"Alright, let's get the other cars in," Rick ordered. "We'll park 'em in the west entry of the yard."

"Do you mean west on a map, or like . . . looking at the prison?" Rick just stared at me as I continued speaking, and I quickly realised that I should have kept my mouth closed. But I didn't. "It just . . . It wasn't very clear."

No one answered, what made it worse was Daryl acted like I hadn't even said anything. "Good," Daryl said. "Our vehicles camped out there look like a giant vacancy sign."

"After that, we need to load up these corpses so we can burn them."

"It's gonna be a long day . . ." T-Dog drawled.

"Where's Glenn and Maggie?" Carol asked, walking from the pick up she had just backed out of the way of the Hyundai. "We could use some help."

"Up in the guard tower," Daryl said.

"Guard tower?" Rick glanced up at the building. "They were just up there last night!"

I followed everyone's look to the guard tower, wondering why Rick would be confused that they were up there all night. If no one relieved them when they were on guard, then . . . Wait, I think I know why they were up there.

Daryl cupped his hands around his mouth, calling out for them. "Glenn! Maggie!"

Glenn came out of the tower, no shirt on, and buttoning his trousers. I could briefly see Maggie through the window of the guard tower. Ew. "Hey! What's up guys?"

"You comin'? Daryl asked.

"What?!"

Everyone around laughed, all glancing between one another as they chuckled together. I thought about it for a little while, unsure of what he asked that would make everyone laugh.

"You comin'?!" Daryl shouted out.

Why are they laughing—? Oh.

"Eww!" I grimaced, shaking my head. "Ew! Ew! Eww!"

Rick laughed, glancing back over his shoulder. "You just keep thinking that."

"I don't want to!"

"Come on!" Daryl called. "We could use a hand!"

"Yeah, we'll be right down!" Glenn called.

I followed Rick, Daryl and Carol towards the final car that needed to be moved up to the courtyard. They were still giggling amongst themselves at my utter disgust with the situation, until T-Dog called out: "Hey Rick!"

I stopped to see why T-Dog sounded so serious, and soon realised why the smile was fading from Rick's face. In the courtyard, the remaining prisoners, Oscar and Axel, were nearing the gate to join us in the field.

"Come with me," Rick muttered.

I wasn't sure if he was speaking to me or not, but I intended on following anyway, not only to hear what the prisoner's had to say, but to find out why they were now breaking their end of the deal after only a week. They had the food and water they needed, their own beds, safe space to live, one that they could barely clear out themselves.

"That's close enough," Rick told them, and they stopped in their tracks. "We had an agreement."

"Please, mister. We know that we made a deal," behind Axel, Glenn and Maggie came out of the guard tower, freezing when they saw the prisoners. "But you gotta understand! We can't live in that place another minute, you follow me? All the bodies, people we knew! Blood, brains everywhere! There's ghosts!"

"There's no ghosts," I muttered, loud enough for everyone to hear.

"Why don't you move the bodies out?" Daryl asked.

"You should be burning them," T-Dog added.

"We tried! We did!"

"The fence is down on the far side of the prison," Oscar explained, more thoroughly than it seemed Axel could get out. "Every time we drag a body out, those things just line up. Dropping and just running back inside."

This news really wasn't new for us. We knew there had to be a fence down somewhere around the prison because there were civilian walkers inside the walls.

"Look! We had nothing to do with Thomas and Andrew, nothing!" Axel pleaded. "You trying to prove a point? You proved it, bro! We'll do whatever it takes to be a part of your group, just, please, please, don't make us live in that place!"

"Our deal is not negotiable. You either live in your cell block, or you leave."

Oscar looked at Axel. "I told you this was a waste of time. They ain't no different than the pricks who shot up our boys," Oscar looked back at Rick. "You know how many friends' corpses we had to drag out this week? Just threw 'em out like . . . These were good guys!"

They were prisoners, but okay.

"Good guys who had our backs against the really bad dudes in the joint like Thomas and Andrew," Oscar explained. "Now, we've all made mistakes to get in here, chief, and I'm not gonna pretend to be a saint, but believe me . . . we paid our due. Enough that we would rather hit that road, than to go back into that shithole."

Rick looked back over his shoulder, his eyes set just behind me, at who I assumed to be Daryl. I also glanced back in time to see Daryl, shaking his head, telling him that letting them stay would probably be a bad idea.

