The Rest of your Life

Chapter 17

"Rick and Shane ain't back?" Daryl questioned as he barged into the room of the farmhouse with Glenn.

"No." Lori replied immediately.

"We heard a gunshot." Daryl trailed off, hoping for an answer.

"Maybe they found Randall." Lori offered. Only to be shut down.

"We found him." Daryl informed the group.

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

"He was a walker." Daryl clarified, causing the questions to stop for a moment.

"Did you find the walker that bit him?" Hershel quizzed.

"No." Glenn begun. "The weird thing is, he wasn't bit."

"His neck was broke." Daryl added on.

"So he fought back." Patricia concluded.

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

"Would you please get back out there, find Rick and Shane, and find out what on earth is going on?" Lori asked Daryl, a tremble in her voice.

"You got it." Daryl nodded.

•••

"Is he really gone?" Rory rasped quietly as she walked beside Rick.

"Yeah." Rick said quietly. The girl nodded before speaking again. "That wasn't your dad. He hasn't been for a while. You know that."

"He used to be." Rory whispered before continuing to walk. "W-What happened? We're you guys attacked? I mean, I... I heard a gunshot, but I didn't see any walkers nearby... how did dad .. die?"

They both stopped as Rick sighed. How does he explain to a child how their father tried to kill him, so he killed their father instead? As he was about to speak they both heard growls. Turning around, their eyes became wide. Walkers, and lots of them.

"Oh, my god. Go, go, go." The two ran fast and managed to hide behind a tree. Rory was panicking slightly, pushing the thought of her dead father to the back of her mind.

"We... we gotta get to the house, tell the others." Rory whispered to Rick.

"We'll never get through that." Rick whispered back. "Can't go around. Rory, stay close, go!" They made a run for the barn.

•••

"Patricia, kill the lights." Hershel ordered softly.

"I'll get the guns." Andrea said, looking to the heard of walkers.

"Maybe they're just passing, like the herd on the highway." Glenn commented hopefully. "Should we just go inside?"

"Not unless there's a tunnel downstairs I don't know about." Daryl remarked. "A herd that size would rip the house down."

"Rory's gone." Lori gasped as she walked outside onto the porch.

"What?"

"She, she was upstairs. I can't find her anymore." Lori panicked.

"Maybe she's hiding." Glenn offered.

"She's supposed to be upstairs. I'm not leaving without my girl." Lori cried.

"We're not." Carol assured. "We're gonna look, we're gonna find her, now where's Carl, would he know?"

•••

"All right, here we go. Get behind me." Rick told Rory as he poured gasoline all over the floor of the barn. Rory couldn't help but get distracted at the sound of the walkers clawing at the doors. "Come on, hurry. Oh, shit." Rick threw the now empty can on the floor and pushed Rory to the ladders. "Up there, hurry."