CHAPTER TWO,
dalton simons.

Aiden laid down the weapons they recovered from the guards and armory. "Not bad."

"Flashbacks, CS Triple-Chasers, not sure how they'd work on walkers, but we'll take 'em." Rick stated.

Daryl picked up the helmet and goo dripped off of it causing Aiden to huff in disgust. "Gross."

"I ain't wearin' this shit." Daryl told them.

"We could boil 'em." T-Dog said, he was holding another piece of armor with goo dripping from it.

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

"Hershel." They heard Carol's sudden voice. Everyone looked over. She nodded for the oldest of the group to follow her.

"Everything alright?" Rick asked, worrying for his wife.

"Yeah. Nothing to worry about." Carol reassured. Hershel followed after her.

»

Aiden watched as Carl put the helmet on his head and then take it back off, "you won't need that." Rick said to him and took it from his hands.

Aiden had her handgun strapped to her thigh, a smaller knife in her boot, a larger knife in a holster attached to her black leather belt, and she held the army green handled machete she found all those months ago in the traffic jam before she was shot.

"I need you to stay put." Rick said to his son.

"You're kidding?"

"We don't know what's in there." Aiden couldn't hear anymore as Rick lowered his voice.

"I don't like ya goin' back in there with us." Daryl said to Aiden. She rolled her eyes and turned to him.

"I'll be fine. I'm not letting you have all the fun, darlin'." She said with a simple smirk, a smirk that made Daryl's heart flutter.

"Let's go." Rick said. Aiden, Daryl, Maggie, Hershel, T-Dog, Glenn, and Rick all left the cell block.

»

The group walked through the tombs of the prison, Aiden holding her flashlight up. She saw dead bodies littering the floor and the only sounds was rats squeaking and the sound of Glenn using spray paint to mark the way back to the cell block.

Aiden heard them before she saw them.

The growls.

Her eyes widened when she, Rick, and Daryl all rounded the corner and saw the walkers.

"Oh, fuck! Go back!" Aiden yelled. Rick yelled for everyone to go back.

They all ran, Aiden taking the rear while Daryl took the front.

They finally found a place to hide. "Where's Glenn and Maggie?" Aiden asked when she realized the couple wasn't with them.

"We have to go back." Hershel stated, worried about his daughter and her boyfriend.

"But which way?" Aiden quizzed. Rick stood and the rest followed.

Aiden didn't expect to hear Hershel's scream of pain. It shook her to her core.

"Hershel!" She shouted and shot the walker.

Maggie and Glenn rounded the corner and saw the horrifying sight. Glenn and Rick helped him up.

Aiden heard the yelling but she couldn't comprehend it as she stabbed multiple walkers in the head with her machete. Finally, Daryl pulled her shirt. "Come on!" He yelled to her.

They came upon and door, "open the door!"

T-Dog cut the chain with bolt cutters and the flooded in. Aiden pressed her back against the door, using all of her strength to keep the walkers out. T-Dog locked it as fast as he could.

Daryl and Aiden joined the others kneeling around Hershel. "Hold him down."

Rick quickly took his belt off to use it as a tourniquet, "only one way to keep you alive." He pulled a hatchet out of his bag and started to hack away at Hershel's leg, just below his knee.

Aiden winced at the sound of his screams. She wanted to do nothing but throw up at the sight of the severed leg in front of her.

"He's bleeding out." Rick said.

Aiden heard the sound of clanking then saw six people pop out from behind the counter. "Duck." Daryl said and Rick listened. He stood quickly and pointed his crossbow at the six.

"Holy shit."

Aiden stared at one in particular. She didn't think he noticed her yet as she stayed behind Rick's body. Daryl stood and walked towards them.

"Who the hell are you?"

"Who the hell are you?"

Aiden stood up and raised her beretta and aimed at them.

"Holy hell. Princess?" The brunette said.

It was him. He was here. He was real. He was no longer just a taunting voice in the back of her mind.

