Daryl wakes me up and I get up reluctantly. One of these days I'll sleep more than a couple of hours. I wash my hands, arms and face with the water from my bottle then change my clothes. Damn! Fresh clothes feels good. I fluff my hair with my hands, I'll get shampoo again one day. I skip down the step and through to the communal area where, Rick, Daryl, Carol, T-Dog, Nessa and Andy are sitting.
Nessa grins "Doesn't putting on fresh clothes feel great!"
I let out a groan of agreement "Oh God yes"
I drop down beside her and drop my head on her shoulder. "How are you feeling, baby sister?" Nessa asks
"Health wise? Fine, why?" I ask lifting my head off her shoulder
Nessa shrugs "You're getting that way again"
I frown "What way?"
She shakes her head "Nothing"
I look at her suspiciously before looking at Rick "We should get our cars" I tell him.
He nods "Good idea, we'll work the rest out later"
I nod and we all head out. Andy stays put in the courtyard and waits for us to come back so he can open the main gate for us. We leave through the gap we made a couple of days ago and back to the road where our cars are still sitting. Nessa hands me the keys to my Honda and I realize that this is the first time I have driven my own car since we left the farm. We drive back up to the prison where Andy opens the gate for us. I park up behind the bus and jump out.
"Where should we put them?" I ask Rick
"We'll park 'em in the west entry of the yard."
"Good. Our vehicles camped out there look like a giant "vacancy" sign!" Daryl says
"After that, we need to load up these corpses so we can burn them." Rick says. I look around the courtyard. That is a lot of bodies
"It's gonna be a long day" T-Dog sighs
"Where's Glenn and Maggie? We could use some help." Carol says
"Up in the guard tower." Daryl replies
I laugh a little and look up at the Guard tower "Still?"
"They were just up there last night!" Rick says with a smirk.
"Glenn!" Daryl shouts up to the tower "Maggie!"
Glenn comes out of the tower slowly looking sheepish. He has no shirt on and is buttoning his pants. I laugh again
"Hey! What's up guys?" Glenn calls down embarrassed
"You comin'" Daryl shouts and I burst out laughing.
"What?" Glenn call confused
Daryl grins "You comin'?" Daryl repeats. I hold onto Nessa as I laugh "Come on, we could use a hand!" Daryl says
Maggie comes out looking a mess and that's sets me off again. "Yeah, we'll be right down" Glenn calls.
I turn away and wipe the tear from my eye as I calm down. "Gwen, Rick" Andy says slowly.
I turn concerned at his tone. I follow his and T-Dog's line of sight and see the two prisoners walk towards us. Rick and I look at each other angrily and walk towards them, Daryl, T-Dog, Carol and Andy follow.
"That's close enough." Rick snaps
"We had an agreement." I say to them icily.
"Please, we know that, we made a deal." Blondie says and Glenn and Maggie come out of the tower behind them. Blondie and Oscar look at them and Blondie continues "But you gotta understand! We can't live in that place another minute, you follow me? All the bodies, people we knew! Blood, brains everywhere! There's ghosts!"
"Why don't you move the bodies out?" Daryl asks
"You should be burning them." T-Dog says
"We tried! We did!" Blondie pleads
"The fence is down on the far side of the prison. Every time we drag a body out, those things just line up. So hump in a body and just running back inside." Oscar says
"Look!" Blondie says desperately "We had nothing to do with Thomas and Andrew, nothing! You trying to prove a point? You proved it, bro! We'll do whatever it takes to be a part of your group, just, please, please, don't make us live in that place!"
"Our deal is not negotiable. You either live in your cell block, or you leave." Rick says
"I told you this was a waste of time. They ain't no different than the pricks who shot up our boys." Oscar says to Blondie before turning back to us "You know how many friends' corpses we had to drag out this week? Just threw 'em out like… Those were good guys! Good guys who had our backs against the really bad dudes in the joint like Thomas and Andrew. Now, we've all made mistakes to get in here, chief, and I'm not gonna pretend to be a saint, but believe me… we paid our due. Enough that we would rather hit that road, than to go back into that shithole."
Rick looks at Daryl who shakes his head no then to me and I shrug, it could work. Rick sighs. Rick asks Daryl to lock the two on the other side of the fence. We have a mini meeting behind the bus. T-Dog is pro stay.
"Are you serious?" Rick asks him "You want them living in a cell next to you? They'll just be waiting for a chance to grab our weapons, you want to go back to sleeping with one eye open?"
"I never stopped. Bring them into the fold. If we send them off packing, we might as well execute them ourselves." T-Dog says
"I don't know, Axel seems a little unstable." Glenn says
"I actually agree with you there but the other one seems like he's got his shit together" I say with a little shrug
"We can't exactly toss one out and keep the other" Nessa says
"I didn't say that" I say
"After all we've been through? We fought so hard for all this, what if they decide to take it?" Carol says
"It's just been us for so long… They're strangers. I don't… it feels weird all of a sudden to have these other people around." Maggie says nervously
"You brought us in." T-Dog points out
"Yeah, but you turned up with a shot boy in your arms, didn't give us a choice." Maggie says. Point taken.
"They can't even kill walkers!" Glenn says
"They're convicts, bottom line!" Carol says.
"Those two might actually have less blood on their hands than we do." T-Dog says
"I get guys like this. Hell, I grew up with them. They're degenerates, but they ain't psychos. I could have been with them just as easy as I'm out here with you guys." Daryl says
I nod in agreement "I agree, half my family have been to prison. They made stupid decisions but they were good people"
"So you with me?" T-Dog asks
I start to say yes but Daryl interrupts me "Hell no! Let 'em take their chances out on the road, just like we did!"
"What I'm saying, Daryl…" T-Dog starts but he's interrupted by Rick
"When I was a rookie, I arrested this kid. Nineteen years old, wanted for stabbing his girlfriend. The kid blubbered like a baby during the interrogation, during the trial, suckered the jury. He was acquitted due to insufficient evidence, and 2 weeks later shot another girl. We've been through too much. Our deal with them stands."
I sigh rub my face as Rick and Daryl storm off, I follow feeling miffed
