It has been a few days since the CDC fell, the group tried to seek shelter with the Vatos gang right after the CDC fell, but sadly they were gone as well.
So now the group now had no other choice, but to flee the city and try for Fort Benning, hoping to find shelter there. Shane's Jeep and Daryl's truck had to be abandoned in order to save gas for the road. So now they were only left with Daryl's motorbike, Dale's R.V, Carol's Cherokee, and T-Dog's church Van.
~*~ ~*~
The caravan had been on the road for a while now since leaving Atlanta. Marlene rode with Daryl on his motorbike. Dale, Glenn, Dani, Shannon, T-Dog, Ellie, Alex, Andrea, and Shane were all piled into the R.V.
Carol's Cherokee contained the Grimes family, herself, and her daughter, Sophia.
And bringing up the rear of the caravan was T-Dog's church van, which had Tyler, Jane, Allie, Erika, Nathan, and Kristen.
~*~ ~*~
In the Van
Tyler was in the drivers seat, driving T-Dog's van. Jane was riding shotgun and was fast asleep. In the passenger seats were Allie, Erika, Nathan, and Kristen. With the exception of Allie, everyone was resting in the vehicle.
Allie was sat behind Tyler and she leaned forward slightly towards him. "How long did Glenn say it would be until we get to Fort Benning?" She asked.
"About two hours at the most, I think." Tyler answered.
Allie leaned back and glanced over at Jane, who was still asleep.
"How's she been doing?" Allie asked.
Tyler also glanced over at Jane quickly, before turning attention back to the road.
"About as well as can be expected. It's still pretty raw for her right now." Tyler said.
"And you? How've you been dealing?" Allie asked.
Tyler was silent for a moment, trying to find the right words to say.
"Yeah, the silence tells me a lot." Allie said.
Tyler sighed. "I don't know, I guess I'm just... still in shock and numb from it all. The CDC, The Vatos Gang, what Jenner said, all the people we lost, including my grandma. It's just a lot to process." He said.
"Yeah, I get it. Also I know I said this to you two earlier, but... I'm sorry about Hazel. She was a good person." Allie said, giving her condolences.
"Thanks." Tyler said.
~*~ ~*~
In The R.V
Shannon and Alex were sitting at the of the R.V, playing cards. Shannon has one card in her hand, while Alex had three.
"You got any fours?" Shannon asked.
Alex sighed before hand a card to Shannon.
Shannon smirked. "Go fish, I win." She said confidently.
"That's the third time you've beaten me, you sure you're not cheating?" Alex said.
"For the last time, Alex. I'm not cheating. I'm just better than you at this game." Shannon teasingly.
"Yeah. Yeah. One more round?" Alex asked.
Shannon raises an eyebrow. "Again? Really" she said.
"I wanna win at least once, and I'm not stopping until I do." Alex said.
Shannon giggled. Dani was watching them, smiling as she was happy that Shannon is opening up a little bit more.
Dani moves up to the front of the R.V, where Dale and Glenn were.
"How are we doing so far, gentleman?" Dani asked.
"We should be there in another hour or two." Dale answered, keeping his eyes on the road.
"How's Shannon?" Glenn asked.
"She's good. She playing "Go Fish" in the back with Alex, so at least she's preoccupied." Dani said.
Glenn nodded in approval.
Dani looked up at the road and noticed something in the distance. "Hey, what's that up ahead?" She asked.
Dale looked further up the road as well. "Oh geez." Dale said, concerned.
The Caravan drove up to dozens of cars that were abandoned on the road. Shane, Andrea, Ellie, Alex, and T-Dog all looked outside the windows. Shannon came up to the front and stood with Dani, Dani wrapped an arm around her as they looked out the windows.
~*~ ~*~
The Van
Tyler looked up in slight confusion as to why the caravan stopped.
"What's happening?" Allie asked, also looking up ahead.
"Not sure." Tyler answered.
Tyler looked over at Jane, who was still asleep, lightly shook her awake. Allie did the same with Nathan, Erika, and Kristen.
"Mm, what's up?" Jane asked, waking up.
"We stopped." Tyler answered.
"Why?" Jane asked.
"Something's probably in the way, I guess?" Tyler said, unsure.
Nathan groaned as he woke up. "Are we there yet?" He asked.
"Not exactly, Nate." Allie said.
"What, is it a traffic jam or something?" Nathan asked.
Allie looked back up ahead at the road. "Something like that." She said.
~*~ ~*~
In The R.V
Dale, Glenn, Dani, and Shannon were up at the front looking at the numerous amount of cars abandoned on the road. Daryl and Marlene returned from scouting up ahead and drove up to Dale.
"You two see a way through?" Dale asked.
"Maybe. Just follow us." Marlene said, sitting behind Daryl on the bike.
Daryl circled around the R.V and lead the caravan through the tight path.
"Uh, maybe we should just go back. There's an interstate bypass—" Glenn started.
"We can't spare the fuel." Dale said, cutting off Glenn.
The convoy carefully drove through highway, passing possibly hundreds of abandoned cars. Some of the cars even still had corpses in them. Dani noticed this and covered Shannon eyes.
"Don't look, Shan." Dani muttered to her.
Suddenly, a loud shrieking noise came from the engine of the R.V, as well as smoke. Ultimately bringing the convoy to a stop.
Everyone exited their vehicles.
"I said it, didn't I say it. A thousand times. Dead in the water." Dale exclaimed.
"Problem, Dale?" Shane said.
Dale looked at the engine.
"Just a small matter of being stuck in the middle of no where with no hope of—" Dale said, Marlene tapped her father on the shoulder.
"Uh, Dad." Marlene said.
Dale looked at Marlene as she gestured to their surroundings. Dale looked around.
"Okay, that was dumb." Dale admitted.
"If you can't find a radiator hose here..." Shane said.
Daryl was looking through the back of a vehicle. "There's a whole bunch of stuff we can find here." He said.
"I can siphon more fuel from these cars for a start." T-Dog said.
"Maybe some water?" Carol said.
"Or food." Glenn added
"Maybe even some medicine or if we're lucky, a first aid kit, since I left my old one back at the CDC." Erika said.
"This is a graveyard." Lori said. Everyone looked at her. "I don't know how I feel about this." She added.
"We gotta do what we have to, Lori. I don't like it either, but we don't have a lot of options." Jane said.
Lori looked down, then exchanged a look with Jane and nodded to her. Everyone nodded in agreement with Jane.
"Alright. Alright. Here we go." T-Dog muttered to himself.
"Come on, y'all. Just look around, gather what you can." Shane announced.
Everyone split off into small little groups and began searching through the cars.
Rick came out of the R.V with a bag of guns and started handing them out. "Tyler. Nate." Rick called as he handed them each a 9 mm handgun.
"Jane. Marlene." Rick called. He handed Jane another 9 mm, but gave Marlene her rifle that she always used.
T-Dog and Tyler went up ahead to join meet up with Daryl and siphon some gas from the cars.
"C'mon guys, with me." Jane said, pointing to Allie, Erika, Nathan, and Kristen. They went in one direction to search for supplies from the cars up further ahead.
Lori, Carl, Carol, Sophia, Ellie, and Alex went through some of the cars in close by. Alex looked back at Shannon, who was standing near Glenn and Dani, and gestured her over to come with them.
Shannon turned to her older brother and sister. "Glenn, Dani, can I go with Alex and his mom?" She asked.
Glenn and Dani exchanged a look. Glenn shrugged his shoulder.
"Sure, Shan. Just stay close to Ellie, okay?" Dani said.
Shannon nodded, Dani nodded back. Shannon ran up ahead to catch up with Alex and Ellie.
~*~ ~*~
Lori, Carl, Ellie, Alex, Shannon, Carol, and Sophia were walking.
Lori, Carol, and Ellie looked into one of the cars and saw a corpse inside. "Kids, don't look." She said, moving the kids away from the car.
~*~ ~*~
Dale and Marlene were at the engine of the R.V, trying to fix the radiator hose.
"Well, Dad. It was only a matter of time before this old rust bucket gave out." Marlene said.
"Maybe so, but this old girl's gotten me through some hard times. I ain't givin up on her just yet." Dale said.
Glenn and Dani joined them, with Glenn having a few screwdrivers in his hand.
"Uh, which one?" Glenn asked.
"The flathead. The radiator hose clamp is always a flathead." Dale said, taking the screwdriver, then returning it to him.
"Here, you do it. Learn something." Dale said, handing his tools to Glenn before walking to the other side, Marlene followed.
Glenn handed the tools over to Dani, but then she gave them right back. "Oh uh uh, you heard Dale. Learn something." Dani said, refusing to do it for him.
"Then, what are you gonna do?" Glenn asked.
"Stand here, supervise, and criticize you whenever you do something wrong. You know, like most sisters do." Dani said, with a cheeky smile.
Glenn rolled his eyes in annoyance. Glenn started working on the radiator hose, but the smoke coming from the exhaust made him cough a little, causing Dani to laugh at him.
"Haha, don't worry, bro. You'll get used to after a while." Dani said.
Glenn rolled his eyes again
~*~ ~*~
Andrea was looking around the highway, at all the cars, and saw a little pink bag on the ground and felt anxious.
~*~ ~*~
Rick was standing next to the R.V, looking through a pair of binoculars.
Dale and Marlene stood next to him
"See anything so far?" Marlene asked.
"Nothing yet." Rick answered.
Rick handed the pair of binoculars off to Dale
Dale took them and climbed up the ladder to the roof of the R.V, Marlene followed
~*~ ~*~
Daryl forced open a gas cap with a crow bar so that T-Dog could siphon some had from it.
