So - there are parts from here on out that will be canon, but due to the fact that, one - I don't want to rewrite things exactly so as not to just regurgitate the show; and, two - I can't remember exactly how things in the show went; there are some things that I need to happen for future storylines, and some things I want to keep in the story, but for the most part I'll be doing my own take on it.
Hope that's all good and you'll keep reading :)
Chapter 56 - Tears of blood
"You girls really gotta sing all the damn time?" grumbled Daryl good-naturedly from his position on top of the kitchen roof.
Tahlia, standing backwards halfway up the ladder propped against the wall, grinned up at him. "We're taking requests, so just let us know what you want to hear next!"
"How 'bout… The Sound of Silence?" quipped Daryl drily as he kicked a pebble in her direction.
"Right! Just for that, I'm upping the volume!" Michonne called out from the ground, laughing as Daryl balled up his rag and threw it at her.
"Pains in the ass! Both of ya!" Then Daryl crouched down at the top of the ladder and gave a quick flick of his brows as he peered down at Tahlia and her very low-cut tank top. "Lucky I got a real good view of a couple of my favourite things from up here, otherwise I woulda kicked you girls off the job by now."
"Perve." smiled Tahlia as she stuck her chest out a little more, causing the necklace she was wearing – the one he'd made her – to bounce happily against her breast.
The three of them were attempting to install the scavenged solar panels on the kitchen roof, the only single-level building at the prison. They had secured the rails and now Michonne was handing panels to Tahlia on the ladder, who, in turn, was passing them up to Daryl. As they worked, Daryl couldn't help thinking about that little trip to The Grove - the beautiful setting, the happy ease and relative peace of it all. Tahlia had said that she could see herself living somewhere like that, and it had Daryl wondering if he could make that happen. There were lots of little abandoned homesteads in the woods around this area, and many of them were fully fenced and quite secure to keep the wild animals out. He was sure that he'd be able to find one somewhere idyllic and fix it up and take her there and see that happy glow that had lit up her face at The Grove. Not that they'd leave the group – these people were their family now – but maybe they could have a place close by to get away to sometimes, a place of their own.
"Ready for the next one, guys?" Michonne's call broke through Daryl's musings, and he nodded.
"Send it up! Then we'll attach these on."
Michonne hoisted another panel up and started towards Tahlia. Then, stumbling slightly on a patch of uneven ground, she cursed loudly as the panel slipped in her arms, the rough edge slicing her inner forearm, immediately spilling her blood on the ground.
"Whoa, Michy, you ok?" Tahlia jumped down from the ladder and grabbed the panel from her, setting it down carefully. "Let's have a look."
"I'm fine, I'm fine." Michonne assured her as she attempted to stem the blood flow with her other hand.
"Here." Tahlia tossed a cloth at her from her pack. "Hold this over it. I've got some antibacterial cream here, then I'll chuck a couple of stitches in it."
"What's the hold up?" Daryl squinted down at them from the edge of the roof. "Ya bleedin'? Gawd. If I want somethin' done 'round here, guess I gotta do it myself!" he remarked facetiously as he started down the ladder.
Michonne rolled her eyes. "Don't mind me, Dixon! I'll try not to bleed all over the panels!"
"Now, now, kids." chuckled Tahlia. "Here, let me-"
All of a sudden, gunshots snapped through the air, and the three of them froze for a moment, glancing between one another, questioning. They were around the side of the kitchen and had no visibility of the main strip of the prison from this position.
Then a panicked scream carried across the yard. "Walkers in the cellblock!"
Spurred into action, Daryl leapt to the ground, and brushed his hand across the small of Tahlia's back on his way past her.
"Stay here." he instructed firmly.
"But-"
"Stay here!" he shouted over his shoulder as he ran off towards the cellblocks.
"Walkers?" Michonne frowned, looking at Tahlia. "Think the tombs have been breached?"
"Shit, I don't know." replied Tahlia as she quickly slathered antibacterial cream on Michonne's wound. "Stay still so I can stitch this."
"Don't worry about my damn arm! We need to see what's going on!"
"Would you just stay the hell still?!" commanded Tahlia as she gripped Michonne's arm. "You can't go leaving a trail of blood behind you if there's walkers roaming around!"
Begrudging but impatient, Michonne let Tahlia stitch and bandage her arm, then as soon as she was done they scooped up their weapons and jogged to the front of the building.
A group of people had gathered in front of the courtyard, and Michonne directed her first question to Ruth, easily the loudest of the bunch.
"What's going on?"
"There's walkers all through our cellblock!" screeched Ruth. "Just from outta nowhere they were coming for us! Biting people! It's crazy in there!"
