++++++ I do not own the Walking Dead or any affiliated characters apart from my OC. All rights belong to Kirkman and AMC ++++++

Sixty

I didn't get much sleep that night, there was a lot on my mind.

Instead of forcing myself to sleep, I decided to get up and do the rounds of the prison with Spirit. The cool night air and the darkness helped to relax me after the day's events. That same question plagued me over and over again.

Could we really come back from the things we've done?

I never had any grand illusions about living this life. I never really expected to make it past the first year because of all the walkers but we were lucky and found the group. I never planned on falling in love or getting married or even having a baby but by finding the group, I'd found Rick. I'd done some good things and I've done some very bad things just to keep us alive but I'd never once asked myself could I ever come back from them.

I'm pretty sure the answer is no.

There ain't no coming back from the lives we live now.

Spirit and I sat there by the crops watching the sun rise over the trees, lighting up the fields around us and the walkers that clambered at the fence. My stomach was uneasy, just like it was every morning. I was lucky enough not to have felt the full blown effects of morning sickness like Ebony but it was still foreign to me. I leant back in the grass, placing my head on Spirit's body using it as a pillow.

"It ain't the life I imaged, Spirit but it's my life and I found it all on my own," I grinned, scratching him.

I closed my eyes and slowly started to drift off before the sounds of gunfire came from within the prison. I jumped up, grabbing my bow. The sounds were coming from the cell block where my group was. I swore internally and ran towards the cell block as Lizzie and Mika came running out of the cells, screaming for help.

"What's going on?!" I demanded to know, grabbing Lizzie.

"Walkers!" Mika yelled.

I pushed past the girls and ran into the cell block just as Daryl and Matthew caught up with me.

"What the hell is going on?" Matthew asked.

I shrugged.

Daryl was the first one to get in the cell block, taking out the first walker.

I took out a walker of my own as I heard Hayley shouting out for help and Hope screaming. I jumped over the side rail and ran up the stairs, pushing a walker out of my way till I found Hayley. A walker almost had her as I stabbed it in the head and pulled her to her feet. I shoved my knife into her head. "Stab through the eyes if you can," I warned her before taking off to take out the rest of the walkers. By that time, Rick and Glenn had joined the three of us. In another couple of minutes, there was more dead bodies than there was living.

I looked around in complete shock, I had spent months with most of these people and now they littered the floor around me.

"What the hell happened here?" Matthew frowned, stabbing one of the bodies in the head. "How did a walker get in here?"

"Maybe someone died during the night," I shrugged. "There are some older people here who could have died of a heart attack."

"Check all of 'em," Rick ordered, pointing to the cells. "Every cell."

"Already on it boss," I replied with a grin, wrenching an arrow out of one of the walkers.

"Mummy!" Mika screamed, running into the cell block.

I ran up the stairs after Mika and Lizzie, we hadn't cleared the cell block yet. Alicia was lying on the bed in her cell, breathing heavily and trying to stop the bleeding coming from a bite mark in her arm. I swore and stuck my head outside the cell. "JASON!" I yelled. "NEED SOME HELP IN HERE!"

Alicia sobbed when she saw her daughters. "Lizzie…Mika…PJ…get them out of here."

I knelt down beside her. "It's time your girls learn the reality of this world," I answered harshly. "Lizzie's been down at the fence naming walkers and playing with them."

Jason came running into the cell with his medical kit. "She bit?"

I nodded.

"We need to remove the arm," Jason warned Alicia, kneeling down beside the bed. "Is Hayley ok?"

"Yes," I nodded. "So is Hope."

Jason breathed a sigh of relief and started to work on cutting the blood supply off Alicia's arm. Than he froze.

"What's wrong?" I frowned.

Jason stood up and came over to me. "She's got a bite on the back of her neck."

"Oh," I frowned.

Alicia stared at me. "PJ…Lizzie and Mika…you care about them. I've seen it."

I came back over to her and knelt down beside her, pulling my switchblade out of my boot. "I'm not going to sugar coat it for you…you've been a lousy mum these past few months. Ignoring the girls, leaving it up to Carol and Ebony to look after them. They needed their mother."

Alicia sobbed. "I don't have anybody else…Michael's gone…I loved him but he's gone."

"Mummy!" Mika cried, hugging her mother.

Lizzie just stood there, staring.

"Kids on their own," Alicia continued, "they don't have a chance. Can you look out for them? Like they're yours? I've seen you do it with Carl and Judith and Jade."

I nodded. "I can…I will…I promise."

"PJ!" Rick shouted, coming into the cell. "PJ you have to get out of here, right now!"

"Why?" I asked him, kneeling with the girls beside Alicia.

"Some of these walkers weren't bit, Doctor S thinks they died of pnemococcal or an aggressive strain of the flu," Rick answered.

Jason shrugged. "Makes sense I suppose. PJ-the baby-"

"I was a soldier," I answered, "we got vaccinated all the time, every time we deployed or went overseas we always got vaccinated. Me and the baby will be safe. I know you're looking out for us, Rick but life goes on…" I looked down at Alicia, "I promise I'll keep an eye out for the girls."

Alicia looked at Lizzie. "You look after your sister."

Lizzie gulped. "We should do it," she practically shouted when I raised the knife.

"Lizzie…are you sure?" I asked her.

Lizzie nodded. "We have to."

Jason cleared his throat. "Well, you have to do it now. Before she turns."

I stood up and walked over to Rick with a sigh. "So…someone died from this mysterious plague and came back as a walker…how?"

Rick shook his head. "Don't know. Bug breed in environments like this one. So many people stuffed together. We've all been exposed. We have to limit our contact with each other."

"Well now that sucks," I frowned. "I like close contact."

I looked to the girls as Jason took the knife off Lizzie and took care of Alicia when she couldn't. "We have to separate everyone that got exposed," I warned him. "I've worked quarantine before. I can work it."

"We need a council meeting," Rick responded. "ASAP."

"Let's finish with the bodies than we'll organise quarantine," I assured him.

Rick nodded his agreement and we set about finishing off the dead.