8 Months Later
Right now I was sitting in the car next to a very big Lori and Jamie. Throughout the months, she's gotten bigger, and so has Jamie. I'm guessing he's five now, and he's outgrown some of his clothes. It was a bitch to get him new ones. It didn't help that Carl went through puberty. We had to get him some new clothes, too, and he was hungry all the time. T-Dog, Rick, Carl and Daryl were inside a house, clearing it of walkers.
It was finally getting warm again after a tough winter. At least the walkers got slow when it was cold. But they're speeding up again. We haven't lost anyone in the eight months that we were on the road, so that's another good thing. And we haven't really spent more than three weeks at a place. They always had too many walkers come, herds were coming together and we always seemed to find them.
Rick whistled for us to come into the house and I grabbed my stuff before grabbing Jamie's hand and we walked into the house with Lori. Rick closed the door behind us and we all filed into the living room.
Jamie ran over to Daryl and sat next to him, and Daryl smiled up at me as he cleaned an owl he must've shot. I smiled back before picking up Jamie and setting him in my lap and I sat next to Daryl.
"Mommy, I'm hungry." Jamie whispered.
"Here you go, baby." I said, looking through my bag and handing him a granola bar.
I also handed the rest out to the others. On one of the last runs I found two boxes of them, but we went through them quickly and now I'm out. As I ran my hand through Jamie's hair, I leaned my head on Daryl's shoulder and watched as Carl pulled out two cans and a can opener. I was able to see what the label was and it was dog food. Let's just say the smell made me want to puke if I had food in my stomach.
Rick walked over to Carl and took the can from the ground. He looked at it before chucking it into the fireplace and we all jumped.
"Psst."
We looked out the window and saw all of the walkers heading towards the house. I sighed before having Jamie stand up and get my bag. With Lori and Jamie behind me, we ran out. I helped Lori and Jamie into the silver truck we used for Daryl's bike during the winter before heading over to Daryl and we took off with the others behind us.
When we were miles away, we stopped in the middle of the road.
"Jamie you stay with Lori." I told the five year old before smiling at Lori and going back over to Daryl.
"We got no place left to go." T-Dog said as Maggie laid out a map.
"When this herd meets up with this one, we'll be cut off." Maggie said. "We'll never make it south."
"What would you say? That was about 150 head?" Daryl questioned.
"That was last week. It could be twice that by now." Glenn answered.
"This river could have delayed them." Hershel said, pointing at the map. "If we move fast, we might have a shot to tear right through here."
"Yeah, but if this group joins with that one, they could spill out this way." T-Dog replied.
"So we're blocked." Maggie stated.
"Only thing to do is double back at 27 and swing towards Greenville." Rick said.
"Yeah, we picked through that already. It's like we pent the winter going in circles." T-Dog responded.
"Yeah, I know. I know. At Newnan we'll push west. Haven't been through there yet." Rick replied. "We can't keep going house to house. Need someplace to hole up for a few weeks."
"All right. It cool if we get to the creek before we head out? Won't take long. We got to fill up on water. We can boil it later." T-Dog asked.
"Knock yourself out." Rick answered.
"I'll go huntin' with Rick." Daryl said before kissing my head and grabbing his crossbow.
"Be careful." I called over my shoulder as I walked towards Hershel's car.
"Always am." He replied.
I talked to Lori and Jamie and when Rick and Daryl came back, they said they found a place. A prison. They found a prison. I mean, with fences and all, it could be a great place. Rick opened up the first gate using cutters and we all slipped through. When we got in, the prisoners started lining the fence. We're probably their first food they've seen in a while. We all ran to the door in the fence where we could get into the courtyard.
"It's perfect. 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 said.
"So how do we shut the gate?" Hershel asked.
"I'll do it. You guys cover me." Glenn offered.
"No. It's a suicide run." Maggie said.
Rick walked over to Glenn, "You, Maggie, T-Dog, and Beth draw as many as you can over there. Pop 'em through the fence. Daryl, go back to the other tower. Carol, you've become a good shot. Take your time. We don't have a lot of ammo to waste. Hershel, you, Carl, and I will take this tower." Rick turned to me and held up to clips to shut the gate, "Think you can do this?"
I nodded and smiled, "I know I can."
Rick smiled and nodded before going with Hershel and Carl to the tower.
