Author's Note
Haha! I finished it! And on the same day as the last chapter! And it definitely sounds better in my opinion :) Anyway, hope you guys enjoy! I'll try to get the next chapter started either today or Wednesday. Should be posted by the end of this week, if not earlier.
Rick and T-Dog returned with some more weapons for the prisoners (Michele had apparently decided to stay behind and help take care of Hershel). They didn't bring any guns, but instead brought melee weapons. They dropped them on to one of the tables to let the prisoners choose which one they wanted. Big Tiny took the hammer, Axel a metal bat, Thomas a crowbar, Andrew a wooden bat, and Oscar an axe.
"Why do I need this when I got this?" Tomas asked as he took out his revolver.
"You don't fire guns," Daryl informed him, "not unless your back's up against the wall. Noise attracts 'em. It really riles 'em up."
"We'll go in two-by-two," Rick started. "Daryl will run point with Cat. T and I will bring up the rear. We stay tight and hold formation, no matter how close the walkers get. Anyone breaks rank, we could all go down. Anyone runs off, they could get mistaken for a walker and end up with an axe to the head."
"And that's where you aim. These things only go down with a head shot."
"You ain't gotta tell us how to take out a man," Tomas scoffed.
"They ain't men," T-Dog argued. "They're somethin' else.
"Just remember to go for the brain," Rick muttered.
Tomas grabbed the keys and walked off, the others prisoners behind him. Caterina and Rick both exchanged looks before they and the rest of their group followed the prisoners.
Daryl poked his head around a corner, checking for walkers. When he didn't see any, he motioned the okay for the others. They started to move carefully down the hall.
"Man, it's too damn dark in here," Oscar complained.
Daryl glanced down at Oscar's axe, which he was holding too loosely at his side. "Gotta hold it up high, out in front of ya," he instructed. "You're gonna hear 'em before you see 'em."
They continued forward in a tight formation until there was a light clanging nearby.
"It's comin'!" Axel shouted anxiously.
"Shut up!" Caterina snapped much more harshly than she meant to. But Daryl had already explained that noise attracted walkers, and there the idiot was, yelling in an empty hall where his voice would surely echo, making it seem even louder than it actually was and attracting more attention than they needed.
They continued forward a little more, until Caterina heard more clanging accompanied by telltale snarling. She held up her hand to stop the formation and watched as shadows of walkers reflected off the wall at the end of the hall. It was just two; they would be easy to take down.
The walkers turned into the corridor and spotted them immediately. As they started staggering out towards the group, Daryl held up a finger, counting up. Before he could go past two, the prisoners got too antsy and ran forward with war cries. Caterina and her men stood back and watched as the prisoners beat on the walkers, apparently none of them having heard what they'd said about going for the head.
It was like a watching prison gang riot. Big Tiny held one walker by the arms from behind while Axel hit on it. He dropped his bat at an one point and picked up a sharp piece of metal that was on the ground.
"You wanna taste me?" Axel cried as he started shanking the walker.
The four in the back exchanged unimpressed looks.
The group was finally able to move forward after the prisoners finally got it into their thick skulls that the walkers weren't going down and took out the brain.
They turned out in a four way and paused, hearing another walker coming towards them.
"It's gotta be the brain," Daryl reminded them. "Not the stomach, not the heart." He fired an arrow into the walker's third eye as an example. "The brain."
"I hear you," Axel said. "The brain."
Another walker came into the area, and Oscar stepped forward to hack his axe in its head. Once it was down, he stepped back into the group. "Like that?"
"Uh-huh," Daryl said approvingly.
A woman civilian walker appeared then. Axel moved forward this time, forcing the end of his bat into the walker's head. He stepped back as another prisoner walker appeared, and Rick moved up to stab his machete into its face.
"Stay in tight formation," Rick instructed. "No more prison riot crap."
Even more walkers came, and everyone started fighting—everyone except for Big Tiny, Caterina noticed, who stayed at the back. She would not have even realized that he was missing if not for the fact that he was so large. It was kind of hard to miss his large figure cowering at the back of the group.
