Chaos Once More

We’d fallen asleep curled into each other after our first time together. Our breathing finally settling and our post-orgasmic bliss lulling us into rest.

When we awoke the next morning, we instantly reached for each other again, Daryl once more taking me as his own while staring deep into my eyes, as though his soul depended on our intimate act. He was more confident in himself this time, his nerves replaced by a need to reach the same height of pleasure as the night before. We both came just as hard as we had hours earlier, his gentle thrusting into me making us finish in slow synchronicity.

It was as if our bodies inherently knew what the other needed. I’d never experienced intimacy like it before. I’d had plenty of encounters – but never anything that compared to the almost spiritual experience of being underneath Daryl Dixon.

I could have stayed in that abandoned cabin with him forever, in that bed, but we knew people would be starting to grow concerned about our absence. I smiled the whole journey back, clinging onto Daryl tightly; my heart singing after experiencing the most meaningful twenty-four hours of my life.

As we pulled up to the prison, the chill I usually felt on approach never came. Instead, I felt like something inside of me had shifted. The man in front of me had pulled apart everything I knew and rebuilt me stronger, with a new sense of purpose. I felt ready to face whatever the world was going to throw at us next. I could handle it as long as I had him by my side.

Carol raised her eyebrows at me naughtily as she swung open the gate. The beaming grin on my face clearly exposing our acts of intimacy.

“Welcome back.” She offered heartily as we climbed off the bike.

“We miss anythin’?” Daryl asked, not allowing her the opportunity to ask for details of our supposed run.

“Zach.” She revealed, her face pained. “He was bitten, and then the roof came down on a store they were scouring. Poor kid didn’t stand a chance.”

“Shit.” I breathed. Beth’s boyfriend.

“Beth okay?” Daryl asked, concerned about how the young girl had taken the news.

“Maggie spoke to her. She’s doing alright.” Carol reassured him.

Poor Zach. He was such a happy-go-lucky kind of guy, it was one of the things that endeared us all to him. I'd miss having him around. Daryl had been fond of him, too. They'd started playing a game together on runs where Zach would try to guess what career Daryl had before the world fell. Now, he’d never know.

I don't even know what Daryl did before all this...

Daryl pulled Carol into a brief hug. He didn’t need words to express his feelings at the loss; the gesture sufficed. The two had developed such a gorgeous friendship since the farm. She was the only person aside from me that he seemed genuinely comfortable around, and I was grateful for it. She had a motherly quality about her that I think he found comfort in, as did I. Her being a total badass now was my favourite thing about her, though. She’s a completely different woman to the one I met at the quarry. She’d lost everything, but built herself up again in a way that benefitted both herself and our whole group.

“A few people are sniffling. It's a good job you guys went out for those medical supplies.” She teased, knowing full well we hadn’t been out gathering pills and bandages. Daryl’s ears blushed. There was no getting anything past Carol, but I didn’t care that she knew. She’d been encouraging of mine and Daryl’s attraction since the beginning. It wouldn’t actually surprise me if she’d been the one to slip him the strip of condoms he’d had stashed in his pocket...

“Hey.” I whispered to him as we walked toward the cellblock. “Where did you actually get those condoms?”

“Atlanta.” He said bashfully.

“From the pharmacy fiasco!?”

“Yeah.”

“I thought we lost everything at the farm?”

“I’d kept that bag with the bike.” He revealed.

“Ahh. Wait... you could have told me sooner. I could’ve been using those tampons!”

Daryl snorted, shaking his head. I wasn’t joking, though. Women’s sanitary products didn’t seem high on the agenda when people went out scavenging, and it was starting to piss me off. My last period had me wedging toilet paper in my underwear until I went out myself and raided a nearby Walmart. Daryl’s face was a picture when I walked into the cellblock with twenty or so boxes of Tampons and tipped them out onto the table for people to help themselves. I felt like God damn Menstruation Santa.

“How was your ‘run’?” Maggie quizzed as we made our way inside, eyeing me up and down knowingly.

