Black Roses

The wrought iron groaned as Rose unfastened the chains holding it together. It was the original entry that Rick had made when they found the prison. They had to collect wood to burn all the bodies that they had stacked up the day before. Once the entrance was open, Rose slipped through into the dangerous world. Almost as if she just left a little safety bubble. The fence groaned once again as Rick began to fasten iron wires back together. She scanned her surroundings, ensuring that there were no immediate danger. There was a lone female zombie heading their way but she wasn’t really concerned.

“Should I take her out?” Glenn whispered as he noticed the same walker. Rose shrugged as she headed to the forest line, immediately collecting wood. She vaguely heard Rick answering Glenn’s question. There were only four of them outside of the prison fences. Just Glenn, Rick, Daryl and Rose. Rose didn’t want to waste time. Her ultimate goal was to help Rick cultivate and have a steady flow of food. Then she’ll definitely be on her way. Daryl watched her bend over unsteadily to prevent hurting her wound and collect all the wood. He would love to tell her to get her ass back behind the fence and wait for the men to finish collecting but he wouldn’t dare.

It was hard not to appreciate this woman in front of him. Her red hair was woven into a thick braid that nearly reached her waist. Rose also wore Maggie’s green t-shirt which was a little tighter than her old shirt was. And the curves that the shirt showed was enough to send Daryl’s mind racing. Lori had also given Rose a pair of her jeans after attempting to wash the blood out of Rose’s short and realizing how worn out it was. Come on. Can’t blame a redneck. Rednecks appreciate a woman that looked good in jeans.

“Hey you,” Rose’s voice sounded slightly annoyed and harsh, startling Daryl. Suddenly she threw the neatly stacked wood in her arms at him, “You know damn well I’m still recovering Dixon. Least you can do is help me. Not fucking ogling.”

Rick and Glenn immediately glanced over, only to stifle their laughter after seeing Daryl’s reaction. It was priceless. Daryl was stupefied, holding the wood that was tossed in his arms. Rose, on the other hand, rolled her eyes slightly as she began to pile up on the wood in Daryl’s arms. After getting a neat pile of wood, Rose began to unfasten the fence, feeling the burn in her side. She had pushed herself to the limit and she knew that Hershel would not be pleased. Rick, Glenn and Daryl can take care of moving the wood to the interior courtyard. Rose had to go get her bandages changed.

Maggie, Carol, and T-Dog were continuing to move cars and bodies. The prison doors opened to reveal Lori and Carl. However to Rose’s amusement, she saw Hershel finally supporting himself on crutches that Carl had been working on. Rose took long strides, leaving the group of men to fend for themselves. Daryl glanced up to see what Rose saw. “Looky here.”

“He is one tough son of a bitch,” Glenn smiled, throwing the pile of wood in his arms down. “Alright Hershel!”

“Shh… Keep your cheers down.” Daryl warned, gesturing his head towards the walkers behind the fence. Rick and Glenn carried the wood while Daryl stayed behind to pull the chain links together.

“Oh man. Can’t we just have one good day?” Glenn heaved a sigh, throwing hateful glares at the zombies. Rose approached the group with a bright smile only reserved for Hershel and Carl. They were quite surprised to see Rose smiling. They had never seen her smile like that.

“Hershel! I’m glad to see you’re up and moving.” Rose smiled as she threw her left arm around the small boy, squeezing his shoulder. Carl leaned in slightly and pain shot throughout Lori’s body. It was hard to see somebody “mothering” Carl and getting no smack in return for it.

“Ready to race, Hershel?” Carl teased. But suddenly Rose’s hand tightened around his shoulder. Nobody else noticed but Carl. He knew that Rose was onto something. She knew something that the rest of the group weren’t aware of yet.

“You give me another day,” Hershel laughed, causing everybody else to smile. “I’ll take you on.”

Rose’s hand left Carl’s shoulder in such a blur that he was shocked to see her katana sword glistening in the sun. A group of walkers suddenly appeared as Rose fought them head on. Carl screamed, “Walkers! Look out!”

