Tonight is the night! The third season finale. As much as I hope for some Caryl action (even just a hand hold!), I have a strong suspicion nothing is going to happen on that front. We'll have to wait all the way until October to see if anything will happen. Gee, I really hope to be proven wrong.

The Walking Dead does not belong to me but I love those who it does belong to.

Chapter 10

The moon was three-quarters full, giving the land a shadowy quality as the clock clicked towards midnight. Winter was fighting a losing battle as spring began making its appearance in Alabama. However, the night air was still clear and cold.

Carol sat up on the balcony for her night watch duty. Even though her abdomen was very swollen as she entered her third trimester of pregnancy, she refused to give up the responsibility of watch duty. Daryl had tried arguing with both her and Rick about it, especially since she could no longer walk the perimeter. He'd been very pissed off when Merle had volunteered to take the perimeter walk for the entirety of the watch session whenever it was her turn. Merle had smiled the whole time Daryl was raging about it but in the end, Daryl had to accept the inevitable. Besides, Merle much preferred walking the line than sitting on the balcony.

There was also a new rule that no couples were allowed to be together during watch. It had come when Alex was on watch and Shannon came to keep him company. They'd been involved in a full-on make-out session and had missed it when a few walkers had come knocking on the gate.

So Daryl had gotten her all situated that night before he left to grab a few hours of sleep. She felt like she was in a cocoon of blankets sitting with her feet propped up, a perfect view of the front gate visible below. He'd even found these heat packs on the last run to a sporting goods store that activated just by cracking them. There were about 6 of them spaced over her body. She knew he was just worried about her and the baby but it was starting to get a little overbearing. In fact, she was sure the only reason he wasn't watching her from the stairs was because she was in very easy reach of Rick's bedroom in case of the slightest issue. Daryl trusted Rick.

She took a sip from the thermos of hot chocolate he'd left her when she saw Merle come around the corner of the house. She waved down at him and he gave her the thumbs up. Her head turned back to the landscape when she saw the movement at the forest's edge in front of the house.

At first she could only see a few walkers dragging their ruined bodies across the clearing. Then more and more of them poured out of the trees. Carol whispered softly but anxiously to Merle as he was crossing to the other side of the house, "We got a herd coming!"

"Shit," he muttered, heading into the house. There was an entire plan of action designed around just this situation. They'd even done some drills to make sure everyone would be in the right place and ready for anything.

Carol unwrapped herself from all the blankets and rushed into the house. First she burst into Rick and Carl's room and then turning across the hall to Max and Alex's room. All she had to do was say "Herd" to get them all scrambling out of bed. Carl ducked out of his room to awaken everyone else. Carol stepped back onto the balcony for another look.

There must have been hundreds of them. The hope was that with the wall and the plywood over the gates, any walkers would just move around the house without realizing there was life contained inside. After the last incident where something had attracted them to the gate, they had set up several rows of tires to make it less appealing.

Carol went back inside, heading towards the stairs to take her to the basement. That was where she was supposed to be.

Shannon came out of her room and saw Carol. One of her jobs was to make sure everyone was awake and moving. If she was on watch, that job fell to Beth.

Shannon smiled at her. "I was just heading up to wake Daryl. I'll meet you down in the basement," she said. She knew Carol wanted to go get Daryl herself but in her condition, she was slow on the stairs and time could not be wasted.

"Thanks," Carol said sincerely.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Shannon knocked quietly on the door at the top of the stairs. She rarely ever went up to the third floor since her bad decision so many months ago. She really did not like the thought of waking up a sleeping Daryl after her last encounter. She thought she heard a small sound behind the door.

Opening it, she saw that Daryl was still asleep in bed. Not wanting to get near him but also not wanting to make too much noise that a passing walker might hear, she hissed his name, "Daryl!"

He sat up and saw her in the doorway. "Not again," he growled.

She rolled her eyes at him, understanding his reference. "Herd."

He instantly was up. "Where's Carol?" he asked as he pulled on his boots, not bothering to change out of his night sweat clothes.

"She's headed down to the basement. I'm sure Merle is with her by now."

