The next day Rick and I woke up early before everyone got dressed and I snuck back into my bag so no one would notice. We spent the next morning planning out how we were going to take the yard with all the walkers and in hand to hand combat without being bitten.

"This should be fun." I said sarcastically Rick gave me a 'don't start with me' look and I just winked at him since no one was paying attention. Rick gave us all the plans on what we were doing. Everyone understood it was Rick, Glenn, Maggie, T-dog, Daryl and myself.

"Ready?" Hershel asked us as he grabbed onto the gate ready to pull it open and close it quickly. Rick pushed the gate open and we rushed in killing the walkers that came at us. We formed a tight circle. Rick was on my left and Daryl stood on my right. We were only allowed to use knives, or other sharp objects. No guns. It was Rick's rule. I understood why, we didn't want to attract more walkers than we could handle.

"Daryl on your right." I said as a walker came at him. I grabbed one of the walkers by his jumpsuit and drove my knife through his head. We kept moving forward as the rest of the group was outside the fence trying to take out as many walkers as they could so our job would be a bit easier.

"Get tight!" Glenn yelled as he noticed us spreading out a bit more than we wanted. Walker after walker came at us and we just kept at it. T-dog saw a riot shield and he broke off. Rick yelled at him but, T-dog said we needed it which he was right we could use it.

"Almost there." Rick said and he and I peaked out head around one of the corners and there was a smaller yard full of walkers.

"Shit." Rick said as he pulled me back and we all pressed up against the wall.

"We have to close that gate we can't take on that many." I said just above a whisper then walkers in full riot gear started to exit the prison.

"You have got to be fucking me." I said and kinda threw a small fit. We started to fight the walkers that were in the gear.

"Fuck." I said as one came at me. I pushed it off and lifted it's helmet just enough to stab it under the chin and hit its brain.

"Go under the helmet." I yelled at Maggie who was dealing with a walker in full gear too. She nodded and did so.

"Rick!" I yelled as I was killing walkers to get to the front gate.

"Daryl!" I yelled and they both came out my side helping me close and lock up the gate. I was breathing heavily and my chest was pounding.

"We're good." We finished with that and finished off killing the walkers that were in the yard. Covered in blood, sweat and dirt we started to head back to the group.

"Stop." Rick said looking back at the prison. I knew what was going on in his head. He wanted us to go in there.

"Well, it looks secure." Glenn said and I shook my head.

"No, look. That is a civilian. No prison jumper." I said pointing to a dead female who was in normal everyday wear.

"Not from the look of that courtyard over there either." Daryl said pointing to the yard we just closed off which was filled with prisoners and civilians.

"So the interior could be overrun with walkers from outside the prison." T-dog said.

"Well, if there's walls down, what are we gonna do? We can't rebuild this whole place." Glenn said, making a very valid point. But that just meant we had to go in and figure out what was safe and what wasn't.

"We can't risk a blind spot. We have to push in." Rick said and we all knew we had to move up. We just didn't want to face the reality of it. But we all reluctantly followed Rick in through one of the open doors to cell block C. Rick took the lead and we walked into the prison. It was quiet. Too quiet for my taste. Once inside we shut the door and made out way further into the prison. The place was a mess and we all split off to make sure no one was there. Rick pointed up to a guard tower and made his way up there. We all could hear keys jingle and Rick came down with a large wad of them. He opened one of the doors and the low creak echoed through the hall.

We saw dozens of cell doors most open but there was a low bang coming from one of the upper cells. I was already up there heading for it when I felt a hand on my shoulder. I looked over and saw Daryl with Rick right behind him. I kept walking towards the sound of my boys right on my tail. I got in front of one of the closed cells and hands reached out of me. I backed away and kept going and then again another pair of hands there was one more cell closed and I stood in front of it as I watched a rotting corpse reach out for me. I looked over at Rick and Daryl and they both stood in front of a cell. Rick nodded at us and we all took out the three walkers. Glenn went to get the group and Rick, Daryl, T-dog and I cleaned out all the cells of the dead bodies that were there. T-dog and I dragged two bodies out of the cell block. I could hear Rick talking to the group because of the horrendous echoing.

