Another chapter that did not want to get written. I'm starting to get a little tad tired of these hard chapters :(

Thank you HermioneandMarcus for your continued fidelity, I love ya :)

HaloHunter89: I kinda feel bad for Lori too and that's how I wanted this to come out - I wanted there to be friction between Tessa and Lori because of the differences between their two men and I am SO happy that I was successful. I think that was the last heart-to-heart between them too for obvious reasons, so I hoped you enjoyed it :)

And yeah, I'm sorry I left you guys on a cliffhanger last chapter, can maybe promise it won't happen again ;)

- Nagiana


Favorite Line(s):

It felt good to not have a potential mass murderer wanting your head on a pike, although by all accounts, Daryl was probably number two on the Mexican's Shit List if he ever managed to get lucky and do something to Rick.

Daryl was pretty sure his life was about to take a swan-dive down the shitter. That or it was about to become really, really complicated.

Not only were they dealing with a bitten and amputated Hershel quickly dying on their hands, but they also had five pretty dangerous looking inmates glaring at them through the chain-linked screen covering the cafeteria kitchen. Of course Daryl was the first to see them – he was the first to see everything in this group, it seemed, other than maybe Ethan – and luckily, Rick and Glenn didn't ask any questions when he hissed at them to duck. He quickly got to his feet and after he firmly turned his crossbow onto them, asked:

"Who tha Hell are ya?"

"Who the Hell are you?" One of them called back and Daryl found his teeth gritting in anger as Rick's voice temporarily drowned out his thoughts and almost made him turn around to see what was happening.

"He's bleeding out; we gotta go back." He heard Rick speak behind him before glancing at Glenn. "Come around here. Press on the knee – hard!" He ordered him and Glenn nodded as Maggie jumped to help him, her face going a little green at the sight of her father's amputated leg. Daryl remained with his crossbow pointed dead-bang at the five inmates.

"Why don' ya'll come on out of there . . .?" He told them and one of them nodded to the others as they slowly exited the cafeteria, a man of Mexican descent leading the small group. He nodded towards Hershel lying on the ground behind him and Daryl wisely made his head the one his crossbow followed as they filed out into the open. "Yeah, tha's right – slow and steady wins tha race!"

"What happened to him?"

"He was bitten." Daryl answered with no hesitation but tensed when the man moved to pull out his gun. However, by the clicking of T-Dog releasing his pistol's safety, he knew he wasn't alone and for some reason, that made him grateful. Daryl might be good, but he couldn't take on five prison inmates just by himself.

At least, he didn't think he could do it.

"Hey, hey, hey, easy now – all of ya'll!" He spoke up. "I'm a fuckin' surgeon with this crossbow and I have ya in ma sights, so I'd think twice 'bout makin' another move towards him!" As Rick told a tearful Maggie what to do, Glenn was already on his feet and pushing past the inmates towards the cafeteria where they had come from. The inmates switched their attentions from T-Dog and Daryl, to the Asian who had pushed past them with no thought for his own safety.

"You guys have any medical supplies?"

"Hey, what is he doin'?"

"Nothin' ya need to be worried 'bout!" Daryl fired back and by the look of anger that appeared in the leader's eyes, Daryl could tell they were going to be butting heads quite a lot in the next upcoming moments.

Walkers snarled and banged on the doors from whence they had come and the inmates eyes widened at the sound and the sight of the door bowing underneath their beating fists, however, it didn't give away due to the iron poker they had slid through the handles.

"Who the Hell are you guys anyway?" The leader of the inmates asked and one of the others craned his head to watch as they slowly got Hershel to his feet.

"They don't look like any rescue team." He spoke and Rick glanced at him as they heard a clatter come from the kitchen, signaling that something had been tipped over, spilling its contents to the floor.

"If you guys are waiting for a rescue team, then don't bother!" He told them as Glenn wheeled out a metal table that would serve as a makeshift gurney. "Come on guys, we gotta go!" Rick yelled at them and T-Dog and Daryl nodded.

"We'll be behind ya watchin' ya back." Daryl told him, his eyes still on the five inmates and Rick nodded as T-Dog ran to slide the poker out of the handles. A walker immediately moved inside and T-Dog took it down as Rick and the others quickly rolled Hershel out of there, T-Dog and Daryl carefully taking up the rear. The Mexican's angry eyes stayed on Daryl's the entire time – both men holding the other in their sights.


