— EVERYTIME ZOE AND NATE thought that they were safe, or safer than before, something else always happens, and they could never catch a break. Bob was dying, not only had he been bitten, but he was missing a leg, and the poor man was suffering more than he should be, more than he deserved. He may have had a rough start with the group, with his problem with alcohol, and the fact that he had tried to bring alcohol back to the prison instead of medicine for Zoe and the others, but he had more than proved himself since then, and he was one of them, the fact that he was going through something like this broke everyones heart, and they wanted the people that had done this to him, to suffer, like they had done to him. Never in Zoe's life did she think that she would have met people that like to eat other people, but after seeing the group from Terminus, she believed she had seen the worse of the new world, and she would rather face a walker than Gareth.

The group were getting ready to go and take out the group from Terminus due to what they had done to Bob, and Nate couldn't wait to take Gareth down and take back what was his. The ring. The ring was supposed to be with Zoe, its supposed to be on her left ring finger, and the fact that it was instead in that mans pocket, bugged Nate to no end, and he just wanted it back. Rick had come up with a pretty good plan to take down Gareth and his people once and for all, and it was a pretty good one, that Zoe and Nate instantly took a liking to, except for the part where they had to split up for the plan to work. Obviously, they weren't going far, just far enough that Gareth would believe that they had gone after him, but either way, Nate didn't like it, having sworn to himself that he wouldn't leave the girls side ever again, especially not after what happened with the group they were with before. "It'll be fine." Zoe reassured Nate, seeing the look on his face and frowning, "You'll just be around the corner, it'll go smoothly, I know it." She tried to convince him, knowing that he was anxious about leaving her side.

She felt the same, she didn't like being away from him anymore, and now that Daryl was gone, he was even more on edge, but this was just something they all needed to do, and once it was all sorted, they can stick together again. "I know, but I don't like leaving your side." Nate replied, pushing a strand of hair out of her face and tucking it behind her ear, letting his hand gently run down her face, "No matter what the occasion." He added, as Zoe gave him a sad smile. He knew that she didn't want to leave Carl and Judith's side, even if they were safe behind the locked doors, they were her family, and she needed to keep them both safe. That's what he loved most about the girl, the fact that even in the worst situations, she thought about her family first, rather than herself. She was selfless.

"It won't be long." Zoe said, leaning up on her tip toes and pressing a kiss to the mans lips, lingering for a few seconds, before pulling away and handing him his gun, which he slowly took, sighing as the others began to make their way out of the church and into the darkness.

"I love you." Nate whispered, the couple close to one another again and in their own little bubble, feeling like they were the only two people in the room once again.

"And I love you." Zoe smiled back, leaning into the boys touch before she finally began to back away, keeping her eyes locked on her boyfriends as she backed up, now standing next to Carl as he held Judith, the girl taking her sister from his arms and rocking her to calm her nerves. She lifted Judiths hand up and waved to Nate with it, as the man couldn't keep his own smile down from the sight, hoping that one day, they would have a baby of their own, and they could start a new life that was different, that was safe. After they took down their enemies, he knew that things were going to change, and he was keeping his fingers crossed.

Nate pressed his lips to his hand and blew Judith and Zoe a kiss, before finally following after the others, taking in a deep breath as he did so, knowing that he wouldn't be gone for long, and he would be back by their sides soon enough. Zoe watched him go with a longing look, before she felt Carl tap her on the back, gaining her attention to say that they needed to get into place - she sighed, eventually turning around and heading to the back room where a few of the others were already in place. She gently lowered Judith down into her cot as Carl shut the door behind them, locking it in place as they all wanted in silence; she got into place in front of the cot, knowing that she would rather die than let something happen to the baby and Carl did the same, aiming his gun at the door immediately after hearing the others leave the building into the night. She felt the nerves hit her as soon as her father, Nate and Glenn left the church, but with all of them together, there were more of them, and they had a better chance at fighting them off.

It wasn't until a few minutes of silence later, did the front door of the church finally open again, Gareth and his group believing that they were being quiet, but in reality, being extremely loud as there were no other noises in the building. A few more seconds passed, until Gareth finally spoke up, causing Zoe's hair to stand up..

