AS soon as it was dark, Andy drove up to the Saviors' compound alone. When he pulled up, several red lights came on and shined upon Andy and his little vehicle. Two guys came out, armed and ready for anything at this point. They seemed to be in good spirits, considering the fact that the red lights and their loud voices could be heard by Walkers everywhere.

They seemed to be joking around with Andy until he took out Gregory's "head," which had seemed to make them stop talking for a second. It didn't take long, of course, until they had taken the Walker's head and started to play around with it. Predictable, I had thought to myself as I rolled myself.

Yet, I was nowhere near them to hear their teasing of the decapitated head. Tara wasn't anywhere near me, either, but she was safe back in the truck with my brother and Father Gabriel. As for myself, however, I was stuck between Glenn and Heath.

I could see Daryl, though. He wasn't far from the Sanctuary, ready to pounce on the two opening men like a cougar going after its prey. I was in the same boat as he was, even though, Rick had advised me to stay back with Glenn and Heath.

I heard a scuffle coming up behind me in the woods and bushes, so I spun around on my heel (while I was only using one knee to kneel) and held my gun up, ready to fire. However, it was only Abraham and Sasha, who was just trying to get a closer look just like we had.

I felt Glenn place his hand on my right shoulder and sigh. "It's alright, Tess," he tried telling me as he turned forward again to regain his focus. "You can go full-assassin when we get in there."

Even though this all was supposed to be serious and no fun at all (except for me, maybe), Abraham had let a small chuckle escape his lips as he smiled at me with Heath being in the middle of us. "I like you," he had said to me, which made me smile back at him. Even though, he couldn't see it because I was wearing a half-mask from my nose down. "I think that we're gonna get along just fine."

To that, I nodded and quickly glanced at Sasha, who had also broken her serious character by smiling and shaking her head at his last statement. So, then, I turned forward again and watched the scene in front of us. If the red lights weren't on, then we wouldn't be able to see at all.

Satisfied, one of the guards goes inside to get Craig, who had been taken hostage from the Hilltop. Just as one entered the Sanctuary, the other (who was thicker than his friend) stood there and began to whistle to avoid awkwardness, I'm sure.

Then, before anyone – including myself, specifically – realized it, Daryl had approached the big guard silently and slit his throat from behind him. Abe had given us the signal, so we began to move in from behind him as the rest of the group emerged from hiding.

We worked silently and smoothly, removing the body from the scene. Tara had came up beside me and I tried to smile at her through my half-mask, and she must had realized that I was trying, because she smiled back at me, too. I gave her right hand a tight squeeze and whispered, "Be careful."

Not only was her lips smiling, but her eyes were, too. Though, they were really sad-looking, too. "Always am. You do the same, though."

"I will," I promised her and quickly moved away, just in time for the other guard to come out with Craig. Andy was the only one in sight at the moment as we all hid and crouched down like striking tigers.

Again, I was back between Glenn and Heath, while Glenn was in front of me. "Well, well, well," the skinny guard had said as he made his way back out with Craig. "Look who it is."

Just as they had stopped, a blade rang out and the skinny guard groan, seeing as Michonne had taken her katana and stabbed him with it through the back. Craig began to freak out, so Andy had to shush him up immediately.

I ran up to them and warned Craig, "It's alright. We're here to end this."

He glanced up with a look confusion across his face. "Tess?" I nodded and he sighed. "But, I..."

"We're bringing you back. We're bringing you back," Andy said in a way to comfort him.

As Rick threw the keys that were on the guard to Daryl, he popped open the door and Glenn went in first immediately while I came on with him, too. Rick wasn't far behind me, either, but found his place when he held the door open for us to come inside.

So far, we had successfully snuck our way into the compound. We were all so quiet until Rick silently announced, "Check the doors. Find the arsenal. We take them out."

