𝐃𝐀𝐑𝐘𝐋, 𝐑𝐈𝐂𝐊, 𝐆𝐋𝐄𝐍𝐍 𝐀𝐍𝐃 𝐒𝐇𝐀𝐍𝐄 went off to find Randell while the others stayed locked inside of Hershel's house. "Hey." Carl whispered leaning closer to Dean.
Dean raised his eyebrows. "What?" He asked in the same tone as Carl.
"Let's go out." Carl said even more quietly then when he first started talking.
Dean looked around the crowded room. "Are you crazy? Or do you just like getting in trouble?" He asked, narrowing his eyes.
Carl huffed, crossing his arms. "I'm going with or without you." He muttered, puffing out his chest.
Dean stared at him for a minute before rolling his eyes. "Whatever. Let's just go." Carl smiled leading Dean back into the bedroom he was supposed to be.
The two climbed out the window and took off towards the woods.
A gunshot went off in the field. Carl and Dean stopped and looked towards the sound. "Come on." Carl grabbed Dean's hand and took off running towards the gunshot.
They stopped seeing Rick. The man looked at the boys and both of the boys look towards the body on the ground as it started to move. Carl began to cry when they notice that the body belonged to Shane.
Rick started to cry a little looking at the boys. He walked closer to them. "Carl... Dean. You know you should be back home with mom."
Walker Shane stood up and Carl raised his gun. "Carl now!" Dean told the boy.
Rick held his hand out. "Just—just put the—put the gun down. It's not what it seems. Please."
Carl pulled the trigger and Shane hit the ground. Rick looked back shocked.
The three started to walk back to the house. "You bit too?" Carl asked, looking up at his dad.
"No." Rick answered after a few minutes.
"Shane was." Dean said, before Carl had the chance to.
"That wasn't Shane. You know that. Both of you." Rick told the boys.
Carl and Dean nodded. "Used to be." Carl said.
"What happened?" Dean questioned.
"You guys attacked?" Carl asked. "I mean, we heard a gunshot, but I didn't see any walkers nearby. How did Shane die?"
The three stopped and Rick turned to face the boys. He went to say something but Dean saw something out of the corner of his eye. He quickly looked over. "Walkers." He quietly told Rick.
Rick's eyes widened. "go go go go go go." Rick nudged the boys.
𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐓𝐇𝐑𝐄𝐄 𝐑𝐄𝐀𝐂𝐇𝐄𝐃 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐁𝐀𝐑𝐍 and Rick sent Carl and Dean up to the loft with a lighter. The two boys stood side by side while Rick started to cover the ground with gasoline.
He ran over and opened the barn doors and let the walkers in before running over to the ladder and starting to climb up. "Now!" Rick yelled and Carl tossed the lighter down and flams filled the air.
"Now what?" Dean asked looking up at Rick.
Rick looked at him and ran a hand down his face. "Uh..." Dean's question was answered when the rv pulled up right where they could climb on top of it and get down.
Rick went first and helped Carl and Dean down. They all climbed down the ladder and walked around the rv to see Jimmy getting eaten. "This way!" Rick yelled and they started running again.
Walkers cut Dean off from Carl and Rick. "Shit." Dean muttered shooting one of the walkers.
He could no longer see Rick or Carl so he started shooting as many walkers as he can so he could have an opening.
He started running for the house. When he got there he didn't see anyone. His heart raced looking for a way to go. Walkers started surrounding him so he started to run.
The sound of honking caused Dean to momentarily stop. He saw the blue truck and took off running to it. The passenger door opened "Get in!" Lori yelled.
Dean quickly jumped in beside her and slammed the door. He panted as T-dog started to drive. "Where's Carl?" Lori asked Dean with teary eyes.
"He's—he's with Rick... We got separated. He'll be okay. Rick's with him." Dean nodded to himself.
Lori nodded as a few tears slid down her cheeks. She was worried about her son and husband but it brought her a little comfort knowing that they were together.
𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐒𝐔𝐍 𝐂𝐀𝐌𝐄 𝐔𝐏 𝐀𝐍𝐃 T-dog continued to drive the blue truck. Lori had one arm around Beth and the other around Dean. Dean was deep in thought, he was worried about Daryl. He believed he's still alive but he was afraid he'd never see him again.
"Hey, we gotta turn around." Lori said to T.
"Straight back to that herd?" T asked shocked, he shakes his head in disagreement. "Um, no."
"The highway's back there. That's where they'll be. Rick will go back to where we first broke down and Glenn too." Lori explained.
T-dog shook his head. "We're headed East, get to the coast. We should've done that from the jump. Look, we've got a shot to get out of here in one piece."
"I gotta find Carl. Dean said he was with Rick. And I'm sure Dean wants to be with his brother again." Lori stressed.
