Chapter Twenty Four
Dinner was an awkward event.
It took place mostly in silence as we ploughed through the rations that had been conjured up for us. Eyes darted around everyone, usually across to where our leader sat apart from the rest. Even Lori and Carl had taken place beside Herschel and Maggie, away from Rick as they possibly could be. Lori's wishes. Once Rick had confessed, words were thrown from every direction. Most were accusations against him and demanding why he hadn't spoken sooner. It wouldn't have mattered. Didn't think we needed to know. Were Rick's answers. Excuses, according to Shane.
Rick and Shane had a violent bust up. First words were thrown between the pair and T-Dog had to place himself between them both before things got physical. Herschel demanded silence from the pair and urged that Rick's reasoning was heard before he was accused of anything. Even after Rick calmly told everyone that he believed he was doing it for the good of the group, Shane stepped in and that's when everything blew up.
"Good of the group?!" He demanded. "Man, you fucked up your priorities there, didn't ya!" Rick glared at his friend. "You could have prevented a whole lotta shit-"
"What could I have prevented, Shane?!" Rick challenged. "What could knowing this possibly change anything that has happened?" Shane stepped forward, urging T-Dog to square up and firmly make a point that Shane wasn't getting any closer to Rick.
"If you'd told us then perhaps Carol would still be here!" Shane threw back. Sophia gasped in horror, hands flew to mouths, Rick's eyes darkened. Regardless of T-Dog or not, Rick launched at his friend, taking the barrier by surprise and managing to land a punch in Shane's jaw before T-Dog reacted.
"Lay off!" T-Dog cried, shoving Rick away. Daryl and Glenn quickly stepped in to restrain the pair of them, in aid for T-Dog.
"Both of you, stop now!" Lori's voice cut in, halting both men. The pair were seething, anger radiating from them both. "Shane, what you said isn't-"
"Isn't true?" Shane cut across, eyes darting to her. "You positive about that, Lori? You tellin' me that if we had known that you'd turn after death that Carol would still have died? We could have shot Dale in the head to make sure and prevented what happened!"
"That doesn't matter anymore, Shane!" Lori shook her head. "There's no point making guesses at what could have happened." Her eyes were flaring. "Carol is dead. Dale is dead. Nothing will change that and speculating things will not bring them back!"
"I ain't trying to bring them back," Shane cried. "I'm trying to prove that perhaps Rick's decisions ain't really following to plan!" He rounded on his friend. "You sure there ain't anymore secrets you have to share with the group, brother?!" Rick's eyes hardened as he stared Shane down.
"Is there any secrets you have to share with the group, brother?" Rick spat, quietly. Shane's face started for a moment and his face dropped a little. Rick then turned to where his wife stood, not softening the dark look on his face. "And what about you?" His eyes glanced down at Lori's stomach meaningfully and back to her dawning face.
"Love, please-"
"Don't 'love' me!" Rick cried, startling everyone in the cell block. "Well?!" He glanced between the pair. "Do you have anything you wish to 'share with the group'?" Shane averted his eyes when Rick turned to him and Lori's face paled. The rest of us remained silent, still. "If any of you wish to take lead then be my guest! I'm doing my best to keep you people alive. I made the choice of keeping what Jenner said a secret for the good of the group. I challenge anyone of you to take charge if you have any objections to that." His eyes darted amongst everyone and I avoided eye contact when he looked my way. "No one?!" He turned and directed his question mostly to Shane this time and Shane chose to ignore him.
Silence followed afterwards and the discussion was dropped instantly. Rick muttered for dinner to be made before leaving the cell block to 'take a walk'. When he came back, he seated himself away from the group only thanking Herschel when he passed him his food before ignoring everyone else altogether. The rest of the group spoke nothing about the argument and had gone about activities as if nothing had happened.
I glanced at Rick as he ate alone, remembering his words and wondering what he meant. I had my ideas about Shane and Lori and wondered if Rick had come to the same conclusion. If he had, it wasn't my place to question. It was for Lori, Rick and Shane to sort out. The fertility of the baby was perhaps a question that needed to be asked.
After dinner, I decided to take Sophia up rest and bided everyone goodnight. Others made to follow and I heard Rick mutter that he would take first watch.
"What do you think Mr Grimes meant today, Ruby?" Sophia asked quietly as I helped her up onto the top bunk. Toby lay in the corner of the cell on the bundle of blankets I had provided for him and was soon drifting off to sleep, seemingly content. I shrugged in reply to Sophia and told her I didn't know. She didn't seem to like my answer but took it anyway and drifted off to sleep almost instantly. I did hear a few suspicious sniffs though coming from the top bunk before her steady breathing followed. I didn't pester the girl about her crying, I didn't comfort her, I didn't do anything. She needed the moment to grieve over her mother in peace. I was glad though when she finally fell asleep and hoped she would feel better in the morning.
