XXXVI

—/<3/—

The peace didn't last long. Rory was helping Carol move all the cars inside the gates when Hershel strolled out on crutches and they all stopped to marvel at how fast the man had recovered. That was until at least a dozen walkers showed up behind him.

"Get out of there! Now!" Rick yelled as he sprinted towards the courtyard with Daryl. Rory skidded over to where she'd left her gun and ran after them. Carl and Lori pulled out their guns and began shooting, covering Hershel as Beth helped him to safety.

Archie, Maggie and T-dog got there first, doing their best to keep the walkers at a safe distance. "Lori! here!" Maggie shouted. Lori and Carl rushed over to her, getting safely behind the fence and on the building whilst the rest of them controlled the crowd.

Carol and T-dog got separated next as they went to close the gate the walkers had wandered in from and Rory made it just in time to pull Archie out of the way as a walker snuck up behind him. She put a bullet in its head and rushed to help Rick get the gate open so he, Glenn and Daryl could help.

She shot the padlock off and pulled the gate open. They didn't have time for Rick to carry on fiddling with the keys and they could get another lock easily. Rick placed his hand on her shoulder and then took off in the direction of the walkers.

"What happened?" Rick asked Beth and Hershel.

"The gate was open! Maggie led Carl and Lori into C block and T was bit!" Beth explained, her voice higher than usual in the midst of her fear.

"Stay put!"

They took out the remaining walkers in the courtyard and then stopped for a second to breath. Then the alarms started blaring.

"What the hell is going on?" Rick shouted to the two prisoners. Rory and Glenn started shooting down the speakers but there were too many dotted around the prison and the walkers were drawing nearer.

"The backup generators must have reactivated!" Oscar shouted, holding his hands up when Rick grabbed the front of his jumpsuit.

"How?"

"I don't know! The hacks turned them off when the prison got overrun."

"Well, how do we turn them off?"

"Look, I only worked in there a few days, but I can try." Oscar said. Rick let go of him and ran off with the prisoners following. They all ran into the cell block, only to be met with Niamh and Mikey trying their hardest to take down a hoard of walkers. Niamh had Pumpkin clutched in one arm as she short with the other. She looked relieved she she saw Rory run in with Archie and Rick.

"Did you see where they came from?" Rick asked them.

"No, we were trying to get the blood off the walls and when we turned around they were there. Lori and Maggie ran through here with Carl a few minutes ago so we held them off whilst they got to safety." Niamh explained, out of breath.

"Someone is playing games!" Rick shouted. "We'll split up. Whoever gets to the generator first shuts them down!"

Rory rushed over and took Pumpkin's shaking body from Niamh. She sprinted up the stairs two at a time and locked the cat in a cell. Pumpkin was smart enough to know not to come out when a walker was near, but she didn't want to risk one of them getting to her. Then she ran in the direction the group went in, gunning down any walkers she came across.

She couldn't find anybody, and the walkers were too much for her to handle alone, so she ran into a room. She had no idea if there would be any dead in there but it was either that or get bitten in the hallway. She heard yells when she got in—human yells—and she ran in their direction.

"Oh my god, has she gone into labour?" Rory asked as she ran to assist Maggie in getting Lori on the ground.

"Yes! Please come help me!" Maggie shouted as she pulled Lori's pants down her legs. "I need to check if she's dilated."

"Do you know how?" carl asked, looking panicked.

"Dad taught me but I've never done it before." Maggie said, sounding distressed. "Oh god, I can't tell!"

Rory dropped down onto her knees next to Maggie and nudged her aside. She held her fingers up to Lori's groin and shook her head. "Barely even 2cm," she said.

"I need to push." Lori grunted as she pulled herself up on some chains, using them to steady herself.

"Lori, if you push now you'll injure your cervix and rip." But Rory rushed over and braced herself to catch the baby anyway. Lori didn't listen, and her strained yells echoed over the sound of the alarms as she started to push.

"No Lori stop! There's a problem!" Maggie said as blood trickled down Lori's inner thigh, more blood then normal for childbirth. "Lay down."

Lori did as Maggie said, becoming more lightheaded by the second. "I'm not gonna make it."

"Don't talk like that. We need to get you back to my dad. Rory and Carl can lead us. You're no where near fully dilated yet, no amount of pushing is gonna help."

"I know what it means. You need to cut me open." Lori said weakly. "I'm not losing my baby."

