Hello wonderful readers!
So, just a heads up. Spring semester has just started and I'm essentially working 2 jobs with the job that I go in person to and the etsy store I am now operating. What that means is that I am going to try my hardest to keep updating semi-regularly.
That has never happened in the past when I've said that but last week I got bitten by an inspiration bug and wrote 3 chapters in one day so I am currently 2 chapters ahead of what I am posting. I will only be trying to post once a week from here on out just so that I don't run out of content to post. Now I have no clue what day of the week that will be because my schedule is in all essence of the word a clusterfuck.
I love to read your comments so please please leave some! Also please let me know if there is anything in particular you would like to see in this story!
As far as timelines go. After this chapter there is only one more chapter of season 2. I will have 2 to 3 chapters containing what went on between seasons 2 & 3. They will be in a different style than normal so if there's anything specific you would like to see happen in the play area I have between the two seasons let me know!
As always I do not own The Walking Dead, its characters, storylines or dialogue.
I hope you enjoy reading!
XO
Val
The past 3 days that we've lived in Herschel's house have gone pretty much the same. During the day, the men fix things around the farm, tend to the fields, the horses and cattle and the women do house chores; cooking and cleaning keeping the house in as much order as it can be in with 18 people living in it, 3 of them being children.
The kids and I are sat in our usual spot on the porch, Carl, Jack, and Penny doing schoolwork while Anneliese babbles laying on her belly and Beth braids my hair, while the group talks about tasks for the day.
"Shane'll assign shifts while me and Daryl take Randall offsite and cut him loose" Rick says
"We're back to that now?" Shane asks
"It was the right plan first time around. Poor execution"
"That's a slight understatement" Shane scoffs
"You don't agree, but this is what's happening. Swallow it. Move on" Rick bites out
"You know that Dale's death and the prisoner – that's two separate things, right?" Shane asks
"You wanna take Daryl as your wingman? Be my guest" Shane says sarcastically
"Thank you" Rick snaps
"You got it" Shane just can't leave well enough alone it seems
"Andrea" Rick calls once everyone has dispersed and started on their tasks "While I'm out with Daryl, help Herschel keep an eye on things around here."
"Me?" she questions
"Shane's got a way of letting things get out of hand, especially when he's all torqued up"
"I think we're all still a bit torqued up at this point"
"You've become close" Rick points out
"We talk" Andrea answers hesitantly
"Then you know he's not a bad guy. He's just his own worst enemy"
"You want me to babysit Shane?" Better you than me, Andrea
"I need to make sure every time I leave the farm all hell doesn't break loose."
"Then maybe you should stop leaving" she says turning and walking off
"Will you keep an eye on things?" Rick calls after her
"Of course," she calls back
"Carl?" Rick asks coming up the steps
"Yeah, dad?"
