A small sigh emitted from Riley's nose as she buckled the sheath to her bowie knife through her belt loops, making sure it was secure before doing the same with her thigh, moving her right leg around to make sure it was comfortable enough in case she needed to run. She rubbed the back of her neck with her hand, yesterday had been a long day which consisted of moving all types of walker bodies and burning them, making sure the gates were secure enough to where they felt a little bit safe, then a service for those were lost, which drained most of them almost completely.
With Rick currently out of commission, Glenn, Daryl and Riley had taken up the role of leader, making sure everything was running smoothly, and pretty soon, they'd be going out on runs, Daryl and Riley on hunts, they needed to start bringing more food in as soon as possible, especially with a new baby. Sitting down on the bed, Riley put her boots on, zipping them and lacing them up, the sound of footsteps coming up the metal stairs filling her ears, resting her arms on her knees, turning her gaze to the door. Glenn knocked on the side, poking his head through,
"Breakfast is ready" he informed, "kinda figured I'd tell you since you missed dinner last night. Daryl said to let you sleep in a bit longer" earning a nod from her
Getting up from the bed as he walked off, Riley put hey quiver of arrows around her shoulders, grabbing her bow and walking out of the cell, tucking her sugar skull in her shirt as she walked down the stairs. Another small sigh emitting from her nose, giving Maggie a small smile as she handed her a bowl of meat and baked beans it looked like, walking over to where Daryl was sitting, who shifted his legs to make room, allowing Riley to sit down in between them. The group noticed how close the two of them had become, especially with what happened the other day, they didn't really say anything about it yet, and they were fine with it as long as they didn't bring it up.
Leaning against Daryl's leg, a small sigh emitted from her nose, pushing the meat around in the bowl before taking a bite. The sound of one of the doors opening filled the air, causing everyone attention to turn to the entrance of the tombs, seeing a cleaned up Rick walk in with the baby in his arms,
"Everybody okay?" He asked
"Yeah, we are" Glenn replied
"Are you?" Riley asked
"I cleared out the boiler block" he replied, handing the baby to Beth
"How many were there?" Glenn asked
"I don't know" he replied "a dozen, two dozen. I have to get back, just wanted to check on Carl"
"Rick, we can handle taking out the bodies" he said,
"You don't have to" Riley added
"No, I do" Rick replied "everybody got a gun and a knife?"
"Yeah" she replied "we're running low on ammo, though"
"Maggie and I were planning on making a run this afternoon" Glenn said "found a phone book with some places we can hit, look for bullets and formula"
"We cleared out the generator room" she added "Axel's there trying to fix it in case of a possible emergency. We're gonna sweep the lower levels as well"
"Good" Rick replied with a nod "good" heading back in
"Rick" Glenn said
He didn't listen, ignoring Glenn as he headed back into the tombs, a small sigh emitting from Riley's nose as she continued to eat, and in a little bit, they would be going to roam the halls to try to look for Carol's body, even though Riley had a strong feeling that she wasn't dead. Finishing her food a few minutes later, Riley gave the bowl to Maggie, removing the bow from around her shoulders and leaning it against her leg, taking the small hunting knife from her boot and picking the dirt from her nails, which needed to be filed down soon.