I wished I had the same ravine as her and ended up lying awake for quite a while, merely staring up at the brackets of the bed above me. Sophia's soft breaths were all that was heard as she slept peacefully. I envied the girl but was thankful that she was sleeping so well after the insensitivity of Shane today.
"If you'd told us then perhaps Carol would still be here!"
Despite the nagging in the back of my head that told me what Shane was saying was right, I blatantly ignored it. Rick was a good man and had done right by me. I would stand by him in an instant.
With a sigh, I decided I would go see who was on watch and either accompany them or relieve them of their duties. As quietly as I could as not to wake Sophia or anyone nearby, I crept out of our cell and made my way towards the steps. Again, I carried myself down the stairs with equal trepidation and made my way towards the common room area to see who was on watch duty. I wasn't surprised to find Rick alone with his back against the far wall with full view of all three doors into the room. He glanced up at me when I appeared, his eyes darkening a moment before the flare left him and he smiled slightly at me.
"Can't sleep?" He asked hollowly. I shook my head and returned his smile.
"You want to go rest while I take over?" I offered. He shook his head, grimacing slightly.
"Rather not go up there at the moment." He confessed. I nodded with understanding. He'd rather not go near Lori and Shane at the moment.
"Do you mind if I join you then?" I asked. Rick thought a moment before shaking his head and patting the spot beside him.
"Pull up a dusty floor." He muttered. I obliged taking a seat beside our breaking leader. I could tell by the look on his face and by his outburst today that he was struggling to hold things together. The pressure on him had obviously mounted considerably and he was struggling to cope with it all. It was unsurprising.
"My mother had an affair once." I spoke up suddenly, needing to fill the silence with something, even if it was just rambling. "With my dad's brother. I remember the day my dad found out, my sister and I were there when my Uncle Stephen told everyone and begged my mother to leave my dad for him. Kinda blew up in his face as my mother told him no." I paused, wondering if this was really the best story to be telling Rick right now. "I remembering wishing that my dad would hit him, do something to make him hurt like Uncle Stephen had done to him. But my dad was too much of a nice guy to wish harm upon anyone." I sighed. "He did nothing, didn't even hold it against my Uncle Stephen or my mother."
"Did they divorce?" Rick asked quietly. I shook my head.
"They worked things out." I muttered, glancing up at Rick. His face was thoughtful.
"My baby-" He paused and swallowed. "The baby. I don't even know-" He trailed off and sniffed loudly, trying to restrain himself from crying no doubt. "I don't even know if it's mine." I nodded. I guess I was right about Lori and Shane.
"Have you spoken to either of them about it?" I asked. "Other than today's little showdown?" He chuckled dryly and shook his head.
"They didn't know that I knew until today." He confessed.
"And how did you find out?" Rick turned his gaze to me and smiled slightly.
"You know and you've only been here a short while." He pointed out. "Of course I know, I just pretend like I didn't. Tried to ignore it because I thought it would go away, but now Lori's pregnant and I-" He shook his head and turned away.
"Rick, it may not be my place to say because I'd never try and tell you what to do, but I think maybe you should talk to Lori." I told him, slowly. "Because, I know she loves you, she's your wife. This is something you need to talk about with her before you, well, before you tear yourself apart by thinking about it."
"What if it's not mine?" He whispered with a shaky breath.
"Do you want it to be yours?" I asked. He remained thoughtful for a while, his eyes glazed and staring, before he chuckled a little.
"I've always wanted a little girl." He confessed softly. "But then again, I suppose a little brother for Carl wouldn't be so bad either." I laughed at Rick's dreamy tone.
"See, you want the baby." I smiled. "And I don't think that whatever happened between Shane and Lori is going on anymore. If that helps?" Rick chuckled again.
"A little." He murmured. There was a pause of thoughtful silence.
"Talk to her, Rick. Find where you stand and discuss things from there." I continued. "Because I'm not ashamed to admit it, but we need you. The group needs you as leader." I sighed. "I wouldn't have it any other way and I'm proud to follow whatever order you make." I saw Rick's turn up in a smile as he glanced at me sideways. "Suppose it doesn't count for much, but I got your back." Rick laughed heartedly and shook his head.
"No, it means a lot." He told me, before reaching out and grasping my hand tightly in his. "Thanks Ruby." I squeezed it back.
"How's Jessica doing?" I asked Laurent one day.
"She's fine." Laurent replied, handing over his usual bag of stuff for me. Ammo, food and water. "Talks a lot about you." I paused in my rummaging through the bag and glanced up at the man.
