chapter twenty: the herd that brought the farm down
4498 words

"Hey T," Lin called to the man at the window. He turned her way long enough to tell her she had his attention then shifted back to being lookout. "The padlock was secured when you got there, right?" He nodded, keeping his eyes on the outside. "Daryl and I boarded up those rafters. I climbed through them yesterday so I knew how to cover them up. He couldn't have gotten out on his own." Lin kept her voice low, eyes on the horizon. If she spoke any louder, it would cause panic. "Something's not right."

"Only a handful of people knew that code, only the people Rick trusted." It stung a little that she wasn't on that list but that was beyond that point.

"You weren't there. Daryl was with me. Hershel was inside. Rick was with Carl." Lin counted off the possibilities until they were left with one, just one. Lin inhaled sharp, turning to look behind her to make sure they didn't have any listeners. "If Rick comes back with him, I'm putting a bullet in his head. Mark my words T."

"If Rick doesn't do it first," He tipped his gun a little bit in the air, casting a look her way. She met it and nodded, her hand set over the bowstring across her chest. If Rick didn't do it first. Shane was a liability now. He was dangerous, reckless, blind to anything but the end goal which was Lori and Carl. It had always been. Even when it was just the four of them on the road, it had always been about Lori and Carl. She knew he was a friend, basically an uncle to Carl, but he was a danger and he was willing to lie and hurt to get what he wanted. Lin had a feeling he was willing to get rid of Rick as well. He'd faked the attack, counted on Rick to be the righteous leader, and then led him into the forest where anything could happen. She jerked away from the window to the door, hurrying to turn the lock. T-Dog's hand came down on her wrist. "What are you doing?" He hissed.

"Rick's in danger. Shane took him out there to kill him. I can't let that happen."

T-Dog looked past her and out into the dark. "I can't let you go out there. It's dangerous. We can't lose you too."

Lin knew he was right. Lori rounded the corner then and saw her sister's hand on the door. Lin didn't have the energy to try to cover what she was going to do. "If they aren't back in 30 I'm gone," she swore. T-Dog's hand moved away and he followed where Lori had come from. Lin took a moment to follow and as she leaned against the doorway, the door opened. She whipped around, most of her relaxing at seeing Daryl and Glenn okay.

"Rick and Shane ain't back?" Daryl asked as he walked into the house.

"No," Lori answered.

"We heard a shot."

"Maybe they found Randall," Lori tried to rationalize. Lin's eyes darted to T-Dog.

"We found him," Daryl told them. Lin sighed at the confirmation of her suspicion.

"Is he back in the shed?" Carol took her turn at a question.

"He's a walker."

"Did you find the walker that bit him?" Hershel cut in next. It was a game of 20 questions except everyone was panicked and it was only Daryl answering them.

"No," Glenn spoke up and it was then that Lin noticed how frightened he looked. "The weird thing is he wasn't bit." Wasn't bit? How was that possible?

"His neck was broke."

"So he fought back," Patricia concluded.

"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." Daryl confirmed Lin's suspicions. Shane had taken Randall out, snapped his neck, and then faked it all.

"Would you please get back out there, find Rick and Shane and find out what on Earth is going on?" Lori was terrified for her husband, for Shane too. So she was close to begging Daryl at this point. She didn't need to though because Daryl instantly agreed.

"You got it."

"Thank you," Lori touched Daryl's arm as he walked passed her. Lin followed him out to the porch, ready to go with him but her step faltered at what she saw. Walkers. There was a herd of them, ambling across the farm heading right for the house. That one gunshot must have been enough to draw them all over.

"Patricia kill the lights," Hershel whispered.

"I'll get the guns," Andrea went with her. Lin began to count the walkers she could see but as the number got higher and higher she knew it was a useless effort. What difference did one or two walkers make when there were dozens already on the property?

"Maybe they're just passing, like the herd on the highway. Should we just go inside?" Glenn proposed something, anything he could think of to get them through this.

"Not unless there's a tunnel downstairs I don't know about. A herd that size would rip the house down," Daryl pointed at the incoming threat. Lin shook her head. The longer they stood there, the closer they got and the harder it was going to be to get out of this alive.

