Possible trigger warning - reference to violence, assault, murder.
Chapter 14 - The tombs
"Never had you pegged as a green thumb." Rick commented as he and Tahlia were on their knees planting potatoes in the new veggie patch.
"I'm not. I've still got no idea what I'm doing, I just do what you tell me to do."
Rick laughed. "And I just do what Hershel tells me to do! He's the one who's orchestrated all this."
"Imposters! The both of us!" grinned Tahlia. "So, you weren't an avid gardener before all this? I mean, if I didn't know that you were a sheriff I probably would have guessed farmer!"
"It's the grass that fools ya, huh?" joked Rick as he stuck a long stalk of grass in the corner of his mouth and chewed. "Hmm, yeah, maybe in another life. Coulda been nice. Used to take walks down to Ross' farm, feed the animals. Taught Carl how to ride a horse there." He sat back on his heels and rubbed his chin. "But mostly we lived the suburban life. When I wasn't at work, I was patching up bits around the house, or being dragged along to fundraisers and dinner parties by Lori, y'know, that kind of stuff. Our lives were so busy. But... looking back, I don't know that they were full."
Tahlia nodded slowly. "I know that feeling. Keeping busy so that you don't have time to notice the empty bits."
Rick surveyed Tahlia for a moment, wondering at her ability to always be emotionally in tune with people, then opened his mouth to speak again. "Were you-" His question was suddenly cut off by panicked screaming and a gunshot that sounded from the cellblocks.
"What the hell was that?" In a flash, Rick was on his feet and running up the hill, Tahlia hot on his heels.
Outside the unused cellblock that led to the tombs, Isaiah was standing staring down at Carol who was kneeling on the ground, a crying Lizzie in her arms, and a bloodied walker corpse at her feet.
"We were down on the fences, then heard Lizzie screaming." Isaiah explained. "Came straight up and that walker-" he nodded at the body on the ground, "-was on her!"
"What? Do we have a breach?" asked Rick, glancing around frantically.
Just then, Daryl came running to join them.
"Just got back in. Heard a gunshot, is..." He stopped midsentence as he spotted the dead walker.
"Lizzie, honey," Carol addressed the young girl. "You need to tell us what happened."
"Mika..." Lizzie said through hiccupping sobs. "Mika and Kaylee!"
"What about Mika and Kaylee, honey?" Carol asked after the two younger girls, trying to keep the panicked note out of her voice, as Lizzie just pointed to the cellblock.
"I'm sorry!" Patrick, one of the teenagers, had appeared next to Rick and was wringing his hands. "It's my fault... I should have stopped them..."
"Patrick, tell me what happened." Rick said gently while placing his hands firmly on the boy's shoulders.
"They found the keys for the locked doors... they wanted to play hide and seek with the flashlights in that block, I told them they shouldn't go in there, but they did... so I went too... then she -" he pointed to a still distressed Lizzie, "- thought she could hear a walker beyond the gate that goes to the tombs, she said it was trapped and we needed to let him out so he could be with the others down by the fences. So, she unlocked the gate, and that -" he now pointed to the walker on the ground, "- came out. Me and her ran out here and it followed us, but Mika and Kaylee freaked out and ran the other way into the tombs. I'm sorry, I wanted to go back to get them but... but I was..."
"It's ok, Patrick, thank you." Rick told the boy kindly, but when he turned to address the others, there was fear in his eyes - Mika was 10 and Kaylee was only 6, what chance would they have against the walkers in the tombs?
"Mika and Kaylee have gone into the tombs. We've got to find them and then re-secure that door. Carol – stay here with Lizzie and keep an eye on this side. Daryl, Tahlia, come with me."
"I'm coming too!" Isaiah spoke up, and Rick nodded.
"Here." Patrick handed Rick the flashlight he was holding.
"I got one in my pack." said Daryl, fishing around in the bag at his feet.
