Chapter 36 - Isolation

The blade of the shovel slices into the dirt as I scoop it out and toss it off to the side. I've been out here digging graves for the past half an hour. No one has noticed a thing about what happened yesterday afternoon, however I can't help but distance myself somewhat from the others. I look up and notice the exchange between Glenn and Maggie. Because he was exposed he hasn't been able to go near his new wife, I understand how hard that can feel.

I continue to dig, taking out my frustrations on the grass when suddenly I hear someone making their way towards where the grave digging is. I glance up and see Daryl walking towards us and our eyes meet. His face is grave and I realise that someone must have found Karen and David.

"What's wrong?" I ask, keeping my voice concerned.

"We have a council meeting." He says, looking between Glenn and I.

We both exchange confused looks before getting up out of the graves. I leave my shovel on the ground and we make our way towards the library for the meeting.

"What's going on?" Glenn asks, looking towards Daryl.

He remains quiet before stopping and looking between the two of us, "Someone killed Karen and David."

Shock spreads over Glenn's face and I mirror his expression, trying my best to hide, "What?" I gasp with the right amount of pain.

"Tyreese found them. They burned them." He explains.

"Oh my God." Glenn says.

"Do we have an idea who did it?" I ask, though I know there's no way of knowing.

He shakes his head, "No, but we're working on it."

We begin to walk once again to the library when Glenn speaks up, "Has any more people come down with the illness."

Daryl nods his head and my eyes widen, "Yeah, too many." He states.

"I thought it was just Karen and David." I say and he shakes his head, "Nearly everyone is cell block D has come down with it."

Glenn shakes his head, "Sasha came down with it this morning."

They continue to talk while I close my eyes and shake my head, too many thoughts running through my mind. I thought I stopped it, I thought it would have ended with them. But after hearing this... We walk into the library and take a seat where Hershel, Michonne and Carol already sit. I take my seat at the table and Daryl sits down beside me.

"It's spread. Everyone who survived the attack in cell block D, Sasha, Caleb and now others." Hershel states.

"Jesus." Daryl murmurs.

"So what do we do?" Carol asks.

"First things first, cell block A is isolation. We keep the sick people there, like we tried with Karen and David." Hershel says, my ears shooting up at their names.

"What the hell are we gonna do about that?" Daryl asks.

"We'll ask Rick to look into it, ask him to make a timeline. Who's where, when." Carol states.

"But what are we gonna do to stop this?" I ask, looking around the table.

"There is no stopping it. You get it, you have to go through it." Hershel explains.

"But it just kills you?" Michonne pipes up from her spot beside the bookshelf.

"The illness doesn't, the symptoms do. We need antibiotics." Hershel says.

"We've been through every pharmacy near by, and then some." Daryl mutters.

"That veterinary college at West Petestreet. That's a place that people may not have thought to raid for medication. The drugs for animals there are the same we need." Hershel explains.

"That's fifty miles. Took a big risk before, I ain't now. I'm gonna take a group out, best not waste anymore time." Daryl says, getting to his feet.

"I'm in." Michonne says, stepping forward.

"You haven't been exposed, Daryl has. You get in a car with him-" Hershel begins and a small smirk comes onto her face, "He's already given me fleas."

Hershel chuckles at the comment before facing Daryl as I get to my feet, "I can lead the way, I know where everything is kept."

Daryl looks down before meeting his eyes, "When we're out there, it's always the same. Sooner or later we run."

Hershel looks disappointed before he speaks, "I can draw you a map."

Daryl nods and goes to leave when Hershel speaks again, "The're other precautions I feel we should take."

"Like what?" I ask.

"There's no telling how long it will be before Daryl and his group return. Wouldn't it make sense to separate the most vulnerable? We can use the administration building. Separate office, separate rooms." He continues.

"Who is the most vulnerable?" Glenn asks.

"The very young." Hershel states.

"What about the old?" Glenn asks.

Hershel looks at him for a moment and I feel the tension in the room. I step forward and look Hershel in the eye, "He's right. You need to stay in isolation with the kids. We need you to be safe incase something happens to Doctor S. Right now, he's handling it. We need you safe incase things change."

He looks at me and Carol nods, "She's got a point."

He looks around at all of us before shaking his head, "Fine."

We all nod and he lifts his head up and turns to Daryl, "I'll go get you that map."

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I turn the handles on the water pump, trying my best to get the water out from the creek. However there is no more coming out and I grunt in frustration.

"Give me another go at it." Rick says, reaching over to take over.

I shake my head, "The lines mudded up. The end's dragging the bottom again, we'll have to go out there and clear it." I say frustratedly, "We'll set the bird, go out through the tombs, swing around through the forest route."

"No we've got enough for now, that's tomorrow's problem." Rick says.

"Rick, five more people have come down with it since Sasha went in. There's not a lot of us left. What if you get sick? What if I do?" I ask.

"What if we get in trouble out there and don't come back. Let's just get this up to the people who need it. Let's get what we have to get some first." He says.

I shake my head an pick up the water before turning back to Rick, "Is Carl pretty pissed about going into containment?"

He nods his head, "Of course, but it's better to be safe." He says, looking out over the field.

My eyes land on Tyreese who digs frantically into the ground, "Always better to be safe." I murmur.

