alden, either.

It was a man and I looked up just in time for him to holt right in front of the door. I recognized him, too, from the night that both Abraham and Glenn died. He was one of the ones, among the rest, that stood close by while my two friends died. I think that he even laughed as they were beat to death.

He was clearly confused as to what we were doing, with his mouth in an O. Then, he slowly trailed his eyes to our backpacks, nervous and hurried facial features, and the gun in my hand. He soon put two-and-two together.

"W-What are you two doing?" he nervously asked, just as I had sunken down to my old-self. I began to practically run up to him, putting a pep in my step. "I-I'll tell Negan! Don't you leave! I'll tell him when he comes ba-"

"No, you won't," I simply said, just as I had placed the front of the silencer underneath his chin and squeezed the trigger.

The bullet flew through the whole gun and silencer, too, and through the bottom of his head clean through the top. Almost like it was all in slow-motion, his now deceased body hit the ground knees-first and, then, the front of his body hit the concrete underneath him. A blood puddle began to form from his head, where I had shot him.

Alden had his back pressed to the cold concrete wall, watching in horror as I had just killed an unarmed man, who just happened to be passing by us while we were getting ready to leave. Underneath my black boots, the blood had wandered over there as I would leave shoeprints behind now.

"W-What did you-?"

"Let's go," I simply barked out, having my eyes still down on the man that I had just killed. I have killed before and would do it again, too, in a heartbreak to protect my own.

Alden went before me and used the strength of his back to open the door, as I now seen the spotlight of the light from the outside now on my feet and the blood. I stared down the dead man one last time before I turned my back on him - and the place, in general - before exiting out of the door.

I ran out of the door since Alden was holding it open for me, but I quickly realized that he was not coming with me, I turned back and stared. "Al?"

"I need to stay," he simply replied, seemingly sincere. "I need to make sure that they don't find you after you leave here."

In a way, I did not understand. I shook my head and tried to make it make sense in my head. "What? No. You can come, too."

He smirked and hesitantly shook his own head. "Your people won't ever accept me," he claimed, which make some sense. "Get out of here, Tess."

"But... Alden..."

"Go, Tess," he demanded, barking out orders to me. "Now."

He did not wait around for me to say anything back because he slammed the door in my face. What the fuck?

Nevertheless, I spun back around and nearly stumped back when I spotted someone, unfamiliar to me from the backside. The man was bludgeoning Fat Joey to death with a pipe. Blood was spraying everywhere from the busted-up face of Joey as I held my breath until the man spun around, ready to use the pipe on me, too.

I placed my hand over my chest before noticing that it was just Daryl. This was it, I thought, feeling the tears in my eyes. I could finally hold him again. So, I did.

I jumped into his bloody arms without caring and wrapped my arms around his ribs. To my surprise, he held onto me as well, but our embrace only lasted for a moment.

Then, once again, Daryl spun around and continued to bash in Joey's head even more - just for good measure. I watched as Daryl continued to drive that pipe in his head over and over again.

However, in the midst of all this, something in the back of my head told me to look up. And, so, I did - but very slowly. When I did, I nearly fell to my knees in disbelief.

"Tess?" Paul breathed out, almost crying. "Oh, my gosh."

"Paul," I cried out and, before I knew it, I found myself running over to him. I immediately wrapped my arms around my twin brother and cried on his shoulder, while feeling his warm embrace back. We crashed together like a car crash. "You're here. Oh, thank God that you're here."

"I would never let them keep you forever," he whispered in my ear, trying to keep himself from crying, too. "I'll always be there for you."

Then, Paul noticed the bloody scene behind us as he looked to Daryl, who was being anything but merciful.

"Daryl," came Paul's warning tone, carefully watching him. He could not believe the scene while Daryl stopped for a moment and was breathing heavily. "Daryl..."

Daryl seemed to have had enough as he threw the pipe to the side. Squinting his eyes down to something that Joey had somewhat underneath him, he bent down and quickly grabbed it. I immediately recognized it to be Rick's very own Colt Python. Joey had it this whole time, apparently.

"It ain't just about gettin' by here," Daryl suddenly said down to Joey's deceased body. He placed the gun on his side before looking up to me and Paul and myself. "It's about gettin' it all."

