The next morning Glenn and Maggie were out in the field with three others, burying the bodies of their fallen members. It seemed like the sickness was spreading quickly, even after separating the infected from the rest of the group.
Inside Rayne was heading down to check on Karen and the others when Tyreese's yelling caught her attention. She went running to the man, finding him outside of cell block A where the infected members were staying. Her eyes immediately found the massive blood trails on the ground leading from the cells to the area where she now stood. At her feet were two bodies, and her heart ached when she realized that one of them was Karen.
Rayne wasn't sure who the other one was, but if she had to guess it was probably David from the Decator group, the other one that Karen said was coughing yesterday. Their bodies had been doused in gasoline and lit on fire, and Rayne prayed that they were already dead when the fire was lit.
"Ty, stay here, I'll be right back, okay?" She said laying a hand on Ty's shoulder, she could see the immense grief in his eyes, he had loved Karen.
Running inside Rayne found Rick, Daryl and Carol standing by a table talking. "Rick, you better come with me."
The man didn't question her as he immediately fell into step behind her, Daryl and Carol following behind them, as Rayne lead them out to where the bodies were.
"You found them like this?" Rick asked Tyreese, who had been the one to find them.
"I came to see Karen and I saw the blood on the floor. Then I smelled them. Somebody dragged them out here and set them on fire. They killed them and set them on fire! You're a cop. You find out who did this and you bring 'em to me. You understand? You bring 'em to me!"
"We'll find out who—"
"I need to say it again?"
"No. No. I know what you're feeling. I've been there. You saw me there. It's dangerous."
"Karen didn't deserve this."
"No."
"David didn't deserve it. Nobody does."
"All right, man, let's—" Daryl tries to get Ty to back up out of Rick's face and calm down, but Tyreese turns grabbing the hunter by the front of his vest and slamming him back up against the bars of the door.
"Man, I ain't going nowhere till I find out who did this!"
Rayne raises her gun to Ty, not wanting to hurt him, but she has to protect her hunter. Daryl holds up his hand, indicating for her to back off as he tries to talk to the man. "We're on the same side, man."
Rick tries to reason with Tyreese, "Hey, look, I know what you're going through. We've all lost someone. We know what you're going through right now, but you've got to calm down."
Ty turns slapping Rick's hand off of his shoulder and shoving Rick away from him. "You need to step the hell back!"
"She wouldn't want you being like this." Rick says trying to reason with the grief-stricken man.
But Ty is too enraged to listen, he levels a punch at Rick, followed quickly by another, as Carol stands off to the side screaming. "Stop! Stop! Stop!"
Daryl wraps his arms around Tyreese's chest, pinning his arms to his side in an attempt to subdue him. "That's enough. That's enough."
But before Ty can calm down, Rick is back on his feet, he nails Ty with a right cross that knocks him out of Daryl's arms to the ground. He kicks Ty in the stomach, flipping him over onto his back. Rick then straddles his body and levels punch after punch to his face.
"Rick." Daryl says trying to pull his friend off of the man. "Stop."
"Let go of me! No. No. Let go of me! No."
"Rick!" Rayne screams.
The man stops fighting Daryl and looks up at his surrogate daughter as she yells his name, his face conveying his own shock as he looks down at his bloody hand. He backs up towards the door as Rayne kneels down beside Tyreese, holding onto the man as he sobs for Karen.
Inside of Hershel's cell, the elder man tends to the bloody knuckles of Rick's hand. "This is gonna be sprained at least a week. Good news, none of these cuts need stitches. I wouldn't plan on much typing the next few days. You okay?"
"It hurts."
"I wasn't talking about the hand. We just went through something terrible. Everything we've been working so hard to keep out, it found its way in." Hershel says as he wraps Rick's hand in gauze to keep it clean.
"No. It's always there."
"Council meeting tomorrow morning. Thought you should know. We just lost 12 of our own. Two more we killed in cold blood. We could be facing an outbreak."
"I think I've done enough damage for one day." Rick admits, feeling as though he is failing everyone that he had once risked his life to save.
"I've fallen off the wagon before."
"That's what this is?"
"Pretty close. When it happened, I didn't stand around feeling bad about it. I got back up. I had responsibilities. People to keep safe."
Out in the field Tyreese is digging harshly into the ground, putting all of his anger into digging the graves for Karen and David. Bob approaches him trying to be helpful as he sees the man's swollen left eye. "Let's get you cleaned up, man. You might even need a couple stitches."
"Not until they're in the ground."
"You should at least let Hershel or Dr. S. take a look at you, make sure nothing's broken."
"When they're in the ground."
Nodding, Bob picks up a shovel and starts digging the second grave.
After helping Tyreese bring Karen and David's body down to the field, Rayne heads back inside for the council meeting, taking a seat on a filing cabinet. Beside her stands Michonne, while Daryl, Carol, Hershel and Glenn sit at the table in front of the two women.
