"Oh." I mumble, looking at two charred bodies on the ground. The sunlight is bright and happy as opposed to a gloomy sight on the outside concrete.
There are blood trails leading to them and their skin is fully black, a little bit of red is poking out of the dark black blotches.
"You saw 'em like this?" Rick asks Tyreese. You can feel his anger and hurt radiating off of him.
"I went to go see Karen and I saw the blood. I followed it until I smelled...this. Someone killed them. They killed them and set them on fire!" Tyreese's voice is hard and angry.
He quickly approaches Rick, so quickly that Daryl steps forward just in case.
"You're a cop." Tyreese whispers. "You find out who did this and you bring 'em to me. You understand? You bring 'em to me!" His voice is deep, I can practically see steam coming out of his ears.
"We'll find out who-" Daryl tries to put his hand on Tyreese before he slaps it away from behind. I clench my jaw and step up, not saying anything yet.
"I need to say it again?" "No. No." Rick whispers, shaking his head. "I know what you're feelin'. I've been there. You saw me there. It's dangerous-" "Karen didn't deserve this! David didn't deserve it." His voice gets louder and angrier as he speaks. "Nobody does!"
Daryl tries to calm Tyreese down by putting his hand on his bicep. "Alright, man, let's just-" Tyreese quickly pins Daryl up against a cell door with a growl. "Man, I ain't goin' nowhere till' I find out who did this!" I quickly grab Tyreese's shirt but Daryl puts his hand up to tell Carol, Rick, and I to back off.
I huff but comply, backing away.
They both look each other in the eyes, Tyreese breathing heavily. "We're on the same side, man." Daryl rasps.
"Hey, look," Rick says cautiously. "I know what you're going through." Rick slowly and carefully approaches Tyreese with his hand out. "We've all lost someone."
Ooh. Bad thing to say.
"We know what you're goin' through right now, but you-you've got to calm down." Without warning, Tyreese releases Daryl and shoves Rick while yelling, "You need to step the hell back!"
"She wouldn't want you bein' like this."
Boom
A blow lands on Rick's right cheek. "Stop! Stop!" Carol screams.
"Tyreese!" I yell, grabbing him by the arms. But, he's a god damn god so he breaks out of my grasp with a force so I slam against the wall behind me.
He throws another punch to Rick before Daryl leaps on his back with a grunt and holds him back.
"That's enough, that's enough." Daryl grunts. Tyreese continues panting like a dog after a dog fight as Rick quickly stands up. In retaliation, Rick punches Tyreese in the jaw, causing him to fall to the ground; Daryl lets go quickly and nods to me to make sure I'm okay.
I give him a look of, "Seriously?" and nod in response.
Rick kicks Tyreese in the ribs which causes Tyreese to flop onto his back.
Rick continues to punch Tyreese hard, his grunts and the sound of the punches filling the air.
"Rick." Daryl says, trying to get Rick to calm down. When Rick continues punching Tyreese, Daryl lunges forward, wraps on of his arms around Ricks neck, and begins trying to pull him off of Tyreese.
"Let go of me!" Rick yells. "No!" He shoves Daryl off of him and looks at Tyreese, massaging his wrist.
"Good god." I groan turning away and scoffing.
"What the fuck did I miss?" Damien stands, flabbergasted in the doorway to C block. I smirk, "Oh you have no idea."
I put a mask on and go into cellblock A with a sketchpad and a pencil.
I step in there and am immediately filled with dread. The sound of people coughing and moaning echoes throughout the air. I adjust the bandanna on my face and slowly walk up the steps, making eye contact with a shivering man.
I walk into Alyssa's cell and see her with a mask and a half-finished bracelet.
"Jesus, we can't catch a fuckin' break, can we?" She squints, and obvious sign of a smile.
"The Walsh effect." I scoff and sit down next to her on her bunk, she sets her bracelet down. "I feel fine. Doctor S says that I should stay in here until this whole thing blows over though in case I do have it. He doesn't want it to spread."
I nod, "And we also kind of don't want you to die from choking on your own blood. Maybe just a little bit." Her eyes widen at her sketchbook under my arm, and she grabs it. "That too." She responds without looking at me.
I look around with a sigh and hand her her pencil. "This has got to be gloomy as hell in here." "Oh you have no idea. All I hear is people coughing and spitting blood into handkerchiefs or whatever. It's kind of scary."
