➳ "PAUL?"

He was pacing from one window to another, glancing through the curtains. I stood up and felt someone place their cold hand over mine, and I looked down. Don had his hand over mine and his dark eyes trying to look up into mine as he smirked.

"Take it easy on him," he warned, his voice hoarse. "He's under a lot of pressure."

I took a deep breath and slowly nodded, before holding my head back up and glaring a hole through Paul's back. Taking a few easy steps forward, I slowly came up behind him and touched his shoulder. He flinched and quickly faced me, his mouth in an O.

"Paul," I softly called out his name, trying to be gentle with him. "We've been holed up in this apartment for weeks now. When are we going to go?"

He didn't speak, just turned his back on me again and stared out the window. He pressed his hand on the glass and breathed out, his cold breath hitting the glass. We wouldn't survive the winter here, especially Don.

"Paul, I—"

"You see that, Tess?" Paul asked, cutting me off. I stepped forward, gulping down what I was going to say before he interrupted me, until I came even closer behind him. He was pointing at something off in the distance through the glass. "It's the mansion that kids used to visit on field-trips. Didn't we go once as children?"

The corners of my mouth started to twitch up into a smile, nodding. I crossed my arms under my chest, tucking my hands under my arms to warm them. "Yeah. We did, actually," I replied, remembering those days of us being careless children; but, then, I remembered something else. "We went right before..."

He spun around in a heartbeat, already knowing where I was going with this. "Don't."

"Paul, I..."

He stepped forward and took a deep breath of cold air, which blew right into my face, as he placed his hands on my shoulders. Our matching eyes met in the middle when he leaned in and reminded me, "They're gone, Tess. We can't bring them back. We have to start focusing on the future now."

I blew out a puff of cold air and rolled my eyes. "What future, Paul?"

He smiled and tilted his head; as if, he could see right through me. "The future that we're going to build... together."

- - -

➳ WHEN Alden and Luke didn't return from trying to find us, Tara decided it was a good time to take a group out into the woods to locate them. She led myself, Magna, Yumiko, Marco, Connie, Kelly, and Cal out to find them.

We were all walking together when Connie suddenly stopped, taking out her small pair of binoculars and glanced through. Tara wasn't taking any chances, so she stopped and asked, "What? What do you got?"

Connie handed the binoculars to Yumiko, who she took them and looked through them, too. "Maybe the dead, maybe not," Yumiko replied, putting down the binoculars. "Keep your distance and watch their hands. They could go for knives."

With that said, we started towards the suspected Walkers who were close by and tried to keep things quiet by using our silent weapons rather than our guns, unless they have silencers on them. Yumiko started off the killing spree by taking out one with an arrow, killing it quietly; however, the others noticed and started to pay attention to us over their current feast.

Altogether, we started to take them down one by one as a united team. I took out my machete and stood there, standing back and watching as the others took care of them. I was going to wait on those murderous snakes to try something. I wanted them to.

However, none of them ever tried anything. They seemed to be normal flesh-eating Walkers than just being humans disguised as them. One Walker had slipped through the others somehow and came straight for me, growling and craving my flesh and blood.

For a split moment, I started to pick up my machete and was going to slice its head right off; yet, I couldn't bring myself to do right when I started to get closer. I remembered everything — every single death — and it hurt so much that it sort of burned inside of me.

I gulped and glanced up, thinking about my choices here. I could just end this now — either this Walker's life or my own. He wants my flesh and blood; and maybe, I should just let him have it. This way, I could finally be back with my brother again. I wouldn't be in any more pain, and I definitely wouldn't suffer anymore.

Right when it was about to lung towards me, I took a deep breath and closed my eyes, preparing for death. Then, I heard nothing, and I didn't feel any pain.

My eyes peeked open and I saw a spear through the back of its head, holding it in place for a moment. When the spear was removed, the lifeless body fell down to the ground and I was now being confronted by Tara's concerned-angry glare.

"What the hell was that?"

I gulped and shook my head. "Nothing," I lied, now making my way around her. "I was just waiting on it to come closer, that's all."

"Oh, yeah?" she breathed out, obviously not believing me. "Well, if it had came any closer, its teeth would've been in your flesh already. What the hell were you thinking, Tess?"

"For once, I wasn't thinking... Tara."

She jumped right in my face and started to say, "You know what—?"

"Guys," came Magna's warning tone, turning her head towards us. "None of the masked ones."

Tara and I briefly put our differences to the side, turning our heads and glancing around our surroundings. What was this?

