Newly Revised
I am so sorry this revision took so long. I got into a car accident shortly after posting the other revision and I had a mental breakdown. While no one was injured, I was in a lot of accidents as a kid and this was the first one in which I had been driving, so I had to deal with some trauma from it. While I'm not better as far as driving goes, I did manage to get on some anti-anxiety medications for the time being. Again, I apologize for the wait and assure you the next revision shouldn't take quite as long, though I did also just start a new job as a freelance writer, so I still got to push out a few articles a week for that as well. However, we're getting into a revision that is going to end up being a newer chapter than most in the next one, so it shouldn't take an overt amount of time. Thank you for sticking around and putting up with all the revising and hiatuses and stuff...
"Dale could, could get under your skin," Rick said as they laid the man to rest the next morning. "He sure got under mine, because he wasn't afraid to say exactly what he thought, how he felt. That kind of honesty is rare and brave. Whenever I'd make a decision, I'd look at Dale. He'd be looking back at me with that look he had. We've all seen it at one time or another. I couldn't always read him, but he could read us. He saw people for who they were. He knew things about us. The truth, who we really are. In the end, he was talking about losing our humanity. He said this group is broken. The best way to honor him is to unbreak it. Set aside our differences and pull together, stop feeling sorry for ourselves. Take control of our lives, our safety. Our future. We're not broken. We're gonna prove him wrong. From now on, we're gonna do it his way. That is how we honor Dale."
In the cold light of day, they had buried Dale next to Hershel's family as they all stood around and listened to Rick's words. Tea had figured out that Dale had been right when both Rick and Daryl had hesitated and knew damn sure that Carl's presence had only made her realize it all the more. She'd looked at the facts, the risks and benefits, gains and losses, and came to a conclusion based on them, but logic did not account for emotions most of the time. Dale's emotions had been constructed from the best of humanity even after everything had gone to hell. While she didn't agree with doing everything the way Dale would because he was too honorable and optimistic about the world, they couldn't just turn off their humanity and act like it was the easiest thing in the world to kill someone. She silently swore to herself and to Dale's grave that she would remember his lessons before she and Daryl met up with Andrea, Glenn, and T-Dog at the blue pick-up. The thought was that if one walker managed to make it far enough onto the farm to be in the fields, there would be more somewhere either along the perimeter of the property or in the fields further out than the one that had gotten Dale. T-Dog drove the truck out farther than they could walk before parking it and their group began following after Daryl and the trail he found. It only took about five minutes to find the walkers and when they did, to say they over-killed the situation was an understatement. Andrea was by far the most vicious, laying into the walkers like it was no tomorrow and taking out two by herself as T-Dog and the others finished off the others until there was only one left.
That last walker was treated like a punching bag more than a walker after Glenn had pushed it hard enough to make it stumble to the ground. Everyone started kicking it, acting more like a mob and more on the same page than they had ever been before. The loss of Dale had affected all of them greatly, especially since he had been there for most of the entire group at one point or another and had given them all advice they had been able to take. He had been there for Tea, herself, when no one else but Glenn and Daryl had bothered to talk to her, treating her less like a child and more like person than anyone else had most of her life had bothered to. She had looked up to him for his ethics and his wisdom and the fact that he treated everyone as equals rather than acting like some of the members were lesser, even Merle as much as he could. He'd genuinely been a great man, and great men like him were hard to find before the world went to shit; they'd been lucky to have Dale as long as they had. If she could go back in time, she would save Dale before anything else. Instead, they beat the ever living shit out of that last walker until Tea couldn't take it anymore and stomped the thing's face in. By the time that they got back the others had begun breaking camp, Hershel standing next to Rick with Maggie and Beth talking to the others as they walked up.
"It's gonna be tight, 15 people in one house," she heard Rick say.
"Don't worry about that," Hershel assured him. "With the swamp hardening, the creek drying up."
"With fifty head of cattle on the property, we might as well be ringing a damn dinner bell," Maggie finished for him.
"She's right," Hershel said. "We should've moved you in a while ago. Especially with all Tea's done for us, kept my girls safe and healthy, kept them goin'. This is the least I could do to repay the debt I owe her."
"Ya don' owe me shite, Hershel," she said as she walked up. "Told ya, we're family. In this group, we're family. Ain' done nothin' family wouldn' do."
"You put an awful lot of emphasis on family," Hershel chuckled.
"Well, ya know the sayin' 'blood is stronga than wata'?" she waited to see several people nodding. "Full sayin' is 'the blood a the covenant is stronga than the wata a the womb'. The family ya choose is more important than the blood ya share, basically. Y'all are me chosen family," she said with a shrug.
"Alright, let's move the vehicles near each of the doors facing out towards the road," Rick told everyone. "We'll build a lookout by the windmill and another by the barn loft. That should give us sight lines both sides of the property. T-Dog, I'm gonna need you to keep the perimeter around the house. Keep track of everyone coming and going."
"What about standing guard?" he asked.
"Daryl, Andrea, and I'll take double duties with ya for it," Tea told him. "Don' worry ya pretty little head none."
"Gotcha," he said with a chuckle as he walked off to start packing up.
Daryl scoffed and walked off towards their camp, hating how she had taken to talking more openly with the group lately, giving pet names to practically everyone. His only solace was that she called him D while she called all of them 'hun' or 'sweetie' or 'sugar'. It was stupid and childish and he knew that he was being quite selfish about the fact that he'd started wanting more time with her. Daryl knew he was a pretty strong person individually; he'd proven that time and time again when he'd been forced to fend for himself as a child. But he'd also been a follower most of his life, following Merle around and doing whatever he'd wanted to do rather than what Daryl did. Tea wasn't like that, preferring that they both lead and follow depending on what the situation was. She viewed him as an equal and as a leader, a friend and a lover, a protector who needed protecting. She viewed him as someone who actually meant a damn not only to her but to the group and the world at large. He wasn't used to any of it, being equal, being needed, being wanted, but now that he had those things, he didn't want to share it with the others in case she started seeing more in someone else. She always kept saying she was worried he'd do that but Daryl knew that it'd be easier for her to find someone else than it would be him. He'd never had much luck when it came to women and he was positive things would go south for him and Tea eventually. For now, though, he was happy to drag her off any time he could just to get time with her alone.
"I'll stock the basement with food and water, enough that we can all survive there a few days if need be," Hershel said as he hauled items from camp to the truck.
"What about patrols?" Andrea asked.
"Let's get this area locked down first," Rick told her. "After that, Tea'll assign shifts while me and Daryl take Randall off site and cut him loose."
