A Broken World

Forty-Eight

Days Later

Rick wasn't doing so well. He had gone to the boiler room where Lori had died. He was going around killing walkers around that area. Daryl found Caryl in a small supply room, dehydrated and exhausted. T-Dog died protecting her.

I couldn't sit still. I didn't care how much pain I was in, I moved around, pacing back and forth in my cell. I needed to get out. I needed to go outside before I went stir crazy.

I took a deep breath of fresh air, well, as fresh as it can get with rotting corpses walking around. I leaned against the brick wall and looked out into the distance. There wasn't much to look at, of course. There was just the prison yard and the woods that surrounded the prison itself. Walkers roamed outside the fences. We were hidden out of sight from the world. You couldn't see the prison from the road, not unless you looked down the hill from where we saw it.

It was a safe place for now, as safe as it can get at least. It wasn't an ideal place to be living, but it had fences, walls, and a roof. We wouldn't have to worry about moving every day or staying in one place for only a few minutes or hours. We had the forest around us, which meant Daryl could set traps up to try and get meat. We had the stuff from the cafeteria, mostly rice, but that was better than nothing.

“What're ya doin out here?”

I looked to my left to see Daryl walking towards me, a cigarette hanging from his mouth. “I needed some fresh air.” He hummed and walked closer to me. “And you came out here to get it?”

“Yeah, I guess I did. Not the freshest of air, but it'll do.” I nodded my head to the cigarette hanging from his lips. “How can you stand to smoke? Aren't all the cigarettes stale?”

Daryl shrugged, taking a drag and then exhaling. He leaned against the wall beside me. “Don't mind too much. Old habits are hard to break. You feeling any better? Not in any pain?”

I shook my head, “No, I'm fine. I just couldn't sit in there anymore. I was starting to go stir crazy. Last thing we need is for someone else to walk around in a catatonic state. Speaking of, how is Rick doing? Has he come back from the boiler room?”

Daryl took another drag from his almost finished cigarette, exhaled it through his nose, and shook his head. “No. He came back briefly to check on Carl and he held the baby, but then went right back to it.”

“His wife died, in a horrible way. He couldn't even bury her. I'd be fucked up too.”

Daryl grunted, stomping his cigarette on the ground with his boots. His bottom lip was between his teeth. “Do you wanna keep watch up in the tower with me tonight? That way–that way you can get outta there tonight.”

I looked over at him and smiled. “Yeah, actually, that would be great. I'll meet you at the tower tonight.”

Daryl nodded his head, pulled out another cigarette, and lit it. “Meet me at around six.”

“Right, yeah, six…”

“You'll know when the sky is low on the horizon. Western sky. You can't miss it.”

I nodded my head, gotta ya.” Daryl squinted at me and let out a long heavy sigh. “I'll just come get ya.” I smiled at him, “Good idea. I'll see then. I'm gonna go eat something. You should do the same.”

When the time for Daryl to go out to the tower for his watch shift he came and got me at my cell. I was sitting criss-criss-crossed on the top bunk reading. “Ya ready?” I looked up and nodded, “Yeah, let me finish this page and I'll meet you there.”

After I finished the page I was on I marked my place and got off the bunk. I grabbed my jacket, knife, and gun, and headed out to meet Daryl. “Okay, I'm ready, let's go keep watch.”