Ch. 23 Safe!!!!!

They made their way to the side of the fence. Rick used bolt cutters to cut the fence and slip in. They brought melee weapons and guns. But would only use guns if they needed to.

The group is currently in between two fences that surround the place making a safe path all the way around. The walkers are on either side of it. They run around to a sliding gate and see the main entrance to the prison. The gate leading to the prison is open allowing more walkers to exit and enter the grass field.

"We need to first get that gate closed so we can clear this field. If we don't, all the walkers in the prison will just keep funneling in. I'll run and close the gate an-" Rick talks but is cut off.

"I'm faster than everyone here. Plus I can take down more walkers with my hands than you can with your silenced pistol that you will have to reload" Michael offers and points out

"No! You ca-" Maggie tried to stop Michael.

"Yes I can. And I will. Trust me. I'll have everyone covering me and I think I've proven I'll be safe on my own for a while if things get bad" Maggie isn't happy but remembers when Michael fought through 50 walkers somehow to save Glenn, Tdog and Jimmy. It was close and they would have died if Michael hadn't saved them.

"Fine, Michael will run to the gate" Rick hands the carabiners to Michael to keep the gate closed. Michael has a pair of gloves on to protect his fingers for this mission. Michael was wearing his black leather jacket. Everyone has gotten used to thinking he would overheat or be dehydrated. He rarely seemed to be affected by the weather which made everyone else jealous.

"Glenn, Maggie, Jimmy, Patricia, Andrea and Beth. You spread out over there and draw as many as you can. Pop them through the fence" He points to the far side of the fence.

"Daryl, you go back to the other tower. Carol, you've become a pretty good shot. Take your time, we don't want to waste any ammo"

"Dale, Hershel, Carl, Paul, and Briana. Take this tower right here"

There is one watch tower on each corner and one tower at the gate leading to the prison.

"I'll run with Michael, I don't feel comfortable not going in myself. We already have enough people shooting or acting as a distraction"

Lori would get the gate since she shouldn't be stresssd or something. The group splits up and goes to their positions.

Rick and Lori look into each others eyes but don't say anything and then she opens the gate.

There is a prison bus that is on its side right at the gate but there is enough room to freely walk into the field. Rick enters first with his silenced pistol. He headshots three walkers as he moves across the gravel road to the gate.

Michael once he saw that Rick was done being trigger happy started his sprint. No walkers could react to him as they were picked off by the shooters or went to the gate currently.

Michael took the carabiners connected by the chain and attached one to the sliding gate before he started moving it.

On the prison grounds was a ton of walkers. Luckily Michael quickly slid the gate over and attached the other carabiner to the fence that wouldn't move.

The walkers tried to bite his fingers when he grabbed the gate which pissed him off since if Rick did this they wouldn't have gone after his fingers. He wore his gloves for this reason. But he was able to close it without problem.

The only problem now was that Rick was running up to him with walkers following behind.

Michael opened the door to the tower next to the gate prepared for walkers to come out but it seems he was a little lucky today. He only had to smash one skull in and made room for Rick as he climbed up.

Michael found two snipers and a few ammo. Rick took one and they started to pick off the walkers. Michael could see Lori took out a snub-nosed revolver and was even shooting.

He heard Tdog shout "Light it up!". And so everyone shot the walkers like fish in a barrel.

The gun shots stopped when there were no walkers in the field anymore. Rick sighed in relief as he look over the safest place since the farm.

"Yes!" Michael shouted in relief. Nobody had died because of his stupid mistake that left them in the open for months.

Rick and Michael climbed down the tower and watched as the others walked towards them into the open fields.

Glenn had to kill a walker that was playing dead. That still confused Michael.

The sun was setting and everyone felt good. Carol was excited as she turned around to admire how much free space they had. Everyone cheered or hollered in finally getting to their destination. Tdog was the loudest.

Michael had already checked his fingers to see if a walker had bitten through the material but it seems he was safe. That didn't mean it didn't hurt. How could a rotten corpse still have that much jaw muscle, stupid and scary.

They met up and Rick told everyone to bring the vehicles close to the fence but to not block their exit. Some people moved the cars while others moved the bodies. It was the men who were on body duty while the women were on car duty mostly. Dale and Hershel couldn't lift heavy things so they were tasked with setting up the fire for the night.

Rick wanted to make sure the fence was fully secure so he marched around the entire thing multiple times. He was slow and made sure nothing was getting in.

After Michael was done moving bodies he went to the outer fence which had accumulated quite the number of walkers trying to get in. He grabbed Tdogs fire poker and stabbed them as he went around. He wondered why nobody had done this and just left them. That was lazy and sloppy of them. But Michael didn't mind doing it, made him feel helpful, like he hadn't wasted months of their time.

Darkness soon came and enveloped the prison. The moonlight was bright with no clouds for miles.

Daryl was on top of the overturned bus at the entrance gate. The vehicles parked just on the other side. Rick was still walking the perimeter of the inside fence. Michael was still stabbing walkers on the outside while he walked the fenced path.

