A/N All characters belong to the writers and creators of The Walking Dead. Except those that arose from my own twisted imagination.
And a specific warning about this chapter: the end is very disturbing. I upset myself writing it and the scene may be a trigger for some people. You have been warned.
Chapter 29-The Uneasy Calm
"How long has it been Rick?" Daryl and Rick were standing at the door to the prison overlooking the busy yard. Rick squinted in the sunlight.
"I think almost two months." Rick looked over at the garden where Hershel, Beth, Brenda and Alice were picking the last of the summer vegetables. Besides the garden, which had gotten a lot larger with Brenda's green thumb, they also had animals. After finding a horse trailer at a nearby farm, the men from the Woodbury refugees had gone with Hershel and Glenn back to Hershel's farm in the hopes of finding something worth salvaging. The herd of walkers that had driven them from the farm the previous fall had done a lot of damage but they found that one of Hershel's horses, two of the pigs, a cow and several hens were still alive. The barn had burned to the ground but the fire hadn't spread to the house and they brought back everything they could get their hands on including the contents of the pantry and clean clothes.
Daryl watched Rick as he looked around the yard.
"What are you thinkin'?" Rick glanced over at Daryl and grinned.
"I'm thinkin' we're gonna be ok. I mean, the Governor's still out there but we haven't heard anything from them in months. The way Bill and Abraham talk, people were leaving Woodbury. The kids are safe, we've got good hardworking people here, enough food for everyone. Yeah, I think we're gonna be alright for awhile." Rick turned to Daryl. "How about you? You and Dani are alright aren't you?" Daryl tried to hide his smile and looked down at the ground.
"Yeah, we're doin' ok. Just getting used to sleeping in that back cell is hard after having the perch to ourselves all this time. It's just those boys wander around at night." He nodded in the direction of the seven year old twins. "I mean, it's hard to have any kind of privacy without someone walkin' up on ya, you know?" Rick laughed.
"I understand Daryl, believe me I do. We get any more people in here, we'll have to clean out another cellblock." Rick motioned to the guard tower where Tyreese was waving to them. "Wonder what's goin' on?" Daryl frowned and they both headed over to the tower.
"I hope nothing. I kind of wanted to go hunting with Dani this afternoon. The squirrel are coming back and the walkers have thinned out enough. I think it's safe, for Dani and me anyway. Might even find a deer." Rick clapped his hand on Daryl's shoulder.
"You just want to take your girl with you out in the woods." Daryl snorted but couldn't suppress his smile as he looked over at Dani feeding the chickens with little Maddie. She was wearing a pair of Maggie's old jeans with an oversized flannel shirt, her long hair twisted up into a messy ponytail. She was laughing, a beautiful sound that rang out across the field.
"Can you blame me?" Rick shook his head and laughed.
"Not at all brother. I can't blame you at all."
"Only three more cells after this one and we're done." Mark said as he and Taylor dragged another body out to the courtyard. Taylor tried not to breathe too deep. Even under the water soaked bandana he could still smell rot and death. Back in the cellblock, they unlocked the only locked cell on the ground floor.
"Tripp you son of a bitch," Taylor said as he hauled the dead white boy that had given him so much shit back in Woodbury out of the cell. "You brought this shit on yourself." Mark picked up Tripp's legs and the two men hauled him outside.
"Punishment fit the crime on this one," Mark said, throwing the boy on the pile. Taylor nodded and brushed his gloved hands off on his jeans.
"Damn straight. Rapists always get what's comin' to them in prison." As they walked back into the cellblock, Taylor looked to Mark.
"Hey man, why do you think Dani didn't come to one of us when all that shit went down with her little girl? I mean, that was messed up what they did to Abigail. And then what Cash, Tripp and those inbred cousin fuckers did to Dani…if I'd known about it, shit would have been handled." Mark almost laughed at Taylor's tough guy image.
"I'd like to think that any one of us would have tried to stop it but you know we would have been killed. You know that right?" Taylor glared at Mark.
