(TW!! Mentions of suicide!!)
(Adrian Walsh's POV:)
It's been about six years since Rick went missing. Alyssa and Inejra are both twenty-two years old; Damien and Cato are still together, and Daryl and I are still not. Damien and Cato moved back to the Hilltop maybe four years ago. Once they realized Alyssa, Inejra, and I were okay they said they felt better there and moved back.
I'm covered head to toe to in tattoos, a few weeks ago my tattoo gun ran out of its spare ink so that was unfortunate for Alyssa and me. Alyssa still wears her red hat and necklace everywhere and acts like if she takes them off, the world is going to implode.
Daryl's been looking for Rick every day since he's been gone, I've seen him maybe three times since he brought Alyssa back to me after that bitch Jocelyn branded her.
Negan's still locked up and I see him occasionally. I've managed to keep my promise and never get that close to ending things like that. Plus, I don't really feel like I have to anymore.
I'm still not Adrian per se, but I've got Alyssa. Ezekiel, Damien, Cato, Inejra, and Tara of course, but mainly Alyssa. She and I've been there for each other for both of our grief and healing process.
Alyssa's still Alyssa, but she's twenty so she's not bubbly, jumpy, and giggly anymore- at least to that extent.
I can't even tell you the last time she ate meat, I do however know that it was before Rick went missing.
Inejra's still Inejra. She cusses four times in a three-word sentence and says she doesn't actually think of Gabriel as her father but every single one of us knows that's total bullshit. Men at the Kingdom, the Hilltop, and Alexandria have been practically clawing at her door for her but for some reason, she doesn't want any of them.
Speaking of the Hilltop, the Kingdon, and Alexandria, we haven't been in contact much. Michonne seems to have chosen to distance Alexandria from them, but no one is sure why.
Alexandria now has a group called The Council, much like at the prison, which I'm a part of per Alyssa's orders.
Eugene, Laura, Aaron, Rosita, and I are all searching through the woods for Judith. We had taken her out upon her request and taught her how to shoot the deer Eugene is holding. She then suddenly bolted off and out of our sight.
"Judith!" Rosita screams.
"Jude?!" Laura yells and Aaron repeats.
"I'm here!" Judith yells, approaching us from the trees in front of us.
Aaron quickly runs to her and crouches in front of her, "Are you okay?" But, she doesn't get the chance to answer because a group of people, one of the women severely injured, runs up to us from behind her.
"I heard them calling. They needed our help." Judith says.
I quickly squint my eyes and grip my whip, tensing my whole body as these new, random people show up.
"Or rig...it got overrun. By sickos." The man says, putting his hands on his knees and breathing heavily. "We owe our lives to Miss Grimes here."
"They still need our help." Judith says, grabbing Aaron's canteen and handing it to the injured woman. She's got a wrap around her head and she chugs the water like she's never had it before.
"We can't, you know that." Rosita tells Judith, not taking her eyes off the group in front of us.
There are four girls and one man, one of the women, the one drinking the water, has blood running down the side of her head that's covered by the piece of cloth wrapped around her.
"But-" Judith tries, cutting herself off.
"Hey, uh," The man starts, leaning against a skinny tree. "I dabbled in the culinary arts, uh, once upon a time ago and, uh-"
"Luke." One of the women interjects. She's got dark skin and short, black hair. She's wearing a green short-sleeve overcoat and is standing next to another woman, one who looks exactly like her just wearing different clothes and who has longer hair.
"...you know, with a little bit of help, I can help whip this buck into a mighty fine osso buco." Luke says.
"Stew." Eugene adds, glaring at him. "We make stew. More mileage for the masses."
"There are more of you?" The non-insured woman asks. She's very pretty and she's got long, wavy brown hair and big lips. She's wearing a blue flannel and is standing protectively next to the injured woman.
"Way more, with walls and-"
"Judith."
"Jude."
"Dude."
Eugene, Laura, and I all interrupt her. They bring their attention to her but I can't pull my eyes away from the group. There could be more of them, they could pull a machine gun on us, the possibilities at this point are endless.
It's quiet for a moment before the woman with short hair says "Incoming!"
That finally causes me to lose my eye contact with the woman with brown, wavy hair and bring it to the approaching Walkers.
Without wasting a second, Eugene and I approach the Walkers. He uses his knife to plunge it into the Walker's heads while I use my whip and slice their faces in half.