Caterina was about to turn and encourage Big Tiny to stay with the group, but she was distracted as another prison walker got past the others, and she put it down before it could get past her. Then she heard Big Tiny's cry of pain from behind them. She turned to see him fending off a prisoner walker that seemed to be missing a hand.
She went to help as she noticed a second walker getting up off the floor in front of Big Tiny. She stabbed her buck knife into its head and went to grab hold of the walker that was trying to get Big Tiny, but she was forced to jump back as someone fired a single shot into its head.
Caterina let the body fall to the floor at her feet as she looked over at the one who'd fired the shot: Tomas. She noticed Daryl glaring at Tomas' back, but the Hispanic didn't seem to notice; his eyes were trained on Caterina, almost seeming to challenge her. Her shoulders tensed in her anger, and she took a step towards him, ready to give him a piece of her mind for shooting at her, when she'd heard Rick's sigh. She turned to see Big Tiny holding one of his hands in front of him, covered in what she assumed to be his own blood. Big Tiny was staring at everyone in shock while Rick just looked at him gloomily.
"Let me see your flashlight," Caterina instructed, holding her hand out to Rick.
He pulled his flashlight from his belt unquestioningly and handed it to her.
Big Tiny seemed to realize what she wanted, and he unbuttoned his jumper so that he could pull it back on one side so that Caterina could look at his shoulder. She motioned for him to turn around as she turned on the flashlight, and she shined the light upon his shoulder. As soon as she saw the line of blood, she sighed. Not only was the cut deep, meaning that there was no way that the fever wouldn't hit, but it was in an area that would make it impossible to just cut it off like they'd done with Hershel's leg.
"I feel fine," Big Tiny was saying as she examined the cut. "I'm fine."
"You can put your shirt back on," Caterina muttered as she turned off the light.
Big Tiny did as she said and turned to look at her and Rick pleadingly. "I'm tellin' you, I don't feel anything. It's just a scratch."
"That's all it takes."
"I can keep fighting!" he tried.
"You cut that old guy's leg off to save his life," Andrew remembered.
"The scratch is too far towards his spine," Caterina said. "If we tried cutting it off, we would only end up cutting into something that we don't want to cut into, like his heart."
"Guys, I'm fine!" Big Tiny continued to try to convince them. "Just..." He sighed, trying to keep himself calm. I'm fine. Look at me. I'm not changing into one of those things."
"Look, there has to be something we can do," Oscar begged. "W could just lock him up."
"Quarantine him," Axel agreed.
"We gotta do somethin'," Andrew said."
Caterina and Rick exchanged looks. Truth was, there wasn't anything they could do. But it didn't seem that these prisoners were going to listen to them if they said so. They hadn't had to see some of the things that they had been forced to see, so they didn't understand the gravity of the situation like they needed to.
"Why you just standin' there?" Andrew snapped. "We gotta save him!"
"There's nothin' we can do," Rick argued.
Andrew shook his head in disbelief. "You son of a bitch..."
"I'm all ri—" Big Tiny started again. But before he could finish, Tomas slammed his crowbar into the back of his head.
Caterina and Rick stared down at his fallen corpse in disbelief before looking at Tomas. He just looked around at them before he started beating in Big Tiny's head, splattering blood everywhere. When he was finished, Tomas looked up at everyone, panting, daring anyone to speak against him. There was an awfully crazed look in his eye, mixed with a look of pure ecstasy.
Tomas walked off, still painting.
They continued through the corridor, Caterina, Daryl, and Rick at the back this time around while T-Dog and Oscar were on point. They were in the back so that they could keep an eye on Tomas, who walked in front of them.
"You see the look on his face?" Daryl muttered.
"He enjoyed beating Tiny's skull in a little too much," Caterina pointed out.
Rick nodded. "He makes one move…"
"Just give me a signal," Daryl said.
They soon arrived in some laundry room. There were a few washers and driers set up, along with several racks of clean towels and bedsheets and laundry detergent. There were also a pair of doors to the side, probably leading in to the cell block where the prisoners would staying. They could barely hear walkers snarling from the other side.
