Alden is part of a group consisting of Daryl, Elijah, Maggie, Carol, Jerry, Rosita, Lydia, Gabriel, Gage, Roy, Kelly, and Magna who raid the abandoned Fort Connors military base for food supplies. Alden and Daryl hoist the packs up. A pulley snaps. Daryl grabs the backpack before it can fall on top of the walkers, but he cuts himself on the arm, and a drop of his blood lands on a walker. The walker stirs, rousing all the other walkers in the room. Maggie's group starts slaying the walkers. Daryl and Alden hoist the crew up to safety one by one. After the mission, Alden returns to Alexandria with his fellow survivors.
Alden joins the mission to salvage food and water from Meridian to feed the large population in Alexandria. Part of a group consisting of Maggie, Daryl, Gage, Cole, Elijah, Roy, Negan, Frost, Duncan, Agatha, and Gabriel, the survivors utilize Negan's familiarity with the DC area to travel to Meridian. Due to the heavy rain storm, the survivors are forced to head into the subway tunnels to complete the journey. While in the tunnels, they come across hundreds of body bags, many containing walkers in them. At some point while dispatching the body bag walkers, Gage and Roy go missing, along with the group's ammo and supplies. Shortly after this realization, a large group of walkers appear, forcing the other survivors to move forward in the tunnel without being able to search for Gage or Roy.
Alden and the rest of the group makes it inside the train car, but finds that the doors to the adjacent car are rusted shut. When Negan comes down, the group inquires about Maggie's whereabouts, to which Negan claims she was right behind him. Alden wishes to go back up and get her, but Frost dissuades him from this, as he considers it suicidal. Although clearly upset, Gabriel decides to continue the mission.
When they open the trap door, Maggie climbs into the subway car, revealed to have survived. Furious, she pistol-whips Negan for his betrayal, and explains to the others what had happened. Negan readily admits his culpability. Alden accuses Negan of trying to kill Maggie, but the latter corrects him, explaining that he simply opted not to save her when she was in trouble. The other Wardens threaten Negan, but he remains unrepentant, noting that Maggie openly admitted to wanting him dead. With that in mind, he doesn't see why he should have risked his life for her. He goes on to point out he has been a great asset to the group.
Alden reminds him that he burned Hilltop to the ground, but Negan retorts that he also killed Alpha and that, if he hadn't, every person they know would be dead. Agatha offers to kill Negan, assuring Maggie that they can get through the city without him. Before anything can happen, they hear someone yelling for help from the back of the train car. They find Gage trapped in the last car, unable to open the door. He explains that he and Roy got lost in the tunnels. Gage, however, neglected to close the door behind him when he entered the car, allowing walkers to pour in. Negan asks for help to pry the door open and let Gage in, but Maggie opposes this, as this would also allow walkers to get inside their car as well.
In spite of this, Alden tries to help Negan open the door, but is prevented from doing so by Duncan. Gage pleads with Maggie to save him, apologizing for his mistake and promising to do better. Alden also tries pleading with Maggie, but she is adamant that they don't have the ammo to clear the walkers. Gabriel supports Maggie's decision, while she regretfully informs Gage that she can't open the door for him. Bitter, Gage calls her a liar, before stabbing himself in the chest to spare himself the pain of being torn apart by walkers, which he is shortly after.
As Frost and Duncan try to open the door to the front car, Alden notices the group is avoiding looking at Gage, who has reanimated and wonders why. Gabriel coldly states that the zombified Gage is merely a shell of a man who died a coward. Alden protests that, while Gage might have been scared, he didn't deserve to die in the worst way imaginable. Maggie then says that there are worse ways to go and tells a story from her time alone with Hershel of a worse way to die than Gage did.
Alden and the rest of the group gets ready to fight the walkers. The door to the rear car finally breaks under the horde's mass, and walkers begin to descend on the survivors. Out of ammo, the survivors must resort to melee weapons. Luckily, Daryl reaches the blocked door in time and is able to open it. Once everyone's inside, he shoves a grenade into a walkers mouth and pushes it into the horde, before slamming the door shut and taking cover. In the ensuing explosion, the remaining walkers are killed.
Alden and the group finally makes it to the surface. Upon arriving to their location, the group is alarmed by the sight of bodies strung up all along the road they're on. Suddenly, the group is showered with arrows and throwing knives, killing Roy, and severely injuring Cole. As the group scrambles for cover, they see a group of Reapers advancing towards them.
