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The sun rose, but the unease didn't lift.
The sick had stabilized thanks to fast treatment, and the two most critical patients were sitting up by dawn—but no one was celebrating.
Because everyone knew now: someone inside had tried to poison them.
And the walls of The Right Arm, once a symbol of security, suddenly felt smaller.
Rick's Office – Morning Briefing
Rick paced slowly, eyes fixed on the table. The bundle of dried foxglove still sat sealed in a jar. Sarah, Morgan, and Glenn sat nearby.
"Someone brought this in, prepped it, and hid the leftovers behind the kitchen shelf," Sarah explained. "That's not random. That's knowledge."
Glenn added, "There's no record of who had food prep duty that day. T-Dog's list had a gap. Someone either faked a shift or slipped in unnoticed."
Morgan looked up. "You think it was one of ours?"
Rick didn't answer.
Instead, he said, "Start watching movement patterns. Who lingers near storage. Who volunteers too often—or not at all. Quietly."
They all nodded.
Morgan added, "Want me to keep an eye on the Greene family too?"
Rick paused. "No. Not unless they give you reason."
Greene Quarters – Maggie's POV
Maggie stood by the water pump just outside the stable yard, rinsing her hands. She could feel eyes on her. Not from Rick. Not from Beth or Hershel.
From everyone else.
The community was polite—but guarded.
Beth had asked why that morning.
Maggie had lied. "They're just adjusting."
But Maggie knew better. Something had happened. Something big. And they hadn't been told.
As she filled the pail, Dale approached.
"You settling in?" he asked kindly.
"As much as anyone can."
"Anything strange since you got here?"
Maggie raised an eyebrow. "You think it was us."
"I think," Dale said carefully, "that sometimes good people walk into bad situations."
Maggie looked him dead in the eyes. "We didn't poison anyone. We brought you horses. And hope."
Dale nodded once. "I believe you. But not everyone will."
Mess Tent – Observation Begins
Morgan sat with Morales near the edge of the mess tent, watching quietly as meals were handed out. They weren't looking at who ate.
They were looking at who didn't.
One man—Eli, a former Homestead farmer—kept glancing toward the stew, then back at his boots. He hadn't taken a bite.
"Mark him," Morgan said.
Rick and Maggie – Shared Watch
That evening, Rick found Maggie on perimeter watch, standing beside a crossbow with her sleeves rolled up and hair tied back.
"Didn't expect to see you posted," he said.
"I asked to be here," she answered. "People whisper less when you're watching."
Rick nodded.
"You're not going to tell me what happened, are you?" Maggie asked, not looking at him.
Rick hesitated. "Something made people sick. On purpose."
"I figured."
She finally turned to face him. "You don't think it was one of us?"
"I trust what I saw at that farm."
"That's not the same as trusting us here."
Rick didn't argue. "Trust is built. You're building it."
Beth sat on the porch steps of the schoolhouse, tuning a broken guitar with quiet determination. Carl sat nearby, drawing diagrams of a possible rain collection system he and Glenn were designing.
"Do you miss the farm?" Carl asked.
Beth smiled softly. "Sometimes. But I like it here too."
"Even with the poison thing?"
Beth nodded. "You learn real fast that no place is perfect. Only that some places try harder."
Carl liked that.
Maggie's POV – The Moment
Maggie couldn't sleep.
She wandered into the storage corridor late at night, the soft glow of a single lantern guiding her path. Something had been tugging at her thoughts since Dale spoke to her.
She walked past the main pantry. Past the crates. Past the shelf where they stored the stew grains.
Then she stopped.
A boot print.
Smaller than average. Deep. Fresh.
Someone had come through here after the evening patrols were dismissed.
She knelt beside it and saw a torn thread—dark gray, woolen, caught on a nail near the bottom of a crate.
Rick's Cabin – Midnight Knock
Rick answered the door with his pistol half-drawn, only lowering it when he saw Maggie's face.
"I didn't wake anyone, did I?"
"No. Come in."
She handed him the thread and told him what she saw.
Rick stared at it. "That's from one of the older jackets—uniform jackets issued to Homestead arrivals."
He pulled open a drawer and checked a chart. "There are six left in circulation. Four accounted for."
Maggie said, "And two?"
Rick looked up at her.
"One belongs to Elias the blacksmith. The other… to Eli."
Confrontation – Morning
Rick, Morgan, and Glenn confronted Eli at his post behind the garden fence.
He didn't run. He didn't deny.
But he smiled.
"You all think you built a sanctuary," he said. "But sanctuaries breed soft people. You needed to be reminded."
Rick's jaw clenched. "Why?"
"Because you're pretending this world's gonna play fair."
Morgan looked sick. "You could've killed children."
Eli shrugged. "Maybe that's what it takes for people to stop dreaming."
Rick nodded to Daryl, who knocked Eli unconscious with the butt of his rifle.
Aftermath – Public Forum
That evening, Rick stood before the community and told the truth.
A man from Homestead had poisoned food supplies to destabilize the group. He had confessed. He would be exiled, alone, with no supplies.
"We're not killers," Rick said, "but we don't protect saboteurs."
Everyone agreed.
But the silence that followed was heavy.
Maggie – Final Thoughts
Later that night, Maggie sat at the well, staring at the sky.
Rick joined her, handing her a tin mug of water.
"You could've hidden what he did," she said.
"We almost did."
She looked at him. "But you didn't."
Rick sipped. "People don't trust walls. They trust honesty."
She smiled. "Maybe this place really does have a future."
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If you enjoy my work, consider supporting me on Ptreon for early access, exclusive chapters, and more:
15 Advanced Chapters on Patreon
patreon.com/Jayzero