A FEW WEEKS LATER.

THE AIR FELT SINISTER. It was a deathly cold which caused shivers to go up my spine. We were getting ready to scout an abandoned military base which someone had mentioned. It was a risky task, requiring a lot of people. I was luckily enough to even be allowed to join yet my firmness convinced everyone, including my dad who didn't want me to come in the first place.

I was looking out at the dark clouds whilst everyone was getting ready and setting everything up. Leigh walked towards me and stood next to me, his crowbars were tucked in his belt however his mask was in his hand. I looked up to him and he gave me a reassuring smile. Seeing the rest of his face felt strange, it was like I was being nosey with his privacy as he kept it hidden for so long.

His scar, which reached from the top of his lip and travelled downwards to his chin, was noticeable but no one questioned it. It still looked like it wasn't properly healing as its colour was slightly vibrant however he still didn't think it was an epic conversation starter still. I was lucky enough to even be seeing his face. He put his mask back on before we both turned around, so nobody else could see. 

The group took the large window frame off carefully and put their rope down the gap carefully. Everyone clipped themselves on and slowly slid down, trying not to make too much sound since there were a lot of walkers on the ground. It was strange to see so many unresponsive walkers however I thought I could still hear their growling.

We stepped over their bodies and reached a door which had a padlock. Magna started to unpick it straight away with everyone else on guard. I had my sword and knives on standby just in case yet I hoped that I wouldn't have to use them.

Magna picked the lock and it opened with a clang. We all gritted our teeth and hoped that the walkers wouldn't react. Maggie stood frozen, Carol's eyes widened, Leigh held his crowbars warily and I stayed by the door with Magna, who was hoping that her actions didn't cause any bad effect.

Thankfully it didn't.

The door opened with a small creek. I held up my knives ready as we walked into the long hallway. We split into pairs to search the unknown rooms so we could hopefully find any resources. Our communities could really use anything we could find. Whether that was a few extra materials for weapons or a whole bunch of food.

Leigh led the way down a hall and into the room whilst I was following closely  behind. He opened the door and there were thankfully no walkers inside, just some broken shelves and a few drawers. We search the drawers, one by one. I luckily found a few brown bags of food, yet Leigh was unlucky.

There wasn't much time to sulk over it so we went back to the main room in a quiet manner. Some of the others were attaching their bags full of goods to the ropes so the others could pull it up. Leigh put the bags of food we found in a rucksack and then attached ours as well for those on the roof to pull.

All was going well, for once. Everyone warily watched where they stepped, in hopes to not awaken the walkers. It was strange to see them unresponsive but we couldn't make a sound. 

Until one of the ropes snapped.

Thankfully, my dad grabbed the bag, leaning over the gap to reach it. My heart dropped for a second. I thought either my dad would fall or the bag would drop to the ground. I squeezed my hands together, praying that the walkers wouldn't be woken up by the clanging sound.

However one of the walkers on the ground started to growl quietly, lifting its head up and looking around. It caused more walkers to wake up too, clawing the ground until they eventually gained the strength to stand up. Which meant we were all surrounded. I put both of my knives back in my pockets and decided to use my sword instead, since it was easier than hand to hand with a walker. I easily sliced walkers head's off with ease however there were more spreading out and trying to reach at us in all directions.

I heard gunshots from the other side as Maggie and Carol started to use the dropped weapons on the ground. Leigh grunted as he stabbed and punches walkers with his crowbars, Kelly used her slingshot to defend Magna as she was filling her bag up with food and Lydia used her stick. Those at the top dropped the ropes again for some of us to clip onto but I couldn't leave everyone to fend for themselves. I continued to stab and kill walkers despite the large crowd surrounding me. It was until I felt a tug on my arm from Kelly was when I was forced to go up to the roof.

I quickly clipped myself in, holding my stuff tightly as we were pulled up. I looked down to see Carol still shooting off walkers and Leigh stabbing others. I hastily climbed to the top and was pulled onto my feet. My dad handed me my bow, which I haven't used in ages, and started shooting at the walkers below. Leigh looked up to see the clips coming down but instead of clipping himself in he ran over to Carol so he could help her instead. He went over to a crate that was full of more food, taking large handfuls at a time and shoving as much as they could into the bag.

I hoped that they would hurry up as a few walkers managed to reach them. One happened to grab Leigh's shoulder however I shot it in the head before it could bear its ugly teeth. Leigh sighed out of relief before him and Carol ran over to the clips. I looked over the edge one last time to see the swarm of walkers that was trying to reach up. 

Luckily they can't climb.

•

It didn't take long to get home, thank god. Leigh walked alongside me as we made it to the gates and people welcomed us back. In the distance I could see Judith, RJ and CJ run over to us. CJ had a smile on his face as I knelt down and welcomed him in my arms.  He has gotten much bigger now, considering he is eight years old now. Time certainly had flown.

"Mom!" CJ laughed as he hugged me. He then let go to surprisingly hug Leigh, whose eyes widened before looking at me as if he was trying to rub it in my face jokingly. "Leigh!"

"Missed you bud', you alright?" Leigh spoke up, patting the boy on the head. CJ nodded and let go of his tight grip.

"Lia!" Another voice called. I turned my head and saw RJ, followed by Judith. It wasn't until long when I was attacked by more hugs again. 