Daryl patted Tyler on the back of the shoulder as he went forward, Tyler followed.
They both walked past Carol, who was looking through some clothes in the trunk of a car, she smiled as she looked at it and lifted it. Carol looked up and saw Lori and Ellie looking at her.
"Ed, never let me wear nice things like this. We're gonna need clothes" Carol said.
Lori and Ellie nodded. Lori looked up ahead at Carl, Sophia, Alex, and Shannon who were looking into the cars.
"Hey, Carl. Always within my sight, okay?" Lori said.
Carl nodded.
"You too, Sophia." Carol added.
Sophia nodded
"Alex, Shannon, same applies to y'all." Ellie called out.
Alex and Shannon nodded.
~*~ ~*~
Erika, Allie, and Kristen were looking through some of cars while Jane and Nathan were keeping watch. Jane with her gun, and Nathan with his rifle.
In the car that Erika was looking through, she spotted something that brightened up her face. "Jackpot!" She exclaimed, smiling.
The others turned to her. "What is it?" Jane asked.
Erika pulled out a red bag, it was a First Aid Kit.
"Holy shit!" Allie said, smiling.
"Alright, let's see what we got in here." Erika muttered.
She opened the bag to look at the contents of it. She found gauze pads, bandages, numbing spray, some pain medication, tough cut scissors, and a pair of gloves.
Erika sighed. "It's not as well equipped as my old one, but it'll have to do." She said.
"Anything's better then nothing." Jane said.
"Yeah well, let's just hope no one here's gonna need stitches anytime soon." Erika said.
Kristen shook her head as she was looking through a car. Then, stepped away from it and slammed the car door shut. "This is pointless." She exclaimed.
Allie, Erika, Nathan, and Jane looked at her.
"All we're gonna find here is a few items of clothing, spoiled food, and expired meds. We're wasting our time here." Kristen said.
"Then what do you suggest?" Jane questioned.
"We move some of these cars out of the way to clear a path for us and we wait until Dale fixes the R.V, then we move on to Fort Benning." Kristen said.
"Kristen, It's gonna take time for Dale to patch up the RV and move some of these cars out of the way. So in the mean time, we're scavenging for supplies while we can." Erika said.
Kristen rolled her eyes at Erika. "Whatever." She said.
"You know what? I'm not in the mood to put up with your attitude today, Kristen. So do what you want, I'm gonna keep looking around." Jane said, before pushing past Kristen.
Kristen, Nathan, Allie, and Erika watched as Jane walked away, irritated.
"What's her problem?" Kristen asked.
"Are you really that oblivious or just plain insensitive?" Allie asked rhetorically.
"Excuse me?" Kristen retorted.
"In case you forgot, Kristen. Hazel is dead, and other than Tyler, she was all the family she had left. So the least you could do is just be a little bit sympathetic." Allie said.
Kristen looked down slightly.
"But I guess you can't do that because the only person you can think about is yourself." Allie added before walked past Kristen, slightly bumping her shoulder along the way.
Erika and Nathan exchanged a look before following her.
Kristen groaned and rolled her eyes, before finally following them.
~*~ ~*~
Tyler was looking through one of the cars, while Daryl was looking through another one
"Find anything over there?" Tyler asked.
"Not much. Just some stale chips and some old clothes." Daryl answered.
"Same over here." Tyler said.
Tyler moves away from the car and took a look around to gather his surroundings.
"Hopefully, Dale gets that R.V running soon. The faster that thing gets fixed, the faster we can get the hell out of here and on to Fort Benning." Tyler said.
"Yep." Daryl said, agreeing while still looking around a car.
"So uh, I gotta ask, me and a few of the others have been wondering about this." Tyler said.
"About what?" Daryl asked, while still in the car.
"What do you think of Marlene?" Tyler asked
Daryl stepped out of the car and looked at Tyler puzzled. "What?" He asked.
"What do you think of her?" Tyler repeated.
Daryl shrugged his shoulder. "She's alright with me, I guess. Why?" Daryl asked.
"It's just I've been getting vibes that she might be interested in you, and I don't mean that in a friendship kind of way." Tyler said.
Daryl rolled his eyes and scoffed. "Whatever, man." He said.
"I mean that's how I think she feels. What about you?" Tyler asked
Daryl stared at Tyler with a blank, emotionless, but confused look. "Huh?" He said.
"All right, you know what. I'll just be blunt. Do you like Marlene in a more than friendship kind of way? Whether you do or not is fine, I'm just curious." Tyler said.
Daryl scoffed and walked past Tyler. "None of your damn business." He said, avoiding Tyler's question
Tyler raised an eyebrow and smirked. "That wasn't a no." He said before following Daryl.
~*~ ~*~
Andrea looked around the interstate, still feeling anxious, before shaking her head then heading back into the R.V, passing Rick.
Rick held his rifle as he kept watch. He looked up at Dale and Marlene on top of the R.V, who were also keeping watch.
"It's all good." Dale said to himself, looking in one direction
"Same in this direction too." Marlene said, looking in the opposite direction as her father.
Rick nodded to them and continued to keep a lookout.
~*~ ~*~
Glenn was getting car parts out of a car while Shane and Dani were standing watch.
Dani looked at the truck they were standing in front of and read the words "Mountain Spring Water" on it. Dani looked over at Shane.
"Hey, Shane. You think there might be some water in there?" Dani asked.
"Only one way to find out." Shane said, before setting his gun down and walking to the side of the delivery truck and opening it, revealing several water canisters.
Dani and Shane exchanged a look before smiling at the water.
"Holy shit!" Dani muttered.
"Glenn, were we short on water?" Shane asked Glenn.
Glenn looked back at them and the van, his eyes grew wide.
Shane opened up one of the canisters, allowing water to pour over his head.
Glenn started to chuckle as he was getting parts from the car. "Hey, save me some." He said.
"It's like being baptized man." Shane said, smiling and drenched.
Dani giggled and smiled at the guy's enjoyment.
~*~ ~*~
On the roof of the R.V, Marlene looked over at them, smiled, rolled her eyes at them, then exchanged a look and smile with Dale.
Dale looked up ahead and his smile faded away as he took a step ahead and looked through his binoculars.
Marlene took notice and took a few steps towards Dale, and stood next to him. "Dad, what is it?" She asked.
Dale handed off his binoculars to her and she looked through them herself. She sees a single walker heading in their direction.
"It's just one, dad. We can handle that." Marlene said.
She was about hand them back to Dale, but he stopped her, gesturing her to keep looking. Marlene looked back through the binoculars. She then saw two walkers, which soon became five, then several, which then became dozens, maybe even hundreds.
She lowered the binoculars with her eyes wide in shock and horror. She looked down at Rick, who was next to the R.V and gestured to the direction they were looking in.
Rick raises the scope of his rifle to eye level and looked through to see the gigantic horde heading their way.
"Oh Christ." Rick said in fear. He lowered himself to the level of the cars and ran away.
Dale and Marlene lowered themselves on the floor of the R.V roof.
~*~ ~*~
Rick ran towards Lori, Carol, Ellie, and the kids. "Lori!" He called quietly.
Lori looked back at him, puzzled. "Under the cars." He said urgently.
Lori's eyes went wide with fear and did what she was told.
Rick looked at Carl, Sophia, Shannon, and Alex. "Kids, get down now!" Rick said urgently, but quietly.
Lori grabbed Carol and Ellie's hands and hid under a car with them.
Shannon grabbed Sophia's hand and hid under a car with her.
Alex ran and hid under a car in front of Shannon and Sophia
Carl crawled under a car next to Sophia and Shannon
Rick rolled and hid under a car next to Carl, Shannon, and Sophia.
~*~ ~*~
Glenn was still taking car parts, until Shane and Dani yanked him away from it. "Ow!" He said.
Shane and Dani pilled Glenn under a car with them.
"What-" Glenn tried to say before being shushed by Dani.
~*~ ~*~
Jane, Allie, Kristen, Nathan, and Erika were keeping low, but moving quickly while trying to find a place to hide.
Erika stopped a moment and looked at Delivery Van that they were about to pass. Allie looked back and stopped when she noticed Erika at the Van.
"Erika, what are you doing? Come on!" She gestured quietly.
Kristen, Nathan, and Jane then stopped and looked back at Erika as well.
Erika tried to open the back doors of the van, which opened fairly easily and saw that it was empty.
"In here, guys. In here." Erika pointed inside the R.V.
Allie, Kristen, Nathan, and Jane all got inside the Van and closed the door behind them. They lied down on the floor of the Van to keep from being seen through the back door windows.
~*~ ~*~
Carol was under a car with Lori, looking at Sophia and Shannon, slowly sobbing.
Lori put her hand over her mouth and wrapped her arms around. "SHH." She said to her quietly.
Ellie was also under the car with Lori and Carol, she looked over at Alex with a worried expression.
Alex looked back her, scared, but kept a brave expression on his face.
~*~ ~*~
Dale and Marlene were still lying on the floor of the R.V roof.
Marlene looked down at the bathroom window and saw Andrea hiding in the bathroom, she tapped Dale's shoulder and pointed towards the bathroom, informing on Andrea's current whereabouts.
Andrea looked up and saw Marlene. Marlene brought a finger to her lips, telling her to be quiet.
Andrea nodded at her.
~*~ ~*~
Allie, Erika, Jane, Nathan, and Kristen stayed low from the back door windows of the Van.
They watched the shadows of the herd come through the window.
Nathan and Jane had their hands over their weapons, should the worst happen.
Erika took Allie's hand and held it tightly.
