Leaving the farm

One last muffled gunshot rang out.

At the edge of the oak grove, Dave, who was trying to direct the retreat, jerked and crumpled to the ground.

The Jackal confirmed the target was eliminated through his scope, then disappeared into the shadows.

In the center of the farm, the din continued.

The walkers' snarls, the groans of the dying, the crackle of burning wood, and the hiss of the cooling heavy machine gun mingled together.

The air reeked of gun smoke, blood, scorched debris, and rotting flesh.

But Lynn was now in control.

"Davis! Shane! Daryl!" Lynn's voice cut through the chaos. "Clear the battlefield! Anything that can still move, human or walker, put another bullet in it! Make sure it's dead! Leave none alive!"

The order was cold and left no room for argument.

"Understood, Boss!"

Davis answered, blasting apart the head of a walker crawling out from beneath the wreckage of a pickup.

With a savage grin, Shane walked over to Tony's body, kicked it hard, then fired into the twitching torso.

Daryl silently loaded a crossbow bolt and shot down a walker wounded by machine-gun fire.

"Merle! Glenn! T-Dog!" Lynn continued issuing orders. "Check the pickups. If they still run, bring them over. Clear everything off them and take anything useful!"

Merle answered with a strange laugh and rushed toward the smoking, blood-smeared pickups with Glenn and T-Dog.

Glenn fought back his nausea as he pried open a tailgate.

"Andrea! Min-seon! Lori! Carol!" Lynn looked toward the women and the wounded. "Take Sophia and the children into the main house.

Gather all the food, medicine, water, fuel, and tools.

Be quick. We're leaving right away."

Sophia lay in Carol's arms, her little face pale and her eyes vacant.

Lori carried Carl and hurried toward the main house with Min-seon.

Finally, Lynn looked toward the center of the farm.

Hershel Greene knelt in the blood and filth, clutching a white coat riddled with bullet holes and stained with black blood-what remained of Annette, the veterinarian.

He trembled all over, weeping silently, his vacant gaze fixed on the stains.

Beth knelt beside him, clinging to his arm and crying without a sound.

Maggie stood a little farther away, not crying, her face flecked with mud and blood, her eyes cold and lucid as she gripped her lever-action rifle.

Lynn did not approach immediately. He directed the cleanup and scavenging.

While Davis and the others finished off the bodies, Merle and Glenn hauled hunting ammunition, canned food, gasoline, and machetes out of the pickups.

Andrea and the other women packed flour, canned corn, water, first-aid kits, diesel, and tools in the main house, piling them by the door.

Time passed.

The barn fire died down, leaving a smoking, charred frame.

Davis and Shane cleared out the scattered walkers in the surrounding wilderness.

The camp and the area around the main house were temporarily safe.

When the last report confirming the area was secure came in, Lynn knew the time had come.

He motioned for Rick to follow.

The sheriff's wounded leg had been bandaged. His face was pale, his gaze complicated.

The two walked toward Hershel's family.

The footsteps made Maggie look up. She watched Lynn with cold wariness, raising her rifle slightly before lowering it again.

Beth looked up too, fear and confusion in her eyes.

Lynn stopped a few paces from Hershel. "Mr. Greene."

Hershel shuddered and raised his head with difficulty. Only bleak despair remained in his eyes, and his lips trembled without making a sound.

"The farm is finished." Lynn's voice was calm and firm as his gaze swept over the burning barn and the bodies. "It isn't safe here anymore. The noise and fire will draw walkers. They'll surround this place soon. Staying means certain death."

Hershel shook.

Lynn looked at Maggie and Beth. "Your daughters are brave. They deserve to live."

Maggie's breathing quickened. She looked at Lynn, then at her father and sister.

"We have a base," Lynn continued. "At the zoo to the north. It has walls, defenses, and a water source. There's room to develop it.

We need a doctor and people who know how to farm. You need safety and companions."

His gaze returned to Hershel's unfocused eyes. "Join us. Come with us to the zoo and live."

