𝐚𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐰𝗼𝐫𝐥𝐝 𝐜𝐚𝐯𝐞𝐬 𝐢𝐧

𝟐𝟖

Narrative

"Are we clear down here!"

"Yeah!" With that Rory makes her way up the stairs, she grips her knife in her hand getting ready for anything. Rick and Daryl followed closely behind.

She jumps back, hitting Daryl when a walker lunges out of a cell and at Glenn.

"Shit." Running forward she stabs it in the head, pushing it back into the cell.

"Thanks." She nods, offering her friend a hand to get up. Rick comes forward to open the curtain. Rory frowns at the sight.

"It's Patrick." Daryl states. "That's all of 'em." Rory starts to do a sweep, making sure they got them all.

She leans down to stab a blonde who's throat was ripped out. She pushed the blade through her skull, wiping it off of her clothes when done.

She gives Daryl a sad smile, brushing her hand against his as she walks out of the cell. She made eyes contact with Rick who held a sad look on his face.

A child who's intestines were ripped out lied in the middle of the cell. He walked in, and the sound of a blade going through skull could be heard.

She furrows her brows at the sound of a growl. A walker tried to reach her through the bars. He had blood trails running from his eyes, nose and mouth.

"Gross." She plunged her blade into it, watching it drop to the ground. "Go get Hershel, Dr. S, and Bob." She ordered, looking to her brother and Daryl. Rick nodded, leaving to go get the three.

"You alright?" Daryl asks, reaching up to grab her hand.

"I guess, I just wanna know what happened. How this happened."

Rick returned with the men, unlocking the cell door he let them in.

"No bites, no wounds. I think he just... died."

"Horribly too. Pleurisy Aspiration."

"What's that?" Rory asks.

"He choked to death on his own blood." Hershel explains. "Caused those trails down his face."

"I've seen them before, on a walker outside the fences."

"They were on Patrick too."

"They're from the internal lung pressure building up, like if you shake a soda can and pop the top. Only imagine your eyes, nose, ears and throat are the top." Rory grimaced at the thought.

"It's a sickness, from the walkers." She asks.

"No, these things happened before they were around. Could be pneumococcal. Most likely an aggressive flu strain."

"Some one locked him in just in time."

"Charlie used to sleepwalk, locked himself in." Rory sighed.

"Hell he was just eating barbecue yesterday. How could somebody die in a day just from a cold?" Daryl asks.

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

"Pigs and birds. That's how these things spread in the past."

"If that's a case, we need to do something about those hogs." Rory says.

"Maybe we got lucky. Maybe these two cases are it." Rory shakes her head slightly.

"We all know that isn't the case, there's gonna be more cases. I've already heard other people coughing." She itches her head, leaning against Daryl.

"She's right, haven't seen anybody be lucky in a long time. Bugs like to run through close quarters. Doesn't get any closer than this." Bob agrees with her.