A/N Just playing in the sandbox! None of the characters are mine... There is a spot of non-graphic assault towards the end, please be aware. And enjoy this bonus chapter as a thank you for all the encouragement! I truly appreciate all of you who are reading, and particularly those who have dropped me a note! Thanks again, and ENJOY!

Patricia's death, followed so closely by Dale's death, was the perfect distraction for what happened on the farm that night. It couldn't have happened more perfectly if it had been orchestrated that way. Adding to the stress of two more losses to the group, Lori's hysteria at once again not being able to find Carl lead to everyone getting separated as the men paired off to search for him, leaving the women at the house with Hershel staying back in case his medical services were needed.

Daryl and Glenn were the first to come back from their search concerned over things they had found, and that, combined with what Daryl and Beth had come across earlier in the day only pointed towards something terrible on the horizon. They had not had a chance to tell Rick or Hershel about the camp they had come across, but with what he and Glenn had found, Daryl made it a priority to let Hershel know that there may be living people somewhere on the farm, and he had all ideas that they were hostile and likely had been scoping the farm out for some time.

Daryl took Hershel aside near the front door so they could keep watch and talk. While they were discussing what to do next, Tdog and Jimmy came back and reported that they had found no trace of Carl, but had heard what they thought were voices.

They couldn't be sure if it was one of the other pairs that were out looking for Carl, or more frightening, strangers. The terrain was disorienting in the deepening dark, especially after what had happened earlier, and voices carried in the cooler night air. What they heard could have been any of the farm residents out on the search, other people, or even animals. Whatever the case was, it put everyone on edge.

Hershel sent the guys into the kitchen and told them to get something to drink and then find a place to sit down and rest for a minute. He turned back to Daryl who was leaning against the wall and chewing on his thumb. He could tell that Daryl was beginning to get even more concerned, but Hershel told him to keep it between them until Rick got back and they could figure something out. Daryl simply nodded and continued to torture his thumb.

The small group had gathered in the dining room to discuss what move they would make next. Everyone but Rick, Carl, and Shane was back at the house, and to keep busy, Carol and Beth had started gathering up supplies in case they needed to run. As time passed, the anxiety in the house mounted and Lori began fussing that there was nothing being done about her son and his dad.

Andrea had finally had enough and got in Lori's face. "Will you stop? This wouldn't be happenin' if you would reign your little brat in. He is never where you tell him to be, and you just let him do what he wants. He's probably out there laughin', watching us go crazy lookin'!"

"How DARE you... "

"I'll tell you... "

A loud crash stopped the two women in their tracks. A clear glass vase lay shattered on the hardwood floor and Beth stood in the middle of where she had thrown it glaring at the two hateful women.

"We have enough goin' on tonight without you two addin' to the drama. Why don't you just shut up?"

Beth spun on her heel to go find a broom only to find Daryl standing there with it in his hands. He nodded at her then looked at the folks standing around in shock.

"Beth's right. Y'all actin' like kids. S'ridiculous."

The next while passed in tense silence; boxes and bags lined the wall by the door, and the broken glass was swept away. At this point, when Rick and Shane still hadn't come back in what she considered a timely manner, Lori demanded that Daryl go track them. He almost told her what he thought of her demands, and he wasn't pleased about complying, but he also didn't want to listen to another of Lori's tirades. Daryl motioned to Beth and told her he and Hershel were going to go look around the yard and the edge of the woods.

"Ya got ya knife, girl?"

Beth nodded, and Daryl continued. "No matter what happens, stay near the house. The truck's already out front, might want to think about gettin' stuff in it. We'll be back in a few."

"Ok, Daryl, Carol and I already got stuff ready to go. Should I tell people to get any personal stuff they want to take? Just in case, I mean."

Daryl pursed his lips. "Yeah, more stuff we start with, less we got ta scavenge if it comes ta that."

Daryl went over to the table where Hershel was sitting, talking to Glenn and TDog.

"Figured ya wanna walk with me, check things out before Olive Oyl over there starts acting crazy again."

He chuckled his agreement, and they had just made their way out onto the porch when Hershel noticed the figures moving across the pasture closest to the house.

"Daryl, are those walkers?"

Daryl huffed a harsh breath. "Yeah, and a damn lot of 'em.

Looks like we're fixin' to be in a world a hurt. We gotta get the stuff loaded and the women out a the house and in case it goes bad."

Daryl opened the front door and called for help. When the group gathered in the entryway, he went to work barking orders.

"Beth, get that little car a ya ma's ready. Get ya stuff and ya dad's stuff in it plus some food and shit, whatever ya think. My bike's next to it, and it's ready to go, but if we get separated, meet on the highway, I showed ya where."

