𝐒𝐄𝐄𝐃

𝟑𝐱𝟎𝟏

WINTER was unbearably long. For eight months we had been scavenging through random houses. It was tough, but our situation brought all of us closer...well some of us. Lori and Rick we're barely talking and neither were Carl and Lori. The whole thing with Shane had put a rift between all three of them. Other than that, the majority of us were close. I had gotten close to all the women...well closer. I started to notice time was passing at an increased rate when all of us had started to grow our hair out and Lori was getting bigger. My hair had definitely gotten longer but so had Carl's, Hershel's, Daryl's, Rick's, and Carol's.

The Rictatorship had been in full effect as of eight months ago. I let the anger I had towards Rick go a few months back. We were sort of back to the way we were. Daryl and I. I'm not exactly sure where to start on that front. We still had some feelings that we needed to work out but neither of us were ready to have that conversation. We were still close though and he was letting his walls down, slowly but surely. My love for him had definitely grown over the past few months, him on the other hand, I'm not even sure he loves me. I know he cares though, I can see it in all of his actions and his need to protect me even though I don't need protection. I appreciate it though

Carol, Daryl, and I had formed this special bond though. We would joke and make fun of each other. It was nice since I was only ever used to doing it with my siblings.

Anyway, enough of the recap. Let's get down to business. We had been searching another house to see if it was safe for us to sleep. The main people Rick would bring on important "missions" were Daryl, T-Dog, Maggie, Glenn, Carl (depending on said mission), and I. We had been the main ones, even Carol sometimes. We had all had extra training due to times being even more dangerous than they were.

Rick had kicked the door in before shooting the first walker he saw. T-Dog, Daryl, Carl, and I followed with our own weapons in hand. We all had been separately searching each section of the house with our weapons and flashlights up, depending if the area was dark. I was with Carl. He had my front, I had his back. We had searched the kitchen before moving to another room. Carl opened the door and as we entered we saw a walker. Carl shot it down before looking back at me. I nodded at him before he did too and we kept moving.

We hadn't found anything in our section so we went back to the kitchen and Rick was there. Carl was looking through cans on top of the counter as Glenn, and Maggie walked in through the kitchen door.

T-Dog and Daryl walked down the stairs, Daryl with some kind of bird in his hand. Rick stood by the front door ushering in the rest of the group, and Maggie and Glenn were moving bodies out of the way so everyone could bring in our stuff. Well the stuff we had anyway. Carol, Beth, Lori, and Hershel emerged through the door with stuff in their hand.

We all gathered in another room and we were doing different things. Daryl picking the feathers off the bird, Glenn going for something in the back before going back over to Maggie, Rick was keeping watch, Hershel was rummaging through another bag, Carol fixing one of the blankets on top of her legs, Lori eating, Beth staring off into space, Carl coming in with two cans, and me, cleaning off and checking my sword.

You could only hear the sound of the can opener grinding against the can. Rick walked over to Carl and looked at the can to see what Carl got. Rick then threw the can at the wall while breathing heavily. I looked at the can to see it have a dog on the front. Had we been that hungry? Hell yeah.

T-Dog had been sitting by the window keeping watch now. "Psst." T-Dog motioned his head toward the window for us to see walkers were coming. We all already knew the drill. Abandon ship and get the hell out of there to look somewhere else. We all grabbed our stuff and ran back to the cars. I got on the back of Daryl's motorcycle and held on as we drove out of there with the rest of the group following in three other cars.

We stopped once we got further down the road and gathered around each other to figure out a new game plan. Again.

Glenn laid the map on top of the car that we had marked on all winter.

"We got no place left to go." T-Dog said.

"When this herd meets up with this one, we'll be cut off. We'll never make it south." Maggie told us as she pointed at two separate locations on the map.

"What would you say? That was about 150 head?" Daryl asked looking towards Glenn and I.

"That was just last week." I told him shaking my head.

"It could be twice that by now." Glenn agreed from right next to me.

"This river could have delayed them. If we move fast, we might have a shot to tear right through there." Hershel piped up.

"Yeah, but if this group joins with that one, they could spill out this way." T-Dog told Hershel.

