Hey, all!
I wanted to chat quickly before getting into this chapter to let you all know that I really love seeing how many people are reading and keeping up with this story!
I love watching the favorites and follows go up- it really reaffirms that people are reading and actually liking this story!
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Again, thanks for reading and I hope you enjoy this chapter!
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Amity watched as Michael and T-Dog put down the small haul they had collected off of the bodies of the dead guards onto one of the tables the rest of them had gathered around in the common area.
"Not bad." Daryl said, picking up a device that was unfamiliar to the woman.
"Flashbangs, CS Triple-Chasers." Rick listed off, speaking a whole different language to the redhead's ears. "Not sure how they'd work on walkers, but we'll take it."
Daryl moved from beside her, picking up one of the riot helmets and dumping out some disgusting smelling goo from it as he did so.
"I ain't wearing this shit." He declared simply.
"You couldn't pay me." Amity agreed, scrunching her nose up at the sight.
"We could boil 'em." T-Dog suggested, holding up a glove and watching the gunk drip slowly from it.
"Ain't enough firewood in the whole forest. No." Daryl said flatly.
"Besides, we made it this far without them, right?" Amity added with a small smile at the men until Daryl picked up one of the riot vests and held it out towards her.
"I'm sorry, was I hallucinating? Because I could have swore I just heard you say that there wasn't enough wood in the forest to make these clean enough for you to wear."
"I ain't the one wearin' 'em." Daryl responded with a shrug.
"But I am?" Amity countered and he just looked at her.
"Nope, sorry. Not happening, Slick."
"It'd offer some peace of mind, Bug." Michael interjected from beside of her and she turned to glare at the older man.
She hated when the pair ganged up on her. She was missing the days when Michael did nothing more than glare at Daryl when the man so much as glanced her way.
"I hate you both." She snapped, snatching the vest from Daryl nonetheless and sliding it on over her tank top, letting her brother fasten her in to it.
Michael was staying behind in the cell block that day at Rick's request. He wanted someone capable and level-headed around in case something went south and they had to either hole up or head out of the prison.
"Hershel." Carol called out as she approached the group, everyone turning to look at her as she gestured for the older man to follow her.
"Everything alright?" Rick asked in a way that made Amity frown.
It was obvious to everyone that the married couple in their group had been distant, something that wasn't making Lori's pregnancy any easier. She understood why they would be at odds after everything that happened with Shane, but in this world there was never a guarantee for the next day, or even the next second, so she would have thought they would just try to move past it by that point.
"Yeah." Carol assured him, barely looking his way. "Nothing to worry about."
The pair disappeared into a cell and Amity looked over to see Daryl shaking something that looked suspiciously grenade shaped.
"I'm going to go out on a limb and say that you shouldn't be doing that." Amity told the hunter, reaching out to still his hand while he just grinned playfully at her, making her breath hitch in her throat at the sight.
"If you blow us up, man. I'll haunt your hick ass." T-Dog declared from next to them, causing Daryl to simply toss the thing in his hands the man's way. T-Dog fumbled with it for a second before closing his hands around it and half-heartedly glaring at Daryl while Amity laughed.
"Let's go." Rick called out as the group heading further into the prison strapped themselves up in their newfound gear.
Amity was twisting in place, trying to make sure that the vest wouldn't restrict her movement if she needed to trade her bow for her machete in a split second.
At their leader's insistence she followed along with the group, walking side-by-side with Maggie as they slowly made their way forward. She tried to focus on the task at hand and not at the creepiness of the darkness pressing in on them or the corpses that laid about on the floor.
The shaking of a spray can let her know that Glenn was marking their path to prevent them from getting lost in what felt like the Paris catacombs in that moment.
The redhead was peering into a nearby cell when a shriek sounded from beside her, making her jump and spin around, her bow already drawn back.
"Sorry." Maggie said quietly, apparently having ran into Glenn and startled herself. Amity looked further up the corridor to see Daryl looking back at her. The man nodded at her once, soothing most of her fears with just that simple action.
As they continued moving, Amity was grateful for the flashlight Daryl had attached to her bow for her, even if it did throw off the balance of the weapon, making her have to consider her shot a second longer before taking it. It kept the darkness from choking her, her old world fear threatening to overwhelm her a bit, and that was definitely worth it.
It wasn't that she feared the dark itself, she just feared what laid within it and that fear was even more appropriate now that the dead were walking.
"Go back." Rick hissed suddenly and Glenn stumbled backwards into her and Maggie.
"Go back! Move!" Rick half-yelled at them and Glenn pushed both women ahead of him, jogging through the darkened corridors and stumbling over corpses like the rest of the group.
The trio got a half a step behind everyone else somehow and upon taking a wrong turn, they found themselves face-to-face with a horde of walkers.
"In here!" Glenn yelled, pulling open a nearby door and shoving Maggie and Amity through before closing it behind himself.
They all piled against the door, helping the lock to hold it in place until finally, after a few long moments, the walkers seemed to be distracted by another horde moving past, leaving to join them.
The trio looked at one another, waiting another few minutes to ensure their safety before pulling the door open and creeping into the hallway.
"Dad?" Maggie called out softly.
"Daryl?" Amity said as well, moving forward with the couple until a pained wail pierced the air.
"Daddy!" Maggie yelled out, recognizing the voice and darting forward with Glenn and Amity hot on her tail.
They rounded the corner while Glenn tried to convince the woman to slow down before spotting the injured man on the ground a second after Rick shot the walker that had tore into his leg.