"Does she know?" I asked. Laurent raised an eyebrow.
"Know what? That I still keep in contact with you?" He scoffed. "Hell, no one knows Ruby. If they did they'd have my head and demand your location." I smirked a little.
"I'm not a favourite amongst the camp then?" I sniggered. He chuckled dryly.
"Gov's out for blood, Ruby." He muttered. "Yours and Michonne's. He's determind to find you both." I smirked a little though still felt a little uneasy inside. "The reminds me, I was meaning to ask you about that handless man." I raised an eyebrow as my smirk dropped. I tried to display no emotion.
"Handless man?" I asked, innocently. Laurent bought it, seemingly.
"You know that guy you were treating before you ransacked the camp?" He prompted. I pretended to be enlightened and urged him to continue. "You take him with you when you and Michonne scampered?"
It was a well known fact between us that Michonne had come with me, Laurent had guessed it pretty quick and it was apparently assumed amongst the Governor and his camp too so I hadn't bothered denying it. What wasn't known it seemed was our third member and I was determind to keep Merle's part a secret. I didn't know what trouble I could cause if I confessed that Merle was with us, I didn't want to compromise him if he was in trouble with the Governor and the others. I felt I owed him that at least.
"No, it was just Michonne and me."
Rick left after a little while when I demanded he go get some rest. He was yawning far too frequently and apparently got sick of my nagging. He obliged after a lot of pushing on my behalf and bided me goodnight. After he was gone, the silence dragged on and I passed my time counting slabs on the ceiling, which proved difficult in the dark. T-Dog came to relieve me in the early hours of the morning and I was thankful as I was struggling to keep my eyes open. I chattered a little with the large man before biding him goodnight and rushing back to my cell to sleep. Once my head hit the pillow I was unconscious to the world.
I was awoken by Sophia gently nudging me and her soft voice telling me that breakfast was nearly ready. I told her I'd be there in a bit and urged myself awake. It was odd to admit that sleeping in a cell was the first night I had felt refreshed in a long time. Much better than sleeping in a tent or a tree!
When I left my cell, I heard the distant chatter of Lori and Rick a few cells away and smiled slightly as I realised Rick had taken my advice and was talking to his wife. Down with the rest of the group, the mood had picked up considerably than it was the night before and I greeted everyone with a warm smile and accepted the rationed food from Glenn thankfully.
"What kind of food do you reckon they've got cooped up here?" Maggie asked.
"Gruel." Shane sniggered, smirking at Carl and Sophia's disgusted faces.
"I'm not eating that." Carl stated defiantly and Sophia nodded in agreement.
"How do you know if you haven't tried it?" Andrea challenged, smiling when the pair turned to each other with upturned noses.
"I don't know about the rest of you, but last night's sleep was the best I've had in a long time, and that's a worrying thought." Shane hollered loudly in his booming tones, a lot chipper than I expected him to be. There was murmur of agreement amongst the group. "Daryl, I expect you've probably slept in a cell before, ain't you?" The reaction this earned was a lot tamer than Shane probably expected. Daryl glared half-heartedly, almost jokingly, at the man before shaking his head.
"Ain't ever been to prison." He told us all. "Merle had a bunch of times, but I ain't."
"You know, this Merle is becoming to sound like a real charmer." Maggie muttered, sarcastically, though smiled warmly at Daryl when he turned to her.
"Oh yeah, he's delightful." Shane laughed. I met Daryl's gaze across the table and tried to smile in an attempt to boast the hunter's evidently dying mood. It seemed to work as Daryl's face softened and he returned my smile with a small attempt of his own. It was certainly good enough for me.
Just then Lori and Rick emerged, soft expressions on their faces. I saw Shane's expression evidently drop as Lori touched her husband's arm gently and as they both shared a smile before Lori joined her son at the table. They had worked things out, it seemed.I was glad of it. Rick coughed then to get everyone's attention.
"Look, I'm gonna come right out and apologise for yesterday's events." He stated firmly, straight to the point. "I got angry and I know I probably scared a few of you, but it was just a moment thing." He sighed. "The pressure just got a little over-whelming but I feel better know, so hopefully you can forgive me?"
"Rick, you did nothing that needs to be forgiven." Herschel stated clearly and Rick smiled his thanks at the man. When everyone else agreed, Shane's a mere stiff nod in his friend's direction, Rick's face relaxed with relief. He shared a brief smile with me before sweeping his eyes across everyone.
"Plans for the kitchens and the infirmary then."
A group was going to go, it was decided, though who in the group was another matter. Lori, Carl and Sophia were all staying behind for obvious reasons, though Rick was very clear that he wanted someone, if not a few people, to stay behind who had clear experience with a gun.