I nod, "Well, if it makes you feel any better, if you had it you would already be showing signs. I think you're fine but let's not test it, shall we?" She squints and nods.
My walkie-talkie goes off, "Council meeting." Hershel's voice says. I groan, "Why the hell did you make me a part of the council? It's so...boring." "But you're a control freak so I figured you'd like it." I scoff, "Dick." "Hey!" She looks up at me from her drawing.
"Go. Go save the world or whatever you do." I smile and stand up. "Don't spit blood outta your eyes without me, alright? I wanna watch it. It sounds cool." She giggles, "Got it." I smirk and turn on my heel, marching out of her cell.
I love seeing her but man I hate being in this cellblock. My feet move in a fast walk as I try to get out of the cellblock before someone grabs ahold of my ankle or something.
Once I close the metal door, I take my mask off and sigh. "Gross." I mumble before walking away and towards the library.
People's coughs still sound throughout the hallway as I make my way closer to the library. I shiver with the thought of how agonizing that sickness must be.
Once I get into the library, everyone is already in there, looking at me.
"Sorry, I was with 'Lyss." I point to the mask to assure them that I'm not infected.
I grab a seat next to Daryl and manspread, crossing my arms.
"It's spreading." Hershel starts, looking around. "Everyone who survived the attack in cellblock D. Sasha, Caleb, and now others." "Oh jesus." Carol mumbles. "So what do we do?" She asks, concerned.
First things first, cellblock A is isolation. We keep the sick people there like we tried with Karen and David." "What the hell we gonna do about that?" Daryl questions, shrugging. "Ask Rick to look into it. Try to make a timeline- who's where and when. But what are we gonna do to stop this?" Carol stretches her neck forward, urging and answer from Hershel.
"There is no stopping it. You get it, you have to go through it." "But it just kills you?" Michonne's voice comes from one of the bookshelves. "Jesus how the fuck did you do that?" I ask, looking at Michonne. She just smirks and looks back at Hershel.
"The illness doesn't. The symptoms do. We need antibiotics." "We've been through every pharmacy nearby and then some. There's not many people to go with us anymore, especially since Adrian just lost her foot." "Who the hell said I don't wanna go on runs? I lost my foot, not my balls." I say with an eyeroll.
"That veterinary college at West Peachtree Tech, that's one place people may not have thought to raid of it's medication. The drugs for animals there are the same we need."
"That's fifty miles. Too big a risk before. Ain't now. Imma' take a group out. Best not waste anymore time." I go to stand up but Daryl points at me. "No." "Dick? I'm going." "I'm not risking it." I groan like a little kid, "I'm still capable." I glare at Daryl, "I will hide in the fucking car. I'm going."
"How would Alyssa feel about that?" Hershel asks. I think for a moment, "Shut up." I say, fully standing up.
"I'm in." Michonne says, stepping forward. "You haven't been exposed," Hershel starts, turning to her. "Daryl and Adrian have. You get in a car with them..." "He's already given me fleas." I giggle at Michonne's words.
God I love her.
Hershel chuckles as well, "I can lead the way. I know where everything's kept."
"When we're out there, it's always the same. Sooner or later we'll run." Daryl says, looking between Hershel and I. "Gotta break in the foot somehow." I smirk.
Hershel thinks before saying, "I can draw you a map. There are other precautions for you to take."
"Like what?" Carol asks. "There's no telling how long it'll be before Daryl and his group return. Wouldn't it make sense for us to separate the most vulnerable?"
Hershel's words tune slightly as Daryl's arms flex. My eyes are drawn to his toned arms like flies on shit.
"We could use the administration buildings, separate office, separate room."
Daryl slowly turns to look at me staring at his arm with a smirk. He just scoffs and doesn't say anything. I look up at him and smile before turning back to Hershel.
"Who is the most vulnerable?" Glenn asks. "The very young." "What about the old?" He asks again. "Them too."
"Oh no I totally saw it." Michonne says, smiling. I groan with a giggle, "You saw me or his arms? Oh my god his arms!" I blush and cover my mouth. "You're like a schoolgirl." She says, smirking.
