Newly Revised
"Who the hell are you?" one of them asked.
"Who the hell are you?" Daryl growled right back.
"He's bleeding out," Rick shouted behind them. "We gotta go back. Come around here," he told Maggie. "Put pressure on the knee. Hard! Hard!"
"Why don't you come on outta there? Slow and steady," Daryl told the survivors.
"What happened to him?" the hispanic with long hair asked, his eyes raking over Tea in a way that made her skin crawl as she and Daryl took a step towards each other.
"Got bit," was all he gave the man.
"Bit?" he said as he began pulling the gun from his pants only to barely get it out before Daryl, Tea, and T-Dog all had him in their sights.
"Whoa, whoa, whoa, easy now," Daryl told them. "Ain't no reason someone needs to get hurt."
Glenn rushed into the kitchen, asking them in passing, "Do you have medical supplies?"
"Whoa, where do you think you're going?" a huge black man answered, Tea hoping and praying the man wasn't a physical offender because there was no way she could take a giant down with her tiny status; some fights even she knew she couldn't win without luck.
"Who the hell are you people anyway?" the Hispanic asked.
"Sure as hell don't look like no rescue team," the strawberry blonde man with the handlebar mustache commented.
"Ain' no fuckin' rescue team comin' ta save ya sorry asses," Tea spat.
Glenn came back out from the kitchen with a wheeled cart as a flurry of motion took place while she and Daryl kept their sights locked on the group of prisoners. Rick told them that Hershel was bleeding out as he and Glenn got the man up on the flat surface of the cart and T-Dog went to open the door. The prisoners had a lot of protests against the door being open only to be shot down by Rick because, as he said, they had everything under control; well, almost everything. As soon as the door was opened, another riot walker came in, T-Dog shoving into the wall and holding it there before going under the visor and up through the chin. It was nice that they didn't have to worry about walkers with visors now that they knew how to take care of them but it didn't matter as the others started moving with Hershel. He called for Daryl and Tea as the others ran out the door, Maggie putting pressure on the knee while Glenn and Rick maneuvered the cart. The two of them backed slowly out of the room, Daryl waiting until she was through the door himself although Tea still had her gun trained to the door. After that it was a race to try to get Hershel back to the cell block, thought commotion behind them had them stopping momentarily to hear the prisoners following them. Daryl and Tea took the flank as the others navigated the halls back into the lobby of their cell block and Rick started screaming for Carl to get the door and that Hershel was hurt. Daryl and Tea stayed in the commons as Daryl knocked a bolt while putting his foot on one of the benches, holding his bow ready as Tea stood just off-center behind him with her gun cocked and aimed with two throwing knives between her ring, middle, and pointer fingers of the opposite hand.
"That's far enough," Daryl said as the inmates slowly trickled into the room.
"Cell block C, cell 4. That's mine, gringo," the Hispanic said. "Let me in."
"Nah fuckin' way that's happenin', asshat," Tea shot at him.
"Today's your lucky day, fellas," Daryl added. "You've been pardoned by the state of Georgia. You're free to go."
"What you got going on in there?" one of the others said.
"It ain't none of your concern."
"Don't be telling me what's my concern," the Hispanic said as he grabbed the gun out of his pants and started waving it around.
The big man stepped in as Daryl and Tea geared up to shoot, "Chill man, dude's leg is messed up. Besides we're free now. What're we doing still in here?"
"Man's got a point," Daryl said.
"Yeah, and I gotta check on my old lady," the other tall black man said.
"Group of civilians breaking into a prison you got no business being in," the guy with the gun said. "Got me thinking there ain't no place for us to go."
"Why don't you go find out?" Daryl growled.
"Maybe we'll just be going now," Mr. Handlebars said.
"Hey, we ain't leavin'," the leader said, raising his gun once again.
"You ain't coming in either," T-Dog told him as he came back with his gun raised.
"Hey, this is my house, my rules. I go where I damn well please," the leader tried to command.
"Get a good fuckin' look at 'ya house,' 'cause there ain' nah damn way ya stayin' in our house," Tea told him.
"Who the fuck do you think you are to be telling me what to do, puta?" he spat at her.
"The one that'll be kickin' ya ass ta the curb, cabrone," she shot back.
"This is my damn house!"
"What are you deaf or something?" Daryl said, Tea quickly following him up.
"Shove it up ya ass, tu puta madre. No es tu casa!"
"Huh, stupid bitch knows a little Spanish and thinks she can tell me what to do," the man said. "I guess if you want to stay, we can make some arrangement," he suggested, Daryl bristling at the innuendo.
"Suck ya midget's nuts, cońo," Tea spat at him. "I ain' want nothin' ta do with ya rank ass."
"There ain't nothing for you here. Why don't you go back to your own sandbox?" Daryl growled at him.
"Hey, everyone relax," Rick said when he entered the room, the tension practically palpable. "There's no need for this."
"How many of you are in there?" leader guy asked.
"Too many for you to handle," Rick said seriously.
"You guys rob a bank or something?" he stupidly asked. "Why don't you go take him to a hospital?"
"Are ya an idiot or somethin'? Or are ya jus' that much a an ignorant walnut?" Tea said flabbergasted.
"What you say to me, bitch?" he asked heatedly as the Rick and Daryl shared a look.
"Ya heard me, fuck-face!" Tea shouted back menacingly before Rick stepped in front of her seething form.
"How long you been locked in that cafeteria?" Rick asked.
"Going on like ten months," he answered.
"A riot broke out. Never seen anything like it," the big man said.
"Attica on speed, man," handlebars added.
"You ever heard about dudes going cannibal, dying, coming back to life? Crazy," the smallest dude said; he was seriously only a few inches taller than Tea.
The leader piped back up to explain, "One guard looked out for us, locked us up in the cafeteria. Told us to sit tight, threw me this piece, said he'd be right back."
"Yeah, and that was 292 days ago," the other black man said.
"294 by my calcula-" handlebars started before being told to shut up harshly by the leader.
Tea noticed how handlebars folded into himself with his head down and grimaced at the leader all over again. The poor mustached man feared the guy with the gun more than he feared their people with several weapons pointed at him. Two of the black guys were rather stoic, both in stance and face, while still having a sense of pride and dignity about them. She didn't see them being a problem for them, but the shorter one was obviously on the Hispanic's side and trying very hard to look like he was bigger than he actually was. Tea couldn't help but wonder what kind of relationship the two had to be that close knit while the other three looked like they were just trying to keep the peace by being peaceful. Well, the black men were; handlebars was trying to be invisible in the background so as not to garner the leader's wrath. Tea felt really bad for the poor man since it was plain as day that he had been abused by the two boneheads in charge.