"I'd rather have died trying to protect good people then let some bastard child killing rapist go unpunished." Taylor adjusted his bandana. "I saw enough of that kind of shit when I was growin' up. Drug dealers, murderers, straight out thugs stealin' from good people…they got away with everything and no one ever stood up to them, not once. They was all too scared to say shit. Scared they'd get got. We can't do that no more. We got to stick together or we're all dead." Mark nodded. He'd heard this from Taylor before.
"Taylor I'm not saying that I wouldn't have helped but I have my wife and my boys to think about." They dragged another body out of a cell and carried it to the courtyard. Taylor was quiet until they had tossed the body and gone back inside.
"It could have been Jamie man. You don't know. The Governor could have turned into one of those David Koresh types. You know, the one that said he got to have sex with every woman because he was god or some shit. I'm telling you, you give assholes like that a little bit of power, they'll walk right over you." They walked back into the cellblock for the last body and were surprised to see Dylan and Josh standing there, staring at it.
"What are you kids doing in here?" Mark yelled. "I told you to stay outside with your mother." "Outside's boring," said Dylan. "Abraham wants us to work in the garden or do chores. We just want to play." Though identical twins, Dylan was the more outspoken one of the two, often speaking for his brother. Mark ruffled his son's hair and directed them both back into the hall.
"You don't need to be in here. Go outside and find something that keeps you out of trouble." Both boys twisted their faces in annoyance but left down the hall, heading towards Cellblock C. Taylor shook his head.
"Those kids just wander all over, you know that? Daryl was about to whip their asses if they snuck up on him and Dani at night again. That's why they moved into those solitary cells near Maggie and Glenn." Mark nodded.
"And that's why we're clearing out this cellblock. We'll get it cleaned up so it doesn't smell like death and we'll have room to spread out." Taylor shook his head.
"You ain't catchin' me sleeping back here away from the group. I'm stayin' near Abraham and Tyreese…and that fine ass sister of his." They picked up the last body and carried it outside. Mark reached for the keys to lock the door but couldn't find them in his pocket. He must have set them down in the cellblock somewhere. The door latched tight and there were enough biters in the courtyard to deter anyone who wanted to get in so he wasn't too worried about it.
"Taylor, you go after Tyreese's sister and you're gonna have to deal with Tyreese." Taylor shrugged and pulled off his bandana.
"It's all good, you know?"
"I've heard people say it's easier to cook for a bunch of people but I don't think they're right." Rachel added some of the greens to the soup and stirred them in. Dani and Daryl had gone hunting in the woods earlier and brought back five squirrel. Though the Woodbury crew wasn't used to eating squirrel, the prospect of eating fresh meat was exciting. Brenda and Jamie were helping her, trying to make themselves useful. They were still getting used to the routine at the prison and the food rations. It was a big change from Woodbury where they had electricity at times, ice for their drinks and barbeques on weekends. Brenda leaned on the counter.
"Are you sorry we left?" Rachel shook her head no.
"My baby could have been killed there. Drafted into that crazy man's army. Here, I've got my daughter and I've got my son back. They're both happy and healthy and safe." Jaime nodded in agreement.
"When Mark told me we were leaving I was scared to go past the wall. I remember what it was like before we moved there when we were trying to get to Macon." Brenda nodded her head.
"That's right. You were with Dani and Abigail before you got to Woodbury." Jaime smiled.
"For over a month at least. Even after everything she's been through, I can't believe how strong she still is. If I lost one of my boys, I don't think I'd be able to get out of bed yet, let alone hooking up with a new guy. It doesn't seem right, you know?" Brenda shrugged.
"Everyone grieves in their own way. She had to build a wall around that to survive and that man helped her through it." She laughed. "Hell, I'd like to find me a knight in shining armor that looks like that!" The women laughed and Rachel set the soup spoon down on the counter.
"What about you and Abraham?" She asked, looking at Brenda. "I know Marco hasn't been gone long but…" her voice trailed off, embarrassed. Brenda shook her head.
"I don't even want to think about someone else now. Besides, I think he's doting on Andrea. They've been talking a lot since we got here. She said he reminds her of someone who used to be in their group before the winter." Brenda looked at the pot of boiling noodles. "I think these are ready." Rachel drained the water and stirred the noodles into the soup.
