Beth's family farm is just about fifty miles from Shane's home in northern King County. Once, it would have taken just over an hour to arrive, barring traffic issues. Now? It takes him well over two hours, and as much as he wants answers, he feels like his skin is crawling with the need to turn around and get back home.
One thing his nerves teach him is that he needs to get a second vehicle. Ed may have been a complete and utter asshole, but the late seventies model Jeep Cherokee is well maintained and one of the better choices for their current world as long as Shane can find and treat gasoline. Eventually, he needs to switch to something diesel, since that fuel will last longer for him to find and store. But before that, they need a setup where if one adult leaves the property, the other has an escape possibility that isn't stuffing four kids on a small jon boat.
Shane ignores the farmhouse initially after confirming for himself that there are no vehicles he recognizes anywhere in sight. It rained during the night, making the driveway fairly muddy, so he's also certain that no one came or went in the hours since the rain. Keeping a wary eye out for areas walkers might lurk out of sight, he makes his way to the tatters of the camp.
Several of the abandoned and flattened tents look familiar, and his heart falls a bit as he pokes through them. They'd gotten too comfortable here and unpacked too many things. Leaving in such a hurry, many valuables were left behind. What really makes him wince is finding one of the duffel bags of medications from the CDC that Carol so carefully squirrelled away for everyone. He hopes the other one stayed in a vehicle, at least. Gathering up everything he can salvage, he packs it into the Cherokee before eyeing the fallen bodies scattered around the property.
Most are decomposed enough they've been walkers for a while, and those show the signs of gunshot wounds. Aim had not been the frantic people's strong point, though, and Shane thinks a lot of ammunition got wasted as they fought and fled.
There's just enough of Patricia left to recognize her from Beth's halting description. Shane cuts away a piece of a damaged tent and drags her body away from the walkers who claimed her life before continuing his search. There's more and more of the walkers, until finally, the face Shane finds is familiar.
"Oh, hell, old man."
Shane doesn't expect to feel this level of regret over Dale's passing, not when he found the old man irritating more often than not. But with his RV gone, Shane supposes he'd just assumed the man escaped with it. Then again, it also makes sense that Dale would be the type of man to go down fighting to protect the others' escape route.
Treating Dale the same way as Patricia, Shane finishes his search. If anyone else was bitten, they managed to turn and walk, but he's at least grateful that he didn't find any of the others here, especially Carl. The barn somehow held despite the herd, with the family members and neighbors Beth mentioned still trapped inside. He can't stomach the idea of leaving even more walkers to roam should they eventually escape, so he opens the doors and slowly and methodically puts down the inhabitants with a machete.
Digging graves would take entirely too long on his own, so Shane opts for a funeral pyre instead. There's plenty of firewood handy, and he soaks the wood thoroughly with lighter fluid. Waiting to light the pyre until after he's searched the house, he tackles it at last.
Signs of both the hurried departure and Beth's lonely days are everywhere. He gathers up everything he thinks might be useful, including things he simply doesn't have enough of at his house, like quilts and towels, as well as a good chunk of Beth's clothes and some of her family photos. Since no one's returned to the farmhouse yet, he assumes they aren't going to. With Beth assumed dead, it's very possible that no one wants to return to a place where they think they lost at least three people, including a child. Leaving a cryptic note on the refrigerator is all he really can do in case someone does return.
Once the Cherokee is as full as he can safely make it, he is about to go light the pyre when he hears an odd noise from behind the house. Careful and wary, he draws his gun and eases around the corner… only to chuckle softly at himself.
For once, his wariness is only protecting him from a scrawny little rooster and two bedraggled hens. They must be survivors of the Greene flock who returned to the farm once the walkers drifted away. Since they don't scatter when he approaches, he searches in a bin next to the damaged chicken coop and scoops out a can of chicken feed and scatters it for the trio. While they gobble hungrily, he goes inside the house and finds a pair of pillow cases.
