VPOV

I woke up, someone nudging my arm as I slept. Opening my eyes I found Aly standing next to the bed, looking at me with wide excited eyes. I sighed, turning to face her fully. "What's up, sweetie?"

"Can I go play with Mica and Lizzie? I want to show them the doll Michonne got me." she asked sweetly.

I smiled, nodding. "Just don't go anywhere near the fence. Okay?"

Leaning forward she kissed my cheek. "Thank you." she smiled, running off.

Houdini lifted his head off the bed as he watched her run out of the room. I looked over at him, as he turned to me, putting his head down and going back to sleep. He usually stuck close to me after I had been away.

I knew I should get up, so I did, moving to sit on the edge of the bed . I looked over my shoulder, seeing Daryl fast asleep.

Since the fight with the Governor, after we started turning the place into a real home, we had taken the bunk off the top and set up the bed so it was a double- two beds next to each other. There wasn't as much space in the room, but it made it easier to sleep- hence Daryl still being out cold.

I stood up, pulling a purple tank top over the thin white shirt I had worn to bed as pajamas. Slipping on some denium shorts and pulling on my boots- my outfit practical not fashionable of course. I ran my brush through my hair, instantly more relaxed, before pulling it all into a high plait.

Seeing as I was dressed I left the room, Houdini right behind me. There wasn't much I could do right now, most people were asleep still. But I just wanted to see Judith anyway. Daryl and I were always going out to find supplies, or hunting, or doing whatever we had to, so I didn't get to see my little sister very often.

I found Beth heading outside, probably going to go see if Carol had started the barbeque yet. I ran up to her, walking beside her as we headed out.

"Morning." I smiled.

"Hey." she smiled back. "You wanna hold her?" she asked, gesturing to Judy.

I nodded, taking my sister and holding her close to my chest. She grabbed on to the chain that always stayed around my neck- it had been mum's when she was alive, dad gave it to me a few months ago. With her wedding ring, a small heart pendant.

I smiled, rocking her as she fiddled with the necklace. "That'll be yours one day." I told her, voice loving and sweet, the kind you use when talking to a baby.

Carol was by the barbecue, it looked like she was just getting everything started.

Beth and I moved to sit at the table closest to the barbeque so we could talk to Carol as well. She smiled at us, but didn't say anything as she continued to work.

"How did the run go yesterday?" Beth asked, folding Judy's blanket.

I hesitated before shrugging. "Fine, I guess."

Carol disagreed though. "I heard you guys got into trouble. Something about walkers falling through the roof and a helicopter?"

I sighed. "Yeah, there was a few walkers. But we're all fine. Nothing happened." I looked to Carol knowing she knew the truth. I gave her a pointed look, hoping she realized I didn't want Beth to know what happened.

She nodded, obviously taking the hint. "Well, we're all glad you came back safe and sound."

"Hey!"

I looked up, seeing Daryl walking out of the prison, hair messy, shirt screwed up, he had obviously just woken up. I smiled. "Hey, yourself."

He came to stand in front of me, looking down at Judith. "Woke up, you and Aly were gone."

I nodded. "Yeah, Aly wanted to show the girls her new doll, and I wanted to see Judy." I told him as I looked down at my sister. "I miss her sometimes, you know?"

"You can help me take care of her today if you want?" Beth suggested.

I looked up at her, smiling. "Thanks, that would be-"

A loud thud interrupted me, followed by another. We all looked up towards D block just as Mica, Lizzie and Aly ran out.

"Take Judith." I told Beth, handing over my sister before Carol, Daryl and I ran to the girls, Glenn right behind us, coming from one of the watchtowers.

"Help! Help! Please, come quick!" Lizzie yelled.

"Vickie! Daryl!" Aly cried, running right towards me with her arms outstretched.

I fell to my knees, wrapping her in my arms. "What's wrong? What happened?" I asked her, as she cried. I held her to my chest, her arms wrapped around my neck desperately.

"There's walkers!" Mica told us, looking frantic.

"Walkers in D!" Glenn yelled to dad who was coming from the field.

Dad ran into the courtyard. "What about C?"

"It's clear." Sasha and Ty came running out of the C block- the original cell block we occupied. "We locked the gates to the tombs. Hershel's on guard."

"It's not a breach." Zach added as he came out of the cell.

"We followed the plan." Sasha finished.

The others ran off into the cell block as I turned to the girls. "Go into the C block, okay. Stay with Hershel." I told them, looking at Aly. "Keep Houdini with you." she nodded, still crying. I kissed her forehead before getting up and looking at Houdini who sat by Aly looking worried. "Guard her." I told him before running off to help the others.

