Rick kicked open the two front doors to the house. He immediately raised his gun when he saw two walkers standing there and took down the first one. T-Dog went after the second one with a fire poker and stabbed it right between the eyes. After he took care of it, Daryl made his way in followed by Carl and Dean. Rick and Carl made their way to the back of the house and Dean followed Daryl into a different section. The two slowly made their way into another room and looked around, keeping their weapons raised. There was a second of relief when they discovered the coast was clear, but there was a sudden creaking of the floorboards off in the house somewhere. Daryl looked to Dean, then over to a narrow hallway where the noise was coming from. There was a door at the end of the hallway and Daryl made his was over as Dean followed closely behind. The tension grew stronger the closer they got to the door. Dean prepared himself for what could've been on the other side, lifting his knife and leaving only a small amount of space between him and Daryl. He almost ran into him when he came to a sudden stop. Daryl lifted his crossbow and Dean was ready to strike, but then the door swung open before Daryl even grabbed it. He aimed the crossbow, but didn't shoot it. The sound of him huffing filled the air and Dean looked over his shoulder to see Rick's face. Dean huffed also and smirked at him, then the two turned back, as did Rick.
After looking around for a few moments, they met back up with T-Dog and the three headed upstairs with Daryl taking the lead. Once on the second floor hallway, they split up and went into different rooms. Dean went into a bedroom that seemed to belong to a rebellious teenager...well, used to. He smiled as he looked around at the band posters and graffiti plastered on the velvet walls. It reminded him of when he was young, except he didn't have band posters, he had a rebel flag. He then shoved those memories out of his mind. Dean didn't really feel like thinking about that at the moment.
He made his way over to the bed and knelt down, looking under it and seeing a cardboard box. After pulling it out from underneath and opening it, he was surprised to find a stash of dirty magazines. He shook his head and quietly laughed to himself. Ah, the hormones of a teenage boy. His eyes studied the blonde on the cover wearing a small, black, lace lingerie, but then his eyes went to the side of the stack. He spotted a chain, then grabbed it up and held it in front of his face. It was a necklace that had a dog tag hanging on it, which had a skull engraved onto it. When he noticed the skull, he immediately thought of Rylee. Dean smiled and shoved the necklace into his pocket, then got up and headed out of the room.
He met T-Dog and Daryl in the hallway. He noticed Daryl was holding some sort of bird. After observing it for a moment, he realized it was an owl. Well, now it was dinner. They exchanged amused glances then headed back downstairs to discover Glenn and Maggie had joined Rick and Carl. The place seemed clear. Dean noticed the doors were open and Rick stepped towards them and whistled. There was a moment before Carol and Beth came through the door carrying their bags. Then came Lori, leaning on Rylee for support and followed by Hershel.
Lori was far long in her pregnancy and looked like she was going to pop. The group needed to find a place to set up and soon. All of this running around was tiring Lori out, and she needed a place where she could relax.
Everyone then settled down in the living room. Daryl sat down in a chair and Rylee sat on the floor next to him. She watched as he picked the feathers off of an owl he shot and was throwing them on the floor. Then she looked at everyone else as they situated their things, but after a second of her looking around, Carl rushed into the room with a couple of cans. Rylee's stomach growled loudly when she saw them, earning a glance from Daryl who appeared to have heard it. He gave her a pitiful look, then went back to work with his owl.
The group watched as Carl grabbed a can opener from his bag and started to go to work with it. Rylee raised an eyebrow when she realized what it was and disappointment washed over her. It was cat food. Rick then walked over to Carl and took the can from him. He read the label, then threw it against the wall causing Daryl to once again look up from the bird. He looked at him for a few seconds, then went back to picking feathers. No one said a word and Carl had a look of shame on his face. There was only a moment before some of them noticed T-Dog looking out the window, then he nodded his head towards it. That could only mean one thing: there were walkers outside.
Everyone quickly grabbed their belongings and Daryl lead the way out of the house. They made their way out back, then came around to the side where the vehicles were. The group jumped into them and Daryl's motorcycle revved up as Dean and Rylee jumped on the four-wheeler. After everyone was ready to go, they all drove off and didn't look back.
