"No more kid stuff."

~Carl Grimes

"You cannot leave here. Not while Rick is gone." Gabriel stood alone as he blocked the gate.

"Move. Or we will move you." Netanya raised her trident in a display of her power as her women did the same with their weapons.

"No." Gabriel didn't back down, standing taller in resolution.

Netanya let out a low snarl, pushing the man roughly to the pavement with her trident.

"Someone like you would never understand." Netanya looked down at the former priest in pity. "Let's go. We have wasted enough time here."

As the Oceanside women stormed out of the city, the rest of the Alexandrians hurried to the scene. They made no attempt to stop the women and instead to Father Gabriel's aid. He had a bleeding gash on his head, but other than that he was okay.

"Wherever they go..." Michonne's fingers grazed her katana handle as she watched the vehicles start up and disappear into the distance. "I hope they never come back."

~

"There has to be some other way... We can turn back right now. We can make this work somehow, grandmother. It can get bet-" Cindy started to say before Netanya spoke over her.

"Cindy. Just wait by the cars if you can't do this," Netanya ordered.

Cindy felt hot tears burn her face as she lowered her head in shame. She bit her lip in frustration, watching as her group marched on towards the castle wall.

"Why aren't you with them?" A voice from behind asked, startling the young woman.

"...Jesus? What are you doing here?" Cindy quickly rubbed her eyes free of tears.

"Sorry for scaring you. I planned on using the element of surprise, but it looks like that's ruined now. Anyway, I heard that Rick and Carl were taken here. I volunteered to come check the place out." He paused, taking out his walkie talkie. "Sasha, I'm here. It doesn't look good though. The Oceanside women are also here."

It took a few seconds before Sasha responded on the other end. "Why are they there? What's going on?"

"Cindy's right next to me. The others are heading towards the castle... Why are you here?" He directed the last part at Cindy, but it was still heard over the walkie talkie.

As if on cue, an explosion rocked the perimeter and sent the pair to their feet.

"Jesus! What's happening?!" Sasha's voice yelled over the device.

"T-They're attacking. The women-it's a war zone over here! I have to go!" Jesus quickly put away the walkie talkie and pushed Cindy behind him.

Cindy clutched onto the man's jacket, muttering "no" over and over again in terror.

"Jesus! Are you okay?! Jesus!" Sasha cried out over the walkie talkie, trying to get a visual of what was happening.

But her cries went left unanswered.

~

"Anna! Kiana! Anik! Dallas! Get your rifles ready!" Maiya ordered, striding outside of the castle towards their armory, located in the Ripley Center. "Go to the principal tower!"

The scene was chaotic, and Maiya was trying her best to keep everyone calm. She had already ordered Lillith and some others to put out the fire.

"Anyone who is not willing to fight, take shelter! Everyone else pick up a weapon and get to a defense tower!" Maiya shouted over the noise, passing out guns to the line of people who gathered outside the armory.

"Maiya!" Glenn came running to the front of the line, only for a gun to be shoved into his hands.

"I know these women! Maiya, listen!" He proclaimed, stopping her from handing out any more guns. "I think they're here for me!"

"What?! Glenn, now isn't the time! Get to a defense tower and take aim!" She pushed him aside and continued her work.

"They want me! They're only doing this because I'm here! If I- If I give myself to them, they'll stop!" He explained desperately.

"They're attacking because you're here?" Maiya looked into his eyes deeply, trying to understand what was happening.

"Yes," He sighed, turning away from her. "None of you deserve to get hurt or die for me. It's time I finally reap what I've sewn."

He started to walk off, heading directly towards the gate. He narrowed his eyes as he grew closer; the dying flames illuminating his path.

Netanya's face was coming into full view when he was suddenly pushed back and spun around in the opposite direction.

"Wha-What? Maiya! What are you doing?!" He tried to break free of his sister's grip as she pulled him back towards safety.

"If they want my brother, then that's all more of a reason to fight them!" She shouted over her shoulder. All the while, Glenn continued struggling against her death grip in vain.

She pulled him all the way back to the armory, where they met up with the stressed Grimes brothers.

"Maiya! These are my people! Let me talk to them!" Rick cried.

"These are your people? Then why are they here?!" Maiya roared back, convinced this was a conspiracy plot against her people.

"I don't know! But tell your people to hold their fire!" Rick protested. "I can reason with them!"

"Rick, this looks beyond your control," Jeffrey interjected.

"Trust me. I don't want to see anyone else get hurt," Rick stated firmly.

"Alright," Maiya glared at the man, gesturing up to the defense tower where her sharpshooters were. "Jeffrey, open the gate."

"But Comm-"

"I know what I'm doing. Just open it," She responded tensely.