"And Lizzie's flashlight." Carol passed one to Tahlia. "And take my gun!" She held her Glock out to Tahlia, who shook her head. "Take it!" Carol insisted.
"No, no, I'm good." Tahlia held her hands in the air. "I wouldn't know how to use it anyway."
Her comment prompted a quizzical look from Daryl, but there was no time for him to question her further.
"I'll take it." Rick grabbed the gun out of Carol's hand. "Let's go!"
The four of them ran to the Cellblock and all the way down the empty corridor to the gate that led to the tombs, their footsteps ringing out eerily as they ran. The padlock on the closed gate was hanging open, and Rick pulled the gate open, ushering the others in, then shutting it again behind him.
"Come on." He led them all the way to the end of the gloomy corridor, the darkness swallowing them as they moved further into the windowless space, their thin flashlight beams bouncing off the concrete walls.
"We're gonna need to split." Rick said quietly as he looked down each end of the T-arm at the end of the corridor. "That way leads to the cafeteria; that way towards the bigger holding cells."
"Ok." nodded Tahlia. "You guys go check the cafeteria, me and Isaiah will head down this way."
With a brief nod, Rick gestured to Daryl, who glanced dubiously at Tahlia. He wasn't happy about her pairing up with Isaiah – he didn't trust the guy not to do anything stupid, but there wasn't much he could do about it, so he followed Rick down the left arm of the corridor, as Tahlia and Isaiah headed the opposite way.
"Gimme the flashlight, Tahly, and I'll go first."
Tahlia did not want to relinquish the only light source she had down in this creepy place, but she did as Isaiah asked, both hands now gripping the blade of her katana firmly as she followed close behind him. As they crept along the corridor, staying carefully in the middle and away from the doors to dark spaces along the side, an ominous rasping noise sounded, raising the hairs on the back of Tahlia's neck, the adrenaline pumping through her body.
A walker stumbled out of a nearby cell, straight into Isaiah, and he gave a startled yell before driving his knife right through its skull and shoving it away. Then, the sound of screaming stopped them in their tracks.
"Mika! Kaylee!" yelled Tahlia, knowing there was no point in trying to keep quiet now, and the reply was clear through their screams.
"Help! Help us!"
Isaiah and Tahlia ran to the end of that corridor, and as they turned the corner, they could see light bouncing out from one of the cells just ahead on the left, the screaming loud and piercing in the echoey space.
"There!" shouted Isaiah, but as they started towards the cell, his flashlight beam revealed a big group of walkers shuffling with purpose towards them from the other end of the corridor, drawn by the screams.
"We gotta hurry!" exclaimed Tahlia as they ran to the girls.
As they reached the doorway of the large holding cell, which was triple the size of the ones in the other cellblocks, they could see Mika and Kaylee standing on the top bed of one of the sets of bunks, screaming and cowering against the wall, their flashlights illuminating four walkers crowded around the beds, snarling and reaching for the little girls.
Isaiah quickly rammed his knife through the head of the walker nearest him, while Tahlia, right behind, sheathed her katana and drew out her knife instead - the space too small to be whirling a sword around – and stabbed the next two, as Isaiah reached for the girls.
"Come here!" he yelled at the terrified children, who were frozen to the spot. "NOW!"
Mika edged forward and Isaiah dragged her off the bunk, pushing her towards Tahlia who was nearest the door, before turning to bash at the last of the remaining undead in the cell. Tahlia pulled Mika out of the room, and was immediately set upon by the first walker of the group in the corridor who were now nearly on top of them. Instinctively, she ducked and covered Mika as it grabbed at her, then a bolt whizzed over her head and took it down. Glancing up she saw Daryl lowering his crossbow as he ran towards them, Rick skidding around the corner right on his tail.
"Run!" she urged the little girl, shoving her forcefully towards the men, as she turned to stab at the next body coming at her.
Rick fired several shots at the advancing walkers as a sobbing Mika darted towards him, while Tahlia quickly yanked the bolt out of the walker's head at her feet and tossed it back towards Daryl who was now only a few feet away from her. The pack of walkers were on them, and several had poured straight into the cell entranced by the sounds of Kaylee's terrified screams.
