Shambles- The Walking Dead [Alden x Maggie] [1/2]

63- The destruction

The sight of Hilltop's burned down walls was still a horrible sight. The last any of them had seen of it was when it had been set ablaze by the whisperers and they were forced to leave. To flee. To run for their lives. Alden had been walking beside Hershel for a couple of minutes again for this very reason.

Hershel looked down at him from the horse with horror in his eyes. "It's all gone."

"It's not all gone." Alden insisted as he helped the boy of the horse. "We're still here and the manor's still standing. We'll build it back up, together. And this time we'll make it better than it ever was."

"You promise?" His voice was small, finally sounding like a child again. Just another scared kind in a world way too dangerous for them.

"Cross my heart and hope to die." He replied promptly. He lived to regret those words right away when Hershel broke down crying right away. The anger about another loss had finally melted down into sadness. "Oh, god, I'm sorry." He said hastily as he pulled the boy into a hug. "That was my fault. I'm sorry."

The others glanced shortly at them but the second they realized what was going on they went on with discussion on what to do next. They hadn't exactly been planned further than making it Hilltop. Alden kept on soothing Hershel until he shoved him away and resembled a grown up in his behavior again. By that time most had already headed inside the gates to take a closer look at the destruction themselves. But the wagon was still outside the walls and Elijah hadn't climbed down yet. Adam was in his lap and Hope was fast asleep on the bench beside him. Maggie leaned against the side as she stared at the blackened and burned walls that had kept them safe for years.

"Aaron told me how damaged it was." She began. "He came down here looking for construction supplies a while ago. It's still worse than I expected, and I thought I was already expecting the worst." She held a short pause. "And what was going on with Hershel? He just stormed after Jesus, he seemed pretty angry."

"I said something stupid." Alden sighed, wiping his hand down his face tiredly. "I said; cross my heart and hope to die. I realized it was stupid right away but by then I had already said it." He nodded towards Hilltop's walls. "And, yeah, Lydia told me more of the same about the state of this place on the way here."

Hershel walked back to them after he'd looked at the manor up close himself. He looked up at them with saddened eyes. "How are we supposed to live here?"

"That's what we're going to figure out today." Maggie replied. "And I promise that we'll figure it out."

"I think the basement might be our best bet." Alden insisted. "A bunch of whisperers took refuge there. It'll provide shelter and we can guard it easily now that some of the wall panels are out."

"I told everyone to stay out of the manor right now for safety reasons." Maggie told him. "I wanted you to check it out first, make sure it's safe."

"Do we really have to sleep in the cells?" Hershel asked with a nervous pinch in his voice. He tried his best not to show how scared he was.

"Probably, but only for a couple of days if everything goes right." She promised him. "And besides they won't really be cells because we're not going to lock them. Wanna help me get the wagon inside?"

He nodded eagerly and jumped up on the bench too. Maggie followed him and took the reins. The food on that wagon would hopefully last them long enough before they got the fields producing again. It would only last if they were strict with rationing.

Alden took his first step inside the walls, through the gate, and was finally able to take in the full destruction inside the walls. To his surprise some of the trailers were left virtually untouched by the fire. The manor hadn't been spared. Around the windows stones were blackened and burned from the fire that had licked up. Everything but the memories had been reduced to ashes.