The next morning a supply run that had been away since I was released from my waiting period in jail had come back. They came back so early, Carol and I were the only ones out in the yard to open the gate.

I'd been having nightmares that were the worst in the early hours of the morning. I'd wake up in horror, disoriented and unable to go back to sleep. Carol said she could never sleep in either because it was a habit from her past. Her husband used to get too angry with her if she didn't get up and make him breakfast each morning. She told me sometimes she still wakes up, worried that he will be there.

We pulled the chains to open the metal barrier.

The supply group consisted of a nice guy named Bob, a girl named Sasha, who Carol took aside to speak to immediately. Then a third guy. He was the guard that had caught me considering lying to Rick.

He seemed to know who I was though, because looking me up and down in a not-so-kindly way, he introduced himself as Daryl and called me by my last name, like I'd asked everyone do. He was weathered, but very attractive in a redneck kind of way. He had on a cut off leather vest with wings on the back and a crossbow slung over his shoulder.

He saw Carol was distracted and turned to ask me if anything had been going on since he'd been gone, when we heard an unmistakable gunshot from up in the prison.

Daryl took off towards the noise, the rest of us close behind him. I didn't have anything but a knife I had been given by Rick, so I pulled it out, but tried to stay out of the more prison-knowledgeable people's way. Rick came running past me through the cell blocks, motioning for Daryl to join him as he shouted to Maggie, asking what had happened.

"Walkers in here!" Maggie was screaming, "We need help, now!"

With adrenaline pumping, I squeezed in past the people screaming and pushing to get out of the block.

It was pandemonium. People were scurrying to get out while others found their way blocked, and were shoving into cells, frantically trying to get their doors shut before advancing walkers could get them. I paused for a moment. The screaming and echoes of the gunshots was enough to disorient anyone, but it messed me up a little bit. I didn't know where to start. Rick was running up the metal stairs to help the cornered people on the second level, more zombies were clawing at people through their own locked cells. A girl was pulling her arm back through her door when a rambling by walker grabbed on and sank its teeth straight into her hand. She screamed and I set into action.

I shoved a confused man out of my way, pushing him towards the exit and shoulder slammed into the walker, his teeth ripping out of the girl's hand. The walker side stumbled and headed towards me, fast. I'd forgotten how much faster the fresher ones moved. His skull would be harder to get through, too. Holding my knife as firm as I could, I darted at him and rammed the knife through his eye socket. He went down. The victim was sobbing over her mangled hand.

A few more zombies poured in from the back, surrounding me, forcing me up the staircase. One reached up through the stairs and snagged my leg. I fell hard on the stairs, the grime covered knife slipping out of my hand. Everyone was preoccupied in their own gruesome battles, who was going to notice me?

The zombie still had a firm grip on me and another one was starting to clamber up the stairs.

Shit. I kicked my free leg out and connected perfectly with the climbing zombie's face. I broke the glasses on his face.

I tried to wrench myself from the clinging zombie, but now the third was starting to help out, and that one's mouth was in range to get a decent chunk out of my calf.

I heard a thunk underneath me and felt the grip slacken on my ankle. Daryl nailed the third and then second zombies in the heads as I pulled my leg back through the stairs. It was done. The chaos had subsided. A few survivors stood in pure fright in the their cells, some nursing fresh bite wounds.

Goddamn I was going to have a wicked bruise on my shin. Daryl jumped over the stair rail and helped me up.

"You good?" He asked.

"Yeah, perfectly fine. What the hell happened in here, though?" I asked, sitting back down and rolling up my pant leg since it was being soaked in my blood.

Daryl watched me.

"That aint a bite, right?" He asked.

I shook my head, "If the fucking stairs is what does me in, I probably deserve it."

He looked as amused as someone could be considering the situation. "Come on, I don't wanna be round for this," He said, gesturing as Carol and Herschel came in and set to work consoling the bitten. He helped me up a second time. I looked for Rick as I was leaving, to ask him if I could do anything to help, but I didn't see him.

Early that afternoon, the gist of what had happened got around. A kid got some mad disease and died in the washroom. He'd woken back up and started a mini massacre, that lead the huge massacre I'd witnessed.

The sickness was worrying. In the old world, I'd been a germaphobe, an occupational hazard of my biology degree. But what were we going to do about it now? Maybe it was an isolated incident, but apparently the pigs were starting to keel over too. Definitely not a good sign.

I hadn't seen Rick yet, today. I thought about going and attempting to find him, but I figured he already had too much on his plate. I had nothing useful to contribute.

I was burying two of the dead pig bodies (the smell seemed to put the other pigs off food) when I saw Tyreese in the distance, heading purposefully towards a large wonky wooden cross in the middle of the prison yard. He set to work digging next to it.

Oh yeah, his girlfriend and the other guy hadn't gotten buried yet. I filled the second grave up and was heading up the yard to help the bruised Tyreese, when I saw Rick. Good, he was going to apologize. Rick really is a good guy. I can't believe there's any of those left in this shit world.

