"WE need to find her," Rick whispered, very quiet about the situation. Arat was missing, which wasn't good whatsoever. Rick and company 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, like her pals.

"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 to ask. 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 you and I 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 a little hurt in my heart. He was avoiding me — and our eventual chat — altogether, as he has been putting it off for so long. "Take Alden out there with you... If you can trust him."

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

—

I did decide to take Alden out with me rather than leave him behind to deal with the rest of the Saviors. Sometimes, I tend to forget that he was once one of them, right there with Negan since the beginning and almost till the end.

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

My radio played static before Rick's voice came through, "Tess? Are 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?" Alden 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," he 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."

Alden held up his hands in surrender, taking a pause in his step, and stepped back. "I'm sorry," he apologized. I wanted to believe him, but I was already on fire from when I was falsely accused of being Justin's killer. "Hey, I am sorry. I didn't mean it like it."

I shrugged, like it was nothing, and started walking again. "I know."

—

HOURS later, 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 they would be fine. I was also wondering what she was doing, too.

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. 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 up 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, but 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 worse than his punch."

I smiled, and so did he when attempting to laugh it off. "Good. I'm glad." A pause and, then, "Hey, I'm sorry about earlier. I shouldn't have snapped at you."

I was only feeling bad because the bruising on his face was coming back to me as a reminder from this morning. I truly liked Alden. He was a good friend and person overall.

He frowned and said, "I should be the one apologizing." Again. "I didn't mean like that, Tess."

I slowly nodded and responded, "I know, but I am still sorry for jumping on you."

"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 an official 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 done it in front of everyone. I know that."

I nodded and turned my head away again, now looking down at the ground, then 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. "Well, you heard Jed today. I'm not one of them anymore."

I gulped and sat up, getting closer to him. "Which means?"

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

"You were always one of us," I blurted out before I could help it. 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 mixed darkness and lightness.

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.

I hate to say it, but I enjoyed every little second of this. It felt like I was finally free after being a caged butterfly, embracing real life for the first time.

All this time, even though Dwight was gone, I always felt like I was dedicated to him. In my mind, we are still together, but after kissing Alden, I was no longer all his to have.

Dwight left. More or less, he made his decision. He should've come back for me, dammit. I would've left with him.

Unfortunately, I didn't want it to go any further as Alden's hand started to run up the back of 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 again to say goodnight. As he exited my tent and I heard the crunching underneath his boots when leaving, I could only think of one person who I wished that was instead.

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