Andrea was volunteered to stay behind and I knew she wasn't happy about it. She argued her case, but Rick shot her down and she backed down when she realised that she was fighting a losing battle. Herschel was also asked to stay behind, for medical purposes apparently and the man was more than happy to. Another decision that shocked the group was when Rick asked Shane to stay behind. The man himself looked visibly shocked when Rick asked him to, even argued to go, but Rick said he wanted him to stay. Taking in the look on Rick's face was enough to make Shane agree and he nodded numbly.
"The rest of us will go." Rick stated then. "Glenn, Maggie, Daryl, T-Dog, Ruby and myself." He confirmed this quickly with us all, asking us each if that was alright. No one said it wasn't and Rick said we had an hour to prepare ourselves, before he asked if he could speak to Andrea alone real quick.
I watched the pair go for a moment before I headed back to my cell to gather up my weapons. Sophia joined me, telling me that I had to be safe and gave me tip after tip on how to kill a walker. Cute.
"Who's been telling you all this?" I teased after a while. She smiled from her seat on the floor beside Toby. The dog would not accompany us today, I had decided. I wasn't sure how he'd fair in the darken corridors and worried that maybe his senses wouldn't work so well. Instead, I had asked for Sophia and Carl to look after him and keep him company while I was gone.
"Carl has." She admitted. "He said he wanted to learn how to kill a walker properly. So do I." I studied her for a moment, wondering what the right answer was to the implied question. What would Carol want?
"Well, I guess when we tie things down here, we can see Rick about getting those shooting lessons going again if you want?" Sophia beamed at this and told me she was going to go find Carl to tell him, whistling for Toby to join her. I watched as he bounded after her, looking so much like the care-free dog he once was again before smiling to myself. It was then that Andrea appeared at my cell door with an amused look on her face.
"You wanna know what Rick just asked me to do?" She asked, without a greeting. I shrugged and urged her to continue, curious about the little meeting between herself and the leader. "She wanted me to keep an eye on Shane while you guys were gone." I raised an eyebrow, a little surprised.
"Suppose that's a good idea since Shane's a little fucked in the head at the moment." I muttered. Andrea nodded in agreement. "You told him you would?"
"I told him I'd try." She shrugged, smiling briefly at me. "Good luck today." I nodded my thanks. "You nervous?" I almost laughed as I realised I had asked Daryl the same question previously the day before.
"Course I ain't. Ran through that field all by myself, suppose this will be, according to Shane, a 'doddle'." I told her, hoping that she wouldn't detect my utter lie.
Since the world went to shit, my general appearance really wasn't something I had considered. But when I found myself in an abandoned health and cosmetics store, I couldn't help but feel mildly self-conscious about my appearance.
Is that a joke? I thought to myself. The dead are walking and I'm now concerned about how I looked? Being alone was sure playing with my head.
Even in the world before, I hadn't been a girly one, neither was my sister. It just wasn't how we were brought up. We were die hard tomboys when we were little and you would rarely, if not never, find us in dresses. Though as we grew up and times arose when we had to wear dresses - weddings were a nightmare - we realised that perhaps the offending clothes weren't all that bad. We were introduced to make-up at a later stage than girls our age and were hesitant to try it. Even when I did, I rarely wore any unless it were special occasions. I wasn't one for dolling myself up, I embraced my freckles and dull coloured lips.
Hair dye, however, was a firm friend of Jessica's. While the make-up and dress world didn't attract her too much, the world of vibrant hair colours and styles certainly did. Once a friend introduced her at the age of fifteen, there was no stopping her and she even went so extreme as to dye her hair luminous green for her school prom. She distanced herself away from the wacky colours though and when she left school and went into the hair dressing business, she refrained from colouring her hair too often and stuck to 'normal hair colours' as her employers requested it. My parents were thankful for it, sick of seeing her with red hair one day and then rainbow the next.
I was very different and preferred my boring 'brownie-auburn' hair, as Jessica dubbed the colour.
As I was in the cosmetics store I spied some purple hair dye and smiled, thinking about how Jessica would have loved the colour in her younger days. I prowled the aisles slowly, glancing at all the products and attempted to avoid all mirrors. After a while though, I sighed and turned to face a full length mirror and observed myself.
The first thing I noticed was how thin my cheeks looked due to my rationed food intake. Overall, I looked thinner and I worried briefly about it before moving onto the state of my hair. Not having brushed it in a while, I was surprised dreads hadn't developed. My face faired no better and was littered with grime and dried blood. I looked feral to say the least. I glanced around the store and smiled slightly. I might as well take advantage of my current location.
