Make it Till You Don't

Escape

I woke up in the tent, confusing me. Last thing I remembered was... Dale. I stepped out of the tent, making my way to the camp where I was greeted by Glenn. "How're you holding up?"

I took a moment to reply, not sure myself. "As good as I can be. You?" I asked.

"Yeah." Glenn agreed. "Rick and Shane went to start digging the grave..." He trailed off, staring down into his hands. "They should be ready soon." I wasn't sure what to say, I can tell this is taking a lot out of Glenn, he was pretty close to Dale from what he told me.

Andrea came up to the group, giving a small nod. "They're ready."

As the service went on, I thought about the few memories I had with Dale. With everyone here. The short time I got to spend with Dale really put into perspective that none of us know how long we got. That every moment we have is too valuable to be taken for granted.

That was the reality of it. Everyday could be our last and the thought of dying didn't scare me as much as winding up alone. Being alone in the world we live in now is a death sentence, you can do only so much alone. I glanced around the group with a small frown, wondering how long I have with all of them.

"-He said the group was broken." I listened back in, looking at Rick. "The best way to honor him is to unbreak it. Set aside our differences and pull together, stop feeling sorry for ourselves and take control of our lives, our safety... our future."

Rick paused for a second, glancing around us. "We're not broken. We're gonna prove him wrong. From now on, we're gonna do it his way, that is how we honor Dale." He nodded, glancing down to the grave before walking back to the camp.

"Rick." Hershel spoke up as we all followed him back. "Have your people move into the house."

"Gonna be tight, fifteen people in one house." Rick mentioned, stopping to face Hershel.

"With fifty head of cattle on the property, we might as well be ringing a damn dinner bell." Maggie concluded, glancing at everyone.

Hershel nodded, agreeing. "She's right. We should've moved you in a while ago."

"Alright, let's move the vehicles near each of the doors facing out toward the road." Rick instructed, pointing to each spot. "We'll put a lookout in the windmill, another in the barn loft. That should give us sight lines. Both sides of the property."

With a plan, I began helping the others take down their tents and move what we had into the house. I glanced around the room as everyone began to sit their stuff down in various spaces. Lori took Hershel's room while he took the couch, and everyone else picked corners in the rooms. Not having any belongings, I didn't have too much to do and began loading supplies.

———

Hearing a commotion, all of us gathered outside the shed. "What happened?" Lori spoke up.

"Randall's missing." Glenn informed us all, causing panic.

"Missing? How?" Lori asked him as everyone began looking around.

"How longs he been gone?" Hershel inquired, to which no one had the answer to.

Rick walked out of the shed. "Cuffs are still hooked, he must've slipped 'em."

"Is that possible?" Carol asked in surprise.

Andrea shrugged slightly. "It is if you've got nothing to lose."

"Door was secured from the outside."Hershel mentioned, to which T-Dog confirmed.

"You don't think he can find his way back to his camp, do you?" I asked, voiced trembling at the thought of those men coming here.

"Dunno." Daryl answered.