Blood Doesn't Mean Family

Chapter Ten: Clear

In the dark of the morning group one, Raven, Rick, Duane, and Maggie all headed out on foot. Glenn was driving the others in the RV to the meeting point, Morgan went with that group in case they ran into any trouble on the road. The ones on foot left first and the others were to leave half an hour later once the sun was up. Half the group had slept uneasy with the day ahead heavy in their minds. The others who were more seasoned to this way of living slept no different to any other night. The four on foot made it to the meeting point in good time and cleared out the few staggering walkers who wondered the road. They grew more on edge as every minute passed by until the RV finally arrived. Morgen was the first one out of it.

"What took you guys so long?" Rick asked. What should have only taken the RV twenty minutes took almost two hours. "You only had to load them up and drive down the road."

"I wish that was it. Beth cut her wrist, Carol heard the mirror break and was able to put pressure on it. Hershel stitched her up but the tension in there is pretty thick." Morgan explained. Maggie overheard the two men talking and her face dropped at the mention of her sister. She raced into the RV. Glenn joined them outside, his face looking worried.

"Are we still doing this?" Glenn asked, looking between the two older men.

"We're here, might as well give it a go." Rick said, going to the RV. It took a while to get everyone out of the RV, with their bags and weapons. Rick instructed everyone into a circle. He would lead, Morgan and Hershel would bring up the rear. On one side Glenn and Maggie were paired up. On the other side Raven and Duane were paired up. Everyone else was in the middle. Everyone excluding Beth had a weapon of some kind. Even the kids all had knives much too their mother's dislike.

"If they get separated and a walker comes at them, they are dead. A knife gives them a chance." Rick had said then gave the kids and the unexperienced women a quick run down on the best ways to kill a walker. He demonstrated on a wondering walker how to kick out the kneecap and then stab it in the eye while it was down. The young girls looked on in horror. Carl payed close attention to his father's demonstration.

It was mid day by the time they finally left the RV all information. They moved through the trees slowly. As they got closer Glenn took out one walker to the left and Duane took out another that approached from the right. There were probably only two dozen walkers wondering around the outside of the prison. As long as they stayed close and moved together it would be easy to get behind the fence. But of course, nothing in this world was easy. Five of the closest walkers approached from the right, the others were much further away and didn't notice the quite group of people.

Duane stepped away from the group to pick a few of the walkers off before they got too close. He took the first two down with ease. The other three were closer together so Raven moved forward to help him out. While Duane dealt with an older male walker Raven slid her screwdriver into the eye of a teenage boy. She was caught off guard when it kept moving even with the screwdriver deep in its eye. It grabbed onto her shirt pulling her close. Without the second arm she was unable to push it away. She pulled away from it but that only resulted in her losing balance and pulling them both to the ground. Duane spun at the sound of dead weight hitting the ground. He jumped in their direction grabbing the boy's shirt and holding him back as he pressed his knife into the thing's skull. Finally, it went still, and Duane through it off Raven.

"Carl!" Lori yelled and the group froze as every set of dead eyes inside and outside the prison turned in their direction. Raven watched from her place on the ground as Carl darted from the group in the direction of the remaining walker. He kicked at its knee like Rick had shown them and the dead woman dropped to the ground. He stabbed his short knife into the back of its head. Raven climbed to her feet as Duane moved to Carl. Duane grabbed him by the shoulder and pushed him back towards the group. Carl glared at Duane.

"I helped you," Carl hissed.

"We didn't ask for your help," Duane pushed him again.

"Both of you stop it we have to move," Morgan said through gritted teeth. He was sure these people were going to get them killed. If not today, soon.

"Come on," Rick said loudly, there was no need to be quite any longer. The kids rejoined the group, Lori grabbing onto Carl's hand tightly. The group picked up their pace, Maggie taking out one walker as it got too close. As soon as they reached the fence Rick dropped to a knee, grabbing the wire cutters from his bag he cut a straight line in the fence. Once it was big enough to fit through, he jumped up. "Get in," he said holding the hole open. The group scurried through the opening and Rick climbed through after the last person was in. Glenn was ready with the bike locks, weaving them through the mesh as soon as Rick was in. Two dead ones hit the mesh fence just as Glenn did up the last lock. Morgan took care of them in quick succession. The walkers started to reach the inside fence, clawing at the fence and the first meal they had seen in months.

"Spread out along the fence, start picking them off. Everyone!" Rick said, dropping his bag and moving closer to the inside fence. He stabbed his knife through the mesh into a walker's face. Morgan moved further up the fence line with Duane by his side both picking off walkers through the mesh. Glenn and Maggie followed suit moving further up the line and picking more off, Raven following after them. Hershel moved forward. Rick nodded at the older man.

