Chapter 27
It's been a long night; an even longer week and we once again have found ourselves standing around a car debating on where to go.
"We got no place left to go" T-Dog says as Maggie unrolls the map on the hood of the car
"When this herd meets up with this one, we'll be cut off. We'll never make it south." she says pointing to the indicators on the map she and Glenn have been keeping
"What would you say? That was about 150 head?" Daryl asks Glenn
"That was last week. It could be twice that by now." Glenn answers
"This river could have delayed them" Herschel points out "If we move fast, we might have a shot to tear right through there."
"Yeah, but if this group joins with that one, they could spill out this way" T-Dog suggests
"So, we're blocked" Maggie summarizes
"Only thing to do is double back at 27 and swing towards Greenville." Rick says
"Yeah, we picked through that already. It's like we spent the winter going in circles" T-Dog protests
"Yeah, I know. I know" Rick placates "At Newnan we'll push west. Haven't been through there yet. We can't keep going house to house. Need to find somewhere to hole up for a few weeks." He says staring off towards where Lori is sitting, miserable in the car
"That's as good as a plan we're gonna get, get goin' with what ya need to do" I instruct
"Alright. Is it cool if we get to the creek before we head out? Won't take long" T-Dog asks "We got to fill up on water. We can boil it later."
"Knock yourself out" Rick says as T-Dog starts to walk off with Maggie
I can hear Herschel start to talk to Rick about Lori, while I walk a few feet away to stand next to Daryl
"Mags!" I call
"Yeah?"
"Take the boys and Penny with you? Put 'em to work?" I ask
"Sure" She calls back, so I nod and turn and call the children to me from where they were keeping watch
"You're gonna go down to the creek with Maggie, T-Dog and Glenn to collect water. Be mindful of yourself and each other. Mind what the adults tell you. Any trouble, scream. Loud. We'll hear ya. Now go on" I instruct and watch as they run to meet Maggie at the tree line
"Gonna take Rick huntin' with me, you should rest." Daryl says wrapping an arm around my waist
"Too much to do" I murmur leaning my head into his shoulder
"You're gonna crash"
"I know, but hopefully it'll be somewhere safe" I sigh closing my eyes, only to open them a second later when Rick stops in front of us
"What are y'all gonna do?" he asks
"While the others wash their panties me and you are gonna go hunt. That owl didn't exactly hit the spot" Daryl informs him
"Aw Daryl, really?" I groan scrunching my nose
"It's the truth. Be safe" he says pecking my lips and Anneliese's forehead from where she's sleeping in the carrier before leading the way into the woods, the opposite direction of the creek
Sighing to myself I glance around where we've parked before deciding to join Lori in the car
"How're you holding up?" I ask sliding into the driver's seat
"Barely"
"No pains or nothing though, right?" I ask worriedly
"No, nothing like that. Just tired."
"I understand"
"I know you do. She wouldn't settle for nothing last night, would she?" she asks
"No, but she's perfectly fine right now. I wouldn't be surprised if she's got another tooth coming in"
"I wouldn't be either. Before you know it, she's gonna be walking"
"Oh god Lori, don't remind me" I groan
"We found somewhere" Rick calls practically running out of the woods
"What?" Maggie asks
"We found somewhere. It's a prison."
"A prison?" Glenn echoes
"Yes, a prison, it has fences and it'll be relatively easy to secure" Rick continues
"You want us to live in a prison?" Lori asks
"I do, it would be somewhere safe. Somewhere we can make safe"
"Daryl?" Herschel asks
"He's right. It would be very easy to strengthen and make work"
"We have to clean the yards out there's quite a bit of walkers in them right now. But we should be able to clear them one at a time." Rick explains "We'll need everyone's help though"
"I don't know Rick, maybe I should stay back with the kids" I offer
"Why? We should stick together"
"I don't think taking Anneliese into a place filled with walkers is such a good idea. All it would take is one loud noise and she'll be set off. And Penny can't help clear walkers, I won't let her."
"What if I stayed back with them" Beth offers "You're a better shot than I am Gen, so you'd be more help clearing out the prison than I would"
"Alright fine, Beth will stay back with the kids, the rest of us will clear out the prison yard and then we'll come back to get you" Rick decides
"I wanna go Dad!" Carl protests almost immediately
"Carl- "
"You said I'm a good shot! And I can't help Beth any here"
"Fine." Rick declares
"What about me?" Jackson speaks up
"No."
"But mom- "
"No Jackson. You're staying here with Beth and your sisters."
"But- "
"No"
"Fine" he huffs storming off to the SUV
"Don't have children. They live to defy your every word" I jokingly tell Maggie
"Watch the backside" Rick calls back to us as he uses a wire cutter to rip open the chain-link fence
"Got it" Lori calls back
"Alright come on" he says softer gesturing for us all to go through
Daryl goes through first and holds back one side, while Rick holds the other. I give Carl a nudge through the opening and make sure Lori gets through before I follow her. And soon we're standing within 4 walls of chain-link fence. Walkers surrounding us like spectators at a zoo.