Rick motioned to Caterina, who removed the ring of keys that Daryl had given her from her belt loop and tossed them down to Tomas' feet.
"I ain't openin' that," Tomas denied immediately.
"Yes, you are," Rick said. "If you want this cell block, you're gonna open the door. Just the one, not both of 'em. Because we need to control this."
Tomas hesitated for a moment before bending down and picking up the keys. He glanced at Andrew before going to the doors, his crowbar tucked under his arm. Everyone else got ready to meet the walkers that were sure to come pouring through.
He unlocked the doors. "You bitches ready?" he asked. He tried to open one door, but it wouldn't budge. He tried again, harder, but still nothing. "I got this," he assured them cockily, and he made to act like he was going to open the one door again, but he reached out at the last minute to throw open both doors.
Several walkers stood waiting behind them.
"I said one door!" Rick snapped.
"Shit happens!"
The walkers started pouring inside, and the group struggled to take them out. Caterina watched from the corner of her eye as Tomas seemed to be waiting for something. Then a walker started to come between him and Rick, and the man swung out, purposely trying to hit Rick. But he threw himself to the side, dodging it. When that plan did not work, Tomas grabbed a nearby walker by the shoulders and threw it at Rick, who fell to the ground with it on top of him.
Caterina fired an arrow in a walker's head before she moved behind Tomas, snatching one of her throwing knives from its sheathe. She stabbed the knife into the walker on top of Rick. The body collapsed on to of him, and she grabbed it by the collar and threw it off. Rick stayed on the ground for a moment, obviously in shock. Caterina stepped over him and held out her hand. Rick paused for a moment before taking it, and she pulled him on to his feet, the two of them exchanging a meaningful look.
The last walker came out then and was taken down by Axel and Oscar.
Now that the crisis had been averted, everyone paused to come down from fight mode.
Tomas looked at Rick, shrugging. "It was comin' at me, bro," he defended himself lamely.
Rick nodded. Yeah. Yeah, I get it. I get it," he said. "Shit happens."
The two stared at one another, Tomas looking slightly afraid. He was staring up at Rick, trying to figure out what he was going to do. It seemed like he wasn't going to retaliate, but Caterina knew that he would as soon as he was able to bring himself to do it. But she could see the conflict in Rick's eyes, even as his face remained emotionless.
She slowly raised her arm, still holding the bloodied throwing knife in her hand. Andrew seemed to notice her, and his eyes widened in fear when he saw the hardened determination on her face.
"No!" the prisoner shouted. He raised his bat threateningly and took a step around Rick, but the former Sheriff caught him around the waist before he could get any closer.
Tomas tried to take advantage of his distraction, and he raised his weapon. But Caterina saw him and, with a practiced flick of her wrist, she sent the throwing knife flying towards him. The knife imbedded itself in his temple, buried to the hilt inside of his head.
Tomas' body fell to the side, collapsing into a bundle of limps on the floor.
Everyone stared at Caterina in shock, her group because she had just killed someone by throwing a knife at him hard enough to bury it to the hilt, and the prisoners because she didn't seem at all conflicted about it. In fact, she had a look of sick satisfaction on her face, one that her group had never seen on her. Sure, she'd killed before, but she always seemed to somewhat regret it, at least to a small extent. But she didn't seem to regret this kill at the least.
Andrew finally seemed to snap out of his shock, and he swung the end of his bat into Rick's ribs, causing his grip to loosen enough for him to escape. Rick doubled over slightly, his arms wrapped around his stomach.
Seeing as Rick was no longer able to keep Andrew under control, Daryl stepped forward, aiming his crossbow at the man threateningly before he could take even a step towards Caterina.
"Easy now," he warned him as he stepped out in front of Caterina protectively.
Andrew stared between them all fearfully before he turned on his heel and took off.
"I got him," Rick gasped. Once he regained his breath, he ran out after Andrew.
Daryl turned his crossbow on Oscar, who was staring after Rick in surprise. He turned to Daryl when he saw him pointing his weapon at him.
"Man, get down on your knees," Daryl snapped.
Oscar raised his hands passively as he got down like Daryl said, putting his axe next to him. Axel quickly did the same.