Allie gasped slightly and felt a moment of joy and comfort. She looked down at their hands, then back up at Erika, who didn't look back at her. She let a small smirk escape her lips before snapping out of it, remembering their current situation.
Kristen sat in the fetal position with her head down, terrified.
~*~ ~*~
The herd was passing in between Rick's hiding place and the childrens' hiding places.
Rick looked toward Carl, holding his hand up.
Shannon and Sophia held each other's hands tightly, quietly sobbing.
~*~ ~*~
Marlene was keeping an eye on Andrea from above the bathroom window.
Andrea started to put her gun back together, Marlene shook her head, mouthing the word "no" and trying to get her to stop.
Andrea then suddenly dropped one of the pieces. "Shit." Marlene mouthed.
That's when a walker suddenly tried to force it's way in into the bathroom to get Andrea, Andrea started to cry in fear.
Marlene and Dale searched around her to find a weapon for Andrea to use, Dale took a screwdriver from his pocket and dropped it through to window to Andrea, allowing her to kill the walker.
Andrea cried hysterically after killing the walker.
~*~ ~*~
T-Dog, who had a big cut on his after slashing it on a broken door frame, fell to the ground near one of the cars
Two walkers closed in on him and began to reach for him.
Daryl and Tyler were behind one of the cars and saw the walkers about to get T-Dog.
Daryl and Tyler quietly snuck up behind the walkers and stabbed them in the head, killing them.
T-Dog stared at Daryl, Tyler, and the dead walkers.
Daryl raised a finger to his lips and told T-Dog to be quiet. Daryl pulled T-Dog to lie him down before placing a dead walker on top of him.
Tyler did the same with one of the nearby corpses.
Daryl stood up and went to nearby car and pulled a corpse out from it, then lied down before placing the it on top of him.
The herd started to pass by, not noticing that Tyler, Daryl, and T-Dog were alive.
~*~ ~*~
The herd continued to move along the highway, until finally. The herd was gone.
~*~ ~*~
Shane, Dani, and Glenn exchanged looks before carefully looking around from underneath the car
~*~ ~*~
Jane slowly got up from her spot in the Van to look through the back window to see if the herd had left.
~*~ ~*~
Daryl and Tyler pushes the corpses off of them before heading over to T-Dog to get the dead walker off of him.
"Come on, T. Get up." Tyler said as he and Daryl helped T-Dog sit up.
T-Dog winced in pain as he rose.
~*~ ~*~
Rick was breathing heavily and looked towards Carl, who grinned at him.
Ellie looked over at Alex, who gave her a thumbs up, letting her know that he's okay.
Ellie smiled and gave a sigh of relief.
Sophia and Shannon were still holding hands and exchanged a look.
"You think they're gone?" Sophia whispered.
"I don't know." Shannon answered quietly.
Sophia started to crawl out. "Wait. Wait. Sophia, they might not be-" Shannon tried to tell her, but it was too late
A walker that had fallen behind the herd saw her and growled, making Sophia start to cry and crawl back under the car towards Shannon
The walker kneeled down and started to crawl after her.
Shannon put her arms around Sophia and crawled away from the walker with Sophia.
Carol, witnessing this, tried to speak, but Lori covered her mouth to keep her quiet.
Lori looked at Rick, Rick started to crawl out from under the car to help the girls.
Sophia yelped and cried as the walker kept crawling towards her and Shannon.
"Help! Somebody help!" Shannon yelped in fear as she held Sophia close to her.
~*~ ~*~
Dani and Glenn heard her cries and tried to crawl out from under the car to get to her, but we're both held back by Shane.
~*~ ~*~
Ellie looked in fear at Shannon and Sophia, then glanced over to Alex and saw that he was no longer in his hiding spot, shocking her
~*~ ~*~
Shannon and Sophia were crying in fear as they kept trying to get away from the walker, a hand suddenly grabbed Shannon from behind causing her to scream and look back, only to see that it was Alex.
"Come on!" He exclaimed, pulling Shannon and Sophia out from under the car.
Ellie saw this and tried to speak, before Lori covered her mouth as well as Carols to keep them both quiet.
~*~ ~*~
Alex helped both Shannon and Sophia our from under the cars and started to run away.
The walker stood up from under the car and started to chase after them, along with another walker that saw the kids.
Alex, Sophia, and Shannon crawled under a rail, went down a small hill, and ran into the forest to get away.
The walkers followed them.
~*~ ~*~
Rick got out from under the car and jumped over the railing, rolled down a hill, and went after the kids.
~*~ ~*~
Carol got up from the car and ran to the railing, along with the others.
"Lori, there are two walkers after the children." Carol cried.
"Shh. Shh." Lori said quietly while putting a hand over Carol's mouth to keep her quiet and calm.
Dani started to climb over the railing, before being held back by Shane again.
"No, Shane, let go of me. My sisters' out there. Let me go." Dani argued
"Calm down, Danielle. Rick's got it, alright. He'll save her." Shane reasoned.
Dani breathed heavily.
Glenn and Ellie looked out into the woods anxiously.
~*~ ~*~
Rick ran after Alex, Sophia, and Shannon through the woods.
Shannon, Alex, and Sophia held each other's hands as they ran away from the walkers chasing them.
Rick stopped for a moment to see the two walkers, then continued running to catch up to the kids.
~*~ ~*~
Sophia, Shannon, and Alex kept running and panting until Sophia tripped, but was quickly helped back up by Shannon and Alex.
Rick stood in front of them and wrapped his arms around them, scaring them, until they realized it was him.
"Rick." Shannon exclaimed, before Rick put his hand over her mouth to keep her quiet. "Shh. Shh. Are y'all all right? Are y'all okay?" He asked them.
Sophia tried reaching for Rick's revolver. "Shoot them." She begged.
"No. No. Those walkers on the road would hear it, then it wouldn't be just two. There'd be hundreds." Rick said.
Sophia and Shannon whimpered. "Then what do we do?" Alex asked.
Branches snapping could be heard close by.
"Come on." Rick said, picking up Sophia and carrying her away. Shannon grabbed Alex's hand, following Rick.
The walkers continued to follow.
Rick, Sophia, Shannon, and Alex ran.
~*~ ~*~
Rick and the kids came upon a creek, Rick put Sophia down. "All right, just hold there. Y'all stay there." He said.
Rick jumped down into the water before turning back to Alex, Shannon, and Sophia. "Come on." He said.
Sophia jumped into Rick's arms before Rick helped Shannon and Alex down into the water. Rick looked around before before walking toward a little hole, putting Sophia down and look at the kids.
"Ok, y'all have to do exactly as I say." Rick said to them, they nodded. "Hide in there and squeeze in tight. I'll draw them away from y'all." He explained.
Shannon and Sophia shook there heads. "No, no." Shannon pleaded.
"Please don't leave us." Sophia begged.
Rick looked at them closely and whispered. "Listen, listen, listen. They don't get winded, I do and I can only deal with them one at a time. I won't be able to protect y'all."
Sophia, Alex, and Shannon all nodded. "This is how we all survive. I need y'all to be brave, okay?" Rick said.
They all nodded to him. "Go, go, go, go." Rick pointed toward the hole. Sophia and Shannon loved inside, but Alex didn't move
"Alex, come on. Get in." Rick said.
"Let me help." Alex said.
Rick shook his head. "Alex." He groaned.
"Please. You said that we have to brave and you're right. I want be brave, just like my dad was. Let me help you so you're not by yourself." Alex pleaded.
Rick looked at Alex. "You can help me, okay? You can help me by keeping the girls safe. If I don't make it back, you gotta watch out for them and make sure they get back to the others. Can you do that for me?" Rick asked.
Alex nodded.
"Okay good, now go. Get in." Rick told him.
Alex squeezed in the whole with Shannon and Sophia.
"If I don't make it back, run back to the highway, back to the others, straight the way we came. Keep the sun on your left shoulders and most importantly, stay together." Rick told them.
They nodded at him. Rick looked up, seeing the two walkers walking closer. "Come on!" He yelled, splashing water at them.
"You ugly son of a bitch. Come on." Rick said.
One of the walkers fell into the water, towards Rick.
Rick started to run away, leading the walkers away from the children.
~*~ ~*~
"Come on!" Rick continued to yell at the walkers.
One walker followed Rick around the water.
The other one followed Rick through the water.
~*~ ~*~
Alex stepped out of the hole first and looked around, then looked back at Shannon and Sophia.
He reached his hands out to both of them, helping them out of the hole. "Come on, he said to keep the sun on our left shoulders and head back." He said.
The three of them carefully crawled out from the hole and walked off.
~*~ ~*~
Rick was behind a tree, breathing heavily, with a big rock in his hands.
One of the walkers chasing him, walked toward the tree. Rick came out from behind the tree and hit it in the face with the rock, knocking it to the ground. Rick hit it over and over in the head with the rock until it was dead.
The second walker growled at Rick, coming closer. Dani suddenly came up behind the walker, pulled her knife out, and stabbed it in the head, killing it.
Rick looked up and saw her after killing it. "Dani?" He said.
Rick nodded and sighed in relief.
"You good? No bites or scratches or anything?" Dani asked.
Shook his head. "No, I'm fine." He answered, looking down while catching his breath .
"Good, Now one more question. Where are the kids?" Dani asked.
Rick looked up at Dani.
"Where's my sister, Rick?" Dani asked
~*~ ~*~
Shannon, Sophia, and Alex were all gone from the hole.
Rick, Shane, Dani, Glenn, Daryl, Marlene, and Tyler were there at the creek, searching for the kids.
