⌜ chapter three ⌟

"What do you think?" Rick asks as Glenn leads the rest of their group into C block.

"Home sweet home." He says.

"For the time being."

"It's secure?" Lori asks as she looks around at all of the open cells.

"This cellblock is." Rick nods.

"What about the rest of the prison?" Hershel asks as he makes his way in as well.

"In the morning, we'll find the cafeteria and infirmary."

"We sleep in the cells?" Beth asks.

"I found keys on some guards. MJ and Daryl both have a set too." He tells them.

"I ain't sleeping in no cage." Daryl says from the top floor. "I'll take the perch."

"Can I share a bunk with Dana?" Ellie asks.

"Ask your cousin." MJ says as she walks down the stairs.

"Hell, yes." Dana smiles. "We're gonna have so much fun, Peaches."

"Oh, jeez." The older girl sighs. "When I say lights out, it's lights out. No giggling late at night, keeping the rest of us up."

"Buzz kill."

"Damn straight." She says, and Addy laughs.

"Sleep overs were always fun." The blonde says.

"Mm. Not for a girl who grew up with three men, and had no female influence before the age of thirteen." MJ argues.

"Short temper, quick fuse." Addy whispers to Lori and Carol, both of whom chuckle.

"I heard that."

"Hey, you think Sam and Dean would feel cozy in here?" She asks, and MJ chuckles.

"Oh, yeah. Right at home." The brunette smirks as she carries her stuff up the stairs.

"Dad and Uncle Sam were arrested?" Dana asks.

"More times than I can count."

"She's lying. Your father was a saint." Addy says. "Unhear all of that."

"Oh, come on, Addy." MJ looks at her from the second floor, hands on the railing. "She's​ seventeen, and she's not delusional. Even Ellie knows that me and the boys got arrested plenty of times."

"She says in front of the cop." Jo chuckles as she looks over at Rick.

"It was always work related."

"Always?" Ellen raises her eyebrows.

"Okay, so maybe there was one bar fight."

"One?" Addy questions.

"One. Three. What's the difference?" MJ smiles. "Some men in those bars needed a demonstration of what it meant when a woman said no."

"I don't get it." Carl says.

"That's because you're being raised by a real man and not a caveman."

"Okay, that's enough of the bar talk, please." Lori says, and the girls look at her.

"Sorry." MJ and Addy say in unison.

"Anyway, Dana — Sam and Dean got themselves arrested on purpose." MJ tells her. "A friend of our fathers needed help with something, and he worked in a prison in Arkansas."

"That sounds like a stupid risk." The teenager says.

"It was." Addy says, and MJ laughs.

"Ooh, I remember that fight." The brunette says.

"Shut up."

"Sorry." She holds her hands up in mock surrender and walks into the cell directly next to the perch to set up her stuff. She wants the cell at the top of the stairs, in case she needs to be down the steps in a hurry. She's alone in her cell, which she doesn't mind at all.

Jack walks in, and she looks up at him. "Are you okay?" He asks, and she nods.

"Yeah. Why wouldn't I be?" She asks.

"You're covered in blood."

"Oh, yeah." She looks down at herself. "It's not mine — not any of it. It's from a walker."

He nods.

"Are you alright?" She asks, and he walks in to sit with her on the bed.

"Matty would've thought this was cool." He says, and she sighs as she rests her hand on his shoulder. "I miss him."

"I know, hun. I do too." She leans forward and rests her head on her hand, and her forehead against the side of his head. He leans against her. "But he's in heaven now, and he's not scared anymore. That's how you have to look at it."

"What's heaven like?"

"You get to relive all of your best memories — your favorites. He's with us in a way." She tells him. "He's happy, and he's warm. He's safe, Jacky. He has nothing to fear up there."

"Are you sure?" He asks, and she nods.

"I'm positive." She smiles. "He could even be with Ash. Gabriel still hasn't found him, he might still be in heaven too. And Ash loves it there. You remember me telling you about him, right? The genius who got kicked out of M.I.T. for fighting?"

"The first time you met him, he was passed out on a pool table." He says, and she laughs. "I remember."

"Ash figured out how to go from one heaven to another. He had Pamela with him sometimes, he could have Matty too." She says, and the thought really does bring her some comfort. "Either way, Matty's okay."

"You really think so?"

"I do." She takes a deep breath as she sits up. "Go get some sleep. You're bunking with Carl, right?"

"Yeah." He nods. "Goodnight."

"Night." She smiles at him, and he goes past Daryl and back down the stairs.

In the girls' cell, Dana looks at Ellie. "You okay, kid?" She whispers as she sits on the bottom bunk with her. They heard MJ and Jack talking about Matty — they all did.

"I just wish I could've seen Matty again before..." Ellie looks down, tears in her eyes.

"I know, Peaches." She takes her younger cousin's hand in hers. "We'll see him again one day, I'm sure of it."

"But Mom said that we all get our own heavens, that they're separate."

"Ash'll find us." Dana says. "We're too awesome for him not to look for."

Something on Dana's finger catches Ellie's attention, and she turns their hands so that she can see it. "You still have your ring."

"'Course I do. I never take it off." She tells her as she looks at the silver crown ring on her right ring finger.

"I have mine too." Ellie shows her the identical ring on her finger, only hers is more of a rose gold color.

"Do you remember what I told you?"

"That as long as we have these, we're always together, no matter how many miles are between us." She says. "And we'll always find our way back to each other."

"And we did." Dana says. "Just like I promised all those years ago."

