Wake the Dead

We got back into the cell block and everything seemed calm. Lori gave us the details on what was going on with Hershel and he hasn't woken up yet, but also didn't have a fever. Rick went inside the cell Hershel was in with Beth, Maggie, Glenn, and Lori, but the rest of us stood by the doorway and looked in.

It was quiet, but then all of the sudden you could hear Hershel letting out a rough breath. Everyone immediately looked over to see if he was a walker, but instead of seeing glazed over, lifeless eyes, his normal ones flickered open. "Daddy?" Maggie asked, her voice hoarse from tears. Rick had a ghost of a smile on his face as he took the handcuffs off Hershel's left wrist.

Hershel reached out for Rick's hand and Rick grasped it with that smile coming back to his face. Hell, everyone seemed to being smiling at Hershel surviving. Lori then walked out and Rick handed Hershel's hand over to Beth as he followed her.

I didn't feel like I needed to stick around anymore, so I went back up to the cell I shared with V. The pain in my arm was starting to become more and more excruciating now that the adrenaline was leaving my veins. I held my arm out in front of me and saw that the bone was sticking out oddly and it was swelling even worse than it did before. I grit my teeth, trying to not focus on the pain radiating from it as I let out a groan. I felt tears well up in my eyes from how much it hurt, but I struggled to hold them back.

I heard someone come up to the door and I saw it was Daryl. The sight of him made the tears fall out of my eyes, fuck I hate crying in front of people, let alone Daryl. "I-I need something flat. T-To put on each side and set my bones straight... Like a cast. A-And some type of tape o-or something to wrap around it." I said, trying to avoid my quivering lip. I saw Daryl nod then run out and go over to V for help looking for something.

I rested my head on the metal bars on the bunk, trying to focus off of the pain so I don't pass out. I heard footsteps run back up the stairs and then appear at my cell, it was Daryl and V this time. V held some medical tape and Daryl held two long pieces of plastic that looks like they were cut off from something. I didn't worry about what he got it from, I just signaled for them to come over.

I got down on my knees, lying my broken arm on the bed of the lower bunk. "Need to put each piece of plastic on the left and right side and tape them tight around, setting my bones straight." I told them as they crouched down by me. Daryl helped me hold the long plastic pieces while V got the tape ready to rap around. He gave me a look asking if I was ready because this was going to hurt like hell; I just nodded.

Daryl and I squeezed the strips of plastic, making a weird bone crushing sound as we pushed my bone back into it's right place. I grabbed onto Daryl's hand and squeezed the life out of it as I let out grunts of complete pain and some small yells. V started to wrap the tape tightly around, making a homemade cast for me. It seemed like it took him forever, but he finally finished taping it around and then let go of my arm.

I let out a breath I didn't know I was holding and dropped my arm back onto the bed. I let go of Daryl's hand and saw him move it around and flex it, trying to get the blood to come back to it after me squeezing it too hard. I let out a breathy laugh at him. "Sorry."

He just nodded and then helped me stand up. "Ya need to eat." He told me in his stern voice. I was going to deny, but then I remembered that we just got a shit tone of more food so I didn't have to feel guilty about eating when I should be giving it to Lori. I nodded and then followed him out to the pile of food we just brought in. Daryl handed me a can of something and then grabbed another one for him self before we went back up to my cell.

I felt like I was a 16 year old girl with first date nerves again, but this was so much more than that. My insides were screaming at me to jump Daryl and never ever let him go again because I can't take the pain of not having him anymore, but my mind and emotions were telling me other wise.

I walked into the cell and immediately started pacing, there was so much on my mind right now, so much I wanted to just scream at Daryl. "Ya gona eat?" He asked, leaning against the doorway of the cell. I just continued to pace back and forth. "What's ya problem?" He asked.

"My problem!?" I snapped at him as I stopped pacing. He was a little taken aback by my sudden outburst, but I know he knew it was coming. "My problem is you." I hissed out.

"What the hell does that mean?" He snapped back, taking a step forwards.

"It means that I spent every damn day looking and thinking about you this winter! But, when I finally find you, you act like I left! Like I was the one that brought the horde of walkers to the cabin and made them chase me off!" I yelled at him.

"Ya were the one that had to come up with the dumb ass idea to try and lead them away!" He snapped back at me, becoming upset.

"You've got to be kiding me! I did what I had to do to make sure the group could get out and you would have done the same damn thing!!" I was starting to get worked up. "I came back anyways, but you guys had already left.. GONE." I saw something that looked like guilt flash across his face as he remembered that day, but then he shook it off. I didn't let him talk, though. "So you don't tell me that it was a dumb ass idea or act like I left you on purpose just because you have abandonment issues. And you also sure as hell don't leave when a someone finally finds you and needs you!" I yelled out the last part, referring to the first day I woke up.

"What was I supposed to do, Fi? You scared the shit outta me when I saw ya screamin after us! I ain't ever seen ya look like that before and then when I saw ya all bruised and broken..." He trailed off. "I could'a only guessed what happened to ya and I didn't even know if you were goin to wake up!" He ran his his hand over his face. "I went back lookin for ya! I couldn't find anythin and I thought I lost ya! And for all I know ya were cuddled up with V all winter!"

