Would It Matter // Rick Grimes

Chapter 34

I walked outside with Emma in my arms since Judith is taking her nap. I walked down to the field and sat down on the grass. Emma was standing in front of me with a smile on her face.

"Hi Sydney." I heard Patrick say behind me.

"Hey Patrick." I responded, smiling.

He sat down next to me and smiled at Emma.

"She's cute." He said.

"Yes she is. And she's a little stinker too." I said, smiling. "Look who it is Emma. It's Patrick." I said.

"Pat!" She exclaimed.

She calls him Pat since she can't say his name. He doesn't mind though. She walked to him the best she could and hugged him, causing my smile to get bigger if that was possible.

"You're adorable Emma." Patrick said, with a smile on his face.

Emma was now taking her nap and I was walking Judith around to calm her down.

"It's okay Judith, I'm right here." I said, bouncing her up and down.

"Mom, can I carry her? Maybe she'll calm down if I carry her." Carl said.

"Okay but be careful." I said, handing Judith to him.

As soon as she was in his arms, she stopped crying.

"I guess she wanted her brother to hold her." I said. "That's so sweet." I added with a smile.

I was sitting outside when I saw Patrick walk over but he didn't look so good.

"Are you okay Patrick?" I asked, worried.

"I'm not feeling so good." He told me.

I stood up and put my hand against his forehead. He was burning up.

"You're burning up. What other symptoms do you have?" I asked.

"Chills, coughing and sneezing." He said.

"Sounds like you have the flu. Go to your cell and rest and you'll have to drink plenty of water." I said. "And try not to get too close to someone since you're contagious." I said.

"Okay." He said, walking to his cell block.

"Are you okay Sydney?" Rick asked, walking to me.

"Don't get too close to me Rick." I said, stopping him.

"Why? What's wrong?" He asked, worried.

"Patrick's sick with what I'm guessing the flu. If he has the flu, me and Emma are infected since we came in contact with him." I said. "I'll have to keep an eye on him to make sure he gets better." I said.

"I hope he gets better." He said.

"I hope so too." I said.

It was the next day and I was about to walk outside when I heard screaming. I ran to the screaming and saw walkers in the cell block. I started killing the walkers when the others showed up. Soon all the walkers were dead and I was walking on the balcony when I saw Patrick's dead body. Someone then walked up beside me and I turned to see Rick.

"Rick, it's Patrick." I said, tears building up.

He pulled me against him and I cried into his shoulder. After a few minutes, we were in Charlie's cell and I was examining him.

"There's no bite marks on him." Rick said. "He just died." He said.

"One of the worst ways. Pleurisy." I said.

"Choked on his own blood and it trailed down his face." Hershel said.

"I've seen this before. On a walker outside at the fence. Had blood coming out of his eyes." Rick told us.

"It was on Patrick too." Daryl said.

"They're from the internal lung pressure building up, like if you shaked a soda can and pop the top. Only imagine your eyes, ears, nose and throat are the top." I said.

"So it's a sickness from the walkers?" Bob asked.

"No. These things happened before they were around. I had a few cases at the hospital where I worked." I said.

"Could be pneumococcal." Hershel said.

"Most likely an aggressive flu strain." I said, looking at them.

"Someone locked him inside just in time." Hershel said.

"No, man. Charlie used to sleepwalk. Locked himself in. Hell, he was just eating barbecue yesterday." Daryl said. "How could someone die in a day just from a cold?" He asked.

"I had a sick pig, it died quick. Saw a sick boar in the woods." Rick said.

"Pigs and birds. That's how these things spread fast." Hershel said. "We need to do something about those hogs." He said.

"Maybe we got lucky. Maybe these two cases are it." Caleb said.

"We haven't seen anybody lucky in a long time." Bob said.

"Bugs like to run through close quarters and it doesn't get any closer than this." I said.

"All of us in here, we've all been exposed." Hershel said.

"Everyone who wasn't exposed needs to be in quarantine and not come into contact with anyone that was exposed. That's the only way to stop the spread." I said.

Me and Rick walked outside to tell the others about what's going on. We saw Maggie, Michonne and Carl walking over. Carl then started running towards us.

"Carl stay back." Me and Rick said in unison.

Carl hugged us both then we had to push him to make him let go.

"Mom, dad. I'm sorry. I didn't see you come out." Carl said.

"It's okay. We're here, we're fine. But you need to back up." Rick said.

"I had to use one of the guns by the gate. I swear I didn't want to." Carl said.

"I was coming back and I fell. They came out and helped." Michonne said. "What happened in there?" She asked.

"Patrick got sick last night. I suspect it's an aggressive flu strain. We think he died and attacked the cell block." I said.

"Look, we know Patrick was your friend and we're sorry. He was a good kid. We lost a lot of good people. Glenn and your father is okay but they were in there. You shouldn't get too close to anyone who that might have been exposed, at least for a little while. Carl. All of you." Rick said.

"Carl, you'll have to stay away from me and your father. We were exposed and we can't have anyone else getting sick." I said.

The council was in a room talking about the situation. I'm not part of so I was just sitting in the hallway, thinking of a way to keep it from spreading.