"I hate to say it, but they're on their own. There's no way to even begin to start looking." T-dog shook his head firmly.
"You're wrong." Lori cried.
"Look, we can't go back. I'm sorry. It's suicide." T-dog told her.
"Alright, then let me out." Lori said, reaching over Dean and opening the door.
"Hey! Whoa!" T yelled slamming on the brakes.
"Turn around, or you let us out right now." Lori demanded.
"I shouldn't doo it, you know. Okay?" T-dog sighed.
"T-dog." Lori breathed out.
"You're out of your damn minds." T-dog said, before making a u-turn and heading back towards the highway.
𝐈𝐓 𝐒𝐄𝐄𝐌𝐄𝐃 𝐄𝐕𝐄𝐑𝐘𝐎𝐍𝐄 𝐇𝐀𝐃 the same idea.
Dean climbed out of the truck and when his eyes landed on Daryl he quickly ran over and wrapped his arms around the older man's waist.
"Where'd you find everyone?" Rick asked.
Daryl looked at him still with one arm around Dean. "Well, those guys' tail lights zigzagging all over the road—figured it had to be Asian, driving like that."
Glenn chuckled. "good one." He nodded.
"Where's the rest of us?" Daryl asked, noticing that some of them wasn't there.
"We're the only ones who made it so far." Rick replied.
"Shane?" Lori asked and Rick shook his head frowning.
"Andrea?" Glenn asked, looking around.
"She saved me, then I lost her." Carol shrugged.
"We saw her go down." T-dog said, leaning over the car door.
"Patricia?" Hershel asked and Beth shook her head.
"They got her too, took her right in front of me. I was—I was holdin' on to her, Daddy. She just—" Beth sobbed into Hershel's chest. "What about Jimmy? Did you see Jimmy?"
"He was in the rv it got overrun." Rick told her and she cried more.
"You definitely saw Andrea?" Carol asked T.
"There were walkers everywhere." Lori said uncertain.
"Did you see her?" Carol asked more firm this time.
"I'm gonna go back." Daryl said, about to get on his motorcycle.
"No." Rick stopped him.
"We can't just leave her." Daryl shook his head.
"We don't even know if she's there." Lori shook her head.
"She isn't there. She isn't. She's somewhere else or she's dead. There's no way to find her." Rick explained.
"So we're not even gonna look for her?" Glenn asked shocked.
"We gotta keep moving." Rick told him as a walker started heading their way. "There have been walkers crawling all over here."
"I say head East." T-dog suggested.
"Stay off the main roads." Daryl added, grabbing up his crossbow. "The bigger the roads, the more walkers, more assholes like this one. I got him." Daryl said before shooting the walker.
The group got in the cars and Dean hopped on the motorcycle with Daryl.
𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐆𝐑𝐎𝐔𝐏 𝐆𝐎𝐓 𝐎𝐔𝐓 𝐎𝐍
the side of the road. "You out?" Daryl asked Rick, He and Dean were still seated on the bike.
"Running on fumes." Rick replied, shaking his head.
"We can't stay here." Maggie shook her head.
"We can't all fit in one car." Glenn added.
"We'll have to make a run for some more gas in the morning." Rick told them.
"Spend the night here?" Carol worriedly asked.
"I'm freezing." Carl complained.
"We'll build a fire, yeah?" Lori nodded.
Rick walked over and handed Carl his jacket. "You go out looking for firewood, stay close." Daryl instructed. "only got so many arrows. How you doing on ammo?"
"Not enough." Rick shook his head.
"We can't just sit here with our asses hanging out." Maggie shook her head putting her left arm over Thea to try and get the girl warmer.
"Watch your mouth." Hershel scolded his eldest. "Everyone stop panicking and listen to Rick."
"All right, we'll set up a perimeter. In the morning we'll find gas and some supplies. We'll keep pushing on." Rick explained to the group.
"Glenn and I can go make a run now, try and scrounge up some gas." Maggie suggested.
Rick shook his head. "No, we stay together. God forbid something happens and people get stranded without a car."
"Rick, we're stranded now." Glenn softly pointed out.
"I know it looks bad, we've all been through hell and worse, but at least we found each other." Rick sighed, shaking his head. "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."
Glenn stepped forward. "Rick, look around. Okay? There's walkers everywhere. They're migrating or something." He shrugged.
"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 its out there. We just have to find it." Rick stressed.
"Even if we do find a place and we think its safe, we can never be sure. For how long? Look what happened to the farm. We fooled ourselves into thinking that was safe." Maggie said.
"We won't make that mistake again." Hershel assured her.
"We'll make camp tonight over there," Rick pointed. "get on the road at the break of day."
"Does this feel right to you?" Carol asked, walking closer to Daryl and Dean. Daryl looked at her.
"What if walkers come through, or another group like Randell's?" Beth asked Rick concerned.