"Carol, Andrea, Lori. Start loadin' the truck bed. Everythin' else should fit in it. Maggie, you and Glenn get some supplies in ya car, too. Just in case."

Maggie just glared and didn't move. She wasn't interested in being told what to do by a no-good hick. Daryl didn't have time to worry about her attitude and just ignored her.

"A'ight people, walkers are gettin' close. TDog, Jimmy, Glenn ya ready for this? We gotta give the girls time to load up."

Carol, Beth, and Andrea wasted no time in doing what Daryl had ordered. Lori stood in the entryway, hesitating.

"We can't leave now! What about Carl and Shane? Rick?"

"What part of we are about ta get overrun by the dead do you not understand? Are ya that selfish? We got people to keep safe and ya can't see anything but yaself. I ain't goin' back out to find nobody tonight. Get ready to head out."

Daryl stomped off the porch already shouldering his crossbow.

Hershel followed after him, intent on protesting. This farm had been in his family for years and he didn't want to lose it now. But before he could voice his disagreement with Daryl, more walkers poured in from the woods to the west of the house. Realizing that they would be quickly surrounded if they didn't do something, Daryl and Hershel started firing at the walkers invading the yard.

As soon as Daryl had told Beth what he wanted, she ran to the kitchen and grabbed her mom's keys and her backpack. Lori stood in the door crying until Carol grabbed her to help gather things from the kitchen and load the truck bed. Maggie had no intention of listening to Daryl and took off towards her car. Glenn yelled for her to stop, but she either didn't hear or didn't listen. He was sure she just didn't listen, so he ran after her, jumping the passenger seat before she could take off. They started using the car as a battering ram against the wave of walkers. Maggie made circles through the pasture and Glenn leaned out of the window shooting at any walker he could. Tdog and Jimmy had followed Daryl and Hershel out into the yard shooting at walkers. Seeing what Maggie and Glenn were doing, the two used the RV in a similar manner until the barn burst into flames. When they realized what was happening, Jimmy drove as close to the flames as he could and TDog busted the vent out of the roof. They then used it to rescue Rick and Carl from the fire. Unfortunately, walkers swarmed the RV before Rick and Carl could get in, and TDog had to climb out himself. Jimmy was trapped in the vehicle and the last time he was seen, walkers had overwhelmed him.

Carol and Lori, with Andrea's cover fire, had managed to get the bags of supplies from the dining room into the truck and were on their way around to the back door where more things were waiting. Out of nowhere, several unknown men surrounded and attacked the women. Andrea quickly got separated from the other two. The last time she was seen, there was a dead man at her feet and she was surrounded by walkers firing her gun over and over. Carol, in a bid to save them both, pushed Lori back towards the front of the house and the truck that was parked there. She managed to kill one of the men grabbing at her, but another slammed his gun into the back of her head. She fell and didn't move again.

While the men were occupied with subduing Carol, Lori had run as far as the truck and had dipped down into the edge of the large shrubbery that it was parked beside. She couldn't see anything, but she heard a voice say, "dammit she ain't movin', I think ya killed her, the boss is going to be pissed."

"Where did the other one go?"

"Leave her, that cop wants her for himself."

"How do you know?"

"He said not to touch the skinny bitch with long hair. She's his."

Lori strangled a gasp as she realized that the men had to be talking about Shane. She knew he had not gotten over her rebuff of him and her hot and cold treatment of him, but she never dreamed he would go this far to try and take her from Rick. She cowered beside the truck trying to keep hidden from the men talking, and when they moved away she slumped against the truck and heaved a sigh of relief. Before she could even think to do anything else, TDog came running up and nearly stumbled over Lori.

"What the hell! Lori, is that you? You seen anyone else? Get in, we gotta hit the road. We'll head to the meetin' place. The farm's done. I seen the others get in cars, but I don't know who and I don't know where they are." He looked at her and continued. "We'll figure things out when we get to 85."

Lori didn't answer Tdog's questions, she just got in the truck and buckled up. She turned and looked at the farm and barn silhouetted in flames before facing forward and wiping the tears from her face.

As they were tearing down the driveway headed back to the highway, Lori and TDog saw another vehicle pull out behind them but it veered sharply off to the left and they didn't see it again.

