CHAPTER NINE

"Okay, let's get the other car in." Rick says as they're working in the field that they cleared on their first day in the prison. "We'll park 'em in the west entry of the yard."

"Good." Daryl says. "Our vehicles parked out there look like a giant vacancy sign."

"After that, we need to load up these corpses so we can burn 'em."

"Yay, I love that." Andie mutters as she crosses their path. "Smell of burning flesh." She gags.

"None of that." T-Dog says, shaking his head. "You're not getting out of the grunt work by faking sick."

"Who's faking?" She jumps on his back. "And I'm not trying to get out of anything. I was built on grunt work. I am a grunt."

"You're a monkey. Get off my back."

The teenager drops back to the ground and smiles up at Carol when the older woman walks over to her. Andie links her arms with hers, and Carol chuckles as she looks at her; she's happy to see that the brunette's come out of her shell, that she's such a far cry from the girl she used to be.

"Where's Glenn and Maggie?" The older woman asks. "We could use some help."

"Up in the guard tower." Daryl points in their direction.

"Guard tower?" Rick echoes. "They were just up there last night."

"Damn it. That's where I've been going to hide when you all got annoying." Andie says as she leans her forearm on T's bicep. "Now it's all...contaminated and stuff."

"And stuff." T-Dog chuckles as he looks at her. "I didn't take you for a prude."

"Who's a prude?" Her eyebrows furrow as she looks up at him.

"You, Prudence." He reaches over to pinch her cheek, and she shoves him. "You never had any fun before the world fell, did you?"

"I had plenty of fun."

"Okay, more than I need to hear." Carol shakes her head, covering her ears.

"Sorry, Mama Bear." The teenager chuckles before looking up at the guard tower. "Hey, Glenn?! Maggie!"

There's a slight commotion as Glenn stumbles around, seeming to have a hard time getting his jeans to button. Then he opens the door and steps out without his shirt.

"Hey, what's up, guys?" He asks.

"You coming?!" Andie calls, and the four behind her are having a hard time containing their laughter.

"What?"

"You coming?" She asks again, and he glances behind him at his girlfriend.

"Prudence or pervert?" T asks as he wraps his arms around her waist and picks her up, turning so that they can start back toward the cars.

"Come on, we can use a hand!" Daryl yells, all of them still laughing.

"Yeah, we'll be right down." Glenn tells them.

"I'm glad you're in better spirits today." Carol says as she links her arm with Andie's again.

"Hershel's getting better. No reason not to be." The younger girl smiles at her.

"Hey, Rick." T-Dog gets their attention, and they all turn to see two remaining prisoners walking out into the courtyard.

"I'm gonna keep working." Andie tells Daryl before he can follow after their leader. "I don't want anything to do with whatever goes on there. My track record isn't the best when there are prisoners involved."

"Yeah, alright. I'll be back to help in a few." He says, and she nods.

Andie's jogging back after parking one of the cars and she sees the group talking by the overturned bus. She moves past them to the next car, then she stops before she can drive off and calls Daryl over.

"What's wrong?" He asks as she leans out the window of the car.

"Bike needs work. Park it in the courtyard, and I'll grab my tools from my cell." She tells him, and he looks over at the motorcycle.

"Now?"

Andie nods. "There's not much else to do until you guys get the firewood for the bodies. I'll work on the bike while you, Rick, and Glenn are out getting the wood." She says, and he nods.

"Alright. Hey." He stops her before she can drive off. "The prisoners wanna stay with us. Between me and you, what do you think?"

"That one tried to kill Rick, right?" She asks. "The one waving the gun around? And he killed one of his own guys?"

"Yeah."

"To hell with 'em then." She shakes her head. "Zero tolerance policy. They can hit the road."

"You don't believe in second chances?"

"I have a max of one per decade — you won me over with your pretty blue eyes." Andie smiles up at him, and a light shade of pink tints his cheeks as he looks toward the courtyard.

"I'll move the bike up in a few minutes." He tells her as he starts to stand up straight.

"Sure thing." She hums as she puts the car back in drive and continues to where she's taking this one.

Andie makes it back out to the courtyard after getting changed in her cell. She's now wearing shorts that she cut herself from an old pair of jeans, and a tank top she found on a past run for supplies. Her hair's pulled up into a high ponytail so that it's not in her face as she works on the bike, which isn't parked too far from where it'll stay with the other cars once T-Dog, Maggie, and Carol are done.

The teenager sets her shoulder bag on the ground, never letting it end up too far from her because that's where she keeps her weapons. She gets to work, staying uninterrupted for a bit longer than she would've thought.

"Hey, Andie, look!" Carl calls, and she turns to see Lori and Beth spotting Hershel as he makes his way down the steps from the cell block on his crutches.

"Hershel, Hershel, Hershel!" The brunette hoots, earning Daryl's attention as he, Glenn, and Rick reenter the prison grounds through the hole they cut in the fence the day they found the prison. 

Daryl can just make out her laughter as she and Carl cheer Hershel on, and his eyes linger on her.

"Alright Hershel!" Glenn calls.

