CHAPTER FOUR

After he finishes boarding up an opening in the shed, Daryl heads over to the barn to set up the lookout for when they have people on watch there. He's working when Andie ducks and walks out onto the platform — her hands are now tied with a thick rope, and it's knotted up pretty good so she can't get loose.

"Oh, look, sunlight." She closes her eyes and tilts her head back, but she doesn't get any reaction from the man behind her. "He's gotten quiet."

"Ain't got nothing to say."

"I had nothing to say all last week, didn't stop you from harassing me."

"I'm not in the mood." He tells her, and she turns to look at him.

"I'm sorry about your friend." She says, and his movements halt. "Believe me, I know the hell it can be to lose someone that you care about — a friend that you consider family."

"He was the only other one advocating for you to live." Daryl says. "He thought that what the group decided was wrong, said we were losing our humanity."

"He was wrong about that last bit." The brunette tells him. "Your friends were acting out of fear of the unknown and the need to protect what little they have left in this world. You ask me — there's nothing more human than that."

"He would'a liked you."

A small smile tugs at Andie's lips as she looks down for a moment. "What was his name?"

"Dale." He turns to look at her. "His name was Dale."

"I'm sorry your group lost a good man." She tells him, and he nods. "And I'm sorry that you had to be the one to... I'm sorry." Andie turns to head back into the barn, but his voice stops her.

"Thank you." He speaks up, and she turns to face him with a furrowed brow. "You helped protect my group, even after we were about to kill you. So, thank you."

"I'm not a bad person. At least, I try not to be." She shrugs. "I like to think that most people do what they can, even in this world." And with that, the brunette goes back into the barn to wait for whatever comes next.

Daryl told her that he and Rick are going to take her and Randell away from the barn, cut them loose somewhere. It's never exactly been her luck that things work out in her favor, so she's not holding her breath with this new promise.

It feels like hours pass before she hears someone outside the barn doors again, but there's something off. She can feel it. It's not Daryl coming in to check on her like it always is. And then she hears a voice — male, hushed, annoyed.

Shane.

She can't tell what he's saying, but he wouldn't be whispering to one of his friends. Whatever he's doing wouldn't be secret if he were supposed to be doing it.

Andie gets to her feet and moves back a couple paces. Then she jumps and grabs the upper level of the barn loft. She hoists herself up, using a support beam to climb up — it's faster than taking the ladder a step at a time.

The brunette ducks behind a pile of haybales, wedging herself into a corner just as the door is pulled open. She can't see Shane and whoever he's with, and she knows that trying to sneak a peek would risk him seeing her too.

"Shut up." He hisses, and then she hears Randell's whimpers as he hits the ground.

There's shuffling and things moving around. He's looking for her.

"That little bitch." He groans, clearly annoyed at the thought that she got out before he could do whatever he's planning. "Come on. Come on."

The barn doors close, and she hears the lock, but Andie doesn't move. She doesn't want to make a sound and bring him back. She knows that he won't stop until he finds her if he realizes that she isn't gone.

There's a commotion outside, and Andie hears the group running around frantically. She hears something about Randell being gone, and then they're opening the doors to the barn. Daryl steps in and he starts looking around the area.

"Psst." The brunette gets his attention, and he looks up. His blue eyes meet her brown ones, and she holds her index finger to her lips. "Tin Man." She whispers, and his eyebrows furrow as he looks at the rope around her wrists.

There's no doubt in Daryl's mind that she could escape if she really wanted to, so the fact that she's still here and still tied up tells him that something's wrong. He knew it didn't sound right that both she and Randell were missing, but this is even weirder.

"Is she in there?" Rick calls from outside the barn, and Andie shakes her head before sinking back into her hiding place.

"No!" Daryl turns and walks back out to join the others. "She's gone."

"Rick!" Shane's voice breaks into the chaos. "Rick!"

"What happened?" A woman calls out.

"They're armed! They've got my gun!" He tells them, and Daryl turns to look at him.

"Are you okay?" Carl asks.

"I'm fine. Little bastard just snuck up on me — he clocked me in the face." He lies, and Rick then disperses the group, telling everyone where to go.

One of the women sounds afraid as she begs them not to go out into the woods, but he's unwavering in his orders. Rick, Daryl, Shane, and Glenn head into the woods to look for their supposed runaways, and the rest of the group heads back into the house.

Less than twenty minutes pass before Andie hears footsteps walking back into the barn, then two familiar voices. "What are we doing?" Glenn asks. "You heard Shane, she's not in here."

"I prefer to go with what I saw, not what I was told." Daryl says, looking around. "You wanna tell me why I lied to my group? Why did I tell them that you're gone?"

"What are you—" The younger boy jumps when Andie suddenly drops to the ground, landing on her feet between the two men with a light thud.

