𝑺𝒕𝒂𝒓𝒕 𝒐𝒇 𝑻𝒊𝒎𝒆 | 𝘋𝘢𝘳𝘺𝘭 𝘋𝘪𝘹𝘰𝘯 ¹

𝑻𝒘𝒆𝒏𝒕𝒚 𝑬𝒊𝒈𝒉𝒕

Chapter Twenty Eight,
Killer Within

"Okay, let's get the other car in. We'll park 'em in the west entry of the yard." Chloe heard Rick say as she exited the SUV that she parked at the entry.

"Good," Daryl called. "Our vehicles camped out there look like a giant 'vacancy' sign."

"After that, we need to load up these corpses so we can burn 'em," Rick told him.

"Gonna be a long day," T-Dog muttered.

"Where's Glenn and Maggie?" Carol asked, causing Chloe to hide a smile that threatened to cover her face. "We could use some help."

"Up in the guard tower," Daryl said.

"Guard tower?" Rick asked. "They were just up there last night."

"Yeah, I think we better leave-" Chloe said, but Daryl cut her off as he shouted Maggie and Glenn's names.

"Nevermind," Chloe said, rolling her eyes.

Poor Glenn opened the door in a fuss on top of the tower as he tried to buckle his belt in embarrassment.

"Hey, what's up, guys?" Glenn said while Chloe resisted the urge to laugh, while everyone else did.

"You coming?" Daryl asked the embarrassed Glenn.

"What?" Glenn asked, causing everyone else to laugh again.

"You comin'?" Daryl repeated. "Come on, we could use a hand."

"Yeah, we'll be right down," Glenn replied.

As Chloe turned around, she saw Axel and Oscar making their way towards them. "Rick," Chloe said, glancing back at him.

"Come with me," Rick told T-Dog, who followed him. "That's close enough. We had an agreement." The two prisoners stopped in their path.

"Please, mister," Axel started. "We know that. We made a deal. But you gotta understand...we can't live in that place another minute. You follow me? All the bodies--people we knew. Blood, brains everywhere. There's ghosts."

"Why don't you move the bodies out?" Daryl asked them as they all approached.

"You should be burning them," T-Dog told him.

"We tried," Axel said. "We did."

"The fence is down on the far side of the prison," Oscar started. "Every time we drag a body out, those things just line up. Dropping the body and just running back inside."

"Look, we had nothing to do with Tomas and Andrew," Axel said. "Nothing. You trying to prove a point? You proved it, bro. We'll do whatever it takes to be part of your group. Just please, please...don't make us live in that place."

"Our deal is not negotiable," Rick said. "You either live in your cell block, or you leave."

Chloe could see Adam trying to get Rick's attention. He was probably thinking what she was thinking. She didn't think these two were any danger to them. They were different.

"I told you this was a waste of time," Oscar muttered. "They ain't no different than the pricks who shot up our boys. You know how many friends' corpses we had to drag out this week? Just threw 'em out, like. Humph. These were good guys.

Good guys who had our backs against the really bad dudes in the joint, like Tomas and Andrew. We've all made mistakes to get in here, chief. And I'm not gonna pretend to be a saint, but believe me...we've paid our due--enough that we would rather hit that road than to go back into that shithole."