"Ok," Rachel said, lifting the heavy pot. "Time to ring the dinner bell."
"We should get dressed," Daryl said in between kisses across Dani's shoulders. It was late and while they knew they both had to get up early the next day for guard duty, they hadn't even thought of sleeping when they finally got to bed almost two hours before. She smiled and turned back to him on the bed and kissed him.
"Why?" She purred, pressing her body against his. "I like you with no clothes on." Daryl smiled and kissed her but pulled away.
"I like you with no clothes on too but you remember where we are right?" Dani sighed and rolled her eyes.
"Alright fine. We'll get dressed." She swung her legs over the side of the bed, turned on the lantern and reached down to get her sweatpants. She felt Daryl's fingers trail down her spine and she arched her back. She turned to look at him over her shoulder. He was lying on his back, one arm tucked behind his head, a lazy smile on his face as he ran the back of his hand up and down her back and down her thigh. His eyes met hers. Dani raised her eyebrow.
"Now there you go starting up again when we were all done," Dani said. Daryl wrapped his arm around her waist and pulled her back down on the bed.
"Who said we was done?" Daryl kissed her hard. His hands were in her hair and they were back in each other's arms kissing one another deeply. Daryl pulled her on top of him and Dani sat up, straddling him, running her fingers down his chest as he looked her up and down.
"You're beautiful, you know that?" Dani leaned over and kissed him. Reaching between them, she guided him inside of her, sat up and began to ride him. Daryl watched her in awe as he always did when he let her take control like this. He loved watching her in the light where he could see the curve of her hips and the line of her throat when she threw her head back, lips parted. His fingers dug into her hips before sliding up her back to pull her down to him. She kissed him, speeding up her rhythm, grinding against him. She was going to come and she bit her lip to keep quiet.
"Don't you hold back," Daryl hissed through clenched teeth. "I want to hear you." Unable to speak, Dani moaned, her orgasm building and she let herself go. Crying out Daryl's name intermingled with moans, she felt him come just as she was finishing. Spent, she collapsed on him, kissing trails along his collarbone and neck. She sat up and traced his jawline with her finger, amused at the satisfied look on his face. His eyes were closed so she ran her finger between his eyes and along his nose.
"Hey you." He opened one eye and tried to look annoyed. Dani giggled. "Don't you go to sleep before we get our clothes back on," she teased. He smiled, closed his eyes again and shook his head.
"I decided I like you better naked." Dani kissed his chest before sliding off of him. She had pulled her tank top on and was reaching for her sweatpants when she heard the boys scream. Daryl sat up quickly and pulled his pants on.
"What have those goddamn kids done now?" He muttered as he pulled his shirt on, not bothering to button it, grabbed his crossbow and opened the door. Dani pulled her sweatpants on and grabbed her gun, following close behind Daryl.
Maggie and Glenn were already in the hall with a flashlight. They turned to Daryl and Dani.
"Did you hear that?" Maggie asked. Dani opened her mouth to respond when they heard the boys scream again, closer this time. Glenn and Daryl started down the hall, their weapons raised as Dylan and Josh ran around the corner. Both men dropped their weapons.
"Goddammit you little..." Daryl grabbed Dylan's arm. "What the hell did I tell you about wanderin' around at night huh?" Dylan stared up at Daryl, real fear on his face. His mouth opened and closed but he couldn't speak. Josh turned and pointed behind him.
"Biters. Biters are coming." Glenn raised his flashlight as they heard the shuffling feet and moans just around the corner. They could see the silhouettes on the wall and everyone froze. Daryl pushed the kids behind him as he and Glenn backed up.
"Shit! Run!" Daryl said as Josh and Dylan took off running, passing the girls as they ran to the main cellblock.
"Rick! Tyreese!" Maggie was yelling before they even got in the room. "Walkers! Walkers in the hallway!" Everyone scrambled out of their cells in the dark, flashlights coming on, people screaming. Dani threw the front door open and quickly ushered Beth and Carol out the door into the night. In the scattered beams of the flashlights, she could see Alice and Bill helping Andrea with Hershel hurrying behind them. Carl had baby Judith in his arms and he ran past Dani, handed his sister to Beth and tried to go back in. Dani stopped him.