"Thank you." Rick shut his eyes briefly before walking towards the gate with his brother.

Meanwhile, Maiya pulled her brother aside and whispered something in his ear. He looked at her worriedly for a second and then ran off towards the principal tower. She watched as he did so, standing by the castle doors with her gun ready to fire.

"Netanya! Why are you doing this?!" Rick yelled out to her, stopping in his tracks.

"You know why, Rick. Hand us over Glenn and we'll leave!" She called back as the gate slowly started to open.

"Will you kill him?"

"He deserves worse than mere death!" Netanya was already marching forward towards the entrance.

"You know I can't hand him over."

"You can't or you won't?" Netanya was in the compound with her women halfway through the opened gate. "Even after all he's caused? After what he's done?"

"I can't be the judge, jury, and executioner anymore." Rick shook his head, his hand ghosting over his Colt Python.

"Anymore? You never were!" Netanya raised her trident as a signal and the women took up their weapons, aiming at the towers.

As Netanya threw her trident at the rigid man, a horrifying scream echoed throughout the compound.

Rick knew that he wouldn't be able to move out of the way in time, so he made no intention of doing so. It would only prove futile.

So as the trident headed down straight for him, Rick readied himself for what could come after life.

What a strange phenomenon, this was perhaps the fourth time someone was about to greet death without a struggle.

But the trident missed its mark as Rick had been pushed back by none other than his little brother, taking the impalement for himself.

At the very same moment Jeffrey went down, bright spotlights were projected down on the invading group.

Netanya had barely shielded her eyes before dozens of gunshots rang through the early spring night, taking down every single woman who was standing.

From up above the castle, a screaming Carl and other marksmen were firing nonstop into the women. Glenn was also with them, but he had only given the order like his sister had instructed him to. His face showed no sign of remorse. But neither did it display pleasure in what had just happened.

On the ground, a crying Rick was comforting a bleeding Jeffrey. The trident had missed his internal organs, but hit his legs.

"You're going to be okay. Listen, Jeff, you can't die on me! Not you!" Rick sobbed, trying to move the young man without damaging his legs further.

"Rick... I'm sorry... I wasn't fast enough.." Jeffrey weakly stated.

Several of the members came running to the scene to help, lifting Jeffrey carefully in their arms.

"Get a stretcher!" Dante ordered. "We can't move him any further without one!"

A stone-faced Maiya was standing to the side, watching this terrible scene unfold. She made no effort to console her injured friend, believing that she would only be in the way of her medics.

Rather, she wanted to see the dying faces of those who had done this.

A ghost of a smirk was etched on her lips as she glanced down at how pathetic they all looked. Their breathing was slowing, their cries and moans were growing quieter, and their twitching and convulsions were ceasing.

A bloodied and severely weakened Netanya was desperately trying to reach for a stranded gun before she was stopped by Maiya.

"What did you expect? You come here demanding my brother, harm my friend, and burn my garden? You thought you actually had a chance?" Maiya kept her voice steady even though she was silently fuming.

"B-Bitch," Netanya spat blood at her.

Maiya hurriedly wiped it off her in disgust before pulling out her sickle.

"Like hell I'm not going to finish the job this time," She muttered to herself, driving it through the woman's skull with such force that it went through the back of her head.

She did the same for every single woman.

All 32 of them.

~

Cindy was left a sobbing mess, crying uncontrollably from where she had witnessed everything go down. She was powerless, unable to intervene and stop it.

She had witnessed everything alone with no one to comfort her.

During the ceasefire after the explosions, Jesus had pressed on with his original mission. He regretted leaving Cindy by herself, be had to take advantage of the temporary distraction. Jesus had snuck behind the women as they entered through the gate. His long hair had given him the unassuming appearance that he was apart of them.

He darted to the right side of the garden, slinking his way through the smoldering remains.

He guessed that the battle would take much longer and that he would have enough time to sneak in and out of the castle.

That was until he was given a firsthand experience of the massacre from the unburnt area of the garden.

That was when he realized just how much danger he was in.

"Sasha," He anxiously whispered into the walkie talkie. "It's over."

A crackling sound was heard as she answered back. "Jesus! Oh, thank God. You're safe! What just happened?"

He waited a while before responding as some people were walking nearby. "They're all dead...They were killed in one go.."

"The castle people are dead?!"

"No... Oceanside is. These castle people shot them down." Jesus sighed at the gruesome memory.

A curse was heard on the other head along with several utterances from Ezekiel and Abraham. They seemed to be arguing.

"Jesus, is Cindy still with you?"

"No, I am inside the wall. I left her outside where I originally found her," He admitted.