The entire group sprang into action. Rose noted that Lori was beside her, shooting a walker. Normally Rose would be angry. Guns made noises… LOUD noises. But there were too many of them. Four of her most vulnerable people were too close. Beth. She wasn’t familiar with weapons. Hershel. He has one leg for god’s sake. Carl. He was just a boy. Lori. She was pregnant. Gunfire began to fill the air as Maggie, Carl and T-Dog began to fire.

Daryl watched in horror, seeing the woman of his life getting battered by the walkers. The sight of her drenched in her own blood and passing out was still too fresh in his head. Rick was already screaming at his wife to get out of there. They rattled the door in vain, realizing that Rose locked it behind her. Daryl began to panic, “The lock! Hurry up, the lock!”

Glenn threw them the keys. After a few seemingly long seconds, the gates were unlocked. The three men busted out, running to the group’s aid. Daryl watched in despair as Rose beckoned Maggie, Lori and Carl through a door. He just had to trust Rose’s judgment. She was a warrior and that was the price he has to pay loving her. Daryl knew that. He knew that he couldn’t “cramp her style.” But he wanted nothing more but to go after her. Rick was behind Daryl, yelling at Beth to figure out what the hell happened. Their fears came true. The gates were opened somehow. It was obvious that Rick didn’t see Rose whisking his family away. Hershel shrugged, “Rose led Maggie, Lori and Carl into C block!”

“And T was bit!” Beth announced, confirming one death. Sure T-Dog might be still alive but his death sentence is written now. Rick asked if there were anybody else bit. “I couldn’t tell.”

“Stay put!” Rick yelled at Hershel and Beth as Glenn chopped a walker’s head off while Daryl and Rick sprang into action, opening gunfire. Glenn moved towards the gate, examining the chains. It was broken. It had to be them damn prisoners.

“These chains didn’t break on their own. Somebody took an ax or cutters to ‘em.” Glenn snarled as the two prisoners that Rose had expelled previously appeared at the gate. “You think they did it?”

“Who else?” Rick yelled just as alarms began to wail throughout the prison, sending multiple walkers into a frenzy. The fences around the prison groaned with the weight of walkers leaning onto them. All three men thought of their loves stuck inside the prison. The prison were overrun. Rose. Maggie. Lori. Glenn knew that Maggie was capable of taking care of herself however he feared that she would be too preoccupied with worrying about everybody else’s whereabouts. Lori was heavily pregnant. Glenn just had to trust Rose to pull them all through. Rose. But she was still wounded. Rick yelled out in despair, unsure what to do with the alarms, “Daryl!”

Daryl began to shoot at every speaker that he could see in the courtyard. Rick and Glenn followed through and they began to shoot at all the speakers there is in the courtyard. The prisoners had to be apprehended. Rick pointed his guns at Axel and Oscar with such malice that both of them cowered slightly.

“Whoa, whoa, whoa, it has to be the backup generators.” Oscar explained the source of the alarms. Rick narrowed his eyes at the larger male, almost wishing that Rose was here beside him. She was much better with these situations than he was. But she was protecting what matters the most to him at the moment. So he needed to step up.

“Well how do you turn those on?” Rick calmly responded. Daryl was impressed how calm Rick was. He was already freaking out and the love of his life was actually able to take care of herself. The redneck couldn’t imagine how Rick felt with his pregnant wife and his young son somewhere in a walker infested prison. The larger prisoner explained that there were three back-up generators connected to a diesel tank. Each generator controls certain part of the prison but once the prison was overrun, it was shut down. Rick asked, “Can someone open up the main gates electronically, with full power?”

“Well… I only went in there a few days. I… I guess it might be possible.” Oscar hesitantly responded. He was afraid that the group would accuse of him turning them on. After concocting a hasty plan, they all began to run into the prison to attempt turning off the alarms. They would like to find the rest of the groups however the alarms needed to be turned off. It was probably attracting all the zombies within a radius of 15 miles. They didn’t want to be even more overrun than it is already.

None of them wanted to think that six people they considered as family might be dead already. They had to think… somewhere in this godforsaken prison T-Dog, Carol, Maggie, Lori, Carl and Rose was still alive.

What more could they have done?