Hey everyone! Sorry for such a long wait in between chapters. I may have to start doing 1 chapter upload a month, just with the way life and work is going right now. After season 2 is done, I will likely be taking a break to update some of my other stories a bit before moving on to season 3. I'm not abandoning the story, not in the slightest, I just feel bad I've sort of neglected a few of my other stories. Anyway, I hope you enjoy this chapter! Stay tuned!
Shards of metal and glass littered the road where Lori had her accident with a herd of Stegos. The airbag had deployed but Lori was unconscious as a stray walker tried to claw its way in to get at her. When she regained consciousness, Lori let out a feeble cry for help, that no one would hear…
(Intro)
Hatlins
Back at the bar, gunshots rang out as Rick killed Tony and Dave. His gun clicked after firing the last bullet into Tony's head. He holstered the gun as Glenn, Jacob and Hershel walked up to him.
"Holy shit," Glenn said
"You all right?" Rick asked him.
"Yeah," Glenn replied, still shaken.
"Jacob?" Rick asked.
"Uh, y-yeah I'm ok. Thanks," Jacob said catching his breath. Rick nodded at him.
"Hershel?" Rick asked. Hershel was silent for a minute. He just stood there, looked at the bodies, and gave Rick a thankful nod.
"Let's head back," he said. Rick knelt down and grabbed Tony's shotgun and ammo from his pocket. Glenn grabbed Dave's pistol from behind the bar and holstered it. Jacob grabbed his Marlin that was leaning against the wall and followed Glenn, Rick and Hershel towards the door. The four of them were about to leave the bar when they saw approaching headlights shine in through the window.
"Car. Car!" Rick called. "Get down," The four of them quickly ducked down below the windows. Rick and Glenn on the Right side of the door, and Hershel and Jacob on the left. Jacob readied the Marlin, and Rick had his revolver drawn just in case. They heard the car door shut and three men stepped out.
"Dave? Tony?" One of the men called. "They said over here?"
"Yeah," a second replied. The three men looked stopped by the door to the bar to survey the area.
"I'm telling you, man, I heard shots," a third man said.
"I saw roamers - two streets over," the second man said, pointing to the west of the bar. "Might be more around here,"
"It's hot. We gotta get out of here," the first man said.
"Dave! Tony!" The third man began calling for his friends. The first man shushed him. Rick and his crew tensed a bit at the yelling and prepared for anything.
"Shut up, you idiot! You're gonna attract more than roamers! Lizards are out here too!" He said. "Just stick close. We're gonna find 'em," The first and second man ran off to the east while the third man stayed near the bar, scouting. The second man came running back to the third.
"Dude, he said to stay close. Let's go," the group of men ran off, but left their car still shining its headlights into the bar. Everyone breathed a sigh of relief.
Crash site
Lori was frantically trying to escape the crash as a walker was slowly clawing its way in, getting its face stuck on the shattered windshield. The car was turned over on its side, so Lori was attempting to climb out the side facing upwards. She was nearly out when she lost her grip and fell back into the car. Unfortunately, the walker was almost inside too. Noticing this, Lori reached for her knife on the passenger seat, but is startled when the walker grabs her hair and pulls her towards it. With a quick movement, she grabs her knife with one hand, and the walkers hand with the other and jabs the knife in its eye. She then quickly backs up out of the car, not seeing another walker approaching from behind her. It grabs her and knocks her to the ground. She quickly kicked it off of her and went for her gun, shooting it in the head just in time. She catches her breath, and tries to figure out how to get home.
Farmhouse
Patricia and Billy were preparing dinner while Carl and Zach were sitting on the floor in the living room. Zach was pacing back and forth and had a worried look on his face. Carl was worried too but he didn't show it.
"What're you doing?" He asked Zach. Zach was silent for a minute.
"Jake's been gone too long. What if he's hurt? What if a walker—what if—" Carl cut him off.
"He's gonna be ok. My dad's with him. He'll bring him back. Hershel and Glenn too," Carl said, nodding.
"I hope you're right. I can't lose him," Zach said.
"You need to learn to take care of yourself too, Zach. Your brother can't always be the one to save you, you know," Carl said, so matter of factly. Zach was a bit taken aback by what his friend had said.
"I know how to take care of myself," Zach said, a little annoyed, crossing his arms.
"I don't know. It seems like you rely on your brother for too much," Carl said. Zach was visibly angry now.
"You wouldn't even be here right now if it weren't for your dad," Zach said with a smirk. Zach and Carl just stared each other down. No one said anything until they heard the door to the farmhouse open and Andrea and Shane walked in. Zach gave Carl a sneer as he walked by him towards the kitchen.
"They should've been back by now," Andrea said, walking into the dining room.
"Yeah. They just got holed up somewhere. We'll head out first thing in the morning," Shane added. Patrica set down a plate in front of Shane. She had a disdainful but defeated look on her face.
"Thank you," Shane said, looking up at her.
"Welcome," She replied with a less than thrilled look. Carol brought in a basket of dinner rolls and set them on the table. Shane looked over to Carl and saw him sulking a bit. Zach was on the opposite end, also not looking happy.
"Carl, I want you to keep your head up, okay? Your old man, he's the toughest son of a—" Shane was about to say before Patricia cut him off.
"No cussing in the house," she said to Shane.
"Sorry," Shane said with a slight chuckle. Carol called to the stairs holding a plate of food.
"Lori, dinner," she said. No answer.
"She's not in there," Maggie said. Everyone was silent for a minute and looked panicked.
"Where is she?" Dale asked.
"Carl, when's the last time you saw your mom?" Shane asked after taking a bite of food.
"This afternoon," Carl replied. Andrea looked around the table at everyone.
"She was worried about Rick, asked me to look in on Carl," she said.
"She went after them?" Dale asked her.
"She didn't say that," Everyone started frantically getting up from the table as Shane headed towards the door.
"Nobody panic. Gonna be around here somewhere,"
Hatlins
Back in town, Rick and company were still crouched by the door to the bar. Glenn carefully peaked out one of the windows to see a few of the men across the street. Rick slowly gets up with his revolver drawn to try to figure out a plan. Everyone huddled near the door.
"Why won't they leave?" Glenn whispered with a scared look on his face.
"Would you?" Jacob whispered back. Hershel nodded in agreement. Rick looked outside one more time.
