— DEATH. THAT'S HOW ZOE FELT, stuck in the isolation block, sick people all around her, people dying; it was hell. The second she woke up in the morning, she knew that she had the sickness, and it broke her heart that she couldn't stay with Nate like she usually did — with the boy off on a run, she couldn't see him at all, and that thought alone made her want to cry. She had Glenn by her side, since he was sick too, along with Sasha, and Hershel had come to stay with everyone so he could look after them all, since there needed to be more than one doctor with the sick people, and since Zoe had first arrived at the isolation block, she had been helping Hershel with multiple people who had either began choking on their own blood, or just dying in general. It had been soul crushing, seeing so many people around her die in the most horrid ways, but she couldn't give up, not when she could be helping save people; even being sick, too, it didn't matter. So, whilst she, Glenn and Sasha were coughing their lungs out, they helped get air into Henry's lungs, holding him still as Hershel worked his magic, until the man could finally breathe again.

Every time they had to do this, Zoe's fears only grew that this would happen to her, and she would have Glenn and Sasha holding her down whilst Hershel opens up her airway; her difficulty in breathing was getting much worse, and she could just feel a coughing attack coming soon. Every time she looked at her palm after coughing in them, her heart dropped, the blood there every single time, more and more each time she coughed. "Drink some of that, all of you." Hershel instructed them all, when Henry had passed out. Glenn picked it up, handing it to the girls first for them to drink, "Some council meeting, huh?" The older man attempted to joke, knowing that half of their members weren't here. Zoe couldn't even laugh, having no energy to do so as she leaned against the wall behind her — they were all running on short time, they needed the medication as soon as possible, with more people dying every single minute, choking on their own blood. Sasha looked no better, the woman on the verge of passing out, so Hershel turned to Zoe, "Can you take over?" He asked.

"Yeah, sure." Zoe mumbled, grunting in pain as she sat up and crawled towards Henry's body, taking the ventilator in her hands and giving it a squeeze.

"Now, you squeeze it every five to six seconds. If you get tired, and you feel like you're going to pass out, you call someone to take over, okay?" Hershel asked her, noticing that she didn't look much better than Sasha, who was nearly half asleep behind the blonde girl. Zoe merely nodded as Hershel then left the room with Glenn, the girl squeezing her eyes shut and pulling them open again as she tried to stay awake. If she stopped pumping air into Henry's lungs, he would die, and she couldn't have that, she had to keep him alive, at least until the others came back with the medication they all needed.

Squeeze after squeeze, Zoe's eyes fluttered shut for a few seconds,  having been doing it for a while and growing tired. The coughing was becoming more frequent than before, and even more blood was coming out when she would cough, meaning only one thing, and that was she was getting worse. The girl barely noticed when Sasha had sat up again after having fallen asleep on the floor, Zoe knowing that she shouldn't wake her up since they all barely got any sleep — any sleep counts at the moment, and she knew that Sasha needed it. The woman already looked better when she crawled over to Zoe, "How long have I been out?" She asked.

Zoe shook her head, "A while. I'm not sure how long, I haven't been counting." She said, coughing in between each word as she could barely keep her eyes open anymore. Sasha felt awful, Zoe could've woken her up at any time so she could get some sleep herself, but the girl had been so selfless that she had left the woman get some sleep whilst she suffered.

"Here, let me take over." Sasha said, gently taking Zoe's role, "You should've woken me up, you look exhausted." She told the young girl, guilt eating away at her at the fact that Zoe hadn't woken her up for some help.

"You we're doing a lot worse than me, you needed the sleep." Zoe told Sasha, giving the woman a tight smile as she used the prison bars to pull herself up off of the ground, "I'll be a few cells down, yell to me if you need help." She told her, before taking off to an empty cell down the hall. It had taken a while to get there, hanging onto the railing next to her to stay upright, but eventually, she collapsed into her bed, sighing in relief when her muscles could finally relax. And within seconds, the girl was out like a light.
 
 
 
 
"So, Maggie came to see me, but I couldn't face her, not like this." Glenn told Zoe, as the girl laid down on the bed with him sitting next to her. The boy was looking bad, just like she was, and he didn't blame him one bit for not wanting to see that girl looking and sounding the way he did — they both knew that Maggie would storm into here to help, and Glenn and Hershel didn't want that, not when she was well and unaffected. Zoe was dreading the moment Nate comes back, not because she didn't want to see him, because she did, but she knew that if he saw just how bad she had gotten, he wouldn't hesitate to come inside and look after her; but if she didn't visit him when he asks, he'll know something is up and storm in here, anyway. She knew that she would have to talk to Daryl about that..

