Chasing Amy (Daryl Dixon/The Walking Dead)

Chapter 36 - Prison

It took Rick a good while to actually find how to reach this supposed "safe haven" on road, but using the map he managed to figure it out. When Maggie and the rest returned with bottles full of dirty water that'd have to be boiled later on, they were surprised to see Rick still bent over the map.

The drive, however, was only a small one. This was a good thing since I was eagerly anticipating the moment we arrived at this prison... When Rick has told Lori and I about it at first, I was unsure as to whether or not I'd misheard him. But, yes, the fact was that Daryl and Rick had found a well-protected prison for us to live in.

When the cars rolled up to a sturdy looking wire fence, topped with barbed-wire, I felt the reality hit me hard.

We were trying to break into a prison.

The irony wasn't lost on me. Another thing that surprised me was the sheer amount of roamers that had accumulated around this fence, pressing their rotting noses against the wires.

"Be on your guard, from the moment we get out," Maggie instructed under her breath as she pulled up beside T-Dog and Carol in the blue truck.

I jumped out of the car as soon as it stopped, before taking a few steps back so I could really see what it was like.

Carol had the same thing in mind, walking along with me.

This place was huge. It was the only word I could have used to describe the prison, besides maybe miserable. There were two watch towers, each looking the biggest from where they were located by the front gate. It looked a bit like a warehouse, with many different sections and large buildings all joined together, all contained by fences that ran all the way around it.

But this prison looked cold. It looked harsh and unforgiving, even without the hundreds of roamers that probably inhabited the area. Almost all of the walls that I could see were stained with blood, or rust or dirt.

There was nowhere in this place that looked particularly clean.

"Glenn, get the bolt cutters," Rick ordered almost immediately, as everyone looked away to the distant buildings in awe. "We're gonna need to cut our way in."

"There's so much space," Carol murmured from beside me. She held her hand over her eyes, looking out past the fence.

"There's so many walkers." T-Dog nodded to the lost-looking corpses.

They wandered aimlessly around the space, the faint sounds of their growls filling the silence in the air.

"Yeah, like the ones righ' behind you," Daryl snapped, turning as he aimed down the sights of his crossbow, before shooting an arrow to one particular ill-fated roamer that must have been walking towards us.

I made a grab for one of the knives in my belt pouch, holding it at the ready... Just in case. It seemed Glenn and T-Dog were already sprung into action, as the group of around four roamers were soon lying on the floor, dead.

Rick walked down a bit, before choosing a place to begin cutting through the fence, wire-by-wire. It seemed a long process, but he was as fast-working as he could have been under the circumstances. I jumped back as Glenn stabbed another roamer against the fence, pushing the long metal pole against its stomach. Maggie jumped in front of him, swinging her small axe into its already bloody head.

"Watch the backside," Rick shouted, as I fell into some kind of unorganised formation with the rest of the group. Carl was stood beside me, holding his gun at the ready. I tried to look as though I wasn't freaking out, holding my tiny knife in hand.

"Got it." Finally, the last wire had been cut, revealing a small hole big enough for even T-Dog, if he squeezed. Rick held the gap open for each of us to duck through, and as I dipped under the fence, he unhooked a piece of my shirt which snagged on a poking wire.