CHAPTER THIRTY THREE,
deliverance

SAMANTHA WALSH REMEMBERED when she was a rebellious teenager, she took to the streets at night. The neighborhoods would be asleep, the streets quiet. No one would disturb her and her thoughts. She was in a different reality during those times, or at least it felt like it - quiet, lack of humans. There was only the moon, and there was only her.

It was a serenade of black, and the stars was the choir.

However, this time it felt different. She no longer felt calm, instead she was uneasy. The night was heavy in the Georgia air, draping the woods with darker shades. Their search for Randall had become harder because their eyes were no longer an advantage.

Glenn was next to Samantha, while Daryl was ahead of them.

"Maggie is in love with me,"

Glenn was gushing about Maggie through their serious situation.

"And I'm in love with her."

Samantha had been in love once long ago, but his heart was too damaged and too poisoned with hatred. She wanted to help him, just as she wanted to help Daryl, but he used it against her

Casey was a loaded gun, and with a pull of his trigger, he struck her many times.

Samantha was happy for Glenn and Maggie, however. They were able to find love in a world of rot and hatred.

She patted his shoulder with an encouraging smile. "Congrats, Glenny."

Daryl turned to look at them, annoyance etched on his rough features. "Can y'all stop talkin' like it's a damn chick flick," He snapped, the two friends immediately shutting their mouths. "Gimme the light."

Glenn quickly obliged and handed him the light. Daryl switched it on, eyes searching the ground before a grunt left his lips.

"Find anything?" Samantha asked.

"There's two sets of track right here," Daryl replied, the light tagging the ground. "Shane must've followed him a lot longer than he said."

"He was knocked out - I'm sure he got some stuff wrong." She was quick to defend her brother.

Daryl glanced at her, the doubt clear on his face before turning away and looking up at a tree.

"There's blood on this tree," Randall must've smashed his face in. "There's more tracks. It's like their walking in circles."

An owl cried into the night and Glenn jumped into the twenty year old, this causing her to bump into Daryl. The redneck turned to give them another glare and they both mumbled an apology.

"There's a little dust up here."

His eyes were ranking the ground.

"What do you mean?" Glenn questioned.

"It means something went down here." Daryl muttered.

Samantha looked at where Daryl was looking at. "Something did go down here," She spoke up, defending Shane once again (not that either of the men were surprised) with arms crossed. "My brother was attacked."

"Whatever happened, it's getting weird." Glenn murmured skittishly.

"Had a little trouble."

There was an object on the ground and Glenn was the one that picked it up. As they inspected it, Samantha realized it was a cloth that they used to blindfold Randall. What was it doing here?

There was a rustling of leaves. Her senses went on high alert, but before she could do anything Daryl wrapped his hand around her arm and pulled her behind a tree.

Samantha looked around the trunk, and saw a silhouette stumbling through the trees as if he were intoxicated. Her eyes went round.

They did find Randall - because once they revealed themselves, so did a reanimated Randall. His neck was twisted in an odd angle, his clothes tattered, skin gray and eyes soulless.

He lunged at Glenn, and the Korean yelled before being thrown to the ground. Daryl had fired an arrow but missed. Samantha took it upon herself to save her friend and took out her concealed dagger, rushing forehead and quickly plunged it into Randall - the walker's head.

"Oh my god, oh my god!" Glenn was gasping for air, the walker's corpse pinning him down.

Daryl used his foot to remove the body and Glenn looked like he was about to be sick. Samantha grabbed his hand and pulled him off, looking for any scratches."Are you okay?" She asked.

"Yeah, I'm fine," He breathed, grateful. "Thanks, Sam."

They both turned to see Daryl examining the body. She moved closer, the putrid smell immediately filling up her nostrils.

Confusion flashed on his face.

"What the hell," She heard him mumble, and Daryl turned to look at them. "There ain't any bites."

"None that you can see, right?" Glenn questioned.

"No, I'm telling you, he died from this."

If Randall had died from a broken neck, then how did he turn?

Samantha felt uneasy again, her heart thumping heavily in her chest as she rubbed her head. She was so worried for her brother's safety. Everything about this seemed wrong. She soon came back to reality and saw both Glenn and Daryl looking right at her. "What?"

"Sam, I think Shane..." Glenn trailed off, rubbing the back of his neck awkwardly.

"Shane what?" She snapped, feeling the protectiveness and paired frustration intertwine and taunt her temper as they continued to stare her with accusations clear on their faces.

