"You look like shit," I looked at Ryan with worried eyes, "What happened?"

He collapsed into the chair next to me and rubbed his eyes. I bit my lip noticing his bloodstained hands. He's been overworking himself lately. Perhaps as a distraction.

"The fences almost caved in because of too many walkers piling up. Rick came up with a temporary fix." He explained.

Rick always did come through in the end. Hopefully this means he'll be more involved in the future.

I nodded. "You sure you should be on the front lines? Dorothy is due soon. She needs you more than the group."

Ryan scoffed and took off his jacket. I got up from my chair and took a bowl with water. He looked at me as I took his hands.

"We both know you don't care about Dorothy." said Ryan.

"I care about you, and your unborn kid." I pointed out.

I washed his hands of the blood and noticed how they tensed at the mention of his child. Glenn was right about Ryan being unsettled.

I just think he was wrong about the thing that was unsettling him. Ever since finding out that he had gotten Dorothy pregnant, Ryan was constantly stressed.

I squeezed Ryan's hand. "Talk to me, Ry."

He released a sigh and nodded. Whatever he was thinking about has been weighing him down. Slowly but surely wearing him out until all that was left was a tired young man.

"I just keep thinking about mom and dad." He admitted.

I tensed and let go of his hand. Of all the things he could've said, this wasn't what I expected. We didn't talk about our parents unless we had to.

Hell, I can't remember the last time that I thought of them. They were gone, and a part of me was grateful for it.

"Dad was a petty criminal, mom was an abusive alcoholic," he sighed, "It just makes me wonder, what am I gonna be?"

I frowned as he shifted uncomfortably. Nobody in our family ever acknowledged the fact that our mother loved alcohol more than she loved her kids. It was just an excuse.

Oh, your mother beat you? It must be all the booze.

No, she doesn't get to use the alcohol card. She was a shitty and cruel mother whose wrath I had to suffer more than anyone else in our family.

It was only after pushing those thoughts away, that I realized what he had said. "You can't be serious, Ryan."

He raised his eyebrows as I scoffed and pulled my chair closer to him. I looked into his eyes to make sure he was listening carefully.

"What are you gonna be? Anything that your kid needs. Our parents weren't ready for kids, and maybe you're not either but I know you'll do better." I told him.

He shook his head. "What if I'm just like them? What if I ruin my kid just like mom and dad ruined us?"

I opened my mouth to say that we weren't ruined. But I couldn't. We'll never be what we could've been if we had other parents.

"You won't. I know you'd rather die than ever harm your kid."

He leaned back in his seat and released a heavy sigh. His fingers were tapping against his thigh as he tried to collect his thoughts.

Before we could continue our conversation, Carol showed up at the front of the cell. I immediately noticed the slight discomfort on her face. Aka bad news.

"We have a situation." She said.

I glanced at Ryan before nodding at her. After the sickness, the fences bending, what could have possibly gone wrong now?

-----

"I came to see Karen, and I saw the blood on the floor. Then I smelled them."

I cringed at the sight of the burnt bodies. It wasn't even the sight of them that made me nauseous as much as the fact that this was going to be a new problem.

"Somebody dragged them out here and set them on fire," Tyreese glanced at Karen's body, "They killed them and set them on fire!"

His yelling was giving me a headache. He was upset and emotionally unstable. Which is why when Tyreese suddenly turned to Rick, we all tensed.

He had a stern look on his face. "You're a cop. You find out who did this and you bring 'em to me . You understand? You bring 'em to me!"

Daryl stepped forward putting a hand on his shoulder. Tyreese shook it off and looked at Rick with a firm frown on his face.

"I know what you're feeling. I've been there. You saw me there. It's dangerous-" Rick was cut off by Tyreese.

"Karen didn't deserve this. David didn't deserve this. Nobody does."

I shared a concerned look with Carol. He wasn't calming down and Tyrese was a big dude. With his strength, he could put up an unnecessary fight.

Daryl stepped closer to him and put his hand on his shoulder. His attempt at comforting him was futile and dangerous. Tyreese slammed him against the wall and I immediately went to lung at him.

Daryl put up his hand to stop us from intervening. I wanted to push him off regardless, but Rick held my elbow to stop me from going forward.

"We're on the same side, man." said Daryl.

I took a deep breath and stepped back so Rick would let go of me. He did and I paced behind him. I didn't like this mess.

Rick glanced at me before speaking to Tyreese. "Hey, look, I know what you're going through. We've all lost someone. We know what you're going through right now, but you've got to calm down."

He gently patted his shoulder, knowing what was coming next. Tyreese pushed him back telling him to back off.

Rick sighed. "She wouldn't want you being like this."

