cassette tapes |d. dixon| [1]

16

"What if the entire prison was overrun and I was leading them into a death trap? All this work would have been for nothing. We would've wasted time, energy, and resources just to get here, where were we gonna go?"

THE NEXT MORNING, Caroline stood by the gate, waiting for the others to pack up. She had been up for hours, taking over for Rick on watch. She had stabbed a few walkers during that time, the ones who had tried to reach for her through the gate. It would make it easier when they pushed in.

"You sure you wanna go in there?" Daryl asked, coming up next to her,

"Of course," She crossed her arms over her chest, her bowstring digging into her skin, "The more we have in there, the quicker we can take them out."

"Don' wan' you gettin' hurt, that's all." He replied,

"I've been doing this for months, Daryl. I'll be fine." The others started coming over and Caroline took out her knife,

Everyone lined up. T-Dog, Maggie, Glenn, Daryl, and Rick ready to enter. 

"Ready?" Rick unclipped the gate and slid it open, letting everyone in.

T-Dog got the first walker, stabbing it in the eye with his firepoker. Daryl got the next and Caroline was quick to follow. They formed a circle, back towards each other, making sure nothing could attack anyone from behind. 

"Get tight!" Glenn yelled.

Caroline took a step out to kill a bigger walker that was getting close to them. Daryl reached over and grabbed her arm to pull her back as soon as it went down,

"He said get tight."

"I had it handled." She growled back.

In the meantime, Hershel, Carl, Carol, Lori and Beth tried to draw the walkers to the fence in order to stab them through the wire. Some of the walkers were fooled, but others knew that the other group were the easiest to catch.

They moved further into the courtyard and T-Dog rushed towards what used to be a guard, holding a shield,

"Don't break rank!" Rick yelled,

"We need that!" T-Dog responded, quickly grabbing the shield and shoving a walker with it. Caroline jumped out and stabbed the walker and the two moved back into formation,

"Almost there." Rick stated,

Rick opened a door and while there were no walkers there, they spotted another courtyard filled with them. They hid behind the wall, "I'll close it." Caroline stated,

"Like hell you will." Daryl hissed quietly.

Two walkers came out from behind the dumpsters, dressed as guards with riot gear and all. Two more appeared closer to them and Daryl tried to shoot them through the helmets with no luck.

"They really levelled up." Caroline commented.

Rick handed her the clips connected together with a chain before attacking the geared walkers. While Rick and T-Dog worked on them, more walkers wearing gas masks came out of the door Rick opened. Maggie and Glenn tried to take them down while Caroline headed for the other courtyard.

The walkers in the courtyard had already spotted them and started leaking out. Caroline took down a woman while Daryl kicked another walker back onto the other side of the fence. She quickly sprinted over and Daryl closed the gate, making it easier for her to clip the two parts together.

"Duck!" Daryl yelled and Caroline dropped in time for him to shoot a walker that was right behind her.

Soon, all that was left were the walkers on the other side of the fence. But they posed no immediate threat.

Glenn started jogging towards the others but Rick stopped him, "Stop."

"Looks secure." Glenn responded,

"Not from the look of that courtyard over there." Daryl said, pointed to where he and Caroline just were before pointing down at the walker that Caroline took down, "And that's a civilian."

"So the interior could be over run by walkers from outside the prison." T-Dog stated,

Caroline shook her head, "She could've been visting when shit when down. Or... or she came in looking for help."

"Well, if there's walls, then, what are we gonna do?" Glenn asked, "We can't rebuild this whole place."

"We can't risk a blind spot. We have to push in." Rick said. They all walked towards a door leading to the prison and Rick led them in.

Caroline closed the metal door behind her and winced at how loud it was. They wound up in an empty cell block. It was quiet, but that could be misleading. Rick went upstairs to a guard station before coming back down with a set of keys. Once they cleared out the first room, they moved onto the section where the cells were.

Most of the cell doors were open, but they still checked them for walkers anyways. Rick checked the door in the back of the block, making sure it was secure. Him and Daryl went upstairs while Caroline gagged at the sight of a dead prisoner and his brains all over the wall.

"Ew." She looked over at Maggie, "I don't call dibs on this one."

Rick looked down at them from the balcony, "Go get the others."

Caroline and Glenn nodded, the two plus Maggie going outside to collect everyone else.

"What do you think?" Rick asked, coming down the stairs as they began walking inside with their things,  

"Home sweet home." Glenn commented,

"For the time being."

"It's secure?" Lori asked, looking around,

"This cell block is." Rick answered,

"What about the rest of the prison?" Hershel questioned,

"In the morning, we'll find the cafeteria, and the infirmary." Rick informed them,

"We'll sleep in the cells?" Beth asked,

"I found the keys on some guards. Daryl has a set too." 

"I ain't sleeping in no cage." Daryl said from the balcony, "I'll take the perch."

Caroline rolled her eyes and jogged up the stairs with her things. She figured if anything were to happen, being on the top floor was the safest.

She went into the cleanest cell and sighed, setting down her bag before sitting on the bottom bunk. She took off her bow and was rubbing her shoulder as a shadow filled the doorway,

"Can I have this one?" Daryl asked, grabbing the mattress,

"What if I wanna be on top?" Caroline smirked before waving her hand, "Go ahead."

He nodded in thanks and took his mattress out onto the perch. Caroline watched him lay back on it and smirked, "Too claustorphobic for you?" She asked,

"And it's not for you?" He replied, not even sitting up to look at her,

Caroline shrugged, "Just got to get used to it, I guess." She sighed, laying back on the dusty mattress.

"Things were definitely going to change now."