The last thing any survivor of the breakout wants is to turn into a walker, because nobody knows what really happens. Nobody knows if you're conscious, if you can taste the cockroaches and the birds and the bunnies that you eat. Nobody knows if you're in pain, or just a mindless robot forced to walk the Earth until someone puts you out of your misery. For the first time, Brooks found herself wishing that the walkers were conscious, just so those four men got the punishment they deserved. 

She buried Hershel behind the bar, and let him keep Maggie's letter. She didn't need it, and she was sure that Hershel would want to keep that reminder that his little girls are alive. Brooks even found a Bible upstairs in the bar, and she buried him with that as well. Not only that, but she said a prayer. She didn't know any official death prayers to recite for him, but she did her best for the man that became her Grandpa Hershel. 

"Dear, God." Brooks started, already cringing at the words, thinking she was saying the wrong thing. She didn't want to mess up, because Hershel already deserved better than this. "My Grandpa Hershel was a good man. He believed in you, even when he had every reason not too. You tested 'im with the deaths of two wives, a stepson, a best friend; you made 'im an alcoholic... And then, in his final days, you separated 'im from 'is girls. You got 'im stuck with me, and I'm sure that I'm the last person he wanted to be 'round for 'is judgment day." Brooks said, staring at the freshly turned over dirt, before looking up to the cloudless sky. "Listen, man, I don't know much about religion. But, I know that if you're up there on your little cloud, eatin' popcorn and watchin' us durin' our extinction event... Then, you gotta be lettin' the good ones in. And, my Grandpa Hershel? He wasn't just a good one, he was the best one. So, you let 'im in, and you let 'im see his family. You keep 'im company until one day, very far in the future, he can see Beth and Maggie again... Alrigh', now... Amen."

It was messy, but she made her point.

After her speech, she found herself falling to the ground beside the turned over dirt. She just sat there, and sat with him. Her fists pulled at the grass, and her bottom lip snaked between her teeth. Bowing her head, Brooks watched as her own eye droplets hit the green grass beneath her. Shaky sob after shaky sob snaked its way past her lips. Brooks knew she'd have to leave soon, leave for Terminus, for her family... But her legs felt like lead. How do you get up and walk away from a grave that you know you'll never return too? She'd done it five times that week, but Hershel had been there for her through all of it. His determination for his daughters back fuelled her desire to see her family... But, she couldn't move. She didn't want to leave him.

The small flutter of wings snapped her out of her trans of staring at the dirt, and she peered up. There it was, that goddamn robin, sitting on the marker she'd made for his grave. It stared at her, taunting her, like it knew. Brooks stared at it back, remembering how it flew away the night before. Perhaps this event was too dark for even the robin to watch, but now it was back.

"You did your best." A soft voice said, Brooks peered up, and saw Marliya sitting opposite her, the other side of Hershel's grave. "Don't carry this with you." The hallucination spoke. She hadn't eaten in a few days, Brooks was still smart enough to know that she wasn't going crazy - she just needed fuel. 

Shaking her head, Brooks' chin trembled and her eyes weighed her down with tears once more. "I thought I'd never hear your voice again." Brooks croaked, desperate to reach out and hug her mother, but too afraid to wipe away the figment of her imagination.

Marliya smiled, softly. Brooks stared at her mother's face, soaking this up for as long as she could... But, then something caught her eye. Her brown eyes flickered down to her mother's neck, and she watched in slow motion as Marliya's head began being ripped from her neck. "You did your best." The hallucination whispered, before dropping to her side, her head rolling a few feet.

Another sob shook Brooks' chest, as she grabbed her knife and crawled over, stabbing at the hallucination until it vanished. She screamed, loud and angry. Her fists just held onto the dirt, making indents, as she leaned forward and screamed desperately until something in her throat broke. Her scream trailed off into quieter cries, before she shakily looked up to the robin. "I didn't want to be like this." She whispered, taking a deep breath. "I didn't want to kill anyone!" But, she did, and she would again. "This wasn't my fault!" She yelled at the small bird, which weirdly, wasn't spooked by her loud yells. "I didn't- I didn't mean for this to happen! I didn't mean for any of this to happen! Why does it never end? When will it just end?" Brooks screamed at the bird, before reaching forward and shooing it away. She watched it fly away with a cry, before she looked back down to the dirt, where Hershel was buried six feet under. Her voice came out quieter now, a whisper almost. "You didn't deserve this."

/----------\

She walked fast, and with purpose. She did everything and anything she could to get away from all the bodies she'd buried over the week. She left the prison with one gun, six bullets, and six people. She'd used that gun, and those bullets, to shoot each one of her people. Though Nancy never got to be buried, she was still dead on the ground, the other five were all six feet deep and somehow Brooks managed to survive. She didn't want to anymore, she didn't want to survive. She didn't like being the final girl in those horror movies where all of her friends die, because for the first time in her whole life... She didn't like being alone.

