chapter 20









HARLEY WOKE UP PRESSED UP AGAINST DARYL'S CHEST.

Usually he's the first awake, leaving a cold bed for her to wake up to.

But after yesterday, he didn't want to leave her side. He laid there, drawing patterns on her skin as she slept. He hated that he couldn't find her yesterday in the store, that Glenn was the one to keep her safe.

Harley sat up and moved to straddle Daryl's hips, "What's wrong?" She signed,

"Yesterday was bad." He replied, 

The redhead nodded, "I know. But we made it out. Both of us."

"Not Zack."

"It happens. You and I both know that." Harley responded,

"I know." He paused, rubbing his palms up and down her bare thighs, "I don't want you going on runs anymore."

"What? Why?" She knew it was concerning what happened yesterday. She should have stayed with Daryl, but they all thought it was safe. She didn't think that it would start raining walkers.

"It was bad. You could have been hurt."

"But I wasn't the one who died. I walked out of there without a scratch on me."

"You didn't stay by me. I told you to always stay with me."

"That's just unrealistic." Harley climbed off his lap and grabbed her jeans from the floor and pulled them on as Daryl sat up. Once she buttoned them, she continued her argument, "I'm not helpless."

"I know you're not." He signed while she put on her boots,

"Then stop treating me like I am." She snapped before grabbing her knife and walking out of their cell.

Daryl sighed, watching her walk away. Having her out there made him nervous. In those situations, he's more concerned about finding her than getting the whole group out of there.

He knew she wasn't helpless. But he's always afraid of a walker sneaking up behind her.

Nora was outside, setting up the grill for breakfast when Harley stomped past, going towards the outer fences. She set down the bowls and jogged to catch up with her, "Where's the fire?"

Harley paused and turned towards her friend, "You were there yesterday. Was I helpless?"

Nora shook her head, "What's this about?"

"Daryl doesn't want me on runs anymore." Harley grabbed a crowbar and continued walking towards the fence,

Nora bit her lip and stopped Harley, "It's not that you're weak. You distract him. He was more concerned about getting you out of there safe than himself."

In the distance, Nora heard gunshots. She turned to look at Rick, who was running out of the pig pen,

"Help!" Nora heard Lizzie and Mika yell, "Help! Please, come quick!"

"Cell blocks?!" Maggie asked from the guard tower,

"I don't know!" Rick yelled back,

"Something's wrong." Nora signed to Harley before they began running towards the prison, Rick not far behind them,

"Walkers in D!" Glenn yelled back towards them as he ran towards the door,

"What about C?!" Rick asked,

"Clear." Sasha answered as she, Daryl, and Tyresse ran into the courtyard, "We locked the gates to the tombs. Hershel's on guard."

"It ain't a breach." Daryl stated, crossbow in hand,

"We followed the plan." They began to run towards the D block, and before Daryl could argue, Harley followed.

Rick felt around for a weapon, and Nora held out her hunting knife, "Let's go." He nodded, taking it from her hand and the two ran into the cell block.

It was chaos.

People were everywhere, running from the corpses attacking them. Their neighbours, turned into walkers.

Rick and Carol helped lead people out of the cell block, away from the carnage. Harley put her earplugs in before raising her gun, shooting anything that was out for blood.

Harley turned, seeing a walker moving towards Daryl's turned back. She fired and brains splattered on Daryl's shirt. He turned to look at her and moved his eyes towards the corpse on the ground. She jogged over and wiped some blood from his cheek, "I'm... not... helpless."

He nodded, "I know."

They returned to the mayhem around them. Harley stuck close to Daryl as they ran around, taking out walkers and putting the survivors into cells and closing the doors, keeping them from harm.

"Check all of 'em... every cell!" Rick ordered after the immediate threat was diminished.

Nora did just that. She checked all the cells on the ground floor, making sure only the living was inside them.

"Are we clear down here?!"

"Yeah!"

"Up here!" Glenn called out from the second floor. Daryl and Harley moved to join him, and Rick followed,

Nora went up to Karen and Tyresse, "The kids okay?" She asked, peeking her head into the cell where most of the children from Cell Block D were shoved into,

"Yeah. None of them are bit." Karen answered,

The brunette nodded, "Good."

Harley walked to the last cell on the second floor, Daryl behind her. Glenn let out a cry as a walker jumped him from behind a sheet. Daryl turned and raised his crossbow, "Down!"

Glenn slid to the floor and Daryl shot the walker in the head, "Thanks," Glenn grunted as Daryl moved to help him up.

The four of them stared down at the walker, "Oh, it's Patrick." Daryl sighed, "That's all of 'em."

They moved on to check the dead that haven't quite turned yet. Nora went to the second floor to join Harley when she spotted Rick down at the end, staring into a cell and holding her knife.

She stepped up next to him, staring at the dead man in the bed, his insides ripped open. Nora sensed Rick's hesitation and moved to grab the knife from his hand when he flinched away, "I can do it." He mumbled before he stepped inside.

She watched as he stood next to the bed, the knife raised. Rick took a deep breath before purging it into the corpse's head.

Rick turned and gave her a nod before slipping out of the cell and down to the next, where the door was closed.

Hershel and Dr. S were gathered in a cell with Daryl, Rick, and Bob, stood over another body. Nora and Harley were soon to follow, Nora freeing her hands to translate for Harley since the men's backs were turned,

"No bites. No wounds. I think he just died." Rick stated,

"Horribly, too. Pleurisy aspiration." Dr. S diagnosed,

"Choked to death on his own blood." Hershel explained for them, "Caused those trails down his face."

"I've seen them before on a walker outside the fences." Rick commented,

"I saw them on Patrick, too." Daryl added, 

"They're from the internal lung pressure building up, like if you shake a soda can and pop the top. Only imagine your eyes, ears, nose, and throat are the top." Dr. S described,

"It's a sickness from the walkers?" Bob asked,

Dr. S shook his head, "No, these things happened before they were around. Could be pneumococcal. Most likely an aggressive flu strain."

Nora paused, not knowing how to explain it to Harley before saying, "He thinks it's the flu."

"Someone locked him in just in time." Hershel commented,

Daryl shook his head, "No, man. Charlie used to sleepwalk. Locked himself in. Hell, he was just eating barbecue yesterday."

Harley turned to Nora, "How could somebody die in a day just from a cold?" She signed and Nora spoke Harley's question,

Rick paused for a moment, "I had a sick pig, it died quick. Saw a sick boar in the woods."

Nora squeezed his shoulder. She knew he felt guilty about it. It was a possibility that the pigs had gotten them sick.

Hershel nodded, "Pigs and birds. That's how these things spread in the past." He glanced at Rick, "We need to do something about those hogs."

Dr. S stood, "Maybe we got lucky. Maybe these two cases are it."

"Haven't seen anybody be lucky in a long time." Bob commented, "Bugs like to run through close quarters. Doesn't get any closer than this."

"All of us in here, we've all been exposed."

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