"We need to get everyone to the cars," she said, turning to Daryl, only to be interrupted by her sister's frantic call.

"Carl's gone."

"What?" Lin and Daryl said in unison.

"He was upstairs. I can't find him anymore." Lori was stuttering, her fear getting the best of her, one hand going to her chest, the other over her unborn baby.

"Maybe he's just hiding," Glenn tried to sooth the situation somehow but everyone knew that wasn't an option.

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

"Lori, we're not," Lin took her sister's hands into her own. "We're gonna find him." Carol took her hands from Lin, guiding her back into the house to look again. Lin rushed to the edge of the porch, craning her head around to look at the upstairs window. It was open. Lin cursed under her breath as Andrea brought the gun bag out. Her and Maggie began distributing the weapons, much to the surprise of Glenn and the rest of the group. As they cocked the shotguns, Daryl told them it would be no use. There were too many. Lin took up the rifle, Dale's blood still dried on the strap.

"You can go if you want," Hershel said to them. Lin immediately shook her head because that wasn't an option. They weren't going to leave anyone behind.

"You gonna taken 'em all on?" Daryl asked in disbelief.

"We have guns. We have cars." Hershel accented his sentence by pumping his shotgun.

"Kill as many as we can," Andrea started to which Lin finished.

"And then use the cars to lead the rest of them off the farm. We evacuate if there is no other option. Are we all clear?"

"Are you serious?" Daryl pointed his question at Hershel.

"This is my farm. I'll die here." Lin really didn't like hearing that from Hershel but the man was stubborn. It would only be in the end that they would convince him to leave. And she really didn't want that.

"Alright. It's as good a night as any." Daryl sat up on the fence porch and hopped over, heading for his bike. Lin swung the rifle around her shoulders, taking her bow up instead. Less noise. She hurried around the porch to get to Daryl before he got to his bike. Something about this all made her nervous, really damn nervous. Something was going to go wrong. And she had to be ready for that. Daryl swung a leg over his bike, tipping his head up and seeing her there. "Lin they need ya up at the house."

Lin looked up at the impending walkers, gauging just how much time she had here. She heard the rv start up, followed by each car. She couldn't think the worst was going to happen. She had to hope that they could get through this. She didn't realize that her hands were shaking until Daryl reached out and took the one that wasn't holding her bow.

"Get to the house. Protect the girls." He squeezed her hand, her not understanding how he was sort of calming her down in the middle of all of this.

"Be safe," was all she could say in response. He just nodded and let go of her hand. She stepped back as he fired up his bike, the groans of the walkers finally reaching her ears. She had to get back to the house. She had to let Daryl go. He checked his hips for his gun, or rather not his gun but a gun. He still couldn't find the damn thing and he'd looked all day. As Lin looked at him, something made her stay. She wanted to do something, something really damn stupid. But she knew that if this were to go bad, if they were going to be separated, she was going to regret not doing it. She hadn't sat around the farm, thinking about it or anything. Somewhere between the horse riding and the tracking lessons she'd begun to think about the hunter. She worried for his safety, like she was right now, not caring that she was holding up the caravan.

It was now or never.

"Daryl," she said his name to get his attention. His head turned to her and she told herself to do it before she chickened out. She leaned down to him, her hand on his scruffy cheek and the kissed him. She kissed him lightly, quickly, out of fear that he was going to shove her away. He looked shocked for a moment, his hand frozen between them, his eyes a little wide. She pulled her hand back, using her arrows as an excuse. "I mean it. Be safe." She backed up, running for the house. She couldn't wait for a reaction, not after that. She took a perch on the porch and watched as Daryl steered his motorcycle out to the fence, stopping it there and pulling his gun. He shifted all the way around on the seat to look her way, waited long enough for her to nock an arrow, then began to shoot.

The rv moved out next, followed by the blue truck and the van. They all began to shoot, walkers dropping on the receiving end of each bullet. Inside the house, Lori and Carol were frantic, opening doors and calling Carl's name.

Beth was the one to notice the barn was on fire. She got Patricia's attention and let her peer through the wooden slats.

"They're headed for it," Patricia noticed. "Maybe Rick set it to draw 'em in."