The woman with the brown, wavy hair says "There's more on the way. We gotta get outta' here."
"They need food and water and medicine." Judith says to Aaron. "If they don't go, I don't go."
"Goddamn it." I whisper to myself as my eyes lock onto the fast-approaching herd of Walkers. Eugene and I slowly scoot backward, trying not to make too much noise to make them come for us faster.
"Come on." Aaron finally says, allowing the group of us to run off through the woods, making sure to stay behind the group.
A little while later, we finally made it to Alexandria. We tied burlap sacks around their heads so that they didn't know where they were going, just in case. The injured woman is lying in our cart with the horses pulling it. Laura and Judith sit up there as well.
"Again, I feel the need to remind you that what we are doin' is in direct and flagrant violation of the current security protocols." Eugene says.
I roll my eyes, "Eugene." I groan, pulling the burlap sack off of the girl with short, black hair's head.
"Yeah, we know." Rosita adds, helping me pull off the sacks of the rest of the group.
"Come on." Rosita says, walking to the gates.
The group hesitates at the gates for a moment. The two girls who look alike do sign language to each other before the girl with shorter hair says, "Can't be worse than Jones Springs."
"Just like Jones Springs couldn't be worse than Coalport." The long-haired girl says.
"Oh god," Luke scoffs. "Coalport was a fossilized city of shit."
I quickly make a mental note of Jone Springs and Coalport, those communities may be important.
Judith smiles and approaches the woman with long hair, "You'll be safe here. I promise." She says, offering her hand to the woman.
She hesitates for a moment before taking her hand and allowing Judith to lead her inside.
Judith leads them inside while Eugene, Aaron, and I tail them to make sure they don't try anything.
"Holy shit." Luke chuckles, gaping at our community.
Fairly quickly, a whole group of Alexandrians approaches both of our groups, all of them with a suspicious "the fuck?" look.
"There's another one in the wagon." Rosita informs Siddiq as he walks over to her. "Female with head trauma. She's conscious."
"Adrian?" Alyssa asks, jogging over to the group.
I put my hand out to show her it's alright, "One of 'em's hurt. Judith wanted to help them and it was either leave them and Judith or take all of 'em back."
She narrows her eyes, "You know what Mich..." Her voice trails off and I can see her visibly tense when the woman with brown hair gets gently pushed back by D.J., one of the former Saviors.
Everyone immediately surrounds them, the woman's eyes glare into D.J.'s and she's obviously thinking about something but thankfully restraining herself.
Michonne then rides into Alexandria, her horse's neigh alerting her arrival.
An Alexandrian resident takes Michonne's horse when she hops off and hands Michonne her bag, which Michonne quickly disregards when she sees the new group of people.
"You wanna tell me what this is?" Michonne asks, glaring at the woman in front of D.J. but talking to the whole group.
"Five unknowns- all clean, one headed to the infirmary." D.J. informs her.
Michonne looks around at our group and then approaches the new one, eyeing each of them suspiciously. When she gets to the woman with brown hair, she crouches and quickly pats her down. The woman doesn't fight back, she just holds her arms up and rolls her eyes.
"All clean? You sure about that?" Michonne asks.
"Indeed," Eugene says. "They're whistle-worthy, clean as a-wise. They surrendered their weapons willingly and submitted to standard frisk procedure."
"And why are they here?" Michonne asks.
"My call." Aaron admits, taking a step forward.
Michonne turns to him, "It's not your call to make."
Judith then slowly steps forward, "I decided. They needed help."
"Judith, you know the rules. You all do." Michonne says.
"Thing is, they're here now, and one of 'em's badly hurt. Siddiq's checkin' her out but- look, no disrespect, but maybe their fate is something we should decide together." Aaron suggests cautiously.
"It'll be dark soon." Gabriel quickly interjects. "First thing tomorrow we can bring them before the council for a vote."
Michonne hesitates, "Okay. Put them in holding." She says, turning and walking away.
"Come on," D.J. says, leading them away. "Let's go."
Alyssa purses her lips at me and jerks her head to the side, motioning for me to speak with her privately.
I nod and walk over to a shaded area with her, blocking us from the overheating sun.
"Adrian, the hell?" She asks, quickly glancing at the group.
"It wasn't my choice, 'Lyss."
"Would you have brought them back anyway?"
I groan quietly, "I-dude."
