Spoiler for this chapter: contains storylines from Volume 3 of the comic series, issues #13-18.
Eventually it became too dark within the prison to walk around without the possibility of falling over the railing. The commotion with the occupied cells died down as everyone settled in for the night. Rick still wanted to keep a watch going. Dale offered to take first watch. Third on the list was Daryl.
He could hear the others down below closing their cell doors. None of those on the upper level with him closed theirs. He didn't bother either. If walkers suddenly showed up inside, they'd reach the bottom cells first. The ones down below likely closed theirs because the inmates were down there with them. He had initially been irritated by the thought of having to listen to those cell doors howl each time someone came or left, but as he headed back upstairs from dinner he saw that they were all keeping the cell doors slightly ajar; just enough for them to slip through. No walker would be able to get through without that junk of metal howling out.
At dinner Daryl attempted to sit by himself once again. But Beth had been the first Greene to sit down and she sat at the table next to his. The rest of the Green family joined; Glenn sat with Daryl since there were only four seats to the tables. Dale of course then came and joined them. As well as Carol.
The women seemed insistent on being at his side nonstop. Kept finding some way to have to wander on by him. And every time he stared her down she always had that look on her face like she pitied him or something. Like she was wanting to help him. Dumb bitch had even come up to him, while everyone was heading to the cafeteria to eat the leftover meatloaf for dinner, and actually asked him if he thought it was a good idea to shack up in the prison. If allowing those inmates to stay there was a safe decision.
He had gazed down his nose at her, saying it wasn't his call to make. Told her is she wanted to go back on the road she could, he'd even give her lift there. Anything to get her away from him.
These days weren't getting any easier, he thought, as he lay in his cell and stared up at the top bunk. He didn't have a clue how long he had till it was his turn on watch. Figured he'd likely just stay awake until that time came. Past couple of days, sleep didn't come easy. Part of him was exhausted, but it didn't really matter all that much to him.
Must have dozed off at some point. Next thing he knew, Dale was shaking his shoulder. Old man had taken two shifts in the night. Last one was left to Daryl. Must have been around 3AM.
He went and sat outside, on the roof of the suburban, binoculars at his side. Crossbow behind him. He scanned over the horizon. Still, Daryl caught himself slowing as he came across the road they had taken to reach the prison. He'd lift the binoculars and peer through them, only to lower them.
He wished Beth could bring her back.
WDWDWDWD
That same night, Alana and Andrea sat in the dining room. They were eating some of the deer that Daryl had caught that was put in the freezer. They were thankful the generator had survived the walkers and that the fire hadn't reached it. They had decided to eat before the sun went down, so that they would have the light. As dusk set upon them they went through the rooms of the house and turned them off. Andrea had gathered the lanterns and had them all gathered in the living room. They kept one lantern on, as low as possible, set on the floor. They stuck it under the coffee table so that the light wouldn't be easily be seen from outside.
"How are you feeling?" Andrea asked Alana while they sat in the living room on the couches, staring out the front door. The screen door and main one were closed, but the curtain was pulled back. Both women had pairs of the night vision goggles and would get up to walk through the house, looking out all the windows with them.
"Better," Alana answered. She had taken the IV out after dinner. It wouldn't be a wise idea to sleep with it still in; she'd likely turn in her sleep and either topple the coat rack over or rip the needle out. Or perhaps even both. She wagered that she only needed the one IV bag and wouldn't have to worry about the sepsis any longer; she left the needle in place, rewrapping it with bandage and putting a hand brace over it that Andrea found in Hershel's room. Now this way she wouldn't have to worry about bending the needle. If there was a way to avoid having to use another needle she was going to take it.
"What's the plan for tomorrow, if we can't stay here?" Andrea asked. She began to answer herself. "Guess we should pack everything we can into that car."
Alana nodded.
"We should probably cook the rest of that deer, take it with us. Pack as much food as possible. We'll focus on the two main packs, mine. We can pick out two small packs. Stick a bit of everything in them. If we have to ditch the car we won't be able to carry everything. We'll have to make some choices on what we need the most."