"I don't blame you, I wouldn't want Nate seeing me, either." Zoe whispered, her eyes staying shut as she didn't have the energy to lift them again. Hearing Glenn's voice was enough to not scare her that she had died in her sleep, and having his hand gripping hers was giving her the motivation she needed to stay awake in case anything happened and Hershel needed more help. "There's no doubt that he'd storm his way in here when he finally sees how ill I am. It's why I'm so worried for his return, I don't want him to feel like he has to come in here, you know?" She carried on, finally opening her eyes to see Glenn nodding weakly at her words. She knew that if she could have it her way, Glenn would he outside of this place and well, but she was glad that he was in here with her, since he was her best friend.

"Do you think they'll be back soon with the medication?" Glenn asked her, hope in his eyes at the thought of the men and Michonne getting back with the things they needed to survive.

Zoe gave him a small smile, "Yeah, I do." She said, knowing that Nate and Daryl would go through hell to bring that medication back for them all. Say anything you wanted about the Dixon's, but the two of them looked after this group as if they were all family, and would do anything for them all..

Before Glenn could reply to the girl, Hershel popped his head into the cell, "Your daddy's outside." The man informed Zoe, having just spoken with Rick and seeing that the man wanted to talk to his daughter.

Zoe's heart instantly picked up at his words, a small smile on her face as Glenn helped her sit up, the girl coughing as he did so. "Thanks, Hershel." She whispered, patting his arm as she passed him, using the railings again to help her walk and get down the stairs. Although she knew that Nate would waltz right in here after seeing her, she knew that her dad wouldn't do the same, not because he didn't care, because he did, but he also had Carl and Judith to look after, and Zoe trusted him to keep his head on straight when it came to her. After nestling falling down the stairs, Zoe used the walls to walk onwards to where her dad was waiting for her, finally coming to a stop in front of the window with a smile on her face at the sight of her dad.

Rick's heart instantly dropped into his stomach at the sight of his daughter, the girl looking like she was dying, and it made him want to go in there and comfort his little girl, but he knew he couldn't, he had to look after everyone else, and he knew that she knew that. "Zo.." The man sighed, running a hand down his face in stress as he deeply sighed, hating how the girl looked.

"I look worse than I feel, trust me." Zoe joked, trying to make her dad feel better, even with the way she looked — there wasn't any mirrors in this place, but she didn't need a mirror to see that she looked awful, the dried blood around her moth and eyes were making it hard to move her face, and she could feel the bags underneath her eyes. "How's Carl and Judith? Are they okay?" She asked, knowing that she wouldn't be able to live with herself if either of them became sick.

Rick hated the fact he couldn't comfort her, knowing that she must be feeling so unwell and he couldn't do the one thing a parent should when their child was sick, "They're okay, they're doing good." He informed her, watching as her shoulders sagged in relief. "Hershel says you've lost three people already?" Rick asked, knowing that Zoe would give him more insight on what's going on in there and not hide the truth like Hershel had just done with him. The old man was trying to stay hopeful, but he just needed to know how bad things were in there.

Noticing the look on her fathers face, Zoe sighed, sitting on the bed behind her and looking up at him, "It's not going so well in here, dad. People are scared, people are dying, and we don't have nearly enough equipment to deal with them all. It's tough." She told him truthfully, knowing that he needed to know the truth. "We're doing the best we can, but honestly.. It's not enough." She continued, feeling good to get this out of her system. She couldn't say this back in the cell block without anyone else hearing, and she didn't want to say it near Hershel, either, because the man still had hope. That's what they needed, just one person to have hope..

Rick frowned at her words, Hershel having made out that they were getting by; it didn't surprise him that the man had sugar coated the situation, he had always had more hope than anyone else in this place. The man sighed, "I'll come back later to see how things are going, you just need to rest, okay? Carl and Judith need you back out here with them." He told his daughter, the girl giving him a small smile as she nodded. But just like that, her smile faded as she bent over, a coughing fit breaking out as she fell to the ground, spitting out the blood onto the floor, "Zoe!" Rick called, anger souring through him at the fact that he couldn't go in there and help her.

Zoe held up her hand to indicate that she was okay, "I'm fine. I'm fine." She told him, wiping her mouth as she pulled herself up again, also wiping her nose as it had begun to bleed. "Just a cough." She said, giving him the most unconvincing smile ever, the girl moving in front of the blood on the floor so he would stop looking at her in horror; "Look, dad, I'm a lot better than a lot of people in here, okay? I'm fine." Zoe told him, when Rick's expression of horror never left his face. "Can you do me a favour? When Nate comes back, you need to keep him away from here, because if he sees me like this, there's no way he'll stay away, and you need him out there." She told him, the man instantly nodding.

