Daryl's Angel (10th Anniversary Edition)

Chapter 30: Seed

We sleep in the next morning but, once we're all awake, Rick is quick to rally us for our infiltration mission. T-Dog, Daryl, Glenn, and Maggie are also coming along. I grip my machete tight, giving it a few test swings, loosening up my tense muscles.

"Ready?" Hershel asks.

Rick unhooks the giant monkey clips he closed the gate with yesterday, flinging it open. T-Dog kills a walker immediately and as we move in, Hershel slides the gate shut behind us. We move in a circle, facing outwards, everyone's back covered. I'm in between Daryl and T-Dog.

The others rattle the fences, hollering and shouting, getting the attention of any walkers they can and killing the ones stupid enough to get close.

"Don't break rank!" Rick shouts.

"Get tight! Get tight!" Glenn yells.

We kill walker after walker, keeping close to our circle. Nobody moves too far from the others and when more than one walker advances at the same time, we use teamwork. Rick knocks one down, leaving Glenn to finish it off as he stabs another.

Daryl stabs one between the eyes and throws it to the ground. As soon as he ducks, I take out another that lunges for him. T-Dog rushes forward to grab a riot shield and I down the walker that goes after him.

"Almost there," Rick urges as we head for the door leading inside. He pushes it open, then peers around the corner only to throw himself against the wall. "Shit."

He holds up his hand and we mimic his moves instantly. Whatever he saw, it can't be good, and I can still hear walkers growling. A second after the thought crosses my mind, five walkers in full riot gear stumble around the corner and the door behind us opens as another walker in a gas mask appears, moaning.

Maggie slams her machete into its head, but the blade bounces off and she backs up, eyes wide. One of the riot walkers lunges for me.

"Hope!" Daryl shouts.

I duck and Daryl shoots his crossbow, but the bolt bounces off the walker's visor. The walker reaches for me and I jump up, slamming my shoulder into its diaphragm, knocking it backwards and away from me.

"DARYL!" Rick shouts.

Daryl downs another walker, then rushes to join Rick as he tries to close another gate into a courtyard full of the dead.

The riot walker comes back at me and I brace myself, gripping my machete with two hands, and I ram it upwards into its throat and up into its brain. It drops and I look over my shoulder to see that Maggie's just done the same to another riot walker, her eyes wide.

"See that?" she asks, grinning.

"Hell yeah!" I say. "Nice!"

Glenn and T-Dog take out another and Daryl dispatches the fourth, then Rick and Maggie finish off the last two. Rick tears the gas mask off of his and the walker's face comes with it, leaving a growling, snapping skull with a bit of muscle left over. Disgusted, he splits its face in two.

When all is said and done, we're covered in blood, there are bodies everywhere and there's a whole other courtyard full of snarling undead, but we've made it. Another small victory for humankind.

Glenn starts towards the others, but Rick calls out to him. "Stop," he says.

"It looks secure," Glenn retorts, confused.

"Not from the look of that courtyard over there," Daryl says, pointing to it. He motions at a female walker in a t-shirt and hoodie. "And that's a civilian."

"So the interior could be overrun with walkers from outside the prison," T-Dog sighs.

"Well, if there's walls down, what are we gonna do?" Glenn asks. "We can't rebuild this whole place."