"I don't think we get to save people anymore."

~Carol Peletier

Bang, bang, bang.

"Can someone please turn on some music?" Someone suggested.

"Yo, turn that shit off!" A voice shouted as a vintage song started to play loudly.

"What? Absolutely not!" Another voice shouted, turning it up louder. "I want a cheerful song if we're going to do this."

Bang, bang, bang.

"Now this is real music!" Someone else had changed the music to punk rock.

"Ah, how I miss the early 2000's. When music was good."

"When there was actually music," Someone retorted, causing several people to laugh.

Bang, bang, bang.

"We could always start a band in the meantime."

"Screw you guys. If you're going to put rock, put on some actual rock." The song shifted once again.

"Of course, the Brit would say that." This earned chuckles around the room.

"Don't even think about putting Easy Street on." This caused several groans around the room.

"Guys, stop messing around. Let's just get this over with."

Bang, bang, bang.

"Why are we even doing this? We already know that this will all be over once those cadavers decompose. And going off the data we have, that will be pretty soon."

"And the embalmment chemicals I made for the cadaver in the tank prevented it from succumbing wholly to decomposition."

"Plus I checked the reservoir where we trapped that massive heard... Hundreds of them can no longer stand. They're already at the advanced decay stage."

"And with spring coming soon..."

"It's only a matter of time. Their brains stems should be decompos-"

"Yeah, I know. We've studied their brains before."

"Then why are we doing this?!"

Bang, bang, bang.

"Because none of that matters if people can still turn!" Dante exclaimed as he pulled open the steel mortuary compartment. "It's not so much about finding a 'cure' than it is about finding a vaccine. And like Commander Rhee suggested, we have never studied a living human."

A screaming and naked Jesus was revealed to be the source of the noise. His hair had been shaven off, revealing stitches on where Maiya had smashed his head. He immediately jumped up, but the team of medics and scientists quickly restrained him back down. He desperately tried to fight back, but the syringe injected into his arm quickly sedated him.

"Things were getting pretty boring anyway," Cora stated, pulling the syringe out and tossing it in a biohazard bin.

"And if things go wrong, we'll have some legs for Jeffrey," Lillith laughed as did the others.

The medical team lifted Jesus onto the operating table while the science crew started to adjust the equipment, charging up their AED defibrillator and ECT machine.

Once they finished strapping Jesus onto the table and gagging him, Dante spoke into a recorder.

"Patient One is our first living human subject. We will first put him under duress to see how much his body can handle before we start injecting chemicals into his bloodstream. Finally, we will examine his brain and inject various substances to see what can prevent decay."

Once he finished, he placed the recorder next to a bloodied walkie talkie that was trying to receive an incoming message. He changed the music to an upbeat Spanish one, causing the others to boo.

"I'm the one in charge, so it's only fair I'm in control of the music," Dante smirked, before pulling on his black hazmat mask.

The others followed suit, making their appearance even more grisly. Their eyes now were black, soulless orbs, mirroring the horror of plague doctors.

And with that, they moved in on the helpless Jesus and started their task.

~

Cindy didn't go back to Alexandria. There was nothing left for her there.

Instead, she made the trek back to the Hilltop later that night when she knew Jesus was not coming back out.

The last remaining place where some Oceanside women reside.

She arrived in the morning; crying, tired, and dirty. She looked like she belonged to the undead.

And she wished she did.

It seemed every time she stood at these gates, there were less and less of her people with her.

The gates opened and the last of the Oceanside women rushed to her, followed by Sasha and Abraham.

Ezekiel had left the previous night, but promised to return soon since he wanted updates on what happened to Jesus and this new group.

Cindy immediately broke down when she was embraced by her fellow women. Sasha had no words to say as did Abraham. They could only embrace her as well because no "I'm sorry" could fix this.

"Jesus... He's dead, isn't he?" Sasha's voice was barely above a whisper.

"I don't know for sure. But the gates closed and he never came out." Cindy had finally stopped crying and was able to speak coherently. "I'm sorry I left."

"No, no. I told him to bring you back here," Sasha said in-between sobs. Abraham quickly pulled Sasha into a hug, but she pushed him away. She didn't need to be comforted, she needed to talk to Cindy.