"We can't sit here any longer. Let's head out the back and make a run to the car," he whispered. Everyone nodded and they were about to make a break for it when they heard gunshots outside.
"What happened?" One of the men asked.
"Roamers, I nailed 'em," another man said.
"Any lizards?" A third asked.
"Nah not yet. So let's hurry up and find Dave and Tony before they show up," the first man said. "They disappeared but their car's still there,"
"I cleared those buildings. You guys get this one?"
"No,"
"Me neither," Another man came from another building hearing the chatting. They were headed towards the bar, and Glenn and Jacob looked at each other worriedly.
"We're looking for Dave and Tony and no one checks the damn bar?" One of the men asked sarcastically. As the men approached, Rick cocked his pistol and Jacob readied his rifle. The door was about to fly open and Glenn quickly crawled in front of it, shutting it again.
"What?" One of the men said, trying to push the door open.
"Someone pushed it shut. There's someone in there," Rick and company all looked at each other.
"Yo, is someone in there? Yo, if someone's in there, we don't want no trouble.
We're just looking for our friends,"
"What do we do?" The second man asked.
"Bum rush the door?" The third man asked.
"No, we don't know how many are there. Just relax," the first man said.
"We don't want any trouble. We're just looking for our friends. If something happened, tell us. This place is crawling with corpses. And more than likely, soon to be lizards too. If you can help us not get killed, I'd appreciate it,"
"Dude, you're bugging. I'm telling you nobody's in there," one of them said.
"Someone grabbed the door. If they're in there, they might know where Dave and Tony are," the first man said. The men began to walk away.
"What if they find the farm?" Jacob whispered. Rick looked like he was pondering something. Suddenly, he called out to them.
"They drew on us!" Rick called out. The men came walking quickly back to the bar. Hershel shook his head.
"Dave and Tony in there? They alive?" One of the men asked. Rick paused for a moment. Hershel, Glenn and Jacob looked panicked.
"No," Rick said. They heard the cocking of a gun.
"They killed Dave and Tony,"
"Come on, man, let's go,"
"No, I'm not leaving, I'm not telling Jane. I'm not gonna go back and tell them that Dave and Tony got shot by some assholes in a bar!" One of them said.
"Your friends drew on us!" Rick yelled again. "They gave us no choice! I'm sure we've all lost enough people, done things we wish we didn't have to, but it's like that now. You know that! So let's just chalk this up to what it was wrong place wrong-" Rick was cutoff by a gunshot flying through the window of the bar. He fired his revolver out the window, hoping to land a shot on one of them. Glenn, Jacob and Hershel all tried to shield themselves from the broken glass and debris crumbling off the window.
"Get outta here! Go!" Rick called as he fired another shot. Glenn, Hershel and Jacob all ran for cover towards the back door of the bar. Rick slid Glenn his shotgun on the floor and the three of them made a break for it while Rick laid down cover.
Farm
Back on the farm, Carol was still searching for Lori and had made her way to Daryl's private campsite.
"We can't find Lori," she said, walking up to him. "And the others aren't back yet either,"
"Yeah. That dumb bitch must've gone off looking for 'em," he replied, not even looking up at her.
"What?" Carol asked in disbelief.
"Yeah, she asked me to go. I told her I was done being an errand boy," Daryl replied. Carol began to walk away in disbelief but walked back to Daryl once more.
"And you didn't say anything?" She asked. "Don't do this. Please. I've already lost my girl," Daryl got up and in Carol's face.
"That wasn't my problem neither," Daryl stormed off leaving Carol heartbroken once more.
Firepit
A few moments later, Shane and the rest of the group were out searching for Lori, checking back at the campsite.
"She's not at the barn," Shane said, throwing down a piece of wood in anger.
"I checked the yards. No sign of her," Wu said.
"Well, where is she?" Carl asked, visibly worried. Carol came running back to the firepit.
"She asked Daryl to go into town. Must've gone herself," Carol said. Carl started crying, and ran off. Andrea and Zach both went after him. Shane looked worried as well.
"Did you know about this?" He asked Dale.
"No," Dale said. Shane let out a frustrated sigh.
"Look, just- -Did she take a gun?" He asked.
"I don't know. Dale Shrugged. "I wouldn't let her go out there alone," Shane didn't say anything but shook his head and climbed in the car and sped off to find Lori.
Hatlins
Back at the bar, the gunfire had seemed to stop for the moment, allowing everyone to catch their breaths. Rick was in the process of reloading his gun when he called out to the assailants.
"Hey! We all know this is not gonna end well! There's nothing in it for any of us! You guys just just back off, no one else gets hurt!" He called, chambering the sixth bullet in his revolver. Nobody else said anything, but Glenn thought he heard movement from the back door. He silently looked at Rick who nodded at him to check out. Glenn ran to the door with his shotgun in hand, quietly pushing the door open with it. As he stepped into the connected building next door, the stairs creaked loudly and Glenn looked around Nervously. He watched in horror as one of the men started turning the knob to the store. He quickly fired a shot into the window. It was incredibly dark and hard to tell if he actually hit someone.
"Glenn!" Jacob and Rick called in unison.
"I- -I'm all right. I'm all right," Glenn called back nervously. He cocked the shotgun and watched the door cautiously.
Crash site
Shane pulled up to the wreck of Lori's car and got out cautiously. He slowly creeped up to the wreck and kicked a walker slumped over the seat. Not seeing anyone, he called out to her, but didn't get an answer. He was about to call out again, when he heard the low growl of a dinosaur. He ran back to the car, shotgun in hand.
Hatlins
Hershel, Rick and Jacob were behind cover near the bar, trying to figure out a way to get to Glenn and get back to the farm.
"Jacob. You and I'll hold 'em here," Jacob didn't say anything but nodded and chambered another round into the rifle.
"Hershel, you cover Glenn. See if you can make it to your car. Tell him- - tell him to pull up back. We'll run for it, get the hell out of here," Rick explained, breathing heavily.
"You want me to cover Glenn?" Hershel asked. Rick nodded.
"You missed all that gun training. It could've come in handy now," Rick said, almost poking fun at him.
