A Broken World

Forty-Two

Prison Clean Out

T-Dog, Rick, Glenn, Maggie, Daryl, and I all moved forward into the prisoners courtyard. We went back to back in a circle, so we had eyes on every side. The walkers closer to the fence were easy to take out. It was the walkers behind another gate that we had problems with. They were former prison guards who were wearing their riot gear. It was impossible to get to their heads with the hard shell exterior of their helmets. I kept pushing one walker away, trying to stay near the group.

It became tiring, and my hand missed the cheat plate on the walker, letting it get closer than I intended it to. Luckily, the face guard was down on the helmet. I was struggling to push the walker off away from me when Maggie came up, grabbed it, pulled it away from me, and jammed her knife up through the bottom of its jaw. “Thanks.” She nodded, and we turned back to the group. Rick had successfully locked the gate so no other walkers could get out.

“This place fell early,” Rick said. I looked around and hummed. “That's not surprising. I won't be surprised if we find prisoners who weren't infected in there that they just executed. They wouldn't just let them go free. They might have tried moving some of them, but that would have caused problems. There was probably a riot that broke out from panic, and some people, whether prisoners or guards, who were infected that turned in the process. So it's not surprising this place turned into a horror show.”

Daryl was looking around, “This one ain't a guard or prisoner, that's a civilian,” he said. “Maybe she was here to visit someone,” Rick said. “Or there was a breach. Somewhere outside the gates is a way into the prison. Inside could be full of walkers,” I said. Rick sighed, placed his hands on his hips, and looked around for a moment. “We have to push forward. We need to be sure,” he said.

“That's insane, Rick,” I said. He nodded his head slightly in agreement and said, “I know, but we have to be sure. We need this place.” The six of us stood around him and eventually agreed, and we headed for the door to cell block C. Rick was in charge of opening the heavy orange…red door. He counted to three and pulled it open. We ran in expecting to face a sea of walkers. But there was nothing. Nothing but silence.

We slowly ascended down the few concrete stairs and into the common area of the cell block. Rick walked over to the prison door that led to the rest of the prison and closed it as quietly as he could before going to the guards tower. When he returned, he had a set of keys to unlock the cell doors. Daryl and I stood behind him with Maggie, Glenn, and T-dog behind us. Rick pushed one of the keys into the keyhole of the door that would lead us to the cells themselves.

Just like the cooman area, the cells were void of any prisoners all except two, on the second level. Rick and Darly took care of them before Rick went out to bring everyone else inside. While he did that, the rest of us cleared the few bodies lying around outside to be burned. The others walked in and looked around. “And it's safe?” Lori asked. Rick looked at her and gave a small nod. “This cell block is.”

It wasn't ideal, but it would do. It was definitely better than being out on the road, especially with Lori being due and day now. If I'm honest, I never thought that I would ever be on this side of things. There were a few people who I've caught and sent here. I could only hope that none of the prisoners survived, even if that's cruel to say.

Everyone looked at the cells and chose one to sleep in. I walked up the stairs and went to the cell all the way at the end on the right. It luckily didn't look as bad as most of the cells. There was no blood and brains all over the walls. I set my bag down on the bottom bunk and sat down with a tired groan. "I ain't sleeping in no cage. I'll take the perch.” I rolled my eyes and scuffed out a laugh at Daryl's words.

I sat on the bed for at least twenty minutes before I started going through my bag to take stuff out. The blanked it I had forced in it came out first. Then I took out any ammo and magazines and sat them on the small metal table. I was digging into the front pockets, pulling loose ammo ou,  and ended up pulling my badge out. I sat back down on the bed and held it up. It was the small pendant that I was looking at. I pulled the badge off and put it back in the pocket of my bag.

“What's that?” I jumped at the sudden noise. “Jesus fuck, Daryl!” I put my bag on the floor and moved over. “Well, come sit down,” I told him. He hesitated and looked down at the ground. “I don't fucking bite,” I said. He walked in and sat down. I handed him the chain with the small pendant on it. “Ya kept it.”

“The original chain was broken on a case a while back. I was lucky to find the pendant when I went back to look for it. I didn't have another chain for it so I put it on this ball chain with my badge. I mean I had to find something to thread through it so it would fit, but I thought it would be the safest place. It would always be with me; close to my heart.” Daryl pulled his bottom lip between his teeth and chewed on it; one of his other habits when he was nervous or uncomfortable.

“We might have had a falling out, Daryl, but I never hated you. I could never hate you. I've always considered you my best friend; I still do if I'm honest. I was just hurt by what happened between us. I thought the best thing to do was to leave. To get out of that town and get as far away as I could. It wasn't just you I was running from though. I was also running from my family; not that they cared. I've never stopped loving you and I never will not matter where we end up in life.