"No!" Maggie wailed, her hands jumping to her mouth.
"Daryl!" Rick yelled out and the man moved to Amity's side, shooting an arrow into the skull of a walker that was leading a horde towards them.
"Oh, God." Amity breathed as she let an arrow fly as well, dropping another but it was no use. They had to move.
"We're blocked!" Daryl told their leader, dragging Amity back a few steps as she released another arrow into a walker's head.
"We have to go back!" Rick yelled and the group set off down the hallway, Glenn and Rick carrying Hershel along as Amity and Daryl brought up the rear of the group, keeping their lights on the horde that was tailing them.
"Go! Go!" Amity shouted, trying to get the group to move faster once they had come to a stop.
"Get in!" She heard from behind her. "Break it and open the door!""
A loud bang sounded and then they were moving again. Amity rushed forward as T-Dog and Daryl braced themselves against the door they had ran through, dropping to the ground at the older man's side as Daryl shove a metal rod through the handles and joined her.
"Hold him down." Rick told them and Daryl and Glenn both did so, Maggie resting her father's head in her lap.
"Rick, there's only one way to save him!" Amity told their leader who nodded, quickly pulling his belt off and handing it to her so that she could loop it around his leg, yanking it tight as a tourniquet so Rick could do the terrible dead.
"We have a sharper machete?" Amity asked the group but Rick shook his head, grabbing a hatchet instead. The woman wished for something sharper, the less damage done to the blood vessels left more room for them to constrict on their own and reduce blood loss. Her little bit of biology knowledge outside of the brain coming to the forefront of her mind in the high stress moment.
She watched Rick rear back and wanted to tell him to make the cut just below the knee cap like Hershel was going to do with Randall but the man already brought the hatchet down on his upper shin, sending blood splattering across the redhead's face and chest. She was grateful for the moment that Hershel passed out from the pain, wanting him to experience as little of the horror that was happening as possible.
Finally, Rick severed the leg completely with one last swing and Amity rushed to yank the rag tucked in her belt out to wrap around the stump.
"He's bleeding out." Rick told them all, breathing heavily.
"Duck." Daryl whispered, completely throwing Amity off until Rick put a hand on her head and forced her down with him, Daryl's crossbow coming up to point over their heads.
Amity turned slowly, spotting five men standing behind the grate in the kitchen.
"Holy shit." One of them muttered but Amity didn't bother to pay them any more mind as she worked on helping Hershel.
"Come around here." She told Maggie, the woman doing as she said almost immediately.
"Put pressure on the knee." She told her. "Hard! Push, push." She insisted, trying the rag tightly over the bleeding stump to stem the blood flow as much as she could.
"Why don't ya come on out of there?" Daryl's voice directed from nearby. "Slow and steady."
"What happened to him?" One of the men asked.
"He got bit." Daryl replied simply and then the sound of a gun cocking reached Amity's ears.
She briefly glanced over to see T-Dog with his gun raised towards the men, another gun in one of the prisoner's hands.
"Bit?" The man asked
"Whoa, whoa, whoa- ain't nobody need to get hurt." Daryl said, trying to soothe the obviously startled men.
"I need you to hold this." Amity directed Maggie.
"Okay." The woman agreed, her voice shaking.
"As hard as you can." The redhead insisted and the younger woman nodded, doing as she asked.
"You have medical supplies?" Glenn asked as he crossed the room towards them, pushing past them to the kitchen.
"Whoa, where do you think you're going?" One of them asked him but he paid them no mind.
"Who the hell are you people, anyway?" The man with the gun asked as walkers slammed harder against the doors, catching Amity's attention.
"Don't look like no rescue team." Another, one with a mustache, said.
"If a rescue team is what you're waiting for- don't." Rick told them harshly, lifting Hershel until he was sitting upright and exchanging a look with Amity.
"Come on, we gotta go!" The leader told everyone. "Now! Come on!"
"I need a hand here." Amity said loudly, struggling to lift Hershel's lower half until Glenn was next to her, lending his strength to lift the older man onto the cart he had found.
"Holy Jesus!" One of the prisoners cursed.
"T, the door." Rick commanded, the other man running to do as he requested.
"Are you crazy? Don't open that!" One of the prisoners yelled.
"We got this." Rick told them as T-Dog moved back, the pipe that was holding the door in place now in his hand.
Amity drew her bow, more focused on making sure another one of them wouldn't get bit now that Hershel was on a cart and about to be mobile.
She waited for T-Dog to open the door and shot an arrow through one of the two walkers that stumbled in, T-Dog taking out the other that was covered in riot gear.
"Daryl." She called out as she moved to the door, stopping just outside of it to see the man was still pointing his crossbow at the prisoners.
"Daryl! Let's go." She insisted and finally the man was moving towards her.
They stumbled quickly through the darkened passageways, Daryl taking the lead as Amity covered their asses.
"Come on, let's go." Daryl urged them on.
"He's losing too much blood." Maggie told the group as they pushed through the doors leading to the common area.
"Open the door!" Rick yelled ahead at the rest of the group in the cellblock. "It's Hershel! Carl! Come on."
"Go, go, go, go, go." The man yelled once they cleared the door and Amity stopped as Carol joined the group. Over their time on the road Hershel had taken the woman on as a bit of an apprentice so Amity knew she couldn't do more to help than she had at that point.
She stopped just short of the cell block, looking over her shoulder to see that Daryl was standing a few paces back from the door leading to the rest of the prison from the common area and refusing to move.
He kept his bow raised towards the space and Amity moved to join him, her bow raising as well as she tried to understand what he was doing.
