Destination: The Farm!
Magnus Vane sat beside the extinguished campfire, eating the food Andrea had brought him while the rest of the survivors gathered nearby.
Carol sat quietly across from him, her eyes still slightly red, but most of the grief and exhaustion from burying Ed had disappeared behind a distant expression.
Nobody seemed interested in conversation, and for a while the only sounds were spoons scraping against metal plates and the occasional movement around the damaged camp.
They had survived the attack, but the sight of walker bodies being dragged away had made it painfully clear that the quarry was no longer safe.
Merle apparently couldn’t tolerate the silence.
“What the hell is everybody looking so miserable for?
We won.” He leaned back with a crooked grin and glanced toward T-Dog.
“Few hours ago we were smashing dead bastards left and right, and some of us even managed to keep our hands attached this time.” The last remark was clearly aimed at T-Dog, and Merle shifted his weight as though he wouldn’t mind continuing the fight they had nearly started earlier.
T-Dog’s expression immediately hardened, but Shane stepped between the two before anything could happen.
“Merle, can you shut the hell up for five minutes?” Shane had already endured more than enough since Rick returned, and his patience was nearly nonexistent.
The life he had built around Lori and Carl during Rick’s absence had vanished overnight, his best friend was suddenly back in charge, and now Merle seemed determined to create another problem.
Merle opened his mouth, saw Shane’s expression, and surprisingly decided not to push it.
Amy finally broke the tension.
“So what do we do now?” Her question was directed toward everyone, but her eyes briefly settled on Magnus before moving toward Rick and Shane.
After the walker attack, nobody seriously believed they could simply repair the tents and pretend everything was fine.
Another herd could come through tomorrow, and next time they might not be awake and armed when it happened.
Dale adjusted his hat and looked around the group.
“We should hear everybody out before making a decision that affects all of us.” He wasn’t interested in forcing anyone to follow a particular person, but he also wasn’t willing to let one argument decide the future of the entire camp.
His gaze moved first toward Shane, then Rick, and finally Magnus.
Whether anyone officially called them leaders or not, those three had become the people everyone instinctively looked toward when something needed to be decided.
Shane stepped forward first.
“Fort Benning.” Several heads turned toward him as he continued, “It’s roughly a hundred miles from here, and last I heard, the military was still operating there.
We load up, move during daylight, keep the convoy together, and we could make it there in a couple of days without pushing too hard.” He looked around the circle, trying to read everyone’s reaction.
“If the Army is still holding that base, we’re better off behind military defenses than trying to fight walkers every night out here.”
His eyes eventually landed on Rick.
The edge in Shane’s voice softened slightly, because despite everything that had happened between them, Rick was still his closest friend.
Shane cared about Carl and Lori as well, perhaps more than he should have, and that complicated nearly every thought behind his recommendation.
Even so, Fort Benning sounded practical to him: soldiers, weapons, walls, supplies, and an organized defense.
Compared with the wreckage of the quarry camp, it was an easy argument to make.
Rick remained silent for several seconds before speaking.
“I think we should go to the CDC.” Shane’s jaw tightened immediately, but Rick continued before he could interrupt.
“If anyone knows what caused this or whether there’s a treatment, it’ll be the Centers for Disease Control.
We’ve got weapons and people who can fight, but we’ve also got children, older people, and families who can’t keep living like this forever.”
Rick looked toward Lori and Carl, then across the rest of the camp.
“Maybe the CDC still has people working.
Maybe they have power, medicine, information—anything that tells us what’s happening.” His voice carried more hope than certainty, but that hope immediately affected the others.
“If there’s even a chance they know how to stop this infection, I think we need to find out.”
Several survivors began quietly talking among themselves.
The CDC offered something Fort Benning couldn’t guarantee: the possibility that the disaster might not be permanent.
Dale looked interested, and Glenn shifted closer to Rick’s side without saying anything.
Glenn had already seen Rick risk himself repeatedly for people he barely knew, and if he had to choose between the two plans, he trusted Rick’s judgment more than Shane’s.
When Rick finished, nearly everyone looked toward Magnus.
He put down his food and remained quiet for a moment.
Magnus knew far more about what waited ahead than anyone around the camp.
He knew the CDC wasn’t the safe haven they imagined, Fort Benning wouldn’t become the sanctuary Shane wanted, and there were locations far better suited for long-term survival.
The prison immediately came to mind, with fences, watchtowers, cellblocks, and enough land to potentially support a large group.