"Nah, I can shoot." Hershel said, cocking his pistol. "I just don't like to," he carefully walked to the store attached to the bar and found Glenn. Glenn heard the creak of the floor, and panicked, pointing his shotgun at Hershel. Hershel put his hands up and gently pushed the barrel of the shotgun away.
"Sorry. Sorry," Glenn said, relaxing a bit.
"Rick wants you to try for the car," Hershel explained.
"Try?" Glenn asked, almost in disbelief.
"You'll try and succeed. I'll cover you," Hershel said, trying to reassure him.
"That's a great plan," Glenn said facetiously. Glenn slowly moved towards the storefront door, pushing it open and cautiously stepping outside. He was looking around but didn't see one of the men who fired a shot, and missed, in Glenn's direction. Hershel's shot, however didn't miss, hitting the man square in the chest who fell to the ground with a thud. Meanwhile, Glenn was seemingly motionless behind a dumpster. Hearing the shots, Rick and Jacob came running.
"What happened?" Rick asked with a sharp whisper.
"He fired," Hershel said, pointing to the man on the ground. "He must've hit Glenn,"
"Where the hell is he?" Jacob asked.
"He's behind the dumpster. Doesn't look like he's moving," Hershel explained. Rick quickly moved to Glenn, who was hiding behind the dumpster, still alive, but very shaken. Jacob and Hershel maintained an eye on the perimeter.
"You hit?" Rick asked. No answer. "Are you hit?" He asked again.
"No. No," Glenn finally said. Rick sat down beside him trying to comfort him.
"It's all right. The car's right there," he said quietly.
"Okay," Glenn said, a little more calm.
"We're almost home. You good?" Rick asked.
"I'm good," Glenn said, standing up. Suddenly, they heard the unmistakable call of raptors, followed by a low growl.
"Fuck. Rick, we gotta go. Now," Jacob said, scanning the tree line. The man who was shot continued to writhe in pain on the ground. Jacob thought that this would hopefully keep the raptors and walkers off of them for a bit.
"Alright. Let's go," Rick said. As he was about to come out of cover, a sniper up on the roof of one of the stores, laid down suppressive fire.
"Get back," Rick said. A car pulled up to the building that the sniper was standing on.
"Let's get out of here! Roamers and Lizards all over the place! Hurry up! We gotta get out of here!" The driver said.
"What about Sean?" The man on the roof called down.
"They shot him. We gotta go. Lizards and Roamers are everywhere!" The driver called back.
"We're leaving?" The man on the roof whisper-yelled.
"Yeah, Man! Jump! Hurry up, jump already," the driver said. The man on the roof started making his way down the roof of the store front. He was getting closer to the ground when he lost his footing, slipped, and fell on to a fence. He cried out in terror and pain.
"Dude didn't make it," Glenn whispered to himself.
"Help me! Help help me!" The man called. The driver put the car in gear.
"I've gotta go. I've gotta go. I'm sorry!" The driver sped off, leaving the younger man behind, partially impaled on the fence. Meanwhile, Rick, Hershel, Jacob and Glenn where still taking cover behind the dumpster. As the driver pulled away, the man impaled on the fence continued to cry out for help.
"No no, don't leave! Help me! No! No!"
"Get Hershel," Rick whispered to Glenn. Walkers began amassing near everyone after hearing the commotion, instinctively going for the writhing body of the man on the ground near the dumpster. As the walkers were about to devour the man, the call of the raptors could be heard much closer this time. Hearing the screams of the man on the ground, the raptors emerged from the woods, instinctively scanning the area. Two of them were dark gray with red markings on their snouts, and quills, almost proto-feathers on the top of their heads, and had white stripes on either side of their bodies. The final raptor, a particularly large one, was more of a light gray, almost tan color and had blackish brown stripes and spots on its body. Jacob noticed how different these raptors were from the muted brown and tiger striped raptors they'd encountered before. With these ones, it was much easier to distinguish between the males and females, and he recognized that the largest of the group must be the matriarch. After discovering the source of the screaming, the matriarch let out a menacing call, sticking her head up in the air and giving an audible sniff. The two male raptors looked at her, looked at each other, gave a screech, and charged towards the group of walkers and the helpless man on the ground. The man on the ground looked on in pure terror as he saw the pack of raptors charging. The walkers had also started to swarm him.
"Help!" He screamed. "Help! Help me! No! No!"
"Her- -Hershel!" Glenn called as the he saw the walkers approach the man. Hershel fired a shot and managed to kill a walker, but there were far too many, and the raptors were nearly there. Jacob motioned for them to duck down so they wouldn't be spotted. They all watched in terror as the raptors attacked the walkers, slashing and snapping at them, to get to the man on the ground. Glenn almost puked as he watched one of the male raptors plunge its claw into the man's abdomen, spilling his intestines on the ground. The matriarch took a chunk out of the mans face, and he screamed in agony as he touched where his cheek should have been, being devoured by both walkers, and raptors. Luckily, the raptors were so busy with their meal, they didn't notice the other survivors. But all Jacob could think about, was something he had read from one of Dr. Grant's books: "You are alive when they start to eat you." As the carnage continued, Hershel looked on helplessly, failing to save the man.
"Hershel, Jacob, come on!" Glenn called.
"The gunfire must've attracted the walkers. Where's Rick?" Hershel asked, as the trio started walking to the car, cautiously to avoid detection.
"He- - he ran across," Glenn said, shaken.
"Well, hell, we can't go without him," Hershel started to run to Rick, but Jacob pulled him back.
"Not with those raptors. I'll distract them, trap them. Somehow. Too dangerous to shoot them with so many walkers around. You two get Rick and I'll meet you at the car," he said.
"They'll tear you to pieces son," Hershel said, concerned. Jacob shook his head.
"I know my way around these things. Go. Get Rick. With any luck, I'll see you in a few minutes," he said. Hershel was hesitant, but Glenn vouched for him.
"He'll be fine. He worked at Jurassic World. He's good with dinosaurs," he said. Jacob shot him a look as if to say "really?" Hershel finally nodded and Jacob ran to the group of raptors, picking up a metal pipe in the parking lot.
He cautiously snuck back to where the raptors were, checking his sides and looking for signs of more. All three raptors had killed most of the walkers, with only a few shambling around. For the moment, they were distracted. Jacob slowly stepped back on to the back porch of the store front attached to Hatlin's. He started banging the metal pipe on the concrete in front of the steps.