"Get in the cellblock, Cherry." He hissed at her, but the redhead ignored him as footsteps approached.
Slowly, the prisoners began to trickle in towards the corner of the living area.
"That's far enough." Daryl told them, his aim never wavering and neither did Amity's.
"Cell block C." The apparent leader, a Hispanic man with longish hair, said. "Cell four- that's mine, gringo. Let me in."
"Today's yer lucky days, fellas." Daryl said with no lack of heat in his tone. "Ya've been pardoned by the State of Georgia. You're free to go."
"Doctor W?" One of the men asked, sounding shocked and Amity tore her eyes from the man with the gun to see one of her previous clients was a part of the group.
Of course he was, what were the odds?
"Ezekiel, I can't say that I'm not surprised to see you here." Amity told the man, offering him a small smile despite the fact her bow was still trained on his companion and now Daryl's was trained directly at him.
"Alive anyways." She added on as an afterthought, making the prisoners shift uncomfortably.
"It's Big Tiny, doc." The man insisted.
"I am not calling you or anyone else Big Tiny." Amity replied, making a face at that.
"Who are you?" The leader asked, looking between her and his fellow inmate. "Man, how do you know a doctor?"
"Psychologist." Amity cut in as a bit of explaination and the men fell silent for a moment.
She watched as the leader looked her over, eyes only hesitating briefly on the scar marring her cheek.
"Ese, if I would have known these were the kinds of doctors everyone was seeing then I would have pleaded insanity." He drawled out and Amity stiffened.
"Hey, don't even look at her!" Daryl snapped, lunging forward until the man drew his gun and Amity shifted forward.
"You even touch that trigger and I'll skewer you." Amity told him, voice cold.
"She your bitch, gringo?" The man sneered at Daryl, obviously intrigued.
"I'm nobodies bitch, asshole." Amity snapped. "But take another step and I'll make you one."
"Was that a threat?" The leader snapped before the blonde with the mustache cut in.
"What you got going on in there?" He asked, obviously trying to diffuse the mounting tension.
"It ain't none of yer concern." Daryl told him harshly.
"Don't be telling me what's my concern." The leader snapped.
"Chill, man." Big Tiny told the guy, stepping forward a bit. "Dude's leg is messed up. Besides, we're free now. Why are we still in here?"
"The man's got a point." Daryl added, trying to get them out of the prison as quickly as possible.
"Yeah, and I gotta check on my old lady." One of the other prisoners added.
"A group of civilians breaking into a prison you got no business being in- got me thinking there ain't no place for us to go." The leader told his group.
"Why don't you go find out?" Amity suggested with a sickly sweet smile.
"Maybe we'll just be going now." The mustached man said slowly.
"Hey, we ain't leaving!" The leader snapped and Amity heard a gun cock from nearby, T-Dog coming out of the cell and to stand at the other side of her.
"You ain't coming in either." T-Dog told them.
"Hey, this is my house, my rules. I go where I damn well please." The leader insisted and Amity kept her bow trained dead on the center of his head.
"It ain't your house anymore so back the fuck up or shut the fuck up!" Amity half-yelled at the man, losing her patience.
"I don't take orders from no loud-mouthed bitch!" He said, turning on the redhead and moving to stalk closer, Daryl and T-Dog shifting as he did so, but it was Big Tiny who stopped him with a hand on his shoulder.
"Tomas." The large man said softly, as if trying to talk the man down.
The leader looked back at the man, roughly shoving his hand away from him but he didn't continue going after Amity.
"You don't know who the fuck you're messing with." One of the other prisoners snapped.
"Man, I'm gettin' real tired of y'all's mouths." Daryl warned them.
"Why don't you come over here and shut it then?" Tomas challenged.
"There ain't nothing for ya here. Why don't ya go back to yer own sandbox?" Daryl snarled as Rick jogged into the space, hands out to calm the situation.
"Hey hey, Daryl." He said, moving between Amity and the hunter as he approached the prisoners. "Hey, everyone relax. There's no need for this."
"How many of you are in there?" Tomas asked, gun pointed Daryl's direction even while he spoke to Rick.
"Too many for you to handle." Rick told him flatly.
"You guys rob a bank or something?" The leader asked. "Why don't you take him to a hospital?"
Amity exchanged a look with her companions at that, just now realizing how little they knew about what had gone on outside of their hiding spot.
"How long have you been locked in that cafeteria?" She asked, voice softer than it had been since Hershel was bit.
"Going on like ten months." Tomas revealed and the other four prisoners nodded.
"A riot broke out." Big Tiny added. "Never seen anything like it."
"Attica on speed, man." The mustached man cut in, his southern drawl letting Amity know that he wasn't a Georgia local- it held a different sort of twang.
"Ever heard about dudes going cannibal, dying, coming back to life? Crazy." The smaller black prisoner said.
"One guard looked out for us, locked us up in the cafeteria. Told us sit tight, threw me this piece, said he'd be right back." Tomas explained.
"Yeah, and that was 292 days ago." The other taller man said with a shake of his head.
"94 according to my calcula-" The mustached man began, but was cut off by Tomas.
"Shut up!" The man snapped.
"We were thinking that the army or the national guard should be showing up any day now." The taller man said and Amity looked over to catch T's eye briefly.
"There is no army." Rick told them.
"What do you mean?" Tomas asked, apparently not catching on.
"There's no government, no hospitals, no police. It's all gone." Rick explained.
"For real?" The mustached prisoner asked, sounding shocked.