A woman next to her chipped in. "Lucky Rick was right there with his gun. Him and the others got it under control, but I don't know who's been… you know… there's blood everywhere!"
"Alright." Michonne said calmly. "We're going to figure this out. We just need everyone to stay out here in the open. Stick together."
A frisson of panic was still sparking through the group, only exacerbated when Bob appeared with an arm around Joel's waist, a hysterical Selena on his other side. He spotted Tahlia and immediately beckoned to her.
"Tahly! Need you over here!"
She was there in an instant, and the large bite on Joel's forearm didn't need any pointing out.
Bob indicated her sword, then Joel's arm. "Need you to take that arm off. Now."
"What?!" exclaimed Tahlia and Selena in unison.
Bob turned to Selena. "If we don't, he'll die." Then to Tahlia. "Now. It's gotta be now. You got this."
With a faint nod, Tahlia fumbled for a cloth in her pack and quickly tied it just above Joel's elbow as a tourniquet, all Hershel's lessons jumbling in her head.
"Ok. Ok. Let's do this." she muttered quietly, more for herself than anyone else.
"Lay down, Joel." Bob instructed as he gently pushed Joel down onto his back then promptly straddled his chest and pressed his knee into Joel's bicep.
"Selena, take his hand, spread his arm out this way. Hold tight." instructed Tahlia, sounding more confident than she felt as she unsheathed her sword.
"Here we go." Bob said as he bunched up the top of Joel's t-shirt and shoved it in the man's mouth to bite down on.
"Ready?"
Joel moaned loudly in protest and Selena started sobbing as she gripped his hand tight.
Eyeing up his elbow, Tahlia didn't dare hesitate or she'd lose her nerve, and in one swift move she brought her blade down and severed the arm at the joint. Joel bucked violently beneath Bob and let out a blood-curling howl, then passed out.
Selena, still holding onto Joel's now detached forearm, screamed right up until Tahlia had finished wrapping Joel's residual limb and asked her kindly, but firmly, to stop.
"Shit. That was so unsanitary." muttered Tahlia.
Bob shrugged. "Germs are the least of your problems if you have a walker bite."
"Ok." Tahlia wiped at her brow. "Let's get him to the infirmary, make him comfortable, then I'll find Dr. S. or Hershel and get one of them to check the wound."
With a quick nod, Bob jogged towards the courtyard and grabbed one of the long bench seats, calling out to Tyreese on the way.
"Ty! Give me a hand here with Joel!"
Obliging, Tyreese helped Bob turn the bench seat upside down and slide Joel's unconscious form onto the seat and, with Tahlia striding alongside, they carried him to the infirmary.
Inside the cellblock, the chaos now seemed to be under control, but Daryl was still trying to get his head around what the hell had just happened.
He'd run in to carnage with walkers lurching from all directions and people screaming as they tried to escape. Between him, Rick, Carol and Glenn, they'd managed to take down all the walkers, and now, having checked each cell to be sure that there were no more lurking around, they were faced with the task of bringing the bodies down to the cellblock entrance.
Carefully dropping the dead weight he carried onto the ground, Daryl was surprised to find that he even felt a little sorry for the now lifeless form of Brody, streaks of blood dried down his cheeks and a hole in his forehead from Daryl's earlier bolt.
Carol and Glenn added another body to the pile.
So many dead. At least ten so far, and they weren't done yet.
"Let's lay them here for now, then we'll load them onto the truck and bury them in the lower field." said Rick wearily.
Hershel and Dr. S. were standing over the bodies laid out on the floor, inspecting each one.
"Look at this." pointed Hershel. "All that blood around the eyes and nose on these ones."
"Like tears." murmured Glenn as he laid another body down. "Tears of blood."
Dr. S. dropped to his knees to further examine one of the dead. "No bites." he pondered. "But blood leaking from the eyes and nose. Likely from a build up of internal pressure. Suggests some kind of illness. I've seen something like this before. An aggressive flu that increases pressure in the lungs and makes it hard to breathe."
"And then they choke to death on their own blood." muttered Hershel. "Was anyone sick that we know of? I don't recall seeing anyone who was unwell."
"You know…" mused Rick, "I saw a walker down on the fences the other day who had blood like that from his eyes. You think that's related?"
Dr. S. nodded. "Could well be. These types of illnesses can be passed on by swine or birds too, so it's possible that it came from the animals."
Hershel looked worried. "And if all this happened within a day, then we're talking about something that is highly contagious."
"I'd say so." agreed Dr. S. grimly as he stood up. "Especially in close quarters like this. Spreads like wildfire."
They glanced nervously around one another, uncomfortably aware that they had all just dropped themselves right in the path of this infectious illness.
"Let's step out for a bit and get some air and come up with a plan." suggested Rick as he led the way out to the front of the cellblock.