Somebody had bumped into me and I spun around to find it to be Heath, who was just this nervous little bird. "Watch it," I warned him as I tried to turn back around to remain focus and aim. Glenn glanced behind himself at us, like he was the father driving a car and we were the two fighting kids in the back. He gave me a warning look and I rolled my eyes. He got the message.

"I'm sorry," I heard Heath quietly apologized to me, leaning in to get the message through to my ear. "I'm just..."

Before he could finish his sentence, turning a corner, I cut him off and said, "I know."

As Heath, Glenn, and myself turned that corner and went down the hallway, Rick, Daryl, and Michonne had stayed back at one closed door. I didn't really pay much attention as I had to focus on what's in front of me. Hell, for that matter, what's behind me, too, being clumsy and nervous Heath. Glenn was a confident leader; though, he seemed just as scared as Heath was, which worried me.

Glenn slowly opened another closed door with us holding our weapons up, ready to fire immediately, if we have to. Michonne was right in the middle of the hallway, holding her gun up as well. She was covering our backs for us.

We suddenly discovered two men asleep on two separate small beds. The beds looked like small cots than actual comfy beds. So, we put our guns down and got our small knives out instead. Glenn was the first before I could even do it, myself. He went towards the right bed before Heath spotted the left.

I watched as Glenn kneeled beside the bed and seemed to be holding back. I stood behind him and silently asked, "What's wrong?"

He gulped and slightly looked back at me. "I've never..." And my heart fell to my stomach as I had to swallow my words.

It wasn't easy to ever kill, even if these rat-bastards deserved it, specifically. I remember when I first killed someone and the second time that I did, too... And, I remember feeling like complete shit afterwards. I remember Paul being there for me and whispering in my ear, "I wish that you didn't have to do that."

Then, I turned towards Heath and watched as he struggle to kill just as well. Before I could ask anymore questions, Glenn had stood back up and told me to go wait outside. This was something they had to do. So, respectfully, I walked outside and waited for them with my weapon raised.

About a good minute later, Glenn and Heath walked out behind me and seemed to be pretty shaken up. "I'm sorry," I decided to apologize to Glenn, specifically. Then, to Heath, I did the same thing. When Glenn wouldn't budge, I asked, "Wait, what is it?"

That's when his eyes traveled up to mine as he said, "We just find a trophy wall full of photos showing the bodies of their victims. All of their heads have been crushed."

I gulped and nodded, trying to mentally reassure Glenn that it was all gonna be alright. But, in all reality, from what I knew... It's all not going to be alright. The damage from their photos didn't do reality any justice whatsoever.

Lucille, I had thought to myself as Glenn turned away and we went back to walking.

Though, before we had known it, an alarm began to blare throughout the compound and my whole body began to ache, alerting the compound to the attack. "Shit," I cursed, turning to Glenn in question.

"C'mon," he said to Heath and myself, signaling for us to run. So, when he took off, we were only inches behind him. We had taken off behind him like we had two rockets up our asses.

All of us were still moving through the rest of the compound with our guns, engaging the Saviors, who are now awake and fighting back. One of them had a knife and was going to use it on Glenn, who had his back turned at the moment. So, before he could do it, I raised up my rifle and shot him through the back of the head. Who cares about the noise now, am I right?

Glenn spun around with his mouth hung open in disbelief as he glanced down at the Savior's body on the ground. He looked up at me and breathed out, "Thank you, Tess."

"No problem," I said to him before we kept moving on down the hallway.

The alarms were still going off, but no Saviors had came at us just yet, other than just the one. We began to run as guns began to rapidly go off in the distance and the noise became louder. Glenn held the front while I watched our backs. Heath ran in the middle of us, using his eyes to watch both sides.

"Down here," Glenn yelled, pointing towards the right hallway.

We stood there when I noticed the left and Daryl running down it. "No, the left," I called to him and, so, he took off that way.

We ran down there just in time to meet the Saviors chasing after Daryl to shoot them down. However, I had done it all by myself before Glenn and Heath could even react. I had taken down three of them because they were coming after Daryl.