But suggesting it now would create more problems than it solved.
Magnus had only been with these people for a short time, and there were already two competing plans.
Adding a third major destination like the prison could split the camp even further, and even if he convinced people to follow him, they weren’t strong enough to clear and hold the place yet.
The prison contained an unknown number of walkers, and its fences would constantly attract more from outside.
Taking it properly would require manpower, ammunition, supplies, and people willing to work together.
Magnus needed time.
He needed more levels.
More importantly, Rick had only just found Lori and Carl.
There was almost no chance he would abandon what appeared to be the safest path simply because Magnus told him about a prison none of them had seen.
So Magnus chose something easier.
“There’s another option,” he said.
“While I was moving around the outskirts of Atlanta, I heard about a farm farther south, well away from the main highways.” That explanation fit what everyone already knew about him and avoided contradicting his earlier statement that he wasn’t actually Army.
“It’s isolated, surrounded by woods and open land, and the owner is a veterinarian who knows farming.
If the place is still intact, there should be water, food production, livestock, and fewer walkers than anywhere near the city.”
“The farm?” Shane asked skeptically.
Magnus nodded.
“I’m not saying it’s permanent.
But right now, isolation matters more than concrete walls if we don’t have enough people to defend those walls.” He looked around at the tired survivors.
“We could recover, build up supplies, and decide what comes next without sleeping twenty miles from downtown Atlanta.”
Three possible destinations now sat in front of them.
The CDC.
Fort Benning.
The farm.
For several minutes, the camp broke into overlapping conversations.
Nobody wanted to make the wrong decision, because there was no longer a highway patrol, emergency service, or government hotline they could call if things went bad.
Picking a destination now meant gambling the lives of everyone traveling with them.
Fortunately, the camp had several strong personalities willing to make decisions, and the argument reached a conclusion faster than Magnus expected.
Rick would go to the CDC.
Lori and Carl were obviously going with him, while Dale, Glenn, Carol, Sophia, T-Dog, Jim, and Jacqui also chose to join that convoy.
Shane resisted longer than most, still insisting Fort Benning was the better option, until Lori finally made her own position clear.
“Carl is going with me, and I’m going with Rick.
We’re going to the CDC.”
Shane stared at her for a moment.
Then his shoulders dropped slightly.
“Fine.
I’m coming too.”
Magnus glanced between him and Lori and almost said something, but stopped himself.
Whatever complicated mess existed between those three was none of his business right now.
Shane joining Rick’s convoy was expected anyway, and separating him from Lori by force would only create a new conflict.
Magnus turned toward his own group.
Daryl and Merle were already sitting on their motorcycles, engines rumbling as they waited.
Merle twisted the throttle impatiently while Daryl watched Magnus with his usual guarded expression.
Both brothers had chosen the farm without much debate, which didn’t surprise Magnus; neither trusted government promises enough to feel strongly about the CDC, and Merle had even less interest in placing himself under military authority.
Nearby, Andrea sat behind the wheel of a seven-seat SUV while Amy leaned forward from the passenger side and waved brightly toward Magnus.
After what had happened during the walker attack, neither sister seemed eager to separate from the man who had kept the RV clear.
Andrea might not have said it openly, but Magnus knew saving Amy had earned him a considerable amount of trust.
Amy, meanwhile, appeared completely satisfied with the decision.
Magnus counted them.
Merle.
Daryl.
Andrea.
Amy.
Four people besides himself.
“That’s enough,” Magnus thought.
A larger group would require more food, more fuel, and more attention than he could provide right now.
With the Dixon brothers handling themselves and Andrea capable of looking after Amy, this small team would remain mobile without becoming helpless.
It wasn’t enough to take the prison, but it was more than enough for the farm.
His attention finally shifted toward the Morales family.
Morales stood beside his wife and children near their vehicle, already preparing to head in a different direction.
They had decided to travel toward Birmingham, hoping to find relatives there instead of following Rick or Magnus.
Magnus knew exactly how badly that decision could turn out, but he also knew he couldn’t force them to come with him.
He could warn them.
He could offer them a safer option.
But the final choice was theirs.
Magnus shook his head slightly as he watched them pack.
Following Rick to the CDC or traveling with Magnus toward the farm would both give the family better odds than setting out alone, but Morales had already made up his mind.
Trying to drag unwilling people into his group would only create resentment and eventually become another problem.
Everyone had to choose their own road.
Sometimes survival depended on making the right choice.
And sometimes people only understood that after it was too late.
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