Chapter Four

Young Blood

The prison was unusually quiet, and the silence could only mean one thing; a supply run. With the fortnightly supply run came the dread and fear of something happening. The security that the prison offered was intense, and a feeling that neither of them wanted to be apart from. The decision to move to the prison was a huge one, with so many implications. But they had made it work as best they could, and once the obstacle of walkers in the grounds and within the walls of the once working prison were taken care of; they soon began to get used to the barriers that prevented the dead from entering their new home. It offered them the protection that, since the outbreak had rolled out onto the streets, they were unable to find at the Quarry and the farm, regrettably.

The departure from the farm was a hard one, but the horde of walkers that passed through it had made their decision for them. They had been on the road for three weeks before finding the prison, and all of them had looked to the sky and counted their blessings. Another night on the road, without the security of a functioning vehicle, was going to be hard. Space had become limited, as they soon found out that they were running out of fuel before they knew it, and had to leave vehicles - their temporary homes - behind. But the prison had been their home for longer than their time on the road, and three months later, they were still relishing in the fact that they had taken the chance and it had paid off.

Lori was sat outside, with the sun beating down on her face and she smiled as a soft breeze rolled over her. Her hand was rubbing her growing stomach protectively. It was moments like this one, when she felt a soft thump against her hand, which made it all worthwhile. The pregnancy was an easy one, and she was in her sixth month now. The baby was strong and healthy, according to Hershel, and the birth would be okay. As long as she rested, which was her downfall, she would be on the right track. The pregnancy had been a shock, but a good shock, and Rick, despite everything that had happened, had accepted it. There was still tension between the both of them but they tried to make it work for Carl. A few of the adults in the group could see that it was hard for the both of them, but made no comment. They knew it was hard, and would be hard. But for Carl, they put on a brave face and made it work.

She often found herself sitting outside, waiting for Rick to come back. She felt nervous, she always did whenever he left the prison to go on a supply run, but her fears were diminished whenever she saw their vehicle making its way towards the prison. And she realised that it would never go away. It was something that spouses felt, no matter how simply or complicated a supply run was. Something could go wrong or nothing at all. The best and only thing you could do was prepare for the worst and hope for the best, and that's what happened.

A door opened and closed behind her and she shielded her eyes from the sun and stole a glance. She could see Maggie walking towards her, with the same look of worry on her face.

"How long has it been?" Maggie asked as she came to sit next to Lori.

Lori glanced at her watch. "Three hours. They still have three hours left before the time they should be back."

Maggie nodded, picking the skin around her thumb with worry. Lori reached over and held the younger woman's hand. Maggie glanced up and gave a small, sad smile.

"It's going to be okay," Lori said. "They're going to be absolutely fine. They know what they're doing, okay?"

Maggie was quiet, and the two of them glanced out at the surrounding area. The scenery in front of them was beautiful, with the sunshine beating down on them and the trees turning from dark green to a soft orange. It was warm, with just a tiny bite of coldness in the air. It wasn't as beautiful as that of the farm but it would make do. In the world that they lived in now, tiny things that were deemed as insignificant in their previous life were now beautiful. The outbreak - or whatever happened - had made every day precious. The group had a new outlook on life, with every little worry from their life before meaning not meaning anything anymore. In a way, the dead roaming around had brought them peace. The stresses of modern life were no more; arguments about bills, jobs, etc. were of no importance now. Even though they had to face the stresses of finding food, no hospitals, and having to go on supply runs every fortnight, life was perfect. The dead, however, were easy to handle if they were taken care of every morning and every evening before dark. Apart from that, life was simple.

They watched Carol in the grounds, her foot pressing down on the spade and making a dent in the soil. Carl was helping her pull up the potatoes and onions, whilst Hershel stood and watched, occasionally informing Carl about the importance of growing your own vegetables. Carl's behaviour had somewhat improved in the past months, but there were still moments when he fought back, testing the barrier. Lori could only guess this was his body changing from the quiet little boy into the argumentative teenager. Being a youngster changing into a teenager in a changing world was hard. Rick advised Lori to keep her distance from him, and allow him to express his emotions by doing activities with other members of the group. That way he was able to become independent, and be able to come to her when he needed her.

She smiled and felt tears form in her eyes. She had never been an emotional person but now, with a baby growing inside her, her emotions were all over the place. Maggie glanced at her, and smiled.

"He's a good boy," Maggie said. "Growing up way too fast."

"It makes you forget," Lori started, wiping the tears from her eyes. "It's been so long since we've had normality in our lives, and he was so young when everything happened. It's strange looking at him and seeing how grown up he looks, and understand how quick he's had to grow up."

"It's the way it's supposed to be. One minute, Beth was this small baby that mom and dad brought home from the hospital, then the next she's a little girl with pigtails in her hair running through the fields… and now… I look at her and think how much she's grown up. She's sixteen, and I keep expecting to see the little perfect girl in daddy's arms," Maggie whispered, her eyes travelling to where Beth stood with Sophia. The two girls had become close over the past few weeks and it was nice to see them both spending time together and talking about things other than the dead. "How are things with you and Rick?"

"Getting there," Lori said, giving Maggie a reassuring smile. "It's not how it used to be… but it's better than what it was a few months ago."

"That's something though."

"I guess so," Lori nodded. "I'm not surprised though… what I did was wrong… and I should be grateful that he can still look at me."

A whistle caught their attention, and they looked just in time to see a vehicle, the one Rick, Daryl and Glenn had travelled in and had left just short of four hours ago, racing towards the gates. Maggie and Carol ran to the gates, and pulled them open, standing back and hiding their face from the loose gravel that the tires had kicked up. They quickly closed the gate and followed after the vehicle as it drove to the next set of gates, and the group caught up with them just as Daryl exited the driver's seat and opened the back door. Rick stepped out quickly and the two men pulled the body from the back seat. Maggie screamed as soon as she saw the blood covering Glenn's abdomen, and her hand flew over her hand as her eyes noticed the limpness in his body. Daryl picked him up, his body much lighter than he had expected and raced towards the entrance to the prison, following Hershel's instructions to take him straight to the infirmary.

Rick stayed back, in an attempt to comfort Maggie. She was inconsolable and her movements were that of a caged animal; pacing and painful cries erupting from her. Her legs gave way and she found herself losing balance and crashing to the ground, but Rick was there and guided her to the ground. She sobbed into him, grabbing his blood soaked shirt in her fists as the pain ran through her.

The question as to whether he was close to death was too unbearable to answer. She had seen Carl in the same state, but this somehow felt different.

"Was he bit?" Maggie whispered, her sobs subsiding but not that far away from becoming what they were.

Rick shook his head, his arms still around her. "No… he was shot. We came across two people, and one went crazy, shot his friend and shot at us… it hit Glenn…"

"Where?"

"In the chest," Rick whispered. "Near his heart."

Lori watched her husband comfort Maggie as best as he could. She had been in the same position Maggie was in now, when it was Shane coming to tell her about Rick being fatally shot, and it broke her heart to see the young girl break down and go through the same thing. The downside to the world they now lived in was the loss of the hospitals, all they had was faith, hope and the longing of a miracle.