Ending of a chapter: The farm goes down
Rick spoke deep words at Dale's funeral. He wanted to prove the deceased man that they weren't broken, that the group will stick together. It occurred to Daryl that this was his decision as well. And that he wished to settle it with Carol. All those days had passed in vein. He finally had her back and she felt farther than ever. That must change.
Hershel asked them to move in the house that night, all of them as it was becoming colder and insecure outside.
Carol had sat the mattress in a corner and arranged Daryl's close to hers. He was outside with Rick planning where to take Randal. She went into the kitchen and prepared provision for them, blankets and lanterns just in case they needed them. She looked out the window at Daryl talk to Rick.
"That thing you did last night…" Rick asked Daryl.
"There no reason you should do all the heavy lifting" Daryl said to him and Rick nodded, thanking.
"So you're good with all this?" he asked Daryl, waving his map.
"I don't see the two of us fighting on the side of the road. Nobody would win that fight".
Shane appeared and Daryl made an excuse to let the two talk.
A little bit later, Daryl prepared the car and T-Dog brought him Dale's gun. Rick was ready to go and T-Dog went to bring Randal. But when he got to the barn there was no trace of him. They searched for him, until Shane appeared from the woods his face covered in blood, saying Randal had attacked him and fled to the woods.
"Heshel, T-Dog get everyone in the house, lock yourselves up! Glenn, Daryl, come with us" Rick demanded.
Daryl turned to Carol, placing his palm on the pistol on her hip.
"Ya use that if necessary, ya hear me? Keep safe" he said and she nodded. He brushed her cheek and left with Rick and the others.
It was night when Daryl returned with Glenn. They had skipped dinner sitting in the living room gathered around without saying a word.
"Rick and Shane ain't back yet?" Daryl asked.
"No".
"We heard a gunshot".
"Maybe they found Randal" Lori said.
"We found him".
"Is he back in the shed?" Andrea asked
"He's a walker".
"Did you find the one that bit him?" Hershel asked.
"No, weird thing is…he wasn't bit" Glenn explained.
"His neck was broke" Daryl added.
"So he fought back" Patricia said.
"The thing is Shane and Randal's tracks are right on top of each other. And Shane ain't no tracker so he didn't come up behind him. They were together" Daryl concluded.
"Would you please get back there and find Rick and Shane and find out what on Earth is going on?" Lori asked with a desperate voice.
"Ya got it" Daryl nodded.
"Thank you!"
As Daryl went out with Glenn and Andrea they froze at the sight of what was going on outside. A herd of walkers were approaching the house and there were too many of them.
"Patricia, get the lights" Hershel said.
"I'll get the guns" Andrea rushed in.
"Maybe they are passing, like the ones on the highway. Shouldn't we just go inside?" Glenn asked.
"Only if there's a tunnel down there I don't know about. A heard like that is gonna rip the house apart" Daryl said.
"Carl's gone!" Lori came out desperate.
"What?" Daryl asked.
"He was upstairs I can't find him anywhere".
"Maybe he is hiding" Glenn said.
"He's supposed to be upstairs" Lori was losing her breathe. "I'm not leaving without my boy".
"We're not leaving, we're gonna look again, we're gonna find him" Carol tried calming her down, getting her in the house.
T-Dog and Andrea prepared the guns, handing one to every one of them.
"There's no point there's to many of them" Daryl said.
"You can leave if you want" Hershel said preparing his weapon.
"And you'll take them all out?"
"We have guns we have cars…" he said decided.
"We'll take out as many as we can and then will use the cars to lead them out of here" Andrea made the plan.
"Ya serious?" Daryl asked, with no harsh tone in his voice.
"This is my farm, I'll die here" Hershel said decided.
"All right. It's a good night as any" Daryl said jumping over the porch going to his bike.
They got in the cars and drove as close to the walkers as possible, shooting as many as they could. The barn lid suddenly on fire. Lori was desperate in the house neither her nor Carol had found Carl.
"What so I do!" she screamed desperate.
"Maybe he snuck outside, maybe ran, looking for Rick. Or maybe he went after Randal himself".
"Maybe he set the fire" Patricia said.
They searched for a little longer and met on the porch, but there was no sign of him. Carol had to pursue Lori to trust and not run out into the woods alone. She asked Lori to go, she went to get the other women left behind.
"Lori, come on!'" Carol demanded.
They ran out, shooting what they could, but Patricia got pulled back by a few walkers. She was bit and Lori had to pull Beth away from Patricia, while Carol shot the walkers approaching. She remained without ammunition pretty soon, she hadn't gotten into taking another gun as she had been preoccupied with searching for Carl. Lori and Beth were out of sight; Carol ran and grabbed the biggest stick she could find, hitting walkers as she kept running.
T-Dog appeared with his car, Andrea got out trying go after Carol. She shot a walker ready to attack Carol, but another one fell over her.
Carol remained alone, feeling desperate, but decided to survive. She helped herself with the stick, yelling loud trying to control her fear.
It was Daryl who heard her. He was looking at the farm, frozen, there was no hope killing all the walkers. He turned his bike around getting to the running Carol.
"Get on, woman, I ain't got all day" he said quickly and she jumped on the big, holding to him. They left into the night alone.
Daryl felt her hands shivering on him. It was a little hard for him to ride like that, but he couldn't care less. He had her there, she was holding to him, he felt her breathe starting to settle down. He brushed her hand quickly, wanting to comfort her as they passed dozens of walkers.
They drove all night, and finally they bumped into Glenn and Maggie at first. And the second one they found were T-Dog, Beth and Lori. He decided for all to head to the highway, if there was anyone left they had to be there. And as they got there, they found Rick, Hershel and Carl.
Rick shook Daryl's hand with all the gratitude in the world, while Carl embraced his mother. Maggie and Beth had Hershel back. Carol smiled happily to see the two families reunited.
"Where'd you find everyone?" Rick asked Daryl.
"I saw a car driving in zig zag. Realized they must be Asian to drive like that" he joked, relaxing the atmosphere.
"Good one" Glenn laughed shortly.
They decided to keep moving and stay off the big roads.
"Come with me for a while" Daryl said to Carol and she nodded. They got on the bike, the other in two cars and they drove off into nowhere.
Note: Ok, so we are moving on - to the prison. Thanks for reading!