"Cindy, when you're ready to talk. I would like to know exactly what happened," Sasha responded, her voice shaking terribly.

"What happened..." Cindy stated distantly. "I tried to convince them not to go. But they wanted Glenn. They wanted to make him feel the same pain we felt. They threw bombs at the castle. They wanted to see it burn. I tried to convince them..."

"These people- How advanced were they?" Abraham asked, trying to get a sense of who this threat was.

Cindy looked at the redheaded man with a blank expression as she said, "They were able to put out the fire. Their castle- it's unlike anything I have ever seen. It's guarded by a wall. When they-" Cindy took a deep breath in. "When they shot at them, they did it from the towers. It was all over in seconds. The spotlights were turned on and-" She started sobbing again and was unable to finish her story.

"That's enough, Cindy. You don't have to say anymore," Michelle wrapped an arm around the young woman's shoulders. "You get what happened. Your people- You all dragged us into a mess we never wanted to be a part of! You won your war so I hope you're happy now!"

The women parted, going back to their houses with a grieving Cindy.

Sasha cast her head downwards in shame, clenching her fists as she did so.

"It's not your fault, Sasha," Abraham said from behind her. "None of this was. It's just what happens after a war. Sometimes you never leave the battlefield."

"Abe, go back to Alexandria."

"Sas-"

"Go. See if Rick's returned. If he has, send him. If not-" Sasha stopped, feeling like she was going to vomit from what she was thinking.

"If not what?" Abraham questioned gravely.

"I'm going to wait for Ezekiel. He should be here soon."

The thoughts of war and bloodshed that had crossed her mind were so brief it was as if they were not there at all.

But they were powerful enough to ensure they were.

~

The gentle caress of someone's hand on his sent Jeffrey's eye fluttering open.

At first, he thought it was his brother or nephew, but then he saw Maiya sitting on a chair beside his bed.

She was looking at the window, he could still see her warm smile from his angle.

Realizing she was still holding his hand, he felt his face grow warm and he quickly let go.

"Mai-Commander! I'm sorry!" He apologized, unable to look her in the eyes. "I didn't mean to grab your hand in my sleep."

"You didn't. I did," She laughed at his now bright red cheeks.

"Oh," He responded weakly.

"Your brother and nephew went to go get breakfast. I can go get-"

"No!" He practically shouted, realizing how cringey he was acting. "Er, no. It's- It's cool."

"How are you feeling?" She leaned in closer. "Can you feel your legs?"

"Uh, yeah." When Maiya brought this up, the pain suddenly hit him. "Oh, man. They're really hurti-" He groaned at the excruciating pain that seared through his legs as he tried to get up.

"What are you doing? Lie back down. I can go get Dante. You're probably going to need a wheelchair and-"

"You're okay, right?" Jeffrey interrupted.

"...Yeah, I'm not the one who took a trident to the legs! Jeff, what kind of a question is that?" Maiya looked at him incredulously.

"I saw the bandage on your hand," He pointed to her cut.

"Oh," She examined it. "Yeah, just cut myself during a fight. Some guy tried to sneak in here."

Jeffrey opened his mouth to ask what happened, but Rick and Carl suddenly entered the room. Their faces instantly lit up at the sight of Jeffrey awake, pushing past Maiya like she wasn't even present.

Jeffrey pulled his nephew into a tight hug, laughing as he did so. Even Carl broke his usual teenage angst at this, joining in the laughter.

"Jeff," Rick knelt down to be eye-level with his brother. "I honestly want to be upset with what you did. You shouldn't hav-"

"Richie, stop. I get it. I'm an idiot for what I did. I get that I might not walk again- I heard. You're the one who taught me that's what family does for one another," Jeffrey explained earnestly. "Isn't it?"

Maiya shifted her eyes to the side at his statement, remembering what Glenn had been prepared to do for her last night.

Deciding that she had no business being here, she exited the room as silently as possible.

Her business was with her brother; someone she had an intense desire to spend as much time with as possible.

~

Jesus' absence had troubled Sasha so much so that she was unable to keep still. She was pacing, fidgeting, and constantly looking out of her office window as each hour passed.