Walking along those tracks, anticipating seeing her people was the most conflicting time in her life. When she saw Beth and Maggie, should she tell them about Hershel? She'd have to tell them that he's dead, but does she tell them that he got beaten to death because poor, cowardly Brooks was hiding? And when she sees Sophia, does she tell her that she shot Lizzie in the head? Lizzie wasn't bit, or in peril, Brooks just shot her because she saw her as a threat. Sasha liked Mrs Kingston, does she admit to shooting her too because she was overwhelmed? What about Cam? He worked with Sebastian every single day for two years but one week with Brooks and he hung himself... How do you tell a man that?

All of that got pushed from her head though, because she saw the building where the tracks met.

TERMINUS

Just like it'd said on the sign she'd passed. It was fenced off, large, and looked like the main facility was in a warehouse. She stood on a hill, beside a tree, just watching it for a while. Her people were in there, she'd have to see them again. She'd either have to lie her way through so they could sleep at night, or tell them the truth... And the truth was nasty.

She was going to take a step forward, and come clean to her people. She'd decided that when she saw them, that they deserved to know what happened to their loved ones... But, there was a harsh bonk on the back of her head, and she was falling out cold into the dirt in front of her.

/----------\

"Gareth, she's waking up." A man's voice was heard as her eyelids flickered and her lips parted in a groan. Her arms were above her head, chained together. Her feet could barely touch the floor, as she swayed slightly back and forth. The first thing she noticed was the agonising pain in her head, the thumping. 

Suddenly, someone slapped her cheek and her eyes shot open. She looked up and saw a man in front of her. She gasped, trying to get backwards, but Brooks could barely move. He smiled at her fear, and nodded. "Yea, she'll do. She ain't very big though, when was the last time you ate, honey?" Brooks couldn't form a response as she just looked around.

The first thing she noticed, was eight men being led in with bags over their heads. They were being kneeled in front of some kind of metal long bucket... That you feed pigs from. Brooks would've remembered what it was called if her head wasn't pounding. She could also see three bins, all of them labelled. The first one: BURN. The second: FEED. The third: WASH. Her eyes widened in horror though, when she finally saw the naked dead man, on an operating table, being chopped up. "Wh- what did-" She cut herself off, focusing on pulling on her chains, but she really couldn't without having a good step on the ground.

"Oh my god." Gareth rolled his eyes in frustration. "Look, I'm gonna go do inventory, one of you get her to speak." And with that, he walked out of the room. She saw that the men were being tied down with cable ties, attaching them to the ground. She didn't know them, and so she looked to the man in front of her. He grinned, evilly, making her stomach drop.

"You know..." He started, trailing off slightly as he pulled out a knife and trailed it across her stomach between her jean shorts and where her white shirt had ridden up with her arms in the air. "When people imagine eating human meat, they'd imagine going for somewhere thick and unbruised. Like the thighs, or the ass." He replied, lifting up her shirt to see more of her stomach. "But I like 'em a little bruised. Makes it tougher, nice with bread." He said, pulling back his arm and punching her in the stomach. 

Brooks groaned out at the impact, she'd forgotten how much being punched in the ribs hurt. "Nobody thinks about eating human meat, you sick freak." She wheezed slightly, noticing the men were being unmasked one by one, the guy she saw was blonde. Since she didn't know him, her attention wandered back to the guy in front of her.

He chuckled. "You never tried it, darling?"

"More of a chicken girl, myself." She answered, getting a sickening feeling that she'd end up in one of those bins... Or, all three of them.

"Actually, they-"

"Don't say it." Brooks interrupted, shaking her head. "Don't you ruin chicken for me."

"White meat, huh?" He grinned, pulling back his arm and punching her in the ribs again. Brooks managed to hide her reaction better that time, silently thanking Will for the first time in her life. "I like them dark." He winked, making her cringe at his smile and awful smelling breath. Brooks didn't even want to think about what he was eating to make his breath smell so gut-wrenching.

She took a second to take in his appearance. He was tall, maybe 6'1 or 6'2, and bald... Like, shiny head, constantly has to wear a hat, egg-head kinda bald. A couple of his front teeth were golden, but the rest were a gross colour of grey. He wore all black, and a grey plastic apron over the front of his clothes. Kind of like a butcher.

Brooks looked back to the men, four were revealed but she didn't know any of them. She saw the fifth guy getting his mask taken off, and she gasped. "Glenn!" She screamed, recognising him instantly. He looked up, and his eyes widened when he saw her predicament, and that she was alive full stop. Glenn tried to respond, but all of the men were gagged. The man in front of her turned, and watched the men getting revealed. She saw Daryl, then Rick, and finally Bob. Tears of joy that they were alive got to her... Until she realised where they all were. "Let them go! Let them all go, you freaks!"