"You sure this is the spot?" Daryl asked Rick.
"I left them right here." Rick answered. "I drew the walkers away in that direction up the creek." He explained.
"Without a paddle, seems where we've landed." Daryl said.
"They were gone by the time Dani and I got here. I figured they must've just headed back to the group." Rick said. "I told them to go that way and keep the sun on their left shoulders." He pointed to where Glenn and Tyler were standing.
Daryl walked to where they were standing. "Hey, short round, pretty boy, why don't you two step off to one side? Y'all are mucking up the trail." He said.
"Assuming they know their lefts from their rights." Shane told them.
"They understood me fine, Shane." Rick said to him.
"The kids are tired and scared, man, and they just had a close encounter with two walkers. Got to wonder how much of what you said stuck." Shane said.
"He's got a point, Rick. Although it doesn't really matter if someone's a kid or a grown up. When someone's scared outta their mind like that. Common sense and logic pretty much go right out the window." Tyler told him.
Rick glared at them both.
"Look, I don't give a shit about that right now. All I care about is finding my sister, along with Carol and Ellie's kids, and getting the fuck out of here." Dani exclaimed.
Glenn nodded in agreement.
"Got clear prints right here." Daryl informed them, pointing at the ground. "They did like you said, headed back to the highway. Let's spread out, make our way back." He added.
Marlene helped Daryl out of the water. "Let's go, they couldn't have gotten far." She said.
Shane helped Rick out of the water. "Hey, we gonna find them, all right. They're probably all tuckered out in a Bush somewhere." He said.
They walked away.
Daryl was leading the other, following the trail left from the kids, looking down, stopping, then kneeling down. "They were doin just fine till right here. All they had to do was keep going. They veered off that way." He said.
Dani started to feel anxious at what Daryl said.
"Why would they do that?" Marlene asked.
"Maybe they saw something that spooked them and made'em run off." Shane said.
"A walker?" Dani asked anxiously.
Glenn put his arms around her, to calm her down.
Daryl shook his head. "I don't see any other footprints. Just there's." He said.
"So what do we do? All of us press on?" Shane asked.
"No, better if you, Glenn, and Danielle get back up to the highway. People are gonna start panicking. Let them know we're on her trail, but most of all, keep everybody calm." Rick told them.
"Excuse me, I'm not going anywhere. Shannon is still out here and I'm not going anywhere until I find her." Dani spoke up.
"I understand how you feel, but we'll find her, trust me." Rick said.
Dani scoffed.
"Or if you don't trust me, then trust Daryl." Rick said. "You know if anyone here can find your sister, it's him." He said, pointing to Daryl.
"He is the best tracker we got, Dani." Glenn added.
Dani sighed in frustration. "Ok fine, just bring her back." She said.
Rick nodded to her, then looked at Shane.
"I'll keep'em busy scavenging cars. Think up a few other chores. I'll keep'em occupied." Shane said. "Come on." He told Glenn and Dani
Glenn followed Shane, but Dani stopped at a Rick for a moment.
"Just please, find her." Dani pleaded.
Rick nodded. "I will, I promise." He said.
Dani nodded back, before moving to catch up with Glenn and Shane.
Daryl lead Rick, Marlene, and Tyler the other way,
~*~ ~*~
Nathan, Shane, Andrea, Jane, and Allie were moving cars away from the road, trying to clear a path for the R.V to get through.
Carol and Ellie were standing at the railing, looking out into the forest. They walked toward Dale. "Why aren't we all out there looking? Why are we moving cars?" Carol asked.
"We have to clear enough room so I can get the RV turned around as soon as it's running." Dale said. "Now that we have fuel, we can double back to a bypass that Dani flagged on the map." He added.
"Going back's gonna be easier than trying to get through this mess." Shane chimed in.
"We're not going anywhere until our kids get back. My son, her daughter, and Glenn and Danielle's sister." Ellie said.
"Hey, that goes without saying." Lori said, walking past her.
"Rick, Daryl, Marlene, and Tyler will find them. It won't be long, I'm sure of it." Jane said, comforting them.
"Can't be soon enough for me." Andrea said handing water bottles to Glenn, Jane, and Allie. "I'm still freaked out by that herd that passed us by, or whatever you call it." She said, taking a drink from her water bottle.
Allie scoffed. "Tell me about it." She said, also taking a drink from her water bottle.
"Yeah, what was that? All of them just marching along like that." Glenn said.
Carol and Ellie walked back to the railing.
"A herd. That sounds about right. We've seen it. It's like the night the camp got attacked. Some wandering pack, only fewer." Shane said.
"Whatever it was, I hope I never have to see another one again for a good long while." Nathan said, taking a drink from the water bottle.
"Okay. Come on, people. We still got a lot to do. Let's stay on it." Shane told them all.
~*~ ~*~
Dani was looking through one of the cars, she didn't find anything useful and back out. She saw her reflection in the side view mirror of the car. She stared at herself intensely and felt a rush of frustration and anger run through.
Suddenly, she punched the mirror off of the car out of anger. Dani realized what she did and took a deep breathe.
"You okay?" A voice behind her said.
Dani turned around and saw Glenn. "Peachy. Can't you tell?" She said sarcastically.
Glenn approached her. "They're gonna find her, Dani." He reassured.
Dani shook her head.
"It's all my fault. I should've told her to stay close to us, but instead I let her wander off for a few minutes and that's all it took for us to lose her." Dani said on the verge of tears.
Glenn stepped in front of her, grabbed her shoulders, and looked her in the eyes.
"Hey, hey, hey, we did not lose her. Rick, Marlene, Daryl, and Tyler are gonna find her and she's gonna be fine. All right?" Glenn told her.
Dani nodded her head while trying to hold back her tears
"It's not your fault, so don't blame yourself." Glenn said.
"I can't help it, Glenn." Dani said. Wiping a tear from her face. "Back at the CDC, I promised her that I'd always be there for her, that I'd protect her, and that I'd never leave her again. Not even two days later and I already broke another promise to her." She told him, starting to break down
Glenn pulled Dani into hug. Dani hugged Glenn tightly, while crying into his shoulder.
~*~ ~*~
The Woods
Daryl lead Tyler, Marlene, and Rick through the children's tracks.
Rick looked at the ground and no longer saw the tracks. "Tracks are gone." He said.
Daryl shook his head. "No, they're faint, but they isn't gone. They came through here." He said, correcting Rick.
"How can you tell?" Rick asked. "I don't see anything. Just dirt and grass." He said.
"You want a lesson in tracking or you want to find those kids and get our ass off that interstate." Daryl said.
Rick didn't answer and Daryl continued to on.
Rick looked at Marlene and Tyler. They shrugged and followed Daryl, then Rick followed.
~*~ ~*~
The Highway
Erika continued to look through cars for anything she could find.
Allie approached Erika with a water bottle in each hand. "Hey, you find anything?" She asked.
Erika shook her head. Allie tossed a water bottle to Erika.
"How are you feeling?" Allie asked.
Erika shrugged. "Uh, a little freaked out over the herd that just went by, I'm worried for the kids and hope that Daryl, Ty, Mar, and Rick can find them." She answered.
"No, I mean, how are you feeling after... you know?" Allie said carefully.
Erika felt confused. "After nearly being blown up at the CDC?" She guessed. "Cuz if it's that, then I'm okay. I mean, I know that I thought about staying there to "opt out" or what ever Jenner called it, but I'm better now." She said.
Allie shook her head. Erika sighed.
"If you're talking about Ian, then I'm fine, or at least I will be in time. I'm still processing it in a way and I still really miss him, but in the long run, I'll be okay." Erika said.
"Well that's good to hear, but not what I was trying to talk about." Allie said.
Erika felt very confused. "Okay? Then what were you talking about?" She asked.
"Do you remember anything that happened that first night at the CDC, after we all had dinner and you and a few others had a bit more wine than you all probably should've?" Allie asked.
Erika shook her head. "Not really. Why? Did I do something stupid?" Erika asked. "If I did, I'm really sorry." She said.
"No, you didn't do anything. I just wanted check in, so..." Allie said.
"Oh okay. Thanks, Allie." Erika said, smiling.
Allie nodded. "No problem." She said.
Erika returned to searching through the cars for supplies.
Allie slightly frowned at the fact that Erika doesn't remember their kiss at the CDC.
Suddenly, a radio was heard nearby. "The emergency alert system has been activated. The Office of Civil Defense has issued the following message." It said.
The sound came from a car that Shane and Lori were at. Everyone was around the car listening.
"Is that a local signal?" Glenn asked.
"It's got to be within 50 miles of here." Dale said.
"It could be a broadcast from Fort Benning." Erika said.
Jane shook her head at them all. "Keep listening." She said.
"Avoid anyone infected at all costs. Remain calm. Help is on the way." The radio said. "The emergency alert system has been activated." It repeated.
Shane turned off the radio. "Asshole." He muttered.
"It's just a recording, there's nobody on the other end of that." Jane said.
Shane looked at everyone. "Okay, let's get back to work." He said.
Everyone walked away.
~*~ ~*~
The Woods
Rick, Tyler, Marlene, and Daryl were still looking for Sophia, Alex, and Shannon. Then they heard leaves rustling nearby, they lowered themselves.
Rick looked at Tyler and Daryl, pointing forward.
The trio stood up slightly and moved forward quickly, seeing a walker not far from them.
Rick, Daryl, Marlene, and Tyler all looked at each other. Daryl gave them a signal. Rick and Tyler nodded and looked forward.
Rick moved up forward and Tyler followed, while Daryl and Marlene moved to the other side.
