The Prison

New chapter is live.

Settle in, take your time, and let's see what waits in the dark 🖤

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Dale asked carefully, and Evan's expression did not change.

Inside, he smiled.

'I've been waiting for that question.'

As for where they should go next, Evan had already decided.

The Prison.

In the story he remembered, the time at the Prison had been some of the best times they ever had.

Unfortunately, a survivor leader known as the Governor had destroyed all of it.

War had a way of destroying everything.

'But with me here, that will not happen.'

'With the 7 Days to Die system, I can clear the Prison quickly and turn the whole place into a fortress of steel.'

'I'll build the strongest survivor community in this region with Rick, Shane, Daryl, Merle, and the rest.'

Evan's smile stayed mild. What he said aloud was much simpler than what moved through his head.

"I have a rough idea," he said. "But whether we do it or not will depend on everyone working together."

An idea?

The moment Evan said it, everyone around the fire listened harder.

Hershel's family did too.

The area quieted until only the firewood crackled and snapped.

With everyone watching, Evan spoke slowly.

"The old order is collapsing. Everything people worked for is turning to ash. The rules are upside down now."

"People are less trusting. More violent. Walkers eat people. People eat people too."

"So maybe we should stop thinking the old way."

"What we need is a place that used to keep dangerous people inside. Now, that same place can keep dangerous dead outside."

He guided their thoughts step by step, then pointed toward the open fields around them.

"Which would make you feel safer? This open land with nothing between you and the dark? Or a place with walls and fences, where you don't have to wonder every night whether a walker will wander into camp?"

"But where would we find a place like that now?" Lori asked before she could stop herself.

Her hand drifted to her stomach. The place Evan described sounded painfully tempting.

"Build it around the farm?" Dale asked.

The brief light in his eyes faded almost as quickly.

"With this few people, I don't think we could build that kind of camp."

The words deflated the group. People looked down into their bowls with renewed disappointment.

Evan's suggestion was good, but for them, it did not seem possible. Building a fortress from nothing had not been easy before the world ended. Now it sounded absurd.

Rick and Shane, however, both went still.

After Evan's description, something tugged at their memories.

It was familiar.

The answer was there, on the other side of a thin wall, but neither of them could quite punch through it.

"Then what if that place already exists?" Evan said before the mood could sink too far. "What if it's waiting for us to take it and make it ours?"

He wanted them to want the Prison from the bottom of their hearts.

He wanted the idea to turn into expectation.

"High fences strong enough to hold back walkers. Concrete buildings that could shelter a thousand people. Land that can be farmed. Maybe even enough food and weapons inside to help us survive long-term."

Evan sounded like a man offering exactly what their hearts most wanted.

Both the old Quarry group and the people of Greene Farm leaned toward him, their eyes growing brighter.

Hershel looked out at the farm that had held most of his life.

The land was full of memories, good ones and painful ones.

But if such a place existed, he would not hesitate to take his family and everyone who had stayed with them there.

What else could he ask for in the apocalypse?

Safety for his family. That was all.

Andrea gripped Amy's hand. The sisters looked at each other and saw the same hunger for hope.

Shane glanced toward Lori and Carl without meaning to. His mouth tightened, and his fists clenched until the backs of his hands went pale.

"Come on, man," T-Dog said, impatience breaking through his usual easygoing tone. "Can you stop making us guess?"

Evan had given them just enough hope to make the uncertainty unbearable.

Rick watched him in silence, fingers linked in front of his mouth.

He did not seem to notice his own body leaning forward.

Evan let his smile fade.

His gaze moved from face to face, and at last he said the word.

"The Prison."

The Prison?

People frowned.

Then, one by one, the frowns eased. Eyes brightened.

Concrete shelter. Fences between them and the dead. Food stores. Equipment.

It matched everything Evan had described.

Before they could start dreaming too far ahead, Evan spoke again.

"The whole world fell. The Prison did too."

"If we clear the prisoners and guards who turned, it goes from a walker nest to a place where we can recover and grow."

"Children can grow up somewhere safe. Older people won't spend every night afraid. None of us will have to risk our lives every day just to find food or medicine."

His pace slowed as if the thought itself had let him breathe.

"If we stay together, really together, we can survive this world better than we ever could alone. Every one of us."

His voice faded.

For a moment, the group seemed reluctant to let the words end.

It was as if they had already been inside the Prison. Then they blinked and found themselves back on Greene Farm, surrounded by empty black fields.

Shane looked at Rick.

Rick gave the slightest nod.

It was feasible.

The Prison was exactly the kind of shelter they had been dreaming of, whether they had known it or not.

Compared to the exposed farm, it sounded like a steel fortress with the dead and the worst of the living kept outside.

Walkers could bite at those fences for ten years and not break through.

For the people who had spent a week drifting from danger to danger, the hollow feeling in their chests finally began to ease.

Hope was beginning to return.

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