Rick turned back to the prisoners: "Come on, then."

"What?" Axel seemed shocked.

Rick said nothing else, leading them down the field towards the front gate. They hesitantly followed, a hundred percent sure that they were not going back to their end of the prison. I was just behind Rick, close enough to hear him say, "Lock them out in the front entrance while we talk."

Daryl gave a nod of his head, giving the prisoners a wave of his hand as he led them out to where the last car was being kept.

The rest of us stood by the cherokee in the field, hidden from the prisoners by the flipped over bus. I stood by Rick, in a position where I could see Daryl drag the fence closed on them, before messing with a chain to lock the gate.

"I think we should let them stay," T-Dog said, before Rick could even ask for anyone's opinions.

"That's not happening," Rick shook his head.

"I can keep an eye on them," T-Dog said.

"Are you serious?" Daryl joined the group, standing between me and Rick as he argued with T-Dog. "You want them living in a cell next to you? They'll just be waiting for a chance to grab our weapon, you want to go back to sleeping with one eye open?"

"I never stopped," T exclaimed. "Bring them into the fold. If we send them off packing, we might as well execute them ourselves."

"I don't know," Glenn spoke in a quiet voice, as if the prisoners could still hear us, or as if something like that mattered. "Axel seems a little unstable."

"After all we've been through? We fought so hard for all this, what if they decide to take it?" Carol chimed in.

"It's just been us for so long . . ." Maggie agreed. "They're strangers. I don't . . . it feels weird all of a sudden to have these other people around."

"You brought us in," T-Dog reminded her.

"Yeah, but you turned up with a shot boy in your arms, didn't give us a choice."

"They can't even kill walkers!" Glenn exclaimed.

"They're convicts," Carol said. "Bottom line!"

"Those two might actually have less blood on their hands than we do," T-Dog pointed out.

"I get guys like this," Daryl said. "Hell, I grew up with them. They're degenerates, but they ain't psychos. I could have been with them just as easy as I'm out here with you guys."

"So you with me?" T-Dog asked.

"Hell no! Let 'em take their chances out on the road, just like we did!"

"What I'm saying, Daryl—"

"When I was a rookie, I arrested this kid," Rick interrupted him. "19 years old, wanted for stabbing his girlfriend. The kid blubbered like a baby during the interrogation, during the trial. Suckered the jury. He was acquitted due to insufficient evidence, and two weeks later shot another girl. We've been through too much. Our deal with them stands."

T-Dog let out a sigh, shaking his head as he walked away, mumbling something about clearing the bodies from the field.

"I'm sure he'll come around," Maggie said.

"Yeah," Glenn agreed.

"We letting them go now?" Daryl asked.

"We'll give the prisoners supplies," Rick said. "Something to give them a fighting chance."

"So what, they just sit there until you're good and ready?" My eyebrow raised as I glanced at Rick.

"They can wait," was all he said. "We need to clear the bodies in the field before we can move the cars up, then we need the firewood to burn them. I don't want them out there while we're taking care of that."

I nodded, biting the inside of my lip, there was no need arguing with him. He was going to do this no matter what anyone said, and it was probably the best option for Rick. I just didn't want to work around them with them watching.

"Let's get the work," Daryl said. "Sooner those bodies are done, the sooner we can move them cars up."

I walked over to a body near the fence, where me and the others had been killing walkers through the chain when we took over the field. I checked the pockets first, finding nothing.

"Hey, girl!"

I looked up, glancing over at the prisoners who were watching from where they were in the front entrance. Axel was the one that called me, I was sure. I ignored them, going back to searching the bodies along the fence.

"I mean . . . Ace?" I kept my head down, letting out a sigh and continued what I was doing. "Did— did they say what they were gonna do with us?"

"Leave her alone, man," I heard Oscar mumble, barely.

"I just . . ." He stopped. "Sorry to bother you, miss."

Again, I pretended that they didn't even exist. They would be gone soon. They wouldn't be our problem anymore. I didn't want to give them hope that things would change from them, or give them any wrong ideas about what was happening here.

Rick would explain it to them.

There were some footsteps behind me, Glenn spoke, coming around to help me search the body. "What are they saying?"

I shrugged. "Just asking what Rick wanted to do with them."

