In the Very End: Book One

Chapter 24

*WARNING: Please be advised that this chapter contains mature content and strong language.*

Chapter 24
Daryl's POV

"Okay, let's get the other car in," Rick ordered. "Park them in the west entry of the yard."

"Good," I agreed. "Our vehicles look like a giant vacancy sign out there."

"After that, we need to load up these corpses so we can burn 'em," Rick continued.

"Gonna be a long day," T-dog noted.

"Where's Glenn and Maggie?" Quinn asked. "We could use some help."

I pointed upwards. "In the guard tower."

"Guard tower?" Rick asked. "They were just up there last night."

"Glenn! Maggie!" I called.

Glenn's head popped up in the window of the tower. He opened the door and stepped out, shirtless and buckling up his pants.

"Hey, what's up, guys?" he called back.

We all laughed lightly.

"You comin'?" I asked.

"What?"

"Are you comin'?" I repeated.

Glenn turned to Maggie who was putting a shirt on.

"C'mon, we could use a hand," Quinn called.

"Yeah, we'll be right down," Glenn said finally.

Our smiles slowly faded as the two prisoners came into view. They were walking down from their side of the prison. We followed Rick up the small incline.

"That's close enough," he said as we approached. "We had an agreement."

Maggie and Glenn came out of the guard tower behind them so they were surrounded.

"Please, Mr. We know that," Axel said. "We made a deal, but you gotta understand; we can't live in that place another minute. You follow me? All the bodies. People we knew. Blood, brains everywhere. There's ghosts."

"Why didn't you move the bodies out?" I asked.

"You should be burning 'em," T-dog added.

"We tried, we did," Axel said.

"Fence is down at the far side of the prison," Oscar informed. "Every time we drag a body out those things just line up. We're just droppin' a body and runnin' back inside."

"Look, we had nothin' to do with Tomas and Andrew," Axel emphasized, walking towards us. "If you're tryin' to prove a point, then you proved it, bro. We'll do whatever it takes to be part of your group. Just please, please don't make us live in that place."

"Our deal is not negotiable," Rick insisted. "You either live in your cellblock or you leave."

"I told you this was a waste of time," Oscar said to Axel. "They ain't no different that the pricks who shot up our boys. You know how many friends we had to drag out this week? Just threw 'em out. These were good guys. Good guys that had our backs against the really bad guys in the joint, like Tomas and Andrew. Now we've all made mistakes to get in here, chief, and I'm not gonna pretend to be a saint, but believe me; we've paid our due. And we'd rather hit the road than to go back in that shithole."

Rick looked at me and I shook my head.

___

I locked the padlock on the fence as Axel and Oscar leaned on it, looking inside.