— IT HAD BEEN PEACEFUL IN THE prison now that the prisoners were gone and the group were the only people left, but when the last two remaining prisoners showed up, begging to be able to live with the others, that had changed, and the whole group were now slightly on edge. The only person who seemed to want to let the prisoners in and give them a chance, was T-Dog, and he wasn't happy one bit when no one else agreed with him about giving them a place to live in their cell block. Zoe didn't exactly have an opinion on the matter, she hadn't spoken to the two prisoners and she probably never will, so she simply stayed out of the argument about letting them stay.
Nate on the other hand was pretty vocal, along with his brother when they both said that they didn't want the prisoners anywhere near the prison and their people. Zoe basically agreed with anything Nate said at this point, she didn't mean for it, but she just trusted anything he said, and anything he believed in - she valued his opinion.

Whilst Nate was out with the others by the front gate sorting out the cars, Zoe hung back with her mom, Beth and Carl so they can help Hershel out and about on his crutches. Now that he was much better and had completely healed - it was a miracle that he managed to make it through a cut off leg. Zoe smiled as Hershel took his crutches out and lent on them, completely standing up, since the first time he had the accident, "You know, I feel pretty steady." He spoke up, with a small smile on his face at the fact that he was stood up.

"Yeah?" Zoe asked with a matching smile on her face, as she stood with her hands on Carl's shoulders as the two siblings watched Hershel walk on the crutches. Nobody thought that they would see the day, and the fact that Hershel had managed to do this was amazing.. Hershel nodded at the girl with a smile etched on his face.

"That's a start." Lori spoke up, making sure to stay by Hershel's side, "Wanna take a rest?" She asked him.

"Rest?" Hershel asked, shocked, "Let's go for a little stroll." He told the four of them, knowing that he could do it.

Zoe smiled even wider at the old man's words, not having thought that Hershel would have it in him, but the fact that he wanted to go outside just amazed the girl. She instantly headed forwards to open up the doors for the rest of them to walk through, with Carl head on her heels, also excited. She let Lori and Beth help Hershel through the doors, but helped her mother out with helping the old man down the stairs, as that was something too difficult on his first time on crutches, but he did pretty well for someone with one leg. Zoe couldn't believe how well Hershel was taking this all.

"You cleared all those bodies out?" Hershel asked, looking around at their surroundings, he hadn't seen the courtyard since he had first gotten here, and he was surprised at how well it looked since the bodies had been dragged away. That had been something difficult for the group to do as there was a lot of bodies, but they eventually got their in the end, and it was now turning out to be a promising place that the group could live in. Zoe especially thought so, it was the best they had since the farm, and she loved it. "It's just starting to look like a place we could really live in." He commented.

"Hey, watch your step, last thing we need is you falling." Lori told Hershel, noticing that he wasn't paying attention to where he was walking. But Zoe knew that he was doing good.

As they all paused on the courtyard, they heard Glenn and Maggie shout up the field saying well done, and Zoe could see Nate from where she was stood, watching as he looked up at her in complete happiness, admiring her from afar. She simply smiled down at him, thinking the exact same thing. It was a rare occurrence for the group, when nothing bad had happened for a while - since Hershel had been healing, nothing bad had gone down, and the group were actually living normally.. Well, as normally as they could be in a world like this.

Zoe looked back at Hershel with a gleam, "Looks like you have an audience, Hershel." She told him, laughing. Hershel chuckled along with her, nodding his head as he looked around at the rest of the group with a smile. It put a smile on his face, the fact that everyone was so proud of him for walking, it made this all that better. Zoe was about to turn and face Nate again, until something caught her eye behind them all, walkers. "Shit! Walkers!" She called out, instantly pulling out her gun and holding it up, ready to fire. "Hershel, get back!" She ordered Hershel, as he quickly rushed out of the way.

