Jordyn and Marnie are back for season three, enjoy! :)
Chapter 1: It Takes A Prison Not To Break
Jordyn never thought she would be so happy to see a prison.
Rick and Daryl had spotted it while out hunting. Food was becoming even harder to find and what they did find was on the very edge of being edible. But Daryl could always be counted on for finding them something. Whether it was an owl, a deer, or squirrels, he never came back from a hunt empty handed. And this time, as well as two hares for dinner, he and Rick came back with news of the prison.
The look on Rick's face when he told his group of the prison was as close to happy as Jordyn had seen him in months. Winter had been tough on all of them. Hopping from house to house to search for supplies or, in the case of the sturdier homes, shelter.
The one good thing about winter was that it slowed down the walkers. So many of them got stuck in the snow of their own accord, but during the snowstorms they would fall over and not be able to get back up. It provided Jordyn and her friends with excellent target practice. Some walkers had even appeared frozen, but Jordyn hadn't stuck around to see what would happen to them once the snow melted.
The farm seemed like a lifetime ago to Jordyn. They'd lost Andrea, Shane, Jimmy and Patricia that night. And almost Hershel, too, but Rick had coerced him to leave his farm for the sake of his daughters. But the group hadn't found a safe place since like that since.
Now, the group stood just across the river from the prison that had Rick so energized. Jordyn stood next to Lori, the pair of them each clasping one of Marnie's hands. Lori had become so skinny, but her belly was nearly bursting as she came to the end of her pregnancy. To Jordyn it seemed that holding Marnie's hand provided Lori with more support than the other way around.
It didn't take a genius to figure out that Lori needed to be still; which was exactly why Rick had said he wanted them to make an attempt to overtake the prison. It struck Jordyn as funny that the ideal place for Lori to give birth was likely going to be a jail.
Jordyn scanned the prison yard. It was dotted with walkers shuffling around inside the external fence. They all wore the same greyish-blue prison jumpsuit and didn't seem to be doing much of anything. Most just stood on the spot gently swaying back and forth, some wandering up and down the grass until they hit the fence. Then they would turn around and wander the other way.
Jordyn glanced down at Marnie. She was watching the walkers, too. But she wasn't scared. She'd stopped being scared of seeing them when they were a safe distance away. She'd stopped being scared of a lot of things after the farm had burned away to nothing.
"We can take them down," Rick was saying to the group. He stood with his back to all of them, keeping his sharp eyes on the prison. "We just gotta make our way inside and we can take 'em all down from within. No bullets; just blades. Save the bullets for when we get inside."
Jordyn had three weapons: her rifle, an axe and a pistol. She'd been good with saving bullets in the last few weeks and become much better at hand to hand combat with the walkers through winter. One good swipe with a sharp axe and she could slice off a head.
"Do you think they have food?" Marnie whispered up to Lori.
Lori stroked her head. "I hope so, sweetheart."
In the past months as Lori had become less and less mobile, Jordyn had had to step up her game. She needed to scout perimeters with Maggie, do supply runs with Glenn, and help Daryl hunt. And to do that, she had to leave her sister with Lori. At first the separation had been hardest on Jordyn, but it didn't faze the Lori or Marnie. Lori was a mother, just what Marnie needed.
"Even if we can just get into one block…" Rick's voice had an edge to it, an excitement. A surge of adrenaline and purpose; something he had been slowly losing as the months had worn on. Rick turned around to face his people, his eyes gleaming. "Glenn, Jordyn get the tools. We'll leave the cars here and come back for them."
Jordyn nodded and dropped Marnie's hand and followed Glenn back to her truck - she had stopped thinking of it as Merle's. Their food supply was almost non-existent. They didn't have a lot of food saved, most of the time they relied on Daryl's hunting. But tools were a different story. Every home they ransacked usually had a hammer or an axe somewhere. The group rarely left a tool behind if they came across it.
From the truck Glenn took some wire cutters and a spool of red wire, Jordyn grabbed her axe from the dashboard and then grabbed two extra axes from the back for the others. Finally, from its place right by her leg in the driver's seat, she grabbed her rifle and looped it over her shoulder.
"This might work," Glenn said as he loosened the red wire so it was easier to unspool. "We could take down that prison. I mean, together all of us have taken down hundreds of walkers."
"Yeah," Jordyn couldn't hide her grin. It was definitely a chance worth taking for the payoff if they succeeded. "Anyway, people are always bitching about overcrowded prisons. We're just culling the numbers to keep the people happy."
Glenn playfully nudged her with his shoulder and they headed back to the group. He was stronger now, musclier. Nearly a year fighting for his survival with Maggie at his side had done him well. Jordyn had always thought of him as adaptable, and he was yet to prove her wrong. But really, all of them had adapted. They'd had to.
Rick had hardened over winter, he was always on guard. He didn't ever seem at ease. Not even with Lori. Carl was hardened, too. He very much saw himself as a protector of the group, like his father, as opposed to one who needed to be protected. After finding peace over losing Sophia, Carol had turned her energy into learning whatever Hershel could teach her about medicine.