Rick and Tyler ran up a small hill, went down the it slightly, stopped in front of the walker to gain it's attention, and pointed their guns at it.
The walker had saw them, stopped, and roared at them.
Then Daryl, with Marlene, was behind the walker and shot an arrow through the walker's head, killing it.
Daryl, Marlene, Tyler, and Rick came closer to the walker's head.
Daryl pulled an arrow out of it's head, then looked around. "Sophia!" He called.
Marlene looked around as well. "Alex! Shannon!" She called.
Rick kneeled down in front of the walker, put on some gloves, and examined the walker's hands. "What are you looking for?" Daryl asked.
"Skin under the finger nails." Rick answered. He turned the walker around. "It fed recently." He said.
Rick opened the walker's mouth and groaned in disgust. He looked at Daryl. "There's flesh caught in it's teeth." He said.
"Yeah, what kind of flesh?" Daryl asked, putting on his own gloves.
Rick pulled out his knife and opened the walker's shirt. "Only one way to find out." He said.
"Oh god. Not this again." Tyler groaned in disgust, as this reminded him of when Rick helped them escape the department store.
Daryl pulled out his own knife, which looked bigger than Rick's. "Here, I'll do it." He said.
"How many kills you skin and gut in your life? Anyway, mine's sharper." Daryl said.
Daryl stabbed the knife into the walkers stomach. Rick, Marlene, and Tyler looked down and away in disgust as Daryl cut into the walker three times. "Now comes the bad part." Daryl said.
"What could be worse than this?" Tyler asked.
Daryl stuck his hand into the walker's stomach. "I stand corrected." Tyler said, trying not to gag.
Daryl was feeling through the walker's stomach. "Yeah, hoss had a big meal not long ago. I feel it in there." He said.
Daryl pulled out of the walker what looked like some sort of sack and put it on the ground. "Here's the gut bag." He said.
Tyler stood up. "Okay, I'm walking away now before I lose my lunch." He said, walking away.
"I got this." Rick said, cutting the bag open to pull something out of there.
Daryl used his knife to pull something out of the bag, which seemed to be half of a head of small animal. "This gross bastard had himself a woodchuck for lunch." He said.
Daryl dropped it from his knife, then stood up.
"At least we know." Rick said.
"At least we know." Daryl agreed.
Marlene lightly chuckled and rolled her eyes at Tyler, who was still gagging. "Come on, guys. We should get back to the others on the road." She said
Daryl, Marlene, Tyler, and Rick walked away.
~*~ ~*~
The Highway
Carol and Ellie were still waiting by the railing. Jane walked up to them. "Hey Carol, Ellie, you two can rest in the RV for a bit and we can get you when they come back with the kids." She said.
Carol and Ellie shook their heads. "No thanks, Jane. We'll be fine here." Ellie said.
"Yeah, and besides, it's late. It'll be dark soon." Carol said.
Jane nodded and stood with them at the railing.
Andrea walked toward Dale, who was fixing up the RV with Glenn and Nathan. "Where's my gun? You have no right to take it." She told Dale.
"And that's our cue to walk away." Nathan whispered to Glenn.
Nathan and Glenn walked away.
"You don't need that just now, do you?" Dale said.
"My father gave it to me. It's mine." Andrea said.
Dale was reluctant on giving Andrea her gun back. "I can hold onto it for you." He suggested.
"Or you can give it back to me." Andrea replied.
Jane, overhearing their exchange, left Carol and Ellie by the railing and approached Dale and Andrea. "What's going on?" She asked.
"Dale refuses to give me back my gun." Andrea replied.
"Why's that?" Jane asked, looking at Dale.
Dale was about to answer, until Shane approached. "Everything cool?" He asked.
"No, I want my gun back." Andrea answered.
"I don't think it's a good idea right now?" Dale said.
Shane looked at Dale. "Why not?" He asked.
Dale turned around and looked at Shane. "I'm not comfortable with it." He replied.
Andrea scoffed humorlessly.
Shane sighed. "The truth is, less guns we have around camp the better." He said.
Andrea raises an eyebrow, she looked at Jane.
Jane shrugged. "As much as I hate to agree with Shane, he's right." She said
Andrea tilted her head. "You two turning over your weapons?" She asked them.
Shane chuckled. "No, but we've been trained in its use. That's what most of y'all need is proper training." He said.
"He's right. It's about time everybody here learned how to use a gun and how to defend themselves, but until we have the time for that. Dale is gonna hold onto them and keep them all accounted for." Jane said.
Andrea scoffed in disbelief. "Uh-huh." She said. She walked away from them.
Shane and Jane looked at Dale. "Mind telling us what that's about?" Shane asked.
"Yeah, is everything okay with you two?" Jane asked.
Dale shrugged.
"Oh god. They're back." Glenn announced.
Rick, Daryl, Tyler, and Marlene had returned from their search for Sophia, Shannon, and Alex.
Everyone ran toward the railing.
"Where are they?!" Dani asked them
"You didn't find them?" Carol asked.
"Their trail went cold." Rick told them. "We'll pick it up again at first light." He said.
"What?! Hell no!" Dani shouted.
"No. No, you can't just leave my son and the others out there on their own to spend the night in the woods." Ellie pleaded.
"Out in the dark's no good." Daryl told them. "We'd just be tripping over ourselves. More people get lost." He said.
"But y'all know how dangerous it is out there at night, especially if you're all alone." Ellie said.
"But they're not alone, Ellie. They've got each other." Tyler reasoned.
"That's supposed to make me feel better? They're just kids." Ellie cried.
Tyler looked down and shook his head.
"She's right. My daughter's only 12, so is Shannon, and Alex is only 10. They can't be out there on there own and you didn't find anything?" Carol said.
Lori and Jane wrapped their arms around Carol and Ellie.
"I know this is hard, but I'm asking y'all not to panic. We know that they were out there." Rick said.
"And we tracked her for a while, so we at least have a good start on it" Marlene added
"We have to make this an organized effort." Rick told them. "Daryl knows the woods better than anybody. I've asked him to oversee this." He said.
Dani looked down at Daryl's pants and noticed the blood stains and started to panic slightly. "Dixon, is that blood?" She asked.
Rick, Daryl, Marlene, and Tyler looked down at the blood Daryl's pants. They looked at Carol.
"We... We took down a walker." Tyler said.
"Walker?" Carol repeated. "Oh god." She said, breathing heavily.
Ellie and Dani started to panic as well. Glenn put his arms around Dani.
"There was no sign that it was anywhere near the kids." Rick reassured.
"How can you know that?" Kristen asked.
Rick didn't answer, looking at Daryl, Marlene and Tyler. Marlene and Tyler didn't say anything either and looked at Daryl as well.
Daryl looked at them, then to Carol. "We cut the son of a bitch open, made sure." He said.
Carol, still breathing heavily, sat down at the railing.
Dani started to tense at the mere mention of a walker possibly being near Shannon.
"How's that supposed to help? I mean unless walkers can now magically swallow a person whole, how are you gonna tell if it was near any of the kids?" Nathan asked.
Allie stepped on Nathan's foot. "Ow." He said.
"Nate, time and place. Shut up." Allie muttered to him.
Nathan nodded, obeying.
Carol looked at Rick with anger. "How could you just leave them out there to begin with? How could you just leave them?" She accused.
"Those two walkers were on us. I-I had to draw them off. It was they're best chance." Rick said.
"Sounds like he didn't have a choice, Carol." Shane said, backing up Rick.
"How were they supposed to find their way back on their own. They're just kids." Ellie said.
Rick looked away. "It was my only option. The only choice I could make." He said.
Shane shook his head. "I'm sure nobody doubts that." He said.
"You mean you couldn't think of something else?! Like telling them to stay where they were until you or any of us came to find them?!" Ellie said.
"I-I told Alex that if I didn't make it back that he'd take care of the girls and help get them-" Rick tried to say until Ellie slapped him, shocking everyone.
"How dare you put that kind of responsibility on my son?! She scolded Rick.
Rick held his cheek from the slap.
"He's only 10 years old. He would get lost whenever we'd go to the supermarket because he liked to wander off so much, and you expected him to lead the girls out of the woods and back here safely?" Ellie cried.
Rick looked down and shook his head. "He... he told me that-" he tried to say, but Ellie cut him off again.
"He said he wanted to be a hero, right? Just like his daddy?" Ellie asked rhetorically.
Ellie took a few steps toward Rick, getting close to his face. "Well he was right about one thing. His daddy was a hero, and that's exactly why his daddy is gone." Ellie cried.
Ellie turned around, looked away from Rick, and began to cry. "My baby boy." She cried.
Erika came over to Ellie and hugged her. She brought Ellie over to the railing so she could sit down, next to Carol.
Rick looked over at Dani, who was glaring daggers at him. "Danielle, you know I tried to-" he said, before being cut by Dani punching him, knocking Rick to the ground
Lori yelped in shock at what Dani did. "Dad." Carl called to Rick, running towards him, but was held back by Lori.
Dani looked down at Rick as he was on the ground, in shock and groaned in pain. "If anything happens to them. To my sister, Sophia, or Alex. Than that blood is on your hands." Dani hissed.
Dani stood back up. Glenn came over to her. "Dani, just calm down." He said.
Dani turned around and glared at glenn. "And you! Why aren't you more worried and scared about this, Glenn? She's your sister too." Dani shouted.
Glenn stammered, unsure of what to say. Dani stormed off and went inside the RV.
Carl went over to help Rick off the ground.
"My little girl got left in the woods." Carol whimpered.
Rick looked away from Carol and Ellie out of guilt as he got back up.