Andie turns to face the men when she hears them, realizing that they're back. She then reaches up to tighten her ponytail before waving when she sees Daryl still looking at her. His gaze drops to the ground as his head turns, and she chuckles. She knows he's blushing again.

An uneasy feeling suddenly falls on the teenager, and she turns her head to the side. Then she hears them — walkers filling the courtyard, making their way over from the second gate that Rick and Daryl locked up.

She reaches for her gun where she normally keeps it at the back of her waistband, but it's not there. "Carl!" Andie yells, and he turns around with his own gun when he realizes what's going on.

"Walkers! Look out!" The youngest yells, having pulled his gun from the holster on his hip, and Andie runs over to the bag she left by the gate that leads out into the field.

Carl and Lori are the first to start shooting, and Andie runs to help get Hershel and Beth to safety once she has her weapons. Maggie, Carol, and T-Dog join in as the other men are trying to get to them from the entrance they just came from.

"Daddy, behind you!" Beth yells from the gated spot she and Hershel are trying to get to, and her blue eyes widen when Andie's hatchet embeds itself in the side of the walker's head before it can get to them.

The brunette fires off a few more shots before running over and retrieving the hatchet that she threw. "Carol!" She yells, and the older woman runs over. "Stay with Hershel and Beth, keep them safe." Andie tells her, and the three of them lock themselves behind a gate.

"That gate is open." T-Dog says as the teenager leaves the others.

"Lori! Here!" Maggie yells before leading the two Grimes' back into their cell block.

"T, don't go over there alone!" Andie yells when she sees him run for the gate that the walkers are filing in through, and she rushes after him, still firing at the dead.

There's too many of them for her to keep a close eye on T-Dog while he grabs the gate and pulls it shut. She's running low on bullets, so she starts using her hatchet as they close in on her, and the brunette whirls around when she hears T-Dog scream out in pain.

"T!" She raises her gun, firing off her last bullet to kill the walker biting into his shoulder. "T, get out of there! Now!"

Andie starts swinging her hatchet at the walkers that are getting too close, and then T-Dog runs over and grabs her. He pulls her toward a different entrance to the prison, and they run inside before slamming the door shut behind them.

"I don't have any more bullets." Andie says as she sinks against the door, she's leaning against it to keep it shut.

"Neither do I." T tells her. "But we gotta keep moving. Last thing we need is for a group of those things to corner us here. You're not dying too."

The teenager stops and looks at him as she pants, out of breath. She saw him get bit outside, but there wasn't time for it to sink in before that he's as good as dead now. She can't save him like Rick saved Hershel, not with where he was bitten.

"Come on." He reaches out and grabs her arm, and they start running.

The two don't make it very far before an alarm starts blaring, and Andie winces as the sound pierces her ears. She mutters something under her breath about how this will definitely rile the walkers up, but they keep moving. T-Dog's leading the way through the dark.

"There's a set of double doors that will lead to a corridor that'll get you back to our cell block."

"T, we don't have the weapons to keep going." She tries to argue as she reaches out and grabs his arm. "Slow down."

"I'm gonna get you there!"

"T, stop!" She tugs on his uninjured arm, and he leans against a wall as he looks back at her.

"Why? Sit here and wait to die?" He questions.

"I won't let you turn into one of those things."

"I can't ask that." He pushes himself off the wall and keeps going.

"You're not asking." She argues as she rushes ahead of him and blocks his path. "We don't let our people turn... And you don't have to put yourself through more hell to save me."

"This is God's plan. He'll take care of me. Always has."

"Yeah, well, He isn't here right now. This is you and me, and I'm not gonna let you push yourself like this." Andie tells him. "Let's find somewhere safe to hide. They'll come looking once they get this all figured out, and I'll be okay then. We have to think about you right now."

"I choose to save you, Prudence." He says, and her expression softens as she looks up at him.

She never meant for it to happen, but this group — these people — they became her friends while they were on the road all Winter. And as they struggled, fought hard to survive together, they became her family and she became theirs. He cares for her the same as she cares for him, so she knows that arguing with him any further is pointless.

T-Dog grabs her arm and continues down the hallway, and she reluctantly keeps pace with him as they go. The two keep moving through the darkened corridors, and Andie's able to kill what few walkers they come across with just her hatchet. T-Dog's getting weaker and weaker the farther they go, but he's determined to make sure she gets back to safety, back to their group.

"We're almost there." T says as she helps him around a corner, and then they see two more walkers up ahead.

Andie has him lean against another wall, but this time he sees the slight tremble in her arm as she raises her hatchet. She's getting tired, and he knows that she can't keep them both moving for much longer.

"We're close." He says, and she glances at him. "Keep going, follow the arrows on the walls. You should make it back soon."

"Wha— No!" Andie yells when he suddenly bolts ahead of her, charging at the two walkers.

He grabs the corpses and pins them to the wall. "Go!" T-Dog yells as he looks at her over his shoulder. "I'm dead anyway! Go!"

The teenager pulls her knife from the sheath on her hip and runs past them. She stops at the door and looks back, seeing the walkers bite into him as he screams. Her jaw tightens to the point it causes her physical pain and she shoves the door open, forcing herself to keep moving on her own.