Eugene isn't surprised one bit that after his presentation and the revelation that the person the Greenes and Deputy Walsh are so avidly protecting is a sixteen-year-old girl, that he ends up with an audience of four when he tests Beth's blood. She's apprehensive, but no more than anyone else he's tested over the past few months. The biggest difference is that she seems optimistic, not just curious.
"How long will it take to know for sure?" Beth asks. She's the closest, sitting in the lab chair while the others stand outside looking in, most expressions skeptical and protective, but Michonne, at least, seems to hold some of the same optimism as Beth. Her left arm is bare of the leather cuff she loosened, the ugly scarred flesh a sign of hope.
"It's actually fairly quick." He keeps his hands steady as he prepares the samples, taking a deep breath when he looks through the microscope.
There it is, that miracle reaction.
Eugene smiles, turning to Beth as he straightens up. "Do you want to see?"
"Oh, yeah." Beth scrambles into his chair once he offers it, leaning down. The soft, "oh, wow" makes Eugene smile even wider. Beth lingers longer than he expected, but when he sees her tracing the damaged part of her arm, he understands.
How horrifying it must be to have lost someone she loved to this disease, while being immune herself.
"Dr. Greene? If you would like to see it as well?" Eugene offers, thinking out of everyone here, the veterinarian has decades of experience in a medical field. To be able to have more than just his own input is invaluable.
Letting Hershel into the mobile lab means that Eugene has to step outside, and he's happily surprised that Michonne pats his shoulder reassuringly as he watches Hershel trade places with Beth. The teenager reaches for her leather band before approaching with it still in her hand.
"I don't have to cover this anymore, do I, Maggie? Because now everyone needs to know."
"Everyone?" Maggie shakes her head. "Do they?"
This is addressed to Eugene, who eyes the scarring and shakes his head. "I suspect everyone should know about the vaccine's potential, assuming that everyone here will travel with us. But that Beth was bitten and survived? No, I do not estimate that it must be public knowledge unless Beth prefers it to be such."
"We are all going, aren't we?" Maggie asks, but the question is toward Shane.
"There's no reason for us to linger here, and a larger group is safer, especially with all the kids traveling. I'm good to travel, and the others already agreed that DC was a viable option. All the major ones in Georgia are gone."
Eugene does a mental tally of the numbers he saw yesterday and suppresses a small shiver. A larger group, especially with those skilled among the dead like Shane's group appears to be, would be invaluable. But much like Eugene's own people, there are children among them. The only advantage would be that at least the kids appear to be older, and based on the activity he noticed in an open field this morning before the meeting at the farmhouse, they are all training to cope with this world.
Hershel joins them, expression solemn. "We'll need to make some arrangements, but your goal is an honorable one we should all support."
"It's for real, Daddy? Not just a fluke?" Maggie asks.
Although her training is enough of the right sort, Eugene had noted she didn't read through what he brought to Hershel. He isn't sure he would be able to rely on someone else's determination, but then again, perhaps it's different when the person you're relying on is your father. The Greenes seem to have a closer relationship than he's used to seeing among grown family members.
"I don't think it's a fluke. Dr. Porter's seen this happen before, and we both know there's something to it from what we've seen with Beth. We can't help those already gone, but if there's a chance that no one else will turn into those things, we need to try, even if it ultimately doesn't fail."
Eugene had expected to have to cajole the Greenes a bit, but it seems that Hershel and Beth, once convinced, are willing to bring the others over to his side. Maggie nods, eying her sister with enough concern that he isn't surprised to see Beth put her cuff back on and lace it back up. Being the source of a potential vaccine is one thing. Having everyone know she survived such an attack? That's as private as any other assault would be, Eugene thinks.
Hershel turns to him after he steps down from the Humvee. "Would a study of subjects with photographs of how the dead decay be of any use to you?"
He honestly hasn't had the personal opportunity to study such a thing, although he knows there were colleagues at the lab who did. They had searched for a solution from every angle, after all. "I would be quite interested in any research you've done on the subject, Dr. Greene. Analysis from a veterinarian might show angles of thought that no one else brought to my attention when my facility was still fully staffed and capable of such."
