Austin woke up with a gasp that night, hearing screams from outside. He got out of the tent. "Dad?"

"Stay here." Rick warned him while Lori got Carl. "T-Dog, get a shot gun now!"

"Go in the house, lock the door and stay inside." Lori spoke quickly as she grabbed Carl, handing him to Austin. Austin hurried toward the house.

"What was that!" Glenn called as he ran from the house with Maggie.

"I don't know, go!" Austin encouraged as Maggie rushed Austin and Carl into the house. "It sounded like Dale."

"He's hurt?" Maggie asked quickly.

"I'm gonna get your dad." Austin spoke to Maggie as he set Carl down. "Stay here, don't leave."

Austin hurried toward Hershel's room, finding him already up and grabbing this. "I think Dales really hurt."

"Do you know his blood type?" Hershel asked him quickly.

"No, no, i'm not sure." Austin shook his head, the two going down the hallway again.

"Where?" Hershel asked, Austin lead him out of the farm house as they jogged over toward the group. "What happened?"

Austin gapped at the sight of Dales stomach torn open, breathing heavy and panicked on the ground. Lori grabbed his arms tightly when she saw he'd been there, Austin unable to remove his eyes. Rick looked to Hershel. "Can we move him?"

"He won't make the trip." Hershel broke the news with a sad look.

"You have to do the operation here." Rick spoke quickly. "Glenn, get back to the house!"

"Rick." Hershel grabbed his arm. Rick yelled out in disbelief. Andrea sobbed, Austin grabbed her arms to pull her into his embrace.

"He's suffering." the blonde cried. "Do something!"

"Dad." Austin look to Rick, nodding his head as Rick pulled out his gun. Austin hid Andreas face, wanting to shield his own but couldn't. Daryl took the gun when Rick couldn't, firing it and put Dale out of his misery.

"Oh, hey." Austin smiled at Beth after they buried Dale and all had to group up for the plan. "I didn't know you were helping out?"

"Your dad said I can stick with you." she nodded, indicating that's the only reason she went through with it.

Austin nodded. "Of course."

"It'll be tight. Fifteen people in one house." Rick spoke to Hershel as the pair approached.

"Don't worry about that. With the swamp hardening, the creek drying up..." Hershel explained with a shake of his head.

"With 50 head of cattle on the property, we might as well be ringing a damn dinner bell." Maggie agreed with him.

"She's right. We should've moved you in a while ago." Hershel admitted as he looked to Austin. "Beth has agreed to let you keep sleeping on her floor. We have extra pillows and blankets to make into a more comfortable palette."

Austin blinked, giving Beth a grin as he nodded. "Thank you."

"All right, let's move the vehicles near each of the doors facing out toward the road." Rick announced to the group. "We'll build a lookout in the windmill, another in the barn loft. That should give us sightlines. Both sides of the property."

Rick tossed a pair of keys to Austin as he nodded for Beth to follow. "You know how to drive?"

"A little." she nodded, getting in on the other side. "You?"

"A little." he agreed, starting the truck up. "Right before the outbreak, I was half way to my goal of saving to get the down payment for a car. Turns out, my dad had already bought it for me but wanted to see if I was really committed to getting the money."

"What happened to it?" Beth gave a curious look.

"Had to leave it behind." Austin sighed as he drove the old truck toward the back door. "Thanks for letting me stay in your room."

"It's all right." her accent made her want to laugh, though his was close. "I agree with you, you know?"

Austin parked the truck, looking over at her. "With what?"

"What you said to your mom. About the baby." the blonde met his eye. "She thinks it'll change something, you know?"

"I know." Austin inhaled with a head shake. "But, what can we do about it now? Just another tiny human i'm gonna have to worry and care about, as if i'm not already loosing my shit trying to keep my brother and mom safe."

"I'm sorry about your friend." Beth frowned, realizing that's what he was hinting at. "He seemed like a nice guy."

"He was." he gave her a small smile, looking out of the window. "You make that orange juice yet?"

"Not yet." she shook her head, seeing the grin he was giving. "Come on then."

The two hadn't spent much time with the oranges before shouting was heard from outside. "Rick! Rick!"

Austin ran outside, Beth close after as the group all crowded together when Shane came yelling from the woods. "He's armed! He's got my gun!"

"Are you okay?" Carl called his way, Austin shoved him and Beth behind him.

"I'm fine. Little bastard just snuck up on me." Shane shook his head as he continued walking their way, his face bleeding terribly. "Clocked me in the face."

