The community was quiet. There were a few people who quietly moved any dead bodies out of the way and into piles on the curbs.

Michonne stood just below one of the watch platforms, describing to Maggie and Elle exactly what happened in the town after the group of walkers had split up. "The town was overrun, and he split off with Nicholas." She talked about Glenn. "He had this idea that," she paused, as if she were trying to recall the plan. "If he lit a fire, it would stop the walkers from coming here. I tried to go instead, I wanted to. The fire never got lit. We had to keep going, I'm sorry." Maggie brought a hand to her mouth, trying to keep herself together and not cry.

Elle rubbed her forehead as Michonne resumed talking. "He said if he got stuck, he would find a way to send us a signal."

"A signal?" Maggie asked, trying to think of what a possible signal could be.

"How would he do that?" Elle asked. Before she could receive an answer, there was a yell. It came from the other side of the walls.

"Open the gate!" The voice shouted. Deanna, who stood up on the platform turned around to inspect the source of the noise. The voice repeated itself, yelling for the gate to be opened. Michonne, Maggie, and Elle all rushed over and pulled the giant gate open to see Rick running towards the opening, countless walkers following him.

A few were in front of him and went for him. He pushed one off of him, causing him to fall to the ground. He quickly got back up as more people began crowding around the gate, fear filling their eyes as they saw what followed close behind Rick.

Rick panted as he ran through the gate, letting Michonne and Maggie quickly close it just as the walkers caught up. They stuck their arms through the metal bars, growls filling the air as they tried to grab at anyone they could. Elle quickly closed the gate that blocked anyone from seeing the image. "Holy shit."

Everyone was outside, trying to reinforce the walls as more walkers kept coming, spreading themselves all around the walls as if they were trying to surround the community. Thick slabs of wood and extra scraps of metal were propped up against the wall and nailed into the ground. "You can hear it," Rick spoke loudly as he walked, catching everyone's attention. "Some of you saw it. They got back here, half of them. Still enough to surround us, twenty deep." He paused, looking at everyone now that he had their attention.

"Look, I know your scared— you haven't seen anything like this. You haven't been through anything like this. But we're safe, for now." He looked in the direction of where the truck crashed. "The panel the truck hit seems intact, we reinforced it just in case. Either way, the wall is going to hold together." He sounded confident in that. "Can you?" The question caused people to look around at their peers, not knowing the answer. "The others, they're going to be back." Rick stated.

"They're going to be back." Rosita repeated, having full confidence in the other's return. They nodded at each other.

"Daryl, Abraham, Sasha, they have vehicles. They're going to lead them away just like the others. And Glenn and Nicholas are going to walk back through that front gate right after. They know what they're doing." Maggie took a few steps forward when Rick mentioned Glenn. She had her arms cross over her chest and was visibly stressed. "We know what we need to do. We keep noise to a minimum, pull our blinds at night— even better, keep the lights out."

"This is going to be hell." Elle whispered, standing next to Carl and Tara.

"We'll try to make this place as quiet as a graveyard, see if they move on." Elle glanced over at Ron to see him rubbing the side of his leg. Not thinking twice about it, she gave her attention back to her leader.

"This place is a graveyard." A woman spoke up. Everyone was quiet, granting access for the walkers growls and clawing at the metal to take over. Rick looked at the woman, nodding. She was right. Dead bodies were piled on every street and undead bodies now began surrounding the walls.

"The quarry broke open, and those walkers were heading this way." Aaron began walking towards the middle of the crowd as he spoke up. "All of them. The plan that Rick put into place stopped that from happening. He got half of them away." He paused, looking around to see most eyes on him. "I was out there recruiting with Daryl. I wanted to try to get into a cannery and scavenge, and Daryl wanted to keep looking for people." Rick turned to face Aaron. "We did what I wanted, and we wound up in a trap set by those people. And I lost my pack." He paused. "They must've followed our tracks."

Most people began to catch on to what Aaron was saying. "Those people who attacked us... they found their way back here because of me." He admitted. Deanna walked away from the crowd, not one word spoken. Some people shook their heads, some looked down at their feet, the rest just didn't know how to react. Elle was one of those people.

"There'll be more to talk about." Rick stopped him from saying any more.

"Deanna?" Tobin brought attention to the woman leaving. Everyone turned to watch her walking away, Tobin called out again but she kept walking, not looking back.

"Are you worried?" Ryder asked nobody in particular as he, Carl, and Elle sat in the living room.

"About?" Elle looked up at him.

"The others? The walkers? Everything?" She shrugged her shoulders.

"Not really."

"How come?"

"Because this always happens." Carl answered. "We find someplace good, a place that's safe, then it isn't. This isn't anything new, the only difference is that we're surrounded by people who don't know how to protect themselves when this place finally crashes and burns."

"Damn, that was deep." Elle looked at him. Carl let out a soft chuckle before standing up. "Where are you going?" She asked, noticing him walking towards the front door.

"Looking for someone." He responded.

"Be safe." She said as he closed the door behind him, he seemed as if he were in a rush. She rolled her eyes and turned to face Ryder once again. "Probably looking for his girlfriend." She said in an annoyed tone. She didn't mean to sound like that, but she was annoyed, the reason unknown.