"Make sure ya take a bit a extra time. Back roads, loop 'rounds, whateva it takes ta make sure 'e's good and confused and then hightail it straight back here," Tea told him.
"It was the right plan first time around," Rick agreed, "poor execution."
"Happens, tensions were high and ya weren' exactly careful like ya'll be this time," she told him.
Tea started heading out to her camp but stopped when Rick called out, "Andrea, Tea. When I'm out with Daryl, help Hershel and Tea keep an eye on things here."
"Me?"
"Why ya wantin' us ta?"
"I need the two of you to make sure everyone in the group stays on the same track as far as what to do. Tea, you're in charge while I'm gone. No in-fighting," Rick told her.
"If you're going to stay here permanently, there's certain members of your group that need to understand that it's what Rick, Tea, and I say, not whatever they want," Hershel warned.
"Do you seriously want me to babysit Lori and Carol to make sure they don't b?" she asked incredulously, causing Tea to snicker beside her.
"I need to make sure every time I leave the farm, all hell doesn't break loose," Rick said seriously.
"Then maybe you should stop leaving," Andrea retorted.
"I have ta say that I am completely in agreement with that," Tea chimed in. "Might be easia on everyone if ya stayed here and let me and Daryl make the run. We're betta equipped ta savive out there and people are more willing ta listen ta ya lead than mine if ya not 'ere."
"I'll think about it, but in the mean time, can I count on you, Andrea?"
"Of course."
Tea thought about the windmill and what would need to be done to get it up and running as a workable lookout station while walking over to it. They'd definitely need to build some sort of platform people could sit, if not lay on at the very least in order to make it function properly. It was much too small to stand up in although she counted that as a blessing considering standing would make whoever was looking out stick out like a sore thumb anyway. There was a pile of boards over by the barn that would do nicely to start the process of making the lookout and Hershel had said that there were nails and a hammer in the tool shed behind the house. Tea figured Daryl would probably take a while to break their camp and come back, so it wouldn't be that big of a deal if she worked on other things for the time being. She was just starting to look at the spare wooden boards, trying to find some that weren't warped or weathered beyond what she felt was safe, when she heard Carl call out from behind her, his head hung in shame when she turned.
"What's up, bud? Shouldn' ya be in the house with ya momma?"
"If, um, if I tell you something, will you promise not to tell my parents?" he asked cautiously.
"Nah, I won' make that promise. Not if it's somethin' they really need ta know or is a risk ta yaself. But I promise ta be there with ya if they decide ta scold ya 'bout it. I ain' gonna let ya get in trouble for comin' clean 'bout somethin' ya feel guilty 'bout," she told him honestly.
Carl reached into his jacket and produced Daryl's missing gun. "I took it from Daryl's motorcycle," he told her as he handed it over. "If he found out I took it, he'd kill me."
"Nah, cuff ya upside the head maybe, but the man's a big softy when it comes ta kids undaneath all those scowls. I swear, the man's got a restin' face that looks as pissed off as any I've seen," Tea said with a smile. "Now what's really botharin' ya?"
"It's my fault. Dale. It's my fault that he died," Carl said, playing with stones at his feet.
"Why would ya think that's the case, hun?" she asked him, going down on one knee to look up at him, since he refused to look up himself. "That didn' have nothin' ta do with ya."
"I saw that walker. I was gonna shoot it," he admitted. "It was stuck in the mud. I was throwing rocks at it and stuff. But I was gonna do it! Shoot it right in the head. But it, it, it got free, came after me, and I ran away. If I'd have killed it Dale would still be here."
"That is not a guarantee, Carl. Could a been anotha walka that got Dale last night. Ya neva know. We found several on the propaty earlia. Could a jus' been 'is time. But dwellin' on the should a, would a, could a's jus' gonna make ya feel guilt ya shouldn' be feelin'. Ya ran away, like any child should, when a walka came afta ya. Was he fully free? Ya said it got out, but had it when ya ran? How'd ya get away?"
"Fell over, one leg was still stuck in the mud," he muttered.
"Alright, then, that walka'd a gotten free soon 'nough without ya bein' there, and that right there jus' proves it. I'll give Daryl back the gun, but ya gonna have ta take anotha one up soon 'nough. Don' let this scare ya, okay?"
She reassured him some more, letting him know that not a single person in the group would blame him for what happened with Dale, before sending him back to the house. She started loading boards that weren't warped or aged too much for use with anything that needed to hold weight before heading over to the windmill. Tea had been so one track minded that she didn't even realize that she would have to wait for Daryl to get back, or ask T-Dog to help, to do any work on the windmill. She couldn't climb and lug the boards up at the same time herself, let alone hold them together depending on how they decided to make it. It was one of the things she hated the most about being short and having limited abilities due to her arm length. She could rig a pulley system up, but that would take more effort than she was willing to put into it alone, let alone if it was just to build the damn guard post. Besides, she could see Daryl riding back up to the farmhouse, stopping just long enough to let her hop on. They just stayed on the porch while Daryl smoked a cigarette, the two close enough to be touching while Tea talked about what she wanted to do with the windmill. Daryl just stood leaning against the railing listening to her with an upward twitch of his lips when she asked for his thoughts before Rick came out with a map and motioned to them.
He took the both of them over to a small stand on the porch and showed them the route they had planned on taking, "Take him out to Senoia, hour there, hour back give or take. You may lose the light, but you'll be halfway home by then. I'm staying at the house. "You and Andrea were right. It's probably best if I stay here for the time being."
"Yeah, don' want anyone gettin' pissed 'cause I say somethin' they don' like," Tea told him with a shrug of her shoulders. "'Sides, if Randall tries anythin', me and Daryl ain' goin' ta hesitate ta do what needs done like ya sometimes do. Ya got good morals, Rick, I hope they stay that way. We'll head out soon."
"This little pain in the ass will be a distant memory," Daryl said, his mood lightening up a lot at the thought of a couple solid hours alone in a car with Tea on the way back home. "Good riddance."
"Carol's putting together some provisions for him, enough to last a few days," Rick said, looking out at the farm. "That thing ya did last night..."
"T'was mercy. For the both a ya. I could do it without bein' burdened knowin' it was mercy. I doubt eitha a ya would be comfortable with the thought a endin' someone like that," she said as she looked at both older men, seeing Rick's nod and Daryl simply avoiding her eyes. "Not like I blame ya. I jus' don' see things the same way as ya do. It's betta ta put 'im out a his misery than let 'im suffa 'til 'e dies."