"The horses," Marco breathed out, and he appeared to be right. "These are Alden and Luke's."

Shit.

"But no Alden and Luke," Magna added, mouth ajar and glancing around in question.

Tara shrugged and suggested, "Maybe they had to bail." To Cal, she instructed, "Check the area. Look for tracks. Stay close."

I took a deep breath and spoke out, "Oh, boy, they better be okay." Tara turned her head towards me, and our eyes met again. "Those skinheads aren't going to get away with this."

Tara stared for a moment before, shockingly, she nodded and pursed her lips. "They won't, Tess."

"Hey, guys," Kelly called out and we all turned our attention towards her. "Connie says the horses were cut open and skinned with knives. This wasn't just the dead."

"Fuck," I breathed out, trying my best to remain calm. I didn't want to see Alden and Luke dead and their skins used as clothing. I tried to remember to breathe. "Tara? What now?"

"Plenty of Walker tracks, but nothing else," Cal announced, coming back to regroup with us and report what he found. "Horses could've been wandering for a while."

"Well, then, we split up," Yumiko suddenly announced, ready to head off and run away. "We break in different directions."

She started to walk off until Tara spoke up, "No, no, we stay here. It's not safe out here anymore. Walkers aren't just Walkers. That girl told us it was just her mother, but this? She's a liar. There could be three more of them out there. There could be three-hundred of them out there. We head back, we stay behind the walls, and we make a plan. Until we find out what this is."

Normally, I would easily agree with Tara and have her back on something as serious as this. However, I couldn't find the strength to back her on this because there were two more important lives out there, probably hurt or – worse – dead. Either way, I didn't want to just go home with our tails tucked between our legs. I actually wanted to go out there and find them, alive and safe.

Connie used sign-language to speak to Kelly, who turned around, getting right in Tara's face, and questioned, "And what if we don't?"

Tara didn't seem threatened, so she just glanced from Kelly to the others, and demanded, "We will. Let's go."

With that said, she motioned us to come with her as she turned her back and started back towards Hilltop. I stayed back with Magna and her group while Marco and Cal followed Tara.

I glanced back at them, pursing my lips, and they stared back. "I want to find Luke, too."

Still, I couldn't help for feeling guilty of how my last conversation went with Alden, too. As much as we had a complicated past, I still didn't wish death upon him.

I was praying for his and Luke's safe return.

—

– MOLLIE ROVIA –

➳ "DADDY?!"

"Shhh, honey," he warned me, taking me in his arms and holding me. "It's going to be okay, baby girl. Just stay quiet and they won't find us."

I blinked a couple of times before glancing up at him, fresh tears in my eyes. "But, Daddy... I'm scared."

He glanced down at me and frowned. "I know, Mollie, but you have to be brave. Can you be brave for Daddy, baby?" Although I was young, clueless, and definitely afraid, I had to be strong for Daddy, so I nodded and gulped down a huge lump. "Good, honey. Just stay quiet and they will pass us by."

- - -

➳ "DARYL?"

He was leaving the cellar and hostilely walking right passed me, obviously ignoring me. I stomped my boot on the ground underneath me and spoke louder, "Daryl!"

He halted, and taking a moment, he finally spun around and faced me. "What?"

I gulped and stepped back, feeling somewhat threatened by him. Ever since I first met him, I had felt that way about him, but I knew — deep down — he would never, ever hurt me. Still, he put off that vibe, somehow.

"Could I please go visit Henry now?" I begged, crossing my arms underneath my chest. "I haven't seen him since we got back."

He appeared to have looked me up from toe to head, before shaking his head. "No."

Again, he turned his back on me and started to leave, but I wasn't going to let him go so easily. So, I ran after him and grabbed ahold of his wrist, trying to get him to stop. He did and flew around in one swift motion, yanking his wrist back.

"I said no—!"

"No, you just listen," I spat back in his face, cutting him off before he could get started. My anger was boiling over, and with my mother not currently here to stop me, I was about to tell him just how I fucking felt. "My mom was right, 'bout what she said back at the cemetery. You left us; it wasn't the other way around! You don't get to do that — check in and out of someone's life. I was just a little girl and all I wanted was to hang-out with Uncle Daryl. I wanted you to teach me everything, but you left. Now, all I am asking is to see Henry. I don't want an apology, just want to see him."

He shook his head and stepped forward, deadpanning, "I ain't your daddy!"

Those four little words hurt more than he could ever imagine. Still, I somehow found the strength to step forward and gulped, before my eyes looked up and met his. "But you're all I have ever had..."