Instantly, she began shooting, just like her mom next to her, and not paying attention to anything else - she wasn't about to let her loved ones get hurt because of these dead sons of bitches. From the distance she could hear the yells of her father, Nate, Glenn, Maggie and Daryl alike, but she couldn't concentrate on that right now, she had to keep her focus. The more she shot, the more walkers came out, grouping up on them, making it even more difficult to kill them all - there was just too many. Even if she and Carl headshotted every single shot, it was no good. She scanned their surroundings, finding a door that they could go through, "Mom, over here!" Zoe called, rushing to the door and kicking it open.

She knew that they shouldn't leave the others with the walkers, but she had to keep her pregnant mom safe no matter what, so she wasn't going to think twice before finding somewhere safe for her. Lori followed her daughter with Carl close behind her, before they all rushed into the doorway, shutting the door behind them and heading into the building once they realised that they were quickly getting overrun. Once they were inside, they quickly headed for their cell block in order to lock themselves in, Zoe in the front. However, as she rounded the corner, she quickly did a spin, grabbing Carl, as she saw yet another group of walkers heading straight for them, coming out of their cell block that had been cleared out when they first arrived here. How could they have gotten in?

She took charge of the situation by pure adrenaline, pushing Carl forwards and grabbing her mom, too, who was holding onto her baby bump in worry and exhaustion. Without any other choice, they sprinted into the dark corridor, in attempt to get away from the group hoarding them, not knowing exactly where they were going to go.
They just knew that they had to leave.

 
——

The hallways were so dark that Zoe could barely see where she was going, and it made it ten times worse when the alarm started blaring at full volume, basically making it so they could barely hear each other. It was when her mom said something, did Zoe realise just how loud it was. "Mom, I can't hear you!" She yelled over the alarm.

"I think the baby's coming!" Lori shouted, using the wall behind her for support.

Zoe's heart stopped as she heard those words - what were they going to do? They weren't near Hershel, Zoe didn't even know where they were at the moment, it was too dark to see the signs and the arrows that they had painted on the walls. "Mom?" Carl asked worriedly, as Zoe helped keep her mother standing, Lori putting all of her weight onto her daughter.

Things just got even worse when another group of walkers began coming towards them, and Zoe was trying so hard not to cry, she had to stay strong for Carl, and her mom. "There's no time!" She panicked, "Turn back! Carl go in front!" She ordered, before she put her mom's arm around her shoulder, helping her stand, before she basically dragged her along after Carl, who went in front with his gun raised. Zoe had to block out her moms cry's of pain as they rushed forwards and away from the walkers, it pained her to see the woman she loved most in this world in pain, but she knew that she had to push on and get her to safety, preferably to Hershel where he can deliver the baby. Carl paused in front when another group of walkers came walking down the hallway, and the three of them were trapped, they were glued in by walkers, and they didn't know what to do, and where to go.

Carl headed in another direction whilst Zoe and Lori followed, trusting his instincts, before he figured out that they couldn't exactly go anywhere. "In here!" He told them both, when he saw a door that they could go in. He didn't know if it was safe, but he just had to take the chance and get away from all of these walkers. He opened the door, letting his sister and mom go first, before he followed after them, ready to keep his mom safe.

Zoe stayed by her moms side as she gripped the wall besides them, breathing heavily as she felt her labour kick in. She was going to have this baby, and soon. "Mom?" Zoe asked quietly, her voice shaking in fear at what was going to happen to her. She couldn't loose her mom or her new baby sibling, she wasn't going to let that happen.

"I'm okay." Lori clearly lied, walking down the rest of the steps, before holding onto the chain beside Carl to keep her upright, all whilst Zoe followed nervously. They could all hear the tonnes of walkers walking past, not bothering to come into the room where they had found safety, and it was frightening. With hardly any ammo, and a pregnant woman about to give birth, it was the worst situation you could possibly be in.. Lori gasped loudly, trying to keep quiet but the pain was getting to her, and Zoe had no idea what to do and how to help her, she didn't have any clue about childbirth. "What are those alarms?" She asked her children, trying to think of something else to forget about the amount of pain she was in.

"For now, don't worry about it, I'm sure dad will find a way to turn it off." Zoe told her mother, as Lori walked away from her, not wanting her children to see her like this.

