➳ RIGHT after leaving Kingdom, we stumbled upon Ozzy, Alek, and D.J. in the woods — where we were called to about an apparent "attack."

It didn't take very long for us to come off of our convoy and follow Ozzy and his crew into the woods, where he reported, "We were clearing the roads. Spotted tracks leading here."

We came upon the disaster in the woods of a cart overturned with supplies scattered out everywhere on the ground surrounding it. I didn't know what to say as I quietly poked my head around at the thrown around items.

Magna bent down and picked something off of the ground. "It's from Hilltop."

"Dead didn't do this," Ozzy added in his deep voice. "People did."

I shook my head and agreed, "You're damn right 'bout that."

"The skins?" Michonne retorted, turning her head towards Ozzy — who was now bent down on the ground and examining the supplies down there. "You know about them?"

Ozzy's eyes glared up from underneath his black cowboy hat up at Michonne when he replied, "We got the download." He ate something from the ground in the very same breath. "Strange times, strange ways to cope." He wasn't wrong, as we all stared down at him. "Anyway... Yeah. That'd be my guess. If anyone else was out here, my patrols would've seen 'em. Something else... They put up a fight."

Daryl softly tip-toed away towards the brush which surrounded us, and thanks to his tracking skills, he announced, "Hey. Drug 'em out this way."

Kal stepped up and blurted out, "Let's go."

Daryl shook his head and claimed, "We can't all just go rushing in there."

"They could still be alive," Dianne quickly claimed, in support of her people. I couldn't blame her for still having some hope.

Marco swiftly barked back, "But if those skin-freaks followed them from Hilltop, the whole community is in danger right now."

I started to have this weird feeling deep down in the pit of my stomach while my heart twisted around in my chest. The pain was almost like clenched fists ramming straight into random parts of my body. I couldn't describe it, but I knew it felt like it did right before Paul died, and I didn't have reassurance of his safety or not. I didn't like this.

"So, we split up." I turned my head towards Michonne when she announced this, as our strict eyes met.

"Michonne and I can go with Daryl," Carol suddenly declared before I turned my head towards her, and our equally cold eyes met. "Tess, too. We'll track 'em. The rest of you, go on to Hilltop."

Mollie blinked a couple of times before taking one little step up. "Um... What 'bout me?"

I didn't have time to answer my own daughter's burning question when Carol completely swarmed into this conversation when she stated, "You go with the others back to Hilltop, Mollie. It isn't safe for you to be out here with us."

Mollie immediately shook her head and fought Carol back on this — even if Carol was only doing it because of her motherly instinct towards every child.

"No. I'm not leaving my mom," my daughter countered, crossing her arms over her chest and pursing her lips. "It isn't safe for me to be out there without her, so I'm going with her and sticking with y'all."

With that said, Carol clammed her mouth shut and stood down while everyone looked to me for the final answer. So, I sighed and slowly nodded my head. "Okay. She's sticking with us."

Still bent down, Ozzy simply proclaimed, "We'll keep up our patrols around the Kingdom. Just in case. Course, this means you owe us a couple of movies when this is done."

I found myself smiling to that when Carol claimed back, "I'm sure I can work that out."

With that said, we started to separate from the others who were returning to the Hilltop without us. I heard Magna and Yumiko talking behind me when I walked up to Ozzy, who was still kneeled on the ground. However, he slowly looked up through the edge of his hat with his lips somewhat ajar.

Then, he stood up and brushed himself off. "My, my," he said to me, picking his hat down to greet me. "Hello there, beautiful. I've missed you."

I smirked and shook my head, dimming my eyes a bit. "Have you now?"

He nodded and stated, "Yes, ma'am, I have." Suddenly, he turned his attention to someone coming up beside me — which was my upset daughter, unimpressed by my conversation with Ozzy, apparently. "Well, this must be your daughter." He extended his hand to her and smiled. "Hello, honey. My name is Ozzy."

