Sorry for the delay... as usual. To be honest, I'm getting major writer's block for this fanfic. I'm definitely not stopping it/ abandoning it though, so stick around. Hopefully things will flow again now that the new season of TWD has me hooked! But reviews always help in boosting my motivation... (hint hint).

Chapter 51

Daryl followed Rick into the building at breakneck speed, Glenn close behind. Behind them trailed Oscar and Axel, both prisoners looking scared and confused.

"Lori!" Rick yelled hoarsely, not caring about the noise. The prison speakers were blaring, and they had no time to waste. They had to find the others and the generator room, to stop the noise before the whole prison was over-run. The entrance to the cell block was littered with corpses - the gate into the prison was open, gaping, while the cell-block was still locked. Glenn added a panicked, "Maggie?" and Daryl found he had a strong urge to yell someone's name too.

One or two walker groans could be heard coming from the cell block between the the noise of the siren.

The groans cut off abruptly with the dull sound of a blade hitting flesh, followed by a satisfied snarl.

Daryl heart was suddenly in his throat. "Sar-?"

"Daryl?" she shouted before he could finish. She sounded as relieved as he felt. "You there?" There was a creak as she yanked the sliding gate to the cellblock open and came into view from where they were watching anxiously from the locked gates. "Thank God." she breathed, as her eyes met his, then flicked past to Glenn and Rick and the shell-shocked prisoners.

She took the steps down to the bottom level two at a time, hopping nimbly over the bodies littered there. As she went she snatched up her gore-stained machete-blade from where it was lying on the ground.

Daryl scanned her anxiously for wounds, but it seemed like the blood liberally sprayed across her face and upper body wasn't hers.

Rick didn't give them time for a cosy reunion. "Lori?" he demanded instantly, as she hurriedly fumbled with the keys to open the door to the cellblock. "Carl?"

The door opened with a rusty screech and she stepped through, meeting his eyes grimly. "I don't know." she said simply. "I was on my way to the infirmary when I heard the gunshots, I came here straight after." she looked towards the other entrance. "They must've gone that way-"

Rick was already marching into the darkness of the prison, getting that crazy-eyed expression that they unfortunately knew well by now.

Glenn exchanged a strained expression with Sarah as they all followed behind closely, every nerve on edge in the walker-infested darkness. They couldn't hear anything over the sound of the alarm. "Herschel and Beth are okay - outside." he said shortly, seeing her questioning look. "Maggie is with Carl and Lori..."

"Carol and T?"

Glenn shrugged helplessly. "They went in through a different door."

Daryl walked close to Sarah, peering at her in the gloom. "You okay?" he asked gruffly. She was drenched in walker blood, and his hand twitched with a sudden urge to reach out - as if only physical contact could reassure him that she was truly in one piece.

"I'm fine." Sarah suddenly drew him into a firm, one-armed hug as they moved, her slender arm snaking around his waist. It was one of the very few incidences of contact she'd ever initiated with him.

"You-" he swallowed hard, struggling with the words to express himself. "I would-"

"I know." she answered simply, and let go, her face grim, turned ahead.

It only lasted a few seconds, but it was all he needed. Instead of the icy coldness of dread, an inexplicable warmth flooded through him, making him somewhat grateful for the darkness. Had she felt the same dread for me...? He scarcely dared to believe that she could.

They came upon the first group of walkers and cut through them with vicious efficiency, aware that every moment counted. The members of their group were in danger, bonds forged in the hell they endured going deeper than family.

As they ran, the lights overhead started flickering, grimy bulbs bursting into blueish light like a budget horror film.

"Someone is playing games!" snarled Rick, and roughly pushed Oscar from behind. "Where's the generator room?"

"It's just down here," Oscar said, and lead them around a corner.

As he said it, a group of walkers suddenly emerged out of the darkness of another passage, but they didn't stop to deal with them. Time was of the essence, and in the dark it was too risky.

Fortunately, Oscar was right, and they quickly yanked open the metal door of the generator room, piling inside and shutting the door even as the pursuing walkers through themselves against it. Daryl and Sarah braced themselves against the door, holding them back. The door used an electronic lock, and therefore couldn't be manually closed.

"Hurry!" Sarah hissed as they pushed to keep the door shut.

Rick run inside, glancing quickly around the room filled with the prison's emergency back-up generators. There was a strong smell of diesel fumes in the air, and a rumbling came from several of the large metal machines.