"Tahly!" Isaiah bellowed from inside the cell. He had Kaylee in his arms, and he kicked at the nearest walker, shoving it back into the one behind causing them to fall, as he launched the little girl over top of the undead towards Tahlia. With an ear-piercing shriek, Kaylee smacked right into Tahlia's chest, and they both slammed straight back onto the ground. Immediately, Daryl scooped Kaylee up and then set her on her feet, pushing her in the direction of Rick who was gripping Mika's hand.
"Get them outta here!" Daryl roared at Rick, who hesitated briefly, not wanting to leave his friends behind, then nodded and ran with the girls back the way they'd come. Still on the ground, Tahlia frantically reached for her knife and Kaylee's flashlight, both of which had been dropped when she'd tried to catch the girl. Her fingers closed over the flashlight first, and she promptly started bashing the butt of it into the skull of the snarling walker that had descended on her. Right next to her, Daryl booted the body off her and Tahlia managed to grab her knife just as he pulled her to her feet, dragging her back from the cell door, where, inside, Isaiah was getting pushed further towards the back wall by more of the undead who were piling into the cell.
"Isaiah!" Tahlia yelled, and took a second to aim with the knife in her hand, then let it fly through the air, where it sunk straight into the skull of a walker grappling with the big man, killing it instantly. Isaiah threw the dead body down, and managed to stab through the next one coming at him.
Daryl shoved a bolt through the eye socket of a gnashing corpse grasping at his shirt, realising that more were still pouring down the corridor, and they would be overrun real soon – they were going to have to leave Isaiah if they wanted to make it out alive.
"Girl, we gotta run!" Daryl urged Tahlia, as she decapitated three walkers with her katana, intending to cut her way through to the cell.
"I have to help him!"
Just then, a walker launched itself at Isaiah from the side and tore a chunk straight out of his shoulder, causing him to bellow in fear and pain.
"No!" screamed Tahlia, pushing further forward.
"Tahlia!" Daryl flung an arm out to stop her from disappearing into the sea of walkers and caught the waistband of her jeans, yanking her backwards, quickly moving his arm around her waist for a better grip.
"I'm not leaving him like that!" She struggled, but he had her tight.
"Ain't nothin' you can do, he's gone!"
"He's suffering!" she cried out, as Isaiah's tortured screams rang out through the block.
"We gotta go, NOW!"
Tahlia pushed his arm from her. "Go then!"
Daryl gave her a fierce glare, then raised his crossbow and aimed quickly and carefully across the mass of writhing walkers. There was only time for one shot. The bolt sailed straight and true, right into Isaiah's forehead.
"GO!" he commanded, shoving her in front of him towards the exit. They sprinted down the corridor, their flashlight beams revealing more walkers coming towards them from the direction of the cafeteria as they skidded back to the T-arm. Daryl fired two bolts, quickly retrieving them on his way past, while Tahlia cut through three other walkers as they dodged through the grasping undead hands, running all the way to the gate, slamming it behind them, and clicking the padlock into place. Danger now locked in the tombs, they jogged back to the end of the cellblock and out into the sunshine, kicking that door shut as well.
Once safely outside, Tahlia turned to Daryl as she tried to catch her breath.
"Thank you."
He stared at her for a moment, panting heavily, a hard look in his eye and a bubble of rage in his belly.
He was furious.
That stupid fucking girl had put her own life at risk to try and help a man who was as good as dead already. If he hadn't been there to pull her back – and God, had he been holding onto her desperately - how far would she have gone to help Isaiah? At what point, if any, would she have decided she needed to save herself?
Enraged, Daryl pointed a finger forcefully at her. "The HELL was that, huh?! Ya tryin to get yourself killed?!"
"I wanted to help him."
