From the Shadows

Darkness. The room was so dark, not a single speck of light came from anywhere. Teagan couldn't see her own hand inches from her face. How did I get here?]i] It was all a blur. She tried to shift, but her muscles refused to budge. Complete fatigue. She remembered she hadn't eaten that day, and not a whole lot the day before. Two days without food, not much water, No wonder I feel like shit. She tried to remember how she got to there, or where 'there' was. Went to find Glenn, Maggie and Andrea... loud siren blared. Walkers poured into the corridors... Flashing lights... hard to see... and Daryl... She forgot about Daryl. She panicked a little bit. Is he okay? What happened to him? She remembered he ran, but she didn't care as to why. Just need to know if he's okay. After Daryl had left, Teagan got surrounded and had to run, too. She ran and fought her way through what felt like a sea of the undead. After the siren shut down, so did the lights. Teagan barely remembered crawling into a pitch black side room. Teagan felt her body for wounds, praying none of them were bites. She sighed a sigh of relief. Form what she could tell, only scrapes and bruises; no bites or scratches. She turned on her flashlight, which was noticeably running low on batteries, and peeked around the room. She wasn't sure what purpose the room held, but there were no walkers, so she could rest. I guess I came in here and just passed out... She felt like she was left on the rooftop all over again. She needed to make an escape plan. Unfortunately, she didn't know how to get back. The pseudo-strobe lights during the alarm made it hard to see, so she couldn't remember her exact path. Teagan's goal at the time was to stay alive, not make a mental blue-print of her surroundings. She had no idea what time of day it was, or how long she'd been in there. She guessed it was only overnight. She struggled to stand. Her legs felt like jelly. She checked for weapons, remembering the knife she accidentally dropped. She determined she was as physically ready as she'd ever be. My legs won't feel any better any time soon, and I need food and water. The longer I stick here, the more likely I'll die. She listened through the door for sounds. The door was thick and metal, and was hard to hear through. However, nothing seemed to be moving around outside the door. She shook her light to keep it from flickering, pushed the hair from her face, and opened the door. She looked at the ground and saw a massacre of walkers. She couldn't even remember having killed all of them. Must've blacked out and went ape shit. She shrugged and kept going. She figured her best bet would be to follow a trail of walker corpses and reverse footprints of blood.

Daryl couldn't sleep. He felt if he had dozed off at all, it wasn't even enough to rest his brain or body. He got up as the sun started to rise. They lost people yesterday, and graves needed to be made. No one had openly volunteered to do it yesterday. Everyone knew the job had to be done. T-Dog's body had not been recovered from the prison. From what Carol had said, not much was to be salvaged. Instead of digging a grave, Daryl found a quiet place in the prison yard and placed a cross. He never really was the religious type, but it seemed an appropriate and recognized symbol of loss and eternal rest. He stood there in silence, staring at a spot next to T-Dog's grave. Daryl refused to believe Teagan was dead. if her body was right in front of me, don't know if I'd believe it. He felt she had more chance than anyone here to survive this world. Maybe even more than me...

Carol approached Daryl. She was quiet, but Daryl still heard her footsteps. She stood next to him and crossed her arms. She knew what she wanted to say, but not how to phrase it. Everyone felt Teagan's loss, but she knew Daryl felt it more than anyone.

Despite her better judgment, Carol spoke. “She'll need a cross.”

“No.” Daryl didn't hesitate for a second. Even though Carol was looking at Daryl, Daryl didn't look back. He just kept staring at the ground.

Carol sighed and felt it best to leave Daryl alone. Before she went to leave, Daryl spoke again in a quiet voice. “If I put up a cross...” he paused and put his hands in his pockets awkwardly. “She may still be out there. Can't put it up yet.” He ran his right hand through his hair and let his hand drop like dead weight at his side.

Carol could swear she saw Daryl's eyes start to tear. She saved him the embarrassment of making it known. She smiled at him and patted his shoulder, and left him to be by himself. Daryl stood at the graves for awhile, and left when everyone started to wake up. Carol had already seen him weak that day; he didn't need the entire group to join her.

The group held a “what to do next” meeting. They needed to establish where nearby towns were, and which ones were worth raiding. Rick left it up to Daryl to find where the good game was to be found. Hershel suggested they find seeds so they could plant. Fresh produce was nearly impossible to find anymore. All the grocery stores had rotted out, and they didn't come across too many natural sources except for a few berry bushes here and there. They needed to consider more than canned fruits and vegetables, because those would eventually run out and spoil, too. After much discussion, it was decided who would go out and when. To avoid having too many out at once, it was spread out over several days. Daryl would go out and find a good hunting space one day, Andrea and Glenn would go one direction for stores to raid the next day, and Glenn would go out again in the opposite direction for more stores with Maggie. In the meantime, they had enough food from the prison cafeteria to hold off for awhile. Rick wanted to make sure everyone was well and rested completely before sending them out again. He knew most of his people were still exhausted from the past few days, especially his usual runners.

Everyone had settled down and relaxed as much as they could. It was around dinner time, so Carol and Lori were preparing dinner and were almost done. Daryl had found a map in his room and shared it with Rick; which could save a lot of time in finding places to raid. Even though chattering voices slightly echoed throughout the cell block, there was still a strange silence that filled the space. They were all about to sit down for dinner when they heard a heavy, staggering footsteps and a small banging from the gate that separated the cell block and the rest of the prison. Even in the heavily shadowed semi-darkness, everyone's mouth dropped at what they saw. Teagan leaned heavily on the door, unadmittedly too fatigued to hold herself up anymore.

Daryl jogged towards the gate. He almost couldn't recognize her. She was covered in dark blood and dirt, more so than usual. Her eyes were exhausted and had dark circles under them.

“Wait, is she...” Carol asked the question everyone was thinking. Her filth and body positioning did not convince them she was still among the living.

“Alive? You bet.” Teagan finished Carol's sentence, but her voice was audibly weak and hushed. She tried to smile.

Without a word, Rick tossed the keys to Daryl, who caught them. He fumbled nervously with them, still hardly believing what was happening. He opened the door too quickly, and Teagan lost her footing. Daryl was fast and caught her.

Daryl felt awkward being so close to her, essentially cradling her. He tried to make himself feel better by telling what he thought was a joke. “'Bout time ya showed up.”

Teagan smiled, but felt her vision begin to blur. Her adrenaline had completely worn off now that she felt safe again. She went to speak but her body went limp and her eyes closed. Daryl began to panic. No...

“Bring her in here.” Hershel stood by the door of the makeshift hospital room. Daryl carried Teagan into the room and gently placed her on the bed.

“She ain't movin'.” Hershel could hear the panic in Daryl's voice. Daryl bit his thumb.

Hershel checked her vitals and smiled. “She'll be alright. She's just exhausted. All we can do is let her rest and feed her when she wakes up.” He checked her for serious wounds, and was pleased to find none. Hershel repositioned Teagan's body into a presumably more comfortable position. He placed her head on a pillow, but didn't cover her with a blanket because it was too hot, even inside the prison. He stood up and put a hand on Daryl's shoulder, then left without saying another word.