"Open the door!"

"He's losing too much blood!"

"Tessa – get a bunk ready!" Daryl roared out as he reached his hand through the bars to quickly unlock the gate. He slid it open and the look of unadulterated confusion on everyone's faces immediately turned to unadulterated shock when they saw Hershel lying on the metal cart, his leg amputated below his knee.

"Shit! You heard the man – go get the bunk ready in the cell closest to the door!" Tessa ordered them and Carol and Lori nodded and hurried to do what she said. Her eyes fell onto Beth's at that moment and at the look of wide-eyed shock on the young girl's face, Tessa quickly darted over to her. She didn't know if was the adrenaline flowing through her or what, but she found she could move faster now and with much less pain in her lower extremities. "Beth, honey, here – give me Danny!" She told her and Beth glanced at her and nodded as she quickly handed the newborn over to his mother before darting down the stairs to Maggie's crying side, tears quickly filling her eyes as well as she gazed down at her unconscious father.

"Deddy, what happened?" Ethan quickly asked as him and Seth appeared on the second floor landing and both of their eyes widened in shock at what they saw. Daryl glanced up at his son as they wheeled Hershel into the closest cell, Rick shouting for everyone to get him on the bed.

"He got bit!" Rick announced and everyone immediately started talking at the same time as Rick and Daryl helped move him onto the bed.

"Tessa . . .!"

Tessa turned to Wren and Seth. "Both of you take Danny and Aayla and return them to the office. Wren, you sit there with them while we're doing this and Seth, you return to us as soon as you can – we might need your help!" The two of them nodded quickly as Tessa handed Danny to Seth and they quickly turned around and headed back towards the office. Tessa heard her name being shouted again as she turned back around and with the help of Ethan, made her way down the stairs as quickly as she could.

"You sure this isn' overwhelmin' ya, momma?" Ethan asked her worriedly, and Tessa shook her head when they reached the bottom floor.

"You don't have to worry about me, Ethan, I'm fine," She assured him and he nodded as they appeared in the doorway of the cell. Everyone except Carl seemed to be crowded in the tiny room and she could see by everyone talking at the same time, combined with Carol's shouting at Maggie and Lori what she needed, that Rick's already fraying nerves were quickly come to their breaking point. Tessa's teeth gritted and she closed her eyes, summoning up the strength to do what she had to do. "Everybody calm the fuck down!"

Everyone immediately went silent and froze except for Carol when her loud voice split the silence and she stood there for a moment, allowing a wave of slight weariness to ride through her body then. Daryl appeared beside her and his hand flattened out over her lower back – a loving, strengthening gesture that she appreciated more than anything at that moment.

"The only people that need to be in here, is Carol, Maggie and Lori and that is because Maggie and Lori are helping her. Everyone else needs to leave and find something to occupy yourselves with! They can't work to save his life if they are hopelessly cramped and don't even have room to breathe properly themselves!" Everyone nodded and anxiously filed out of the cell, earning relieved, thankful looks from Rick, Carol, Maggie and Lori. Daryl moved aside to let them leave, his hand disappearing from her back and Beth chose that time to come up to her, tears filling her eyes.

"Tess, I don't know -!"

"Beth, honey, shush!" Tessa told her as she placed her hands on her shoulders, where the young girl immediately quieted down some. Tessa gave her a smile. "Wren is up in the office taking care of Danny and Aayla while we do this. Would you be so kind as to go join her? She could really use the help!" Seth had returned by then, appearing by Ethan's side and Beth glanced at him before nodding and sniffing.

"Y-Yeah, I can go do that. Will you come get me if anything happens?" She asked, a hopeful look appearing in her eyes, and Tessa nodded as she smiled gently and wiped away a tear brimming at the corner of her eye.

"Of course, honey - I promise!"

"O-Oh God – I need bandages - lots of bandages!" They heard Carol call frantically from the cell as she unwrapped the hopelessly bloody bandage already wrapped around his knee and Tessa looked away as Daryl's hand reappeared on the small of her back, turning her to gaze at him.

"Ya okay, babydoll?" He asked her worriedly and she nodded firmly.

