Chapter 21

The group was torn by speculation, some believed that Gaelynn was not a monster who had killed Sophia, others, mainly Shane, thought she was guilty and if they were to locate her, she should pay with her life at once.

Regardless of the differences of opinion, they packed up and continued their search for a safe place to spend the approaching winter. They did not have long before the night's temperatures would drop to near freezing. They did not have enough warm clothing or blankets to last through the long cold months ahead.

They moved as quickly as they could, trying to keep ahead of the cold. Rick kept Daryl updated on their route each day, and was getting more and more worried as each day passed that he had no news concerning the missing girl. Daryl did let Rick know that he found a farm house that was almost completely in ruins, but it yielded a nice warm coat that was only a little too large for him. He would at least be warm as he continued to search for Gaelynn.

After a week on the road, the lead vehicle spotted a sign that brought promise to their road weary minds. The sign said 'Edgefield Federal Prison' 79 miles. Rick had never even considered a prison as a choice for a safe haven, but once he saw the sign, it started to make sense to him. It would have high fences, razor wire, and guard towers most likely. If it was not over run by Walkers, this might be the best option for them. He pulled slowly off the main road; he wanted to ask the others what they thought of heading in that direction.

Once he had everyone gathered, he told them about the sign he had seen and what they thought of staying the winter in a prison, if it was not already in someone else's hands, dead or alive. If the current residents were alive, they would need to be very cautious, and keep a clear head, no matter how desperate they were becoming. No one had objections at that point; it was basically, 'let's just see what we can find out'. So they headed for the prison, and Rick alerted Daryl to the new developments.

Daryl was starting to lose track of the days. He thought he might have been out searching for 4 or 5 days now, but he was not really too sure. He killed something when he was hungry, but other than taking short naps, he kept moving. In his heart, he knew what the chances were that he would find her, but he was not ready yet to give up.

When the group reached the Prison, they were pleasantly surprised. There were around 50 or so Walkers inside the open gate, but the gate was not broken. Their first move was to rid themselves of the Walkers inside the gate, then close it. Once this was taken care of, they could start to explore the buildings. From what they could see, there were 4 rectangular structures sitting in a square shape, all attached to each other, and a fifth building, set off about 20 yards from the other 4. This would be the first one they check out after taking care of crowd control.

Each of the men, Rick, Shane, Glenn, T-Dog and Jimmy took a weapon, an axe, a shovel, anything that could be used to dispense of these Walkers with little to no noise. Andrea and Dale stood just inside the gate, ready to fire if anyone were to get into trouble. Then the guns would be used, but not unless it was completely necessary.

The slaughter began, and slowly the men cleared the yard. They took breaks when their arms became too exhausted to hit anything with enough force to penetrate the skull. The entire project took about 2 hours, but they were able to kill all the Walkers inside the gate. As they carried out this ugly business, a few more begin to gather outside the gate, where the cars were still parked. Once Rick and Shane had rested long enough, they covered the others while the vehicles were driven inside the gates.

After having a quick lunch and drinking some much needed water, the group was eager to start searching the first building.

Rick took the lead and brought only Shane, Glenn and T-Dog with him for the first look inside. The door opened with ease, no lock in place. They had to use flashlights in order to see, but at first glance, the building seemed to be deserted. They covered every room and closet, any area in which a person, dead or alive might be hidden from view. The building was vacant. Everyone who waited outside, with their hearts pounding and their nerves too riled up to even talk to each other, were finally allowed inside. They immediately set up some candles to at least brighten the area they now occupied. Some thought to themselves that they didn't care what the rest of the buildings had to offer, they were just so happy to have what seemed to be a safe place to sleep for the night. It would take a day or so before they had became so used to where they were, that the urge to explore would begin infect each of them.

After the men made sure everyone was safe and comfortable, they left that building and decided to check out the one closest to what they now considered 'Head Quarters'. As it turned out, this was D block, and was for the most part, empty. There were a few Walkers moving around in the darkness but they were quickly dispatched.

This building housed a large kitchen, an even large dining area, a gymnasium, and an infirmary. They took a quick inventory and were surprised to see that most of the building was still equipped with all the things one would find in a gym, a health clinic, and a large restaurant. Large portions of the food had spoiled and reeked. But there was still a huge amount of nonperishable's. Enough to keep them all alive for a very long time. No looting could be detected. Rick said it was most likely that escaping with their lives was the most important thing on the residents mind, be it inmate or guard.

Rick also considered the idea of returning to the farm in order to try and persuade Hershel, Patricia, and Beth to come and stay at the prison with them. The farm would always be at risk of being overrun with Walkers or worse, men who would take whatever they wanted. This place not only had an infirmary that was pretty well stocked, but a good deal of ground inside the gates that could be cultivated to grow fresh food. It was also much easier to guard and keep safe. From the guard towers, he imagined you could see anyone approaching for a mile or so away.

Maggie and Jimmy were the only ones from the farm that wanted to leave and join their group. Glenn could not be seen without a huge goofy grin on his face for the first few days. He and Maggie were in love, if they lived for a month or for 20 years, they wanted to be together.

It was beginning to get late and everyone was tired. Searching the other buildings would have to wait until the next day, as long as they could secure the doors of the building they were now in, they would just camp there for the night and see what tomorrow would bring.

In his own part of the neighboring forest, Daryl was exhausted. He had been walking for hours without stopping. He picked a spot for the night and put up his smaller one man tent. He had killed a squirrel earlier, but was too tired to set up a fire and cook it. He had eaten raw squirrel before, so tonight's menu consisted of squirrel sushi and water from a stream that ran nearby. The water was cool and much better than the tepid water he had been sipping on out of his bottle all day. So he counted that as one halfway decent thing that happened that day… and the rest was just fucking frustrating aimless wondering around, but he had to keep trying. Without even realizing it, he had grown to care for this girl a lot more than he expected or wanted too. He would not give up, not yet. He needed to see her more than anything he had ever needed, if it was only long enough to tell her how sorry he was. In his entire pointless, worthless life, he had never wanted anything as much as he wanted to just see her again. He would try harder tomorrow, but tonight, he needed sleep.