"You can watch Jamie, right?" I asked Lori.
She nodded, "Be careful."
"When am I not?" I replied.
I took out my gun and silencer and Lori opened the gate and I ran inside. As I ran up to the gate, I shot a few walkers that got close to me. A walker got to close and I was about to shoot it when an arrow went through it's skull. I smiled at Daryl before continuing. As I ran, I stopped suddenly when Carol shot a bullet right in front of my foot.
"Sorry!" She called out.
When I finally got to the gate, a walker was coming towards me so I kicked it away before shutting and latching onto the clips. I turned around and shot the walkers before climbing into the guard tower that was next to me.
"Light it up!" I heard Daryl yell when I got to the top.
After a few minutes of shooting, the courtyard was clear of any living walkers.
"Whoo hoo!" I screamed and jumped on the tower.
I got out of the tower and waited for the others to come. Daryl hugged me and I high-fived Rick. That night Daryl went hunting alone for about an hour and we had quite a few squirrels. He was currently on top of a tipped over bus taking watch.
"Mmm. Just like mom used to make." Glenn joked before throwing the bone he had in his hand away.
As the squirrels were cooking, I felt really sick and I covered my nose and mouth with my shirt.
"Tomorrow we'll put all of the bodies together. Want to keep them away from that water. Now, if we can dig a canal under the fence, we'll have plenty of fresh water." T-Dog said.
"And the soil is good. We could plant some seed, grow some tomatoes, cucumbers, soybeans." Hershel said before looking over at Rick, "That's his third time around. If there was any part of it compromised, he'd have found it by now."
"This'll be a good place to have the baby." Beth said to Lori. "Safe."
I watched as Carol got up with a plate of food and started walking towards Daryl. I watched as they talked and Daryl started rubbing Carol's shoulder. I sighed and looked away when I heard them laughing.
"Bethy, sing Paddy Reilly for me. I haven't heard that, I think, since your mother was alive." Hershel asked.
"Daddy, not that one, please." Maggie begged.
"How about The Parting Glass?"
"No one wants to hear." Beth replied.
"I do." I said.
"Okay." Beth sighed before she started singing.
Jamie leaned back against me, his head on my chest, as Maggie started singing, too. I saw Rick come over and Carl handed him his bowl of leftover squirrel before Rick held it out for Lori.
"I had some." She said.
Rick didn't move, hell, he didn't even look at her. Lori gave in and took some of the food from him.
"Good night an joy be with you all." Maggie and Beth finished and Daryl sat next to me.
"Beautiful." Hershel commented.
"Better all turn in. I'll take watch over there. Got a big day tomorrow." Rick said.
"What do you mean?" Glenn asked.
"Look, I know we're all exhausted. This was a great win. But we've got to push just a little bit more. Most of the walkers are dressed as guards and prisoners. Looks like this place fell pretty early. It could mean the supplies are intact. They'd have an infirmary, a commissary." Rick continued.
"An armoury?" Daryl asked.
"That would be outside the prison itself, but not too far away. Warden's offices would have info on the location. Weapons, food, medicine. This place could be a gold mine." Rick replied.
"We're dangerously low on ammo. We'd run out before we make a dent." Hershel stated.
"That's why we have to go in there... hand to hand." Rick said, "After all we've been through, we can handle it, I know it. These assholes don't stand a chance."
Rick stood up and walked away and Lori followed him. I looked down at Jamie and saw that he was asleep. I slowly moved away from him and put my bag under his head as a pillow and laid a blanket over him. I stood up and went over to the other bag that I used for supplies and grabbed another blanket before laying beside the kid and falling asleep.
The next morning, Rick, Glenn, Maggie, Daryl, T-Dog, and I went in to kill the walkers. The others made noises by the fence so they could kill some. We went in a circle formation, so no walkers could sneak up behind us.
"Don't break rank!" Rick yelled at T-Dog.
"We need that!" T-Dog replied before grabbing a shield and hitting a walker with it and I stabbed it.
"Vi!" Daryl yelled and I ran back to my place.
"Almost there." Rick said.
Rick motioned us to press against the wall. There was another open fence, and behind it was a lot of walkers. I looked over and saw walkers come out from behind a dumpster, and they had riot gear on. Daryl shot one in the head, but the arrow bounced off the helmet. I took one of the super walkers on and pushed against it. How am I supposed to get to the brain? An idea popped into my head, and I pushed the head back and saw it's chin, and I shoved my knife up through the mouth and to the brain.