Then, with that said, he didn't speak up again. Just stood back as his facial expression changed from anger to calmness. I didn't care just how in the hell it made him feel.

Nevertheless, I spun around and headed right for the cellar. He saw and he didn't even try to stop me, so I kept going. I opened the cellar's door and stepped inside, closing it behind me.

I heard talking until the door shut, the quiet now taking over the cellar again. I appeared and saw Henry inside of a cell, as I smiled and crossed my arms across my chest.

"Sucks to be on the inside, doesn't it?"

He seemed to take a huge sigh of relief, eyes widened as he gripped the cell's bars. "Mollie," he breathed out, smiling. "Hey... How are you?"

I slowly started to take a few steps forward, shaking my head. "Don't..."

"What?"

"Just... don't ask me right now," I replied, coming up to the cell's bars and wrapping my hands around his, glancing up and looking right into his dark eyes. Then, when his eyes looked down, I followed them and saw the girl sitting inside of her own cell. "Oh. What's her name?"

Henry gulped, and not taking his eyes off of her, he answered, "Um... She's... Uh..."

The girl kept her eyes going straight, not looking back up at us, when she suddenly spoke, "Are you Tess's daughter?"

What the hell? Although I didn't know how she knew this, I just nodded. "Yeah. Why?"

"I'm sorry," she apologized, but her intentions weren't clear at first. Then, when she blinked and looked up at me, our similar dark eyes met. "About your uncle."

This must have been what my mom came in here to talk to her about, the loss of Uncle Paul. And, as much as I wanted to reach right inside of that cell and string her up by the ends of her hair, I couldn't do it — even with my fists starting to ball-up.

There's war and, then, there's peace, I remembered my uncle once telling me, which started to make me feel better and less angry. That's what I kept telling your mom, and this is what I'm going to tell you, too — just in case.

Slowly, I started to nod and pursed my lips together. "Thank... Thank you," I replied to the girl. "I'm Mollie, by the way — if you didn't know."

She nodded and, to my surprise, introduced, "I'm Lydia."

I couldn't believe she had an actual name and she was just so willing to tell me. I didn't know what else to say to her, so I looked up at Henry. He still had his eyes focused on the dirty girl in the cell next to his.

I saw it, the moment when his eyes filled with hearts and were focused straight down at her than me. He was falling for her, somehow and way, and he probably didn't even know it yet.

Then, I felt the pain return to my heart; as if, a spear was thrown right into it. And, when I went to see if the hearts were in her eyes, too, they appeared to be as well.

The only thing that was in mine were fresh tears...

—

– TESS ROVIA –

➳ TODAY didn't feel right about how we were made to return to Hilltop without Alden and Luke in tow. They were still out there and only part of me felt that.

I wanted to find Magna and the rest of her crew to confront them about how they felt about today, too. While en-route to their trailer, I heard someone call out, "Hey!"

I spun around and spotted Daryl high-tailing it towards me, angry and ready to get something off of his chest. "What?"

"I talked to your girl earlier," he revealed, once he had settled in front of me. "She's angry at me just like you are."

Mollie? I placed my arms across my chest and titled my head in confusion. "Well, I'm not angry anymore, so..."

"She is," he reminded me, dimming his eyes at me. "I didn't just leave."

I shrugged and pressed, "Okay? Why are you explaining this to me when you could be explaining it to her? I'm not angry anymore, Daryl. Maybe I never was, but it's over. She needs to let it go, too. Now, is that all?"

I turned my back on him and went to walk away, but not before he was on me like white on rice. He grabbed my arm and yanked me back to him, confronting me. "What 'bout your other little girl?"

I shrugged and asked, "What about her?"

"She's not mad," he stated, already knowing the answer to his question. "Why is that?"

I sighed and ran my hand over my face, through my hair. "Well, because... She doesn't really know what's going on. She just thought Uncle Daryl was gone all the time. I don't know."

Again, I turned my back on him and tried to escape this conversation early, but it was never very easy with him. Behind my back, he called out, "You don't need to be having any meltdowns in front of your little girl, like you did in front of Mollie. She doesn't need to see that part of you."

I didn't remember waking up this morning and looking on the calendar to see this it is Shit-On-Tess Day. Apparently, it was.

I spun around, and through the distance, I faced him with my head tilted and frowning. "I get it. Yeah, I do," I breathed out before, for the next part, I spoke louder. "You might think that I'm a piece of shit, but I will not fail her, Daryl. She is the one person I will never fail."