"We don't have no affiliation to what just happened," Axel assured them. "Tell 'em, Oscar."
Oscar just shook his head. "Stop talkin', man."
When Rick returned to the laundry room, he was alone. No one dared to ask what had happened to Andrew. Instead, they turned their attention on Oscar and Axel, who'd been kept on their knees the entire time that Rick was gone.
Rick walked straight up to Oscar, aiming his pistol at his head. T-Dog was holding Axel at gun-point as well, but from further back. Axel was all nerves while Oscar appeared calm.
"We didn't have nothin' to do with that," Oscar told him.
"You didn't know?" Rick scoffed. "You knew. Cat, Daryl, let's end this now!" He turned on Axel. Daryl quickly took his place, holding his knife to Oscar's neck.
"Sir! Sir, please! Please, listen to me!" Axel pleaded. "It was them that was bad! It wasn't us!"
"Oh, that's convenient."
"You saw what he did to Big Tiny!" he said. "He was my friend… Please, we ain't like that, I like my pharmaceuticals, but I'm no killer. Oscar here, he's a B&E, and he ain't very good at it neither. We ain't the violent kind! They were! Please, I swear to God! I wanna live!"
Rick stared down at Axel for a moment before turning back on Oscar. "What about you?"
"I ain't never pleaded for my life. And I ain't about to start now." He turned his gaze up on Rick, a determined look in his eyes. "So you do what you gotta do."
The four exchanged thoughtful looks.
Daryl opened the door to another cell block. They had decided that Oscar and Axel really didn't have anything to do with what Tomas tried to pull, so they were going to keep to their promise to clear out a cell block for them.
Rick threw Axel inside, while T-Dog escorted Oscar in, Caterina behind him. They didn't bother going to clear the cells; all the bodies were already lied out in the entryways, each with a bullet in their heads, and each with their hands tied behind their backs with zip ties. It looked like some of the guards had chosen to take them out to spare them the fate of the rest of the prisoners.
Axel and Oscar stared around at the bodies in shock.
"Oh man…" Axel muttered. "I knew these guys. They were good men."
"Let's go," Rick ordered the rest of his people.
Oscar turned to them before anyone could take a step to leave. "So you're just gonna leave us in here? Man, this is sick."
"We're lockin' down this cell block. From now on, this part of the prison is yours. Take it or leave it. That was the deal." Rick turned and stepped out of the cell block.
Daryl took a step after him. "You think this is sick? You don't wanna know what's outside."
"Consider yourselves the lucky ones," Rick spoke up from outside. With that, he left, and T-Dog stepped out of the cell block after him.
Daryl took another step after the two. "Sorry about your friends, man," he apologized sincerely before he turned and went after Rick.
Caterina paused to nod at the two prisoners before following after Daryl.
"A word of advice," T-Dog's voice sounded from behind her, still by the cell block, "take those bodies outside and burn 'em."
When the four of them finally returned to Block C for the day, they found Michele, Carl, Glenn, and Gabriele standing outside of the cell that Hershel was in. The others were not to be seen; it could only be assumed that they were gathered in the cell with him.
"Hershel stopped breathing," Carl informed them as they approached. "Mom and Alison saved him."
"It's true," Glenn said.
Rick nodded to the four of them before passing into the cell.
"Still no fever," Lori spoke up from where she stood with Alison between the wall and bunk bed.
Rick nodded in understanding. He went around Maggie and Beth to stand at Hershel's head. The old man was still unconscious, but breathing. He looked almost peaceful, as if he had not just lost his leg and almost died. His mouth moved slightly, and everyone immediately went to stand close in case he was going to wake up and say something-everyone but Caterina and Daryl, who stayed inside the doorway behind Carl.
But Hershel only sighed, and everyone deflated.
Lori continued to stare at Hershel, so she saw as his eyes started to flutter. She moved forward in excitement, and everyone noticed and looked back at Hershel. His eyes opened, and he looked out at everyone gathered around him.
"Daddy?" Maggie said while Beth cried out, "Daddy!"