"So you good with all this?" he asked them both, deciding it was best not to respond to Tea's words.
"Sounds good to me," Daryl said. "I'm gonna take a piss."
"Thanks for the announcement," Tea said to him as he walked away before she turned to Rick and told him, "Ya gotta talk ta Carl, hun."
"What's going on with Carl?"
"He's blamin' 'imself for Dale's death," she said bluntly. "Apparently, he went wandarin' down by the swamp with a gun and came 'cross the same walka that got Dale. Now he thinks that, 'cause 'e was throwin' stones and planned on shootin' it and didn', it's 'is fault Dale's dead. I happen ta think 'e did the right thing by runnin' away when it pulled a leg free a the mulch and grabbed at 'im, but 'e don' see it that way. He needs 'is daddy ta set 'im straight."
"Where'd he get the gun?" Rick said, taken aback at her revelation.
"Daryl's saddlebag," she answered with a shrug, not thinking it mattered at all. "Don' matta much. Kid's gonna need a gun eventually anyway, the soona he gets used ta that idea, the betta, same goes for Lori and ya. So don' focus on the gun, focus on the guilt," she told him seriously. "He don' need a lecture 'bout takin' a gun. He needs 'is daddy ta reassure 'im that 'e's doin' right."
Tea walked into the house only to find Sophia standing by the door and gave her a one-armed hug, even if it was still a bit awkward, and let her know that she would be leaving the farm with Daryl. She let her know that it might take a couple days to get back and asked her what the three rules of safety were; always have a knife on her, run if it's more than two walkers or if they're both too close, and, if all else fails, find a place to hide until the walkers pass. It was important to Tea that Sophia never forgot those rules because she saw so much of herself in the little girl she was compelled to look after her. She had always wished someone would have protected her, and even if Ed was dead, Carol wasn't doing a much better job protecting her child than Lori was. Sophia had no one in her corner that she could fully rely on and that thought alone spurred Tea on every time Carol acted a fool. She was worried about Carl, too, and wanted to protect him just like she did Sophia, but the connection between her and the boy didn't run as deep. Carl didn't have any horror stories from before the change while Sophia and her had shared theirs with each other during their misadventure in the woods. Things would always be different between the two, and Tea didn't see anything bad about that.
After she double checked on Beth and Maggie, Tea went into the kitchen and gathered some of the herbs she had dried there. She didn't want to go on any prolonged trip without a stock of medicinal supplies, her mortar and pestle getting thrown in the bag, too. A few other provisions that they might need were also gathered; enough food and water to last her and Daryl a couple days, a couple strips for bandages, and she sneakily grabbed a couple pieces of the homemade sweets Patricia had made before she stashed them all away and headed outside. Tea headed out the door and over to Shane's old car that they were using to take Randall out. She put her hand on Daryl's back and slid it as she went around to his front and asked if he was ready. He nodded his head and brought an arm up around her for a short moment, taking her bag from her shoulder and putting it in the car. He was taking his crossbow, they would both have guns, and they would both have knives, though Tea would obviously be carrying more. They were talking about how they were going to make sure Randall would stay gone when T-Dog came up and held a gun out for Daryl.
"Only got so many arrows," he told him.
"Is that Dale's gun?" the man asked.
"Yeah," T-Dog sighed.
"Wish I knew where the hell mine is," Daryl said in return.
"Oh, here!" Tea said before she reached into her waistband and proffered the missing piece. "Long story short, Carl wanted ta play hero."
"Keep it," Daryl told her, pushing her hand back into her chest.
"I got one, Daryl," she chuckled. "What, ya think I'm gonna turn inta Wyatt Earp or somethin'?"
Daryl just looked at her and scoffed before taking the gun back, completely forgetting all about her gun. It was easy to do when she'd only ever pulled it out once, and that was at the barn; she'd used a rifle back in the quarry, proving she could shoot but never bothered to show off her skill with a handgun before. He handed Dale's gun back to T-Dog and took his from Tea as she giggled and stepped up to him to give him a kiss on the cheek. He could be super cute sometimes, especially when she realized the back of his neck was tinged red, making her smile up at him all the more. All Daryl did was look at her for a moment, a smile showing through his eyes even if it wasn't on his face, before he scoffed again to hide a smirk while she reached out and touched the back of his neck, both of them being startled when T-Dog cleared his throat having forgotten he was there for a moment.
"You two really are a couple of love birds, aren't ya?" T-Dog snickered.
"Shut it," combined with "Shut up," came from the hunters.
"Ready?" Rick asked as he walked up from the barn, Carl heading towards the house giving them a wave.
"Yeah," came the unison reply.
"I'll get the package," T-Dog said.
"Thanks."
They were double checking their equipment and going over the plan once again when T-Dog came running back up shouting about Randall being missing. Everyone who heard him yelling took off running towards the shed, Tea, Daryl, and Rick taking the lead while Andrea, Glenn, and T-Dog chased after them. Tea and Rick checked the shed while Daryl looked for his tracks while the others that had followed stood guard in case Randall tried to come out of the woods. Tea found a break in the upper supports just big enough for Randall to squeeze through with some blood smeared on them right before the other members of their group caught up to them. Tea and Rick had been so busy with other things that they had both forgotten to assign a guard to the shed and that slip up had allowed the man enough time to escape unnoticed. The cuffs were gone and there was a hole in the rafters just large enough for a determined young man to squeeze through, the blood around the pipe he'd been cuffed to and the rafters telling her he'd probably tried to pull his way through a little too hard and either dislocated his thumb or broke another finger. That would be the most likely explanation for the cuffs to be gone as she doubted Randall had been strong enough to make the chain to break letting both hands be free. Either way, it didn't matter how he'd gotten out, just that they absolutely had to find him before he brought his group back to the farm. He'd known what they were planning on doing and yet he still decided to make a run for it which meant that he had been lying all along about not knowing where his group was.
"This ain' good, Rick," she said as she showed the man what she'd found inside.
"What's going on?" Lori asked, her face full of worry.
"The cuffs are missing," he informed them as he and Tea exited the shed. "He must've broke 'em or slipped 'em."
"Is that possible?" Carol asked.
"Anythin's possible when ya desperate 'nough. Coulda dislocated 'is thumb easily 'nough ta make 'is hand smalla than his wrist, easily slip 'em that way. No way he picked the lock; they'd still be there if 'e had. Ain' no way 'e was able ta break the chain, eitha. If the best I can break are zip ties, ain' no way that skinny liddle shite can break those damn cuffs," Tea answered her.