The hens he catches easily, tucking them into one of the pillow cases. The rooster is a bit more of a task, but he's too used to human interaction in the end, so he ends up in his own private pillow case for transport. Settling them in the Cherokee along with as much food as he can scoop into a discarded feed bag, he retrieves Annette and Shawn's bodies from the barn and adds them to the pyre with Dale and Patricia before setting it ablaze. The neighbors and strangers stay where they fell, but he can at least tell Beth those she loved had a funeral of some sort and weren't left to the elements.
As Shane leaves the farm, the flames are still burning strong, catching his eye in the rear view mirror. If luck is a real thing, Rick and the others will swing back by the farm and find his note. He's never been the type to rely on luck, though, so for now, he's got to get home and make sure things stay safe for those he's left responsible for.
Shane leaves as soon as the sky starts getting lighter, thanking her quietly for the bowl of sweetened grits she insists he eat before he goes. Carol sets about keeping the kids busy while Shane's away. Beth is doing much better after a few good meals and a night of sleep curled safely against Carol's side while Sophia was on the other.
There are plenty of chores, between giving the place a good scrub after no one was in residence for months and copious amounts of laundry. The place seems safe for now, but Carol didn't trust longevity in much before the world went to shit, so she sure isn't now. Getting everything washed up while they can is essential.
"Do you think we could put in a garden here?" Beth asks, pausing in the middle of hanging a freshly washed shirt on the line next to Carol. Sophia and the boys are scrubbing away at another basket for them to deal with, so Carol pauses in her own task to consider the idea.
"There's space. I don't think Shane would object, although I think maybe we'd need a tiller or something?" There's grassy open space that gets good sun, and Carol knows some plants are specifically started in late summer for fall crops. "What do you have in mind?"
"Well, while it's still so hot, we could plant beans, potatoes, squash. Maybe some cucumbers, too. Pickles keep a long time. We wouldn't necessary get anything to eat for a few months, but it would be good to do for winter. Plus once things are cooler, we could plant cabbage, onions, and greens."
Even as much as Carol wants to be prepared to run at any time, she also knows being prepared to stay is equally important. Staying in the quarry so long, hoping for government rescue? That was foolish past the first couple of weeks. No help is coming, so they have to settle for helping themselves.
"Patience is a virtue for gardening, I remember." Carol smiles brightly at Beth and reaches for a damp sock to hang up. "We'll ask Shane as soon as he gets back. He'll know where best to look."
"He's really teaching y'all?" Beth asks after a few moments of returning to her task. "How to shoot and all that?"
"Yes. More me and Sophia than the twins so far, but I'm sure he'll be happy to teach you as well."
Beth's expression turns grim as she nods, flexing her hand and staring at her fingers, obviously remembering losing her grip on Patricia. "I don't want to feel helpless ever again."
"I understand." Learning self-defence and how to deal with walkers isn't going to fix everything, because Carol knows that even Shane has had those frustrated moments of helplessness. But there's a huge difference between having no skills to change the situation and just running out of options.
They pause after the laundry is done to eat lunch, which Carol keeps vegetarian simply because they have baskets worth of those from raided gardens. If Shane hasn't returned by close to supper time, she'll take the kids fishing from the bank. With a good supply of protein at hand, they need to take advantage of it.
With the breeze off the water and the temperature pushing Shane's thermometer hung on the side of the house into the high nineties, a large portion of the laundry is dry much more quickly than Carol expected. She wants to laugh at herself for being so relieved as they fold and tuck things away, leaving only the thicker fabrics like socks and jeans to bake in the day's heat. It's much easier than the quarry, where the lack of regular air movement often meant drying was a full day affair even for lightweight fabrics if the humidity was high.
"Do you think he's safe out there, Mama?" Sophia asks as she brings the last basket up to the boathouse for Carol to put away.
"I'm sure he's fine, sweetheart. He knows how to avoid the walkers, and the Jeep is pretty reliable." She watched Shane top off the tank before he left, too, and she knows he took one of the full five-gallon gas cans with him.
"What if he finds more people didn't make it?"
At the worried note in Sophia's voice, Carol stops putting away laundry and reaches out to hug her daughter close. "I'm betting you're worried about Carl."
"Yeah. He wasn't with his mama and Beth, so anything could have happened."
"Well, unless Shane finds evidence otherwise, we're going to assume Carl was with his father, and Rick knows how to keep them both safe."
