++++++ I do not own the Walking Dead or any affiliated characters apart from my OC's ++++++

Twenty-Six

Four days after making the prison our I had been doing the rounds when I found the body of a dead dog lying on the ground near the fence, just out of reach of the walkers. My first thought was to organise with Daryl on skinning and sorting out the dogs organs for food but the sound of three very hungry yelps caught my attention. The mother dog had been guarding three pups, at least three or four months in age, two were tan and white and both as fluffy as hell, whereas the third was pure white with one blue eyes, the other damaged beyond repair.

Being a vet, Herschel checked them over and gave them a clean bill of health. Rick said it was pointless keeping young pups around but even Lori said it would be good for the kids to have a little normalcy in life. Sophia and Jade both immediately took a liking to the two tans girls, naming them Fluffy and Ollie respectively. The white pup with the one eye followed me around like a lost duckling, I wanted to give him to Carl but each time the boy approached him, the pup would bite him. Eventually Carl gave up and handed him back to me. Now I had a pup following me with a black bandana wrapped around his neck and answering to the name Spirit.

Things were starting to look up for all of us, we should be able to start planting crops soon. It was coming up sunny for us. Finally, the break we needed. But in this world, all I could think of was how peace never lasted.

I would curse myself for being right.

Spirit and I had gone out to the courtyard to start working on some basic puppy training when the shit hit the fan.

I glanced up to see Herschel on a pair of crutches, making his way across the courtyard with Beth and Carl assisting him. Everyone looked happy, I even saw Rick and Lori exchange a glance. This love triangle was very complicated.

Suddenly, Carl shouted out in a panic just in time for all of us to see a herd of walkers coming up behind him. I grabbed Spirit and shoved him inside the bottom of the tower before setting about taking out the walkers that were advancing on us. I could hear Rick shouting as the small group of us defended each other from walker attack. Lori, Carl and I were the only ones that were significantly armed, Maggie had a knife but her focus was purely on getting her father to safety.

I ushered Carl and Lori towards me. "Head inside the prison!" I shouted to Carl. "Focus on your mum and the baby before yourself. Carl ran into the prison first followed by Lori and I came in last, slamming the doors closed behind us. He started leading us towards the cell block only to be cut off by more walkers.

"GO!" I shouted to Carl. "I'll follow up the rear!"

Carl took us through another series of doors, heading deeper into the prison. In my mind, I found myself going over the weaknesses in the prison walls, trying to figure out how the walkers had gotten in in such large numbers. I slammed the door closed behind us, shutting the walkers off from killing us.

But I had no idea where we were.

As we continued on in the darkness with me now leading and Carl bringing up the rear I could hear Lori huffing and puffing behind us. She sounded like she was in a lot of pain. I turned around to see Lori leaning up against the wall breathing heavily. "Can you keep up?" I asked her.

Lori shook her head. "Something's not right…"

"Did you bit?" Carl asked his mother.

Lori shook her head again. "I think the baby's coming."

"Now!" I gasped. "Jesus, Lori, could you have any worst timing kiddo?"

"Mum?" Carl whispered. The horror was written all over his face.

"We need to find somewhere safe!" I shouted at Carl, seeing more walkers off to our right. I wrapped my arm around Lori's waist, "come on mama."

Carl ran ahead of us, looking for a room or something to keep us safe and away from any more unpleasant surprises. Finally, the little soldier found us a room, it was small but easily defendable. He slammed the door shut as I leant Lori up against a wall. "Is she gonna be ok?"

I paused. "Carl, buddy, I'm a soldier, not a nurse."

"We have to get Herschel!" Carl argued.

I shook my head. "We can't risk getting caught out there," I told him. I met Lori's gaze and she nodded weakly at me. "You're gonna need to give birth to this baby here." I gripped her hand tightly, "let's get these pants off."

Lori nodded.

I looked to Carl. "You're gonna need to help deliver your baby brother or sister, you up for it? Between the two of us we should have some idea."

Carl nodded. "Do you know how?"

I shook my head. "Does watching One Born Every Minute count?" I laughed nervously.

"I got push," Lori gasped.

"Ok," I nodded. "I believe you."

Lori started to try and push, the only thing she seemed to be doing was causing herself more pain. She screamed in pain but underneath that I could hear a faint dripping sound. When I looked at the ground I could see blood.

"Lori stop!" I yelled. "Something's wrong. You're bleeding!" Instead of the normal happiness that all mothers are meant to have I could see only fear on Lori's face when I lay her down on the floor. "I have no fucking idea what to do!" I cursed.

