Next day. Morning.

Yumiko" Sorry, guys. If I knew we were gonna be booted as soon as I recovered, I would've hit my head a bit harder."

Magna „You know, it's not too late. "

Luke "Doc. Thank you. "

He looked at Gabriel "Thank you for your hospitality."

Then he looked at Judith, smiling „Especially you. Thank you."

Judith just smiled sadly. Michonne rode in their way.I looked at her confused.

Michonne "Change of plans. There's a place a lot like this one. The leader might take you in. I'll escort you personally, talk to her."

I raised an eyebrow " You're gonna take them to Hilltop?"

Michonne nodded "you're coming with me . "

I shrugged, nodding "sure"

DJ was leading the horse carriage. We had used some old cars – more like the convertible cabrios and used them as wagons for the horses to pull.

Michonne and i were on horses riding alongside them.

Me "How much further have the patrols cleared ? "

DJ "'til the Route D river bend. Their rig's about five miles past that. If their story checks out. "

Michonne looked at me "You'd feel better if you just say it. "

Me "What makes you think I want to say something?"

Michonne " I'm not hearing you deny it. "

Me "I was gonna tell you that I'm glad you changed your mind about them. "

Michonne " But you think I should've let them stay in Alexandria."

Me " Well, you're going pretty far out of your way not to. Considering -."

Michonne snapped a little "Considering what?"

Me " That you like these guys."

Michonne asked amused " Really? That's what I think? Uh-huh."

I mocked her " I mean, I'm not hearing you deny it. "

Michonne "Doesn't mean I trust them. "

Yumiko looked at us " Look, I'm sorry about Magna. She can be a bit hotheaded. "

Michonne "That's one word for it. "

Yumiko "She's been on edge since we lost Bernie."

Me „Was he with you long? "

Yumiko "Long enough. He loved getting under Magna's skin. He, um, used to wear this absolutely horrid shirt. It was like looking into creation itself. In paisley. God, it was horrendous. But Magna hated it. She said just looking at it gave her a migraine. So Bernie wore it every day for a week. Honestly, I think she came around on the shirt. Just like she came around on him. "

Michonne "Like family."

Yumiko "This place... Hilltop. Is it safe? "

Michonne nodded "It is. "

Yumiko " What's it like? "

Michonne "It's been a while since I've been there. "

Yumkiko "Then how do you know it's safe?"

Michonne "I promised my daughter that I would get you there, and I will. You're just gonna have to trust me. "

Then she looked at me.

Me "what?"

Michonne "could you head over to Hilltop while we stop at their camp? Maybe talk to Maggie and Jesus about the new incomes"

I nodded "sure"

At Hilltop.

I rode through the walls.Then i got off the horse and saw Aaron coming my way.

I smiled at him "hey"

He hugged me "hey"

Then i saw Jesus coming my way.

Me "wow, Jesus, handsome as always"

He chuckled and hugged me "pretty as always. But there is something you should know"

I looked at him confused "what? Who died?"

He grimaced and then i heard a bike pull up.

I tensed "oh, hell no"

I didn't even have to look at who was riding the fucking bike to know who just pulled up. Aaron gave me an amused look while walking over to him.

Daryl " What you doin' here? Something up? "

Aaron "We found Rosita outside the walls yesterday. She's pretty banged up. "

Daryl "Is she here? "

Aaron nodded "Yeah. And, uh, Eugene's missing. We're headed out to go find him. Could use a good tracker. "

Daryl nodded "Yeah. Of course. "

Jesus looked at me "are you coming?"

Suddenly i felt something on my leg. Paws. a dog? The hell?

I kneeled down and petted him "hey, big boy. Where did you come from, handsome?"

Daryl whistled "Dog!"

Dog didn't seem to listen since he was too focused on me. I smiled a little.

Daryl yelled "damn it!"

I petted the dog even though the voice of his owner killed me inside. It's been 6 years and i am not over that guy, great.

I nodded and looked at Jesus "of course i am coming. Who am i to not follow Jesus?"

He rolled his eyes amused.

On a field.

The four of us looked at the herd down at the field.

Daryl "It's about 130, 140 of them. "

Jesus "You ever see them do this before? "

Aaron shook his head "No. Never. "

Daryl "Rosita's back trail goes right through 'em. We should get the horses, circle around, then we'll pick it up on foot. "

Aaron „What about them? "

Daryl asked confused "What about 'em?"

Jesus "They're just milling around. That's not normal."

Daryl looked at them „No. No, it ain't. We should go. There's a storm coming. Dog! "

His dog walked to us as we walked back to the horses.

I asked confused "where the hell is my horse?"

Then i looked around.

Jesus "maybe you should've strapped it in"

I nodded "i did"

Aaron "you sure?"

