Blood Doesn't Mean Family
Chapter Nine: Outnumbered
(Disclaimer! There is the death of a baby in the last section. It is in tilted writing, and I strongly suggest skipping it if you don't think you can handle it. Leaving that part out will not affect the story for you.)
Raven slept by the front look out all night. She talked with Morgan while he was on shift and must have fallen asleep at some point because next time, she rolled over Maggie was on shift. The older woman offered her a weak smile that Raven couldn't find the energy to return. She rolled back over and closed her eyes, willing the morning to come faster.
When morning finally arrived, there was still no sign of Rick and Raven felt her hopes diminish. She felt stupid even having hope over the situation. Of course, Rick was dead, people have been shooting at him, how was he meant to survive that. She felt sick as she wondered downstairs. She sat alone until Duane brought her breakfast, but she refused to eat it.
"Dad says he's going to head into town to see what happened," Duane said between sips of his soup.
"He shouldn't go, what if he doesn't come back? The group needs a leader," Raven said. She wanted to know what happened to Rick more then anyone else but that didn't mean someone else had to risk their life.
"We can't just wait here," Duane said.
"No, we need to get somewhere safer. Glenn and I passed a prison on our way back here yesterday. I told your dad about it last night, he agrees it's a good spot to try. There are fences and should be plenty of supplies inside as well." Raven explained.
"Are there walkers?" Duane asked.
"Of course, but they are trapped. We can pick them off one by one from the walkways that are fully fenced in. Stab them through the mesh and clear it out without having to be in any danger." Raven felt other eyes in the room turn on her. She stood up looking around the room. Morgan and Glenn were on watch but everyone else was in the living and dining area having breakfast. She cleared her throat before addressing the room, re explaining everything she thought about the prison.
"…and as long as we get into that fence it should be easy, just pick the dam things off one by one from inside." Raven finished looking around the room at all the wide eyes.
"You're not serious right?" Lori asked from across the room. "Shane would have never aloud this." Lori shook her head.
"Yeah well, he's not here. This place has walls, it's safe. That baby could be safe there," Raven said hoping she had gotten through to at least one person.
"It's full of dead people," Amy said. her eyebrows raised high. "How is that safe?"
"That baby is going to cry, it's a dinner bell for the undead. It needs walls, that's the only way it will survive and not get us all killed. The prison is the safest place for it, for us all." Raven said keeping her eyes locked with Lori, if she could just convince her the rest would believe as well. She saw the expressions around the room change and thought for a second, she was actually getting through to these people.
"It's a good idea."
Raven froze, the voice making her forget everything and everyone else.
"Rick!" She ran to him wrapping her arms around him. He patted her on the back just as happy to see her.
"You were already wishing me dead," Rick smiled down at the young girl, she smiled up at him and laughed dryly.
"You hadn't come back," she said not able to wipe the smile from her face.
"Yeah, the dead held me up," Rick said not going into detail.
"Your hurt Rick," Hershel said. Raven stepped back from Rick noticing blood coating one of his sleeves.
"Just a graze," Rick said looking down at the blood.
"Come to the kitchen and I'll get that cleaned up, we don't need it getting infected," Hershel said moving towards the kitchen.
"Now tell me about this plan you had?" Rick said, putting a hand on Ravens shoulder as they both followed Hershel to the kitchen.
"Theres no way we are actually doing that right?" Amy asked in a harsh whisper looking at the other women in the group.
"That girl knows more about this world then all of us put together. Maybe she has a point," Maggie said, standing and going to the kitchen.
…
The children were in bed, well at least Carl, Sophia, and Eliza were in bed. Raven and Duane sat with the adults while Rick explain their plans. "Morgan will go with Raven and Duane tomorrow to check it out. Make sure our plan is possible for the following day. Would anyone else like to go with them?" Rick looked pointedly at the side of the table that was clearly not onboard with the idea. The table was split down the middle, Rick, Morgan, Duane, Raven, Hershel, Maggie, and Glenn were all onboard with the idea. Carol, Lori, Beth and Amy were another story, and they didn't want the kids to have anything to do with it. No one on the other side of the table put their hand up.
"I'll go," Maggie said looking at Rick.
"No, I'll go," Glenn said.
"Glenn, you have already seen it, it would be good to have another set of eyes on it." Rick said, nodding his head at Maggie. "You guys will leave at sunup." I will take front watch tonight; Glenn and Hershel are you able to split watch for the back of the house?" Both men nodded their heads in agreement.
"Do we not get a say in this?" Carol asked.