"Hey! Hey, over here! Come and get me!" All three of the raptors looked up from their feast, blood and entrails dripping from their mouth. The matriarch snarled and screeched, signaling the other two raptors to follow her in charging at Jacob.
"Come on you bastards," he said, leaning against the door to the store front, the metal pipe in hand. The raptors were nearly there, and the matriarch leapt in the air, its sickle claw poised to slash Jacob's stomach. At the last second, Jacob opened the door and purposely fell back on the ground into the store. The Matriarch sailed over him, narrowly missing his neck as she tumbled into the storefront. The matriarch was disoriented just long enough for Jacob to stand up and ready the pipe. He swung and hit the raptor in the side, while the other two stumbled over each other to get in the door. He dodged around the raptors, narrowly avoiding being disemboweled and bitten. He slammed the door to the storefront shut. He had them, at least for now. The only problem was, he was now stuck inside with a trio of raptors. Quickly looking for an exit, he spotted the connecting door to Hatlin's, thankfully, still open. The three raptors began to circle him, hissing and snarling with their claws ready. They were getting ready to pounce on him and Jacob knew he had to move at the precise moment, or he'd be dead before he could even think of his next step.
Hatlin's exterior
Back outside, Hershel and Glenn had caught up to Rick who was assessing the situation with the man who fell off the roof. The situation was not good. The man had impaled his leg through one of the fence spikes.
"Rick!" Hershel called. "We have to go now,"
"No!" The man panicked.
"Shh!" Rick shushed him.
"I'm sorry, son. We have to go," Hershel said, touching the boy's leg.
"No no, don't leave me please," the boy pleaded.
"We have to go," Hershel said again.
"We can't," Rick said.
"He was just shooting at us!" Glenn called in astonishment.
"He's a kid," Rick retorted.
"Please help me," the boy said again.
"This place is crawling with walkers! Raptors too!" Glenn yelled.
"We can't leave him!" Rick yelled back. Hershel looked at the boy's leg again.
"The fence went clean through. There's no way we can get the leg off in one piece," he said. The three of them shook the fence to try and get the boy's leg off. The boy screamed in agony at this.
"Shut up! Shut up or I will shoot you!" Rick said, pointing his gun at the boy.
"That may be the answer," Hershel said, pulling Rick aside. "We're not gonna get that leg off without tearing the muscle to shreds. He certainly can't run. He may bleed out," Rick and Hershel looked back at the boy, trying to figure a plan out.
Storefront interior
Meanwhile, the raptors in the bar were about to seize the moment to strike. Then that moment came: all three raptors jumped in the air towards Jacob. In a split second decision, he ducked and rolled towards the connecting door, and made it into Hatlin's, but dropped the pipe in the process. The three raptors were stunned after having jumped into each other. He tried shutting the door, but the Matriarch followed close behind him, and pushed up against the other side, attempting to get in. He had to shut it before the other two came to assist her, or he'd never get out of there. Jacob grabbed his knife from his pocket, and stabbed the matriarch in the eye. The raptor cried out with an ear piercing scream, but not before leaving Jacob a parting gift: she slashed her claw, slicing open the top of Jacob's forearm. He cried out in pain, but used all of his strength to close the door, and lock it. He held his forearm with his other hand, while pushing a bar table up against the connecting door, wedging it underneath the doorknob so the raptors couldn't get in. He hoped that would at least slow them down, as he could hear them screeching and pounding on the door in an attempt to get in. He knew that likely wouldn't hold them for long, so he grabbed a table cloth and wrapped his arm up making a tourniquet, and headed for outside.
Hatlin's exterior
Back outside, Jacob came running up to the group, to find a pretty gruesome scene with the boy's leg stuck in the fence post. He walked up to Rick and Hershel.
"You alright?" Rick asked. Jacob nodded, out of breath.
"I'm fine. The Raptors are stuck, for now. They will find a way out of there. We need to go," Jacob explained. Hershel looked down at his forearm and the bloodied table cloth around it.
"You sure you're alright?" He asked, concerned it may be from a walker.
"It's not a bite if that's what you're wondering. One of the raptors slashed me. Nothing I can't handle," Jacob said, appreciating Hershel's concern. "This the asshole who shot at us?" Jacob asked, gesturing to the boy. Rick nodded.
"We're not leaving him here," he said.
"Why the hell not?! He could've killed us! He almost shot Glenn!" Jacob said. Hershel looked like he agreed but didn't say anything.
"But he didn't. We're saving him. I am not leaving him here," Rick said, repeating himself in an authoritative manner. Jacob just sighed and shook his head but then nodded. The boy cried out in pain again.
"Shut up," Glenn said to him.
"If he didn't kill us with that rifle, he's gonna get us killed with his goddamn screaming!" Jacob said, walking up next to Glenn.
"I'm sorry. Sh-sh shut up. Shut up," Glenn said, motioning for him to calm down.
"Maybe we should put him down. I don't wanna see any more killing, - but this is cruel," Hershel said
"Maybe we can just take the leg off?" Jacob asked. The boy quieted down a bit as everyone looked at each other.
"That hatchet still in the car?" Rick asked.
"No," Glenn said. Rick looked defeated.
"No! No, don't don't Don't cut my leg off, please. Please, not my leg!" The boy called.
"Shut up! Seriously!" Jacob called back. Rick pulled out his knife and held it up to Hershel.
"Will this cut through the bone?" He asked. Hershel pondered for a minute but then nodded.
"I'll have to sever the ligaments below the kneecap, cut above the tibia he's going to lose his lower leg," he said.
"No, don't. Please!" The boy said. Hershel and Rick readied everything to cut off the boy's leg.
"When we get clear of here, we're gonna have to find some tinder, cauterize the wound - so he doesn't bleed out," Hershel explained.
"All right, no choice," Rick said. "Hurry up,"
"Oh God, oh God," The boy cried out.
"Hand me that stick," Hershel said to Glenn. Glenn nodded and threw him the stick, and Hershel put it under the boy's leg.
"Guys, walkers!" Glenn said, as more walkers poured out of the woods. He readied his shotgun. They all also heard a thumping coming from inside the bar, followed by screeching and snarling.