With that said, he just stood there. I couldn't tell if he was angry or not. Maybe he was relieved. I didn't know, but I didn't care about that right now.

I just wanted Daryl to get through his thick skull that I will never, ever fail Tory or even Mollie, either. I had that meltdown because I had just lost my twin brother.

I am only human, and I am allowed to hurt when I want to.

Nevertheless, I finally made it to Magna's trailer and, instead of knocking, I opened the door and walked right in. They all stared me down, but Magna stood up; as if, she would fight me if she had to.

"We need to find them," I announced, and they exchanged glances with one another. "We have to find Luke."

- - -

➳ THAT night, we all went out into the woods again, looking for any sign of our missing friends being alive out there. All we had were our weapons to fight our way through any battle and flashlights to lead our way.

We were walking and everything was fine, calm and quiet, until Connie stopped and kneeled down to the ground. She spoke to Kelly with sign-language, and since I was the one person who didn't know what she was saying, Kelly glanced up at me and quietly explained, "She said, these aren't the same tracks."

Then, Kelly bent down next to her sister and started to inspect the tracks with her. "They are," she quietly spoke back. "Check out how they turn. The dead don't do that."

I stepped behind their kneeled bodies and glanced over, taking note of what she meant. "You're right," I agreed and she glanced up at me, so I nodded in return. "The dead don't take any sharp turns."

Magna sighed and replied, "Could be our skin friends." Friends, my ass. "Eyes open."

With that said, we started walking again just as Connie and Kelly stood back up to join the rest of us. However, Yumiko had started walking away by her own accord, and Magna was quickly there to grab and confront her.

"Miko," Magna called out her girlfriend's nickname, stepping in front of her. "What's up?"

Yumiko glanced back at Connie, Kelly, and myself. Using sign-language, she also spoke aloud, "I keep thinking about Coalport."

Magna added, "If we hadn't left our post, we'd be dead like the others."

Shit. I don't know if I should be apart of this conversation, especially if they didn't want me to hear.

Kelly stepped up and stated, "We had to run. We didn't have a choice."

"If we had a vote," Yumiko countered, "we had a choice."

"Our choice was not to die."

"Was it?" Yumiko deflected, staring down her girlfriend. This was the part where I started to wander off on my own, but listened to them in the background. I used my flashlight to wave around, staring down at the tracks in the dirt. "Or is it what we keep telling ourselves?"

I heard movement, and before I could stop it from happening, I called out, "Look out!"

A Walker had snuck up and tried to take Kelly down, but not before I ran up and saved her from being bit. The worthless body fell down to the ground, as my heart jolted in my chest.

Before I knew it, Kelly turned her head to glared at me before she came forward, wrapping her arms around my neck, and pulling me into her. "Thank you," she whispered in my ear, and all I could do was embrace her back.

We didn't have time to celebrate just yet when more groans and moans came around, some in the distance and some not. We released, but she held onto my arm for a moment longer.

I didn't know what Kelly was saying in sign-language, but she held up her finger to her lips to me, urging me to keep quiet. I nodded and figured this is what she told the others in sign-language.

However, Yumiko started talking back in sign-language, but I surly didn't know what she was saying. It was times like this I wish that I knew, so I could know what they were all saying to one another.

Whatever she said to Kelly surly pissed her off or, the very least, made her very upset. Yumiko argued back before Magna did, and Connie came in, too. I didn't know what was going on, but when they all started walking back, I assumed we were going back home.

However, Kelly didn't move and she finally spoke up again, but her voice was breaking up. "I remember about that last day at Coalport. I remember getting separated and I remember Luke was the one who found me." Kelly started to cry, which actually made me feel a little upset, too. "I can't leave him out here. I'm sorry, but I can't."

Then, with that said, Connie immediately got ahold of Kelly and embraced her little sister. Although I didn't truly know Luke all that well, despite the fact he has been flirting hard with me since we first met, Kelly's sadness felt so real to me. It made me like Luke even more.

Kelly cried on her older sister's shoulder, and then, Connie turned back to us, motioning three fingers up and probably telling us to go away.

Although I knew she couldn't hear me, I stepped forward and softly called out, "But, Connie—"

I felt someone's hand grab my arm and I glanced up at Magna, somehow meeting her eyes in all this darkness. "Let's go now."

Although I didn't feel exactly at ease just leaving Connie and Kelly out on their own in this mysterious and dangerous darkness, they wanted to be left alone to look for Luke and the others on their own. So, we had to just let them and, somehow, sleep without any regrets tonight.