That comment earned Rick a punch to the face. As soon as it happened, I was on Tyreese. But like I said before, he was a big dude who was stronger than me. He blocked my punch and threw me aside like I weighed nothing.

Sloppy. Cleo would be disappointed. She's always saying how I need to think before attacking. Otherwise I'll end up on the ground. Hate to say that she was right.

As soon as Tyreese pushed me, Daryl was on him. He held him from the back and prevented his hands from hitting anything else. I got up dusting off my pants when something that I didn't expect happened.

Rick punched Tyreese knocking him down to the ground. His leg made contact with Tyreese's stomach before getting on top of him. Daryl stepped closer to me, his eyes checking if I was okay.

I ignored the pit in my stomach and turned to Rick. "Rick, that's enough."

Daryl grabbed him from behind as Rick started yelling for him to let him go. My heart skipped a beat when I saw him like that, and not in a good way.

He was out of control.

He pushed off Daryl and went towards Tyreese. I blocked his path and he stopped in his tracks. I shook my head indicating to him that it was over.

He took shaky breaths as he glanced at his bloody hand before looking at me. I could tell he was slowly regaining control again. Well, fuck.

-----

"It's spread. Everyone who survived the attack in cell block D. Sasha, Caleb, and now others."

I bit my lip as Hershel explained the situation. It was getting progressively worse. My siblings weren't infected yet but I feared for what may come.

"Well, what the hell are we gonna do," I wondered, "how do we keep this from spreading?"

We don't have the medicine to cure this infectious disease. Nor do we have enough people to keep it in check if things do get out of hand.

"First things first. Cell block A is isolation. We keep the sick people there like we tried with Karen and David." Hershel explained.

I scoffed. "Yeah, we've all seen how great that went."

Glenn gave me a stern look and I rolled my eyes. Well I'm right. A day hasn't gone by and we've already got people turning on each other.

"What the hell we gonna do about that?" Daryl asked.

"Ask Rick to look into it. Try to make a timeline; who's where when. But what are we gonna do to stop this?" Carol said.

Unfortunately for us, we don't have the time and resources to wonder who killed Karen and David. The reason was obvious. Whoever killed them did so to prevent the disease from spreading

"There is no stopping it. You get it, you have to go through it."

Survival of the fittest. Nature truly is cruel, creative, but cruel. I can't remember the last time I got a cold, let alone had to fight a deadly disease.

"But it just kills you?" Michonne asked.

Hershel turned to her. "The illness doesn't. The symptoms do. We need antibiotics."

The one thing that we're short on. It's not like we can just order it off Amazon or something. There's not a lot of places left where they could be.

"We've been through every pharmacy nearby. And then some." Daryl argued.

"That veterinary college at West Peachtree Tech, that's one place people may not have thought to raid for medication. The drugs for the animals there are the same we need." Hershel explained.

Daryl nodded mulling it over. It's not like we have a lot of options. We either do this or we give up at the start.

"That's 50 miles. Too big a risk before. Ain't now. I'm gonna take a group out. Best not to waste any more time." He said.

Michonne volunteered to go. I wanted to raise my hand and do the same. A part of me hesitated to do so. Being with Daryl in a car isn't as appealing as it used to be.

"You haven't been exposed. Daryl has. You get in a car with him..." Hershel trailed off.

Michonne scoffed. "He's already given me fleas."

I snickered at her remark making her smirk. Michonne was the only one who could keep up with my constant commentary.

If I am to die at some point in the future, I'd happily let her take over my position of making snarky remarks and looking good while making them.

"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? We can use the administration building. Separate office, separate room." Hershel suggested.

It was solid advice. Keeping kids like Judith, Carl, Abby and others there is a smart move. It would at least help ease the minds of their family. I know I'd feel safer if I knew my sister was safe.

Or at least safer.

"Who is the most vulnerable?" Glenn asked.

I raised my eyebrows. It isn't that difficult to guess? Everyone that's not middle aged is more prone to catching any kind of illness. At least that's how it worked before the apocalypse.

"The very young." Hershel replied.

Glenn shifted uncomfortably. "What about the old?"

It clicked in my head. He was aiming at Hershel this entire time. Well he could've just said it instead of dilly dallying.

"Josephine."

I turned around at the sound of Dakota's voice. The concern on her face made me stop in my tracks. She swallowed a lump in her throat before speaking.

"Ryan's sick."

AN:

Hi, guys.

I'm sorry for the very, very late update. I have a few final exams this month that I need to prepare for and when I'm done with them, I will have officially finished high school.

Hopefully I'll be able to update more after that but I make no promises. I just hope that you've enjoyed today's chapter :)