❛ And it feels like heaven is so far away, and it feels like the world has grown cold now that you've gone away. ❜
SEASON 3, EPISODE 2
sick
━━━━━━ day 302.
TOMAS LED THEM back to the cafeteria, and Bianca could tell Rick was getting antsy. If Daryl had noticed the odd relationship between herself and Tomas, Rick wasn't far behind. She knew he was dying to question her, but both knew doing it in front of the prisoners wasn't the best idea. But, on the other hand, he couldn't just step away with her to talk in private without them being close behind. So, they had to wait.
⠀⠀⠀"Pantry's back here!" Tomas called, waving them into the back.
⠀⠀⠀"You never tried to break out of here?" T-Dog asked, looking around the cafeteria curiously.
⠀⠀⠀"We tried to take the doors off, but if you make one peep in here, then those freaks will be lined up outside the door, growling, trying to get in," Oscar explained, pointing at the door. "Windows got bars on them that He-Man couldn't get through."
⠀⠀⠀"Bigger than a five by eight," Axel agreed.
⠀⠀⠀"You won't find me complaining. Doing fifteen," Big Tiny said with a shrug. "My left leg can barely fit on one of those bunks."
⠀⠀⠀"Yeah, they don't call him Big Tiny for nothin'," Oscar claimed jokingly.
⠀⠀⠀"You done jerkin' each other off?" Tomas asked, re-entering the room with an annoyed frown. "I'm getting sick of waiting back here."
⠀⠀⠀Following Tomas, Bianca stood in the pantry doorway looking over the copious amounts of leftover food. Canned fruits and vegetables, cooking oil, seasonings, bags of oats, bread flour, sugar, and so much more. Hardly the tiny amount that Tomas and Andrew tried to convince them was left.
⠀⠀⠀Daryl entered the room, holding a flashlight at the side of his head as he read over the cans and bags. He turned the light into Tomas' face and stared at him, unimpressed.
⠀⠀⠀"That's what you call a little bit of food?" he asked.
⠀⠀⠀"Goes fast," was all Tomas replied with, shrugging his shoulders.
⠀⠀⠀"Mm-hmm," Daryl hummed, turning away.
⠀⠀⠀"You can have a bag of corn, some tuna fish..." Tomas said, trying to take control of the situation, but he kept failing.
⠀⠀⠀"We said half. That's the deal," Rick corrected him. He turned to a door beside him that was sealed shut and pointed at it. "What's in there?"
⠀⠀⠀"Don't open that," Big Tiny warned him.
⠀⠀⠀Rick opened the door anyway and immediately threw his hand up from the smell. He closed the door, eyes watering from the stench as he turned back to the prisoners laughing.
⠀⠀⠀"You wanted to know!" Tomas jested.
⠀⠀⠀"Can't wait for my own pot to piss in," Axel muttered.
RICK ASKED BIANCA to walk back to their cell block with him while Daryl and T-Dog stayed behind to keep the prisoners in check. They carried armfuls of boxes full of food, their footsteps echoed off the walls, and each kept an ear out for walkers.
⠀⠀⠀"So, you wanna tell me what's going on with you and Tomas?" Rick asked, his tone not accusing but in the authoritative need-to-know kind of way.
⠀⠀⠀Bianca sighed, a frown pinching at the edges of her lips. She could feel Rick turn to her, his gaze beginning to burn into the side of her face. Bianca knew she would have to explain it sooner or later. The second Tomas made it clear they were familiar with one another. However, a lump still leveled in her throat as she thought back to when she knew him.
⠀⠀⠀"I know I come off as the picture-perfect kid before all this," Bianca started lightly, hoping to keep the tension and situation from getting the best of her. Rick let out a small laugh which was nice to hear. It helped relax her anxious mind. But unfortunately, there wasn't much laughter tossed around the group in the last few months. "But I wasn't in a bad crowd when I was Carl's age."
⠀⠀⠀Bianca hesitated, not sure how to continue.
⠀⠀⠀"Bad crowd?" Rick asked, urging her to continue, and returned his sights ahead of them. That helped her nerves some, not feeling directly under the spotlight.
⠀⠀⠀It came out like a floodgate had been released between her lips. Years that she suppressed, cried down the drain, clawed the feelings out of, erupting once again.