"It's not my study, but I've reviewed it. Beth did a wonderful job for having only basic high school training." Hershel looks so utterly forlorn when he smiles sadly at his daughter, making Eugene wonder just what issues have passed between the two.
"I can go get my notebooks from the house," Beth offers. "I kept a record of my own self, too, not just the⦠subjects."
When she stumbles over the word, Eugene realizes who she's likely referring to. Jesus Christ, this poor waif of a girl has the courage of a lion, far more than Eugene has ever possessed, if she managed to study her own family members in order to seek the truth about the disease plaguing their world. He can't help but admire her resolve. Even if the research is useless for his needs, he promises himself to handle it as kindly as few ever were inclined toward his more unique pursuits.
"If you would bring it down at some later point, I would be honored to go over your research in depth, Beth."
It's the right thing to say, because she smiles brightly at him, chasing away the discomfort and sadness from her expression.
"I'll bring it down later today, I promise." Beth hops to the ground outside the mobile lab, tucking her hand through Shane's elbow. "For now, I'm overdue for a gun cleaning lesson, aren't I?"
Shane nods at the reminder. "I don't imagine your people need such lessons, but you're welcome to join us if you do."
"Will there be shooting involved or just cleaning and mechanicals?" Eugene has fired enough of the weapons they have under Abraham and Rosita's tutelage to be certain he won't take out his companions under friendly fire now. They've learned from the clusterfuck that New Orleans turned into. But there hasn't been time for more.
"Cleaning and mechanics only. Might do some dry firing practice, but nothing that makes that level of noise. There was a herd way too close to the farm recently to risk drawing in that many," Shane tells him. "I was a certified instructor before, so I've been teaching the kids and those who weren't familiar with guns before."
"I shall require a few minutes to make some notes while everything is fresh on my mind, but then I can close up the laboratory and join you in the lessons if you don't mind tardiness. To learn even more about the various weaponry surrounding me is a useful skill I cannot turn down the opportunity to learn."
"We don't take attendance," Shane replies, an amused smile gracing his features. "We're set up at a table near the porch. Can't miss us."
With that reply, Shane and Beth head off in the general direction of the farmhouse, and with quiet goodbyes, Maggie and Hershel follow. Eugene is left alone in the lab that's kept his research safe for so many miles now, and he can't resist the impulse to go look through that microscope one last time.
That miracle needle in a haystack reaction is still there.
Science still has a chance to win.
Shane has never been the natural optimist that Rick is, but something about the events of the farm have lulled him into thinking there's a light at the end of the tunnel. Having hope for the bigger picture is one thing, but somehow, despite mentioning the possibility of a herd, he sure as hell didn't actually expect one to come shambling toward the farm: moaning, ravenous, terrifying. Despite the noise precautions, the one thing they can't erase is the fact that there are a hundred or more cattle in the pastures around them.
They've been camping and living in the middle of a goddamn mooing buffet.
The even worse part than his immediate self-recrimination is the combo gut punch of realizing how ineffectual his healing injuries make him and that the people he cares about are scattered too far for him to help them all.
They aren't ready to leave the farm. The Greenes are still sorting supplies to take with everyone, and they were going to set the cattle loose in the morning in hopes that they can avoid the walkers the way herbivores have avoided predators for eons. Shane's people still have an unprotected camp set up. Only Abraham's people can flee easily, and the unfortunate part there?
Like Shane, Abraham is down near the barn, helping load a truck with water barrels, since fresh water is one of the hardest things to guarantee on the road and the thing they can least do without. Filling the barrels had been easy enough to do one handed, but now he regrets his need to be helpful and to exchange plans and information with Abraham without anyone overhearing.
"Walsh, take the truck. We gotta warn the ones that don't have radios," Abraham snaps, and Shane obeys the same way he would have responded to any deputy better prepared for a scene than himself.