He was doin fine until that last part. It always pissed me off when he assumed shit, but I guess I was assuming things too.. "You don't know shit about this winter! You don't know what I went through! I would have died if it weren't for V! And hell I wished I was dead for a long time! But, I stayed alive because I knew I had to find you, and I did! I found you! But, then you run off when I wake up and we start avoiding each other like I did somethin bad!" I felt emotions knock up at the door and I was so worked up I couldn't do anything but let them come in. "BUT, I AM RIGHT HERE AND I LOVE YOU, SO GET BACK TO ME WHEN YOUR SORT ALL YOUR SHIT OUT." I yelled and then shoved past him, running down the stairs of the cell block.

I was taking deep breaths as I got back down to the floor everyone was on. Everyone gave me looks and I hoped they didn't hear my yelling... I ignored them and walked into the small cafeteria that was part of our cell block. I set my can of food that I still had on the table and then continued to breathe in and out.

I told him what was eating at my mind and if he wanted to avoid me again, then that's on him.

*

"Okay, lets get the other car in, park it in the west entry of the yard." Rick said as we opened up the fence that we parked all the cars by. I drove the truck in through and put it in the yard, we had to get all the extra corpses and burn them. Rick, T-dog, Daryl, V, and I were all down in the fields, moving in.

I was on car duty since I couldn't really do much with my mangled arm and stomach. I jumped out of the truck and walked back over to the rest of them. "Where's Glenn and Maggie? We could use some help." I asked as I came over.

"Guard tower." Daryl said, pointing to the over to it. Daryl and I weren't necessarily avoiding each other after what I said to him yesterday, we just hadn't really had time to deal with it with all the shit we had to do.
"Guard tower? They were just up there last night?" Rick asked.

"Glenn! Maggie!" Daryl called out, his voice raspy. After a second of waiting Glenn came out onto the balcony, shirtless, and putting a belt on. "Hey! What's up guys?!" Glenn called down.

I let out a breathy laugh, along with Rick and V. Daryl had a smirk on his face. "Comin?!"

"What?!" Glenn asked. We were all now laughing at him. "You comin?!" Daryl called out again. "Come on, we could use a hand!"

"Uh- Yeah. Yeah we'll be right down!" Glenn called back.

I rolled my eyes and started to walk back to the truck with everyone, but T-dog's voice made us turn around. "Aye, Rick."

Every ones smile faded as we watched the two remaining prisoners walk over. I felt anger immediately rise up at them. "Hell." I mumbled and started to march over to them behind Rick. "Come with me." He said to us, but I was already on that.

Rick had his hand on his gun as we got over to them. "That's close enough." He spat at them. "We had an agreement."

"Please mister, you gotta understand; we can't live in there another minute. People we knew, the bodies, blood, brains everywhere... There's ghosts." The farmer lookin one said, I really needed to learn their names.

I let out a laugh at him. "Fuckin ghosts."
Daryl gave me a look, but I knew he thought they were just as stupid. "Move the bodies." He told them. "You should be burning them." T-dog added.

"We tried, we did." The other prisoner took over for the stupid one. "Fence is down on the far side of the prison, every time we dragged one out those things would just line up. We dropped the body, ran."

The one that looked like a farmer walked closer to us and I immediately took a step towards him, pulling out my knife. Rick put his arm out in front of me and decided to take a calmer approach. The prisoner just begged more and more, causing Rick to look back at Daryl for what he thinks. Daryl shook his head no, and then to my surprise Rick looked over at me. I immediately shook my head no, my answer was clear.

The prisoners decided they would rather go try their luck in the world then go back inside, so we locked them out of the prison entirely. T-dog started to defend them in whispers behind a truck. "Are you serious? You want them livin in the cell next to you? The'll just be waiting for a chance to grab our weapons.. Do you just want to back to sleeping with one eye open?" Rick asked him.

"Never stopped." T-dog said. "Bring them into the fold. We send them off packin, we might as well execute them ourselves."

"Gladly." I hissed, receiving looks from people. They continued to debate about it, but I wasn't listening, I didn't like these guys one bit. But, it turns out the one that looks like a farmer's name is Axel.

I did listen to Rick's story about a kid he once arrested that babied the trial, got out, and killed more people. With that the decision was final that they stayed away and tried their chances on the road. "Where is your humanity?" T-dog asked. I snorted a laugh. "Long gone." I said and then walked away from the meeting spot.

I pulled in another car around to the courtyard, by the entrance to the cell block and hopped out. I noticed that everybody from inside, even Hershel, came out. Every ones faces lit up at the sight of Hershel walking on the crutches. "YEAH HERSHEL!" I heard Glenn call out from way across the field. Him, Rick, V, and Daryl went to gather fire wood. I walked over to Hershel and gave him a smile. "Ready to race yet?" I asked jokingly. "Give me another day and i'll take you on." He said.

I smirked at him and then looked across the field, catching Daryl's gaze. It wasn't hard, or intense; it was easy and almost happy. I gave him the same content look back, with a ghost of a smile creeping up, but my face completely fell when I heard familiar groans. "WALKERS!" Carl screamed, causing us all to turn around, facing the horde coming at us.

How the hell did they get in?!