Then, I turned right onto the hallway – towards the way that Daryl had went – while Glenn and Heath went down the left. I was going to turn back to go with them, but some Saviors had came out of a room and began to chase after us both. Two after them and two after me, so I had no choice in the matter at the moment.

"Shit, shit, shit," I cursed as I ran to a dead end. I didn't think this through properly, apparently.

So, as I neared the hallway, I stopped in front of the door there and spun around to face the Saviors. I raised my gun at them and held my guard. I wasn't about to back down.

One of the two shot at me, but had hit the wall beside me instead. In return, I took aim and shot back at him, hitting him in the leg as he fell backwards. Where the hell did Daryl disappear off to?

While the other was moaning and groaning about being shot in the leg, the other Savior stepped up and looked like he was about to shoot me with perfect aim. However, before he could, the door behind me had swung open and somebody stepped out, shoving me behind them.

It seemed to be Daryl, who had quickly shot the two Saviors in a heartbeat while I cowered behind him. So, with them now dead, we finally had a moment to breathe.

He turned around and looked down at me through his dark, long locks. "Thank you," I quickly thanked him before he could hesitate, catching my breath.

"What the hell?" he groaned, sounding weak for a moment. His voice wasn't deep, just weak. "You could've been killed."

I faced him and tried to figure him out. I didn't like being picked on, especially by somebody that I barely knew. What a dick.

"So what?" I snapped back at him, facing him straight-on. "You would be happy, wouldn't you?"

I would regret this later, I'm sure, but I didn't care as I felt anger towards him. He wanted to play "silent code" and not tell me what I deserved to know. He wanted to apparently protect me, but he could not. Then, that's when it hit me... That's why he was so weak right now. Not because of the running, but because he had almost missed the chance to save me. When it came to me, his mission was clear as day that he just wanted to protect me.

Isn't that what Glenn meant?

Then, as I had realized this, I looked up at him with sad eyes and reached for his bicep. "Daryl, wait. Please," I tried to tell him before he began to walk down the hallway again.

Seemingly, he didn't want to hear this as he spun back around to face me and got in my face. For a second, I didn't know what to expect. He was angry, I knew that much. But, before he could completely lose his shit, he grabbed my right arm and dragged me behind him, much like a parent with a spoiled child.

Then, when we got to the middle part of the split hallway, he made me stand directly behind him and he demanded, "Stay behind me. Don't be going anywhere else." I decided not to fight back at the last minute as I held my gun up, ready to go.

Then, before we moved out, I heard him mutter, "This is why you should've stayed behind."

I have had enough, so I opened my mouth to fight back. But, before I could, I heard him say something else. I couldn't tell, at first, if I was meant to hear it or not. But, I heard him mumble, "Or, yet, you should've stayed with me this whole time."

—

WITH the fighting now over, we found our place with the others. I reunited with Glenn and Heath, who were physically perfectly fine. Mentally and emotionally, they probably weren't.

I hugged Glenn with my arms tightly around his neck as I smiled. "You're okay," I whispered in his ear.

We pulled apart as, with a blank stare, he said to me, "No. I'm not." I knew what he meant, so I just let it go as I turned to pat Heath on the shoulder.

"Tess?" I heard somebody call out my name as I turned to face my brother. Paul? He tackled me down with a huge hug as he held my waist and I held his neck. "You're okay. Thank God."

"Yeah, I am," I recounted to him as we separated. "How are you in here? And... Where's Tara?"

"She's back there, don't worry," he replied, nodding. I looked behind him as I seen her walking towards us. "I got in here to help. Glenn and Heath were pinned down when I found them, which made me worry that you were already gone."

I stared back into his eyes and stated, "You don't have to ever worry about me, Paul. I'm not leaving you, not if I can help it."

He smirked just before I started circling around him to get to Tara, which we hugged and met in the middle. We had that slight moment to hug before we had to get ready to go outside.

