Dead Man Walking

cix

"Stephanie...isn't missing. I saw her. She just...she wasn't real. It was all a lie to get us here," Eugene confesses, "But Max, she is the real Stephanie."

Hunter shuts his eyes as a sigh escapes his lips, "Oh, god. Eugene, I'm so sorry. Was it Lance? Was it his plan? His idea?"

Eugene nods, "All of it was him. From the very beginning. Everything–"

"Hey, Eugene. This is not your fault. You fell in love and the girl you've been thinking is Stephanie might not be the real girl, but Max is. She was the one talking to you, you fell in love with her. Not that fake bitch," Hunter places his hands on Eugene's shoulder, "This is not your fault, you hear me? I'm going out there with Lance today. I'll have a talk with him."

"No! No, you can't let him know that I told you. No one can know that you know. This is classified," Eugene states, "It's all okay. I will be fine.

"Okay, okay. But if anything else happens. Anything, if you have a feeling, that something is wrong, you tell me, alright?"

"Okay."

______

Hunter jumped out of the truck and closed the door behind him. He's been giving Lance dirty looks every time they've crossed paths. Getting them to the Commonwealth was a trick. He didn't know if it was good or bad. Trusting communities like the Commonwealth is always hard.

He didn't trust Lance, especially not after what Eugene told him. And coming here, back to Alexandria, this was his home. His territory and he wasn't going to let the Commonwealth destroy it.

He spotted Josh, and it's been a few months since they last saw each other. And he walked over to his former friend, placing his hand on Josh's shoulder and smiling, "Things are looking good here."

Josh chuckles, "Thank you. We've been working hard here. Aaron's kind've a hard ass. Always bossing me around. Do you guys get along?"

Hunter feigns a laugh, "Oh, you have jokes. I was leading a portion of the army. And you all were a bunch of jerks, I had to knock you into shape."

"We weren't so bad," Josh says, as Aaron walks over to join them.

"I guarantee you guys were awful," Aaron jokes, "Because you're still awful now."

Hunter gave Josh a pointed look before Aaron addressed Pamela and Lance, "Welcome."

"Aaron, Pamela Milton," She introduces herself with a smile, "A pleasure."

Aaron smiles sheepishly, "Uh, care for the grand tour?"

"I would expect nothing less."

Hunter watched as Aaron rubbed the small of Josh's back before guiding Lance and Pamela away. He pursed his lips, sending Josh a teasing look as he followed behind Lance.

"Alexandria was a self-sustaining ecological community. We have water, solar panels, and uh, a crop system," Aaron explains, Hunter's head roamed Alexandria, seeing what was the same and what had changed.

"Who is the engineer?" Pamela wonders.

"I don't recall anyone from intake," Lance adds.

"No one, actually," Aaron answers, "Uh, we got the plans from the leader of an allied community. Maggie Rhee. Uh, some of our people studied the blueprints, and we built it."

"Fascinating."

Hunter fell back in step, landing him beside Daryl and Mercer, "How do you keep this place safe with it being so isolated?"

Daryl and Hunter exchange looks, recalling the many battles they had to face to get to where they are now. "Wasn't easy. Fought a lot of fights."

Mercer's brows furrowed as he looked at Daryl, "You were one of the leaders here?"