⠀⠀⠀"Yeah, I had this friend, Antony," Bianca began, nostalgia in her words to a world from before. However, she couldn't say it was unlike the one she was in now. Just a different time with the same bullshit happening at every turn. "He was my age, long brown hair and eyes as black as coal. He had a sweet face that matched his personality and was a real sucker. He had a little crush on me. I didn't. Y'know how it goes."
⠀⠀⠀"Oh, yeah, bet you were a real heart-breaker," Rick commented with a slight smirk, glancing back at her.
⠀⠀⠀Bianca shrugged, "I guess. Not on purpose, just was never interested until... Anyways, Antony thought it would impress me to offer some pot. I didn't smoke back then, hardly did after, so I said no.
⠀⠀⠀"He didn't push, but we were still friends. I knew he had started dealing, and a few months later, my mom had gotten into a car wreck that would really screw us over. I was only twelve or thirteen, but you know, kids. They think they can save the world. So, to help her with the bills, Antony hooked me up with dealing. Supplier was his cousin, Tomas.
⠀⠀⠀"Long story short, I got caught dealing and nearly ruined my whole life. This cop at the police station let me off easy. He told me he understood, been there before, the whole nine yards. He didn't get this chance, but he was giving one to me. The cop called my mom, though. Got my ass handed to me, then she helped me be the somewhat better person I am today."
⠀⠀⠀"So, you dealt for Tomas," Rick summarized when she paused again. "I mean, he's a dealer and knows they were all thrown in here for a reason, but what do you think of him? The other prisoners?" he asked, his brows knit together in the middle of his forehead in worry. Even though the world was more or less the same, lines were blurred on who they could trust and had to rely on to survive.
⠀⠀⠀"I don't trust him," Bianca snapped, her eyes a blazing storm of fire and wind when she turned to Rick. He nearly jumped at the sharpness of her gaze. She didn't want to go into the gritty details of it all, but it seemed to bulldoze right past her thoughts and stormed out of her mouth for Rick to hear. "He's a piece of shit. The reason I got caught was because he fucked up Antony, nearly killed his other cousin, then passed the weed off to me to sell to some hot-shot. He said he'd keep watch since Antony usually did but bolted when the cops came."
⠀⠀⠀Bianca's shoulders pumped with laboring breaths, and she glared ahead of her in disgust. She hadn't felt rage since the farm, and now it was eating away at her. She wanted to throw the box of food across the hall. Run back to the cafeteria and beat the shit of Tomas for what he did years ago. But she didn't. She took a deep breath, teeth gritted together to allow solace to the remainder of her anger, and then continued.
⠀⠀⠀"The other guys, I don't know them. Axel, Big Tiny, and Oscar seem like decent people in a bad situation. Andrew is possibly the same, just defensive. But keep an eye on Tomas. He'll make sure this prison is his before you can get him his own cell block."
⠀⠀⠀Rick frowned, mulling over her response. Finally, he nodded to signal he understood her reasoning, but all that really mattered was her thoughts on Tomas. She knew him, even if it was eight or nine years ago.
⠀⠀⠀Their conversation had died, and they entered the room between the hall and cell block.
⠀⠀⠀"Carl! Door, please!" Bianca yelled, a sing-song tone in her voice as she teased him. "I've got your favorite. And, no, it's not dog food!"
⠀⠀⠀"Haha," Carl mocked, running toward the door with his boots clicking against the cement. He unlocked the door and held it open for them.
⠀⠀⠀"What'd you get?" Carl asked curiously, trailing after Bianca as she walked over to one of the unoccupied tables.
⠀⠀⠀"I think you'll like it. It's similar to dog food in the way that it comes in a can," Bianca continued with a shit-eating grin crossing her face.
⠀⠀⠀"Shut up," Carl laughed, shoving her shoulder and rolling his eyes. When they returned, a glint appeared in them, and he asked, "So? What are they like?"
⠀⠀⠀"Who?" Bianca asked, feigning ignorance.
⠀⠀⠀"The prisoners!" Carl exclaimed impatiently.
⠀⠀⠀"Oh, real nice. One of them asked me out, but I told him I already have a boyfriend," Bianca explained with a shrug as she unpacked the box onto the table.
