Breaking Mercer out of prison didn't prove to be difficult. They ran into a lot less resistance than expected. Most of the guards had abandoned their position. As soon as Mercer was freed he let them to the weapon storage.
The herd caught up with them when they loaded the supplies into a truck. A sea of death encroached on them, and within that sea Jesus recognized two familiar faces. He would recognize Aaron and Lydia everywhere and he made sure they could safely approach.
Aaron's face was pale and written with concern. Lydia looked even worse than him. Her skin was even paler, almost gray. She looked weak and in pain.
"Are you okay? What happened?" Jesus asked them. He stayed clear of the rotting guts on their clothes.
"Yeah, I'm okay." Lydia replied before Aaron could say anything to the contrary.
"Jerry? Elijah? Are they with you?" Ezekiel asked.
"No." Aaron shook his head. "They're still out there."
Jesus took Lydia up and down. "You don't look alright, I know something has happened." He turned to Aaron. "Tell me."
"The only thing that matters is that Lydia needs to see a doctor as fast as possible." Aaron said, hastily. "And I'm more concerned about what happened here."
Alden shoved one of the last crates into the back of the truck; he'd been listening in. "We better go. We can talk once we're out of here."
"We gotta get to the hospital, now!" Princess stressed.
The herd was starting to get too thick to plow through with the truck. Everyone piled up into the back of the truck quickly and they set off. They would meet with the others back at the clinic, there Alden and Maggie would see their son again.
But they weren't that lucky because the clinic had been breached. A scramble for another safe place ensued and Mercer brought them to an abandoned building just outside the Estates at nightfall.
Waiting for Rosita, Gabriel, Eugene and Mike to show up with the babies was agony. But in the first moment Maggie got to hold her son, just for a split-second, she forgot about everything they still had to face before the day was through. After that short moment it hit her like a ton of bricks all over again and she handed him to Alden. She watched him walk up and down the room in the hope of soothing him to sleep.
"And he's asleep." Alden said with Adam bundled up in his arms. He was too afraid to let go of him.
"I'm glad he's too young to remember any of this." Maggie sighed. "He's only going to remember what comes after, a better place."
She'd made that same vow for Hope and Hershel; that she would make the world a better place for them. She had always hoped they wouldn't have to live through a war. To no fault of her own, she hadn't been able to keep that promise.
Despite not being able to keep her promise for her two oldest, she and Alden had still made the same promise for Adam. It was a principle to wish for a better world for your children. But it wasn't only for their children, it was also a vow to themselves to do better than the day before.
Alden teared up. That future they had been working on for years was something he wouldn't get to witness. He would linger on as a memory, slowly slipping from the minds of his family. It finally hit him fully now. He choked on his breath and all the strength flowed out of his arms. He needed to get out of here and he shoved Adam into Maggie's arms without warning.
"I have to go outside for a minute, I need to catch my breath." He mumbled.
His sudden mood swing left her too flustered to protest or question him. She stood there with a baby in her arms. She thought it was just the stress of the day catching up to him. Then she noticed Tara staring at her. There was something about the way she looked at her; pity. As soon as she noticed Maggie returning her gaze, she looked away. Now Maggie knew she was hiding something and all her senses told her it had something to do with Alden.
"Mike?" She asked. She needed someone else to hold Adam for a moment.
He turned around. He was happy someone asked for him because he'd been standing alone in a corner for a while now. "Yes?"
She held Adam out to him. "Could you hold him, please?"
Mike looked flustered. It wasn't his place to question her and he'd gladly do anything to feel useful. Long before the world fell he got to hold his baby sister. She had died somewhere in the beginning, when the world ended. He took the baby in his arms carefully. Then without any explanation Maggie B-lined for Tara.
"What are you and Alden keeping from me?" She asked her.
"Nothing." Tara replied quickly. She seemed extremely flustered. "Nothing."
"You're hiding something. I think it's something I should know because you and Alden are both acting weird."
Tara's face twisted. "I promised not to tell anyone." She wasn't going to throw Alden under the bus.
Maggie crossed her arms. "You promised Alden, you mean."