"How do you shut these off?" he cried desperately, and then stumbled back as none other than Andrew, the prisoner they'd all assumed was dead, launched himself out of his hiding place with a feral warcry. Somehow, Rick managed to duck under the wild swing of his axe, but had his gun knocked out of his hand in the ensuing struggle.

"Rick!" shouted Daryl, but he and Sarah had their hands full keeping the walkers back.

Axel stood by, trembling, but suddenly Oscar decided to also get involved, and marched off to aid Rick.

"Daryl, we have to open it!" said Sarah, raising her machete-sword meaningfully.

He only hesitated a moment, before nodding.

One, two... three! On the count they both stood back, allowing the metal door to swing open, and fell upon the first walkers through the door with desperate savagery.

When at last there were no more walking dead assaulting them, Daryl closed the door again and they rushed to join Rick - only to see him standing with Andrew as Oscar pointed Rick's gun at them both.

After seconds that seemed endless, Oscar made his choice- and shot Andrew, who dropped like a stone.

Rick panted in the aftermath of the fight, stepping forward. "Now give me the gun."

Oscar sized him up for a moment, looking Rick straight in the eye (He's got guts, thought Sarah, impressed), then acquiesced, handing him the weapon.

Drama finally over, Rick shut down the generators, returning the prison to silence. "Let's go," he said, sparing one hate-filled glance at Andrew's corpse as they left the room.

So easily, it seemed, one man was able to tear their whole group apart, putting them all at risk. Alone and separated, anything could happen...

Their worst fears were realized only minutes later.

Sarah was bringing up the rear with Daryl, and she first saw Glenn and Rick freeze in horrified realization as they turned a corner. After them, Oscar and Axel looked nauseated.

Her heart plummeted, and just kept falling, a hollow feeling taking its place.

Who was dead?

For a moment she considered just not moving forward. An invisible wall held her in place, and she found she had no desire to take another step. Perhaps, if she simply stood there forever, she would never have to face who they had lost.

But the moment of blank denial passed, and she numbly forced her treacherous legs to continue, one step behind Daryl.

Two shots rang out as Rick dispatched the walkers that were gorging themselves on the body.

Mangled flesh and torn cloth told a grisly story, painted across the floor and halfway up a wall, the aftermath of a messy death-struggle. It took a few moments for her conscious mind to put into words what she immediately knew.

"...T-Dog," she choked. Glenn looked stricken, Rick simply stared past the scene with burning eyes, while Daryl looked about as numb as she felt.

T-Dog was dead. It was almost funny - T-Dog didn't die, he'd spoken with her just that morning, laughing and joking around as usual. Their group was unimaginable without him. Him and Carol-

Daryl knelt to pick up one of the bloody rags on the ground.

She swallowed hard and put a hand on his shoulder, he looked around and met her eyes, as if pleading for her to deny it.

But she had recognized the scarf Carol always wore through the blood, and her own devastation must have shown on her face, because Daryl turned away quickly, his face going blank and inscrutable. He tucked the cloth into his belt without another word.

They continued, out into the courtyard again through another door.

"Herschel?" shouted Rick.

Herschel and Beth made there way down the iron steps into the courtyard from the cage they'd been waiting in. "You didn't find them?"

Rick cursed and turned away, raking his hand distractedly through his hair.

Glenn explained, worried, "We thought maybe they'd come back out h-"

"We must have missed them," said Sarah, trying to inject some logic into the deteriorating situation, "We'll just go back and find-"

A noise so strange, so foreign to the blood-stained world and their desperate situation, ripped through the air, delivering a shock like an electric current to all of them.

It was the unfamiliar wail of a newborn baby.

In unison, they turned to the source of the noise, staring as Maggie and Carl slowly walked down the iron steps, into the courtyard from cell block C.

Maggie's arms were elbow-deep in blood, barely dry, and the baby she carried looked impossibly small, covered in jacket that had once belonged to Lori. No longer, because Lori's absence and Carl's strangely glazed-over expression told them better than words what had happened. Lori had died giving birth to her child... And all their planning, all the scenarios they'd talked about... Nothing could have prepared them for this. Herschel was supposed to save her. Carol was supposed to help her.

They'd all failed.

Rick stumbled forward, the axe he'd been carrying falling with a clatter from limp hands.

"Whe - where is -" Rick's suddenly weak voice trembled and broke. "Where is she?"

Maggie sobbed, unable to reply.

"No..." Rick took one look at his son, who would no longer have a mother, and broke down completely, collapsing to the floor.

Author's note:

Yeah it's ridiculously short. Another is on it's way, very soon. No, really, I mean it this time.