Glenn was quiet for a moment, looking at the prisoners. It seemed like he was considering saying something, whether to scold or inform them I didn't know.

Instead he shook his head, and leant down next to me, grabbing the shoulder sleeve of the walker's jumpsuit. "Here, come on. They started making a pile over there."

Glenn lifted the top of the body, waiting for me to grab the legs to help him as we carried the bodies to the pile that was slowly starting to build up.

"Let me and the others get the ones from over there," Glenn suggested. "Go help Maggie?"

I opened my mouth, but then closed it. It was pointless to argue. He didn't want me near the prisoners, seeming to ignore the fact that I had cleared the prison with people far more dangerous than Oscar and Axel. More outwardly dangerous, anyway.

I nodded, going to help Maggie instead.

We spent a long time moving the rest of the bodies, pulling them into a pile towards the bottom of the field. Almost an hour was wasted on that, before we then had to move down the bodies I had piled up the day before.

When we were almost done with that, Rick went back inside the prison to get a box of supplies ready inside the prison, for when he let the prisoner's out. He left it in the courtyard, out of the way until we were done with the work around the field.

"Move the cars to the upper yard," he was explaining, walking us down to the front gate. "Point them facing out. They'll be out of the way but ready to go if we ever need to bail."

I nodded, jogging after Glenn to get the gate open and get the last car out of the entrance. He unlocked the chain, pulling the gate aside, allowing me and Daryl to get the car and his bike from the front. Axel started talking to Daryl as he neared the bike, talking about that in particular, but I tried my best to ignore them as I opened the car.

I climbed into the Hyundai, now realising that I should have offered to open the gate. It was only a short distance to drive, which was okay; it wasn't like leaving the farm. I could do this. I started the car and drove it out of the gate, past Glenn and up towards the prison, following T-Dog and Carol in one car with Maggie in the pickup behind me.

Must be west looking at the prison, I thought, watching as T-Dog turned left and swung the car around, facing the way we just came. After a few attempts that quickly became far too many attempts, I did the same, managing to awkwardly line the Hyundai behind his car, getting a shit eating grin from Maggie as she pulled up behind me.

"Good one," I muttered to myself, before climbing out of the car.

"Nice driving," T-Dog commented, not bothering to suppress his smile. "I thought you were an expert on cars."

"Fixing cars," I corrected. "When would I have learnt to drive well?"

"I just can't believe you tell us how to drive when I just watched you trying to park."

"I try to make you drive more efficiently. You can control your speed, which means you can control how much petrol you waste. I didn't even get my provisional licence. You're lucky I can drive at all."

Maggie and Carol were also chuckling, and that was when I made myself a promise that I would have to get someone to teach me how to drive. This is not the kind of backlash I needed whenever I had to park a car.

"Hey, look," T-Dog grinned, not amused by my parking anymore but at something in the distance.

I followed his eyes, and across the courtyard saw Hershel walking towards the chain fence with crutches. He was accompanied by Beth, Lori and Carl, through the now pipe cleared recreational area. The smile automatically filled my face.

I could hear the cheering from Glenn down at the fence, indicating that they were nor back with their firewood. He, Rick and Daryl stood, staring at Hershel from between the two fences on the outskirts of the field.

A wave of relief washed over me as I watched him, managing to walk. He was okay, he was going to be okay. It started to feel like everything was normal again, like it had been before.

And then I saw it.

"Walkers!" Carl yelled.

I reached for my gun immediately, running towards the group as more and more Walkers came out of the prison. It looked like they were coming from the gate where we'd locked them in before, and as I ran closer and closer to the group, the line of corpses, I could see that the gate was open.

"Stick with me!" Maggie called as she ran past, stopping just in front of me to shoot some of the walkers.

I copied her actions, taking out the ones that neared Carl and Lori. My eyes scanned around for anyone else who would need help, when I saw Beth and Hershel scrambling up some stairs towards a door to a cell block that had a metal enclosure around the door. I had no idea what it was for, but I was so glad to see it there for them.

When a walker followed Hershel up the stairs, I ran towards them. Beth shouted out for Hershel, but he slammed a crutch against its skull, not killing it, but giving himself enough time to climb up the stairs and into the gate. I shot the walker down, and any that neared the stairs in case they tried to follow them.

"Ace!" Beth cried. "Come on!"

"Just close the gate! Lock it with something!" I called back. "I need to help the others!"

