Author's Note: Thanks to all that have read and double thanks to those that will continue to read. I've been left some sweet comments. Your feedback is much appreciated!
Chapter 4: Prison
Maggie's POV
We wait a good 45 minutes for everything to burn and settle. The suspense, the anticipation, whatever it is, is burning a hole in me. Once the anxiety stomach aches come, I can't take it anymore. "It is good to go?" I ask impatiently. Glenn pulls forward to get a decent view of the prison courtyard. Things are still smoking, but nothing's moving.
"Yeah, it looks about good." He verifies. He continues up the drive, running right over all the burned carcasses, up to the same spot where we were when we fled. When the cars stops, I fling the door open and slam the door behind me. Glenn and the girls follow close behind as I approach the busted down door. I walk slowly down the hall, with my knife in hand and my gun ready and loaded in my holster. There is one walker that I easily take down. But as soon as I get a good look at it through the thick, dusty air, I immediately recognize it as one of the many Woodbury survivors. A million thoughts are going through my head, but I ignore them all and focus on the task at hand. I kill about twenty five walkers, some I recognize, some I don't, though none of them are anyone I'm looking for. We come up to the C block entrance and there are sounds of walkers coming from the room. I felt strong until I reached this doorway. Now I just feel small and weak. Lizzie comes up next to me and grabs my hand.
"Come on. Let's go." She says and pulls me through the doorway. Several walkers are on the bottom floor and several more are up on the catwalk. Even more are rattling the bars in some of the cells. Glenn and I stab the immediate threats and he continues upstairs to kill the remaining ones. Meanwhile, I examine the walkers that locked themselves in before they turned. All of them are Woodbury survivors. Although it's sad, I was never close to any of them. Hell, I didn't even know half of them. Lizzie and Mika are obviously disturbed to see these people, people they knew and lived with, like this. I think I'm relieved that I didn't find them, but I can't tell if it's that or fear. I go upstairs and look in those cells. Glenn killed all the walkers, but I can still hear one.
"Glenn, where is the last one?" I ask. He comes from behind the watch tower.
"I don't know." He says. I look at the row of cells and follow the faint sound to the last one. I reach my hand inside and unlatch the door and pull it open.
"It's in here." I say. He comes up behind me. I look around.
"Top bunk." He says. I inch closer to the top bunk, nervous of what I might find. Under a blanket is something moving. I pull off the blanket and find a turned Judith, flailing around. I back away so quickly and abruptly that I knock over several things before slamming into the wall, my breathing fast and heavy. "It's okay, it's okay." He holds me by my shoulders. Mika tugs at my arm, begging me to tell her what it is.
"Please, just, just take care of it." I stutter. He pulls away and takes his knife from his belt. He very hesitantly takes the knife and drives it into the baby's head.
"What? What is it?!" Mika pleads. Glenn puts his knife back in his belt and squats down to her level.
"Baby Judith, she didn't make it." He says calmly. A grimace stretches across her face and she throws herself forward into his arms. He returns the embrace and soothes her.
"But she was just a baby." She whimpers into his shoulder.
"I know." He says. "I know." Lizzie wraps her arms around my waist and hugs me and I hug her back.
"We have to keep looking." I say, refusing to let the threatening tears make an appearance . Lizzie nods and we walk out of the cell, down the catwalk, down the stairs, and out the door, hand in hand.
Glenn's POV
The way that Maggie and Lizzie stormed out like that freaked me out a little. That's not like Maggie. Something about her is different. She's...colder. She certainly toughened up after we left the farm, but she didn't lose who she was.
"I'm scared." Mika says into my shirt.
"Of what?"
"Everything."
"So was I." I tell her.
"You? You were scared?" She says. "Nuh uh."
"Well, sure. Everyone gets scared." I say. "After awhile, you learn to not be scared anymore."
"How?"
"You just get used to it all." I explain. "The world is so full of fear and loss, now. I guess you don't stop being scared, you just get used to being scared."
"I'm scared of that." She says.
"Yeah. Me, too." I say to her. "Maggie, wait a second, please." She stops and turns to me.
"Can we talk real quick?" I ask. She nods and I put Mika down and tell both girls to give us a minute.
"What?" She asks quickly, as if we were in a hurry.
"When you stormed outta there with Lizzie like that, it really freaked Mika out. And me." I say. "It wasn't like you."
"I was just trying to be strong." Her voice is shaking.
"You don't have to try to be anything." I say.
"I don't want them to think I'm weak. I don't want you to think I'm weak." She says, her voice cracking.
"You're not weak. You're not." I take her hands in mine. "If you were weak, you wouldn't have made it this far." I pull her towards me. "At this point, there are no weak ones."
"I'm sorry." She says. I can feel her wet cheek on my neck. I pull away and wipe her tears.
"Don't ever be sorry." I say and kiss her cheek.
Maggie's POV
"We should keep looking." I whisper.
"Yeah. Let's go." He says. He strokes my cheek with his thumb, coaxing a smile from me, and continues forward. "Come on, girls." The girls come skipping from behind a corner and Glenn leads us onward to the tombs. Daryl found Carol down there all those months ago, so I suppose it's possible Beth or my dad is down there. We search every room, cell, and closet, but we don't find anything. I look to Glenn for an idea. He just looks at me blankly.
