The Sound of Silence

It has been a couple of days since we left the remaining prisoners in their own cell block. Although, they still managed to find a way back to us, claiming that their dead friends that lay in their cells were haunting them. The scrawny redneck insisted that he could hear their ghosts talking to him. For now, the two of them sat locked up in the front entrance gates, where they were out of our way yet we could still keep an eye on them.

Today we had a lot to get done. We wanted to get a start on planting some crops for the future. Although, the first thing we needed to do was round up some firewood so we could clear the bodies in our field and get rid of them for good. Herschel was also doing well. Beth had crafted together a pair of crutches so he could start learning how to move about again.

Rick had rounded Glenn, Daryl, and I to help him carry in some wood through the fence while T-Dog, Maggie, and Carol moved our vehicles. Daryl stood guard around us with his crossbow while we each heaved a pile of logs back to the fence.

"Well, would you look at that," I said, looking up to see Herschel walking down the stairs on his crutches. Beth, Lori, and Carl stood around him, steadying him as he learned to walk again. Rick and Glenn dropped their woodpile on top of mine as they stood and watched.

"Way to go Herschel!" Glenn shouted from where we were.

I turned and lightly hit him on the shoulder, laughing, "would you keep it down," I said as I pointed to the walkers coming out of the woods.

"Can't we just have one good day?" he sighed.

This was a good day though, Herschel was up and walking and we now had a place we could make our own. Everyone stood in silence watching him as he hobbled down the courtyard, happy that he was still here with us. Rick grabbed onto the second fence, looking at Lori standing beside Herschel like he was proud of her. This was a good moment.

Before we could even grasp it, the moment was cut short with a tiny scream coming from Carl, "Walkers!"

From where we were we could faintly see a herd of walkers stumble up from behind Herschel, they filtered out through one of the prison entrances.

"No!" Rick yelled before taking off in a sprint around the fence. We were too far from them.

"Glenn the fence!" I yelled back at him as we left our gate to the outside wide open. He slid and turned back around to shut it while we continued to bolt for the main gate.

"Lori!" Rick screamed again, thinking about his wife and unborn baby in harm's way. "Get out of there! Go!"

The gunshots began to go off now, one after another. They had T-Dog, Maggie, and Carol in there with them but that still wasn't enough people for the number of walkers that continued to stagger out of the prison. Where did they all come from? I sprinted around the last corner being the first one to make it to the gate, my heart was racing and my hands shook as I grabbed onto the lock.

"The keys, the keys! Glenn has the keys!" I shouted back to Rick. Glenn threw the keys forward to Daryl, then Daryl to Rick, then Rick to me. I fumbled with them before getting the lock undone. All I could hear were screams and gunshots which only made me panic more. Getting to the second gate Rick shouted at me to move faster. I looked down at the silver chain, there were so many keys on this damn clasp. Finally, I found the right one and slammed open the final gate.

"Hey, what about us?" Axel yelled as we freed them. I didn't care about what they did at this time though.

By the time we got up to the courtyard only Beth and Herschel remained, they had locked themselves up by an entrance that had been caged in.

"What the hell happened?" Rick yelled as the four of us took out the surviving walkers.

"We don't know, the gate was open!" Beth cried. She was referring to the gate we had locked up the first day we took the prison. Someone must have opened it to let out the walkers we kept tapped in there.

"Where's Carl, Lori, everyone else?" Rick questioned.

"Maggie led Carl and Lori into C block," Herschel answered him.

The walkers continued to accumulate at the gate, there had to be at least forty of them shaking on the fence trying to get through. It was closed up again now, which means one of us must have reclosed it.

"Anyone else?"

"I couldn't tell."

"Alright, stay put!" Rick demanded.

"Those chains didn't break on their own, someone had to have taken an ax or a cutter to it," Glenn said, huffing heavily after killing the final walker within the courtyard.

Rick turned and looked towards the two inmates, funny how the day they returned from their cell block our gates happened to be open. They find shelter locked up with us to ensure their protection from the mess they made.

"You think they did it?" I asked as I watched the two men walk into the courtyard. They looked hesitant to come in from the massacre that just took place.

"Who else?" Rick spat.

Just then an ear-piercing alarm blared through the prison speakers. A sound so loud you'd be able to hear it for miles.