"I ain't sleeping in no cage." Daryl said when I walked back in grabbing my bag from Beth.

"Yeah, I'm with Daryl on that one. Did plenty of that on my deployments. Don't need that PTSD coming back." I said heading up to the upper floors. I placed my stuff on one of the other perches since Daryl took one too.

"Hey there, cowboy. How are you feeling?" I asked Rick as I was coming down the stairs and saw him rubbing his shoulder.

"I'm doing okay. How about you? No bites, scratches..." Rick asked and I held up my hand.

"Rick, I'm fine." I said with a smile and he nodded giving me a small smile.

"Where's Lori?" I asked him as we walked around the cell block.

"Probably with Carol." He said with a huff. I knew he was still upset with her. We both sat down on the floor near the exit. Everyone was so exhausted from the days of running and fighting for no reason at all.

"You did good, Rick." I said sitting next to him my hand on the floor messing with some bullet casing that was there.

"This place. This will be good for us." He said taking a hold of my hand out of sight of everyone. We sat there on the floor calm and in silence. It wasn't an awkward silence, it was comfortable like we didn't have to say anything to each other to know we cared. I leaned my head on his shoulder and drifted off to a very deep sleep.

The next morning we got up and got ready for the day. We were going to go looking for the cafeteria, infirmary, and the warden's office. Hershel insisted on coming with us even with all of us protesting. Rick didn't want to spend all day arguing so he said to just let him come. We had gathered some weapons and other stuff that we could find around the areas that were already cleaned out. I found some flash bangs and flashlights.

"Not bad." Daryl said as we were all gathered around the metal table.

"Flash bangs, CS Triple-Chasers. Not sure how they'd work on walkers, but we'll take 'em." Rick said sorting through our little haul. Daryl picked up a helmet and dumped out some nasty looking shit.

"I ain't wearing this shit." Daryl said and I almost puked.

"That's fucking nasty." I said looking at a gun that was found.

"We could boil 'em." T-dog said holding up a glove as nasty greenish white goo poured out of it.

"T-dog put that down before I puke." I said, turning my attention to something else.

"Ain't enough firewood in the whole forest. No. Besides, we made it this far without 'em, right?" Daryl said and we nodded in agreement.

"Hershel." A voice said and we all turned our attention to Carol who had just walked into the room.

"Everything alright?" Rick asked her and she gave him a half smile.

"Yeah. Nothing to worry about." Carol said and nodded for Hershel to follow her. Which he did. I could see nothing but worry etched into Rick's face. We gathered our stuff and Rick said we were ready to get going. All we had to do was wait for Hershel to come back from checking on Lori. We were suiting up and Carl was too.

"You won't need that. I need you to stay put." Rick told Carl and he looked defeated.

"You're kidding." Carl said and his dad gave him his reasoning.

"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 said and Carl nodded.

"Hey, Corporal. Congratulations on your promotion." I said winking and he grew the biggest smile on his face.

"Great, let's go." Rick said and I was the first one out of the cell block followed by everyone else. Daryl unlocked one of the gates and we all stuck close to the wall. Glenn was spraying arrows in the direction we were heading so if we got lost or split up we knew which way to go. I had my crossbow at the ready at all times and we made our way to another cell block where nothing but bodies laid on the ground. Maggie got startled and we started to check the cells. We moved down another hall and another when we heard a loud thud. As we took the next right we ran right into a horde of walkers.

"Go back. Go back." Rick said as we moved back the way we came. We ended up running right into another horde of walkers.

"Fuck other way!" I yelled as we made a quick flip running the other direction. We ended up losing Glenn and Maggie as we ducked into another room.

"Where's Glenn and Maggie?" Rick asked and we shook our heads.

"We have to go back." Hershel insisted.

"But, which way?" I said as less of a question and more of a statement. We all waited for a moment longer till the growling of the walkers was gone for the most part and then we exited the room. We headed back the way we came to Hershel calling out their names. In a low whisper. Then we heard a scream.