Within a short time and a couple of hours before dawn, three vehicles had made it to the meeting place on the interstate. Lori was reunited with Carl and Rick who told of Shane and his betrayal and of lighting the barn on fire to try to create a diversion to keep the walkers from the house, of losing Jimmy and of seeing Hershel running across the yard in an attempt to get back to his home. Tdog and Lori told of Carol disappearing and of seeing Andrea fall to a small herd of walkers. Lori never mentioned the men, it was enough that Rick knew Shane was behind the destruction of the farm. And finally, Maggie told the group that Beth was dead. She had waited on her sister, but she hadn't seen her come out of the house after the last time she had gone in after supplies. Maggie looked at Glenn who sighed but otherwise stood silently as the stories were shared. No one had seen Daryl after he and Hershel had left the porch to defend against the walkers. Some thought he just left the group to strike out on his own, others figured he was dead.

As the sun began to turn the sky to dusky lavender, Rick decided that they were the only survivors and that there was no reason to stay where they were. Tdog questioned the decision since no one had actually seen anyone but Andrea die, so shouldn't they wait for the agreed on time of three hours after sunrise. Rick shook his head, deciding that if anyone else had escaped they would have already been on the highway. And so his small band of followers began the long winter trek that would eventually end at the Georgia Correctional Institution.

While the others were escaping the farm, Carol regained consciousness. She attempted to push herself up from where she lay in the dirt and gravel, but all that did was cause pain to radiate from the back of her head and nausea to roil through her gut. She heaved weakly and fell back over on her side. Her vision was already blurred, but she was blinded by the tears that welled as she saw the pickup truck tail lights disappear from the farm.

Beth had run upstairs to her room to grab the duffle bag she had packed. She hadn't told anything about it because she had taken some of Shawn's clothes intending them for Daryl. He had done so much for her that it was one small way she could repay him. Unfortunately, she had taken too much time and when she heard the truck roar to life, she ran to the window to see two sets of taillights moving down the drive. Praying that everyone had made it safely off the farm and that she wouldn't panic, Beth made her way to the kitchen and out the door intent on her mom's car. She had hit the bottom of the porch steps when she realized Maggie was waving at her.

Beth glanced at her mom's car and felt the keys stabbing her thigh, but decided to go with Maggie and Glenn. They might fight, but she loved her sister, and it was definitely better than being alone. As she ran across the yard, she thought that maybe they would get Glenn to drive the car so they would have those supplies.

As she reached her sister, all she heard was "I'm sorry, Bethy." And a man with a gun popped up from behind Maggie's car. Beth saw another one out of the corner of her eye and turned to take off back to the house. She never even started running, instead, she collided with a fat guy who twisted her arms up behind her back. A dark-haired man walked up to her with a nasty look on his face.

"You were right, Maggie, she is much more to my liking. Take your man and go before I change my mind. I might decide he needs to die anyway and I need a couple of sister's sucking my cock every night."

Beth looked at Maggie and saw the betrayal there. There was no guilt in Maggie's eyes, just relief, and a little wariness.

Maggie pushed Glenn into the car, fell into the seat and sped off into the dark.

"My name's Dave." The dark-haired man said as he ran his hand down Beth's face. "We're going to get to be really close, really soon."

His hand slid down her neck and to her chest. "Not bad, I like 'em a little bigger, but I can work with this." Dave pinched Beth's nipple and pulled. Her first reaction was to spit in his face.

The big guy pulled Beth's arms tighter up against her spine and Dave back-handed her, splitting open her lip and bloodying her nose.

"Just for that, not only am I going to fuck you, but you are going take every one of my guys tonight starting with Tony here. Get her in the house."

Beth screamed and started fighting. She kicked and dead-weighted, she threw her head around trying to headbutt anyone that got close. But eventually she got tired and they got her into the house. She was dragged into the master bedroom, her mother's room, and all of the sudden the fight was just gone. Tony held her upright while Dave took his time undressing her, enjoying her humiliation and her submissive behavior.

When she was nude, Beth was dragged to the bed where Dave threw her down before straddling her hips so she couldn't move. Tony took his place at her head and grabbed her wrists, squeezing them tightly before pulling them above her head. The movement was horribly painful after having had her arms held like they had been earlier, but all Beth could do was cry silently. Suddenly she was jerked to the edge of the bed, she heard a thwack and her arms were suddenly free. Before Dave could react, Tony was dead and he was knocked to the floor by a force of sheer rage. Dave could feel the large hands squeezing his throat slowly. He looked up into the face of a man with hate in his eyes. He tried to speak, but the slow crush of his throat prevented it. The last thing Dave heard was a gravelly voice straight from Hell.

"Ya never shoulda touched her."

Beth rolled over to the edge of the bed to see Daryl put his knife into her attacker's head, and then fall back onto his rear end. She didn't hesitate, naked or not she needed Daryl. She slid off the bed and fell against his chest.

"God, Beth, I thought I's too late."

Daryl instinctively wrapped her in his arms and they just stayed there letting her sob, both thankful that he had gotten to her in time.