Then, as Rick opened one of the doors to the outside, we emerged from the building with our guns up and ready for more. To my surprise, it was already daylight. I remained beside my brother and Tara as we made our way outside.

We had found our way to a small parking lot of vehicles. We followed after Rick, but wasn't on-guard as much as we were before. The outside appeared secure, for the most part.

We began to fizzle out as I watched Glenn go talk to Heath while I stood behind with Tara. She was about to leave with Heath to go out on a two-week supply run. They had to get going if they wanted to make perfect timing.

I grabbed her right arm and gave her jacket a squeeze. "You don't have to go," I told her as she slightly turned around to face me. "You could just stay with me. We could just go back to Alexandria."

She seemed flattered, but she had simply shook her head and stated, "I can't, Tess. This is just something that I gotta do." Alas, I had nodded in understanding. Everybody had a mission, after all.

After a moment of silence, she looked at me and admitted, "I have a girlfriend, Tess." I looked up at her in confusion. She looked like she was going to cry, though, too. "Back at Alexandria. Her name is Denise and she's the nurse up there. Take care of her for me while I'm gone. Just look after her. Please?"

In final, I nodded in agreement. I didn't know how exactly I felt about her having a girlfriend, but it wasn't any of my business. Maybe, for a moment, I felt like things between us could heat up if we had just went back to Alexandria together after all this, but... She had a girlfriend and I wasn't her. I had to go back to Alexandria by myself without her and, instead, protect her girlfriend.

Before she could officially get away from me, I pulled on her hand one more time and slammed her body into mine. We embraced in a little hug for another split-second.

I wanted to have actual friends again and be happy. I liked Tara so far. She seemed like a real person.

We let loose of one another, silently nodding to one another, before she walked over to Glenn. I held my breath as I watched them hug. She waved at us before jumping in the passenger side of the two-door small RV with Heath driving.

Moments later, we watched them drive out of there. I hung back with Glenn and asked him, "Should I had went with them, if I could have?"

He frowned and shook his head. "No, you need to stay with us."

So, with that said, we all gathered around as I spotted Michonne and Rick talking. But, before I could adjust my focus, I herd a motor roaring, something belonging to a motorcycle, most likely.

We all turned around on cue and spotted a man trying to escape the compound on a motorcycle. From beside me, Daryl noticed and grunted, "Son of a bitch!"

He began to run after him as Rosita shot the man down. The motorcycle swirled around before the man stood back up, taking off, but didn't get too far until he was speared back down by Daryl. It began to slightly rain as Daryl beat the senseless man.

"Where'd you get the bike?!" Daryl exclaimed, just as Rick got his pistol out and positioned down to the man.

"Just do it!" the man ruthlessly barked out. I quickly removed my mask and tugged it into my pocket. I wasn't afraid anymore to show myself. "Like you did everyone else, right?"

Just as he said this, something else had caught our attention. A walkie-talkie with a woman's voice on it saying, "Lower your gun, prick." Rick slowly glanced up, unaware of what that was or where it was even coming from. "You, with the Colt Python. All of you, lower your weapons right now."

I quickly located the talkie to be coming from beside the man's body, belonging to him. However, we didn't lower our weapons. Especially Rick and Daryl, who held their pistols even closer to the man's face.

Slowly, Rick picked up the talkie and held it to his mouth. "Come on out," Rick told the woman, calmly. "Let's talk."

The talkie was fuzzy, but we managed to hear her say, "We're not coming out, but we will talk."

We began to look all around for the woman to pinpoint where exactly she was talking from and what in the hell that she wanted. With the rain starting to come down on us even more, we didn't have much of a choice, but to wait like sitting ducks for the woman's instructions.

"We've got a Carol and a Maggie," the woman said through the talkie. My heart sank, but I could see that Glenn and Daryl's did the most. Rick was livid. "I'm thinking that's something you want to chat about..."