"So we're blocked." Maggie concluded.

"Only thing to do is double back to 27 and swing toward Greenville." Rick said

"Yeah, we picked through that already. It's like we spent the winter going in circles." T-Dog said while scratching the back of his head.

"Yeah, I know. I know. At Newnan we'll push west. Haven't been through there yet. We can't keep going house to house. Need to find someplace to hole up for a few weeks." Rick said to us softly while looking at Lori who sat in the truck staring off into space when he mentioned us finding a permanent place to go.

"All right. Is it cool if we get to the creek before we head out? Won't take long. We got to fill up on water. We can boil it later." T-Dog asked as some of us we're ready to head towards the creek.

"Knock yourself out." Rick answered him as some of us headed over to the creek either to wash up or fill up the water bottles.

As I was splashing my face with the cool water, Daryl and Rick had came over and told the rest of us they had found something. A prison.

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Rick had been opening the outside fence that wrapped around the prison with wire cutters in order for us to get in. Once he did that, Glenn was going to close the gate back up before any walkers could get in. Man I hate walkers, their like those annoying gnats that like to fly all around you like a nuisance.

Some walkers had been coming our way as Rick was opening the gate but we hastily put them down. We all got through the fence as T-Dog was the last to enter making sure no walkers were in our vicinity.

"Hurry. Hurry!" Rick exclaimed to T-Dog before he and Rick made their way into the fence.

Glenn and Daryl stay back as Glenn was closing the gate back up to prevent any walkers. The walkers were definitely coming in hot as they saw all of us standing there before we were running towards the door that led into the courtyard of the prison.

We all stopped at the gate that led into the courtyard as we saw the roaming walkers that infiltrated it. But, with all of us, we could kill them and clear it out.

"It's perfect." I heard Rick say softly from next to me.

"If we can shut that gate, prevent more from filling the yard, we can pick off these walkers. We'll take the field by tonight." Rick announced, confirming my thoughts.

"So how do we shut the gate?" Hershel asked.

"I'll do it. You guys cover me." Glenn offered from in front of me as he stood next to Maggie who was shaking her head showing her opposition towards that idea. I didn't blame her, I didn't like it either.

I snapped my head in his direction and looked at him with raised eyebrows about to protest when Maggie had beat me to the punch.

"No. It's a suicide run." Maggie said shaking her head.

"I'm the fastest." Glenn said.

"We'll have to disagree, I'm obviously faster than you." I grinned as he tilted his head and sighed irritatingly at my joking.

"No, you, Maggie, and Beth draw as many as you can over there. Pop 'em through the fence." Rick ordered.

"Daryl, go back to the other tower. Carol, you've become a pretty good shot. Take your time. We don't have a lot of ammo to waste. Hershel, you and Carl take this tower. I'll run for the gate." Rick continued giving out more orders, looking at each of us as he did so.

"I'll go with you, and don't say no because I'm coming anyway. I've got your back and your sides, maybe even your front, plus you already know I'm faster than Glenn." I grinned and raised my eyebrows at him.

"Alright. You were gonna go whether I said no anyway." Rick sighed with his hand on his hip.

"That's right. Come on ranger we're burnin daylight." I smiled at him before I tilted my head towards the gate. Lori was gonna open it for us. We walked over to the gate while looking around as we saw some of the group leading walkers away from us. Lori looked at us with hesitance written all over her face. I nodded my head at her in attempts to reassure her, yet it didn't look like it worked.

Then she opened the gate.

Rick had his gun up and I had my sword out ready to attack. We had our backs to each other, me facing the back and him facing the front. The walkers had been limping towards us and Rick shot the ones that were in our way. I cut off another's head as it was coming to close. I heard another snarl a little to close to us and I kicked it before embedding my sword in its brain. Shortly after, the others that had been in the two towers were shooting down the walkers farther from us but still within the courtyard.

Then a bullet had shot at our feet and we looked up to see the culprit was Carol. We titled our heads at her in exasperation before we kept going. Over the gun fire I had heard her yell out sorry but I was not focused on that right now. Rick and I were almost at the gate, still running like we were running a marathon.