I nodded "yes, i am"

Daryl "you can ride with me"

I turned to him and raised an eyebrow. He just looked at me. There was no emotion In his eyes as if nothing ever happened .The hell?

Jesus "Ken-"

I nodded "fine"

Then i got on the bike and so did he.

--

We were walking through the field.

Aaron "Daryl says he's been trading with Hilltop again."

Jesus " He used to come like clockwork a couple times a year. Never stayed, though. The gaps between the trips got longer and longer. Prefers it out here, I suppose."

Aaron " Sounds like somebody else I know. "

Jesus chuckled "We used to be explorers. The whole world was ours to rediscover."

Aaron " Well, we were out looking for people. Offering them a chance to be a part of something bigger. Because of you, we were able to find each other. Maybe showing those people a way forward is the next step in that. -"

Jesus " I just don't think that I'm... -"

Aaron " I do. I think you'd be a damn good leader if you'd just stop fighting it. "

Jesus froze "You think that's what I'm doing? "

Aaron then nodded to Daryl who was walking ahead of us "He's spent a long time keeping people away, but finding them... it's kind of his thing. Stay. Maybe one day, he'll stop fighting it, too. He has to, or he'll lose the people he cares about"

he gave me a glance.

I nodded "He already did"

We could hear growling.

Daryl walked over to us "The herd... It's coming for us. The wind is carrying the sound. C'mon. Let's put some ground between us and them. Yeah."

We walked away.

--

We looked at the herd from earlier .

Jesus "You put that herd around 140, right?"

Daryl nodded " Yeah. "

Jesus "Looks like more than double that now. "

Aaron "Could be a different herd. Or it merged with another one. "

Daryl "Ain't gonna be there very long. Don't matter how big it is as long as it's going the other way. Come on. "

Night.

We were on our way to the barn. The wind was slowly peeking up. We looked around for Eugene.

Daryl "come on boy, look for him"

The Dog rushed in and then whined at a spot.

I kicked against the ground "knock knock, Eugene? you in there?"

Eugene " Affirmative. "

The guys opened the hatch in the ground and Eugene was in there.

Jesus helped him climb out " Eugene, Eugene... you all right? "

Eugene "I took a bad step and dislocated my knee. There was a herd on our six, and Rosita was forced to stash me here. "

Daryl "Well, if it's dislocated, we can just pop it back in... "

Eugene shook his head " No. We have to get out of here. The herd that followed us here is on its way back. "

Daryl" I saw their tracks. They're gone."

Eugene shook his head „No, it's not. It's already been through here twice. It's looking for me. We have to get away before it comes back. This wasn't a normal herd. "

I asked confused "What do you mean? "

Eugene "When... When they passed us by, we could hear them. They were... They were whispering to each other."

I froze "You mean they were talking?"

Eugene nodded " I-I know how it sounds. But Rosita heard it, too. She'll corroborate. "

Daryl "We should get him back. "

Suddenly Dog started to bark. We looked out. Walkers. They were coming our way.

Jesus shook his head "There's no way that's the same herd. "

Aaron "They got us cut off."

Eugene sobbed out" No, no, no, no. No, no. "

They picked up Eugene.

Daryl "So we'll backtrack, we'll go around 'em. "

Aaron "Old Route isn't far. It's the straightest shot back to the horses. - "

Daryl "Lead the way. "

--

We put Eugene down on a car hood.

Jesus „Come on. It doesn't make any sense. They shouldn't have doubled back like that. And they definitely shouldn't have followed us all the way to the barn."

Eugene held his knee "I do have a theory to posit. The walkers are evolving. "

Daryl "Oh, that's bullshit. "

Jesus "They're dead, they're not evolving. "

Eugene "Being dead hasn't exactly stopped them from perambulating ad infinitum, though, has it? They're not dead in any sense that makes sense. It takes an impact to the cranium to stop them, which means the brain is alive, degraded as it may be. And if it's alive, it can change. Maybe even start to remember things, too, like how to talk. "

Daryl grimaced „What? "

Jesus „It's not any crazier than the dead being alive in the first place. If they can learn to talk, maybe they can learn strategy and how to hunt. "

Aaron rushed to us "They're right on our asses. We've gotta get to the horses fast."

Eugene „You have to leave me behind. I'm slowing you down and tiring you out. - Every time we stop, the dead get closer. "

Jesus shook his head " No! We came out here to find you... - We're not going home without you. "

Eugene "You don't have a choice"

Jesus " It's not your call. The numbers actually work for us. We can split up. You two get him back to the horses. Ken and i will wait for the herd to get here, then I'll draw them off in the other direction. Then I'll ditch them and meet you back at the Hilltop. "

Aaron "We're stronger together. "

Jesus "That doesn't help us. Our only way out of this is to avoid a fight. "

Daryl "No. If anyone stays, it's gonna be me. "

I looked at him.