Ignoring their calls, I ran back toward Maggie who had now grouped up with Lori and Carl, shooting at walkers that had managed to slip past them. Two, three, four went down before they even noticed me joining up behind them.

"Where is everyone?" I asked.

"T and Carol and closing the gate," Carl said. "It got open somehow."

"Okay, let's just get to Hershel and Beth—" when I turned back to the cage, hoping to escort the three over, I stopped. Eight or nine walkers had come in behind me. "Nevermind!"

"We have to get Lori inside!" Maggie called.

She was right.

Lori and Carl were the biggest priorities right now. Sure they could defend themselves, but me and Maggie would be able to better fight off the walkers than those two. I held up my gun, pointing it at the walkers behind us as Carl led me backwards a few metres with a grip on my shirt.

After a moment or two, he let go, but I kept shooting at the walkers. He probably had to fight, that's what I was telling myself, as I shot and shot at the oncoming group.

"Lori!" I heard Maggie call. "This way!"

I glanced back over my shoulder and saw Maggie standing at the gate to the cell block, with Carl and Lori running in beside her.

"Ace!" She called. "This way, hurry!"

I nodded, following them. There were too many walkers to consider trying to find Carol or T-Dog, and soon I would run out of ammo. I only had four shots left, maximum. I bit my lip and followed after her, sprinting as fast as my legs would carry me, but I couldn't make it.

Three walkers blocked my path to the door, making me come sliding to a stop as my feet slipped out from underneath me, and I landed on the ground. I had to push myself back up and shoot at the walkers, but with so much of their attention on me, and the stragglers going for Maggie, there was no way I would be able to follow her.

"Ace—!"

"—Just go!"

Maggie looked at me for a moment, pursing her lips to hold back her arguments, before she finally had to slam the door closed. "I'm sorry!"

"Make sure Lori and Carl are safe!" I demanded. "I'll be fine!"

Maggie ran inside, and the walkers that had been attracted to her were now focused on me. I shot one, two then click! That was all my bullets. I holstered the gun and looked at the numbers. Some of ones that had followed me from Hershel had been taken down, either by Carol or T-Dog, but there were still too many for me to consider trying to get past. I would only put Hershel and Beth in danger, get them killed.

Instead, as my hand reached for my night, the holster pressed against something in my pocket. Something hard. Keys. I would be able to make it back to the Hyundai, kill the walkers through the window without getting myself killed trying to fight a hoard.

Sprinting backwards, I turned around and started running towards where the cars were parked, pressing the unlock button on the keys as I ran multiple times to make sure that the car was open when I got there. I yanked the door open and dove inside, locking the doors with the keys before any walkers could catch up with me.

After turning the ignition on to get the electronics working, I cracked open the window. I could kill walkers from here. Three walkers slammed against the window, each trying to take a bite at me through the window.

The one that was nearest the back of the door was easier to get in the head without getting grabbed or bitten, so that was the one I went for. When it fell over the second corpse took its place, snarling and snapping at me through the window. I did the same thing, but my fingers slipped from the knife when the final walker had tried to bite my fingers, and the second walker fell over with my knife in its head.

"Shit! Shit! Shit!"

As I panicked and looked around the car for anything I could use to kill it, the last walker in front of the truck splattered all over the window before the body fell down. Rick ran over, yanking the car door open and grabbing my arm to pull me out.

"Are you bit?!" His voice was loud, scared, almost mistaken for anger.

"No," I shook my head managing ti grab the knife as he held me. "I'm good."

"Did you see where anyone went?"

With his grip still on my arm, Rick started dragging me towards the courtyard where the walkers had been swarming, now clear and full of bodies again. It was hard to think and jog to keep up with him, but I managed to get out what I remembered.

"I was with Maggie, but she made it inside with Lori and Carl," I said. "I got cut off."

"Was anyone else bit?" He asked again.

"No," I promised. "Maggie closed the gate before anything could follow them in . . . What do you mean 'anyone else'?"

Rick slowed as we reached the others, and I saw that Beth and Hershel had managed to lock themselves in a cage around one of the doors to shield from the walkers. Daryl was looking around for any other walkers, but as far as anyone could tell, the walkers had been dealt with.

He pursed his lips, but turned to me and said, "They got T."

My jaw dropped, "Oh my God."