"Dude? Dude. Dude? I got tied to a pipe and branded." Alyssa hisses, leaning forward and dropping her voice lower.
I wince and nod, "I know but because of that, you're not allowed to leave without telling me, and we're taking extra precautions."
She scoffs and crosses her arms, "Oh yeah, those precautions'll help when we get blown up."
I groan and roll my eyes, "We're not gonna get blown up, 'ight? The council hasn't even spoken yet." I put my hand on her shoulder and stare into her eyes, "I'm not gonna let that shit happen to you again, okay? Especially if I have a say in letting them stay or not."
She sighs and nods before saying "You're voting no."
I purse my lips and nod, "Anything for you, princess."
"Piss off."
The next morning the council meets in the church. We all sit at a long table while the rest of Alexandria sits in the pews and the new group stands in a line before us.
"As you can probably tell from our turnout here," Gabriel starts. "It's been a long time since we've seen new faces inside these walls. We're a fair community of decent-minded people but we are not soft. And that's not going to change today. So let's begin. Which one of you is the leader?"
"What makes you think we have one?" The woman with long hair asks.
"Did you know each other before?" Gabriel asks.
"No," Luke answers. "It was, uh, Magna and then Yumiko, uh, first, and then, uh, Connie and Kelly and then- and then me and then Bernie. Sh-I'm sorry." He exhales sharply to refrain from crying. "Bernie was the one that we lost yesterday. Um...there were others, of course. But, like Bernie, they just..." His voice trails off and he begins to quietly cry. "They didn't uh- they didn't make it."
Magna: The girl with long brown hair. Kelly: The girl with short black hair and Connie is the one who looks like her, just with longer hair. Yumiko is the injured one.
"Who were you before all this?" Aaron questions.
"Me? Before all this?" Luke clarifies to himself. "I was a music teacher."
"Waited tables at a truck stop." Magna says.
Connie signs something and Kelly translates, saying, "She says she was a journalist, but she's just being modest. She exposed a bunch of sleazeball politicians and put them behind bars."
"And you?" Aaron asks.
Kelly shrugs, "I was in high school, stressin' about stupid shit that felt like the end of the world."
"And who are you now?" Gabriel asks.
"A fighter." Magna responds.
"She says she's my guardian angel," Kelly says, translating Connie's sign language. "But, really, it's the other way around."
"I guess I'm still a music teacher? Um...education never ends, not even in the face of monsters and mayhem." Luke says.
"What did you do to survive?" Gabriel questions.
"What I had to- anything I had to." Magna says.
"She says she never gave up, but, me, I grew up." Kelly says for her and Connie.
Luke stammers for a second before inhaling deeply. "I don't think I did anything special. I-I don't know what I did to deserve it. Um...at first I was just lucky. I was- I was in the right place at the right time, and then uh, I met the right people." He chuckles dryly.
"Here's the thing, it's funny, but before all this, if you saw us all sittin' at the same table at, like, a restaurant, a bar, or something..." Luke says. "You'd say to yourself, 'Yo, hey, you know, maybe these people work together.'" He chuckles and motions to his group. "Because we certainly don't have anything in common, except for the fact that we're breathing. And that's a lot nowadays, right?"
Damn.
"Thank you." Aaron says quietly. "If that's everything, I'd like to motion for a vote."
"I have a question." Michonne quickly adds.
"The chair recognizes our fellow councilperson and head of security." Gabriel says as Michonne stands up.
"As a community, we want to be kind. We want to be generous. We want to be charitable. But, as we know, decisions like the one we are about to make can come with a heavy price." She rounds the table and approaches Magna. "Can you show me your left hand?"
"Michonne, what are you doing?" Aaron asks, standing up.
Michonne doesn't respond, she just grabs Magna's hand and takes her glove off, inspecting her hand. "You get that at a truck stop?" She asks Magna.
"Screw you." Magna hisses at Michonne.
"What is it?" Aaron asks, approaching them.
"You wanna tell him?" Michonne asks Magna, but she gets no response.
"Michonne, if you have something to say, s-" Aaron starts but Michonne interrupts him.
"It's a prison tattoo." She says, showing Magna's hand to the group. "The four dots are the walls, the in the middle is you, the prisoner. Hard time."
Everyone murmurs quietly before I stand up. "That means nothing." I say, placing my hands on the table in front of me.
"And why is that?" Michonne asks.