In one swift motion, Daryl had hopped on a motorcycle and began to back it up with his feet. Paul picked up the walkie-talkie that Joey was carrying, too, while I was still standing there in total and utter disbelief.

Daryl looked over to me and grunted, "I got the key. Let's go."

"How are we all gonna fit on one bike?" I found myself asking the ideal question here. "I have a key, too."

Without further or due, there was no time to discuss it. Without question, I hopped on the back of one of the other motorcycles.

"Paul will show us the way," I called out to Daryl over the roar of my engine. It was loud, so I had to yell. "Follow us."

Daryl somewhat nodded before calling back, "Lead the way."

-

EVENTUALLY, Daryl began to follow us. I have not drove a motorcycle in so long. I did not know where we were going now, though, but did not question it as anywhere but Negan's place would be great.

Then, just as I noticed the old dirt road, I knew exactly where we were going now and the place was not so far in the distance, either. There it was. The Hilltop, the one place on this Earth that will not allow me to be at. Yet, I am hoping that they will just for a minute.

We rode up to the closed gates just as Paul called for them to let us in, seeing Kal being one of the ones on look-out still. I still hate that ass-cheek for what he did to me, but I will let it go since I did survive it. I am not sure how much Daryl's forgiveness has changed, though.

They opened the gates and we road the bikes in until we were good enough inside. They closed the gates behind us as several people, everyone that I had once knew, began to surrounded us. I had placed a beanie on my head to keep the cold away and it worked, as I straightened it up.

"Tess?" I heard somebody almost cry out as I spun around to see Maggie not far away from me.

She was alive, after all. She looked better than she did that night, but she was still crying. I was scared to death, seeing as she may know about myself being all in love with her husband and all.

However, before I could even react, she had drove a line through the crowd and ambushed me with a strong embrace. We held each other for a good minute or so. Maggie was crying on my shoulder as, for once, I could not find the tears to shed. Honestly, I was just so happy that she was okay.

"How's the baby?" I whispered in her ear, seeing as that night had to relate to some baby problems.

She tightened her grip around my neck and replied, "It's good. We're okay. It's okay." Then, this is when she began to pull away from me as we faced one another. She was now smiling through her red eyes and tears. "Glenn's here."

When she said that, I nearly passed out due to the shock. Yet, I somewhat knew what she meant. "They're both here," she continued, looking over at Daryl, too. "Abraham and Glenn. We buried them over here."

"C-Can I see them? Please?" I did not want to sound like I was begging, but let's be honest, I was. I needed to see them both before it was too late. I wish that I had been here for when they buried them in the ground together.

"Of course," Maggie slowly nodded her head through the tears. She placed her hand on my back and began to lead the way for me and Daryl, who had followed up behind us.

Before we even left where we were, somebody had walked out of one of the trailers, with another familiar-looking girl behind her, and this is when I immediately recognized her face. "Sasha?!"

She looked up, sort of caught off-guard by the sudden outburst of her name being called, then took a moment to look at me. Her mouth dropped as she could no longer keep it together. "Tess?! Oh, my God! You're okay!"

I held my arms open as she ran into them, crushing her body to mine as we just held onto each other for a good minute there. Enid was not far behind her, who I smiled at while holding onto Sasha.

Slowly, but surly, the tears were coming together. It was not just because of Sasha, but because of Maggie, too. It was because of Glenn and Abraham being buried right over there. It was because we had finally escaped Negan's Sanctuary and because I had reunited with my brother, too. It was everything.

"I'm taking her and Daryl to go see them," Maggie had said over my shoulder to Sasha, who now noticed Daryl. She slowly nodded before embracing him behind me.

My family was back together again... But we were still missing a few people, though. Two of them were still dead, though, unfortunately.

Then, altogether, we began to narrow down over to where the graves were at. I held my breath, then gulped, and found myself suddenly stopping. The train of people behind me had to stop, too, as Maggie held her left hand clamped down onto my shoulder for dear life.

"It's okay," I heard her say in my ear, just as I slowly looked back at her. She was still smiling. "It's okay, I promise."

Then, once again, we picked the train back up as we slowly became closer to the graves. You could tell that they were in there with the crosses over each one, marking them as one being Glenn's and the other as being Abraham's. The dirt was high on both somewhat tall graves.

