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EVERYONE IN the cell block had been made aware of the prisoners presence. it unsettled them, but hershel was the top priority, so nobody could see what they wanted, or what they were planning to do apart from the three that were already standing there; desperate to guard them against getting inside.
rick and glenn had attended the situation, hearing the voices of the prisoners get louder and much rowdier than before. they weren't impressed, to say the least, there was too much on their hands to be dealing with people who had no clue about what had been going on in the outside world for the past year.
suddenly, rick stopped to speak to the korean, uttering a few desperate words about him being there for when hershel passes - if he does. maggie and beth would need support. glenn stayed while he ran out.
"there ain't nothing for you here! why don't you go back to your own sandbox!" daryl argued, starting to get angrier by their or the single prisoner's disobedience.
rick joined in, "hey! everyone relax, there's no need for this."
"how many of you in there?" the prisoner with the gun asked.
"too many for you to handle." rick shot back, trying to deter him from even bothering to check.
he looked hesitant, "you guys rob a bank or something? why don't you take him to a hospital."
again with the cluelessness.
rosaline groaned, "hey short fuse, why don't you look around? there are no running hospitals. everything is gone. dead people are walking."
they turned to her stunned, "what do you mean?"
t-dog, daryl, and rick looked at each other for a moment.
"how long have you been locked in the cafeteria?" rick asked, suddenly understanding their lack of knowledge.
"going on like ten months." the long-haired one answered, looking back and forth from them.
"a riot broke out. never seen anything like it." the tallest one mentioned.
then the ginger spoke with a strong southern accent, "attica on speed, man."
"just like what the girl said. heard about dudes going cannibal when they died and then came back to life. crazy."
the aggressive one took his turn to speak, "one guard looked out for us, locked us in the cafeteria, told us to sit tight, threw me this piece, said he'd be right back."
"yeah, and that was two hundred and ninety-two days ago." the tallest one informed.
the ginger prisoner opened his mouth, "94 according to my-"
"shut up!" the main prisoner seethed.
"we were thinking that the army or the national guard should be showing up any day now." the other said.
so these people think that there are still signs of civilization out there. rosaline thought to herself.
rick flicked his eyes across all of them, "what she said was right. there is no army."
"what do you mean?"
"there's no government, no hospitals, no police. it's all gone." rick clarified for them.
the ginger man with the mustache frowned, "for real?"
rick nodded, "serious."
all the prisoners started naming off their loved ones, clearly concerned for their fate. nobody knew if they were dead or alive - they were cooped up in here for months, no access to the world, surrounded by four concrete walls.
"yo, you got a cell phone that we can call our families or something?" one of the dark-skinned prisoners asked.
daryl was pissed off, "you just don't get it, do you?"
"no phones, no computers. as far as we can see at least half the population has been wiped out. probably more." rick elaborated for them, trying to be as clear as day.
the news seemed to register slowly in their heads, as their gazes dropped in a newfound disappointment and sadness. of course, these people had families and they'd potentially lost them without saying goodbye or seeing them for the last time.
"ain't no way." the leader of the prisoners denied.
"see for yourself." rick offered, gesturing towards the door.
the former sheriff led them outside to see what was going on outside at the fences and the bodies that were littering the courtyard from the previous day when they had wiped out the walkers.
some of them didn't seem fazed, whilst the more sensitive ones couldn't believe their eyes. rosaline whistled rhaegar over, slightly letting him roam and soak in a bit of the sun as he'd been cooped up inside.
"never thought i'd be so happy to see these fences." a prisoner admitted with satisfaction.
by the time they'd walker around, rosaline had learned some of their names.
the tallest man was called big tiny. he was named after his height and personality, it was quite fitting. the ginger man was called axel, whilst the other black man that accompanied them was called oscar, as well as andrew who sported a buzz cut and had a bit of peach fuzz. their leader was called tomas, he wasn't the most charming man. he was the one with long hair.
"how the hell did you get in here in the first place?" andrew questioned.
daryl jerked his chin near the guard tower where they entered, "cut a hole in that fence over there by that guard tower."
"that easy, huh?"
"where there's a will, there's a way." rick prompted.
"easy for you to say," andrew muttered.
big tiny poked a dead walker in the chest, "so what is this, like a disease?"
rick glanced at him, "yeah, and we're all infected."
big tiny had a double-take at rick, while axel crossed his arms, "what do you mean infected? like aids or something?" the ginger man interrogated.
"something like that." rosaline shrugged, finding his example slightly amusing.
daryl shifted his weight from one foot to another as he gripped his crossbow, "if i was to kill you, shoot an arrow in your chest, you'd come back as one of these things. it's gonna happen to all of us."
tomas spoke up for the first time after an unexpected silence, "ain't no way these robin hood cats are responsible for killing all these freaks."
andrew examined the floor, "must be fifty bodies out here."
"where'd you come from?" tomas asked rick, arms swaying.
"atlanta." he answered.
"where are you headed?"
"for now, nowhere." rick stood his ground as tomas approached him, his stance overconfident.
rosaline clicked her fingers, rallying rhaegar back to her feet. axel and big tiny took one glance at the massive dog.
"even after the cops are gone they still manage to leave a mark." andrew snorted suddenly, referring to the canine.