"We were thinking that the Army or the National Guard should be showing up any day now," the big black man said.
"There is no Army," Rick said quietly.
"What do you mean?" the leader asked.
"There's no government, no hospitals, no police. It's all gone," Rick informed them.
After a pregnant pause, handlebars asked, "For real?"
"Nah, we're jus' shite'in' ya and broke inta a prison for shites and giggles," Tea's words dripped with sarcasm.
"What about my moms?" the big man asked.
"My kids? My old lady?" the other black man asked. "Yo, you, you got a cell phone or something that we can call our families?"
"I hate ta inform ya, but there's no communication eitha. I'm truly sorry, but unless ya go out there lookin' for 'em, there's nothin' ta be done," Tea told them, a genuine sympathetic expression gracing her features. "They're gone, or they're gone."
"No phones, no computers. As far as we can see, at least half the population's been wiped out. Probably more," Rick said.
"Ain't no way," the leader argued.
"See for yourself," Rick said.
They led the inmates out into the courtyard after a round of introductions of the inmates, though Tea did not feel like giving her and so stayed tight lipped. Tomas, the leader of the inmates, was holding the gun he'd had since they found them while Oscar had a poker. Big Tiny, whom Tea laughed at because of the contradiction between the name and the man himself, was holding onto a metal pole that she'd given him. Axel was too weak to really be of any help just yet and Andrew was just too quick to jump on Tomas's bandwagon so she didn't give either of them a weapon. It was bad enough that Tomas had a damn gun and was willing to use it without a second's thought. She wasn't willing to put a weapon in the hands of an asshole who wouldn't stop to think about his actions if the Hispanic guy told him to jump. Something just didn't work out with the two aggressive members of the group and she was whatever it was would come back to bite the men in the ass.
"Never thought I'd be so happy to see these fences," lamented Tomas.
"You never said," the small man, Andrew, started. "How the hell did you get in here in the first place?"
"Cut a hole in that fence over there by that guard tower," Daryl told them.
"That easy, huh?" Andrew said.
"Where there's a will there's a way," came his reply.
"Easy for you to say," Andrew contorted.
Big Tiny was using his pole to poke at a walker, asking Rick, "So what is this, like a disease?"
"Yeah, and we're all infected," Rick told him honestly.
"What do you mean infected?" Axel asked. "What, you mean like AIDS or somethin'?"
"If I was to kill you," Daryl started answering, "shoot an arrow in your chest, you'd come back as one of these things. It's gonna happen to all of us."
"Ain't no way these Robin Hood cats responsible for killing all these freaks," Tomas told his group. "Must be fifty bodies out here."
"Fifty-nine," Tea corrected, earning a look from everyone present. "What? I counted." Daryl scoffed and shook his head while Rick chuckled and did the same.
Tomas looked at them with a calculative look, asking, "Where'd you come from?"
"Atlanta," came Rick's reply.
"Where you headed?" Tomas insisted.
Tea snorted as Rick answered in challenge, "For now, nowhere."
Tomas looked around before pointing to the field, "Guess you guys could take that area down by the water. Should be comfortable."
"That ain' fuckin' happenin'," Tea said seriously.
"Bitch, I ain't talkin' to you," Tomas sneered at her.
"Too bad, 'cause I'm one a the leadas a this group," she told him with a cold stare. "And we took this prison while y'all were locked away in a little safe nest. Y'all ain' spilled blood. We have. This prison is ours."
"You snatched the locks off our doors," Andrew said.
"And? Ya could a done it at any time y'all wanted. Ya were jus' a bunch a pussies waitin' for rescue. Fuck, we got young'uns with more balls than ya," Tea goaded. "Although, I got ta ask, which one a ya is the pitcha and which is the catcha?"
She was purposely trying to rile these two up to gauge their reactions, trying to keep her face as malicious as she could while wanting to laugh at the other three's reactions. They were all holding their own smirks or laughter back, Axel literally covering his mouth to hide his own laughter. Tomas and Andrew, however, were practically seething at her innuendo and the look in Tomas's eyes made her know exactly where his mind was headed. The two men in front of the group were not redeemable in any way, but if she could talk to each of the other three alone, she had a feeling they could be beneficial. It wasn't even surprising when Andrew went to make a lunge yelling about how she was just a bitch. Three guns and a crossbows versus one gun, however, and whatever brawl the two inmates thought was going to happen was shut down, though it didn't stop Tomas from running his mouth.
"I ain't no catcher, sweetheart, but I'll gladly be your pitcher," he told her with a sick grin.
"Fuck you will!" Daryl yelled getting ready to take a step forward, only for Tea to grab his arm and give him a look that said she'd take care of it herself.
She quickly drew and threw one of her throwing knives right between the man's legs, slicing a part of the fabric of his jumpsuit just below his junk, all while smiling sweetly, before telling the man, "Ya sure ya want me ta catch? 'Cause I promise ya, ya won' be able ta even pick up that knife before ya dead." The three in the back gave each other looks while Tomas and Andrew looked like they wanted to kill her while she stood there smiling sweetly the entire time, "Nah takas? That's what I fuckin' thought. Again, ya a bunch a pussies whinin' 'bout bein' kicked out when ya weren' the ones spillin' blood."
"She's right. This prison is ours. We'll give you new locks, if that's how you want it," Rick offered.
"This is our prison," Tomas insisted. "We were here first."
"Eva fuckin' heard a seizin' and conquerin'. We seized this damn prison while y'all were sittin' on ya fuckin' asses suckin' each otha's cocks. It's ours," Tea said, once again using historical reference to prove her point.
"We're moving back into our cell block."
"You'll have to get your own," Rick told him.
"It is mine. I've still got personal artifacts in there. That's about as mine as it gets," Tomas argued back getting a little too heated for their liking.
As Daryl and T-Dog got closer with their weapons raised, Tea took note of how the inmates acted once again. Oscar stayed back, not involving himself at all while Big Tiny stood at the back of the prisoners holding his pole. It was written all over his face he was not planning to do anything more than defend and separate anyone who came to blows which only solidified his 'teddy bear' status in Tea's eyes. Tomas and Andrew, however, looked ready to go down in a blaze of bullets if it meant getting their way or shutting her mouth. Tomas, especially, had her pissed off with how he was acting because there was no way in hell the man was in for a smaller crime like breaking and entering or stealing a car. And poor little Axel, she knew she was right about him when the sweet man put himself right between the two groups in an attempt to maintain the peace.
