Carl was telling Glenn where he found Tyreese's group, so they could figure out how they got into the prison. Glenn concluded that there must have been another breech somewhere in the prison. Rory watched as they drew on the prison floor with chalk.
"Now, you said you found Tyreese's group here?" Glenn asked Carl. The boy nodded in agreement as Glenn shifted. "We secured this." Carl sighed before he spoke up, pointing to the badly drawn map on the floor.
"He thought he came through here." Carl pointed.
"Means there's another breach." Rory spoke up, Glenn looked to the girl, nodding grimly. Rory breathed out as Beth begun playing with her hair, braiding a particularly long strand of hair behind her ear.
"Okay." Glenn begun, standing up preoperly. "The whole front of the prison is unsecure. If walkers just strolled in, then it's gonna be cake for a group of armed men."
"Why are we even so sure he's going to attack?" Beth spoke up from behind Rory. "Maybe you scared him off."
"He had fish tanks full of heads." Michonne revealed, Rory wrinkling her nose. "Walker and humans. Trophies. He's coming."
"We should hit him now." Glenn offered.
"What?" Beth asked softly, most likely confused.
"He won't be expecting it." Glenn explained. "We'll sneak back in and put a bullet in his head."
"We're not assassins." Carol scoffed from her place on the table next to Axel.
"I'm a ninja." Rory muttered to herself, Beth puffing out air at the younger girl in amusement as she tied off the braid.
"You know where his apartment is." Glenn spoke to Michonne, approaching the woman quickly. "You and I could end this tonight... I'll do it myself." Glenn insisted. After a moment of silence, Michonne nodded at the man. "Okay." Glenn spoke, walking backwards a little.
"He didn't know you were coming last time and look what happened." Hershel vocalised as Glenn turned to face him. "You we're almost killed. Daryl and Ivory were captured. And you and Maggie were almost executed."
"You can't stop me." Glenn breathed out.
"Rick would never allow this." Hershel continued.
"You really think he's in any position to make that choice?" Glenn spat rhetorically.
"Think this through clearly." Hershel told Glenn. "T-Dog lost his life here. Lori, too. The men that were here. It isn't worth any more killing. What are we waiting for? If he's really on his way, we should be out here by now."
"And go where?"
"We lived on the road all winter."
"Back when you had two legs and we didn't have a baby crying for walkers every four hours." Glenn argued.
"We can't stay here." Hershel spoke softly.
"We can't run."
•••
Rory made her way through the field. Glenn had asked her to walk the perimeter, sure, he probably meant to stay inside the walls, but Rory was bored.
By the time she had made it to the outside of the prison gates, she saw Hershel approaching Rick from the other side, the two having an obvious debate. Hershel caught the girls eye before smiling at her softly, she waved back at him. Rick turned to face Rory for a moment before continuing his talk with Hershel.
Rory walked along the riverbank and dipped her shoe in the river. With one last look to Rick and Hershel, Rory ran and jumped over the small river to the other side, slipping a little on the mud and falling to her knees. The girl yelled quietly and looked around, embarrassed before she got up and dusted off her pants.
The sound of a gunshot had Rory instantly alert. She scrambled for protection in the bushes, just away from Rick, who was motioning for her to get down as there was a frantic spray of bullets.
Looking through the leaves, she saw some of the governors men. She turned into a ninja once more and decided to make her way to the one that was furthest away from the others. He was easier to target.
Rory was surprised when she saw Daryl and Merle crouching in the trees, Daryl signalling for the girl to stay put and be quiet, yet she did the opposite.
"Hey, mister." Rory called out. The man aimed his gun at her before she threw her knife, it sunk into the tree next to him.
"You missed." The man growled, levelling his gun at Rory. She just grinned before walking forwards a little more.
"Made you look."
The man whirled around, only to be shot by Daryl, his eyes scanning Rory, pausing on the gauze on her head before running over to help Rick at the fence with walkers. Merle following his brother.
Not long after, the gunshots finally stopped as the attackers retreated. Rory shot the man on the ground in the head and looked through his pockets, taking his ammo and his gun before making her way over to Rick, Daryl and Merle.
As she approached the three, she looked into the prison yard and felt her heart beat faster. The attackers had drove in a van full of walkers, which were now freely roaming the yard. The girl sighed as she thought about the effort they had put in to clear the field, and how they would have to do it all again.
She made it to the three men, who were putting down some walkers, one coming up behind Merle. Rory wouldn't admit it, but she hesitated, yet she still threw her knife and killed the walker, Merle looking behind him before nodding at the girl and picking up her knife. She scoffed at him before snatching it from his hands.
She watched as Daryl and Rick nodded at each other. The girl then looked to the walkers in the yard. Why would they do this? What did they gain?
•••
"We're not leaving."
"We can't stay here." Hershel argued back. Rory rolled her eyes from her seat on the platform. She was sat against the bars, legs dangling off the edge.
"What if there's another sniper? A wood pallet won't stop one of those rounds." Maggie pressed.
"We can't even go outside." Beth added.
"Not in the daylight." Carol agreed.
"If Rick says we're not running, we're not running." Glenn spoke loudly.
"No, better to live like rats." Merle chimed in.
"Who asked for you opinion?" Rory sneered, receiving a light kick from Daryl, she glared up at the man as he walked behind her.
"You got a better idea?"
