"Good morning" Maggie smiles at me as I walk downstairs
"Morning"
"Nice to sleep in a bed again, yeah?"
"Yeah. It was great" I smiled, Maggie reached her hand out and fixed my bangs.
"Thanks" I smiled.
"While you were asleep, we found some weapons at the armory down the road"
"Why didn't you guys leave yet? To clear the rest of the prison?"
"I wanted to wait" Rick says joining the conversation
"For what?" I turn to him
"You. I thought you'd want to go, or I at least wanted to give you the option to go"
"Well, yeah. Let's go"
•••
Rick and Daryl led the way, behind them was my dad and I, then behind us were Glenn and Maggie. We all had flashlights held up alongside our guns but we kept knives close. It was dark aside from the small windows and our flashlights.
We turn a corner and walkers are approaching Rick and Daryl, I went to go help them and Dad was still hesitant. It was frantic, they were thrown onto us so quick and we weren't prepared for it obviously. I turned around and saw that Maggie, Glenn and Dad were gone.
"Where, where are they?" I asked anxiously
"I don't know. Let's go look" Daryl says and we start to walk.
I was stopped by yells. My heart froze and I didn't know if I could move, but truth is I moved quicker than I have in a while. I saw Dad on the ground, his leg being gnawed on by a walker. I immediately stab the walker and call for help. Rick and Daryl turn the corner, Maggie and Glenn come from another side.
•••
We moved into the cafeteria and laid Dad on the ground.
"I'm gonna need to amputate his leg" Rick says
"Is it gonna work?" Maggie asks
"We have to try" Rick replies
"If it doesn't?" Glenn asks
"We'll do what we have to"
Rick ripped off the bottom of his shirt and tied the strip of fabric around Dads leg. He pulls out his axe.
"No. No" I mumble
"Come here" Maggie says and opens her arms for me to enter. I do but look the other way.
I hear the sound of skin breaking and thumping. It happens a few times. I jumped at each one, Maggie rubbed my back as I held back tears. I closed my eyes and tried to tune out everything.
"He's done" Maggie whispers and I turn, Dad had his eyes closed.
"What did you do!" I yell and lunge at Rick.
Glenn pulls me back.
"He's okay" Glenn says as I resist his grasp
"He killed him!" I cry
Rick checks his pulse.
"He's got a pulse" Rick says calmly and I calm down.
"Holy shit" I hear a new voice and turn to see five men in prison uniforms.
"Who are you?" Daryl says with his crossbow raised
"I think I can ask the same. This is our turf, what are you guys even doing in here?" A man with long black hair says.
"They don't know" Daryl mumbles to Rick
"What don't we know?" He asks
"The world ain't the same. No government, no cops, no nothin" Daryl explains
"A guard a long time ago gave us a gun, shoved us in a broom closet and told us he'd be back once the riots were over" a tall and big man says.
"We have to go" I say to our group
"She's right" Glenn says and we all move to lift up Hershel, Daryl stays behind.
"The hell are you goin?" I hear Daryl grumble and turn to see the prisoners had moved forward.
"You can't leave us here" a man with a mustache says.
"You ain't comin back with us"
"Let's take them outside" Rick intervenes "Glenn, Maggie and Isabelle can go back"
"You two against them five?" I whisper to Rick
"You want to come?"
"Yes" I reply with a nod.
"We got it" Maggie says and they leave.
•••
"So you guys haven't even been outside?" I ask
"Every time we try, those things are banging at the walls and windows" Big Tiny explains
"You guys cleared out a whole cell block?" Axel asks
"Yeah" Rick answers
"That's like 50 people and there's only 5 of you"
"Yeah" Daryl says, still not ready to trust them.
"Why do you guys get that cell block? We live in a god damn cafeteria and we've been here longer" Tomas says angrily
"I suggest you just calm down. We cleared the cell block for our people, not yours" Rick tells them
"What if we move into a different cell block?" Axel says
"If we get half your food, we'll help you clear a cell block for your group and that's where you'll stay. You don't get to be near my group whatsoever"
"Fine" Tomas agrees
•••
We started to pile loads of food onto a rolling cart for easy transportation. They had lots of food.
"What's in here?" Rick asks, pointing to the freezer
"You don't wanna go in there, man" Axel warns
"Why?"
"It's just bad"
Rick opens the door, I step back. A smell fills the room and Rick starts to gag. It was the smell of sewage, that was their bathroom.
"What the fuck, Rick?" I whine and he shuts the door
"I wanted to make sure they weren't hiding anything" Rick growls
"Jesus, someone's grumpy"
•••
We brought the food back to our cell. Lori was relived to see Rick was back. I checked all the cells until I found the one with Dad in it. Maggie and Beth sat by his side.
"Nothing?" I ask
"No" Beth replies
"You coming back now?" Maggie asks
"No. But I will be, soon" I turn away.
I looked like I didn't care, but the truth was I was scared. I couldn't look at my Dad in such a compromising and scary situation. I fell apart when Rick cut off his leg and now he was almost dead. I couldn't look at him, or the hurt on my younger sisters faces.
