What Lies Ahead • the walking dead ¹

41 • Power-hungry

The sounds of distant yells reached the girl in the hayloft's ears. Her senses perked. The girl quickly jumped up from where she sat. Swiftly climbing down the ladder in front of her before rushing around the side of the barn and up to the house.

Her eyes fell on the group, each sporting an identical mix of fear, worry, and confusion on their faces as they hovered near Randall's cell.
"What happened?" Alexa quizzed Glenn as she approached the scene.
"Randall's missing." The boy explained frantically.

Alexa could barely hear the boy over the commotion the group was making. They were running around, clearly with no idea what to do. Alexa nodded to Glenn, her eyes scanning over the area and eventually falling on Rick, Andrea, and Daryl. Who were examining the shed where Randall had been.

"The cuffs are still hooked," Rick announced, stepping out of the room. "He must have slipped 'em."
"Is that even possible?" Carol quizzed anxiously.
"It is if you've got nothing to lose," Andrea confirmed, stepping into the light beside Rick.

"The door was locked from the outside," T-dog informed as he looked around nervously. The group broke out in a murmur of questions before being cut off by the sound of Rick's name being called. Everyone looked over in the direction of the woods, watching as Shane stepped out. His face was covered in blood from a seemingly broken nose.

"What happened?" Lori quizzed.
"He's armed!" Shane yelled, ignoring Lori. "He's got my gun!"
"Are you okay?" Carl asked, noticing the blood.
"I'm fine," Shane assured, stopping in front of the group. "Little bastard just snuck up on me. He clocked me in the face."

Alarms started going off in Alexa's head. Who could a scrawny, limping, injured little kid like Randall sneak up on Shane? It just didn't make sense. But something had happened based on the blood pouring down Shane's face.

"All right, Hershel, T-dog, Glenn, get everyone back in the house," Rick ordered. "Alexa, Daryl come with us."
"Alexa no!" Chase complained, tugging on his sister's hand. "You can't-"
"Chase, stay with T-dog." Alexa hissed, cutting off her brother before running to join the search party.

The boy didn't complain as he watched his sister leave.
"Just let him go," Carol begged as Shane took T-dog's gun. "That was the plan, wasn't it, to just let him go?"
"The plan was to cut him loose far away from here," Rick explained. "Not on our front step with a gun."

"Don't go out there," Carol begged, watching helplessly as Shane, Rick, Alexa, and Daryl started to walk away. "Y'all know what can happen."
"Get everyone back inside," Rick called. "Lock all the doors and stay put!"

The squad started toward the woods as the group rushed inside. Rick and Shane pulling out their guns. Daryl adjusting his crossbow in his hands. And Alexa pulling her Bowie knife from its sheath.

"I saw him head up through the trees that way before I black out," Shane explained, pointing in the direction he saw Randall run. "I'm not sure how long." He added.
"Couldn't have gotten far. He's hobbled, exhausted." Rick said. "Can you track him?" The man added, looking at the two trackers.

"No." Daryl and Alexa said in sync, both discovering no visible tracks on the ground. "I don't see any tracks," Daryl explained, glaring at Alexa before turning to see if he missed anything.
"Hey, look, there ain't no use in tracking him, okay?" Shane explained. "He went that way. We just need to pair up and spread out. Chase him down. That's it."

Alexa raised a skeptical eyebrow. Shane was acting more wired than normal. Insisting they split up and all.
"You trying to tell us that puny kid got the jump on you?" Alexa quizzed suspiciously.
"I say a rock pretty much evens those odds, wouldn't you?" Shane retorted, stepping toward the girl.
"No," Alexa stated blankly. "You could hear that kid coming from a mile away."