I didn't get a lot of time to think about it before Glenn ran over to us. "Those chains didn't break on their own, someone took an axe or cutters to them."

Glenn's look changed, and he gazed past me. I turned, following his sight when I saw the prisoners peaking over the hill, coming into the courtyard from the field. They glanced around at the bodies of walkers, seemingly shocked, like they hadn't had anything to do with this.

"They had access to the courtyard," I looked back to Rick, who managed to look even angrier than he had already been.

"You think it's them?"

"Who else?" Rick's nostrils flared as his breathing grew louder.

An alarm shrieked around the prison, making my ears bleed. I visibly flinched, looking around for any source of the noise. "What the fuck?!"

"What is that?"

Daryl let out a disgruntled sound. "You gotta be kiddin' me!"

"Daryl!" Rick called, before aiming his gun up and shooting out a speaker, one I had never even noticed before. Daryl copied his actions, shooting out another one. Rick ran over towards Beth and Hershel. "Back up!"

Two more shots went off onto the speaker above their cage, and the noise quietened in the courtyard, but it was still blaring around the prison.

When he spun around he sprinted over to the prisoners, pointing his gun directly at Axel. "How the hell can this be happening?!"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa!" Axel raised a hand. "It has to be the backup generators!"

Rick swung his arm back, pointing towards the prison. "Well, how do you turn those off?!"

"There's three that's connected to a diesel tank, okay? Each one controls a certain part of the prison. The hatch shut them all off when the prison was overrun!"

"Can someone open up the main gates electronically, with full power?"

"Well, I only worked in there a few days, I . . . I guess it might be possible."

"Come with us!" Rick yelled, sprinting off towards the prison.

"Let's go!" Glenn yelled, and I took off after him.

We ran into the prison, straight in the way that Lori, Maggie and Carl ran in when they got separated from me. The cell block was filled with the groaning of corpses, so many of them, that meant there would probably be none of our people in here unless they had been turned.

No . . .

I couldn't think that. T-Dog had already been bitten, and with the way Rick had told me I didn't believe there was any chance he could've been saved. We had already lost someone, and I couldn't bring myself to believe that anymore could have been infected yet.

"Ace!" Rick barked, running into the cell block. "Help me in here!"

I nodded, following him, leaving the others in the eating area outside. I pulled my axe from the holster, running to the first Walker and taking it down with a single strike.

Rick was less quiet, taking the next three out with his revolver, letting out yells and screams as he did so.

"LORI! CARL!"

There were loud footsteps behind me and Daryl, Glenn and the prisoners ran in. Daryl did a hop over a body, leaning down at the same time to grab a bolt from the walker's skull.

"We just took down five of 'em in there," he kneeled down to load the crossbow again.

"There were four in here, but no sign of Lori or anyone!"

Glenn's hand flew to the back of his head, "They must have been pushed back into the prison."

"Somebody is playing games!" Rick yelled, his fear now that something has happened to his family now taking over and becoming closer to anger. He ran out into the common room, and then the darkened hallways of the prison, forcing the rest of us to follow him. "We'll split up and look for the others. Whoever gets to the generators first, shut 'em down!"

"Let's go!" Daryl yelled.

Glenn and Axel ran off in a different direction inside the prison, and with the alarms blaring and the sound of walkers everywhere, I couldn't tell whether it was because they had split up like Rick said, or because they got separated by the rotting corpses that lurked around every corner.

It wasn't long before we were being chased, and I kept getting shoved to go faster by Daryl, who would not let me fall behind the group. Every so often he would turn, shooting an arrow off into the hoard that he would not be able to retrieve any time soon.

"I think it's this way!" Oscar yelled over the alarms.

"Go! Go!" Rick shouted back, ignoring that he said anything but following Oscar in the direction he pointed out.

They came across a door and stopped, so I spun around holding my gun up and shooting the first few walkers that came around the corner.

Daryl shoved my arm, "Get inside!"

I burst into the room after Rick, and when Daryl got in, he slammed the door closed, being helped by Rick and Oscar to keep the hoard at bay. The three of them struggled to hold back on the onslaught, but eventually when they had gotten their footing the door started to shake less and less.

"We got the door!" Daryl yelled. "Shut that damn noise off!"

Rick moved away from the door first, running into the middle of the room. "Ace!"