Her anxiety of what had happened to him- if he was even alive- was taking a heavy toll on her. The thoughts of sending her people to break into the castle and find him were swarming her mind more and more.

Just as the thoughts were becoming unbearable, she saw Ezekiel enter Hilltop from the corner of her eye. This time he was without Shiva.

She prepared herself, trying to fix her appearance so she looked less unstable. However, when he entered she knew by his reaction she looked like a mess.

"Sasha," He started, but the woman interjected before he could finish.

"I look better than I feel. Imagine that," She attempted at humor. "He never came back. Cindy returned though. She told me he wasn't able to get back out since the gates closed." She had to pause as the thoughts started to come back again. "The Oceanside women went over there and bombed the place. But these people- they're just too strong. They were able to extinguish the fire and- you know what happened afterwards."

"Unfortunately. What were these women thinking? Why did they do this?" Ezekiel asked as he took a seat across from Sasha.

"Revenge? They were still angry about what Glenn did to them. They wanted to do the same to his new home."

"They never stood a chance against this foe... I am surprised it did not go worse than a firing squad." Ezekiel lamented, leaning his hand against his head.

"Ezekiel, I've been having these thoughts about what to do. Like to attack them and just be done with these people. And I know that's a stupid decision. But not only that, I'm scared. I'm scared that this will never end. Like we're trapped in this endless hellscape where we will constantly be fighting someone eviler...someone more dangerous. And once we kill these new people, there will be someone else right around the corner."

"I understand how you feel perfectly, Sasha. When I found out about these people, my immediate thought was to rid this world of them. But mentally, even physically, I am exhausted. The Kingdom will not continue to fight wars when its resources are weakened. I suppose I am being hypocritical since I felt similar with The Saviors. But like you say, I am fearful. I am selfish."

Sasha nodded solemnly. "I can't do it anymore. I just want Jesus back. My mind is telling me to go fight for him, but it would break me."

"There might still be a chance he's alive. Rick, Carl, and I would daresay Glenn would never allow something to happen to him."

Sasha looked down at her walkie talkie, which she had given up on trying to use.

"We might not have to attack. We could just get in closer range..."

~

The empire his sister had essentially built never failed to impress him.

From one of the last monuments that stood of the old world to the edge of a burned and ruined Capitol, the members were going in carts to each museum and gallery collecting the different supplies and materials they needed.

Half of what was The National Mall belonged to Maiya Rhee and her people.

Glenn Rhee studied his reflection in The Moon Gate Gardens; a place he had instantly grown fond of since he was first introduced to it.

He realized he hadn't seen his reflection in a long time, knowing he wouldn't like what stared back at him.

However, what really startled him was how unrecognizable he looked.

This was the same man Maggie had fallen in love with? Why? How?

Before he could start questioning too deeply, someone had entered the gardens.

"Have I always looked this way? This frightening?" He asked, knowing already who it was by her footsteps.

"Frightening? My little brother frightening ?" Maiya giggled at this question.

"Maiya, I'm being serious. How were you even able to recognize me?"

"Because I grew up with you? I don't know," Maiya shrugged at Glenn's frustration. "Well, what do you expect me to say?"

"Nevermind," He sighed.

"...Are you okay? After everything that happened yester-"

"I caused all of that. I led them to their destruction. I burned their treehouses, killed who knows how many women at this point, in who knows how many ways. With a bat, with fire, with poison. I singlehandedly did that," He finally revealed.

Maiya remained frozen, trying to see if he was kidding. When he continued staring down at the water, the truth finally hit her.

"W-Why?"

"Because I wanted to stay alive. And in a way, it thrilled me," The man concluded.

"I guess I would be a hypocrite if I was upset about this. Last night, when I saw those women dying I felt that same thrill," She answered, surprising Glenn with this information.

"But last night, for once, I didn't feel that. I felt..." Glenn trailed off, thinking about what was the correct word to use. "Regret."

"I know I have said I don't like fighting; it is futile. It costs more than it's worth. I do everything in my power to avoid it. But like last night, that couldn't have been avoided. Why waste a feeling of glory? After all the battles we lost, I get my kicks off any win."

