A/N: Thanks to everyone who favorited/followed since the last chapter! Happy New Year! One of my resolutions is to get better at writing on time…. Let's celebrate by reading about the zombie apocalypse.
-snowflake2410: Yes there was a bit of a breakdown with Daryl not coming back, but he'll be back in this chapter so the separation will be brief!
-SPARKLES77: Thanks, I'm glad you're liking it!
-dcottrell92504: Thank you! We are going to get to that pretty quickly (most likely) so it shouldn't be too long of a wait to find out.
-LeneReedus: Thank you so much! Not sure how long it will take you to get to this chapter, but welcome aboard! Hopefully you will continue to enjoy this story and the chapters in between your review and now!
I walked back to the common room and found everyone gathered around with Carl and Glenn on the floor with a map of the prison drawn on the floor. I walked over and stood behind Carl as Glenn finished his chalk outline.
"Right." Glenn looked up at Carl, pointing at a room in the chalk outline. "Now you said you Tyreese's group here?"
"Yeah." Carl shifted on the floor.
"We secured this." Glenn gestured at the same room and Carl sat up, pointing down one of the chalk halls.
"He thought they came through here." Glenn sighed and let his arm drop.
"Means there's another breach. Ok." Glenn sighed and rubbed his forehead. "The whole front of the prison is unsecure. If walkers just strolled in then it's gonna be cake for a group of armed men."
"Why are we even so sure he's going to attack?" Beth seemed to be the consistent voice of restraint, not that I could blame her. "Maybe you scared him off."
"He had fish tanks full of heads." Michonne "Walkers and humans. Trophies. He's coming."
"We should hit him now." My head snapped over to look at Glenn.
"What?" Beth sounded as sceptical as I felt.
"He won't be expecting it. We'll sneak back in and put a bullet in his head."
"We're not assassins." I glanced over at my mom before turning back to Glenn as he walked over at Michonne.
"You know where his apartment is. You and I could end this tonight." Michonne sighed, looked away from him. "I'll do it myself." Michonne stared at him a few moments before she nodded.
"Okay." Glenn turned back and stopped when Hershel spoke up.
"He didn't know you were coming last time and look what happened. You were almost killed. Daryl was captured. And you and Maggie were almost executed."
"You can't stop me." Glenn shook his head at Hershel.
"Rick would never allow this."
"You really think he's in any position to make that choice?" To be honest, Glenn made a pretty valid point, but Hershel was able to stand his ground.
"Think this through clearly. T-Dog lost his life here. Lori, too. The men that were here. It isn't worth any more killing. What are we waiting for? If he's really on his way, we should be out of here by now."
"And go where?" Glenn seemed to be making more sense as the argument went along, but I still didn't like the idea of going back to Woodbury.
"We lived on the road all winter." I winced, remembering what it was like living on the run and I knew for sure I couldn't go back to living that way now that we had secured the prison.
"Back when you had two legs and we didn't have a baby crying for walkers every four hours."
"We can't stay here." Hershel
"We can't run." I looked back as I heard a sigh and watched Maggie slowly leave the room. "All right. We'll stay put. We're gonna defend this place. We're making a stand." Glenn turned and kneeled back by by the chalk map. "Carl, you and I will go down to the tombs. We need to figure out where the breach is."
"You got it." Carl turned and started to go for the riot gear we had gathered and cleaned.
"You'll need some help." Michonne moved from her place against the wall
"No, in case anything happens, we need you out here." I spoke up for the first time during the argument. I would feel safer if Glenn and Carl had back up, but we needed everyone ready up here.
"Who's on watch?" Everyone stared at Glenn as he looked around before sighing. "Damn it."
"Michonne?" She looked over at me. "How are you with a rifle?"
"I'm better with a sword." I lifted my gun up off the floor and walked towards her. As I passed Glenn grabbed the gun and stared at me hard. I knew he still didn't fully trust her, but right now she was one of the most experienced people we had. I pulled the gun from his grip and finished walking over to the newest member of our little group.
"Take this and keep watch outside. We don't need you to fight a war single handed, just try to give us some warning, ok?" She nodded at me and took the gun, heading outside. I turned back and looked at Glenn. "Didn't you say you were going to check the tombs?" He nodded at me and I shrugged. "We'll be here when you get back."
Glenn rolled his eyes at me before he and Carl left the room. I sighed and went to sit at one of the kitchen tables, as the group slowly started to follow me.
We all sat in the kitchen area waiting for Carl and Glenn to return.
"I'm going to check on Maggie." Beth started to stand and follow, but I shook my head, grabbing her arm and she slowly sat back down. And we waited. When I heard footsteps coming from the tombs, I stood and opened the door letting Glenn and Carl back in.
"The tombs outside the boiler room are overrun again." Glenn was obviously angry and I couldn't blame him.
"That whole section had been cleared." Beth locked up the door behind them before handing the keys back to me and I tucked them into my pocket.
"It's a steady stream of walkers."
"We're wasting time. The Governor is supposedly on the way and we're stuck in here with walkers." Hershel looked over at Glenn while he spoke.