"Right now I am. I'll probably regret all this movement later tonight, but for right now, I'm okay and right now, that's what we need." Daryl nodded in agreement as he pressed a loving kiss to her forehead before gesturing for Ethan and Seth to follow him back into the room they had come through. Tessa grabbed ahold of his arm then, keepin him from leaving and when their eyes crossed, he noticed that hers were firm and searching.

"What's going on Daryl?" She asked him, her voice quiet, and Daryl sighed and gestured for her to follow them into the other room, Seth and Ethan grabbing up their weapons as they did so.

"We used everything we had!" They heard Glenn shout and Carol shouted back to go get anything – everything – that they could use.

They entered the room, still hearing the frantic words of Carol and everyone else in the cell trying to patch up Hershel but the sound of Daryl dropping the keys on the table drowned out all of that. He loaded his crossbow and with one leg hiked up on the bench, wasted no time in pointing it right at the entrance leading to the room. Tessa's eyes grew wide as Seth and Ethan shared nervous glances and did the same.

"Daryl, what happened?" She asked and Daryl glanced at her before returning his eyes onto the darkened entrance. He explained to her how they had gotten split up in the tunnels and that Hershel had gotten bitten when they were trying to regroup. They had stumbled into a room and were busy trying to save his life when they noticed five inmates were in the same room with them as well. They amputated Hershel's leg and while they were on their way back, they noticed that the inmates were following them. By the time he was done with his explanation, Tessa wasn't the only one whose eyes were wide with horror - Ethan and Seth's were too.

"Oh my God, baby, are we going to be okay?" She asked him but he quickly shushed her when sounds could be heard softly reverberating against the concrete walls of the corridors beyond. Seth and Ethan tensed but their gazes remained steadily on the opened gateway, the same as Daryl's. He heard Tessa swallow hard as she moved to stand behind him.

It didn't take long for the Mexican to walk carefully into view, followed closely behind by the rest of his inmate friends. Their eyes went wide at the sight of three armed men waiting for them and immediately froze. Their eyes then settled onto Tessa and she vaguely felt her skin crawl underneath a few of their gazes as she moved closer to Daryl.

"That's far enough."

It took the three of them a moment to realize that Daryl had been the gruff voice that spoke and that he, along with Ethan and Seth, were carefully following their movements as they all came into view.

"That's Cell Block C that you and your chica there and the rest of your posse are holed up in," The Mexican spoke as his lip curled slightly. "Cell four – that's mine, gringo." Daryl's lip curled in distaste as well.

"Ya really wanna yank ya dick out and start measurin' with tha race card? 'Cause I can garun-damn-tee ya tha' I have more racial slurs for ya – wetback – than ya ever will for me!" He gave a laugh then at the angry look that flashed across his face then. "But I suppose today is ya lucky day too, fellas – ya'll have been pardoned by tha great state of Georgia – ya'll free ta go!"

"What do ya got going on in there?" One of the African American men asked, his eyebrows furrowing in slight confusion and interest as he nodded towards the gate. Daryl glanced at Tessa.

"Tha's none of ya concern. Babydoll, go on and go back in and shut tha gate behind ya." He told her and Tessa gave him a stricken look.

"Daryl, I don't know -!"

"Babydoll, go!" He interrupted him, putting particular emphasis on the word 'go' and it took her a minute to realize that he was telling her to go and get Rick. She nodded hurriedly and quickly moved for the gate, Seth making sure he was covering her as she slid the gate open and closed as soon as she had slipped inside. The Mexican grinned.

"Ya got yaself an old lady or something, gringo? Ya chica seems to be limping a little there." He spoke and Daryl's face remained expressionless, as did Ethan's, although he could tell that the anger that washed violently through his body, also washed as violently through his son's.

"She jus' gave birth to our two kids – Mexcrement. And I'd mighty appreciate it if ya didn' bring her up again. Ya never know, ma finger might jus' . . . slip and ya might jus' find yaself with an arrow buried in ya balls . . ." The Mexican's look of rage almost had a bolt of fear going up Daryl's spine, especially when he took a threatening step towards him, withdrawing his pistol as he did so but a combination of Daryl, Seth and Ethan immediately tensing at the sudden movement, their sights definitely landing onto him, and one of the other inmates – the biggest one there – speaking, stopped anything from happening.