“Fabulous.” I replied with a wink. Clearly, my permanent Cheshire cat style grin was a complete giveaway that I’d got laid.

I saw Merle literally patting Daryl on the back moments later, the younger redneck’s face turning a startling shade of red as his brother then bounded toward me.

“Ya’ walkin’ funny today, Sweetcheeks!?” He cackled crudely.

We may as well be wearing signs around our neck that read ‘We just had sex’ at this point.

I rolled my eyes but couldn’t help but chuckle as I gave him the finger in return. I still found Merle a difficult character, but he was growing on me.

Rick was the next to welcome us back. No cheeky comment from him, though. He was too concerned with finding one of his precious pigs dead to care about our game of hide the sausage. It seemed a shame not to make a joke about the ‘porky’ link between the two events, but I stopped myself. He really did love those freakin’ pigs.

“Welcome back, Mr Dixon!” I heard one of the ex-Woodbury teenagers – Patrick - greeting Daryl. I saw the redneck’s disapproval at being referred to in such a formal way as he nodded awkwardly in response.  He looked even more disapproving when the boy directed an unexpected coughing fit straight at his face.

“Sorry Mr Dixon.” He mumbled with embarrassment, with I tried to hide my laughter.

“S’ok.” Daryl told him unconvincingly, wiping his face with the back of his hand. “Ya’ should probably see Dr S. about that. Sounds bad.”

~

I woke the next morning to Daryl rolling into the perch from his overnight watch shift, which I’d been pretty dismayed about him having. I hadn't hidden the fact that I was hoping for a repeat performance of our activities at the cabin.

“I missed you last night.” I told him, pulling him toward me on the mattress and noticing how tired and pale he looked.

“Missed ya’ too.” He responded, placing a brief kiss to my lips which made me quiver in delight.

We’d had about thirty seconds of couple time before a blood-curling scream raged through the cellblock. We were on our feet and running toward the sound instantly, weapons in hand and me still clad in the old, oversized t-shirt I slept in.

Thank God I’d worn underwear.

Pure chaos met us as we discovered the source of the uproar. Walkers had somehow made their way inside of the prison.

“How the hell did they get in?” I yelled as I tackled one of our invited guests, driving my knife into the back of its head.

I turned to see Daryl and Rick taking down two more. Daryl stopped in surprise as he realised the identity of his latest kill.

“It ain’t a breach!” he called over to me. “This is Patrick.”

“Wha-” I began before spotting another walker in pursuit of two of the children that had recently joined us – Lizzie and Mika. I sprinted towards them, taking the threat out with my knife and accidentally splattering the girls with gore in the process.

They looked horrified.

“Sorry.” I told them, trying hard not to smirk at the disgusted look on their faces. Their blonde hair now covered in guts. “Shower time..?”

Others joined in the fight, and we took down eleven walkers, including Patrick. Confusion grew amongst the group as we recognised more of our members to be the gatecrashers.

“I don’t understand.” Glenn said as he rolled the last walker over and identified her. “What happened?”

“Patrick was coughin’ yesterday.” Daryl informed us. “Didn’t seem like somethin’ that woulda killed him. But he ain’t bit.”

We gathered around Patrick. He looked, well... dead, but he also had a noticeable amount of dried blood streaking from his eyes, nose, ears and mouth.

“The others do have bites, though.” Carol told us, as she examined the rest of the bodies.

“That makes sense.” I told her. “If Patrick died from his illness, he’d have started chomping down, then his victims would have reanimated and done the same.”

“What sort of cough kills people?” Glenn asked, looking even more confused.

“I’m going to find Dr. S.” Rick informed us, before taking off down the stairs.

“Eleven more gone.” Daryl mumbled, moving to my side. “Twelve if ya’ count Zach.”

His demeanour seemed off. This spate of deaths had rattled him more than most of the others we’d experienced.

“Hey.” I said gently as I touched his arm. “You alright?”