"Maybe let's try to make this work out so everybody wins," he said hopefully.
"I don't see that happening," Tomas said.
"Neither do I," Rick agreed.
"Not with the two a ya, anyway," Tea countered, looking at Andrew and Tomas. "I know murderas and assaultas when I see 'em."
Rick shot her a sideways glance only to see a cold, hard look of confidence on her face that he had seen before during the runs in the winter. They'd run into a couple groups during those months where they would stay hidden and just watch and if Tea had that look, it meant something wasn't sitting right with her and she was completely positive she was right. Tea had promised that she would closely assess anyone the group came across and find the potential immediate threat after what had happened with Shane and Randall. Anything that wasn't immediate could be dealt with on a case by case basis, which was why Rick gave the other three a critical eye as she hadn't said so much as a word about them. She hadn't mentioned them at all or turned her gaze from Tomas and Andrew in any way, which meant that she didn't view the three of them as a even small threat.
"I ain't going back in that cafeteria for one more minute," Tomas said.
"There's the road," Tea offered. "We ain' stoppin' ya."
"Try your luck out there like we did," Daryl agreed.
"There are other cell blocks, too," Axel tried to reason.
Another pregnant pause ensued as Tomas looked around at the other inmates and then the courtyard. "If these four pussies can do all this, the least we can do is take out another cell block."
Tea outright laughed at his words, telling him, "We're the pussies, yet not a single fuckin' one a ya even botha'd ta get out. Ya sat 'round with ya thumbs up ya asses waitin' for shite ta happen 'stead a fightin' ta make that shite happened. Yet ya want ta call us pussies? Pretty sure I got a cock bigga than ya's."
"How can we clear a cell block? We ain't got any weapons," Big Tiny asked, stepping between Tomas and Tea, the two still glowering at each other.
"Atlanta, here will spot us some real weapons," he told him before looking to Rick. "Won't you, boss?"
Rick turned to Tea who squinted her eyes and looked at him, scrunching her nose in a way that said not to, before he asked Tomas, "How stocked is that cafeteria? It must have plenty of food left. Five guys lasting almost a year?"
"It sure as hell don't look like anybody's been starvin'," Daryl chimed in.
"There's only a little left," Tomas said tightly.
"We'll take half," Rick told him. "In exchange, we'll help clear out a cell block."
"Didn't you hear him? There's only a little left," Andrew said.
"And didn' ya hear 'im? Ya can' exactly clear a block out on ya own without any fuckin' weapons, and we sure as hell ain' givin' any 'less ya sweeten the pot for us. Ya eitha give us half a ya damn food in exchange for our help, or we'll throw ya the fuck out a the prison with nothin' but what ya got on ya right now," Tea told them blankly.
"You pay, we'll play," Rick agreed. "We'll clear out a block for you, and you keep to it."
"Alright," Tomas agreed.
"But let's be clear, right 'ere, right now," Tea said, her voice becoming deadly serious as her sweet smile morphed into what Sophia called her death glare, stepping up closer to Tomas. "I see ya anywhere near my family, so much as catch a whiff a ya rank ass, I'll kill ya. I don' give one shite what excuse ya got for it, ya'll be dead 'fore ya can so much as open ya mouth."
"You think I'm scared of a little girl?" Tomas said.
"Should be," T-Dog answered him honestly. "That little girl has already killed five people since this all started."
What he left out was that two had been mercy killings and the other two had been in a kill or be killed situation on a run with Rick. While they counted Shane in that number, they all understood it had been in self defense and not a single one of her kills had been done in malice or anger. However, she had told the group that they needed to refer to her as their resident killer when they met with other people if they wanted to keep the high ground. A group relying on such a small person, and a female at that, for such a dark task would be much scarier than a group relying on one of the men who looked the part would. Rick had thought it was somewhat ingenious, and the look on Axel, Big Tiny, and Andrew's faces at hearing T-Dog's words confirmed that it had indeed been a good strategy to intimidate other groups.
The look Tomas gave Tea upon hearing it though caused her to make a clear face of disgust as he told them, "Deal."
~x~
Carl and Sophia were watching their mothers work on Hershel's stump as it kept bleeding, the two of them worried about the fact that they had already gone through a bunch of rags. Carol was constantly putting pressure on the wound unless she had to switch out soaked towels for clean ones with Lori, eventually moving on to bedsheets. Sophia ran to Tea and Daryl's cell and grabbed the small pouch of dried herbs she'd kept with them for injuries and brought it back down to the women. It seriously irked her, though, when Lori just threw it down on the floor next to them. Even if they were working on the stump, the herbs would help with infection, pain, and swelling once they got the bleeding to stop. In Sophia's eyes, throwing the bag on the ground was like throwing Tea's good intentions on the ground even though those good intentions had helped keep everyone healthy over the winter. She loved her mother just as much as Carl loved his, but they both had formed a bond in how they disliked what their mothers did or had done. They'd grown close enough over the winter to call each other their best friend and basically stuck together unless they were performing their own duties Tea had given them.
"It has to stop eventually, right?" Carol questioned as yet another bloodied wad was handed to Lori.
"It slowed down quite a bit already," Lori answered, though it honestly didn't look like it to anyone else.
"If we can get him through this..." she started before Lori interrupted her.
"When we get him through this," she said.
"We'll need crutches," Carol finished her thought.
"Right now we could use some antibiotics and painkillers, some sterile gauze," Lori said. "There's got to be an infirmary here."
"If there is, we'll find it," Carol told her. "You've gotta be worried sick about delivering the baby."
"Look at me," Lori said, looking over at Carol. "Do I look worried?"
"You look disgusting," Carol said after a brief consideration.
"So do you," Lori laughed. "We'll get through this."
Carl, Sophia, and Beth walked away after the little exchange, Beth heading to the cell she shared with Hershel while the two kids went to Sophia and Carol's cell and sat on the bed. Tea, Rick, Daryl, and T-Dog had all gone to help deal with the inmates, leaving Glenn to watch over Hershel in case the worst happened. Carol and Lori were working on Hershel while his daughters were either by his side or close by. There was no one to go look for the infirmary with everyone else doing other things for the group. Sophia couldn't help but think that, since no one was looking out for them, maybe they could get the supplies they needed. They were the only ones with nothing to do at the moment and it wasn't like they had never done stuff like this before; they'd just never done it by themselves.