- "Hunted"
As the Reapers unleash their attack, the group scatters into the woods. Alden, Negan, and Gabriel are injured, while Cole is killed by one of the Reapers. As the group scatters, Alden manages to reach the shopping mall, where Maggie joins up with him, but before they can even catch their breath, both are attacked by a pair of Reapers. Maggie struggles against the Reaper she encountered earlier, but is eventually able to stab him in the neck with a broken bottle. Out of nowhere, Negan helps Maggie by finishing the Reaper off with his crowbar. Maggie throws a knife into the back of the remaining Reaper, but before they can kill him, the Reaper throws a flashbang, stunning both Negan and Maggie.
In the brief moments it takes them to recover, they find the Reaper gone, along with the body of the Reaper they managed to kill. Rushing to Alden's aid, Maggie finds that he has been gravely injured in the attack. Maggie tries to help Alden up, but Negan is flabbergasted that Maggie wants to keep going. He asks what the plan is, to which Maggie resolutely replies the plan doesn't change; they will reunite with the others and then retrieve the food. Negan retorts that the others might be dead, and lambasts Maggie's plan.
Knowing quite a bit about theatrics, he observes that the Reapers demonstrated just how insane they are, and warns that they can't be on any road they might use. Maggie snaps back at Negan and invites him to come up with a better plan that doesn't result in them starving. Negan assures Maggie he is on her side, so Maggie asks him to help her carry Alden.
After taking a short break, Maggie determines they have 2 miles left to reach their destination. Continuing on, they hear a woman's screams while she's fighting walkers. Maggie and Alden hurry to help, much to Negan's chagrin. The woman turns out to be Agatha, defending a mortally wounded Duncan, who then dies of his earlier wounds and Maggie puts him down.
As the group continues on, Alden asks Maggie if she's okay. Maggie assures him she can handle Negan, but this isn't what Alden was talking about. He suspects that Alexandria isn't what Maggie thought she'd be coming home to, or the place she told Hershel about. Maggie says that not much surprises her anymore, but the destruction of Hilltop did. She adds that she isn't sure Hershel is surprised by a lot of things, either. Alden assures Maggie she'll rebuild it even better than it was, and that it will probably be done by the time Adam is old enough to remember.
Maggie is surprised but delighted Alden is raising a child. Before Alden can tell Maggie what to do in case he dies, she cuts him off by promising to start the rebuilding process as soon as they get back. Soon, they arrive to the sight of a walker tied to a stake and charred to the bone. The sign above labels the walker as a "Judas". Suddenly, the group is surrounded by walkers. They try to fight their way out, but Agatha is bitten in the process. To ensure the others escape, Agatha sacrifices herself to the walkers. Negan forcibly pulls Maggie away as the walkers descend on Agatha, eating her alive.
Walking down the road, Maggie spots a church and decides they will take a break there. Inside, Maggie can sense Negan wants to leave Alden behind, so she shoots the idea right off the bat. Alden, however, implores her to do so, as he is slowing them down. Alden goes on to state that he walked away from Negan and the Saviors and joined Maggie because he trusts her to do the right thing, no matter how much it costs her. The supplies, Alden determines, are the only thing that matters, as without them their community starves, including Adam. Maggie says that Adam needs a father, but Alden retorts that he's not likely to make it out of Meridian alive being as injured as he is, and asks that she leave him like she left Gage.
Maggie replies that Gage made his choice, to which Alden states that he is making his. Alden goes on to state that, if the plan fails, everything she worked for will have been for nothing, and Adam's fate is less than certain. Negan interjects, pointing out that the sun is going down and that Maggie needs to make a decision. Snapping back, Maggie supposes being reckless with another's life is easy for Negan. She firmly tells him he doesn't get to decide who lives and who dies anymore. She goes on to blame the situation on him, claiming Negan destroyed everything they've built. Negan is undeterred and insists she still has to decide nonetheless. With a heavy heart, Maggie decides to leave Alden after all, albeit with food and a knife to defend himself.
After defeating the Reapers, Maggie returns to the church for Alden. As Maggie enters the church, she is attacked by a reanimated Reaper whom she quickly puts down. To Maggie's sorrow, she discovers a reanimated Alden crawling along the floor, Alden and the Reaper having killed each other. Crying, Maggie stabs Alden in the head and puts him down.
Maggie subsequently buries Alden's body nearby.