"That door isn't gonna hold the raptors much longer either. Make it fast!" Jacob said, grabbing his rifle. "Hurry up!" He said. Both him and Glenn gunned down several walkers. The boy cried out again and put his hand over the boy's mouth.
"Shut up!" Rick said.
"Oh God. They're everywhere," Rick said, watching as more and more walkers were slowly converging on them. He stepped away from the boy and fired a few shots at the walkers, as did Glenn and Jacob.
"Hershel, how we doing over there?" Rick asked.
"I need more hands!" Hershel called back. He tried calming the boy down. "Easy easy,"
"No, don't- - don't cut my leg off please," the boy pleaded.
"Come on, we gotta go! I'm almost out of ammo!" Jacob called back to Hershel.
"We don't have much time! Come on, we've gotta go!" Glenn yelled in agreement. Suddenly, they all heard the shatter of glass as the raptors stumbled out of the bar.
"Oh, Christ," Rick said to himself.
"Shit! What the hell is taking so long?!"Jacob yelled, firing a shot at one of the raptors. His forearm wound was still fresh from the slash the matriarch gave him, so he winced in pain and missed. The raptors looked around for a second, and the matriarch glared at Jacob with her one good eye, and blood streaming down from the other. Jacob's eyes, in return, widened with terror.
"Can't hold 'em off! Hershel, do it now!" Rick yelled, firing a few more shots, and looking at the raptors.
"Come on, Hershel!" He yelled again.
"There's no time!" Hershel called back. The raptors were headed their way. Their one saving grace was that there so many walkers, the raptors were having to fight them to get through.
"Hershel, come on!" Jacob called, after killing a walker. Hershel stepped away reluctantly, much to the boy's horror.
"Please don't leave me! Please! No! Please don't leave me! Please! Please don't leave me!" The boy pleaded one last time. In a last ditch effort, Rick grabbed the boy's leg, and yanked it off of the fence.
Road
Lori was exhausted from her ordeal with the car accident as she walked aimlessly down the road. A few compies crossed her path, but ignored her and started eating a walker corpse on the side of the road. Lori grimaced with disgust and continued walking, but was nervous when the compies ran off startled. Thankfully, she had nothing to be worried about when Shane pulled up in a car. He got out and walked up to her.
"You all right?" He asked. She nodded.
"I'm fine," Shane turned on his flashlight and shined it her eyes to check for any signs of a head injury.
"You're not fine. I saw the wreck," he said. "Let me look at you. What happened?" He asked.
"Looked down at the map and hit a herd of dinosaurs. The- - the spiky tailed one," she said.
"Stegosaurus, Billy called 'em. Next time stay put, you won't need a map. Come on, I gotta get you back," Shane said, turning off the flashlight. He went to grab her arm but she pulled away.
"No, we gotta find Rick," she said, her voice rising. Shane didn't look her in the eye when he spoke next.
"He's back. They're all back. They're all safe and sound," he lied.
"Really?" Lori asked hopefully.
"Yeah," Shane replied. Lori breathed a sigh of relief.
"Oh, thank God,"
Car
Rick, Hershel, Glenn and Jacob were speeding down the roadway in an attempt to get back to the farm. Hershel was in the back seat with Glenn, tending to the unconscious kid in the back. He had a blindfold on to prevent him from figuring out his way to the farm. Jacob was in the passenger seat while Rick drove.
"How's our trigger-happy patient doing back there?" Jacob asked, looking in the back seat.
"He's lost a lot of blood. Definitely gonna have some nerve damage with the way his leg was taken off that fence," Hershel said, cleaning up some blood from the kid's leg. Rick just sighed and shook his head.
"I did what I had to. The walkers were all over us," he said, keeping his eyes on the road.
"Raptors too. I've never seen ones like that. They seemed smarter, more aggressive, even," Jacob added.
"Well, you did stab one of them in the eye," Glenn said.
"Yeah," Jacob said. "Raptors remember. If she sees me again- -" he trailed off. Suddenly, blood started gushing from the boy's leg.
"Pull over," Hershel said. The road's too bumpy, I can't tend to him like this," Rick hesitated but then obliged Hershel.
"I think we're in the clear for now anyway," Jacob said. "At least from those raptors. I hope," A few minutes passed and no one said much while Hershel cleaned up the blood and tightened the tourniquet. Glenn held up his flashlight to give Hershel a hand. It was still dark, but the sun would be up soon.
"How is he?" Rick asked. Hershel shook his head.
"Not good. He needs antibiotics or this is gonna get one hell of an infection. I need my supplies," Hershel said.
"How much more do we have to drive?" Glenn asked.
"Still a ways. But I need to stop the bleeding before we get on the road again. He won't make it back to the farm if I don't staunch it," Hershel explained. Rick was about to say something, until they all felt a low rumbling.
"Oh no. Is that what I think it is?" Glenn asked, referring to the T. Rex. Jacob shook his head and looked out the window. The moonlight illuminated the road, but he still couldn't see anything yet.
"No. Whatever it is, it's coming too fast to be a rex,"
"Then what the hell- -?" Rick was cut off by the sound of dinosaur calls coming out of the forest. It was a stampede. Triceratopses, apatosauruses, corythosauruses, and several other large herbivores came running down the road towards them.
"Oh my god. Hershel, you better plug that hole in his leg or we're all about to get trampled," Jacob said. The stampede of herbivores was getting closer.
"It's close enough," Rick said. He put the car in drive and gunned it back on to the road. They were a healthy distance away from the stampede, but if they slowed for whatever reason, it wouldn't end well. Glenn looked back out of the rear windshield.
"What the hell are they running from?!" He called over the hum of the engine and the distant dinosaur calls. Jacob looked back and his eyes widened.
"Carnotaurus!" Jacob called. Everyone looked at him inquisitively.
"Carnivore!" He yelled again. The carno was catching up to the car and spotted them. It gave a roar and charged, hitting the back of the car. Rick had a hard time not swerving off the road. Everyone watched in terror as it got up along side the car and slammed its body against the passenger side. Rick nearly went off the road, but managed to keep it steady again.
"Roll the window down!" Jacob said to Rick as the Carnotaurus gave a roar.
"What?!" Rick asked, giving Jacob an "are you crazy" look. Jacob unholstered his pistol.
