Y/N's eyes fluttered open as he woke in a state of confusion. He sat up drowsily and looked around completely bewildered. He was in the lodge.

He sat up on the bed he was sleeping in, and was further puzzled as somehow he was wearing his savage son's vest, the one that no longer fit him.

He stood and heard voices, walking out to the lookout of the mezzanine level the beds were on and was shocked to see his friends sat around eating happily.

Luke, Nick, Sarah, Carlos, Sarita, Walter and Rebecca were sat around the table. Y/N smiled before realising Matthew and Pete were at the table as well. They were never at the lodge.

His mind raced before he heard a happy deep voice behind him:

"Hey, you're awake. You been asleep for a while."

Y/N turned shocked as Alvin stood and smiled at the top of the staircase that led up to the sleeping area. Y/N charged, wrapping Alvin in a tight hug which surprised the larger man, although he smiled and hugged back.

"Alvin how is this? You're... am I dead, Alvin?" Y/N asked as his mind raced.

"No, at least not yet" the bespectacled man smiled. "But we don't have long. Thank you, Y/N. For what you and Clem are doing for our son. He's lucky to have you both."

Y/N smiled thinking about his, and Alvin's, son, and replied:

"He's got your tone, Alvin. And your nose. We even named him AJ, Alvin Junior."

Alvin smiled gratefully. The smile faded at Y/N's next words:

"I'm sorry for everything that happened to you and Bec. To all your group. Can I... can I see the others?"

Alvin looked at Y/N with genuine compassion and replied:

"You need to forget all of that, Y/N. Let go of that guilt. What happened to us wasn't on you, son. And you don't have time. You've gotta wake up, Y/N."

Y/N looked puzzled.

"What?"

"You gotta wake up, Y/N. Wake up!"

—~—

"Wake up, Y/N. Wake up!" Y/N heard as he groggily opened his eyes. He was aware of a crushing ache in his head that was quickly overpowered by the sensory overload that struck him. The stench was the first thing he noticed. Most smells were now indecipherable to a survivor's nose after having been desensitised to walking rotting corpses for four years, but this stench was far worse than anything Y/N could describe.

The next thing he noticed was the sounds. He heard unnatural growls and snarls, and the screams... by god the screams. They sounded like men and women having ungodly atrocities done to them. Not even the victims of Y/N's torture screamed as bad as these sounds. Not even Troy had...

Y/N's sight returned as his blurred vision faded and he looked around shocked at the hellscape around him. He was in some sort of cage like structure that looked to be made of bones. It was within a campsite, a campsite Y/N recognised. It was the damn Reaver camp.

As Y/N began to regain his bearings he was suddenly gripped on the shoulder by someone next to him, that same voice he heard as he woke:

"Oh Y/N you're ok?"

Y/N looked at Zoe puzzled, his head still clearing as he asked:

"Zoe? What the fu-"

"We were captured. We're all captured, those that are left. They've been dragging us out one by one and-"

A woman's heartbroken scream erupted, gathering the attention of Y/N, Zoe and the two others he didn't in his cage. They looked over to see a woman being held down, her pants ripped off as she screamed and-

Y/N was up in a moment, kicking hard against the bone door of the cage.

"It's no use Y/N. It's no use. We've tried for hours" Zoe said as she rushed behind him, pulling him back just in time to avoid a spear tip thrust towards Y/N from one of the two huge Reavers stood guard at the front of the cage.

Y/N was about to try again when his attention was drawn to someone being pulled from another cage across the other side of the campsite.

"Grey Wolf! Grey Wolf! Leave him alone you fu-"

Y/N was cut off as he was struck in the temple by the base end of a spear from one of the guards. He fell to the floor as Zoe rushed him and exclaimed "Y/N!"

Y/N pushed off from the ground and out of Zoe's grip, against the walls of their cage, watching in desperation as Grey Wolf was thrown down to his knees, his hands roughly bound in front of him as he looked up at the Reaver who seemed to be the leader of the settlement, Y/N noticing he had a jawbone on some cord tied round his neck.

Grey Wolf looked up at the abomination bravely, no fear in his eyes as he growled:

"E Emmekin Asaakwasi!"

He was suddenly pulled down, caught by surprise by a rope that had been tied around his feet while he knelt. Grey Wolf was quickly levitated up upside down, about five feet from the ground. He hung helpless as his clothes were torn, several Reavers setting upon him, Grey Wolf screaming horrifically as they used knives to slice and tear large chunks of skin and flesh from his still living body.

Y/N's lip and eye trembled as he squeezed against the bars holding him, Zoe placing her head against the back of Y/N's, whispering to him "not the end I wished for lad" as Y/N was unable to tear his eyes away from the gruesome fate of his friend.

—~—

The van hurdled along the permafrost laden road, Simon in the back with the unknown man able to stem the blood flow for the time being from Mal's badly damaged hand.

"We need to get back as soon as possible. I don't know how long we've got!" Simon yelled to River and Jayne in the front of the van as they sped forward.

"I'm going the fastest I can doc, but this weather is- god damn it girl!" Jayne roared as he lost control momentarily, slamming the breaks as he was set upon by River who growled and snarled.

"River! River!" Simon shrieked in terror, Jayne wrestling her back as the zombified River snapped at his throat.

"Turn your head" the stranger said, Jayne leaning back and doing so as Simon yelled no again, the man pulling a handgun from his leg and firing a shot through River's temple and out the windshield.

Simon began to wail and cry as Jayne gasped for air, looking around in disbelief before noticing how much blood was in the front seat next to him.

