CHAPTER FIFTEEN,
the wolves.

Aiden jumped in shock when she heard someone scream. She had been standing with Carol in the kitchen. Carol looked from the window to Aiden. "There's people." The older woman said to her.

"What the hell do you mean people?" Aiden asked, moving to the window. She jumped when she saw a man the size of a fucking moose tackle a Alexandrian man before he stabbed him in the chest repeatedly. "Holy shit."

Carl rushed down the stairs, "I saw them from upstairs. They're coming in from all over." Carl said to the two.

"You stay here and keep Judith and Aiden safe." Carol said to Carl as she rushed outside.

"Carol!" Aiden called after her. "Go lock the backdoor, now." Aiden ordered Carl.  He nodded and rushed to the back of the house and locked the door. Aiden moved to the front door and locked it.

The two heard keys rattling from outside and saw Enid enter the house, "hi." She said.

"Why didn't you just knock?" Carl asked her.

"I have these. I didn't want them to have 'em." She held up the keys. Aiden locked the door back and followed the two teens to the living room.

"And I wanted say goodbye." Enid said.

"Okay, watch the backdoor. Tell me if you see them coming." Carl insisted.

"I'm not staying."

"You're not going anywhere. Sit down. You're helping me protect Judith and Aiden." Carl said, "they're not getting inside this house. We're not gonna let them."

Aiden watched as the two sat down back to back. Aiden moved to the door and stood to the side of it and watched the outside from there.

"Did you seem them?" Carl asked Enid.

"They're just people. This place is too big to protect. There's too many blind spots. That's how we were able to-" Enid was cut off.

"They got in the walls, but they're gonna die." Carl said to her. "All of them," his eyes locked with Aiden's when he said that. "Don't tell me goodbye."

"Okay." Enid replied to him. "I won't."

"What the hell?" Aiden whispered to herself. "Okay, you two. Yell if someone tries to get in. I'm going upstairs with Judy." Aiden informed the two. She climbed up the stairs and entered the nursery.

Judith's sleeping body laid peacefully in her crib as Aiden sat by the window and watched the crazed men and women run rapid around her home.

Then she heard it.

The horn.

"What the fuck?" She fled down the stairs. "You two stay here, okay? Shoot anyone who comes in this house if you don't recognize them."

"Where the hell are you going?" Carl asked her as he stood up.

"To help."

"You can't! Daryl will kill you if he finds out you were out there with these psychos." Carl said to her.

"That's why he won't find out, Carl. Be safe." She kissed his forehead. "I love you, dude." She rushed out of the house.

Her Beretta was lifted as she crept through an alley between the houses. She watched as several people were being hacked away at. Their limbs being chopped from their bodies.

She gasped in shock when she saw one of the men spot her. He was large. Much larger than she was. He grinned evilly at her. "Bringing a little one into this word are we?" He asked her gruffly. She stared at him. A woman rounded the corner and stared at Aiden too. Aiden slowly moved her gun behind her back.

Aiden sighed. "You two don't wanna do this."

"We do. We really fucking do." The woman said.

"Y'all are some sick motherfuckers. Bring it, assholes." Aiden hissed.

The woman let out a battle cry and ran at Aiden with her knife raised. Aiden ducked and pulled her gun out from behind her back. She let a bullet loose. The woman dropped dead with a bullet hole between her eyes. The man screamed before running at her. A gunshot was heard and he dropped before he could make it to her. As he dropped, Aiden saw Xavier Reed standing there with his gun smoking.

"Why the hell are you out here?" Xavier hissed at her.

"I wanted to help." Aiden responded. "I helped." She heaved a deep breathe. "Is it over?"

"I don't know," he replied, making his way to her. "Th horn is off though. Where did you- oh hell."

Aiden turned her attention to where he was looking. At the end of the alley was three of those people. "You gotta be fuckin' with me." Aiden muttered.

The sick individuals smirked before they were running at the two. They didn't make it very far before three gunshots sounded off and all three dropped dead.

"I mean come on. You gotta be smarter than that." Aiden said, "who brings a knife to a gun fight?"

»

Aiden sat with Morgan and Carol. "What happened?"

"Herd broke out early. Everyone's okay that I know of, expect for Carter." Morgan told the two.

"Carter? What happened to Carter?" Carol asked him.

"He was bit, right in the face." Morgan informed. Aiden grimaced, yikes.

"Is Daryl okay?" Aiden asked. "The others?"

"That I know of." Morgan replied.

»

Aiden stood one of the watch towers inside the wall. "Hey!" She heard someone yell. She saw Rosita opening the gate before Michonne, Scott, Heath, Macy, and Nathaniel walk in.

She quickly climbed down the ladder and walked over to them. "What happened out there?" She asked Michonne. "Where's Glenn?"

"He and Nicholas are still out there. Payton's with Rick. Now, we need to get Scott to the infirmary." Michonne said. Aiden nodded.

"Go." Heath and Nathaniel carried the man off with Macy not far behind them.

Michonne grabbed Aiden's face, "are you okay?"

Aiden furrowed her eyebrows, "yeah." She whispered. "I'm fine." Michonne dropped her hands.

"Are you sure? What happened here?"

"People got inside the walls. These crazy fucking psychos. We lost a lot of people." Aiden responded.

"Enid's gone, too." Carl approached the two.

"What?" Michonne asked.

"She just left." Aiden said to her. "After everything that happened in here today, Enid left one thing behind for us was a letter. All it said was just survive somehow." Aiden said to Michonne.

Just survive somehow.

»

Aaron and Aiden sat side-by-side on the porch of the house. She toyed with Shane's necklace that dangled off her neck.

"What's so special about the number twenty-two?" Aaron asked her.

"My brother always wore a chain with the number twenty-two. It was like his signature number, well it was, it was his football jersey number in high school." Aiden explained. She shook her head and blinked away her tears. "I miss him."

Aaron smiled sympathetically at the woman before pulling her into his side. She rested her head on his shoulder and he rested his head stop hers.

"I gotta be strong." She murmured, "we all gotta be strong."

_____________________________

word count; 1,166
episode: jss

and that's that! the wolves edited chapter.

fucking wolves. crazy ass motherfuckers. but we all know what happens next chapter 👀.

but an aaron and aiden soon OMG MY HEART 😩🥺. gosh, i love those two so much. that's gonna be such an amazing, beautiful friendship.

aiden worrying about daryl hurts my heart ache.

xavier saved aiden's asssssss this chapter and he's not in this act all that much or the beginning of act three but he will be just you folks wait 😉.