Everyone looked at Rick, Carol, and Ellie.
Rick looked down, shaking his head, then turned around to walk away.
Jane, Allie, and Marlene walked over to Ellie and Carol to comfort them the best they could.
Everyone else watched Rick walk away.
~*~ ~*~
The Next Day
Rick unwrapped an Arsenal that his son, Carl found in a car the other day. "Everybody takes a weapon." He said.
"These aren't the kind of weapons we need." Andrea argued. "What about the guns?" She asked.
"We've been over this, Andrea. The only ones carrying guns are Daryl, Tyler, Nathan, Rick, Marlene, Shane, and myself. That's it." Jane said.
Kristen, Lori, Glenn, Dani, and Erika each took a weapon from the arsenal.
"She's right. We can't have people popping off rounds every time a tree rustles." Shane said.
"It's not the trees I'm worried about." Andrea said.
"Say somebody fires at the wrong time, a herd happens to be passing by." Shane told her. "See, then it's game over for all of us. So you need to get over it." He said.
Andrea glared at Shane
"The idea is to take the creek up about five miles, turn around, and come back down the other side. Chances are she'll be by the creek. It's her only landmark." Daryl said.
Daryl walked around and stood next to Marlene, Marlene smirked at him.
"Stay quiet and stay sharp. Keep space between you, but always stay within sight of each other." Rick said.
Rick turned around, walking toward Dale and Allie.
"Everyone assemble your packs." Shane told them.
"Dale, you keep on those repairs. We've got to get this RV ready to move." Rick told him.
"We won't stay here a minute longer than we have to." Dale said.
"And Allie, keep an eye on T-Dog's arm. Make sure that it doesn't get any worse and if it does, do what you can for him." Rick told her.
Allie nodded to him. "You got it, boss." She told him.
"Good luck out there. Bring Sophia back." Dale told Rick.
Rick wrapped his arms around Carl. "Keep an eye on Carl while we're gone." He asked
"I'm going with you. You need people, right? To cover as much ground as possible?" Carl said.
Rick looked at Lori. "Your call. I can't always be the bad guy." She said.
"He has all of you to look after him. I'd say he's in good hands." Dale said.
Allie nodded in agreement.
Rick sighed. "Okay, but always within our sight, no exceptions." He said.
Carl nodded. Rick walked away.
Carl smiles at Dale and Allie.
They both smiled back at home. Carl walked away.
Andrea walked over to Dale.
Dale sighed. "Andrea, I'm begging you. Don't put me in this position." He said to her.
"I'm not going out there without my gun. I'll even say please." Andrea told him.
"I'm doing this for you." Dale argued.
"No, Dale, you're doing it for you. You need to stop." Andrea replied
Rick, Shane, Marlene, and Daryl were close by, watching their exchange.
"What do you think's gonna happen? I'm gonna stick it in my mouth and pull the trigger the moment you hand it to me?" Andrea asked rhetorically.
Everyone looked at Dale and Andrea.
"I know you're angry with me. That much is clear, but if I hadn't done what I did. You'd be dead." Dale said.
"Jenner gave us an option. I chose to stay." Andrea said.
"You chose suicide." Dale retorted.
"So what's that to you? You barely know me." Andrea said.
"I know Amy's death devastated you." Dale said to her.
"Keep her out of this. This is not about Amy. This is about us, and if I decided I had nothing left to live for, who the hell are you to tell me otherwise? To force my hand like that?" Andrea told him.
"I saved your life." Dale said.
"No, Dale, I saved yours. You forced that on me. I didn't want your blood on my hands and I sure as hell didn't want Marlene to lose her father. Those are the only reasons I left that building. What did you expect? What, I'd have some kind of epiphany? Some life-affirming catharsis? Andrea asked.
Dale looked at Andrea, slightly hurt. "Maybe just a little gratitude." He said.
"Gratitude?" Andrea repeated. "I wanted to die my way, not torn apart by drooling freaks. That was my choice. You took my choice away from me, Dale." She said.
"But—" Dale started.
"But you know better? All I wanted after my sister died was to get out of this endless nightmare we live everyday. I wasn't hurting anyone else. You took my choice away, Dale. And you expect gratitude?" Andrea said, letting a single tear fall from her eyes.
Marlene looked on at the exchange slightly irritated, but also understood where Andrea was coming from.
"I don't know what to say." Dale told her.
"I'm not your little girl, I'm not your wife, and I'm sure as hell not your problem. That's all there is to say." Andrea told him.
Andrea started to walk away, but stopped for a moment, turned around, and looked at Dale.
Andrea walked away
Daryl, Andrea, Kristen, Lori, Tyler, Nathan, Rick, Glenn, Dani, Shane, Carl, Marlene, Jane, Carol, Ellie, and Erika leave to go find Sophia, Alex, and Shannon.
"Erika, hold on a sec." Allie called
Erika stopped for moment, turned around, and looked at Allie. "Yeah?" She said.
Allie walked toward her, with the first aid kit that she found the other day, and handed it to her. "Here, just in case anything happens out there." She said.
Erika lightly shook her, smirking, handing it back to Allie. "Hold onto it for me, you might need it in case T-Dog's arm gets worse." She said.
"You sure?" She asked.
Erika nodded. "Yeah, besides I'm sure nothing's gonna happen out there." She said.
Allie nodded, smiling at her. "Okay." She said.
Erika gave Allie a hug. They smiled. "Find those kids and be safe, okay." Allie said to Erika.
"Sure thing." Erika said, before leaving to follow the others.
~*~ ~*~
The Woods
Daryl lead the other through the woods, tracking the kids.
Marlene caught up with Andrea and started walking next to her. "Hey." She greeted.
"Hey." Andrea said.
They were silent for a moment. "Listen, about what happened back there with my dad—" Marlene started.
"I know. I'm sorry. You shouldn't have had to hear that, and I shouldn't have brought you into it. That wasn't fair of me." Andrea said.
"No, it's okay. It's not that." Marlene said.
Andrea looked at Marlene.
"I get that he can be a bit... overbearing." Marlene chuckled. "I mean come on, imagine having him as a father." She said.
Marlene and Andrea shared a laugh.
"Yeah, I couldn't get away with anything growing up. Every single day was either a lecture or a quote from some famous writer that I knew absolutely nothing about." Marlene told her. "There were definitely a few times when mom had to tell him to take a chill pill and let me live my life." She said, lightly chuckling.
"But one thing he is great at, is caring about people. That's why he gets so irritating at times. When he loves and cares about someone, he goes all in, and he doesn't let up." Marlene said.
Andrea looked down slightly.
"I'm not asking you to forgive him or to go easy on him because you deserve to feel how you feel, but I just wanted you to know where he's coming from with all this. That he wouldn't have done what he did if he didn't care." Marlene told her.
Andrea looked at Marlene and nodded. "Thanks, Marlene." She said.
~*~ ~*~
Dani and Jane were walking next to each other. "How are you feeling after yesterday?" Jane asked.
"I've calmed down a little. I don't regret what I did though." Dani said.
Jane nodded. "Okay, I can understand that." She said.
Dani still carried that look of fear and sadness she had since yesterday after Shannon and the other went missing.
Jane touched Dani on the shoulder as they were walking. "Hey, we're gonna find her. And she's gonna be okay, understand?" She said.
Dani nodded.
"Good." Jane said.
Jane looked back and saw Glenn with a solemn look on his face. "Hey, I'll up catch with you in a sec." She told Dani.
Dani nodded
Jane slowed down enough to where she was walking with Glenn. "Hey, how are you feeling?" Jane asked him
Glenn shrugged.
"So uh, Dani blew up at you pretty hard the other day. Not as hard as she did on Rick of course, but still." Jane said.
"Yeah." Glenn sighed.
Jane raises an eyebrow. "She does have a point though. You've been pretty silent considering that your baby sister is missing. So what's up? Jane asked.
"I don't know. I guess I'm just numb right now, or maybe it just hasn't hit me yet. That Shannon is missing and she might be dead or worse or—" Glenn started
"Hey, hey. Stop that. She could still be alive, we're not giving up on her, or Alex, or Sophia. We're gonna find them and they're gonna be fine. Do you understand me?" Jane said sternly
Glenn nodded. "Yeah." He answered.
"Good. Now, your other sister needs you. Probably now more than ever. So do your best to be there for her." Jane said.
Glenn nodded.
They kept walking.
~*~ ~*~
Daryl continued to lead the others, until came across a tent. Daryl pointed at it, kneeling down.
Rick held his arm out for the others, kneeling down.
Everyone else did the same.
"They could be in there." Shane said.
"Could be a whole bunch of things in there." Daryl said, standing up, walking towards the tent.
Carol and Ellie quickly stood up.
Rick stood up, holding up his hand to stop Carol and Ellie, turned around, and followed Daryl.
Shane, Nathan, and Tyler followed.
Dani tried to follow, but lightly grabbed her shoulder to hold her back slightly.
Daryl stopped Rick, Shane, Nathan, and Tyler. He pulled out his knife and signaled Tyler to follow him.
Tyler pulled his knife out, following Daryl.
Daryl put down his crossbow, both Tyler and Daryl tried looking into the tent, they looked over at Rick.
Rick looked at Carol, Ellie, Glenn, and Dani. "Y'all, over here." He called.
Carol, Ellie, Glenn, and Dani quickly walked toward them, everyone else followed.
"Call out softly. If they're in there, your voices are the ones they should hear." Rick instructed Ellie, Carol, Dani, and Glenn.
"Sophia, sweetie, are you in there?" Carol called softly.
