Surviving the Dead
I was starting to head up into the guard tower to join Maggie taking over Glenn's shift when I heard gunshots go off in the prison, I rushed back down and joined up with Rick as we ran to the others
"Walkers in D!" Glenn shouted at us
"What about C?!" Rick asked
"Clear." Sasha answered as her, Daryl and Tyresse came out of C block, "We locked the gates to the tombs. Hershel's on guard."
"It ain't a breach." Daryl tells him as we start to head towards D block
"We followed the plan." Sasha adds
We run into the cell block, me and Daryl start to head up the stairs, "Daryl!" Rick yelled at him and Daryl tossed him the gun he was holding
"I got it. Are you bit?" I hear Rick asking people as I saw a little boy on the ground crawling away from a walker, I ran over picking him up then shot the walker in the head and handed the boy to Karen. I stabbed another walker in the head when one grabbed me but Glenn quickly got it.
"Are we clear down here?" Rick asked us
"Yeah" I answered and followed Daryl back up the stairs with Rick following shortly after, Glenn was already up there when a walker came out of a cell and grabbed him
"Get down!" Daryl told him and shot the walker in the head through the bars
"Thanks"
Rick moved the blanket aside and we look in, "Oh it's Patrick" Daryl says and I hang my head down. We look at the woman laying in the cell who hadn't turned yet and Rick looks at Daryl, "I got it" Daryl tells him and shots his bolt into her head. Rick and Glenn moved away and I waited for Daryl, "You alright?" He asked and I nodded my head.
I walk over to Rick with Daryl behind me when we hear a growling, I look into a locked cell and saw Charlie move towards the door, or what used to be Charlie, I looked at Daryl then back at Charlie grabbing my knife and killing him.
"No bites. No wounds. I think he just died." Rick points out to us as we look at Charlie's body
"Horribly, too. Pleurisy aspiration." Dr. S mentioned
"Choked to death on his own blood. Caused those trails down his face." Hershal adds
"I've seen them before on a walker outside the fences." Rick points out
"I saw them on Patrick, too." Daryl says
"They're from the internal lung pressure building up- like if you shake a soda can and pop the top. Only imagine your eyes, ears, nose, and throat are the top." Dr. S said
"It's a sickness, from the walkers?" I asked him
"No, these things happened before they were around. Could be pneumococcal. Most likely an aggressive flu strain."
"Someone locked him in just in time." Hershal says
"No, Charlie used to sleepwalk, he locked himself in." I tell him and Daryl puts his hand on my shoulder, Charlie was someone I was kind of flirting with and hooked up with after what happened at the Big Spot
"Hell, he was just eating barbecue yesterday. How could somebody die in a day just from a cold?" Daryl asked
"I had a sick pig, it died quick. Saw a sick boar in the woods." Rick replied
"Pigs and birds. That's how these things spread in the past. We need to do something about those hogs." Hershal inputs
"Maybe we got lucky. Maybe these two cases are it." Dr. S said
"Haven't seen anybody be lucky in a long time. Bugs like to run through close quarters. Doesn't get any closer than this." I tell them
"All of us in here, we've all been exposed." Hershal tells us and I looked from Daryl to Charlie, just great.
"Patrick was fine yesterday, and he died overnight. Two people died that quick?" Carol asked as we sat around the table in the library for our meeting, "We'll have to separate everyone that's been exposed."
"That's everyone in that cell block. That's all of us. Maybe more." Daryl pointed out
"We know that this sickness can be lethal. We don't know how easily it spreads. Is anyone else showing symptoms that we know of?" Hershal asked
"We can't just wait and see. And there's children. It isn't just the illness. If people die, they become a threat." Carol says and I look at her, she's changed a lot since she lost her daughter
"We need a place for them to go. They can't stay in D. We can't risk going in there to clean it up." Hershal mentions
"We can use cell block A." I point out
"Death row? I'm not sure that's much of an upgrade." Glenn said
"It's clean. That's an upgrade. Think that'll work for Dr. S?" Daryl asked Hershal
"I'll help Caleb get it set up."
We hear a woman coughing and we all stand up and head to the door, "You okay?" I hear Tyresse ask and watch as him and Karen walk by
"Mm-hmm."
"You sure? You don't sound so good." Carol tells them walking out the door
"We're just taking her back to my cell so she can rest."
"Tyresse, I don't think that's a good idea." Hershal says to him
"Why? What's going on now?" Karen asked
"We think it's a flu or something. That's how Patrick died." Glenn replied
"Judith is in that cell block. She's vulnerable. Anyone that may be sick or even exposed should stay away." I said to her
"It killed Patrick?"
"She's gonna be okay. Now that we know what Patrick died from we can treat it, right?" Tyresse asked as well
"Don't panic. We're going to figure this out. But we should keep you separated in the meantime. We'll have Caleb take a look at you. I'll see what we have in the way of medications." Hershal says
"David from the Decatur group, he's been coughing, too." Karen tells us
"I'll get him. There's some empty clean cells in the tombs, right?" Glenn asked Sasha as he walked away
"Yeah, we'll meet you there."
"Okay. Come on. Let's get you settled." I tell Karen putting my arm around her shoulder following Glenn.
"Rick! Daryl!" Maggie yelled at them as the walkers started piling up on the fence, I grabbed a crowbar and started killing them when Rick and Daryl came over
"The noise drew 'em out and now this part's starting to give." I tell them then go back to killing them
"Are you seeing this?" Sasha asked from next to me and I followed her gaze, I saw dead rats on the ground in front of the gate, "Is someone feeding these things?"
"Heads up." Daryl warned as the fence started to bend more
"This part of the fence, now!" Sasha says and we stab more
"Hold on, hold on. Hey, hey, hey." Rick yells and we stand back
"It's gonna give! It's gonna give!" Glenn says and we start pushing on the fence holding it although I'm not sure what good it's gonna do
"Everybody back! Come on, back, now." Daryl yells and grabs my arm pulling me back
"The fence keeps bending in like that, those walkers are coming over it." I point out
"Daryl, get the truck." Rick tells him and I look at him, "I know what to do."
I stand in the court yard looking down at Rick and Daryl, who was driving the truck in the field, as Rick took the pigs and dropped them out there. It was horrible yes, but it drew them away for now. I watched as Daryl drove back through the gate and I cleared my throat trying to get rid of the tickle that I've had since earlier.
A/N: I hope everyone is enjoying it so far, I'm sorry the chapters are so short but I'll try to make them longer.