"That what you mean by 'compassionate grounds'? Ya put yourself in danger to try get to a guy who's already dead anyway? Stupid! You're a damn IDIOT, girl!"
"He was suffering." she said mildly.
"Coulda got us both killed in there! And for what? So you can kill someone who only had minutes for this world anyway?! Waste of my fuckin' bolt! Shoulda just left you to it and let your stupid damn ass get BIT!" Daryl was getting all up in her face as he ranted at her, and the fact that she didn't flinch, didn't look remotely sorry, just calm as if she were patiently waiting for him to finish, only served to make him shout louder, swear more.
Rick, who was a few yards away with Carol and the girls, came running up towards them to intervene. "Daryl!" he called. "Daryl!"
Daryl was nowhere near ready to calm down. He had a sudden urge to punch her. He went to dig a finger into her shoulder instead, but she blocked it with a quick flick of her arm, so he kept on yelling. "Why risk your life for someone like him?! He ain't even WORTH it!"
"Daryl!" Rick was in between them now, firmly pushing the hunter back.
Tahlia's eyes hardened at Daryl who was still glaring at her over Rick's shoulder. "He is worth it!" she insisted. "He's worth it to Ruth! Everybody is worth it to someone! Even if they mean nothing to you, they mean something to somebody somewhere! And everybody deserves to have someone who gives a shit about them!"
Daryl scoffed scathingly at that, shaking Rick's hands from him.
Tahlia thought for a moment, then propped her hands on her hips, her tone cool and calm. "How much do you know about Isaiah?"
"Y'mean apart from the fact that he was a loud-mouthed, hot-headed asshole who don't mind knockin' girls around?!"
Tahlia nodded slowly, then in a soft voice asked, "You wanna know something else about him?"
Daryl didn't, but folded his arms crossly and remained silent all the same, while Rick had turned to gaze at Tahlia with interest.
"When Isaiah lived in South Africa, he was walking by the park with his little sister. There were some guys harassing this random girl there, so, without thinking, he just stepped straight in and tried to get them to leave her alone. Things escalated, one of the guys drew a gun and shot the girl, then shot his sister. Both dead. They beat Isaiah, doused him with gasoline, laughed as they held a lighter over him, threatened to burn him alive, but then they took off and left him on the side of the road. He was 19. His sister was 11. He felt so guilty thinking that if he had just minded his own business that day then his sister would still be alive. But, from then on, he decided that despite what had happened, he would always stand up for what he believed in, always make sure to speak up, never let fear silence him." Tahlia took a long inhale. "So, yeah, he may have been those things that you mentioned, but there was a lot below the bluster. A good heart. A man that was worth it."
"How do you know all that?" asked Rick, his eyebrows raised.
"He told me." she replied simply.
Somewhat stunned at that story, Daryl was still outwardly pissed off. "What, so you think that just coz he went through all that, it gives him the right to throw his weight around? To act like a damn jerk?"
"No, it doesn't." she said quietly. "I'm not trying to excuse that. But it helps to understand a little about why he was so opinionated, why he didn't like to back down. Helps to understand where some of his anger came from. There are reasons that people are the way they are, and if you know what paths people have travelled, then you can understand them better, have a little more compassion, be a little more forgiving of their flaws. See below the surface."
"You got your fuckin' head in the clouds!" Daryl muttered irritably, although his anger had quickly faded.
Up until now, he'd half suspected that her friendliness was put on, fake, some kind of disingenuous act to help integrate her into a group. But he was starting to see that it was genuine. She was actually a deeply caring person, and as much as he thought it was a dangerous and stupid quality to have, he couldn't help but soften towards her.
He honestly hadn't given a shit about Isaiah, hadn't wanted to know him, and had been content to exist in the same space as the man without knowing one extra detail about him or his life, but she, despite the fact that Isaiah had lashed out at her, had still taken the time to get to know him, and still genuinely gave a shit about him.
A pool of irritation bubbled in Daryl's stomach, but it was borne from the realisation that he was starting to give a shit about her.