The rest of the group was sitting down around the fire. They had their sleeping bags out along with some food they were enjoying.

Beth and Jimmy were in the weird position of being treated like kids at times and like adults at others. It's just their age was right at the tipping point. Beth has proven herself capable but a little unstable while Jimmy...well, Jimmy is Jimmy. If Michael had to put words to it, he would say that at least Jimmy tries. Doesn't mean it's good or bad. He just tries.

Michael would always find new walkers that appeared from nowhere along the fence so he stayed busy. How did nobody else get their fingers bitten, it's almost like Michael was playing on perma-hard while the others had easy that jumps to medium or hard randomly.

Michael appreciated the consistency at least. Always made him stay on his toes. It just pissed him off that Jimmy would get jumpscared by a walker and it would fall over its own feet, meanwhile it would latch onto Michael who had to peel its flesh and muscle away from the bone and fight tooth and nail to not get bitten. Absolute bull that fun experience was. And Jimmy just froze, Michael wondered if he was so scared he forgot to piss himself or not. Anyway, his gloves were definitely coming in handy.

He turned to face the group of people and leaned on the inner fence to watch them.

Michael saw Carol go over to Daryl on top of the bus. She climbed up and handed Daryl some food and they started talking. Michael was too far away but it seemed like a good talk. Then Daryl put his food down and liked his fingers clean. Ew, but whatever. He's got that redneck immunity or whatever to sickness.

Michael takes off his left glove and checks his fingers. He sees Daryl massaging Carols shoulder. It's probably sore after her shooting. Or she just wanted Daryl to touch her...Yeah. Michael sees them just having fun and decides to whistle at them.

He wolf whistles at them with only one hand but it's loud enough. Daryl turns around and can see Michael looking at him and Carol.

"Screw off Michael!" Daryl shouts as he flips him off.

"Do you need the c-bag?!" Michael shouted and had a smirk plastered on his face as he put his glove back on.

"Don't make me get down and kick your ass all the way back to the farm!"

"You wouldn't!"

"Probably not but we can see how far I get!"

Michael picks up the fire poker and walks away. "I wonder how far too?" He asked himself as he went back to poking the walkers.

Daryl and Carol talked for a bit more. Carol asked what 'tea-bag' they were talking about and Daryl avoided the question. Carol said something about not very sexy and something about screwing around. Michael almost tripped over his boots. Carol got more daring but this was new. Even Daryl froze for a second. Only time Michael saw him freeze was when they cleared that camp of rats before they left the farm. Carol laughed it off but Michael knew better.

"I'll go down first" Daryl says as he bends over to get off the bus.

"Even better" Carol states as she looks at Daryls jeans tighten as he crouched down.

"Damn Carol, find something you like?" Michael mumbles to himself.

"Stop" Daryl says after taking a look back at her. He then hops down. Then he helps Carol down and he walks over to the group around the fire.

"Pssst! Carol! Over here!" Michael says just loud enough for Carol to hear as she watches Daryl walk away. Man, she knows what she wants at least.

Carol turns around but only sees the bus. "Michael, is that you?!" She whispers back.

"Yeah! I'm on the other side of the bus inside the fenced in path! Come over here, I have something to give you!" Michael takes off his right glove.

Carol goes around the bus and sees Michael reach into the inside of his leather jacket. He pulls something out and motions Carol to come closer.

"Here, take these!" Michael is dying of laughter on the inside.

Carol walks over and holds out her hand for Michael to drop whatever he's holding.

Carol feels two plastic wrappers hit her palm. She moves it closer to her face to see what they are and is shocked. They are condoms.

"Michael! Why do you have these on you!? And why are you giving me two?!"

"I'm dating Maggie and I'm not supposed to have condoms on me at all times? And obviously I'm giving you two just incase one breaks! Or if Daryl gets a second wind, he might have it in him! Hahaha!"

Michael couldn't hold the laughter in and walks away laughing.

"Michael!"

"Haha! You're welcome in advance! Hahaha!"

Carol looks at the condoms and puts them away and heads back to the group with a blush on her face.

Michael is really proud of himself. Let's see what Carol decides to do now. He hopes that Daryl and her get together. She's better than Andrea.

Carol gets back to the group and asks Maggie to go talk with Michael, he's been killing walkers for hours now. Lori also gets up after Hershel tells her that Rick has been checking the fence and would have found something by now.

Both women go to talk to their mans.

Maggie goes towards Michael who is facing away from her. He is taking care of three walkers.

"Hey Michael, how you feeling? Why don't you get something to eat and drink. Someone else can take care of the walkers on the outside for you"

Michael kills the last one and turns to see Maggie with a worried expression and arms crossed.

"I'm alright. I just wanted to be sure that the walkers wouldn't stress the fence as soon as we got in. Walk with me over to the gate?" Michael lowers the fire poker to his side and walks with Maggie to the gate to let him inside the field.