- - -

➳ AS the morning sun rose, I found Tara up on the guard-post by herself. I frowned and sighed, then shook my head, before deciding to just take my bitter pill and accept my punishment.

I climbed the ladder, and still looking out there, it was like she didn't even notice me whatsoever. Maybe she had become sick of my games — of me finally.

"Hey," I breathed out, coming up beside her and looking out there with her. The view... It was just like old times with Maggie — before she left. "Look, T, I-I'm sorry—"

"No, you're not," she cut me off before I could even get started on my apology. She turned to briefly look at me, disappointment written all over her face and playing in her eyes. "You never are, Tess. That's the thing. You do things out of impulse, and never quite think twice about them before doing it."

For once, I didn't know what to exactly say to her now. I didn't like the look she was giving me; as if, she couldn't forgive me. I had tried living away from Tara, but it didn't work. I always crawled back to her because, deep down, I would probably choose her over anyone — other than my girls.

She turned away and kept looking away because I knew she was trying to avoid me. So, I tried again, "Tara, I—"

"I get it, Tess," she snapped back, cutting me off again. "You're hurting right now and you know that, if I could, I would take all that pain away from you in a heartbeat. But, Tess, I can't. Okay? I can't take that pain away from you right now and I know how much losing your brother hurts. I am trying my very best here... all by myself."

I stepped forward and breathed out, "I... I could help you. If you need help, I can help you."

Again, she turned away, and I felt the emptiness return inside of me. I loved Tara more than she could ever imagine, and wished I lived up to her expectations — but I just couldn't do it. We were our own person, but I needed her in my life.

"Look, I can deal with you being mad at me, but you can't be forever. I won't let you. Don't be done with me, T," I whispered as tears started to cloud my vision. Why was I getting so emotional? "I love you so much. I can legitimately deal with anyone else in the world being mad at me, like Daryl, but not you. I've already lost my brother. I can't lose you, too..."

Her eyes were full and she opened her mouth to speak when something interrupted her. I glanced over my shoulder and saw Yumiko coming up here with us, too.

"Oh," she breathed out, frowning. "Sorry. I didn't mean to interrupt."

I turned completely away from Yumiko, rubbing my eyes with my fingers to get rid of the tears. Behind me, Tara said to her, "No, it's alright."

"Open the gate!"

The gate opened, but not before Yumiko raised her binoculars to look out. "Yeah, my guard said you snuck out," Tara said, revealing how she knew we had escaped through the night. "Wasn't taking any chances. Look... I-I get why you did it. But, the next time either of you want to challenge one of my decisions, just do me a favor and come and talk to me about it. I don't know if I'm doing the right thing here, but I do know that I don't want any more people to die, and that includes you guys, too."

I didn't exactly know if she was talking to me anymore, or just Yumiko when she said that. However, my inner question was answered when Tara slipped her hand with mine down below and squeezed it.

"By the way," Tara whispered to me, "I could never stay mad at you."

I smiled and squeezed her hand back, but when Yumiko suddenly picked her binoculars up again and looked through them, I snapped my head in the direction that she was glaring in.

"Oh, my gosh."

"Kelly!" I called out, who turned and saw the group of skinheads headed right our way. She tried to fight through the guards to get to her older sister. "Shit."

Connie seemed to have told Kelly to be quiet and it would be okay to go inside without her, so she took off into the cornfield next to her to hide out. Kelly and the guards ran inside, barricading the door behind them.

Tara snatched the binoculars from Yumiko before handing them back, but I snatched them from her, too. Behind me, Tara called out, "Hey! Daryl! Magna!"

Through the binoculars, I saw everyone down there wearing skin-masks, but only one stood out like a sore thumb. It appeared to be a bald woman, who fought through the skinheads to come out front and center in front of the gate.

"Shit," I cursed again, taking the binoculars from my eyes and handing them back to Yumiko. I turned to Tara and said, "Give me the rifle. I could try to get an angle of them from here."

"Too late," someone grunted out, appearing to be Daryl coming up to join us on the guard-post. Magna was right behind him. "Let's just see what we see."

Tara, Daryl, Yumiko, Magna, and I stood up together and stared down at the skinheads being led by their bald leader.

"I am Alpha," the bald leader introduced, her thick southern accent reaching out to us. "And we only want one thing from you."

For the most part, we all held a collective breath as anger boiled especially inside of me. These people were responsible for my brother's death, and I wanted them all dead for that. Again, Tara grabbed my hand and squeezed, trying to make me feel better. If only she could this time.

Alas, Alpha announced what she wanted, "My daughter."