Lottie

Gone

A couple of weeks had passed by inside of the prison cell, Lottie was finally well again to help out. Daryl had left Lottie to sleep in, as she had gone on a run with Rick and Glenn the day before and was exhausted. He even left a sheet over the cell door to block the dusty sun-rays.

She was woken however, by Beth who crept into the darkened room holding Judith whom she couldn't settle. Beth had never asked Lottie to try and calm Judith down before and thought it was worth at least one try.

Judith's soft whimpering made Lottie turn over, Beth must have been just as tired as she was. Her eyes were sunken and her arms shook. Lottie didn't say a word just smiled and held her arms out for Judith and patted the space on the mattress next to her for Beth to relax on.

Lottie gently rocked Judith in her arms while humming quietly, and she settled immediately.

"You're great with her!" Beth said sweetly.

"You're the one who does all the work with her," Lottie replied. "You being tired will unsettle her too, it's okay for you to ask for a break, she's not even your baby!"

"Well Ricks, well you know and Carl is still too young." Beth whispered, blowing her tangled blonde hair out of her face.

"I'm two years older than you!"

"So?" Beth said innocently.

"You shouldn't be spending your time stuck in here with Judith, when was the last time you went outside without holding a baby?" Lottie said still rocking a now sleeping Judith.

"Holding a baby makes the walkers seem a little less scary," Beth admitted "Maggie is always on about me being safe."

"Your sister would never let anything happen to you, ever." Lottie said seriously. "Her, Rick, Glenn and Daryl patrol that fence every day killing off anything that gets too close."

"Even humans?" Beth asked suddenly.

"I um, well I don't know, I never thought of that." Lottie became concerned.

"Well we didn't kill you when we found you!" Beth giggled.

"No I suppose you're right," Lottie said, thinking of how different things would have been if Daryl hadn't insisted on looking for her. "But you know about the Governor don't you?"

"Yeah Maggie and Glenn go on about it, do you think he'll ever come here?"

"I hope not."

It was at this point Lottie realised that Beth probably hadn't had anyone other than Judith to talk to, that she was the first person she could ask questions to. Annoyingly, Lottie didn't really know the answer to most of them. Like: 'How many walkers were killed outside the fence?', 'Where did Michonne come from?', 'Why won't Andrea come back?' and 'What is all that noise?'

It was then at this point Lottie had snapped out of the continuous reassuring replies in hopes Beth wouldn't figure out that she too was just as confused as she was, and realised that there was in fact a lot of noise coming from outside.

Before Lottie could hand Judith back to Beth and reach for her gun, Beth had stormed out of the cell and down the stairs. Sighing and holding Judith against her chest with one arm, slightly inside of her warm, black zip-up hoodie and somehow getting her gun without falling over, she joined Beth in the race to the courtyard.

Beth was stood in shock at the door to the outside, Hershel had his arm out to prevent her from going nearer. Lottie pushed past though and also became frozen in shock.

"They took them!" Michonne cried out holding a basket of supplies.

While Rick was attempting to console Michonne, she explained that Merle had found them checking out some store and that he took Maggie and Glenn.

Daryl looked at Lottie who was already looking back at him, dreading the outcome. Knowing that Merle would now never be accepted back. Both of them furious with him.

Lottie felt a tear drop onto her cheek. "We have to go and get them!" She demanded.

Rick nodded "I agree, but how do we get in?"

"If only we had someone who knew the entrance of Woodbury and has also been held captive there..." Said Hershel looking at Lottie, a voice of calm but eyes of panic.

Lottie sighed. "I only saw what I was running from, I could get us to the room I was in but there's no guarantee they'll be there and that forsaken place is a key area to be trapped. One way in, one way out. I was being watched the whole time and the only reason I got out was-"

"-Merle." Carol interrupted in disgust.

"Hey! She didn't choose who saved her alright? She got out, that's all that matters. Means we can do the same for Glenn and Maggie." Daryl shouted back at Carol.

Ignoring Carols glare, Lottie took action. "We'll need guns, knives, anything we can get. The walls are high, built to keep walkers well out. The gate might need to be open to get in."

"How do we open the gate?" Rick asked.

"I don't know, I think it's opened from the inside I'm not sure how." Lottie said sadly.

"How did you get out if the gates weren't open?" A new man named Tyrese said mockingly.

"On the inside of the walls there are ladders and platforms that allow their people to shoot at walkers from a distance, before they get to the walls. They're patrolled by men with guns and women with bows. The distraction Merle caused brought everyone down from the platforms allowing me to climb up and jump off the other side." Lottie said, shutting Tyrese up completely.

"Then we cause a distraction." Rick said, smiling at her sympathetically, finally noticing his daughter Judith asleep in Lottie's arms.

The group walked inside to prepare. Lottie gave Judith to Beth and Hershel to watch over while she and Daryl returned to their cell to gear up for what was certain to be a difficult and trying evening.