A couple of hours later, after finding a cold shower in one of the back rooms - an excellent find!, I returned to that same full length mirror and observed myself. Hair washed and brushed. Face clean of dirt and blood and now layered with light make-up; natural looking though I had made a point to darken around my eyes. I even had a change of clothes which Laurent had provided for me on his last visit. Overall, I was quite pleased with my appearance, though wondered briefly why I had even bothered? Who was there to impress?
It was the little things in life that counted now. A voice spoke in my mind, one I suspiciously thought sounded like Merle, and I smiled in agreement.
"Kate Moss, eat your heart out." I chuckled to myself. Toby stood behind me, eyeing my reflection with a cock of his head like he had no idea what to do with me anymore.
"We keep together." Rick murmured, his voice carrying through the darkened corridors. There was a pause as he and Daryl shone their flashlights around a corner before they led the way forward and Glenn paused to spray a clear white arrow on the wall in aid to help us find our way back.
We worked quickly, dispatching straggling walkers quietly. So far, we were lucky enough not to have come across a group of more than four yet. Though we knew we wouldn't stay very lucky for long. What surprised me the most was how the floor of the corridors had littered bodies of corpses - and not the ones that were trying to eat us. I gathered quickly that guards must have cleared these out before the outbreak and probably before the prison was overrun. I remained cautious of the bodies though, expecting any of them to jump and grab at our legs any instance.
I didn't like the darkness, the flashlights we each had provided me no comfort and I remained close to T-Dog as we followed Rick and Daryl, Glenn and Maggie bringing up the rear. Barely much was spoken, only the odd comments from Rick or warning from Daryl. Otherwise we worked quietly, as were our footsteps. Each corridor was beginning to look horribly familiar and I didn't like the groaning and moaning coming from down the next one. As soon as Rick and Daryl crept around it, they propelled themselves backwards in a rush. I saw the large group of walkers stagger after them and the rest of us wasted no time backing up quickly.
"Go back!" Rick urged, not bothering to be quiet anymore.
Glenn and Maggie now lead the way, following the white arrows back to expected safe haven. Though suddenly we rounded another corner, only to be faced with another group of walkers. Maggie gasped loudly, unfortunately getting their attention, and we were forced to make a left away from them; off the path we had made back back home.
Before we knew it, we were forced to stop running and were faced with the consequence of fighting our way down the corridors. I took out one close by with my knife, not letting myself think before taking out another. When I turned back to the others though, I realised gut-wrenchingly, that I couldn't see them. I heard their grunts and cries as they fought with the dead, but I couldn't see them amongst the darkness and the rotted bodies.
A walker attempted to grab me, but I fought it off quickly before realising I was a sitting duck with my back against the wall. I manoeuvred myself through the group of walkers and attempted to get back to the others. It only brought me to more danger and I was forced to take another corridor to safety. Then I was running aimlessly, terrified for my life as all I could hear was groaning and snarling and the quickness of my own breath. I stopped short when I almost ran straight into another group of them and attempted to back up, only to remember I had some more following me. There wasn't another path to take now.
Suddenly though, I heard the quick sound of running and I waited for a moment as I heard them approach me. Then a single figure appeared around the corner. I shone a flashlight in their face to see who they were. Maggie. I smiled slightly at the girl.
"Quickly, we need to move!" She cried. I glanced around, before spying a pair of double doors and grabbed Maggie's arm.
"In here." I urged. Together we undid the half-heartedly tied rope on the handles (curious?) and threw ourselves inside. Once inside, we wasted no time using Maggie's metal pipe as a substitute lock, securing ourselves inside. There was a muffled sound of moans and stumbling beyond the double doors, but no banging and rattling hit the door. We were undiscovered, it seemed.
"Thank God." Maggie murmured, glancing around. I turned around too and noticed we were in a cafeteria of some description. The tables and chairs were ransacked and broken about the room. To the left was a large hatch, shutters on them and a door beside them that must have led inside.
"Looks like we found a canteen." I muttered, glancing at the girl beside me. She in turn, turned back to look at the double doors. "The others, what happened to them?"
"I don't know." She told me. "I can't really remember what happened, I just remember that I got separated." I nodded.
"Me too." I sighed. "They'll be fine." I quickly reassured her, reassured myself. "If we're alright, then they no doubt are fine. Probably locked themselves in the infirmary." Maggie chuckled a little and I saw her posture soften slightly. Only slightly.
I had no time to say anything else that could possibly comfort either of us as a noise suddenly came from the direction of the kitchen. Maggie and I rounded on the noise in an instant, guns raised defiantly. I led the way towards the door and hesitated once I reached it. I glanced back at my companion, eyed her evenly before nodding once. After a silent count down I opened the door slowly, my gun raised before me. What I found, surprised me, and I stepped further into the room to let Maggie join my side. Once her eyes spotted what I was seeing, I noticed her gun flatter a little. I was lost for words, truly lost for words.