"I'm serious." Rick confirmed.
"What about my moms?" Big Tiny asked, his eyes downcast.
"I'm sorry, Ezekiel." Amity told the man, knowing his story and about the two women that raised him who he cared for more than anything else.
"My kids? And my old lady?" The other tall prisoner asked. "Yo, you got a cell phone or something so that we can call our families?"
Amity shook her head, her lips pressing together into a thin line.
"Ya just don't get it, do ya?" Daryl asked harshly.
"No phones, no computers." Rick informed them. "As far as we can see, at least half the population has been wiped out. Probably more."
Amity noticed Daryl lowering his crossbow from out of the corner of her eye since Tomas had lowered his gun and considered doing the same before deciding against it. She refused to even give Tomas the chance to get a jump on her, even with the three men around her looking out for her.
"Ain't no way." Tomas said, refusing to believe the reality of the situation and Amity scoffed.
"See for yourself." Rick told him, gesturing towards the door that lead out.
As the four of them followed the prisoners, Daryl stuck close to her side.
"Stick close, girl. If one of them touch ya, break their goddamn hands." He told her and she just nodded, knowing that it wasn't the time to argue with him. His presence at her side was a comforting one anyways. She couldn't take on every threat alone. She knew that much and she trusted Daryl enough to know that any of the prisoners would be hard-pressed to lay an eye on her, let alone a hand, with him around.
"Damn, the sun feels good." The taller man said as they walked out into the concrete yard.
"Good lord." The mustached one said to himself, looking around at the bodies that decorated the pavement. "They're all dead."
"Never thought I'd be so happy to see these fences." Tomas told his crew.
"You never said- how the hell did you get in here in the first place?" The smaller black man asked.
"Cut a hole in that fence over there by that guard tower." Daryl explained, gesturing towards where they had first came in.
"That easy, huh?"
"Where there's a will there's a way." Daryl said simply and the man scoffed.
"Easy for you to say."
"What are y'all's names anyways?" Amity asked, casting her icy eyes around to take in each of the men.
"I'm Axel, miss. It's nice to-" The mustached man began but Tomas cut him off.
"Tomas, little red- remember it. You can call me whenever you want me." The leader told her, making a show of looking her up and down which had her baring her teeth at him, moving closer to Daryl who had taken a step forward, going for the man until her hand on his arm stopped him.
"Ya look at her, ya even think about her, and I'll stomp yer ass!" The hunter threatened as Rick stepped forward, breaking them up once more.
"That's Andrew-" Big Tiny began, sensing that the need to end that conversation as he gestured to the smaller black man. "And that's Oscar." He pointed at the other tall man. "And I'm Big Tiny." He finished, mainly speaking to Rick and T-Dog then.
"Ezekiel." Amity corrected and the man shook his head at her, a small smile on his lips.
"You know him?" Rick questioned the redhead and she nodded, stepping out from behind Daryl as she addressed their leader.
"Old client- he's a nice guy." Amity said, offering the large man a smile. "Some stupid choices." She added, her voice bordering on scolding the man easily four times her size. "But he's a good one."
Big Tiny gave her a grateful look before returning his attention to the corpses around them, lightly poking one with the large stick he carried.
"So, what is this, like a disease?" He asked.
"Yeah, and we're all infected." Rick told them, apparently having no qualms about hiding that detail from the men.
"What do you mean infected?" Axel asked them. "Like AIDS or something?"
"If I was to kill ya, shoot an arrow in yer chest, ya'd come back as one of these things." Daryl told them, giving a bit of a graphic explaination but Amity would expect nothing less from him. "It's gonna happen to all of us."
"Ain't no way this Robin Hood cat is responsible for killing all these freaks." Tomas insisted. "Must be fifty bodies out here."
"He had some help." Amity said simply.
"Where'd you come from?" Tomas asked, moving towards Rick.
"Atlanta." The former sheriff answered simply.
"Where are you headed?" Tomas questioned.
"For now, nowhere." Rick replied stiffly.
"I guess you can take that area down there near the water. Should be comfortable." Tomas said and Rick nodded, not in agreement but seemingly a bit amused by the guy.
"We're using that field for crops." He told him.
"We'll help you move your gear out." Tomas added.
"That won't be necessary." Rick interjected. "We took out these walkers. This prison is ours."
"Slow down, cowboy." Tomas said and Amity narrowed her eyes at that. She was the only one allowed to throw out silly, slightly patronizing nicknames around here.
"You snatched the locks off our doors." Andrew said, moving to join Tomas.
"We'll give you new locks, if that's how you want it." Rick offered.
"This is our prison." Tomas insisted. "We were here first."
"Locked in a broom closet?" Rick asked them, not impressed. "We took it, set you free. It's ours. We spilled blood." He nearly growled at the other man.
"We're moving back into our cell block." Tomas told him.
"You'll have to get your own." Rick said, his voice leaving no room for argument but Tomas took it anyways.
"It is mine." He snapped. "I've still got personal artifacts in there. That's about as mine as it gets." He pulled the gun from the front of his pants, Daryl and Amity raising their bows as T-Dog drew his gun.
"Watch it there, bucko- unless you want to be shish kabob'd." Amity warned.
"Whoa, whoa, whoa." Axel said quickly, moving forward as he tried to keep the peace. "Maybe let's try to make this work out so everybody wins."
"I don't see that happening." Tomas said dismissively.
"Neither do I." Rick agreed.
"I ain't going back in that cafeteria for one more minute." Tomas told him.
"There are other cell blocks." Axel reasoned.