Daryl pulled the crossbow strap across him. He very much wanted to go down to the basement to make sure Carol was okay but that was not part of the plan.

As if reading his mind, Shannon said, "I'm headed down there right now. I will make sure she is okay." He nodded his thanks to her as they both moved quickly down the stairs.

The plan was that Carol, Beth, Maggie, Shannon, Alex, Carl, Judith and Merle would be down in the basement. Rick, Max, Daryl, Glenn, and Michonne would be stationed at various points around the house, especially the front and back gates. Merle was to sit at the storm cellar doors and Maggie at the top of the basement stairs. If they got overrun on top, someone would come to the entrance least infested with walkers to try to get those below out to the cars to run.

There had never been a herd this big and as Daryl silently watched them from his post at the back gate with Rick, he hoped that this plan would work.

XXXXXXXXXXXX

Carol sat in one of the recliners in the media room in the basement. The previous owner had wanted the room to be light-proof to best enjoy the clarity of the TV so there were no exterior windows. Therefore they were able to have a lantern on but they had to be ready to switch it off at any hint of trouble. Mostly everyone just sat looking worried but Carl and Beth were trying to keep Judith quiet by playing with some toys. However, it seemed like the little girl had an understanding of the gravity of the situation, that this hiding was not just for fun.

Carol's back and feet hurt. She ran her hands over her protruding stomach, feeling a series of kicks along her insides. Usually she liked feeling the baby kicking. Daryl seemed particularly enraptured when he'd put his hands on her and feel his child that way. However, right now it did nothing to relieve the stress of the moment.

Alex came over and settled down beside her. "How are you feeling?" he whispered.

"I am feeling huge and achy. This kid is kicking me all up and down," she answered him.

"Probably because you started moving around so quickly, disturbed him from his sleep," Alex smiled at her.

Carol smiled back then a little concern came on her face. "Can I ask you something?"

"Sure," Alex answered.

"I'm in my seventh month but I feel like I am as big as I was when I was almost full term with Sophia. Do you think that there could be something wrong? That the baby might be too big?" she asked with a worried look.

"Well, I had actually noticed that. I've got another theory. Would you mind lying on the floor and let me palpate you?"

"Hmm, not sure I'd be able to get back up," she said truthfully.

"I promise that if anything happens, I will have you on your feet in 2 seconds flat."

"Okay…" she said, not completely convinced but getting down to the floor anyway.

Alex carefully felt all along her abdomen, feeling the occasional kicking. Then he sat up and looked at her.

"Yep, I was right. You're having twins."

"What?! Twins? Oh God," she whispered as she sat up, leaning against the sofa next to her.

"It's actually fairly common in a woman your age to have twins. Before going into menopause, a lot of women have a huge fertile boost, ovulating more than one egg at once. Almost like a last hurrah," he informed her.

Carol was having a hard time dealing with this new information. It had taken her a while to wrap her head around one new baby but now two. Another burden.

Before she could comprehend it any further, they heard a thump on the storm cellar doors. Everyone gasped at the thought that they had been overrun.

XXXXXXXXXX

Daryl hit the tiny female walker coming at him right between the eyes with his crossbow. She'd been faster than most of the others but still not fast enough. He saw Rick take down what looked like had been a teenage boy with his knife. A big walker missing his right arm came further at him and Daryl pulled his knife from his boot. He slammed it home through the weakened skull.

Unfortunately, the walker fell forwards, pushing him right onto the storm cellar door. He knew Merle was on the other end.

Michonne flew around the house, her katana out, and whacked the head off another walker. By then, Merle had the cracked the storm door to see what was going on. Daryl gave him a hold signal.

Glenn followed Michonne and whispered, "The herd has finished in the front of the house. No more are coming out of the woods."

Rick moved towards them, no more moving walkers in the yard. "We had a few break in to the back gate but they seem to have been at the tail end. Glenn, get up to the second floor with the binoculars and make sure that herd keeps moving away from us." Glenn nodded and ran into the house.

"I think our luck actually held this time," Rick breathed out a sigh of relief.