Reassured, Sophia heads back downstairs, but quick shouts from the boys lead Carol to snag the shotgun Shane left her and head outside. The kids scamper to the shadows under the boathouse, but there's no need for them to retreat. Shane's now-familiar form emerges from the Cherokee to open the gate. Once he reaches the house, they can see that the vehicle is stuffed full of supplies, but Shane doesn't bother with them right away, coming to face Beth.
"The good news is, I didn't find any of your people on the farm except for Patricia," he tells her. "I laid her and your mama and brother to rest, along with Dale."
At the mention of kindly Dale's name, Carol's heart lurches, and she reaches out to pull the boys in close. He'd often spent time with them, watching over all the kids in camp in general, but having a special touch with the youngest ones like Benjamin, Henry, and Louis Morales. Sophia's expression takes on that stoic look Carol hated was becoming so commonplace for her daughter as she grew up enough to learn just how unfair life truly was. At least Shane didn't find any signs of the others that Beth didn't see escape.
"And the bad news?" Beth looks tearful, but she squares her shoulders bravely.
"I didn't find any sign that anyone ever came back to the farm, not even after you left. But I left them a note. If that changes, hopefully, they'll come find us here. Made sure they knew you survived."
Carol has to hide a smile at Shane's startled expression when Beth impulsively hugs him, muttering a thank you. Beth releases him too quickly for Shane to return the hug, turning to the other kids.
"C'mon. We've got a lot of stuff to unload."
Clothes, food, and even linens don't surprise Carol that Shane collected them. It's the chickens that are an entertaining surprise, especially as Shane crouches to help the boys unfasten the pillowcases to let the disgruntled poultry escape. The birds eye their new surroundings with more of a calm nature than Carol expects them to have. The hens start exploring, even as the undersized rooster gives Shane the evil eye in a way that makes her wonder just how long a chicken's memory actually is.
"Now, boys, we're gonna have to build them a chicken coop, because out in the woods like this, lots of things find chicken tasty just like we do. Y'all wanna help me?"
"Do they need a fence?" Benjamin asks, attention torn between Shane and the wandering animals.
"Nah. We're going to let them out of the coop in the mornings and coax them inside at night. During the day, we'll let them wander around so they can eat bugs and grubs and stuff to keep their diet healthy. Chickens will eat just about anything, but we're gonna try not to eat their eggs right away."
"Do you think we'll get babies?" Henry's excitement has him damn near vibrating out of his skin.
"That's the plan to start with. How long does it take for a chicken egg to hatch, Beth?"
Beth pauses looking through the bag of clothes Shane indicated was hers. "About three weeks. Can't always trust a hen to hatch them out, though. Maybe we could find an incubator somewhere in town? Then we can be in charge of keeping them warm, if there's electric to spare."
"I think we can consider that a really good use of our electricity," Shane reassures her. "Need to run into town to get some extra lumber and such. Do we all want to load up?"
Carol considers it before shaking her head. Crowding them all into the Cherokee just means fewer supplies can be transported "Why don't you take the girls, since the boys are going to help you build the coop? The boys can help me see about catching supper."
Watching Sophia head off with Shane and Beth is nerve-wracking, but like most things, Carol reminds herself it's a necessity now. She can't always keep the kids in her direct line of sight, and it's not like Shane will do anything to endanger either of the girls. Making note of the time as they leave, just prior to four in the afternoon, Carol sets off with the boys to see if twenty years of living in town have made her forget how to bait a hook.
It's disappointing that Shane's trip to the farm didn't turn up their missing people or any real clues as to where they might have gone, but these days, Carol takes no news as good news. Losing Dale is terrible, but it would have been worse if Shane had found Glenn or Carl, who are so very young. She'll just keep praying that everyone is safe out there somewhere. They got one miracle in finding Beth and getting this much news.
Eventually, they'll get another.
A/N: I could not resist the idea of Shane trying to capture some poor little rooster who'd take offense. ;)
I wanted to keep one more of the canon deaths at the farm, even though I generally try to keep the body count low. As I've vowed to not let Jimmy die (poor kid), that left Dale or Otis, and Otis got a pass. Poor widower...