"You think we could find the infirmary ourselves?" Sophia asked Carl.
"I think so. Tea's taught us a lot and taken us on runs. She knows we can handle ourselves," he said.
"We gotta wait for sis and your dad to get back, first. We can't leave until they come back."
"If they don't go for the infirmary themselves, we'll find it for them."
~x~
"Pantry's back here," Tomas said as the survivors and inmates walked back into the cafeteria.
"You never tried to break out of here?" T-Dog asked.
"Yeah, we tried to take the doors off," Oscar responded. "But if you made one tiny peep in here, then those freaks'll be lined up outside the door growling, trying to get in. Windows got bar on there that He-Man couldn't get through."
"No bigger than a 5'8"," Axel commented.
"You won't find me complaining," Big Tiny stated. "Doing 15. My left leg can barely fit on one of those bunks."
"Yeah, they don't call him Big Tiny for nothing," Oscar lamented.
"You done jerking each other off?" Tomas cut in. "Sick of waiting back here."
Tea and Rick shared a look before following the inmates back into the kitchen. The look of shock on the survivors' faces at the amount of food might have been comical if it weren't for the fact that half of the amount left could feed them for weeks to come, if not months. Bags upon bags and cans upon cans were still stocked on the shelves; everything from powdered milk and eggs to canned meat that wasn't squirrel, opossum, or rabit to more canned vegetables and boxes of pasta. Tea had stupidly smiled at Daryl and touched his back before heading further into the kitchen and looked at what all was actually in stock while Daryl walked up to Tomas and shined his light in his face.
"This what you call a little bit of food?" he asked
"Goes fast," Tomas retorted, watching Tea walk by and making Daryl want to deck him.
"Mm-hmm," Daryl said dismissively, following after Tea and telling her not to leave his side anymore while they were with the prisoners.
"You can have a bag of corn, some tuna fish-" Tomas started.
"Oi, we said fuckin' half the food, fuck-face," Tea cut him off as she came back out of the deeper parts of the kitchen. "And we fuckin' meant half!"
"What's in there?" Rick asked, turning to the freezer.
Oscar told him not to open it at the same time as Tea tried to warn him what it was but the man had already opened the door and started gagging. Daryl gave Tea a strange look when she almost did, too, the smell of rotting meat pilfering through the air even as Rick slammed the door shut. It wasn't like she hadn't smelled grotesquery before, but the smell of rotting meat on top of nasty inmate on top of the overall smell of decomposing bodies was a whole new level of nasty. Some smells should never be put in one's nose and the last time she'd smelled something so bad since she'd gone to the U.S. Botanical Garden on the same day the corpse flower had bloomed. Tea had left the place with the smell of rotting flesh in her nose and a promise to herself she would never step foot in that garden again. The smell of the rotten meat in the freezer was ten times worse than that damn flower and it turned Tea's stomach horribly.
"Can't wait for my own pot to piss in," Axel said.
Everyone but Daryl carried goods back to the cell block; they had a few bags and a couple boxes of goods which was a bigger haul than they'd had since that first run way back at the quarry. They had barely been able to find enough food over the winter to the point that the dog food Carl had found had looked good. Now they suddenly had enough food for a few months if rationed right, and as most of them had gotten used to eating once or twice a day, rationing wouldn't be a problem. It felt amazing to be able to bring this much food back to the group, especially when Carl and Sophia's eyes lit up at the sight of it. Tea couldn't keep the smile off her face even if she had wanted to knowing that the kids wouldn't have to get by on bone marrow and weeds.
"What you got?" the boy asked.
"Canned beef, canned corn, canned cans," T-Dog answered. "There's a lot more where this came from."
"Any change?" Rick asked Lori as they passed.
"The bleeding's under control and no fever," she said hopefully before turning somber. "But his breath is labored and his pulse is way down and he hasn't opened his eyes yet."
"He jus' lost a leg, Lori," Tea told her with a roll of her eyes. "Give 'im a day or two ta open 'is eyes, and 'e's goin' ta need at least a week 'fore 'e can get up."
"Take my cuffs, put them on him," Rick told her, turning around so she could extract the contraption. "I'm not taking any chances."
Glenn took the cuffs and walked into the cell as Lori followed Rick and asked, "So what about those prisoners?"
"We're gonna help them clear out their own cell block. And then they'll be there, and we'll be here," Rick told her; Tea wasn't trying to eavesdrop, but it was kind of hard when they were all in the same echoing room.
"Living beside each other?" Lori asked.
"I'm not giving up this prison," he told her.
"Do they have guns?"
"I only saw one," Rick told her as she looked away. "Yeah, I don't know if it's gonna work."
"Well, what are your options?"
"Tea thinks two should be killed. The other three, she's up in the air about."
"What do you think?"
"I don't think there's going to be much of a choice," Rick said honestly.
"If that's what you think," she said honestly.
"You," he scoffed. "You say this now..."
"Look, I know that I'm a shitty wife and I'm not winning any mother of the year awards. But I need you to know that not for one second do I think there is malice in your heart. You're not a killer, you don't condone killing, and I know that. Tea's another story, but I'll give her that she has proven to be a capable leader these past months. I still don't trust her, but I trust you. So do whatever you gotta do to keep this group safe," she told him. "And do it with a clear conscious."
Rick walked away after that, though the incredulous look on his face made Tea think that Lori should have just kept her mouth shut as she came out with weapons. She had picked as many blunt weapons as she was able to within their collection so that the prisoners wouldn't be able to do anything against their group. Tomas and Andrew looked at the weapons in disgust as Big Tiny, Oscar, and Axel picked up a couple and tried how they felt in their hands. It was obvious that they had been expecting something more deadly, but there was no way in hell Tea was going to give them anything with a blade just for them to turn on her and hers.
"Why do I need this," Tomas asked holding up the hammer in his hands, and then the gun, "when I got this?"
"You don't fire guns," Daryl told him quietly. "Not unless your back's up against a wall. Noise attracts them. It really riles 'em up."