"The door was secured from the outside," Hershel said.
"There's a break in the boards up near the rafters on the other side," Rick told him.
"What are we going to do?" Glenn asked.
"Alright, Hershel, T-Dog, get everyone back to the house," Rick said. "Glenn, Daryl, come with me and Tea."
"Just let him go," Carol said, ever the scared woman. "That was the plan, right? Just let him go?"
"Not this close ta the farm, Carol. He finds 'is group, 'e brings 'em 'ere, they ain' gonna play nice with Phia or Beth or ya. They're gonna make us all suffa. Ya want that ta happen? All the kid had ta do was wait! I told 'im earlia we were cuttin' 'im loose taday. That 'e busted out means 'e's tryin' ta stay local at best, reconnect with 'is people at worst," Tea rationalized. "Now all a y'all get inta that house and lock it tight! Phia, keep close ta ya momma and Beth. Protect 'em if ya gotta, but don' leave their sights, got it?"
"Yes, ma'am!" Sophia said at the same time as Carol looked at her pissed.
"Don't tell her what to do!" she snapped.
"Do ya want ta stay defenseless all ya life or are ya goin' ta grow a fuckin' backbone like ya daughta?!" Tea spat back. "We got ta track 'im down and take care a the problem."
"Don't go out there! Y'all know what can happen!" Carol pleaded
"Get everybody back to the house!" was Rick's final word on the matter. "Lock all the doors and stay put!"
"What way'd 'e go, D? It ain' clear enough ova here ta tell," Tea said as she searched the opposite direction of Daryl, both sides having trails of blood but the tracks weren't clear enough for her to fully discern.
"Looks like it's up in this direction," Daryl pointed through the trees.
"Couldn't have gotten far," Rick reasoned. "He's hobbled, exhausted."
"Let's jus' follow the damn trail and get this done with. Randall ain' the only threat out 'ere, and y'all have way less visibility in the dark than I do," Tea said.
Daryl led them through the woods while only he and Tea remained quiet enough not to make a lot of noise, which was more than could be said about the two behind them. Glenn even ran into Tea, making her run into Daryl as he lost his footing on a tree because he had been looking off to the side instead of paying attention to where he was putting his feet. Both Tea and Daryl turned around and gave the young man the stink eye before resuming their search, Rick patting Glenn on the back as he went ahead of him. It didn't take long for them to come across something that made the two hunters side glance at each other and Tea's face to drain of color as she thought about what else could be in the woods that might be hunting Randall, or trying to find the farm.
"Got two sets of tracks right here," Daryl told them.
"Somethin' came this way and followed 'im," Tea agreed, weary by the two sets of shuffling tracks.
"There's fresh blood on this tree," Daryl said, taking the light from where Tea was looking at the trail to shine it on the tree in front of them. "There's more tracks. Almost like they're walking together for a while." They walked a little further and the four of them found a lot more blood. "Somethin' went down right here."
"What do you mean?" Glenn asked.
"I mean somethin' went down," the redneck said roughly, not liking how stupid Glenn could be at times. "There's a trail of blood, and look over there. That might as well be a damn puddle. Somethin' went down here."
Behind them, the woods sounded something fierce alerting the small posse to looming company and cause a momentary shuffle of movement as they scrambled to hide behind a tree. Daryl tossed Glenn his flashlight while Tea motioned to the others that there were two figures, each coming towards them from the front. The sound of the walkers growling as they got closer had every single one of them tensing up before Glenn rounded the tree only for him to release a startled yell as Randall grabbed at him having turned into a walker. Both Tea and Rick stood frozen for a moment as the next walker came out and Shane's face, devoid of color with dead eyes and a bloody face, before the thing practically fell on her. She stumbled back and dropped the knife she'd been holding as she fell to the ground and tried to keep the thing at arm's length even as the blood began rushing in her ears and the back of her neck started to burn in her panic. Daryl didn't realize what was happening with Tea as he was trying to get a clear shot at Randall as it struggled against Glenn, making him unable to get one. Deciding to say screw it, he walked up and pulled the walker off of Glenn only for it to turn around and try to get to him as well, leaving him in a situation similar to Tea but with his bow in between them. However, he being much stronger, he was having an easier time holding the thing at bay. Glenn wrestled the walker away from Daryl and onto the ground, rolling to straddle its back before taking his knife and stabbing it in the head. The sight of their tussle finally brought Rick out of his shock and drove him into action, pulling Shane's walker away from Tea. The momentum of the force threw the walker a few feet away where Tea quickly drew her gun and shot the man between the eyes in her panic, trying to calm her racing heart.
"Fuck," Tea hissed looking at walker Shane.
"Nice," Daryl told Glenn, giving him a friendly smack to the arm.
It was obvious what had killed Randall; half his neck and shoulder were torn out and his entire stomach was ripped open, his guts spilling out. The blood that covered Shane's mouth and hands was clear indication that he was the one that had gotten to Randall when the boy had made a run for it. Daryl and Rick checked Shane for bites only to find nothing but the stab wound in his neck, no bites, no scratches; only the stab wound. Glenn was beside himself, wondering how Shane had turned when he wasn't bit and how he had managed to get stabbed as he repeatedly asked how it was possible. Tea was now wallowing in a world of guilt that she was stuffing down with logical reasoning that she did not have any other choice than the one she'd made. It had been him or her that night, and while she had already had the thought that there were other ways to become a walker than to be bit or scratched. Glenn and Rick walked ahead of the two hunters while Daryl had an arm around Tea's shoulders, pressed her tight into his side as she shook uncontrollably. She wasn't crying at all, though, which was something Daryl had never seen her do when she was shaking as it normally meant her nerves had the best of her. That her reaction was neither shutting down nor tears nor anger, just shaking, had him holding her tighter into him in case the shaking became worse and she began losing her footing. Tea forced herself to calm down, breathing slowly and reassuring herself that she'd done what she'd had to do, managing to mostly calm the shaking thanks to Daryl's closeness and her own coping techniques. Rick excused himself from their little party and walked out into the fields with his head hung low, he along with Daryl and Tea knowing how the man had died, but being unable to process it. Tea felt bad for the man; he'd lost his best friend and partner because the man had lost his mind.
"We found Randall," Daryl told the others as they walked through the door.
"Is he back in the shed?" Maggie asked.
"He was a walker," Daryl answered.
"Did you find the walker that bit him?" Hershel inquired.
"Yeah," Tea said in a firm voice before clearing her throat. "It was Shane."
