.・゜-: ✧☾　☽✧ :-゜・.

Rick was the first one on his feet after Garett left the room. The two men who were meant to be slaughtering them, like they had with the other men, were pacing around the room in panic ever since they heard the explosion, giving Rick an opportunity to sneak up on the one with the bat.

Levi forced his ropes off his hands almost jumping into a stance. Within seconds he paced across the room, jabbing his sharpened piece of wood into the second man's throat. He rammed his weapon in and out until he was more than sure that he was completely dead. Blood stained his hands and face and he tossed his wooden weapon aside, picking up the knife that the man had used to cut open the throats of the other men.

He and Rick helped the others to free themselves before they all rushed out of the room. They found themselves in a cooling room where human body parts hung from the ceiling and guts covered the tables.

"Cross any of there's people, you kill 'em. Don't hesitate." Rick said, seeing exactly what type of group this really was.

"Stay behind me," Levi ordered Tristan who opened his mouth to protest but Levi wasn't paying attention anymore knowing that all Tristian was going to do was protest and say that he could handle himself.

They rushed to the exit of the building. The explosion had caused great damage. Smoke rose in the sky, creating dark and threatening clouds on the sky. Walkers had found their way inside, roaming through Terminus. Peeking through the glass they saw the clear path that they had to escape as the walkers were distracted by one of the containers where people were held inside.

"We gotta let those people out," Glenn said, hearing a man pleading from inside the container. "That's still who we are. It's gotta be."

Levi bit the inside of his lip, fighting the urge to argue with him. All he could think about was getting back to Stella and then getting her to safety.

Rick opened the door and slammed it shut gaining the attention of the walkers. They took down the few walkers with ease as Glenn struggled to open the container. Just as he got the door open, a man sprung out with his eyes wide open screaming and yelling in Glenn's face. "We're the same! We're the same!"

As Rick pushed him off the man chuckled wickedly before getting grabbed by a walker. Not a single noise, cry or reaction left the man's mouth. But suddenly, a scream erupted from behind the group. A shrill cry from a familiar voice. Before Levi turned around, he was sure who it was. The sight that struck him when he turned around shattered all his surroundings and suddenly he was the one screaming all while collapsing into an abyss of guilt that washed over him roughly.

He was quick to shove and kill the walker that was on top of Tristian, praying that it wasn't too late but a red, bloody bite mark on his neck revealed that he was.

Levi dropped to his knees next to the boy staring with wide eyes at the wound. Tristian coughed and cried out in pain. The rest of the group joined him, their voices disoriented. The smoke that rose on the sky seemed to loom over his sight. He couldn't help. He couldn't take the pain away. He couldn't end his suffering. He was helpless.

"I told you to stay close, damn it." Levi whispered through gritted teeth. Once his sight had cleared from the tears he saw just what he was talking to. It wasn't the usual sarcastic, brave and happy Tristian. It was nothing but a dull corpse. Tristian was gone.

The rest of the group had risen to their feet and were now fighting off the walkers around them. A hand grabbed Levi and forced him off the ground. The boy stumbled backwards, his head still spinning.

The blood. The scream. The bite. The dead walker on the ground and the suffocating guilt. 

𝐒𝐓𝐄𝐋𝐋𝐀

Her foot anxiously tapped the floors as she stared out of the small slot in the train car. Fire and smoke stretched over the sky and dozens of walkers passed them, heading deeper into Terminus.

Stella had tried everything to get out. She tried to pry the door open with her knife which was a failed experiment. She tried to get through the wooden planks in the floor, she tried to increase the slot in them and she tried to get through the hatch in the roof. Nothing worked.

Now, she waited impatiently by the door, looking out for any signs of her father and the others.

She spun her ring around her finger until it left red marks around it. Suddenly she felt someone grab her arm, making her stop her nervous tick.

"You don't have to worry," Carl said, looking up at her. "They'll be back."

Stella forced a nod and smiled. "I know."

Her words were followed by the creaky sound of metal against metal. Before she knew it, she had pushed Car behind her, shielding him with her body. Sunlight poured into the train car making the group cover their sensitive eyes.

Stella couldn't process what was happening until she felt two arms around her, hugging her tight enough to break a rib. It wasn't until she smelled the scent that only could be described as Levi, that she wrapped her arms around him.

