Jewels: I do not own The Walking Dead…

It wasn't until a bit later that Rick and Daryl returned to the cell block, and they didn't look happy.

"Everything okay?" I asked.

"Depends what you mean by okay?" Daryl asked sourly.

"What happened?"

"The prisoners happened, that's what!"

"They don't fuckin' listen, they become pussies when it comes to havin' to take care of a friend that's gotten bit, and then a couple of them tried to fuckin' attack us."

"Daryl, just calm down a bit I get it but-"

"Don't tell me to calm down when you've been snappin' at everyone today," he snapped, "If I want to be pissed off, I'm gonna be pissed off." He went up to the perch and I just sat there at the table.

He was right and I wasn't going to argue that fact. I had been snapping at everyone, and there was no excuse for it, there might be one, but I wasn't even sure of that.

We didn't talk for the rest of the day, and that night I didn't even bother going up to the perch. I just sat that the table, the bag of instant mashed potatoes and cans of corn keeping me company. I would glance up every once and a while but all I could see was Daryl's back faced towards the edge of the perch, his breathing subtle.

I ended up falling asleep using my arms as a pillow on the table. I guess falling asleep there was better than staying up and stewing on what had happened. When I finally woke up to the sound of shuffling I had something carefully set over my shoulders, and looking I saw that it was one of Daryl's long sleeved shirts that was under his angel wing vest.

This was his way of apologizing…

Daryl and I never really did apologize much to each other for anything. There were "I'm sorry"s here and there, but nothing like wrapping our arms around each other and telling each other how sorry we were and then making out with each other.

It wasn't a goddamn fucking romance novel and I did not had the business-y sexy man who was going to pick me up in a limo, wine and dine me, give me some big fat diamond ring and constantly tell me that he loves me.

No…

I have a ruggedly sexy, crazy redneck who would, if this was not a zombie apocalypse, bring home a deer and look at me with those sexy blue eyes before asking me if I would start the gutting process while he got a beer. There would be no limo, no wining and dining, and no big fat diamond ring. There'd be a pickup truck, beer and venison, and maybe a small diamond ring or he would just go out and get me a new bow.

That's love right there…and I didn't need and of the fancy stuff or the elaborate apology. An elaborate apology is not Daryl's style. But making sure that I didn't get cold and even using his angel wing vest to do so…that was his way of apologizing. There were no words involved, I just knew…

I stood up and took the long sleeved shirt out of the vest and headed outside to see everyone getting ready to get the cars. "Why didn't anyone wake me?"

"I tried," Carol replied, "You were sound asleep."

"Sorry 'bout that," I apologized.

"It's no problem," she said.

I turned to Daryl and handed him his vest and he put it on. Again, nothing had to be said, he just leaned over and kissed the side of my head.

"Alright, let's get the other cars in," Rick said, looking out towards the field, "We'll park 'em in the west entry of the yard."

"Good," Daryl said, "Our vehicles camped out there look like a giant "vacancy" sign."

"After that, we need to load up these corpses so we can burn them," Rick said.

"It's gonna be a long day…" T-Dog sighed.

"Where's Glenn and Maggie?" Carol asked, "We could use some help."

"Up in the guard tower," Daryl replied.

"Guard tower?" Rick questioned, "They were just up there last night!"

We all looked up at the guard tower as Daryl shouted out to them. "Glenn! Maggie!"

Glenn came out of the guard tower with no shirt on, buttoning up his pants. "Hey! What's up guys?"

"I think I can guess what was," I replied.

The other's laughed.

"You comin'?" Daryl questioned.

"He was tryin' but ya had to go and interrupt," I said, slapping his arm.

"W…what?" Glenn asked.

Everybody just laughed at him. Him and Maggie were caught with their pants down and there was no two ways about it.

"You comin? Come on, we could use a hand!" Daryl said.

"Yeah, we'll be right down," Glenn finally managed to get out.

We all were laughing as we headed towards the cars, but suddenly T-Dog stopped in his tracks. "Hey Rick!"

Rick stopped smiling almost immediately when he saw what T-Dog did. The two prisoners that were left were out of their cell block and walking towards us and he started walking towards them. "That's close enough, we hand an agreement."

"Please, mister. We know that," the blonde said, "But you gotta understand! We can't lie in that place another minute, you follow me? All the bodies, people we knew! Blood, brains everywhere! There's ghosts!"

I felt myself become nauseous at the mention of "blood" and "brains". 'No body, do not do this to me,' I thought, holding my hand up to my mouth, trying not to draw attention to myself.

"Why don't you move the bodies out?" Daryl asked.

"You should be burning them," T-Dog added.

"We tried! We did!" the blonde said.

"The fence is down on the far side of the prison. Every time we drag a body out, those things just line up," the other inmate said, "So we dump in a body and just run back inside."

"Look! We had nothing to do with Thomas and Andrew, nothing!" the blonde said, "You trying to prove a point? You proved it, bro! We'll do whatever it takes to be part of your group, just…please, pleases don't make us live in that place!"

"Our deal is not negotiable…you either live in your cell block, or you leave," Rick stated.

"I told you this was a waste of time," the other inmate said, looking at the blonde, "They ain't no different than the pricks who shot up our boys. You know how many friends' corpses we had to drag out this week? Just threw 'em out like…those were good guys. Good guys who had our back against the really bad dudes in the joint like Thomas and Andrew. Now, we've all made mistakes to get in here, chief, an I'm not gonna pretend to be a saint, but believe me…we paid our dues. Enough that we would rather hit that road, than to go back to that shithole."

Rick looked at Daryl who just shook his head. They decided that while they tried to decide what to do about the two prisoners (apparently Axel and Oscar), they locked them outside of the prison gate.

