Make it Till You Don't

Welcome Back

It was quiet at breakfast as Rick came up to the door to the common room from the halls. "Everybody okay?"

"Yeah, we are." Carl replied as Rick walked in.

Hershel glanced at him, concerned. "What about you?" We were all concerned and it was nice to see he isn't covered in blood anymore.

"I cleared out the boiler block." He ignored Hershel's question.

"How many were there?" Daryl asked him.

"I don't know, a dozen. Two dozen." Rick replied, not sure. "I have to get back. Just wanted to check on Carl."

Glenn stood up. "Rick, we can handle taking out the bodies." He said to Rick, trying to convince him to not go back. "You don't have to."

"No, I do." Rick replied.

I glanced at Daryl, giving him a look which he mirrored as we looked back at Rick. "Everyone have a gun and a knife?" Rick asked as he walked to where we sat with Oscar.

"Yeah. We're running low on ammo, though." Daryl told him.

"Maggie and me were planning on making a run this afternoon." Glenn spoke up, coming behind Rick. "Found a phone book with some places we can hit, looking for bullets and formula."

"We cleared out the generator room. Axel's there tryna fix it in case of emergency." Daryl added. "We're gonna sweep the lower levels as well."

"Good, good." was all Rick said before he left.

After finishing breakfast I went with Daryl, Oscar, and Carl to sweep the lower levels. I glanced around as we came around the corner, nudging Daryl with my elbow and nodding to the door on our right.

Oscar shined a light on it as it moved. "Check it out, man. Must have missed it last night."

"It's probably just one or two of 'em." Daryl replied, pushing the door with a finger. "Don't look like they got much fight." He looked at Carl. "They ain't going nowhere. We'll take care of it on the way back."

Continuing forward, Daryl started telling Carl about when his mom died, trying to sympathize with Carl. I tried not to listen as I went forward and looked around, seeing some of these halls were familiar.

As Daryl finished his story, Carl looked at him. "I shot my mom. She was out, hadn't turned yet. I ended it." I heard as the two caught up with Oscar and I.

"Oh, that's what I'm talking about." Oscar looked into the room beside us as I followed him in. "Mmm, yeah. Yeah buddy."

"The hell you need slippers for?" Daryl asked.

"You know, end of the day, relaxing?" Oscar replied, grabbing them as a growl came from behind us.

The three men shot it at the same time. "Alright." Daryl said. I shook my head at them. Men.

Must've been in the cell at the end. "We checked everywhere."

Daryl knelt down beside the Walker, pulling a knife out of its neck. "That's Carol's knife."

"You think she could be down here?" I asked.

He glanced at the knife,letting out a hum. "Maybe."

"Well then, I'm going to keep looking." I said, walking down the hall.

"By yourself?" Oscar asked.

I stopped and turned back, looking at him. "If there's a chance she's alive? Yes." I walked off.

—

After a while of searching, I began making my way back, not finding anything. As I made my way into the common room, I saw a woman propped against the wall, a wound on her leg.

Brushing it off for now, I went into the cell block, finding everyone crowded together. "Carol...?" I asked, getting closer and saw her hugging Rick.

She pulled away, turning her attention to me and gave me a smile. I walked over to her and gave her a hug. "Thank god... when you took off, I thought you-"

"It's okay." She assured me. "Daryl found me." I nodded my head, backing away so she could greet the others, when she saw Beth holding a baby. She gave Rick a smile before tears welled up in her eyes, realizing Lori was gone.

I walked over to Carl, placing a hand on his shoulder in comfort as Carol went to hold the baby. "How'd you find her?" I turned to Daryl.

"That door from earlier." He replied, crossing his arms. "She was in there the whole time."

I nodded before looking at Rick. "Who's the woman in there?" I nodded towards the common room.

Rick looked in that direction and back to me, nudging his head and walking that way, telling us to follow. "We can tend to that wound for you, give you a little food and water, and then send you on your way." Rick said, walking up to her. "But you're gonna have to tell us how you found us and why you were carrying formula."

Heshel came and sat at one of the tables as she spoke up. "The supplies were dropped by a young Asian guy with a pretty girl."

Glenn and Maggie?

"What happened?" Rick asked, Hershel standing back up at the thought of Maggie.

"Were they attacked?" He asked her.

She looked at Hershel. "They were taken."

"Taken? By who?" Rick interrogated, tilting his head.

"By the same son of a bitch who shot me." She snarled at the mention of whoever she was talking about, turning back to Rick.

"Hey, these are our people. You tell us what happened now!" Rick grabbed the spot where she was shot.

She jumped out of his grasp. "Don't you ever touch me again!"

"Rick, don't." I said, noticing the look on her face.

Rick ignored me. "You'd better start talking."

"You're gonna have a much bigger problem than a gunshot wound." Daryl told her, aiming at her.

She glared at Daryl, not phased by the weapon in her face. "Find 'em yourself." She sneered.

"Threatening her won't get her to talk." I said, looking at the two of them.

Rick glanced at me before placing a hand on Daryl's crossbow. "Hey, shh, shh, shh. Put it down." As Daryl lowered the weapon, Rick stood in between them. "You came here for a reason."

"There's a town, Woodbury. About seventy five survivors, I think they were taken there." She buckled.

"A whole town?" Rick asked.

She nodded slightly. "It's run by this guy who calls himself the Governor- pretty boy. Charming, Jim Jones type."

"He got muscle?" Daryl asked her.

"Paramilitary wannabes." She answered. "They have armed sentries on every wall."

Rick took the information in. "You know a way in?"

"The place is secure from Walkers, but we could slip our way through." She replied.

Something seemed to have clicked in Rick's mind. "How'd you know how to get here?"

"They mentioned a prison, said which direction it was in, that it was a straight shot." She explained calmly.

Rick motioned to Hershel, pointing to her leg. "This is Hershel, the father of the girl who was taken. He'll take care of that."

With that we walked out of the room, leaving Hershel to tend to her wound. "Why can't we ever catch a break..." I sighed as we now have another problem on our hands.

"It's the end of the world. Don't think you're gonna get much of a break." Daryl replied, slinging his crossbow over his shoulders.

"I hate when you're right." I grumbled, earning a smirk.

———
Published: 06/01/2024