"I'm not losing this baby!" Lori warned me, in between the pain that wracked her body. "You've gotta cut me open."

"Fubar," I snorted. "I am not cutting you open, Lori. You'll die."

"You don't have a choice!" she cried.

"I'll go for help!" Carl informed me.

Lori grabbed her sons had. "NO! Carl, I need you to stay!" She turned back to me, "my baby has to survive…please…" she started breathing heavily, "my baby…for all of us…please, Philomena, please…"

I paused and wrinkled my face up. Could this day get any worse? Really? I pulled my hunting knife out of my boot and rolled Lori's shirt up. "This is old," I pointed out. "From when you had Carl?"

Lori nodded. "Carl?" she called out.

"I'm here, mum," he answered.

"Baby," Lori started, "I don't want you to be scared, ok? This is what I want. This is right. Now you…you take care of your daddy for me, all right? And your little brother or sister, you take care…"

"You don't have to do this!" Carl cried.

"You're gonna be fine…" she assured him. "You are gonna beat this world, I know you will. You are smart, and you are strong, and you are so brave! And I love you."

I looked away as tears started rolling down my face.

"I love you too," Carl sobbed.

"You gotta do what's right, baby," Lori continued. "You promise me, you'll always do what's right. It's so easy to do the wrong thing in this world." Lori started to cry. "So don't…so if it feels wrong, don't do it, all right? If it feels easy don't do it. Don't let the world spoil you. You're so good! You're my sweet boy! The best thing I ever did! I love you! I love you. You're my sweet, sweet boy, I love you. Okay…okay, now." Lori nodded at me as I wiped the tears away. "Okay…Philomena…when this is over, you're gonna have to…"

I shook my head.

"No, you have to do it, it can't be Rick!" Lori cried. "It can't be Rick, you have to do it…you look after him, PJ, you love him and you look after him. Carl and the baby will need you as well. You love them like they're your own." She took a deep breath. "Alright, alright, it's alright. It's alright…Goodnight, love."

"I'm sorry," I whispered just before I started cutting. Lori scream out in pain and warm blood poured over my hands. "Carl, give me your jacket," I whispered, focusing on the baby more than the body I was now cutting into. I hear Lori's head hit the ground under her but kept my attention on the baby. "Carl, give me your hands." Carl stared at me, he looked more like a child now then ever. "Carl, please." Keep the site clean, okay? I cut too deep, I'm gonna cut the baby. Okay… Okay, come on, I see it, I see the ears. I'm gonna pull him out. I can't tell if this is the arm or the leg. Okay, I'm gonna pull the baby out."

He nodded and the two of us worked on saving the baby even though neither of us knew what on earth to do. Eventually I managed to pull the baby free and started cleaning its face. I'd seen them cleaning the baby's airways on One Born Every Minute by cleaning their mouths and rubbing their backs. I was pretty sure that it wasn't going to work then the baby started to cry. I sat it down on Carl's jacket and wrapped the baby up.

It was a girl.

"We have to go," I whispered to Carl, ignoring the feel of the blood that now covered my arms and hands.

"We can't just leave her!" Carl objected. "She'll turn." He drew his gun. "She's my mum…"

I nodded and held the baby against my chest before retreating to the door. There were no walker's in the halls but they would come soon when they heard the gunshot. No sooner was I outside the room did I hear the shot echo off the walls and down the hall. I didn't feel like a tough soldier any more…right now I was just as helpless as Jade or Sophia or even this baby…

Carl came out of the room moments later, he pulled Rick's sheriffs hat onto his head and confidently held his gun even though his whole body was shaking. We made it to back to the courtyard with only a few walkers in between us, Carl took care of them, clearing the way for me and his sister to come through unharmed. To me, Carl was older than any of us right now.

When we came into the daylight, I held my hand up over my eyes to block out the sunlight and the baby in my arms started to cry. The group in the courtyard turned to face us, they appeared to be gearing up for a search party. Well, here we are, I thought, not actually being able to say it.

Finally I locked eyes with Rick and in a single glance he knew what had happened.

"Where…where is she?" Rick whispered. There was horror in his voice, horror, sadness and emptiness.

Rick came towards me but I shook my head. "No, Rick…don't." As the tears rolled down my face, so did they start in Rick and pretty much every one of us.

"Oh no…" Rick sobbed, glancing at Carl. "NO! NO!"

I choked back a sob and buried my face into Carl's jacket as Rick's whole world shattered into a million pieces.