"What if it attracts them?" Carl asked.

"It won't." She tried to tell him, but she couldn't even convince herself, that. When Zoe saw her mom lean onto the wall again, she spoke up, "Mom, why don't you sit down?" She asked, hoping that it would bring some comfort to her.

"No." Lori refused, "The baby's coming now." She said.

Zoe's eyes widened as Carl spoke. "We have to get back to our cell block, and have Hershel help with the.." He began to explain, only for Zoe to interrupt him.

"I know we do, Carl, but we can't risk going back out there, not with mom like this." Zoe tried to explain. It was extremely hard just getting here, she couldn't imagine going back out there, what if the others hadn't even made it back up to the prison yet? "Mom.. I think you're gonna have to give birth here." She told Lori quietly, unsure if Carl would want to hear that.

Zoe had always wanted to be present during her siblings next birth if she ever had one, as she didn't get to be there for Carl's, but this isn't how she would have liked it done.. "Great." Lori sighed, knowing that her daughter was right.

"What is she doing?" Carl asked, completely out of the circle with no clue on what's going on. "Can she breathe?" He asked, as Lori seemed to be having a panic attack.

"She's fine." Zoe told him, wanting to believe it herself, so bad. The truth was, she wasn't fine, she was going to have to give birth in a basement.. Nobody wants to do that. "Okay.." She sighed, knowing what she had to do, "Let's get your pants off." She told her mom, not thinking that she would ever say something like that to her. It was around this time, did Carl finally realise what was going on, and backed away in complete shock at what was happening. Lori gently lowered herself to the ground and laid on her back, while Zoe undid the woman's buttons in a hurry. "Carl, I'm going to need your help delivering this baby." She told her brother, not bothering to sugar coat it.

He nodded slowly, "Yeah." He breathed, still shocked at what was going down.

Zoe didn't want to be doing this just as much as he did - they needed Hershel's help - she's never delivered a baby before, she's completely clueless. However, she had seen enough hospital drama shows before the outbreak to know what order it went in and what to do first. "I have to check if you're dilated, right?" She asked her mom, incredibly nervous.

"That's right." Lori answered, proud that her daughter knew that.

"Do you know how?" Carl asked.

Zoe shook her head, "I've seen it on TV before, but I don't exactly know how to, I guess we'll just have to see how it goes." She explained, hoping that she had some knowledge. It wasn't exactly the best experience to be looking at that part of your mother's body, but when you had no other choice, it didn't exactly matter, and Lori didn't seem bothered by it at all.. "I can't tell, it's really dark." She told her mom, now worrying even more.

"I gotta push." Lori told her, as Zoe nodded at her. "I gotta push." She repeated, as her daughter helped her stand up. Lori gripped the iron bars in front of her and began to push, before she yelled in pain, taking Zoe's hand in her own, squeezing it hard. "I'm ok." She repeated over and over again, as Carl stayed back.

"You're doing great, mom." Zoe encouraged, giving her words of encouragement to help her mom do this. "Just keep pushing." She said, thinking that it was the best thing to say, well, she thinks that it is.. Zoe tried not to cry as her mom shouted out in pain again, she hated it. However, she was pretty sure that over the teary eyes, she could see blood. "Mom, stop! Stop! Don't push, there's blood!" She told Lori, as she screamed out in pain once again, hurting her daughters heart.

She didn't know what else to do, but when Lori lowered herself down onto the ground, multiple tears slid out of her eyes as she watched the woman who brought her up, cry in pain. At least the alarm had stopped going off.. "Mom." Carl spoke, as Lori tried so hard to fight her consciousness, fighting to stay awake. "Mom, look at me, keep looking at me." He said, helping his sister out, not liking to see the two of them so upset.

"We have to get you back to Hershel, now." Zoe said, keeping her emotions in check for Carl, keeping a straight face. She knew that this wasn't good..

"I'm not gonna make it." Lori told her daughter softly,

Zoe shook her head at her mother, "No, with all of this blood we can't do this here, we need Hershel." She practically begged her mom. "I don't even think you're fully dilated yet, I mean, that means that you shouldn't push yet, right?" She asked, rambling on in fear.