"The prisoner got out?" Beth spoke in fear, Austin gave her a reassuring look over his shoulder.

"All right, Hershel, T-Dog, Austin, get everybody back in the house." Rick turned their way. "Glenn, Daryl, come with me."

"Dad, I can help." Austin spoke quickly to him.

"No." he looked sternly.

Austin frowned, nodding to Glenn as he walked past him. Carol looked around. "Just let him go. That was the plan, to just let him go."

"The plan was to cut him loose far away from here. Not on our front step with a gun." Rick argued with her, grabbing another gun as he started to walk away.

"Don't go out there, you don't know what can happen!" Carol shouted in panic.

"Get everybody back in the house." Rick ordered over his shoulder again. "Lock all the doors and stay put!"

"Come on, Carol." Austin wrapped his arms around her, leading her back to the house with the others doing the same.

Austin wrapped a blanket around Beth as they all crowded in the living room late that night, waiting for someone to show. Andrea inhaled. "I'm going after them."

"Don't. They could be anywhere." Lori stopped her quickly. "And if Randall comes back, we're gonna need you here."

"I'll go." Austin spoke up.

"No, don't go." Beth stood from the couch in a panic.

The door opener, stopping him anyways as Daryl and Glenn walked in. "Rick and Shane ain't back?"

"No." Lori looked at them.

"We heard a shot." Daryl informed them.

"Maybe they found Randall." she said in return, hoping for the best it seemed.

"We found him." Daryl shook his head.

"Is he back in the shed?" Maggie got on her feet.

"He's a walker." Daryl said in return.

"There's more near by?" Austin gave an alarming look.

"No, weird thing is he wasn't bit." Glenn looked his way.

"His neck was broken." Daryl added.

"So he fought back." Patrica confirmed.

"The thing is, Shane and Randall's tracks were right on top of each other." Daryl looked around with an odd look in his eye. "And Shane ain't no tracker. So he didn't come up behind him. They were together."

"How much you wanna bet he killed him?" Austin spoke up.

"Austin, please." Lori held a hand his way to silence him, facing Daryl again. "Would you please get back out there and find Rick and Shane and find out what on earth is going on?"

"You got it." Daryl nodded his head.

"I'll go too." Austin nodded his head.

"No!" Beth rose her voice, a sudden noise came from outside, making them look over.

Austin walked to the window, Beth close after. He caught sight of multiple walking figures coming there way. Hershel looked back. "Patrica, kill the lights."

Beth grabbed Austin's hand as he gave her a reassuring squeeze.

"I'll get the guns." Andrea nodded in confirmation.

"Maybe they're just passing. Like the herd on the highway. Should we just go inside?" Glenn looked for a reasonable and easier solution.

"Not unless there's a tunnel downstairs I don't know about." Daryl looked back at him. "A herd that size would rip the house down."

"They probably followed the gun shot." Austin spoke honestly.

"Austin, you got your gun?" Maggie walked out, carrying multiple guns in hand.

"Maggie." Glenn gapped.

"You grow up country, you pick up on a thing or two." she said in return, passing the guns out. "Austin?"

He rose his shirt to pull the gun from his waist band. Daryl shook his head. "I got the numbers, there's no use."

"You can go if you want." Hershel spoke, cocking the gun.

"You gonna take 'em all on?" Daryl looked toward the old man.

"We have guns. We have cars." he listed on. He looked at Austin. "Protect my little girl."

Austin looked back at Beth, still behind him. He nodded his head. "With my life."

"Kill as many as we can, and we use the cars to lead the rest of them off the farm." Andrea spoke outloud, getting the guns ready as well.

"Are you serious?" Daryl looked questionable.

"This is my farm. I'll die here." Hershel spoke, hoisting a gun in his hands.

"All right. It's as good a night as any." Daryl nodded his head, looking at Austin. "You know how to work that thing?"

"Dads a cop, i've got it." he nodded confidently, looking back and Beth. "Come on."

•

kylie speaks

OKAY i'm gonna say this,
and keep in mind i adore
lauren so much, but as someone
from that lives and was born
i'm the mouth, maggie's accent
sounded sooo forced in the first
few seasons. in the later ones
it comes off more natural but
as i was rewatching to write
this book i noticed it resembled
someone like mocking a cowboy
lmao. and how do the girls have
such heavy accents but hershel
doesn't?? i would have died to
hear old man hershel with a
southern accent