Mollie glanced from me — with the most annoyed expression on her face — to Ozzy before sighing and taking his handshake. "I'm her oldest daughter, Mollie."

Ozzy nodded and spoke back, "Nice to meet you, Mollie." Then, after taking his hand back, he turned his attention back over to me. "Well, maybe one of these days coming up, I can make it around officially meeting your other children, too."

I smiled and shook my head. "Nah, just another daughter. Her name is Tara Rose, and she's about seven now."

He smirked and came real close to me. "I look forward to meeting Tara Rose, then." With that said, he turned his back on me and started to leave with his crew back to Hilltop and Kingdom.

Confusion laid upon me when I frantically shook my head again, and called after him, "Not gonna say goodbye, Cowboy?"

He stopped at the top of the slope before he glanced over his shoulder back at me with the sun sitting just right on him as the background. He tipped his cowboy hat towards me and concluded, "This isn't goodbye, honey. I will see you later."

- - -

➳ WE shined our flashlights through the dark woods as the sun had quickly fallen on us not long ago, as we continued to search for our missing friends from Hilltop. Joining us, besides Mollie, was Yumiko, too — who had made Magna go back instead.

It felt like we had been doing this forever now and tripping over ourselves throughout the dark forest. However, things started to come together when Daryl suddenly dipped down and picked up something from the ground — and I was hopeful it was actual clues to where they were.

We all shined our lights down on the item in his hand, and it appeared to be a fresh bloody piece of a stick — which couldn't be a good sign at this point. I shined my light over into the trees which surrounded us, hoping to see our friends hiding than dead.

Still, there wasn't anyone there, so we continued on when I heard Carol say up at the front of the line, "I don't know if there's a happy ending here."

Neither do I, I thought to myself right before I heard Daryl say back to her, "The trail... goes off in three different ways." Suddenly, I handed my light over to Mollie and drew my machete out, ready to strike. "Don't make sense."

All at once, we all turned our heads into every direction which surrounded us when we heard twigs snapping nearby — which could mean a lot of things and none of them are probably good, either.

Immediately after hearing the twigs snap, Daryl shook his head and barked out, "Come on. Come on." He started high-tailing it out of there before any of us could move our limps to join him. "Head back. Let's go."

"Whoa," Yumiko whispered with her bow-and-arrow already out and ready for use. "Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa."

From the trees, we heard them before we seen them when fresh Walkers came out from the woods and straight towards us. I pushed Mollie behind me and held up my machete to use.

"They're from Hilltop," Miko stated before using her bow-and-arrow on one of them while Daryl used his crossbow on the other one. Two male victims — freshly turned.

From another direction, we heard growling approach us as we tried to keep lights shown on our predators and weapons in our hands. It was useless as my heart pounded inside of my chest.

"Watch their hands," Michonne called out the warning to us with her katana already out and ready. "They could be skins."

I turned towards my terrified daughter when I stated, "Forget the light, Mollie. Get your new weapon out and use it." She quickly nodded before putting the flashlight away, and taking out her newest addition — which was something Earl made just for her. It was a tad heavy, but not by much as a double-axe.

With that said, Mollie and I turned towards the herd heading our way with our silent weapons drawn before we came to the front with the others to help. Two came straight towards me, and I immediately put my machete on the left side of them before taking it to the right, slicing both of their heads off at once.

Mollie took her double-axe out and used it on one Walker by throwing one of the blades through its head before immediately using the other blade on another who had snuck up on her.

However, we didn't have time to pussy-foot around when Daryl called out once more to us, "Back to the road. Come on."

We started running into the direction where we had just came from until even more Walkers came from that way, surrounding us right into a box. However, Michonne yelled out for us to follow her yet into another unknown direction, but we didn't question her when trying to escape here.

Still, we found ourselves stuck in the middle of the four walls of Walkers circling us right into the middle of these dark ass woods. I was panting while Mollie gripped my upper right arm, squeezing it for dear life out of fear for all of our lives.