"We can go through the rooms tomorrow," Andrea told her. "Didn't have that much to begin with and it looks like Dale got a decent amount out. Shouldn't take too long."
"Right then."
Andrea stood up and headed over to the door to look outside. She turned back round to Alana. "I'll take first watch. Wake you up in a bit."
Alana put her coat back on and settled onto the couch. She took some of the Tylenol.
Andrea woke her up some hours later for her shift. And before they knew it, it was morning.
WDWDWDWD
As Daryl headed inside the prison he could smell the breakfast cooking in the cafeteria. There were different groupings of chatter flowing down the hallway. He wasn't exactly hungry. He wasn't exactly eager to be bombarded by the others yet again. Cafeteria wasn't going anywhere any time soon; he could eat when he wanted. Daryl headed back to his cell and laid down, to try and get a bit of sleep.
It was before noon when Rick awaked Daryl. He figured someone would eventually come by and bother him with some task they had set up for him. He remembered Rick saying that today they could venture further into the prison. And there were the dead walkers out in the field to deal with.
"Gonna take some of the others, dig up a, uh mass grave. Dump all those walkers into it," Rick told him.
"Suppose ya want me to tag 'long," Daryl said, sitting up.
"No," Rick said. "I want you to lead the others, cleaning out this section of the prison. About the middle of the day, so it's pretty well lit in here. There's still some bodies that need to be taken out and rooms we haven't gone into. Plus the gym."
"Yeah, alright," Daryl told him. At least he wouldn't have to dig a hole.
Once Daryl came downstairs he saw who all would be going with Rick and who he'd be stuck with dragging around through the prison. Rick would be taking Dale, T-Dog, Axel, and Andrew with him. Lori, of course, wasn't too pleased that two of the inmates would be going with Rick, but he had made sure that their group outnumbered the two of them. And in truth, Rick didn't worry much about Axel and Andrew. Axel just appeared to be watered down version of Merle while Andrew was a tiny man. If anything, he worried about Andrew being too skittish. Plan for Rick's group was to head out to the field with shovels that he had brought back from the garage Dexter had shown him. They'd start digging and wouldn't stop until all the walkers were in it. Needless to say, they'd be out there all day; likely wouldn't finish either. They'd have to come back the next day. Daryl soon found out who he'd have to babysit: Hershel, Glenn, Maggie, Thomas, and Dexter. The others were going to spend the day outside. They'd also be serving as lookout for Rick and the others out in the field.
Daryl stood about waiting for his ragtag group to get together. Glenn and Maggie were missing. Apparently they had already begun to explore the prison. Rick, along with Hershel and Dexter, had gone as far as the barbershop with no issue with walkers; Daryl wasn't concerned about their safety, he was concerned that they were wasting his time.
He was about to give up on waiting and head off without them (he wanted to get this task out of the way) when Maggie and Glenn came back to the rows of the prison cells. T-Dog gave a low whistle when he saw them. Maggie's hair was short. Very short.
She rubbed at her head, the sensation strange to her.
"We found a barbershop," Glenn told them.
Beth came forward to gush over Maggie's pixie haircut. Maggie mumbled about wanting something new, a change. Though she was with Glenn, Hershel told them they needed to not wander off without telling someone else where they were going.
Daryl cut in to the conversations. "Can we get going yet?" He didn't had his crossbow and a baseball bat. Plus one of numerous guns they had pulled off from the walkers. Upside to a prison, plenty of guns. And since they would be inside none of them were worrying too much about the sound drawing walkers aside from those who were already inside. And they didn't believe there was that many left. The rooms could only hold so many of them.
The others quickly forgot about the barbershop. Rick and his group headed out for their task while Daryl's gathered round him to hear what the plan was. He was a bit taken aback to see them, waiting for instructions, from him. Hershel spoke up.
"Laundry room's closest, suppose we can head there."
"Yeah," Dexter said. "Your man Rick took out a walker in there."
