Chapter 4: Prison sweet Prison

The rain made the trail uphill all wet and mud like making my blue All Star sneakers muddy and me all wet and shivering.

Tyreese, Daryl and I got under the roof of their outside cafeteria getting out of the pouring rain. This cafeteria looked awesome with a homemade kitchen with a counter, a stove, a small blue fridge, a large pile of trays stacked up on one another and a few lunch tables. I felt like I was in a small restaurant.

Tyreese cleared his throat. "Hey look, it's nothing personal, but we'll need to take your weapons for now." He told me. "It's the rules."

I looked at him and sighed giving him both my pistol and tomahawk. I didn't like the fact that I had to give up my weapons, but it's their place, their rules. Besides They've been pretty honest with me so far, so I can trust them.

"You can have them only when we're going out on runs for supplies." He said. "Plus you've been out there awhile and from looking at you, you need a LONG break, man."

I chuckled. "Yeah tell me about it. I feel like shit." My stomach was growling violently. I was so freaking hungry!

"Go 'head and take a seat. I'll getcha some food." Daryl told me as he walked towards the trays.

I nodded and I sat down at a nearby table looking around at this place. I could see down at the entrance that there was a tire swing set for kids to play on. I smiled at the thought. I always was a big fan of swinging on tires. Maybe tomorrow I might have a go on it.

Daryl came over and gave me a tray of a juicy tender chicken in the middle, and a small water bottle. "Order up." He said giving it to me.

"Thanks." I grabbed the chicken with my hands and devoured it very quickly, leaving only the bone left in the end.

"Damn, kid, yer an animal." Daryl commented smirking.

"What do you expect? I'm starving!" I said smirking. "You try eating slow when you had to ration on a few granola bars for months."

Both of the guys snickered at my comment. "Oh I won' worry 'bout that. I'll just stew me up some squirrel." Daryl said proudly.

"I bet you get a lot of squirrels with that bad boy." I commented pointing at the crossbow behind Daryl's back.

"Haha I also got deer, owls, possums. All one shot one kill." He said proudly. Damn this guys a crack shot with that thing. "I almost caught a chupacabra once."

I looked at him bewildered. "Wait what?"

He believes in a urban legend? Really dude?"

Tyreese laughed like crazy. "Oh man! Okay this is a good one. He told me this once and I just laughed my ass off!"

"Oh no..." Daryl sighed and shook his head realizing that telling me about the chupacabra was going o be embarrassing.

Tyreese pointed at Daryl with a toothy smile. This should be good. "I was out hunting with this Hillbilly out in the woods and ate some mushrooms he found by a tree Even though I told him that was not a good idea."

I like where this is going.

"Jesus Christ..." He looked away smiling a little.

"Then all of a sudden he screaming that he saw a chupacabra and fired an arrow into a bush. He then started backing up all frightened and ran back to the truck and stayed there."

I laughed out loud at this story. "This is from a badass hunter." I remarked.

"I know what I saw!" Daryl argued.

"Why did you even ate mushrooms in the first place?" I asked him still smiling.

He pointed at Tyreese. "This jackass dared me to ate them so I did."

"Woah! Hold up, man! I never really meant it!" Tyreese defended himself.

We sat at the table for a few minutes eating talking and laughing at really stupid yet funny things. Then finally Daryl had to dismissed himself to tell the council that they had a new member.

I turned my attention to Tyreese. "You guys have a council?" I asked.

He nodded. "Mmm hmm. It obviously used to be one man in charge of the group, but after making some improvements to this place, we decided to have a change in leadership and the original leader totally agreed on."

I smiled at the thought of a council running things then just one man. "How is the change so far."

Tyreese shrugged. "Ehh.. can be slow sometimes, but it does pay off in the end, so I'm gonna go ahead and say so far so good."

"Better safe than sorry." I said.

Tyreese gave me a nod. "My thoughts exactly."

"And Daryl is part of the council, right?"

"Yeah, and so is my sister." He added.

I gave Tyreese a grin. "Well congrats to her then."

He laughed at my comment. "Thanks man."

"Come on." Tyreese said getting up out of his seat. "There's a place in Cell Block A you can take. It's a big place so we have a lot of empty space."