"If you don't like it don't come," Raven grumbled.
"The supplies are half ours as well!" Lori said loudly.
"What supplies? We are two days off having no food, the medical kit is mine, and the RV belongs to none of us. If you really want to claim the books in there go for it. We know nothing about this world Lori, if it wasn't for these people we would already be dead. I for one am not going to watch my family starve. If this is the best option, they can find then that is what my family will be doing," Hershel said glaring down the other side of the table. No one replied, the woman were clearly outnumbered and out of their depth.
…
The next afternoon the group regathered once the scouting party returned.
"Getting in there is the easy part. We will need wire cutters and some rope or something to tie the fence shut behind us." Morgan said.
"We should be able to find that in one of the garages. I think I saw bike locks in the one next door," Glenn said, writing something down on a piece of paper.
"They would work well," Morgan nodded. "The only issue We could find was if the dead pile up on the fences and we are unable to get back out straight away. Everyone should go in at once. Splitting up the group is a bad idea. It may take us a day to clear the fence line by hand."
"What if they pile up on the fences and they cave in?" Carol asks.
"They will hold," Maggie said. "We can't split the group, our best fighters have to be there, we can't just leave the rest of you here. That's even more unsafe."
"What about the RV?" Amy asked.
"We park it on the approach to the prison and once the fences are clear we bring it in. We take food and water with us in there, in case we can't get back out for a day," Morgan said.
"I guess it's not like we have a choice anyways," Carol stood with a shake of her head, leaving for another part of the house.
"Won't gunshots just draw more of them in?" Beth asked. She hated the idea, but her father had made it clear there was no room for discussion.
"No guns. Stabbing only, we will need to find more knives," Rick explained.
"Fire pokers should work well," Duane suggested. Lori stood, following the direction Carol had gone.
"We have to be that close?" Amy asked.
"You will be able to look them in the eyes before you stab them out," Raven said, a hint of a smile on her lips. She enjoyed the fear in the girl's eyes. They were going to have to pull their weight now. This would separate the strong from the weak.
…
Raven sat by the fire watching the flickering flames. They had been in the makeshift camp for ten days at that point and she had stopped asking when they would be able to go home. She was starting to realise there was no home to go back too.
"Honey take your brother, I need to go pee," her mother held her baby brother out to her. Raven looked up at her mother with a displeased look.
"Why?" Raven wined.
"I'll only be a minute, just take him. Please," her mother said in a stern voice. Raven held her arms out with a roll of her eyes. Her mother placed the baby in her arms and hurried away quickly. The baby was only two months old. His father had been one of her mother's short-term boyfriends and much like Ravens own father he hadn't stuck around.
The baby wiggled in her arms after a few minutes, his eyes blinking open. Raven knew what was coming next. She couldn't stop him. He opened his mouth letting out a gut-wrenching cry.
"Ssshhhhhh," Raven rocked the baby trying to quieten him.
"Shut that thing up."
"They will hear."
"Stop it."
The group around her moved closer leaving their own cars and campfires to come see the baby. Worry on all their faces.
"He'll stop, he'll stop," she said between hushing the baby. The crowd's voices only made it worse, and the baby seemed to cry louder. A pair of strong arms reached over her pulling the baby from her grasp. "No, no, give him back!" She cried jumping up. The man who had taken the baby towered over her. She scratched at him trying to get to the baby.
Her eyes watched as the man wrapped a large hand around the baby's crying face and with a quick motion a sickening crack rang out. The crying instantly stopped. Raven let out a scream as she realised what had just happened in front of her. The man who had killed her brother backhanded her to stop her screaming. Raven crumbled to the ground grasping at her face. She silently screamed within as she watched the man drop the baby's body and walk away like nothing had happened.
Everything was silent for a moment before the screaming started. Someone in the trees let out a broken cry which was quickly followed by three more. Shouting started and then people were trampling over each other trying to get away. But they didn't know which way was safe. In the dark no direction was really safe. Raven was stood on five times before she managed to drag herself under a near by car. She hid until the screams stopped and then she hid as the dead ate their fill and moved on. She never saw her mother again, or that man, or any of there people. At least not alive.
AN:
I know this was a filler chapter, I wrote it all today and thought it fitted in nicely before the next big event. If you did read the last section i hope it helped build on Ravens character a bit more. It will be mentioned in the future in a less graphic way so if you didn't read it don't stress you have not missed out on anything.
I hope everyone had a great day, if you want a fast update the more reviews the higher the odds of that happening.