"I know what it means, sweetheart." Lori told her daughter softly, "And I'm not loosing this baby. I know this is going to be hard for you, but you've gotta cut me open." She said. Zoe's eyes widened as she blinked away her tears, unsure if she had heard right - she couldn't cut her mother open, no way. She shook her head, finally allowing the tears to fall, she knew what this meant, if she cut her mom open, she wouldn't survive. "Hunny, you don't have a choice." Lori told Zoe softly, as her daughter froze up.

"I'll go for help, I can make it." Carl began to tell them, only for Lori to interrupt him.

"No!" She shouted.

"Carol practiced a C-section, I have only seen this on TV, I can't do this, mom!" Zoe cried, begging that she didn't have to do this.

"Zoe, please." Lori begged herself.

"There's no equipment, no anaesthetic, nothing I can use to do this." Zoe argued back.

"Carl has a knife." Lori answered, not taking no for an answer - this had to happen, or she was going to die along with the baby.

Zoe looked back at Carl as he stood heartbroken at their moms words, before she looked back at her mom, "But, mom.. You won't survive this." She told her quietly. She didn't want Carl hearing this, it was the last thing he needed to hear or see right now. He was just a kid.

"I'm going to die anyway. This baby has to survive. Please, Zo." Lori begged. "For all of us, you have to do this, please!" She begged, her voice getting louder each second as she pleaded with her daughter to kill her. When Zoe sobbed, tears now fully dripping from her eyes, Lori whispered, "Please. This is your brother or sister." She told her daughter.

Zoe knew she had no other choice, even after arguing with Lori that she could do this, and they they could try and get her back to Hershel, or Carl could look for Carol, but every time Lori shut it down - it had to happen now, and they both knew it, they just wished it didn't have to go down like this. "You can do this. You're strong, and I know you'll be able to get past this, you are your fathers daughter, after all." Lori told Zoe, trying to keep herself from crying, too. "You and Carl are the best things that has ever happened to me, and I love you so much, you know that, right?" She asked her kids, as they both cried silently, "I don't want you two to be scared, okay? This is what I want. This is right. Now, you two are gonna take care of your daddy for me, all right?" She asked.

Zoe looked up at the ceiling, breathing in and out to calm herself down, afraid that she would have a panic attack at any moment. She was about to kill her mother. "And your little brother or sister, you take care of them, too." She told the two of them, while Zoe kept her eyes closed to calm her breathing down.

"You don't have to do this." Carl sobbed, the sound breaking Zoe's heart.

"You're gonna be fine." Lori told him, smiling, "You are going to beat this world. I know you will. You are smart and you are strong, and you are so brave. And I love you." She said.

"I love you too." Carl cried.

"And Zoe." Lori spike up, as Zoe looked down at her mother, tears streaming down her face, "You're the sweetest and most kindest girl that I know, and you don't let anyone take that away from you, okay?" She told her, as Zoe nodded, sniffling, "This world will not break you, I know it won't, you're gonna keep to your true self. I love you, baby." She cried.

Zoe nodded, crying as much as Lori and Carl were, "I love you, mom." She cried, as the three of them held hands, basking in the moment of the last time they will all be with each other, with their mom.

"Promise me that you two will always do right. It's a waste to do the wrong thing in this world." She told her children. "So don't.. So if it feels wrong, don't do it, all right? If it feels easy, don't do it. Don't let the word spoil you." She cried. Lori wiped the tears away from Carl's face, "You're so good." She told him, "You're my sweet boy." She sobbed, making Zoe cry harder, "And you. You're my baby girl." She told her daughter, with a smile, "The best things that I ever did. I love you two."

They all hugged when their mom had finished their speech, and it was the most painful thing that Zoe had ever had to do. But she knew she had to stay strong for her brother, for her mom, and now, her new baby sibling.
She had to. She had to push her feelings aside and do what's right, even if she hated it. She knew this day would haunt her for the rest of her life, but she had to do it for her mom.

Taking a deep breath, she started..