"We'll go in two by two," Rick told them. "Daryl will run point with Tea. I'll bring up the rear with you," he said pointing at Andrew, Tea noticing he and Tomas sharing a look. What is it with Toms being douche bags? she thought to herself as Rick continued giving instructions. "Stay tight, hold formation, no matter how close the walkers get. Anyone breaks ranks, we could all go down. Anyone runs off, they could get mistaken for a walker, end up with an ax to the head."
"And that's where you aim," Daryl informed them. "These things only go down with a head shot."
"You ain't gotta tell us how to take out a man," Tomas said, sharing another look with Andrew.
"Ya ain' got ta tell me eitha, but these ain' men. Damn things ain' even human, ain' even animals. They're somethin' else entirely," Tea told them.
"Let me ask you, why's a piece of ass like you coming with us anyway?" Tomas asked before sneering. "What? Wanna come join our cell block? I wouldn't mind taming that mouth of yours."
"I'm comin' so I can kill ya when ya fuck up," she told him sternly.
"'Sides, she don't need to be tamed," Daryl chimed in.
"You can't seriously be into this redneck gringo," Tomas said to her.
"Serious as the dead walkin'," she replied. "Now pick up ya weapon and rememba, go for the brains."
They left the commons and began working their way through the prison with the convicts in tow and Tea seriously wanting to bash Tomas's head in. Daryl kept his crossbow aimed straight ahead of them in case anything popped out that was an immediate threat while Tea held her throwing knives in between her fingers, but otherwise they were silent. The inmates were grumbling amongst themselves from time to time and really grating on the nerves of the two hunters as they were going to draw attention to themselve. Tea had almost turned back to snap at them to shut the fuck up, but left it alone since if they brought walkers down on them, she could easily just throw the other men to the things and take her men back to their cell block. If push came to shove, she'd just go ahead and kill the bastards herself and be done with the matter entirely.
~x~
It was silent in the corridor as the two kids strode side by side, guns out, switching off who faced forward and who covered their backs. Neither spoke as they simply followed the map they'd found in what Tea called the bird's nest up above the commons. There were a few corpses and dried puddles of blood on the ground as they walked, but they hadn't seen any walkers as of yet. They had taken off as soon as Tea and the others had left with T-Dog remaining in the commons on watch duty and Glenn on death duty. It was easy for the two kids to get away without notice and the infirmary was only a few corridors away with no cells, just break rooms. It was well stocked when they reached it, though some of the supplies they knew nothing about and didn't think they could use. What they did know, however, went right into the duffles they had each brought; gauze, surtures, ointments, and medicine all went into the bags. They were smiling from ear to ear at each other about halfway through gathering the supplies when they heard the groaning. Cautiously, they moved as a unit to find the source of the noise to see three walkers coming at them from the distance. Carl and Sophia quickly dispatched two of the walkers one right after the other before Carl took the last one down and they went back to their bags. The sense of pride they shared was palpable between them as they headed back to the cells, walking back into the block with their bags in hand, and shut the door behind them.
"I thought you were organizing the food," Glenn said as they walked up.
"Even better," Carl said with a proud smile, bringing his bag into the cell with Hershel. "Check it out."
Carol gasped while asking, "Where did you get this?"
"From the infirmary," Sophia answered, bringing in her own bag.
"Wasn't really much left we could use, but we cleared it out," Carl said.
"You went by yourselves?" Lori asked, not at all happy with the revelation.
"Yeah," Carl replied proudly.
"Are you crazy?" she asked him angrily.
"No big deal. I killed two walkers, Phia took down one."
"You," Lori sighed. "Do you see this?! This is was with the whole group."
"We needed supplies so we got them," Carl argued.
"I appreciate that, but-"
"Then get off my back!" Carl yelled at her.
"Carl!" Beth said. "She's your mother. You can't talk to her like that."
Carl stormed off as Sophia faced both mothers in defiance, "We did like Tea trained us to do, kept each other's back. There weren't any cells and the only walkers were the doctor and a couple nurses. It was an easy run."
"I don't care," Carol chastised. "You had no business going after that stuff on your own. Look what's happened to Hershel! What would you have done if you had found more than you could take? You were foolish."
"We did what we had to do! No one else could do it and Hershel needed the stuff! It's not like we don't know what we're doing! I'm a better shot than you!"
"That is enough, young lady!" her mother told her stiffly. "I don't care if you are close to Tea or not, I am still your mother!"
"Then act like it!" she said before storming off herself and joining Carl in the cell with the food.
This time they really did stay sorting the food until they had it all accounted and dealt with. Carl asked Sophia if her mother was any more understanding than his own only to be told that neither of them cared about what they did aside from being angry that they did it. They were quietly discussing how Tea might react, neither of them wanting to upset her more than they cared about upsetting their mothers, when they heard Beth's cries for help. They were at the door to the cell before anyone else before Lori pushed past them and ran into the cell as Hershel stopped breathing. She began to give him CPR as Beth cried in Maggie's arms and Sophia and Carl watched with both hope and fear. Lori went to give the man another breath only for Hershel's arms to come up around her head and grab at her. Both Greene girls grabbed for her while Carl and Sophia unholstered their weapons and took aim, scared out of their wits but knowing that it was Hershel as a walker or the group. They both took breaths of relief when the man let go of Lori and started breathing normally again. It was then and there that the two kids sat on the steps that led to the second floor and waited for the others to return.
~x~
"Man, it's too damn dark in here," Oscar complained.
"You gotta hold it up high out in front of you," Daryl told the man in regards to his flashlight.
"Ya goin' ta hear 'em long 'fore ya see 'em," Tea told him.
After a few more feet, they could hear clanging sounds to which Axel stupidly started yelling about the damn things coming at them. Daryl and Tea both held up a halting hand, waiting for the walkers to round the corner to find out how much of a threat they were dealing with. Only two walkers to shuffle their way around a corner, Tea and Daryl ready to take care of them since they were easy pickings for the three survivors who knew what they were doing. For the inmates, though? As Daryl counted to three using his fingers to indicate a coordinated attack, they charged right through him and Tea with a battle cry, initiating what amounted to riot behavior. Big Tiny held onto one walker as Tomas wailed into it, Axel taking a hit here and there before producing a shiv from his ankle and stabbing the thing in the stomach over and over again. Andrew and Oscar were in a corner kicking a walker Oscar had pushed down viciously. None of them were doing any actual damage to the walkers at all, and the three survivors just gave each other a look that showed just how bewildered they were.