"rightly so." rosaline mumbled.
tomas pointed to the direction of the lake, "i guess you could take that area down there near the water."
rosaline couldn't help holding in her laugh. she covered her mouth, trying not to burst into a fit of giggles. he seriously thought he was gonna chase them out after they'd freed them and taken the prison with their own hands?
over rick's dead body.
tomas looked at her, approaching her rapidly, however, rhaegar snarled at him whilst daryl lifted his crossbow, "something funny, robin hood?" he hissed.
"you think you can chase us off?" rosaline giggled.
rick gave her a warning glance before stepping between them in order to protect her. tomas stepped back, "we're using that field for crops."
"we'll help you move your gear out." andrew offered.
"that won't be necessary. we took out these walkers - the prison is ours."
"slow down, cowboy." tomas taunted.
andrew came to his leader's defense, "you snatched the locks off our doors."
"we'll give you new locks if that's how you want it." rick bargained.
tomas spread out his hands, "this is our prison. we were here first."
rick gazed at them and couldn't help the scoff making its way up to his throat, "locked in a broom closet? we took it, set you free. it's ours. we spilled blood."
"we're moving back into our cell block." tomas pressed, still being very dismissive of what rick was trying to tell him. he wasn't taking no for an answer.
"are you death or something, does he have to spell this out to you?" rosaline was frustrated. she didn't fail to notice the look he had given her back inside. he thought she was an object. that infuriated her.
rick jerked his chin toward the girl, agreeing with her, "you'll have to get your own."
"you're lucky i like feisty girls, also it is mine, i've still got my personal artifacts in there." tomas urged, taking out his gun again angrily, "that's about as mine as it gets!"
as fast as lighting, daryl already raised his crossbow, circling around tomas, ready to shoot. he was problematic. hopefully, he'd follow his fellow prisoner's advice and leave.
axel and andrew got between them.
"whoa, whoa, whoa! maybe let's try to make this work out so everybody wins." axel pleaded, his eyes swaying back and forth between the two leaders.
tomas narrowed his eyes at rick, "i don't see that happening."
"neither do i." rick shot back.
"i ain't going back in that cafeteria for one more minute," tomas promised.
axel shifted in his spot, "there are other cell blocks."
"you could leave," daryl butted in with a suggestion, "try your luck out on the road."
silence.
tomas shook his hands, "if these four pussies can do all this, the least we can do is take out another cell block."
"with what?" one of his friends asked.
"atlanta here will spot us some real weapons." tomas asked, well, more like demanded, "won't you boss?"
rick thought for a moment, "how stocked is that cafeteria?" he questioned, "it must have plenty of food. five guys lasting almost a year?"
daryl jerked his head at them, "it sure as hell don't look like anybody's been starving." the marksman mocked.
"there's only a little left," tomas muttered.
rick nodded, "we'll take half, in exchange we'll help clear out a cell block."
"didn't you hear him? there's only a little left." andrew mouthed.
"if you want weapons, you'll trade." rosaline piped up, peeved by their lack of cooperation.
andrew glared at her.
rick leaned on the front of his foot, "but you got more food than you got choices. you pay, we'll play." the former sheriff rhymed, "we'll clear out a block for you, then you keep to it."
"all right." he agreed.
"but let's be clear," rick began, "if we see you out here anywhere near our people, if i or that dog so much as even catch a whiff of your scent, i will kill you."
tomas looked the leader up and down, "deal."
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tomas lead them all over to the cafeteria, "pantry's back here."
"you never tried to break out of here?" t-dog inquired looked around with a bit of disgust. the man probably wouldn't be able to last sitting locked up in a cafeteria for almost a year himself.
"yeah, we tried to take the doors off, but if you make one peep in here, then those freaks would be lined up outside the door growling; trying to get in." oscar explained, a shiver going down his spine, "windows got bars on there that he-man couldn't get through."
rosaline studied the bars, leaning on her tiptoes, pulling at them to test that story. it was true, nothing budged.
"bigger than a five by eight." axel pointed out.
big tiny shrugged, "you won't find me complaining. doing fifteen. my left leg can barely fit on one of those bunks."
oscar scoffed, "yeah, they don't call him big tiny for nothing."
tomas was leaning against the metal wall, shooting them all a death stare, "you done jerking each other off? sick of waiting back here."
rosaline stared the man up and down, suddenly regretting not bringing rhaegar again. she'd sent the dog back to the cell block, not trusting the tombs once again with the wandering walkers.
the girl also seemed to notice the consistent look of distrust behind rick. he knew this man was bad news, but when he was going to reveal his true colors was unknown to him.
tomas showed them what was left of the food they had been left with for the past year. there was plenty of canned things, more than enough to last all of them.
daryl was dismissive about his lack of generosity, "this what you call a little bit of food?"
tomas seemed to still get in front of the marksman, not wanting to let him pass, "goes fast."
he hummed, totally not convinced about his excuses.
the prisoner began to name off what they could have, "you can have a bag of corn- some tuna fish..."
rick interrupted him, "we said half. that's the deal." he turned to a small cupboard, "what's in there?"
"don't open that." oscar warned.
rick decided to open it against his word anyway and the smell almost knocked him out. he began to cough and gag. tomas laughed and rosaline let out an inward sigh. the girl could swear she could hear flies buzzing in there.
"he wanted to know." tomas said, a devil-like grin on his face.
she shook her head, "disgusting."
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rip rick's sense of smell. poor oscar tried to warn him.
don't forget to comment and vote!
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