"Did you see that?" I asked Glenn and Maggie.
They nodded before doing what I did to another walker. T-Dog, Daryl, and Rick got the last three walkers.
"Stop." Rick said when we went towards the others.
"Well, it looks secure." Glenn replied.
"Not from the look of that courtyard over there." Daryl responded and pointed to the courtyard that was filled with walkers, "And that's a civilian."
"So the interior could be overrun with walkers from outside the prison." T-Dog said.
"Well, if there's walls down, what are we gonna do?" Glenn asked. "We can't rebuild this whole place."
"We can't risk a blind spot. We have to push in." Rick said and we headed towards the door.
We walked up the stairs and Daryl opened the door. We walked in quietly, I didn't hear any walkers. Maybe this part is clear. Rick walked into the cell block and T-Dog closed the door behind him. There didn't seem to be any walkers. It was just really dirty. We looked at Rick and he motioned that he was going to go up into the guard stations that had a blood splatter on the window. When Rick came down, he had keys. He quietly unlocked the doors that led to the cells and we all filed in. Still no sounds of walkers. There were a few dead bodies, but everything seemed fine. Daryl walked up the steps to the higher cells and Rick followed. Then I heard the sound of a walker. They were locked in the cell, though, so Rick and Daryl had no problem killing them before dropping them off of the balcony and to the floor. Glenn and I went to get the others while they took care of the bodies.
"What do you think?" Rick asked as we brought our stuff in.
"Home sweet home." Glenn answered.
"For the time being." Rick replied,
"It's secure?" Lori asked.
"This cell block is." Rick answered.
"What about the rest of the prison?" Hershel questioned.
"In the morning, we'll find the cafeteria and infirmary."
"We sleep in the cells?" Beth asked.
"I found some keys on some guards. Daryl has a set, too." Rick said.
"I ain't sleepin' in no cage. I'll take the perch." Daryl said.
"Come on, baby." I told Jamie and we walked up the stairs and to a cell that had a view of where Daryl was setting up his stuff.
"Mommy, can I have the top bunk?" Jamie asked.
"Sure, sweetie." I answered.
I took out bags and set them in the corner. I took out Jamie's pajamas and had him dress.
"I can do it myself!" He exclaimed when I tried to help him.
I held my hands up in surrender and walked outside the cell and into the cell where Daryl was taking a mattress.
"Hi." I smiled.
"Hey." He replied.
"You know, since you're on the perch and Jamie and I are sharing a room, we won't have a lot of time alone together." I said.
"Is that how you ask for sex?" Daryl asked.
"No need to be so straight forward. But yes." I answered.
Daryl picked me up and I wrapped my legs around his waist, "You're right, though. Can't do it when others are around. Maybe there's a room somewhere we can be alone."
"Like a library, or the armoury, or the infirmary. And we're in a prison, do you know what that means?" I asked.
"What?"
"There's got to be handcuffs somewhere." I answered.
Daryl let out a small chuckle before kissing me. He pushed me against the wall and I immediately took off his vest and unbuttoned his shirt.
The next morning I was cleaning my gun when Daryl walked into my cell.
"Morning." I smiled up at him.
"Look, Vi, I don't want you comin' with us." Daryl said.
I stopped what I was doing, "What?"
"I don't want you to come with to find the cafeteria and the other places." He replied.
I stood up and walked over to him, "I'll be fine. I can do it."
"I don't doubt that you can. It's just that it might not be safe." Daryl responded.
"It might not be safe? Daryl, we live in a world where the dead come back to life and eat us. Going to the bathroom might not be safe." I spat at him.
"Vi, I just want you to stay here and watch over Jamie."
"Really? Lori can watch him, or Carol, or Beth. He's five, it's not like he's gonna run off." I replied.
"Vi-"
"Don't 'Vi' me! I can do this! Maggie's going, you don't see Glenn telling her to stay!" I yelled.
"We don't know what's down there! If something happens, that kid's gonna need you! I just want you here and safe." He ended softly.
I scoffed before putting my gun in my waistband and leaving my cell. A few minutes later they left, and suddenly I felt bad for yelling at Daryl. He was only trying to look out for me. I sighed before going back into my cell.