hiraeth | c.g. |

xix

Alpha guided them through the forest for a while, until the sun rose atop the trees and bathed the greenery in golden light. It was an image Clary, under different circumstances, would have painted. However, under the dead eyes of Alpha, Clary's only focus was making sure her and Daryl, along with the people she left, would get to go home.

"Where you taking us?" Daryl asked, his question seemingly answered as the groaning of walkers sounded. It became louder and louder as they approached a pile of rocks, Clary looking to Daryl before the two walked carefully atop them.

As they reached the peak of the rocks, standing atop them, Clary's body grew cold as she saw a valley below them filled with tens of thousands of walkers.

"My people are among them, steering them. The only reason you and your friends are alive is because I let you live."

Clary looked over to Alpha, watching her point her gun between both Clary and Daryl, the latter stepping forward to shield her as much as he could.

"What do you want?" Daryl questioned, the woman smiling. "Nothing. You don't got a single thing to offer me. I've seen how you live. I've walked your streets. It's a joke. Your communities are a shrine to a long-dead world."

Alpha brought the gun higher. "My people, the Whisperers— we live as nature intended." Daryl scoffed. "That's just all the bullshit you feed your sheep so they'll follow you." Alpha shook her head. "They follow me because I am the Alpha."

With a scoff from Clary, the woman looked to her. "And if the Alpha doesn't assert herself, then there's chaos." Clary clenched her jaw at the harsh look the woman gave her before looking back to the walkers below. "That is what I have done."

Clary stepped forward, her eyes dark as she stared at the woman. "What the hell did you do?" She looked back to Clary, looking between the two before she cocked her head. "Your friends back at the camp are fine. Tell them the next time they cross into my land, my horde will cross into theirs."

After a moment, Alpha's gaze rested on Clary. "The land between the broken interstates and the river to the south is mine." Clary furrowed her brows, wondering why Alpha held her gaze, until she grew cold. "No," Clary said harshly to the woman. "No, you can't take that land. That's where Solaris stands—"

Alpha cocked her gun. "Your community has grown— but it has grown into my land. That land is mine. Your community is mine." Clary clenched her jaw as she stared down the woman. There was no way that this woman would be able to take her community just like this. No fight, no deal, nothing. Just like that.

"You and your people will have three days from now to evacuate your home before it is ravaged by my horde." She stepped forward. "I'm being kind, giving you time," the woman smiled. "I've destroyed each of your walls once. It would be easy to just break them down again and let my horde consume your people. So I suggest you get out of there while you can... Commander."

Clary was ready to declare war. Staring down Alpha, she was ready to claw the woman's throat out with her bare hands. Until the groans of the undead grew louder, filling her ears. Their groans reminded her that, while she was immune to them, her people weren't. And none of them were immune to being ripped apart.

And that was it. Solaris was lost to her in just moments, something Alpha noted with Clary's fallen gaze before she continued.

"I've marked the border to the north. You'll see it as you leave." Daryl scoffed. "What the hell is that supposed to mean?" Leaning back, Alpha shrugged. "You'll see it as you leave. Go. Your friends will be waiting for you in a field due north."

Daryl approached her, his eyes cold. "Did you kill Lydia?" The woman's eyes fell and Clary, for a second, could see humanity in them. "I don't think you can protect my daughter. But I hope I'm wrong." Daryl nodded. "You are."