"W-what's that?" Glenn asked, scared.

"You gotta be kidding me!" Daryl shouted.

We were in trouble now, any walker within the area would be drawn to that sound. Someone was fucking with us. I located one of the speakers attached to the prison wall and began to shoot at it, trying to break it. It was no use though, my bullets simply ricochet off of the steel only sparking it, but not causing any damage.

"How the hell can this be happening!" Rick ran up to the inmates, his gun raised.

"Woah, Woah, it has to be da backup generators," Oscar raised his hands.

"Well, how do you turn those on?"

"There's three that's hooked up to a diesel tank, okay. Each one controls a part of the prison," he explained, "The hacks shut 'em all off when the prison was overrun."

"Can someone open up the main gates electronically with full power?" Rick interrogated him.

"I only worked there a few days. I guess it might be possible," Oscar tried his best to help. Rick wasn't having it though, we were all in danger if we didn't shut that alarm off.

Rick grabbed onto the collar of his shirt, "Come with us!"

We ran into our own cell block first, looking for Carl, Maggie, and Lori. All we were met with were more walkers. Five of them limped around our common room, their heads immediately snapping up as they caught a whiff of our scent. I jumped over the railing onto the back of a walker, crushing it beneath me as I sunk my knife in its head. With the help of Daryl and Glenn, we were able to clear a path for Rick to run through to the cells.

"Lori! Carl!" Rick shouted for his family.

"Are they here?" Glenn asked as we followed in suit.

"There were four walkers, but no sign of Lori or any of them," Rick paced back and forth.

"They must have been pushed back into the prison," I said. It was the only plausible answer.

Rick sighed before shouting again, "Someone is playing games! We'll split up and look for the others," he said running towards the tunnel entrance, "whoever gets to the generators first, shut 'em down!"

Glenn, Daryl, and Axel split off one way looking for Lori while Rick and I got Oscar to lead us to where he thought the generators were. We had been weaving through hallways as fast as possible while we had a group of walkers trailing close behind us. Our main priority was the generators though if we could stay far enough away from the walkers we weren't about to waste time on taking them out.

"There!" Oscar yelled, pointing ahead of us to a door that read Caution on it.

"Scar, get the door!" Rick shouted at me as the walkers clawed at my back.

I slammed the door shut, throwing my body weight against it as the walkers tried to body their way through. Oscar helped me as he could see my feet sliding from the strength of the walkers.

"How do you shut these down!" Rick yelled to Oscar, staring at all the switches on the diesel tank.

"Go help him, I got it," I panted as I latched my hand around the door handle and grounded my foot against one of the machines to keep me steady.

I could hear one of the tanks power down as they found the correct switch before the sound of metal clashing against each other caught my attention. Andrew jumped out from the corner, swinging an ax at Rick's head. I thought he was dead. He missed the first time and hit one of the machines, sending sparks everywhere. He slashed Oscar across the face before pinning Rick against the wall. I didn't know what to do, I couldn't let go of the door, I was useless.

I could hear them tossing around the room, taking turns slamming each other against their surroundings trying to fight for the ax. From the corner of my eye, I could see Andrew hit Rick's cheekbone with the base of the ax and kick his gun from his hand.

"Oh fuck this," I murmured to myself before releasing the door and letting the walkers in. The first fell to the floor. I stepped on its back, holding it down, and stabbed the second walker through the skull. A bang then came from behind me as I could see Oscar throw a metal barrel at Andrew. I slammed the door shut again and killed the walker on the ground.

I turned to see Oscar holding Rick's gun, aiming it straight at Rick's head. Andrew stood up behind Rick, while Rick raised his hand trying to calm Oscar down.

"Shoot him! We can take back this prison," Andrew pleaded to Oscar. My breath was hitched in my throat as I watched this all unfold. "Whachu' waiting for, do it! This is our house, shoot him!" Andrew yelled.

Oscar moved the gun slightly, now aiming it at Andrew. Within a blink of an eye, the gun went off, killing Andrew. Oscar flipped the gun around, the handle now pointing to Rick as he nodded. Rick grabbed his gun from him, nodding back as thanks. Rick walked over to the main generator, slamming down two levers to finally shut off the alarm. At last, there was silence.

"Let's go."