"Where's Mika?" I ask indirectly. Only when I noticed, did everyone else. Glenn looks around and Lizzie starts to wander off, saying her name. "No! Don't run off. Stay with us."
"Which way first?" Glenn asks me, gesturing to the left and right split in the hallway.
"Right first." I say walking down the right fork. We walk all the way down and hit a dead end and find nothing. "Well, I guess we'll take the left one now." We go back and take the left fork. "Mika?" I say the dark winding hallway. "Mika?" Just as we reach the last turn of this piece of the labyrinth, I find Mika looking at a door. "Mika! Why would you run off like that?"
"But I heard something!" She argues.
"Just don't go anywhere by yourself." I tell her.
"There's somethin' behind that door!" She whines as if I hadn't said a thing. Glenn steps forward.
"Back up." He says. I grab Mika's hand and pull her away from the door. He slowly turns the handle, looks at me to be ready, and pulls the door open. Right behind the door, sitting against the wall, is Beth.
"Beth!" I lunge forward to her. "Beth. Oh my god."
"Maggie..." She says lightly, as if she was out of breathe.
"What? What's wrong?" I demand. She lazily turns to show me the deep, festering, scratch wound on her shoulder. "Beth. No." I pull her into me, more for my comfort than for hers. "Where's daddy?" My voice is rocky. Her only response is a small, but clear, shake of her head. There's nothing I can do to refuse the tears now. They come pouring from eyes, washing over my cheeks. My chest aches from sobbing into my sister's shoulder.
"It'll be okay." She says, labored.
"Beth, how long have you been here?" I ask.
"Three days. I think." She whispers. "Where is Judith?" I take her hand and shake my head.
"We found her." I say. "She had turned." A small tear slips out from each of her eyes.
"Oh my god." She cries quietly, letting out short, gasping sobs. "It's okay...it's okay. I'll be with them soon."
"No."
"Yes." She says. "You know there's no way to stop it." Of course I know that. I've long since accepted it. But it's somehow different right now. No one I was particularly close to has had to die lie this in awhile.
"I know."
"I love you." She says.
"I love you, too." Her eyes close and they don't open again. And here I am, breaking down next to my sister's body, in front of the only family I have left. Glenn holds me and rubs my back while I cry into his chest. Lizzie and Mika gently weep with amongst themselves and Glenn wraps one of his arms around them, keeping me in the other. I pull away and take the pocket knife from Glenn's belt and carefully shove in the back of her head to keep her face clear of gore. "We need to bury her." I say and Glenn nods his head. He bends over and lovingly picks her up. He follows me to C block where I get Judith to bury her, as well. We make our way out the yard, picking up a couple shovels on the way, and dig a shallow grave. We place her body in the hole and lay Judith on her stomach and pile the dirt on them both, avoiding getting dirt on her face as long as possible. After the job is done, I say an old prayer my dad taught me in my head, as if it would do something for with Beth or myself. After a little while, Glenn touches my shoulder.
"Are you ready to go?" He asks softly. I wipe the wetness from my face with both my hands and toss my hair behind my ears. I look at him and nod my head. "Come on, girls." They each take one of his hands and start walking to the car while I trail behind them, savoring this moment of partial alone time.
Glenn's POV
Maggie gets in the car and slams the door closed. She doesn't say anything and just looks at her lap. "Are you okay?" She looks at me and nods with a slight smile, and then returns to her original position. I start the car and start the several hour long ride back to the hotel.
It around 4:00 when we get back, and Mika reminds me that we haven't had much to eat.
"Dad-I mean Glenn, I'm hungry!" She says once we get upstairs.
"Okay, okay." I say and look in our food bag, but it's empty. "Come on. We'll go look in the kitchen." We go down there and there's nothing to make a meal out of. We run back upstairs. Maggie is laying on the be with her back to the door. "Maggie. We're out of food. So I'm gonna go out on a quick run." She nods her head. "So just keep tabs on the kids." I say and she nods again. "Want me to get anything in particular?" She shakes her head. "Okay." I lean over her and kiss her forehead. "I should be back in about an hour." I say and tell the girls and drive through town. I gather plenty of food, nothing that good, and other useful things from a 7-Eleven and a Walmart. I don't want to be out after dark so I head back. I drive back and present the food I've gathered and the girls have at it. I go into our room. "Maggie? You awake?"
"Yes." She mutters. I sit down next to her on the bed.
"Are you hungry?" I ask.
"A little."
"Come eat something." I say. "Please."
"Okay." She gets up and hugs me and holds on for a good minute. I can tell how badly she's hurting. She pulls away and gives me a kiss. She looks me in the eye and then goes to join the girls. I follow after her. We all eat together until Maggie goes back to bed to lay down. The girls and I play games and draw until nine when they're beat. I tuck them in and then join Maggie in bed.
"Are you asleep?" I whisper. The silence and her quiet, steady breathing answers my question. A slip my hand around her waist and hold her close to me. "Good night."