"Girlfriend?"

"I don't know. He seems to hang out with Enid more than either of us and whenever he sneaks back over the wall and he thinks nobody can see him, he looks like a puppy who just met his new owners." She sighed, playing with her fingers.

"So you're jealous that he might have a new girlfriend?" Ryder was obviously amused and was enjoying himself.

"Not because he has a girlfriend, but because he doesn't hang out with me anymore. We used to be attached at the hip and now we talk like twice a day. Maybe he got bored of me when he made all his new friends." She crossed her arms. She was envious of the fact that Carl made friends easier than she did.

"Elle," Ryder said. She looked up at him. "You do realize there was a point where the roles were reversed?"

"What are you talking about?" She scoffed.

"At the prison, you made a couple new friends, didn't hang out with him as much, he noticed you hanging out with a boy a lot." He gestured to himself, "And you realized he was jealous." Elle groaned, throwing her head back.

"I hate it when you're right."

"I don't." She shot him a glare. "Talk to him. Now." They both got up and walked out the door and onto the porch hoping to see where Carl went. They spotted him at the end of the street, talking to Ron who sat on the ground. They couldn't hear what they were saying but they both looked pretty annoyed with one another.

Ron got up as Carl started walking away and followed him. He put his arm of Carl's shoulder to get him to turn around and Carl turned around to shove him. Ron shoved him back.

"Are you serious?" Elle raised an eyebrow watching the weak fight. Her and Ryder watched at the two boys pathetically shoved each other until Carl knocked Ron on his back. Elle snickered. "That was so bad. Neither of them threw a punch or anything. They pushed each other around." She was laughing at this point. "I'm going back inside, no way in hell I can sit down and talk after witnessing that." She chuckled opening the door to let herself back in.

"Elle, wake up." She groaned, rolling over. "It's ten in the morning and I need your help with something." Rick spoke again. She opened her eyes.

"Fine." She watched as he left so she could get dressed. She threw the blankets off of herself and sat up, rubbing her eyes as they adjusted to the light seeping in through the windows. She placed her hands on either side of her on the mattress and pushed herself off of the bed. She walked over to her dresser and grabbed whatever was on top.

She pulled off her pajamas and pulled the clean clothes on, pulling her hair out from the back of the shirt. Walking over to a corner of her room, Elle pulled her shoes on over some socks and made her way downstairs. "Woah," Jack said, being the first person to see her. "Bed head." She pointed at her hair, causing her to roll her eyes and walk over to the sink. She ran some water on her hands before running it through her hair, taming it. She turned towards her brother, silently asking if it looked better. When he gave her a thumbs up, she walked out the door, meeting Rick and Carl on the front porch.

"Why am I here?" She asked, wishing she was still asleep.

"You'll see." Rick responded, leading them to their destination. Elle pointed at Carl for an answer.

"No clue." The three of them walked down the street until they reached the Anderson's house. Ron was sitting on the front porch as if he were waiting for them. And he was. He joined their little rendezvous as Rick continued to lead the way.

They approached one of the gazebos, as it was in their path when they saw Gabriel hang some sort of flier up.

Prayer circle by the solar panels
Today at 1:00

As the group stepped into the gazebo, Rick took the flier down, ripping it up. "Dad." Carl scoffed. Rick ignored his son as he continued walking. After another minute or so, they were approaching a wooden table with guns on it.

"Gun training?" Carl asked. Rick nodded.

"I'm even more confused as to why I'm here now. You've seen me use, what- four different types of semiautomatics? I don't think I need training." Elle said, clearly uninterested in whatever Rick had planned for the kids.

"Not for you two. I know more than anyone that you two can handle yourselves. I'm teaching Ron and I figured it would be helpful if he also got some insight from you guys." He explained. Carl and Elle knew there was no way to get out of this so they leaned against the table while Rick got started.

"Handguns will be a little better for your first go. Magazine release. Slide release. Thumb safety." Rick demonstrated these three things, making sure Ron had a clear view as well as an understanding.

"That stuff's easy, right, Dad?" Carl piped up. Elle let out a yawn and rubbed her eyes. She looked to see Carl and Ron sort of glaring at each other.

"Yeah. Empty magazine." Rick showed him. "Empty chamber. See it?" He put the gun closer.

"Yeah." Ron quickly responded. Rick stepped back, standing on the other side of the table from the three kids.

"Someone's in front of you, they have a gun." Rick started explaining a scenario.

"You're gonna be scared, you will be." Carl added.

"Your body's going to tense, you won't have time to think. You're just going to want to pull the trigger when you get it in front of you." Rick quickly turned and pointed the empty gun at the wall and pulled the trigger, the gun making a soft click sound.

"But you'll miss, and you'll be dead." Elle finished.

Rick nodded. "You have to get it up to your eye." He turned and held the gun up higher, demonstrating the proper way to aim the gun.

"You've got to be strong enough to wait for your moment." Carl stated. The two boys continued to share a glare, causing Elle to roll her eyes.

