Six years later. In the woods.

Rosita, Aaron, Eugene and I were looking for Judith who had gone missing while we were on a run.

I yelled "Judith!"

Judith "I'm here!"

I rushed over to here and kneeled down to her "how many times do I have to tell you to not leave my sight?"

Judith "are you mad?"

I shook my head "no, yes, I'm glad you're not hurt"

Judith nodded "I heard them calling. They needed our help. "

A bunch of teenagers walked to us.

I raised an eyebrow at them.

A guy "Our rig... It got overrun by sickos. We owe our lives to Miss Grimes here. "

Judith "They still need our help."

Then she handed one of them my water bottle.

Rosita shook her head "We can't. You know that"

Judith pouted " But... "

One of the guys "Hey, uh, I dabbled in the culinary arts, uh, once upon a time ago, and, uh... "

The other guy "Luke."

Luke " ...you know, with a little bit of help, I can help whip this buck into a mighty fine osso buco. "

Eugene " Stew. We make stew. More mileage for the masses."

The girl asked shocked "There are more of you?"

Judith "- Way more, with walls and... "

I sighed "Jude. "

The other girl "Incoming. "

Eugene and Laura killed the walkers.

I put a hand on Jude's shoulder.

Laura "There's more on the way. We gotta get outta here. "

Judith "They need food and water and medicine. If they don't go, I don't go."

Me "you're going either way, honey, so don't even start with the attitude"

Rosita looked at me frustrated "Ken"

I clenched my jaw "come on"

Then i grabbed Judith, picked her up and we started to walk away.

At Alexandria.

Eugene "Again, I feel the need to remind you that what we are doing is in direct and flagrant violation of the current security protocols. "

Rosita took the bags off of their heads "Yeah, we know. "

They looked around.

Rosita „Come on. "

We opened the gate.

The girl "Can't be worse than Jones Springs. Just like Jones Springs couldn't be worse than Coalport. "

Luke groaned "Oh, God. Coalport was a fossilized city of shit. "

Judith walked to them" You'll be safe here. I promise. "

Then she offered her hand to the girl who took her hand.

They walked in.

Luke's jaw dropped "Holy shit. "

Judith "This is Alexandria. This is home."

Gracie went to rush to Aaron "hi, daddy!!"

Aaron „Gracie, stay where you are, okay? "

Siddiq walked to us.

Rosita „There's another one in the wagon. Female with head trauma. She's conscious. "

They walked to the wagon.

Siddiq nodded "Hey. All right. Alex and the other nurses are on standby. I'll take her to the infirmary right now. "

Magna "I'm coming with her."

D.J stepped in her way.

Suddenly Michonne walked through the gate and over to us.

She wasn't happy. Oh boy.

Michonne gestured to this situation "You wanna tell me what this is? "

D.J "Five unknowns... all clean, one headed to the infirmary."

Michonne looked at them "All clean? You sure about that? "

Eugene nodded "Indeed. They're whistle-worthy, clean as a-wise. They surrendered their weapons willingly and submitted to standard frisk procedure. "

Michonne "And why are they here? "

Me "My call."

Michonne shook her head " It's not your call to make. "

I raised an eyebrow "it's my call as much as it is yours, Mich"

Judith "I decided. They needed help. "

Michonne sighed "Judith, you know the rules. You all do. "

Aaron "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.

Gabriel " It'll be dark soon. First thing tomorrow, we can bring them before the council for a vote."

Michonne nodded "Okay. Put them in holding."

D.J " Come on. Let's go."

Next day. Morning. at the council meeting.

Gabriel "As you can probably tell from our turnout here, 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? "

Magna "What makes you think we have one? "

Gabriel "Did you know each other before? -"

Luke " No. 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. Bernie was the one that we lost yesterday. Um... There were others, of course. But, like Bernie, they just... "

He sobbed out "They didn't, uh... They didn't make it. "

Aaron "Who were you before? "

Luke "Me? Before all this? I was a music teacher. "

Magna "Waited tables at a truck stop. "

Connie was speaking in sign language.