Lin watched, helpless as the walkers pushed the wire fences over. Daryl drove his bike right on the edge of it, drawing them to him. He drove over to the rv, yelled something up at Jimmy who was sitting right in the window. The rv moved off in the direction of the burning barn and the walkers began to get too close to the house.

Lin brought her bow up, and pulled the string back. She aimed for the head of the walker, releasing with a breath. It sailed over and slammed into the monster's shoulder, doing nothing more than pushing it back a little bit. She cursed and fired another, this one aimed just enough to take it down. She ran out into the yard to get them back, hurrying backwards as the next wave got too close for her liking. Hershel opened the door, his shotgun in his hands.

"You're gonna waste those arrows. There's enough noise already." He told her, aiming and firing into the herd. Lin, knowing he was right, grit her teeth and switch out, bringing Dale's rifle up. She backed against the house wall and used to scope to watch the cars. Jimmy parked the rv right in front of the barn and Lin watched as two people jumped out from the barn onto the roof. Rick and Carl. They were jumping right into the crux of the herd. They couldn't fight that alone. She brought the rifle down, searching the walking dead for any kind of opening, any paths she could take. There was only one, straight down the middle, a full sprint out to the barn. Any hesitation meant walker hands on her and that meant death or worse.

"Hershel tell Lori I found Carl." She swung her rifle over her bow in favor of her blade. She hoped they'd forgive her for what she was going to do.

Lin exhaled hard once to get herself ready and then she ran. She tore through the yard, ducking here, slashing quick there. She felt the groans of the walkers against her cheeks as they got within inches of her. A rotting hand on her shoulder that she shook off. She couldn't get caught in the middle. She got to the rv and as she saw the walkers pushing into the motorhome, her heart dropped. Jimmy was dead and the rv was lost. All of Dale's things. All of Irma's things. She wanted to go in for them, kill all those walkers herself. She almost did too.

A tangle of bony fingers pulled her hair, making her flinch. The decayed hand tried to drag her towards its nasty jaws. Lin suppressed her scared scream. This was a bad idea. A terrible stupid idea and it was going to get her killed if she let it. So like the badass she wanted to be, she didn't let it.

She stabbed blindly behind her, the knife sinking right into the brain of the thing. It dropped like dead weight and her knife almost went with it but the firm grip she had on the leather kept it in her hand. She looked around wildly, trying to find Rick or Carl.

"Rick!" She yelled, the noise no longer a problem with all the gunfire. "Carl!"

Lori couldn't find Carl still and as she walked out onto the porch, the absence of her sister had her going silent.

"Hershel, where's Lin?" She had to shout over the rapid blasts from his shotgun.

"She went after Rick and Carl. She ran for the barn."

Lori couldn't see her sister along all the dead. She heard a shout, something unintelligible from where she was, but it was unmistakably Lin. Lori started for the stairs, stopped by Carol holding her back.

"You can't, you'll lead them all right to her." Lori wondered why her son and her idiot sister couldn't just listen for once. Lin made the escape plans and here she was not following them. "Lin can fight on her own. She'll find Rick and Carl and bring them back but we can't stay here!"

"That's my family!" Lori was hysteric and she had every reason to be.

"You're gonna have to trust. Trust Lin and trust Daryl. He was to one teaching her to defend herself. If she finds them, they're gonna need you. We've gotta go." Carol pulled on Lori's hands to force her point. They were wasting bullets trying to make a dent in the massive herd. They just kept coming and coming. She had to believe that Lin was going to find Rick and Carl. If she was with them, she'd be fine. She had to trust that Lin was going to keep Carl safe and that Rick would keep them all safe. "Get the others." She walked to the edge and yelled her sister's name, hoping to get a response from somewhere, anywhere. There wasn't one, not one that she could hear. She brought Daryl's gun up and fired at the walkers stalking ever closer.

Lin brought her knife down hard on the nearest walker. She'd gotten to the woods and with the things that Daryl had told her, she was following two sets of footprints. They'd snuck through the woods for a while, stumbling prints of the biters right behind them. She didn't see the geek until it was too late. It had been up against one of the trees, easily hidden in the darkness. It lunged for her, pulling a scream from her lips as it took her to the ground. Her knife slipped from her fingers, landing somewhere in the leaves. Her elbows popped, straining to keep it off her.