Laundry room it was then. The group headed for it and discovered the walker in there. The place was a mess. Aside from the walker and its battered in head, it was just a mess and not dirty. Daryl decided they'd come back for the walker later. After clearing out the other sections they could come back through and take out all the bodies. Among the other rooms they came across were the showers. Dexter tested out the showerheads and laughed when the water came spurting out, sticking his head underneath, even though he had no hair. Showers were fairly big with four sections divided by four-foot walls. There wasn't going to be much privacy. Next room that they came across was actually a collection of administrative offices. Dexter had mentioned them to Rick the previous day.
Glenn happily plopped himself down in one of the couches. Sadly, it was actually more comfortable than the mattresses in the cells. He told the others that they should take the pillows from the couches.
"Ya wanna walk back on ya own, be my guest," Daryl told him. Glenn decided he would wait on taking the pillows.
In the last office room there was a putrid smell. Slumped over on the desk was a man, dressed in a guard's uniform. Dexter and Thomas walked forward to take a look at him.
"Peter Hamilton," Thomas said, leaning down and taking a look at the man's face. The side of his skull was decorating the floor and wall. Looked like he had blown his brains out. Gun was still in his hand. Dexter took it, seeing the blackened bite mark on his hand. Guess Peter had figured out what came next, after being bitten.
"Always said bastard would be dead long before me," Dexter said stepping away.
As they left the room Hershel closed the door. No need to have the stench spread out.
"Where was that barbershop?" Daryl asked Glenn and Maggie.
Glenn took the lead and led them to the room. It was near the shower, except they had taken a different turn than he and Maggie had originally.
The way to the barbershop was clear as well as the barbershop itself. Place looked untouched aside from Maggie's hair on the floor. Hershel said they should keep moving on. He left the room along with Maggie and Thomas. Dexter looked over to Glenn.
"That your girl or something?" he asked.
Glenn looked uncertain, about the question and about answering it. He nodded his head. Dexter only looked through his tiny eyes and nodded slightly, like he was making a mental note of something.
"Bet daddy keeps an eye on you," he told Glenn. He looked over to Daryl. "And where's your girl? Shit, end of the world, we all get one, right?" Daryl's face hardened and he walked out quickly. Glenn looked uneasily at the doorway and then to Dexter. "What's his problem?"
"His died," Glenn said, head down as he walked out as well.
Dexter stood there for a moment. "Hmph."
Everyone just had to keep reminding him, didn't they? First Beth had to come by his cell, saying that crap about Alana. He had to deal with Carol following him around, trying to do anything she could to pamper him, wait on him hand and foot. Dale wouldn't stop sitting with him in the cafeteria. And now even the fucking inmates were rubbing it in his face. Everyone else had so easily moved on about losing Alana and the others on the farm so why the fuck couldn't they let him move on?
He passed the others up to continue leading the way. He looked back once to see Glenn had joined back up with Maggie, walking at her side. He quickly turned back round; seeing the two of them only made him angry. And jealous.
Daryl was jealous of the fucking Chinaman.
Next room they came across was the library. It was actually…impressive. They couldn't even begin to guess at how many books there were. And more than books, there were movies. Glenn and Maggie had to hold their giggles in as they looked over the film titles; a large number of them were animated films.
"Snow White's my favorite," Thomas said as he looked over them, running a finger over the spines.
Dexter scoffed. "Weak-ass shit. Finding Nemo. That's a film."
"We can have movie nights!" Glenn said.
"Used to watch the movies in the gym. Guards would set up a bunch of chairs, bring in a projector," Dexter was telling them.
"How you plan on getting that projector to work?" Hershel asked. "This place have any generators?"
Thomas and Dexter looked at each other.
"Yeah," Thomas said. "It's over past A-block."
A-block. It, along with B-block hadn't been opened yet. Far as they knew, both were crawling with walkers. A handful of them wasn't enough to enough to give them confidence in opening either block; walkers could just be crowded at the doors waiting to get out.
"We'll clear out the gym first," Daryl told them. Seemed like the best place to head to next. There were still other rooms to check out; they wouldn't be making it to the generator room anyways. It'd have to be saved for another day when Rick and the others could go with them.
"Gym it is," Dexter said as he headed out. "It's gonna be a bitch, I'll just say that."
The walk down the hallway was a slow one. With as much hype as Dexter was giving the number of walkers in the gym, it was awfully quiet. They stood at the doors, listening. There was nothing to be heard.