Rick spoke at the right moment, his voice hoarse and sincere. "Hershel... Lynn's right. In this world... one person, or one family... can't survive alone. We need each other..."

He looked at the white coat. "Annette... Otis... wouldn't want you and the children waiting here to die."

Dead silence.

Only the crackle of embers and the wind remained.

Hershel's blank gaze passed over Lynn, Rick, Maggie, and Beth before settling on the bloodstained white coat again.

"Dad..."

Maggie's voice was choked but firm.

She crouched and took her father's cold, trembling hand, looking straight into his eyes. "Mom... is gone.

Otis... Jimmy... Patricia... they're all gone.

The things in the barn... were never them! They were monsters!

They killed Jimmy and Patricia and destroyed our home.

If we stay... we'll all die. Beth... is still so young..."

Tears spilled from her eyes, carrying a resolve that seemed like release.

Beth threw herself at her father and sobbed in his arms. "Daddy! I'm scared! Let's go! Please! Let's leave!"

Hershel trembled violently, a sound like broken bellows coming from his throat.

He looked at the bloodstained white coat, at the sobbing Beth and resolute Maggie, at his ruined home... The last of his resistance collapsed completely.

He let out a long sigh and slowly released the white coat with violently shaking hands. The rag slid into the bloody mud.

He raised his clouded, bloodshot eyes to Lynn. Nothing remained in them but boundless exhaustion and hollow resignation.

"...Go." Hershel's voice was so hoarse it was barely intelligible. "...Take us... away."

Maggie closed her eyes as tears fell, then firmly helped her drained father to his feet.

Beth helped, and Rick lent a hand.

Lynn nodded and turned.

"Everyone! Ten minutes! Load the supplies and the wounded! Get ready to leave!"

The order rang out like a gunshot.

The camp stirred into motion again as supplies were loaded.

Maggie and Beth packed the Greene family's food and veterinary kit.

Carol carried Sophia into the back seat of the Jeep, squeezing in with Carl and Lori.

With Min-seon and Davis helping him, Rick settled into the pickup's passenger seat.

Maggie and Beth helped Hershel into the rear of the RV.

Davis started the Jeep.

Merle tried starting the captured pickup. The engine coughed a few times, then roared to life. T-Dog and Glenn stuffed supplies into the bed.

Andrea and Shane took firing positions in the bed.

Daryl climbed onto his motorcycle, while Dale took the wheel of the RV.

Standing beside the Jeep, Lynn looked over the group: his own team, Rick's family, Carol and her daughter, and Hershel's newly joined family.

As the engines' roar drowned out the crackling embers, a cold electronic notification sounded in Lynn's mind, and a ghostly blue screen lit up at the edge of his vision:

[Ding!]

[Side quest: Save Hershel's family (completed)]

[Quest objectives: Ensure the survival of Hershel Greene (alive), Maggie Greene (alive), Beth Greene (alive), and key members of their farm (Patricia, Jimmy, etc.)]

[Key member status: Patricia (deceased), Jimmy (deceased), Otis (deceased). Core targets Hershel, Maggie, and Beth confirmed alive]

[Calculating quest results...]

[Quest rewards issued: Survival Points x 500, 9mm pistol rounds x 500, 5.56mm rifle rounds x 300, Character Creation Privilege x 1]

[Rewards have been delivered to system storage and may be retrieved at any time]

[Character Creation Privilege x 1: activated. The host may use this privilege at any time to create one special character consistent with the logic of the current world, with maximum initial loyalty (template selectable)]

The notification ended.

Ammunition appeared in the RV's storage chest, his points increased, and the character privilege awaited use.

Lynn's expression did not change. He opened the door and climbed into the Jeep's passenger seat. "Move out. Head for the zoo base."

Davis stepped on the gas, and the Jeep rolled over the muddy ground and surged out of the farm.

The RV, pickup, and Daryl's motorcycle followed close behind.

The convoy kicked up dust as it drove toward the northern wilderness in the morning light.

Behind them, the barn's charred frame swayed in the wind.