A/N So this chapter wraps up season 2, which means I have a lot of fun chapters in front of me. Hope you guys like it, let me know what you think. Much loves 3
"Daryl, what you did last night," Rick starts.
"No reason you should have to do all the heavy lifting." Daryl says, trying not to think about it.
Rick nods, "So you good with the plan?"
"I don't see you an me tradin haymakers on the side of the road" Daryl glances at Shane who just rounded the corner of the house "Nobody'd win that fight."
Sam hauls the last of their stuff into the house, dropping his stuff off in the dining room.
"Sam," Maggie gets her attention "you wanna come with me for a minute?"
"Sure thing Maggie." Sam drops her stuff "What's up?"
"I couldn't help but notice your lack of cold weather clothes." Maggie nods to the borrowed sweatshirt "I might not have much, but what I do have, you're more than welcome to."
They ascend the stairs to her room "I couldn't ask that Maggie."
"You're not asking. I'm offering. What am I gonna do with all my clothes anyway? I can't watch you freeze while I have all this extra stuff up here." she pulls two decent sized plastic bins out of her closet.
"I really appreciate this. I obviously have no idea I would have to pack for the end of the world." Sam chuckles "I definitely would have packed better."
Sam searches through the bins, making a small pile of things for herself, a few jeans and leggings, one or two more sweatshirts and a nice heavy down jacket. She pulls out a butter soft leather jacket that looks too big to be Maggie's. Sam turns to her and raises an eyebrow.
"Old boyfriend's." Maggie blushes and laughs "Daddy doesn't know about that one. Do me a favor and please take it."
Sam looks around the room, taking in all the pictures of Maggie's family and friends, and a pain starts in her chest. She holds the clothes against her chest. "Thanks again Maggie. All my stuff is back up in Boston, hopefully with my mom and sister. I was only supposed to here for a few days."
"Have you ever thought about trying to find them?" Maggie asks.
"Of course I have. I just wouldn't know how, I highly doubt they stayed at home, I don't even know where to start."
"Home sounds like a good start, I think you should at least try."
Daryl digs through his pack on the dining room floor and sees Sam coming down the stairs, "Sam. Have you seen my pistol?"
"No. I thought it was with your bike?" she says, stuffing clothes into her own pack "I could have sworn it was."
"Yeah, me too." he closes up the pack and stands "Rick an I are taking Randall out soon, was hoping to have the little extra backup."
She looks like she wants to say something, but not one to pry, he lets it go. "Be careful out there, ok?"
"We're just going a few towns over ,we'll be back in a couple hours." he straightens his jacket and vest.
"Humor me.' she says with a sigh.
"Alright, alright." he gives a quick smile at her concern "I gotta get goin. T-dog's getting Randall now."
She nods and goes back to organizing her pack.
Daryl walks out of the house and into chaos.
"Rick," Shane yells, coming out of the woods "He's gone. Little shit must have slipped his cuffs. I followed him into the woods. Bastard hit me with a rock, I blacked out. He musta taken off into the woods. Took my gun too."
"The shed door was still locked from the outside." T-dog points out. "How did he get out?"
"Maybe he climbed up the rafters and out a hole in the roof. Point is he's in those woods and he's armed. What if he gets back to his boys? You think he's just gonna forget all this?" the agitation is coming off Shane in waves.
"I thought this was the plan?" Carol says "Let him go?"
"Far from here." Rick corrects "We can't risk him coming back with men. We need to find him. Glen, Daryl, come on."
"Where are Shane and Rick?" Lori questions Daryl and Glen when they get back.
"Must still be out there. We found Randall," Daryl says "he was turned, funny thing was, he wasn't bit. His neck was broken."
Sam sees the flicker if moonlight, illuminating the field and walkers filling it.
"Uh guys? We've got a problem." she points out the window at the herd coming towards them.
"We need to move. There's no way we can fight a herd that size." Daryl says "Everyone get your shit and get to the cars."
"What about Rick? Shane?" Lori asks, looking around "Carl? Baby we gotta go."