"Mom," she cried out, practically hyperventilating already, "what are we gonna do?"

It was a good question, but just as the Walkers started to close in on us, I reared back my machete and said to her, "We fight to the death."

Then, altogether, every one of us started to fight back the Walkers with our knives and swords. Blood was poured, but only on their side so far, along with bodies piling up as well.

Then, just like that, there suddenly weren't any more Walkers to take down when we killed each and every one of them... Together.

When it was all said and done, we stood there for a brief second to catch our breaths when someone new came out from the dark woods with an actual face on — brand new like they were auditioning to be the new Leatherface.

Indistinct whispering flew through the cold air when even more skinheads appeared behind the Leatherface one. They weren't growling, as if they craved our flesh and blood. We knew who they were and what they wanted.

Then, just like that, my crew and I practically huddled in a circle which faced out with our weapons out for use with our backs together. They got really close to us as we mentally fought for distance from them. This is when these new skinheads started to take out their own weapons — in the shape of knives, which were probably easy to hide. To my surprise, the new Leatherface over there pulled out and cocked a small gun.

"Drop them," a creepy and deep voice called out from the group of skin-heads. Who the hell? It didn't sound like Alpha, either; but, instead, a man. We searched for the voice for a moment when he came from behind a tree with the other skinheads. He was in a disguise, too. "I won't ask twice."

The big man, hidden behind a half-Walker mask, steadily started to walk our way when Daryl glanced at each of us before throwing down his weapons. I was beyond pissed off at this point when I rolled my eyes and felt like I legitimately had no other choice than to follow him in suit. One by one, we all started to throw down our weapons in surrender. And, unfortunately, there were currently more of them than there was of us.

The big man now came almost face to face with Daryl when he whispered, "You just had to give me the girl." Somehow, Daryl kept his eyes on his — and it finally dawned on me of who this was. Daryl has mentioned him in passing when he and Connie had to fight him for Henry and Lydia. His name was Beta, strangely enough. "No one else had to die. Now that deal... is done."

- - -

➳ BETA led us right to Alpha, who showed up with a big knife in hand and her actual face revealed rather than covered underneath a new mask. My crew and I were circled around a thin tree, bound together. Still, I felt so stupid and helpless.

To my surprise, Daryl spoke first when he saw Alpha, "You ain't getting her back."

Alpha didn't give two shits when she spoke back, "You think this is 'bout my daughter?" She took one easy step towards us before glancing down and back up again. "I ran into some trouble on the road. It was unavoidable." She wiped the knife of fresh blood and put it away as I gulped down a huge lump. "Do you like my new camp?" She sniffled and stepped forward again. "My people like to keep moving, keep roaming."

"We've granted Lydia asylum," Michonne abruptly stated, nearly cutting Alpha's speech off. "Any attempt to take her by force will result in retaliation."

I honestly didn't think this was the time to be threatening Alpha and the rest of her people, especially since it seemed to me our tails were currently tucked in between our legs here.

Alpha leaned her head forward and asked, "What's your name?" I didn't think this was the time for introductions, either.

"Michonne," she replied back, to my surprise.

Alpha stared down Michonne until she lingered her neck and head back to Daryl in question. "Does she speak for you?"

Daryl gulped, and back to her, he stated, "We speak for each other."

Alpha took that, momentarily closed her eyes and nodded, before speaking aloud, "My daughter isn't a concern anymore." Beta strictly turned his head into Alpha's direction, probably in question. "She was weak. She never lived up to expectations."

"Was?" Daryl grumbled out in question. "What the hell is that supposed to mean?"

Alpha stared down Daryl for a moment before she started to slowly walk around the tree, which held us tied-up here. She passed by Michonne, Carol, and Yumiko, before she stopped in between myself and Mollie. She almost kept walking, going back to where Daryl stood, until she refocused her attention back on Mollie.

