ch.18

seed

   we didn't go directly to the prison. rick had decided it would be best we waited a day so we could at least catch our breaths.

    when we were ready, we all trudged through the woods, trying to keep hidden and alive. our bodies covered in dirt that was mixed in with sweat, wasn't pleasant.

    the vehicles we managed to get on the other side of the stream, just in case we needed a quick escape route. none of us knew what it would be like once we finally got in.

    i stood guard with the others, while rick used wire cutters to cut through the fence. "hurry. hurry!" rick yelled to me and tdog who stood on watch, making sure the others were safe.

   i climbed through the fence, then tdog, followed by rick. glenn and daryl hurried to close the gap with rope once we were in.

   my eyes glanced at my surroundings, seeing the walkers in the yard, desperately trying to get through the fence.

   glenn gave me a nod once he was done, causing us all to turn, running between the fences to where the main gate was at.

   "it's perfect. if we can shut that gate, prevent more from filling the yard, we can pick off these walkers" rick started, eventually turning to face us, "we'll take the field by tonight."

   my head turned to glenn, letting out a sigh in relief, followed by a smile in which he returned.

   "so how do we shut the gate?" hershel questioned, causing heads to turn in me and glenns direction.

    "i'll do it. you guys cover me" glenn stepped up, earning a dirty look from me, "no, i'll do it. i'm the fastest."

    glenn sent a challenging look to me, making me turn and look to rick, hoping he could decide who would go.

   rick shook his head, "no, you, glenn, maggie, and beth draw as many as you can over there" rick started, pointing to where he was talking about, "pop 'em through the fence"

   we nodded, listening for his other instructions. to my understanding, carol and daryl were taking one of the towers while hershel and carl were taking the other. rick was running for the gate.

    after he was done, my group ran to where rick had pointed to, screaming and yelling for the walkers to come.

    i grabbed a long metal pipe from the group, dragging it along the fence to grab their attention. "come here!" i shouted, sliding it through the fence hole, and into its head.

   i watched as one started to walk closer, only to turn around, hearing ricks gunshot. "hey, come here! come here!"

    i huffed, watching the ones that were left start to walk in ricks direction. i looked over to glenn, unsure on what to do.

    glenn had a small smile on his face, causing my eyes to shift to where he was looking. i watched as rick opened the tower door, closing it behind him.

    glenn placed a hand on my arm, giving me a nod, "he did it."

   "he did it" i repeated, pulling my gun out of my holster to shoot off the remaining walkers.

    i finally let myself smile, seeing as all the walker bodies were now limp to the floor. i huffed out a smile, pulling glenn into a hug. ___________

   the sun had now set and most of us sat around the fire, chowing down on meat daryl had managed to get.

   my eyes watched as daryl and rick made their way around the perimeter, checking for any loopholes.

   "that's his third time around. if there was any part of it compromised, he'd have found it by now." hershel assured, also watching the guys.

    i sighed, letting my head relax on glenn shoulders, feeling him place a hand on my thigh.

    "bethy, sing paddy reilly for me. i haven't heard that i think, since your mother was alive." hershel asked, looking to beth.

   "daddy, not that one, please." maggie pleaded, sitting on the other side of me. "how about, the parting glass?"

    beths eyes widened slightly, looking down, "no on wants to hear."

    "why not?" glenn questioned, lightly resting his head on mine. i smiled, "i wanna hear."

    beth hesitated, glancing over at the two of us, "okay."

    i rocked me and glenns body back and forth, listening to the small blondes, calm voice as she sang, maggie soon joining in.

    i sent rick and carol a smile, watching as they rejoined with the group. once the two were done rick started, "better all turn in. i'll take watch over there. we got a big day tomorrow."

    glenn raised his head off of mine, eyeing rick, "what do you mean?"

    "look i know we're all exhausted. this was a great win, but we've got to push just a little bit more." rick started, glancing around the group, "looks like this place fell pretty early.  could mean the supplies may be intact."

    i shook my head, "rick, we're dangerously low on ammo. we'd run out before we make a dent."

   "that's why we have to go in there. hand to hand. after all we've been through, we can handle it, i know it."

   rick got up, moving away from the group to stand guard. my eyes shifted to glenn, giving him an unsure look.

    "it's gonna be okay. as long as we're together, right?" glenn questioned while brushing a strand of hair out of my face.

   i nodded, setting my head back down, "as long as we're together."___________

    the next morning, we had gotten up early, trying to prepare ourselves for what was to come.

    rick had split us into two groups, explaining how his group was gonna clear the courtyard.

   "ready?" hershel asked, earning a hesitant nod from all of us, honestly unsure how it was gonna go.

with a swift movement, rick pushed the gate open, revealing us to the walkers as we pushed in.

i had my long fighting knife in hand, killing any walker close. "get tight! get tight!" glenn shouted as we moved closer.

a grunt escaped my mouth, piercing my knife through the walkers head, almost feeling relieved as it fell to the ground.

i rushed a bit away from the group, killing another walker before it got close, only to be yelled at by rick, "melanie! melanie!"

once it was dead, i ran back to my position between rick and glenn, earning a challenging look from rick.

i shrugged, brushing him off because i knew my limit. we continued walking, only to be abruptly stopped by rick, "shhh."

it had been too late, now seeing walkers in armor and riot gear appear. rick and tdog moved in, causing me and glenn to try and follow.

we took a step forward, only to be cut off by a walker with a gas mask on. i groaned, raising my knife to its head, terribly failing as it bounced off.

i pushed it back, kicking its legs out from underneath, unsure how to actually kill it with the mask on.