"What?" Carol asked after a round of sharp inhales.
"Shane turned," she stated simply, shrugging her shoulders in an attempt to stave off her growing anxiety and feign nonchalance.
"The weird thing is, he wasn't bit," Glenn informed them, his face betraying the calmness in his voice. "Only wound he had was a stab wound to his neck."
"How'd he get that?" Lori asked Glenn, who just shrugged his shoulders as Daryl and Tea shared a look before she looked down.
"Would you please go back out there and find Rick to see if we can find out what the hell is going on?" Lori asked Daryl and Tea, both of which readily agreed just to get out of the awkward situation they found themselves in even though it was still annoying to be the go to people when it came to finding Rick.
They headed towards the door while the others followed them to see if they could see Rick out in the fields. or at least that's what Tea assumed because there really was no reason for them all to be on the porch otherwise. Looking out at the field, however, froze the entire group in their tracks with faces full of shock or fear, most with both. There were droves of walkers spilling out from the woods surrounding the property, more than had been on the highway, even. Every single one of them seemed to be moving towards the house as Tea reached out and grabbed the back of Daryl's long sleeved shirt, making him glance back at her. He could see the worry in her face as well as the guilt, probably blaming herself again. Tea knew it was her fault for using her gun in the woods, but in a moment of panic and not being able to find her buck knife and being on the hip where she kept her throwing knives, she'd gone for the gun to quickly finish the walker off.
"Patricia, cut the lights," Hershel yelled in a whisper to the older blonde, everyone trying to figure out what the next move was.
"I'll get the guns," Andrea told them before she rushed inside.
"Maybe they're just passing, like the herd on the highway. Should we just go inside?" Glenn asked.
"Not unless there's a tunnel downstairs I don't know about," Daryl answered him. "A herd that size will rip the house apart."
"There's too many a us in one spot," Tea expanded. "They hunt by smell and movement. Ain't no way they won' notice us."
"Carl's gone," a frantic Lori cried to them as she ran out of the house.
"What?!" Daryl and Tea said at the same time.
"He, he was upstairs. I can't find him anymore."
"Maybe he's hiding," Glenn suggested.
"He's supposed to be upstairs!" Lori cried adamantly. "I'm not leaving without my boy."
"Lori, I need ya ta take a deep breathe, ok? Breathe through ya nose and out ya mouth and think 'bout where 'e might go. We ain' leavin' Carl behind," Tea told her before turning to Carol. "Go inside with Lori, check every room, every closet, every nook. Be thorough."
"We're gonna look again and we're gonna find him," Carol said with more conviction than Tea had ever heard the mousy woman have.
Andrea came back out onto the porch and began handing the guns out, Maggie surprising Glenn when she took a gun, simply saying she'd grown up country. Tea knew for a fact that their group would not be able to defend against that large of a horde, and there was likely no way to hide from them, either. The horde kept spiling out of the woods making everyone pause in their tracks as they watched the field fill in horror of the night to come. There had to be at least five hundred if not more coming through the woods, which meant that even if their entire group helped fight them off, they would each have to kill fifty to a hundred walkers. They didn't have anywhere near enough ammo to last that long and Beth, Patricia, Carol, and, for the most part, Lori were pretty much useless in a situation like this, the fear on their faces plain as day as soon as they'd seen the horde. Tea was scared to death but knew she had to keep her game face on and take control of the situation before the others imploded upon themselves and made themselves a bigger target.
"I got the numbers," Daryl told them. "Ain't no use."
"You can go if you want," Hershel told him.
"You gonna take 'em all on?" he asked the old man.
"We have guns. We have cars," the man said as he loaded a rifle.
"Kill as many as we can," Andrea said. "We'll use the cars to lure the rest of them off the farm."
"It'll neva work," Tea told her.
"You serious?" Daryl asked Hershel.
"This is my farm. I'll die here."
"Alright. It's as good a night as any," Daryl told him, hitting Tea's hip before he jumped over the railing and headed to his motorcycle, the others heading to their cars.
"Don' die on me, D!" she yelled after him.
"You either!"
T-Dog and Andrea took the truck while Jimmy hopped into the RV and Glenn and Maggie went to Shane's car and headed out, making several passes along the fence line as the dead kept coming. This was nothing like what had happened at the barn as far as . For every one walker they put down, at least ten more seemed to appear just along the fence, more spilling out from the woods. Tea was helping Hershel keep the walkers from getting too close to the house, though as of yet the two of them were doing more watching the others than fighting. She wanted to make sure the people in the house had at least one competent fighter to protect them while the others were fighting the horde. Out of the corner of her eye, she watched as lights began to flicker in the barn and caused her to look over and see it going up in flames as the RV stopped and blocked her view of Daryl before heading towards it. It didn't take too long for the RV to stop right in front of the loft of the barn, two figures jumping down onto the roof as the fire reached the top of the barn. The figures moved past the mobile home and seemingly into the woods, but the vehicle itself remained stagnant as it was swarmed with walkers, Tea knowing the boy that had been driving it hadn't been able to make it out. She couldn't keep concentrating on the figures that had run into the woods, but the distraction of Carol coming out of the house in a frantic way had her looking back at the woman vexxed.
"I checked the shed. I can't find him anywhere," she heard Lori say as she came up the stairs again.
"Not in the cellar or the attic," Carol said.
"Lori!" Tea yelled as the woman came into view. "Rick's got Carl, I promise! Carl's fine! He's in the woods with 'is daddy! Ya got ta go! Get the othas and get ta the vehicles!"
"Are you sure?!" she asked, scared out of her mind and unwilling to fight given the state of affairs.
"I promise ya! I neva break a promise! We got ta go!" Tea told her as she ran to the door, yelling inside the house for everyone to move it. As the others came out of the house, Tea grabbed Sophia by the shoulders, spinning her around and getting down to her level, "Keep ya knife out, but don' be a hero. Push 'em away and run like ya life depends on it, 'cause it does. Keep ya momma and Beth safe. Yaself too, ya hear?"
"Yes, ma'am!"
"You can't tell my daughter what to -"
The resounding sound of the slap caused several heads to turn towards them as Carol's eyes went wide and her hand went to her face, Tea not caring that she'd just slapped Sophia's mother out of her stupidity, "Now ain' the time for ya crap, Carol! Ya will listen ta what I am tellin' ya ta do! Ya only, only fuckin' job, is ta keep 'er safe, ya hear me? Ya show up without 'er, ya lose 'er or leave 'er again, I'll give ya ta a walka ta bite, shoot ya dead and wait for ya ta turn jus' ta shoot ya again! Do ya undastand?!"