I looked over at Leigh and raised my brows, hinting that I was rubbing it in his face. The mood was slightly spoilt when we then heard people fighting over food until Gabriel sorted it out. After speaking to the boys he gathered us all up for us to have a talk. So we said bye to the kids, sending them off to play whilst we went to a quieter building.

When Gabriel admitted we were still running low on food it was when I desperately wanted to scream.

"One week." Gabriel told us, meaning that that was the amount of time it took for the food to nearly run low.

"That's it? In that last run, just a week?" My dad asked in disbelief

"We can make it work." Aaron thought.

I let out a scoff, angrily folding my arms, "With all these new people, I don't think so."

 Carol looked up at Aaron, "We just took in two new communities. We have no crops, no back stock."

"We can get there. Got people out there right now, scavenging houses for materials."

 Gabriel interrupted, "And they're slowing down. It's a little hard to put up a wall with broken tools and an empty stomach."

One of the new people from Maggie's ground, Agatha replied, "Our people are good hunters. Frost and I could take a group out."

My dad shook his head, "Ground's all spent. The last big horde scared all the animals away. We can find new territory."

 "We don't have time. We need food. Lots of it. Now." Gabriel told him.

A long paused engulfed the room until Maggie spoke up, "I know one more place. The place I lived before this. Where we lived. Meridian. It's got plenty of food, water, crops, and animals."

"Yeah, and now it's gone." Elijah pointed out, looking down at the ground at the thought of it. Maggie sighed.

Rosita looked between the two, "So, what happened out there?"

 Maggie sat down. "We were on a mission. Leading walkers away. Duncan, Agatha, and Frost took the last shift at the front of the herd. Going miles out. I circled back with Elijah, Cole and Leigh." The woman began, making Leigh look down at the mention of his name. "On the way back home, things kept going sideways and we got stuck out on the road. Looking back now, I don't think that was an accident. All of a sudden, we heard these screams in the distance. We raced back home. But it was too late. "

"Most of our people had been slaughtered." My heart broke for her. "And the rest of us barely got away with our lives. The people that attacked us... We only knew two things about them. They come at night, and by the time you see them, you're already dead." She briefly looked at Leigh who couldn't bear to do the same. "That was before we caught one. Daryl and Lilia were with me. He came after us alone. Why? Because there aren't that many of them. They're at Meridian now. There's plenty of food to feed Alexandria 'til we get this place back up and running again. That's why they took it. We just need to take it back." 

 Everyone let the information sink in, making, Aaron the next one to speak up, "So... you're leaving to fight ghosts. That's the plan?"

"It seems like it's the only one we have." I tutted.

 "You have a better one?" Maggie questioned the man.

 "Shore up Alexandria, for starters." Aaron began. "The walls are not stable. Walkers will get inside. That's not if, it's when. Alexandria needs us."

"This is for Alexandria. My son is here. I have skin in the game, too."

Rosita wasn't convinced either, "Yeah, but if they slaughtered everyone once, what the hell makes this situation any different?"

"Duncan, Agatha, and Frost are Meridian's best fighters, and now I have them. And hopefully, some of you, too." Maggie pointed out. I was already convinced however I doubt that everyone would be on board. It sounded like the type of mission which would need everyone.

Rosita sighed, unconvinced. "Maggie, this sounds like a suicide mission."

I scoffed without care, "Well we'll probably die of hunger soon so why not die tryin'?" I asked and received no response. "I'm in."

My dad nodded in agreement, for once not disagreeing. "We don't have food, it's not gonna matter, anyway. I'll go too. Anybody else?"

Nearly everyone in the room put their hand up, apart from Aaron and Rosita. Leigh was hesitant at first, looking at Maggie and then at Lilia. Before she could realise that Leigh didn't want to come, he raised his hand. After that, everyone left the room to go get prepared. It was best if we set off as soon as possible. Aaron, Carol and Rosita stayed in the room and watched everyone leave.

However when they got on the road Lilia wished she didn't bother coming along, because of course it had to rain. It wasn't really just rain...sort of a storm.  Maggie then pointed to an abandoned Metro station for shelter, which everyone flooded into so they weren't in the rain anymore.

"I've never been to a metro station before but this isn't how I expected it to look." I muttered as Leigh held up his flashlight for us. It was basically run down, rotting walls, hanging lights that were flickering and a crumbled floor.

"It's nothing special." He muttered.

 Maggie held up her torch and shined it at Negan, who was dragged along. "Alright. Which way?"

"Not to sound like a broken record, but I think we ought to take a breath, hunker down, and wait for this storm to pass." Negan replied who was still looking up at the pouring rain outside.

"You don't wanna go in there?" Maggie quipped mockingly.

"No. I don't."

"I don't give a shit. Which way?"

Negan sighed as the thunder rumbled. "Switch to blue at Reagan National, then hop the red toward Bethesda."

My dad jumped onto the tracks, "Come on. Let's go."

Negan then tugged his arm, "Hey, can I talk to you?"

"Why's that? You think we're buddies or somethin'?" My dad asked before walking off, "Come on."

I snickered before following with Leigh next to me. I was fine until Negan came trailing along beside me, "Little Dixon, listen-"

"Oh my god, do you really need a babysitter at a time like this?" I groaned.

"Will you just hear me out-"

"Christ, no."

Leigh whispered to me, "What's the deal with him?"

"Ignore him. He's an asshole."

"How come?"

"Oh trust me, when I say that it's a long story...it really is.

ˏˋ°•*⁀➷

trying to get back on my schedule with updates, so here we are!

i hope you enjoyed the chapter :)