"Can I, uh...?" Ron asked if he could try the steps he was just taught. Rick nodded and handed him the gun, handle first. Ron cleared his throat when he took the gun and shook her arms out before lifting the gun up to eye level like he was taught.

Rick noticed his finger on the trigger and quickly corrected him. "Hey, your finger doesn't touch the trigger until your ready to shoot." The three of them watched silently as Ron took his aim, moved his finger back to the trigger, and pulled it. He brought his arms back down to his side.

"Keep that one with you. Get a feel of what it's like to carry one around." Rick told him as he grabbed another handgun.

"Can I shoot it?" Ron asked, eager to try.

"A little trigger happy, aren't we?" Elle whispered just loud enough for her and Carl to hear, causing him to turn around to hide a soft chuckle that he covered up with a cough when his father looked at him.

"Maybe like down at the walkers?" Ron asked.

"No, with things how they are, the walls are strong. We're lucky the walkers are spread out, we don't want to pull them all in one spot."

"We'll, what about target practice in the center of town?" Ron proposed. "The sound will spread out in each direction." That was correct, but it would only lure more walkers in than how many are already there. "Or we could use silencers, or something like that." Rick didn't verbally respond, just looked at Ron.

"But, uh... we probably don't want to waste the bullets right now, huh?" He got the hint that his idea would never go into play. "I just want to learn more." Rick started putting some of the stuff in a bag.

"You will." Carl assured him. Ron only looked at him.

"I still want to know your embarrassing secret." Elle smiled as her and Carl went for a walk to help reinforce the walls.

"What?"

"The embarrassing secret that made you act weird for a few days? You said you had one that night in your room." Carl shook his head.

"Yeah, I'm still not telling you." He laughed.

"It's the end of the world, how embarrassing could it be?" She was practically begging for him to tell her.

"I'm not telling you. Ever." Elle threw her hands up in surrender, giving up on asking.

"Okay, okay. You win. Although, I do have a question about something I witnessed yesterday." Carl urged her to continue. "I saw you get in a little cat fight with Ron, what was up with that?"

"Apparently Enid went out right before the walkers got here after the attack and Ron suggested she was dead. I suggested that we at least tell someone who could go out and find her."

"She's probably safer out there than in here." Elle spoke honestly. "Still doesn't explain the weak shoving." Carl shook his head, laughing.

"Hey, I got him on the ground."

"Wow, that must've been hard, with the whole barely even making contact deal." She teased.

"Oh yeah? I felt pretty proud of myself after that." He boasted, holding his chin up.

"I'm sure you did." She pat him on the shoulder as she laughed. They made it to the site where a lot of people worked to cut wooden planks to hold the walls up.

"Hey you two," Rick greeted as they approached his work bench. "You looking to help out?" They nodded. "Alright, here." He reached down and pulled two wooden planks onto the table and grabbed a ruler and pencil. They watched as he made a mark with the pencil and used the ruler to make the line how he wanted it on both planks. "Use those backsaws and cut on the line." He instructed. Elle grabbed one for herself and put it in once of the vices on the side of the bench to hold it in place before she grabbed a saw.

She grabbed the saw with her right hand, seeing as the vice was on the left side of the table and froze. "Shit, can we switch?" She asked Carl.

"Why, what's up?"

"Try to saw." She told him. He grabbed the other saw on the bench and went for the plank, realizing he couldn't because his vice was on the right side.

Normally, they could just step on the other side of the planks, putting the vices on the opposite side giving them the option to use their dominant hand, but with all the people around, it was getting a little crowded. "Yeah, let's switch."

Once they were at the other side of the table than they previously were at, they could properly get to work. Elle took the backsaw in her left hand, and lined it up with the line drawn on the wood. She pushed down and forward, hearing it break into the wood. She pulled it back, actually cutting it, and repeated the process of pushing and pulling until a small chunk of wood feel to the ground. She put the saw in the bench and began loosening the vice just enough to get the wood out.

She tossed it into a known pile that people were grabbing from to set against the walls. Just as she was about to check on how Carl was doing, there was a yell. Elle looked up to see Maggie standing on one of the watch platforms, pointing at something. She quickly climbed down the ladder and ran over to Rick, seeing the same thing she was.

Green balloons. "That's Glenn. That's Glenn." She panted. Everyone was looking at the bundle of green balloons float not so far away when a creaking sound began.

Their attention was then directed at the tall tower that stood just in the other side of wall. It slowly started to come down, causing everyone to start running. "No, no!" Rick yelled.

"Come on." Carl yanked on Elle's arm as they ran from the falling tower. It fell with a loud crash, taking part of the wall down with it.

Dust flew in every direction, what followed was worse.

____________________

so this is kinda short, but oh well.
im officially on summer vacation and unlike last summer, ill actually put in effort to posting as regularly as i can. i do in fact have a summer job that takes up hours of week, so bear with me.

i also want to say Happy Pride Month!! No matter who you love, if you don't love, how you identify, and so much more— please know that i love you exactly for who you are <3

on another note, please leave comments, feedback, predictions, ect ect you know the drill.

ALSO: i have already started writing the next chapter, i wanted it know if you guys wanted 2 separate chapters when the walkers take over like they do in the show, or one long chapter. just lmk :)

ily :)