We had reached the gate before any of the other walkers that were in the prison could get to the courtyard. As Rick was closing the gate, I was tending to the walkers heading in our direction. I beheaded three walkers at the same time yet I hadn't noticed that one was behind me, but Daryl did. I turned up to wink at him and smirk before getting back to the task at hand.

Rick got the gate closed and was helping me put down the walkers that were heading towards us. Then both of us ran into another tower and shot the walker inside of it. We climbed up the stairs and as we reached the top, we heard Daryl shouting light it up to the group.

Everyone in the group started shooting down the walkers, in a hurry to clear out the courtyard. As we were firing shots Rick laughed before looking at me as I laughed with him. They had been laughs filled with glee and relief. After eight months, we had found a place of some sort of stability.

Before we knew it, we had shot down all the walkers. I looked at Rick and held out my fist for him to bump, to which he did. "We did it ranger." I breathed as we saw the others smiling too.

Rick and I came down the tower to hear Carol yelling in pure happiness. "We haven't had this much space since we left the farm." She smiled before laughing and looked at all the open land. I smiled at the group before T-Dog let out a loud shot of glee. Maybe, just maybe, we'd be alright here.

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Night had fallen. We had made a fire and the majority of us were around it eating, while Daryl and Rick were on watch. I was walking up to Daryl who I saw had been standing on top of a car and pacing keeping a look out.

"Hey sailor." I joked before making my way to climb on top of the car. As I was climbing up, Daryl took my hand and helped me up. "You want me to take over on watch?" I asked. He had been keeping watch for a while and so had Rick.

"Nah, I got it. You eat?" He asked.

"Yeah, did you?" I questioned, knowing that he would forget to eat when he would be on watch.

As he was about to answer Carol emerged from inside the car. Daryl put the strap of his crossbow over his head before he lent out his hand for Carol to grab.

"It's not much, but if I don't bring you something, you won't eat at all." Carol told him while handing him some food.

"What do ya know? I was just wondering the same thing." I voiced to Carol but kept my eyes on Daryl.

"I guess little Shane over there's got quite the appetite." He said seriously as he put some food in his mouth.

I snickered before quickly covering my mouth. Carol laughed with me and said, "Don't be mean."

"Wait you knew too?" I smiled at him.

"I thought everyone did." He shrugged.

"You know Glenn didn't even know, he was so surprised." I joked looking at Carol.

"You know for a smart guy, he's real slow." Daryl joked as he kept eating.

"Leave him alone, he can't help it." I shoved him and Carol playfully as they started laughing.

"Rick's gotten us a lot farther than I ever thought he would, I'll give him that." Carol voiced as our laughter died down.

"Mhmm." Daryl agreed as I simultaneously nodded my head in agreement.

"Shane could never have done that." Carol continued.

"Yeah, we'd all probably be dead by now." I said.

"Ok serious question. Is it a ricktatorship or a grimestatorship? I'm not sure which one sounds better yet." I continued as I looked over at both of them.

Daryl shook his head as Carol laughed at my question as I held a serious expression, wanting to hear their opinions.

"What are you talking about?" Daryl asked.

"Well, you know when Rick had that whole 'this isn't a democracy anymore' speech." I said imitating Rick with a heavy southern accent.

"What the hell was that?" Daryl laughed at my imitation of Rick along with Carol.

"That was my imitation of Rick. Did I do good?" I questioned with a widespread smile across my face.

"It was good." Carol nodded and smiled.

"I knew it was good. Thank you. At least she has my back." I said looking at Daryl.

"Pfft." Daryl scoffed with a grin on his face before we all broke out into a fit of chuckles

(A/N I was not gonna say giggle like come on now😭🤚🏾)

All three of us had made our way down on the ground from on top of the car. As we were walking over we heard Beth singing.

"Good night and joy be with you all." I heard Beth sing. She has such a soothing, soft, and angelic voice.

"Oh, all the comrades. That e'er I had. Were sorry for my going away. And all the sweethearts, that e'er I had. Would wish me one more day to stay. But since it falls unto my lot. That I should rise and you should not. I'll gently rise and I'll softly call. Good night and joy be with you all. Good night and joy be with you all." Beth and Maggie sang together. We had all sat around the campfire in silence relishing in the song. I looked at Glenn to see him looking between Maggie and the ground with a soft smile on his face. I'm so glad he found her, that they found each other. I longed for something like that, even during the end of the world. I then took a look at Daryl to see him already looking my way.