I watched the two of them for a while, making sure no punches were about to be thrown, but all looked well. Figuring I was being too creepy. I headed back up to the prison to take a much needed shower and rinse the dead pig off me.

I noticed a lot of people coughing on my trip through the cell blocks to the washroom. Which, of course, made me feel a tickle in my throat.

I showered, wistfully thinking of expensive conditioner and some dang lotion.

While walking back through the blocks, I couldn't help noticing just how many people were coughing. Oh god, I think I felt spit from one of them hit me. I passed the little patio area where the two bodies had been removed. Rick was in there. I considering going into sneak mode and passing by without bothering him, but before I could make a choice, he turned and saw me.

Although I probably looked stupid just standing there looking at him, he gave a me a pretty generous smile. I was especially surprised he had it in him, considering what hell was occurring to his group.

"I owe it to Tyreese to figure this out. Especially after what I did to him." Rick explained seriously, standing between the two blood stains on the ground.

I opened up the creaky metal gate and came to stand by him, taking care to not step in the stains. It seemed rude to stick my foot on one of them. "I would help you if I figured I'd do any good. I don't know anyone well enough here, and everyone I do barely know doesn't seem capable of a vicious murder."

Rick raised his eyebrows a little in agreement, "I didn't think I knew anyone capable either, but shows what I know."

"Obviously, they had to have been dead before they were brought out here. It's a lot of weight to be dragging, it'd have to have been one at a time. Whichever bed has the bigger bloodstain on it is the second one to have been brought out here. That's about the extent of use I can be," I said.

A pause. "How is that so obvious, Grey?" he asked me.

Dammit. I should have just kept my mouth shut. I don't want to give him more reason to suspect me.

Just tread carefully here.

"You want them quiet while they traveled from their beds to here. You'd want to kill them one at time, without the other noticing, so neither of them would put up a fight. Therefore, they'd have to both have been asleep. Hence the blood stains in the beds. One would have oozed more than the other from sitting there, waiting for transport. Anyone would think of that." I tried to smile, but I think it came out a grimace.

Rick blinked. "I saw you help in the attack today. If it weren't for that, I'd be more suspicious of you. But thank you for what you did. You don't have a strong loyalty to us yet, and I get that, so thank you for protecting those people."

He started towards the door, following the blood streaks back into the cell block. He reached out and touched my arm as he passed. "I'll find you at dinner, ok?"

I decided to go look for Carol. I hadn't been in her cell block yet, so I walked inside cautiously. I strode through, checking each cell for her, but she wasn't there.

Maggie's sister Beth was though, with that baby she always had. She didn't look old enough to have a baby, but I guess I am in the South. That's probably perfectly normal.

"Hey!" She called to me when I passed. I reluctantly went back. Nothing against her, but I hate kids. Especially the smaller they are, they less I like them.

"You're Grey, right? We haven't really met. I'm Beth and this," She waved the baby's pink clothed arm at me, "is Judith."

I smiled indulgently at both of them. "She's cute," I lied, "is she yours?"

She seemed pleased by my compliment to the baby and looked down to smile at it, "No, its actually Rick's. She's a lucky little thing. Her life has been rough, but the prison and everyone here have given her a better chance than probably any other baby. Wanna hold her?"

I think she held the baby out to me, but I hadn't heard anything properly after the bomb she just dropped on me.

"I, uh, gotta go," I blurted out and marched stiff legged out of the cell block.

Rick had a baby? A newborn baby? What the -

"Grey!" Herschel had caught me midstride. I regretfully stopped my purposeful stalk to the guard tower. Then I rounded on the old man a bit more ferociously than I meant to. I could have asked Herschel about the baby, but I think I was too ticked off and embarrassed to bring up this relationship I had with Rick. I was trying to pretend like it wasn't happening and I didn't want to watch Herschel's smug expression change when I acknowledged our rapport.

I cut him off from whatever he was about to say: "Hey, aren't you a vet? What happened to the pigs? Is there something serious going around, or was that one kid a freak accident? And have you noticing how many people are coughing? It's like everyone. The zombies on the gate too, they're piling up. I know we've been reinforcing it, but come on. How long is that really going to hold?" I said this all in a rush and my words were punctuated nicely by an older lady hacking up a lung in the distance.

Herschel managed to look calm and then carefully considered my words. "I'm not going to lie to you. It's something bad. I don't know if we gave it to the pigs or the other way around. We are going to have to start quarantining people soon. The walkers? We've tried leading them away. We are going to have to figure out some more effective methods than stabbing them through the fence. Feel free to start brainstorming."

He didn't say this in a mean way though, and I relaxed just a centimeter.

"The quarantine is a good idea," I said, thinking at least some action is being taken.

"Thank you, Grey. It will be hard for people, but it's got to happen. You should go find Daryl. The council decided we want you to prepped for runs, so you need to find him and try out some hand to hand combat. Go easy on Daryl, he takes some time to warm up to people," Herschel winked at me and hobbled off.