I was more hesitant, keeping my eye on the two of them, and the door that rattled at every hit. I kept telling myself that if the alarms kept sounding, we would have a bigger problem than a small group of walkers in a hallway.

Rick yelled my name again, which forced me to turn and follow him. "Do you know how to turn them off?"

I glanced at all the large machines, before moving around the room to find something to help. There was a large book on a table, one I assumed to be some kind of manual.

"Ace?"

"I worked on cars, not big fuck-off generators!" My jaw clenched, and I couldn't refrain from snapping at him. I flipped to the contents page of the book before skimming the titles. "Just give me a minute!"

"We don't have a minute!"

"Here!" I heard Oscar's voice. "I can get the alarms off, but I don't know how to shut the generators down."

"I'll figure it out," I mumbled, reading the book and looking back to find a switch and button that matched the generation in the manual. It became so much easier to read when the blaring stopped, the prison falling so silent that I could hear Daryl struggling against the walkers on the other side of the door.

A scream startled me from the manual, and I spun around to see Andrew coming out from behind one of the generators, swinging an Axe at Rick, but instead hitting a generator behind him that sparked at the contact. He pushed Rick up against a metal door of a transformer, holding him there with the back of the axe.

I yanked my own climbing axe away from the holster, before charging for Andrew and swinging downwards. He was forced to let go of Rick and stumble backwards and away from my attack. I did it again and again until Andrew finally swung back, the head of his axe getting caught in my pick, which was yanked out of my hands when Andrew jerked the axe backwards.

He took a swing at me, but Rick grabbed the handle, spinning the two of them around and pinning Andrew as he had just been, but now against a wall at the back of the room. Andrew pushed the axe towards Rick, making enough room for his elbow to come up and crack against Rick's face, shoving him backwards.

In his dazed state, Rick pulled his gun out, but Andrew kicked the weapon away. Rick chased after the gun, but Andrew followed him, managing to pin him to the ground and keep his hand away from the gun.

I rushed forwards, grabbing the back of his prison jumpsuit and yanking him back and away from Rick, but not before he could get a blow to his face, leaving Rick down and unable to move. I managed to slam Andrew back into the far wall, and pulled out my knife to plunge into him, his neck, but he grabbed my wrist, twisting in a way that sent a pain up to my shoulder. In the moment, he slipped the knife out from my hand, continuing to twist my arm as he shoved me back and back until my back was against something and my own knife was held up to my throat.

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Rick stand up. "Let her go, she has no part in this."

When I looked over, I saw Oscar behind him, holding up a gun. I didn't know whether Rick noticed, but when I opened his mouth to warn him, Andrew dug the knife further into my skin, with enough pressure that it didn't cut. Rick heard me anyway, and glanced back over his shoulder.

"She let you lock me out there with those things!" He yelled. "I should do the same!"

"She's just a kid," Oscar said, his voice much quieter.

Andrew ignored him, instead trying to side with Oscar. "Shoot him! We can take back this prison. What you waiting for? Do it! It's our house, shoot him!"

When the bullet went off, I felt a pain in my neck that caused me to yelp.

Andrew fell to the ground in front of me, the blood pooling around the bottom of my shoes. Oscar still had the gun raised, but instead of cocking it again or pulling the trigger, he spun it around so the handle was facing out for Rick to grab.

All I could think about was what Andrew said.

He was right, and I couldn't argue. Standing there while Rick locked him in a courtyard full of walkers was basically signing his death. But despite everything, despite being so close to dying with a knife through my trachea, I know that if I had the chance to redo it, then I would do the same thing all over again.

Except, if I could do it again, I would ensure his death.

Rick took it from Oscar, before turning back to me. "Ace, your neck."

I raised my hand to where I felt the pain, and felt a little blood. "It's just a nick, I think."

When I stopped being concerned about the amount of blood leaving my neck, I turned to the generator, seeing the switch I had to pull to shut them down. I walked over, pulled the red lever up, and the hum of the generator stopped.

"There," I breathed out. "Big fuck-off generator is off."

Rick let Oscar take the axe that Andrew had been using, needing all the help we could to clear as much of the prison as we could as we tried to find everyone. There were still walkers here, lots of them, and we had to be ready.

As we reached a corner, there were footsteps that came closer and closer to us. Rick gave a nod, and we all readied our weapons, ready to kill whatever came around that corner next. I almost flinched when I saw the body, but realised in time that the yellow shirt and torch belonged to Glenn.