“Mhmh.” He grunted in response. “Just sick o’ losin’ people.”

“Uh, guys...” Glenn interrupted. “There’s another one.”

“Huh?” Daryl, Carol, and I asked in unison.

Glenn pointed toward the cell he was now standing outside of. “Charlie’s a walker.”

“His cell’s locked?” Carol pondered as the three of us reached Charlie’s cell.

“He sleepwalks.” I replied. “He locks himself in at night so he doesn’t go wandering.”

My mind flicked to the time I'd gone to the bathroom during the night and come face-to-face with a very much asleep, and very much naked, Charlie.

We peered inside the cell to see an obviously-a-walker-Charlie clawing at the door. His face showing the same blood trails as Patrick's.

“He wasn’t bit if the door was locked.” Daryl said. “Was he sick too?”

“I heard him coughing yesterday.” Glenn answered. “He seemed fine, though.”

“So two people dead from a cough?” Carol asked, concerned spreading across her face.

“I guess.” I answered meekly.

“Look like we got a problem. Daryl professed, heading down the staircase after Rick.

Shit.

~

Dr. S and Hershel gathered everyone together for a discussion, which seemed pretty stupid to me, considering we had a potential infection inside the walls. I hung back, away from the others. Daryl leant against the wall beside me, chewing his thumbnail.

“We lost twelve people during the night.” Hershel told the congregation, their faces racked with fear and disbelief. “It seems that Patrick and Charlie died of illness, then the others were bitten by them after they’d turned.”

Questions started firing back at him instantly from the onlookers.

“What were they sick with?”

“I heard them coughing, but how can that kill you..?”

“Could the rest of us get ill?”

“We’re not sure exactly what happened just yet, but we’re working on it. Our best guess so far is a severe case of the flu.” Dr S. explained.

“Are we gonna be okay in here?” Beth asked, her face frightened.

“We don’t know.” Hershel answered his youngest daughter, honestly. “The only thing we know so far is that both men had a nasty cough and that they had blood coming from their orifices at some point.”

Bob – another newbie - who’d been picked up off the road by Rick recently, addressed Hershel and Dr. S.

“It’s not the flu.” He stated confidently.

“You a doctor now?” Daryl griped, annoyed by Bob’s interruption.

“I was an army medic.” Bob answered. “I’ve seen something like this before. If it’s what I think it is, it comes from feral animals.”

“Violet.” Carl called out, causing both Hershel and Dr. S to look confused.

“One of the pigs.” Rick explained. “She went off her food, and then we found her dead yesterday.”

“Could be the source.” Bob replied. “We need to be careful. I’ve seen this get nasty.”

My eyes widened as Karen, one of the former Woodbury residents, erupted into a harsh coughing fit. Her boyfriend Tyreese putting his arm around her in an attempt to help.

Uh oh.

Almost immediately, another newcomer, David, followed suit, turning away from the rest of us as he struggled to get his breath.

Double uh oh.

~

The council met to discuss a plan of action, joined by Bob and Dr. S as medical advisors. I tagged along, knowing in my gut that this situation wasn’t going to end well.

Council members Hershel, Daryl, Carol, Glenn and Sasha, quickly decided that anyone showing symptoms of sickness needed to be isolated from the group to prevent it spreading further.

“Death Row should be easiest to clear.” Daryl advised. “I’ll get on it.”

I went along with Daryl to help him clear the new isolation zone. He was more than capable of doing it by himself, but I wanted to stay close by. This new predicament had me on edge and being at his side made me feel calmer.

It was a simple job. Only three walkers were hiding in the dark row of cells, and we took them out easily.

“Should’ve stayed at the cabin.” I told him as we dragged the bodies outside. “We could've been playing naked Twister right now.”

“I’m sure we’ll get the chance.” He chuckled, his cheeks blushing only a tiny bit at my mention of us doing the deed again.

“That a promise?” I asked him, moving closer and putting my arms around his neck.