I narrow my eyes, "You can go to prison for shit like tax fraud. There's probably someone in here right now who went to prison."
She looks around, "Oh yeah? Who?"
"Me." I admit for the first time, pulling my hair to the side and revealing the prison tattoo. Everyone begins to murmur again and Michonne stares at me and my tattoo. "Prison means nothing in this world." I say, sitting back down.
They better be a good ass group, I just revealed one of my biggest secrets- to some extent.
"I can explain." Magna says.
"Oh, you wanna tell the truth?" Michonne asks, turning back to Magna but giving me a "we'll talk later" look.
"Yes." Magna hisses.
"And you have nothing to hide?"
"Nothing." Magna replies.
"Put the knife on the table." Michonne orders.
My jaw quickly clenches and my blood runs cold. The knife?
Nobody says anything, Magna just unbuckles her belt and takes the buckle off, setting the belt-buckle-blade on a crate. Several people from behind them gasp and talk amongst themselves.
"I remember, and I know that you do, too. So go ahead. Take your vote. I second the motion." Michonne says, walking away.
"Hey! Can I ask you a question?" Magna asks.
"No." She replies without looking back.
Aaron sighs and walks back to the table, taking his place in his seat once more.
Gabriel nods to him and then motions to the people in the pews, "Who here votes for them to stay?"
A few people raise their hand, very few. I don't know what I want to do. I think they're good people, I honestly do, but Alyssa will never sleep good if new people are within our walls so, my hand remains on the table.
Magna and I lock eyes for a quick second, not sending any weird brainwaves, just a mutual connection to prison and being misunderstood.
"Who here votes for them to go?" Gabriel asks.
The rest of the people who didn't raise their hands raise their hands, as well as a few at the council table. Magna watches me as I don't move my hand.
A few minutes later, after the meeting, Alyssa approaches me as I'm walking back to the house. "Wanna explain to me why you didn't vote for them to leave?"
"I didn't vote and I didn't have to. Basically all of Alexandria voted for them to leave so one vote wasn't going to change that."
"But you not voting, basically means you're voting."
I shake my head, "No. It means I'm fine with whatever."
"Why do you trust them?" Alyssa almost yells, cutting me off and standing in front of me.
"'Lyss, I know you don't, neither do I, but they genuinely seem like good people. I didn't vote because I couldn't. I think they're trustworthy enough to stay here but I know you would be severely uncomfortable if they were. I didn't vote no because I don't want them to get kicked to the curb if they're actually good people, 'ight?"
Alyssa groans quietly but she doesn't respond.
I scoff, "See? You know none of us are gonna let what happened to y'all happen again. You know that."
She nods and looks behind me at Alexandria, "It was just...scary, Adrian. The Lineup didn't even mess me up that bad."
I nod, "I know. But that's because at the Lineup you only saw what happened, you didn't feel it."
She sighs, "I'm sorry, I'm just...tense."
I half-smile, "I know. But I also know that you're scary as hell now and after what Jocelyn and those demon kids did to you, you know how to take care of yourself."
She chuckles, "You've finally come to yoursenses and realized that people grow up."
I groan, "Fuck off."
In the morning, the group is getting ready to leave Alexandria. Aaron, Gabriel, Siddiq, Judith, and I are all standing around them, watching them pack their backpacks.
"Sorry guys," The injured girl says. "If I knew we were gonna be booted as soon as I recovered I would've hit my head a little bit harder."
Cato's gonna love that he's not the only one with a European accent anymore.
"You know, it's not too late." Magna jokes.
"Doc. Thank you." Luke says to Siddiq, shaking his hand. Luke then walks around, thanking all of us.
We then begin to lead them to the gates when Michonne rides up to us on her horse. "Change of plans." She says. She tosses Judith something before saying, "There's a place a lot like this one. The leader might take you in. I'll escort you personally, talk to her."
"You're gonna take them to Hilltop?" Asks Siddiq.
"With you. You gotta keep an eye on your patient 'till we get there." Michonne says.
I hesitate for a moment before saying, "I'm comin' too. Haven't seen Damien and Cato in almost a year."
She nods to me, "Alyssa'll be fine with it?"
I shrug, "I'll ask her but I'm goin' regardless."
(Author's Notes!!)
Phoebe Tonkin as older Alyssa Grimes
Reagan Cunningham as older Inejra Beaumont (Stokes)