"You could leave." Daryl told him, his voice a low growl. "Try your luck out on the road."
There was silence as the prisoners exchanged looks, apparently trying to determine their next step before Tomas spoke again.
"If these three pussies and one bitch can do all this, the least we can do is take out another cell block." He told his crew.
"With what?" Big Tiny wondered.
"Atlanta here will spot us some real weapons." Tomas replied, looking at Rick. "Won't you, boss?"
"How stocked is that cafeteria? It must have plenty of food. Five guys lasting almost a year?" Rick wondered.
"It sure as hell don't look like anybody's been starving." Daryl added with a pointed glance towards Big Tiny.
"There's only a little left." Tomas told them.
"We'll take half. In exchange, we'll help clear out a cell block." Rick offered.
"Didn't you hear him? There's only a little left." Andrew spoke then, reminding Amity of a small dog- all yap and no bite.
"Calm down there, Sparky." The redhead told the man, raising her bow a bit more when he turned a heated glare her way, daring him to come at her.
"Bet you got more food than you got choices." Rick cut in. "You pay, we'll play. We'll clear out a block for you, then you keep to it."
"Alright." Tomas agreed after a moment of silence.
"Well, let's be clear. If we see you out here anywhere near our people, if I so much as even catch a whiff of your scent, I will kill you." Rick promised.
"Deal." Tomas agreed, nodding once and Amity watched him carefully.
She wasn't sure if she bought that. She believed that Axel was harmless and knew that Big Tiny was a good man, but Tomas was unpredictable and Andrew seemed like his hype man who was always ready for a fight. Oscar seemed to just float on the edges, making his own calls, but she had no doubts he would lash back if pushed.
They cleared out of the concrete yard moments after the agreement was made, following the prisoners back through the corridors.
"Pantry's back here." Tomas directed once they made it back to the cafeteria.
"You never tried to break out of here?" T-Dog asked as they looked around the trashed room.
"Yeah, we tried to take the doors off, but if you make one peep in here then those freaks'll be lined up outside the door growling, trying to get in. Windows got bars on there that He-man couldn't get through." Oscar told them.
"Bigger than a 5x8." Axel added.
"You won't find me complaining." Big Tiny interjected. "Doing 15. My left leg can barely fit on one of those bunks."
"Yeah, they don't call him Big Tiny for nothing." Oscar added with a small huff of a laugh.
"You done jerking each other off?" Tomas asked from the door leading to the kitchen. "Sick of waiting back here."
Amity rolled her eyes before moving to follow the men into the back, looking around at the food that lined the shelves.
"This what you call a little bit of food?" Amity asked as she went to enter the room, stepping forward and expecting for Tomas to move back but he stood in place, raising a dark brow at her.
Not even bothering to act like she noticed, Amity squeezed between the man and the shelves. She heard what resembled a growl from the doorway behind her and glanced up to see Tomas smirking over top of her head at someone as their chests all but brushed while she moved past.
"Goes fast." Tomas told her, his voice laced with what Amity thought was him trying to be appealing.
She shined her flashlight across the shelves, mentally taking stock of everything there as she pointedly ignored the man.
"You can have a bag of corn, some tuna fish." Tomas told the men standing outside of the pantry and that had Amity looking at him.
"We said half. That's the deal." Rick told the man simply and Daryl moved to join Amity in the pantry, coming straight to her side as he apparently wasn't comfortable with her being in the tight space with just Tomas and Andrew.
She hadn't been worried though. If one of them touched her she was sure that she wouldn't even have the chance to do as Daryl suggested and break their hands before one of her group put whoever down.
"What's in there?" Rick asked, going to open a door of what looked to be a freezer as Daryl's hand brushed against Amity's lower back, making her look up at him.
"Don't open that." Oscar warned the former sheriff but he had already pulled it open, gagging and coughing before he slammed it shut as the inmates laughed.
"He wanted to know." Tomas said with a smile.
"Can't wait for my own pot to piss in." Axel interjected, his voice a mixture between embarrassed and wistful.
As they waited for T-Dog and Rick to haul a majority of the food back to their cell block, Amity and Daryl waited with the prisoners in the cafeteria.
The redhead perched on one of the tables, her bow held in her hands though it rested against the seat under her feet to take some of the weight off her arms.
Big Tiny moved to cross the room towards her but hesitated when Daryl moved a step closer to the redhead, staring the inmate down until Amity lightly swatted his chest.
"He's good people." The woman told him but Daryl wasn't convinced.
"People change. The people who ya run with can change ya." He reasoned with her and Amity shook her head a bit at his over protective tendencies. He was as bad, if not worse, than her brother sometimes.
"You got a problem, redneck?" A voice asked from across the room and Amity looked to see Andrew glaring at them as he leaned against one of the tables.
"Yeah, man, I do and it starts and ends with y'all." Daryl snapped, not even bothering with pleasantries.
Amity hopped off the table and stepped in front of the angry hunter, resting her hands gently on his chest before one slid up to his cheek, grabbing his attention.
"We don't need to pick a fight." Amity told him, her voice quiet.
"Man, the world really must have ended if a bitch like that has eyes for that hick." Tomas said to his friends, Axel and Big Tiny looking away while Andrew laughed lightly.
"What'd you say earlier, Big T? That she was your doctor?" Tomas continued, obviously enjoying riling Daryl up. It was a bad game that Amity knew wouldn't end well for the prisoner. "Her standards must have dropped with there only being so many choices left. Lucky for her more options just opened up." He said, chuckling as Daryl went to move forward again but Amity stood firm in front of him, not letting him get by.