"Yes." She replied before she could stop herself. Before she'd even realized what she'd said. "Wait... No."
"It's obvious there's something going on with him. I need to know. I need to be able to talk to him. Please." Maggie urged her again.
"I've already said more than I should've. It's not to tell you, Alden has to be the one."
She sighed. "Fine." She turned around and left the old tattered building, following Alden outside.
She figured he'd be out on the porch with some of the others, but he wasn't. She couldn't see him anywhere. She took another lap around the building and heard some shuffling in the back of the truck. There she found him gathering clips for his rifle.
"Oh, hey." He greeted half absentmindedly, barely looking up from his task. The only way for him to keep it together was to stay busy. Even a redundant task like gathering ammunition kept his mind from wandering.
She crossed her arms. "Spill it. You're keeping something from me and I want to know what."
He paused. "I- How? Did Tara tell you?"
"Not really. The way you stormed off and the way Tara looked at me said enough."
He climbed down from the truck bed and sat down on the edge of the porch. He tapped the spot beside him and Maggie sat down next to him.
"Something happened today..." He began, sighing. He still couldn't say it, the only thing he could do was show her. He rolled up his sleeve and to reveal the tiny scratch. "A walker did that before we reached the clinic."
Her breathing hitched and she grabbed his arm firmly to get a better look at it. "That was hours ago!"
"I didn't want you to worry unnecessarily."
"Unnecessarily?" Her voice was laced with pain. "Alden, this isn't something you should've kept from me. It's from a walker you know what that means."
Ever since she lost Glenn had always believed she couldn't lose anyone like that again, not someone so dear to her. Not someone she planned to spend the rest of her life with. Now she had to come to terms with losing the man she had a family with. They'd been together for over a decade now. It was so incredibly unfair. She couldn't come to terms with this, she refused to.
She sniffed and buried her head into his shoulder, too much had happened today to feel any real emotion. "It's not fair." She whispered. "The kids need you. I need you."
He didn't want his end to be a sob story. They could cry for him later. "You can do it without me." He promised her. "You're the strongest person I know."
"No." She whispered, barely audible.
Maggie stayed in Alden's arms and closed her eyes. She didn't accept his words. He couldn't die because she needed him. The cool night air nipped at them, but they didn't care. Eventually Maggie pulled away, she had to take another look at the scratch on his arm.
She rubbed her thumb over it. "It's so small." She rolled his sleeve down and looked at the thick fabric of his jacket. She studied every inch of it closely. "The fabric isn't even pierced." Her realization brought a little bit of hope back to her. She placed her hand against his forehead. "You're not running a fever either."
"Maggie..." He sighed.
"You don't look sick either." She continued, ignoring him. "Do you feel sick? It happened hours ago, the fever should have set in long ago."
"No, I feel fine." He shook his head. "But in between all the shooting I haven't had the time to pause and think about it."
"How do you feel?" She repeated her question in a more urgent manner.
"Normal, I guess." The realization started to hit him too. "I should feel sick. Why don't I feel sick?"
Maggie shook her head as if to tell him that she didn't know either. So many things about the virus that had ended the world eluded them. A scratch, even one as small as on Alden's arm, would lead to a painful and slow death.
She looked at his sleeve again. There really wasn't a puncture mark on it. "You idiot." it was somewhere in between relief and anger. She pushed his shoulder back harshly.
"What?" He asked, perplexed.
"You goddamn idiot." She was laughing now. "Your coat wasn't pierced. There's no way you were infected."
He blinked slowly. "Wait." He looked at his sleeve. "Does that mean I'm not going to die?"
"I think so." She smiled. "Otherwise you should've been sick already."
He couldn't help but laugh. It was wrong to laugh in these circumstances; they had lost good people today. Siddiq, Luke and Jeules would never make it home. Judith was barely hanging on, Lydia seemed to get worse by the minute and Jerry and Elijah were still missing. Despite all of that, Alden laughed like Maggie had told him the best joke he'd ever heard. The laughing stopped after a while and they hugged each other tight. They stayed like that till it was time to move.