My legs felt like jelly, like how they were before when Glenn was unjustly taken away from us, and when I was taken to where he was killed at, too. I found myself falling to the ground underneath me after Maggie could not save me from falling down. I sat there in the orange clay between the two graves, digging into the dirt in front of me.

My mouth hung open, but no words could come out. I did not realize that I was crying until a single tear had fallen down my cheek from just my left eye, alone. It felt like a bullet had flew through my hand when it hit down below. Daryl had taken a knee from beside me, not doing much of anything at the moment.

I sunk down, driving my elbows into the dirt, and placing my head into the palm of my hands. I knew that I was crying now, letting the tears fly through my fingertips. They were very hot and felt like they were at least a pound per each.

Then, when I noticed the green balloon hanging above one of the two graves, I knew which one belonged to who. So, then, my head fell into the ground until I saved it with my folded arms underneath my arms now.

Glenn...

This is when I felt a heavy hand land on my right shoulder and, without looking, I knew who it belonged to. Daryl rubbed it with his thumb before he stood up, and - somehow, I knew that he was upset, before he took off through Maggie, Sasha, and Enid, leaving us alone.

I was still crying so much before I heard some footsteps disappear. I finally helped myself up to see that Sasha and Enid had left, too. Maggie was still there with me, though.

Sniffling, I looked up to her - while I still sat on the my knees on the ground - and asked through a veil of tears, "Maggie, c-could you leave me alone with them real quick? Please?"

She gulped and nodded. "Sure, honey. Take all the time you need."

With that said, she turned around on her heel and walked away, leaving me alone with the dead. I knew what I had to say to them both, especially Glenn, so I was just going to go ahead and just say it.

"This is it, guys," I huffed, still allowing the tears to fall. "This is the very last time that I cry over you two. I'm not doing it anymore after this. I'm finally going to let the past go, I promise - just like I was supposed to before."

Of course, it was going to be dead silent here since I was all by myself with the ghosts. "Abraham, I miss your jokes. I miss your laugh. I miss you. You made everyone happy and, above all, you made Sasha so happy, too. You deserved better."

Taking a deep breath, I looked down at Glenn's grave and thought about crying again. So, finally, I used the back of my dirty hands to wipe the tears away. I shook as I had to, finally not crying anymore. I felt almost brand-new. Almost. This time, I was going to finally suck it up and ask for forgiveness.

"Glenn," I began, slowly standing up to my own two feet and gulped to keep the tears away. "I miss you. A lot. So does everybody else, but I feel like that I do the most - which is really unfair to Maggie because I know that she misses you more. I should've told you how I felt while you were still alive. I felt so guilty when I walked in and seen Maggie, how happy she actually was when she seen that I was alive. She should know the truth, after all, that I was - without a doubt - in love with her husband... You. I hope that you can find it in your own heart to forgive me, because..."

I sucked in another breath before I let it out once again while having my eyes closed, too. It is now or never, Tess, the little voice in my head said to do. Out with it already.

"I finally forgive myself," I found myself blurting out, after taking a deep breath. "I can finally say that I can forgive myself for not saving you and Abraham. I won't feel complete until he's dead. Until then, I'm not going to cry anymore. I'm a big girl... And, big girls don't cry. But, Glenn... I am not in love with you anymore. I fooled myself before."

Slipping something out of my back pocket, it was a necklace that I had found back at the Sanctuary before leaving. It was just a simple silver necklace with a cross on it. So, I looped it over his own cross and stood back, to take another deep breath.

I felt good for once. This is the first that I have felt somewhat complete in weeks. For once, everything is okay.

"You were in love with him?"

I quickly stood up, spinning around and, to my surprise, saw Maggie standing there with a look of complete disbelief on her face. My mouth dropped, yet I still did not know what to say.

"M-Maggie, I-"

"You were in love with him?" she repeated herself, taking a step back when I pounced at her. "Just tell me. Were you?"

She was somewhat calm about this, which made me believe that she did not want the others to hear our little argument. I tried to reach out to her, but she was not having any of it as she hopped backwards again.

"Maggie, please," I tried to beg of her, on the verge of tears again. "Please don't do this to me."

"Do this to you?!" She nearly screamed, but piped-down once again to keep this between just us two. "What have I done to you? Did I hog my husband or something? Is that it?"

"No, Maggie. No, it's not-"

"You loved him," she almost cried out, her eyes red once again. "And you couldn't tell me, and you never were if I hadn't came back to check on you."