People. Prisoners to be exact, judging by their dull blue jumpsuits. And they weren't trying to eat us either. Instead they were sat around a table and apparently playing cards, their attention focused on the pair of us, their expressions equally as confused as Maggie and I were feeling.
There were four of them in total, four men. Two had dark skin, and varied considerably in height. Even sat down, one was evidently a very large man, larger than T-Dog for sure, both in height and muscle. The other looked quite young and almost scrawny looking. Beside the scrawny kid was an older bearded man with a kind face. His eyes darted nervously between Maggie and I and I saw him visibly gulp when I met his gaze. The remaining member of the foursome was almost Spanish looking with long dark hair and a thin moustache. When I met his gaze, I didn't like the look he had in his eyes and I felt nervous when he didn't look away.
"Who the fuck are you?" Maggie demanded after a while, breaking the silence. The prisoners glanced at each other.
"Ain't language a lady like yourself should be using." The dark haired man spoke slowly, standing to his feet and holding his hands up. "We don't mean any harm." His eyes darted between us.
"How'd you get in here?" The scrawny kid asked - demanded was more fitting.
"Better question; why aren't you trying to eat us?" I muttered. The question made the prisoners laugh and Maggie and I quickly shared a nervous look as they were occupied.
"Eat you?" The first man asked. "What you talking about, chica? I can tell you we have no intention of eating you. Unless that's what you want?" I narrowed my eyes at the man when he tried to step closer. The raising of my gun stopped him in his tracks when I aimed my weapon at his head. "Alright, let's take a step back. What are your names?" I glanced at Maggie.
"You first." She muttered, glaring at the man.
"Fine, name's Thomas." The 'leader' spoke up. "This is Andrew," He nodded to the scrawny kid. "Axel," The bearded man. "And Big Tiny." The remaining - larger - prisoner.
"Big Tiny?" I muttered, raising an eyebrow. The man himself shrugged.
"Actual name's Dexter. Big Tiny is a name given to me from the lads in here. After a while, the nickname stuck." He admitted. I narrowed my eyes.
"Your turn, chicas." Thomas urged. Just then a loud noise caught our attention, coming from the double doors.
"Maggie! Ruby!" It sounded distinctively like Rick's voice.
Almost forgetting the prisoners instantly, Maggie and I left them in the kitchens and darted towards the double doors. We removed Maggie's pipe and flung the doors open. The four men all but fell in, taking lead in slamming the doors shut behind themselves and throwing their weight against it. Maggie's pipe was returned back to secure the door and T-Dog quickly made work of securing it some more.
Once the door was secured, Maggie flung herself at Glenn, holding him close to her and almost sobbing into his shoulder. His arm was bleeding extensively, but Glenn quickly assured us that it wasn't a bite or a scratch from a walker. He caught himself when running away apparently and Maggie commented that we needed to get him back to Herschel to look him over, just to be safe. The others agreed.
"Are you both alright?" Rick asked, glancing between us. I nodded for us both before remembering the prisoners.
"Rick, there's something you're gonna want to see." As if on cue, the four prisoners emerged from the kitchen surveying the situation before them. The men of our group wasted no time aiming their weapons on the prisoners and Rick glanced at me. "This is it." I muttered, shrugging. He turned his gaze back to the prisoners, his pistol trained defiantly.
"Oh my God!" Axel cried, almost grinning. "There's more of ya!" Thomas silenced his fellow inmate with a look before turning to face us.
"You didn't tell us you had friends, chicas." He muttered, eyes darting between Maggie and I. I saw the looks on the our men's faces darken considerably at the comment. "How did you find us?"
"Are you the rescue group?" Andrew asked, glancing awkwardly at each of us in turn.
"You don't look like much of a rescue group." Thomas muttered, his eyes trained on Rick. Our leader glanced at Daryl and the pair shared a look. "Well?"
"How long have you been in here?" Glenn asked quietly. The group of prisoners glanced at him.
"You mean in prison or in this room, boy?" Big Tiny asked, sniggering slightly. Thomas and Andrew smirked too. Glenn's eyes narrowed.
"In here." He muttered through gritted teeth.
"We got shoved in here by a prison guard and got told he'd come back and get us once everything was safe." Axel went on to tell us. "That was months ago now though."
"I reckon about six or seven months ago." Big Tiny added. We shared a look amongst the six of us. "What's going on?"
"You not hear about the outbreak?" T-Dog asked. Thomas scoffed.
"Don't hear a lot when your locked inside." He muttered.
"Shouldn't have committed the crime then." Maggie resorted, earning herself a few glares.