Kelly translated for her "She says she was a journalist, but she's just being modest. She exposed a bunch of sleazeball politicians and put them behind bars. "

Aaron " And you? "

Kelly "I was in high school, stressin' about stupid shit that felt like the end of the world. "

Gabriel "and how are you now?"

Magna "A fighter. "

Connie smiled to Kelly before using sign language to communicate.

Kelly smiled "She says she's my guardian angel, but, really, it's the other way around. "

Luke shrugged "I guess I'm still a music teacher? Um, education never ends, not even in the face of monsters and mayhem. "

Gabriel "What did you do to survive?"

Magna " What I had to... Anything I had to. "

Connie spoke to Kelly.

Kelly " She says she never gave up, but me, I grew up. "

Luke shrugged "I don't... I don't... I don't think I did anything special. I-I don't know what I did to deserve it. Um... At... 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. H-Here's the thing, is that... 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......you'd say to yourself, "Well, hey, I don't know. Maybe these people work together? Because we certainly don't have anything in common, except for the fact that we're breathing. And that's a lot nowadays, right? "

Aaron nodded "Thank you. If that's everything, I'd like to motion for a vote. "

Michonne "I have a question. "

I muttered under my breath "here we go"

Gabriel "The chair recognizes our fellow councilperson and head of security. "

Michonne stood 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 walked to Magna " Can you show me your left hand? "

I raised an eyebrow "Michonne, what are you doing? "

Magna glared at her.

Michonne grabbed Magna's hand and ripped the glove off "You get that at a truck stop?"

Magna " Screw you. "

Aaron " What is it? "

Michonne "You wanna tell him? "

Aaron "Michonne, if you have something to say, s- "

Michonne "It's a prison tattoo. The four dots are the walls. The one in the middle is you, the prisoner. Hard time. "

Everyone started muttering.

Aaron " Look, just because she was a prisoner... "

Magna "I can explain. "

Michonne "you wanna tell the truth?"

Magna nodded" Yes. "

Michonne " And you have nothing to hide? "

Magna shook her head "Nothing. "

Michonne "Put the knife on the table. "

We all looked at her.

Magna took a little sharp pike out of her belt buckle.

Michonne " I remember, and I know that you do, too. So go ahead. Take your vote. I second the motion."

She walked to the door.

Magna "Hey! Can I ask you a question? "

Michonne " No. "

Night. At home.

They were staying. But only till their friend was good to go.

I walked down the stairs and nearly tripped over Judith.

Me "hey, little ass kicker, what are you doing still awake?"

She was holding dad's gun.

I sighed.

Jude "You said Dad would've wanted me to have it to protect myself and the people I love. "

I nodded and sat down next to her "Yeah, he would have, but Mich and i are the ones who're supposed to be protecting you. "

Jude "Is that why you're kicking them out? 'Cause I think Dad would've wanted me to do what I did yesterday, too. "

I nodded " He would've been proud. Your brother, too. "

Jude asked confused and upset " Then why won't Michonne help them? "

Me " You'll understand someday. "

Jude "I know you talk to him sometimes. To Carl, too. I'm starting to forget their voices. I'm not trying to, but they keep fading away. I hope you can still hear them. "

I looked at her in tears and picked her up "come on, babygirl, let's get you in bed"

Then i walked with her to her bedroom and slowly closed the door behind me.

I didn't want to wake my 5 year old halfborhter. RJ.

Then i laid her down and put the covers over her.

Jude "can you stay with me? please?"

I nodded and laid down next to her.

Jude "Kenny"

I drove a hand through her hair "mhm?"

Jude "where's uncle Daryl?"

I sighed "i don't know"

Jude "are you two okay?"

I kissed the side of her head "i don't know. now sleep"

Jude intertwined our fingers together before closing her eyes.