"Crap, I forgot I needed to get Dante," Maiya suddenly remembered. "I got sidetracked when I started missing you."

Glenn was left staring at his reflection once again. But this time he was left to process his sister's words rather than his appearance.

~

"I thought Maiya and Dante would be back by now," Jeffrey groaned while clutching his legs.

"Where are all the medics?" Carl suddenly noticed the lack of any medics in the infirmary.

"Oh, uh, t-they're probably c-collecting supplies," He stuttered.

"They should be here for you though," Rick pointed out in an irritated tone.

"I-It's fine, Rick. They're probably just in the lab," He stated through gritted teeth, not realizing what he had just said.

"...There's a lab here?" Carl whipped his head around from exploring the locked medicine cabinets.

Jeffrey's face instantly paled at his mistake. "Um... No. I don't know why I said that." He quickly changed the subject. "Can you get me a wheelchair? I need to use the restroom."

"Jeff, you always stutter when you lie. We might have not seen each other in years, but you can't lie that easily to me," Rick frowned.

"C'mon, Rick. I really have to use the restroom!" Jeffrey pleaded.

"Then tell us about this lab. Your leader wasn't kind enough to show us that on the tour," Rick retorted.

"Yes, there's a lab! It's no big deal!" Jeffrey declared, getting antsy.

Carl had found a wheelchair tucked away and rolled it towards his uncle. "What's going on in that lab?"

Jeffrey pulled himself onto the chair with the assistance from his brother, shaking as he did so. "I don't know..."

"Then you wouldn't mind if I checked it out, right?" Carl asked smugly.

"Don't!" Jeffrey immediately felt overwhelming pain as he moved forward reflexively. He collapsed back onto his chair, biting his lip to keep from screaming.

"Carl, go to this lab and get a medic to unlock the cabinets. Jeff needs pain relievers," Rick ordered, clutching onto his brother's hand.

"Or we can just break the glass and get the medicine ourselves," Carl suggested with a shrug.

Rick's glare indicated that was not even an option.

~

After much persuading on Rick's part and sheer physical pain, Jeffrey finally told Carl where the lab was.

An eerie feeling was beginning to creep over him as he walked towards The West Wing. It was not very well lit in this part in the castle.

And there was that constant humming.

Carl had been through many tense ordeals before, but as he opened a door to a long and blue-lit stairwell dread started to overtake him.

He started downwards carefully, making his way towards the bottom that had a small patch of normal, white light.

Faint music could be heard as he inched closer. It sounded like some sort of party music you would dance to.

He thought about turning back because alarms were going off in his head. None of this was making sense. However, in the end, he had to know what exactly awaited him at the bottom of those stairs.

As he reached the final stairs, a nauseating wave of odor overwhelmed him, forcing him to double over and gag. He held onto the rail as he tried to cover his nostrils from this smell, but it was just too strong to cast out.

Carl's hand hurriedly pushed open the last door, letting the bright light wash over him.

Several people in ghastly masks stopped their task and turned towards the open door, where Carl stood frozen in horror.

The first thing he noticed was Jesus lying on an operating table with someone about to saw open his skull.

The second thing he noticed was Heath's body in the embalming tank.

And the final thing he noticed was that all these people were making their way towards this intruder.

Carl swiftly dodged to the right out one's grasp. He picked up one of the surgical blades off the table, arming himself with it.

The people were closing in on him with instruments of their own and Carl had raised his weapon, prepared to slash at whoever tried to touch him.

Suddenly, his arm was restrained from behind and forced to drop the blade. He was spun around to face an incredibly annoyed Maiya.

"You should have stayed with your father and uncle," She said through her surgical mask, tightening her grip on him even more as he struggled.

"Let him go," A gruff voice demanded from behind.

Instantly, Maiya released the boy, turning towards the doorway to see an enraged Rick and appalled Glenn. Then, she saw Rick's gun drawn on her.

"Rick, put the gun down," She stated gently.

"Sir, please. Put it away," Dante reasoned from beneath his mask. "You don't realize how dangerous that is here."

"Like what y'all doing isn't?" Rick's eyes blazed at the scene in front of him.