Everyone stopped on the road. Dean pulled the four-wheeler to a hault behind Daryl's motorcycle, then turned it off and hopped off the back. "Y'all holdin' up?" Daryl asked him. "Yeah," Dean answered. "Jus' fuckin' starvin'." He and Rylee walked over to the silver SUV where Maggie had the map spread out on the hood. "We got no place left to go," T-Dog informed everyone. "When this herd meets up with us, we'll be cut off," Maggie explained. "We'll never make it south." Daryl had made his way over and stood there beside Rylee. "What'd ya say?" Daryl asked Glenn. "There's 'bout a hundred n' fifty of 'em?" "That was last week," Glenn answered. "Could be twice that by now." "So, what do we do?" Rylee asked them. Herschel pointed to the map. "This river could've delayed them. If we move fast, we might have a shot to tear right through this." "Yeah, but if this group joins with that group," T-Dog responded, "they could spill out this way." "So we're blocked," Maggie mumbled. Rick had made his way over to the SUV and also pointed to the map. "Only thing to do is double back on 27 and swing towards this road." T-Dog scratched his head. "Yeah, we-we picked through that already. It's like we spent the winter goin' in circles." "Yeah, I know," Rick replied. "I know. At noon end, we'll push west. We haven't been through there yet. We can't keep goin' house ta house." He looked over to Lori, who sat in the truck. "We need to find a place ta hold up for a few weeks." Rylee also looked over to her. She looked exhausted. Lori needed a place to rest. She needed food and water. "Alright," T-Dog finally said. "Is it cool of we head to the creek before we head out? Won't take long, got a fill up on water. We can boil it later." "Knock yourself out," Rick told him.
Rylee then turned and made her way over to the four-wheeler and grabbed her bow and quiver. Dean followed an patted her on the back. "Ya hungry?" he asked. She scoffed. "Fuckin' starved." She placed the quiver strap over her shoulder. "Probably gonna go huntin' while everybody's busy." He nodded and looked at her for a moment, then it was as if a lightbulb went off over his head. He reached into his pocket. "I, uh..." He finally pulled out a chain and grabbed Rylee's wrist, putting it in her hand. "I got ya somethin'." She looked down and opened her hand to reveal the dog tag. She held it up and observed it. "Nice," she said, then flipped it over. "But my name's not Isaac." "What?" Dean grabbed it from her and looked at the back. Sure enough, the name 'Isaac' was scratched onto the metal. He smiled and looked back to Rylee. "Guess it is now, Isaac." Dean placed the necklace on her and pulled her hair out from underneath the chain. "Thank you," she said. "Yer such a gentleman." He winked at her with a smirk on his face. "Always," he replied.
They stood there for a moment before Daryl called, "Ya comin'?" "What?" Rylee asked. "Huntin'," he responded. She looked from him and back to Dean. "I'll stay here," he said. "You go on. Be careful." She just nodded, then turned and walked off into the woods with Daryl and Rick.
The three found narrow railroad tracks just off the highway and followed them through the woods for a while. "Don't seem like there's any game out today," Rylee mumbled. "We'll find somethin'," Daryl replied. "Eventually."
They all walked in silence until there was an opening in the trees over on their right. They looked over and stopped when they noticed a structure surrounded by chain-link fences and watch towers. It was a prison. "I'll be damned," Rylee said to herself, then heard Daryl mumbled, "That's a shame." The place was perfect except for one small detail: it was filled with walkers. All of them wore prison uniforms though, which meant the place had to have been closed off from the outside. Rick must have realized this because his face lit up and a slight smile spread across it. He had an idea.
Rick quickly used the bolt cutters to cut a hole in the fence. As he was going to work, Rylee watched as Glenn stabbed a pole through one of the walkers and pinned it against the fence. "Watch the backside," T- Dog ordered and Rick pulled the opening in the fence wide. Dean, Rylee, and T-Dog stayed back, allowing the others to get through first. "Hurry! Hurry!" It was there turn. The three turned and made their way through the fence and Glenn tied it back with some sort of wire with Daryl's help. Once that was done, Daryl lead the way as everyone ran towards the gate. The growls from the undead came from both sides as they made their way down the gravel road between the two fences. There were only a couple walkers on the outside, but several in the prison yard.
The group finally made it to the gate that served as the entrance to the field. "It's perfect," Rick said to himself as he eyed the structure. He then noticed another gate at the other end of the field. "If we can shut that gate, prevent more from fillin' the yard, we can pick off these walkers. We'll take the field by tonight." "You sure?" Dean asked with an eyebrow raised. Rylee replied, "We can pick 'em off. Easy." "So how do we shut the gate?" Hershel asked Rick. "I'll do it," Glenn volunteered. "You guys cover me." "No," Maggie said in protest from behind him. "Suicide run." "I'm fastest," he explained. He wasn't wrong either. Glenn was definitely the speed of the group.