"What are you in here for?" Rick demanded quickly. The prisoners glanced at him in confusion.
"We just told you, the guard-"
"Prison. Why are you in prison?" Rick quickly clarified, his eyes darkening. Looks were shared amongst the prisoners and there was silence as we waited for them to reply.
"How'd you know we're inmates? Could be guards." Andrew muttered, smirking.
"Jumpsuits are a giveaway, asshole." Daryl replied, his crossbow never wavering when the kid sent him a dark glare. There was another brief moment of silence as the prisoners contemplated the question. I glanced at Rick and saw his expression defiant. He meant business.
"Dealing narcotics." Axel admitted finally, looking sheepish. He awkwardly folded his arms across his chest and I observed the man. Despite feeling a mystery about the prisoners, Axel was the one who appeared most trust-worthy. If only by a little.
"Breaking and entering." Andrew continued.
"Fraud." Thomas muttered. There was something in his voice that made me adamant to distrust every word that left the man's mouth. When I met Daryl's gaze, I knew he felt the same way.
"Murder." Big Tony finished, leaving us all partially stunned. I didn't fail to notice Rick's pistol was now aimed closer to the large man. Big Tony must have noticed this too and scoffed. "I've only killed twice." He shrugged like it was nothing and I raised an eyebrow at this. "And the only reason you'll need to worry is if you're my wife or the bastard that fucked her." There was another moment of silence. "No one's gotta worry about them anymore though." The prisoners, but Axel, all laughed.
"Interesting." Rick muttered, his eyes narrowing.
"Well, gentleman, you should get out more because you're missing a hell of a lot." Thomas glared at T-Dog's throw away tone.
"What do you mean?" He asked slowly. "What the hell is going on here?"
"You'll find out soon enough." Rick muttered, lowering his gun and striding forcefully over to the door. "We gotta get back to the others." He then continued, directed now at us. He and T-Dog quickly got rid of the barricade on the door while the rest of us kept our focus on the prisoners.
"What are you doing?" Thomas demanded. Rick threw Maggie her metal pipe and we gathered around the door.
"Don't let them bite or scratch you." Rick threw over his shoulder toward the inmates.
"Don't let who bite or scratch us?" Axel asked warily. Rick ignored him and turned back to the rest of us.
"You ready?" When we all confirmed so, he and T-Dog flung open the double doors.
A small group of walkers were gathered at the door and lunged as soon as the doors no longer stood in their way. They fell easily and soon the six of us were back to running down the darkened corridors, finding the arrows again and following them back to Cell Block C - our new home. The sounds of extra footsteps were evident behind us, perhaps a little distance back. The prisoners were following us. Surely Rick expected this? I didn't know what would happen now, it was clear we couldn't trust them. But I suppose that would be a problem that could wait until we reached the safety of the cell block.
Sometimes instead of dreaming, I would relive memories. Some memories before the outbreak, when things were so blissful and easy, and some during past occurrences during the zombie apocalypse and the new world.
Some were with Merle and Michonne, unsurprisingly. It had become a habit that my thoughts would wonder back to them. It had learnt to accept it now rather than try ignore them. I thought of times when we'd hold up at night in some abandoned and reasonably safe location. We'd bicker, banter, fight. I couldn't count the numerous times I had had to stand between Merle and Michonne when things got heated. We were so unbelievably dysfunctional and yet it worked. We worked.
As a team, we were strong. And no matter how many harsh words we threw at each other, nothing counted when one of us were in trouble. It reminded me of a family; a completely fucked family who were in denial about their progressive bonding. But a once united family nonetheless.
Once we made it to our cell block, Rick turned sour and hard.
"Glenn, Maggie with me." He snarled. "You three stay here, watch that door." He pointed the door we had just come from, that led to the rest of the prison, and no doubt the inmates would come through any minute.
Glenn and Maggie followed Rick obediently as they ushered everyone into the cell block. Rick's voice grew distant as he explained the situation and Glenn was probably taken to be treated for his wound. Daryl had his crossbow trained at the door and T-Dog quickly raised his own gun in succession. I put away my knife before joining the two men and pulling out my gun.
"We gonna shoot them?" I murmured to them both.
"If they give us reason to." Daryl muttered back.
"I'm kinda hoping they do." T-Dog grimaced and Daryl hummed in almost agreement. The men shared a look before turning their attention back to the door.
The three of us waited silently, listening to the concord of sounds from the others and the sounds of footsteps closing in on our cell block. Neither of us were surprised when the inmates finally pushed open the door, Thomas leading the four of them.
"Wanna shut that behind you?" T-Dog called, gesturing to the door. "We don't fancy entertaining walkers any time soon." Axel quickly obliged.