"Hey, doc. I've had some suspicions about a lump- mind taking a look for me?" Tomas called out towards the woman as he gestured towards his pants.
Daryl pushed passed the redhead then, drawing his large hunting knife from his belt as he went for the man who struggled to draw his gun from his waistband.
Rick and T-Dog entered the room in that moment, T-Dog carrying a bag of weapons while Rick seemed to catch on that something was going down and rushed to step in front of Daryl, stopping him in his tracks with an arm across his chest.
"Cool it." Rick told his friend sharply before turning and sending a hard look to the prisoner he had been after.
"Shut your mouth from here on out or you can figure out how to clear your cell block by yourself." Rick snapped and Tomas just nodded, his smirk still in place as his eyes flickered to Amity once more until Daryl stepped in front of his line of sight, blocking her from him.
"I'll enjoy shoving an arrow up yer ass when ya fuck up." The hunter growled before moving back to where Amity stood at one of the tables with T-Dog, the other man having spread the melee weapons out across the table top while Rick handled the situation that had brewed.
"Why do I need this-" Tomas began once he had crossed the room and picked up a hammer from the table. "-when I got this?" He finished, showing off the gun he had.
"You don't fire guns, not unless your back's up against a wall." Daryl told him, not being shy about the fact he thought his question was a stupid one. "Noise attracts them. It really riles them up."
"We'll go in pairs." Rick told the group. "Daryl will run point with Amity, I'll bring up the rear with T and you." He said, pointing his knife at Andrew.
"Stay tight, hold formation no matter how close the walkers get- anyone breaks ranks, we could all go down." He directed. "Anyone runs off, they could get mistaken for a walker, end up with an axe to the head."
"And that's where ya aim." Daryl informed them. "These things only go down with a head shot."
"Ain't gotta tell us how to take out a man." Tomas said, exchanging a dark look with Andrew.
"They're not men." Amity cut in, watching the pair of inmates that had just all but confessed to killing or beating someone with a calculating gaze.
"They're something else." T-Dog agreed.
"Just remember to go for the brain." Rick told them before they began to head for the doors, Amity being guided along ahead of Daryl with a hand on the small of her back.
They started making their way through the darkened corridors, Amity and Daryl creeping nearly silently around the corners before gesturing the group forward when it was determined that they were clear.
"Man, it's too damn dark in here." Big Tiny said from behind them and Amity held her finger to her lips when the man's flashlight beam settled on her for a moment, telling him to keep it down a bit.
"Gotta hold it up high out in front of ya." Daryl directed. "You're gonna hear 'em before ya see 'em."
They moved along down the hallway until the sound of something hitting metal rang out, followed by a low growling that Amity knew to be the sound of a walker.
"It's coming!" Axel yelled suddenly, making Amity look over her shoulder at the man with disbelief as Daryl and Big Tiny shushed him.
Daryl motioned for everyone to stop and Amity raised her bow, ready to cover the inmates if need be. The hunter held up three fingers then began to count them down but before he had finished, the prisoners were rushing for the two walkers that had appeared. Amity barely had a chance to step back out of the way as they blew past between her and Daryl.
They let out some kind of battle cry as they ran forward and proceeded to beat the walkers instead of killing them. They sent blow after blow to their torsos, kicking them once they had knocked one to the ground, but did nothing to end either of their movements.
She exchanged a look with the men at her side, almost amused with the prisoner's ignorance if they hadn't just spent so much time telling them the way to take the creatures out.
Without a word, Amity moved quietly forward and shot an arrow through the head of the walker that Big Tiny was holding as Axel repeatedly shanked him. T-Dog quickly took out the other on the ground by stabbing it through the head. The redhead looked at the two men next to her, Big Tiny having dropped the corpse after she killed it completely, and saw them both looking at her with wide eyes.
She knew that she was a very different person than when Big Tiny knew her and with that thought in her mind, she knelt down to rip her arrow out of the corpse's skull.
"It's gotta be the brain." Daryl told them once they were on the move again and a walker stumbled in to their sight. "Not the stomach, not the heart- the brain." He insisted, releasing a bolt that tore through one of the undead's skulls.
"I hear you." Axel told him. "The brain."
Oscar moved forward as the next one stumbled towards the group and buried his weapon into its head.
"Like that?" He asked as he backed up to rejoin them.
"Exactly right." Amity encouraged as two more walkers were taken out by the inmates, the last meeting its end by Rick's knife.
"Stay in tight formation." Rick commanded. "No more prison riot crap."
Amity stuck close to Daryl's side as she hooked her bow over her shoulder, drawing the machete from its home on her belt and helping to take care of the walkers that stumbled through the doorway in front of them.
She buried her weapon in skull after skull, using her foot as leverage to rip it out when it got stuck. She was so focused that she didn't realize Big Tiny wasn't joining them in killing the undead until a yell of pain had her turning around in time to see Rick end a walker that was almost on top of the large man.
She flinched down as gunshots rang out deafeningly loud through the enclosed space, Tomas apparently having shot the already ended walker.
Amity ducked around the ridiculous amount of men in the space and moved forward to look at Big Tiny's wound.
Rick directed Big Tiny to remove his top layer, leaving him in only a tank top so they could see the extent of the damage. At the sight of the large scratch, Amity took a step back, shaking her head with regret.
He was scratched by a walker and that led to the same end result as being bit.
"I'm telling you, I don't feel anything." Big Tiny insisted after seeing the look on Amity's face and realizing it was bad. "It's just a scratch."