"No way. We aren't trained to do that. We'll get you to Hershel or Carol but if we cut you open, we'll kill you." Rory started pacing the room, trying to figure out a plan. "You're not fully dilated, that means you have at least an hour or two until you're properly ready to push. We can clear out the hallway in that time, can't we Carl? Maggie can stay here with you while we do it and then we can get you to the cell block. Both of you can live, Lori."

"Aurora, listen to me. I had to have a C-section with Carl because of the same complication. I'm bleeding out already, one of you needs to cut me open."

"No. We can't." Maggie shook her head. "We have no anaesthetic, no equipment—"

"Carl has a knife." Lori interrupted her.

"You won't survive." Rory ran a hand through her hair.

"My baby has to. Please, my baby. Please!" Lori begged. She lifted her shirt. "You see my old c-section scar? follow that."

"I can't!"

"You can." Lori turned to Carl. "Baby I don't want you to be scared. This is what I want, this is right. Now, you take care of your daddy for me, alright? And your little brother or sister, you take care of them."

"You don't have to do this..." Carl sobbed.

"I love you Carl," Lori said.

"I love you too."

"You're my sweet boy... you're the best thing I ever did, I love you." Lori began to cry as she pulled Carl into her embrace. "Alright, you have to do it."

Maggie began to cry as she took the knife from Carl. She looked to Rory who was still pacing. "Will you help me? I can't do it by myself..."

Rory hesitated but then nodded, dropping down onto her knees on Lori's side. "You cut, I'll go in and grab the baby," she whispered. Maggie nodded and wiped her tears with the back of her hand, taking a deep breath before she lowered the knife over Lori's old scar.

"I'm sorry, Lori." Maggie cut across her stomach and Lori screamed out in pain before she passed out.

"What are you doing to her!" Carl yelled through tears. Rory's eyes watered as she reached into the wound Maggie had cut. She felt around until she grasped onto the baby's torso and then pulled the infant out into the world.

"It's a girl," Rory said, her tears finally falling. "She's not crying." Rory reached up and wiped away the vernix and blood from the infant's lower face before she blew gently up her nose to encourage her to breath in the place of a pipette.

Rory, Maggie and Carl all let out sighs of relief when the baby's cries filled the room. "Carl, you wanna cut the umbilical cord? She's your sister after all."

"I don't know how," Carl stuttered as he tore off his jacket to wrap the baby in.

"That long tube thing? Just slice through it. We'll sort it out when we're safe, but for now we just need the baby to not be attached to your mom."

Carl nodded and used the knife to slice through the cord. It was way too long still but they didn't have time to worry about that. Rory wrapped the baby up in Carl's jacket and stood up. Maggie followed.

"We need to go," Maggie said.

"We can't just leave her here!" Carl yelled. "She'll turn."

"Maggie take my gun," Rory whispered. She didn't dare look at Lori's body.

"No, she's my mom, I'll do it."

"Carl." Maggie frowned. They stared at each other for a moment before Maggie turned and ushered Rory up the stairs to wait by the door, leaving Carl to finish off his mother. They both flinched as the gunshot went off, and Rory hugged the baby girl closer to her body, trying to ease the crying just in case it drew walkers towards them.

Carl walked past the two girls and out of the room silently, leading them through the winding hallways. They exited out in the courtyard and Rory stared blankly ahead. The baby cooed in her arms, attracting the attention of Rick who was discussing something with Daryl and Hershel.

"Rick," Maggie called out, her voice breaking as she held the gate open for Rory to walk through. Rick walked towards them and then shook his head.

"Where? Where is she? Where is she?" He questioned, though by the look on his face, he knew. Maggie began to sob.

"No, Rick, no!" She grasped onto his arm as he walked straight to the door they'd just exited, barely glancing at the baby. Then he began to sob.

"Oh, no, no, no..." He cried as he began to pace.

Glenn walked over to comfort Maggie, and Rory hesitantly walked the baby over to Hershel so he could look over her and check everything was alright.

"Did you..." Hershel trailed off.

"Me and Maggie, Carl cut the cord." Rory nodded. "We don't have any formula. She needs to eat soon."

"We'll get some," Daryl said, appearing next to her and looking down at the little baby in her arms. Rory nodded again. "Go get cleaned up," he said, voice softer than usual. Beth opened her arms up to take the baby and Rory handed her over carefully.

She only realised as she looked down that she was caked in Lori's blood. It stained her skin from her fingertips to her elbows, and her previously white tank top was now a deep red on the front.

"C'mon," Dary said, leading her away. Maggie and Glenn followed.

—/<3/—