twd: the last silence

Chapter 111 – Tell Me What Happened

The room was silent when Rick stood at the head of the meeting table.

It wasn't one of those tense silences, not at first. Just the kind of hush that falls when everyone knows something serious is about to be said. Rick had that look on his face — the one he wore when people were about to hear something they wouldn't like.

Axel sat in one of the chairs, leaning back, arms crossed behind his head, the usual smirk tugging at his lips.

But something was off.

He looked around the room, scanning faces.

Daryl. Michonne. Gabriel. Aaron.

Even Eugene was standing in the back, quiet, waiting.

But there was one face missing.

Maggie.

Axel frowned and leaned forward, lowering his arms. His fingers tapped against the table.

Rick cleared his throat. "We've gathered because… things have changed."

Axel didn't speak. Not yet.

Rick continued, "Two days ago, something—or someone—showed up near Hilltop. We don't know what it was. It didn't come through the walls. It didn't set off alarms. But people started disappearing. Then came the blood."

The mood in the room shifted.

Daryl looked down.

Michonne crossed her arms, uneasy.

Rick hesitated. His voice dropped lower, rougher. "Maggie was attacked. We found her half-conscious in the woods. She barely made it out alive."

It was a simple sentence.

But it was enough.

Axel stood up. His chair scraped harshly against the floor.

"What the hell?" he growled.

Everyone looked at him. His voice was sharp, dangerous. But what scared them more wasn't the words.

It was the look in his eyes.

Gone was the smirk.

Gone was the playful, half-mocking man they knew.

Now… there was something else.

The kind of rage that didn't come with yelling.

The kind of fury that didn't make noise.

It made fear.

Rick took a step forward. "Axel—"

"No," Axel interrupted, his voice low. "Don't 'Axel' me. Tell me what the fuck happened. When I was gone. In detail. Everything."

The tension in the room was thick.

Even Daryl tensed up.

Rick met Axel's eyes. And he nodded.

"We had been watching the borders, keeping patrols. Ever since Alpha and the Whisperers fell, things were calm. Quiet. But about ABOUT a week ago, people started vanishing from nearby farms. No bodies. No noise. No trace."

Axel's fists clenched.

Rick continued, "Maggie went to investigate herself with a small group. They never made it back. We found two of them dead. Slashed to pieces. And Maggie… she was barely breathing."

He looked down for a second, then met Axel's stare again. "Whoever did it didn't just want her dead. They wanted her scared."

Axel didn't say anything.

He just stood there, breathing slowly.

His jaw was tight. His eyes were burning.

Then, he said, "Where is she now?"

"Infirmary," Gabriel replied from the back. "She's stable, but bruised up bad."

"Was it walkers?" Axel asked.

Rick shook his head. "No. This wasn't walkers. The cuts were too precise. Too intentional."

"So a person?"

"Or something like one."

Axel didn't move for a long time.

Then he turned his back on the table, started pacing like a wolf in a cage. His voice was colder than ice. "You're telling me… I leave for a few goddamn days… and someone puts their filthy hands on her?"

No one responded.

They didn't need to.

Axel stopped pacing. He turned to Rick, face calm, but his voice carried weight.

"What else?"

Rick exhaled. "We've found signs of others. Symbols carved into trees. Burn marks in circles. We think someone — or something — is marking land."

Daryl added, "Almost like a damn warning."

Axel looked to him. "You recognize the symbol?"

Daryl shook his head. "No one does. But it ain't the Whisperers. And it ain't Negan's old crew."

Axel's fingers twitched toward the hilt of his katana.

Michonne noticed it. She stepped in. "Axel, we're going to find whoever did this."

He nodded. But his eyes said something else.

He didn't want to find them.

He wanted to hunt them.

There was a difference.

A dangerous one.

Rick walked over and put a hand on Axel's shoulder. "I know how much she means to you. But we do this right. Not out of revenge. We gather intel. We strike smart."

Axel turned his head slowly.

He wasn't yelling.

He wasn't pushing anyone.

But Rick's hand fell away anyway.

Axel said, "I don't do revenge. I do justice."

He walked to the door.

Stopped.

Turned back to them, eyes burning.

"I'll go see her. But after that, I'm going hunting. And when I find out who did this…"

He didn't finish the sentence.

He didn't have to.

Everyone understood.

Blood was coming.

And Axel would be the storm that brought it.

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