"Help! Help!" We hear screaming. I recognize it as Beth's and run into the room. "Do somethin'!" She cries at her father's bedside.
Lori is already in there "he's not breathing!" She gasps out.
I push Beth aside "I'll start compressions, you do mouth to mouth! 1. 2. 3. Breath!" I get going. Nothing happens and we continue "1. 2. 3. Breathe!" we go again and he's still not breathing. "1. 2. 3. Breathe!" she goes again. This time Hershel's arms flail and grab Lori by the head. Me and his daughters yank at her to get her away, not sure if has turned or not. We get her out, his eyes open for a moment before his head hits the pillow again and he snores softly. The 4 of us huddled together in a corner, while Carl has the gun pointed at him, ready to save us all.
Everyone in the group, except Carl, comes together to wait and see what happens with Hershel. When Rick walks in, Lori informs him that he still doesn't have a fever, a good sign. We all wait quietly together. As we do, a gurgle comes out of the man's mouth. We all start to eye one another as Beth and Maggie get closer with hope. It doesn't happen again and our hope turns to fear. The fear is replaced though as he opens his eyes slowly. He reaches his arm up and looks to Rick after seeing his daughters there at his side. Rick kneels down next to him as they connect hands. We all smile to one another, happy he survived.
I leave Hershel and his family be and go back to the cell
I leave Hershel and his family be and go back to the cell. I enjoy it to myself that night, as Beth stayed at her fathers side, making sure he was comfortable and alright. The next day, I help the others out in the courtyard. I drive up one of the trucks as Rick instructed me too and meet T-dog, Daryl, Carol and him near the turned over bus. "Alright, let's get the other cars in." he says now "we'll park 'em in the west entry of the yard."
"Good. Our vehicles camped out there look like a giant "vacancy" sign!" Daryl snarls.
"After that, we need to load up these corpses so we can burn them." Rick looks around at the yard.
T-Dog comments more to himself then us "it's gonna be a long day.."
"Where's Glenn and Maggie?" Carol asks looking at all of us.
I add on "yea, we could sure use some help."
Daryl informs us "up in the guard tower."
"Guard tower? They were just up there last night!" Rick responds as we all look up to it.
Daryl calls out to them. "Hey! What's up guys?" Glenn asks when he emerges from the door. His shirt is off and he's buttoning his pants.
We all laugh when we see him, Daryl yells out "You comin'?" and we laugh some more.
"What?" Glenn calls back, either not hearing or not understanding the joke.
"You comin'?" Daryl asks again. We laugh some more before he adds on "come on, we could use a hand!"
"Yeah, we'll be right down!" Glenn calls back turning to Maggie inside
"Yeah, we'll be right down!" Glenn calls back turning to Maggie inside. We turn back to get to work on the cars and the bodies.
"Hey Rick!" T-dog nods his head up and away from the courtyard.
Rick stops for a moment when he sees the two prisoners Axel and Oscar out of the cell block they helped clear our. He begins walking towards them, the rest of us following him. He goes to see them. "That's close enough." He tells the prisoners at the gate "we had an agreement."
The smaller man, Axel speaks back "please, mister. We know that, we made a deal." Glenn and Maggie come out of the tower now, staying behind them "but you gotta understand! We can't live in that place another minute, you follow me? All the bodies, people we knew! Blood, brains everywhere! There's ghosts!"
"Why don't you move the bodies out?" Daryl spits back.
"You should be burning them." T-dog adds.
Axel spits back "we tried! We did!"
"The fence is down on the far side of the prison." The other man Oscar adds on "every time we drag a body out, those things just line up. So we just dump a body and just run back inside. Axel
Axel moves a bit closer to Rick "look! We had nothing to do with Thomas and Andrew, nothing! You trying to prove a point? You proved it, bro! We'll do whatever it takes to be a part of your group, just, please, please, don't make us live in that place!"
"Our deal is not negotiable." Rick says back, his body tense with emotion. "You either live in your cell block, or you leave."