"You know I found Randell, right?" Daryl asked Rick. "He had turned, but he wasn't bit."
Rick nodded slightly. "How's that possible?" Thea asked looking up at Maggie, the woman shrugged not knowing.
"Rick, what the hell happened?" Lori asked her husband.
"Shane killed Randell. Just like he always wanted to." Daryl said nodding.
"And then the herd got him?" Lori questioned.
Rick was silent for a few minutes. "We're all infected." He announced.
Dean looked at the ground. It all made sense now. How there were so many walkers, how it spread so quickly. No matter how you die you'll turn.
"What?" Daryl asked, tilting his head.
"At the CDC, Jenner told me. Whatever it is, we all carry it."
𝐓𝐇𝐀𝐓 𝐍𝐈𝐆𝐇𝐓, 𝐑𝐈𝐂𝐊 𝐇𝐀𝐃 𝐀 𝐌𝐄𝐋𝐓𝐃𝐎𝐖𝐍. “This isn't a democracy anymore.” he said, Dean kept thinking of that, he kinda wondered if it ever truly was... Like actually was with the group.
One thing Dean did know was that everything was about to change. They're back on the road except this time was different. They not only have to worry about walkers but also people. But now he knew that 'we all die in the end' no matter what. He realized, They've just entered the 'before the end' stage of it's all gone to shit
𝙴𝚗𝚍 𝚘𝚏 𝚌𝚑𝚊𝚙𝚝𝚎𝚛
𝟷𝟶:𝟻𝟷𝚙𝚖
𝟷𝟷-𝟸-𝟸𝟸
𝟷𝟿𝟺𝟿𝚠𝚘𝚛𝚍𝚜
𝖤𝖽𝗂𝗍𝖾𝖽:𝟣𝟣/𝟤𝟧/𝟤𝟤, 𝟩:𝟧𝟪𝖯𝖬
𝟤𝟢𝟥𝟫𝗐𝗈𝗋𝖽𝗌
_______________________
𝖶𝖾𝗅𝗅 𝗁𝖾𝗋𝖾 𝗐𝖾 𝖺𝗋𝖾... 𝖳𝗁𝖾 𝖾𝗇𝖽𝗂𝗇𝗀 𝗈𝖿 𝖻𝖾𝖿𝗈𝗋𝖾 𝗍𝗁𝖾 𝖾𝗇𝖽.
𝖨 𝗁𝗈𝗇𝖾𝗌𝗍𝗅𝗒 𝗅𝗈𝗏𝖾𝖽 𝗐𝗋𝗂𝗍𝗂𝗇𝗀 𝗍𝗁𝗂𝗌. 𝖨 𝖽𝗈𝗇'𝗍 𝗍𝗁𝗂𝗇𝗄 𝖨'𝗅𝗅 𝖻𝖾 𝖺𝖻𝗅𝖾 𝗍𝗈 𝗅𝗈𝗈𝗄 𝖺𝗍 𝖶𝖾 𝖺𝗅𝗅 𝖽𝗂𝖾 𝗂𝗇 𝗍𝗁𝖾 𝖾𝗇𝖽 𝗍𝗁𝖾 𝗌𝖺𝗆𝖾 𝗇𝗈𝗐 𝗍𝗁𝖺𝗍 𝗐𝖾 𝗄𝗇𝗈𝗐 𝖺 𝗅𝗂𝗍𝗍𝗅𝖾 𝗆𝗈𝗋𝖾 𝖺𝖻𝗈𝗎𝗍 𝖣𝖾𝖺𝗇 𝖺𝗇𝖽 𝖾𝗏𝖾𝗇 𝖺 𝗅𝗂𝗍𝗍𝗅𝖾 𝖺𝖻𝗈𝗎𝗍 𝖳𝗁𝖾𝖺'𝗌 𝗆𝗈𝗆!
𝖨 𝗁𝗈𝗉𝖾 𝗒𝗈𝗎 𝖾𝗇𝗃𝗈𝗒𝖾𝖽 𝖺𝗅𝗌𝗈 𝗂𝖿 𝗒𝗈𝗎 𝗋𝖾𝖺𝖽 𝗍𝗁𝗂𝗌 𝖻𝖾𝖿𝗈𝗋𝖾 '𝗐𝖾 𝖺𝗅𝗅 𝖽𝗂𝖾 𝗂𝗇 𝗍𝗁𝖾 𝖾𝗇𝖽' 𝗀𝗈 𝖼𝗁𝖾𝖼𝗄 𝗍𝗁𝖺𝗍 𝗈𝗎𝗍. 𝖬𝗎𝖼𝗁 𝗅𝗈𝗏𝖾.
𝐑𝐄𝐖𝐑𝐈𝐓𝐓𝐄𝐍—1.28.24