He was here and he was real.

"Dalton." She hissed. Daryl's eyes widened as his crossbow now trained solely on Dalton Simons.

"Why don't you come out of there? Slow and steady." Daryl said firmly. The six prisoners followed his orders and exited.

"What happened to him?" One asked.

"He got bit." Aiden said.

"Bit?" The douchebag asked and started to pull out his small handgun.

"Not so fast, dirtbag!" Aiden said sternly and pointed her pistol at his head. T-Dog raised his gun. Aiden watched as Dalton's eyes trailed her figure hungrily.

"Woah, woah, woah. Easy easy. Nobody needs to get hurt." Daryl said.

"Says you." Aiden growled. He was right in her sights, all she had to do was pull the trigger.

"You have medical supplies?" Glenn didn't wait for a reply as he walked in the back.

"Woah, where do you think you're going?" The douchebag asked. "Who the hell are you people, anyway?"

"Don't look this no rescue team." Mustache stated.

"If a rescue team is what you're waiting for, don't." Rick said. "Come on we gotta go."

Aiden watched as T-Dog killed an armored walker. "Daryl! Aiden!" Rick called them.

Daryl ushered her to go in front of him so she listened. She followed after Rick and they ran back towards cell block C.

»

"Open the door! It's Hershel!" Aiden screamed to the others.

Aiden watched helplessly as Beth cried out, "daddy!" She followed as the placed him on the bed.

"He got bit." Daryl informed the rest of them.

"Oh, my God, he's gonna turn." Beth cried.

"Did you cut it off?" Lori asked.

"Yeah."

"Maybe you got it in time."

Aiden held a crying Beth to her chest. Beth's hand gripped her shirt so tight Aiden thought she was going to rip it. Carl ran off to get supplies.

Aiden handed Beth off to Lori and walked into the common area where she saw Daryl aiming his crossbow at the doorway. "Stay where you are, Aiden." He said gruffly. Aiden stopped in her tracks, her eyes glancing off to the side.

"That's far enough." Daryl said when the prisoners walked in.

"Cell block C. Cell four- that's mine, gringo." Douchebag stated. "Let me in."

"Today's your lucky day, fellas. You've been pardoned by the stage of Georgia. You're free to go." Daryl growled.

"What's goin' on in there?" He asked.

"It ain't none of your concern." Daryl replied.

"Don't be tellin' me what's my concern." The asshole pulled his gun on Daryl, Aiden stepped out of the shadows pointing her gun at him.

"Not today, bitch." Aiden said to him. Eyes moved to her but all she could do was look at Dalton.

"Chill, man. Dude's leg is messed up. Besides, we're free now. Why are we still here?" The biggest guy asked.

"The man's got a point." Another one said.

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

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

"Why don't you find out?" Daryl hissed. Aiden's cocoa eyes glanced over at his face before moving back to Dalton.

"Maybe we'll just be going now." Mustache said. He didn't seem so bad.

"Hey, we ain't leaving." The leader talked back.

"You ain't coming in either." T-Dog appeared with his gun raised. The leaders gun trained on T-Dog.

Aiden narrowed her eyes and cocked the hammer of her gun causing the leader of the six to look her dead in the eyes. "Hey, this is my house, my rules. I go where I damn well please."

Aiden scoffed and rolled her eyes. "You can go anywhere but in that cell block. I won't allow it. You'll be dead before you get within ten feet."

"Wanna test that?" The leader asked and took a condescending step forward. His eyebrows rose when he saw Aiden's face scrunch up in anger and her finger move to the trigger. "Alright, little lady, I ain't moving." He looked her up and down.

"Get behind me." Daryl told her gruffly and quietly. She obeyed and walked backwards and stood behind his body. Her stone cold eyes still locked with Dalton's own eyes who haven't left her.

"Got a staring problem?" Daryl hissed at him, itching to kill the man.