After the riot was over and the walkers had finally been dealt with properly, Daryl restated, "It's gotta be the brain. Not the stomach, not the heart. The brain," he said as he shot a walker in the head.
"I hear you," Axel said. "The brain."
Oscar managed to clonk the next one in the head with his hammer, dropping it permanently, "Like that?"
"Uh-huh."
They killed a few more walkers when Rick reiterated, "Stay in tight formation. No more prison riot crap."
As the walkers started coming in more force, the group took turns waving their weapons and taking out walkers. Daryl had taken to keeping Tea behind him, taking point with Rick instead so that she could keep a better eye on the situation. She watched as Big Tiny started to freak out and tried to reach him to help him through it so that they could continue on their way without losing a member. He had backed away and down the corridor before she could disengage from the formation safely, though, and by the time she got there it was too late. Tea watched as he pushed one walker away and then killed another, not able to get a clear throw for her knives and wasn't able to get to him in time as she watched the walker behind him. It broke free of it's confines by pulling its hand off, literally, and as if it were wielding a blade, it cut right through Tiny's shoulder just as she was able to kill it. Rick rushed over to help them as another walker came up towards them, but Tomas pulled his gun out and wasted three of his bullets on the one walker.
"Are ya fuckin' shite'n me right now?! We said no fuckin' guns! Are ya that fuckin' stupid?!" she asked as she whirled around on the man before turning back to Tiny.
"I'm telling you, I don't feel anything. It's just a scratch," Tiny told them after she and Rick looked at the wound.
"I'm sorry man," Rick said.
"I can keep fighting!" he pleaded.
"Didn't you cut the old guy's leg off to save his life?" Andrew asked.
"Look at where the scratch is," Rick said.
"Guys, I'm fine!" Tiny insisted. "Just..I'm fine. Look at me. I'm not changing into one of those things."
"Rick, he's right 'bout that. We should let 'im fight as long as 'e wants," Tea said.
"We could always lock him up," Oscar suggested. "Quarantine him."
In the short pause it took for Rick to think about it, the choice was taken away from all of them thanks to the Hispanic bombshell. Tomas took his hammer and began wailing on the man more violently than necessary, splattering himself in blood and getting some on Tea who trained her face to conceal the disgust and horror at what she had just witnessed. While looking at crime scenes and crime scene photos was fine, she had never seen such brutality in what was straight up murder, let alone so callously as he and Rick stood staring at each other. Tea was took the lead for the group, keeping herself to where she could watch the inmates in her peripherals at all times, not trusting for a single second that Tomas or Andrew wouldn't try something. Daryl and Rick were taking up the rear as they entered a laundry room, for which Tea said a silent jubilee. She was thinking about how they'd need those supplies if they were going to get Hershel's bleeding under control when Rick threw his keys on the floor towards Tomas.
"I ain't opening that," the man said.
"Yes you are," he told him. "If you want this cell block, you're gonna open that door. Just the one, not both of them. Because we need to control this."
Tomas once again shared a look with Andrew as he bent down to get the keys between his legs. Tea was watching the two of them raptly while the others entered the room and fanned out into the room behind her. She was certain the two convicts were going to try to pull something while they were trying to clear the block. There were too many risks when it came to Tomas and Andrew and the last thing she was about to do was to let the two men out of her sight. A promise was a promise, and she'd promised the group she would make sure she knew and took care of any potential threat. She took her own words seriously, all the way back from when Jim had made her promise to look out for the group when they'd left him by the roadside.
"You bitches ready?" Tomas asked the group while standing in front of the double doors, pretending they were stuck. "I got this," he told them confidently before opening both doors at the same time.
"I said one door!" Rick yelled when a large group of walkers was unleashed into the room.
"Shit happens!" was his reply.
Tea covered for Daryl with her knives while he knocked his bolts and the others began fighting the onslaught as well0. She couldn't see everyone else fighting as she fought of the walkers coming at her, Daryl, and T-Dog and she couldn't hear anything with the onslaught of walkers coming at them. The current didn't seem to want to slow down as more walkers piled into the room, Tea catching glimpse of Tomas near Rick swinging his blade a little too recklessly. She couldn't tell if the swing of the blade had been an accident or not, but the man throwing a walker at their other leader pretty well cemented in her mind that it hadn't.
"Daryl!" she shouted, indicating to Rick struggling on the ground with a walker on top of him.
"Watch the gap!" he warned her as he went to help their friend.
Tea made sure Daryl's position was covered along with T-Dog, the two of them swinging at the last few walkers coming into the room. They finally got all the walkers dealt with almost as soon as Daryl managed to get Rick to his feet. For a moment, everyone stood still while they watched and waited for one of the dead things to pop back up. Tomas and Rick were in a stare down while the other inmates were looking around looking scared out of their wits. At least Axel did; Oscar was obviously distressed, but he wasn't scared, and Andrew was a raging ball of burning shit in Tea's eyes. She could tell the short man was gearing up to make a move himself when Tomas turned fully to Rick.
"It was coming at me, bro," he tried to reason, only for Tea to scoff.
"Yeah, yeah, I get it," Rick said. "I get it. Shit happens."
They stared at each other for a moment until the showdown came to an end with Rick's own machete split the man's skull open. It had only taken the split second it took for Tomas to start making his move for Rick to move. Tomas had failed to realize that while he had been stuck in a room for nearly ten months, Rick and their group had been fighting the entire time. Their reaction times were much greater than that of inmates that hadn't had to so much as deal with a fly since it started. Andrew screamed as soon as Rick's machete came down into Tomas's head and went to charge him with his baseball bat. Rick easily kicked the man down onto the ground as Tea pulled out her throwing knives and readied them, not willing to take a chance that the man would be like Tomas. As soon as he had the chance to, Andrew went to go through the double doors they had just cleared of walkers, but he hadn't even gotten to stand up before two knives pierced through his skin in his shoulder and calf. Even being hobbled didn't stop him, though, as he picked himself up and ran down the corridor to get away from them. Tea pulled another knife only for Rick to stop her and go after him himself, telling everyone else to watch Oscar and Axel.
Axel immediately looked like he was going to have a nervous breakdown or grease his drawers; he looked exactly like the kind of man he was. He was a scared man who had been beat down to the point that his will had been broken, to the point that he had no shame to beg for his life. Oscar, on the otherhand, was cool as a cucumber, his face as stoic as ever with little to no guilt on it and absolutely no malice. He had resigned himself; if he was going to die, he would die, and the same went for if he would live. It took a lot of strength to simply accept the inevitable like he was and Tea had to take note of both men's actions in order to come to her own conclusion. Andrew and Tomas definitely were the harder criminals, but Oscar and Axel? She'd be surprised if either of them were even in here for anything overly aggressive if it hadn't been a life or death situation. They just did not have the look in their eyes nor the sense of pride that came with being an arrogant ass-hat.