"Did you fail high school chemistry or something? You can't have firearms in a lab!" Lillith shouted. "Americans..."

"Enough, Rick," Glenn stepped into the room, putting himself between Rick's potential bullet and sister.

Slowly, Rick put his gun into his holster while never taking his eyes off Glenn's.

"You knew." It was more of an accusation than a question on Rick's part.

"I knew about Heath. But I didn't know about Jesus." At this, Glenn looked to his sister for an explanation.

"He snuck in here," She simply responded, stepping beside her brother. "It was only logical to think he had been apart of that attack. We didn't know who he was."

"And Heath?" Rick questioned furiously.

"We found him already bitten. He died and there wasn't going to be much we could for him," She remained unfazed.

"And you didn't think to tell me about either of them?!" Rick demanded. "To ask me who Jesus is?!"

"Right now, I have every right to believe you set up this attack. Somehow all of these people who break in here and try to attack us know you? What are the chances?" Maiya fired back.

"You know... I don't need a gun after all..." Rick grumbled before shoving all of the containers off the nearest shelve.

He was sent into a flying rage, kicking the nearby table over and letting its contents fall to the floor.

Rick grabbed a surgical mallet and started to smash the tank, getting some cracks onto the glass before he was subdued.

"Rick, just stop. Stop, you're embarrassing yourself," Glenn whispered to him, gesturing his head towards a stunned Carl.

Just as Rick was going to take another swing, a voice on the walkie talkie spoke.

"Jesus! Are you there? We're close by!"

Carl instantly made a dash for the radio, but Dante snatched it from the table just as his hand began to wrap around it.

"This is your last chance to call off an attack." A concerned Maiya told Rick as she was handed the walkie talkie.

"Don't screw up again. Don't get more people hurt," Glenn warned desperately.

"...Sasha. This is Rick. Jesus, Carl, and I are in the castle. Who do you mean by we?" Rick spoke into the device carefully.

"Rick?! Are you okay? It's just me and Ezekiel. Why? What's happened?"

"We're okay...Where are you?"

"We're in the forest close to the castle. We can see people leaving and entering."

"Maiya, just let them go home. You even said you don't want to fight," Glenn interjected before Rick could answer back.

"They can't leave soon enough," Maiya glared, gesturing for Rick to answer.

"We're leaving soon. Just wait outside okay? Don't try to enter or anything. We'll meet you outside the walls," Rick replied tensely.

"Those of you who aren't cleaning this mess can redress the man and let him go," Maiya ordered to her members. "And, Rick, the deal's off. So get the hell out of my castle."

~

Jeffrey was waiting for his brother and nephew in the infirmary. He was racked with anxiety when Carl went off alone to the lab, something Rick could sense.

His brother knew him too well. It was probably because he was a former sheriff and could read people.

On top of that, Glenn had come in to talk to his brother, and Jeffrey was forced to reveal where Rick had run off to.

"C'mon, Jeff, we're leaving," Rick called out, breaking Jeffrey from his musings.

"I think Jeffrey is old enough to decide that for himself," Maiya retorted, closely following behind Rick.

"He's coming back and that's final," Rick fumed.

Jeffrey wheeled himself closer to the approaching footsteps. "You're leaving?"

"This place isn't safe. These-These freaks are performing surgery and experiments on living people. Even on walkers." Rick entered, holding up an unconscious Jesus between him and Carl.

"I know. Well, not about that man. But that's why I was worried about Carl going alone. He would get scared..." Jeffrey cocked his head curiously.

To say Rick and Carl were taken back by this statement would be an understatement. They nearly dropped Jesus when they heard Jeffrey knew all along.

Jeffrey's eyes turned to Maiya and they softened. "Commander, I'm sorry. I forgot outside people weren't ready for this. It was a mistake and I just could never lie to my family."

"Jeffrey, it's fine. They never are ready for change," Maiya remarked before turning her attention to Rick. "Alexandria doesn't even have a medic. How do you expect to care for him?"

"We have Hilltop and The Kingdom," Rick challenged.

"Rick... I don't want to leave. Unless it's to Alexandria with you all. But I don't want to be placed somewhere I don't even know," Jeffrey protested.