•
Glenn, Carl, Daryl, Oscar and Riley were slowly making their way though the tombs, an arrow notched into place in her bow with her bowie knife strapped to her right thigh as usual, the only thing that made her uncomfortable with this situation was the fact that there were hardly any walkers in sight. Glenn had his knife at the ready, same going for Carl with his gun and silencer, and Daryl with his crossbow,
"Check it out, man" Glenn said lowly
He pointed to a metal door, one that had been blocked off by a dead walker body, but the door looked like it was trying to open from the inside,
"Must've missed it last night" he added
"It's probably one of two of 'em" Daryl commented
"Don't look like they got much fight" Riley added "they ain't going nowhere"
"We'll take care of it in the way back" he said "come on"
We continued on, walking the halls of the tombs, a small sigh emitting from her nose as Glenn took point while she held up the rear end of them,
"You know, my mom, she liked her wine" Daryl said to Carl "she liked to smoke in bed, Virginia Slims. I was playing out with the kids and Riley in the neighborhood, we could do that with Merle gone, they had bikes, Riley had a skateboard, then we heard sirens getting louder. They jumped on their bikes, ran after it, you know, hoping to see something worth seeing. I ran after them but I couldn't keep up and Riley stayed behind with me, ran around the corner and saw my friends looking at me. Hell, I saw everybody looking at me. Fire trucks everywhere, people from the neighborhood, it was my house they were there for. It was my mom, in bed, burnt down to nothing, that was the hard part. You know, she was just gone. Erased. Nothing left of her. People said it was better that way, I don't know, Riley stayed by my side through it all no matter how many times I tried to push her away"
"I shot my mom" Carl said "she was out. Hadn't turned yet, I ended it. It was real"
"Sorry about your mom" Daryl said
"I'm sorry about yours" he replied
"You're lucky though, kid" Riley said softly "you have your memories of her. I never even knew mine"
"Come on" Daryl said
~
"Oh, that's what I'm talking about" Oscar said
He walked into a cell, picking up a pair of slippers and walking out,
"What the hell you need slippers for?" Daryl asked, holding onto his crossbow
"You know" he replied "end of the day, relaxing"
". . . All right" he replied with a nod
They continued to slowly make their way through the tombs of the prison, everything was silent, especially our footsteps. Riley stopped, causing the others to do the same, Daryl raising his crossbow in an instant while she drew an arrow back, letting out a slow breath through her nose as she heard the familiar sound of a walker chewing on a piece of meat. Whipping around the corner, Riley let the arrow fly, watching as it embedded itself in the head of a walker, Daryl giving her a small nod, the lot of them continuing on their way down that hall. It seemed as if this were a normal day for them, or as normal as you could get with the dead walking around and the living being more feared than ever before, but they get through it.
"That's Carol's knife" Daryl said
Looking down, sure enough, Carol's knife was embedded in the head of a walker, causing Riley to crouch down and yank it out, cleaning the blood off with the walkers clothes, letting out a small sigh through her nose as she handed it to Daryl, who put it in his boot.
"You three head back" Riley said, looking at Glenn, Oscar and Carl "we'll keep looking for a little longer" looking at Daryl, earning a small nod
"You guys sure?" Glenn asked
"We got it" Daryl replied with a nod
Glenn gave them a small nod, leading the other two back to the main part of C block, a small sigh emitting from her nose as she leaned back against the wall, tucking a stray lock of hair behind her ear, wondering when all of this crap was going to end, if it ever would.
•
"It's time for a cut" Riley said, taking her hair out from it's braid
Ruffling her hair out, she gathered it all up and held it at the top of her head to the length she wanted it, and if she's correct, then her hair should now reach a little past her shoulders. Maggie grabbed a large pair of scissors and began to cut through Riley's hair, this being the way she had always cut her hair since before the start of all this, and since it's as thick as Daryl's wrist, it was always a two man process. She held the hair she cut off, Riley's head instantly feeling lighter as she whipped my hair back, which was now in perfect layers, a small sigh emitting from her as she shook it out, looking at it through the broken mirror Maggie held.
"And that's how it's done" Riley said with a smirk "thanks, Mags"
"No problem" she replied with a smile, setting her hair on the stool "see you when we get back"
She gave her a small nod, grabbing the scissors and cutting her bangs, letting out a relieved sigh, gathering the hair that was cut off and trying it together with a spare band, walking out of the cell and tossing it in the trash, a ghost of a smirk forming on her lips when Daryl had to do a double take. Unlike the bangs that just rested across her forehead, Riley had just tucked them behind her left ear, since they reach her upper lip.
"That feels so much better" Riley said, running a hand through her hair, ruffling it out a bit
Jerking her head slightly to the entrance of the cell block, Riley walked out with her weapons in hand, getting ready to relieve Carl of his shift on watch. As you may have figured out, Daryl and Riley do everything together, and the whole group knows that it's both of them, or neither of them, and at first, there were some disagreements, but they ended up being fine with it in the end, especially since the two of them often brought back twice as much food, rather than only one of them was to go out on a hunt. The two of them get the job done when the time calls for it and they are always serious in those types of moments, only when they were alone was when they kinda acted like they were a couple.
Daryl followed Riley up to the guard tower where they relieved Carl, who handed Daryl the rifle they use for watch before walking down the stairs, out of the tower and back into the cell block. Leaning forward against the railing, a small sigh emitted from her nose as she looked around the prison yard, walkers still pressing themselves against the fences, trying to get to us, other than that, it was pretty quiet.
"Look just like you used to" Daryl said, causing a small smile to form on her lips
"Is that a good thing?" She asked, turning her head, looking at him
Her smile grew when he gave her a small nod, wrapping his arms around her waist, the two of them continuing our shift on watch.