"I'm sorry, man." Rick told the guy, sounding truly regretful.
"I can keep fighting!" Big Tiny insisted.
"You cut that old guy's leg off to save his life." Andrew pointed out but Rick shook his head.
"Look at where the bite is." He told him.
"Guys, I'm fine!" Big Tiny yelled, that being the only time Amity had ever heard the man raise his voice. "Just- I'm fine." He added, quieting down as he tried to reason with them.
"I'm sorry, Ezekiel. There's... there's no coming back from it." Amity told the man, fighting against the tears that pricked in her eyes and taking another step back as the man turned to her.
"Doctor Walker, l-look at me." He pleaded with her before casting his eyes around the group. "I'm not changing into one of those things." He insisted.
Amity felt the warmth of someone behind her and leaned back slightly, knowing it was Daryl who had come up next to her. She took a step closer to him, her back pressed against his chest as she sought a bit of comfort in that moment.
"Look, man, there has to be something we can do." Oscar said. "We could just lock him up."
"Quarantine him." Axel added.
"We gotta do something." Andrew insisted. "Why you just standing there? We gotta save him!"
"There's nothing we can do." Rick repeated.
"You son of a bitch." Andrew snapped.
"I'm all ri-" Big Tiny began but was cut off by a hammer being slammed into his skull. Amity stood shocked as Tomas watched the man's body drop from his blow, meeting Rick's eyes before looking at the hammer and slamming it into the man's skull once more.
Amity went to move forward to make the man stop mutilating her old acquaintance but an arm hooking around her waist stopped her. She turned then, burying her face in Daryl's chest as she squeezed her eyes closed and worked to block out the sound of the man who always meant well, who was a gentle giant caught at the wrong place at the wrong time, get his skull smashed to pieces.
When Tomas finally stopped, all that filled the corridor was the sound of the crazed man's heavy breathing and Amity felt a gentle squeeze from the rough hand that wrapped around her's for a brief second- an act of comfort and reassurance.
Amity took only a few more seconds to convince herself that she was okay, that she could face the situation, before she opened her eyes and stepped out of Daryl's space, making herself stand on her own.
She spotted Tomas moving down the corridor covered in Big Tiny's blood and exchanged a look with Rick before they all moved to follow.
This time T-Dog took point alone while Amity hung back with Daryl and Rick, moving just behind the two men as they kept an eye on Tomas in front of them.
"Ya see the look on his face?" Daryl asked Rick, knowing that Amity hadn't.
"He makes one move..." Rick began and Daryl nodded.
"Just give me a signal." He told the man.
They moved into what looked to be the laundry room of the prison next, old washers and dryers sat around the room covered in dust. There were a pair of double doors at the back of the room and it was clear by the noise coming from them that there was a sizable group of walkers behind them.
Daryl pulled the keys off of his belt, tossing them to the ground at Tomas' feet who looked at them like they had grown a second head each.
"I ain't opening that." He told them.
"Yes, you are." Rick countered. "If you want this cell block, you're gonna open that door. Just the one, not both of them, because we need to control this."
The hispanic man hesitated, looking around at the group before leaning down and scooping the keys up. He moved to the doors, trying a few keys in the lock before he found the right one and looked over his shoulder at them all.
"You bitches ready?" He asked and Amity raised her bow as everyone spread out, their weapons raising as well.
The man gave a tug on one of the doors but it didn't budge, so he pulled once more before reaching forward and gripping both handles, sending both doors flying wide open.
"I said one door!" Rick snarled at him, taking down a walker as it approached.
"Shit happens." Tomas shot back and Amity let her arrow fly, dropping a walker before nocking another arrow into place.
She sent that one flying as well before catching Rick stumbling to the ground a few feet away, a walker on top of him.
"T, mind the gap." Daryl told their companion, moving as Amity did towards the former sheriff but the redhead backed off when she realized he was closer and instead took out one of the last undead stumbling through the doors.
She turned to see Daryl helping their leader to his feet, the man going for Tomas.
"It was coming at me, bro." Tomas defended and Amity realized that he must have shoved the walker at Rick.
"Yeah, yeah, I get it." Rick said evenly, stopping just in front of the hispanic man. "Shit happens."
There was a long moment of silence as the men stared one another down then Rick lunged, embedding the machete in his hand deep into Tomas' skull.
A yell of protest came from Andrew as he rushed for Rick, ready to bring him down with the bat in his hands but Rick kicked his legs out from under him.
"Easy now." Daryl warned, his bow pointed at the man who stood and fled as Amity nocked an arrow into place.
"I got him." Rick said before taking off after the guy.
Amity surveyed the situation really quick as Daryl ordered the other two down on their knees. She decided all at once to leave T-Dog and Daryl to control the two remaining prisoners and took off after Rick.
"Amity, girl-" Daryl called after her but she wasn't stopping.
She sprinted through the corridors, following the sound of the two men's footsteps the best that she could but ended up getting turned around once or twice. After hearing a door slam, Amity finally found her way to Rick just as the screaming that was sounding from the door behind the man came to a stop.
She held Rick's gaze for a moment, glancing at the closed door before nodding once, gesturing back down the corridor with a flick of her head. The man hesitated only a moment before beginning to walk, the pair moving side-by-side in silence until they made it back to the laundry room.
Daryl's eyes scanned her quickly as if reassuring himself that she was okay as Rick crossed the room to get in Oscar's face.
"We didn't have nothing to do with that." Oscar told him evenly.