"It's pretty clear that Shane didn't like the guy." Daryl stated bluntly.

Her jaw dropped. How dare he-

"So did Nate, but he didn't kill him," Her voice had risen, her hands curling into balls. "What happened to innocent until proven guilty?"

Something inside her urged the truth. It had been the logical side, the one that she used to always listen to, the one she had been pushing away since the end of the world - the one she had been pushing away for Shane.

"We're not trying to accuse him of anything," Glenn assured. "We're just looking at the facts and the possibilities-"

Samantha wouldn't listen - she refused to listen. "We need to head back to the house." She interrupted harshly.

Before she could leave, a hand gripped her arm. Samantha looked back to see it was Daryl. His face was serious, annoyed even.

"Stop being a stupid bitch and open your eyes," He hissed. "I know he's ya brother, but that don't make him innocent."

Their expressions were hard as they continued to stare at one another. Through his hard facade, his eyes were telling her something, but she wouldn't listen. She knew her brother better than they did.

How dare they try to be the judge and force a crime on someone?

Samantha yanked her arm out of his grip, opening her mouth to spew out possibly regrettable things, but something unexpected beat her to it.

A gunshot.

As soon as it met her ears, she was the first to take off running. She was faster than them, and because of that she had made it to the farmhouse before them.

She ran inside the house and stopped when she made it into the front room. Everyone had paused, looking at the ebony haired woman in surprise, but she wasn't doing the same for them - Samantha was looking for her brother's face, but she only was met with disappointment and more anxiety.

Where the hell are they?

Everyone was looking at her expectingly, but she only had more questions than answers.

"And deliver us from evil..."

His silent prayer caught her attention as she walked past him.

Nathan sat in an armchair, his silver cross dangling from his cupped hands. His lips were moving at a fast pace, some words public and others private.

He wished for deliverance, but she does not think God will provide them with that tonight.

Nathan's eyes opened and they found hers. Something swirled in them, but she looked away before she could find out what it was. Samantha knew that her best friend had an idea of what's going on, but she didn't want to see.

The door opened behind her and slammed shut. Glenn and Daryl had finally made it back. "Rick and Shane ain't back?" The redneck questioned, scanning the room for their leader and the ex cop.

"No." Lori answered worriedly.

"We heard a shot."

Samantha's heart rate was accelerating, her thoughts a hurricane. Her gut was telling her something was very wrong, and she worried for both Rick and Shane. What if something happened?

"Maybe they found Randall."

"We actually found Randall." Samantha announced, remembering his crooked neck and the fact that he didn't have a bite. How was that even possible? Is there other ways to get infected?

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

Daryl turned to her, sweat and exhaustion on his face. They were all tired and a bit shaken up from their discovery. "He's a walker."

"Did you find the walker that bit him?"

"No," Glenn spoke. "The weird thing is, he wasn't bit."

"His neck was broke." Daryl added.

From the corner of her eye she saw Nate slowly rise from his seat, his face unreadable.

"So he fought back."

"The thing is, Shane and Randall's tracks were right on each other," A growing defensive anger made Samantha shift her weight. "And Shane ain't no tracker, so he didn't come up behind him,"

She looked at Daryl.

"No, they were together." He stated, his eyes meeting hers.

Samantha scoffed loudly."We'll ask Shane when he gets back," She said, unable to hide her emotions any longer. She was so angry, so annoyed, so scared. "Until then, don't accuse my brother of anything while I'm in the room."

Their stares didn't help her anxiousness at all. They all thought the same thing, and she hated it. She hated that they weren't patient enough to hear the real truth.

She couldn't stand there in the room full of people that clearly were against her big brother, so she turned around and walked out.

The cold air nipped at her exposed flesh and she let out a sigh, leaning against the porch and letting her drift off into the darkness.

Samantha pictured that Rick and Shane were walking back now, safe and sound. She hoped that Shane had an actual explanation of what happened. Whatever did happen, there has to be a good reason. Shane wasn't stupid - he can't be stupid.

She needed to know they were safe, that he was safe.

Samantha touched Shane's necklace around her neck, frowning. It's funny that the thing that she thought was stupid was the thing that provided her comfort.

The door opened and she looked over my shoulder to see the youngest Dixon. Her eyes rolled and I turned away. "I came out here to escape your accusations, not for them to follow me."

She heard him grunt, his footsteps coming closer. "I'm gonna go find 'em, figure out what's going on."