She had turned around and I went to grab her arm to stop her from leaving. I had gotten a good grip on her before she flew back around and, before I knew it, she had slapped me across the face as hard as she possibly could. It stung, like a bee had done it, as I believed that her handprint would be what is left afterwards.

I threw my hand over where she had slapped me and looked up at her in total disbelief. She could not believe that she had done it, either, but she did not care anymore. "I don't want you here anymore," she simply said, in a demanding tone.

Before I could utter another word, she had already started to stomp away before she was gone altogether. And, suddenly, nothing was okay again.

-

DARYL and myself were allowed to stay at the Hilltop over night. I had to put an ice-pack and cold rag to my face after Maggie had fucked it up yesterday. I could not blame her. I was actually in favor of her over myself, to be honest.

I had just gotten dressed when I heard the front gates squeak open. I was with Daryl and Paul when we came around one of the barns, seeing a whole group of people standing there with Maggie. I almost ran away, immediately thinking that it was the Saviors and Negan there to kill us.

Then, I seen something else than darkness... I seen the light. Standing there was Rick, Michonne, Carl, Rosita, and Tara - completely unaware that Daryl and myself was even here. They were all alive, even Tara!

Without meaning to, I began to cry when Tara glanced over at me, turned away, and again when she recognized that it was really me. "Tess!" she screamed, nearly knocking down Rick when we began to run for each other.

We crashed into each other's arms, crying as hard as we both could. From the corner of my eye, I seen that Daryl and Rick were in the process of hugging it out, actually crying on one another's shoulders. I could not believe all of this as I breathed in Tara's recognizable scent, squeezing her as tight as I could.

To be honest, I could have sworn that I seen Maggie smiling about all of this, too, but I knew that it was too early to tell. She was not going to br so easy to forget and forgive.

Finally, I opened my eyes - while stills hugging Tara - and noticed Carl standing there, holding out his arms for me. I immediately ambushed him, leaving Tara's arms for his, squeezing him as tight as I could.

"I am so glad that you're okay, kiddo," I said above his head since I was still taller than him. "I knew that you would be."

"All thanks to you," Carl credited as we released one another, tipping his hat off to me.

Then, I made my rounds when I hugged Michonne as well, not wanting to leave anyone out of this hug-fest. Rosita, however, did not care to be held, but I still hugged her, anyways.

We all hugged one another, as Tara made an effort to embrace Daryl, and this is when I turned around to face Rick. He was silent, yet his bloodshot eyes told another story.

He looked at me and lowered his head, not believing the sight in front of him. I knew that he now knew that I was right all along about when going up against the Negan and the Saviors.

However, he could not find the right words to say it, but I did not care. I only took two steps forward and wrapped my arms around his upper body, nestling my head underneath his beard. He wrapped his arms around me, too, as we just held onto one another for dear life.

I rested my head there, squeezing my eyes at one point, until I heard Rick whisper to me, "You were right, Tess. You were right. I should've listened to you. I am so sorry."

"It's alright, Rick," I reassured him, getting as much as this embrace that I could. "We'll get them and, this time, we'll get them good. I can promise you that."

"We promised Glenn and Abe that, too," he whispered back before we slowly separated. We both turned around to face Daryl, who slowly revealed the Colt Python to Rick - his gun. Rick was in awe as he seemed to not recognize it like he did before, but he accepted it, anyways, thanks to Daryl.

Rick, then, faced us - the rest of his trusted and close group, with fresh tears in his eyes and his face as red as a tomato. Nevertheless, we all found it in ourselves to look back at Rick with all smiles and gratitude. I had never felt so belonged in a group before, not even here at the Hilltop all those years.

Yet, when I am with people like Rick and Daryl - and even Tara and Carl, too - I feel more at home and myself like the world cannot stop us now.

I reunited with Tara as we stood there next to one another, still with the emotion of bubbly tears, we all knew what was next. Even Paul knew, who never agreed to attacking the Saviors at all. He believed that everyone should live, even the evil in life. Yet, I was hopeful that he would not see it that way anymore - as I sure did not.

Without saying a word, Rick turned around on his heels and began to stride towards the mansion of the Hilltop. He knew that we would all follow in suit...

And we did... As a unified team and family.