CHAPTER NINETEEN,
terminus.

The group of four walked all day and rested during the night, only having to kill a few walkers along the way.

Aiden could feel them getting closer to Terminus. And she was right. Within the next twenty minutes they laid eyes on the huge building.

Terminus. "Holy hugeness." Aiden mumbled as she stared at the size of the building.

"Let's go, Aiden." Payton patted her arm and the four walked in through the gates towards what seemed to be an open area.

Aiden walked in front of the other three as an older woman with brown hair approached them. "Hi, I'm Mary."

"I'm Macy." Macy spoke up. "That's Nathaniel, that's Payton and that's-"

"I'm Aiden Dixon." Aiden said with a sternly voice.

"Well, welcome to Terminus. You four look like you've been out there a while." Mary said.

Aiden narrowed her eyes, "we have been."

"Let's get you settled in and I'll fix you a plate." Mary turned her back. Aiden glanced around her surroundings before noticing things she recognized. An orange backpack, Glenn's orange back pack. Daryl's poncho, riot gear from the prison.

Aiden's hand slowly moved to her pistol and Payton noticed. He stepped towards her, "what the hell are you doing?" He whispered in her ear.

"This place isn't what it seems." She replied. A couple men and women were approaching the group before Aiden pulled he gun out quickly and fired a bullet into the closest person's heart. Knowing he would return as one of the dead. This caused mayhem.

People on the roofs started firing at the group before people around them starting to fire at them as well. "Shit, go!" Macy screamed.

The four took off running before Nathaniel noticed something odd. "Are those bones!?" He yelled to the other three. They looked to their left and saw bones piled upon bones.

"They're firing at our feet! They're not trying to kill us!" Aiden yelled, "keep going!"

The ran past metal containers where they heard people screaming and banging on the inside, "let us go!"

The four ran until they entered a building. The room had writing on the walls and floor while hundreds of candles. The writing consisted of, Us First and We Always.

"What the fuck is this place!?" Payton asked.

"A trap. There ain't no sanctuary for all. That's a bullshit lie." Aiden replied. "Let's go."

The four ran out of the building and as soon as they were out they people starting shooting at them again.

They ran into a clearing where they saw the fence before people popped up behind it, stopping them from climbing over it. People popped up on the roofs with their guns raised.

"Drop your weapons!" A man yelled down at them. Macy and Nathaniel obliged but Payton and Aiden didn't. "Now! Or the girl dies!" The man moved his crosshairs from Nathaniel to Aiden.

Payton laid down his pistol, knife, and Scar assault rifle. Aiden scoffed before taking her M16 off her shoulder and placing it on the ground, she removed her Beratta from her holster and placed it on the ground followed by her Bowie knife and machete. She didn't touch the knife in her boot. She placed her bag on the ground beside her weapons.

"Happy now, asshole?"

A man walked out of the building they had just run out from and approached them.

He had a smirk on his face as he stood directly in front of Aiden. "Are you the leader?"

"There is no leader." She replied with her head held high.

"You're definitely the leader. I'm Gareth." The man said to her. Aiden glared at him.

"I don't care who you are. I want to know what the hell this place is. This isn't a sanctuary." Aiden said.

"It once was. Before people took it over and we took it back." Gareth told her. "We've been here since almost the start. People just ended up here."

"I don't care. Let us go." Aiden snarled. She stepped closer to the man. She noticed the people on the roof guns raise higher and Gareth's fist clenched shut. "We saw the bones and heard the people screaming. You were aiming at our feet. You weren't trying to kill us. Yet."

"You're smart. What were you before all this?" Gareth asked her.

"A cop, you cannibal ass bitch." She growled and the look on her face was enough for Gareth to swing at her. Aiden hit the ground, blood pooling in her mouth.

She spit blood out on the ground and glared up at Gareth. "That was a pussy swing."

Gareth growled and picked her up by her hair and slammed her face into his knee. He threw her away from him and she fell back into Payton. Her vision was blurry and her nose throbbing.

Payton grabbed Aiden's arm and pulled her up. He gripped onto her waist for dear life. He could tell her nose was broken... again.

Aiden's face dripped with blood as her stone cold eyes turned to glare at the other leader, "I'm goin' to fucking kill you." She hissed. She went to lunge for the man but Payton held her back.