Daryl hadn't really changed. In fact, Jordyn thought he seemed more comfortable now than he had the year before when all the madness started. In a weird way, she felt he was made for a world gone to hell.
It suited him.
So far, the walkers hadn't changed either. They were about the only thing in the new world that hadn't. Over winter, Jordyn wondered if the walkers, like the living, adapted to their surroundings; if they would grow stronger or learn how to run and catch up with anyone lucky enough to still be alive. But it hadn't happened yet. They were still slow, shuffling corpses out for blood.
Jordyn and Glenn arrived back at the group as Rick was giving his orders. "We stay tight around Lori and Marnie until we get through the first fence."
There were two fences between the group and the walkers. Basically, it was a circular, outdoor hallway. One side of it kept the inmates contained, and the other presumably for the security guards to keep an eye on their prisoners without worry for their safety.
"Do not break formation," Rick continued as he readied his gun. "Only kill the walker if it's right on you." He caught the eye line of everyone in his group. "We ready?"
Jordyn handed one of the extra axes to Maggie and the other to T-Dog, and then they started off. They crossed around the river and made their way towards the prison perimeter fence. Daryl was on Jordyn's left with his crossbow, Maggie on her right with an axe. One of Jordyn's hands was gripping the handle of her own axe, the other hand was twisted behind her back clinging to Marnie's shoulder. Jordyn wanted her sister as close to her body as possible.
"Move, move," Rick urged them all forwards, paving a way towards the fence.
Walkers outside of the prison spotted the group and started shuffling towards them. Jordyn quickly counted ten or fifteen walkers on her side, but none were that close to pose any immediate danger. She did as Rick ordered and kept formation.
The group made it to the fence, and now was the real test. Their circle rearranged to protect Glenn as he cut a hole in the chain link while the rest of them could only stand there waiting, and watching the walkers get closer and closer.
Jordyn knew which walker she would kill first, it seemed to have its eyes on her: a black haired guy missing an arm with his ribcage busting through his rotted skin. He didn't have a lot of control over his arms, even for a walker, but he tried to reach out for Jordyn as he stumbled closer to her. His elbows bent backwards and most of his fingers were gone. When he was within a few feet of the group, Jordyn lunged forward and swiped her axe straight through his neck. His headless corpse fell lifelessly at her feet.
"Nice swipe," Daryl said as he fired an arrow into a bald walker dragging it's leg along the ground.
He was teasing her, she knew that. He said that almost every time she swiped a head clean off a walker because it had taken her months to actually do it for the first time. Generally, after her first swipe stuck, she had stop and try to yank the axe out of the walkers head. Often she didn't have enough time before more walkers were on her tail, so she had had to just give up and leg it. She'd lost quite a few axes that way.
"Got it!" Glenn said.
Jordyn turned and helped Rick hold open the gap in the fence. Jordyn yanked her sister through and pushed Lori and Carl in right behind her. Carol ushered Beth through and then ducked in herself. Hershel followed, then Maggie, T-Dog and Daryl. Rick nodded to Jordyn to go in next, and then the Sheriff stepped through. Glenn was last. As soon as he got on the other side he began to loop the red wire through the sliced chain link to close off the hole.
A female walker growled and threw her body against the fence. Other walkers, who had seen this wandering group of human dinner, began to do the same. Making sure Marnie was away from the fences, Jordyn pulled the hunting knife from her waistband and stabbed the female walker straight through her skull between her eyes. She stopped groaning and sagged against the fence. When Jordyn yanked out her knife, the body fell heavily to the ground.
Glenn finished tying off the red wire and then he and Jordyn brought up the rear of the group as they jogged along the security fence. The Inmate-walkers spotted them and were making their way for the fence while walkers outside were slowly following them along the outer fence.
Jordyn kept looking over her shoulder as she jogged to make sure the red wire would hold the fence closed. The walker she had killed was still slumped right in front of it. Ahead of her, Jordyn saw Beth clutching Marnie's hand to keep her running.
The group came to a stop at a watchtower where the fence was still holding the walkers on either sides of the fence at bay. A large truck had been turned over inside the prison grounds. Jordyn could see the entrance into the prison from the yard; it was a sliding gate that was wide open. walkers were shuffling from the inside out into the yard.
"Just gotta close that fence," Rick said. "It's perfect, we just shut that gate to keep more from filling the yard." He turned to his group with hints of a smile tugging at a corner of his mouth. "We can pick off these walkers and we'll take the outside by tonight."
"How do we shut the gate?" Jordyn asked.
"I'll do it," Glenn volunteered. "You guys cover me."
"No," Maggie shook her head. "Suicide run."
"I'm the fastest," Glenn said.
"No, she's right," Rick told Glenn. "You, Maggie, Beth and T-Dog lure as many walkers as you can back up the way we came. Kill 'em through the fence." Rick slid the rifle off his back and handed it to Carol. "Daryl, Jordyn, Carol go back to the other watchtower but take your time. We don't got a lot of ammo to waste." Rick turned to his son. "Carl, you and Hershel take this tower. I'll run for the gate."
