Hiraeth (The Walking Dead)

Chapter 15

"Now walk out niiice an' slow," Daryl commanded threateningly. He didn't lower his crossbow in the least. "Don't try nothin' dumb."

"What the hell happened to him?" A Hispanic man with his uniform jacket around his waist gestured to Hershel.

"Got bit," Daryl declared shortly.

"Whaddya mean he got bit?" The handlebar mustache man piped up again.

"I mean he got bit." Daryl wasn't playing games.

"We gotta go," Rick interrupted. "There's a cell block down the hall, I saw. He's bleedin' out."

Daryl began slowly backing up, still raising his crossbow to the prisoners. T-Dog and Maggie ripped the doors open, only to see most of the walkers had wandered off. A few strays were left to be shot in the head. Rick and Beth helped Carol to support Hershel, and Lori quickly followed as they hoisted the old farmer up and out. Daryl continued backing out, but something was missing.

Cailey. Daryl stared over where she had been standing, but she wasn't there. She hadn't gone through the door, either. Daryl glanced quickly around, trying to keep an eye on the prisoners.

Cailey was in the corner, curled up. She was actually scared. Daryl could just barely see the fear in her eyes behind her stoic expression, and her knees were tightly to her chest as she gripped her hunting knife until her knuckles were white. "Hey, clodhopper," he called, trying to snap her out of it. "Le's go."

Cailey made the tiniest of a shake of her head. Daryl couldn't figure out what had gotten into her. She had seen worse than a man getting his leg cut off, and she was just now freaking out. She didn't do this. Ever.

"C'mon." Daryl held his crossbow still with one hand, dragging Cailey up with his right hand. He held her jacket tightly, pushing her through the door. She still held her bow in one hand, the knife in her other. She shuffled quickly, and Daryl forced her out.

Once in the cell block, Cailey followed through the small dining hall of the cement room. It led to the cells behind another gate, and she traveled instantly to those cells.

Lori and Carol were surprised to see Cailey coming into the cell they were lying Hershel in. She simply told them "I wanted to help."

Only a few minutes into wrapping up Hershel's leg, there was yelling from the other side of the cell block. Daryl and Rick were still in the dining hall of the block, and the prisoners had come in. They were beginning to get angry. They could hear the prisoners talk about being locked in the kitchen for nearly a year, and how they owned the prison.

"Cailey, go see what's going on," Lori nodded at her. She wasn't about to send in her eleven year-old son, and Maggie and Beth needed to be with Hershel. Cailey knew that, but she hesitated.

The teen gave a small nod, turning out of Hershel's cell. She gripped her bow tightly, knife now against her hip. She loaded an arrow into the long curving wood.

"What's going on with her?" Carol turned to Lori once Cailey left. "It's like she's scared, she's never acted like this before."

Lori shook her head with a shrug as she put more pressure on the leg stump. "I think everything is just finally starting to catch up to her emotionally. She's still a kid, she's got to be younger than Beth. She isn't supposed to have to handle all of this on her own, and she doesn't talk much to anyone. Even Daryl, and I think she likes him more than the rest of us."

The brunette girl wandered carefully into the cell block dining room, and she stared inside. The prisoners were facing her, and they all looked up to her.

"Cailey," a pale man called out to her. He was tall and rugged looking, especially in his prison uniform.

Cailey brought her bow up instantly, aiming an arrow at the man. "Don't come any closer."

The man's face fell, but into an expression of anger. He spoke quietly, but there was a dark tone in his voice. "Don't you talk to me like that." He began talking a couple small steps towards her.

"Don't fucking move," she finally shouted. It even startled Rick. She wasn't a happy person, but the former sheriff had never heard such pure anger from her. "I will fucking shoot you right here."

Daryl watched, almost intrigued. The hunter realized that Cailey had not been in shock from Hershel's attack, but she was trying to hide from this man. He could only assume that the prisoner was an uncle or a father to Cailey.

"Well, I see you're all grown up now, huh?" The middle-aged man put his hands up. "Gotta be in charge."

"Shut your fucking face." Cailey's volume went down again, but she was still sharp and angry. "We call the shots, got it? Pull one dumb move, and you'll be the first to get fed to the walkers."

"See, only one problem with that, sweetheart," the Hispanic man piped up. "This is our cell block."

"Yeah? It was yours the whole time you were locked in that damn kitchen?" Cailey snarled at the man. She wasn't playing games.

"I oughtta knock the fuck outta you," the man called back. "Maybe I'll get ya daddy here to do it for me."

"I'd like to see you try," the girl retorted, pulling her bow down by her side as she puffed her chest out. "Can't even get yourself through a fucking door, dumbass."

The tall prisoner reached out. He was only steps away. Cailey didn't have time to bring her bow up before he clocked her in the face. The girl's cheek burned as bone knocked against bone. She quickly turned back to the prisoner. She drew back and knocked him in the throat. He fell back and choked. Cailey pulled her knife from her belt, scratching against his tanktop. Blood drew from his side. It wasn't a deep cut, just enough to hurt. She punched him in the face with the butt of her knife. When he fell forward, she held the tip to his throat.

"Wonder what you got arrested for," she drawled out sarcastically. "Obviously not assault, not very good at that, huh?"

"Cailey," Rick called sharply. The young brunette held her head down just barely enough to see as she backed away.

"Oh, so you're his bitch now," the tall white man teased, now clearly Cailey's father.

"Shut up," Cailey paced around. "All big talk, huh? You know you're nothing without your belt."

"Cailey," Rick shouted louder. "Enough."

Cailey bit down on her back teeth, hooking her knife back to her belt loop. Her bruised knuckles were turning white as she gripped her bow, and her headband was falling again. She pushed it up as she stormed out of the cell. Rick and Daryl watched silently as she left. Rick was the first to speak again.

"Now show us where the damn food is. We told you, half."