"Come on, dude!" Axel said.

T-Dog who didn't really care on the matter joined up with us as we debated.

"Are you serious?" Rick asked him, "You want them living in a cell next to you? They'll just be waiting for a chance to grab our weapons, you want to go back to sleeping with one eye open?"

"I never stopped," he replied, "Bring them into the fold. If we send them off packing, we might as well execute them ourselves."

"I don't know, Axel seems a little unstable," Glenn commented, looking over at the two prisoners.

"After all we've been through? We fought so hard for all this, what if they decide to take it?" Carol asked.

"It's just been us for so long…they're strangers. I don't…it feels weird all of a sudden to have these other people around," Maggie added.

"You brought us in," T-Dog reminded her.

"Yeah, but y'all turned up with a shot boy in your arms, didn't give us a choice," she said.

"They can't even kill walkers," Glenn said.

"They're convicts, bottom line!" Carol said.

T-Dog shook his head. "Those two might actually have less blood on their hands than we do."

"I have to agree with T-Dog," I said, fighting the nausea, "They were locked in that cafeteria for 10 months waitin' for someone to help 'em. Durin' that time and longer we've been fightin' for our lives. I think they're gonna be more enclined to help us, rather than was them other idiots pulled on y'all. And from listenin' to 'em back in the cell block…Axel ain't unstable he just don't like confrontation and Oscar over there is more worried about what might of happened to his old lady and kids, he's a family guy."

"I get guys like this…hell, I grew up with them," Daryl said, "They're degenerates, but they ain't psychos. I could have been with them just as easy as I'm out here with you guys."

"So you with me?" T-Dog asked.

"Hell no!" Daryl replied, "Let 'em take their chances out on the road, just like we did!"

"What I'm saying, Daryl…" T-Dog started.

"When I was a rookie, I arrested this kid. Nineteen years old, wanted for stabbing his girlfriend," Rick started, cutting him off, "The kid blubbered like a baby during interrogation, during the trial, suckered the jury. He was acquitted due to unsufficient evidence, and in 2 weeks he shot another girl. We've been through too much. Our deal with them stands." Rick then looked at me. "I'm surprised about you on this one, what with your father-."

"Would y'all quite bringing up my goddamn son of bitch of a fucking father?!" I snapped, "For god's sake he's dead!" I turned and started to walk away.

"Jewels…" I heard Rick said.

"Save it…y'all can move the cars by yourself," I said, walking back into the prison.

Once back in the prison, I lost it; and by lost it, I mean I ran over to one of the toilets in one of the cells and puked my guts up. I was nauseous and I was angry…not a good combinations.

My hair was moved away from my face and I saw Lori out of the corner of my eye. "It'll pass," she said, as she held my hair back for me. After I was done we just sat there for a while. "I know you want to deny it Jewels…I know you don't want to put any added pressure on the group and especially Daryl, but you can't deny it anymore. Can you?"

"I'm gonna go on that run with Maggie and Glenn and find a pregnancy test if I can…I just…I really have to be sure," I whispered, "I mean, I missed my period…I'm havin' these awful mood swings, I'm pissin' more than a Tennessee race horse, and now the nausea and throwin' up."

"We have a safer place now…for how long, I don't know. But this prison could be something good for all of us, and if you are pregnant, which I really think you are, everything will be just fine," she said, trying to assure me.

"Is this where you give me the talk about tellin' Daryl?" I questioned.

"Well…you can't exactly hide a pregnancy forever, so I do think you should tell him," she replied, standing up, "How you tell him is up to you. Now come on, we were just about to help Hershel go for a walk with his new crutches. It'd be good for you to get some air now that you're done emptying your stomach."

I nodded and stood up, going and grabbing my weapons (better safe than sorry) before heading back out to the courtyard.

"I got you here if you need it," Lori said, helping support Hershel as he got outside.

"Just take your time with those steps," Beth said as we came up to some steps and he started to make his way down them.

"Hey, you watch your step," Lori said as he stumbled a bit, "The last thing we need is you falling."

"You're doing great Hershel," I said, wanting to give him some encouragement.

"Ready to race, Hershel?" Carl asked with a smile.

"You give me another day, I'll take you on," Hershel replied, causing us to laugh.

There was suddenly that familiar groaning sound and walkers appeared behind Carl. "Carl, down!" I said, quickly drawing arrows and firing them.

"Walkers! Look out!" Carl yelled, alerting the rest of the group.

The others tried to get to us but were forced to go around the other fence.

"Get out! Get out of there! No! Lori!" Rick yelled.

"Carl help Beth and your mom get Hershel back inside," I instructed going to the bottom of the steps.

"Jewels…" Lori said.

"Lori! Go!" I said, looking her straight in the eyes, before turning back to the walkers.

"Lori! Here!" I heard Maggie yell for her, "Jewels, come on!"

"You go ahead!" I yelled to her. I then started running towards another door that led to a cell block in the opposite direction of ours. "Hey, ya smelly bastards! This way!"

The walkers turned towards me and started moving towards me.

"Jewels! No!" Daryl yelled, from the other side of the gate.

I continued to kill the walkers until they got to close and then I slipped into the prison. Walking in I don't think anyone had been there yet…it was dark and there were still bodies littering the corridor. Making sure to stab each body in the head as I moved through the corridor as a precaution I started to make my way towards a brighter area.

GROOOOOOOOOWL

I looked over my shoulder in to the other hallway and saw a large group of walkers, just standing there…looking at me.

"Oh shit," I said, before taking off down the hall, shuffling footsteps behind me.

TO BE CONTINUED…