We were all minding our business when T-dog suddenly burst into the house, panicked.
It turns out Randall had escaped and was missing.
Rick looked around in the barn, trying to figure out how Randall had escaped. The door was locked from the outside, always. and Randall had been missing when T-dog went to go get him. There was no sign of Shane, either.
Everyone stood outside, anticipating what was to come next. We were worried, and scared. Randall was probably going back to his group of 30 men, and we'd likely be screwed.
I stood outside next to Lori. My arms were crossed and my eyebrows furrowed. I was trying to figure out myself how Randall had escaped, I thought of many possible scenarios as I kicked around some dirt.
Rick came out of the shed. "The cuffs are still hooked. He must've slipped 'em."
"Is that possible?" Carol questioned from behind me. I turned around to see a worried expression plaguing her face.
"It is if you've got nothing to lose." Andrea answered, stepping out of the shed.
Hershel inspected the door carefully. "The door was secured from the outside." He closed it.
"What are we gonna do?" Lori asked, looking to her husband.
"What can we do?" Glenn added. "Who know's how far he's gotten by now."
"We'll figure it out." Rick affirmed. He looked around, looking for any clues as to where Randall would've gone.
Lori sighed. Carol crossed her arms and shifted uncomfortably. Glenn scratched the back of his head and scrunched his nose.
I nervously licked my lips, looking around the farm. My eyes landed on a figure emerging from the woods.
Shane.
"Rick! Rick!" He yelled out, approaching us with his fists clenched. I could see he had blood dripping down from his nose.
"What happened?" Lori called out.
"He's armed!" Shane shouted, still striding towards us. "He's got my gun!"
"Are you okay?" Carl stepped forward.
"I'm fine. Little bastard just snuck up on me." Shane explained "He clocked me in the face."
That lanky kid got the jump on Shane?
"All right Hershel, T-dog. Get everybody back inside the house." Rick instructed. "Glenn, Daryl, come with us." Daryl reloaded his crossbow and Glenn walked towards Rick.
"T, I'm gonna need that gun." Shane pointed at T-dog.
"Just let him go." Carol spoke up. "That was the plan, wasn't it, to just let him go?"
"The plan was to cut him loose far away from here, not on our front step with a gun." Rick said sternly.
"Don't go out there-- y'all know what can happen." Carol tried to keep them here, but they walked towards the woods anyways.
"Get everybody back in the house." Rick turned his head before continuing to walk. "Lock all the doors and stay put!"
"Let's go, back in the house." Andrea guided Carol. T-dog put a hand on Maggie's back and directed her to the house as well.
I was behind Patricia as we all started towards the house. We climbed up the steps and once everyone was inside, we locked the doors.
Carol and I sat on the couch. Maggie paced around and bit her lip.
I knew we'd be here a while.
-
It was dark now. Rick, Shane, Daryl, and Glenn still weren't back. We were all getting worried now, especially Lori and Maggie.
We all sat in the living room. I crossed my legs and picked at my nails. Everyone awaited the men's return.
Suddenly, a gun shot rang out.
My head snapped towards the noise and Lori shot up from the couch.
"What was that?" She questioned, walking over to the window.
"Maybe they found Randall." Maggie reasoned.
"And shot him?" Lori quizzed. "They'd do it quietly."
"He could've been running." I suggested. Maggie nodded.
Lori looked out the window for a few more moments and sat back down. She sighed and rubbed her eyes.
We sat in silence again for a while. Until Andrea spoke up.
"I'm going after them." She said, getting up from the couch.
"Don't. They could be anywhere." Lori said. "And if Randall comes back, we're gonna need you here."
The door opened and we all looked behind us. We saw Daryl and Glenn coming back into the house. Daryl held his crossbow and Glenn walked behind him.
"Rick and Shane ain't back?" Daryl asked, looking around.
"No." Lori answered.
"We heard a shot." Glenn spoke.
"We think they found Randall."
"We found him." Daryl stated. Disproving our suspicions.
"Is he back in the shed?" Maggie questioned, getting up from the couch and walking towards Glenn.
"He's a walker." Daryl answered.
A walker got him already?
"Did you find the walker that bit him?" Hershel asked.
"No, weird thing is he wasn't bit." Glenn responded, a tense look on his face.
Not bit? How is that possible?
"His neck was broke." Daryl added.
"So he fought back." Patricia spoke up.
"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."
"Would you please get back out there, find Rick and Shane and find out what on earth is goin' on?" Lori walked up to Daryl now.
"You got it."
"Thank you."
Daryl, Glenn and Andrea walked out of the house to go find Rick and Shane. We all stood back, ready to wait some more. All night if we had to. I bit at the skin on my lips nervously.
"Y'all better come out here." Daryl called from outside. We all got up to see what was the matter.
Getting up from the couch, I followed behind Maggie. Once we all got to the patio-- we saw it.
Walkers.
Maybe even hundreds of them.
I took in a sharp breath. Hundreds of walkers were on the prairie of the farm. All coming towards us. The gunshot must've attracted them.
We all stood in shock, staring at the walkers ahead of us.
"Patricia, kill the lights." Hershel said in a hushed tone, as if the walkers would hear us from miles away.
"I'll get the guns." Andrea said, going back into the house.
"Maybe they're just passing-- like the herd on the highway." Glenn guessed. "Should we just go inside?"
"Not unless there's a tunnel downstairs I don't know about. A herd that size would rip the house down." Daryl spoke.
I looked at him. "What the hell are we supposed to do then?" Everyone anticipated an answer from him.
"Carl's gone." Lori came out of the house. We all looked to her. "He-- he was upstairs. I can't find him anymore." She was panicking, not knowing what to do.
"Maybe he's hiding." Glenn reasoned.
"He's supposed to be upstairs-- I'm not leaving without my boy." She choked back a sob.
"We're not." Carol assured her. "We're gonna look again we're gonna find him." They went back inside the house now. We all waited outside.
Andrea dropped the bag of guns. Maggie took some and handed them out.
She turned to me, offering me a small handgun. I looked at her, wide-eyed.
I can't just do nothing.
I hesitantly took it from her. She nodded at me reassuringly and began to hand more out.
I looked at the gun. I was afraid of it. I haven't had my luck with guns and I'm sure it's not gonna start now. Im useless with or without this thing.
"I got the number-- It's no use." Daryl said.
"You can go if you want." Hershel was loading up his gun, ready to fight. We all looked at him questioningly.
"You gonna take 'em all on?" Daryl questioned.
"We have guns, we have cars." He reloaded the shotgun.
"Kill as many as we can. And we'll use the cars to lead the rest of them off the farm." Andrea devised a plan.
"Are you serious?"
"This is my farm. I'll die here." Hershel finalized, walking off the porch.
Daryl hopped off the porch fence and onto the lawn, his crossbow in hand.
"All right. It's as good a night as any."