36. infected

QUINN

    'CAREFUL OUT THERE,' RICK'S VOICE echoed through the morning air.

Quinn turned away from Michonne, seeing the man and his son walking towards the garden. It was early in the morning, almost everyone was still asleep. Quinn had come out of bed early to say goodbye to Michonne, who was walking with her horse up to the gate.

Her friend was going out looking for the Governor again, although she told everyone she was just looking for supplies. After their conversation from last night Quinn felt slightly more at ease with her leaving but still not comfortable enough to not feel any nerves watching her friend get ready to leave.

'Always am,' Michonne replied. 'Any requests? Books? Comics? Some stale M&Ms?'

'You're the one who likes stale M&Ms,' Carl chuckled.

'Then I'll definitely be looking for some,' Michonne said, then threw a glare at Rick. 'I'll look for some stuff you like too.'

A small smile appeared on Quinn's face upon seeing Rick trying his hardest to ignore her comment.

'Why don't you wear your hat anymore?' Michonne suddenly asked Carl.

'It's not a farming hat,' Carl replied. 'See you soon?'

'Pretty soon.'

Shaking her head Quinn walked up to the rope that hung next to the gate, pulling at it so the rusty red doors would open. Michonne jumped on her horse, steadily placing herself in the saddle. Throwing one last look at Quinn, she smiled. 'I'll bring some of that soap you like.'

'Yes please,' Quinn replied, offering Michonne a teasing smile.

Then, on Michonne's sign, the horse galloped forwards and Quinn closed the gate behind her friend. Sighing she stared at the closed doors before turning around. Her eyes went around the field, spotting Carl and Rick over by the pigs. Smiling at the sight of father and son farming together she started making her way back towards the courtyard when suddenly a dimmed gunshot sounded from inside the prison.

Without even thinking she started to run towards the gate, her heart beating fast in her chest.

'Cell blocks?' Maggie yelled from the guardtower.

'I don't know!' Rick yelled back.

Quinn rushed up to the gate, pulling it open and running unto the courtyard.

'Walkers in D!' Glenn yelled, coming to run up to them.

'What about C?' Rick asked him.

'It's clear,' Sasha spoke from their right, making Quinn stop in her tracks as she watched her, Tyreese, Milo and Daryl run out of C with their weapons firmly in their hands. 'We locked the gates to the tombs. Hershel's on guard.'

'It ain't a breach,' Daryl yelled, heading towards D.

'We follow the plan!' Sasha responded.

Milo pushed a knife in Quinn's hand as the two of them headed in a sprint after the others towards cell block D. Questions were racing through her mind but she tried to push them away, safe them for later, right now she had to focus.

The gunshots continued to echo through the buildings as they sprinted forwards. Daryl was the first one to reach the door and he forced it open before running inside with his crossbow raised. The screams became louder as Quinn followed him inside, the knife her brother had given her firmly in her hands.

Her eyes widened upon seeing the complete state of chaos the entire cell block was in. Bodies were lying on the ground in puddles of blood while people were running up and down, screaming, with wounded friends in their arms.

Quinn could vaguely hear Rick screaming orders to them but she stop listening when her gaze fell on Luke, a five year old boy, crawling away from a walker with tears streaming down his cheeks. Sprinting forwards she raised her foot and placed it on the walker's back to prevent it from getting up, holding her knife tightly she forced it through the corpse its skull.

Meanwhile Daryl had picked Luke from the ground and handed him over to Karen, yelling at her to go inside a cell and close the door.

Looking around she noticed the others pushing alive people into the cells and killing the corpses until the chaos had calmed down a bit.

'Are we clear down here?' Rick yelled. 'Are we safe?'

'Yeah,' Sasha replied.

'Check up stairs!' Milo yelled and with his gun raised he ran up the metal stairs, followed by Daryl and Quinn. She watched as her brother walked passed the cells and frowned when she saw one of the curtains that hang in front of the doors, move. She was about to scream a warning when a walker came stumbling outside.

Milo let out a groan of effort, pushing the walker with one arm against the wall, holding it steady, while pointing his gun towards the walker his head, pulling the trigger and the creature went down. Breathing heavily he stared at the corpse, before turning back to Quinn and Daryl.

Rick came rushing up the stairs, walking up to them, his eyes darting between the three of them to see if any of them was hurt.

'It's Patrick,' Milo mumbled, staring down at the walker he just killed.