"Thanks a lot." I said gratefully as I got up and followed him into the prison cell. It looked more like a friendly environment for people because of the good lighting and some chalk drawings on the ground taking away the gloominess. The cell entrances were covered with shower curtains, there were a couple of flowers some places, and a beautiful girl with flowing blond hair, blue green eyes, and a pretty smile holding a cooing baby in her hands.

Wow! She's really pretty.

"Hey, Beth!" Tyreese smiled at the girl.

"Hi Tyreese. It's good to see you again." The girl said in a sweet soft southern accent that made my heart sunk. "Who's this?" She asked noticing me.

"This is Casey." He introduced me. "Me and Daryl found him on the road. He's a good guy."

I smiled at her. "Nice to meet you, Beth."

She smiled back at me. "You too, Casey."

"Bom bom bom!" The baby cooed looking up at me smiling with her hands out. Beth giggled at her. "This is Judith, she's a sweet little thing."

"And she loves to eat. Like ALL the time." Tyreese added chuckling.

That makes two of us, kiddo.

"Well I have to go now. It's time for her nap time. It was nice to meet you, Casey." She said smiling.

"Same here, Beth." I replied as she disappeared into the nearest cell block.

Me and Tyreese walked up stairs to the second floor of the block. "She loves that baby like her own." Tyreese commented.

But where's the baby's mom at? Why doesn't she take care of her?

"Her mother... Lori... she died giving birth to her. I never knew her but..."

I looked down at the floor. "I'm sorry..." It's sad for a baby to never actually know her real mother, but it's good to know Beth takes care of the little rascal.

"I'm glad Beth takes care of Judith." I said smiling a little.

"I hear ya. Beth's a really nice girl. You should hang out with her sometimes." He suggested.

"I should."

Tyreese lead me into the first cell door on the left. It was small no big surprise there, but it was clean and it had lighting for the most part. I had a bunk bed with new sheets and blankets, a sink, and a toilet.

I turned to Tyreese with a grateful smile. "Thanks, Tyreese. This place is amazing. I didn't know something like this was possible."

"Yeah It was tough but we manage to carve a home here." He said. "You should get some rest, and come have dinner with us tonight. I'm sure the rest of the folks would like to meet you."

"I would like to meet them, too. Thanks again." I replied grinning. This is going to be a good night.

"Alright, man. Get some rest, and welcome to the group." Tyreese nodded with a smile and walked out of the door leaving me to myself.

I walked towards the sink and looked at my reflection in the mirror. My dark brown hair was all messy and unkempt down to my neck, my brown eyes looked tired and my face was all dirty. I turned the valve and cold water flowed out of the sink into my hands. I buried my face in my hands rubbing and washing the dirt away. After that I took my blue shirt off and let the water soak it all up. My body was skinny due to me rationing myself on food, but I also had a fairly athletic physique. I had a nice tan/white skin complexion as well. When my shirt was all soaked up, I twisted it and rubbed any dirt off my body making it look more clean than it was before. Crude thinking, but it will manage. After cleaning myself, I let my shirt hang on the ladder of the bunk bed, and collapse on the bottom bunk.

As I was getting tired, I also felt a rush of overwhelming emotions: gratitude, relief, sadness, guilt. I felt it all. I've kept my emotions bottled up easy when I was on my own, but now that I was here in a different place, I just couldn't hold anymore. I turned to my side silently crying thinking about everything that happened. The Outbreak, my old group, my girl, getting spilt from the group, being on my own for awhile, and me finding a new home here. After a few minutes and gained my composure and breathed deeply in and out letting sleep take over me really quick.

For the first time in my life. I felt like everything was normal for once.

Hey guys DeltaSigma again. I'm sorry its been awhile, but I was kind of at an impasse with this chapter for a bit, and I did some editing on the story but It's finally here. I'm also sorry if the chapters seem really short. I'm kinda new to the storytelling business :P Anyways: Next chapter Casey is going to meet the whole group: Carl, Rick, Herschel, Glenn, Maggie, Carol ect. Should be exciting! I know there was a short moment of Beth in this chapter but it will be long next one.

Thanks so much for reading :D

DeltaSandman out! :D