As they pulled away, Stella cupped the boy's face, allowing her to stare at him almost to make sure he was real. One look at his face and she knew that something was wrong. Streaks of tears covered his face and blood stained his clothes. Levi forced her to look away from him by pressing a kiss on her lips.

A tear escaped her eye before she could stop it but Levi was quick to wipe it off before placing a second kiss on her cheek, right on top of the scar that trailed over it.

"Are you okay? What happened?" Stella asked.

Levi's head fell low and his voice cracked. "Tristan. He... he didn't make it."

Stella breathe got caught in her throat but she didn't have any time to react because she was suddenly being forced outside, to the panic on the courtyard. Stella's eyes instantly met Ricks and she flew into her father's arms.

"You're okay." He reassured her.

"It's not me I'm worried about." She told him as they were forced to pull away and return their focus on the walkers that surrounded them.

With only a pocketknife for a weapon, Stella began to fight through the cluster of dead, constantly gazing back to make sure Levi and her family were still behind her.

Stella was the first one to make it to the fence where she pierced her knife through the dead on the other side of it, clearing a path for her group. Rosita helped her to place a thick blanket over the chained fence, allowing Carl to jump over it.

Rosita was first followed by Abraham but as the walkers got closer, Stella couldn't even tell who was jumping over the fence as everyone crawled over it in panic clusters.

"Come on!" Stella called out for her father and Levi who were taking down the men of Terminus a few yards away.

They spun around and raced to the fence. Rick first and before Stella had any time to stop him, Levi was assisting her over it, or more like throwing her over it. The horde of walkers crashed against the fence seconds after Levi jumped over it and the group began to pace away from Terminus, leaving it to go down in flames.

______

They walked through the forest that surrounded the area. Stella clutched onto Levi's hand as they headed deeper into the woods. Daryl and Rick stopped by the spot where they had dug down the bag of weapons.

"The hell are we still around here for?" Abraham's daughter, Melissa, spat at them.

"Guns, some supplies," Rick explained. "Go along the fences. Use the rifles. Take out the rest of 'em."

"Hell yeah." The red-haired girl said under her breath.

"What?" Bob questioned, stepping toward Rick.

"They don't get to live." The man said.

"Rick, we got out. It's over." Glenn said.

"It's not over until they're all dead," Rick said, picking up his revolver from the bag, checking the ammunition.

Stella let go of Levi's hand and slid down to her knees in front of her father, grabbing one of the guns, sending him a nod to signal that if he was doing this, then she was going with him. He looked up at her and nodded back before they both stood to their feet with their weapons in hand.

Turning around, Stella almost dropped the gun in her hands seeing Carol in front of them. A gasp escaped her lips and every through of Termiuns was gone within seconds, letting a smile inhabitate her face.

Daryl was first to sprint to the woman, hugging her tightly and lifting her from the ground.

____

They followed the woman away from Terminus. They walked over a gravel path, everyone smiling at the reunion with Carol despite what they had just gone through.

The road led to a small overgrown cabin. Stella looked around, confused as to why Carol would bring them here until she saw the doors open. Tyrese walked outside holding a child in his arms. A child that in that moment looked like an angel. The child
that unknowingly carried so many memories, emotions and so much love.
The sight made Stella instantly drop her weapons and race over to them along with her father and brother. Tears raced down her cheeks and she couldn't help but let out a loud relieved cry as she stared at her sister, alive and well. She held her sister for dear life, crying as she placed scattered kisses over her head. She was never gonna let go. Nothing or no one was ever gonna take her away from her sister again. Never.

She looked up from the girl in her arms with tears clouding her sight. She watched a short figure approach her and swiftly blinked the tears away to get a clear image of the person. A huff of air left her mouth as her gaze fixated on her face. Handing Judith over to Rick, she sprinted forward, wrapping her arms around the person.

"Ellie," she cried under her breath. She squeezed her short figure, holding onto the girl that she considered a sister just as much as Judith.

_____ ˚₊‧꒰ა ☆ ໒꒱ ‧₊˚ _____
𝟏𝟕𝟗𝟗 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐝𝐬
_____ ˚₊‧꒰ა ☆ ໒꒱ ‧₊˚ _____

𝐀/𝐍

so I split the last chapter up and made some changed. (Tristan's death)
if u hate me for that one just know it for the plot 🫡