"Hershel!" I yelled running back to the source of the sound and I found a walker taking a large bite out of his leg. I shot the walker with a bolt and ran to his side.

"Rick, What do we do?" I asked him as we picked him up and headed down a hall. We found a locked door and everyone was yelling for T-dog to open it. All the commotion dragged all the walkers towards us. Once T-dog got the door open we all rushed inside. We laid Hershel down and I took a look at his leg.

"Fuck." I said and I looked at Rick.

"Belt now!" I said and Rick took it off and handed it to me.

"Hold him down." I said and I tied the belt right above Hershel's knee.

"Alright. Rick you need to cut it off right here. Make it as clean as you possibly can. Okay Hershel, this is the only way to keep you alive." I said and Rick picked up his ax and drove it through Hershel's leg. He passed out and Maggie started to freak out.

"Don't worry honey he's just passed out from shock and blood loss." I said that when I heard a sound from behind me.

"Duck." Daryl said to Rick and I jumped up with my crossbow ready to fire and so did Daryl.

"Holy shit." One of them said.

There behind a gate stood 5 men dressed in prison uniforms. "Who the hell are you?" Daryl said taking some steps forward I followed right next to him.

"Who the hell are you?" The blonde one said.

"We need to go, he's bleeding out." Rick said now worried that we were going to lose Hershel.

"Come around here. Put pressure on the knee. Hard." Rick commanded Maggie and Glenn. Daryl and I kept our eyes trained on the prisoners that were I guess locked in the cafeteria for who knows what reason.

"Why don't you come on out of there?" I said my bow on the first one that came out of the back room.

"Slow and steady." Daryl said, showing his protective side. He was so fucking hot when he got like that.

'Raven, focus. No fantasy's right now.' I mentally schooled myself.

"What happened to him?" The Mexican looking guy asked, looking over at Hershel.

"He got bit." Daryl said and the guy reached for a gun.

"Bit?" He said, pulling it from his waistband.

"Stop right there unless you want one of these through your eye." I said, taking a step towards him.

"Whoa easy now. Raven, back down. Ain't nobody needs to get hurt." Daryl said mostly to the guy with the gun.

"You have medical supplies?" Glenn asked heading to the back where they were hiding.

"Whoa, where do you think you're going?" A large black man said as Glenn walked right past him.

"Who the hell are you people, anyway?" The gunslinger said pointing his gun at absolutely everyone in the room.

"Don't look like no rescue team." A man with sandy blonde hair and a handlebar mustache said looking over at Rick, who was trying to help Hershel.

"If a rescue team is what you're waiting for, don't." Rick said, pulling Hershel to his feet as Glenn wheeled out a cart to put him on.

"Come on. We gotta go." Rick said as they put Hershel on the table.

"T the door." Rick said and one of the prisoners spoke.

"Are you crazy? Don't open that!" One of them yelled and I rolled my eyes.

"We got this." I said and T-dog killed the first walker that walked in. Daryl and I waited for both of us not taking our eyes off the men.

"Daryl. Raven. Daryl!" Rick yelled and Daryl grabbed my arm pulling me out and we ran to the cell block we were staying in. Hershel was in really bad shape. He was bleeding out and we knew that we needed to get him some medical help but I was in serious doubt if anyone knew how to do it. Daryl and I led the group back to the cells killing a walker here and there.

"Stop. Stop." Rick said pointing down the hall. We could see shadows and hear the prisoners they were following us.

"What the fuck." I said and I urged them to keep going. Daryl opened the first door and they ran through as Daryl, T-dog and myself stayed back waiting for the prisoners to come back. Daryl reloaded his crossbow and I did the same. I was sitting on the metal table with Daryl right next to me. Both of us had our eyes on the door waiting for whatever was going to walk through. We could hear footsteps and light whispers and then the Mexican who I guess was their leader came into view with the others following suit.

"That's far enough." Daryl said and I kept my bow on them.

"Cell block C. Cell 4. That's mine, gringo. Let me in." He said and I huffed.

"Today's your lucky day gentlemen. You've been pardoned by the state of Georgia." I said and Daryl finished my sentence.

