Daughter of a Dixon ✔️

24: Clearing with Carl

We spent the night in the courtyard, with a crackling fire to keep us warm. It felt good, after all the months we'd spent on the road and in the open, to finally be safe.

The next morning, though? That was when the true work began.

We devised a plan to help us clear out another section of the prison. Rick, Dad, Maggie, Glenn, and T-Dog would enter the sealed off courtyard, while Lori, Carl, Beth, Hershel, Carol, and I would remain outside the fences, trying to draw the walkers away from the inside group and kill as many as we could.

As the inside group entered the courtyard, I positioned myself in between Carl and Lori, whom, since the farm, I had worked out my differences with. She actually apologized for the way she treated me, and explained that it was a combination of pregnancy hormones and overall frustration. I didn't know how much I believed that, but I just went along with it and whole heartedly forgave her.

Anyway, we all tried our best to distract as many walkers as we could from the group. We were able to lure a few over, and we took care of them easily. Although, most of them were adamant on getting to Rick's group, but, with our awesome people, the walkers were sent to the ground in an instant.

That was, until some showed up wearing body armor.

When I saw those walkers, I immediately got nervous, and started banging on the fence, hoping they would come over to our group. Unfortunately, they didn't, and went straight for Rick's circled arrangement of people.

I watched, both my hands clamped around the fence nervously, as they tried to take out the armored walkers. Eventually, Maggie found the way to do it; by stabbing them from underneath the chin, and driving the knife up to their brain.

Once they finish those walkers off, they slammed a gate leading into yet another courtyard shut, with several walkers growling and snarling behind it. Then, they actually proceed to head into the prison, basically leaving our group in the dust.

"What are they doing?" Beth asked, trying to see around the building.

"I don't know... maybe checkin' to see if it's safe?" I questioned, raising an eyebrow.

We all waited a few, long minutes, our hearts thumping rapidly in our chests, until the group emerged from the inside.

"We've got a cell block clear, we sealed it off and found a set of keys on one of the guards," Rick said, walking out pridefully.

I looked around to everyone with a grin on my face, nodding with content as Rick came over and opened the gate for us. Quickly, we all rushed inside, trying not to grab the walkers attention.

When we entered the cell, the smell of mildew and rotting flesh immediately hit my nostrils. The inside of the prison was all grey; there was hardly any color whatsoever. But, I guess you couldn't expect much from a prison.

"Go ahead and pick out a cell; we've got keys, so don't worry about getting yourself locked in," Rick said, walking around warily.

"We're sleepin' in the cells?" Beth asked, her nose wrinkled as she glanced around at the place.

I heard Dad scoff. "I ain't sleepin' in no cage. I'll take the perch," he said, already ascending a set of stairs that lead to a loft.