"I'm sorry doc, I truly am, I think that cut was bad, worse than we realised, she just... but we gotta keep going for the Captain. River would want that doc. We'll mourn her later" Jayne pleaded to Simon. Simon sat there whimpering, tears flowing down his cheeks as Jayne roared this time:

"Damn it man. You took an oath! You still with us?"

Simon looked at Jayne and nodded before looking back to Mal who had passed out from the pain of his injury.

"Thanks for that man" Jayne said to the mystery man who nodded and replied:

"Tommy. Tommy Miller."

Jayne leant in and said quietly:

"Jayne Cobb. I need you to keep an eye on the doc for me. We need to keep him on the straight and narrow til we get back or cap there doesn't stand a chance."

Tommy nodded as the truck began racing towards home again.

—~—

It had been another hour. The two strangers in their cage, a man and a woman, had been dragged out kicking and screaming one by one by Reavers, along with people from three or so other cages when the doors opened again.

Two especially large Reavers made for Zoe, one grabbing her before he was spear tackled out the cage door by Y/N charging him.

Y/N knocked him to the ground throwing punch after punch before grabbing a rock about six inches long and smashing down into the animal's temple. He smashed three times before he was gang tackled by Reavers, the door to the cage closing as Y/N felt hands ripping at his clothes. He thrashed and swung before he heard a loud guttural yell, the Reavers who had been attacking him stopping instantly before he was dragged up by the shoulders and hair, three Reavers dragging him on his knees in front of the grinning leader.

"Fucking do your worst cunt!" Y/N snarled, expecting any moment to be torn apart, skinned, raped, any of the above as he had heard in the last hour before he was shocked to be pulled to the side, still kneeling, as three Reavers held him in place.

The leader snarled and grinned at Y/N, Y/N's head being held up as he was forced to watch a woman be dragged from another cage and violated only feet from him.

—~—

Jayne sped like a madman as he was finally able to get close to Wellington. Walkers and the try to be quiet rules could be damned as he beeped the van's horn as loud as he could. He pulled up surprised to see the main gates open, other cars and trucks stopped in various haphazard ways near the entrance.

Jayne wasn't the first back. In short it was chaos. He pulled the van to a halt just inside the gates and jumped out as he heard:

"Jayne!!!" yelled out by a relieved Shepherd Book. The relief didn't last as Shep ran over and gasped at River's corpse in the front seat.

"Help me, quick" Jayne called out as he rushed to the back of the van. "Cap's in a bad way. Where's Edith?"

"I made her and Clementine go back to Clem's with AJ. This is no place for a baby. Where's-"

Shepherd looked around panicked at the absence of so many of his friends as he, Simon and Jayne gently pulled Mal from the floor of the van to a waiting gurney.

"Half of them are gone Shep. The others- Zoe, Wolf, Y/N... I gotta get back there and find them, once we get Cap- whoa."

Jayne had been cut off mid sentence, grabbing Tommy who nearly fell from the truck as he exited.

"You alright Tommy, we gotta get you in medical and-"

"No, I'm alright, it's just a dislocated shoulder. I've gotta find my people. Good luck with your friend" Tommy said as Mal was rushed into the medical centre by Simon and another medic. Jayne nodded and turned back to the truck, getting his gun out and walking towards the gate as Shepherd tried to stop him:

"Jayne, no. Rawlins has said no one's to leave. We need to keep as many here as possible in case there's a counter attack. Hugh agreed with him. I'm sorry."

—~—

Tommy walked along the chaotic scene for about five minutes before he heard someone yell:

"Tommy? Tommy!"

He was suddenly engulfed by his brother and then his niece in a bone crunching hug. He groaned in pain as Joel let him go, asking worriedly:

"You alright?"

"Dislocated shoulder. I was stuck in my car, this kid pulled the fucking door off to get me out Joel. He was a kid and he pulled the fuckin' door off."

"Let's get you into medical, get that shoulder back in place" Joel said with a smile, worrying his brother had a bad concussion from his gibberish.

—~—

Y/N had been made to watch for hours, held in place by the brutes behind him and at his sides. Every time he had tried to pull away, or his eyes had closed he was kicked and slapped, his hair torn harder as he was forced to watch horrors beyond words.

It was finally time for Zoe's fate, as she was left for last and dragged to the front of the settlement, thrown down in the pile of blood and body parts that laid in front of Y/N and the leader. Three Reavers rushed towards her before they stopped dead at the leader's grunt.

He grunted a second time, looking towards Y/N, who was released and thrown to the floor savagely. Before Y/N could react he was pulled to his feet and shoved, standing in front of the leader who snarled lecherously towards Zoe, before speaking in broken grunts to Y/N.

Zoe was shocked, Y/N seemingly understanding the leader as the man-thing handed Y/N a sharp blade, the same one that had been used to skin so many of the other fighters prior to their deaths and who were currently being cooked or devoured by other Reavers around the settlement.

Zoe gasped and shook her head as Y/N took the blade, looked at the leader and then looked at her.

"Y/N... no..." she sobbed before jumping, as did the other Reavers, as Y/N jammed the blade deep into the leader's neck. He snarled and snapped as the leader clutched at his neck, Y/N then leaping onto him in a rage Zoe hadn't seen before as he stabbed and stabbed, finally slicing deep across the leader's stomach.

The leader's intestines slopped down, soaking the ground with his blood as he gurgled and bled out. Zoe gasped as she watched Y/N pull the jawbone from the dead leader's neck. He held it aloft and Zoe watched shocked as the usually psychotically-aggressive Reavers all stood, looking down from Y/N submissively. Y/N placed the jawbone over his neck, a sadistic glare on his face as he stepped to the closest Reaver, who continued to look down submissively as it's new Alpha shoved a blade into it's throat.