"How many did ya see in there?" Daryl asked Dexter and Hershel. Neither man could answer. "A guess…anything?"
"Door's weren't open for very long," Hershel told him.
Daryl sighed.
"Alright, you stay back here, make sure none get past us," he told Hershel.
Hershel grabbed the chain that was looped though the door handles, with a nod of his he pulled them out and stepped back.
The walkers had gathered towards the far end of the gym; only a few were wandering nearby to the doors. Daryl led the others in while Hershel remained at the doorway. Many of the walkers were slow to notice that the doors had been opened. And their movements once seeing Daryl and the others were slow. There were some who must have leaned against the walls, only to slide down towards the floor. They had trouble standing back up. Others appeared almost catatonic, possibly having stood in the same spot for such a long time. But the sight of the group had the walkers fighting to get near them. The floor was covered in their grime, bits of themselves sliding off the bones, the muscles becoming flimsy. The group had to be wary of the steps they took, making sure not to step in the numerous congealed puddles that had formed all across the floor. The smell was horrendous. When the herd of walkers had washed over them back on the highway when they lost Sophia, they could smell them as they came by. The smell remained even after the herd had long moved on. It was a stench that poisoned the air. At first Daryl and the others used their main weapons; the bats and axes. They fanned out into a curve and approached the walkers, progressing forward then backing up. They repeated the process. It wasn't so much that there was a large number of walkers in the gym, but that the gym was a confined area. And soon the walkers were gaining the ground on Daryl and the others.
Shots rang out and the group turned to see Hershel firing off his gun at walkers that had slipped past them.
"There's too many!" Glenn cried. "We gotta get out of here!"
Dexter and Thomas did not have to be told twice. The two men quickly turned round and headed for the doors. Glenn began to pull back. He looked over to Maggie. She wasn't budging.
"Come on!" he said to her, drawing his gun and firing at the walkers coming at himself and Maggie. She too had her gun drawn, but was aiming towards Daryl.
He had gone too far forward; away from the others. He was still using his bat to attack the walkers. One grabbed onto the collar of his shirt from behind him, but Maggie lucked out and shot it; its grasp slackened on Daryl as it crumbled to the floor.
"Daryl!" Glenn shouted, trying to pull Maggie away, towards the doors. "Come on man!"
But Daryl didn't listen to him, didn't hear him. He kept moving forward.
He didn't want to go back. Didn't want to leave that room. All Daryl saw was red. All he saw was Alana. Every walker that came into sight, they were every last one of them the one that had gotten her. He could even see it in his head, how she fell behind and the walkers swarmed over her. Saw as each one tore at her, bit into her. Every walker in that gym had her blood on them. Each of them had a part of her and he had nothing of her. Daryl faintly heard Maggie crying out to him as Glenn dragged her away. He looked back, but couldn't even see the doors to the gym anymore.
"We can't just leave him!" Maggie was saying, fighting against Glenn and her father as they all stood back and watched in horror.
The walkers surrounded him. Daryl pulled out his gun and began firing the rounds off towards them. But bullets were not never-ending. The click of an empty barrel echoed through the gym. He could hear the doors being closed, the chain rattling against them. The bat hung loosely in his other hand. Flashes of Alana sped through his mind. He could see her, up on that roof, firing her gun off at him, forcing him to leave. He saw that feral fear in her eyes when he came back for her. The agony that rippled through her as Hershel scorched her skin. The way she clung to him in her sleep. That emptiness that overwhelmed her when Wilhelm didn't return. The way her hand was so tiny in his.
He was going to die in there.
Strange, it didn't bother him.
Ooooo am I evil? Yeah, I think I'm evil. How's that for a cliffhanger?
Haha, I should hopefully be back later today with another chapter. Was going to do the entirety of Day 3 in this chapter, but it's looking like it's going to be a long one, so I figured I would be evil and it here for the time being, then do the rest as a separate chapter. Sorry if there are any typos in this chapter, I literally just finished and am putting it up; didn't want to keep you guys waiting.
Uh…well I don't really have any questions to put here, so instead I'll just ask for reviews hehe.