"daryl!" i heard rick scream, turning my attention to where rick was running. before i could even try and help, more walkers in gear started to crowd me.

i grabbed the mask, pushing up to give myself access to its head. i pierced my knife up through its jaw, throwing it onto the ground.

i huffed out a smile, looking to glenn and tdog, "you see that?" i asked, earning small smiles from both of them.

once they were dead, we all glanced around at each other, unsure of the next move. my eyes moved to a girl laying on the floor, realizing she was a civilian.

"stop" i mumbled, pointing to the walker, "that's a civilian"

"so the interior could be overrun with walkers from outside the prison." tdog muttered, glancing around.

"well, if there's walls down, what are we gonna do? we can't rebuild this whole place." glenn stated, looking to rick.

"we can't risk a blind spot. we have to push in." rick announced, causing glenn to look at me disappointedly.

i placed a hand on his shoulder, "just think, once we got this cleared, we'll be safe. less worrying." i assured, leading him along.

as we passed the others, lori gave me a confused look, causing me to shrug before walking into the rusted box type thing.

daryl glanced at me and rick before opening the door, earning a small nod from both of us. i held my knife up, prepared to see a huge herd of walkers.

instead when he opened it, i saw no walkers only an empty cafeteria. we slowly walked in, glancing around at our surroundings.

rick ventured off, soon returning with a set of keys that let us have access into another empty space. the cell block.

once we knew it was safe, me and glenn went to get the others and our stuff. we led them into the cell block, where rick, daryl, and tdog had decided to start cleaning out the bodies.

"what do you think?" rick questioned the others, stepping down from the top balcony, "home sweet home" glenn retorted sarcastically, as he led me along into our cell.

i leaned against the cell doorway, watching and wanting to see the others reactions. "its secure?"

rick nodded, "the cell block is."

"what about the rest of the prison?" hershel questioned, walking in with bags strapped around his body.

"in the morning, we'll find the cafeteria and infirmary." rick informed, standing with his hands on his hips, "we sleep in the cells?"

i nodded, "rick found keys on some guard. me and daryl have a set too." the others nodded at my words, moving to find a cell of there own.

i turned back into my cell, moving to where glenn sat on the bottom bunk. "here let me see you." glenn mumbled, pulling me down to sit next to him.

he gently grabbed my arms, tracing his hands and eyes over my skin. "whatcha doing?" i asked, giving him a confused look.

"checking for scratches" he replied, causing me to smile, watching him do his thing.

"you're okay." he assured, placing a kiss on my shoulder before burying his face into my neck. i placed my head on his shoulder, grabbing his side to close the gaps between us.

"i love you so much" i mumbled, holding his tightly. "i love you so much more" he smiled, pulling away from me.

i shook my head, placing a hand on his face, "that's not possible." ____________

i stood still, letting glenn help me put my gear on for the expedition today. "looks good" he stated, eyeing me up and now.

"here, let me help you now" i said, buckling the gear around glenns frame, soon handing him his weapon.

"you won't need that. i need you to stay put" rick muttered, pulling a helmet out of carl's hands.

i turned away from glenn, looking down to carl. "you're kidding" he retorted, sending his dad a confused look.

"we don't know what's in there. something goes wrong you could be the last man standing. i need you to handle things here." rick assured, hoping carl wouldn't be too upset.

i gave carl a smile, raising my eyebrows, "think you can handle that?" i questioned, challenging him as i stepped closer.

carl smirked, "sure i can"

i nodded, placing a hands on his shoulder, "take care of your mom and the others"

"okay, i will" he insisted, earning a squeeze on the shoulder before i turned away, joining glenns side as we walked out of the cell block.

we all slowly walked down the dark hallways, making sure to take precautions just in case. i cringed, shining my flashlight down on the bones and rotting bodies.

glenn stopped to spray paint arrows while i continued on, shining my light through the cells.

i made a sharp turn around the corner causing me to bump into a body. i shrieked, quickly shining my light in front on me, only finding glenn.

"sorry" i whispered as he held my arm, assuring me that i was okay before stepping any further.

a loud thud echoed through the halls, causing us to send each other unsure looks. i shrugged it off, shining my flashlight around the corner, only to find a huge herd of walkers.

"go back! go back! move!" rick yelled, pulling me back with him as he ran. i swear, every way we ran, we'd get cut off by more.

   we all headed in one direction with walkers on our ass. me and glenn were at the rear and soon split up from the group. "in here!" glenn screeched, pulling me into a closet with him.

    "oh my god. oh my god. the others, do you think they're okay?"i asked, panic flooding throughout my body.

    glenn placed his hands on both sides of my face, forcing me to look at him. "i'm sure they're fine. we gotta be quiet so they leave us alone, okay?"

    i nodded, letting him pull me into a hug while we stood there in silence, waiting for them to stop pounding on the door.

   once they stopped, we hesitantly stepped out, looking in both directions to make sure it was clear. we started to head down the hall, trying to find the rest of the group.

    "rick? daryl? maggie?" i whisper yelled, glancing around at my surroundings, hoping to see one of them.

    i jumped back a bit, hearing a scream echo through the halls, causing us to run in that direction.

   we rounded the corner, only to find hershel lying on the ground, with a bite wound near his ankle.

    "oh god, hershel." i uttered, kneeling down by his side. my breathing picked up seeing the walkers appear again, coming in both directions.

     glenn and rick slung hershels arms over their shoulders, pulling him up to his feet while me and daryl covered the front, clearing a walkway.

   a screaming frenzy broke out  as we all tried finding our way through the tunnels. "open the door!" rick exclaimed, fighting to hold hershel.

   tdog broke the door, letting everyone in while me and daryl picked off any walkers that were close.

________________________________2/26/2021