Oscar mutters to Axel "I told you this was a waste of time. They ain't no different than the pricks who shot up our boys." His attention back to Rick "you know how many friends' corpses we had to drag out this week? Just threw 'em out like.." he trails "Those were good guys! Good guys who had our backs against the really bad dudes in the joint like Thomas and Andrew." He continues on "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 paid our due. Enough that we would rather hit that road, than to go back into that shithole."
Rick turns his head behind him to look at Daryl who gives a firm but subtle no head shake. Rick just steps closer to the men, without words, to them it's not going to happen. Daryl pulls up his bow and arrow and takes them the rest of the way. I follow behind to lock it shut as he keeps the bow trained. We walk back to the group as Rick says something T-dog "Are you serious? You want them living in a cell next to you? They'll just be waiting for a chance to grab our weapons, you want to go back to sleeping with one eye open?"
T-Dog responds with a valid point "I never stopped. Bring them into the fold. If we send them off packing, we might as well execute them ourselves."
"I don't know, Axel seems a little unstable." Glenn comments.
Carol adds on as well "after all we've been through? We fought so hard for all this, what if they decide to take it?"
"It's just been us for so long... They're strangers." She says "I don't... it feels weird all of a sudden to have these other people around."
"You brought us in." T-dog argues to her.
"Yeah, but you turned up with a shot boy in your arms, didn't give us a choice." Maggie corrects his notion.
Glenn adds "they can't even kill walkers!"
"They're convicts, bottom line!" Carol gets out.
"I'm not saying I'm agreeing either way.." I say biting my lip before saying what I want to next "those two might actually have less blood on their hands than we do." I shrug.
"I get guys like this." Daryl speaks up now "hell, I grew up with them. They're degenerates, but they ain't psychos. I could have been with them just as easy as I'm out here with you guys."
"So you with me?" T-dog asks him, happy for an ally.
Daryl spits back "hell no! Let 'em take their chances out on the road, just like we did!
"What I'm saying, Daryl.." T-dog tries to say.
Rick interrupts him "When I was a rookie, I arrested this kid. Nineteen years old, wanted for stabbing his girlfriend. The kid blubbered like a baby during the interrogation, during the trial, suckered the jury. He was acquitted due to insufficient evidence, and 2 weeks later shot another girl. We've been through too much. Our deal with them stands."
We leave the men locked behind a gate as Carol gets some supplies together for them to take on the road. When it's all ready, Glenn brings it to them and we continue at our work. T-dog and I bring more of the trucks inside the gates. We bring two of the cars to the spot for an escape route when we hear gunshots. We get out of the cars quickly and the walkers from behind another part of the jail were released! A loud noise blares from all around, a siren. I run to a door to get inside as T-dog works a fence. I open the door and turn to yell for him when he screams out. A walker bites him in the shoulder, blood spurting out of the wound. "NOOOO!" I yell back. He punches it off and when it falls he shoots it with the last bullet in his gun. He throws it down on the ground and I yell out to him"Hurry!" I say back to him as the walkers close in on us. We get inside and run for safety, looking for anywhere to lay low. We walk through the dark, T-dog leaning against me for support. We're almost to the door outside as two of them round the corner "Turn back!" I try and move but he stops me.
"We're almost there!" He says back to me before using all of his strength and storming the two of them against the wall
"We're almost there!" He says back to me before using all of his strength and storming the two of them against the wall. " GO!" He shouts back. I'm startled for a moment but move towards them "I'm dead! GO!" He says as I pass him. I give him one last look as they bite into his body and leave the dark hallway.
I find myself down another corridor, looking to make my way back to our block. Luckily I haven't come across any other walkers and I pray it stays that way. I turn a corner, hoping for another way out but it's just more dark. As I walk down the hall a few of the walkers turns the corner I'm headed towards. I turn to go back the way I came but one is stumbling from there, possibly hidden earlier and drawn out from the noise. I open a door to one of walkers in it. I push it out of there, needing to stay hidden and close it at it reaches for me. I feel around the dark closet, making sure there's nothing in here to surprise me and feel comfortable for now to breath. Time passes slowly as I wait, the walkers still banging on the door.