Cassie's jaw dropped slightly before everyone grabbed their weapons and started to head towards the shed. Cassie,Rick and Daryl went inside the small hut they had been keeping him in to try and find any signs of how Randall could have escaped.
"What's wrong?" Lori called out as the rest of the group ran over.
"Randalls missing" Glenn answered them.
"Missing? How?"
"We don't know yet" Cassie answered as even more questions flew around the group.
"The cuffs are still hooked he must have slipped them" Rick told them as he stepped out the shed.
"Is that possible?" Carol asked.
"It is if you've got nothing to lose" Cassie answered.
"The door was secured from the outside" Hershel said checking the lock.
Suddenly out of nowhere Shane appeared screaming Ricks name. As he approached them from the woods Cassie noticed the amount of blood that covered Shane's face all the way down his nose.
"What happened?!" Lori asked him.
"He's armed! He's got my gun!" Shane told them as be angrily stormed towards them.
"Are you okay?" Carl asked him.
"I'm fine. Little bastard just snuck up on me, clocked me in the face"
"All right Hershel, T-Dog get everybody back to the house. Cass,Glenn and Daryl you come with us" Rick said as everyone got ready to go.
"T I'm gonna need that gun" Shane demanded.
"Just let him go. That was the plan wasn't it to just let him go?"
"We can't now that's he's armed and nearby. Who knows what he could do" Cassie pointed out as she pulled an arrow out her quiver readying it.
"Don't go out there you don't know what could happen" Carol pleaded with them but they ignored her continuing to walk towards the woods.
"Everybody get back to the house. Lock the doors and stay put" Rick told the others as the 4 men and Cassie entered the woods.
"I saw him head up through the trees that way before I blacked out. I'm not sure how long" Shane explained once they had gotten pretty deep into the woods.
"He couldn't have gotten far. He's hobbled, exhausted"
"And armed" Glenn pointed out.
"Yeah well so are we and there's 5 of us and one of him" Cassie replied.
"Can you track him?" Rick asked Daryl moving to stand beside the redneck.
"No I don't see nothing" Daryl told Rick.
"Look there's no use in tracking him. He went that way we need to split up, spread out and chase him down that's it"
Cassie found it slightly odd Shane was so desperate to split the group up but didn't say anything hoping she was just over thinking.
"This kid weighs a buck twenty five soaking wet and your trying to tell us he got the jump on you?" Daryl questioned Shane.
"I say a rock pretty much evens those odds wouldn't you?"
"Alright knock it off. Glenn, Cass and Daryl start heading up the right flank. Me and Shane will take the left. Remember Randall not the only threat out there. Keep an eye out for each other" With the last sentence his eyes went to Daryl and Glenn a silent ask to keep his sister safe.
After that the group of three made their way through the woods examining the ground for any traces that Randall had been there. But as the night got late and it got darker out it became harder to see anything.
"This is pointless. Either of ye got a light?" Daryl asked before Glenn grabbed a torch from his packet handing it to Daryl who gave him a nod of appreciation. Even with the torch the trio couldn't see anything causing Daryl to let out a irritated sigh "Come on"
As Daryl walked ahead of the two Glenn leaned in to Cassie side and whispered "How are you two together when your the most sunshiny person I've ever met and he's Mr Grumpy"
Cassie let out a small laugh at Glenn's statement causing Daryl to turn and give Glenn a glare but then he looked over to Cassie his gaze softened ever so slightly in a way only she noticed not Glenn.
"We're just back to square one" Glenn complained.
"If your gonna do a thing, you might as well do it right" Daryl told them continuing to shine the light around in the hopes he'd find something and eventually he did. "There's two sets of tracks right here. Shane must've followed him a lot longer than he said"
Cassie scoffed slightly "Trust Shane to lie to us all. Again"
"There's fresh blood on this tree. There's more tracks looks like their waking in tandem"
Just as Daryl started to walk away an animal call rang out through the woods scaring Glenn who bumped into Cassie who ended up tripping into Daryl's arms.
"Sorry" she mumbled as he put hand on her bicep giving it a soft squeeze. When she looked up she saw his blue eyes where shining in the moonlight.
"S'alright" he told her giving a small crooked smile before he began walking again. Glenn gave Cassie a huge smirk as she dreamily gazed at Daryl before they caught up with him.
"There's was a little dust up right here" Daryl told them shining the light over the area it had happened.
"What do you mean?" Glenn asked.
"He means something went down. Probably between Shane and Randall" Cassie explained.
"This is getting weird"
"Had a little trouble" daryl said as Glenn picked up a black piece of fabric holding it up between them as Daryl aimed the light on it.
"What th-" Cassie began before a rustling was heard behind them causing the three of them to go and hide behind a group of trees. Cassie peeled out from behind her tree and saw a walker stumbling through the woods.
Daryl whistled to get Glenn's attention throwing him the flashlight as he got his crossbow ready. They waited at the trees for the walker to make its way over Glenn and Cassie with knives at the ready.
Once the walker arrived Glenn turned around to kill it but was shocked to be met with Randall's walker form he simply stumbled back Randall approaching causing Glenn to fall.
Daryl shot at walker Randall missing but getting his attention. This meant Randall made his way over to Daryl trapping his back to the tree. Cassie noticed and made her way over quickly pulling Randall back hard and plunging her knife into the side of his head.
Randall fell to the ground dead for the second time as Cassie gave Daryl a hand up. "Nice one sunshine" he told her placing a short kiss to the side of her head as Glenn got up.
"Got his neck snapped" Daryl told them as he examined Randall's body "He's got no bites" he added as he rolled Randall's body over.
"None that you can see"
"No I'm telling you died from this" Daryl confirmed.
"How's that possible?" Glenn asked no one in particular.
And that was the point everything snapped into place in Cassie's mind. Everything about this whole search had felt off in her head but she had pushed the feeling away not wanting to seem overly paranoid but now it was clear Shane had killed Randall.
And now he was out in the woods with Rick. Alone. Rick was alone with a murder and he had no clue. The thought of her twin in danger was all it took for Cassie to back away from the two men kneeling by Randall's body and sprint away.
Cassie ran as fast as she could her heart pounding loudly as the trees became a blur on either side of her but she want focused on anything but getting to where Rick and Shane had headed.
As Cassie excited the woods onto the wide field she saw Rick and Shane stood opposite each other. She had dropped her bow somewhere in the woods along with her quiver now only carrying her knife and Daryl's gun.
Ricks back was to her and she could see Shane pointing a gun at her brother as Rick stood his hands in the air. She took her gun out of her waistband readying it incase there was a need to shoot.
Shane saw her approaching and let out a scoff causing Rick to turn and see his sister approaching them. Once she reached them she pointed her readied gun at Shane who gave her a smirk.
"Look who it is! Cassie Grimes" he shouted.
"You don't have to do this Shane" Cassie said calmly trying to make Shane calm down.
"Yes I do! See while you've got your little redneck boyfriend the love of my life is stuck with him!" He shouted pointing gesturing at Rick with the gun which made Cassie shift in her spot. "Ha don't kid yourself with that gun Cassie. You ain't gonna shoot me!Your weak! Your not gonna make it in this world"
"Don't make me do this please" Cassie pleaded with Shane. She didn't want to kill him but she would if she had to. To protect Rick.
"You know it won't be easy but Lori and Carl they'll get over you. Both of you" After he finished speaking Shane coked his gun. Cassie saw him reach for the trigger then....
BANG! BANG!
On that night Rick Grimes watched the bodies of two people he cared deeply for fall to the ground. But which one would still be alive?