She creepily smiled when she got real close to my daughter's face. "My, my," Alpha whispered, now touching Mollie's left cheek with her fingertip. "You are a beautiful young lady, just like my Lydia was."

I bowed up at Alpha when she brought her eyes over to me now. "Leave her alone," I growled out, threatening. "Now."

Alpha started to back away from us, and almost feeling like my threat worked, she came back to standing in front of Daryl. "To be clear...," she started to say just as she took her shotgun out. Damn. "Your group is in no position to threaten me. That is a habit that needs to be broken." She kept her head down for a moment and sniffled before throwing it back up, pointing the shotgun right at Daryl now. "Come with me. Just you."

- - -

➳ MORNING came when we reunited with Daryl in a field, as Carol immediately ran to hug him. Right after she did, Mollie and I quickly did as well.

We decided early on we would just go back to the Kingdom than Hilltop, for us to reunite with our people — such as Tara and Little T for me and Mollie.

We headed through the woods until I heard something, and turned my head down to a tree — where Saddiq was tied up to it and sitting by it. "Holy shit," I breathed out, stopping dead in place. "Look!"

We all started running towards him and tried to get the cloth from around his mouth and his wrists untied from the tree. "Saddiq!" Michonne called out, immediately running over to him and taking his cloth off.

We all helped in getting Saddiq free when he started coughing and panting, as Michonne was the one to help him back up to his feet.

We tried asking what happened to his bloody face, but we didn't get any answers when Saddiq simply just pointed up the hill and through the woods. He struggled to walk after being beaten nearly to death.

We walked out and straight into a field when I could see something up at the top. Saddiq abruptly grabbed my arm suddenly and yanked me back, finding new strength within himself, when he had tears in his eyes and said to my face, "No... No, Tess... WAIT! You can't go! Neither can Mollie. None of you should."

I started to lose feeling in my arm when I yanked it away from him. I shook my head and stammered out, "Why not? I... I don't understand."

Nevertheless, curiosity took over when I shoved through everyone else and stumbled upon the pikes at the top of the hill. I practically ran up thr hill until I was almost to the pikes, themselves — and saw something I never, ever wanted to see. From left to right, we could all see what was on the actual pikes.

Ozzy...

Alek...

DJ...

Frankie...

Tammy Rose...

Rodney...

Addy...

Enid...

Henry...

And...

"No," I breathed out before the tears smothered my eyes and started to flood down my cheeks. I clenched my chest when the pain returned to my heart, the same kind of pain I felt when Paul died right in front of me. "TARA!!!"

Birds erupted from the trees and flew away from my screams frightening them, but I didn't care about the birds or even the bees. I didn't care about anything, but her... My Tara.

"No! No!" Daryl exclaimed, quickly taking me into his arms and holding me back. "Don't look, Tess. Look away."

What broke my heart even more was when I heard Mollie screaming, too. "NO, AUNT TARA! HENRY! TAMMY ROSE!"

"NO!!!" I kept screaming out with my vision officially blurred. I tried to fight out of his right grip around me. "TARA, NO! PLEASE DON'T! NO! PLEASE! TARA!"

Finally, I broke out of Daryl's grip and started to take off away from him and everyone else. I ran straight to Tara and fell right before the pike — which held her zombified head. I crawled to the pike and gripped it, wrapping my arms around it. I cried against it, and the tears were enough to make a garden out of.

I have never, ever truly felt this pain before in my whole life — not even like with Paul. This was all new, and I couldn't breathe, nor did I want to ever again. Not without her. I didn't want to do anything without her now.

I screamed out in pain, "Please... No, God. Not her. Please. Take me, but please leave her. Please. Please. Please." I hit the pike with my balled fists and cried out even more. "Please... Please let this be a nightmare. Please, God... Don't take her away from me, too."

TNT forever?

...Forever and ever. Even in the afterlife, we'll still be blowing shit up.

;-;