Fight For Life ⤜ Carl Grimes

⤜eight

"Dale could get under your skin," Rick spoke, everyone gathered around the bodies that had been buried, and bordered in stone. "He sure got under mine. Because he wasn't afraid to say exactly what he thought, how he felt. That kind of honesty is rare, and brave. Whenever I'd make a decision, I'd look at Dale. He'd be looking back at me with that look he had. We've all seen it one time or another. I couldn't always read him but, he could always read us. He saw people for who they were. He knew things about us- the truth, who we really are. In the end, he was talking about losing our humanity. He said this group was broken. 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. 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."

After the funeral for Dale was over, everyone began moving there things inside of Hershel's house. After the incident with Dale, Hershel had finally agreed that they move into the house- permanently if they wanted. 

The rest of the day was mainly quiet, Rose helped everyone unpack their stuff. It was quiet for a while- until all hell broke lose. 

They all stood around the barn in a panic. Randall had escaped and no one knew where he had went. "Rick! Rick!" Shane yelled, running out from the forest, his nose and lip bleeding profusely. 

Everyone looked over, getting even more riled up. "What happened?" Lori asked. 

"He's armed! He's got my gun!" Shane responded. 

"Are you okay?" Rose asked, her little heart beating fast. 

"I'm fine. Little bastard just snuck up on me. He clocked me in the face."

Rick looked back at the group. "All right, Hershel, T-Dog, get everybody back in the house. Glenn, Daryl come with us."

Shane turned back around, "T, I'm gonna need that gun."

"Just let him go," Carol panicked. "Wasn't that the plan? To just let him go?"

"The plan was to cut him loose away from here, not on our front step with a gun. Get everybody back in the house. Lock all the doors, and stay put!"

Everybody rushed back inside of the house. Lori made sure to lock all the doors behind her. It was still nighttime, and they hadn't gotten back yet. Carl sat with Rose in her room, sitting on her bed as Rose sat in the chair. "Why aren't they back yet?" Carl sighed. 

"They will be," Rose responded. "They probably caught him already, maybe just- I don't know, maybe just interrogating him."

Carl walked over to Rose's open window, grabbing his binoculars and looking out the window. He looked around, stopping when he saw Rick and Shane in the fields. He looked back at Rose, "I see them. I'm gonna go out there, don't tell anybody, please."

Rose stood up, "what? Carl, are you insane?"

"Maybe," he responded innocently, "just don't tell." He quickly hopped out of her window, luckily for him, her room was on the ground floor. 

Rose sighed as he ran out, "what an idiot." She ran downstairs, acting as if nothing had happened. She stood in the doorway of the silent room where everyone sat. 

Andrea stood up from her place on the couch, "I'm going after them."

"Don't, they could be anywhere," Lori responded. "And if Randall comes back we're gonna need you here."

The door opened, Daryl and Glenn walking into the living room. "Rick and Shane ain't back?" Daryl asked. 

Lori shook her head. "No."

"We heard a shot."

"Maybe they found Randall."

"We found him."

"Is he back in the shed?" Maggie questioned. 

"He's a walker," Daryl responded. 

"Did you find the walker that bit him?" Hershel asked. 

"No, the weird thing is, he wasn't bit," Glenn explained. 

"His neck was broke," Daryl added. 

"So he fought back," Patricia finished. 

"The 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."

Lori walked towards Daryl, "would you please go back out there, find Rick and Shane and find out what on Earth is going on?"

 Daryl nodded, "you got it."

Everyone walked out of the house with them, stopping in their tracks at the sight before them. "Oh my god," Rose muttered, staring in shock at the large herd of walkers that were limping their way through the fields. 

"Carl's gone," Lori cried, walking out of the house. 

Rose put her head down. Daryl turned back to look at Lori, "What?"

"He- he was upstairs, I can't find him anymore."

"Maybe he's hiding," Glenn tried. 

"He was supposed to be upstairs, I'm not leaving without my boy."

"We're not," Carol said, grabbing her shoulder and leading her back in the house, "we're gonna look again, we're gonna find him."

Maggie ran out with a bag of guns, handing a gun to everyone. "Maggie," Glenn said, astonished that she was doing this. 

"You grew up country, you pick up a thing or two," she responded. 

"I got the number, it's no use," Daryl said. 

"You can go if you want," Hershel told him, cocking his rifle. 

"You gonna take 'em all on?" Daryl asked him. 

"We have guns, and we have cars."

"Kill as many as we can, and use the cars to lead the rest of them off the farm," Andrea suggested. 

"Are you serious?" Daryl questioned. 

"This is my farm, I'll die here," Hershel responded. 

"All right, it's as good a night as any."

Maggie kneeled down in front of Rose, handing her a pistol. "Rose, I need you to take this and come with me. You know how to shoot, you need to protect yourself."

"But, Maggie-"

"There are no buts. We have to do this."

Rose nodded, following after Maggie and Glenn to the green Honda. Daryl went on his motorcycle, and Andrea and T-Dog went in the truck. Maggie drove the car, driving through the fields as Glenn shot down as many walkers as he could. 

"Keep it steady!" Glenn called.

"I'm trying," Maggie responded, doing the best she could to drive carefully. 

After a while of shooting, the car had came to a stop. Walkers huddled up, banging against the car window. "Oh my god," Maggie cried. "I can't get through."

"Head out," Glenn instructed. 

Maggie turned to look at him, her eyes wide, "what?"

"Get off the farm now."

"Don't say that."

"Maggie, it's lost!"

"The others- we can't leave them."

A walker smashed it's head against the windshield, making Maggie scream. She reversed the car, and sped off of the fields. "Maggie- Maggie where are we going?" Rose cried. 

"I don't know, baby, I don't know," She replied, crying as well. 

They sped onto the road, leaving the farm Rose has grown to know so well behind.