⠀⠀⠀"No one asked you out. You're too annoying, and, honestly, no guy like them would be cool going out with someone who could explain mechanics better than them," Carl retorted, both being the typical younger brother while also complimenting her. It was... weird, to say the least.
⠀⠀⠀"You're right, I misremembered," Bianca agreed with a thin smile. "The guy actually said that he wanted his cells back and would kill us if we didn't."
⠀⠀⠀"What, really?" Carl back-tracked, his eyes growing as wide as a baseball under the brim of his hat.
⠀⠀⠀Bianca rolled her eyes in annoyance at the thought of Tomas and said to Carl, "He's a big softie if you ask me. Used to know him."
⠀⠀⠀"You know one of the prisoners?" Carl asked, unimpressed. He raised a brow in both question and disappointment, then crossed his arms with a slight frown.
⠀⠀⠀"Yeah, from when I was your age," Bianca told him, returning his stare with an equally annoyed one from his judging. "He's a dick, but not an issue. I could swing faster than he'd be able to pull something."
⠀⠀⠀"I don't doubt it," Carl nodded, a smirk appearing on his face knowing that she'd be able to handle Tomas with ease.
⠀⠀⠀"Bianca!" Rick shouted, interrupting their conversation. He nodded his head for her to follow him out. "Gather some weapons for the guys. We need to be getting back."
RICK AND BIANCA laid out the weapons on the table, and the prisoners stared at the selection with disbelief raging in their eyes. Bianca could understand why. They were given twigs rather than javelins.
⠀⠀⠀"Why do I need this?" Tomas asked, holding a hammer in his fist before whipping out his gun in the other. For once, not in a necessarily threatening manner. "When I've got this?"
⠀⠀⠀"You don't fire guns," Daryl answered him. "Not unless your back's up against the wall. Noise attracts 'em. Really riles 'em up."
⠀⠀⠀"We'll go in two by two. Daryl will run point with T; Bianca will bring up the back with you," Rick said, pointing at Andrew to indicate he'd be with Bianca. "I'll make up the rear since there's an odd number of us. Stay tight, hold formation, no matter how close the walkers get. Anyone breaks ranks. We could all go down. Anyone runs off, they could get mistaken for a walker, end up with a hammer to the head."
⠀⠀⠀"And that's where you aim," Daryl added sternly. "These things only go down with a headshot."
⠀⠀⠀"Ain't gotta tell us how to take out a man," Tomas assured them, laughing under his breath that held a sharp edge to it.
⠀⠀⠀Rick glanced at Bianca, catching her eye as they both frowned. Bianca didn't know the ends and outs of why Tomas had gotten thrown in jail, but it seemed that her theory might be correct.
⠀⠀⠀"They ain't men," T-Dog snapped at Tomas. He didn't take lightly to joking around about the severity of their situation. "They're somethin' else."
⠀⠀⠀"Just remember, go for the brain," Rick told them, hoping that keeping it simple would help.
⠀⠀⠀Daryl led them down the halls with Big Tiny beside him. Bianca walked beside Andrew as Rick directed them. Her attention focused narrowly on Tomas' back, waiting for him to make one misstep.
⠀⠀⠀"Man, it's too damn dark in here," Big Tiny said, words like a whisper, but they still boomed off the walls.
⠀⠀⠀"Gotta hold it up high out in front of you," Daryl whispered sharply back. "You're gonna hear 'em before you see 'em."
⠀⠀⠀"It's coming!" Axel shouted.
⠀⠀⠀Rick shushed Axel, annoyed by his jumpiness.
⠀⠀⠀Growls emitted from around the corner, then two shadows fell on the wall in front of them. It took a minute for the walkers to drag themselves to the end of the hall, but then they were there with mouths wide open in greeting.
⠀⠀⠀Daryl raised his hand, holding up a finger at a time to signal when they needed to move. He barely got to two when the prisoners performed a warrior's scream before rushing forward and attacking the walkers. It was like Bianca and them hadn't said two words of warning because the prisoners did everything they said not to do. They stabbed, kicked, punched every piece of flesh except for the head.
⠀⠀⠀Bianca, Daryl, Rick, and T-Dog just stayed put, staring with wide eyes at the men beating the crap out of the walker without doing any real damage. They were stunned but not surprised in the slightest.