Daryl was smiling through his gag, until his brain caught onto her danger. He started pulling at his own restraints, yelling angry words that were muffled through his gag. That was his Brookie that they had, he mostly assumed her dead for the past week so to finally see her alive was overwhelming. His joy that she was alive only fuelled his angry fire, though.

The man in front of her smiled, turning back to her. "You know them?"

Brooks nodded. "They're my family. Please, do anythin' you want to me, just let them go. Please."

"Well, in that case." He smiled, looking back over to his friends. The blonde was quickly hit on the back of the head, before his hair was pulled back and his throat slit. Brooks screamed as she watched his Royal Red blood drain into the sink like thing they were kneeling in front of. She didn't scream for him, because she didn't know him... She screamed because now there was only three men before it was Glenn's turn, then Daryl's, Rick's and finally Bob's. The man pulled back his arm again, and punched her in the stomach, making her sob as she watched the same thing happen to the next man. 

She couldn't hear their words, but she could hear the two men dealing with her family and four strangers making jokes and laughing as they took lives. She knew she was a little hypocritical, doing the same thing only hours before, but that was revenge... This was for pleasure. Or, their dinner, either way? It was sick.

"Just let them go." She cried, her bottom lip trembling with her chin as she stared at Daryl. He was technically her uncle, but to Brooks, he'd always be her big brother. She'd always love him like a brother. The man didn't respond, he just reached up to grab her shirt, before he used his knife to rip down it, and rip it open. Brooks struggled to get him to stop, she even lifted her legs to try and kick him back, but she found herself too weak. "Stop it!" Brooks screamed, she could hear Rick, Daryl and Glenn trying to yell through their gags.

The man rolled his eyes, annoyed that the thirteen year old girl he was terrorizing was upset. "Relax, I'm just seeing how much meat ya have on your bones." He was about to remove her sports bra, but she got the strength to lift her leg and kick him in the balls. He doubled over in pain, just as she looked up and saw Glenn, the man behind him was lifting the baseball bat.

"Stop it!" She screamed. "Kill me instead, just leave 'im alone!" The man ignored her, but stopped anyways. Not because of her though, but because a man walked in. Gareth again, with a clipboard and a piece of paper that he was scribbling on.

"Hey, guys, what were your shot counts?" He had asked, looking between the two men working on the eight tied up... Well, four left anyways.

Brooks wasn't allowed to focus on that, because the man in front of her, was punching her across the face. "You little bitch!" He shouted in her face, making her cower away in fear.

"Hey, twitchy!" Gareth called over, making the man turn to him. "Cool it, man. Not all of us like the meat as tough as you, alright?" And with that comment made, he went back to the other two men.

"So- so you really are cannibals?" Brooks asked, still finding it hard to believe.

He grinned. "Wanna try some?"

"Absolutely fuckin' not, are you crazy? Well, you are, but-" He slapped her, to interrupt her.

Twitchy grinned, and pulled out his knife again. "I'll fry you up a little bit of your own... What'll ya have? Finger? Thigh? Ass?"

Brooks' jaw dropped in surprise as she stared at him. He couldn't be serious... Right? "Let my friends go and you can do whatever you want to me, please."

"Thigh it is." Twitch said, grabbing a hold of her left leg and pulling it into the air with his left arm. He held her still as she tried to fight against him. He put the blade sideways, and dug all three inches of it into her leg, and dragged it across... Inside of her, before he scooped upwards. He did it slowly too, making sure she felt every second. Brooks had no choice but to throw her head back and scream. She hadn't felt pain like that in a long, long time and her body wasn't used to it. Hell, even if Will was still here she probably still would've reacted like that. Brooks had felt the whole nine yards when it came to pain and agony, but that somehow felt different. She imagined that's what it felt like when you got bit.

Twitchy dropped her leg down, and walked over to some oven looking thing.

Brooks managed to still see that Glenn was alive, because all of the men got distracted by something that Bob was saying. Brooks couldn't really hear him though, her ears were ringing with the echoes of her own screams. She made eye contact with Daryl, before he looked down to her leg. Her entire left leg was soaked with fresh, wet blood, still running down her leg, covering it like a curtain. She cringed at the feeling, but also embraced it, because she'd been covered in her own blood many times before.

She looked over to the oven, and eyed her own flesh being cooked. The man was squatting beside the oven, watching his carefully and with a grin on his face... Like he was excited... That made Brooks feel nauseous, her stomach threatening to throw up its empty contents. She was too disoriented to focus on her family's conversation, the feeling of her own blood running down her leg... God, she could feel how much of it there was. Brooks was certain he'd cut an artery, that she'd bleed out before Twitchy made her eat... Herself. Man, that's a weird thing to say.

Before she could think about the logistics of it anymore, there was gunshots outside. Lots of them, coming in quick, panicked. It got everyone's attention, even Gareth's as he reached for his walkie talkie. He tried to get a response from a man named Chuck... But, that's when the building shook and dust fell from the ceiling.