CHAPTER 8

– Kate -

Daryl climbed quietly down from the tower in an effort to let Kate sleep longer. Neither of them had slept much last night, they had both stayed awake talking about a lot of things: hunting, Daryl's chupacabra, the Shane/Rick/Lori triangle. Sometime around dawn she had started to fall asleep, curled up on the bunk mattress they had been taking turns sleeping on.

Kate woke up a short time later and made her way to the common room. Everyone was busy eating their milkless cereal and barely looked up when she came in minutes after Daryl. She grabbed an orange prison bowl and sat down next to Glenn, ignoring the teasing twinkle in Maggie's eyes.

As the group finished up breakfast, Lori, Beth and Carl made their way back to the cell to see how Hershel was doing. He'd been improving faster than anyone had hoped and with the help of some crutches they'd found in the prison infirmary, they hoped to get him up and moving today.

The rest of the group slowly made their way out to the yard, intending to finally get all of the walker bodies burned and the yard clear of debris.

They were standing on the gravel path that lead from the courtyard to the entrance gate, laughing at Glenn and Maggie's expense and waiting for the couple to head down from the guard tower where they thought they'd escaped for some privacy. Everyone was in good spirits, buoyed by Hershel's continued improvement and the fact that they'd had food in their bellies for several days.

"Hey Rick", T-Dog said, the sudden concern in his voice disturbing the light hearted mood.

Rick turned to see what T-Dog had spotted and his face went stoney with anger. The rest of them followed his stare and saw Axel and Oscar, the remaining prisoners, making their way to them. Axel had his arms folded in front of him and Oscar looked unsure of the situation, as if it wasn't his idea and he might be shot by Rick as promised just for showing their faces. Rick marched forward, ordering Daryl and T to his side.

"That's close enough." Rick growled as they approached. "We had an agreement."

"Please mister." Axel started pathetically. "We know that. We made a deal. But you've got to understand. We can't live in that place another minute, you follow me? All the bodies. People we knew. Blood, brains everywhere. There're ghosts!"

"Why didn't you move the bodies out?" Daryl asked. Carol and Kate had caught up and were standing at a cautious distance.

"You should be burning them." Added T-Dog.

"We tried. We did." Axel returned.

"The fence is down on the far side of the prison." Oscar finally spoke up. "Every time we drag a body out those things just line up, droppin' a body and just running back inside."

"Look!" Axel said emphatically, taking a step forward. "We had nothin' to do with Tomas and Andrew. Nothin'. You trying to prove a point, you proved it bro! We'll do whatever it takes to be part of your group, just please, please, don't make us live in that place."

"Our deal is not negotiable." Rick said sternly. "You either live in your cell block or you leave."

"I told you this was a waste of time." Oscar said to Axel. "They ain't no different than the pricks who shot up our boys. Know how many friend's corpses we had to drag out this week? Just threw them out like, these were good guys! Good guys who had our backs against the really bad dudes in the joint, like Tomas and Andrew. Now we've all made mistakes to get in here Chief, and I'm not gonna pretend to be a saint, but believe me, we've paid our due, enough that we would rather hit the road than to go back into that shit hole."

Rick and Oscar stared each other down. Kate felt compassion for what they were saying, but she wasn't sure that meant she wanted them sleeping in their cell block. She was thankful again that the choice wasn't her's.

Rick looked back at Daryl who shook his head no. Rick sighed.

"The road it is then. Daryl, lock them on the outside of the first gate. We'll get you some food and water. Last you a few days." Rick had made his decision.

Daryl led the two men outside the gate, shut and locked it.

"Come on dude." Axel pleaded as Daryl stalked away from them and approached the group.

Poor T-Dog was conflicted. Hell, they all were. No one liked this choice, but they liked the idea of being vulnerable even less. Kate appreciated T-Dog speaking up. Part of her agreed with him. It reminded her of when they were back at the farm and Dale was trying to convince the group that they didn't have to kill Randall. She had sided with Dale on that one, but this was different. The prisoners could choose to stay in their cellblock and even the road wasn't certain death. They had choices this time, just not good ones.

They got back to work. Rick decided they should pull their vehicles around to the upper yard so they'd be ready if they ever needed to get out fast. He sent Maggie, Carol and T to handle that while he asked Daryl, Kate and Glenn to follow him out to the dog run. The hole that they'd cut in the fence the day they arrived was tied up with wire and Glenn unwound it so they could exit out into the woods to collect firewood to burn the bodies. Rick figured one big fire would be worth the attention it might attract if they could be rid of them.

