In the Shallows

I had visited jails before, a lot, actually. Whether it was to visit Merle or to be a good citizen and visit my low life piece of shit for a father. They always gave me the creeps, something about being in a locked down facility with numerous men and woman who were jailed for breaking the law always gave me the shivers. And being in a jail full of walkers that used to be like them wasn't any better. I kept telling myself that this was normal, it wasn't any different than trying to sweep a house but I knew better.

The rats were something fierce too, every time one would cross my path, I'd squeal. It had happened so frequently that it shouldn't effect me but it did and soon following my girlish squeal would be Daryl's annoyed snort. It was a rhythmic pattern, rat, squeal, snort, and then following would be an eye roll; oh how our relationship seemed to progress.

I could practically hear my heart beat echoing off these darkened and damp walls. I hated that we had been out for almost twenty minutes in these corridors and there didn't seem to be any type of life form that was alive-ish. Flash lights were going off in every which way, my skin crawled whenever the light would shine on the lifeless bodies in our path. They were completely chewed up to the point of not being able to distinguish them being human, I had somewhat gotten used to the smell of rotting flesh, it was a constant scent that sat in the air. You couldn't escape it unless you were in the woods but even then, it would still follow you.

I could tell that everyone was getting a little antsy at not finding anything, it was quite ironic how we wanted to find walkers. I was perfectly fine with not finding any of them, but at the same time, we needed to find where these suckers were hiding out at.

We came to a turn, Rick shining his light first and his head peering around, sensing nothing, we continued onward. My heart started to race as we come upon a few more turns and ended up with the same results. Nothing. The sound of the spray can rattling made my stomach drop, the sound bounced off the walls, giving this place an even more eery aura.

I held my flashlight firmly in my hand as I rounded a corner, a shriek leaving my mouth, "Go back!" I hissed, pressing my back against Rick's hard chest, shoving him backwards along with the others, "Move, go!" We all frantically started to run towards the arrows that Glenn had placed along the walls but it seemed like they were coming from all corners. My mind was spinning, we were trapped in a maze with hardly any light with monsters wanting to eat our insides.

The moaning and groaning should have been something I was used to hearing, but it wasn't. It still made my heart race. I was jerked harshly into a storage closet by Rick, my arm burning from the immense pressure, he gave me an apologetic look before he whispered, "Where's Glenn and Maggie?"

I looked around me, my eyes widening, "There were right behind me."

Hershel started to panic, his eyes dead set on Rick, "We have to go back."

I felt Daryl's hand near my waist as he leaned forward, "But, which way?" No one answered as Rick stood up quietly and pushed open the door, we followed his movements, our eyes straining in the dimmed prison halls for any sign of them.

We started to call out for them in hushed voices, hoping that they'd hear us. We had just turned down a hall when a sickening feeling hit my stomach, I stopped dead in my tracks, causing Daryl and T-Dog to run into me. I turned slowly around, my eyes met their confused glares, my hand shook, my voice squeaking out, "Where's Hershel?"

As if on cue, we heard his wails bouncing off the walls, my breath caught in my throat as I pushed past them, rounding the corner, my voice became lost as I saw a walker tear apart Hershel's calf. I was go glad that this world had trained my brain what to do in situations like this when I couldn't say a word. My gun had fired off in seconds, rushing to his side, "Hershel!"

Everything started to blur together, I was hardly registering that we were running, running away from the twenty something walkers that cornered us to a door that led to some cafeteria. We all rushed inside the moment T-Dog broke the handcuffs free, our backs immediately pressed against the door to keep the walkers from spilling in. My stomach churned at the sight of Hershel's leg, my eyes flashing towards Daryl. For once, his expression read mine, scared.

"Hold him down!" Rick started to panic, his hands reaching to unbuckle his belt, my eyes widened, was he going to-"Okay!" He started to secure his belt on his leg, reaching for the ax, he glanced at Maggie and Hershel, "Only one way to keep you alive."

I screamed softly as he started to hack off Hershel's leg, I lunged towards Daryl who welcomed me in his arms. I couldn't take the sounds of bone crunching echoing in the littered room. Hershel's cries and the sound of bone breaking were the only things I heard until everything became silent, pulling away, I slowly crawled towards him with Daryl on my heel.

"OH," Rick shuddered, "he's bleeding out."

I heard Daryl's husky voice muttered, "Duck," he stood up fast, his bow aimed towards five men who stood on the other side of the kitchen.

One of the men spoke up, his eyes wide with fear, "Holy shit."

I jumped up with my gun aimed while Daryl inched a little closer, "Who the hell are you?" He asked, his voice dripping with venom.

The man retorted, "Who the hell are you?"

I bit my lip as Rick started to panic about Hershel bleeding out, but I had to focus on these men that were in the kitchen, they could start popping off bullets and I needed to at least be there to cover Daryl.

"Why don' ya come outta' there, slow and steady." They obliged, doing exactly as they were told.

A man who I assumed to be Hispanic spoke up, "What happened to him?" His dark eyes gave me the creeps, there was a permanent scowl that was laced with every word he spoke. My eyes skimmed over the tattoos that were sprawled all over his exposed biceps and arms. Some of them I recognized to be gang tattoos and suddenly I didn't feel all too great.

"He got bit."

"Bit?" He started to pull a gun from his waist band.

"Hey! Put that down." I narrowed my eyes as he started to point it towards T-Dog, "No one needs to get hurt," I flinched as he started to point it at all three of us, switching from one to the other. "Seriously? You can see your greatly outnumbered here. Would you really like two bullets and an arrow up your ass? Cause that's the way it's heading."