"Trapped between a rock and a hard place." My mom chimed in and Glenn locked over at her before speaking.
"For the last time, running is not an option."
"Glenn, if the tombs have filled up again, it may just be a matter of time before they push in here." Mom tried reasoning with him.
"Or until some fence gives way." I nodded at Beth and Axel joined our side as well.
"What if one of them herds is passing through? Or settled?"
"Can't handle that with just the few of us." I tried to make Glenn see things our way, but he seemed he had already made up his mind.
"Okay. All right, We need...we just need to scout the far side of the prison. Find out what's going on." Glenn
"You're going out there?" Axel sounded dubious.
"Take a car and make it quick."
"I'll drive." Axel moved to go out with Glenn, but stopped as he turned him down.
"No, you stay here; help with the fortifications. I'll take Maggie."
"You sure she's up to that?" Glenn gave little reaction to Hershel's comment and no one said anything more. I watched Glenn storm out of the kitchen area and looked back at the group, who all shared worried looks. I took a deep breath and stood a little straighter.
"We have to start prepping." Everyone looked at me and I swallowed. "Whatever happens we need to be prepared. Mom, Axel, we need to make sure the walkways are secure. There's tons of metal and wood lying around here; I want two layers on each side of the walkways. Carl bring all the ammo out to these tables and short them into like piles. We need to know how many rounds we have for each gun. Beth help Carl with shorting."
To my surprise, the group immediately got up from the tables. Beth walked over to me and I looked at her as she held up a bottle.
"I was gonna feed Judith?" A light bulb suddenly went off in my head and I felt a smile grow across my face.
"Give her to Maggie." I turned and left her as I went to find Glenn. We needed to have a talk.
Standing in the prison yard I scanned the area shielding my eyes from the sun. I saw Glenn and Hershel talking near one of the cars and started towards them, just catching to hear the end of their conversation.
"This rage is going to get you killed." I had to say, I agreed with Hershel.
"With Daryl gone and Rick wandering Crazytown, I'm the next in charge." That I did not agree with.
"Says who?" They both turned back to me. I crossed my arms and walked over glaring at Glenn. "Having a few extra years of pizza delivery experience hardly makes you a qualified leader."
"All winter, I was…"
"Following Rick's lead, just like me. Just like the rest of us. Now is not the time to play Rambo, Glenn! You want to take charge fine, but I'm in this with you 50-50." He glared at me and opened his mouth, but I didn't let him start. "My mom and Axel are fortifying the walks, Carl and Beth are shorting out ammo. And I thought you were supposed to be checking the fence?" I turned and walked back to the prison leaving them both behind me.
I was looking over the ammo we had as Carl and Beth went outside to take a break and get some fresh air. I heard the gunshots and raced into the cell block. Maggie ran out of a cell holding Judith and I ran over to her.
"What was that?" I shook my head.
"I don't know!" There were more shots and I grabbed the baby from her and boxed her in on one of the bunks with pillows. I locked her in the cell, putting the keys in the floor of the cell in reach of the bars.
"What are you doing?" She grabbed my arm staring at me.
"The walkers won't care about the keys, but she has to locked in. If we die someone needs to be able to get her out!" She turned and ran into the kitchen grabbing two guns as she raced out to the yard I followed her example. There was a light colored truck in the distance, but I couldn't really see any of the shooters.
"Beth!" I followed Maggie and handed Beth one of the guns I held as she took one from her sister. I then followed Maggie as she ran to a couple of file cabinets in the middle of the yard.
"I should have thought of cover before just following you." Maggie glanced over at me and smiled a bit.
"I got your back." I smiled and rolled onto my stomach. "Help me put down some cover for your mom. Carol, GO!"
I fired across the yard and held my breath as my mom ran across the yard to hide behind the wall by Beth and Carl. I let out a breath as she put her back against the wall and tried to focus on actually hitting one of the shooters. The shooting came to a stop as a distant engine noise grew louder, coming closer to the prison. A truck smashed through both the gates and stopped in the grassy area of the outer yard. I panted watching as the back gate fell open and walkers streamed out into the yard.
"Maggie, get the guy in the tower, I'll go for the walkers!" I turned over and started picking out walkers that littered the yard. As the shooters piled back into the truck and drove off down the road. Glenn started pulling back into the prison, collecting Hershel and Michonne as he went. They drove back into the yard and I helped Carl close the inner gate again. I stood with the group staring out at the walkers that flooded the grassy area we had cleared days before. My breath caught as I saw Rick running up the road with Daryl and Merle. I grabbed the gate and flung it back open walking down the road to meet them. I watched Daryl pick up his pace and I smiled a bit, tears in my eyes.
"Daryl!" I dropped my gun on the ground and ran down the road as he sprinted up leaving Rick and Merle behind him. He let his crossbow drop to the ground as I threw myself against him, wrapping my arms tightly around his neck. I was fully pressed against him as he wrapped his arms around my waist squeezing me tightly. My sides hurt from his grip, but I was in no mood to let him go.