"Carl no! Stay out here!" Beth ran forward and dragged Carl away from the door. Alice and Bill carried Andrea outside.
"Dani what's happening? How'd they get in?" Bill asked as they walked past her. Dani shook her head.
"I don't know. Did you see Daryl?" Bill shook his head.
"Sorry Dani I didn't see him." They heard gunshots and more screams. Dani started to go back inside and Bill stopped her.
"Dani don't! He'll be fine!" He pulled her into the yard with everyone else. Carol put her arms around Dani.
"He'll be ok Dani. He'll be alright." Both women comforted each other and they all waited nervously for the others to come out.
"Rachel!" Abraham called to her as he ran up the stairs the cell she and Maddie shared. Gunshots rang out and he could hear the moans of the biters coming into the room below. He shined his flashlight into the cell and found Rachel curled up in the corner with Maddie in her lap. "Rachel, we have to go." Rachel shook her head, her eyes wild with fear.
"No. We're staying here. We'll be quiet. We won't yell. Maddie won't cry. They won't even know we're here!" Abraham gritted his teeth and lunged into the cell, grabbing Maddie from her mother and turned to leave the cell.
"Abraham! Don't take my baby please!" Maddie was screaming and reaching for her mother. Abraham turned back to her.
"If you want to live to see your daughter again then you'll do what I fucking say! Do you hear me?" Rachel nodded. "Good. Now come on!" They ran down the stairs. The biters were in the room, he could hear them but the lights from the flashlights made it next to impossible to tell where they were. Maggie saw him and ran to help.
"Get Maddie and Rachel outside," Abraham said, handing Maddie to Maggie. "Go now!" Maggie carried the little girl and led her mother to the yard. Abraham turned and bashed a biter on the head with his flashlight. He pulled his hunting knife from it's sheath and stabbed the nearest biter through the temple. He whirled around and came face to face with Rick's gun.
"You get everyone out from upstairs?" Abraham nodded. "I think we've still got the boys, Jaimie and Brenda down here." Abraham pushed Rick aside and stabbed another biter. They heard one of the boys crying and saw Daryl with one of the twins in one arm, raise his crossbow and take down a walker with the other. He turned to Rick and Abraham.
"We gotta get out now! Move!" Daryl headed towards the door with the boy. Tyreese was using his hammer on the advancing walkers and calling for his sister.
"Sasha! Sasha!" Rick ran up to him. Tyreese's eyes were frantic. "Rick I can't find her. Where is she?" Rick didn't respond and raised his gun to shoot another walker.
"Tyreese we've got to get out. We can't clear this place in the dark!" Tyreese shook his head.
"No! I won't leave my sister." Rick grabbed his arm.
"She's probably outside with everyone. We've got to get out now!" Tyreese hesitated and then turned to follow Rick. Once they were outside, they slammed the door shut. The kids were crying and Rick turned to the group. The moon was out and his eyes slowly adjusted to the darkness. Looking around, he could see that they didn't have everyone and his heart dropped.
"Who's missing?" Mark looked around, one of his boys in his arms.
"Where's Jamie? Where's my wife? Where's my son?" He turned on Daryl. "You had Dylan. Where's Jamie and Josh?" Daryl shook his head.
"They were right behind me with Brenda." Mark put Dylan down and advanced on Daryl.
"Right behind you? Then where the hell are they?" Mark pushed Daryl. "Did you leave them in there to save your ass? Did you?" He pushed Daryl again and Daryl grabbed Mark's shirt, drawing back his other fist to hit him. Abraham hurried to get in between them and Dani ran up to pull Daryl away. Abraham pushed Mark away as he kept yelling at Daryl. "You left them in there! You left them there to die!"
"It wasn't his fault." Michonne's voice rang out as she walked to Mark. "Your wife panicked and hid in a cell with her boy. Brenda and I went to get her to leave when a walker grabbed Brenda and tore her throat out. Jamie screamed and three walkers were on her and the boy before I could get to them. There was nothing anyone could do. If she had stayed with Daryl, she'd still be alive." Mark's face crumbled.
