United We Fall

Chapter Twenty-Four// Rescue

It had been three hours, give or take, since they had last seen the Governor, Merle, or another one of his mooks. Leya had been asleep for quite some time, and Maggie made no move to disturb her. It was better she was asleep, breath rattling, then being stressed into an asthma attack from the pain.

The acid continued to do a number on the little girl's brown skin. Some sections bubbled, others oozed melted body fat. Her skin from the neck down, extending out all the way to her hands, was damaged, and would only become more so as more time passed. They needed to get out, and soon. Otherwise, Leya would die.

"Next time they come in here, they're gonna kill us," Maggie said, voice low. "I know it."

"Then we just need to make a plan for when that happens," Glenn added on. "We're going to get out of this, Maggie. You, me, Leya- all of us. We're gonna go home, and you two will be safe."

Maggie stared down at the bone that laid beside her. "We have one weapon between the three of us. What do we have that we can sharpen it?"

Glenn pointed up at the old mattress that was nothing but box-springs. "There's a few sharp edges there. Here, I'll take it-"

"No." Maggie interrupted. "You could have a concussion. I'll do it, you take her."

Despite her aching muscles, Maggie shifted Leya's put cold form into Glenn's lap, and took the bone into her grasp. The bone was old, but it was sturdy. It wouldn't be too hard to sharpen it enough to stab it into someone.

She dragged the bone against the sharp edges, and little bits of it floated to the ground, like a perversion of the white-chocolate curls she used to see on the cakes at the grocery store. Other bits were paper-thin, and reminded her of paper when it had been reduced to thin, grey sheets of ash. It took strength to scrape layers off and sharpen it to the point, but Maggie didn't care. She was getting out of here with Glenn and her daughter, no matter what she had to do.

"Papa.." Leya stirred, and turned her face into Glenn's chest, beginning to weep. "Papa, duele mucho. Duele!"

Glenn tried to cocoon her in his arms, keep her safe from the whole world. If only that were possible, he lamented. "I know, Pixie. I know it does. Just go back to sleep, okay? It won't hurt so much then."

"Frio," Leya muttered, and the undamaged skin bristled with goosebumps. She shivered under her father's grasp, and Glenn could to nothing but hold her closer, despite the remnants of the acid that was spilled onto her leaching into his own skin.

Maggie shoved the sharpened bone into the waistband of her pants, then bend down.

"It must be nighttime," Glenn told her, beginning to feel the chill of the air as well. "That means we've been here for, what? Five, six hours?"

"Give or take," Maggie supposed, laying a hand against Leya's forehead. It was burning, and a light sweat was beginning to break out on her skin. "I think she's getting a fever. We need to get out of here, and fast."

x-x-x-x

Carl had two things in his hands, and one thing on his mind. He was keeping the prison safe, in his mind, even if it meant skulking around at this time of day in the endless grey halls of the institution. He kept his gun up as well as his flashlight as he went around corners, stabbing the walkers that he found strewn about in the heads to make sure no one would get accidentally bitten like Hershel was.

Slowly, Carl began to realize that he was in a part of the prison he hadn't been in before. There was a door labelled 'library' in stern, blocky letters, and not too far away, a gym aptly dubbed 'gym' by the plate on the door.