AN: So this isn't really what I had in mind for this chapter, but I thought it seemed like a good idea. I hope you like it.

Chapter 28

Early in the morning Rick gathered the group in the dining room for a meeting. Everyone was either seated or standing and watching him with judging eyes.

"Randall is awake and has been moved into the tool shed," he said. "He's tied up, the shed's locked, and Hershel and myself are the ones with the key."

"What's gonna be done about him?" Maggie asked.

"We get out of him the location of his camp and hopefully do some kind of trade; him for Lily."

"You said they left him, why would they want him now?" Andrea inquired.

"Even if they don't want him, we'll still leave him with his own," Hershel stated. "I'll not have him here on my farm."

Rick nodded in agreement. "Now Shane, Daryl, and myself will be going to the camp. We'll take a straight path there, but on the way back we'll take some detours in case they follow us or anything like that. To make sure they don't find their way here we may even be gone 'til the morning."

Rick looked to Daryl and Shane for confirmation on this decision. Both men just nodded and let him continue.

"What if they do find us?" Andrea said.

"They won't," Rick assured her.

"But if we're preparing for them to follow us then why not prepare for if they find us?"

"She's right," Carol said almost worriedly. "What do we do if they come here?"

"We're not leaving here, that's for sure," Maggie said.

"We don't have the tools to defend ourselves," Lori chimed.

Soon the room became a chaotic haze of panicked chatter. Glenn tried calming Maggie down, Carol was worriedly saying that they needed to do something with Lori trying to calm her saying that they'd be okay, and Andrea was trying to get Shane to back her up on her statement.

"Everyone, just calm down," Rick said, but nobody was listening. "Everyone, just stay calm. There's no reason to panic."

Still no one listened.

"Everyone be quiet!" He shouted.

Everyone in the room stopped and looked to Rick with wide eyes. Slowly they resumed their original positions of standing and sitting. "Look," Rick said. "If for whatever reason they find us, then we'll just have to be ready. We have enough pistols to arm everyone left behind here. I know it's not what you want to hear, but that's how it is, but have a little faith when I say that they won't find this place."

One by one the others nodded and agreed.

"Good," Rick said. He turned to Shane and Daryl and gestured for them to follow him out.

The trio entered the tool shed where Randall was tied up, gagged, and blindfolded. Shane closed the door to the shed while Rick removed the boy's gag. Instantly Randall started babbling. "Hey man, please let me go! Please!" He shouted.

"Your friends kidnapped one of ours," Rick stated calmly. Just tell us where your camp is and we won't hurt you. We'll take you there, get our friend back, and that's the end of it."

"I-I dunno exactly where it is! This was the first time I ever left it! I swear I don't know!"

Rick sighed. "Well try to remember because we don't have time to waste."

"I don't know man," Randall whined.

Rick gestured to Daryl to step up. Daryl walked up to Randall and placed his foot on his wounded leg making the boy panic. "Woah what're you doing?!"

Daryl slowly eased his weight onto his foot making it press down painfully onto Randall's wound. He howled in pain until Daryl stepped off.

"C'mon man," Randall said weakly. "I don't know…"

Again Daryl stepped on the boy's leg making him scream and try to move away. When Daryl stepped off Randall just said, "Don't do this…C'mon I ain't no different than you guys. I had friends and family…there was Oscar and Tina…this girl Maggie…she was-"

"Who?" Shane asked walking up to Randall and ripping off his blindfold.

"M-Maggie. She's a girl I used to go to church with," Randall said. "Yeah, her dad's got this farm. Do ya'll know her?"

Shane cursed and went over to Rick. "He knows where this place is," he whispered. "What now?"

Rick sighed.

"Keep him here, deal with him when we git back," Daryl said so Randall couldn't hear.

Rick nodded in agreement and said, "Okay."

Shane walked back over to Randall. "Would you know how to get to your camp from the farm?"

"Uh yeah sure."

"How far is it?" Rick asked.

"About thirty miles maybe. It's past the town and all. You can take the road out of town for about twenty miles then off to the right for another few. It's somewhere around there I think."

"That's all we need," Daryl said before leaving the shed.

"Wait," Randall said. "You said you'd take me!"

Shane quickly put back on Randall's blindfold and gag despite his protests. He and Rick followed Daryl out to prepare for their trip.

Once everything was prepared Rick once more went through the plan with everyone.

"Don't worry if we take awhile gettin' back," he said. "I've shown Hershel the paths we're gonna be taking in case a search party needs to be sent out."

"Just hurry and bring Lily back safely," Hershel said.

Rick nodded then got in the driver seat of the car with Shane next to him and Daryl in the back.

Mason was playing with some of the other kids while Lily sat with Don in the tent to discuss her escape. Don had agreed to help her and had an idea.

"I know one of the guards," he said. "He can get you and Mason out."