"Alex, baby, mommy's here. You can come out now." Ellie called softly.
"Shannon. Shan, Glenn and I are here now. It's okay." Dani called softly
"Yeah, it's us, Shan. You're safe now." Glenn called softly.
There was no answer from the tent.
Daryl and Tyler held their knives tightly. Tyler slowly unzipped the tent.
Rick, Shane, and Nathan walked closer.
Tyler opened the tent, then he coughed and gagged at the smell coming from the tent.
Daryl walked inside the tent, seeing a corpse sitting on a chair.
Rick, Shane, Tyler, and Nathan stood just outside the tent, cough and gagging at the stench.
Lori wrapped her arms around Carol and Ellie. Glenn put an arm around Dani.
"Daryl?" Carol called.
Daryl searched inside the tent and grabbed a gun from the corpse's hand.
"Daryl, are they in there?" Ellie called.
Daryl walked out of the tent. "It ain't them." He replied.
"Then what's in there?" Kristen asked.
"Some guy." Daryl answered. "Did what Jenner said. Opted out. Ain't that what he called it?" He said.
Church bells were suddenly heard in the distance. Everyone started running towards it
~*~ ~*~
Everyone was running, then slowly came to a stop.
"What direction?" Nathan asked.
Rick pointed forward. "I think that way. I'm pretty sure." He said.
"Damn, it's hard to tell out here." Shane said.
"If we heard them, maybe the kids did too." Carol told them.
"Someone's ringing those bells, maybe calling others." Glenn said.
"Or signaling they found her." Erika said.
"She could be ringing them herself." Marlene said
"Maybe we should split up to try to cover more ground and have a better chance at finding the church and maybe the kids." Kristen suggested.
"Absolutely not. The last thing we need is more people getting lost out here." Jane said.
"We're wasting time talking, let's move." Dani said.
"She's right, come on." Rick said.
Everyone started running again.
~*~ ~*~
The Highway
Dale stood on top of the RV, keeping watch, but not working on the radiator hose in the RV.
T-Dog and Allie walked to the RV and looked up at Dale. "Ain't you supposed to be fixing that radiator?" T-Dog asked.
Dale looked down from the RV at them.
"Yeah, what if they find the kids, and Rick and the others want to move right away?" Allie asked.
Dale kept looking out in the distance. "I had it fixed yesterday." He replied.
Allie scoffed at Dale response.
"I'm sorry, what? We all saw you working on that thing all morning." Allie said.
"Yeah, was that all bullshit or something?" T-Dog asked.
"Yeah, that's one word. Another word would be pantomime— just for show." Dale said.
Dale looked at Allie and T-Dog. "No one else needs to know that." He said
Allie scoffed and chuckled slightly.
T-Dog looked down. "Pantomime." He repeated.
"Okay, all right. So the radiator hose is fixed, right?" Allie asked Dale.
Dale nodded to her. "Then would you care to explain why you didn't tell the others?" She asked him.
"If they know that we're mobile. They'll want to mobilize and move on." Dale answered.
"So you don't think they're gonna find the kids, that it?" T-Dog asked.
"I'm just guarding against the worst. Sooner or later, if they're not found. People will start doing math." Dale explained. "I want to hold off on the needs-of-the-many vs the needs-of-the-few arguments as long as I can." He said.
T-Dog and Allie nodded, understanding Dale's reasoning for not telling the group that the radiator was fixed.
"That is one tricky hose, huh?" T-Dog asked.
"Very." Dale answered, smirked.
Allie smirked back at Dale. "Well then, I guess we're gonna be here for a while, huh?" She said, still smirking.
"Sure looks like it." Dale replied, smiling at her and T-Dog.
~*~ ~*~
The Woods
The group was walking through the woods, following the sounds of the church bells, until they finally came upon a church.
They slowly came to a stop.
"This can't be it." Shane said. "It's got no steeple, no bells." He said.
"Well then lets keep—" Jane started, but Rick ignored her and Shane and kept walking forward, towards the church.
"Rick." Shane called.
"Rick, wait." Jane called.
Shane, Jane, and everyone else followed.
Everyone ran toward the church, between the gravestones.
Rick and Daryl got to the front door, with Shane and Tyler behind them.
Rick and Daryl slowly opened the doors to the church, and there were five walkers inside, sitting on the benches.
Rick holstered his gun and took a machete from Lori.
Daryl handed his crossbow to Glenn, taking a hatchet from him.
Rick, Shane, Daryl, Tyler, and Jane took down the five walkers inside, killing all of them.
The rest of the group walked inside.
Rick looked around. "Sophia! He shouted. "Shannon! Alex!" He continued.
Daryl walked up to the front of the church and looked at the statue of Jesus nailed to a cross. "Yo, JC, you taking requests?" He asked it.
"I don't see any signs that show that they were here." Tyler said.
"I'm telling you, it's the wrong church. It's got no steeple, Rick. There's no steeple." Shane told Rick.
They heard the bell ringing again. Daryl and Tyler lead everyone outside.
Everyone ran outside to the side of the church, to find the speaker that's been broadcasting the sound of church bells.
Tyler walked over to a little box and ripped out the wires from it.
That's when the ringing stopped.
"A timer." Daryl said. "It's on a timer." He repeated.
The group, now exhausted, felt disappointed as they weren't even one step closer to finding the kids.
"I'm gonna go in for a bit." Carol said, before turning around and heading back inside the church.
Glenn, Dani, Jane, Tyler, Rick, Carl, Erika, Nathan, Marlene, and Daryl followed suit and also returned inside the church.
Andrea went to sit on the grass with her back against the wall of the church. She sighed
Kristen looked at her and walked up to her. "Mind if I join?" She asked.
"Misery loves company, doesn't it?" Andrea replied.
Kristen sat next to Andrea on the grass and sighed. "Do you think we're gonna find them?" She asked Andrea.
"I sure hope so. Lord knows we can use some good news right about now." Andrea answered.
Kristen lightly scoffed. "You just saying that because we happen to be at a church?" She asked.
Andrea shrugged and smirked at Kristen.
Then they heard Lori's voice. "Are you really leaving?"
Andrea and Kristen looked in the direction they heard Lori and listened.
Shane and Lori stood outside the church.
"Don't you think it's best for all of us?" Shane asked.
"I think it is." Lori agreed. "What made you decide?" She asked.
"Gotta back away." Shane answered. "Just trying to be the good guy here, Lori, even if you don't see it. None of this was intended. I hope you know that. Well, don't matter. As long as I said it." He told Lori.
Lori walked up to Shane. "You're just gonna disappear? You're not even gonna tell Rick?" Lori asked.
"He'd only try to stop me." Shane told her. "No, that's on you. You tell him what you want, or tell him nothing at all. You're his wife." He said.
"And Carl? We dragged him into this." Lori said.
"I love Carl. I'm trying to put some distance. I'm trying to make this easier. This ain't easier on any of us, least of all me. I'm the one who loses you." Shane said.
Lori shook her head, turned around, and went inside the church.
Shane sighed and turned around, seeing Andrea and Kristen standing next to the church.
Shane walked away.
Andrea and Kristen watched Shane walk away, before exchanging a look between them.
~*~ ~*~
Inside the Church
Rick was leaning against the wall with Carl in the church.
Carol stood at the side of the sanctuary, looking up at the statue of Jesus on the cross.
"Father, forgive me. I don't deserve your mercy." She said.
Lori and Jane sat on the front bench behind her, Ellie was sat on the bench behind Lori.
"I prayed for safe passage from Atlanta and you provided. I prayed for Ed to be punished for laying his hands on me and for looking at his daughter with whatever sickness was growing in his soul." Carol said emotionally.
Jane wipes away a few tears while listening to Carol.
Glenn and Dani were sat on a bench further away from the statue. They bowed their heads down and said prayer to themselves about Shannon.
Ellie was on the bench next to Lori's, listening to Carol.
"I prayed you'd put a stop to it, give me a chance to raise her right, help her not make my mistakes. She's so fearful. She so young in her way. She hasn't had a chance." Carol said.
Rick put an arm around Carl, listening to Carol from the back of the church.
"Praying for Ed's death was a sin. Please, don't let this be my punishment. Let her be safe, alive, and safe. Please, lord. Punish me however you want, but show mercy on her. On all of them." Carol said very emotionally.
Carol turned around, seeing Lori and Jane.
Lori held out her hand, taking Carol's hand, pulling her to sit in between herself and Jane.
Daryl, Marlene, Tyler, Glenn, and Nathan we're leaning on against the wall on the other side.
Jane looked to Ellie. "Ellie, is there anything you want to say?" She asked
"No." Ellie replied.
"You sure, hun?" Lori asked.
"Yes. I'm sure." Ellie answered. "I stopped praying a long time ago, after I lost my husband." She said.
~*~ ~*~
Outside
Andrea and Kristen were following Shane as he walked away from them.
"We're coming with you." Andrea told Shane
"I don't know what the hell y'all are talking about." Shane said.
"Come on, Shane. We're not stupid and we sure as hell aren't deaf." Kristen said. "Look, we don't know what the scoop is between you and—" she started.
"There is no scoop." Shane told them, cutting Kristen off.
"Fine, we don't care. Don't confuse us for people who do." Andrea said. "Look, all we care about is getting the hell out of here. As far away as we can. Like you." She added
"What, the three of us just sailing off into the sunset together? We gonna hold hands and sing folk songs?" Shane asked rhetorically, patronizing them
"We're not asking to form a band with you, Shane. All we're asking for is a ride. A chance for a fresh start somewhere else." Kristen said.