"She's my girl." Dalton snarled in return. Aiden saw anger flash in Daryl's eyes before his grip on his crossbow tightened and he spoke.

"She ain't your girl, asshole. She ain't nobody's girl but her own, shithead. There ain't nothing here for you. Why don't you go back to your own sandbox?"

Rick appeared from around the corner, "hey, everyone relax. There's no need for this." Rick said to the lot.

He faltered when his eyes locked with Dalton Simons. The man he arrested for abuse, rape, and drug use on once best friends little sister.

"Hey, Rick." Dalton said in a condenseding manner, a wide smirk on his face. "Lori and Carl in there?"

"How many of you are in there?" The leader asked.

"Too many for you to handle." Rick replied. Aiden only rolled her eyes. They had a pregnant woman, a crying teenage girl, a thirteen year old boy, an older lady, an unstable daughter, a man comforting said woman, and a dying old man.

"You guys rob a bank? Why don't you take him to a hospital?" The leader asked. Aiden scoffed. She and T-Dog shared a look while Rick and Daryl shared one as well.

"How long have you been locked in the cafeteria?" Rick questioned.

"Going on like ten months."

"A riot broke out. Never seen anything like it." The biggest of the six said.

"Attica in speed, man." Mustache said.

"Ever heard about dudes going cannibal, dying, coming back to life?" The shortest of the six asked.

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

"Yeah, and that was two hundred and ninety-two days ago."

"Ninety-four according to my calcula-" Mustache was cut off.

"Shut up!" The leader hissed.

"We were thinking that the Army of National Guard should be showing up any day now." The average sized one said.

"There is no Army."

"What do you mean?"

"There's no government, no hospitals, no police. It's all gone." Rick said to the oblivious prisoners.

"For real?"

"Serious."

"What about my moms?" The big one asked.

"My kids? And my old lady?" The other said. "Yo, you got a cell phone or something that we can call our families?"

"Don't you get it? There ain't no cell phones, no computers. The world shut down." Aiden said. "It ended."

"As far as we can see, at least half the population has been wiped out. Probably more." Rick stated.

"Ain't no way."

"See for yourself."

»

The four walked behind the prisoners as the looked around. "Damn, the sun feels good." The average sized one said, Oscar.

"Good lord. They're all dead." That was Axel, aka Mustache.

"Never thought I'd be so happy to see those fences." The asshole leader, Tomas.

The smallest, Andrew, spoke up, "you never said- how the hell did you get here in the first place?"

"Cut a hole in that fence there by that guard tower." Daryl explained, pointing down at the hole the cut in the fence.

"That easy, huh?"

"Where there's a will, there's a way." Daryl spoke.

"Easy for you to say."

"So what is this, like a disease?" Big-Tiny, the biggest of them all, asked.

"Yeah and we're all infected." Aiden said.

"What do you mean infected? Like AIDS or something?" Axel asked.

"If I was to kill you, shoot an arrow in your chest, you'd come back as one of these things. It's gonna happen to all of us." Daryl explained.

"Ain't no way these Robin Hood cats responsible for killing all these freaks. Must be fifty bodies out here. Where'd you come from?" Tomas asked.

"Atlanta." Rick replied.

"Where are you headed?"

"For now, no where."

"I guess you can't take that area down there near the water. Should be comfortable." Tomas said to Rick.

"We're using that field for crops." Rick said to him.

"We'll help you move your gear out."

"That won't be necessary. We took out these walkers. This prison is ours." Rick stated plain and clear.

"Slow down, cowboy. You snatched the looks off our doors."

"We'll give you new locks, if that's how you want it."

"This is our prison. We were here first." Tomas said to Rick.

"Locked in a broom closest?" Rick smiled. "We took it, set you free. It's ours. We spilled blood."

"We're moving back into our cell block." Tomas hissed.

"You'll have to get your own." Rick said to him.

"It is mine. I've still got personal artifacts in there. That's about as mine as it gets." Tomas quickly pulled out his gun.

