Ashes // D.D [ Anguish sequel ]

- SIX: PRISONERS

              WILLOW BREATHED heavily, causing the strands covering her face to blow. She held Hershel's thigh, glaring at the figures Daryl shone his lights. They hadn't seen anyone alive in months, and somehow, they found some inside the prison. Locked away, it appeared, but her eyes immediately landed on one man in particular. His hair was shoulder-length, and his brown eyes were dull despite showing some emotions at the sight before them.

This man had been a troubled one while civilization still stood. She had been the one to lock him away. Unfortunately, he noticed her, and a moment of rage washed over his face.

"Who the hell are you?" Daryl grunts, not lowering his crossbow.

"Who the hell are you?" spoke the man Willow had sentenced to life in prison.

Not wanting to continue her attention onto the small group, Willow looked down at Hershel. His skin was pale, and his chest rigid. They had only so much time to get him back. A fear that they could lose him now came to Willow, and she quickly turned her attention to Rick, who had the same thought.

"He's bleeding out. We gotta go back," Rick tells the others. "Come on around here. Put pressure on the knee. Hard!"

Glenn crawled over next to Rick, taking Willow's button up to press against Hershel's stump. Rick guides everyone while taking the last bit of bandages they had left from his pack. Daryl edged closer to the men who stood in the kitchen, not backing down.

"Why don't ya fellas step on out."

The men do so slowly. They are bewildered.

"What happened to him?"

"He got bit," Daryl tells them truthfully—a mistake.

The man with the shoulder-length hair reaches for the gun tucked within the waistband of his pants.

"Bit?"

T-Dog and Jodie instantly point their guns at him, and he points his gun back at them.

"Whoa. Whoa. Whoa. Easy now," Daryl tilts his head, adjusting his fingers on his crossbow. Sweat rolled down his forehead while the others did their best with Hershel in the background. "Nobody needs to get hurt."

Glenn got up from Hershel while Maggie and Willow took his place. He quickly walked past Daryl and into the kitchen, completely ignoring the threat;

"Do you have medical supplies?"

"Whoa, where do you think you're going?" Questioned the tallest man in the group. He looked over his shoulder to see Glenn disappear into the kitchen without looking back.

Walkers still bang on the doors, causing everyone to pause momentarily.

"Who the hell are you people, anyway? And what is she doing with you?" The man waves his gun in Willow's direction, causing Daryl and Jodie to buckle down on their guard.

"Don't look like no rescue team," spoke the only white man of the group. His hair was greasy and reached the bottom of his earlobes. On his face sat a handlebar mustache.

"If a rescue team is what you're waiting for, don't," Rick shouts while pushing Hershel's back to get his upper body off the floor. Glenn comes running out of the kitchen with a metal table used to serve food. He quickly stopped beside the others and helped Maggie, Willow, and Rick place Hershel onto it.

"Holy Jesus," exclaimed the man with the handlebar mustache, disgusted by the sight of Hershel's insides.

"T, the door!" Willow shouts.

"Are you crazy?" Spoke the shortest man in the group. "Don't open that!"

"We got this!" Jodie shouts over her shoulder, turning her attention to the door to protect the others.