Daughter of a Dixon ✔️

38: Swine Flu

I chose to go the direction that would take me out of D-Block, and back outside the prison. I couldn't take out all the walkers by myself; once I got out of the block, I was going to need to find help, and fast.

I exhaled forcefully before I made my way towards the walkers, having my knife in my left hand and gun in my right. I walked up towards the walkers at the front of the hoard, and drove my knife into the head of the first one. Before I even pulled out the knife, I shot another one as it leaned in to bite me. They both fell to the ground, mouths still open wide.

I then pulled my knife out of the first walker and rammed it into another one. I pushed it away from me, and shot at another, kicking it in the stomach to get the corpse to fall backwards.

As I took out two more walkers, I began to hear noises from behind me, and I jerked my head back to look over my shoulder. I cursed under my breath when I saw that the walkers who were blocking the other exits had made their way down the hallway, and were coming straight for me.

I turned back to the walkers in front of me, and fired my gun at one who was inches away from sinking its teeth into my arm. I kicked its corpse away, and shot at another a few feet back. After it fell to the ground, I stepped over all the fallen corpses to finish off the last walker. I stabbed it in the head, jerked my knife out of its skull, and was off running before its body hit the ground. The other group of walkers was feet behind me, so I stayed at a full sprint the whole way to the exit.

That was, of course, until a body lying on the ground reached out with its grimy hands and grabbed my foot.

I collided with the ground in an instant, with no time to break my fall. I landed flat on my stomach, and for a moment, I lost the ability to breathe. Once I had realized what had happened, though, I looked behind me to see the walker gnawing at the edge of my tennis shoe, hoping to reach my foot.

And then, I saw the large group of walkers only a few feet away, soon to be directly on top of me.

I couldn't kill the walker who had my shoe, I couldn't reach back far enough to stab him, and I couldn't see where I was aiming with my gun. So, I followed through with the next viable option.

I yanked my foot out from my tennis shoe, and pulled my leg free from its hands.

I sprang up from the ground like a rabbit and sprinted to the exit door. I got there without trouble that time, and when I got outside, I slammed the door behind me, pressing my back up against it to ensure it would stay shut.

I closed my eyes for a moment, and exhaled slowly, trying to calm my rapid heart rate. When I opened my eyes, I saw that my entire shirt was covered in walker blood. And when I saw it, I began to smell it, and my breath caught in my throat.

"Sidney! What the hell happened, are you alright?"

I snapped my head up to the voice, and became alert when I saw Rick running towards me.

"There's walkers, in D-Block. I don't know how it happened, I went to check on Patrick, and-.."

"There'll be time for explanations later. Now, go get anyone you can find and tell 'em to come help me," Rick said.

I nodded, and darted off.

I ran to the front of the prison, and there I found Glenn, Maggie, and Michonne. "Hey! There's walkers in D-Block, Rick needs help!" I yelled to them.

They all three went wide-eyed, and rushed over to D-Block to help Rick. I was about to go with them to assist, but that's when I saw that Dad had returned from his supply run, and I figured I'd better let him know what was happening. Plus, I probably needed to explain why I looked like I'd taken a bath in a bucket of red paint.

And I don't think running up to him at full speed screaming, "Dad!" was the best way to start off what was supposed to be a calm explanation.

I scared him so bad he dropped the bag he had in his hands out of surprise and jumped about a foot in the air. When he saw me, and the thick layer of blood entirely covering me, he gave me one of the most confused expressions I'd ever seen.

"Sidney, what in the hell-..."

"There's no time. There's walkers in D-Block, we gotta go, now."

I knew there wasn't any time to waste, so I grabbed his wrist and spun around, beginning to run back to D-Block. He asked a few questions as we ran, none of which I had time to answer, so I simply responded with a frustrated, "I'll explain later!"

When we got there, I threw open the door to the block, and Dad and I both dashed inside. We bounded to the main part of the cell block, and stopped short when we realized that, surprisingly, all was calm. There were no more walkers to be seen; only Rick, Glenn, Maggie, Michonne, and the rest of the D-Block inhabitants.

Dad and I, panting, looked around the scene, as if to check and make sure there were really no more walkers.

"Sidney, what happened here, do you know?" Rick asked when I'd caught my breath.

I lowly shook my head, inhaling before I spoke. "Patrick said he was sick, said he felt like he was gonna throw up. I came in here to check on him, and he'd... he'd just turned, that fast. He must've bitten all these other people, too. I don't see any other way they could've turned."

"There's a hog that's sick, too. Do you think it could be some sorta... I don't know, walker disease?" Glenn asked, furrowing his eyebrows.

"I don't think so," said a voice from around the corner.

We all turned, and saw that Doctor S. was making his way towards us, a frown on his face. He was Woodbury's doctor, but now he was ours, and he was fantastic at his job. We were lucky to have him, especially at a time like that.

"You said a pig has died from being sick?"

Rick nodded his head, his eyebrows furrowing slightly.

Dr. S sighed, and looked at everyone in the block individually before coming to an ascertained conclusion.

"If the disease killed Patrick that quickly, and a pig has died from it, I believe there's only one thing this could be... I think we have an outbreak of Swine Flu on our hands, and all of us have been exposed to it."

After that statement, everyone's eyes grew as wide as dinner plates out of complete fear.

A/N: So, I know Nicotero said the disease in the prison wasn't Swine Flu, but I a) I wanted to give the disease an official name, b) it fits in with the pig getting sick, and c) Swine Flu is a very deadly disease if left untreated. And, this is fanfiction, so no one really cares anyway haha. Anyway, hope you guys are enjoying the story so far!