Once Daryl and Glenn get the opening closed, we all head off for the other end of this breezeway and only come to a stop after rounding the second guard tower in the area
"It's perfect" Rick breathes
"If we can shut that gate. Prevent more from filling the yard, we can pick off these walkers. We'll take the field by tonight" Rick decides
"So, how do we shut the gate?" Herschel asks
"I'll do it. You guys cover me." Glenn volunteers
"No. It's a suicide run." Maggie shoots him down almost immediately
"I'm the fastest." Glenn weakly protests
"No, you, T-Dog, Maggie and Gen draw as many as you can over there." Rick instructs pointing to the area away from the gate "Pop 'em through the fence"
"Daryl go back to the other tower" Rick orders
"Be safe" I whisper to Daryl as Rick orders Carol to go with Daryl and Herschel and Carl into the guard tower behind us
"You too" he whispers back before pecking my lips and jogging back down the breezeway
"I'll run for the gate" Rick announces
"Rick, you leave me to take care of your wife and children we gon' have a problem" I tell him with a pointed look, and he just shakes his head at me with a smile before walking over to where Lori is ready to open the gate for him.
Hoping that he doesn't actually get himself killed, I run to join Maggie, Glenn and T-Dog banging on the fence and yelling as loud as they can
"Hey! Come On! Over here!" I yell readying my machete to kill a walker as soon as they get close enough
I'm dimly aware of Rick getting let out of the fence and starting to move through the yard but I don't focus on him. Instead, I try to yell as loud as possible to draw as many walkers to us as we can. I can hear the various guns echoing through the prison yard as the people in the guard towers start shooting and Rick shoots as he runs.
"Light it up!" Daryl calls signaling that Rick made it to the other guard tower
Those of us on the ground waste no time pulling our guns and joining taking down the walkers.
It's only a matter of seconds maybe a minute before the entire yard is devoid of walker groans.
"This is fantastic" Carol says as we all start to move through the gate
"Nice shooting" Herschel tells her
"You, okay?" Carol asks as she walks past Lori
"Haven't felt this good in weeks" she says but I can tell her smile is faked as Daryl and I walk by, Daryl can too if his tap on her shoulder was anything to go by
"Hey, stay close" I tell Carl reaching to pull him closer to me as we move into the yard. I'm not willing to trust that every walker is well and truly dead or that there aren't more hiding somewhere
"Oh! We haven't had this much space since we left the farm" And sure enough the walker Carol just walked by starts to rise off the ground and Glenn wastes no time putting a pipe through its brain
T-Dog laughs from behind us, letting out a cheer and I can't help but smile as I lean into Daryl's side.
"We'll take the bike, go get the kids" Daryl tells Rick, as everyone sets about making sure all the walkers are truly dead and putting them in a pile
"Alright, stay safe"
Once the kids have been collected, the bodies put into a pile and the cars parked in the breezeway we have all settled down around the fire to eat whatever animal Daryl managed to catch.
Well, most of us.
Daryl is standing watch on top of an overturned bus and Rick won't stop walking the perimeter
"Want to keep the bodies away from that water. Now, if we can dig a canal under the fence, we'll have plenty of fresh water." T-Dog says
"And this soil is good. We could plant seed, grow some tomatoes, cucumbers, soybeans." Herschel tells us before sitting up straight
"That's his third time around" he says pointing at Rick "If there was any part of it compromised, he'd have found it by now"
"I'll go get him if he's not over here by the time I get back from taking a bowl to Daryl" I say standing and passing a sleeping Anneliese off to Glenn and grabbing a bowl of food for Daryl
It's a short walk over to the bus, where after taking the bowl of food Daryl reaches down and helps pull me up on top of it with him.
"It's not much but I know if I didn't bring you something, you won't eat at all"
"You and the kids eat?" he asks
"We did"
"Little Shane?"
"Yes, and don't be mean Daryl."
"S'not mean if it's the truth."
"Yeah, that's fair"
"C'mere"
"Hm?" I hum
"Come here" he says again holding out his arm and with no reluctance I slide under it and slide my arms around his waist
"Think this place will actually work?" I ask after a moment
"I think Rick is determined enough that it will"
"Good. We all need someplace stable to be for a little while"
"Gonna try to clear the inner yard maybe a cell block tomorrow"
"Be careful"
"Always am" he replies leaning down for a kiss
"It's pretty romantic" I say when he pulls back
"What?"
"The stars, the fire, the thought of having a room to ourselves in the near future"
"There's always the guard towers"
"Hm. Wanna screw around?" I ask wiggling my eyebrows, making him laugh
"Pfft. Kids would find us in 2 seconds flat" he jokes back as we both laugh
"I'll go down first" he says
"Even better"
"Stop." He says wagging a finger in my direction before finally climbing down off the bus
"You're gonna get us in trouble" he whispers as he guides me down holding my waist
"Yeah? How so?"
"Just by being you"
"Now, what do you mean by that?" I ask when my feet are on the ground and I can turn around and wrap my arms around him, my fingers playing with the hairs at the base of his neck
"If we didn't have to walk past them to get to the guard tower" he says leaving the sentence hanging
"Raincheck" I tell him pecking his lips before pulling away and grabbing his hand to walk back to the group
By the time we come to a stop a few feet behind Maggie and Glenn – who seem to have acquired a dozing Penny in my absence – Beth and Maggie are softly singing. And Rick has wandered over from his perimeter and is crouched between Lori and Carl eating from a small bowl.
"And all the sweethearts
That e'er I had
Would wish me
One more day to stay
But since it falls unto my lot
That I should rise
And you should not
I'll gently rise
And I'll softly call
Good night and joy
Be with you all
Good night and joy
Be with you all."