"Yes," came the weak reply, the terror on Carol's face of the short girl with the vicious face plain as day.
"Now get ya asses ta the cars, go!" Tea yelled as she shoved Carol, Sophia, Beth, Patricia, and Lori down the steps. "Get fuckin' goin'! Hershel! Come on!"
Both she and Lori tried to call for Hershel, but the man refused to move from his position between the house and the horde. Tea yelled at Lori to get the others to safety right before Patricia was grabbed by a walker, her throat and then arms being ravaged by the monsters while Beth was trapped in her grasp. Lori went up and grabbed Beth, trying to pull her away, but only managing to after Tea had pulled her gun and put the elder woman out of her misery while, although a cold thought, giving the others a chance to get away. Carol, the coward that she was, had run past everyone else while dragging Sophia along in the wrong direction as she watched the scene with Patricia unfold, terror gripping her over rationality. If Tea hadn't have taught her how to break a hold, Sophia would have been grabbed by a walker twice after Carol ran, Sophia breaking free and running back to the truck T-Dog and Andrea had drove up in, the two providing cover fire for the women trying to make it out. Tea had taken off towards Carol and managed to help her break free of the walkers, ensuring the older woman got into the truck's bed with her daughter as well. She didn't notice the one coming up on her from behind at all until Andrea managed to kill it, making Tea jump, just as another walker came up close to Andrea. Tea saw the woman shoot the first walker, but when Andrea fell with it and another on her, Tea could only push Lori and Beth into the front seat while telling T-Dog to go. She needed to find Daryl and make sure he got off the farm; while she knew he wouldn't stick around until he died, she did know that he would wait until he was sure everyone else was off the farm. All she could do was run through the walkers, weaving through them in search of him or even the sound of his bike so she could head towards him, but everywhere she turned she ran into more walkers. As her lungs began to burn and her legs became weak from exhaustion, she yelled his name as loud as she could in the hope that he could hear her, practically crying in joy when she heard his bike getting closer until he was right in front of her.
"Come on!" he said as he slowed down. "We ain't got all day!"
The sound drew the attention of the walkers as they pulled away, Tea's arms securely around his waist, but Daryl's bike was far too fast for the slow walkers to catch them. Neither of them said anything as they road away from the farm, both upset at the fact that they had lost their home and everything but what they had on their backs in the process. They rode through the early morning fog on back roads, trying to make their way through the remnants of the horde that were more or less focused on the smoke in the distance from the farm than the two on the bike. They only stopped momentarily to discuss what they should do now that the others had been scattered and whether or not they should head somewhere by themselves or try to find the others. All they had as far as weapons went were Daryl's crossbow and Tea's knives and gun with less than half a clip left. Determining that the only landmark the entire group had to go on was the highway where they'd left supplies for Sophia, they began to loop around to head towards the spot. About halfway there they spotted the car Glenn and Maggie had been in, the car swerving slightly as they followed it until Daryl revved up to get beside them. Tea gave them one of her jaw dropping smiles, so happy to see that at least a small part of her family was safe as she sent a silent prayer up to the gods that the rest were safe as well. As the sun rose over the horizon, T-Dog and the girls honked their horn from behind them, stopping the bike and car until they caught up to them. They all formed a convoy as they headed towards the highway until they got closer to the area they'd lost Sophia, weaving through the stalled out vehicles, Rick, Carl, and Hershel already there and waiting for them. Beth and Maggie ran to Hershel while Carl ran to Lori, Sophia running over to Tea, who'd quickly left the motorcycle upon seeing the girl, hugging the girl as tightly as she was her and kissing the top of her head before hugging her again.
"Thank the gods," Tea breathed out as she held the girl close again.
"Where'd you find everybody?" Rick asked Daryl, who was watching.
"Well, those guys' tail lights zigzagging all over the road," he said nodding to Glenn, "I figured it had to be Asian, driving like that."
That got a light chuckle from everyone, including Glenn who said, "Good one."
"Where's the rest of us?" Daryl asked.
"We're the only ones who made it so far," Rick told him.
"Andrea?"
"Went down afta savin' me when I went afta Carol," Tea answered quietly, unable to bring herself to believe her friend was dead.
"Patricia?" Hershel asked.
"They got her too," Beth said quietly. "Took her right in front of me. I was, I was holdin' onto her daddy and she just, she just..." Hershel held her as she cried into his chest. "What about Jimmy? Did you see Jimmy?"
"He was in the RV. It got overrun," Rick told her.
"You definitely saw Andrea," Carol asked Tea.
"There were walkas everywhere. I couldn' stick 'round ta see if she got back up afta two diffarent walkas fell on 'er and I couldn' get ta her 'cause I was cut off by the damn things myself!"
"I'm gonna go back," Daryl said, hoping back on his bike.
"No!" Rick and Tea said in unison.
"We can't just leave her," Daryl said, knowing that the woman had become somewhat of a friend to Tea and it was going to eat her up inside that she didn't know where she was.
"We don't even know if she's there," Rick said.
"She ain'. Ain' no way in hell she's still there. She's long gone, and we ain' splittin' up ta chase 'er when we won' have a headin' and the dead fucked the trail," she told him. "That's sayin' those walkas didn'...that they didn' get 'er eitha."
"So we're not even gonna look for her?" Glenn asked.
"We gotta keep moving," Rick told him. "There have been walkers crawling all over here."
"I say head east," T-Dog said.
"Stay off the main roads," Daryl suggested. "Bigger the road, the more walkers. More assholes like this one. I got him."
He already had his crossbow loaded and aimed as he was talking, so as soon as he was done the arrow was released and the walker went down before he went back up to grab his bolt. Daryl came back over to Tea and double checked her for any injuries while she stared at him intently to make sure she couldn't see any on him, either. Difference once, Daryl had been wearing a proper coat while Tea had on a flannel shirt she'd tied at her waist with only a thin tank top underneath. She'd ripped it in several places when she'd been running thanks to walkers reaching out and trying to grab her, but none had managed to get her skin. He pulled her close for a moment while everyone else talked about the next step, deciding they needed to try to get away from the farm as fast as possible and deciding that the quickest way would be to travel some of the backroads around the town. They were hoping that the horde would continue traveling the way it did rather than swing back around when they had very little fuel and even less food since there had only been enough for Tea, Daryl, and Randall in the car. All they were really stocked on was herbs for medicine thanks to the fact that Tea had grabbed hers from the farm to go on the trip with Randall and thank the gods Daryl had decided to throw her crossbow in there, too. Maybe he'd wanted to go hunting on some different grounds than the ones they'd already been or maybe he'd just been being overly precautious, but Tea didn't really care since they'd need it to be able to hunt for enough food to eat until they weren't able to find any more. As they headed down the highway, she was thinking about what they would need before winter set in and where they could find it given the way the walkers were moving. If they were lucky, she'd be able to forage enough foliage and dry it to still make a hearty enough soup to keep them all healthy throughout the winter; if they made it to spring, they could survive further. She was brought out of her thoughts when one of the others honked behind them, alerting the entire group that the last car, the one with Rick and his family, T-Dog, Carol, and Sophia, needed to stop, the entire convoy coming to a halt with them.