Samantha turned back to him. She noticed how long his hair has gotten, and that it was no longer dirty blonde but a dark shade of brown. It made him more handsome. "I'll come with you too,"

Daryl didn't protest like her brother would've, instead he nodded. Samantha was thankful for that, thankful that he trusted her and thankful that he was actually searching for the truth.

"You know, maybe when this is over we can go look for your brother too," She said. "Go on a road trip, see the wasteland."

Daryl's face slightly shifted, and she could tell by his few moments of silence that she had caught him off guard.

"You wanna look for Merle?"

The way he said it made Samantha feel a small twinge of sadness. It was as if no one gave a shit about his brother but him.

Samantha nodded. "Merle might have questionable morals, but I still kinda like him," She stated, a chuckle leaving her lips. "He was basically my apocalyptic drug dealer."

Samantha was looking back at the dark farmland. Daryl was silent for the matter, but she expected it. He wasn't the one to express soft emotions that broke the front he had up.

Samantha only caught that once, and he was staring at her when it happened. Those gentle eyes looked nice on him. She wondered what he thought of, what he thought of her. She wish she could read him, piece his puzzle together.

"I've always wanted to see the Smoky mountains." She heard him speak.

A smile tugged at her mouth and she opened it to speak, but sudden movement caught her eye.

Samantha whipped her head around to peer into the darkness. At first, she couldn't see anything, but she knew something was there - she wasn't crazy.

Her heart dropped.

Hundreds of silhouettes stumbled their way in the fields, their army growing as they slowly descended from the darkness. The sight of them made her veins run cold and a loud gasp to leave the barrens off her mouth. Her gasp was heard by the others and they were alerted, hurrying outside to see what was going on.

The sight of the dead made dread contaminate their stomachs.

"Patricia," Hershel said from behind Samantha, his voice a faint whisper. "Kill the lights."

Her eyes never left the horde of the dead, fear planting itself inside her. Samantha was trying to count how many, but there was too much.

Something else crawled inside and started to blossom; a horrifying revelation. Rick and Shane were out there.

"Maybe they'll just pass like the herd on the highway?" Glenn mused hopefully. "Should we go inside?"

"Not unless there's a tunnel downstairs I don't know about," Daryl said. "a herd that size will rip the house down."

Samantha wasn't listening to them. Her mind kept repeating the same thing over and over again; Shane is out there. Shane is in that herd.

Lori rushed out, panicked.

"Carl's gone."

This snapped Samantha out of her state and her attention went towards the mother. "What do you mean?" She demanded.

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

Samantha cursed, another thing being added to her list. Her godson was out there as well, perhaps he went out to find Shane and Rick.

Stupid, brave boy.

"Maybe he's hiding." Glenn tried to assure her but it was a failed attempt.

"He's supposed to be upstairs," Her breathing became more erratic. "I'm not leaving without my boy!"

"We're not," Carol spoke. "we're gonna look again, we're gonna find him." She was determined to find Carl. She didn't want what happened to Sophia to happen to him.

Andrea had left and came back with a bag, unzipping it and revealing their personal armory full of weapons.

Samantha pulled out her own gun, eyes scanning her engraved initials like she did every time. She was hoping she had enough bullets, but as the twenty year old glanced at Daryl - she had a gut feeling that she didn't. "I got the number," He announced. "It's no use."

"You can go if you want," Hershel said.

Her brows furrowed as she eyed the old veterinarian. "That's crazy," She shook her head. "You really think we can take out that many?"

"We have guns, we have cars." Hershel stated.

As much as Samantha wanted this farmland to be their home, it too has been marked by the dead. Maybe there truly was no home in this world.

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

"This place will become our grave if we don't leave." Nathan asserted.

"Then so be it," Hershel quipped, cocking his gun and prepared to protect his land. "This is my farm, I'll die here."

"Alright, it's as good a night as any,"

Daryl had a determined look on his face as he pushed one of his legs over the railing of the porch. He was about to push himself off, but before he did, his eyes met those green ones.

"Be safe, Sammy." He whispered.

With a nod of his head, he jumped over the railing, and Samantha couldn't stop the small smile that formed on her face.

But she wouldn't be smiling for much longer.

(ﾉ◕ヮ◕)ﾉ*:･ﾟnote

no she doesn't know her brother is dead, and sadly she probably won't know for a little while longer

words ; 2690
edited ; ✔️