"Get out of there a right now. Take Cindy with you and get back here. Forget everything else. Just get out." There was an edge to her voice.

"Rodger that," Jesus hung up and immediately groaned when he looked at the wall.

The gate had been shut.

Suddenly, Jesus dodged to the side, missing being narrowly sliced by a sickle from behind.

Jesus was immediately sent into fight mode with his objective being to disarm the attacker. He faced them in a defensive stance, ready for their next move.

However, each fist the attacker sent his way was blocked, making them growl in frustration.

Now it was his turn to be on the offensive. He kicked his attacker roughly, sending them to the ground. He didn't even give them a chance to get back up, pinning himself over them and taking the sickle for himself.

He still didn't have a good view of their face as the area had returned to its dark state. But from the noises they had been making, he assumed them to be female.

"Who are you?" He applied more pressure to his knees and hands, keeping this person restrained.

She didn't answer, only struggling further to get back up. Her breathing was slowing like she was giving up from exhaustion.

Then her knee jerked upwards as well as her hips, hitting Jesus and finding an opportunity to push him off.

She kicked him in the mouth and was about to land another kick when he dodged it yet again.

He tackled her to the ground and they started wrestling violently and dirty. They were scratching, hitting, punching, and kicking one another, all in hopes of tiring out the other.

While Jesus was an expert in martial arts, this woman used more boxing and wrestling tactics to fight. But they both seemed to be evenly matched, their many nicks and bruises proving this fact.

Unexpectedly, Jesus grabbed the woman and shoved her against the castle wall. She let out a cry since her hand had been cut by an uneven stone.

"You want to know who I am?" She finally spoke between pants. "I'm-"

The incoming fist interrupted her before she could reveal her identity, but it mattered no less.

She was ready this time.

She caught his arm just in time, and with all her strength she swung the man around and into the wall.

He let out a groan as he collided with the stone, but Maiya didn't stop there. She rammed his head into the stone several times to make sure this fight was definitely over.

The blood that poured out of his head and onto the ground told her it was.

~

In the infirmary, Jeffrey was lying sedated in bed with his brother and nephew by his side. The trident had managed to be pulled out and his wounds had been stitched up.

However, there was a chance he might not be able to walk again.

When Rick heard this news, he nearly lost it. He felt himself teetering on the edge of a breakdown again.

It would just so happen after all the progress he made, after all sense of hope he regained, it would come crashing down on him once more.

Like everything eventually did.

He struggled to remain calm, desperately wanting to take out his pain on something.

Someone.

The ones who had done this.

But those people were dead, and their blood seeped into his clothes as proof.

Thoughts of hate and rage started to plague his mind, convincing him to take these feelings out on the next best thing.

The one who started it all. Glenn Rhee.

It wasn't until Rick saw his son humming to Jeffrey by his bedside that halted these intrusive thoughts, and the memory of Carl on that bed brought him back to reality.

"When you were shot the second time," Rick stated as he approached his family. "I told you I wanted to show you the new world. This new world- it's pretty scary. But it has so much potential and beauty in it."

"Sometimes I think Carol made the right decision. It's hard to keep hope in a world like this. But then I see you, and Judith. And now, Jeffrey. And I think back to my days of happiness with you all. As I see the worst of humanity, I also see its greatest strengths." Rick looked down gently at his sleeping brother. "I see something worth protecting."

From the corner, Glenn had been solemnly watching this display. Externally, his face gave no impression of sympathy. Internally, however, he felt a foreign emotion wash over him.

A feeling of sentimentality.

The urge to see his sister grew, but he knew she would be busy at the moment. So he quietly left, heading back to his room in silence and isolation.

~

Along the way, several people had stopped to ask Maiya if she needed help.

"No, no. Go rest and eat. I can do this by myself." She would give a tired smile in response. "Just make sure to clean this blood up. You know how much I hate messes."

They weren't in the slightest bothered that she was dragging along Jesus's body.

They knew where his body was going and what it would be used for.

"Commander!" Dante called out as Maiya approached the stairs to the lab.

"Dante, yeah, I'm going to need help."

"Who the hell is this?" Dante inquired as they carefully lifted the body.

"I'm not sure. He just snuck in and we started fighting. He really did a number on me."

"That explains the cut on your hand. And the bruises in general. Commander, you have to be more careful. I swear, you fight so recklessly."

"Well, it's a good thing I have you here then! You're always there to fix me up," She laughed, immediately causing her to wince.

"I'm surprised you killed all those women. I thought you'd let some of them turn," Dante observed.

"I should have left some alive actually," Maiya sighed as they finally reached the lab.

"What? Why?" Dante looked at the woman in confusion as they hoisted the body onto an operating table.

"We need fresh meat."