He stared at us for a moment, saying nothing, but frowned when he heard something. I heard it too, it sounded like walkers, with some other squelching sound in the background. Rick tiptoed down the hallway, his back to one of the walls, and then spun around to see the threat.

When I stepped out I saw two walkers over a body, eating it, until they were distracted by Rick's light on them. Rick shot them both down with the loudest gun in the world, making me flinch both times as we then walked to the body.

T-Dog.

He was barely recognisable anymore, his gut town and his face and neck chewed up. I don't know how I even recognised him, but I did? Maybe it was what was left of his clothes, not a jumpsuit like the rest of the walkers we had seen.

Daryl knelt down next to the door, and picked something up. A scarf. The one Carol had been wearing around her head that day. She was here too, with T-Dog. Her body was gone, but if she was bitten she could have turned and walked away.

"Fuck," I breathed out, wincing at the sight.

Rick just pointed his gun down, and shot him in the head. He barely even took a moment before turning for the door, heading out with Oscar and Axel on his trail. Daryl stared at me, he and Glenn waiting for me to move, and I had no choice but to follow them.

We were outside in less than ten minutes, running to where we left Hershel and Beth, and found them standing just outside the cage that they had used to protect themselves. "Hershel!" Rick called as he ran over.

"You didn't find 'em?" Hershel asked.

"We thought maybe they came back out here," Glenn looked around the courtyard, hoping that in some way, Hershel had just missed anyone who made it outside, just like me.

"What about T? Carol?" Hershel asked.

Daryl shook his head. "They didn't make it."

We had never found Carol's body, but Daryl did grab the scarf she wore around her head, and she had gone with T-Dog into the prison. There were so many walkers in the prison that I wondered how someone could survive in there alone. Though Andrew did, but he probably had the time to hide in the generator room for us before the prison was swarmed.

"That doesn't mean the others didn't," Rick said, his voice gravely as he started giving out orders. "We're going back! Daryl and Glenn, you go with—"

There was a crying that interrupted him.

A crying that almost sounded like a baby.

I looked to see Maggie and Carl coming out of the prison where they had gone, bloody. Maggie pushed the gate open with her elbow, and that was when the rolled up jacket became clear, and I was now able to see a small arm poking out from the material.

But that was it.

No Lori.

Maggie started to sob as she saw Rick, her chest jerking as she tried to stop the emotions from flooding out of her. Carl was the opposite, completely blank, as though he was a shell of his former self. That was clear as day. He kept his eyes on the ground and followed Maggie's feet as they neared.

Rick walked over to them, dropping his axe on the way. He was shaking his head, but couldn't make it all the way over to her, taking a few steps back and forth, side to side as he looked past Maggie, trying to see Lori anywhere.

"Where is . . . where is she?"

Maggie only got worse, her mouth quivering as she tried to start a sentence, but only managed to get out small noises that didn't resemble any word. She didn't have to say anything, he knew what she meant.

Instead of waiting for an answer, explanation, he walked towards her. Maggie adjusted the baby in her arms as he neared, reaching out to grab him with her free hand. "No, Rick! Don't!"

Then Rick broke down.

He cried into his hands, the sobs coming out in soundless breaths as he turned to Carl, who's eyes remained planted on the ground. "Oh no! No!" He sobbed, his voice breaking as he dragged out the words, planting his hands on his knees to keep himself standing. "No!"

Rick just walked, not going anywhere as he continued to cry, running his hands through his hair. As he moved around. He walked closer to the gate, like he wanted to go inside the prison, but he stopped himself. Glenn walked over to Maggie, placing a hand on her arm as she cried, just watching Rick cry, and finally when the pain became too much, he fell over onto his back.

Here it is.

I know a lot of you are excited to see Ace in season 3 which I can understand, so I'm trying to get it all written and I want you all to know that I am actually nearly at the end of this season, and . . . the end of the book.

I will be making a second book, because there are chapter limits (on Wattpad) and I'd rather give the books real endings than stop in some random place when I do (or if I do) ever reach the chapter limits. I will be continuing the story as usual in a second book though, so when we get to the end of this one, don't be alarmed.

Anyway, I hope you enjoyed and let me know what you think about Ace stepping up more this season :)