"What's really going on?"

"That's what I'd like to know." The brunette turns to him. "I was sitting in here when I heard your angry friend coming. He sounded more agitated than usual, set off alarm bells in my head. I hid, and he wasn't the least bit happy. I couldn't see him from where I was, but I think he had Randell with him. I could hear him crying and whimpering like last night. They left, locked the door behind them, and I waited for whatever was coming. Next thing I know, you're coming in here to look around because Randell's missing, and the Tin Man's telling some bogus story."

"Tin Man?" Glenn looks between the two of them, but Daryl only glances at him before returning his attention to Andie.

"Shane was planning on letting you both out?" He questions.

"Are you guys incapable of seeing him for what he is?" She raises her eyebrows. "Randell's probably dead already. If I were you, I'd be more concerned with whether the Lion's gonna live to see tomorrow than where I'm standing."

"Sit tight, Todo. I'll figure out what's what."

"I am not your pet!" She calls after him as he leaves the barn, and she hears him chuckle as he shuts the door behind him. She notices that he doesn't lock it.

—

Andie hears the barn door slam shut, and she lifts her head to look around. There's a rattling, and then she hears the corpses outside. They start pounding on the doors, trying to get inside.

"What's going on?" The brunette asks as she walks to the end of the upper level, seeing Rick and his son.

"Shane said you ran." Rick says, looking up at her with skepticism.

"Shane's a liar. I already went over this with Daryl." She tells him as her dark eyes turn to the rattling door. "How many are out there?"

"Too many."

The older man then grabs a can and starts pouring what smells like gasoline all over to the dirt and hay. He tells his son to get behind him as the corpses start to tear off pieces of the wood.

"Alright, up there." He instructs. "Hurry."

"Wait, wait. What about you?" His son asks at the bottom of the ladder.

"I'll be right there." Rick then leans down to look him in the eye as he holds a zippo out toward him. "Drop the lighter when I say. We'll stop some of them from reaching the house, and distract the others, so at least we'll have a chance." Rick tells him that he loves him, and then Andie watches the younger boy climb up to where she's standing.

The teenage girl looks at Carl as his dad lures the corpses inside the barn. "Is that my bag?" She asks, and he looks up at her before removing it from his shoulder and holding it out toward her.

"Sorry." He mumbles.

Rick starts up the ladder as she rummages through the bag, then she pulls out her gun. She checks to make sure it's still loaded, then she aims the barrel and kills the two corpses that are closest to Rick.

"Carl, now!" He yells as soon as he's to the top, and the twelve-year-old lights it before dropping the zippo into the crowd of corpses.

The flames quickly spread and rise, and Rick then rushes over to them with his knife drawn, looking at Andie. She meets his gaze, and he hears the click of her resetting the safety. With slow, careful movements, he reaches out with his knife and slices into the rope around her wrists.

"What do you say we help each other survive?" The teenager asks. "Minus the kidnapping this time around."

"Let's find a way out of here." He agrees.

They hear gunshots outside — his group putting down as many of the corpses as they can. The sound of cars driving is evident, and Andie hopes that someone's able to make it to them to get them the hell out of there.

They end up on the same platform that Andie and Daryl were on when they were talking that morning, but they can't drop to the ground. They're completely surrounded by the dead who are anxious to take a bite.

An old RV rounds the back of the barn then and Rick starts yelling, telling the driver where to park it. The older man then helps his son get onto the roof, and Andie's following close behind them. She stands above them as they climb down the ladder, and she shoots any of the corpses that get too close for comfort. The teenager's trying to ignore the screams that are now coming from inside the RV.

Rather than using the ladder herself, Andie backs up a few paces to get a running start, then she jumps off of the vehicle. She rolls, and Carl turns back to look for her as she rifles through her bag to find her hatchet, not wanting to burn through all of her ammo.

"Come on!" The younger boy yells, and she looks at him and his father as she gets to her feet.

"Go!" Andie calls. "I'll cover you! Go!"

She's swinging her hatchet at anything that gets too close, and firing off a few shots as the three of them run. Rick leads the way into the woods, and that's where she loses them. It's dark, and she's tripping over large tree roots as she tries to follow the boys. Realizing that they're gone, she decides to just keep running as fast as she can.

Eventually, she sees a break in the trees, and she pushes herself even harder, hoping that she can find some kind of shelter to hole up in like she's done in the past. She ends up in the middle of the road, and she quickly moves before Daryl can hit her on his motorcycle. He swerves, but is able to regain control over the bike before he comes to a stop and looks back.

"Come on!" He yells, and the brunette runs over, quickly climbing onto the back behind him.

The engine revs, and Andie tightens her hold on him as he drives away. The teenager looks behind her, seeing all of the corpses that are following them slowly fade as they fall farther and farther behind.