"Beautiful." Hershel commented referring to the song.

"Better all turn in. I'll take watch over there. Got a big day tomorrow." Rick said while using his head to point in the direction of where Daryl had been keeping watch a while ago.

"What do you mean?" Glenn questioned.

"Look, I know we're all exhausted. This was a great win. But we've got to push just a little bit more. Most of the walkers are dressed as guards and prisoners. Looks like this place fell pretty early. It could mean the supplies may be intact. They'd have an infirmary, a commissary." Rick answered looking at each and every one of us in the eye.

"An armory?" Daryl questioned.

"That would be outside the prison itself, but not too far away. Warden's offices would have info on the location. Weapons, food, medicine. This place could be a gold mine." Rick answered.

"We're dangerously low on ammo. We'd run out before we make a dent." Hershel informed.

"That's why we have to go in there...hand to hand." Rick said as he glanced over at me when he said hand to hand. I nodded my head in his direction in understanding.

"After all we've been through, we can handle it, I know it." Rick assured the others of the group that had looked a bit skeptical.

"These assholes don't stand a chance." Rick said facing Carl before getting up and walking to where he was going to take watch. Shortly after, I saw Lori follow him as I was setting up to go to sleep. That might not bode well.

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Rick, Hershel, Glenn, Maggie, Daryl, T-Dog and I all stood at the gate leading into the prison. Rick stayed true to his word, when we had woken up a while ago, we were gonna attempt to clear out the prison.

"Ready?" Hershel asked Rick as he got ready to move the chain they had put on the gate to keep them out yesterday.

Rick opened the gate as we all got our weapons ready to kill the walkers that were heading our way.

Daryl, Glenn, Maggie, T-Dog, and I had all kept in a tight formation as we were told to do, to make sure that everyone stayed safe. The rest of the group were out and in the courtyard. Rick needed the best people at hand to hand combat for this to work and it just so happened to be the five of us.

"Daryl." Rick said warning Daryl about the upcoming walker.

Daryl stabbed it with his knife and shoved the walker to the ground. We had all been following suit as they were coming at us from the front and our sides.

"Get tight! Get tight!" Glenn exclaimed as we had all been expanding our circle without even realizing it.

Some of us were just tag teaming them and getting blood all over ourselves in the process. It had been exhilarating in a way.

"Don't break rank!" Rick ordered T-Dog as he got out of formation to get a shield that had been lying on the floor.

"We need that." T-Dog said as he quickly made his way over to the shield.

"T! T!" Rick shouted, warning T-Dog about the walker getting closer to him whilst he had his back turned.

Glenn had kicked a walker in the chest shoving it a way as Maggie went over towards the walker and stabbed it, getting out of rank also.

"Maggie! Maggie!" Rick yelled along with Glenn as she quickly made her way back over to us.

"Almost there." Rick told us as we made in
further towards getting into the prison.

Rick then opened a door and T raised his weapon in the air just in case a walker came out. Nothing had so we inched closer and closer til Rick uttered shit and hastily put his back against the wall. T, Glenn, and Maggie follow in suit as Daryl and I were in the back. We saw some walkers in police uniform looking our way and growling at us.

Daryl shot an arrow at one as it got closer but the arrow collided with the protective shield covering the walker. Rick went toward and T-Dog followed as the rest of us were trying to take out the walkers in the uniforms. The door that Rick had previously opened, a walker had sprung out of it coming towards Maggie.

I kicked it back with enough force to put some distance between it and Maggie. Maggie and I then lifted up its shield covering and stabbed our weapons in the walkers throat simultaneously. We pulled out our weapons and looked at each other before looking at T-Dog and Glenn with smiles on our faces as we panted out of breath.

"See that?" Maggie asked as she turned to me and held her hand to which I high-fived it. A walker had then been coming towards T-Dog and Glenn before they killed it using the same technique Maggie and I had.