Shane fumbles into the driver seat of the old farm truck, wishing he could sound the horn, but noise will only whip the herd into a frenzy and make them move faster. Abraham is perched on the side of the truck bed, hissing into a radio as he watches the movement behind them as the herd just grows in size as more break free of the distant treeline. The sound is too indistinct to make out clearly, but even as Shane clears the first gate, thankful they'd left them open, he sees the big Humvee designated as the mobile lab take off like a bat out of hell toward the long and winding driveway that leads to the farm.
It makes sense, he knows, that the first person to be secured is the scientist with the knowledge to cure this shit, but his heart still lurches. The only good thing is that the frantic departure alerts others even as much as flashing the truck's headlights on and off do. He's over using the injured arm, reaching past the restraint of the sling, but he doesn't care.
They roll to a halt and Abraham starts barking orders, even as Maggie stumbles to a halt near the truck. "Get your people loaded. Gear like the tents can be replaced. They can't."
"Shane? Where's Beth?" She looks frantically around, and Shane copies it, not seeing the bright blonde hair in the moonlight.
"She was with Eugene when I sounded the alarm. She's safe for now. You need to get the rest of your people loaded up and off this goddamn farm before they become supper for those dead bastards already halfway here."
Maggie jolts from the rapidfire order, and her gaze goes first to the herd, then back to Shane. She jerks her head in a nod, setting off at a dead run for the house. That leaves Shane to follow his own orders.
"Leave the tents. Grab your bags and load the vehicles. Get the kids in the RV and get it off the farm first. We head southwest and meet up at Hershel's vet practice in town. You remember where that is, Dale?"
Dale nods, scrambling for the RV and getting the engine started. He and Andrea don't have to pack anything, both sleeping in the RV, but Andrea is shepherding Carol and Sophia on board, obviously helping with their belongings. Rick and Lori are communicating rapidly, and she snatches Carl by the shirt, dragging him to the RV.
To Shane's immense pride, by the time he reaches his tent to grab his bag and load it into the farm truck, Jimmy's already shucked what little they had unpacked into the duffels and is headed toward him.
"Do I have to ride with the kids?" he asks.
Shane shakes his head, even as he waves Dale onward when the RV pauses as Dale sees Jimmy with Shane. Dale speeds off, pushing the old Winnebago to the limit.
"Get in Otis' truck. You know the area, so you can drive." Jimmy obeys quickly, sliding into the driver seat, even as Shane scans the area. Glenn and T-Dog take the Hyandai, and Rick is arguing with Daryl about the motorcycle, giving up to run for the Cherokee, just as Shane sees Maggie's little car speed off the farm with Patricia looking frantic in the passenger seat.
Jumping into the passenger seat, Shane orders Jimmy to follow, even as he sees Hershel and Otis finish cramming something into the back of the Suburban. They fall in line behind Shane and Jimmy, with the Cherokee's distinctive headlights confirming to Shane that Rick's right behind Hershel.
He hears the roar of the other Humvees firing engines, along with the Triumph, and he realizes that Abraham's remaining people and Daryl had been trying to keep the noise down. Daryl passes them even as they speed up. Evidence of Eugene's Humvee leaving is shown all along the way, as the once sturdy farm gates are destroyed, flung off their hinges and mangled by the full force of a military vehicle opting for urgency over stopping to open the gates.
"Holy shit," Jimmy breathes, braking as he manages to catch up with Maggie, who's been slowed by the Hyandai and a driver less familiar with the driveway's winding turns. "They just blew through everything."
"Can't say I blame them," Shane mutters, wondering just who was driving. Eugene hadn't struck him as the demolition derby type, but both of the women who seem to cluster around the scientist are both the apologize later type. He just has to trust that they'll keep Beth safe, just like he knows Dale will keep Carl and Lori safe.
They'll meet up, sort everything out, and be grateful that everyone made it off the farm. This isn't the quarry, where he'll have to see people he was in charge of buried after ensuring they won't turn.
It just isn't.