"Go! Get out of here." I heard dad yell as I rounded the corner. He stood near the entrance, holding a gun. Looking to me he handed over the gun. "Hold that." he told me before moving on.

People were running all over the place, trying to escape walkers. But they weren't just walkers, they were our people... It was chaos. Absolute chaos.

I saw Daryl helping people get into a cell, Carol doing the same. Tyreese was with Karen, in a cell behind it's closed door. Glenn, and dad worked on killing the walkers while Sasha and Zach made sure everyone who got out wasn't bitten. So I got to work, smashing my foot into the head of a walker. I couldn't think of it being someone I knew. It was a threat and I needed to get rid of it.

A man yelled out as a walker grabbed him. Before it could bite I threw my knife, the blade stabbing into it's head. The walker fell to the ground allowing the man to run out of the cell block. I pulled my knife out moving on.

"Check all of them. Every cell." dad called as we started to make sure the downstairs cells were clear.

I pulled back the curtain of one cell before a walker jumped on me, it's teeth so close to my face. I yelled, falling to the ground.

"Vickie!" dad yelled, running up to me from the other end of the cell block. But before he made it Daryl stepped out of a cell and shot the walker with his cross bow.

He stepped over to me, helping me up and pulling me to him. "You a'right?" he asked as he pulled back checking my cheek.

I nodded, moving to rest my head on his chest. "Thank you." I breathed, panting.

"You okay?" dad asked, a few steps away. When I nodded he turned to Glenn. "We clear down here?"

"Clear." Glenn replied.

"We're safe?" dad asked Sasha.

She nodded walking out of a cell, out of breath. "Yeah. Yeah."

Dad nodded, heading up the stairs. Daryl pulled on my arm and I knew we had to follow. With my knife in hand I followed Daryl as he set up his cross bow and walked up the stairs.

"Go that way." Daryl nodded to the opposite way he was going. I turned and headed the way he told me without question, Glenn right behind me.

As I walked past a cell a walker came out, throwing itself on to Glenn.

I turned and shoved my knife into its skull without thinking, watching as it went limp and fell to the ground. Glenn leaned against the wall panting.

"You okay?" I asked, seeing the others watching us, their own weapons up to defend Glenn.

He nodded. "Thanks."

"Your welcome." I mumbled before leaning down and turning the walker over. I gasped, looking away just as the others joined us.

"It's Patrick." Daryl sighed, kneeling down and wrapping a comforting arm around me. "That's all of them." he shook his head.

Dad pulled the curtain away from the doorway, revealing a person lying on the floor with a bite on their neck. I felt Daryl nod before he stood and moved into the room. Dad grabbed my arm, pulling me up as he let the curtain fall, covering Daryl and the room.

I turned to look over the railing, trying to calm my breathing before I threw up or had a panic attack.

"You okay?" dad asked, hand on my back.

I looked over at where he stood beside me. "What happened in here?"

He just sighed, shaking his head. "I don't know."

Daryl walked out of the room and we both turned to him. Dad nodded and stepped away from me allowing Daryl to take his place. Dad continued to check the cells, Glenn going the other way. I could hear Bob, Hershel and Doctor S heading towards the cell. Carol had gone to get them, and Lizzie and Mica- though I'm not sure why she was getting the girls.

"Hey, Vic?" Daryl's arm wrapped around my waist. "You sure you're a'right?"

I turned to him and wrapping my arms around him, holding him to me. "There's so many..."

"I know." his hand held my head as he sighed. "We'll be okay."

The sound of a walker snarling caught our attention. We turned to look at dad where he stood in front of a closed cell. The sound of a walker shuffling in the room got louder before dad reached in and stabbed the thing in the head.

I stepped away from Daryl, grabbing his hand absentmindedly before walking over to dad. He opened the cell as Hershel, Bob and Dr.S. walked up the stairs. Dad knelt by the walker, Dr. S. joining him while Daryl and I stood inside the cell by the door, Hershel and Bob staying out.

"No bites. No wounds. I think he just died." dad said, looking at the walker.

"Horribly, too. Pleurisy aspiration." Doctor S deduced by looking at it.

"Chocked to death on his own blood." Hershel explained. "Caused those trails down his face."

"I've seen them before on a walker outside the fence." dad nodded.

I held on to Daryl's hand tighter. "I saw them on Patrick, too." I told them all, moving closer to Daryl instinctively.

"They're from the internal lung pressure building up." Doctor S. started. "Like if you shake a soda can and pop the top. Only imagine your eyes, ears, nose and throat are the top."

