Shane will live, I have officially decided. Thank you to the few of you who actually voted.
I honestly didn't remember us having this much luggage. Whatever was in the box I was trying to haul was pretty damn heavy. I slid the green box down the bed of the truck to the tailgate before jumping back to the ground. My fingers wrapped tightly around the lip of the bin as I pulled up, trying to lift it off the tailgate.
I glanced around to look for help and spotted Lori. She was gazing out towards the windmill where Shane was busy working. I whistled.
"Help?" I asked as she turned to look at me.
Her eyes were hard as she regarded me. Obviously, she hadn't forgiven me for lying to her the night Rick went after Herschel. Stiffly, she turned away from the windmill and made her way over to me. She stood on the opposite side of the bin, her hands going underneath the bottom.
"One…two…three!" I counted, both of us heaving up as we removed it from the tailgate, gravity taking effect.
Lori grunted at the weight and seemed as surprised as I was. "What the hell?"
"You're guess is as good as mine." I responded, heading backwards up the stairs.
I nudged the screen door open with my foot and backed through the doorway. Once we were in the dining room, we both dropped it onto the floor with a resonating thud. She looked at me.
"Is it your box?" She asked.
"Nope, not mine. I guess it's not yours?" I questioned.
She shook her head. After a moment of deliberation, we both looked at each other. Blue eyes met brown as the same thought crossed our mind. Each of us grabbed the lid to the bin and popped it off. Books. It was filled to the top with books. I felt a sadness envelope me.
"Must have been from the RV." I said. "From Dale's collection."
As more people began to filter into the house, Lori raised her voice.
"The men are in here." She said, gesturing to the dining room. "Women get the living room."
We went back outside and each of us grabbed another box, thankfully much lighter. The name GRIMES was written on the top in Sharpie. T-Dog came out just as Lori lifted her box. He hurried over to her.
"Whoa, whoa. Let me get that." T-Dog said quickly, taking the box from her.
Lori let out a laugh and surrendered her baggage. "Thank you. Me and Carl are taking the corner of the living room."
"You can put that in my room." Herschel said to T-Dog, coming out of the house. "You'll be more comfortable in there." He spoke to Lori.
"You don't have to-," Lori tried.
T-Dog and I stopped walking as we looked back at the two of them, waiting for a direct answer.
"Pregnant woman and child sleeping on the floor while I have a bed all to myself?"
"This is still your house." Lori reminded him.
"It's our house." Herschel responded. "I'll take the couch downstairs. When I came home reeking of bourbon, my wife would lock the bedroom door. Me and that couch became old friends."
"Listen, if you two can't decide, I'll take it." T-Dog said jokingly.
Lori smiled at Herschel. "Thank you."
As me and T-Dog went to move inside, Herschel called to us.
"The couch is mine!" He reminded us firmly.
I shared a look with T-Dog who made the comment, "It's going to get real cozy in here real fast."
I let out a laugh. "Yep."
We made our way up the stairs and into the bedroom we assumed was Herschel's. I sighed in envy at the soft looking mattress.
"How long do you think it'll be before we're at each other's throats?" I asked him.
"Probably won't make it through the night." T-Dog said.
AIWAIWAIWAIWAIW
The awful sound of grinding gears made me wince as I watched Andrea and Glenn tinker with the RV. Riddick laid his ears back at the offensive noise. The setting sun glazed everything with a pale orange. The hay bale beneath me was scratchy through the thin material of the jeans; obviously they were made just to look good.
Randall was silent inside the shed, the only noise coming from his heavy breathing. I looked around curiously, waiting for T-Dog to come relieve me from my duty. He should be by any second now to fetch Randall and take him to Rick and Daryl. A muffled noise from inside the shed made me turn towards in suspiciously.
"Als!" I turned towards the voice and spotted T-Dog coming towards me.
Raising a hand in greeting, I stood up and stretched.
"You all ready for him?" I asked.
"Ready to get rid of him, more like it." T-Dog muttered.
"I got this," T-Dog told me. "You can go back. I remember Herschel telling you to stay off that ankle, anyways."
I rolled my eyes and gazed down at my foot. It was healing nicely, firmly wrapped in Ace bandages. I nodded to T-Dog.
"You sure?" I asked.
"Course." He responded, walking towards the door. "Yo, Randy!"
I smirked and started limping away, Riddick following behind me faithfully. I made it about 10 feet when I heard the slam of the door against the shed and a rather disturbing crack. Spinning around, I saw T-Dog on ground with a figure kneeling over him. It took me only a few moments to process what had happened. By the time I reacted, Randall was fleeing.