They managed to work their way into the Estates and took refuge in the house of Yumiko's brother. They were in luck because he was a doctor and Judith was finally able to receive the medical care she needed. Aaron dressed Lydia's amputated arm properly. He tried to lift her spirits as he did so, but she was too shattered and not ready to be consoled yet.
"Aaron said he saw people calling for help on the higher floors and roofs before he found us." Jesus began as he sat next to Tara and Alden on the living room couch. "And Elijah and Jerry are still out there. It feels hopeless to sit here and do nothing." He fidgeted with his top bun. It had gotten tangled during the day.
"We can't go back out there. There's no way to safely move those people through the herd." Tara replied. "If we want to help those people we need to end Pamela one way or another."
"End?" Alden asked.
"You heard me; end."
"We might not need to kill her." He insisted. "She's nothing if we strip away her power. We already have Mercer and a bunch of his men on our side, we're well on our way to reach our goal."
"Hey, have you guys seen Negan?" Maggie asked as she walked up to them with a concerned look.
"He was here a couple of minutes ago." Jesus replied. "Don't know where he is now."
"Something wrong?" Alden asked.
"No." Maggie shook her head and moved on.
Alden sighed. He would like to help her, but whenever it came to Negan she needed to do it alone. It was already good enough that she no longer wished to kill him. Sitting on that couch he started to nod off without really noticing. Some time later he was rudely awakened by gunshots from outside.
"What happened? Are we under attack?" He asked.
Jesus shook his head as he stood up. "I don't think they're meant for us, then we'd be dead already." His words were followed by another gunshot ringing out.
Alden jumped up and they went to investigate. They found Mercer standing by one of the windows, looking out, and they decided to go to him.
"What's happening?" Jesus asked upon approach as another gunshot rang out.
"They're shooting anyone that climbs the gates." Mercer replied as he walked back into the kitchen to retrieve his rifle.
"What are you doing?" Max asked her brother immediately.
"People are dying. I can't stand by." He replied steadfastly. He turned back to Jesus and Alden. "The truck is gassed up, with some reserves in the rear. It's enough to get you home. We can sneak you out back. This isn't your fight. These aren't your people."
"This became our fight and these are our people. That's why we're here." Alden replied.
Ezekiel voiced his agreement and stepped forward. He turned around to face the others, everyone was listening to him now, he always had that power. "You may not think this place is worth saving. It get that, given how they'd treated us, but it's worth it to me. The people are worth it, and I'm not gonna allow them to gall without a fight. Not today."
"We can do more than just save ourselves." Aaron agreed, standing by Jesus' side. "We need to."
More followed after Aaron, and soon everyone that was there had. Mercer took his own men outside first. Alden looked around to find Maggie, but she wasn't there. He didn't have the time to linger on it. He knew she was fine, probably cussing Negan out somewhere. It was time for everyone else to follow Mercer towards Pamela.
"Lower your weapons." Mercer's collected voice called out to Pamela's men.
People cried out behind the locked gate, begging for help. If the gate wasn't opened soon people would be crushed to death against the cold steel rods. Yet Pamela took no action to rescue her people, which seemed to have knocked most of the fight out of her soldiers. Despite all of the guns turned on them they didn't seem all that bothered.
"Shoot him!" Pamela yelled.
One of her troopers stepped forward and held his gun against the side of Gabriel's head. He flicked the safety off and pressed against his temple tighter. Things were scarily close to turning ugly.
"Stop!" Daryl yelled. His voice was loud and startled everyone enough to look in his direction. He looked uncertain about what he wanted to say next, so Carl stepped forward and took over instead.
"Why are you doing this?" He asked Pamela. "We all deserve better than this." He took a couple of steps closer to her. "The problem is that this place was built to be like the old world and that world is long dead."
"If I open the gates the dead will get in, not just the living." She bit back.
"If you don't, everything is lost." He paused, a couple more steps forward. "We only have one enemy; the dead."
Carl knew what he needed to do, even if it might cost his life. He needed to help Gabriel. He had to hope his words had been enough, at least for some of Pamela's men. They could get through this, take out the herd, if they all worked together.
"Lower your weapons." One of Pamela's men commanded. Carl's words had come through. "Give the priest the key."