"Don't be acting this way Tomas – what's it matter? And besides, we're free now! What are we doing here?" He asked and Daryl nodded.

"Man's got a point." He spoke and one of the other men there nodded.

"Yeah, I gotta go check up on my old lady, man!"

"A group of civilians breaking into a prison they got no business being in," He gave a shrug then. "Got me thinkin' that there's no place for us to go." Daryl's teeth gritted in anger and his grip on his crossbow tightened them.

"Ya should go find out." He replied, his voice returning to the same gruff sound it had been earlier and another inmate immediately spoke up.

"I think we should just be going now -"

"Hey, we ain't going anywhere!" The Mexican – Tomas – interrupted him with an outstretched hand, and his eyes pinned on Daryl's again. "This is my house, these are my rules and I go where I damn well please!"

Rick had finally entered the room then, followed closely by T-Dog, and Daryl, Seth and Ethan had to visibly restrain themselves from letting out a breath of relief. He pinned the inmates with a look of loathing as he moved to stand beside Daryl.

"Everybody needs to relax – there's no need for this!" He immediately spoke up, causing everyone to stop speaking. Tomas nodded towards the gate from where he had so recently come.

"How many of you are back there?" He asked and Rick turned on him a face filled with a challenge.

"There are too many for you to handle." He told him and they could tell these words made a shiver of nervousness go up their spines. Tomas glanced at Daryl again.

"You guys rob a bank or something? Why don't you take him to a hospital?" He asked and they all shared expressionless looks – ones that the inmates couldn't read but they damn well could. Rick pursed his lips then and heaved a sigh.

"How long have you guys been locked in that cafeteria?" He asked, his voice going quiet and Tomas glanced at them all again.

"About ten months," He answered and everyone went silent until the big guy spoke again.

"A riot broke out. We had never seen anything like it."

"You ever seen guys go crazy, become cannibal and die and then come back to life?" Another asked before shaking his head. "The shit that was happening was crazy."

"A guard looked out for us," Tomas spoke up again. "He locked us in the cafeteria, told us to sit tight and threw me the gun. He told us that he would be right back."

"We've been thinking that the Army or the National Guard should be showing up any day now." Another spoke up, his tone deep and diplomatic. He seemed like one of the calmer ones – not at all like the guy who was stupidly choosing to stand there with his gun drawn after having four guns and a crossbow pointed on him.

"There is no Army." Rick spoke up, his voice sounding almost apologetic in a way.

"What do you mean?" It was Tomas again.

"There's no government, no hospitals – no police. It's all gone."

"Are you for real?" One of the inmates asked in disbelief and Rick nodded.

"I'm completely serious."

"What about my mom?" The big inmate asked again, an almost scared look appearing in his eyes and a couple of the other inmates nodded in agreement.

"What about my kids?" The diplomatic one asked, a worried look appearing on his face. "What about my old lady, too? What's done happened to them?" He took a step forward. "You guys got a cell phone or something that we can call our families?" He asked and Rick shook his head as Daryl took a small step forward, his gaze training on the new guy instead of Tomas for once.

"Ya guys don' get it, do ya?" Daryl asked, feeling so very thankful that he had Tessa, Ethan and the twins now, by simply gazing at the confused, worried and scared looks on these inmates' faces when they thought of everything being gone – including their families. "There are no phones and no computers. Hell, at least as far as we can see, at least half of tha population has been wiped out, maybe more." Daryl slowly lowered his crossbow then, Ethan and Seth doing the same when he noticed that Tomas was slowly – almost in a daze – was lowering his pistol.

"There ain' no way that's true!" Tomas spoke and Rick gestured to the door with a look of loathing appearing on his face again.

"Don't believe us – go see for yourself."


Daryl would have been lying if he said he wasn't grateful that Rick was now receiving most of Tomas's ire. It felt good to not have a potential mass murderer wanting your head on a pike, although by all accounts, Daryl was probably number two on the Mexican's Shit List if he ever managed to get lucky and do something to Rick.

After leading the inmates outside, where they could see the walkers banging on the chain-link fences surrounding them, as well as the dead they had created on their way in, they noticed a changed in Tomas. After explaining to them that they were all infected – that they would all eventually die and come back as one of the freaks either lying dead at their feet or surrounding them, an expressionless look appeared on Tomas's face as he moved over to Rick.

