Fight The Dead, Fear The Living (Rick Grimes)

Chapter 19

With one swift movement, Rick's machete went straight through Thomas' skull. The remaining prisoners that consisted of Axel, Oscar and Andrew were dumbfounded. Andrew made a run for it while Axel stood still, Daryl was going to go after Andrew but got denied as Rick quickly followed him. I walked towards Axel angrily, he must of been a part of the plan or at least known about it.

"Did you know about this?"

"No! - We didn't have nothing to do with that."

"You didn't know? Don't lie to me I know that you knew! Daryl, let's end this now."

"Sir, please, please, listen to me! It was them that was bad. It wasn't us." Axel said, now turning to Daryl for help. I wasn't planning on hurting Axel or Oscar, I just wanted to scare them so they didn't try to threaten us in any way.

"Oh, that's convenient." I said, I was hoping that Daryl was catching onto the idea.

"You saw what he did to Tiny. He was my friend. Please, I ain't like that. I like my pharmaceuticals, but I'm no killer. Oscar here, he's a B and E, and he ain't very good at it neither. We ain't the violent kind, they were! Please, I swear to God! I wanna live!"

"What about you?" I said, turning to Oscar.

"I ain't never pleaded for my life, and I ain't starting now." He said calmly.

Rick returned and Andrew wasn't with him. We were starting to leave until Oscar started to speak.

"So you're just gonna leave us in here? - Man, this is sick."

"We're locking down this cell block. From now on, this part of the prison is yours.Take it or leave it, that was the deal." Rick said.

"You think this is sick? You don't wanna know what's outside. Consider yourselves the lucky ones." I added.

"Oh, and a word of advice-- take those bodies outside and burn them." Rick said before we left back to our cell block. As soon as we entered, Carl ran up to us.

"Hershel stopped breathing. Mom saved him." Rick turned his head to Carol for the truth. 

"It's true. And he still has no fever."

Lori ushered Rick over to a quiet corner and they had a private conversation, I decided not to but into it so I walked over to the cell Hershel is in. He looks like hell, he is really pale and seems dehydrated. 

--

Rick, Carol, Daryl, T-Dog and I are getting the cars inside the courtyard so they are easily accessible in case of emergency which is more likely these days.

"Alright, let's get the other cars in. We'll park 'em in the west entry of the yard." Rick explained the instructions.

"Good. Our vehicles camped out there look like a giant "vacancy" sign!" Daryl exclaimed.

"After that, we need to load up these corpses so we can burn them." I acknowledged, I hoped Rick didn't mind me saying because it sounded like an order.

"Hey!" Rick shouted looking completely serious. "That's my job" He said while chuckling, I started laughing too. "Shut up..." I said in a joking matter.

"It's gonna be a long day..." T said while sighing.

"Where's Glenn and Maggie? We could use some help." Carol said, looking around the outside of the prison walls.

"Up in the guard tower." Daryl answered Carol quicker than I have heard him answer anyone else... Suspicious.

"Guard tower? They were just up there last night!" Rick said, I chuckled, nudging Rick with my elbows and wiggling my eyebrows. 

"They wouldn't have, not on watch anyway." Rick said. 

"Wanna prove it?" I asked him, he nodded and we shook hands on a deal we never made.

"Glenn! Maggie!" I shouted. Glenn comes out of the tower, he has no shirt on and is buttoning his pants.

"Hey! What's up guys?" We all start to laugh at the sight.

"You comin'?" Daryl asked.

"What?" Glenn asked, we were all still laughing to ourselves.

"You comin'? Come on, we could use a hand!" Daryl repeated himself.

"Yeah, we'll be right down!"

Rick and I walk toward the cars, still laughing, but T-Dog stops.

"Hey Rick!" T shouts, getting Rick's attention.

Rick stops smiling immediately when he sees the two prisoners Axel and Oscar out of their cell block, walking towards us.

"Come with me." Rick said to us.

"That's close enough. We had an agreement." Rick started

"Please, mister. We know that, we made a deal. But you gotta understand! We can't live in that place another minute, you follow me? All the bodies, people we knew! Blood, brains everywhere! There's ghosts!" Glenn and Maggie show up halfway through Axel's speech on said ghosts.

"Why don't you move the bodies out?" Daryl asked.

"You should be burning them." I added.

"We tried! We did!" Axel tried to explain.

"The fence is down on the far side of the prison. Every time we drag a body out, those things just line up. So hump in a body and just running back inside." Oscar told us about the danger.

"Look! We had nothing to do with Thomas and Andrew, nothing! You trying to prove a point? You proved it, bro! We'll do whatever it takes to be a part of your group, just, please, please, don't make us live in that place!" Axel started with his long-ass speeches again.

"Our deal is not negotiable. You either live in your cell block, or you leave." Rick reminded them of our deal.

"I told you this was a waste of time. 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... Those were good guys! Good guys who had our backs against the really bad dudes in the joint like Thomas and Andrew. Now, we've all made mistakes to get in here, chief, and I'm not gonna pretend to be a saint, but believe me... we paid our due. Enough that we would rather hit that road, than to go back into that shithole." This was a surprise as it was Oscar making a speech. Rick looked to Daryl who was shaking his head. Daryl locks the prisoners outside the prison ad returns to us.

"Come on, dude!" Axel complains. T looked like he was actually considering letting the prisoners stay in the same cell block.

"Are you serious? 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 asked.

"I never stopped. Bring them into the fold. If we send them off packing, we might as well execute them ourselves." T explained. He made a good point but I didn't want to argue.