Do something, Lin. Get it off you somehow.

She held it back with one arm, her other darting down to try and grab her knife. The first try was a fail and she had to bring it back up to push the moving jaws of the biter away. More were coming. She had to kill it. She reached for the knife again and her finger brushed it, pushing it further away. She exhaled and felt her arm shaking. Her hand touched a branch, no wider than two of her fingers put together. She took it and with every ounce of force left in her arm, she jammed it into its temple.

Rick and Carl found Hershel and were the only ones that were able to convince him to leave. His farm was gone, overrun beyond the point where anyone could do anything about it. All the gunfire was just making it worse and they were running low on ammunition as it was. As Rick, Carl and Hershel peeled out from the farm, Rick's foot hard on the gas, Andrea ran after, calling for them to stop and wait for her but over the rumble of the engine they couldn't hear her. Hershel didn't realize that Lin wasn't with them until they were too far up the road.

Daryl sat on his bike, the inferno of the farm being his only point of attention, that and Lin. She'd kissed him. Did she think he was gonna die out here? She had to know him better than that. A scream sounded in the air and Daryl was moving. He revved the bike engine, steering it down the drive. It was Carol that screamed. She was running from the walkers with no weapon and no energy. Daryl curved the bike and shouted for her to get on. She hurried to the back, climbing on and letting Daryl take her from away from what would have been certain death.

In the silent car, Rick reached for his son's shoulder. They'd made it out. Hershel, as he watched the remains of what had been his home, remembered then what Lin had said and spun around, thinking he just hadn't seen her there. But there was only Rick and Carl. No Lin.

Lori had her arm around Beth, the eldest of the Donnellys and the youngest of the Greenes. Lori couldn't think that Lin hadn't made it out. She had to. Rick wouldn't let her get hurt.

Lin didn't know that she'd been following the wrong tracks until she found the two undead responsible for them. A kid and an adult. It made her begin to cry. Rick and Carl were somewhere else, probably gone by now. And she'd been following the wrong tracks and it led her far from the farm, too far. She couldn't hear gunshots anymore. They'd all gone and she wasn't sure which hurt more, the fact that they'd left or the fact that they probably thought she was dead. The two walkers were easy kills. After she'd taken one down with just a tree branch, her knife slid through the slimy flesh like butter. She was in the woods, alone, with no way of knowing where she was. She gasped and pressed her hand to her mouth. They were all gone. The farm was gone, the rv and all her things. All of Dale's things were still there, still packed away in that rv. She still had his shirt on but it was red with walker blood, stained all along the shoulders and sleeves.

She put her back to one of the trees, sliding down so she was sitting. What could she do now? She had nothing and no one. They were probably miles away by now, and getting further with every second. If they met up again, no matter how many of them made it out, they'd have to notice she wasn't there. Hershel saw where she went. He saw that none of the walkers took her down. He'd tell them that she was still out there. Daryl would want to look for her, at least she hoped that he would. She just had to get somewhere he could find. She couldn't go back to the farm, not when it was overrun the way it was. She had to go somewhere else and as she looked up from the forest floor, she knew just the place.

Night turned to day and Rick, Carl and Hershel were back on the highway where they'd left food for Sophia. It was the only meeting place that everyone knew of. It was the only place that Rick could think of. Carl was mad at Rick, his mom and his aunt the only things on his mind. It was just the three of them there, with no indication that anyone else had survived. Hershel was willing to let the two go to survive while he waited for Beth and Maggie but Rick wouldn't let them. The man was mourning his home, his wife that had been in that barn when Shane had thrown it open, but Rick still wasn't going to let them split up. Sticking together was all they had left.

They were just waiting out in the open and Rick had been just moments away from telling Carl they were leaving when the hum of a motorcycle reached his ears. Daryl led the line of three, bringing the group back into one piece. Rick looked to Hershel who just smiled. The cars pulled through the median and stopped there in the road, doors opening and people jumping out.

