Gargulio lay on a bed with a thin mattress, standard prison issue. Haley was on the top bunk, her breathing even, but Gargulio knew she wasn't asleep either.
The prison was nothing like what they had imagined.
On the first day, Gargulio and Haley had followed the plan. Chased by walkers, they screamed as they climbed over the barbed wire and fell into the prison yard.
Then guns were suddenly pointed at them.
"Don't move! Hands up!" The one holding the gun was an old man in a bucket hat who happened to be on watch.
While Gargulio and Haley trembled and explained that they were only a college student and a PE teacher on the run, the first thing the old man in the bucket hat said was, "Are you hurt? Do you need water?"
After that, they spent three days in the outer observation area. Twice a day, someone brought them food and water.
The old man in the straw hat, Dale, came by a few times too, chatting with them through the barbed wire.
He asked where they had come from, how they had survived, and whether they had run into any other survivors.
Gargulio answered according to the half-true, half-false script.
He was a backup quarterback for the University of Georgia football team and had been attending a training camp in Atlanta when the apocalypse broke out.
Haley was a PE teacher he had met while fleeing. The two of them had relied on each other all the way south, hoping to find somewhere safe with fewer people.
"Why come this way?" Dale asked.
"It was too cold in the winter. We, we just wanted to head south," Gargulio said. That part was true. The first winter after the apocalypse really had been freezing.
Dale nodded and said nothing.
On the third day, an old man with graying hair and eyebrows, Hershel, came to give them a basic medical exam.
He took their temperatures, checked them for open wounds, and asked whether they had any coughing, fever, or other symptoms of infectious disease.
Now, on the morning of the fourth day, they were allowed to leave the quarantine area and enter the prison.
They passed through several locked doors before finally reaching the prison's living quarters.
"You'll stay in this room for now," said Carol, who had brought them in. "It's a four-person cell. It locks, but you'll have the key.
During the day, you can move around the common areas, but you can't enter the administration building without permission.
Meals are at seven in the morning, noon, and six in the evening. Everyone gathers in the dining hall.
Any questions?"
Gargulio shook his head. "N-no. Thank you... really."
Carol looked at him for two seconds, then smiled gently. "Rick, our leader, will come talk to you later. Get some rest."
After she left, Gargulio and Haley stood at the cell door.
It was a standard prison cell: two bunk beds, a stainless-steel toilet, a sink, and a small window with iron bars.
But it had already been modified. Clean sheets and blankets had been laid out on the beds, and hand-drawn children's pictures were taped to the walls.
"They've made a home here," Haley whispered, walking to the window. "How long are we supposed to observe them?"
Gargulio thought back to Martinez's instructions before they left. "About a week. Then we find a chance to leave, stir up a little chaos, and slip away in the confusion."
Haley nodded, then gathered the courage to ask, "Gargulio, when Martinez and the Governor said to 'stir up chaos,' what exactly are we supposed to do?"
Gargulio said, "Make their lives harder. Sabotage their food storage, break important tools, deliberately lure walkers close to the fence, or start some kind of fire..."
He stopped, as if something terrible had just crossed his mind, and shuddered. But he still did not say what Martinez had told him in private.
[If the chance is right, make one or two people disappear. Make it look like an accident.]
The Governor had been standing nearby at the time, watching him with a meaningful look. He had still worn that gentle expression, but it sent a chill through Gargulio.
"Are we really going to do this?" Haley looked through the iron bars and could see the yard outside, where several women were hanging laundry and a group of children were running and playing.
Gargulio was just about to answer when footsteps came from outside. They immediately stopped talking and stood up nervously.
Two people came over.
Rick had a pistol and handcuffs hanging from his belt, and he walked with a straight, steady posture. Andrea followed behind him.
"I'm Rick," Rick said. "This is Andrea. We need to talk."
The conversation took place in a nearby guard lounge, where an old table and a few chairs had been set up.
Rick and Andrea sat on one side, while Gargulio and Haley sat across from them.
Their backpacks and confiscated belongings were on the table, including the small cloth bag filled with cookies and dried fruit, but their weapons had been taken away.
"First," Rick said, "the prison welcomes you both. In times like these, having two more survivors is always a good thing."
"Thank you for taking us in," Haley said nervously. "We haven't... been somewhere this safe in a long time."
Rick nodded. "Dale and Hershel told me about your situation. A football player and a PE teacher. Those are useful skills."
"I can help carry things, make repairs, do heavy work," Gargulio said quickly. "Haley can use a bow. She's more useful than I am."
"Modesty is a good quality," Andrea suddenly said. "But I need to ask. How did the two of you survive out there for eight months?"
Here it came.
The first real test.
Both of them braced themselves.
Gargulio gave the answer they had rehearsed. "At first, I followed a group to a shelter outside Atlanta, but walkers broke through, and a lot of people died.
We escaped. There were three other people with us. Later... later, they died one by one. In the end, only Haley and I were left."
Gargulio lowered his head, twisting his fingers together.
"But you had weapons." Andrea's eyes remained fixed on the pile of items on the table.
A handgun with only three bullets left, a rusty knife, and a canteen.
"We took them," Haley said, taking over. "From a dead man.
He had just died and hadn't turned yet, so we... we took his things. Otherwise, we wouldn't have survived this long."
Rick and Andrea exchanged a glance.
"Did you see any other survivor groups on the road?" Rick leaned forward slightly. "Large ones? Organized ones?"
Gargulio shook his head. "Only scattered people. Once, we were almost caught by a group of raiders. Another time, I saw firelight in the distance. It looked like a camp, but I didn't dare go near it."
Haley nodded along.
They did not mention Woodbury.
"Then how did you find us?" Rick pressed.
"Walkers," Haley said. "A small group of them was chasing us, maybe a dozen or so. We saw the walls and tried to climb in. That was when we realized this was your camp."
Rick was silent for a moment.
Then he said, "We'll need to watch you for a while. It's not that we don't trust you. It's just that in this world, being careful never hurts.
You can stay and take part in daily work in exchange for food and shelter. If you do well, you can become full members soon."
"We understand!" Gargulio said eagerly. "We're willing to do anything. Really, anything."
"Then start with cleaning," Andrea said, standing. "The bathrooms in Block C need a deep clean. The tools are in the storage room. I'll take you there. As for Haley, you can help in the kitchen for now."