Aiden was the first to pull her gun out, aiming it at Tomas, followed by T and Daryl.

"Drop it." She snarled.

"Woah, woah, woah. Maybe let's try to make this work out for everybody." Axel stepped in the middle.

"I don't see that happening." Tomas said snarky.

"Neither do I." Rick agreed.

"I ain't going back in that cafeteria for one more minute." Tomas said.

"There are other cell blocks."

"You could leave." Daryl said, "try you luck on the road."

Tomas looked around at his fellow prisoners then at his surroundings before speaking, "if these four pussies can do all this, the least we can do is take out another cell block."

"With what?" Big-Tiny asked.

"Atlanta here will spot us some real weapons. Won't you, boss?" Tomas spoke.

"In your dizziest daydreams." Aiden snapped. Rick's fingers raised to stop her.

"How stocked is that cafeteria?" Rick asked. "It must have plenty of food. Six guys lasting almost a year?"

"It sure as hell don't look like anybody's been starving." Daryl said.

"There's only a little left." Tomas said to him.

"We'll take half. In exchange, we'll help clear out a cell block." Rick negotiated.

"Didn't you hear him? There's only a little left." Andrew annoyingly said.

"Bet you got more food than you got choices. You pay, we'll play. We'll clear a cell block for you then you keep to it." Rick said to him.

"Alright."

"But lets be clear- if I see you out here anywhere near our people, if I do much as even catch a whiff of your scent, I will kill you."

"Deal." Tomas agreed.

No one had noticed Dalton creeping behind Aiden. He wrapped and arm around her neck with a knife in hand. Everyone's attention snapped towards the two when the heard her gasp.

The three men's weapons trained on Dalton's head when they saw the knife pressed against Aiden's throat and Dalton's arm wrapped around her head. "Where's Shane, huh? Big brother isn't around to save you anymore?" Dalton hissed in her ear.

Aiden's eyes screwed shut as his knife pressed further into her neck. "He's dead."

"About time." Dalton said and Aiden tried to hold back her fear. She was so scared. She hadn't been this terrified in a very long time. She clenched her trembling hands and squeezed her eyes shut.

"Let her go." Daryl snarled. He had never felt so angry, so much dread than in those moments. Aiden, his Aiden, was within the grasp of her abuser again and he had a blade pressed against her neck. "I said let her go!"

"Why would I do that? We can be in love like we were in high school. We can be just like how we used to be." Dalton said with a sickly sweet smile.

"You hit me." Aiden said. The blade pressed deeper and the men around them saw the blood drip down her neck. "We were never in love, Dalton."

She saw her life flash behind her eye lids as he quickly turned her around and slashed the knife across her face. "I said I'd kill you!" He screamed.

Aiden's body hit the concrete as she landed on her ass. Blood fell from both her neck and cheek as a single bolt flew into the side of Dalton's head.

Aiden gasped in shock as his body fell on top of her own. The men were in total shock as a chocked sob left her mouth, "get him off of me!" She cried. "Off!"

His body was quickly shoved off of her and she was pulled up by someone.

Daryl pulled her into him as quickly as he could. Her hands gripped his vest as if he was her lifeline.

Aiden feared for her life right there, remembering Dalton's promise all those years ago. Her crying eyes looked down at Dalton.

His dead eyes started up at her, haunting her.

"Look what you've done to me."

______________________________

word count: 2,937
episodes: seed and sick

edited chapter numero two!!

holy shit. we met dalton and saw that he always kept his word. i am thanking myself for killing him off. i was tempted not to but we didn't need his character screwing things up, even though him being around would've definitely helped aiden's badassesyness grow even further.

aiden is obviously thankful he's dead, just traumatized.

i love my baby girl so much. i hate to see her hurt.

as you can tell aiden close to t-dog (poor baby girl's gonna be heart broken).

i hate myself for hurting her so much already.

:(

timothee chalamet as dalton simons