"It's spread. Everyone who survived the attack in cell block D. Sasha, Caleb, and now others." Hershel says informing them of what Dr. S had just told him.
"Oh, Jesus." Daryl says shaking his head.
"So what do we do?" Carol questions.
"First things first. Cell block A is isolation. We keep the sick people there like we tried with Karen and David."
"What the hell we gonna do about that?" Daryl asks, they couldn't let a killer run loose inside of the prison, they had enough to worry about with the walkers already.
"Ask Rick to look into it." Carol suggests. "Try to make a timeline—who was where when. But what are we gonna do to stop this?"
"There is no stopping it. You get it, you have to go through it."
"But it just kills you." Michonne states.
Hershel turns to look at her, "The illness doesn't. The symptoms do. We need antibiotics."
"We've been through every pharmacy nearby. And then some." Rayne says, knowing if there was something, she and Daryl would have found it on their runs.
"That veterinary college at West Peachtree Tech, that's one place people may not have thought to raid for medication. The drugs for animals there are the same we need."
Daryl nods, glancing over to his girlfriend who nods her head in agreement. "That's 50 miles. Too big a risk before. Ain't now. I'm gonna take a group out. Best not waste any more time."
"I'm in." Michonne says stepping forward.
"You haven't been exposed. Daryl and Rayne have. You get in a car with him—"
"He's already given me fleas." She says smiling, the others chuckling in response, even Daryl.
"I can lead the way. I know where everything's kept." Hershel says as he stands up.
Daryl hesitates at the elder man, not wanting to upset him, "When we're out there, it's always the same. Sooner or later we run."
Hershel nods, he knows that he can't run with a bum leg. "I can draw you a map. There are other precautions I feel we should take."
"Like what?" Carol questions.
"There's no telling how long it'll be before Daryl and his group return. Wouldn't it make sense for us to separate the most vulnerable? We can use the administration building. Separate office, separate room."
"Who is the most vulnerable?" Glenn asks.
"The very young."
"What about the old?" Glenn then questions.
Outside in the field Carol and Rick are trying to pump fresh water out of the small stream that flows outside of the fences, but the lines seem to have gotten clogged with mud. Telling her that it can wait until tomorrow, he suggests both of them paying their respects to Karen and David.
"I'll take this up first. Meet you." Carol says quickly walking back towards the prison.
Behind her Rick furrows his brows at her sudden lack of sympathy and hesitation to be around Tyreese. Sighing, he walks over and stands just behind Tyreese, not wanting to intrude, after a moment the man looks up at Rick.
"I'm sorry about what happened. What I did to you. Everything."
"It's on both of us. You got to find who did this."
"I didn't know David much. Did you? Did anyone have a problem with him or Karen?"
"No. No way. I was with her all the time, every day. She got along with everybody. Same with David."
"They were the only two who were sick. The person who did it might have trying to stop this thing from spreading."
"They didn't." Ty said his eyes tearing up, "Now Sasha has it."
"Look, whoever it was who did this, they're not going anywhere. We'll find them."
"Today? Right now? Because I'm not feeling the urgency. All I see you doing is pumping water. In fact, what I'm picking up is murder is okay in this place now."
"No, it is not. But we have to save lives first. We have to keep this place going."
"You worry about that. I'll worry about what's right." With that said, Ty walks off towards the prison, seeing the infected members heading for the isolation area.
Out by the cars Rayne and Michonne load their things into the back seat, while Daryl looks under the hood and checks the oil.
"Son of a bitch is about a quart low." He says pulling out the dipstick.
"You still keep it in the bottom of tower three?" Michonne asks.
"Yeah."
"I'll go get one."
"Hey." Daryl calls to her, standing up from under the hood. "I'm glad you're here."
"Where else would I be?"
"Running off."
"You know I'm not running off." She says trying to justify her actions, but she sighs at the knowing looks from Rayne and Daryl. "So it's just gonna be me, you and Rayne, like in the old days?"
"Yeah, and Bob. Still, feels like we could use another person."
"Who else isn't sick?"
"We don't ask Rick. He wants to stay here with Carl and Little Ass-Kicker. Keep them safe. Plus there's plenty of stuff he could do here."
"So who else we got?" Rayne says as they all think out loud.
Daryl realizes the only other person is Tyreese, so he heads into the prison to look for him. Finally after searching just about everywhere, he finds the man standing outside of the infected wing.
"Oh, there you are. Took me damn near forever to find you. Whatcha doing?"
"Somebody needs to stand watch."
"Man, I want to find them, too. Put a bolt in them for what they did. These people are cut off. Ain't no way anyone's getting in and out without a whole bunch of people seeing 'em."
"Sasha's in there. I ain't going nowhere."