⠀⠀⠀"This is going better than I expected," Bianca muttered, rolling her eyes.
⠀⠀⠀"You said it, kid," Daryl agreed, sighing.
THE GROUP PRESSED on, Daryl pulling the front again with his crossbow, ready to shoot. They made sure to emphasize to the prisoners that nothing would work except a blow to the head. The tutorial seemed to help when Daryl shot a walker trying to stand down, and it didn't move again.
⠀⠀⠀"It's gotta be the brain!" Daryl called back, hoping it stuck this time. A walker approached them, and Daryl demonstrated once more. "Not the stomach, not the heart. The brain!"
⠀⠀⠀"I hear you, the brain," Axel confirmed with a stern nod of his head as another walker started to approach.
⠀⠀⠀Oscar jumped forward, stabbing the walker as Daryl instructed, then bounced back to keep their group together.
⠀⠀⠀"Like that?" Oscar asked hesitantly.
⠀⠀⠀"Uh-huh," Daryl replied.
⠀⠀⠀Two more walkers strolled in. Axel killed one with the end of his pipe through its face, and Rick took the other with a quick stab.
⠀⠀⠀"Stay in tight formation," Rick snapped at them. "No more prison riot crap!"
⠀⠀⠀A group of walkers flooded the room, and the prisoners moved forward, trying their hand at killing the walkers. Bianca kept back, readying her sledgehammer if need be. The space was small, though, and whipping it around might end in someone else's death.
⠀⠀⠀A couple minutes passed then three shots were fired behind Bianca. She turned, adrenaline filling her veins and worry digging into her stomach at the uncertainty of who left their group. She found Rick, Big Tiny, and Tomas standing together, anxiously staring at one another.
⠀⠀⠀"I'm telling you! I don't feel anything. It's just a scratch!" Big Tiny exclaimed, revealing the jagged wound on his back.
⠀⠀⠀Bianca solemnly stared back at the giant, saddened that he was sentenced to this kind of death. And, by the looks of his denial, they couldn't just mercy kill him. He wanted to fight and live until the end.
⠀⠀⠀"I'm sorry, man," Rick sighed, stepping away from his back.
⠀⠀⠀"I can keep fighting!" Big Tiny argued.
⠀⠀⠀"You cut that old guy's leg off to save his life!" Andrew hissed at them.
⠀⠀⠀"What would you suggest us cut off?" Bianca snapped at him, narrowing her eyes at the man that sent a chill down his spine. "His head?"
⠀⠀⠀"Guys, I'm fine!" Big Tiny assured them, waving his hands around to try and show them to calm down. "Just... I'm fine. Look, look at me. I'm not changing into one of those things!"
⠀⠀⠀"Quarantine him," Axel suggested, desperate to save his friend.
⠀⠀⠀"We gotta do something!" Andrew claimed, turning to Rick with a glare like it was his fault Big Tiny got scratched. "Why are you just standing there? We gotta save him!"
⠀⠀⠀"There's nothing we can do," Rick told him, finality in his tone.
⠀⠀⠀"You son of a bitch!" Andrew screamed in his face.
⠀⠀⠀"I'm al—"
⠀⠀⠀Tomas jumped forward, smacking the hammer in his hand across Big Tiny's hand. Everyone froze, turning to stare at the man. Tomas returned their gaze and paused to consider what happened. Then, he looked back at Big Tiny, throwing the hammer over and over and over again into Big Tiny until his face was bright red and his eyes were dark as coal.
BIANCA WAS AT the back of the group with Rick and Daryl. Tomas walked ahead of them while T-Dog led them through the halls. Bianca didn't like being so close to Tomas, especially now, but she'd much rather keep behind them than be blind ahead of him.
⠀⠀⠀"You see the look on his face?" Daryl asked Rick under his breath.
⠀⠀⠀"He makes one move," Rick muttered, looking at Bianca.
⠀⠀⠀"Just give me a signal," Daryl agreed.
⠀⠀⠀They entered a laundry room, T-Dog closing the door behind them. The others checked for any lingering walkers before heading to the double doors.