"You out?" Daryl asked as the others converged around the car Glenn and the Greene family were traveling in.
"Running on fumes," came the response from the old cop.
Looking around, Maggie worriedly commented, "We can't stay here."
"We can't all fit in one car," Glenn told her in exasperation, though more from fear than frustration.
"We'll have to make a run for some gas in the morning," Rick said.
"Spend the night here?" Carol asked.
"I'm freezing," Carl complained.
"We'll build a fire," Lori told him as Rick handed the boy his coat while Tea was helping Sophia into one of the hoodies they'd thrown into the bag meant for Randall.
"If ya go lookin' for firewood, don' go wanderin' off," Tea said. "We don' want anyone gettin' lost in the woods or gettin' separated."
"Only got so many arrows," Daryl told the group. "How you doin' on ammo?"
"Not enough," Rick said.
"We can't just sit here with our asses hanging out," Maggie said.
"Watch your mouth," Hershel told his daughter, making Tea turn her head to hide a smirk; she cussed in his presence all the time, though that was just the way she talked. "Everyone stop panicking and listen to Rick."
"Alright, we'll set up a perimeter. In the morning we'll find gas and some supplies. We'll keep pushing on," he told the group.
"Glenn and I can go make a run now," Maggie suggested. "Try to scrounge up some gas."
"Nah, we got ta stick tagetha for now, nah one should go out alone, nah one should split with the group 'less the othas know when, where, and how long they'll be gone," Tea told them.
"God forbid something happens and you get stranded without a car," Rick agreed.
"Rick, we're stranded now," Glenn said.
"But with cars," Tea chimed in unhelpfully, once again internally smacking herself for her lack of brain to mouth filter, looking away and playing with a piece of her hair while mumbling, "he said without."
"I know it looks bad," Rick said, ignoring Tea completely. "We've all been through hell and worse, but at least we found each other. I wasn't sure, I really wasn't. But we did. We're together. We keep it that way. We'll find shelter somewhere, there's gotta be a place."
"Rick, look around. There's walkers everywhere. They're...migrating or something," Glenn said.
"There's gotta be a place. Not just where we hole up. But that we fortify, hunker down, pull ourselves together. Build a life for each other. I know it's out there. We just have to find it," he insisted, trying to get the rest of the group on the same page.
"Even if we do find a place," Maggie countered, "and we think it's safe, we can never be sure for how long. Look what happened at the farm. We fooled ourselves into thinking that that was safe.
"That was a mistake," Tea tried to assure her. "Should a been more careful and it was my fault for usin' my gun spur a the moment. 'S long as we keep quiet, we shouldn' draw any attention ta ourselves."
"We'll make camp over there," Rick said, pointing to some run-down ruins a little ways off the road into the woods. "Get on the road at the break of day."
"Does this feel right to you?" Carol asked Daryl, who just glanced at her before turning his eyes back to Tea and Rick.
"What if walkers come through? Or another group like Randall's?" Beth asked, walking up to Tea.
"What happened to Shane? Did the horde get him?" Lori asked, wondering why he'd been in the woods to begin with and if Randall had stabbed him.
"He wasn' bit," Tea said quietly. "He was a walka, but 'e wasn' bit."
"How's that possible?" Beth asked.
"Rick," Lori said, "What the hell happened?"
"Shane killed Randall," Daryl said. "But he was a walker when he did it."
"How'd Shane turn then?" Lori pressed. "You said he was stabbed in the neck? When did that happen?"
"We're all infected," Rick said quietly.
"What?" T-Dog asked.
"At the CDC," Rick started. "Jenner told me. Whatever it is, we all carry it."
There was a moment's pause in which Daryl paced a circle and many of the rest of the survivors looked around at each other. Tea was focusing very hard on her breathing and rigidly standing next to Daryl as he put a hand on her back when he was done pacing, knowing now that she really had been right when she said she'd killed Shane. He hadn't wanted to believe her when she'd said that she'd killed Shane after he'd assaulted right up until he'd seen his walker in the woods. He'd denied it right until Rick admitted that he'd already known that those who died turned and Tea's face had drained of all color and her hands clenched into fists. Everyone else had gasped and shared looks of shock when he'd announced the truth only for them to fade out into looks of varying degrees of fear. Tea leaned into his touch while taking in the reaction of the group around her and realizing that they hadn't even considered the possibility that there was another way the walkers could be made. It wasn't surprising, since the better part of them had never come face to face with walkers and the rest wouldn't have been able to notice the little things that she did, that Daryl probably had willingly overlooked, and Rick had explained away.
"And you never said anything?" Carol accused, taking two steps towards Rick.
"What difference would it a made?" Tea asked her. "How the hell were we s'pposed ta know that crazy ass man was tellin' the truth?!"
"You knew?" Lori asked her angrily.
"Pretty easy ta figure out when Shane had no fuckin' bites yet still turned," she shot back at her. "I knew damn well 'e had when-"
"You knew this whole time," Glenn said accusingly to the both of them.
"How could I have know for sure?" Rick asked him. "You saw how crazy that mo-"
"That is not your call! Either of yours!" Glenn cut him off. "When I found out about the walkers in the barn, I told for the good of the group."
"But that was an immediate and known threat," Tea countered. "This? What good would a knowin' whetha a not ya turn when ya die done ya? Ya would a panicked just like ya are now!"
"It was best if people didn't know," Rick stated before looking at everyone and walking off, Lori following him.
"Alright, Glenn, Maggie, get collectin' firewood. T-Dog, Hershel, ya good with look out and perimeta? Daryl and I'll do some huntin' ta get us some suppa and make sure there ain' any walkas in the area. The rest a y'all, get inta the ruins and stay there. Clear a fire pit, get one started, and keep on high alert," Tea told the group. "Carl, Sophia, keep close ta ya mommas and the group. Don' go wandarin' 'round or bein' a big shot."