Lori looked extra pale but nodded. "Be careful."
"You hang onto Lori, okay?" Jordyn told Marnie as she handed her axe to Hershel and her knife to Beth.
"I know," Marnie said, but she was distracted all the walkers closing in around them.
"Hey," Jordyn knelt forwards and tilted Marnie's face towards hers. "We'll be inside soon and all these walkers will be gone."
"C'mon," Daryl nudged her from behind.
Jordyn kissed Marnie's forehead. "I'll be right back." She turned to Daryl and, along with Carol, the three of them jogged to the opposite end of the security fence to the other watchtower. There was a door leading inside, Daryl had it open with one solid kick and then quickly checked to make sure it was clear before calling Carol and Jordyn through.
The trio ran up the staircase to the top and each took a position out on the balcony. It had been awhile since Jordyn had used her rifle. Most of the walkers she had come across in the last few months were up close, perfect fodder for her learning to slice and dice with her axe and hunting knife.
Setting up her rifle was like riding a bike, Jordyn remembered exactly how to use it without even thinking. She took the strap off her shoulder, positioned her hands, closed one eye and peered through the scope. In a second she had lined up a walker's head right in the target. She fired, and the walker collapsed. Jordyn grinned to herself and set up another shot.
Through her scope, Jordyn could see Rick zigzagging this way across the field towards the open gate shooting down walkers as he ran. Carl and Hershel were up on the other tower balcony expertly shooting down the inmates to keep Rick's path clear. And Glenn, Maggie, Beth and T-Dog had lured most of the walkers to the fence with all their yelling and were killing them through the fence with axes and blades.
Jordyn kept her eyes on Rick as he made it to the gate, slid it shut and locked it up tight with a chain they had picked up from one of the houses they'd stayed in. Then he backed into the inner watchtower. Jordyn held her breath for a few seconds and then exhaled in relief when she saw Rick come out on the top level balcony.
"He did it!" Carol almost laughed.
"Light it up!" Daryl yelled out across the field.
The cue had everyone with a gun shooting walkers. Even Lori. Jordyn could see her shielding Marnie with her body as she fired her handgun through the heads of the walkers closest to her section of fence.
The sound of gunfire echoed through the air, and for the first time in awhile, Jordyn was having fun. With not a lot to do these days for entertainment, she'd learned to take what little pleasure she could out of what was now a daily task in killing walkers. She had a great shot lined up for a guy with a red ponytail, but as she was about to shoot when through the scope she saw an arrow go through his head. He fell before she even got to fire. "Hey!" She turned to Daryl who was smirking and loading up another arrow.
"Assface," Jordyn muttered and went back to shooting. A guy with a bad Mohawk was her next victim, then a man with tattoos all over his face, then a really pale white guy without either of his arms. She was searching for a fourth, but through the scope she just kept seeing crumpled bodies. The gunfire quieted, the last gunshot's echo evaporated into silence. All the walkers, on either sides of the fence, were dead. For good, this time.
Everyone in the watchtowers hurried back down and met everyone at the tipped over truck. Lori slid open the gate and ushered them all through into the prison grounds. "C'mon, Goober," Jordyn took Marnie's hand and led her into the prison grounds. It was a welcome change to have so much room to move around and not have to be taking down walkers every few steps.
"Look at all this space!" Carol grinned. "We haven't had this much room since the farm!"
Marnie was practically skipping to keep up with her sister. "They can't get through the fence?" She asked.
"They'd have to figure out how to climb first," Daryl answered her as he fell into step by Jordyn. "No chance of that."
"Yay!" Marnie let go of Jordyn's hand and ran on ahead towards Lori.
Jordyn moved to grab her but Daryl stopped her. "She can run now," he said. "Nothin's gonna grab her in here."
"Alright!" Rick addressed everyone. "We'll stay out here under the stars tonight, then tomorrow we'll start heading inside. We'll do it block by block, cell by cell if we have to."
"I'll go back and get our stuff." Jordyn volunteered. Their three cars and Daryl's bike were still across the river.
"Gotta get my bike," Daryl said. "I'll come with."
"Same," Maggie replied. Then she looked to her sister. "Beth, wanna drive the hatchback?"
Beth nodded and gave Maggie a tired smile. "Sure."
Jordyn started to go towards Marnie to tell her sister, again, that she would be back soon, but when she saw her she held back.
Marnie was spinning on the spot, giggling and holding her arms out as far as they would go. Jordyn immediately flashed back to the last time she had seen her sister do spin like that. It had been months ago with Andrea, just after they had found Marnie. After a long stint of driving, Andrea pulled them to a stop at a gas station and got out of the car with Marnie to stretch her legs. Jordyn had been asleep in the car with Daryl, and when she woke up and saw her sister twirling she had become instantly frantic. Spinning around like that out in the open was like waving a banner to the walkers.
But inside the prison, Marnie could spin and spin to her hearts' content. Even if the walkers outside could see her, they couldn't get to her. So instead of interrupting her sister's spinning, Jordyn let her be. It was just like Daryl had said; nothing was going to grab her in here.