Rick reached for Daryl's hand. Maggie ran for her father, Lori to her son and her husband. Daryl climbed off his bike, searching for the one face in the crowd he'd been worried more about than anyone else. And he didn't see it. Lin wasn't with them.

"Where's Lin?" he asked without hesitation, without waiting for their happy reunions to end. This was the CDC all over again. She'd gone off, on her own, and now they couldn't find her.

Lori turned to Rick. "She wasn't with you?" The horror that bled over Rick's face answered her question. "Hershel said she ran after you two."

Rick shook his head, looking over each face in the group as if she was just hiding right there in plain sight. "We never saw her." He stood from where he'd been hugging Lori and Carl. "She came after us?"

Hershel nodded. "She ran straight out to the rv and then she disappeared out behind the barn."

Daryl's hands clenched at his sides. Lin wasn't dead. He shook his head. "Nah, she ain't dead." He didn't believe it. Daryl Dixon had heard a fair amount of bullshit in his time on this miserable planet and the thought of Lin being back there at the farm, a chunk of her neck ripped out and her body brought back from the dead, immediately rang those bullshit bells in his head.

"Daryl," Rick started, grabbing Daryl's hand as he reached for his crossbow. He was going to stop him, going to tell him that he couldn't leave, that going back into the carnage was impossible. But Daryl wasn't going to listen.

"She ain't dead," he hissed through his teeth. He drew back the string of his crossbow, throwing it over his shoulders. He didn't care if he had to go back there, if he had to scour the woods every night until he found her. What happened to Sophia wasn't happening to her. Lin was strong. She knew that he'd look for her. She wouldn't have kissed him if she didn't.

"Daryl, we don't know the first place to look. She could be miles away," Lori told him through tears of her own. She wanted a plan to find Lin. She wanted just one sign that she was still out there somewhere. Daryl shook his head again, already at the edge of the paved street.

"She knows that I would go lookin' for her." He figured it out then. "She'd go somewhere I can find her." He turned to Lori. "I know where she is."

The forest farmhouse doors were shut. And Daryl knew that he'd been right. He couldn't get to it fast enough. He scanned the area, clearing it quickly as he raced up to the front door. He had to step over half a dozen walker bodies, each with arrow holes right to the forehead. That was his girl. She'd done good.

"Lin!" He shouted, throwing the door open. No response. "Lindsey!" He tried her full name, in case she'd been asleep or something stupid like that. He heard something upstairs, a bang in some random corner. He threw all caution to the wind, taking the stairs two at a time. The door at the end of the hall opened and there she was. She was about halfway covered in walker guts and blood, and she was still wearing that tacky blue shirt. He halfway believed that she was never going to take it off. But she was there. And she was safe and she was right in front of him and he'd never been so relieved in his life.

Lin couldn't believe that it had worked, that she'd been able to read him as well as she did. He was stood there in the hallway, clad in his crossbow and leather vest, looking every part her own personal guardian angel that she believed him to be.

She could have cried then, just seeing him there, safe and alive. Then she did start to cry, the 'could have' part quickly forgotten as she crossed the hallway in as little steps as possible, launching herself into his arms. The Daryl from the quarry would have stepped back, let her hug the air and embarrass herself. This Daryl caught her, holding her right up against him where he knew she was safe. She'd made it out of the farm, fought her way here. He held her tight, a hand in her hair, a hand on her back. She was safe.

Daryl dipped his head down to rest on her shoulder and it was there that he too began to cry.

an: wow this chapter called me single in so many different languages. but i planned this for quite a while. i wanted that little push for daryl to realize that he needed lin bc he's the stubborn one out of the two that won't admit his feelings straight out in the beginning. he needs that little push where she's in danger and in just rings all the alert bells in his head. (this wont be the last time they're separated like this hint hint wink wink) i also never actually watched the farm falling down before writing this as well as the rest of the episode that is in the next chapter. so yeah fun fact there.

i do hope that you've been enjoying the memes as much as i have. ive gotten some feedback that they're the favorite part of every chapter and im honestly so glad because they're so much fun to make. i hope you guys enjoyed this part, watch the new episode tonight!! and ill see you in the next! :))