"It's a sickness from the walkers?" Bob asked.

"No, these things happened before they were around." Dr. S. answered, sighing. "Could be pneumococcal. Most likely an aggressive flu strain."

"Someone locked him in just in time." Hershel noted.

Daryl just shook his head. "No, man. Charlie used to sleepwalk. Locked himself in. Hell, he was just eatin' barbecue yesterday. How could somebody die in a day just from a cold?"

"I had a sick pig, it died quick." dad nodded. "Saw a sick boar in the woods."

"Pigs and birds. That's how these things spread in the past." Hershel commented, going on. "We need to do something about those hogs."

"Maybe we got lucky. Maybe these two cases are it." Doctor S shrugged.

"Haven't seen anybody be lucky in a long time." Bob spoke up, folding his arms. "Bugs like to run through close quarters. Doesn't get any closer than this."

"All of us in here, we've all been exposed." Hershel nodded, agreeing.

I looked up at Daryl. "Aly. I have to go check on her." I told him.

Daryl nodded. "Go, we'll be okay."

I didn't bother waiting to see if the others would stop me. I rushed out of the room, running down the stairs. I ran out of the prison as fast as I could, seeing Aly and Houdini sitting by the barbecue area. I ran over to her. Pulling her into my arms, I held her to me, checking her arms and neck for any bites or marks.

"Are you okay? Did you get hurt? Are you feeling sick?" I asked her as I pulled her leggings up so I could check her legs. "Why didn't you go inside?"

She wrapped her arms around my neck, moving so I couldn't check her anymore, just hug her. "I'm scared, Vickie." she cried.

I nodded. "I know, sweetie. But it's okay. I'll make sure you're okay." I told her, as I rocked back and forth to calm her, just like I did with Judy. "We'll be okay."

CPOV

Maggie and I helped Michonne as we headed for the C block. She had hurt her ankle while fighting off walkers who had gotten into the front gate section.

I looked over to my right, seeing Vickie holding a crying Aly in her arms. She nodded at me, a sad look in her eyes. I let them be, knowing Vickie had to take care of Aly, and I had to make sure Michonne was okay.

Dad came out of view, coming from Cell block D. Moving away from Michonne and Maggie I couldn't help but run to him.

"Hey." he lifted his arm to tell me to stay away. "You might want to stay back. Carl..."

I ran into his arms, crying. "Dad, I'm sorry. I didn't see you come out."

"It's okay. I'm here. I'm fine." he pulled back. "Back away."

"I had to use one of the guns by the gate. I swear, I didn't want to." I told him as I backed up.

"I was coming back. I fell. They came out and helped me." Michonne explained.

Dad nodded. "Are you all right?"

Michonne nodded back as Maggie asked, "What happened in there?"

All eyes turned as we saw a girl walking out of cell block D, a body wrapped in a sheet in her arms. Others followed her, also carrying bodies.

"Patrick got sick last night." I looked over at dad as he talked. "Some kind of flu. It moves fast. We think he died and attack the cell block." he looked down at me.

I swayed a little, not believing he was dead. He was fine yesterday, normal. Just like that he's dead? How?

"Look, I know he was your friend, and I'm sorry." Dad leaned down to my level. "He was a good kid. We lost a lot of good people." he stood, talking to Maggie. "Glenn and your dad are okay, but they were in there. You shouldn't get too close to anyone that might have been exposed, at least for a little while."

I backed up, moving to Michonne again.

"Carl," dad called. I looked over at him. "All of you."

DPOV

I was walking to the library for a council meeting. As I opened the door, I found Vic sitting on a chair at the table, Aly in her arms and Houdini lying by her feet.

"And the princess kissed the ugly toad." Vic read a book to Aly. "Then a cloud of smoke appeared before the ugly toad turned into a handsome prince. The princess and prince then married and lived happily ever after. The end." she finished, closing the book.

"Good story?" I asked, walking over to them.

Aly sat up and stretched her arms out for me to lift her up. I grabbed her, taking her off Vic's lap, holding her on my side. She rested her head on my shoulder, arms holding me.

Vic stood. "She doesn't want to be alone. I know we have a meeting, but I can't leave her..."

I nodded. "She can stay."

Vic just shook her head. "I think I'm gonna go take her to our room. I can't sit here and talk about stuff, when I know she's scared. I need to make sure she's okay. Is that all right?"

I nodded, handing Aly back over to her. "I'll come see you after the meeting."

She leaned over and gave me a quick kiss. "See you then." she said, giving me a half smile before she left the library, Aly in her arms clinging to her shirt and Houdini right by her side.

This meeting better go quick...

BaMbY