"Jeff..." Rick started to plead, but Maiya interrupted.

"We will take care of him here. It would be in our best interests anyway."

"They can still visit right?" Jeffrey rolled closer to his brother.

Maiya paused, thinking this over. "Sure," She answered hesitantly. "As long as they stay out of our business and keep to your side of D.C."

"We'll see about that," Rick threatened lowly.

Maiya rolled her eyes at his pathetic threat. "Rick, we're not going to bother you. As long as you don't bother us. We aren't going to have you work for us or raid our supplies. We have more important things to accomplish than what's going on in Alexandria. Maybe if you all did the same, you wouldn't get yourself into these conflicts. You wouldn't be making all sorts of enemies."

Rick had no response to this, but to only glare daggers at the woman.

"I'm sorry, Rick. But when I can finally walk, I'll come to Alexandria for sure!" Jeffrey smiled as Maiya and her group started to escort Rick, Carl, and Jesus out.

Rick gave no answer to this, only walking out of the doors without a glance back. However, Carl glanced back and gave Jeffrey a disappointed stare.

They slowly stumbled to the open gates through the garden. Several times they had to pause and readjust themselves. But they trudged on nonetheless.

From under the shade of a tree, Glenn watched with his usual emotionless gaze.

~

Fortunately, Rick, Carl, and Jesus did not have to trek all the way back to Hilltop. Just as promised, Sasha and Ezekiel were waiting for them.

The relief Sasha felt when she saw Jesus nearly stopped Rick from telling her what he had endured.

But he did so anyway.

She completely shut down at this news. She said no more for the remainder of the way back to Hilltop, only staring out of the back window.

After they dropped off Sasha and Jesus off, they entered Alexandria to find a crowd of people waiting for them.

Rosita immediately hugged Rick as he stepped out of the car, surprising everyone around.

But this surprise quickly morphed into disgust and fear when Rick told them about what happened at The Castle.

"Sasha and I discussed how we want no part in another war," Ezekiel remembered. "We are weary. We feel as if this will be a never-ending cycle that will eventually consume us."

"Then are we supposed to ignore it?" Tara proclaimed.

"Their leader gave us that option. We ignore them and they ignore us. They aren't planning on hunting us or stealing or attacking if we don't do that first," Rick offered.

This caused some murmurs of skepticism and agreement around the crowd. But it wasn't until what Dwight suggested next did the crowd break out into a full-fledged argument.

"We could also..just leave."

~

"You're back here again?" Maiya stood by the moon gate, watching her brother stare off into the sunset.

"I noticed you left some galleries untouched. I thought you would have stripped every museum bare."

"I didn't have the heart to do it. What remains there, it's apart of us," She replied sadly, taking a few steps closer to her brother. "It's who we were."

"Why did you do it?" This question caused her to stop in her footsteps.

"...I remembered your comment about the CDC. About the virus being in all of us and we eventually turn into a monster. Looking back it was obvious, but we only worked on dead bodies. Not living and breathing humans, which is what we should have been studying," Maiya responded earnestly. "Not even the medics and scientists thought of that. I'm the one who had to suggest it."

Glenn shut his eyes at this, letting her reasoning flow through his brain. "Maybe you should just let humanity die. It's not worth saving."

"Why would I do that? When we're so close to saving it? I know how life was before, but now it can be different. I know it can." She was now standing directly behind him. "I'm sorry about what I did to your friend. Trust me, if I would have known, I wouldn't have. But I need you right now. We only want to do something to help."

Glenn smiled at this suggestion, but not because it entertained or appealed to him. No, it was because he realized what he had to do to keep the last family member he had in his life.

He turned to face her, with the same smile on his face, stating:

"If it means we stay together as a family, I'll do whatever it takes."

A/N: Credit to MatPat and Film Theory for their video "How The Walking Dead Will End!" It's a solid theory on how walkers are decomposing and I recommend checking it out.

Also, in the chapter "Plague" I changed the word infection to decomposition when Maiya explains why Heath is in the tank. It was a mistake on my part and I just wanted to let you all know about this change so there's no confusion.