I wake up as light stings the back of my eyelids. My eyes ping open and they dart around out of habit. My eyes fall on a sleeping Daryl and smile, look at that, he slept. I sit up and stretch. The only other person awake is Rick, I doubt he slept. I sigh and pull myself to my feet and walk over to him.

"Did you sleep?" I ask him.

He turns to me with a small smile "Hopefully the inside of the prison isn't too crowded, we can empty a cell block and hunker down there for a while"

"Did you sleep?" I ask again

"Yeah" He replies

"You're lying" I say quietly.

"I'm fine Gwen" He says patiently

"Hmm, I'll believe that when you do" I tell him

His arm wraps around my neck and he pulls me into a hug "I'll rest when we're safe"

I hug him back "We may never be safe"

His grip tightens "We will be"

We pull away from each other and just stare at each other for a moment, I'm trying to work out what's going on in that head of his. I smile and punch his arm lightly.

"I believe you. Come on, let's wake the others" I say and head back the group.

I start with Daryl "Sweetie, wake up"

He sits up with a start and his hand grips my wrist tightly "Gwen" He mutters tiredly.

"Yeah, I'm fine" I tell him. Another habit.

I move on to Andy "Nanu, Nanu" I say over and over as I poke his cheek.

My niece, Ava, used to wake Andy up like this, it was funny and became a thing.

He slaps my hand away "Must you?" He mutters and sits up.

"I must" I reply then move on to Nessa.

"Wakey, wakey, precious pumpkin pie" I say with a grin as I shake her shoulder gently.

Her eyes ping open and she sits up slowly "Morning, sugar muffin"

"Sugar muffin?" I ask with a raised eyebrow.

"I could go one" She replies with a grin

I snort with laughter. In the time it took me to wake three people, Rick had woken everyone else. Hey, I like those I wake to wake up to my lovingness… is that a word?

"Right people" Rick says "Let's do this as quickly as possible, remember, hand to hand."

"Okay, Daryl, Rick, Maggie, T-Dog, Glenn, Andy and myself will enter the courtyard. Stay in a tight group. No wandering off. The rest of you go over to that part of the fence" I point to a part of the fence a fair distance from the gate "And draw as many walkers away from us as you can and get them through the fence. Any questions?"

Everyone shakes their head, not that Rick would let them protests even though Daryl looks miffed at me going in there and Nessa looks miffed that's she's not. I nod at Rick, we're ready.

We head over to the gate and Rick grabs the wires he used to lock the gate and looks at us "Ready?"

We nod. He takes them off and Daryl pulls the gate open. T-Dog enters first and takes down the first walker. Daryl after him, then Rick, then Andy, then Glenn and Maggie and I take the rear. There are less walkers than I thought there would be. Taking them down is easy, a skill we are all well versed in. If you told me a couple of years ago that I would be spending my time sticking a knife into the skull of a walking corpse, I would have had you looked at by a medical professional! Yet here I am, sticking my knife into the skull of the fifth walker today. My heart is pounding from adrenaline, a feeling that is all too familiar. We make our way over to an entrance to the prison which Rick rips open then jumps back just in case, nothing comes out. We have cleared this part of the courtyard. We move towards a smaller courtyard and that's when I spot at least a couple of dozen walkers. Rick grabs the back of my shirt and slams me against the wall next to him and indicates for the others to do the same. They do without hesitation. We think we're okay until two armour covered guards appear from behind the dumpster and walk towards us, two. That's okay. Suddenly two more appear from around the corner. I jump a little as they spot us. Them spotting us alerted those behind the fence of our presence.

"Rick, Daryl, get the gate!" I call and search the armour covered walkers for a way to get to their head.

If I take off their helmet they may bite me. I'm forced to kick the walker that attacks me away from me. I back away from it quickly and I see Maggie stick her knife through the walker's neck.

Did you see that?" She asks with a grin.