"Get down on your knees," Daryl told them, he and T-Dog roughly pushing the men down.
"We don't have no affiliation to what just happened," Axel said. "Tell him, Oscar."
"Stop talkin', man," was all the other man told him.
A few minutes later, Rick came back in and let them know that Andrew had been dealt with while handing Tea back her knives. He took over Daryl's place beside Oscar and held his Python to the man's head as he grilled him over and over again about whether or not he knew what Tomas and Andrew had planned. Tea was contemplating whether or not she wanted to speak up since both men on their knees were completely innocent. Whatever they'd done to be sent to prison, they hadn't been changed from who they were before. There were people like Tomas and Andrew who were evil through and through and then there were people like these two who wound up in prison due to circumstance. Unlike what Rick seemed to think, Tea knew for a fact that not all inmates deserved to be held in state prisons and that not all inmates were bad news.
That was part of the reason she'd agreed to work with the Atlanta Police Department after she'd changed her major from cognitive and behavioral psychology to forensic psychology in grad school. Patterns in behaviors and the connection between addiction and abuse were far more helpful than simply trying to figure out why the mind worked how it worked. It was because of her ability to see those patterns and connections that she had been so good at the APD that she had managed to get a permanent job under her mentor, Dr. Eastman. Rick didn't seem in the mood to listen at the moment to anything she would say when she tried to step in and offer her own judgment only to be metaphorically knocked down by the man. All he cared about was that they were inmates and two of their number had tried to kill them and that was all he needed to know.
"We didn't have nothin' to do with that," Oscar tried to assure him.
"You didn't know? You knew. Daryl, let's end this now!" he said, turning towards Axel as Daryl held his knife to Oscar's throat.
Tea stepped between them and told him, "Rick! Enough! These two ain' got shite ta do with the otha two. Doubt Tiny did eitha."
"Sir, sir, you gotta listen to me, please!" Axel begged from behind Tea. "It was them that was bad, it wasn't us. You saw what he did to Tiny! He was my friend. Please, we ain't like that. I like my pharmaceuticals, but I'm no killer," Axel pleaded. "Oscar here, he's a B and E, and he ain't very good at it either! We ain't the violent kind, they were! Please, I swear to God! I wanna live!"
By now, Tea was having a hard time listening to the man and his words; they mirrored some of the ones she'd used when she was little little and hadn't yet realized that was what was wanted of her. Ever since, Tea had been silent but she'd never known a man to beg and plead so passionately for anything other than a woman. Even then, the men who she'd known would either never own up to making a mistake or think flowers and chocolate would sweep everything under the rug. Then again, she hadn't met a lot of men she'd paid attention to fully since the ones she knew that weren't married were either gay, her age and therefore stupid and immature like most young twenty year olds, a misogynistic asshole, or way too old, as in nearing her own father's age. It was difficult to listen to a full-grown man begging for mercy from someone she had considered a good man up until now. She could understand his intentions to protect the group, but Tea also couldn't stand by and simply ignore what was happening to the men when her entire job revolved around looking for the guilt or innocence of jailed individuals.
"I ain't ever pleaded for my life," the Oscar told Rick while staring him straight in the eye. "And I ain't about to start now. So you do what you gotta do."
"We'll finish setting you up with a cell block," Rick told him after a few minutes.
"Rick, it's jus' the two a 'em. Maybe-," Tea started, but was immediately cut down by Rick.
Since the way to the cell block was already clear of walkers, all they had to do was unlock it, which Daryl did and then opened the door while Rick pushed Axel in. Even Tea had to admit that it was cruel what they were doing now as she saw the state of the cell block. The entire thing was full of prisoners that had been hog tied and shot in the head in every single cell. There were bloodstains everywhere, and it reeked more than the outside with all those walkers as it hadn't gotten any airflow since the start. Rick wouldn't listen to her at all, though, as she tried to plead the mens' case to bring them back to the group. It was just two men, one who probably didn't even know how to throw a proper punch, and they were leaving them with at least a dozen bodies to deal with and a bloody place to sleep. Tea felt uneasy letting the men sleep in the block with how it looked, but Rick and Daryl both only told her it wasn't happening.
"Oh man," Axel said as he folded in on himself once again. "I knew these guys. They were good men."
"Let's go," Rick told their people.
"Man, you're just going to leave us in here? This is sick!" Oscar said.
"Rick, he's right," Tea tried yet again to get a word in.
"We're locking down this cell block," he said, ignoring her once again and starting to really piss her off. "From now on, this part of the prison is yours. Take it or leave it. That was the deal."
"You think this is sick?" Daryl tried to comfort them. "You don't wanna know what's outside."
"Consider yourselves the lucky ones," Rick told them, walking away.
"Sorry about your friends, man," Daryl told them before following after Rick only to stop after a few steps to wait for Tea with a dirty look since she was still talking to the convicts.
"Try takin' the bodies outside and burnin' 'em," Tea told the inmates with pity in her voice. "And give me some time. I'll do what I can ta help ya."
"Why would you do that?" Oscar asked.
"'Cause I can read people easily," she told him. "And y'all could do us more good in our group than at arms length."
~x~
As they walked back into the cell block, they were met with Carl, who announced, "Hershel stopped breathing. Mom saved him."
"It's true," said Glenn.
"Still no fever," Lori informed them.
"Good," Tea said as Rick went over to watch the man.
Tea was stood at the entrance to the cell in front of Daryl and behind Carl and Sophia while she watched the people around Hershel. Many gasped in delight as the man woke up for the first time since the morning and grasped Rick's hand. He looked up at him with gratitude while Beth cried in Maggie's arms, everyone smiling as Rick replaced his hand with Beth's. The two farmer's daughters kept crying in happiness while they were watching their dad while the rest of the group stood around smiling. Daryl reached out and grabbed Tea's hip and pulled her back into him, kissing her ear as her hands came up to hold onto the arms he'd wrapped around her. It was as if the weight of everything that had happened during the day just left her and she sighed as she laid her head against his shoulder and closed her eyes.