"Just do it!" He said. Rick just shook his head but rolled the window down as Jacob cocked his pistol. Glenn noticed what he was doing and rolled his down too, readying the pistol he picked up off of Dave earlier. Jacob looked the carno in the eye. It roared at him, but was cut short as Jacob shot the dinosaur in its side. Glenn let one off in its leg. The carnotaurus tumbled to the ground. Not dead, but wounded. Shaking itself off, it began to limp off into the woods leaving a trail of blood, but not before seemingly disappearing into thin air first, blending in to the surroundings.
"Did anyone else just see that?" Glenn asked.
"That's where the Indominus got it from?" Jacob said to himself. Rick gave him a look but Jacob told him to forget about it. Everyone relaxed a bit, as did the herd of dinosaurs behind them, with the threat seemingly gone.
"If there's no more surprises, can we please get a move on?" Hershel asked. Everyone nodded and Rick sped up, back in the direction of the farm.
Farm
Back at Hershel's Farm, Carol was back at Daryl's little corner of the land, looking a bit disturbed by all of the dead squirrels, and a few compies, strung up on a clothes line. He came out of his tent, less than thrilled to see her.
"What are you doing?" He asked. Getting in her face.
"Keeping an eye on you," she said.
"Ain't you a peach?" Daryl replied.
"I'm not gonna let you pull away. You've earned your place," Carol said. Daryl just looked at her and scoffed.
"If you spent half your time minding your daughter's business instead of sticking your nose in everybody else's, she'd still be alive!" He said, his voice rising. Carol just looked at him with tears in her eyes.
"Go ahead," she said, as if to tell him it's ok to vent.
"Go ahead and what? I mean just go! I don't want you here! You're a real piece of work, lady," Daryl said. He continued with his verbal onslaught. "What, are you gonna make this about my daddy or some crap like that? Pfft! Man, you know Jack. You're afraid. You're afraid 'cause you're all alone. You got no husband, no daughter.
You don't know what to do with yourself. You ain't my problem! Sophia wasn't mine! All you had to do was keep an eye on her!" Daryl himself, now looked as if he was about to cry. Carol just looked at him and nodded sadly.
Later, Shane had returned with Lori in tow, and everyone came out to greet them. Andrea was the first to notice how roughed up Lori was.
"Oh my God, are you all right? What happened?" She asked.
"I was in an accident," I'm fine- -" Shane cut her off.
"She was attacked," Shane added.
"No. I'm fine, I really am," Lori reassured everyone. "Where's Rick?" She asked Andrea. She didn't say anything and Shane tried to slip away. No one said anything.
"They're not back?" Lori asked in a panic. "Where are they?" She glared at Shane.
"Look, I had to get you back here," Shane said. Lori walked up to him and started shoving him.
"You asshole," she seethed.
"Lori- -" Shane tried to cut in.
"He's my husband!" She yelled at him. Shane gently pushed her off of him.
"Lori, I will go after him. I will find him. "Now look, first things first I gotta I gotta look after you. I gotta make sure the baby's all right, okay?" He said, not realizing he just blurted it out.
"You're having a baby?" Carl asked, running up to the group. Why didn't you tell me?" He asked. Lori didn't say anything but gave a resentful look towards Shane. Dale spoke up when no one said anything.
"Come on. Let's make sure you're all right," he said. Andrea grabbed her hand gently as they started leading her back to the farmhouse.
"Come on,"
Farmhouse (Replacing the scene where Lori and Carl talk about the baby and more Shane/Lori Drama)
While Dale and Andrea tended to Lori with Carl, Zach sat sulking in the living room, fidgeting with the claw he and Carl had found way back at the quarry camp. He sighed looking at the claw, worried about Jacob. Wu had come inside after trading dinosaur watch T Dog. He saw Zach sitting alone on the couch.
"What do you have there?" He asked, looking at the claw. Zach looked at him, a bit startled by his presence, but then gave a sad smile.
"Just a claw. I found it a few weeks ago," he said. Wu walked over and sat down next to Zach.
"May I?" He asked with a smile, holding his hand out. Zach nodded and handed him the claw.
"Quite an impressive find. Pretty well intact too. Do you know what dinosaur it belongs to?" Wu asked. Zach shook his head but didn't say anything. Wu smiled as he explained.
"This, happens to be the tip of a claw from a therizinosaurus. Notice how light it is? The curvature of it allowed it to get those hard to reach plants, " he said. "Very impressive indeed. Where did you say you found this?" Wu asked, handing him the claw back. Zach brightened up a little.
"We found it in the forest near our old camp," he said.
"Yes that makes sense. The trees here in Georgia are the perfect height for them to grab the high branches with these claws. It likely got caught on a branch and fell off before you found it," Wu said, nodding.
"Jake's told me about those. He said they're super territorial,"
"He would be correct. Very territorial, and very dangerous. Your brother is a very astute paleontologist," Wu said with another warm smile. Zach sank back in the couch.
"Do you think he's alright, Mr. Wu? Shouldn't he have been back by now?" Zach asked, somewhat rhetorically. Wu leaned forward and clasped his hand together while looking at Zach.
"Your brother is also a very resourceful man, Zachary. And with Rick and Glenn by his side, I'm sure he will be back before long. Until then, I can sit here with you. Perhaps talk about the dinosaurs, I've created and raised?" He said. Zach smiled and nodded. Wu gave a smile back.
"Now tell me: which dinosaur is your favorite?"
Farmhouse: The Next Morning
The next morning, Maggie, Billy and Patricia were sitting by Beth's bedside. She was still in shock. Billy still sat back a bit further than Patricia and Maggie, as to avoid causing any awkwardness. Andrea walked in and everyone looked at her.
"How is she?" She asked.
"Dehydrated," Patricia said. "I'll set up an I.V. Best I can do without Hershel," she walked out of the room. Maggie sat on the bed next to Beth's head and held her hand. Billy knelt on the floor next to her.
"Hey," Andrea said. "Can I get you anything? Either of you?" She looked at Billy too.
"Nah, I just wish my dad was here," Maggie said.
"Me too. He taught me some medical stuff but I can only do so much," Billy said, his voice quieting.
"You've been a big help, Billy. Don't beat yourself up too much. We still might need yah," Maggie said, putting her hand on his shoulder and smiling at him.
