However, Calista had misjudged Andrea's intentions.
Andrea walked up to Beth, but instead of offering comfort or encouragement like most people would, she simply looked at her.
In Beth's lifeless expression, Andrea saw a reflection of herself after Amy's death, when she had been consumed by grief and self-destructive thoughts.
A twisted sense of empathy, rooted in her own experience, took hold.
"Beth, you feel like there's no point in living anymore, don't you?" Andrea said.
Beth slowly raised her head. Her empty eyes held no light as she stared at Andrea in silence.
Andrea sat down beside her, gazing into the distance as if recalling the past, or simply stating a truth.
"When Amy died, I felt the same way. Every day I kept asking myself why it was her and not me. What's the point of living if all there is is pain?"
Her tone was calm, but there was a numbness in it, the kind that comes after absolute despair.
"I tried to end it. The gun was in my hand. It was loaded. I know that feeling."
Beth's lashes trembled slightly, as if something in those words had reached her.
Andrea turned to look at her. There was no encouragement, no attempt to stop her, only a cold kind of understanding.
"No one can make this decision for you, Beth. The world's already gone mad. Living is suffering. Dying… might be a release. If you really feel like you can't go on…"
She paused, her voice lowering into something almost like a whisper.
"Then choose for yourself. Keep dragging yourself along like a walking corpse, or end it cleanly. At least the choice is yours."
Those words did not pull Beth back. Instead, they gave her chaotic pain a clear and terrifying direction.
Her beliefs had already collapsed. Her father's helplessness, her sister finding someone else to rely on, the uncertainty of the future.
All of it, under Andrea's so-called understanding and talk of choice, condensed into a destructive impulse.
A flash of resolve crossed Beth's eyes.
She suddenly stood up, did not look at Andrea, and stumbled toward the tool shed beside the farmhouse.
Andrea watched her go without moving, her expression calm, almost pitying, as if she understood.
Everything was seen by Calista and Leah, who had just come around near the shed.
They only saw Beth rush inside in an agitated state, while Andrea stayed where she was.
At first, Calista thought Beth just needed space to calm down.
But Leah immediately sensed something was wrong.
The look in Beth's eyes had not been simple grief. It was desperation, like she had already made up her mind.
"Something's wrong," Leah said quietly, already quickening her pace.
Calista reacted at once, and the two of them rushed toward the shed.
Just as they reached the door, they heard a muffled groan from inside.
"Beth!" Calista's heart tightened as she shoved the door open.
What they saw made both of them suck in a sharp breath.
Beth was slumped on the floor, her back against a shelf. A deep gash on her left wrist was pouring blood.
A small pool of bright red had already formed on the ground.
She still clutched a blood-stained razor blade in her hand. Her face was pale, her eyes unfocused, carrying a strange mix of release and a hint of regret.
"Damn it." Calista instantly understood.
That was not comfort. Andrea had pushed her over the edge.
"Leah!"
Calista rushed forward, grabbed the blade from Beth's hand, and threw it aside. At the same time, she pressed hard on Beth's bleeding wrist to slow the blood loss.
Leah moved even faster.
She tore a strip from the inner layer of her shirt beneath the tactical vest, twisted it tight, and secured it above the wound on Beth's wrist to stop the bleeding.
"Maggie! Hershel! Get over here!" Calista shouted toward the farmhouse.
Beth seemed to regain a bit of awareness under the sudden intervention.
She looked at her bleeding wrist, then at Calista and Leah.
The faint regret in her eyes quickly turned into fear. A desperate resistance to death surfaced.
Tears mixed with sweat ran down her face.
She struggled weakly and murmured, "No… I don't want to…"
Maggie and Glenn were the first to arrive, followed closely by Hershel, Rick, and the others.
When Maggie saw the wound on Beth's wrist and the blood on the floor, she let out a piercing scream and nearly collapsed. Glenn caught her just in time.
"Beth! Oh God, Beth!"
Hershel rushed forward, tears streaming down his face. His hands trembled as he reached out, not even daring to touch her at first.
"Leah stopped the bleeding. We need clean cloth and disinfectant. Now," Calista said quickly to Rick, keeping her voice steady.
The scene fell into chaos, but thanks to Calista and Leah's quick actions, the rescue began immediately.
Maggie forced herself to hold it together as she and Glenn brought over the first aid kit.
Hershel, despite his initial breakdown, pulled himself together. With Leah assisting, he began cleaning the wound and applying proper bandaging.
Once the bleeding was under control and Beth slipped into unconsciousness from blood loss and shock, the tension finally eased.
Then came the anger.
Maggie suddenly stood up, her eyes locking onto Andrea, who had been standing at the shed entrance the entire time, her expression complicated but composed.
"It was you, wasn't it, Andrea? I was gone for barely a moment. What did you say to Beth?!"
Maggie rushed forward like an enraged lioness, her voice shaking with fury.
"Did you feed her that garbage again? All that crap about death and choice? Did you tell her to kill herself?!"
Andrea tried to defend herself.
"I just told her what I went through. I understand her pain. I gave her a choice…"
"A choice?" Maggie snapped. "You call that a choice? You were pushing her straight into hell!"
Everything Maggie had been holding back exploded at once.
"You lost your sister, but that doesn't give you the right to poison mine with your twisted thinking! Do you even realize how young she is?
She just lost her mother and her brother. Everything she believed in is gone. What she needs is hope. She needs a reason to live. Not your sick idea of 'release'!"
Her voice rose, raw with emotion.
"Get away from her. Stay away from my sister. Stay away from all of us!"
Maggie did not hold back at all.