A/N: Something big happens. Hope it's been worth the wait.

Y/N and Jayne could not have been more different as they waited to hear from their in danger teammates. Jayne had paced anxiously as they waited. Y/N was calm as a Hindu cow. They could still hear sporadic gunfire in the distance, but it wasn't enough to draw the Reavers that we're searching through the street in front of them.

"These half dead fucks are seriously starting to damage my calm" Jayne cursed as Y/N stared out from the corner of a window he had slightly pulled the shade back from.

"Can't do much about it, just gotta hope the others get out ok and then we can make a break when-"

Y/N stopped as Jayne's head shot round, an explosion audible from the centre of town.

"The fuck was that? Please tell me you shitbirds are ok" Jayne roared into his walkie.

"We're fine, we're driving outta town at a rate of knots. We shot at a propane tank until it exploded, try to draw the Reavers away from y'all" Mal yelled into the walkie.

"It's working, they're heading out towards the centre of town. We're heading out the back now. Turnin' our radios off, don't want them goin off and alerting' these fuckers where we are" Y/N said calmly into his receiver.

"Copy that, you two be careful and we'll see you back home, over and out."

—~—

Y/N and Jayne were edging through the forest, they had walked northeast for about an hour before turning to a northwesterly direction, attempting to circumvent round the location of the town and the Reavers. It was a risk, if the Reavers left the town heading north they were in danger of walking smack dab into the whole stinking lot of them. If Y/N was a praying man he would of prayed that didn't happen.

Y/N was in the lead, moving the pair forward as fast as he could, as quietly as he could. Jayne meanwhile was starting to get disquieted.

"We need to promise each other something man, I won't get ate. Promise me you'll shoot me if they take me."

Y/N looked back towards Jayne momentarily before pulling the silenced handgun that was strapped on his left thigh and pointed it at Jayne's face.

"Well don't shoot me firs-"

Jayne was cut off by a silenced bullet firing from Y/N's gun, travelling just to the right of Jayne's head. It met its target which dropped with a thud, causing Jayne to shoot around in shock.

"Is it one?" he asked in panic as he and Y/N checked the corpse over.

"No, walker" Y/N said calmly as he stood, re-holstered his gun and looked around.

"Well that's good. Must mean they aren't here, if there's walkers" Jayne smiled in relief.

"Maybe, or could be a straggler" Y/N replied.

"Either way we gotta keep moving."

—~—

The group arrived back at Wellington's large steel gates after a long and quiet hours drive. They were all stressed, all anxious, none more so than Mal. The decision to leave two men behind in order to save the lives of the rest of his troop weighed heavy on him. It had just ticked passed three pm and there wasn't a lot of daylight left given their northern latitude and drastically lowered climate since the end of the world. The gates opened as the ocelot rolled in.

"They're here" Clementine said with trepidation in her voice. She was sat up in Edith's lookout with Edith, Shep and a sleeping AJ.

"You two go, find out about Y/N and Jayne. I'll watch the little man, though I think he could sleep through the rapture" Shepherd smiled.

After thanking Shepherd Clementine followed Edith, who was already out the door, and arrived just in time to see Mal get out the passenger side and be sucker punched in the face by the doctor, Simon.

"You goddamn motherfucking-" Mal snapped but was cut off-

"Son of a whore" the doctor yelled as the rest of the team and the men on gate duty jumped between the two.

"Never again!" Simon yelled as Mal pulled his side piece and snapped back:

"I seem to remember a conversation about you giving me orders about my soldiers!"

"ENOUGH!!!!" A voice yelled loudly, getting the attention of all present. It belonged to Hugh Cahill, the lead Oligarch of Wellington.

His roar gathered everyone's attention as he quickly went to work organising his people.

"Wash, I want the ocelot and the gear away. Guards lock that gate and no one leaves until we know what's going on. Mal come with me."

Mal nodded, turning to the doctor and snapping:

"You and me will have words, until then do your job. Patch my crew!"

He turned into a hug from Edith and squeezed back, looking at Clem with guilt in his eyes.

"We'll chat when I get back from the Oligarchs. If they aren't back by morning me and Grey Wolf are going out looking for them."

Clementine nodded as she fought back tears and hugged herself, looking towards the gates.