"I'm betting that was Rick's doing." Daryl points to the blazing barn.
Everyone is running around like mad, trying to get everything in the cars, trying to find Carl. Daryl grabs Sam by the arm as she is walking out the door to load more stuff in the car.
"You get out, with or without me." he looks her dead in the eyes "Don't go pulling no shit, waiting around for me. You get a way out an you go."
She swallows hard and tucks her Browning into her waistband "I will, if you do."
"This is my farm. I'll die here." Hershel says, grabbing a shotgun and starts shooting at walkers.
"Good a night as any." Daryl jumps over the deck banister.
"I can't find Carl." Lori yells, panicked "He's not in the house."
Sam and Carol go to help Lori search the house one more time. Sam looks at the barn again "Rick probably set the fire, maybe Carl is with him, if he's not here. If that's the case, he'll be fine."
Sam has lost sight of Daryl in all the chaos, but the RV is by the bard as planned, and she can just hear the roar of his bike over the rest of the noise. Sam runs in front of Lori, Beth and Patricia, having lost Carol somehow along the way. Carefully firing rounds into the heads of enclosing walkers. A scream draws her gaze back to where Lori is trying to pry Beth away from Patricia and the walker that grabbed her. A walker grabs her ponytail while she is distracted, but on pure reflex she whips around, shoves the barrel of the Browning under it's chin and blows it away.
T-dog and Andrea stop in Otis' truck and throw the door open, yelling at them to run.
"Carol, she ran off that way." Sam points to Andrea while Lori and Beth jump in the truck.
Andrea nods and takes off in that direction, Sam assesses the already tight cab of the truck and in a quick move, steps on the tire and into the bed of the pick up. She presses herself against the cab, far enough in the middle to avoid the grasping hands, while taking out any she can with her hatchet. Carol is no where in sight and Andrea just got overtaken.
Sam bangs on the roof and yells in the open back window "T-dog, time to go. Move it."
As soon as they are clear of the walkers, Sam crouches in the truck bed and holds onto the cab window for safety. She looks back at the farm as they drive away, the barn burnt down to almost the bare bones. Walkers swarming the vehicles still on the land and no sight of Daryl. Silent tears stream down her face as every awful scenario rushes through her mind, making her see his possible death a hundred different times. They drive until dawn, down little dirt roads Sam hardly recognizes until Lori convinces T-dog to turn around and go back to the highway.
Sam recognizes their group of cars at the spot where they left Sophia supplies, and sure enough Daryl's bike. Before the truck is even stopped, she jumps out of the bed and rushes to Daryl, throwing her arms around him, almost knocking him over. He returns her tight hug before she pulls away enough to crush her lips into his.
She finally breaks the kiss and gets her excited heat rate under control. "Don't you ever fuckin so that to me again."
"No promises." he says, which is met by an angry glare.
"Is Andrea with you? She saves my life, then I lost her." Carol asks
"I'm goin back." Daryl says, but Rick stops him.
"You can't go back, the herd is probably still there, and there's no way to know where she is."
"We'll camp here for the night, go for gas and supplies in the morning." Rick decided, with all the vehicles low of fuel.
Daryl steps away from his bike "We found Randall, back at the farm, he was turned, but he wasn't bit."
Rick closes his eyes before speaking "We're all infected. Jenner told me that at the CDC. Whatever this is, we all carry it."
The group bursts out in upset, claiming he should have told them. "I didn't know for sure, you saw how crazy he was."
Sam throws another log on the fire, trying to ward off the cool, early autumn night.
"You should lead the group. You're a man with honor." Sam hears Carol whisper to Daryl.
"Rick has honor." Daryl quietly responds.
"To keep something like this from us?" Carol starts again.
"I think he did the right think," Sam interrupts "What difference would it have made, knowing a few weeks ago?"
Daryl puts his arm around Sam, Carol looks away, annoyed.
"Daryl," Sam says quietly "can I talk to you about something?"
"Sure." he says, looking at her.
"I know it's bad, coming up on winter and all" she pauses and looks from the fire to him "but I need to find out what happened to my family."