Atticus wanted to stop looking for her. He wanted to act like he didn’t care but he did and there was no avoiding it. How could she leave just like that without telling anyone? Was it for Samuel? Atticus continued repairing and barricading the prison. He wanted to make it more than zombie-proof. He wanted to make it siege-proof. Atticus would not quit until he built himself a fortress, with or without Rebecca.

Jesse spent most of his off-time shadowing Ruby, half-protecting her and half investigating her strange behavior. He had a feeling he was willing to bet his life on but did not want to bring it to the group without some hard evidence. He was still a relatively new face amongst them, but he trusted Ruby. If only he could talk to her. Now that Echo was gone he was all she really had. And what else did Jesse have to live for really? His guitar? So he made it his business to look after the girl. And that meant getting to the bottom of Echo's murder.

It seemed that at this point almost every member of the group had their own point in time and reason to believe in one common suspicion. Once Job was able to walk around freely the first thing he did was get re-acquainted with Marcus and his new girlfriend Annie.

“I’ve never met an English girl before,” he slowly kissed her hand.

Annie nervously giggled and pulled her hand back politely.

‘That’s enough,” Marcus laughed pushing his older brother away, “watch out for him, Annie, he’s an old dog.”

Marcus led them out to the yard.

“He ain’t kiddin’” Job mumbled to himself.

They continued getting to know each other. Annie was able to hear some funny stories about Marcus’ childhood that he would not normally be so quick to divulge. During their time together Marcus’ stoicism was finally explained by his older brother’s over-abundance of personality. With having such an outspoken sibling it made sense that Marcus would keep more to himself, having lived in his brother’s shadow, seeing the world react around him. And for that reason Marcus never really got in trouble. He behaved himself and stayed under the radar. To Job, this was seen as their parents favoring the younger born. Their relationship never fully recovered until Job landed himself in prison.

Marcus was now one of his last remaining relatives. Whether it was by natural death or excommunication the two brothers lost their parents and all other extended family. Marcus made Job his priority in sheer sympathy, but when the outbreak hit, he knew he could not abandon Job to starvation or infection. Now free and safe, with all that behind them, could they be able to pick up and move on?

As they continued to enjoy each other’s company in the yard a different conversation of sorts was also taking place. Karina lie within the wild grass and fought back and forth with herself over Echo’s death. It wasn’t over the fact that she was accused for something he did not do. Karina was expecting to be the number one suspect. It was the possibility that haunted her, the possibility that maybe she did kill Echo and just had no recollection of it, maybe it was Hamilton.

The apparent danger was clear to her. Karina knew if she kept thinking about Hamilton he would take over. But the paranoia was like an open wound. Karina was insecure about controlling her own mind. She wanted to think she could keep that worry from bleeding through. Once it reached the surface it was just a matter of time before she unraveled. Karina had to stay strong and put her doubts to bed.

Harold and Job ran toward the gate while Karina got up out of the grass after hearing a car approach. By the time they let the jeep in, Atticus had rounded up Harold, Malcolm, and Jesse to see who was coming. They were relieved to find out it was Rebecca returning from the cape. Everyone took a step back when they first saw her smoldering sword. Karina no longer felt like the elephant in the room. In fact, Rebecca’s first order of business was telling Atticus about the fire and hinting towards Job’s shady past.

“I was here the whole night” he defended himself.

“Marcus never told us what you were in here for,” Rebecca pushed.

This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

“It’s not important anymore.”

“Tell us or you’re going back in the cell,” Atticus put his foot down.

“No,” Marcus intervened, “He’s never going back in that thing.”

“Can you corroborate his alibi?” Atticus rebutted.

“Whoa hold on,” Jesse blinked, “did we just turn into a kangaroo-court?”

“We’re asking a couple of questions,” Rebecca reminded everyone.

“I don’t have to tell you people shit,” Job refused.

Marcus knew what that meant, what was going to happen now and he couldn’t stop it, he could barely argue it. The worst part was Marcus knew exactly what he was in prison for. It wasn’t anything heinous or unsavory, but so embarrassing for Job he never talked about it after thirteen years. Now at the end of the world he still wasn’t ready to face his demons.

Marcus moved past Atticus and Rebecca, getting in close with Job, practically whispering in his brother’s ear.

“If you don’t tell these people what you did they are going to put you back in that cell and there’s nothing I can do about it.”

Job pushed Marcus away, “If that’s what you think little brother I guess I know where I’m going.”

“You would really give up freedom for your pride?”

Job stopped dead in his tracks.

“Do the opinions of random strangers mean more to you than walking in the sunlight?”

Job remained silent, not choosing to walk out or respond.

“Or is it your shame?” Marcus went deeper, “Does your shame outweigh your pride?”

The heel of Marcus’ right foot took hold as he prepared for Job’s assault but it did not come. The look in his brother’s eye begged otherwise. Job stared Marcus down to one last word, “Never.” Job walked back into the cell ready to continue serving his time. Atticus closed the cell door behind him and nobody felt better for it, especially Rebecca who started all of this off of one fleeting comment from her former-patient.

That night everyone in the prison would sleep more soundly knowing the criminal was back behind bars. The only person to linger a moment’s thought on it was Karina, still concerned she had a part to play in the whole thing. It was almost first light when someone removed the barricades that prevented anything from getting in the burnt down Cell-block F. It did not matter how many times Atticus led a team into that cell block to clear it out of the walking dead; more would always find their way in. More than a week had passed since they last cleared the fallen cellblock.

Jesse got up from his bunk to go to the bathroom. As he got ready to use the toilet in the cell he was pushed to the wall. His pants fell as he panicked, tripping him up.

“How many times have I told you, those don’t flush and you’ll make the place smell like piss,” Harold pushed him.

“What are you doing up anyway?” Jesse inquired.

“I don’t really sleep anymore,” Harold took this rare moment to share his self-reflections, “It’s hard to close your eyes when you’ve murdered an innocent man.”

“Hey, from what I’ve heard you did what you needed to do to survive.”

“And I’d do it again.”

“Whatever you say man,” Jesse fixed his pants and moved past Harold hangin on his cell door. He walked down the hallway and opened the door to the stairwell. Each stairwell in the complex was shared by only two cellblocks. This particular stairwell was adjacent with the burnt down cell block. Before he could even step through the door he just opened, Jesse was knocked back by intruding zombies. Roaming undead spilled out from the door, filling Cell-block C where half the group was sleeping.