Y/N wakes up to a clicking noise. She opens her eyes and finds herself staring into a camera. Glenn is smiling behind it.
She playfully swats him. A picture prints. She rolls her eyes. "Changing of the guard?"
He nods. "Yeah, i'll bring you breakfast after the perimeter check." He leans in and kisses her softly.
She picks up the picture and groans. "Oh my god. Throw that away."
He looks at it and smiles. "Not gonna happen. It's mine." She laughs and kisses his hand as he climbs down the tower.
Once he's gone, her smile fades and she pulls out her bottle. She takes two pills and swallows them without water. She winces.
She puts the bottle away and leans over the railing looking down on the field. Michonne is there with her horse getting ready for another run.
She waves at her as she passes. Suddenly gunshots ring out from inside. Y/N gasps. Michonne brings her horse to a stop. Rick and Carl who were down feeding the pigs pause.
Suddenly two little girls, Lizzie and Mika run out of the building screaming. "Help! Help! Come quick!"
Y/N yells down to Rick. "Cell blocks?"
He shouts back. "I don't know!"
He turns to Carl. "Get in the tower with Y/N. Don't argue. Go!"
Michonne gallops back up to the outer gate as Rick runs to the main part of the prison.
Glenn yells. "Walkers in D!"
Sasha, Daryl, Carol, and Tyreese run outside.
"What about C?" Rick shouts.
"Clear! We locked the gate to the tombs!" Sasha says, running with an axe in her hand.
Daryl takes off. "It ain't a breach!"
Y/N climbs down the tower, meeting Carl in the field. Michonne is waiting outside and the two help open the gate, letting her back inside.
Several walkers get in too and one knocks Michonne to the ground.
Carl shoots one in the head and Y/N kills the one on Michonne.
At some point in the process, Michonne injured her leg and screams in agony.
Y/N helps her stand and leads her back inside the field. She turns to Carl. "Stay with her!"
She takes off in a full sprint towards cell block D. She hears gunfire and screams coming from inside as people exit.
She pushes her way inside and sees chaos. Walkers are everywhere. Not just any walkers. People she sees everyday. Their people. She stabs one in the head and recognizes him as Stanley, the man who opened the gate back at Woodbury.
Rick spots her and shouts. "Where's Carl?"
She waves her hand as she slices another walker. "With Michonne! He's fine."
Rick nods and continues killing the walkers. Tyreese runs to his girlfriend, Karen. Carol helps Lizzie and Mika's father.
Daryl and Rick take down several, checking the cells. Glenn is on the upper floor. Once everything is dead, they take a breather, Glenn goes to one of the cells and suddenly a walker bursts out from behind the curtain.
Daryl shouts. "Get down!" He ducks and Daryl fires an arrow into the walkers head.
Y/N rushes up to him and hugs him. They look down at the walker and Y/N's eyes widen.
"It's Patrick..."
They split up and check all the cells, making sure to put down any bodies before they turn. Upstairs, Hershel and Dr. S enter a cell.
"No bites. No wounds. I think he just died." Rick says.
Dr. S nods. "Horribly too. Pleurisy aspiration.
"Choked to death on his own blood. Caused those trails down his face." Hershel says.
"I've seen them before. On a walker outside the fences." Rick says.
Y/N sighs. "On Patrick too."
The doctor nods. "They're from the internal lung pressure building up-- like if you shake a soda can and pop the top. Only imagine your eyes, ears, nose, and throat are the top."
Bob crosses his arms. "It's a sickness from the walkers?"
"No, these things happened before they were around. Could be pneumococcal. Most likely an aggressive flu strain."
"Someone locked him in just in time." Hershel says, pointing to the dead boy before them.
Daryl shakes his head. "No, man. Charlie used to sleepwalk. Locked himself in. Hell, he was just eating barbecue yesterday. How could somebody die in a day just from a cold?"
Rick sighs. "I had a sick pig, it died quick. Saw a sick boar in the woods."
"Pigs and birds. That's how these things spread in the past. We need to do something about those hogs. Maybe we got lucky. Maybe these two cases are it." Hershel says.
Y/N shakes her head. "Haven't seen anybody be lucky in a long time."
Bob nods. "Bugs like to run through close quarters. Doesn't get any closer than this."
"All of us in here. We've all been exposed." Hershel says.
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The council sits around at a small table in the library.
Y/N shakes her head. "Patrick was fine yesterday, and he died overnight. Two people died that quick?" She sighs. "We'll have to separate everyone that's been exposed."
Daryl looks at her. "That's everyone in that cell block. That's all of us. Maybe more."
Hershel interlocks his fingers and rest them on the table. "We know that this sickness can be lethal. We don't know how easily it spreads. Is anyone else showing symptoms that we know of?"
Carol sits up in her chair. "We can't just wait and see. And there's children. It isn't just the illness. If people die, they become a threat."
Hershel nods. "We need a place for them to go. They can't stay in D. We can't risk going in there to clean it up."
"We could use cell block A?" Sasha offers.
"Death row? Not sure if that's much of an upgrade." Glenn says.
"It's clean. That's an upgrade. Think that'll work for Dr. S?" Daryl asks Hershel.
"I'll help Caleb get it set up."
Suddenly coughing is heard from the hallway. They all stand and exit to find Tyreese walking with Karen.
Carol eyes her. "You okay? You don't sound too good."
"We're just taking her back to my cell so she can rest." Tyreese says.
Hershel rests his hands on his hips. "Tyreese, I don't think that's a good idea."
Karen tilts her head. "Why? What's going on now?"
"We think it's a flu or something. That's how Patrick died." Y/N says.
Hershel walks closer to them. "Judith was in that cell block. She's vulnerable. Anyone that may be sick or even exposed should stay away."
Tyreese squeezes Karen's hand. "She's gonna be okay. Now that we know what Patrick died from we can treat it, right?"
"Don't panic. We're going to figure this out. But we should keep you separated in the meantime. We'll have Caleb take a look at you. I'll see what we have in the way of medications." Hershel says.
Karen nods. "David, from the Decatur group. He's been coughing too."
"I'll get him. There's some empty clean cells in the tombs, right?" Glenn asks Y/N. She nods. "Yeah we'll meet you there."
Hershel looks at them carefully. "Y'all wear gloves and a mask. We need to be safe. Just in case."
She nods and follows after Glenn.
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