"Listen to Gen today. You understand? One word of you not listening and instead of free time you'll have schoolwork or chores" he instructs
"Okay dad, be safe"
"I will, love you"
"Love you too" Carl says, and Rick shakes his head before heading into the house
They must get caught up doing other things around the farm because its after lunch by the time Rick sends T-Dog to get Randall from the shed
"Aye yo, we got a problem!" T-Dog yells running up from the shed
"What's wrong?" Rick asks from where he's standing at the truck
"He's gone" T-Dog pants
"Randall?" Daryl asks
"Yes, doors locked but he's not there"
"C'mon man what the hell" Daryl bites out heading for the shed Rick, Andrea and T-Dog following
"What's wrong?" Lori asks coming out onto the porch
"Randall's missing" Glenn answers
"Missing? How?" she questions
"How long's he been gone?" Herschel asks moving down the steps to where Daryl and Rick have emerged from the shed, Daryl looking around for any clue to where he could've gone
"What's going on?" Patricia asks
"The cuffs are still hooked. He must've slipped 'em" Rick says
"Is that possible?" Carol asks
"It is, if you've got nothing to lose" Andrea says coming out of the shed
"The door was secured from the outside" Herschel notes
"It doesn't make sense" Lori says
"How would he have gotten out?" Glenn asks
"Rick! Rick!" Shane yells stumbling out of the tree line, blood dripping down his face from his nose
"What happened?!" Lori yells
"He's armed! He's got my gun!" Shane yells
"Are you okay?" Carl asks and I pull him to my side before he can run up to the man who looks quite frankly, unhinged
"I'm fine. Little bastard just snuck up on me. He clocked me in the face." Shane growls
"All right, Herschel, T-Dog. Get everybody back in the house. Glenn, Daryl, come with us" Rick orders
"T! I'm gonna need that gun" Shane demands
"Just let him go. That was the plan wasn't it, to just let him go?" Carol asks
"The plan was to cut him loose far away from here. Not on our front step with a gun." Shane snaps
"Don't go out there. Y'all know what can happen!" Carol protests
"Get everybody back in the house! Lock all the doors and stay put!" Rick orders walking towards the woods
"Let's go back in the house" Andrea says grabbing Carol's hand and pulling her towards the house and I don't hesitate to herd the kids after them
It gets dark quickly, and before long Lori and I are settling the kids in the beds upstairs before returning downstairs to wait for someone to show up from searching.
It's close to an hour after I've put the kids to bed when the back door opens, and Daryl and Glenn come walking in
"Rick and Shane ain't back?" Daryl asks looking around
"No" Lori answers him
"We heard a shot" Glenn says
"Maybe they found Randall" Lori suggests
"We found him" Daryl says
"Is he back in the shed?" Maggie asks
"He's a walker" Daryl informs us
"Did you find the walker that bit him?" Herschel asks
"No, the weird thing is. He wasn't bit" Glenn says
"His neck was broke"
"So, he fought back" Patricia offers
"The thing is Shane and Randall's tracks were right on top of each other. And Shane ain't no tracker, so he didn't come behind him. They were together" Daryl explains
"Would you please get back out there, find Rick and Shane and find out what on earth is going on?" Lori asks coming up to Daryl
"You got it" he says heading for the door
"Thank you" she says placing a hand on his arm as he moves past her and out the front door Glenn and Andrea following
"Y'all we got a bigger issue" Andrea announces a few moments later and everyone myself included join them on the porch
"Oh god" I whisper upon seeing the hundreds of walkers heading straight towards us
"Patricia kill the lights" Herschel whispers
"I'll get the guns" Andrea says
"Maybe they're passing, just like the herd on the highway. Should we just go inside?" Glenn asks
"Not unless there's a tunnel downstairs I don't know about. A herd that size would rip the house down." Daryl says
"Carl's gone" Lori says out of breath
"What?" Daryl and I say at the same time
"He was upstairs. I can't find him anymore"
"Maybe he's hiding" Glenn suggests
"He's supposed to be upstairs. I'm not leaving without my boy" Lori protests
"We're not. We're gonna look again. We're gonna find him" Carol says pulling her back inside the house
"Go get the kids up. Get them ready to leave" Daryl tells me as Andrea rejoins us on the porch and I nod rushing into the house and up the stairs
"Wake up. Jackson. Penelope. Wake up" I say barging into the room and grabbing their shoes
"What's going on?" Jackson asks
"There's a herd of walkers coming towards us. No time for questions. Change as quick as you can" I instruct tossing him his clothes and shoes before hauling Penny out of the bed and changing her as fast as humanly possible.
Not willing to leave behind formula or diapers I grab the diaper bag and book bag, ensure Anneliese is secure in her sling and herd the kids downstairs to rejoin the group on the porch.