I pulled my gun out and aimed it at the running person, but my hands started to shake. I'd never shot a living being before. Pushing through it, I shot off a round. Randall had already made it into the tree line and my bullet hit bark instead. At that moment, Riddick took off after the prisoner.
"Riddick!" I screamed after him. The dog didn't slow as he disappeared into the foliage.
I cursed under my breath before running straight towards T-Dog. Dropping to my knees beside him, I pushed him onto his back. He stared up at me in confusion and pain.
"…What…?" He slurred.
I observed the already swelling and purple mark on his dark skin, a slow trickle of blood leaking from a gruesome, albeit not lethal cut. My eyes found the weapon, a slab of board that was probably pulled from the floor of the shed.
"Holy shit, T." I stammered.
"Hey!" I heard screams from behind us.
Looking over my shoulder I saw the group running towards us.
"What the hell happened?" Shane demanded, being the first to reach us.
"We heard a shot." Rick said grimly.
Carol and Lori came running over moments later, panic evident on their faces as they prepared for the worst, Sophia and Carl hot on their tails.
"Randall got out, T opened the door and he hit him on the head. He ran off into the woods!" I explained as quickly as I could, trying to help T-Dog to his feet. "Riddick chased after him!"
The man leaned heavily against me, putting pressure on my injured ankle. I winced and was relieved when Daryl and Rick moved forward to take his weight. They set him up against the hay bale and Daryl handed him a familiar rag to push against his head. The hunter stalked over to the shed and peered inside, Rick and Andrea following him. Glenn remained outside with me and T-Dog, shotgun in hand.
"What happened?" Maggie came running up with the Greene family hot on her tail.
"Randall got out, hurt T-Dog." Glenn responded.
"How?" Maggie demanded.
"Slipped his cuffs." Rick came back outside. "Bastard was probably just waiting for someone to open the door."
"I told you we should have killed the son of a bitch!" Shane snarled.
"That's not helping, Shane!" Lori snapped.
"Where'd he go?" Herschel asked.
"Alice said he went into the woods." Glenn said, pointing to the trees.
"Riddick was after him." I repeated.
"Guys." T-Dog interrupted out panic session. "My gun's gone."
A horrified hush washed over us. 12 pairs of eyes locked onto Rick, awaiting instruction.
"He's armed." Shane cursed.
"Alright, Herschel and T-Dog! Get everyone in the house. Glenn, Daryl and Shane, you're with me!" Rick snapped.
"Just let him go." Carol suggested. "That was the plan!"
"The plan was to cut him loose far away from here, not at our front door with a gun." Rick growled.
"Let me come, too." I said.
"No, you need to stay. With T down, we need as much protection here as we can get. Who knows if he'll double back." Shane said.
"I can help more out there than back here!" I tried.
"If you're worried about that mutt of yours, we'll bring him back." Daryl snapped, laying a bolt on his crossbow.
"That's not the point." Carol snapped back. "You don't know what could happen out there!"
"We don't have time to argue. It'll be dark soon." Rick interjected. "We have to go, now."
Shane and Rick headed towards the tree line, Glenn right behind them. Daryl lingered for just a moment.
"Don't do anything stupid." He warned me. "That dog ain't worth getting shot by that little bastard."
"I'm not." I snapped back.
Reaching behind me, I pulled out the gun Carl had given to me earlier that day. I shoved it into his hands, him taking it with a look mixed between surprise and annoyance.
"Don't ask." I told him. "Just be careful."
He nodded before jogging to catch up with the rest of his team. A hand grabbed my arm, tugging me backwards. Turning, I saw Maggie's face.
"Come on." She said. "They'll be fine."
I sighed, but let myself be pulled away towards the house. Herschel was waiting for us in the doorway, closing the door and locking it as we went inside. Carol and Sophia were holding each other as they sat in a chair, both looking off into space. I didn't see Lori anywhere, but Carl was climbing the stairs.
T-Dog was lying on the couch his eyes tightly closed. Beth came around the corner with a bag of frozen peas and some Advil. I walked over to my corner of the room and slid down the wall till my butt touched the floor.
"So, we just wait?" Jimmy asked, leaning against the kitchen doorframe.
"Rick will handle this." Herschel reassured. "For now, let's start getting ready for tonight."
AIWAIWAIWAIWAIW
Night had fallen, and they still weren't back. I peered out the living room window, my vision impaired by the wooden boards that had been nailed on top of the glass. It was pretty much black outside, only the moon illuminating the landscape. I sighed and stepped away, turning around.