They gathered firewood quickly and returned to the dog run and Kate tossed the branches she'd collected to the ground and held the gap in the links open to let Rick, Daryl and Glenn back in with their armfuls of wood. She heard the rolling metal door to C Block slowly open and turned her head to see a slow moving Hershel being led down the steps by Lori. Everyone brightened at the site of him up again.

"Man, he is one tough son of a bitch." Glenn said, clearly impressed. "ALRIGHT HERSHEL!" he yelled, earning him a scolding glare from Daryl who pointed out walkers heading towards the prison from the woods.

Everyone had stopped to admire his progress, their spirits raised with this victory, until they spotted the walkers. Dozens of them began pouring from around the prison buildings.

Even from though they were on the other side of the yard, they could hear Carl scream "Walkers!" and watched in horror as he and Lori turned and began shooting.

"NO!" was the single word that ripped from Rick's throat as he went tearing down the dog run.

Daryl, Glenn and Kate followed.

"Get the hole!" Glenn yelled back at Kate, who turned and ran back to lace up and secure the dog run from the walkers. Her fingers shook as she tried to loop the wire through the chain links. She heard more gunfire and knew that Maggie, T-Dog and Carol must have joined the fight. She kept looking over her shoulder, willing Rick, Daryl and Glenn to get to the yard quicker.

She pulled the wire tight, tied a knot and went sprinting through the run towards the prison. She saw Maggie, Lori and Carl disappear behind the sliding door to the cellblock. She was relieved to see Hershel and Beth had managed to secure themselves in a gated entryway to the opposite block.

Rick, Daryl and Glenn had just reached the end of the run and headed up the gravel drive with Axel and Oscar close behind when sirens suddenly blared from speakers she didn't know existed. She reflexively covered her ears to the deafening sound. Rick started shooting the boxes before angrily approaching Oscar and Axel who looked as confused as she was. Kate got there just as Rick demanded they follow him into the prison. Daryl turned and pointed at her, "YOU stay right here." He commanded.

"I can help!" She yelled back, knife in hand.

"No! No way! I ain't gonna worry about you too. STAY. HERE."

Kate froze in her tracks. They all disappeared into C Block. Kate climbed the steps up to where Hershel and Beth were safely enclosed. Beth was white as a ghost.

"What happened?" Kate screamed over the blaring noise.

"Gate wasn't closed. Glenn said the lock had been hacked open." Beth replied, straining to be heard over the sirens.

"Hacked open?! By who?" Kate was bewildered, she didn't get the impression Oscar or Axel would do such a thing. "Is everyone ok?"

Beth shook her head, her eyes tearing up.

"T-Dog was bit." Hershel began. "We couldn't tell if anyone else was. We don't think so. He and Carol headed into the prison."

Their conversation ended there. With the siren still blaring, it was too much of an effort. Besides, there was nothing more to talk about. All they could do was wait. Kate paced around the yard, tears streaming down her face at the thought of T-Dog being bit, knife remaining in her hand. She took a closer look at the downed walkers, making sure there wouldn't be any surprises like at the pharmacy. After a long while, the siren stopped. Her ears were still ringing, but it was a relief. She looked out at the perimeter. There was a large increase in the number of walkers and they were still flooding in from the woods. Finally Rick, Glenn, Daryl, Oscar and Axel came running out.

"Hershel?!" Rick cried.

"You didn't find them?" Hershel asked, desperation in his voice.

"We thought maybe they came back out here." Glenn replied, only to be met with them all shaking their heads.

"What about T? Carol?" Hershel inquired.

"They didn't make it." This time it was Daryl who spoke up.

Rick turned to him and growled, "That doesn't mean the others didn't!" He said, "We're going back! Daryl and Glenn you come..."

Rick halted mid-sentence as the unmistakable wail of a newborn echoed off the cement walls. They all turned to see a bloodied Maggie exit C Block carrying Lori's baby in her arms. Carl followed slowly behind, head hanging and his gun held loosely at his side. The axe Rick had been holding fell from his hands. It hit the cement with a clunk. Kate heard him try to form the words to ask where Lori was. Maggie's sobs were answer enough. He went to Carl, crying, "No, no, no..." and he fell to the ground.