Why? Because they could. Because even the toughest deserved a break, and maybe—just maybe—they’d be fools not to take advantage of an untouched stretch of sand and sea.

Aaron and Daryl had stumbled on the place during a run: an unfinished resort tucked away behind scaffolding and construction fences, overgrown but empty. The walkers hadn’t gotten in, and for once, it felt like a gift.

Now, everyone was here.

The Virginia Beach air carried salt and gull cries, cool water licking the shore in steady rhythms. The sand was rough but warm underfoot, and even if the Atlantic was cold as hell, it didn’t stop them from acting like, for one afternoon, the world hadn’t ended. Carol had even managed to scrounge up swimwear from the abandoned resort shop, mismatched but passable.

Rick and Michonne sat on a picnic blanket near the tide, shoulders brushing as they shared quiet smiles. Daryl stretched out on a lounge chair someone had dragged from the resort poolside, a beer dangling in his hand as if the whole scene was foreign to him. “Ain’t my kinda place,” he muttered, squinting at the horizon. Aaron chuckled nearby. “Yeah, but it beats killing walkers for a few hours, right?” Daryl only grunted in reply, though he didn’t move from the chair.

At the water’s edge, Carl coaxed Judith toward the waves, her tiny hands gripping his. “C’mon, Judith, it’s not that bad. Look, I’ll go first.” He waded in up to his knees with a dramatic splash, grinning back at her. Judith only frowned, clutching her sunhat tighter, earning a laugh from Tara behind them.

Speaking of Tara—she was half-buried in the cooler, fishing out beers until she found one with condensation still clinging to the can. She tossed it over to Gabriel. He fumbled, almost dropping it, then gave her a helpless smile. “I don’t usually…” he started. Tara just smirked. “Relax, padre. Nobody’s judging you today.”

A few yards away, Rosita was red-faced, putting her lungs into a beach ball as Maggie steadied it between her hands. “Almost there,” Maggie encouraged, her voice lighter than it had been in weeks. Rosita pulled the plug free and let out a groan. “If it deflates in five minutes, I’m killing it.” Maggie laughed—really laughed—and the sound carried out over the waves like sunlight.

For one day, it was almost normal.