Just as they moved into the sunshine, Tahlia came skidding around the corner, a hand flying to her chest in relief as she caught sight of them.
"Oh! Thank God, you're all ok." Spotting a bloodstained and despondent-looking Daryl, she made a beeline for him. "What the hell happened? They said-"
Hershel called out sharply and interrupted her.
"Tahlia! Stop right there, honey." He held a hand up, stopping her in her tracks. "Have you been in contact with any of the sick?"
"The sick?" asked Tahlia, surprised. "What sick?"
"Seems that most of these people died from some kind of flu." explained Rick. "You been around anyone who's coughing, or anything like that?"
"Uh, no? I don't think so… but I've only spoken to a couple of people so far. I just came from the infirmary."
"Ok." Hershel said decisively. "You might not have been exposed, so let's play it safe. I think it's best if you keep your distance from all of us here for a while, just until we have a better idea of what's going on."
Blinking in confusion a few times, Tahlia repeated, "Keep my distance?"
Hershel nodded.
"Stay away from that guy?" She pointed at Daryl, who toed the ground gloomily.
"Yes, Tahly." replied Hershel firmly. "Just for a few days."
Tahlia raised her eyebrows and a short laugh escaped her mouth.
"No." She shook her head and gave a helpless shrug. "Sorry. Can't ask me to do that. That's just something I can't do. Will never do."
Then she was striding across to Daryl who was now staring at her in surprise.
"Tahlia!" Hershel shouted sternly.
Daryl echoed her name and held a hand up in half-hearted protest, but she just knocked it aside and flung her arms around his neck, hugging him fiercely.
"Stupid girl!" Daryl chastised her, but only just for show, because he was secretly fizzing with pride that she wouldn't be told what to do when it came to him, and he did his best to hide his smile in her hair as he pulled her close.
She drew back and flicked her eyes over him in a quick appraisal.
"You ok?" she asked softly, just for him.
He nodded. He was now.
"Right!" She turned around to face the others. "Now that I've been exposed too, can I offer anyone else a hug?"
Hershel tried to maintain his stern expression despite the snorts of laughter from the others.
A half smile played on Daryl's face, but he hooked two fingers into the back of Tahlia's waistband and subtly drew her back towards him again, slipping an arm around her to keep her in place. He was pleased that she'd flaunted the rules to be near him, but he'd be damned if he let her too close to any of the others. Just in case.
"Oh, shit!" Tahlia exclaimed, just remembering why she'd been looking for Hershel and Dr. S. in the first place. "Uh, so I just amputated Joel's arm..."
Hershel's eyebrows shot up in a mixture of shock and pride.
"… it all kind of happened really fast, but I've got him in the infirmary now – can one of you come with me and check him out?"
Just as Hershel was about to reply, there was a frantic cry from the lower perimeter.
"Help! The fences! Help!"
"God, what now?!" muttered Rick as he darted forward to see what was going on. "Shit! The fences are coming down."
"Go! Go!" Hershel urged them. "I'll take care of Joel and anyone else who needs it up here. You take care of the fences."
And before he could finish his instruction, Rick, Daryl, Tahlia, Glenn and Carol were off at a run to the fence line, where, drawn by the noise of the earlier commotion, walkers had pressed up along the chain links causing one section to buckle dangerously under the pressure, Maggie and a few others desperately trying to hold it up from the other side.
They were almost there when Rick stopped abruptly and spun around, signaling to Daryl.
"Daryl! Back this way! Get the truck and bring it to the gardens."
Under Maggie's instruction, Tahlia was trying to prop a pole up under the swaying fence, when she spotted the pickup heading out through the gates, Rick standing on the back while Daryl manned the wheel.
"The hell are they doing?" she questioned as the vehicle swung in their direction.
Then Rick bent down, and when he stood again, he had a squirming piglet under his arm.
Tahlia's eyes widened. "What is he doing with Hamlet?!"
"Oh shit!" exclaimed Maggie, next to her. "Don't look, Tahly, I think he's going to…"
And then Rick sliced a long cut over the piglet's thigh before throwing it down onto the grass, and, with a terrified squeal, Hamlet scampered through the grasping hands of the hungry walkers, only managing to make it a few yards before being caught and torn apart.
"Oh my God." breathed Tahlia, her mouth open in shock as she watched Rick grab another of the piglets and repeat the tactic again.
"Least it seems to have gotten the walkers' attention." said Maggie optimistically as the crowd of the undead slowly moved away from the fences, following the trail of blood as Rick sacrificed the last two piglets, giving the group enough time to re-erect the supports and secure the perimeter once again.