"No, no, no, no, no!" He collapsed against Abraham, crying uncontrollably. The man sank to the ground and brought his knees to his chest. Tyreese looked at Michonne hopefully.
"Did you see Sasha? Did you see my sister?" Michonne shook her head slightly.
"I never saw her." Tyreese began breathing heavily and then turned to storm back into the prison. Rick stopped him and Tyreese started to raise his hammer.
"Get out of my way Rick." Rick had his hand on his gun and one arm outstretched.
"Tyreese, don't do this. You open those doors and those walkers will all be out here, do you understand?" Tyreese's eyes were unfocused, full of pure rage and determination. "Tyreese, put the hammer down and think about this. Your sister's smart. She probably got cornered and found a good place to hide. Carol did. She hid in a storage closet for days and she survived. Tomorrow, when it's light and we can see, we'll go in there and clear it all out. But there's no sense going in there now and getting' yourself killed, alright?" Tyreese took a deep breath and his eyes focused on Rick.
"She's my sister man. I left my sister in there alone with those things." Rick took his hand off of his gun and carefully approached Tyreese.
"I know. But she can take care of herself ok? You don't know for sure she's dead. Sasha's fine, ok? Right now she's fine." Tyreese nodded. The field was silent, save for the grunts of the pigs and the crying children. Rick closed his eyes as he tried to focus.
"What happened? How'd they even get in?"
"The boys were playing around in the tombs," said Dani, her arms wrapped around Daryl. "They ran past our rooms and those walkers weren't even twenty feet behind them." Rick walked over to Dylan.
"Dylan, what happened?" Dylan shook his head. "Dylan, I need you to tell me what happened in there. Please. We have to know how those walkers got in." Dylan put his thumb in his mouth.
"Are Josh and Mommy dead?" Rick closed his eyes and then nodded.
"Yeah, they probably are." Dylan started to cry again.
"It's all my fault. I took the keys from Dad." Mark, stood up and walked over to Dylan.
"You what? You took the keys? When you came back to the other cellblock earlier today, you took my keys?" Dylan nodded. "Speak up dammit!" The ferocity in his voice made Dylan jump. Rick held up his hand.
"Mark calm down." Rick turned back to Dylan. "What did you do with the keys?" Dylan looked fearfully at his dad.
"Josh said he'd never seen a biter up close. So we waited until everyone was asleep and went back in the halls where a lot of them were behind a door. They couldn't get out. Josh wouldn't get to close and I called him a baby. I told him 'you wanted to see one and now you're chickening out'. He said he wasn't a chicken. So I told him to prove it and dared him to unlock the door and lock it again real quick. I didn't think anything bad would happen." Rick glanced back at Mark whose eyes were wide, his breathing heavy. Dylan glanced at his father again before continuing in a low voice. "He took the keys and he did it. He unlocked the door. He tried to lock it again but the biters pushed on the door and got out. So we ran." Rick sighed.
"What you did was dangerous. Walkers will kill you. You could have gotten everyone killed, do you understand? This is not a game." Dylan nodded and began to cry again. Mark walked towards him.
"Stop crying you stupid little shit!" Rick stood up quickly, putting himself between Mark and Dylan.
"There's no call for that. The boy's just lost his mother and his brother. He needs you." Mark shook his head.
"You mean he just killed his mother and his brother. He killed my wife. He killed my son. He took everything that meant anything to me." Dylan cried harder.
"Daddy!" Mark shook his head.
"You don't get to call me that anymore. I didn't raise an idiot." Mark backed away. Dylan tried to go to him and Carol stopped him, pulling the little boy into her arms. Mark pulled his gun out of the back of his jeans and raised it. Rick, Abraham and Glenn quickly had their weapons drawn.
"Drop the gun Mark. You don't want to kill your son," said Abraham. Mark looked over at him and smiled.
"I don't have a son anymore remember? My wife and son are dead." Mark put the gun in his mouth and fired.
A/N: I don't know where my mind went when I wrote this last scene. It absolutely tore me up to write it. I was crying as I typed it out as I kept seeing that poor little boy who couldn't possibly understand everything that he had just done and he's lost his parents and his twin brother.