"Well, I guess you know we're here. And we know you're here." Gareth began, believing that he had the upper hand, when in reality, the group had a plan. "And we're armed, so there's really no point in hiding anymore. We've been watching you. We know who's here. There's Bob, unless you've put him out of his misery already." He said, as Zoe clenched her teeth at his words, hating how casually he spoke about killing someone and eating them, "And Eugene, Rosita, Martin's good friend, Tyreese. Carl.. Judith.. Zoe. Rick and the rest walked out with a lot of your guns." He carried on, as Zoe and Carl never moved from their place at the front of the door, their own guns still raised. "Listen, we don't know where you all are, but this isn't a big place. So let's just stop this now before things get more painful than they need be. Look, you're behind one of these locked doors and we have more than enough firepower to take down both." He said, after the door handle rattled from the other side, someone trying to come in. "Can't imagine that's what you all want. How about the priest? Father, you help us wrap this up, we'll let you walk away from this. Just open the door and you can go. You can take the baby with you. What do you say?" He asked, trying every tactic he could to open the door before bashing it open.

Zoe glanced over at Gabriel to see that he had his hands in front of his face, as if praying to himself as Gareth spoke to them all, she could tell that he didn't want any of this, and she felt bad that they had bought this trouble to his home and dragged him into it, but at the same time, they saved him from being eaten b y a group of walkers, so in reality, he owed them. During that one second that Zoe looked away, Judith started crying, causing Carl to jump into action and rush up to her, everyone instantly stiffening at the babys cries. Carl gave the baby his hand, something to distract her, as Gareth told his people that he wanted to keep Judith and that he was starting to like her - there and then, Zoe wanted to kill him for talking about her baby sister like that.

"It's your last chance right now to tell us you're coming out." Gareth spoke up again, sounding closer to the door this time than her was before. Zoe stepped closer to the door and heard one of them announce they were going to break the hinges, until she heard two bodies thump down onto the ground, the girl instantly knowing that Rick and the others had arrived.

"Put your guns on the floor." Rick spoke up, sounding menacing.

"Rick, we'll fire right into that office. So you lower your gun.." Gareth tried to threaten, until he yelled out in pain from Nate shooting him in the crotch with his crossbow, having heard enough of his voice for one day. Nate watched as Rick stepped forwards unto the moonlight, so Gareth could see him clear as day.

"Put your guns on the floor and kneel." Rick repeated, not taking any shit from these people, especially after what they said about his baby girl.

Nate watched as one of Gareth's men didn't make a single move, raising a brow at him when he glanced over at him, as if daring him to refuse to do what they say; he pointed his weapon at him as he still didn't move, until Gareth sighed. "Do what he says." He said, looking up at his friend with a look as everyone else got down on the ground and lowered their weapons. "Martin, there's no choice here." Gareth said, as 'Martin' scoffed.

"Yeah, there is." Martin said, still keeping his eyes locked onto Nate's as he tilted his head at the man, taking a step forwards as he raised his gun again, showing this man that he will shoot him if he doesn't do what he says.

"Want to bet?" Nate asked, as Martin looked back at him again with a more nervous look this time. He eventually moved his gun to his other hand and slowly lowered it down onto the ground with an annoyed look on his face as Gareth gasped in pain again.

Michonne moved forwards as Abraham moved on the other side of Nate, as well as Sasha, who stuck besides Rick as she scowled down at the people who had killed the love of her life. "No point in begging, right?" Gareth asked Rick as the man stepped in front of him, shaking his head, "Still, you could have killed us when you came in. There had to be a reason for that." He stated, making Nate want to scoff.

"We didn't want to waste the bullets." Rick said, not feeling bad in the slightest at the fact that Gareth was practically shaking as he crouched down in front of Rick, whilst the man in front of Nate was merely looking up at him as if daring him to make a move, which Nate was waiting for Rick to announce it was time to end them all.

"We saved people. Things changed. They came in and.. After that.. I know that you've been out there, but I can see it. You don't know what it is to be hungry." Gareth ranted, as Nate scowled at his words, knowing that no matter how hungry the group were, they would still never kill people and eat them, that was the biggest difference between the two groups. They weren't sick in the head.. "You don't have to do this. We can walk away. And we will never cross paths again. I promise you." Gareth began to beg, wishing and praying that Rick was going to let him and his group go.

