home, glenn rhee[1]

ch.26

   "melanie, you're brave. you shouldn't have to be afraid of things like this." she stated, grabbing my hand and giving it a little squeeze.

   my eyes wondered around the room, "being afraid is what's keeping us alive." i mumbled, my eyes connecting with hers again.

   "no, it's how we keep breathing." she started, giving me a small smile, "look, i'm not trying to pressure you into anything, but this could be your light to such a dark world."

   i gave her a nod before turning into my cell, the idea of a baby never leaving my mind.
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   my body jolted from the sound of a loud click awakening me from my sleep. i opened my eyes to see a giggling glenn, holding a camera.

   he nonchalantly pulled the film from the old kodak, while still smiling down at me, "sorry"

   i chuckled, starring up at him, "i'll bring you breakfast after perimeter check." he mumbled, leaning down to kiss me.

   i slipped my hand into his pocket, grabbing the polaroid picture causing him to pull away, looking at me. "oh my god, throw that away" i uttered in disgust.

   he gave me a sad expression, before looking at it himself, "yeah. not gonna happen, it's mine." he stated, getting up to leave.

   i shook my head, smiling at him as he opened the trap door, heading down the ladder. i held up the door, kissing his hand before he let go.

   i stood up grabbing my gun, admiring the view from the guard tower. my eyes landed on rick, who was sending michonne off.

i gave her a wave goodbye, earning a smile as she mounted the horse, making her way to the gate.

    a loud boom from inside the prison caught my attention, causing my eyes to shoot to where rick was.

    "cell blocks?!" i yelled down to him, earning a shrug, "i don't know." he replied, sending carl in my direction.

i rushed down the guard tower, meeting carl at the bottom. "go up and wait, don't move until we know what's happening."

he nodded before i took off, running along side rick up to the courtyard. "walkers in d!" glenn shouted just as we made it past the gates.

"what about c?" i questioned, joining the others. "clear. we locked the gates to the tombs. hershels on guard."

"it ain't a breach" daryl informed, running past us with sasha and tyreese. "shit" i mumbled, bolting to the cell block.

while i ran, my hand reached down to my belt loop, grabbing my fighting knife before entering with the rest.

screams of terror filled the room as people and kids evacuated the rooms. i quickly jumped into action, grabbing kids and handing them to whoever was safe.

i felt bony hands grab my arm, causing me to turn and see a walker, getting ready to bite my flesh. before it could sink its teeth into my skin, i hurriedly pierced my knife through its skull, watching it fall limp to the ground.

"up here!" i heard someone yell as me and daryl made our way up to the loft. we met with rick and glenn, who stood in the doorway examining a body.

"oh, it's patrick" daryl muttered, looking down at the blood covered boy. i bent down, examining the trails of blood that ran down his face.

soon hershel and doctor s entered the room, also looking over patrick's body. "no bites. no wounds. i think he just died."

i nodded to rick before moving my eyes to doctor s, "horribly too. pleurisy aspiration"

"choked to death on his own blood. caused those trails down his face." hershel informed, looking down at the boy sadly.

"i've seen them before on a walker outside the fences." rick chimed in, glancing around the group.

"they're from the internal lung pressure building up-" i started earning a nod from doctor s before he finished, "-like if you shake a soda can and pop the top. only imagine your eyes, ears, nose, and throat are the top."

"it's a sickness from the walkers?" bob questioned, causing me to shake my head as i looked up to him.

"no, these things happened before they were around. could be pneumococcal. most likely an aggressive flu strain."

"i had a sick pig, it died quick. saw a sick boar in the woods." rick stated, glancing towards me.

"pigs and birds. that's how these things spread in the past."

"maybe we got lucky. maybe these two cases are it." doctor s mentioned, causing bob to shake his head, "haven't seen anybody lucky in a long time. bugs like to run through close quarters. doesn't get any closer than this"

i stood up, crossing my arms over my chest, "all of us in here, we've all been exposed."

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3/2/2021