⠀⠀⠀"Hey, Bibi," Tomas called when her people were spread out over the room. His voice was quieter than it had been, and his face relaxed to the reassuring gaze he used to give her before handing her a stash to sell. "It's been a while. When this is all over, you should stick with us. We can catch up. I'd keep you safer than these imbécils."
⠀⠀⠀"Thanks, but I think I'd much rather stick with them," Bianca assured him with a thin smile, her fists clenching to keep her anger at bay.
⠀⠀⠀Tomas sighed, running the back of his fingers across her face. A light smile appeared at the edges of it, and where she would've slapped anyone else away, she stayed still, not wanting to appear in front of him. Even now.
⠀⠀⠀"Well, if anything happens, you've got a place with us, alright?" Tomas assured her, winking before stepping away as Daryl came barreling around the corner.
⠀⠀⠀Daryl glared at Tomas, slinking away before dragging Bianca across the room with him and back to Rick. He then took his keys and tossed them at Tomas' feet.
⠀⠀⠀"I ain't openin' that," Tomas stated, staring blankly at the keys then back to them.
⠀⠀⠀"Yes, you are," Rick ordered. "If you want this cell block, you're gonna open that door. Just the one, not both of them, because we need to control this."
⠀⠀⠀Tomas picked up the keys and walked over to the door. He turned his head, glancing at Bianca with a raised brow. He returned it to the door and unlocked it, turning to them with a faint smile.
⠀⠀⠀"You bitches ready?" Tomas asked, pulling against the door. It didn't budge as he tugged twice. Finally, he let out a small, embarrassed chuckle and assured them by saying, "I got this." He took both handles into his grip, and both doors flew open, the awaiting walkers streaming into the room.
⠀⠀⠀"I said one door!" Rick yelled at Tomas.
⠀⠀⠀"Shit happens!"
⠀⠀⠀Bianca stuck to the back. The walkers pouring in were a lot, but they seemed to handle it with the number of people in the room. She was more concerned with Tomas and the way he had just spoken to her as if a plan had been set in motion.
⠀⠀⠀Bianca had the right to be concerned as she watched Tomas attack a walker, nearly stabbing Rick in the process. It could almost be considered an accident until Tomas turned, facing Rick. He grabbed a walker by the shirt and threw it at Rick.
⠀⠀⠀"T, mind the gap!" Daryl shouted, rushing through the bodies to get to Rick.
⠀⠀⠀The anger had begun to overwhelm Bianca like it never had before earlier that day, but now it was bursting at the seams. After all the shit he had done, reliving those experiences and just the way he spoke to her had her riled up. But, now... now, he was threatening her family. The people she cared about most in this screwed-up world. The only people she had left. It scorched her insides, trailing up her skin, and turned her mind numb and vision red. Her body moved without her control, the sledgehammer raised over her shoulder, ready to launch.
⠀⠀⠀Tomas turned to look. She remembered it, the smug look in his eyes that so quickly turned to fear. It was beautiful, something she longed for. To see him afraid, to see him out of control. But then, it was gone, as the blunt end slammed against his head and the gurgle of brain matter and blood rang in her ears.
⠀⠀⠀Tomas laid on the ground, only the whites of his eyes visible. Bianca stood above him, unmoving. The sledgehammer resting limply in her hand. She stared at Tomas and his dead body. She wished he was staring back at her, so she could feel like she'd won. Blood pooled out of the back of his head, staining the ground dark, and it flooded out until it coated the bottom of her shoes.
⠀⠀⠀Suddenly, Andrew screamed in anger and distress for his dead friend (or whatever Tomas had been to him) and nearly rushed her. However, Rick kicked Andrew onto his back before he could, and Daryl leveled his crossbow to Andrew's forehead.
⠀⠀⠀"Easy now," Daryl cooed softly.
⠀⠀⠀Andrew stared back at them, eyes wide with fear before he stood and ran. Most likely thinking that he was next.
⠀⠀⠀"I got 'em!" Rick exclaimed, running after Andrew into the hallway they had just cleared.
⠀⠀⠀The sledgehammer slipped from Bianca's grip, the metal hitting the ground with a crack similar to the one made against Tomas' head. Her gaze was blurry and still directed and Tomas' body.
