The Fear (The Walking Dead / Daryl Dixon)

Chapter 19 - Plague Of The Dead

On the way back to the house we heard a gunfire. We only stopped for a few moments before continuing on our way and finally making it back to the house. Everyone had gathered in the living room and upon our entrance Beth quickly got to her feet and ran to give me a hug.

"Rick and Shane ain't back?" Daryl asked, noticing their absence.

"No." Lori replied.

"We heard a shot." He added.

"Maybe they found Randall." Lori offered.

"No, we found Randall." I stated.

"Is he back in the shed?" Maggie asked.

"He's a walker." Daryl answered.

"Did you find the walker that bit him?" My dad asked.

"No, the weird thing is, he wasn't bit." Glenn answered.

"His neck was broke."

"So he fought back." Patricia shrugged.

"The thing is, Shane and Randall's tracks were right on top of each other. And Shane ain't no tracker, so he didn't come up behind him. They were together." Daryl informed.

"Would you please get back out there and find Rick and Shane and find out what on Earth is going on?" Lori begged Daryl.

"You got it." Daryl agreed, heading for the door.

"Kat, you stay here." My dad quickly added before I could go to follow.

Daryl nodded at me to listen and stay, but before he could then leave, T-Dog spoke up. "Ah, guys..." He was looking through a crack in one of the boards on the window.

Daryl, Andrea and I quickly moved out on to the porch to see for ourselves with most of everyone else right behind. Heading straight for the house was a huge herd of walkers, spread out across the whole field. I couldn't count them in the poor lighting, but I knew that there were far to many of them for us to deal with.

"Patricia, kill the lights." My dad ordered in a whisper.

"I'll get the guns." Andrea stated.

"Maybe they'll just pass 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. A herd that size will rip the house down." Daryl noted.

"Carl's gone." Lori suddenly came running outside in a panic. "He was upstairs. I can't find him."

"Maybe he's hiding." Glenn suggested.

"He's supposed to be upstairs. I'm not leaving without my boy." She argued.

"We're not. We're gonna look again. We're gonna find him." Carol tried to soothe her.

"Lori, here." I cut in, holding out the gun she had given me. "I'll get another from Andrea." She took it from my hands before leaving with Carol as Andrea came back out on deck and handed me over a rifle.

Maggie helped distribute them with Andrea and when she grabbed one of the larger weapons Glenn gave her a questioning look.

"You grow up country you pick up a thing or two." She explained.

"I got the number, it's no use." Daryl said, apparently being able to count in the darkened light.

"You can go if you want." My dad said, loading his shotgun.

"You gonna take them all on?" Daryl asked.

"We have guns. We have cars." Dad finished, cocking his weapon.