We had all been doing our fair share of walker work as more and more blood spattered all over each of us.

We were gonna head back until Rick said stop. We all looked around and saw the walkers we had taken out but also a closer look into the prison.

"Well, it looks secure." Glenn said.

"Not from the look of that courtyard over there." Daryl disagreed pointing at the herd that were growling and snarling at us from behind the closed gate.

"And that's a civilian." Daryl said pointing at one of the dead walkers we put down on the ground.

"So the interior could be overrun with walkers from outside the prison." T-Dog added.

"Well, if there's walls down, what are we gonna do? We can't rebuild this whole place." Glenn said.

"We can't risk a blind spot. We have to push in." Rick said as I puffed up my cheeks in a bubble as I looked at the others outside looking at us questioningly. Rick then opened the gate and led us up the stairs into the inside of the prison. Daryl had his hand on the doorknob and looked at Rick for confirmation before opening it. There had been another door as soon as we walked in and Rick pushed it open causing the door to squeak. I then closed the first door seeing as I was in the back.

We walked further inside and saw papers all over the place. Everything was in disarray and the only sound we all heard was the sound of water dripping and hitting the floor repeatedly. We all looked around and had our weapons up, just as a precaution. I followed Maggie over to another corner as we looked around.

Rick climbed up the stairs slowly towards where the guard would usually sit as they overlooked the prisoners. He walked in and no other sound had been heard until Rick dangled a pair of keys in his hand through the window.

We all made our way into another part of the prison using the keys. Rick successfully unlocked the gate and we all walked in, keeping high alert in case of walkers or people for that matter.

We each looked in the cells downstairs before Daryl went upstairs and Rick followed.

T-Dog and I stayed as we attempted to clean out the cells. Rick threw a dead walker over the railing as T-Dog and I carried it elsewhere. Maggie and Glenn had went outside to grab the rest of the group.

"What do you think?" I heard Rick ask as T-Dog and I carried the walker out of our section and put it somewhere away from the group. "Home sweet home." I heard my brother say.

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An hour or two later, after we had gotten some sort of relaxation, we got some of the gear of the walkers we had put down. Obviously the clean ones because I was not putting any of that vile walker guys on any part of my body. We had been taking turns attaching the gear to each other. Daryl and Rick had opted out for the gear mainly because there was only so much gear to go around. This time, Hershel was coming with us. Don't get me wrong, I think that Hershel can hold his own, but if we got caught up with a heard, something bad could happen. I just didn't have a good feeling about this, and I always trusted my gut feelings.

"You won't need that." Rick said to Carl as he had been trying on a helmet.

"I need you to stay put." Rick continued as he took the helmet away from Carl.

"You're kidding." Carl scoffed

"We don't know what's in there. Something goes wrong, you could be the last man standing. I need you to handle things here." Rick told him.

"Sure." Carl said nodding his head.

"Great. Let's go." Rick said as he handed Carl the keys to the cell block we were in before turning to all of us.

I looked up and waved at Lori who waved back before hugging Beth and Carol. I walked over to Carl and did our handshake before tipping his hat to the side.

"Ara." He whined as he fixed it.

"Bye Carl." I smiled as I followed Maggie.

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Daryl used another flashlight as he shined his flashlight in front of him. We all made our way slowly and cautiously. The only sounds that could be heard were the sounds of rats squeaking and water dripping. As we shined the lights on the floor, we saw a bunch of dead walkers. Glenn had been in charge of spray can duty. He would spray paint arrows in which directions we were going so when we head back, we know where we're going.

Maggie then let out a loud shriek. I whipped my head around and shined the flashlight at her only to see she bumped into Glenn. Jeez.

We kept checking each and every cell only to find dead bodies and blood spattered all over the floor.

We walked further down the corridor making sure to stay close to one another. Glenn was still spray painting arrows on the wall as we got to each section.

Then we all heard a loud thud in front of us as kept going further in front of us. As Daryl and Rick hit the next corner, we all heard growling. Oh shit. That bad feeling was really starting to sink in.

"Go back go back. Go back! Move!" Rick whispered then yelled. We all hastily made a run for it. Hershel then fumbled over a dead body on the ground and T-Dog hurriedly helped him as we started running with the rest of the group.