⠀⠀⠀"We don't have no affiliation to what just happened!" Axel exclaimed nervously. "Tell 'em, Oscar!"
⠀⠀⠀"Stop talking, man," Oscar sighed, shaking his head.
EVERYTHING WAS EXACTLY as Rick had left it when he returned. Bianca stood dumbly over Tomas's rotting corpse, Oscar and Axel were patiently sitting on their knees, and Daryl and T-Dog kept them at gunpoint.
⠀⠀⠀"We didn't have nothin' to do with that," Oscar explained levelly to Rick, calm and collected, unlike his friend beside him.
⠀⠀⠀"You didn't know?" Rick sneered in disbelief, glaring at the man. "You knew! Daryl, let's end this now!"
⠀⠀⠀Rick raised his gun to the side of Axel's face, and Daryl rested the edge of his knife against Oscar's neck. Bianca had hardly been all there, but her lips twitched at the idea of killing them. Despite Tomas' blatant act to kill Rick and Andrew running away, these two hadn't tried anything.
⠀⠀⠀"Sir, please, please, listen to me!" Axel begged, stumbling over his words in hopes he might get Rick to understand. "It was them that was bad! It wasn't us!"
⠀⠀⠀"Oh, that's convenient," Rick laughed at him.
⠀⠀⠀"You saw what he did to Tiny!" Axel exclaimed, his voice cracking with the rising emotion. "He was my friend! Please, we ain't like that. I like my pharmaceuticals, but I'm no killer. Oscar here, he's a B and E, and he ain't very good at it neither. We ain't the violent kind. They were! Please, please. I swear to God, I wanna live!"
⠀⠀⠀Rick considered Axel's plead, dragging it out, so the man sat in anticipation of death for longer than he deserved before finally accepting him. Then, Rick trained his gun on Oscar and waited for his plea.
⠀⠀⠀"What about you?" Rick asked, raising his brows as he waited.
⠀⠀⠀"I ain't never pleaded for my life," Oscar told him, conscious clear and welcome to whichever way Rick might lead him. At least he would live or die because he wanted to. Not Rick. "And I ain't about to start now. So, you do what you gotta do."
⠀⠀⠀Bianca stepped over Tomas, eyes still clung to the floor as she watched where she stepped. She paused behind Rick, resting her hand on his shoulder tentatively in case he hadn't heard her approach. Rick turned back toward her sharply, a frown on his face. She caught his gaze, and he stared back as if an argument was raging silently between them.
⠀⠀⠀Then, Rick nodded, recalling what she had said to him.
⠀⠀⠀Axel's face had fallen fearfully, thinking she was egging him to do it. However, Rick lowered his gun and re-holstered it.
⠀⠀⠀"Alright, let's move," Rick concluded and led the way to their cell block.
"OH, MAN! I knew these guys," Axel moaned mournfully as they entered Cell Block D. It was worse for wear than Cell Block C. Each cell door opened with a prisoner lying in front of it, a bullet wound through their head and left to rot. "They were good men."
⠀⠀⠀"Let's go," Rick called to his people.
⠀⠀⠀"So, you're just gonna leave us in here?" Oscar asked, appalled. "Man, this is sick!"
⠀⠀⠀"We're locking down the cell block. From now on, this part of the prison is yours. Take it or leave it. That was the deal," Rick told them with a faint shrug.
⠀⠀⠀"You think this is sick? You don't wanna know what's outside," Daryl said.
⠀⠀⠀"Consider yourselves the lucky ones," Rick said, then headed out.
⠀⠀⠀"Sorry about your friends, man," Daryl told them sincerely. He left them, wrapping his arm around Bianca, and led her with him. "C'mon."
AUTHOR'S NOTE —
I can't think of songs right now so I'll come back and add one in lol.
I hope you guys liked this :) Poor Bianca is gonna have a rough go of it this season to be honest with you guys.
But next up we finally, FINALLY, meet Cal in present day. I might post it today since I didn't post on Wednesday but it all depends on if I can work up to editing.
SONG: Gone Away by The Offspring
Thank you for reading! Please leave a comment if you'd like. However, this is an all kind of reader safe space. So even if you ghost read or comment every chapter, I hope you know it means the world to me that you've come into this fic ♡ I hope you enjoyed this chapter, and until the next one.