𝓗𝓮𝔂 𝓐𝓷𝓰𝓮𝓵 | 𝓓𝓪𝓻𝔂𝓵 𝓓𝓲𝔁𝓸𝓷

Chapter 40: Together

The walk back to the cell block silent. Rick was far ahead of us and Daryl had a slightly worried look on his face.

"You okay there Angel?" I questioned nudging his arm.

"Just Rick, he seems a little..."

"Off?" I finished.

"S'pose so. Not really a way to describe it," Daryl answered.

"You're right though the way Rick reacted was a little unlike him. But I think it's more to do with the guy that ran. He saved me from getting trapped but closed the door on the guy in a small yard full of walkers. He was ripped to pieces and only stopped screaming when I put an arrow in him," I explained. "Making the decision to kill someone won't leave you the same after."

   
By the time we made it back to the cellblock, Rick had already unlocked the door.

"Hershel stopped breathing, Mom saved him," Carl told us as we all filed in. I fixed myself in the doorway of the cell block and sensed the presence of Daryl just behind me.

"Any sign of fever?" I asked quietly, worry edging through my words as I stared at the handcuffs securing the wounded man to the bed.

Lori shook her head.
"None at all."

Maggie and Beth both stood by their father, concern etched onto their faces. Sometimes I wondered what that felt like. To be concerned for a parent. To lose the person that you look to for support and guidance. It was something entirely unfamiliar. Having always relied on myself. Never looking to someone else for protection or guidance. Noah was there for me but I could never burden him with my troubles I wanted him to be happy not weighed down by my problems as well as his own.

Hershel began to mumble something. It was completely incoherent but it filled me with hope. But it was torn away as soon as it came when there was no more movement. We all needed Hershel to be okay and it was not just because of his medical knowledge. He was important to us all.

I found now that, unlike when I had come with Rick to find him, I didn't want him just to survive because of his medical knowledge. Over the winter I had grown closer to all the Greene's and once I started to care it was hard for me to stop. I think that's why I had spent so much time on my own afraid of caring again and having it all snatched away and out of my control.

Slowly, a small smile spread across my face as I watched Hershel's eyes open. And just like that, the whole mood in that small room had changed entirely. Both girls were smiling and nearly in tears whilst Rick unlocked the handcuffs. A grin making its way onto his face too. It was what we needed a little bit of hope. Someone surviving not dying.

I decided to best to leave the family to their moment beginning to feel more like a spectator. Heading out of the cellblock, I basked in the warm glow of the sun and took in a deep breath only half-filled with the stench of rotting flesh. Everything seemed marred in one way or another by the rise of the dead. Everything was tainted to some degree. The cities covered in blood and bodies, woods teeming with the walking dead. People corrupted. People crushed and hurting from all the loss. People prepared and willing to do things they never thought they would do. It was enough to drive anyone mad and yet here we all were against all odds. Surviving and coming close to living not just surviving and this prison had made that possible. We had all made it possible.

I walked through the dirt tracks kicking small stones that sent up small bursts of dust that danced off in the wind. I couldn't remember a time where things had been so quiet almost peaceful. No chatter of people, no aeroplanes overhead, no cars speeding down roads, no screams, no groaning and growling of walkers.