Hello my fellow readers! It's...it's been a while!
I've been struggling to find something to write but I finally have a decent enough idea to publish. Sorry for such a long gap. I have no excuse for not publishing anything. Please accept my sincere apologies ;-)


"Daryl. Hey, Daryl" Rick's voice was soft and gentle "Get up Daryl"

Daryl giggled cheekily. "No. No I'm comfy here. Come here" he said sleepily. "An' stop shaking me". This made Rick shake him harder and continue calling his name.

Daryl slowly began opening his eyes and jumped very hard when he saw Rick shaking him by the shoulders, bellowing his name. He must have been dreaming. "Huh? Wh- what's goin' on?" He tried sitting up but his neck was stiff from leaning against the solid metal wall for so long.

"Why don't you see for yourself." Ricks voice was shaky; it was clear this was something serious. Daryl hastily sat up when he saw how worried his partner was. He peered out of the towers' window and gasped when he saw what was happening beneath him. The sun was just beginning to rise. Shit...how long was I asleep fer?! Daryl thought to himself. The entire yard of the prison was infested with walkers. It was no surprise that the gate didn't hold as there were at least 200 walkers out there. He grabbed his crossbow and began aiming at their heads. It wasn't so easy this far up but he knew that if he left the guard tower it would be a death sentence. Rick was shaking so hard that he was really struggling to aim. After firing his pistol twice and failing to hit anything he dropped his gun. "Argh!" he shouted and began banging his head repeatedly on the wall in his anger. Daryl grabbed Ricks shoulder to stop him from giving himself some sort of head injury. An injured person was the last thing the group needed. "Fuck, the group!" Daryl said.

Daryl tried his best to see if someone from the group was firing at the walkers, his hand still on Ricks shoulder. He was unable to see anyone from the group at all. Shit! They must still be inside. They're in for a surprise when they wake up. Daryl thought. He attempted to call to Glenn and Maggie, but no response. Daryl's yelling caused a large group of walkers to divert towards the guard tower. More walkers took notice of the group crowding the guard tower and followed suit. This did not concern Daryl. Actually, it was a good thing. If at least a third of these walkers were too concerned with the guard tower, this bought the rest of the group inside the prison more time.

This would be the only time that Daryl would be happy that he was a target for walkers. If it helped to save the people he now considered family, he could not care less. He was especially happy and relieved that he had Rick by his side; although he was not doing so well currently. Daryl was also wishing that the walkers could climb ladders. If they could, when they neared the top all he had to do was kick them in their ugly ass faces and they'd fall down onto other walkers; hopefully killing them too. Actually, that would be perfect; no ammo would have to be wasted on those fuckers.

Whilst wrapped up in his thoughts Daryl had not noticed that a walker had actually began to make an attempt to climb up the long ladder. It got up to the third step at least before one of its arms snapped right off. That horrendous sound sent a shiver right down Daryl's spine. He was at a complete loss on what to do.


Carl woke up when he thought he'd heard somebody yelling. His initial thought was that it was Beth or his dad calling him down because he'd overslept. With that thought he sat up and rubbed his eyes. He felt exhausted, like he had had no sleep at all; which does tend to happen if you oversleep so Carl left it at that. He stood up and put on the boots he'd been wearing for at least a year. They were beginning to feel too small now, which was frustrating for him. Hopefully he could participate in the next supply run to go on the hunt for some new ones.

He was stopped in his thoughts when he heard a continuous chorus of moans and groans. He knew that sound very well now: walkers. There were probably a lot crowding the gates, but that was fine as they could not reach the group from there. But something felt different, something felt wrong. If something was wrong Daryl would have come to wake everyone up, surely. I'll go see dad, he should be in his cell Carl thought. At that moment he stepped out of his own cell to his dad's cell a few cells to the right of his own. It was completely silent, except for the gentle breathing of Beth and Judith. The curtain to his dad's cell was open, he must already be awake. He peered inside, the bed was empty. It looked just like it did when he had walked past to his own cell the previous night. Had he not been in there all night? Where did he sleep? Has he slept at all? This had never happened before. Rick was always in his cell at this time. Maybe he went for a walk?

Carl didn't want to wake Beth up as he had heard her up until very late trying to calm Judith down and was sleeping like a log, Daryl was up in the guard tower...so who could he see? They were the people he was comfortable talking with. I guess I could go and see if Hershel is awake he thought. And with that, he made his way to Hershel's cell. He was normally the first awake, downstairs reading some old tatty book, but it wouldn't have hurt to go and check his cell just to make sure.

As expected Hershel was not in his cell but downstairs. Carl's heart nearly stopped when he saw Hershel lying face-down on the table, looking completely lifeless. "Oh shit!" Carl gasped as he ran over to Hershel. He felt for a heartbeat, there was none. Not a single beat. "HERSHEL! WAKE UP HERSHEL!" The sound of Carl's shouting brought Maggie, Beth and Glenn parading down the stairs, with the sound of Judith crying in the distance.

"Daddy! Daddy!" Maggie cried as she shook Hershel back and forth. She wasn't shaking him too hard, as she feared it could put him in more danger. He was old, but not fragile. He was strong, he was going to pull through this. "He's gonna be fine, he's strong! He won't die!" Maggie yelled at the others, her face soaked with tears. Glenn helped Maggie and Beth lift Hershel onto the floor, while Carl went on the hunt for his dad. He could maybe call for Daryl too.


"Shit, shit shit shit! What th' fuck are we gonna do Daryl?" Rick whined. He had been saying this over and over solidly for around 10 minutes now. Daryl had just about had enough of his whinging, he felt bad for thinking this but with Rick constantly saying this he could barely hear himself think. "Shit, Da-" Daryl placed a hard kiss on Rick's lips to shut him up.

"Shut up Rick. We're gonna be jus' fine."