RIDE OR DIE | DARYL DIXON

guts

WILLOW SAT ON A PIPE ON THE ROOFTOP, cradling her baby. She took the cloth that she had used to secure the baby and covered her up along with the left side of her chest. As a first time mom, she still isn't quite comfortable breastfeeding in front of others, but it was about time her little one needed it.

Rick and the others stood, eyeing the streets and the large number of the dead that walked upon them.

"It's up to us to find a way out." Rick said, looking back at everyone.

Merle grunted. "Good luck with that. These streets ain't safe in this part of town from what I hear. Ain't that right, sugar tits?" He grinned disgustingly at Willow. She scoffed and ignored his crude comment. "Hey, honey bunch, what say you get me out of these cuffs, we go off somewhere and bump some uglies? We gonna die anyway."

She glanced over at him, pathetically on the ground and still cuffed to the metal bar. "I'd rather."

Glenn, who sat further down the pipe, let a subtle smirk play at his lips.

"What about under the streets, the sewers?" Rick asked Morales who's eyes lit up.

"Hey Glenn, check the alley. See any manhole covers?"

Glenn ran over to the back side of the building and quickly checked before returning. "No, must be all out on the street where the geeks are."

"Maybe not." Everyone's attention turned towards Jacqui. "Old building like this built in to '20s, big structures often had drainage tunnels into the sewers in case of flooding. Down in the subbasements."

"How do you know that?" Willow asked, Glenn nodding in agreement.

"It's my job-" Jacqui shook her head. "Was. I worked in the city zoning office."

"Let's go check it out then." Rick stated, heading towards the stairs, everyone following behind shortly after.

"Don't forget to come back for me darlin'." Merle winked at Willow as she covered up and wrapped her baby again.

"Wouldn't be at the top of my priority list." She scoffed, heading down the stairs.

-

The room they entered was dim and dusty and smelled of horrid mold. On the right side of the room, a massive hole with a ladder caught everyone's attention. The drainage tunnel that Jacqui was talking about.

"This is it? You sure?" Morales asked, shining his flashlight down into the tunnel.

"I really scoped this place out. This is the only thing in the building that goes down." Glenn responded, swallowing hard. "But I've never gone down it. Who'd want to, right?"

As he said that, everyone looked at him, as if they were all saying the same thing. From the look on his face, he received the message loud and clear.

"Oh. Great." His eyes fluttered back to the dark tunnel.

Willow felt bad for the group sending him down. "We'll be right behind you." She approached Glenn's side.

"No, you won't. Not you." His voice sounded frustrated. "You're carrying a baby around, and the last thing we need is a baby without a mother."

Willow eyed him for a minute but nodded.

"Look, until now I always came here by myself, in and out, grab a few things no problem." The group listened intently. "The first time I bring a group, everything goes to hell. No offense. If you want me to go down the gnarly hole, fine. But only if we do it my way."

Rick nodded.

"It's tight down there. If I run into something and have to get out quick, I don't want you all jammed up behind me getting me killed. I'll take one person."