"But you'll cross someone's path." Rick said without a heartbeat or hesitation passing - he couldn't risk this happening to another person out there; these people needed to be put down for what they had done to god knows how many people out there. "You'd do this to anyone, right? Besides, I already made you a promise." He finally finished, pulling his weapon out and shoving it down onto Gareth's skull, beginning to bash his skull in.

Nate instantly brought his own weapon down on Martin's skull and began bashing it into his head, thinking about Zoe, Carl and Judith whilst doing so, knowing that he needed to keep them all safe no matter what. He would walk though fire for his family, and doing this was just something in the way of moving on. As he key throwing his weapon down onto the man's head, he felt Glenn watching him from afar, but he couldn't bring himself to stop, not when these people posed a risk to the ones he loved - they had to be put down, he just couldn't let these men run loose again and run into someone else, who would then fall victim to their horrid ways.

Hearing their screams did nothing to the man as he carried on hitting, waiting until he fell limp and Rick was the only one hitting Gareth in the head over and over again. A silence fell upon the group as they all stopped killing the men and woman of the group - it was strange, seeing everyone standing in complete silence, Nate was about to head towards the door where Zoe was waiting, when Rick stepped in front of him with something in his hand. When Nate looked down at the hand of the man, he sucked in a breath at the sight of the engagement ring he found for his girl - looking back up at the man, he gave him a short nod as he gently took the ring from him and pocketed it, giving Rick an appreciative nod back as the man patted his back, allowing him to walk past first.

Zoe instantly rushed into his arms when she saw Nate approach her, splatters of blood on his face but the girl not caring in the slightest, stroking his hair as she pushed her face into his shoulder, sighing in relief when she found out that he was okay. She knew he would be, he always was, but she was still anxious letting him go out of the church without her. Behind her, Carl Brough Judith to Rick, who took his daughter in his arms and pulled her close. Carl greeted his father first, then Nate, giving him a quick side hug as he looked at the bodies littered on the ground, not being based in the slightest anymore, not after everything he had seen since the end of the world.

And they were just going to see worse..

Saying goodbye to Glenn, Maggie, and their new friend Tara was hard, since they had just about all found each other again, Zoe and Nate both hated the fact that they had to split up again, especially when they didn't have enough supplies to last a long time, they would need to find some place else to shack up, and they knew it was going to be a mission. Nate watched with a longing look as Zoe pulled her best friend in for a hug, holding Glenn close as Maggie gave Nate a small hug, before switching, Nate giving his friend a pat on the back as Maggie and Zoe each hugged each other next. It wasn't fun, saying goodbye to their family once again, they didn't know what was going to happen from this moment on, and it was going to be tough, but overall, they were all going to reunite again, and it would hopefully, all go back to normal.

"Once Eugene gets to the big brains left up there, things are gonna bounce back." Abraham told Rick, whilst the others were all saying goodbye to Glenn and Maggie, "This group should be there for it.. You should be there for it." He told Rick, as Zoe and Nate finally stood back and watched Rick speak with Abraham.

"They will be." Maggie said, gripping Zoe's hand and giving it an encouraging smile, which she nodded at, knowing that they would be back together again one day.

"We will." Michonne then spoke up, as Zoe turned and gave a small smile at, knowing that she was shaping up well to lead besides Rick - she was strong, and she knew how to make the right decisions when Rick couldn't.

When Glenn and Maggie climbed into the bus with the others, Zoe leaned into Nate and watched with a sad look, knowing that it would be a while until they all saw each other again. Nate wrapped his arm about his girl as she leaned into him, sighing at the sight of them all leaving - he hated that they couldn't do anything too keep them here, but Glenn had promised, and that man never broke his promises, no matter how small they were. Nate could tell that Abraham respected Rick, and because of that, he was beginning to like the man - at first, he didn't, he believed Abraham to be stuck up, and he would listen to anything that wasn't his own voice, but now, he could see his true colours, and he believed that the army man would be a good addition to their group.

Nate stroked Zoe's back as the bus slowly took off and began to drive away, the two watching their friends leave without making a noise.

And just like that, they were missing two of their own once again..