"You take over here. The rest of you come with me," Rick said looking at the women and three remaining children. They followed after him without questions. He opened the gate at the end of that walkway and into a smaller area where the vehicles would enter. The inside gate had a prison bus turned over in front of it blocking the road. They would need to move that before they could get the RV in. But that was a later problem. Raven was already there, picking off a few of the dead through the fence.

"They keep coming in from the top gate," Raven said looking at Rick.

"We keep picking them off at the fence, they will run out." Rick said opening the gate into the next walkway. "Beth, Lori, you stay here. Everyone drop your stuff here and get your knives out. We all work together on this; everyone pulls their weight." Rick waited for the women to protest but was met with silence. He led the way into the next walkway. "Carol, you stand here, if they stop coming your way make noise. Get their attention." Rick said pointing to the spot he wanted Carol. He kept going the others still following.

"I want you to girls here. Keep a good grip on your knives. Just remember you are safe, take your time." Rick said to the two younger girls, they both looked scared out of their minds, but they needed to toughen up if they were going to make it in this world, in this group. "Amy and Carl go down the end of here." Rick said, stabbing his knife in the skull of a walker that rattled the outer fence. He cleared the outer fence on his walk back to the turned over bus. He paused as the Hispanic girl took down her first walker. The young girl looked shaken, but she still helped Sophia do the same with the next walker.

"- it's gross but better to kill them on this side then being in there with them." Rick over heard Raven say to Beth. The blonde girl held her bandage wrist close to her chest as she plunged a screwdriver into the eye socket of a walker on the outer fence. Raven caught Rick's eye. "I gave her my screwdriver, she's good." Raven said, patting Beth on the shoulder.

"Nice work." Rick said. Lori stared in the direction Rick had taken Carl and the others. "He's fine." Lori's eyes flicked back to Rick. "Say whatever it is on your mind, we don't have all day." Rick said, not taking his eyes off the woman he once planned his life around.

"It worked." She said looking away from his stare. "Sorry I didn't have faith in you guys." Raven rolled her eyes at the weak apology, but she bit her tongue. At least the ignorant woman admitted they were right. The group spent two hours picking the dead off by the fences. The walkers continued to trickle down from the top of the prison. It had slowed considerably so Rick called everyone to the main gate.

"We move in, it seems like they are slowing down. Only five left on the hill. Looks like no more are coming out. Glenn, Maggie, Morgan you're with me. The rest of you stay here until we reach the top gate. We will pull it shut and keep going, you guys follow up afterwards. We'll check out what's beyond that gate before going further." Rick slid the gate open, the others following after him.

The four moved up the hill killing the five walkers that had been on the hill and two others who made their way through the top gate. They moved through the top gate and Rick waved down to the others to come up.

"Looks clear," Glenn said, surveying the area.

"We keep going," Morgan said, leading them forward. They found several stragglers around the corner and four more in the guard towers.

"Do we go inside?" Maggie asked, looking at the door to one of the cell blocks.

"Might as well know what we are working with," Rick said, he pulled a torch off a dead guard's belt, going to the doorway. He opened the door, weapon at the ready and light raised. He was met with silence. "I think everyone was outside when it went down." The others followed Rick in, and they were pleasantly surprised to find it clear of dead except for two walkers who were locked in cells. When they exited the building Raven was waiting for them.

"You're meant to be waiting on the outside of the courtyard," Rick said giving her a pointed look.

"Yeah well, I got board." She shrugged.

"It's all clear in there. Looks like we are sleeping inside tonight." Rick said and Raven smiled happily. The rest of the group were not so eager when they saw inside the cell block. It would take a lot of cleaning to make it liveable, but it was safe. They picked their cells and cleaned them as best they could before night fall hit. The group gathered around a small fire set in the courtyard. A small pot of soup heated over the flames. Hopefully tomorrow they would find food.

Rick watched Raven with an amused smile. She sat with a knife sharpening block between her feet and with her remaining hand tried to sharpen one of her knives. It was near impossible for her to get the knife to hit the block at the right angle, but she kept trying. Rick was about to offer to help her, but the young Hispanic girl walked over to Raven.

"Can you show me how to do that?" The young girl asked. Raven looked up at her a little surprised at the girl's question. Or maybe she was just surprised the girl was talking to her.

"Sure," Raven said, and the other girl sat down next to her. Raven grabbed the knife block and pressed it into the girl's hand before giving her the knife. Raven told her what to do and the girl followed instructions.

"Oh, can I try?" Sophia asked sitting down with the other girls. She held the small knife Rick had given her and the other children earlier in the day. He was surprised her mother hadn't taken it away yet. He could see Carol watching the girls, Lori as well, but they didn't say anything.

Authors Note:

Next two chapters are written just need to do the final read over them, will post the next chapter within a day of the next review. This story is really coming to me atm the next few chapters are some of my favourite so far.