"She'll be okay," Andrea added. "You just need to be strong for her,"
"I was just reminding her about- - Never mind," Maggie started. She stopped herself before speaking further.
"No no. I'd love to hear," Andrea said softly. Billy nodded.
"Me too," he said. Maggie just looked down for a minute then gave a smile.
"My dad would die if he heard this. My first summer back from college, I drove home, dumped my stuff off, went straight out to the stable for a ride. My family comes back from church and Beth grabs my things and starts unpacking my stuff upstairs.
"That's sweet," Andrea said.
"Yeah, until this one here starts rifling through my backpack. She finds this little plastic container with these pink and green candies inside. She didn't even know I was on the pill. She was so freaked out by the idea of me, and boys and sex, she runs outside and chucks them in the duck pond," Maggie said with a laugh. Billy laughed too.
"Should I be hearing this?" He asked jokingly. Maggie tapped him on the chest lightly with a smile and continued.
"And I ride up, I see this, I'm screaming. She's crying and Shawn runs outside, thinks one of us is drowning. Soon as he figures out what's going on, the jerk busts out laughing so loud that my horse rears up and gets mud all over the three of us. My dad comes out, 'What the heck's goin' on out here?!' And she turns around, bats her eyelids and says, 'We're just swimming, daddy.'" Maggie's happiness turned to sadness as she started to cheer up. "In her Sunday dress, all covered in snot and mud," Maggie was silent for a minute. Billy stood up and comforted her.
"Rick, Jacob and Glenn will get your dad back," Andrea said with a slight smile.
"Glenn's a good guy," Maggie said with tears in her eyes. Andrea smiled again.
"Yeah," she said. "He is,"
Firepit, later in the morning.
Daryl and Shane were loading up one of the cars with guns as Andrea was getting ready to head out with them. Dale was trailing her.
"Are you sure you wanna risk it? You might not make it back," he asked.
"I'll be fine," she said with a sigh.
"And with Shane at the helm, I wouldn't be too sure," Dale said out of earshot of Shane. "He's lost people before,"
"And he's had my back. What are you insinuating?" Andrea asked, accusingly.
"He doesn't want Rick back, or Hershel. With them gone, he's got everything he wants and no one to tell him otherwise," Dale explained.
"Shane has done more to keep this group alive than anybody, including Rick," Andrea retorted. Dale gave her a look of disgust.
"You can't possibly believe that," Dale whispered. Andrea just looked at him, annoyed.
"I do," she said, walking to the car. She handed Daryl a pistol.
"Guys," As the three of them were about to leave, they heard the sound of a car coming down the road and saw Hershel's hatchback kicking up dust as it neared the farmhouse. Everyone else came out of the farmhouse. Zach saw the car with Jacob inside and his eyes lit up as he ran down the steps.
"Jake!" He said, nearly tackling Jacob. Jacob laughed and stumbled back a bit.
"I'm alright, Zach. Told you I'd be back," he said, kneeling down to meet Zach's gaze with a smile. Zach hugged him again. Carl also ran up to Rick and hugged him.
"Dad! You're okay," he said. Lori ran up to him and they embraced. Maggie came running out of the house as Glenn and Hershel stepped out of the car. Hershel looked at her as she readied an embrace, but ran right past him and right into Glenn's arms. Hershel glared at Shane then walked up towards the house.
"Patricia, prepare the shed for surgery," he called. Billy and Wu walked up to Jacob and Jacob gave Billy a bro hug.
"Thank you both for looking after him," Jacob said.
"No trouble at all," Wu said. "Zachary has quite the mind," Jacob nodded and chuckled. Billy looked at the side of the car.
"What the hell happened there?" He asked, referring to the several dents in the car.
"Long story. Carnotaurus," Jacob said, rubbing his arm discreetly.
"And that?" Wu asked, pointing to Jacob's arm.
"Raptor. I'll have Patricia or Hershel take a look at it. Whenever they're done with surgery," Jacob said coyly. Hearing the mention of surgery, Lori looked worried.
"Are you hurt?" She asked. Rick gently touched her face.
"No, but what happened to you?" He asked with genuine concern.
"I was in a car accident," Lori said bluntly.
"Accident? How?" He asked.
"I went looking for you," she said softly.
"Snuck out on her own," Shane added. "Brought her back,"
Are you crazy? You could've - -" Billy, having been inspecting the car more, saw the stranger in the backseat, blindfolded.
"Who the hell is that?" He asked, pointing to the unconscious man in the backseat.
"That's Randall," Glenn said. Everyone looked at each other and gathered around the car.
Farmhouse interior
The whole group was gathered around the dining room table with shocked, and less than pleased faces.
"We couldn't just leave him behind," Rick said. "He would've bled out, if he lived that long,"
"It's gotten bad in town," Glenn said.
"Not just the walkers either," Jacob held up his newly bandaged arm. "Raptors are getting smarter. Bolder," he said. Billy and Wu looked at each other, concerned.
"What do we do with him?" Andrea asked. Hershel came walking in the dining room, wiping his hands on a towel.
"I repaired his calf muscle as best I can, but he'll probably have nerve damage.
Won't be on his feet for at least a week," he explained.
"When he is, we give him a canteen, take him out to the main road, send him on his way," Rick said. Daryl came in the house from outside and joined the group.
"Isn't that the same as leaving him for everything that's out there?" Andrea said.
"Hey, if a bunch of teenagers can survive on an island full of those dinosaurs for six months, I'd say he's got a fighting chance," Jacob shrugged.
"So we just gonna let him go? He knows where we are," Shane said.
"He was blindfolded the whole way here. He's not a threat," Rick said.
"Not a threat? How many of them were there? You killed three of their men, you took one of them hostage, - but they just ain't gonna come looking?" Shane said, his voice rising.
"They left him for dead. No one is looking!" Rick yelled back.
"We should still post a guard," T Dog added.
"He's out cold right now, will be for hours," Hershel said, cleaning the last of the blood off his hands.
"You know what? I'm gonna go get him some flowers and candy," Shane started to walk away. "Look at this, folks we back in fantasy land," he scoffed. Shane was about to leave the house when Hershel spoke up.
"You know, we haven't even dealt with what you did at my barn yet," he said, pointing at Shane. Hershel continued.