He takes off his gloves and set the fire poker next to the bus for the next person to use.

He takes off his leather jacket and puts it around Maggie. "It's getting colder Y'know. It might snow in a month maybe. And thanks for checking on me, I didn't realize how hungry I was"

Maggie puts on the giant jacket and feels Michael's heat from it. It was almost too hot but it was nice. She saw Michael's tshirt cling to his torso and show off his ridiculous muscles.

"So what did you and Carol talk about?"

"Nothing much, I just wished her luck in her pursuit of Daryls heart"

"That's kind of you. I also hope they get together"

"Oh yeah? Who else do you want to see get together?" Michael asks mischievously. He loves the gossip of the group and Maggie won't admit it but she also enjoys it.

"Not many others. Lots of age gaps. But I'd say Carl has a nice shot with Briana"

"They do seem to have gotten close lately. There's also Paul and Beth"

Maggie looked at Michael with a weird look.

"I know Beth and Jimmy were together before…. But come on! They clearly won't get married. Jimmy just isn't the right guy for Beth. I think in a few years when Paul gets bigger he will be a lady killer just like his big brother!"

Michael flexes his muscles to Maggie who just laughs and continues walking. "Cmon 'Lady-Killer', let's get you some food and water"

Michael speeds up his pace to catch up with Maggie. "Is that a no on the Paul x Beth?"

"That's a 'no comment' on my sister and your brother"

"Fair enough" Michael says and grabs Maggie's hand. They over hear Rick and Lori talk. Apparently Lori wants Rick to be with her more but Rick is the leader and is technically here. Just not the way Lori wants him to be.

Michael puts his arm around Maggie's shoulder and she puts her arm around his waist. She might have sneaked in a pinch of his ass that made him nearly fall over.

"Hey!"

"What? You're just mad that you didn't get to do it before I did!"

"That's!…..exactly correct. Why do you have to copy me on those things" Michael says as he stands tall after nearly falling.

"Because that's what you try to do a lot. And it's fun. Now I see why you guys enjoy it so much"

"I really wish you didn't, but as long as I get to do it back without getting slapped I'm fine with it" Michael glances down at Maggie's face as she considers the offer.

"Hmmmmm. Fine, but I get to do it to you too"

"We're talking about pinching and slapping right?"

Maggie doesn't say anything.

"Maggie, right?!"

"Right?!"

Maggie smirks up at Michael's face sending a shiver down his spine. "Riiiight…."

Michael watches as Maggie looks back towards the fire and they sit down. Michael sits with Maggie inbetween his legs as she leans back into his chest. She grabs a plate of food and starts feeding Michael over her shoulder. He has his hands wrapped around her, holding her close.

Hershel asks Beth to sing and she doesn't think anyone wants to hear her.

"We would love to hear. And Maggie can join you too" Michael says gently to Beth who smiles a little before she starts singing. Maggie elbows him and after 15 seconds she joins Beth in singing.

Michael loves her voice. Her just talking is soothing to him. Her singing is great, but her moaning is his favorite. Uh, oh. Michael holds Maggie closer as something wakes up. Maggie feels something grow and press against her. She doesn't stop singing.

Rick is next to Lori and Carl listening to the song and makes Lori eat more since he knows she will only eat the minimum even though she is pregnant. Rick is observant at the most random times. It seems Lori and Rick are having a good time now.

After the song ends Michael kisses the back of Maggie's head. Hershel says "Beautiful" and pats Beths shoulder. The group claps and cheers.

Rick says for people to get some rest for tomorrow. He wants to push into the prison. Lori asks for a few days of rest since everyone is exhausted and tired. Before Rick can explain Michael speaks up and agrees with Rick. They can't just sleep in the field for multiple nights. They are too open. For walkers and the weather. That seemed to convince people to get a roof over their head. Nobody wants to get rained on in their sleep.

Rick takes the first night shift with Tdog stabbing the walkers through the fence. There aren't many now and just a few here and there. At least Michael and Maggie won't need to take a night shift since Michael went on his killing spree.

Everyone got prepared to sleep. Maggie and Michael squeezed into a sleeping bag. Michael was big spoon while Maggie was small spoon. He was now rock hard and Maggie found it amusing, much to Michael annoyance.

He leaned just over her ear and whispered. "Just you wait until we're safe and get some privacy. I've had to wait three months, and I won't be able to wait much longer". He lightly bites her earlobe and holds her closer to himself pressing his rock hard rod against her.

"I've had to wait three months too you know" Maggie said seductively and turned her head to deeply and passionately kiss Michael.

"Get a room you two!" Daryl called out to Michael and Maggie.

Maggie blushed and hid her face in Michael's arm. Michael stared daggers at Daryl.

"Payback bitch!" Daryls says to Michael.

"We will see who gets the last laugh" Michael says ominously, he's thinking about what he gave to Carol and gets a smirk on his face.

Everyone gets to sleep except the night watch in preparation for tomorrow.