Amity moved to T's side, avoiding the pleading look that Axel was giving her.
"You didn't know?" Rick asked the man he was standing in front of. "You knew." He insisted before turning to point his gun at Axel's head.
"Daryl, let's end this now." He said simply but was cut off my Axel's pleas.
"Sir, please, listen to me! It was them that was bad." The man begged. "It wasn't us."
"Oh, that's convenient." Rick sneered.
"You saw what he did to Tiny." Axel said, looking to Amity. "He was my friend. Please, we ain't like that."
He returned his attention to Rick. "I like my pharmaceuticals, but I'm no killer. Oscar here, he's a B and 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!"
Amity looked at the other prisoner as Rick turned to put his gun to his head now, the woman noting that Daryl already held his large knife to the man's throat, ready to end him as soon as Rick gave the go-ahead.
It was an unnerving sight, but after seeing what she just had, Amity couldn't afford for her moral compass to get in the way of her friend's lives.
"What about you?" Rick asked Oscar.
"I ain't never pleaded for my life." The man told him. "And I ain't about to start now, so you do what you gotta do."
Amity could respect that and it seemed that Rick did as well as he had T-Dog and Daryl haul the two men to their feet.
They followed them all the way to the now cleared B block, letting them enter the space first before stepping in as well.
"Oh, man." Axel said, his voice heavy as he took in the inmate's corpses laid out on the ground in front of their cells. "I knew these guys." He told them. "They were good men."
Amity exchanged a look with Daryl, a small frown on her lips as she watched the men take in their fallen friends. Empathy was tearing at her chest.
"Let's go." Rick told them.
"So you're just gonna leave us in here?" Oscar asked him. "Man, this is sick."
"We're locking down this cell block." Rick told him without any sympathy in his voice. "From now on, this part of the prison is yours. Take it or leave it. That was the deal."
"Ya think this is sick? Ya don't wanna know what's outside." Daryl told the two former convicts, his voice softer than Amity was expecting.
"Consider yourselves the lucky ones." Rick interjected before he was walking away.
"Sorry about yer friends, man." Daryl told Axel, looking between them before turning to follow Rick.
Both T-Dog and Amity hesitated, obviously uncomfortable with the situation.
"A word of advice-" T-Dog began, gaining the pair's attention. "Take those bodies outside and burn them."
With that the man was leaving and Amity was left alone, looking at the pair through the bars.
"I'm sorry about your friends, about Eze- Big Tiny." She told them and Axel gave her a thankful nod.
"He was a good man." Axel said softly. "You knew that."
"I did. He didn't deserve what happened to him... It seems that almost everyone in this world that goes down by one of those things doesn't deserve it." Amity said, sighing softly. "What Daryl said was the truth, you know? Out there- it's worse. Way worse. I know it's hard, but... just count your blessings and take T's advice." She suggested, getting to nods in return before she jumped as a hand touched her shoulder.
She whipped around with her machete already raising to see that it was, of course, Daryl who had snuck up on her.
"Jesus." She breathed out and the man gave her a tight half grin.
"Not quite." He told her, receiving an eye roll in return.
"Get movin', girl. Got a damn death wish wanderin' off by yerself." Daryl told her and Amity smiled softly as she remembered some of their first interactions at the quarry camp.
"Aye aye, Captain." She replied, saluting him playfully before heading off in the direction he had come from.
Daryl hesitated a moment more, his eyes looking over the two men on the other side of the gate before he gave them a short nod and went to follow the redhead back to their cellblock.
Upon entering the cellblock, Amity was relieved to hear the news that Hershel had woken up for a moment, even if it was after stopping breathing and scaring Lori and everyone else half to death.
She was engulfed in a tight hug by her brother, the man letting her know clear as day that she wasn't going to be going off on anymore walker killing missions without him at her side.
"I refuse to be the wife sittin' at home worryin' 'bout if their loved one is goin' to come home from war." Michael told her simply, making her laugh before he ruffled her hair and pushed her in the direction of the stairs.
"Get some sleep, Bug. You look dead on your feet." Michael insisted and Amity nodded, only taking the time to use a rag and some water to wipe off her hands, arms, and face before climbing the stairs.
"Ya good, Cherry?" A gravelly voice asked from behind her just as she went to enter her cell, the simple sound of it bringing a smile to her lips.
She turned to see the man she had become so fond of sitting on the mattress that covered most of his perch, leaning forward until his elbows rested on his knees as he looked at her.
She took in the dirt that covered his skin and the way his vest and sleeveless shirt showed off his toned arms, his skin sun-kissed by the ridiculous amount of time they spent outdoors while on the road.
He was a bit of a mess- and he left her breathless.
"Come lay with me?" She asked in return, catching him off guard apparently if the expression on his face was anything to go by.
She gave him a pleading look, not wanting to pull him into anything he was uncomfortable with but she wasn't wanting to be alone, not after the day they had.
Amity waited while he mulled her request over, smiling once he pushed himself to his feet and started her way.
"Ya better not hog all the blankets like ya did on the road." Daryl grumbled at her as she kicked off her boots, quickly climbing onto her bed and scooting as far towards the wall as she could.
"Well you better not snore like you did on the road, Dixon." She countered as he carefully laid down next to her, one arm resting under the back of his head while she moved to let him slide the other under her neck and head.
She slowly rested one of her hands on his chest, laying on her side so that she could catch a glimpse of his blue eyes that never failed to send her heart racing in her chest.
"I don't snore." Daryl told her and Amity snorted softly.
"You keep telling yourself that, Dixon."