stone cold |twd|

chapter 77

VIVIAN WAS FORCED TO STAY OUTSIDE OF THE COUNCIL MEETING.

Everyone else on the council... they had been exposed. And since she was the primary caregiver of Judith and Liam, they needed her to stay away so she wouldn't be exposing the children.

But they still needed her to listen in, so Marcie held a radio in her hand, her finger pressed on the button so Vivian could listen in,

"Patrick was fine yesterday, and he died overnight. Two people died that quick?" Carol questioned, "We'll have to separate everyone that's been exposed."

"That's everyone in that cell block." Daryl replied, "That's all of us. Maybe more."

"We know that this sickness can be lethal. We don't know how easily it spreads." Hershel stated,  "Is anyone else showing symptoms that we know of?"

"We can't just wait and see. And there's children." Carol replied, "It isn't just the illness. If people die, they become a threat."

"We need a place for them to go." Hershel said, "They can't stay in D. We can't risk going in there to clean it up."

He was right. If they hadn't been infected already, going back into Cellblock D would be signing a death sentence.

"We can use Cellblock A." Carol suggested,

"Death row?" Glenn questioned, "I'm not sure that's much of an upgrade."

"It's clean. That's an upgrade." Daryl commented,

Marcie looked over at Hershel, "Think that'll work for Dr. S?"

He nodded, "I'll help Caleb get it set up."

The group heard coughing coming from the hallway and they all stood. Marcie set the radio down on the table and followed after Daryl.

The radio went silent after that and Vivian sighed, running her hand through her hair. She glanced over at Liam and Judith, who were napping in their cell.

Was it too late? How many people were in contact with those in D before the incident?

Marcie went out into the yard, heading towards the fences. The gunshots from that morning drew more walkers in, and the clusters were getting bigger.

She grabbed a sharpened cane and used it to stab the biters through the fences. She noticed the posts bending and turned to get the others attention, "Daryl! Rick!"

The men and a few others ran down to join her, grabbing their own weapons, "The noise drew 'em out and now this part's starting to give."

The group tried their best to take out as many biters as they could, but there were too many, with more being drawn in.

The fence began leaning towards them and Marcie grew nervous that it was going to fall. How could they lose so much in just a few hours?

"Are you seeing this?" Sasha called out, looking down at the gravel near her feet, "Is someone feeding these things?" 

Marcie walked over to see half eaten corpses of rats laying in the rocks. Someone had been feeding the biters, and was probably the reason they were clustered up.

"Heads up!" 

She turned to see the fence collapsing, and everyone placed their hands on it to try and apply force to keep it up,

"This part of the fence, now!"

She ran up next to Daryl, keeping her fingers from reaching through the chain link, and pushed.

"It's gonna give! It's gonna give!"

It was no use. There was too many.

"Everybody back!" Daryl grabbed her arm and they all backed away, "Come on, back, now."

"The fence keeps bending in like that, those walkers are coming over it." Tyreese commented,

Rick glanced back towards the yard before speaking, "Daryl, get the truck. I know what to do."

The duo went back towards the courtyard, loading up the piglets that Rick kept on his little farm. While they did that, the others tried to spread the walkers out, running to different parts of the fences and making noises.

Marcie watched from the other side of the fence as Daryl drove through the field, and Rick sliced the legs of the pigs before throwing them into the grass.

The walkers chased them, stopping to feed on the poor animals.

But it was working. The load on the fences were decreasing.

Vivian was packing up the kids' things after being ordered to separate them from the general population. 

Things were getting worse. More and more people were getting sick.

She was grateful Liam and Judith hadn't been exposed yet.

Vivian moved them down to the administration area of the prison. It was full of empty, messy offices, but she moved a few mattress inside an office for the kids to rest on.

She also brought some toys and books to keep them distracted.

The other kids were separated too, but most of them had also been inn Cellblock D, so Beth volunteered to watch over them.

Vivian sat against the wall, Judith sitting between her bent legs, playing with plastic cups while Liam was a few feet away with his toy cars.

It was mind numbing, but it was keeping them safe.

She heard a knock on the door, along with a shadow in the frosted window. Vivian quickly stood, avoiding knocking into Judith, and walked over, "Hello?"

"Hey." Marcie sighed, "Thought I'd give you an update."

"Anymore dead?" Vivian asked,

"Yeah... Glenn's digging graves now. Lot's of people have gone into A Block." Marcie answered, "And..."

"What?" She sensed Marcie's hesitation,

"I think Rick's loosing it again." She commented, "He... he had to sacrifice the pigs, used them to get the biters away from the fences. He gave Carl his gun back and... now he's burning his little farm and he's currently shirtless and kinda covered in blood."

Vivian laid her head gently on the window. Rick had been doing so well the past few months, but since yesterday's excursion outside the prison... she fears he's gonna deteriorate again.

And that's not good for Carl or Judith.

"I'll keep an eye out for him." Marcie offered, "Keep him in line."

"Thank you." 

Vivian wished she could be out there to help him, she was missing so much being stuck in that room.

But it was where she needed to be.