Ephemeral - Alia Dixon

27

"Alia!" I hear Tara say, my eyes fluttering open. She's knocking on my door like a maniac, making me almost jump up and run towards the door.
"What?" I ask her, opening the door.
"Henry's gone" she says, my eyes widening.
"What?" I ask her loudly, not believing my ears.
"Yes, and your dad and Connie are gone, too" she says. I sigh, brushing a hand through my hair.
"Why does nobody here tell me anything?" I ask loudly, clearly annoyed now. I walk back inside, Tara following me. I start getting dressed. "This is a joke, right? It has to be, Tara" I say, waiting for her to tell me that everyone's alright and that they're still here.
She shakes her head with a sad look. "No, I believe your dad and Connie went after Henry. Addy told me she gave the letter he left to your dad" Tara says.
"Addy found it? And she didn't think about bringing it to you or my first?" I ask annoyedly.
"No, she didn't. I don't know why but-"
"We have to get them back" I say, now coming out of my room. "I want a council meeting in five"
Tara nods before she walks off. I burst into my office, the doors banging onto the wall hard. My thoughts are racing.

I fucking lost Henry. I let him get out and now he could be dead because of my stupidity. Because I didn't watch him enough. God, I lost Carol's kid after I specifically told her I'd keep an eye out for him. And now my dad and Connie are out there looking for them.

I turn around as the others walk inside. Enid, Alden and Tara all come inside, looking at me with expectant eyes. Alden and Enid seem confused.
"What happened?" Alden asks me.
"Henry left and my dad and Connie went after him" I say and their eyes widen.
"What?" he asks, not believing me and Enid sighs.
"What are we going to do?" she asks me. I notice all of them relying on me for a decision.
"I don't know" I say quietly.
Tara takes a step closer to me. "They're going to be fine. You know your dad" she says and I start contemplating on wheter to believe her or not. There are so many of these people and my dad and Connie just went alone. I can't fucking believe it. We could've gotten a team together if they had told me.
"Are we still going to the fair?" Enid asks and I nod.
"Yes, we can't just cancel it. The people have been excited for it for weeks. They're holding on to it" I say.
"You're right. Daryl and Connie are going to find Henry and bring him back safe and sound" Alden says, trying to give me a comforting smile.
I frown. "I hope you're right"
We all stay quiet for a minute before I take a deep breath. "You can tell everyone that from now on nobody leaves the walls without talking to me first. I make the decisions around here and now is not a time to do mistakes" I state.
"But we have a deal with them" Alden says.
"You know that deals don't mean anything, Alden. If they want to they're just going to come here and kill all of us. We don't have any insurance that they're not going to break the deal"
"We'll find a solution" Tara says comfortingly.
"I hope so" I say before walking past them and out of my office.

I won't be able to sleep now anyway. So, I'm going to get ready for the fair. I start packing a few things, loading them onto the carriages.
"Do you think they'll make it?" Enid asks me as she walks over.
"Of course they will" I say, starting to get sane again. What am I even worrying for? My dad knows what he's doing and he always has.
He won't leave me.
"Dixons always come back" I state. She nods before she helps me lift some more boxes. Time after time more people start to wake up, helping with the preparations.

I stand infront of Hilltop as we all wait infront of the gates to be ready to leave. I'm leaving a few people back of course, guarding the Hilltop while I'm gone.
"So, everybody knows what they have to do?" I ask, my people nodding at me excitedly. "Okay, stay alert and don't leave the formation. Stay quiet and calm and we'll be at the Kingdom in no time"
"Let's go" Tara says and everybody starts chatting as my guards open the gates.

I frown as I see a tree blocking the street, letting Tara handle it while I stay on the carriage and look out for anything suspicious. So, when the walkers come, Tara takes a few people with her to the back, trying to stop the walkers before they come for us.
"Hey, you two!" I say to the boys. "Behind you" I say, them turning around to be faced by about ten walkers. I look to the other side to see at least ten coming up to me, too. I jump over the edge of the carriage and start killing them one by one. My head snaps to the side as I see a few people on horses coming our way. I look at Tara with confused eyes as she does the same. They stop infront of the thee branch, jumping off their horses and running towards us.
"Who are you?" I ask, watching them help us killing the walkers.
"We're the highwaymen. We're your escort to the fair" he says, making me stare at him for a minute. I have no choice but to trust him. I nod once before we keep on killing walkers.