“Mmm-hmm.” he responded, planting a kiss to my lips as we heard yelling from the main yard.

We raced toward the noise, finding Sasha, Rick and Carol splayed against the fence, struggling to keep it upright as a cluster of walkers pressed their weight against it.

“We can’t let it come down!” Rick roared as we reached them and joined the effort.

“Ya’ got a plan!?” Daryl asked him, as Maggie and Glenn rushed to help now, too.

“Maybe.” Rick replied, “Grab a truck.”

I stayed at the fence with Sasha, Carol, Glenn and Maggie while Rick and Daryl put their desperate plan into action, the pair zooming around the yard in a truck, slaughtering Rick's prized pigs and delivering them to different areas along the perimeter. It worked. The walkers began to spread out, lured by the promise of fresh meat, successfully easing the pressure on the warping fence.

“Couldn’t eat the fat fuckers anyway now they’re all infected ‘n’ shit.” Merle announced as he appeared in the area, followed closely by Michonne, who looked at the ground bewildered.

“Someone’s been feeding them.” She observed, crouching down and peering through the metal at a small pile of gnawed rat carcasses.”

“Why would anyone do that?” Glenn asked.

Nobody had an answer.

Merle and Michonne held the broken fence in place while Sasha, Glenn and Maggie attempted to repair it. Daryl and I stayed outside too, digging graves for our recent dead. Carol and Rick were also nearby. She was comforting him over the loss of his pet pigs as they stood beside a now flaming pen.

A couple of hours had passed since the last swine had been put down, so there was no longer any need for their home. I think the burning was more of a symbolic act for Rick. It signified that his quest to avoid leading the group, and instead be our lowly farmer, was drawing to a necessary end. The quiet life he craved evading him mockingly.

A ferocious roar, followed by hysterical cries, sounded from around the far side of the prison. Daryl, Rick, Carol and I all ran to investigate, being confronted on arrival by a distraught Tyreese. He stood in front of two charred bodies on the ground, smoke still lingering in the area and the smell of burnt flesh making me want to gag.

“I snuck to see Karen.” Tyreese explained, in shock and still clutching the flowers he must have been taking her. “I saw a blood trail on the floor, so I followed it. I found them like this.”

“Oh my God.” I gasped to Carol, whose face was unreadable.

Tyreese’s tears ebbed away, rage taking hold of him instead as he yelled at Rick, “Somebody dragged  ‘em out here and set ‘em on fire! You’re a cop. You find out who did this and you bring ‘em to me, you understand? You bring ‘em to me!”

“We’ll find out who-” Rick started to reply before Tyreese interrupted him. “Karen didn’t deserve this!” he cried as he swung at Rick, his fist colliding hard with his jaw.

Daryl reacted before Rick could retaliate, grabbing Tyreese and trying to de-escalate the spiralling man by holding him firmly by the shoulders.

“Alright man, let’s just-” Daryl began, before Tyreese shoved him backwards, pinning him hard against the gate behind.

I moved toward them instantly, but Daryl raised a hand to stop me, asking me wordlessly to let him deal with the bereft man alone.

“We’re on the same side.” He told Tyreese, trying to reason with him.

I physically couldn’t stop myself from inching closer to them.

Tyreese’s girlfriend may have just been barbecued, but nobody gets to hurt Daryl. Period.

Tyreese released him, but rounded again on Rick. He seemed to blame him for Karen’s death, grief muddling his brain. They started tussling, punches flying everywhere until between us, Daryl, Carol and I managed to get ahold of him. Daryl pinned him to the ground while I tried to reason with the hysterical man.

“Tyreese, Tyreese!” I plead, “This is fucking awful. I’m so sorry. You’re furious and I get it. I would be too. I’d want to slaughter everybody in here to make sure I got the culprit.” I glanced quickly over to Daryl. “I promise we’ll find out who did this.”

Despite how angry I was when he had Daryl against the fence, I did understand his vengeful attitude. If it had been my redneck lying there half-cremated, I’d lose my mind too.