—~—

Y/N and Jayne had walked for about an hour since they encountered the walker and now had stumbled upon the strangest sight. They reached what looked like the edge of the forest but was in actuality a clearing that looked about a mile across and several deep. It seemed like an artificial shape, like a circular field that had been reclaimed by nature since the world ended. It was open to the south, about fifty feet in all, but still closed off enough to resemble a circle.

Jayne wiped sweat from his brow and took a sip of water from a previously sealed bottle they had scavenged from the houses as Y/N dropped to a knee and glanced around the clearing.

"What ya' thinkin'?" Jayne asked as he handed Y/N the bottle of water. Y/N took a sip and then pointed due west, directly across the opening.

"That's the way we gotta go, but if we cross and get caught in the open we're fucked. Even that fifty foot could be risky. Given how many of these fuckers there could be, we need to track around the outside to the north, then when we get to the west side keep tracking through the forest. We got a long night's walk ahead of us."

Y/N and Jayne trekked about a mile round the outside of the clearing, and as they got to the northern edge they heard more and more commotion- growls, howls and general commotion resembling wild beasts, coming a couple of hundred yards further north into the forest.

"That ain't good" Jayne said in a panic as Y/N motioned with his head and whispered back:

"C'mon, lets check it out quietly."

Jayne was full of fear as they stepped forward carefully. Y/N did so fearlessly. Jayne was not a coward, or easily scared, not in the least. The difference between the two was Y/N had heard stories. Jayne had seen first hand what these abominations did. Stories didn't do their abhorrent acts justice. He paled and gawked as the pair came to a much smaller clearing that consisted of dozens of what resembled coarsely made stone age midden shelters made of mud and stones and bones. Human bones. The dozens of shelters were all Y/N could see. God knows how far the settlement went.

There were large mounds of discarded and butchered human bones, stripped of their flesh and broken for their marrow scattering the site, and many of the Reavers that were inhabiting the prehistoric looking 'village' were carrying wooden spears with bone or rock arrowheads.

"Holy fuck, this must be their home" Y/N whispered as he watched their interactions with interest. The Reavers seemed to be randomly attacking each other with blows in some sort of hierarchical system. One particularly mutilated Reaver was sat on a chair made of bones, and seemed to be the pack leader, which was the simplest way Y/N could understand what he was seeing.

"We need to get the fuck out of here!" Jayne whispered in terror. Y/N nodded and the two stepped back, silently heading away from danger and back towards home.

"We gotta get back home and tell the higher ups what we found" Y/N whispered.

—~—

It was a long nights's walk for the pair as they eventually escaped the forest and made it to the highway they had driven along hours earlier. It was a dark night but fortunately well enough illuminated by the moonlight in the cloudless night sky. The two walked along in silence, happy to hear the sounds of nocturnal wildlife around them. Noises meant no walkers. It definitely meant no Reavers.

The pair saw the high walls of Wellington from a distance and Jayne was ecstatic to be back home and back to safety. They were wondering if they would need to wake someone up when the gate suddenly opened. Shepherd Book was stood there with a big smile on his face. He and Clementine had taken the night watch, waiting for Y/N to come back. Edith and Mal had taken AJ for the night to give Clementine a break. Everyone could see she was beside herself with worry.

She had finally succumbed to fatigue at about three am. Shep had smiled and carefully wrapped her in a blanket, letting her sleep.

Now as he looked at his two friends safely returned he could barely contain his happiness.

"Lord be praised. I prayed for you both. I knew you would both be ok. I had faith. I had belief!"

Y/N chuckled as he entered Wellington, Jayne quickly helping the priest close the iron gates.

"You know I respect you but sermons make me sleepy, Shepherd. I don't look for help on high. That's a long wait for a train that don't come."

Shepherd rolled his eyes and chuckled, asking:

"Why is it when I talk about belief you think I'm talking about god?"

"The collar mostly. Did the team get back ok?"

Shep chuckled and answered "they did."

"We gotta see the Oligarchs, Y/N found the Reavers, where they live. We gotta-"

"Y/N!" Clementine suddenly yelled, having awoken and heard Jayne's voice. She rushed downstairs from the lookout room, Y/N turning and smiling. Before he could utter a word though arms were wrapped tight around him. Y/N hugged back and began to say:

"Sorry I scar-"

He was shocked though as Clementine's lips smashed into his. His eyes widened in shock momentarily before they closed, Shepherd motioning to a chuckling Jayne to give the young pair privacy.