For You // R.G.

Chapter 56

"We broke our promise with keeping this in the cell tower." I referenced to Rick and I doing it in the prison. He laid there shirtless, his arm wrapped around me keeping me close to him. I laid on his shoulder, I was in one of his clean shirts.

"Last night was still great..." He says, he kisses my forehead. He got out of bed, only in his boxers so I watched him. He slipped his jeans on and got a shirt from the top bunk, he started to do his belt.

"I'll get you breakfast, darling." He then left, I got up out of bed and went to get Judith from Carol's cell. She was sleeping in the crib, I picked her up and went to go to where Rick was to bring her to him.

"Thank you." Rick says once he sees that I brought Judith with me. He takes her after he hands me my plate of food. We both sit down at the table, I ate as he fed Judith formula.

..

I was keeping watch in the tower. I felt warm, I took off my jacket to try and cool off. I felt my nose start to run and before I knew it, I was coughing, and it wasn't just one cough, I started to cough harder and once I stopped, I leaned against the rail. I felt dizzy and I knew that I was sick. I was trying to think of any things that could've caused my cold, it wasn't cold out and we've been in summer for awhile now, so I couldn't have gotten it from changes in the season. I didn't know anyone else who was sick in the prison. I stopped thinking about it once I determined it as a simple cold, it'd go away in a few days. I then caught Rick looking at me, his hand over his eyes to try and see me better from below.

"Are you okay?" He yelled up to me, I nodded and stood up straight.

"Yeah, I'm fine. I think it's just a little cold."

He kept his eyes on me a little longer but went to the door of the tower. I sighed, it wasn't a big deal.

He came up to me, he looked at me through squinted eyes as if he wasn't seeing right.

"What? Why are you looking at me like that?"

He came up to me, he lifted my chin up and examined my neck,

"You're sick."

"No shit." I snapped. He then pressed his hand to my forehead, checking my temperature.

"You look terrible." He says with a concerned tone,

"Thanks. I was just about to say how hot you looked in that shirt." I joked, he smiled a little but kept his concerned face.

"Rick, would ya leave me be?" I asked annoyed, I pushed past him to go get my gun from against the wall but as I walked, everything was moving and I fell.

"Max!" Rick exclaimed, he came up to me, lifting me up, I couldn't move my limbs or head up because I was too weak. I felt so sick now, sicker than I was a few minutes ago.

"Come on, you're laying in bed." He says, he carries me down the stairs. I lifted my arm up weakly to touch his face,

"You're so nice." I smiled, he snickered as he kept walking up to the prison. When we reached our cell, he slowly let me down on the cell bunk. He called Hershel in the cell, he stayed by me as Hershel came over to us. He examined my lymph nodes and asked me if my stomach felt bad,

"Hershel... I just have a cold." I say, he looked at me and didn't say anything, he then looks at Rick.

"What has she eaten in the last two days?"

Rick gave him a weird look, "just bacon and eggs today. Yesterday she had trail mix and chicken."

Hershel was about to say something but Rick interjected, "I always cook everything thoroughly, especially for my family." He says. I smiled at him when he called me his family, he held my hand and squeezed it, still looking at Hershel. Hershel was suspiciously quiet.

"Rick, can I have a word with you?"

Rick nodded, he slowly let go of my hand and left my cell.

Rick's POV

"There's a virus going around, Rick. She has it." Hershel says once we left the cell. I paused, I started to get worried.

"A virus? What do you mean?-"

"Others have it and they have the same symptoms. I think it's from the pigs."

I clench my jaw, I look to the side, my mind racing. "Is it like food poisoning or just stomach flu?"

"The pigs are infected with something. The one that died a few days ago... All the pigs have it I think. And we've been eating them-"

"You're telling me that she has the same thing the pigs do?" I was starting to get worked up. I looked back at the cell she was in,

"Rick, you need to calm down." I looked at him, "everyone that has it has had it for a few days. Their symptoms haven't improved and it's proven to be contagious. I'm afraid we'll have to put her in quarantine with the others-"

"She isn't going-" I protested,

"Rick!" He yelled. I knew I wasn't thinking straight and I was being dramatic but I didn't want her going in there.

"She is fine."

"We don't know what this sickness does, Rick. We can't have it spreading to Carl or Judith or you. We have to put her in there."

I looked back at her, "where's the quarantine?"