"Let me make this perfectly clear, once and for all This is my farm. Now I wanted you gone. Rick talked me out of it, but that doesn't mean I have to like it. So do us both a favor keep your mouth shut," the whole time, Shane just looked at him smugly before he stormed out of the house shaking his head. Rick walked up to Hershel and Andrea left to follow Shane.
"Look. We're not gonna do anything about it today. Let's just cool off," Rick sighed. Everyone left the dining room. Glenn walked to the living room and Maggie followed him.
"Can I talk to you?" She asked, pulling him into the kitchen. "What's going on with you?"
"Your dad saved my life today. And Rick saved all three of us. And I- -I froze," Glenn explained.
"Well, you were being shot at," Maggie said.
"I know, but- -" Maggie cut him off.
"You don't have anything to prove," she said softly.
"All I've done, and this okay—" he paused for a second. "It's because of what you said,"
"That I love you?" Maggie asked, sounding almost hurt.
"Yeah. A bullet hit the wall behind me and I- - I thought of you losing me, hurting. And I couldn't take it, so I hid to stay alive," he said. Maggie went in to kiss him with a smile, put he gently pushed her back.
"No. No, you don't get it. Rick, your dad they were counting on me and I- - I only thought of myself," Glenn walked away, tears welling up in his eyes, leaving a very confused Maggie behind in the kitchen, crying.
Later, Beth's bedroom.
Hershel was sitting by Beth's bedside in a chair when Maggie walked. Billy had also come upstairs to make sure she was ok.
"Has she eaten?" Hershel asked. Maggie shook her head but said nothing.
"No. Not since a few days ago," Billy added.
"I'll give her a sedative stop her body from working too hard," Hershel said. He stood up and looked at Billy, and took his hands.
"Thank you, Billy. For all you've done for my girls," he said.
"It was no trouble, Hershel. No worries," Billy said. Hershel pat him on the back.
"I mean it, Billy. I know you're still looking for your friend, but you will always have a place here," he said, almost proud. Hershel sat back down in the chair and gave Beth another once over. Billy nodded thankfully, but Maggie was still upset.
"You were drinking," she said.
"That was the least of my worries," Hershel said, brushing off what Maggie had said. She suddenly became angry.
"You left and I didn't know what to do!" She yelled. Hershel and Billy looked at each other as she stormed out of the room.
Woodshed
Andrea and Shane were walking back to the firepit from the woodshed.
"Want me to take watch?" She asked.
"Yeah. Relieve T. In a few hours, I'm gonna take the graveyard," Shane said.
"And then what? We just send him on his merry way?" Andrea asked.
"According to Rick and Hershel," Shane said. The two of them stopped walking.
"If he finds his people and leads them here, we'll have a war on our hands," Andrea said.
"You know you're preaching to the choir, girl," Shane said, rubbing his head.
"You ever consider a lighter touch? Abandoning the search for Sophia, taking out the walkers in the barn, lying to Lori today those were all the right calls, it's your presentation that leaves something to be desired," Andrea said, out of the blue. Shane just shook his head and started walking away.
"Dale send you?" He asked sarcastically.
"I see you pushing everyone away. For what? They need you," Andrea said, keeping up with him.
"Huh. I'll always be the odd man out. The same as you," Shane said.
"I've made my peace," Andrea shrugged. They stopped walking in front of the farmhouse.
"Have you?" Shane asked. "The way I see it, you and me, we we're treated the same way. Everyone's always trying to take the gun out of your hand. These folks they want to play house. They wanna pretend that Rick and Hershel they know what they're doing. Lemme tell you something- -They bound to get us all killed," Shane said, quieting his voice.
"Then we have to stop that," Andrea said. Shane continued.
"They don't listen. They're gonna give this kid a care package. They're gonna send him on his way. And you right, that's gonna bring on a war or something worse, and we just gonna we're gonna sit here and wait for it.
But you and me, we're the only ones who see it coming. I should've left with you when I had the chance," he said. Shane walked away, leaving Andrea to consider his words.
Rick's tent
Rick and Lori were in their tent. After sharing a tender, funny moment with each other. Rick sat down on his cot as Lori continued changing.
"We need to talk about Shane," Lori said. Rick's smile faded.
"What's he done now?" He sighed.
"He thinks the baby's his. No matter what, it's yours," Lori said flatly.
"He'll accept that," Rick said quietly, leaning forward on the cot.
"You're gonna have to make him. He won't listen to me. He's delusional and he's dangerous. When I went looking for you, he came after me," Lori explained.
"Well, of course he did," Rick added, almost thankful to Shane.
"And lied to me to get me back here, said you were already back," Lori said. Rick almost looked like he agreed with what Shane did, but just sighed.
"You saw what he did at the barn. He's threatened Dale and Hershel. Jacob too. He's scaring people and he's scaring me. And I think he killed Otis. I know I'm not the only one who thinks that either. I think he left him behind and I think I think he did it not just to save Carl - but because he loves me," Lori said, starting to trail off.
"But you don't know that," Rick cut in.
"…and he thinks that we're supposed to be together no matter what," Lori looked down steadily. Rick paused for a minute before speaking.
"Those gunmen left that kid behind today. I killed two people myself because of you, and Carl and the baby," he said. Lori sat on the cot with him and embraced him from behind.
"It was gonna be me and not them no matter what," Rick continued.
"You killed the living to protect what's yours?" Lori asked.
"That's right," rick nodded. Lori got closer to Rick's ear.
"Shane thinks I'm his. He thinks the baby is his. And he says you can't protect us, that you're gonna get us killed," Lori got in even closer and whispered in his ear.
"He's dangerous, Rick, and he won't stop,"
END
Wow! Quite an episode huh? I sincerely apologize for such a long break in between stories. As I mentioned, I will likely be doing one chapter a month for right now, going forward, but seeing as there's only 4 episodes left in season 2, it won't be too long of a wait! Also, I would like to add that while I cannot incorporate every idea you guys give me, I am more than happy to add some, and I am always happy to hear suggestions! I would also like to mention, that if anyone is willing to do any art for the story, I would immensely appreciate, and love that! If people wanted to make art for the story, I could potentially make you a character in the story that gets eaten by a dinosaur, or something along those lines!
I hope you all enjoyed this chapter, and stay tuned for the next one! Until then, thanks for reading!
~JPFan