𝑩𝒂𝒕𝒕𝒍𝒆 𝑺𝒄𝒂𝒓𝒔 | ᵀᵂᴰ

21: A Mother's Love

"Okay, let's get the other car in. We'll park 'em in the west entry of the yard." Rick said.

"Good. Our vehicles camped out there look like a giant "vacancy" sign." Daryl said. "After that, we need to load up these corpses so we can burn 'em."

"Gonna be a long day." T-Dog said.

"Where's Glenn and Maggie? We could use some help." Carol said.

"Up in the guard tower." I said, using my lips to point to it. "Guard tower?" Rick questioned. "They were just up there last night." "Glenn! Maggie!" Daryl called out. Glenn walked out and stood on the platform.

"Hey, what's up, guys?" He asked, zipping up his pants. We snickered at the scene. "Ya comin'?" Daryl asked. "What?" Glenn replied. We laughed. "Ya comin'?" Daryl repeated. "Come on, we could use a hand." "Yeah, we'll be right down." Glenn said. "Settle with the double entendre." I told Daryl with a small laugh at the end.

"Hey, Rick!" T-Dog called out. We all looked over and saw the prisoners at the gate. "Come with me." Rick said. We went over to them. "That's close enough." Rick said. "We had an agreement."

"Please, mister. We know that." Axel said with his arms crossed. "We made a deal. But you gotta understand... we can't live in that place another minute. You follow me? All those bodies- people we knew." He said. "Blood, brains, everywhere. There's ghosts." "Why don't ya move the bodies out?" Daryl asked. "You should be burning them." T-Dog said. "We tried. We did."

"The fence is down on the far side of the prison." Oscar said. "Everytime we drag a body out, those things just line up. Dropping the body and just running back inside." "Look, we had nothing to do with Tomas and Andrew. Nothing." Axel said. "You trying to prove a point? You proved it, bro. We'll do whatever it takes to be part of your group. Just please, please... don't make us live in that place." Axel said.

"Our deal is non-negotiable." Rick replied. "You either live in your cell block, or you leave." "I told you this was a waste of time." Oscar said. "They ain't no different than the pricks who shot up our boys. You know how many friends' corpses we had to drag out this week? Just threw 'em out, like-" Oscar paused. "These were good guys. Good guys who had our backs against the really bad dudes in the joint, like Tomas and Andrew. We've all made mistakes to get in here, chief. And I'm not gonna pretend to be a Saint, but believe me... we've paid our due- enough that we would rather hit that road than to go back into that shithole." Oscar said.

Rick looked back at Daryl. He shook his head. Daryl ended up locking them out. "Are you serious?" Rick asked T-Dog. "You want them living in a cell next to you? They'll just be waiting for a chance to grab our weapons. You want to go back to sleeping with one eye open?" "I never stopped." T-Dog replied.

"Bring them into the fold. If we send them off packing, we might as well execute them ourselves." "I don't know. Axel seems a little unstable." Glenn said. "After all we've been through? We fought so hard for all this, what if they decide to take it?" Carol asked.

"It's just been us for so long. They're strangers. I don't- it feels weird all of a sudden to have these other people around." Maggie said. "You brought us in." T-Dog said. "Yeah, but you turned up with a shot boy in your arms. Didn't give us a choice." "They can't even kill walkers." Glenn said. "They're convicts, bottom line." Carol said. "Those two might actually have less blood on their hands that we do." T-Dog spoke.

"I get guys like this. Hell, I grew up with 'em. They're degenerates, but they ain't psychos." Daryl said. "I could have been in there with them just as easy as I'm out here with you guys." Daryl said. "So are you with me?" T-Dog asked. "Hell, no." Daryl said. "I like the idea of letting them take their chances on the road like we did." I said. "What I'm saying, Isabela-" Rick cut T-Dog off.