Everyone got busy doing as she told them to while the two hunters discussed their own plans before heading out in opposite directions. They each went a set distance into the woods based on time elapsed before they began to loop back around to ensure they'd secured both sides of the perimeter before entering the camp from the opposite sides they'd left in. Tea took down four walkers and bagged a couple of fat squirrels by the time she made it back to camp, not bothering with careful steps and breaking a few branches along the way. Daryl was standing by the fire with his crossbow ready and pointed right at her while everyone's faces held visible terror as she came into the ruins.
"Sorry. Thought steppin' on a twig would let ya know I was comin'. Didn' mean ta scare y'all. Got some squirrel, though," she told them before another twig snapped off in the distance.
"What was that?" Beth asked.
"Could be anything," Daryl said. "Could be a raccoon, could be a opossum."
"A walker?" Glenn suggested.
"We need to leave. I mean, what are we waiting for?" Carol said.
"Damn it, Carol, grow a fuckin' pair already!" Tea tensed up as Rick walked up next to her. "Ya don' got time ta act a coward no more."
"Which way?" Glenn asked.
"It came from over there," Maggie said, motioning towards the road.
"Back from where we came," Beth added.
"Yeah," Maggie agreed.
"The last thing we need is for everyone to be running off in the dark," Rick told them. "We don't have the vehicles. Nobody's traveling on foot."
"Don't panic," Hershel told his girls after another noise sounded off in the distance.
"I'm not," Maggie started. "I'm not sitting here, waiting for another herd to blow through. We need to leave, now."
"Nah one is fuckin' goin' anywhere," Tea all but growled at them from beside Rick. "We ain' got the numbas if we don' stick tagetha!"
"Do something!" Carol told them.
"We are doin' somethin', dammit!" Tea spat at her.
"We're keeping this group together, alive!" Rick agreed. "We've been doing that all along, no matter what."
"Rick didn' ask ta be put in the position a leada and I certainly fuckin' didn' ask for the responsibility a it bein' thrust on me! But here y'all fuckin' are; half a ya still think I'm bat shite crazy while the reat a ya keep lookin' ta us ta lead but wantin' ta pull out soon as the goin' gets tough," Tea told the group, pacing back and forth while running her hands through her hair repeatedly as everything just slipped out. "Fuck, I killed fuckin' Shane for ya people! He would a killed any one a ya ta get what 'e wanted! Dale saw it! Rick saw it! I was given a choice 'tween y'all and 'im, so I put 'im down! That's how 'e got ta be a walka!"
A collection of gasps ran through the survivors, Lori being the loudest before she rose and stomped over to Tea and slapped her right across the face, seething "You crazy bitch!"
"Nah, Shane was the one that fuckin' went crazy!", Tea said, shoving her just enough to make her take two steps back, but still more gently than she wanted to considering she was pregnant. "The bastard killed Otis and threatened Dale! Fuck, Lori! Ya a all the people 'ere knew how bad 'e lost is shite! The fucka tried ta rape ya at the CDC!" Another collection of gasps followed as Lori's face distorted in shock, anger, and betrayal, Rick turning to look between the two as Tea continued heatedly, tears starting to come out her eyes even as she tried holding them back, "He tried ta do the same damn thing ta me afta the damn shite that happened at the barn! That's how I got those damn bruises a week and a half ago! He fuckin' had me pinned ta the damn ground, knees on my damn forearms, pinnin' my damn hands some, too! Would a fuckin' had 'is way if it weren' for 'im be an idiot on top a an asshole and forgettin' 'bout all the knives I carry on me! I stabbed 'is ass right in the fuckin' neck and when D told me 'e was gone when 'e got there, I knew there was not a damn way in hell 'e'd walked away from that livin'! I did what I had ta and I'd do it a thousand times ova if it meant I kept myself safe from that rotten assed bastard!"
"You saw what he was like with her," Rick told them quietly, his face completely devoid of both color and emotion. "Always touchin' her back at the camp. Constantly contradictin' everything I said. He wouldn't have given either of a us a choice. It was going to be him or us."
"You can't possibly believe that?!" Lori said.
"Yes, I do," he responded with a sigh. "Truth is, I already knew it was comin'. I saw it from the minute I got back. The man I'd known was gone, replaced by some other...thing. One way or another, he was already gone."
"He gave me no fuckin' choice, Lori! Did ya roll ova or fight back when 'e put 'is hands on ya? Hmm?" Tea asked her, snarling at the woman. "Nah! Ya fuckin' clawed 'is neck ta hell!"
"I didn't kill him!"
"And I did what I had ta! I always do what I have ta!" she roared as she stepped up into Lori's face. "That means killin' a fucka for tryin' shite like that or shootin' Dale and Patricia in the head in mercy, I'll fuckin' do it! Ya can' barely even keep an eye on ya kids let alone prep 'em for the world as it is! Ya keep tryin' ta coddle and shield 'em when that's the last fuckin' thing they need right now! Why the fuck ya think I took it inta my own hands ta teach 'em this shite?!" she spoke to both Lori and Carol now. "How the fuck ya think ya can make it in this world like ya are now?! Harden the fuck up, ladies! 'Cause I ain' waitin' 'round for ya ta pull ya heads out a ya asses anymore! Any a y'all want ta leave? There ain' nah fuckin' doors, so jus' pick a damn direction and get walkin'! But let me make one thing clear here and now; if ya stayin' ya listen ta what Rick tells ya ta do as far as movin'! If ya stayin', ya do what I tell ya ta do as far as trainin' and learnin' how ta savive in this world! Ain' nah more 'men do the dirty work,'" she said, pointedly looking at both Lori and Carol. "Ain' nah bullshite 'bout not knowin' how ta handle a gun! Nah more bullshite period! Ya goin' ta listen ta what the two a us say like it's the damn gospel a the fuckin' gods! 'Cause if ya stay, as far as ya concerned, it fuckin' is!"
"Maybe you people are better off without us," Rick said, stepping up to show his support. "Like she said, go ahead. I say there's another place for us, but maybe...maybe that's just a pipe dream. Maybe...maybe I'm fooling myself again. Why don't y'all go ahead and find out yourself? Send me a postcard. You can do better? Let's see how far you get." He waited a few minutes during which no one even spoke and most hung their heads in shame. "No takers? Fine. You're staying, this isn't a democracy anymore."