Walking towards the cell, Rick pushed aside the curtain. Quinn took a small step back when her eyes fell on a woman, a deep bite taken out of her neck. She believed her name was Kelly but now she'd never know, as the eyes of the woman were dead and cold.

Daryl let out a small sigh before mumbling: 'I got it.' Loading his crossbow he took a step forwards, before pulling the trigger, releasing the arrow.

Quinn kept her eyes focused on the woman as she watched the arrow pierce through her skull. Taking a shaky breath she turned back around to see Rick walking up to another cell.

She watched as he took out his knife, seeming to steady himself before he walked inside. Daryl came standing next to her, the two of them sharing a quick glare. She couldn't tell what the man was thinking, she never could but she knew he was worried about Rick, just like she was. Rick had barely touched a weapon since he started working in the gardens, almost as if he was trying to avoid becoming who he used to be, who he needed to be in order to survive.

The curtain moved and Rick came walking back outside, blood dripping of the edge of his knife. His hand was slightly trembling but he tightened the grip on his knife to conceal it. Yet it had been there and Quinn knew Daryl had spotted it as well.

Rick was barely able to look at them as they made their way back downstairs where people had started to move the dead bodies, pained cries echoing through the block.

Taking a deep breath Quinn looked around. It felt as if a knife had been stabbed in her heart and twisted around, watching all these people cry for their loved ones. And before she could stop it, Andrea's blue eyes appeared in her mind as well as Merle's teasing smirk. She shook her head and exhaled slowly. She was tired of their ghosts haunting her but she couldn't help but to think of them everyday.

A grunt startled her out of her thoughts and she turned around, seeing Rick kill another walker through the bars of the cell door. He stared at the fallen body before opening the door and stepping inside.

Quinn headed over to him with Daryl and Milo right behind her. Reaching the cell she looked inside, a small frown appearing on her face upon noticing the blood all over the walker its face . It seemed to have been streaming out of his eyes and nose. Milo called Doctor S and Hershel over who had entered the cell block as soon as the walkers had been taken out.

'No bites, no wounds,' Rick said, kneeling down next to the body, 'I think he just died.'

'Horribly too,' doctor S spoke up, 'pleurisy aspiration.'

'Choked to death on his own blood,' Hershel explained. 'Caused those trails down his face.'

'I've seen them before,' Rick added, 'on a walker outside the fences.'

'Patrick had 'em too,' Milo said, staring at the body with a frown on his face.

'They're from the internal lung presure building up, like if you shake a soda can and pop the top. Only imagine your eyes, ears, nose and throat being the top,' doctor S said making a shiver crawl down Quinn's spine.

'It's a sickness from the walkers?' Bob asked.

Quinn turned around, being so focused on the body before her she hadn't heard the man walk up to them.

'No, these things happened before they were around. Could be pneumococcal, most likely an aggressive flu strain.'

'Someone locked him in just in time,' Hershel said.

'No, man. Charlie used to sleepwalk, locked himself in,' Daryl spoke up. 'Hell, he was just eatin' barbecue yesterday. How could somebody die in a day just from a cold?'

'I had a sick pig,' Rick replied, 'it died quick. Saw a sick boar in the woods.'

'Pigs and birds,' Hershel mumbled. 'That's how these things spread in the past.' He took a deep breath. 'We need to do something about those hogs.'

'Maybe we got lucky,' doctor S said, standing up from his position on the ground. 'Maybe these two cases are it.'

'Haven't seen anybody be lucky in a long time,' Milo said, his eyes still focused on the body on the ground.

Quinn frowned slightly, placing her hand on his shoulder. His body tensed before relaxing slowly as he took a shaky breath and finally looked away. She swore she could've seen tears glinstering in his eyes but choose not to say anything about it.

'All of us in here,' Hershel spoke up, 'we've all been exposed.'

Quinn slowly nodded, forcing herself to keep on breathing. It seemed like they had a whole new problem, one they couldn't fight with guns or daggers.

A U T H O R 'S  N O T E

I know this chapter is a little bit short but this is all I have for you guys today. :)

Anyway, I just dropped in to tell you all that I entered this story into the Wattys! Now I'm not sure if I actually have a chance with this little fanfiction since there are so many great fanfics out there but I just thought: why not? and decided to give it a try. I truly love Quinn and Milo and their journey in this chaotic world and I just hope that love is visible in every single chapter and enough to lift the story to a high enough level.

As always, thanks so much for reading. Even if you don't vote or comment, I can see the reads and I'm so thankful for them! Love you guys so much.

xXx

UYM