"Where did you guys come from?" He asked and Rick glanced at him.

"Atlanta." Tomas nodded.

"Where are ya headed?" He asked as he made his way over to him and Rick turned to face him.

"For now – we're going nowhere." He answered him, his voice coming out firm and brooking no argument. Tomas nodded as he turned around to gaze out across the yard. Eventually, he pointed to the area near the creek.

"I guess you guys can take the area by the water . . ." He spoke and the other inmates could see the bark of a laugh that the men standing opposite them were fighting to hold back. "It should be comfortable down there." Rick nodded, the corners of his mouth threatening to twitch upwards into a smile.

"We're using that field right there for crops."

"We'll help ya move ya gear out."

"That won't be necessary," Rick answered him, getting tired of the man's ambivalence towards whatever he said. "We took out all these walkers – this prison is ours."

"Now, slow down cowboy -!" Tomas began but was interrupted by one of the other inmates.

"You're damn right - you guys smashed the locks off our doors!" That time, Rick did let out a laugh.

"We can get you guys new locks if that's what ya wanting."

"This is our prison!" Tomas told him, his voice growing firmer and still, Rick stood his ground. "We were here first!"

"You mean locked in a broom closet?" Rick asked them, his eyebrows rising upwards in a 'What-the-Hell-are-you-talking-about?' look. "We took it and set you free – it's ours! For the love of God, we spilt blood!"

"We're moving back into our cell block." Tomas told him stubbornly and Rick gave a laugh and shook his head.

"That ain't happening." He spoke and when Tomas pulled his gun causing everyone to pull his gun as well, Daryl found himself wondering if he had ever gotten a day of peace in his life since this whole thing started.

"There are other cell blocks, Tomas." One of the inmates spoke up after a moment, his pleading eyes on Tomas as he took their side and Daryl couldn't help but snarl:

"Or ya guys could leave! Try ya luck out on tha road like we did. Tha' would work jus' as well."

Everyone went silent then and Tomas' eyes flickered on everyone there standing opposite him, holding each of their gazes for a moment. When he realized that Rick or anyone else from his group was not about to back down from this, he swallowed hard (what Daryl assumed was the asshole's gargantuan pride) and gestured to the rest of the inmates surrounding him.

"These guys are pussies. If you guys did this, then the least we could do is take out another cell block."

"With what, dare I ask?" One of them asked, his eyebrow cocking in slight condescension and Tomas leveled his gaze with Rick.

"Boss will spot us some weapons, won't you?" He asked and Rick held his gaze for a moment before asking the crucial question.

"Now that depends . . . how stocked is that cafeteria of yours? What, four, five guys lasting a year on it? It has to still be plenty stocked."

"Yeah and it doesn' seem tha' none of them are starvin', so I bet ya it is!" Daryl all but snapped, immediately remembering the look of Tessa's ribs as she took off her shirt the previous night to replace it with a clean one - the feel of them as Daryl pressed his lips to every single one of them. Hell, he could probably lift up Wren and Ethan's right then and you could probably see their ribs as well. And eventually, when the twins started wanting to eat more than just their mother's milk, food would become scarcer and eventually, their tiny little ribs would start to show as well. Rick nodded and Daryl knew that he was thinking the same thing.

"There's only a little left." Tomas spoke, his voice quiet for the first time since they met the guy and Rick shrugged.

"Then give us half of that. If ya do, then we'll be more than happy to help ya clear out a cellblock. We have children and pregnant women that desperately need the food." He told them and another inmate – a short African American man that was really starting to grate on Rick and Daryl's nerves, spoke up, his eyebrows furrowed in anger.

"Didn't you hear him? There's only a little left!" Rick gave another shrug.

"I bet you got more food than you do choices right now," He spoke and they could tell that the realization was slowly sinking in with the inmates. "We'll pay if you play. You give us food for our women and children – then we'll clear you out a cell block and you keep to it." Tomas nodded.

"All right . . ." He spoke and Rick stepped a little closer to him.

"But let's be absolutely clear, okay? If we see you anywhere out here – anyway near our people – Hell, if we even so much as catch a whiff of your scent . . . me and that bad-boy there with the crossbow won't hesitate to kill you, you understand?" Tomas gazed at him for a moment before a small smile appeared on his face.

"Deal."