"Tea, could I talk to you for a second," Lori asked as she came out of the cell.
"Yeah, sure," she replied, sighing in frustration before leaving Daryl's arms and following her out into the commons.
"Carl and Sophia went to find the infirmary themselves," she informed Tea. "They didn't even tell us they were going."
"Huh, guess I'll have ta talk ta them 'bout lettin' ya know what they're doin'," Tea told her, turning to head back into the cell block before Lori called her back.
"They could have died because of you and your so-called training! They're like this because you're always filling their heads with delusions of heroism!"
"Delusions of..." Tea almost laughed. "Lori, I ain' sayin' that runnin' off without tellin' ya was right, but they did what was best for the good of the group. They got what ya needed ta propaly treat Hershel and all ya can do is bitch at 'em! I undastand ya anga in the moment. But ya can' say that lookin' back when the moment's faded ya can' see they did good? I ain' condonin' it and I sure as shite am goin' ta have a talkin' ta them as their leada, but damn if I ain' also gonna praise 'em for a job well done. The only thing they did wrong was not tellin' ya where they were goin'."
"You can't honestly think that it is a good idea to let two twelve year olds go out on their own for supplies."
"Nah, I don' think it's a good idea, but what's done is done. No point in bustin' their balls ova a job well done, and I ain' goin' ta, eitha. They'll get a jus' punishment for what they did, but they'll also be praised for it."
"Of course you'd say that. They're not your children," Lori spat at her.
"Nah, they're not, Lori, but can ya even say ya or Carol have been bein' good parents ova the winta? I'm the one keepin' their heads on straight. I'm the one givin' 'em someone ta talk ta when they couldn' talk ta ya or Cars and Rick wasn' around for Carl! I'm the one teachin' 'em things they need to know ta savive! I've tried tellin' ya 'bout what Carl was goin' through and ya let it go in one ear and out the otha! I've tried talkin' ta ya 'bout what happened with Shane. I've tried clearin' the air with ya 'til I was blue in the face, but ya don' wanna listen ta a damn thing I got ta say. And I honestly don' know why. I don' know what I eva did ta ya ta make ya hold such a fuckin' grudge against me that ya can' even listen when I'm talkin' 'bout ya own damn kid. Don' know if it was Shane's advances or me not likin' domestic work, but ya ain' liked me since the quarry, and I ain' gonna pretend I like ya. At least Carol had a fuckin' reason ta hold a grudge afta I brought Phia back and she'd changed a lot and grew attached ta me. But ya? Who the fuck knows?"
"Look how you treated Shane!"
"Look how he treated me!" Tea yelled right back. "Look what he tried ta do ta the both a us! That's what ya don' wanna fuckin' listen ta! That asshole tried ta rape us, Lori! He tried ta fuckin' take us by force! And ya still fuckin' defendin' the bastard! I get that ya loved him, I get it, I do. It might a been a different way than ya love Rick, but ya loved Shane more'n ya willin' ta admit even ta yaself. Hell, ya can' tell me ya didn' like 'im 'fore this all went down! Ya husband wasn' even gone a whole month 'fore ya started fuckin' Shane! Ya might love Rick, but ya also loved Shane. And it's all but killed ya fuckin' marriage and torn ya son away from ya. But that shite ain' on me. And I ain' ya blame board ya can pin shite onta every time ya want a point blame at anyone but yaself."
"That's not what I'm doing," Lori tried to say.
"Yeah, it is. Ya blame everyone but yaself for ya actions and then blame everyone else for tryin' ta fuckin' correct ya mistakes. Lori, I'm tired," Tea admitted quietly with a sigh. "I'm tired a explainin' myself ta ya. Tired a tryin' ta make ya undastand. Ya wanna come at me for shite otha people decide ta do on their own, fine. But don' fuckin' expect me ta play ya damn game anymore."
She didn't even give Lori a chance to respond before she walked out of the cell and over to the one the kids were sitting in looking downtrodden. Tea could tell that both of them were upset with how their mothers had treated them for going on their run and didn't want to discourage them any further. It really wasn't their fault that they had done it; she could admit that she had taught the kids how to do everything they had needed to do to go on that run. She could also admit that everything she'd done was to encourage the kids to be independent and able to fend for themselves, which might have also given them the idea to go find the infirmary, too. Even though she was loathe to admit it, Lori might have actually been right about how her influence was affecting the children in a bad way. Carl and Sophia were looking down at their hands, clearly upset and thinking they were going to get in trouble with her on top of their mothers.
"Are you gonna yell at us too?" Carl asked.
"What? Nah! Why would I?" Tea said.
"Are you angry at us?" Sophia asked.
"Seriously? Ya askin' me that? Nah, I'm proud a ya for doin' somethin' so important for the group. Howeva, ya put yaselves at risk not lettin' anyone else know. Unless ya get the permission from an adult, ya stuck on guard duty. That means, any time Rick, Daryl, and I aren' in this block and if T-Dog, Glenn, and Maggie are busy, y'all will be in this block protectin' our people 'less ya get permission from an adult. Ya job will last 'til ya needed elsewhere or turn thirteen," she told them.
"A year?!" they simultaneously yelled.
"Ay, it ain' the worst punishment, and we can talk 'bout guard duty outside the block durin' the day when it comes up. Point is, ya gonna be on guard duty for a year 'fore ya can go out on ya own again. And even then, ya got ta prove what ya can do. Okay? This was a good test run, but ya done fucked up not tellin' anyone ya whereabouts. Ya proved ya got the capability, but not the maturity. Not jus' yet, anyways. So do ya best on guard duty, okay?"
They both hung their heads but agreed that their punishment was fair and it still gave them a chance to have more responsibility towards the group while also letting them know exactly where they went wrong. It was almost the same argument from Carol that she'd gotten from Lori, but Tea shut her down completely by telling her it was that or they go on runs with the others. Carol was so much easier to deal with than Lori because she would buckle with some extra force. Tea didn't enjoy using intimidation tactics on members of the group, but since both mothers wouldn't listen to their kids or her about their kids, she had deemed it necessary to end the matter once and for all. The woman conceded and said she'd let Lori know since most of the people in the group had already heard her and Lori's spat. Letting out a long sigh, Tea went to her cell to relax and found Daryl waiting there, already on the bed with his boots off. Ridding herself of her weapons, she crawled her way into his arms, laying down against his chest as his arm wrapped around her, the both of them falling asleep after the events of the day.