Rick made his way over. "No. You, Maggie, and Beth draw as many as you can over there," he said as he pointed off to the side. "Pop 'em through the fence. Daryl, Dean, go back to the other tower." Rick then turned to Carol. "Carol, you've become a pretty good shot. Take your time, we don't have a lot of ammo to waste." Carol then turned and followed Daryl and Dean to their assigned tower. "Hershel," Rick continued, "you, Rylee, and Carl take this tower. I'll run for the gate." Rylee pulled the rifle strap off of her and was ready to head up the tower, but she stopped and placed a hand on Rick's shoulder. "You sure 'bout this?" she asked him. He nodded. "I'm sure." She removed her hand and sighed to prevent silence. "You be careful. We got yer back." Rick then turned to her, and there was an expression he wore that Rylee had never seen on his face. She couldn't quite figure out what it was herself. It was almost like an expression of trust, if that even existed. With a nod from her, Rylee turned and walked away.
She followed Hershel and Carl up the watch tower until they made it to the top. Rylee propped her gun up on the railing for support and aimed, waiting for Rick to come into view. After a moment, the gate opened and Rick bolted out into the prison yard. The sound of gunshots started filling the area. Rick ran as fast as he could down the gravel path, aiming his revolver and shooting down the undead. Rylee aimed and fired, taking down a walker with every shot. She kept veering her attentiom back to Rick, making sure he had a clear path and wasn't being surrounded. Once he finally made it to the gate, he pulled it closed and headed up the watch tower next to him. "Light it up," she heard Daryl's voice shout from the other tower.
The gunshots kept sounding off and the walkers continued to fall to the ground. Rylee looked up to see Rick had finally appeared at the top of his tower and joined the others in shooting until there was one last shot that sent the very last walker down.
There was a second of silence before realization kicked in that the field was clear. Dean whistled from his tower and shouted, "Hell yeah! That's what I'm talkin' 'bout!" Rylee smiled and shook her head. "We did it," Carl then said in excitement to her. "We sure did," she replied with a smile.
She, Carl, and Hershel quickly made their way down the tower and stepped onto the gravel as Daryl, Dean, and Carol came around the corner. They then headed over to Lori and passed the gate into the yard. "We haven't had this much space since we left the farm," Carol cheered. Rylee smiled at her excitement. Carol hadn't been this happy since they lost Sophia. Actually, the group as a whole hadn't been this happy. Maybe not even Rylee herself.
Later on after dark, the group made camp and started a fire. Glenn sighed and stared at the bone in his hand as he chewed his food. "Mmm. Just like Mom used to make," he said sarcastically then tossed the bone. Rylee looked over at Rick, who was walking along the fence. "Tomorrow, we'll pull the bodies together," T- Dog explained. "Gotta keep 'em away from that water. Now, if we dig a canal under the fence, we'll have plenty of freshwater." "The soil is good," Hershel added. "We could plant some seed. Grow some tomatoes, cucumbers, soy beans." Dean laid back on his sleeping bag that he had laid out in the grass. "I cud eat tha hell outta some fried green t'maters righ' now." There was a second of silence before Hershel looked over at Rick. "That's his third time around. If there was any part of it compromised, he'da found it by now." Rylee watched Rick observe the fence as he walked passed it. "This would be a good place to have the baby," Beth said to Lori. "It's safe." "Better than any other place," Dean mumbled as he stared up at the stars. "Bethy," Hershel said to his daughter. "Sing Patty Riley for me. I haven't heard that I think since your mother was alive." "Daddy, not that one please," Maggie said. Hershel then looked back to the fire. "How 'bout, uh...Partin' Glass?" "No one wants to hear," Beth softly told her father. "Why not?" Glenn asked. Rylee looked over at her. "I wanna hear." "C'mon, farmer's daughter. Sing it for us," Dean said, not looking away from the sky. Beth smiled and lightly blushed before saying, "Okay." She hesitated before we began singing. It was soft and quiet at first, but then it gradually got louder. Rylee listened as Hershel hummed to the words, but she then heard footsteps. She turned and saw Daryl and Carol approaching. She smiled at them, then turned back to Beth and Maggie joined in singing. Rick had made his way over also and sat down next to Carl.
Silence hung in the air when the singing stopped. "Beautiful," Hershel said. "I second that," Dean said, followed by a yawn. "Better all turn in," Rick informed them. "I'll take watch over there. Gotta big day tomorrow." "What do you mean?" Glenn asked softly. "Look, I know we're all exhausted. This was a great win. But we gotta push just a little bit more. Most of the walkers are dressed as guards and prisoners. Looks like this place fell pretty early. Could mean the supplies may be intact. They have an infirmity, a commissary-" "An armory?" Daryl asked. "Maybe outside the prison itself, but not too far away," Rick explained. "Warden's offices will have the information: weapons, food, medicine. This place could be a gold mine." "I say let's start start diggin'," Dean said as he looked over to Rick. Rylee found herself looking down at him, observing the way the fire cast an orange glow on his face and reflected off of his emerald eyes. "We're dangerously low on ammo," Hershel informed. "We'll run out before we even make a dent." "Well, that's why we have to go in there," Rick replied. "Hand to hand. After what we've been through, we can handle it. I know it." He looked down at his son. "These assholes don't stand a chance." He then looked around at everyone else for a moment, then stood and turned to walk off.
