ELEANOR . NEGAN

075.

Alexandria was filled with the smell of it, the last abomination of something-gone-wrong. Sweet-sickening fruit filled up the air as it bruised and welted away with the passing season, the petals of flowers wisped to the ground as another minute, hour, day passed. The weather worsened with every second – the long tree branches scraped across the fences like a threatening monster trying to break in, as the bushes howled when the wind got captured behind the falling leaves – almost like a Banshee's scream.

Autumn has arrived.

And people were going hungry.

"One week."

There was that statement of impending doom that would affect the whole community. Three combined to one, not enough anything to keep it strong and healthy and that was clear. Elle sat beside Gabriel with a shaking leg, biting the skin around her nails as Glenn clutched Maggie's shoulders.

"One week?" Elle repeated. "That's it?"

"We can make it work," Aaron started but he was wrong.

So fucking wrong. "No we pissing can't!"

"Elle." Carol barked so she shut herself up. "We have no crops, no back stock-"

Aaron persisted. "We can get there. Got people out there right now, scavenging houses for materials."

"And they're slowing down." Gabriel shifted in his seat and looked at Aaron. "It's a little hard to put a wall with broken tools and an empty stomach."

Another woman called Agatha raised her voice. "Our people are good hunters. Frost and I could take a group out."

Elle laced her aware eyes over the two people. Frost and Agatha, members of Maggie's group. She poked a tongue through her cheek and looked at Daryl, raising her brows. "I know," He mumbled to her before looking back up at everyone. "Grounds all spent. The last big horde scared all the animals away. But we could find new territory-"

"We don't have time. We need food. Lots of it. Now."

That stilling atmosphere came back as adventurous eyes wandered over to Maggie and Glenn. She saw them, so did he, but she was the one opening her mouth while he silent pleaded for her not to.

"I know one more place-"

"Maggie, no." Glenn begged.

She just out a hand to his arm. "The place we lived before this. Meridian." If Eleanor knew this was the place her full potential came out then she would've took up the offer of scavenging houses instead. "It's got plenty of food, water, crops, and animals."

"Yeah," Elijah said bluntly. "And now it's gone."

"So what happened out there?" Rosita asked.

The glances of secrecy and fear spread throughout Maggie, Glenn and their group was unmistakable. Clear even if it was storming and pitch black. "We were on a mission-"

"Maggie," Glenn warned but he was left ignored.

"Leading walkers away." She started up again, casting a frown when Glenn pulled away from her. "Duncan, Agatha and Frost took the last shift at the front of the herd. Going miles out. Me and Glenn circled back with Elijah and Cole. On the way back home, things kept going sideways and we got stuck out on the road. Looking back now, I don't think that was an accident."

Daryl leant forward from his seat with his ears opened while Elle was depicting if this was going to be another thing they all had to fight just to simply live. "All of a sudden, we heard screams in the distance. We raced back home... but it was too late. Most of our people had been slaughtered, and the rest of us barely got away with our lives."