Herschel and Carol were laying sheets down on every piece of available furniture as they prepared for sleep. Sophia had changed into sleeping clothes and was cuddled into two chairs I had pushed together. T-Dog was standing next to Beth and Maggie, a bandage taped onto his head. Lori sat in a chair, chewing on her nails in worry.
Andrea walked towards me with a cup of something that smelt like heaven. She passed it over to me without a word before peering out the window. I stared at the steaming black liquid for a second before taking a sip. Even inside the house, it was cold.
"When do you think-," she began.
She was cut off when the banging of a door could be heard from the back of the house. Immediately, everyone was on edge. My hand drifted to my gun in apprehension as footsteps headed our way. Daryl and Glenn popped around the corner, looking cold and tired.
"Rick and Shane ain't back?" Daryl asked, setting his crossbow down on the couch.
"No." Lori said quickly, standing up.
"We heard a shot." Glenn said.
"Maybe they found Randall." Carol said.
"Or Randall found them." T-Dog input.
"We found Randall." Daryl informed.
"Is he back in the shed?" Maggie asked.
"He's a Walker." The hunter deadpanned.
"Did you find the Walker that bit him?" Herschel asked.
"That's the thing." Glenn said hesitantly. "He wasn't bit."
"Looked like Riddick chased him towards the ravine. Randall must've slipped. His neck was broke when we found him." Daryl explained.
"How is that possible?" Beth asked frightfully.
"Where is Riddick?" I finally spoke up.
Glenn and Daryl's eyes darted towards me before looking back down.
"Riddick was following him for a long time, by the look of things. Their tracks were almost on top of each other." Daryl said. "I think he chased him off the edge."
"We found blood near the top of the ravine." Glenn said quietly. "A lot of it."
"So, what you're saying is…" I trailed of shakily.
"We don't know for sure." Glenn assured me quickly. "It could have been Randall's. And we didn't find a body-,"
I moved quickly to the front door and unlocked it. Daryl slid up behind me and grabbed my arm.
"You can't go out there in the dark." He reasoned.
"I have to find him." I snapped, shaking his grip off.
"When I said don't do anything stupid, that includes this." Daryl growled.
Ignoring him, I threw open the door and stepped outside into the freezing night. The chill was nothing as I stilled where I was, my blood running cold. Daryl stepped out after me and grabbed me again, probably to pull me back inside the house.
"Christ." I gasped.
The hand on my arm tightened further as Daryl saw what I was seeing. It looked like a solid black shadow moving over the pastures, steadily making its way closer. But it wasn't. A group or herd of walkers sounded too tame, oh no, this was an army. Hundreds of decaying bodies were picking their way towards the farmhouse.
Our silence enticed the rest of the group to come outside, where they too stood stock still as they saw what we were seeing. There was so many of them that, even though they had only reached the barn, we could hear the gruesome sound of their growling and snarling.
"Patricia. Kill the lights." Herschel said in a hushed voice.
"I'll get the guns." Andrea volunteered, running into the house.
"Maybe they'll just pass by like the herd on the highway." Glenn whispered. "Should we just go inside?"
"Not unless there's a secret tunnel downstairs I don't know about. Herd that size will rip the house down." Daryl objected, finally releasing me and hoisting his crossbow higher.
Just when I thought things couldn't get any worse, Lori came darting outside. "Carl's gone."
"What?" Daryl demanded.
"He was upstairs, I can't find him anywhere!" Lori panicked.
"Maybe he's hiding." Glenn supplied.
"He's supposed to be upstairs! I'm not leaving without my boy!"
"We're not!" Carol soothed, gripping Sophia tightly too her. "We're gonna look again and we're gonna find him!"
The two mothers darted back inside with Jimmy and Beth hot on their heels. Andrea arrived with the gun bag and unzipped it. There was a mad dash for guns and ammo as everyone took their fill. Maggie handed Glenn a shotgun and took one for herself.
"Maggie." Glenn said in disbelief.
"You grow up country, you pick up a thing or two." She responded, cocking the gun with one hand.
"Amen." I said as I continued to cast nervous glances at the rapidly approaching dead.
"They got the numbers. It's no use." Daryl said grimly.
"You can go if you want." Herschel said saucily.
"You gonna take them all on?" Daryl asked in a disbelieving voice.
"We got cars. We got guns." Herschel replied simply.
"Kill as many as we can and lead the rest off the farm using the cars." I said, nodding.
"Serious?" Daryl asked.
"This is my farm. I'll die here." Herschel vowed.
"Alright." Daryl said, and I could have sworn a saw a smirk pass over his lips. "It's as good a night as any."