Daryl „Go. Hell, I'll probably beat you back. Go! "

We grabbed Eugene as Daryl rushed away. Dog was barking them away from us. A storm was coming to us.

We walked to a cemetery.

The growling was getting closer.

Aaron „They're still on us. "

I saw the first walkers.

Jesus hissed "Come on. We got to go."

I saw a hole in the brick fence "We can use it... use it as a chokepoint to slow them down."

Then I climbed through it and the guys helped Eugene through it.

Aaron "We're gonna get lost in here."

Me "Better lost in there than our here with them"

Jesus „Follow the wall. There has to be a gate somewhere."

We followed the wall to a gate.

Jesus "There. "

He couldn't open the gate though. Then he walked to a wall.

Jesus "We can lift him over here. "

We tried to lift Eugene but he was too heavy.

Aaron "There's no time."

I took my blade out. Aaron took his knife out and Jesus his sword.

Me "now or never boys"

The walkers were coming closer. We started to kill them one by one.

Suddenly i heard whispering.

I froze "guys"

Jesus nodded "mhmm"

The walkers were talking.

What the hell?

Michonne showed up " Eugene. Eugene. "

Eugene breathed out relieved "Michonne, honest to God, am I happy to see you. The gate's obstructed by topsoil erosion. We can't get out. "

Michonne " I need you to push. "

Magna and Yumiko were with her. They managed to open the gate.

Jesus looked at us "Get him out of here. Go, I got this! "

Aaron and i rushed to the gate. Jesus tried to kill a walker but the walker dodged the move and rammed a knife in Jesus' back.

I screamed "no!"

Jesus gasped out and fell to the ground. Aaron, Michonne and i rushed in. suddenly more of these walkers showed up with knifes.

Daryl killed the walker. There was fog everywhere and lightning was seen a few times. Aaron kneeled down to Jesus and sobbed out. I looked at him in tears.

Daryl whispered "come here"

We walked to him. We kneeled down to the walker that killed Jesus.It looks like the skin got sewn shut on the back of his head.

Michonne " These walkers... What are they? "

Daryl cut the string open and took the mask off. The walker face was a mask. My jaw dropped. There was a real person underneath it. My jaw dropped even more.

I heard whisper " They're trapped. Circle 'round."

Dog barked.

Whispers „Don't let them slip by. Keep them together"

We were surrounded.

Man whispered "You die now. "

Dog was barking like crazy.

Me " Go. Now. "

Yumiko grabbed the mask and rushed out with Magna. Daryl started to kill a few walkers. They were real walkers. I killed some too.

Aaron and Daryl grabbed Jesus.

They whispered "die. die. die"

Me "Go. I'll cover you. "

Suddenly a "walker" rushed to me with a sword. Yumiko shot an arrow in her head.

Daryl "Come on! Let's go!"

Morning.

We were walking through a village.

Yumiko asked disgusted " Who the hell would do this? Even think about doing this? "

Eugene "I suspect some vessel filled with a chunky salsa of abnormal impulses and metastasized rage. "

Magna "It's full-on batshit. "

Aaron "You think there's more? -"

Daryl nodded "Yeah."

Yumiko " So, what do we do?"

We walked to our horses.

Michonne " Right now, keep moving. "

--

Jesus was on one horse and Eugene was sitting on the other horse. Magna und Yumiko were sitting on the third horse. Daryl looked back at the girls.

Me "Judith found them. Vouched for 'em. So do I. "

Daryl nodded "All right."

Me " It's gonna mean a lot to them. Bringin' him back. Burying him. "

Daryl "Sorry I couldn't do that for you. "

I looked down" Thank you. For trying to find him."

Daryl nodded.Suddenly Dog started to bark.

Magna " We got some tails. "

Eugene looked at the walkers "The living kind or original recipe? "

Daryl "Let's find out. Good dog."

We walked to the bridge. Daryl stepped in their way. He shot the first one in the leg. Walker kept moving. Then he shot the other one in the leg. He fell down to the ground, groaning. I stood at the other end of the bridge. A "Walker" turned to me and pulled a knife out. He came at me. I sliced open his throat. We killed the walkers except one.

A woman fell to her knees, pleading " Please."

Daryl ripped the mask off.

The woman pleaded "please, please, please"

I walked to them "How many? "

She pleaded "Please... you killed them all. It's just me now. "

I put the blade on her throat "I don't believe you. "

I heard more walkers.

Daryl "There ain't no time. We'll take her with us. "

I nodded and took the blade away from her.

Daryl grabbed her "Get up. "

Me "hey ! You try anything, you won't have to pretend. "