After Rick walked away Lori followed him and Daryl sat down next to Rylee. He sat down and laid his crossbow in the grass next to him. "Tough day at the office?" she asked. Daryl huffed in response and looked at the fire. Rylee looked down. "Well, imma hit tha hay." "Hit tha hay?" Daryl replied. "You won't fall 'sleep 'fore sun rise." She sighed. "Yeah, I know."
The two sat there in an uncomfortable silence as everyone settled down in their sleeping bags. Daryl continued to stare into te firefight, which was burning bright in his sapphire eyes. Rylee looked from him and up to the stars. "You can see every single star in tha sky tonight." He didn't respond verbally, but he slightly nodded his head. She kept her eyes pointed up, but barely leaned over and said, "Y'know, I've always wondered wha' was up 'ere." Daryl then responded this time, but just with a simple, " Yeah?" Rylee then nodded herself. "When I was a lil' girl, I wanted ta be an astronaut. Wanted ta be tha firs' one ta Mars." He seemed amused by this and had a small smile on his face. "It was stupid, though," she then mumbled, grabbing a rock she stopped by her for and started dinging in the ground with it. She could feel his eyes on her when he said, "Tha' ain't stupid." "Yeah, it is,"she said low, giving a sarcastic laugh. "Everybody's got their own dreams," he explained and their eyes met for a moment, but she looked back up to the stars. "Had a dream I went ta Mars once. Turned ma house into a spaceship." He laughed a little as he turned away from her, trying to keep her from noticing. She smiled to herself as she told the story, still digging in the dirt with the rock. "Tha front door was open n' I walked out on tha porch. I looked down n' I remember seein' tha moon under tha house." Daryl sat there silently and listened to Rylee until Dean interrupted, who Rylee thought was asleep. "Ain't ya gonna tell 'im 'bout tha civilization ya found on Mars?" She turned to him and put her hand over his mouth. "Go ta sleep n' quit listenin' ta ma conversation." He tried to say something to her, but Rylee's hand muffled his voice. "Huh?" she asked as she leaned in.
"Wha' was tha'?"
"Geh yer fumin hmm omm mm mouf."
"A civilization?"
It was Daryl who interrupted. Rylee removed her hand from Dean's mouth and turned to him. "It was stupid. There were houses, a school. But tha weird part 'bout it was they were like Greek warriors or some shit like 'at. I don't know." She laughed to herself as her eyes fell back to the dirt.
Rylee was waiting for exhaustion to overtake her, but it seemed to never come. Daryl had already appeared to be tired. She watched him stretch out on the ground and rest his hand on his stomach as he closed his eyes. Then she turned to Dean, who was looking up at her. "What?" she asked, but he just shrugged. "Nothin'," he responded.
Rylee stood after dusting herself off and grabbed up her bow and quiver from the ground. "I'm gonna go take watch with Rick," she mumbled, then walked off towards the gate. There were a few moments before she heard footsteps behind her and she turned to see Dean following. "What is it?" she asked, adjusting the strap to the quiver on her shoulder. "I jus'...wanna say...I think we ain't gotta worry no more...not as much as we have been..." She was a little confused as to why he had approached her just to say that. Her look changed, and the confusion appeared on her face. "What do ya mean?" she asked him. He sighed and stepped towards her so they were inches apart. "We're gonna be okay," he said softly, then Rylee just scoffed and turned away, but he gently grabbed her arm. "C'mon, Rylee. I see it in yer face everytime ya look at me." "Ya see what?" she asked, sounding uncertain. He looked straight into her brown eyes. "Ever since Dale died. Yer worried 'bout somethin'...I ain't goin' no where, Rylee." Her eyes glanced down but came back up. "Wish I could believe that, Dean. But hell, we all thought Dale wouldn't goin' no where." He gently held her chin and lifted her head. "Ain't nothin' gonna kill me but old age. I know I'm all ya got. That's why I ain't goin' anywhere, ya hear?" Rylee hesitated before giving him a small nod and he let go of her. "I'm gonna head back. Ya get ta sleep soon, alrigh'?" "Alrigh'," she responded and she watched him as he turned and walked away from her, heading back to camp.
Rylee thought about what Dean said all night