"Do you trust him?" Lily asked.

He nodded. "He's a good guy. He's only here because his brother's stuck here in that medic tent. His brother's been sick for awhile."

"What's his name?"

"Samuel. You seen him?"

Lily nodded. "I don't think he can make it," she replied. "He's really sick. The medicine he's taking isn't enough."

Don sighed and shook his head. "Forget that for now. Look, go ahead and go back to the medic tent. I'll pack up Mason's stuff so you two can leave in the next hour."

Inside the medic tent, Lily was sitting beside Samuel. He was running a high fever and coughing violently. It was concluded that he had pneumonia and he wasn't getting any better. Lily administered some medicine to him to help ease his pain before moving on to the next patient.

On her way back to Don's tent, Lily spotted her baseball bat. It was sitting outside a tent in a chair that seemed to be recently occupied due to the sweating beer bottle placed in the cup holder of the chair. Lily looked around to see if anyone was looking then picked up the bat and continued on her way.

Don stepped out of the tent with Mason just as Lily arrived. "Here," he said handing her a backpack and small duffel bag. "Some things you might need in there."

"Thanks," Lily replied as she put the backpack on and slung the bag over her shoulder.

"I'll take you to Harper and walk you a few miles out."

Don picked up Mason and led the way to the outskirts of the camp. The perimeter of the camp itself was a mix of barbed wire and electric fence wrapped around trees. "Some guy, electrician I guess, got the fence to work," Don explained. "Comes in handy some days."

The tents were placed a few yards away from the fence on all sides. Lily was thankful that they were behind the tents and hidden to prying eyes.

"Hey Don," Harper said. He stood from where he was sitting on a stump. "What's all this?"

"This is Lily. She and Mason need to get outta here."

"Umm," Harper said nervously scratching the back of his head. "I don't think that's a good idea. A group of scouters came back saying land brains were closing in. Logan actually set up a lockdown."

"A lockdown?" Lily asked worriedly setting the stuff she was carrying on the ground. "What's that?"

"It's a way to avoid problems with land brains," Don clarified. "Sometimes, groups of them walk by and what we do is basically turn this place into a ghost town for however long we need to."

Harper nodded. He opened his mouth to say something, but stopped when he saw Logan walk up.

"You know," Logan said too casually. "I've been needing some new bait."

Harper's eyes widened but the meaning was lost to Don and Lily.

"I thought you'd be a nice addition to our group, Lily," he continued. "But my guess is your place is better. So I'm curious, where is it?"

"I don't know what you're talking about," Lily said.

"Oh I think you do," Logan replied with a chuckle. "Seriously, where's your camp? You're in such a rush to get there so it sounds a hell of a lot better than here."

Lily said nothing making Logan frown. He turned to Don and said, "You mind if I steal her for a sec?"

Don hesitated but shook his head. After all, Logan was his friend.

Logan gently took hold of Lily's arm and quickly led her away. Once he was far enough from the others his grip tightened and he nearly dragged her along.

"Let go!" Lily shouted.

He said nothing and kept pulling her along. Lily tried prying his hand off of her but he was too strong. He walked out of the camp nodding to a few guards and about a hundred yards away from the camp they approached what looked like some kind of massive abandoned shed. The outside said that no one had inhaibted or utilized it for awhile. Logan led Lily around to the back and climbed the staircase. He opened the door at the top and led her inside.

Inside two guards sat at a table playing cards. Lily felt fear creep up her spine as she listened to the sounds beneath them. She recognized the growls, groans, and grunts of walkers. Frantically she tried pulling away from Logan.

"Hey boss," one of the guards said standing.

"Set it up Mark," Logan ordered.

The guard named Mark walked over to edge of the platform they stood on. He picked up a long sturdy chain and threw one side over a beam so it hung about a foot away from the platform. He held onto one end of the chain and handed the other that was thrown over the beam to the other guard named Steve.

Steve retrieved some handcuffs from his pocket and cuffed Lily's hand in front of her while Logan held her still.

"What the hell are you doing?!" She shouted.

Logan smirked. "It's all about survival you know," he said as Steve bound Lily's legs with cable ties. He then took the end of the chain he was holding and fashioned a sort of knot around the cuffs and Lily's wrists. Mark tugged on his end of the chain making her move towards the edge of the platform. She tried standing her ground as she realized what was going on.

Logan wasn't having any of it. "It's really simple," he said as he pushed her to the edge of the platform. He forced her head to look down at the twenty or so walkers approximately twenty feet below her, looking up at her with hungry eyes. "But you're making it so complicated."

With that said he pushed her over the edge and smiled as she was suspended above the walkers. Mark slowly lowered her down about a foot before he stopped. Lily fearfully looked down at the outstretched hands of the walkers and then back up at Logan.

He shrugged. "Just tell us where your camp is."

AN: I hope you enjoyed this chapter.