He leaned forward and hissed into her ear, "stop! You're going to get yourself and the baby killed!"

Gareth seemed to have heard Payton as his eyebrows raised, "oh! You're pregnant!" He clapped his hands together. "What kind of dumbass would bring a baby into this world?"

"This world needs hope. This child will be that hope." Aiden said before spitting out more blood.

"And the father? What happened to him? What's his name?" Gareth questioned.

"He's alive." Aiden snapped.

"If you don't tell me his name I'll shot him." He rose his pistol at Nathaniel. Aiden didn't speak before seeing Gareth's finger move closer to the trigger.

"Daryl!" Aiden shouted, "his name is Daryl!" Gareth dropped his gun back to his side.

"Good. Now, Big Guy go to your left, the train cart. Go." He said to Nathaniel.

The man glared at Gareth before walking in that direction.

"Now, the lefty. Go." Macy glared at the man before obliging.

"Now, Scruffy, go." He said to Payton. The name Scruffy came from from his beard. Payton scoffed and listened.

Gareth looked Aiden over, "go, Mama."

"Asshole."

The four lined up in front of the train cart before Gareth said, "Big Guy, open that door and walk in. The rest follow after him."

Nathaniel opened the train cart and walked inside. The other three followed after him. The door was shut and looked from the outside.

"I think he broke my nose." Aiden said with a gasp of pain once she touched her nose.

"Holy shit!" Aiden heard a very familiar voice. She whipped around and saw a very comforting face.

"Glenn!" She cried and walked forward and hugged him. They pulled away and Glenn asked, "what'd he do to you?"

"Punched me and then slammed my face into his knee. I've had worse." She mumbled.

She looked behind him and saw Maggie, Bob, and Sasha along with four new people.

"Who the hell are they?" She asked.

"Sergeant Abraham Ford, Doctor Eugene Porter, Rosita Espinosa and Tara Chambler." Glenn said, "Tara was on the other side of the fence." He then whispered to her.

"Did she fire a weapon?" Aiden asked.

"No." Tara spoke up.

"Then we're okay. Doctor? As in a doctor doctor?" She asked the man with a mullet.

"No, as in a scientist. Eugene here knows what caused this shit and what can stop it." Abraham said. Aiden's eyebrows shot skywards.

»

Aiden leaned against Payton as they heard more gunshots outside. The door soon opened and people walked in. Aiden and Payton stood up and they all walked forward.

"Rick?" Glenn said. They walked forward.

"You're here. You're here." Rick said.

They all heard a sudden gasp and Aiden moved so swiftly she was a blur.

Daryl caught her swiftly and tightly wrapped his arms around her. He could hear her small sniffles as she cried into his shoulder. His hand moved to the back of her head and he clung to her for dear life.

His entire world was within his grasp again. Daryl kissed Aiden's head and pulled away from her. "You're okay. You're both okay."

"We're fine." She said. She furrowed her eyebrows before asking, "what happened to your face?"

"A group guys beat the hell outta me. What happened to you?" He asked her, looking at her broken nose and blood stained teeth.

"Gareth broke my nose, that's about it." She said. "But it's fine. I can fix it."

"I'm gonna fuckin' kill him." Daryl growled.

"Payton?" Carl voice was heard.

"Carl." Payton sighed and the young boy hugged the man he was raised with as an uncle. The two pulled away and Payton grinned at Rick and nodded. Rick nodded back.

Rick looked at the six people he didn't know before Maggie said, "they're our friends. They helped save us."

"Yeah. Now they're friends of ours." Daryl spoke.

"For however long that'll be." Abraham said back to him.

"No." Rick said clear as day, "they're gonna feel pretty stupid when they find out."

"Find our what?" Abraham asked.

Everyone was silent before Rick said, "they're fucking with the wrong people."

______________________________

word count: 1,556
episode: "A"

and that's it!! the final edited chapter of grief!! i'm hope everyone who reread this book enjoyed all the little changes. now it's time to edit philophobia and am i emotionally ready for that? nope.

AND THAT'S A WRAP ON GRIEF!!

god, this book was so much fun to write. it was much harder to write than calamity. i hope y'all enjoyed every word of this book.

the next book will be out soon. probably within the next couple days. it's the trequel to this series.

the next book will be called philophobia. it takes place in seasons five, six, and seven.

aiden dixion will return in philophobia.