"Walkers?" Andrew asked. "Is that what those things were?" I watched as Thomas's eyes darted between the three of us, sizing us up. I tried to remain neutral as his eyes passed over me, lingering longer than I wanted them to. I had been used to those kind of looks in my previous group - and that didn't turn out well.
"Never got your name, chica." He pointed out with a sly grin. Both T-Dog's and Daryl's weapons were trained on him in an instant when Thomas stepped towards me. I merely raised an eyebrow when he raised his hands, a sign of peace, and chuckled a little. "I meant no harm, gentleman." His eyes returned to me. "Been a long time this we men have seen a lady. I'm kinda rusty when it comes to talking to you." I narrowed my eyes and T-Dog scoffed.
"Well the lady doesn't want to talk to you." T-Dog commented, lightly.
"You'll step away if ya know what's good for ya." Daryl then added, his aim never wavering though his tone was a lot more harsher than T-Dog's. Thomas rounded on him with a sneer when he picked up on that.
"Getting protective, are we?" He sniggered. Their attention was caught when Rick's voice echoed down to us. The four of them turned into the direction of the rest of the cell block and I made a point of standing in their view of the door. "What you got back there?" He jutted his chin in the direction of the door. "There more of you?"
"Ain't any of ya business." Daryl replied.
"Look, buddy, we'd like the know what the fuck is going on around here!" Andrew cried. "What the hell were those 'walkers'? Where are the rest of the inmates?"
"Those walkers are the rest of the inmates." T-Dog told him coolly. "World's a whole lot different since you saw it six months ago, buddy." Andrew glared at the man and I glanced awkwardly between the men.
"Gentlemen, lady, could we discuss this without havin' those weapons pointin' at us?" Axel pleaded, his eyes nervous. "We don't mean no harm, we just wanna know what's goin' on. You get me?"
"You'll excuse us if we don't trust a bunch of criminals." I muttered.
"So she speaks." Thomas smirked and I grimaced as his eyes racked up and down my body. Sickening. "I wouldn't mind being locked in a cell with you that's for sure, chica." Really? I hadn't failed to notice the man had crept closer again too.
"Son of a-" Without warning, Daryl had butted Thomas heavily across the head with his crossbow, causing the inmate to fall to the floor. He was soon on his feet though, with a gun - that he had apparently produced from the back of his jumpsuit - and pointed it in Daryl's direction.
"Put the gun down!" T-Dog cried, stepping forward, training his gun trained at Thomas's head, the inmate with his pointing at Daryl. Daryl in turn directed his crossbow back and the pair stared each other down, dark expressions on each of their faces.
I remained focused on the other prisoners, stepping forward when Andrew tried to intervene and pointing my gun at him. I raised an eyebrow and gestured for him to step away, he obliged and I kept my eyes on the three prisoners as T-Dog and Daryl argued with Thomas. Due to the commotion, we must have caught the others attention as suddenly Rick appeared, Shane in tow.
"You lower your weapon now." Rick hissed, directed at Thomas. The man glanced at the ex-cop before sneering once more at Daryl before lowering his gun.
"You had guns on us, only fair." Thomas evened. Rick chuckled without humour.
"Fair isn't exactly what the world is anymore and you better get used to it because things are gonna change around here."
(Author's Note): Well, here's the next installment. I'm not too happy about the meeting of the prisoners - I feel it's too like the show, despite me trying to switch it up a bit. For starters, I didn't want to have Herschel get bitten as I think we've got a lot more ground to cover before THAT issue arises. Hopefully you all agree? And as you've probably realised I changed the prisoners around a bit.
I've gotten rid of Oscar, not that I have any vendetta against him or anything, I just feel like he won't fit in with my story. He isn't canon to the comics anyway so I've not gone totally off course, have no fear! Axel and Andrew - I've kept them similiar to those in the TV series as I prefer them than they are in the comics, Axel especially. Big Tiny (Dexter) is going to be more like his character in the comics as I prefer the 'hardened' version to that of the TV show. And finally, Thomas, well, he certainly is an interesting character. He'll be a mixture I think. Looks wise, I've described him as he looks in the TV show, but I think I may add a few comic influences for his character. It won't just be basic black and white with him, I don't think. Hopefully it'll turn out alright with my portrayal of him. Like I said, he won't just be a straight up copy from the show/comics - he'll be a mixture of the two. I want to develop the prisoners storyline more if I can as I feel the show hasn't done enough with them. Hopefully you're all happy with the outcome of the prisoners? :P
Big thanks to all those who have reviewed, it really mean a lot! I'd love to know what you think about this chapter. Again, I'm not having such great feelings about this chapter so I'd like to know how it whent. Did you enjoy it? Was it too like the show? Please leave a comment and I'll have an update up ASAP :)