Dana saved up her money and then Addy paid the difference so she could buy the two rings for herself and her cousin. With the way they grew up, the two girls spent so much time apart. But they were always so close when they were together, and they hated being away. The rings were meant to be a way to keep them connected. Something both girls needed.

"Thanks, Teddy Bear." Ellie says, and Dana laughs lightly. It'd been so long since she'd heard her cousin call her that.

"Always." She whispers as she hugs Ellie.

MJ's leaning against the doorway of her cell and her head's on the wall. She sighs as she shakes her head. She hates the way that the girls grew up. She always wanted to do better by them, but it was never easy. No matter how many times she tried to stop hunting, something always drew her right back in. And that thing was apparently Chuck's destiny for the Winchester siblings.

MJ opens her eyes and sees Daryl looking at her — he's already sitting down on the perch, getting ready to turn in for the night. She stands there a few seconds longer before turning around and going to lay down on the bottom bunk of the bed in her cell.

—

Rick, MJ, Daryl, T-Dog, and Hershel are setting out the weapons that they went out and got from the armory.

"Not bad." Daryl says.

"Flashbangs, CS Triple-Chasers." Rick says, looking at them. "Not sure how they'd work on walkers, but we'll take 'em."

Daryl picks up a helmet and liquid spills out of it from a walker. "I ain't wearing this shit." He says as MJ tries not to gag.

"We could boil 'em." T suggests.

"Ain't enough firewood in the whole forest. No." He shakes his head. "Besides, we made it this far without 'em, right?"

"I second that." MJ says, shaking her head.

"Hershel." Carol walks out of the cellblock to get him.

"Everything alright?" Rick asks as Hershel makes his way to the cellblock.

"Yeah. Nothing to worry about."

"She don't like us." MJ says in a singsong voice.

"That's mature." Daryl says as he looks at her.

"You know, that is one thing that I have never claimed to be." She tells him, and he smirks as he turns back to the weapons on the table in front of them. "Life's more fun this way." She smiles up at him.

They get the gear cleaned and then start putting some of it on. They all have bulletproof pads on now, but the point of them is that they're bite-proof.

"Hey, you remember your job?" MJ asks as she looks at Jack.

"If anything happens, I help Lori and the kids first." He says, and she nods.

"That's my boy." She says, and he smiles at her.

"Let's go." Rick says, and those who are leaving the cellblock head into the common area.

Carl locks the door once MJ, Rick, Daryl, Glenn, Maggie, Addy, T-Dog, and Hershel are out of the block. The group leaves the common room through the exit by the guard post, and Rick locks the gate behind them.

MJ leads the way through the dark hallways, each of them using their own flashlights to illuminate their path. They avoid all of the trash and dead bodies on the ground. As they go, Glenn uses a spray can to paint arrows telling them how to get back to their cellblock.

The eight of them continue forward slowly, doing their best to keep quiet. Glenn keeps painting the arrows as they round corners and so far they haven't come across any walkers. They hear a thud, but keep moving anyway. MJ, Rick, and Daryl round the bend first and find a large group of walkers in gray jumpsuits.

"Go back. Go back." Rick orders, and they all start back in the direction that they came from.

As they're running, they get cut off by more of the dead and have to turn again. Maggie and Glenn get separated and the others keep going, not realizing that they aren't behind them anymore. Not that they could stop even if they did know; there's a large group of walkers between them now.

They end up inside a small room — seemingly some kind of closet — and it's a tight fit for the six of them. MJ presses her back flush against the surface behind her as the others shut the door, and she realizes that she squished against Daryl when she feels his hand on her hip. She looks up at him, her breathing labored after running from the walkers, and she can barely make out his features in the dim lighting as he looks back at her.

The others are hunched down to hide while MJ and Daryl make sure they can't be seen through the square window. "Where's Glenn and Maggie?" Rick asks then, his voice barely a whisper.

"We have to go back." MJ says, stepping carefully to the side to give Daryl more room.

"But which way?" Daryl asks, and she sighs.

The six of them wait for the walkers to pass by, and then Rick leads the way back out of the room. They stick together and keep quiet as they head back the way that they came. Hershel hears Maggie calling and he turns back, but doesn't tell anybody.

They suddenly hear him screaming and everyone immediately runs to get to him. Rick shoots the walker that bit Hershel's leg. Maggie starts crying when she sees him on the floor. Rick and Glenn lift him up as Daryl and MJ start killing the walkers that are coming toward them from one side.

Maggie and Addy lead them through the only clear hallway they have, and Daryl and MJ are at the back of the group. They're all keeping an eye on the walkers, killing any that get too close. T-Dog gets a door open, and they all run inside.

Daryl, MJ, and T are holding the doors shut, and Rick's yelling for the ax. "Go." MJ tells him, and she and T keep the doors shut.

Maggie's sitting with her dad's head in her lap, and Addy's holding him. Rick's taking off his belt to use as a tourniquet. Hershel's hysterical because of the pain that he's in after having a chunk of flesh torn from his leg.

"Only one way to keep him alive." Rick says after securing his belt above the bite. He raises the ax, and MJ squeezes her eyes shut as she pushes back on the door.

"Oh, God." She mutters as she hears Rick cutting through Hershel's leg. He's screaming until he finally blacks out from the pain.

"He's bleeding out." He says, and then Daryl looks up; he sees something behind Rick.

"Duck." Daryl whispers, and Rick immediately gets down.

Daryl pushes himself up, aiming his crossbow behind Rick. There are five prisoners there watching what just happened. He's got his flashlight on them and a man with dirty blonde hair and a mustache is the first one to speak up.

"Holy shit."