Running in the dark, chasing a car, only lead to so much worse. In the process of Beth being taken, Austin running after it for hours resulted in him loosing Daryl as well. The car was gone, hours and miles shreds of him, Austin held his knees as he panted and panicked all at once.
"Daryl!" Austin shouted into the woods, crying as his heart raced so hard that it physically pained him. He fell onto the ground, trying to breath, but it wasn't working. Beth was taken, she could be hurt, he had no clue who or what took her, had no clue where she went. Daryl was gone too, lost in just foot tracks miles behind him. Austin thought how stupid he was, how stupid he could ever be to do what he did.
He told Beth to go without him, he shouldn't have told an unarmed person to run into the road in the middle of the night. Then he ran after her, as if he was gonna catch the car, loosing Daryl in the dark woods.
"Shh, shh." he tried to do what his mom would do, rub the back of his head and twist the end of his hair. It didn't work, because she hadn't been here either. "You're okay."
Nothing worked, he just had to sit there and cry and let his body feel like it was gonna explode until his heart stopped beating so horribly fast. It took a while to get himself together, a few pep talks, getting into his feet as he started to walk. He could feel the blisters on his toes and heels, usually stopping to at least pop them so the pain wasn't so bad, but deciding against it this time.
A sign was close, perhaps a map. Austin figured, maybe, he'd be able to find somewhere that had people, that had guns of some sort to help him go after whoever had taken his girlfriend. Only, when Austin got closer, he found something so much better.
Glenn go to terminus Maggie
"Maggie." he exhaled in joy. If there was one person that could be able to track down Beth, it would be her sister. And if anyone was gonna find Daryl, it was gonna be Glenn. Glenn. Glenn and Maggie, maybe still alive. Meaning Carl, Judith, and Rick couldn't be far. Austin looked at the map again, touching the star as he looked at the road, seeing the way he was meant to go.
So, with a step, he started to head off.
The woods made it easier to get there, Austin rubbed his forehead as he adjusted the shirt-bandana again, running out of water. He assumed he was getting closer, walking but staying close to the rail road tracks. A walker was heard, making him pause. He took a second, looking from where he had been coming from. He set his backpack down.
The walker growled, behind him as Austin spun around with a minor yell when he was tackled. He was quicker now, shoving it off him as he grabbed his knife. Austin stabbed the walker in the head, loosing his balance as they both fell over back on the train tracks. The Grimes boy groaned at the impact the ground colliding with his head, rolling off the walker and yanking the knife with him.
"Austin?"
Dead. I'm probably dead, was all Austin thought. Yet, he looked over anyways. He never in his life thought he'd be so happy, so thankful as fear started to disappear. "Carol!"
"Oh my god." she ran to him in a tight hug. "Oh my god."
"I didn't know you made it out." he hugged her tightly. "Carol. Oh my god."
A little cry echoed, making them pull apart and look to Tyrese. Austin's body froze at the baby in his arms, his entire body sinking. "Oh."
Oh, he could only say such a thing as he ran over, grasping his baby sister in his arms. He held her tightly, rocking back and forth as his eyes filled up. "Judith. Judith. Oh my god."
"She's okay." Tyrese promised him.
Austin's teary eyes met his. "Thank you."
He pulled back to look down at her with a little smile. "Hey, little lady. Hi. You remember me? Yeah? How's it going, huh? I missed you."
"Is it just you?" Carol asked as she held his arm.
"I was with Daryl and Beth. Someone took her, I don't know. I'm out here looking for her, Daryl and I got separated." Austin took a breath, rubbing his chest. "Then the sign, Maggie and Glenn. Terminus, I'm on the path to go find them."
"T-" Carol started, the growling of walkers made them look over and see an entire herd of them walking from the woods. "There's more."
Austin clutched Judith close to his chest as the three ran to hide behind a tree in the woods, Austin looked to Tyrese as they watched the walkers come closer before loud gun fire echoed in the distance. Austin frowned his eyebrows as it rapidly went off, the walkers following the noise. He whispered to Carol. "That's gotta be the place, right? Beth could be there. Maggie and Glenn too. Definitely Maggie."
"It has to be." Tyrese agreed as they headed back into the rail road tracks.
"Someone was attacking them." Carol spoke in return. "Or they were attacking someone."
"Do we even want to find out?" Tyrese spoke.
"We have to." Austin turned to him as he held Judith. "I promised her i'd meet her on the road. I can't just walk away knowing she might be in there."
"There's another track through east. It'll get us there. We'll be real careful." Carol nodded her head as she rubbed his back.
"Maybe find Daryl on the way. He'll stick to the woods." Austin agreed with her, bouncing Judith in just the slightest.
"We're gonna get answers." Carol agreed, taking the lead as Tyrese and Austin followed.
It hadn't been long until they came across a man, a car infront of him as his walkie went off. "One minute count. You screw up, you're on your own, Martin."
He pulled it from his waist band. "You don't have to tell me. I wipe my own ass. Alex didn't get it. See, I knew the chick with the sword was bad news."
Austin's eyes widened, his heart thumping at the mention of Michonne. "Bitch looked like a weapon with a weapon."
"He was always a sloppy son of a bitch." the girl on the other line spoke.
He laughed. "Yeah, I told him I wanted the kids hat after I bleed him out."
Austin cocked the gun, Carol reloading it for him, holding it to the back of the man's head. "What'd you say?"
"Keep your finger off the button and drop it." Carol threatened him.
"They're only doing eight before public face." the other line spoke again, but he listened and didn't touch the button.
"Listen, y'all don't have to do this." the man held his hands up. "Whatever you want, we got a place where everyone's welcomed."
"Yeah?" Austin shoved the gun harsher into his skull as he flinched. "That included my brother with the hat you want so damn bad?"
"We're friends with the chick with the sword and the kid in the hat." Carol spoke from behind Austin. She tied his hands as Austin yanked him onto his feet and into the small cabin, shoving him down as he rolled on the floor.
"They attacked us. We're just holding them." the man spoke as he rolled over to not be flat on his face.
"I don't believe you." Carol said in return as she went through his things.
"Who else do you have? Do you know their names?" Tyrese spoke up.
"We just have the boy and the samurai, that's it." he spoke in return.
"You're a liar." Austin glared at him. "You have a blonde girl? You take her off the road!"
"Wh-" he started, getting a fist to the face. "I don't know what you're talking about."
Austin grabbed a paper bag from the corner, putting it over the man's head. Carol gave an odd look as Austin held the man's face over the paper bag. "If I find out she's there, and you're lying to my face, I will kill you."
He held the bag a little longer, letting the man struggle to breath before letting it go with a final punch, yanking it off his head. "There's a bunch of us out there. In six different directions. There's a lot of gunfire back home. We need to set up our charges all at the same time to confuse the dead ones away. That's good for you, too."
"No, it isn't." Carol argued as Judith cooed in Tyreses arms. "There's a herd heading toward Terminus right now. We don't want to confuse them away. We're gonna need their help."
"It's a compound." he spoke as Carol pulled the bag from the table. "They'll see you coming. If you even make it that far with all the bodies heading over."
Tyrese stopped Carol. "How are you gonna do this?"
"I'm gonna kill people." Carol spoke, looking back at Austin. "Are you with me?"
"I gotta get my family back." Austin nodded. "Find Beth, make sure she's safe. I'm with you."
He looked to Tyrese. "You sure it's okay for her to stay with you?"
"I'll keep her safe here." he promised.
"I'll be back." Austin whispered to Judith, kissing her on the cheek before following Carol.
•
kylie speaks
ah, shit. the s5 and s6
Austin era makes me sad