Tyreese finally submitted, his fury turning to tears as he gathered Karen’s crisp body in his arms and carried her over to the freshly-dug graves. I looked over at Kentucky-fried David, and decided that we should let Tyreese bury Karen first before we took his body over for committal.

This was a disaster. We had an apparent murderer slash budding cremation enthusiast on the loose, an illness within the prison that was killing people, and also some damn idiot feeding rats to our chomping enemies, in turn threatening to destroy our barriers.

God, I missed the cabin.

~

People started dropping like flies. An old office block having to be cleared out now to house the increasing number of sick. Another area being reserved as sanctuary for children and the elderly, who’d been deemed the most vulnerable.

Those residing in the new quarantine zone were seeing a violent increase in their symptoms and it seemed like more people were being committed there by the hour, Glenn and Dr. S included.

“We need antibiotics.” Hershel announced to Rick, Daryl, Maggie and I as we met discreetly in a corner of the prison.

“Is there any left in the pack at the bike?” I asked Daryl, remembering the contents of the bag from the pharmacy.

“Nah.” He replied. “Gave those to Hershel back at the farm. I’ll go on a run.”

“I’ll come with you.” I said, him giving me a quick nod in response.

“Good.” Hershel told us. “More people are going to die very soon if we don’t get drips started. There’s another veterinary hospital about fifty miles east. We haven’t tried that one yet so we might get lucky. I fear we’ll need something called a ‘Bag Valve Mask’ too before long. The ones they use on animals should suffice.”

“Bag Valve Mask.” I repeated to him, engraining the name in my head so I knew what to look for.

Hershel nodded. “I’m going into the offices.”

“What!?” Maggie snapped, clearly worried about her father entering the danger zone.

“I have to.” He replied. “People are getting sicker by the minute, and Dr. S is in no state to help them anymore.”

“But Daddy!” Maggie begged.

Leaving the pair to argue about it, Daryl and I made for the bike, knowing that people were depending on us to act quickly. I was just about to hoist myself onto the seat when Daryl was taken over by a fit of horrific coughs that had him bent double, his hands on his knees.

No.

I was at his side immediately, rubbing his back as he tried to regain his breath. His eyes watered from the exertion.

“Are you okay?” I asked him, trying not to let on that I was terrified.

“Ain’t nothin’.” He replied, turning away from me.

“Daryl...” I started.

“Stay away.” He shot at me. I’ll go on the run alone.”

“Absolutely not!” I told him. “You’ve got it.”

‘M’fine.” He retorted, edging away from me.

“Daryl. You’re sick. You need to go to Hershel.”

“I’m fine!” he snapped, unable to accept that he’d have to sit this one out. He wasn’t a man that could sit back and do nothing, but this infection took hold of people quickly, and if he went downhill fast he’d need Hershel’s medical expertise. If we went on the run together and he got worse, I wouldn’t know how to help him.

“Listen.” I told him sternly. “You are not going to be an idiot and go anywhere. You can’t. You need to go to the offices and let Hershel take care of you. I can’t lose you because of your own stubbornness.”

“We need antibiotics.” He argued.

“I’ll go. Just, please, Daryl, listen to me on this.” I begged.

The harrowing thought of possibly losing him hurtled into my brain and it made me feel sick.

“I need you.” I added, my eyes pleading with him.

“Fuck.” He growled, as another hacking coughing fit took hold. “Ya’ can’t be near me. Get back.”

“Go to the offices, please. I’ll be back soon.” I told him, planting a kiss to his forehead before he could stop me.

“Take someone with ya’. He choked out as he swatted me away. “I’ll send Merle out.”

“I love you.” I told him as he started walking away from me, heading back toward the building. His reluctant compliance testament to how unwell he must really be feeling.

He didn’t speak, but nodded in response. I caught the fear in his eyes. He knew this was bad.

I watched him walk away as tears pooled in my eyes.

I couldn’t lose him.