Rick reached into his pocket and took out the key to the handcuffs so he could unlocked them.
Hershel continued to look around at them until his eyes found Rick. He reached his hand to him weakly, unable to bring his elbow off of the mattress. Rick glanced around uncertainly before he took the hand and knelt down. Hershel smiled weakly, thankful.
Rick looked to the sisters as they hugged and kissed each other, both crying in relief. He turned it to Carl, who smiled at him. His gaze then traveled up to Caterina, who just nodded to him with a small smile. He looked back down at Hershel, who seemed to have fallen back under.
Lori smiled slightly before leaving the cell.
Rick watched her go before turning to Beth. "C'mere," he muttered as he held up Hershel's limp hand and reached out to Beth with his other hand, placing it in her father's. He patted her on the back before getting back on to his feet and going after Lori.
Caterina stayed in the doorway for a while longer, watching as Beth and Maggie fawned over their father. Gabriele had moved to stand with Alison, his arm wrapped around her shoulders. She noticed that Alison looked positively exhausted. She remembered that her father had said that Alison wasn't feeling well that morning and, while she hadn't looked ill when she hid from her before, she certainly did now. There were dark circles under her eyes, and her face was even more pale than was usual whenever she felt unwell. But Caterina supposed that could be attributed to whatever she had done for Hershel.
"I'm gonna go sit down for a while," Caterina muttered to Daryl, who hadn't moved from her side.
Daryl nodded, a slightly worried look in his eyes. But, whatever he was worried about, he didn't seem to feel the need to talk about it (at least not right now) because he just turned and watched her go as she walked back out into the sitting area.
She pulled a rag out of her back pocket and took out the knife that she had used to kill Tomas. She hadn't had a chance to clean it off since she got it back, apart from the initial wipe down on her pants. So she figured that now would be as good a time as any to clean it. While she didn't feel any guilt about killing the guy, she didn't want the reminder.
She had only managed to wipe off a majority of the blood when Rick walked over to her, having just returned from talking with Lori. He dropped down into the bench across from her, his head immediately lowering to his hands.
"How's Lori?" Caterina asked.
Rick ran his hands over his face. "She's fine. She's just stressed, overwhelmed…"
She nodded in understanding and turned back to her knife.
There was a moment of silence as Caterina focused on cleaning every speck of blood off her knife. She could feel Rick's eyes on her, but she didn't dare look up from her work.
"Cat," Rick finally spoke up, his voice wary. "About what you did back there…"
"You want to know why I killed Tomas for you," Caterina finished for him, glancing up just in time to see Rick nod. "You may have tricked everyone into believing you'd do anything to protect them, including killing someone, and not be bothered by it. But I know you better than that. You were conflicted about Tomas, so I did it for you to save you from feeling the guilt. I know what too much guilt can do to a man, and I think it would be better if you're able to continue being able to lead us."
Rick shifted slightly across from her in what Caterina interpreted as an anxious movement. "Speaking of guilt…" he started.
"I've already forgotten about it, Rick," she assured him, knowing instantly what he was going to say.
"But have you forgiven me?"
Caterina finally put her knife and rag aside to look up at Rick. She adopted a somewhat pleading look as she met his gaze. "Don't ask me that," she muttered. She knew that she wouldn't be able to lie to him, not because she couldn't, but because she didn't want to. While she felt betrayed, she still somewhat thought of Rick as family, and she hated lying to family (although sometimes it was necessary).
"Please," Rick begged, leaning forward earnestly. She half expected him to reach across the table and grab her hand. "I need to know if you forgive me. I know what I did was horrible, and I'll never stop regrettin' it. Please."
She gave a weary sigh as she stood up, grabbing her rag and knife and tucking them away. She hadn't finished cleaning it, but she supposed she would have to finish it in her room. "I'm sorry. Eight months ago, I would've forgiven you. But I'm not the same woman I was back then," she admitted (and she didn't miss how it seemed to add to Rick's guilt), "so I don't...and I don't know if I ever will."
With that, Caterina walked back into the cell block, leaving Rick at the table, his face buried in his hands and his shoulders sagging under the weight of her words.
