Alexandria.
Inside one of the houses, a man stood over a map.
His hair was a mess. Dark circles hung beneath tired eyes, and one lens of his glasses was cracked, but none of it mattered. His gaze never left the map spread across the table, its surface buried beneath three years of routes, notes, and pins.
Every search party he had sent out was marked somewhere on those walls.
Every one of them had been searching for his son.
His finger rested on a point deep in Georgia.
From Washington, D.C., reaching Georgia would take nearly ten hours, even moving as fast as possible.
He didn't care.
The exhaustion that had weighed on him for years disappeared the moment he learned his son had been found.
For the first time in three years, his eyes held something other than determination.
Hope.
Joy.
After finishing his final preparations and briefing his staff for the journey south, he left the house and headed toward the bar, where his brother was sure to be.
The moment he stepped outside, people noticed.
None of them had ever seen the Commander smile.
Not when he seized Alexandria.
Not when he executed the old leadership.
Not even when he declared himself the community's new ruler.
But now...
He was grinning from ear to ear, looking like he might burst into laughter at any moment.
They all remembered when he had only been a security officer. Somehow, he had gathered enough loyal followers to overthrow the previous government and take control of Alexandria by force.
"The Commander's... laughing?"
A resident stared, unable to believe what he was seeing.
"Did something happen?"
"I heard he called off the search parties," a one-eyed man answered quietly.
"Does that mean they found Hope?"
"Looks like it. The Commander is preparing to head to Georgia."
A teenager nearby swallowed nervously.
"Does that mean we can finally stop working so much?"
Nobody answered.
Life under the Commander had been brutal.
Young.
Old.
Healthy.
Sick.
It didn't matter.
If you could stand, you worked.
If you couldn't stand, you worked sitting down.
Rest was something nobody dared ask for.
People collapsed from exhaustion so often that it barely shocked anyone anymore. They recovered, stood back up, and returned to work.
Compared to him, the previous leadership seemed like paradise.
But nobody could deny the results.
The farms had tripled.
The walls had grown stronger.
The soldiers were better equipped than ever before.
Without those changes, Alexandria probably wouldn't have survived.
Nobody knew much about the Commander except one thing.
Everything he did served one purpose.
Finding his son.
More than sixty percent of Alexandria's fighting force had spent years searching for him.
Expanding territory.
Building outposts.
Strengthening defenses.
Every decision led back to one goal.
Bring Hope home.
And now, for the first time, people whispered that maybe the Commander would finally allow everyone to breathe.
That thought alone was enough.
The news spread through Alexandria like wildfire.
Hope had been found.
For the first time in weeks, people smiled.
Workers laughed while carrying supplies.
Some cried openly.
Even the slaves working toward their freedom couldn't hide the relief in their eyes.
If Hope was coming home...
Maybe—just maybe—the Commander would finally let everyone, including himself, rest.
The bar door slammed open hard enough to hit the wall.
Nobody reacted.
The Commander had done it every week for years. By now, it was simply routine.
The bartender immediately pointed toward the corner table before John could ask.
"Commander, your brother is over there."
His voice was nervous.
He had good reason.
The one time he had tried to hide Matthew from the Commander—at Matthew's own request—he had paid for it with three months of hard labor.
He still remembered the pain.
The exhaustion.
The days when his body barely worked.
After that, he never dared hide anything from the Commander again.
Not even for double the money.
But tonight was different.
The usual scowl was gone.
The Commander was smiling.
And somehow, that was worse.
The bartender immediately looked away and returned to cleaning a glass that was already spotless.
Around the room, everyone felt it.
Even the drunk ones.
The entire bar went silent and tense, like a dinosaur had walked through the front door.
Nobody moved.
Nobody spoke.
They simply waited.
John ignored them all.
He walked straight to the table where Matthew sat surrounded by empty glasses.
The sight still hurt.
Ever since Ava's death, Matthew had drowned himself in alcohol.
John understood that pain better than most. He knew what it meant to lose a wife.
But this wasn't healing anymore.
This was self-destruction.
He had lost count of how many times he had dragged Matthew out of this bar. He had even taken away his weapons, just to make sure his brother couldn't do something irreversible during his darkest moments.
The man who had once been stubborn, disciplined, and dependable was now asleep at a table before the night was even over.
John grabbed a glass of water and poured it over his brother's head.
Matthew shot awake.
"Who the hell—"
The anger vanished when he saw John standing there.
"John?"
He blinked.
"Did... did you put on makeup?"
A confused frown crossed his face.
"You look happy."
Every other time John came here, he wore the same cold expression while dragging Matthew home.
Tonight was different.
And Matthew wasn't sure if he was awake enough to understand why.
"Wake up, you drunken idiot," John said. "Before you drown in that bottle. If Ava saw you like this—"
"Shut the fuck up, John!"
The entire bar went silent.
Matthew pushed himself upright, swaying as he pointed at his brother.
"Don't you ever say her name."
His voice cracked.
"I'm sorry I'm not like you. I don't have a heart made of stone."
His eyes filled with tears.
"I can't move on like you did."
He looked down.
"I'm stuck, John."
A pause.
"We lost everything."
John didn't interrupt.
He simply waited.
Eventually, Matthew wiped his face and looked back up.
"We haven't lost everything."
Matthew laughed bitterly.
"Are you fucking delusional?"
He looked around the room.
"Look around. It's just us two idiots left."
His voice lowered.
"Everyone we loved is gone."
Then he looked at John.
"How long are you going to keep lying to yourself?"
A painful silence filled the room.
"Max is gone."
Years of searching had worn Matthew down. He knew this world. He knew how cruel it was.
And he knew Max.
A kind child in a world like this...
That was a death sentence.
Matthew had accepted it long ago.
The only reason he was still alive was because he feared what would happen to John if he lost him too.
But John never accepted it.
He never stopped searching.
No matter the cost.
Matthew remembered exactly what John had done to take Alexandria.
How he had used Deanna's own son against her.
How, once he had power, he eliminated everyone who stood against him.
Deanna.
Her husband.
Her sons.
Everyone loyal to her.
She had been too trusting.
Too kind.
John had used that kindness without hesitation.
Matthew stared at him.
Then John spoke.
"I found Max."
The room seemed to stop.
"He's alive."
Matthew's expression collapsed into disbelief.
He grabbed John's shoulders.
"Is that fucking true?"
His voice shook.
"Don't you dare lie to me."
John smiled.
"He's alive. He's with Rick Grimes' group in Georgia."
Matthew's legs gave out.
He fell back into the chair.
For a moment, he simply stared.
Then his eyes changed.
Like someone had finally turned a light on in the darkness.
A smile slowly spread across his face.
"Say that again."
He needed to hear it.
Just once more.
To know it was real.
John laughed.
"Max is alive."
He placed a hand on Matthew's shoulder.
"Come on. Don't you want to meet him?"
Matthew was on his feet instantly.
The alcohol.
The exhaustion.
The grief.
All of it disappeared.
"Then why the hell are we still standing here?"
He looked toward the door.
"Get the cars ready! I want to hold him myself!"
John laughed.
"Everything's already prepared, dumbass. We've been waiting for you."
"Then what are we waiting for?"
Matthew ran out of the bar.
For the first time in years...
Matthew walked out ahead of his brother.
And John couldn't stop smiling.