to her, the world was silent.
she couldn't hear the birds sing, the leave rustling in the breeze, the crashing of a waterfall.
she couldn't hear the pained cries, the moans of the dead, the sound of the knife breaking through skin.
whether she was b...
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HARLEY WOKE UP WITH HER FACE BURIED IN DARYL'S LEATHER VEST.
She didn't remember much of the past few days. She remembered being weak. Occasionally waking up to blood pooling in her throat. She thought she was dreaming when Daryl woke her up, telling her they got the medicine.
But nothing could beat the feeling she had when she smelled his leather vest beneath her cheek.
The redhead traced her finger over his tattoos. She didn't want to leave his side again.
She watched his arm move before feeling his fingers brushing back her wild red hair. Harley moved slightly to look up at him, and small smile on her face.
Harley could only imagine how horrible she looked at that moment.
He moved his other arm, shifting her around slightly, "How are you feeling?"
She gave him a thumb's up before shuffling to lay on his chest again. She didn't want to move. She wanted to stay in that spot forever.
Daryl let her cuddle up to him for a little bit longer before moving out from under her, "I'm going to get you more medicine and some food." He signed,
She nodded, and Daryl squeezed her thigh before leaving the room. Harley cuddled up underneath the blankets, closing her eyes for a few more moments.
It had only been around twelve hours since the medicine got into her system, but she already felt so much better.
Not completely, but she felt her strength returning.
Harley shot up in bed as the room around her shook. Her hand reached for her knife and shakily stood.
Where was Daryl? He said he'd be right back.
Nora stood outside in the courtyard, standing beside Carl and Maggie, staring down at the group that was standing outside the gates,
They had a freaking tank.
"Rick!" A man with an eyepatch stood on the tank, "Come down here. We need to talk."
Based on the man's description alone, she knew who it was. The Governor.
"It's not up to me." Rick called down to him, "There's a council now. They run this place."
"Is Hershel on the council?" The Governor asked, and a man brought out Hershel, who had his hands tied behind his back. Nora reached over and squeezed Maggie's hand, who gasped at the sight of her father, "What about Michonne? She on the council, too?" He continued and another person brought the dark skinned woman out,
"I don't make decisions anymore." Rick's voice broke and Nora knew he was expecting something bad to happen.
The Governor, he massacred his own people. He was dangerous. And he would stop at nothing to take the prison down.
"You're making the decisions today, Rick. Come down here. Let's... Let's have that talk." The one eyed man insisted.
Rick turned to his son, and placed a hand on his shoulder, "We can do this. All right?" Carl nodded and the farmer went to the gate.
Nora grew nervous as Rick walked down the gravel path. What was stopping them from shooting him dead right there?
"We can't take 'em all on." Daryl told the group, "We'll go through the admin buildin', through the woods like we planned. We ain't got the numbers no more." He glanced over to Sasha, "When's the last time someone checked the stash on the bus?"
"Day before we hit the Big Spot." She answered, "We were running low on rations then. We're lower now."
"Yeah, we'll manage." He moved his gaze to Tyresse, "Things go south, everyone heads for that bus. Let everybody know."
"What if everybody doesn't know when things go bad? How long do we wait?" Tyresse questioned,
"As long as we can." Daryl turned to Nora, "Harley's still in her room. Go get her and tell her what's going on, alrigh'?"
Nora nodded and glanced back at Rick before running in the cell block. She sprinted down the corridors, telling anyone that she ran into that they needed to get ready to head to the buses, that something was about to go down.
But so many people were still weak from the illness.
She found Harley in the admin building, trying to head towards the cell block. The redhead freed her hands when she spotted Nora, "What's happening?"
"That guy the group dealt with, the Governor, he's here."
"The explosion-"
"They have a tank." Nora interrupted, "Grab your bag. We need to get ready to leave."
Nora ran back into Harley's room she shared with Daryl and grabbed the redhead's bag. When she got back to Harley, she was nervously playing with Daryl's flannel that was wrapped around her, "Daryl?"
"He's okay. But they have Michonne and Hershel." Nora helped her as they walked through the corridor and towards the cell blocks.
Another explosion rocked the prison and Harley gripped the wall to make sure she didn't fall.
It was happening again. Another group was falling. Collapsing.
"Hey, hey." Nora grabbed Harley's face and forced the woman to look at her and read her lips, "We need to go. We need to find them."
The sound of gunshots and explosions filled the air. Nora didn't know who was winning. But it didn't matter. The sound alone would draw hundreds of walkers. The gates wouldn't hold.
The prison was lost.
Nora dragged Harley out through the closest exit door, and the sunlight hit their faces. Harley was blinded slightly and depended on Nora to lead her.
To the far right, Nora spotted the tank breaking through the courtyard fence. It was over. There was nothing they could do.
Harley and Nora kept their arms linked as they walked through the courtyard, dodging bullets. In each of their hands they held their guns.
"Daryl." Harley gasped out, "Have... to find-"
As much as Nora wanted to stay behind and fight, maybe find one of their friends, they couldn't. Harley was still too weak. They would die out there if they didn't get to safety now.
"Daryl." Harlow stopped moving and Nora turned to her, "Daryl..."
Nora shoved her pistol into her waistband for a moment, "Hey," She signed as she spoke, "If we don't leave, we will die. We will find Daryl, we will find all of them, but we need to survive in order to do that." Nora's eyes filled with tears, "We have to go."
Harley shook her head and began to sob. Nora didn't know what to do. She looked around the yard as walkers began to trickle in.
Nora cupped her face, "We need to go."
The redhead nodded and Nora helped her as they walked towards the fences. They fired at any walker that came near them and stumbled towards the woods.
Nora glanced back at the burning prison... she didn't see any of the living.