Shane felt reluctant to grant Kristen and Andrea's request.
"Have you observed this group lately? I have, and you know what I see. Three people who don't belong." Andrea told him. "We're the odd men out. Between the three of us, we make a great third wheel." She said.
"So what? Say we do. We just run off. What's in it it for me besides the extra asses I got to cover?" Shane said.
"The chance to do something for someone else." Andrea answered.
"Yeah." She muttered.
"And a door that swings both ways. Put a gun in my hand. I'll cover your ass too." Andrea said.
"Yeah, same here. Just give us a chance." Kristen added.
Andrea and Kristen saw Rick and Jane walk behind Shane, near the gravestones.
"Think it over, come on." Andrea said.
Andrea walked away, Kristen followed.
Shane sighed in frustration, before turning around and walking towards Rick and Jane.
"We got to move here, y'all. These people are spent. There's only so many hours of daylight left. We still got a long way back." Shane told them.
"Look as much as I hate to agree with Shane, Rick. He's right." Jane said, agreeing with Shane.
"It's gonna get dark soon and it's gonna be a hell of a lot harder just trying to get back to the highway, let alone look for the kids." She told Rick.
Rick was shaking his head, looking towards Shane and Jane. "I can't stop yet." He said.
"We still got a whole lot of ground to cover, whole other side of the creek bed. So we search that on the way back." Shane said.
"She would have heard those bells. She could be nearby." Rick said. trying to find reason to keep looking.
"She could be a lot of things." Shane said to him.
"I can't go back. Those kids being out here is my fault." Rick said
Shane scoffed.
"Rick, stop it." Jane said.
"That's great. Now they got you doubting yourself, huh?" Shane said.
"How about you two? Do either of you doubt me?" Rick asked them.
"Rick, come on." Jane said.
"Look, we can assign all kinds of blame—" Shane started.
"This means something, finding them." Rick said.
"Oh man." Shane muttered.
"It would be the miracle we need." Rick told him. "We can't give up." He said.
Shane looked at Jane. "What do you think?" He asked her.
Jane gave it some thought for a moment, then looked at Shane. "I think... we should use what ever daylight we have left and keep looking for them as long as we can." Jane answered.
Shane stared back at Rick, sighed, then patted his shoulder before walking towards the others. He cleared his throat.
Rick and Jane followed Shane.
"Y'all gonna follow the creek bed back, okay? Daryl, Marlene, y'all are in charge." Shane told them. "Me, Jane, and Rick, we're just gonna hang back, search this area another hour or so, just to be thorough." He said.
"You're splitting us up? You sure?" Daryl asked them.
"Yeah, and Jane, didn't you say earlier that splitting up wasn't a good idea?" Kristen asked
Jane shrugged slightly. "I had a change of heart." She said.
Kristen scoffed and rolled her eyes at Jane.
"Guys, are y'all really sure about this?" Marlene asked.
"Yeah, we'll catch up to y'all." Shane replied.
"I want to stay too. They're my friends." Carl said.
Shane, Jane, and Rick exchanged looks and smiled at Carl.
"Just be careful, okay?" Lori asked.
"I will." Carl replied.
Lori hugged Carl and kissed the top of his head. "When did you start growing up?" She asked jokingly.
Rick walked toward Lori, hugged her, they kissed, they pulled away. "I'll be along soon enough." He said.
Rick pulled out his gun and handed it to Lori. "Here, take this. Remember how to use it?" He asked.
"I'm not taking your gun and leaving you unarmed." Lori told him.
Daryl handed the gun he took from the tent earlier to Lori. "Here, got a spare. Take it." He said.
Lori took the gun.
Andrea scoffed in disbelief.
Kristen rolled her eyes.
Jane noticed Erika had a reluctant expression on her face about heading back to the highway.
Then Erika spoke up. "I think I'll stay too. Just in case you guys get hurt or you all find the kids and maybe they need some patching up." She said.
Rick and Shane nodded.
Jane looked at her suspiciously, but nodded as well. Letting her stay. "All right, I think five is more than enough. The rest of you start heading back to the interstate." She said
Everyone nodded and started moving.
Erika quickly gave hugs to Nathan and Tyler. "Be safe on the way back, all right?" She joked lightly.
"Same to you." Tyler replied.
Erika looked at Dani and have her a big hug. "Don't worry, we'll find her, okay?" She reassured her.
Dani nodded.
Glenn put an arm around her and they started heading back to the highway with Daryl, Marlene, Carol, Ellie, Tyler, Nathan, Dani, Andrea, Lori, Kristen.
Rick looked at Shane, Jane, Erika, and Carl. "Give me a minute?" He asked.
"Yeah." Shane answered. Rick started walking back into the church.
Shane looked at Carl and lightly ruffled his hair, smiling. The he looked at Jane and Erika. "Come on." He said to them.
Shane. Carl, Jane, and Erika followed Rick to the church and sat on the steps.
After a while, Rick walked out of the church. "Get what you needed?" Shane asked.
"Guess I'll find out." Rick replied.
Rick, Shane, Carl, Jane, and Erika walked away from the church.
~*~ ~*~
Daryl and Marlene were leading the others back to the highway.
"So this is it?" Carol asked. "This is the whole plan?" She asked again.
"Sure seems like it." Nathan said.
Everyone stopped and took a little break to sit down and catch their breathe.
"I guess the plan is to whittle us down into smaller and smaller groups." Daryl guessed.
"Probably to cover more ground, I guess." Tyler added.
"While carrying knives and pointy sticks." Andrea retorted.
She looked towards Lori. "I see you have a gun" she said.
Lori looked at Andrea. "Why, you want it?" She asked.
Lori handed the gun given to her by Daryl. "Here, take it. I'm sick of the looks you're giving me. All of you." She said.
Andrea looked at Lori, surprised, taking the gun.
Lori looked at Carol and Ellie. "Carol, Ellie, I can't imagine what y'all are going through and I would do anything to stop it, but y'all have got to stop blaming Rick. It is in y'all faces every time you look at him." She told them.
Lori looked at Dani.
"And Danielle, sweetheart. I understand you're upset with my husband, you have every reason to be, but I'd really appreciate it if you don't punch my husband again, especially in front of my son." She told her.
Dani looked away from Lori.
Lori looked at everyone. "When the kids ran he didn't hesitate, didn't he? Not for a second. I don't know that any of us would've gone after them the way Rick did or made the hard decisions that he had to make or that anybody could've done it any differently." She said.
Lori continued to look at everyone. "Anybody?" She asked.
No one responded.
"Y'all look to him and then blame him when he's not perfect. If you think you can do this without him, go right ahead. Nobody is stopping you." Lori said.
Everyone was silent after hearing Lori.
Andrea handed the gun back to Lori. Lori looked at Andrea, then down at the gun, taking it. "We should keep moving." Andrea said.
Daryl nodded, looked at Marlene, exchanged a look, Marlene nodded to him, then they started moving.
Everyone else followed.
~*~ ~*~
Rick, Shane, Carl, Jane, and Erika were walking through the woods, continuing the search along the creek bed for Sophia, Shannon, and Alex.
Jane and Erika walked next to each other behind Rick, Shane, and Carl.
"All right, so what's up?" Jane asked Erika
Erika looked at Jane with a puzzled expression.
"Why'd you volunteer to stay?" Jane asked
Erika shrugged. "Just wanted to do my part and help find the kids. Why?" She said.
"It's just... for a second back there, it looked you didn't want to go back or you were hesitating on heading back." Jane said.
"Well yeah, like I said, I wanna help find the kids." Erika said.
Jane shook her head. "I don't think that's it." She said.
"Well what do you think it is then?" Erika asked.
Jane was about to answer her, but then they heard branches snapping.
Rick, who was up front, put his hand out, stopping.
Shane, Carl, Jane, and Erika stopped.
Shane slightly moved Carl back to stand with Rick.
Jane moved up a bit to stand with the men.
Erika stayed behind with Carl.
Rick, Jane, and Shane raised their guns ready to fire.
Instead of the sound being a walker. It turns out to be a deer, walking around the woods and not even noticing them.
Rick, Shane, and Jane lowered their guns.
The deer walked into a clearing, allowing them to get a clear shot at the deer.
Shane raised his rifle, ready to shoot the deer.
"Shane." Rick lightly called to Shane.
Shane looked at Rick, then back at the deer, lowering his gun.
Jane and Rick smiled at the deer.
Carl walked up to the front to get a closer look at the deer.
Erika walked up, smiling, standing with Rick, Shane, and Jane.
The deer was eating the grass, not even noticing Carl walking towards it.
Carl kept getting closer.
The deer looked up, finally noticing Carl.
Rick, Shane, Erika, and Jane smiled at the exchange between the deer and Carl.
Carl smiled at the deer.
Erika was smiling, looking at Carl, then she saw something out of the corner of her eye that caused her smile to fade away.
She glanced back and forth quickly between Carl and what ever she was looking. "Carl—" She started call out.
Suddenly, a gunshot was heard and the bullet went right through the deer and into Carl.
Rick, Shane, Erika, and Jane stood in shock for a moment until reality finally hit them. They ran to Carl.
"Oh no. No. No. No. No. No." Rick cried out.
Carl was on the ground, eyes closed, and blood on his stomach.
Rick and Erika kneeled to his side, looking over him.
Shane and Jane raised their guns, looking for whoever fired that shot, killing the deer and hitting Carl.
End...
A/N: Season 2 is finally here. I hope everyone is okay and safe during this really crazy time in our world right now and I hope y'all enjoyed this chapter.
I'll see y'all next time in chapter 2: "Bloodletting"