"I'll be back in a minute." Tahlia told Maggie through gritted teeth as she saw Daryl drive the truck back in through the gates.
Daryl and Rick were in the gardens by the time Tahlia had hurricaned over to them, and Rick cursed under his breath as he saw her approaching.
"What the HELL, Rick?!" Tahlia shouted as she strode over to them, waving a hand wildly in the air. "You just slaughtered all of those babies! You had them ripped to pieces while they were still alive!"
"Sorry, Tahly." Rick gave an apologetic shrug. "But I needed to draw that horde away from the fence, and you know that live bait is the best way to do that."
"That was barbaric!" she exclaimed, glaring at him.
"C'mon Tahly, y'know we had to-" began Daryl, but she cut him off and held a hand up.
"And don't even get me started on you! Accessory to murder!" She let out an exasperated huff, then spun on her heel as she started away from them again.
Rick glanced at Daryl. "Oops. Sorry. Looks like I got you in the doghouse."
"Don't worry 'bout her." Daryl assured him. "She ain't mad. Not really."
"No? Seems like she's pretty fucking mad."
"Nah." Daryl shook his head. "Just bein' dramatic. She knows somethin' had to be done."
"Oh. Well in that case..." Rick then called loudly to Tahlia. "Tahls! Before you go, can you take the horses to the other side of the prison? We're gonna have to kill Violet and all the chickens, then burn the lot in the pig pen! Just in case they're carriers of the sickness!"
Tahlia whirled around, aghast. "What?!"
Daryl sucked in a sharp breath. "Uh… maybe shoulda waited a little longer 'fore tellin' her that, though."
The rest of that afternoon hung heavy with a sombre air and a spiky undercurrent of fear at how quickly everything had unfolded, and most people were spread between digging graves to bury the dead and cleaning up the aftermath of the chaos in the cellblock. After the initial panic had died down, it hadn't taken long for them to piece together what had happened: Carol remembered that Patrick had felt unwell the prior evening, and it seemed that he had died during the night, turning, and attacking others in the block, while during that time, several others had contracted the same illness.
They had hoped that this would be the end of it, but Karen and David, two people from the same block, had come down with a serious cough and fever, indicating that the illness was still prevalent and spreading in amongst their people. Hershel and Dr. S. quickly decided to move anyone who was displaying any remotely flu-like symptoms to be quarantined in Cellblock A and keep them separate from the rest of the group.
By that evening, there were a handful of people in quarantine, and most everyone else was downhearted and drained after the events of the day and had retired early to their rooms, not in the mood for socializing.
"I'ma shut this door." Daryl told Tahlia as he slid their cell door closed. "Don't wanna wake up to walkers tryna take a chunk outta us."
Tahlia shivered. "Ugh, good idea." Then she gave him a wide-eyed look. "Unless you end up being the walker that I wake up to trying to take a chunk out of me!"
She gave a light laugh, but a frown darkened Daryl's face as he bit the inside of his lip.
"Shit. What if that happens? Maybe I should go stay in my old cell. Keep away from ya, just to be safe."
Sitting up suddenly on the bed, Tahlia stared at him. "Are you fucking kidding me? Get your butt over here right now. You are not going anywhere!"
"Tahly!" he expressed worriedly, coming to sit next to her. "Really! What if I hurt ya?"
"Daryl," replied Tahlia solemnly, "If you died and turned, then being eaten alive by you in the middle of the night would be my greatest wish come true."
"Girl!" exclaimed Daryl, launching himself at her and knocking her back onto the pillows. "Can't ya be goddamn serious for once?!"
Tahlia squeezed her eyes shut briefly and shook her head. "No! Shit has been so serious all day, and it doesn't look like it'll be any better tomorrow, so right now, in this place with my favourite thing, I will not be serious." And she punctuated her words with a big wet kiss on Daryl's lips.
He sighed but couldn't help the smile tugging on the corners of his mouth. Laying a hand on her forehead, then on her cheeks he asked, "You feelin' alright?"
"Why? Coz you think I'm talking crazy?"
"Naw. Y'always talkin' crazy. Just… just checkin'."
"Yes. Totally fine, promise." Tahlia copied the gesture on his face. "How about you?"
"Same."
"Ok, then we're good. Nothing to worry about."
Chewing on his lower lip a little more, Daryl heaved another long sigh. "Real scared ya might get sick."
"Well, shit." grinned Tahlia as she arched a brow and wound her arms around his neck, pulling him closer. "If this is my last night on earth, then you'd better make every second count."
"Goddamn, girl." growled Daryl as he rolled on top of her, nipping a trail down her neck, then lower, as his fingers blazed a firm track down the side of her body and slid below the waistband of her pants. "Eatin' y'alive is startin' to sound like a real good idea."