"WE need to find her," Rick whispered, very quiet about the situation. Arat was missing, which wasn't good whatsoever. Rick and them found Beatrice knocked out in the woods and Arat gone.

"Do the Saviors know?" Cyndie asked, shrugging.

"Not yet," Carol replied, shaking her head with her arms folded. "They think Arat's on watch through the night. Come morning, they will."

Maggie sighed and responded, "She could be dead already." I didn't care much for the Saviors, but Arat was okay. I mean, she killed Olivia back at Alexandria, but she's come a long way to prove herself. She wasn't ever very fussy and whiny, either.

"If we don't figure out what happened, Sanctuary is gone," Carol claimed, very serious about this claim. She wasn't wrong.

"If that happens, we won't finish the work before the water rises," Rick grunted out, shaking his head. "We'll lose the bridge."

Suddenly, Jerry slid his hand up and peeped out, "Yo. Say we nab the perp. Then, what? Who decides what happens next? Is it... Is it gonna be a Gregory or a Negan?"

Nobody knew what to say about this, but it was a good question from him. Who even knew at this point? Still, I couldn't get what Maggie said out of my head right before Gregory died. The punishment fits the crime. If this person is killing the Saviors, should they even be punished?

"Well, whoever it is, when the time comes, they'll get what they deserve," Cyndie claimed, nodding to reassure everyone. I nodded, too.

"Pair up with someone you trust," Rick claimed, now trying to pair us up to go out and find Arat. "We're out there till we find her."

With that said, we left the tent and started to head out. I came up to Daryl and asked, "What 'bout me and you go out together to find her? We should talk."

He appeared to be very unsure as he quickly shook his head and grunted out, "Nah, I'm gonna go with Maggie."

When he walked off to regroup with her, I felt the hurt in my heart as I hadn't ever felt so rejected before. He was avoiding me — and our chat — altogether, as he has been putting it off for so long. "Take Brie out there with you, if you can trust her."

With that said, he turned his back and walked with Maggie, choosing her over me. Just like Glenn used to do all the time.

I did decide to take Brie with me than leave her behind to deal with the rest of the Saviors. Sometimes, I tend to forget that she was once one of them, right there with Negan since the beginning almost till the end.

She made sure to touch every little bush and such that we came across, always making me nearly break my neck every time to see what the noise is coming from. At this point, I didn't know what we were looking for — either for her alive or her body.

My radio static before Rick's voice came through: "Tess? You there?"

I snatched up my radio and pressed the button. "Yeah, I'm here, Rick. What's up?"

Static again before his voice came through again: "Keep your eyes peeled. Both of you. She's out there. We'll find her."

I nodded, somewhat believing Rick's words, before replying: "Yeah, we will."

More static before he quickly added, "Let us know if you find her before us. Stay safe, you two. See you later." I decided not to reply because I knew that I would see him soon.

"What's the story about you and Rick?" Brie suddenly asked, now coming up beside me. "I mean, y'all have always been real close, right?"

I nodded, pursing my lips, and sighed. "Yeah, he's always been the leader and I have almost always agreed with him over everything. Plus, he's Carl's dad."

"Was," she corrected, which made me stop dead in my tracks. "I mean, Carl's gone now, so—"

"So, nothing," I growled back, seriously pissed off. "Carl may be gone, but he's still Rick's son."

HOURS later and we still couldn't find Arat. So, we decided to turn in early. However, it's unfortunate that I couldn't run home to Alexandria. It was too late, so I decided to stay over at Oceanside until morning.

It was very dark and I stayed inside my tent with a lantern lighting my area. I laid back, wondering what my kids were doing and if they were okay. However, under Tara, I know that they would be. I was also wondering what she was doing.

I took a deep breath and laid down on the military cot, feeling uncomfortable right off the bat. My back was hurting already, along with my migraine. Turns out, the Saviors will leave in the morning while they try to figure out who they want to be — or whatever that meant.

I thought about getting some sleep or, the very least, try to usher the circumstances. With that thought in mind, I reached forward and tried to turn off the lantern. However, I heard something outside of my tent and my head perked up.

"Tess, it's Al," he called out, and my heart calmed down a little. "You asleep?"

"Um, no," I murmured out, sitting back again. "Come on in."

With that said, he opened the tent and his head peeked in before his whole body joined him. He smirked before noticing that I was patting the spot on the cot beside me for him. He sat down and seemed a little uncomfortable at first, so I shrugged it off.

"How are you?" I asked, now readjusting myself to place my hand on his face. "I mean, you did get punched today."

There was a little bruising, but not by much. Still, he slightly winced when I touched his face. "Yeah, it's bad, but I'll be okay. It's good that his roar is worst than his punch."

I smiled and so did he when attempting to laugh it off. "Good. I'm glad."

"Yeah," he sighed before refocusing his eyes on mine. "I just came in to see how you're doing after today. You hit Jed pretty hard. I think that makes you a bad-ass. Plus, you kicked Justin's ass yesterday, too."

I grinned and rolled my eyes all in one, resting my arms on my legs now. "Yeah, well, because of that and my added threat, everyone thinks that I killed him."

Alden shook his head and claimed, "I don't think that." I peered up at him, frowning. "I mean, I think that you would've — but you wouldn't have done it in the night. You would've did it in front of everyone. I know that."

I nodded and turned my head away again, now looking down at the ground than his face. At least he knew. "Still, nobody is going to come at you now. Saviors are leaving in the morning."

I frowned before peering over my shoulder to ask, "What 'bout you, though?"

Alden smirked and laughed, "Well, you heard Jed today. I'm not of them anymore." I gulped and sat up, getting more closer to him.

"Which means?"

Alden kept his eyes on mine and whispered, "Which means... I think that it's safe to say that I'm one of you now."

"You were always one of us," I blurted out, grinning. In a way, I didn't regret saying it like that. "Even before you knew it, you were."

I didn't know what would happen now, considering the fact that Alden and I have been friends since, well, the beginning. I trusted him as much as I did with Dwight. He saved me when he didn't even have to. He's just always been there, like today.

Gulping, I slowly leaned forward and placed my right hand over the bruising on his face. Again, he softly winced without squeaking out anything — just as my eyes ran from the bruising up to his beautiful eyes of darkness and lightness, too.

I leaned straight in, not hesitating when I placed my lips right on his. He breathed in out of shock that I would do that at all. Hell, it was even shocking for me, too — especially when he placed his arms around me and the kiss deepened from friendship to something more.

I felt quite dizzy, my own pulse fluttering like an over-excited butterfly. He moved his hands to my face and the kiss continued to deepen, as we both had our eyes shut in the heat of this very moment.

Unfortunately, I didn't want it to go any further as his hand started to run up my shirt. I didn't want to end up with another kid, so I quietly and carefully cut this short when I broke the kiss from his tender lips.

I smiled and reassured, "Not tonight. I'm sorry, Al." He nodded, hopefully understanding. "Maybe another time."

With that said, he leaned in and quickly pecked his lips to mine to say goodnight. As he exited my tent and I heard the crunches underneath his boots when leaving, I could only think of one person that I had wished that was instead.

Unfortunately, I would never, ever get Dwight back... Still, that was the first person that I had shared a moment like that with since he's been gone. Some days, I wake up, half-expecting him to be there. I suppose that dreams are better than reality these days.

• Yes, yes... This was a quick chapter and, for the most part, totally pointless. It actually was totally ridiculous of a chapter... Until I added Alden to the point 🙃 Hehehehehehehehehe... Nevertheless, I hope y'all enjoy this because there may be a new one up later on today/tonight 💕 All the love .xx •