"I'm sorry, Zo." Rick apologised, the girl knowing that he was talking about not being able to comfort her; she could see how much it was breaking his heart, how scared he was at the mere sight of her.

Zoe shook her head weakly, "Don't be. Just, look after everyone, okay? We'll be fine in here." She said, giving him another weak smile as he could see straight through it.

Rick hated to admit it, but she was right, there wasn't anything he could do for them besides look out for everyone in the prison who wasn't sick; it wouldn't do anyone any good if he went in there and got sick, and he knew that Zoe wouldn't forgive him if he did so. So, with a sad farewell, Zoe limped back into the isolation block, slowly dragging herself up the stairs and back towards Glenn, who was with Henry keeping him alive — but when she heard commotion from behind her, she spun around, coming face to face with a walker headed straight for her. The girl screamed as she hit the floor, her head banging against the side of the step behind her as she fell, causing the girl to erupt into another coughing fit, but this time, she was stuck on her back with a walker clawing at her throat on top of her.
Luckily for Zoe, another girl had tackled the walker off of her, the girl barely being able to move as the blood came gushing out of her throat and onto her face, wanting to roll onto her side, but not having enough energy. Across the room, she heard a gun shot, then another as more screaming echoed out, Zoe's vision blurring from the blood pouring into her eyes, the girl slowly fading away as she couldn't breathe, the tears streaming out as she cried out, hoping that someone would notice she was choking and come to help her. The next thing she knew, she was being rolled onto her side, Sasha holding on tight to the girl as she let her throw up the blood, before pulling her away from the main area and into a cell, pulling the door shut so the walkers couldn't get them.

Crying, Sasha attempted to repeat Hershel's steps, pushing the girls mouth open as she protested, the pain becoming too much, but she didn't stop, gently pushing the tube into her mouth and down her throat as gently as she could as Hershel didn't have time to come and help her — Zoe had never felt so much pain in her throat before, the tube pushing its way down as she couldn't breathe, her vision blackening when she felt her life slip away, before she finally succumbed to the blackness threatening to swallow her whole.
 
   
 
 
——
 
 
 
 
The second Nate pulled up at the prison, he sprung out of the car and didn't even think twice before sprinting towards the prison, heading towards the isolation block where Zoe was currently staying; the whole journey back, the girl was all he could think about, belong that he had to get back as soon as possible to make sure the girl was okay. Without even comprehending what had happened around him, he ran, not stopping until he was outside of the prison block, seeing the viewing window smashed. Nate didn't care about getting sick at this point, the only thing he could think about was making sure that Zoe was doing okay, so when he rushed into the cell block, the last thing he expected was to see Sasha doing CPR on the love of his life. "What happened?" The man rushed out as he sprinted towards Zoe and took over, pushing his hands down at a rhythmic pace, already feeling the tears forming in his eyes, "No, no, no. Zoe, you open your eyes, don't you do this." He pleaded, Sasha beginning on the ventilator again as Tyreese ran in, his eyes widening at the sight in front of him. "Come on, baby, breathe. Don't you leave me. You promised." He continued, not caring that Tyreese and Sasha could see him.

The man took over Sasha's job, the woman falling backwards in exhaustion from having to drag Zoe into this cell, now watching as Tyreese and Nate worked on saving the young girls life. Nate looked like he was on the verge of a meltdown, not stopping with his pumping, unable to do so; Tyreese felt the side of the girls neck after some time passed, and almost cried out in relief when he felt a pulse. "Nate, she has a pulse." He informed the kid, knowing that Zoe was going to be okay as long as he kept pumping the air bag.

Nate cried out, finally stopping with his pumps and collapsing on top of the girl he loved, crying when he realised he was so close to loosing her — it was like, every time the two got split up, something would happen to Zoe, and he hated it. "Thankyou, brother." Nate thanked Tyreese, looking up at the man with a grateful nod as he took over with the air bag. The boy stroked a finger down his girlfriends face, tears falling down his own face as he saw the blood around her mouth and around her eyes, his heart breaking that he hadn't been there for her — he should have been quicker getting back, and he knew that he would hate himself for the rest of his life because of it. But the thing he had to remind himself, was that the girl he loved was alive, and that's all that mattered to him.