Love Is Kind (Sequel to "Love Is Patient")

Chapter 5 - Sickness

Authors' Note: We have our first snow day of the year!! Woo! Sorry to those who don't. The picture above is who we imagine as Ally. You may recognize her at Gal Gadot, from the Fast and Furious films. We just thought her appearance fit Ally.

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"Patrick was fine yesterday, and he died overnight. Two people died that quick?" I asked the council as we sit in our meeting room, "We'll have to separate everyone that's been exposed"

"That's everyone in that cell block. That's all of us. Maybe more" Daryl said from beside me.

"We know that this sickness can be lethal. We don't know how easily it spreads. Is anyone else showing symptoms that we know of?" Hershel asked.

"We can't just wait and see. There's children" I argued.

"We need a place for them to go. They can't stay in D. We can't risk going in there to clean it up"

"We can use cell block A" I suggested.

"Death row?" Glenn asked, "I'm not sure that's much of an upgrade"

"It's clean. That's an upgrade" Daryl defended, "Think that'll work for Dr. S?"

"I'll help Caleb get it set up" Hershel said.

A woman coughing in the hallway catches all of our attention. We get up out of our seats and enter the hallway, seeing Tyreese walking with an arm around Karen, the one who's coughing.

"Are you okay? You don't sound so good" Sasha commented.

They stopped and turned to face us, "I'm just taking her back to my cell so she can rest" Tyreese informed.

"Tyreese, I don't think that's a good idea" Hershel warned.

"Why? What's going on now?" Karen asked.

"We think it's a flue or something. That's how Patrick died" Glenn explained.

"Anyone that may be sick or even exposed should stay away" Hershel continued.

"It killed Patrick?" Karen asked, shocked.

"She's gonna be okay. Now that we know what Patrick died from we can treat it, right?" Tyreese asks.

"Don't panic" Hershel soothed, "We're going to figure this out. But we should keep you separated in the meantime. We'll have Caleb take a look at you. I'll see what we have in the way of medications"

"David from the Decatur group, he's been coughing, too" Karen told us.

"I'll get him. There's some empty clean cells in the tombs, right" Glenn asked.

"Yeah, we'll meet you there" Sasha said as he walked away, she turns to Karen, "Come on. Let's get you settled"

She leads them away, around the corner toward the tombs.

"Have to call another council meeting later" Hershel told Daryl and I.

"A'ight. I'll get to buryin' the dead ones" Daryl said.

"You wear gloves and a mask" Hershel said.

He nodded, and Hershel walked away. I was leaning against the wall, sort of zoned out. I was just worrying about little things.

Daryl walks up to me, "Ye all right?"

I snap my attention to him, "I'm worried about Makena. She was around Patrick"

"We all were. Karen 'nd David are gonna be separated till they feel better"

"You're right" I sighed, "Are you okay?"

He nods and nibbles on his lower lip, "Gotta be"

~~~~

As I walk through the courtyard, on my way to Dale, I can hear someone yelling from behind me. As they get closer I recognize the voice as Makena.

"Ally! Ally!" she yells.

I stop and mutter, "Crap"

I turn just as she reaches me, and she crushes me into a hug. I don't hug back, and try not to touch her. I have no choice but to pull out of the hug, making her blue eyes turn confused and hurt.

"There is an illness going around. I've been exposed to it, so has Daryl and the rest of the council. We don't know how easily it spreads, so we're going to have to keep our distances for a while, squirt" I explain to her.

"Is the sickness deadly?"

I nod, "It killed Patrick"

She gasps, "What? B-But, I just talked with him yesterday"

"I know, squirt. It killed others, too. That's what all the gunfire was, they had turned"

Makena runs a hand through her hair, "Oh my god"

"Yeah...we're moving anyone who shows symptoms to cell block A"

Someone yelling down by the fences causes me to run around the corner to look. A massive herd of walkers is piling at the fence, making the fence start to cave in. Rick, Daryl, Maggie, Glenn, Tyreese, and Sasha are running down to it.

"Holy shit. Stay here!" I order Makena, then take off across the courtyard.

I grab a pole as I run by, then join my group members. I stand between Rick and Daryl as I stab the walkers through the fence. I stab them one by one, shoving the pole into their soft skulls.

"Are you guys seeing this?" Sasha asked, we all looked to see what she was talking about. There were a few dead rats on the ground, bloody from being chewed on, "Is someone feeding these things?"

The fence starts to cave in even more and Glenn yells, "It's gonna give!"

We all rush over and try to push it up, watching where we put our hands.

"Back up! Now!" Daryl yells at us, and he grabs my arm, pulling me back with him.

We all are breathing heavily, watching the fence. We need to do something soon or the whole thing will fall over. If that happens, it's game over.

"Daryl, get the truck. I've got an idea" Rick orders, and Daryl runs to get the truck.

Rick walks away, heading toward the animals. Specifically...the pig pen. I sigh and look down, realizing what Rick's plan is. I don't watch as he sacrifices the baby piglets to the walkers to create a distraction. I try not to focus on their squeals as they die.