"This way!" Rick yelled at all of us.

Maggie and Glenn were in the front now as we were running but another herd of walkers cut us off. Maggie let out a loud scream until Glenn grabbed her arm and ran the other way.

"Come on this way!" Rick shouted. As we all hastily started running. I heard Glenn and Maggie scream from behind me and I turned around to see a herd had separated us.

"Glenn! Maggie!" I shouted as T-Dog grabbed my arm and pulled me away.

We all holed up in another room as the walkers continued to room around us.

"Where's Glenn and Maggie?" Rick questioned.

"We have to go back." Hershel said.

"I'm going back. I don't care." I stated.

"Which way?" Daryl asked looking at me.

Rick then got up and opened the door back as we made our way back out. We flashed our lights down an empty hallway, before we kept going straight.

"Maggie? Glenn?" Hershel whispered.

I was walking at the back with Hershel when I heard someone whisper out Daddy. I knew that southern accent anywhere. I looked at Hershel and went down the hallway with him.

"Mag?" Hershel whispered.

"Glenn?" I whispered as we kept walking before a walker had grabbed onto Hershel's leg and bit into it.

"Hershel!" I screamed in horror as I hurriedly sliced the walkers head off.

"Rick!" I yelled out as I held onto Hershel who was screaming out in pain.

"I'm so sorry." I whispered to Hershel as tears pooled in my eyes.

They rushed over to me as they saw Hershel lying in my lap as he wailed in agony.

"I-I-I don't know." I let out shakily as a tear streamed down my face.

Maggie and Glenn had made their way over in a hurry as they heard the sound of Hershel's screams.

"No!" Maggie screamed as she was crying hysterically.

They grabbed Hershel's body and lifted him up to help him walk. Daryl walked up to me and cupped my face in his hands looking me over.

"You bit? You alright?" Daryl asked me.

"No." I whispered as he grabbed my hand and ushered me behind the others.

I had to swallow my fear, walkers had heard all the commotion and were making their way back to us. I helped Daryl take down the ones that were getting to close.

"We're blocked!" Glenn yelled

"Get back get back!" T-Dog exclaimed.

"Go! Go!" Rick shouted from the front as Daryl grabbed my hand and ran with me down the corridor.

Everyone was yelling at the same time as we reached the door that had been locked. They were all trying to hurriedly unlock the door as the walkers were getting closer.

We successfully opened the door as Daryl and I hastily closed the door behind us. T-Dog, Daryl, and I had been leaning our backs against the door as the walkers continuously tried to break it as the pushed against it with their body weight.

"You got it? Have you got it?" Daryl exclaimed to T-Dog and I as we were pushing our backs against the door. We nodded and then he rushed over to the others to help out with Hershel.

"Hold him down. Hold him down." Rick instructed as he quickly took off his belt wrapped around Hershel's leg above the walker bite.

Hershel was still screaming in pain as his head was laid in Maggie's lap. Maggie's was crying hysterically and I was just crying silently.

"Alright." Rick said as he finished tying the belt around Hershel's leg.

"Only one way to keep you alive." Rick said to him as he grabbed his hatchet and started cutting off his leg.

Hershel's screams grew louder as Rick continued the chop off his leg with every bone crunching sound. I had to look away. I had felt bile creeping up my throat at the sound of the hatchet rhythmically coming down on his leg. You could hear his bones breaking and cracking with each time the hatchet came in contact with his leg.

"Oh!" Rick breathed out as I heard him stop.

"He's bleeding out." Rick said.

Then we all heard a clanking sound coming from inside the room we were in. "Duck." I heard Daryl whisper to Rick as Rick complied and Daryl grabbed his crossbow and aimed it in the direction of the sound. He shined the flashlight on the figures that had made the noise.

Those weren't walkers.

Those were people.

Well that's one way to start a new season. My girl Ara is distraught. She blames herself for Hershel getting bit. She hopes that Rick caught it in time and Hershel doesn't turn into a walker. And Daryl, well Daryl was exactly what she needed at that moment so yeah. Whelp I love you guys 3000.
-brayla❤️❤️