"Gen!" my head snaps towards Glenn standing at the bottom of the steps
"You can ride with me and Maggie!" he yells to me and I nod quickly picking Penny up and ushering Jack into the back of the SUV
I settle into the backseat as quick as possible throwing the bags on the floor and pulling Penny into my lap sandwiching the baby and Jack to my side
"Rick or Shane must've started the fire" Glenn says as Maggie starts the car and I just take notice of the flames coming from the barn
"Hopefully, they're drawn to it" Maggie suggests as Glenn rolls down the passenger window and pulls himself out it to sit and fire at the walkers getting closer and closer
Maggie starts driving along the fence line as Glenn shoots and its anything but a smooth ride
We circle and drive back towards the house passing T-Dog and Andrea doing the same thing
We do a few more laps before Glenn slides back inside and announces he's out of ammo
"Where are they going?" Maggie asks referring to the truck T-Dog and Andrea were in "Should I follow them?"
"I'd say yes" Glenn answers looking behind us out the rear window "Swing it around. Swing it around here" he instructs
And she does right into a whole mess of incoming walkers
"Whoa, whoa, whoa"
"Oh my god. I can't get through" Maggie says as the walkers start banging on the windows trying to get to us
"Head out" Glenn says
"What?" Maggie snaps
"Get off the farm now"
"Don't say that"
"Maggie it's lost" Glenn yells over the increasing noise
"The others- we can't leave them" Maggie protests right before a walker face plants on the windshield causing her to scream
Anneliese starts crying at the sudden scream and Penny cries harder, but Maggie listens and reverses away from the walkers before plowing through them
"Oh my god. Oh my god" Maggie mumbles once we're finally clear of the herd of walkers
"All right. Let's just- let's just circle back to the highway" Glenn says
"Did you see my dad? Did he make it? Did you see?" She asks her voice thick with emotion
"I couldn't see anything"
"And Beth – I lost Beth. We've gotta go back there."
"We can't go back. Okay? There's nothing to go back to"
"But Beth- "
"I-I think she was with Lori"
"Did they make it?"
"I don't know" Glenn snaps
"Patricia? Jimmy? What if they didn't make it? What is nobody made it?"
"They made it, okay? Alright, they had to. Let's just circle around to the highway where we left supplies for Sophia"
"No, the herd came from that direction" Maggie protests
"Just stop. Stop the car" Glenn instructs, and Maggie does
"Let me drive" Glenn says getting out of the car and I take the moment while Maggie slides to the passenger seat to pull back from the kids and wipe their tears
"It's going to be okay. We will be okay" I tell them, but I don't miss Maggie nodding before sobbing harder
"Hey. Hey. Hey. Hey." Glenn says closing the driver's side door "Hey, Maggie, look at me. Look at me. Hey. We're alive. We made it. Okay? I'm sure they are too. Right?" he asks coaxing a nod from her
"I love you" he tells her "Maggie I love you. I should've said it a long time ago and it's been true for a long time" and I feel my eyes widen because welp wasn't expecting that
"We're gonna be alright, okay? We'll be all right"
"Okay yeah" she whispers trying to pull herself together as Glenn shifts the car back into drive and pulls off
Just as we're about to merge onto the highway an engine rumbling from behind us pulls our attention and we all let out a sigh of relief when Daryl with Carol on his motorcycle overtake us and lead the way onto the highway
Maybe 10 minutes later a blue pickup pulls onto the highway behind us and I turn to try and determine who's inside
"Maggie" I prompt and wait until she looks at me "Beth is in the truck" I tell her, and she lets out a half sob half laugh of relief
It doesn't take us long after that to come up on the spot we left supplies for Sophia
"Oh, thank god" Maggie says upon spotting Rick, Carl and Herschel standing by a car as we pull over the median and come to a stop
I watch with a smile as everyone greets each other before gesturing for Jack to get out of the car and I slide out holding a still dosing Penny, pulling everyone's eyes to me.