Damien approaches us, "I concur, Daryl's arms could wrap around my throat, and I'd ask him to do it again." "See?!" I turn and see Daryl staring at us while working on the engine of a car. All three of us just smile and wave, not denying the fact that we're not looking at his face.
"Okay, yeah. His arms are really..." Michonne's voice trails off in caution. "Hot?" I smirk. "Sexy?" Damien adds. "Scrumdidilyumptious?" Michonne laughs at my words, "Sure."
Bob walks past us and approaches Daryl, they have a conversation I can't quite hear.
I nod to Damien and we begin walking to the car, Michonne runs to one of the guard towers to grab a part of the car that I didn't care enough to listen to the name of.
As we inch closer to the car, Daryl walks around the side and bends into the driver's side window. I walk past him and slap his butt with the back of my hand. Damien laughs a hearty laugh.
Daryl quickly pushes out of the car and looks at me. "What? It was right there. I can't resist that." I say with a smirk, putting a bag into the trunk of the car.
"He's totally fed up with you." I giggle at Damien's words, "Oh one hundred percent." He chuckles, "The best relationships are the sibling type- wait. That came out so wrong." I laugh, "Yeah. Yeah, it did."
"Let's go!" Daryl waves to us, Tyreese, Bob, and Michonne with him.
I nod and Damien and I climb into the car. I sit in the passenger seat while Michonne and Damien sit in the middle seats and Bob and Tyreese in the very back.
As we're driving, Daryl looks at me. "I didn't mean that you weren't capable of fighting." I scoff, "I know. You're just worried, that's all." I look at him with a smile. "It's cute." He scoffs, "Whatever." "Aw." Damien coos. Daryl scoffs and I giggle quietly.
Daryl begins to play with the radio but instead of music, all it is is static.
"Hand me one of those CDs over there." I nod and open the dashboard, grabbing a book of CDs.
"...find sanctuary." A person's voice cuts in and out. I pause from opening the book of CDs and look at Daryl then the radio, he leans in to hear better.
"Was that a voice?" Bob asks. "Sh, hold on." Daryl says, twisting and turning the channel nob.
"...determined to survive...keep alive..." Daryl and I look at each other, his mouth open slightly and my eyes wide.
Before we can listen further, Daryl looks at the windsheild before grunting and turning the car quickly to avoid a Walker.
The car swerves left and right as he tries to regain control of the wheel, swinging all six of us around like ragdolls.
The tires screech and Walkers slam on the sides of the car as we hit them ever so slightly.
Daryl hits a Walker before finally gaining control of the car and stopping it in the road.
"Shit stick." I gasp, looking out of the windshield.
Right in front of us, hundreds of Walkers begin stumbling towards the car, snarling and growling.
Their hands pound on the doors and windows, desperately trying to get to us.
"Grab something!" Daryl yells to us. As we all grab onto a handle or something else just as sturdy, he puts the car and reverse and guns it backwards, slamming into multiple Walkers and making the wheels screech.
He skillfully drives backwards before we hit too many Walkers and they pile up under the wheels, causing us to get stuck.
"Go to the left!" Michonne yells, pointing. Daryl nods and turns the wheel to the left, slamming on the gas pedal. The only thing that happens are the wheels spinning on Walkers and Walker blood splattering everywhere.
"We're jammed up! Make a run through the gaps right there. Make a run for the woods and don't stop for nothin', you hear me?" He looks at me, "Are-" "Don't." I say, unbuckling my seat belt and putting my hand on the doorknob.
"Now!" He yells, opening his car door.
We all reciprocate by swinging our doors open and leaping out of the car. I crack my whip on multiple Walkers that dare approach me.
Blood splatters on my face and neck, narrowly missing my mouth.
"Go!" I yell to Damien, him and I begin running through the very small gap of the Walkers. I hobble slightly as I'm still getting used to the new foot but other than that, I can run pretty well.
"Duck!" Damien yells. I duck and he slams his bat into a Walker's head. He grabs my hand and pulls me to run faster, a Walker's hand narrowly misses my shirt.
"Daryl!" I yell, waving him to me. He nods and grabs Michonne, then follow Damien and I.
My lungs burn with every ragged breath I take, who knew losing a foot could make running so much harder?
"There!" Damien yells, pointing to the edge of the woods. All four of us book it to the brush, trying to avoid leading any Walkers towards us.