Chasing Amy (Daryl Dixon/The Walking Dead)

Chapter 49 - Theodore Douglas

"They're back," Carol looked across to the fence, where the three men stood behind, watching. And I noticed Daryl even from a distance, just from the way he stood, his hand pressed against the fence, his crossbow on his shoulder.

"How long have they been there for?" I asked quietly, my eyes moving back to where Hershel was talking to Beth.

"I didn't see them come in..." Carol drifted off. For a moment the space was silent as T-Dog shuffled on his feet, as Carol brushed a strand of hair from her eye... As Lori smiled across at her husband, her face lit with a kind of happiness I hadn't seen in her before.

"Ready to race, Hershel?" Carl asked loudly, his voice carrying across to where we stood.

"Give me another day." Hershel replied, moving forwards a little. "I'll take you on."

I laughed again, and relaxed my stance as I shuffled on my feet. T-Dog's shoulder nudged mine as he did the same, a chuckle escaping his lips as well.

"I feel like today is gonna be a good day." T-Dog said slowly. "A real good day."

"As soon as we finish with these bodies, anyway..." I breathed, a lingering smile still on my face. "The smell is so much worse when--"

T-Dog suddenly sucked in a deep breath, his hand reaching for his belt, reaching for a weapon which wasn't there. I looked up, and searched for what had happened.

Initially, I thought Hershel had tripped, that he dropped a crutch... That he'd accidentally slipped on a rock or something.

I never would have thought that...

"Walkers!" Carl was the first to alert everyone, "Look out!"

And I saw the cluster of roamers, of around seven or eight, with more approaching. But my initial thought was not to run, to scream... Instead, a frown settled onto my lips as I jolted backwards.

How did they get in? Into the prison which we'd searched and guarded so perfectly? How did they breach our safe haven?

"Let's go!" T-Dog shouted, turning back. He fumbled for his handgun, before holding it ahead of him as two roamers ambled towards where Lori was standing. Even she had a weapon, and was using it to defend herself. Gunshots rattled the air, rattled my head as I stood, bewildered.

He missed the shot.

I moved on my feet, my hands reaching for a knife from my pouch, as T-Dog turned back to face the closest door to the cellblock.

"That gate is open!" T-Dog moved ahead of me, Carol in fast pursuit. "Come on!"

They were coming in at both sides of the cellblock, the cellblock that hadn't been cleared yet... That had been closed up and secured until we knew what to do with it.

But how was it open now?

I followed Carol, my hands shaking as I gripped my throwing knife tightly.

It was like a switch had been flicked in Carol and T-Dog, and that light-hearted, joking persona was gone, replaced instead with their stony resolve as they sent off gunshots to every roamer in sight.

But there were so many.

A skinny blonde woman snarled from in front of me, her eyes as cold and dead as her skin.

I swallowed my fear... My anger... My worry... And I took a deep breath.

I flipped that switch.

And with a flick of my arm and a jolt of my wrist, I let the knife fly from my fingers, launching straight into her left eye socket. My hands moved methodically as I bent over, wrapping around the handle of the weapon as I held my sneaker against her forehead.