"Standing guard ain't gonna do no good unless we come back with them meds." Daryl sighs as Tyreese just turns back to the window, staring in at his sister. "All right. We're gassing up by the front gate in case you change your mind."
After grabbing the oil and filling the tank Daryl shuts the hood on the car. From the gate Bob comes walking up with two extra cans of gasoline, "Everything look all right?"
"Yeah. Zack kept this thing running pretty good."
"This is Zack's car?"
"Yeah, fastest one we got. You all right?"
"You really want me coming along?"
Daryl pats his pockets until he finds the small piece of paper that Hershel had given him, a list of the antibiotics they needed. Pointing to the top word on the paper, Daryl looked over at Bob, "What's that word?"
"Zanamivir."
"Yup, we need you." Daryl states putting the paper back in his pocket, he looks up to see Ty coming out of the gate. "What's up?"
"Still got room for one more?"
"Hell, yeah."
"Good. Just got to get my gear."
"All right." Daryl nods grabbing his crossbow and putting it in the front seat.
As Ty comes back with his gear getting into the car with Bob and Michonne, Daryl tosses a wink to Rayne who sits in the driver's seat of her truck.
Blowing him a kiss in return Rayne fires the diesel motor up and follows Daryl out of the front gates. It had become habit for them to take two vehicles when they were out on runs, in case one car failed. Rayne's truck ran off of diesel, which was easier to come by then unleaded, plus it could run off of solar power if need be.
It didn't bother her to ride alone, she enjoyed it, it gave her time to think. But today she just felt like listening to music. Pulling out her phone she connected the Bluetooth to her stereo, then opened the music player and hit shuffle, smiling as country music filled her truck. The best part about phones, is even when they had no service, the Bluetooth and music always worked and that was all she needed.
Inside of the car ahead of her Daryl was talking with Michonne. "Hey, I know you weren't running off. The thing is, that trail went cold. You know that, right? If it was any different, I'd be right out there with you."
Daryl tries to tune the radio, but he gets nothing but static coming through. Nodding to the glovebox he asks Michonne, "Would you hand me one of them CDs right there?"
Suddenly something comes over the radio that sounds like a person's voice. "…find sanctuary."
"Was that a voice?" Bob asks.
"Shh." Daryl tells him as he tries to adjust the radio dial.
"…determined to survive keep alive."
They were all too focused on the radio to see what was ahead of them, but Rayne suddenly laying on her horn brought Daryl's attention back to the road. He grimaced as he hit a walker, the body flying up over the car, gripping the steering wheel he tried to maneuver through the scattered walkers on the road.
Behind them Rayne slams on her brakes, her eyes widening at the sight before her. "Holy shit." She could see the institute in the distance, but getting there would be a problem as a herd of walkers, maybe 1,000 or more stood between them and their destination.
She throws the truck in reverse as she sees the reverse lights on the car come on, quickly backing up to give Daryl some room. But there are too many walkers behind the car, Daryl running them over until he ends up stuck on a pile of them.
Throwing the truck into first gear she drives up beside the car, yelling out the window. "Get in the truck! Now!"
"Make a run for the truck." Daryl yells as he and Michonne jump out of the car and run over, climbing into the bed of the truck, followed closely by Bob.
But Tyreese is still sitting in the car, Bob screams at him, "Ty! Ty!"
The man shakes his head as he gets out of the car, pulling out his hammer, "Go! Come on! Come on and get me! Go! Go! Come on and get me! Go!"
Daryl motions for Rayne to go, she nods pulling off of the road and heading down a trail into the woods. She knew the truck would be too big to make it the whole way, but she'd get them as close as she could. When they hit the point where she could go no further, they all grabbed their gear and got out heading towards the institute.
Daryl heard something from behind them and held up his hand, pausing them in their tracks. From the woods where they had come from, two walkers staggered out of the trees, before he could fire a bolt, Tyreese broke through the trees taking out one of them. Michonne took care of the other one, slicing his head off with her katana. Daryl ran over, helping Tyreese to his feet as they all moved quickly through the woods as the herd was now coming their way.
Back at the prison Rick had some theories about who killed Karen and David, and he didn't want to believe it was the person he suspected.
"That was a stupid thing you did." He said to Carol as she passed by him carrying two buckets of water.
She had gone outside of the fence on her own to clear the hose and had nearly gotten herself killed in the process, but Rick had shown up in the nick of time to help her out.
"Going out there like that."
"Yes, it was."
"You know, you do a lot for us, for the kids. You sacrifice a lot. Is there anything you wouldn't do for the people here?"
"No."
"Carol?" He called to her as she started to walk away, he didn't want to know the answer to the question burning in his mind, but he had to ask, he had to know the truth. "Did you kill Karen and David?"
"Yes." Was her answer before she turned and walked away like it was nothing.