XXXV

—/<3/—

"You're meant to aim for the head, not jump them like they're from an enemy prison gang," Rory hissed as she pushed the prisoners away from the walker and killed it swiftly with a knife to its forehead. "You're wasting time, energy and you're making unnecessary noise."

"She's right, there could be a whole group of them round the corner and you would've drawn them right to us." Rick agreed.

"You know, you were a lot prettier when you weren't talking." The leader got in her face, clearly not liking that he was being told what to do by a woman.

"Coming from someone who looks like they belong in a sewer." Rory didn't budge, looking him up and down.

"Enough!" Rick raised his voice. "Let's get this over with." The prisoner backed off with a nasty glare and the group continued around the corner towards the next cell block.

"It's gotta be the brain, not the stomach or the heart, the brain." Daryl reiterated as they stumbled across a few more walkers. He demonstrated by shooting an arrow directly into a walker's forehead.

One of the prisoners lunged forward and slammed his axe through the skull of the walker. "Like that?" He asked. Daryl nodded, keeping his eyes on the dead.

"Stay in formation, no more of that prison riot shit." Rick grunted as the group inched forward, taking out walkers in turns. That was until one of the prisoners, Big Tiny, got freaked out and broke away inching back the way they came. He wasn't looking where he was going, and didn't notice when a walker creeped up behind him and sunk its nails into his back. The leader, Tomas, pulled out his gun and shot the walker twice.

Rory, Archie and Rick glared at him harshly, but he ignored them.

"I'm fine, it's just a scratch," Big Tiny said, as Rick helped him unbutton his jumpsuit.

"You cut that man's leg off to save his life, why can't you do the same here?" One of the other prisoners asked.

"It's on his back, it's impossible to cut the bite out." Archie pointed out.

"Well there's gotta be something else!" Oscar yelled. "Can't we quarantine him? See what happens? It's just a scratch, maybe he'll heal."

"There's nothing we can do," Rick said.

Tomas lunged whilst Big Tiny wasn't looking at him and began beating his skull in with an iron poke. The man was most definitely dead after the first blow, but Tomas didn't stop until Big Tiny's head was nothing but a pile of brain matter, blood and bone fragments on the ground.

"Mon dieu..." Archie grimaced, turning away from the scene to stop himself from gagging.

Rory and Daryl gave each other a look as everyone stared at Tomas in disbelief.

"What?" He hissed. "He was gonna turn into one of those things."

"Did you really have to beat his head in though? He was dead the first time you hit him." T-dog stared at the scene in horror. Tomas didn't answer, and instead began walking in the direction of the cell block they wanted to clear out. The other prisoners followed reluctantly after giving their dead friend one last look.

"Talk about overkill," Rory murmured to Archie as they walked after them.

"You see the look on his face?" Daryl whispered to Rick as the group pushed on. "He makes one move, just gimme a signal." He continued. Rick didn't answer and he jogged ahead as T-dog pushed open the doors to the laundry room.

Daryl tossed the prison keys to Tomas' feet as the prisoner observed the door to the cell block and the snarling coming from behind it.

"I ain't opening that," he said.

"Yes you are. You want that cell block, you're gonna open that door." Rick stared him down. "Just the one, not both of them, because we need to control this."

Tomas reached for the keys with an angry sigh and began trying each key on the door. "You bitches ready?" He pulled on the door twice and looked embarrassed when it didn't budge. "I've got this." He cleared his throat.

"I said one door!" Rick yelled as both swung open and walkers began piling out.

"Shit happens!"

They began to take out the dead, but half way through, Tomas faked a swing at a walker and aimed for Rick instead. Then when Rick dodged, he grabbed a walker by the jumpsuit and shoved it at him, knocking Rick to the ground. Rory and Daryl were quick to assist. Rory killed the walker and Daryl pulled Rick off the ground.

"It was coming at me bro." Tomas shrugged once they were in the clear.

"Yeah, I get it...shit happens." The two men stared at each other for a few seconds before Rick lunged and killed Tomas with no hesitation. Then he began chasing after the other prisoner.

"Get down on your knees!" Daryl ordered. The two remaining prisoners, Axel and Oscar, did as they were told, dropping their weapons and putting their hands up.

"We don't have no affiliation to what just happened," Axel said shakily. "Tell him Oscar!"

"Stop talking man," Oscar told him calmly.

Rory and Archie stood awkwardly in the pile of dead, blood splattering their skin. Rick returned a few minutes later, out of breath and seething with anger.

"We didn't have nothin' to do with that," Oscar said as Rick stormed up to him, pointing a gun at his head.

"You didn't know?" Rick laughed humourlessly. "Daryl, let's end this now!"

"Sir, please, listen to me! It was them that was bad, it wasn't us!" Axel cried.

"Oh that's convenient."

"You saw what he did to Tiny! Tiny was my friend! Please, we ain't like that!" He pleaded. "I'm in here for doing drugs, but I ain't no killer! Oscar's here for breaking and entering, we ain't the violent kind! Please, I swear to God! Let us live!"

"Rick..." Rory called out.

"What?" He snapped his head towards her.

"Let them go." Archie finished for her, his tone firm.

Rick yelled out in frustration. "Fine."

"Oh, thank you, sir." Axel cried out in relief. Rick nodded towards T-dog and Daryl, and the two men grabbed the prisoners, walking them towards the cell block door where they were shoved inside.

"This is sick man! You're just gon' leave us here?" Oscar asked as he took in the sight of the cell block where prisoners had been tied up and executed in an attempt to stop the spread.

"This part of the prison is yours, that was the deal, take it or leave it." Rick turned and walked away.

"You think this is sick? You don't wanna see what's outside," Daryl said. "Sorry about your friends man," he whispered before turning to walk out of the door. He caught Rory by the elbow and led her away as she was trying to get a better understanding of what went on in the cell block, with the lines up bodies by each cell and the identical gunshot wounds to the head.

—/<3/—

The first thing Rory and Daryl did when they were free of any duties for the rest of the day was to sneak up to one of the watch towers for a smoke. It had been a long day and they'd seen too much to go without for the rest of the night.

"He was a fuckin' psycho." Daryl broke the silence, staring at the fence, walkers wandering around the perimeter.

"Yeah," Rory sighed, tapping the ash off the tip of her cigarette. "I told you there'd be survivors."

"Ain't a good thing, they woulda killed us all if we weren't careful."

"I didn't say it was a good thing." Rory turned to him, her eyebrows raised. Daryl was already looking at her.

"You got blood all over your face," he said.

"So do you. It isn't like we have a place to wash it off." Rory placed the cigarette between her lips and grimaced at the state of her bloodstained hands.

They both looked towards the ladder as it began to creak. Giggles followed as the pair made it to the top but they soon stopped when they spotted Daryl and Rory staring at them weirdly, cigarettes hanging from their mouths.

Glenn cleared his throat awkwardly. "Um hey guys, didn't know this tower was occupied."

Aurora smiled teasingly, giving them a look. "We were actually just leaving, weren't we Daryl?"

"I guess so..."

Rory and Daryl stood up and walked past the couple to the ladder. Daryl went down first. "Don't have too much fun, we don't need another pregnancy," Rory said before she followed.

"Shut up Rory!" Glenn called after her.

—/<3/—