"You're free to go." He said and this seemed to upset the leader.

"What 's going on in there?" He asked us and Daryl was quick to answer.

"It ain't none of your concern." He said and the leader pulled the gun from his waistband and aimed it at Daryl.

"Don't be telling me what's my concern." The leader Sid and I jumped off the table aiming my crossbow at his head.

"Stop right there. Make one move and I'll shoot you faster than you could get your finger on the trigger." I said my sight just trained on the one man. No one threatens the people I love.

"Chill man. Dude's leg is messed up. Besides, we're free now. Why are we still on here?" One of the prisoners said.

"Man's got a point." Daryl said, not letting his guard down.

"Yeah, and I gotta check on my old lady." Another prisoner said.

"A group of civilians breaking into a prison you got no business being in...got me thinking there ain't no place for us to go." The leader said a most challenging Daryl.

"Why don't you go find out?" Daryl said, taking a small step towards the man.

"Maybe we'll just be going now." The man with the mustache said.

"Hey, we ain't leaving." The leader said with an almost scary tone in his voice.

"You ain't coming in either." T-dog said coming out of the shadows with a gun pointed at the leader.

"Hey, this is my house, my rules. I go where I damn well please." The Mexican said .

"I'm getting real tired of your mouth." Daryl said to him.

"Then why do you come over here and shut it." He responded and I was getting fed up with him and his merry band of misfits.

"There ain't nothing for you here. Why do you go back to your own sandbox?" Daryl yelled and that's when Rick came in.

"Hey, everyone relax. There's no need for this." Rick said as he stood by my side.

"How many of you are in there?" The Mexican, let's just call him Chapo for not since I don't know his name nor do I care, asked Rick.

"Too many for you to handle." Rick said with anger filling his voice. It was a controlled anger though which is what made it scary but, not too me I thought it was sexy as fuck. I shook my head slightly trying to get rid of all the dirty thoughts Rick had swimming through my head.

"You guys rob a bank of something? Why don't you take him to a hospital?" Chapo asked after a long and very intense silence. We all looked at each other and my only thought was that these men must have been living under a fucking rock.

"How long have you been locked in that cafeteria?" Rick finally asked them.

"Going on like 10 months." Chapo said, looking almost nervous.

"A riot broke out. Never seen anything like it." The biggest prisoner said he seemed almost scared of what had happened.

"Attica on speed, man." The man with the handle bar mustache said.

"Ever heard about duded going cannibal, dying, coming back to life? Crazy." The smaller one of the fiver said.

"One guard looked out for us and locked us up in the cafeteria. Told us sit tight, threw me this piece, said he'd be right back." Chapo explained.

"Yeah, and that was 292 days ago." The second taller man said.

"94 according to my calculations..." Handlebar guy said but he was cut off by Chapo. Guess he had a knack for being a smart ass.

"Shut up!"

"We were thinking that the Army or the National Guard should be showing up any day now." One of the men said and my heart fell.

"Well, you're looking at what's left of the US Military. There is no one else. At least not to my knowledge. There is no Army." I said lowering my crossbow. Thinking about all those men and women who gave their lives just to die and come back and kill the people we vowed to protect. It hurt to think about.

"What do you mean?" One of the men asked and I could say anymore.

"There's no government, no hospitals, no police. It's all gone." Rick said with a sadness in his voice.

"For real?" The blonde said and Rick nodded.

"Serious." He said back to the man.

"What about my moms?" The larger man said looking absolutely heart broken.

"My kids? And my old lady? Yo, you got a cell phone or something that we can call our families?" One of the men said stepping forward.

"You just don't get it do you? There is nothing left! No phones! No internet! No running water! No electricity! THERE IS NOTHING!" I yelled at them. I was fucking pissed at this point. I mean it was like I was training new recruits and fuck they were smarter then these dunderheads. I took a breath and Rick continued.

"Look, as far as we can see, at least half the population has been wiped out. Probably more." Rick finished and they all thought about it and just when we thought it was getting to them Chapo had to fucking open his mouth.

"Ain't no way." He said looking at us like we were lying.