Daryl and Madeline didn't speak the entire ride back to the prison; it was as if the two were both trying their hardest to erase the events that had come to pass clean from their memories, write off their one vulnerable moment and pretend that it had never even happened. It wasn't right to feel again, to be human again. The perversion on their peace of mind set them rigidly against one another, refusing to let the slightest sign of weakness destroy what had taken months for them to adjust to this new, unforgiving world. Where could they fit in the possibility for love when every day they lived was another chance to die a horrible, agonizing death? That seemed to be the question stewing in both of their heads. The only reason why Daryl had broken their unspoken truce and drowned out the buzzing white noise of his bike with his voice was to answer a call when Rick had suddenly radioed in on them.
"You need to get back, almost gonna be dark outside, Daryl." Daryl could help but politely scoff into the air before pushing down the receiver to respond to him. He certainly didn't need Rick telling him what to do either, not now. His frown kept digging deeper into his skin; he hated feeling like he had to say something to her, knowing that he wouldn't give a damn if it were anyone else.
"We're already headed back, be there in a couple minutes." He grunted, before letting go of the receiver and handing the walkie-talkie back to Madeline. He didn't owe her anything he spat at himself mentally, resuming his trademark too-tough guy persona. He focused on the road ahead dutifully revving the engine to further the distance between himself and the woman behind him, but the slightest graze of her soft fingertips against the rough of his palm sent a sensuous tremor down his spine that reminded him of what she felt like…. That she was real.
"Don't do this to me now, Good Lord I can't keep doing this…"
Madeline hoisted herself off of Daryl's bike without a word, adjusting her backpack on her shoulders coldly and turning her back to him to make her way toward the prison cells inside. Rick and the other men were clearing the yard when T-Dog was kind enough to let the brooding pair back inside through the fence with a cheery "Hello, Miss Sinclair!" Feeling guilty for not having made so much as a single conversation to the man in days past, Madeline offered him a small nod in acknowledgement before saying a silent greeting in return. It was all she was willing to offer at the moment, but it would have to do until tomorrow, when she could give him a proper "hello" and try to further befriend him then. What she wanted most right now was to be alone... and away from him…
She was so lucky to run into the rest of the group just making their way outside; Maggie, Beth and Carl were helping an elderly bearded man on a pair of crutches make his way towards some fresh evening air. Fighting back a discontented frown she held open the door for the four to set the man for his first few wobbly steps out into the prison courtyard…. Poor old man was missing a leg; wait… he was the man from the gurney. It was Hershel! An unexpected glimmer of hope planted itself in her calloused, withering heart at his recovery and the group cheered and celebrated happily that Hershel was finally "among the living". The stupid joke was even enough to make Madeline laugh at the cynical irony of it all, here this man was, surrounded in a prison full of Walkers and not a doctor for miles, and he should be so glad to get it all back. Leaning back against the rough brick wall to one of their cell blocks, she considered headed back into her cozy little six by eight jail cell to sulk and force herself into spiraling depression all over again, but the affectionate puppy-dog looks Carl was giving her from across the yard melted the yard melted even her heart of stone. She swallowed whatever pride or ego she had and made an effort to get to know these people, after all, they'd taken her in as one of their own. "Maybe I should stick around for a few minutes after all…" Then she saw something shambling out of the corner of her eye…
"No! No! NO!" The world stopped spinning; it was all happening so fast, too fast! Madeline's heart ceased to beat in the moment when her eyes finally connected to the undead, staggering figures that was only yards away from the family beside her. Words failed to describe her horror, the flood of panic that engulfed her rapidly overwhelmed mindset; she stood there dumbstruck at the sight and nearly fainted had a voice not shouted the first warning cries to the unsuspecting family the decomposed monsters were hungrily advancing to.
"Walkers, look out!" Carl yelled, backing his mother behind him as he drew out his weapon to defend them. Bullets shot, guns were being drawn, black blood was gushing onto the concrete as gooey blobs of flesh and bone dropped to the earth without so much as a flinch in response to their groups attempts at defending themselves. The Walkers seemed to be getting even more and more animated and excited as their living prey began to panic and fueled their hunger with their mortified shrieks of terror.
"RICK! DARYL, SOMEBODY!" The scream erupted from her body savagely as she dropped the weight on her shoulders and flung her tomahawks into her palms. T-Dog, Maggie and Carol had already drawn their own guns and Beth all but shoved her father into a fenced-in entryway, locking it shut behind them while Maggie, Carl and Lori fled toward the cellblock. Madeline's heart hammered in her chest as her vision began to cloud at the sheer numbers of Walkers that had completely sunk up on them! Where are they coming from?! When she tried to find the source, all she could see was gnashing teeth and gray flesh, creeping clumsily and greedily to consume the very flesh from their bones. Everyone quickly scattered, desperate to escape the brunt of the undead that was rapidly closing in on them from their crooked, aimless direction. Madeline saw Walkers dropping left and right from bullet shots to the head but she tried to keep the closest ones away from the entrances so that she could defend the group hurrying to save their lives. Madeline could hear Rick and the other men shouting and racing from the other side of the fence, she moved her eyes to see Rick all but in a mad dash to hurry and protect his family.
"AHH" Howled a voice from behind Madeline, writhing against another side of the fence as he tried to block more Walkers from entering through their feeble defenses. Ruby red blood gushed from T-Dog's shoulder but he shoved the Walker off from him with his large, free hand and knocked it down, lodging four bullets into its skull before grabbing Carol toward an open doorway to escape inside the prison. Maddie halted in disbelief as she watched the moribund scenes unfolding around her like some cheap horror flick she couldn't get escape from, like some sort of mediocre spin-off from Dawn of the Dead. As mind slowly processed how quickly their world had been shattered once again, her tomahawks drooped limply in her hands and her eyes glazed over as her mind began to wander…. "Maddie, come on, let's go!" Carl pleaded loudly, waving his hand rapidly so she could follow him away from the incoming swarm. Madeline snapped out of her trance and sighed bitterly, sprinting across the yard and smashing in the closest Walker's faces in with her tomahawks as the walls closed in and the dead dragged their feet right on behind them. Down the rabbit hole and back again.
In the aftermath outside the prison, Rick is all but hysterical to find Lori and Carl. The mass of undead had stalked and shuffled their ways inside the prison, and the longer that they roamed drove Rick further into the depths of insanity. He was as wild as a coyote caught in a bear-trap, he's snarling and growling, roaring as he slices and whacks at Walkers with his machete, decapitating limps as he storms through the prison yard, screaming for his family. Rick was running from every corner of the fences, madly trying to find the reason why all those Walkers were able it get in in the first place.
"These links are cut guys, someone cut the lock open." Glenn reported gravely, holding up the broken links of the chains and latch in his hand. Daryl had already thought of a few suspects when conveniently Axel and Oscar approach the group of men from their side of the prison. Rick righteously accuses them of sabotaging their defenses and sending Walkers straight at them but just as the lanky, bearded man conjures up a weak explanation to their whereabouts, the prison's alarm blares, summoning more Walkers to the outer fence.
"There's a backup generator inside the prison, how are we supposed be behind this when we're right here?!"Oscar explains, lamely proving that someone else is messing with things from inside the prison. Daryl doesn't admit to how pathetic the prisoner's claim is but Rick, for now at least, seems to buy it and follows him inside the infested prison to disable the alarms.