The Exit • TWD. [✓]

𝟎𝟗𝟎, what comes after!

CHAPTER NINETY !

S I X Y E A R S L A T E R !

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In the span of six years, a lot had occurred. daryl had spent most of his time in the woods searching for rick. there was no evidence of rick's death, they didn't find a body, or him as a walker. so he never gave up hope that he was alive. it was unsurprising that daryl devoted all of his time to the search. estella only saw him around once a month, but she didn't mind. she supported him in the search. she knew it's what he wanted, he needed to find rick.

michonne had assumed leadership of alexandria, and to no shock, the sanctuary had fallen. maggie had remained at hilltop, and carol had made the kingdom her perminant home. estella hadn't seen them in a while, and she missed them, but she was glad to know that they were happy in moving forward with their lives.

estella was seated atop her horse, clementine, waiting for the rest of the group to return. she had accompanied judith, aaron, and a couple others on a hunting trip. she was on watch duty, keeping an eye out for any threats like people and walkers. if she spotted any, she'd alert aaron on the walkies, and they would move out of harms way. there wasn't any, though, so she sat completely bored.

"stella!" judith's voice rang out, causing estella to sit upright and spur clementine into motion.

"let's go, girl," she urged her horse, quickly riding towards judith's voice.

"stella! over here!" judith shouted. clementine came to a halt, and estella dismounted as aaron, eugene, rosita, ottie and laura rushed over to judith. eugene had a buck over his shoulders.

"are you okay?" aaron fretted, checking her over.

estella turned her head at the sound of heavy footsteps behind them. a group of people that she had never seen before, consisting of one man and several women, came running towards them. they were breathing heavily. estella took a step back as the man fell to his knees, trying to catch his breath.

"i heard them calling. they needed our help." judith told them.

"our rig, it got overrun by sickos. we owe our lives to miss grimes here." the man said, his words coming out between pants.

"jude, you don't even know these people." estella said, sternly.

judith shook her head, grabbing estella's water bottle from her backpack, and giving them it. "they still need our help."

estella couldn't help but notice the desperation in his movements as he frantically removed the cap, chugging the water down as if he hadn't seen water in a million years. she raised her eyebrows as she watched him take sip after sip out of the bottle she'd brought for herself - clearly, though, he was more desperate for it than her.

the man passed the water to the woman who was bleeding from her head. she drank quickly, then passed the bottle on to the next person. every person in the group shared every last drop of the water, making sure that everyone had a chance to drink.

"we can't, you know that." rosita said to judith.

"hey, i dabbled in the culinary arts, once upon a time ago, and uh, you know, with a little help, i can whip this buck into a mighty fine osso buco." the man said, leaning against a small tree.