Rick wastes no time moving from where he's standing a few feet away from Carl and Lori to me and the kids and wrapping us all in a hug
"Where'd you find everyone?" he directs at Daryl pulling back from us
"Well, those guys' taillights zigzagging all over the road – figured he had to be Asian to be driving like that" Daryl jokes
"Good one" Glenn laughs
"Where's the rest of us?" Daryl asks
"We're the only ones who made it so far" Rick tells him
"Shane?" Lori asks and Rick just shakes his head
"Andrea?" Glenn asks
"She saved me, then I lost her" Carol says
"We saw her go down" T-Dog adds
"Patricia?" Herschel asks
"They got her too, took her right from in front of me. I was – I was holding onto her, daddy. She just- "Beth says breaking off in sobs
"What about Jimmy? Did you see Jimmy?" Beth asks after a second
"He was in the RV it got overrun." Rick says
"You definitely saw Andrea?" Carol asks
"There were walkers everywhere." Lori says
"Did you see her?"
"I'm gonna go back" Daryl says already moving towards his bike
"No." Rick says
"We can't just leave her" Daryl protests
"We don't even know if she's there" Lori says
"She isn't there. She isn't. she's somewhere else or she's dead. There's no way to find her" Rick says bluntly
"So, we're not even gonna look for her?" Glenn asks
"We gotta keep moving. There have been walkers crawling all over here" Rick says gesturing to a lone approaching walker
"I said head east" T-Dog suggests
"Stay off the main roads. The bigger the road the more walkers. The more assholes like this one. I got him" Daryl says moving around his bike and leveling his crossbow at the walker and shooting it in the head with a bolt
We pull off the highway with Daryl on his bike leading the way, Glenn driving the SUV with Maggie, Herschel, and Beth, behind him. The truck with Carol and T-Dog following them. And bringing up the rear is the station wagon with Rick driving, Lori in the passenger seat and me and all the kids in the backseat, Penny alternating between sitting on my lap and sitting squished between me and Jack.
It's getting close to evening time when Rick honks once, signaling the convoy to pull over and once all the cars are stopped everyone piles out
"You out?" Daryl asks
"Running on fumes" Rick tells him
"We can't stay here" Maggie says
"We can't all fit in one car" Glenn points out
"We'll have to make a run for some gas in the morning." Rick says
"Spend the night here?" Carol asks
"I'm freezing" Carl complains earning himself a raised eyebrow cause boy, we just left the car
"We'll build a fire, yeah?" Lori asks
"You go out looking for firewood, stay close." Daryl instructs "Only got so many arrows. How you doing on ammo?" he asks
"Not enough" Rick says
"We can't just sit here with our asses hanging out" Maggie says
"Watch your mouth" Herschel scolds "Everyone stop panicking and listen to Rick"
"All right, we'll set up a perimeter. In the morning we'll find gas and some supplies. We'll keep pushing on" Rick says
"Glenn and I can go make a run now, try and scrounge up some gas" Maggie offers
"No, we stay together. God forbid something happens, and people get stranded without a car"
"Rick. We're stranded now" Glenn speaks up
"I know it looks bad, we've all been through hell and worse, but at least we found each other." Rick insists "I wasn't sure – I really wasn't – but we did. We're together. We keep it that way. We'll find shelter somewhere. There's gotta be a place."
"Rick, look around okay? There's walkers everywhere. They're migrating or something" Glenn says
"There's gotta be a place not just where we hole up, but that we fortify, hunker down, pull ourselves together, build a life for each other. I know it's out there. We just have to find it" Rick growls
"Even if we do find a place and we think it's safe, we can never be sure. For how long? Look what happened with the farm. We fooled ourselves into thinking that was safe" Maggie says
"We won't make that mistake again" Herschel protests
"We'll make camp tonight, over there. Get on the road at the break of day" Rick says
"Does this feel right to you?" Carol asks Daryl
"What if walkers come through or another group like Randall's?" Beth asks Rick
"You know I found Randall, right? He had turned, but he wasn't bit." Daryl tells him
"How's that possible?" Beth asks
"Rick, what the hell happened?" Lori asks
"Shane killed Randall. Just like he always wanted" Daryl says
"And then the herd got him?" Lori asks and Rick doesn't say anything for a long moment
It's so silent you could almost hear the fish swimming in the nearby creek
"We're all infected."