I turn back and look at Rick, "You should talk to him."

"We should both pay our respects." He agrees.

I'm not ready to talk to him yet, everything still too fresh, "I'll take this up first, I'll meet you." I say, nodding to the water.

I turn and begin to make my way up the cell block and I glance back to see Rick walking over to where Tyreese is. They got into a massive fight this morning, Rick's hand ending up hurt and Tyreese with a black eye. I knew that things would get out of hand, but I didn't expect things to go this way. I shake away the thoughts and focus on helping the people who are sick now, knowing that it that it is the only way I'll make it through this.

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I hold the bucket under the water barrel and turn the tap, though nothing more than a trickle of water comes out. I bang at the barrel but no more comes out. I mutter to myself as I shut the tap off and go over to the others one, again no more than a trickle coming out. I turn it off and stand up to see Tyreese standing directly behind me.

I gasp in fear and shake my head, "I'm sorry, I didn't see you there."

"I'm sorry to interrupt." He says and I feel completely un at ease under his gaze.

"It's okay." I say, "You okay?" I ask.

"I'm going on the run with daryl, but I was wondering. I know there's a lot of people in trouble, sick. It's just, I know how you are. You care." He says.

"Thank you." I say.

"I was wondering if you could look in on Sasha for me. It'll make me feel better knowing you were looking in on her." He says and I look down at the ground guiltily.

"If you cant-" He begins and I shake my head, looking up at him, "No, I'd be happy too."

"Thank you." He says before turning to leave.

"What happened to Karen... I'm so sorry." I say, really meaning every word.

He looks at me for a moment before nodding his head sadly. He turns and makes his way to grab his things and I feel everything I've been holding back come over me in a gust. I toss the bucket away and try to calm myself down but it doesn't work. Instead I turn around and kick over the water bucket, water spilling all over the concrete ground. I rush over and pick it up but most of the water is gone. The stand of the water hits my feet and I kick it away angrily.

Tears stream down my face and I turn and take a seat on the deck of the outdoor eating area and place my head in my hands. Everything is a mess, my world seeming as if it's going out of control.

"Whoa, what the hell happened here?" Daryl asks.

I snap my head up and see him walking over to me and I quickly wipe at my eyes and shake my head, "Uh, I accidentally knocked it over." I say, getting to my feet.

"What's wrong?" He asks as he takes in the tears on my face.

"It's nothing." I say quickly.

He stops in front of me and lifts my chin up with his index finger, "It's not nothing."

I look at him and another tear streams down my eyes, "It's just everything that's going on. I don't know, it all seems as if it's too much."

He wraps his arms around me and I hold onto him tightly, not wanting to ever let him go. He holds me and places a kiss in my hair before he speaks, "We're heading off now to get these medicines. We won't be gone for more than a day at most. Then we will come back and everything will be okay."

I don't say a word and he pulls back and looks me in the eye, "I promise that I'm not going to let anything happen to you. Okay, it's me and you. Always."

I look at him for a long moment before nodding my head, "Yeah, always."

"I love you." He says, looking into my eyes.

"I love you too." I whisper back, meaning more it than anything I've ever said in the world.

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The bird makes its noise to attract the walkers while I pull the hose out from the creek, opening it up to remove the mud and gunk from the pipeline. My eyes continue to gaze around me, keeping an eye out for walkers. I kneel down and knock it against the bridge, mud flying out.

I look up and see two walkers stalking towards me, "Shit!" I hiss.

"Bree, run!" Rick yells, running towards me from inside the prison.

I quickly put it back together and see more coming at me from behind, "Shit!" I hiss louder.

"Run!" Rick yells at me from inside the outer fence.

I toss the hose back in and get to my feet, pulling out my machete. I rush forward and kick one back before slicing the other. Another one comes for me and I slice it when I hear a gunshot, the walker from before falling to ground behind me. I rush over towards Rick who takes another shot and I take out a walker from behind him. We both rush to fence and quickly climb in through the gap before sealing it behind us.

"Piece of cake." I say breathlessly.

"I thought we decided to do that tomorrow." Rick says angrily.

"We don't know if we get a tomorrow." I state.

I turn and begin to make my way back towards the water pump, getting more water for the sick people. I pump the buckets right up and then begin to take them to the different barrels, refilling them back up. On my third trip back I hear Rick call out to me, "That was a stupid thing you did."

I turn and see him standing at the entrance to cell block C as he continues, "Going out there like that."

I nod my head in agreement, "Yeah, it was."

He walks down the steps towards me, "You know you do a lot for us. For everyone, you sacrifice a lot. Is there anything you would do for the people here?"

I look him in eye for a moment before shaking my head, "No."

He nods his head and I turn to take the water to cell block A when he calls out once more, "Bree."

I turn back and look at him, seeing the confliction on his face, "Did you kill Karen and David?" He asks.

I look him in the eye and decide there's no point in hiding it, he already knows, "Yes."

I look at him for a moment before turning making my way back towards cell block A. As I walk towards the cell block I know that things are going to be different now. Rick knows and I'm not sure what he's gonna do with that information. But one thing is for sure, if I had the chance to do it all over again, I'd do it without a moments hesitation. I love these people, they are my family. To protect them, I'd do anything.