I smile and advance on the walker and copy Maggie's actions. The walker collapses to the ground with a loud thud.

"Gwen!" Maggie screams.

I turn and come face to face with an armoured walker. I throw my hands up and try to push it away from me. It suddenly collapses and Daryl rips his knife out of the back of its neck. I sigh in relief. That was close. The courtyard seems empty now.

"Looks secure." Glenn says looking around

"Nothing will lead to that courtyard over there." Daryl says then points to the body not 5 feet from us "And that's a civilian."

"So the interior could be overrun by walkers from outside the prison" T-Dog says

"Well, if there's walls, then, what are we gonna do? We can't rebuild this whole place." Glenn says looking exasperated

"We can't risk a blind spot." Rick says "We have to push in." Then he walks off towards a gated door that leads to a set of stairs that leads to a door into the prison.

Glenn looks at me with a questioning look and I shrug and follow Rick. The rest follow. We enter through the gate and up the steps to the sliding door. Daryl nods at Rick who holds his knife up, ready to kill anything behind the door. Daryl opens it but there is nothing there but there is a second gate. Rick pushes it open slowly and enters just as slow. Someone closes the door the door behind us. The gate opens up into a communal area that is a mess but appears abandoned. I look up at the watch tower and see a blood splatter. I nudge Rick and point. He nods and heads up with Glenn and Maggie. Daryl, T-Dog, Andy and I search the area just in case but I'm sure it's abandoned. My suspicions are confirmed, nothing here. Rick appears at my side and dangles a set of keys from his finger. I smile, some security. We go over to a barred door with the letters C-Block above it in faded black paint. Rick unlocks the door and we enter warily and check the cells. The bottom floor ones are clear, some are empty some have corpses that have been shot in the head. I follow Daryl up the stairs slowly. Rick joins us after checking the back entrance. Every cell is open and empty apart from the two at the end that have live walkers. I relax and look at Rick and Daryl in relief. I lean over the railing and call down to the others.

"Glenn and Maggie. You get the others. T-Dog, Andy, Daryl, Rick and I will clear the place out"

"On it" Andy calls back.

I turn back around and Daryl has already killed both walkers. Rick unlocks both cells and we throw the bodies over the railing and T-Dog and Andy take them outside. T-Dog takes the last one out just as the others come in with all our stuff. Lori looks around relieved but apprehensive. I rush down the stairs and wrap one arm around her waist. She wraps her arm around my shoulder and hugs me.

"What do you think?" Rick asks coming down the stairs after me

"Home sweet home." Glenn says jokingly

Rick has had a humour bypass lately "For the time being."

"It's secure?" Lori ask quietly

Rick smiles at her for the first time in weeks "This cell block is."

"What about the rest of the prison?" Hershel asks

"In the morning, we'll find the cafeteria, and the infirmary." Rick says looking at me. I nod

"We'll sleep in the cells?" Beth asks looking disturbed.

I let my arm slip from Lori "Yeah but on the plus side, you'll be safe"

Beth smiles weakly at my forced positivity.

"I found the keys on some guards." Rick says "Daryl and Gwen have sets too."

"I ain't sleeping in no cage." Daryl huffs "I'll take the perch."

Everyone splits up to look for a cell to sleep in. Nessa falls into step with me and sighs sounding relieved "Oh thank God, we could stay here for a good while"

I nod "Hopefully, we could clear out the prison and secure it. We could, potentially, live here"

She smiles and I see a glimmer of hope in her eyes. She wanders off with Andy to find a cell. I head up to the second floor and grab a mattress and drop it down beside Daryl's. He looks at me with a raised eyebrow.

"What? You think you're sleeping alone?" I ask with a scoff.

He shrugs as he grabs his blanket and lies down. I copy him "Exactly." I say and shuffle over to his side "You're stuck with me, darling"

He smirks "You won' see me complain"

"I wouldn't listen anyway" I tell him cheekily.