"Yeah, we should have slid out of here last night and lived to fight another day. But we lost that window didn't we?" Merle asked rhetorically. Rory itched the gauze on the side of her head, Daryl lightly kicked her again, so she hit him in the leg, hard. "I'm sure he's got scouts in every road on this place by now."
"We ain't scared of that prick." Daryl said to his brother, pacing the walkway by Rory as she kept swinging her legs.
"Y'all should be." Merle retorted. "That truck through the fence thing, that's just him ringing the doorbell. We might have some thick walls to hide behind, but he's got the guns and the numbers. And if he takes the high ground around this place, shoot, he could just starve us out if he wanted to."
"Let's put him in another cell block." Maggie commented after a second of silence.
"No. He's got a point." Daryl chimed in.
"This is all you. You started this." Maggie blamed Merle, only for her sister to yell back.
"What's the difference who's fault it is? What do we do?"
"I said we should leave." Hershel pressed. "Now Axels dead. We can't just sit here." Rick begun to walk away. "Get back here!" Hershel yelled, the sound echoing loudly as Rick stopped dead.
"You're slipping, Rick. We've all seen it. We understand why. But now is not the time. You once said this isn't a democracy. Now you have to own up to that. I put my family's life in your hands. So get your head clear, and do something."
•••
Merle needed tape to fortify his lack of hand, and Rory had it. That's how the two ended up in Merles cell as the man taped over his ...hand?
"You're not the same scared kid you was back at Atlanta." Merle begun, looking to Rory who scowled at him.
"Obviously." She scoffed. "Shit happens, people die."
"Like your daddy." Merle asked.
"Yeah." Rory glared at the man. She looked up at the sound of Hershel's crutches.
"You're the farmer, Hershel." Merle spoke.
"And you're the black sheep, Merle." Hershel replied.
"How'd you lose it?" Merle asked the older man, looking to his lack of limb.
"I was bit."
"Bit?" Merle parroted. "You hack it off yourself?"
"No." Hershel chuckled, moving to sit on the stool in the cell. "Rick did."
"Awful kindly of him."
"Saved my life." Hershel defended. "Gave me more time with my girls. Gave you more time with your brother. Can't put a price on that."
"Can't put a price on anything anymore." Merle joked, looking to Hershel. It was quiet for a moment before Hershel turned to face Rory.
"Ivory, dear, why don't you go check on the others." Rory nodded hesitantly, standing up and making her way to find her friends.
•••
Andrea was here. In the prison. Rory couldn't say she was pleased. Rory sat on the table, cross legged next to Rick.
"Hershel, my god." Andrea gasped at the man's lack of limb. She spun around in a slow circle, taking everything in. "I can't believe this. Where's Shane?"
Rory knew it was coming, but it didn't mean it hurt any less. She looked Andrea straight in the eye, aiming to make her uncomfortable. It worked.
"Oh, no, Rory." The woman attempted to walk closer, but Rick stepped in the way.
"And Lori?" She asked awkwardly, Rick giving her a blank stare.
"She had a girl." Hershel spoke up. "Lori didn't survive."
"Neither did T-Dog." Maggie added.
"I'm so sorry." Andrea whispered. "Carl..." the boy just glared at her, much like Rory did. "Rick, I.... You all live here?"
"Here and the cell block." Glenn confirmed.
"There?" She pointed. "Well, can I go in?" She asked, already walking forward.
"I won't allow that."
"I'm not an enemy, Rick." Andrea took offence.
"We had that field and courtyard until your boyfriend tore down the fence with a truck and shot us up."
"He said you fired first."
"He lied." Rick deadpanned.
"He killed an inmate who survived in here." Hershel told the woman.
"We liked him." Daryl commented. "He was one of us."
"I didn't know anything about that." Andrea revealed, shaking her head. "As soon as I found out, I came. I didn't even know you were In Woodbury until after the shoot-out."
"That was days ago." Glenn scoffed.
"I told you, I came as soon as I could... I don't get it. I left Atlanta with you people and now I'm the odd man out?"
"He almost killed Michonne and he would have killed us." Glenn explained. Rory ignored the bickering, looking to Carl across the room. The boy smiled softly to his friend, one of which she returned.
"I'll tell you what. Next time you see Philip, you tell him I'm gonna take his other eye." Daryl threatened.
"We've taken too much shit for too long. He wants a war? He's got one." Glenn stated.
"Rick." Andrea turned to the man. "If you don't sit down and try to work this out, I don't know what's gonna happen. He has a whole town... look at you. You've lost so much already. You can't stand alone anymore."
"You want to make this right, get us inside." Rick declared.
"No." Andrea denied.
"Then we got nothing to talk about."
•••
Rory and Carl both stood by Rick as Andrea was getting ready to leave.
"Can you spare it?" Andrea asked as a car was driven over to her.
"Yeah." Rick replied as Andrea took one last look around at the group.
"Well, take care." Andrea breathed out as she sat in the car and closed the door. Rory fiddled with the spare gun that Carol had given her to pass onto the woman.
"Andrea?" Rory spoke, the older woman looking at the girl as she passed the gun and a small pocket knife through the window.
Once she had passed over the weapons, Rory went and stood back with Carl. "Be careful, yeah?"
"You too." Andrea smiled at the girl. The group watched as Andrea drove out of the gates.
•••
Idk what to write, have a good day ig??
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