The commotion drew the attention of others nearby.
Maggie and Andrea, who had been near the main house, ran over. When they heard what had happened, their faces immediately changed.
"I'm going to tell Dad and Glenn right away! They're still reinforcing the fence!" Without hesitation, Maggie turned and ran toward the farm fence.
The color drained from Andrea's face in an instant.
Dale had gone into the woods alone.
And in those very woods, a walker that Carl had accidentally "released" was wandering around.
If Dale came to harm because of her thoughtless words, because he had stormed off to cool down…
The thought alone made it hard for her to breathe.
Regret and fear surged up, drowning out all her previous anger and stubbornness.
"Dale!" Andrea cried out, her voice breaking. "Dale is still in the woods!"
Her words hit like another bombshell. Everyone froze for a moment before realizing just how serious the situation was.
Lori's face turned pale at once.
Carl's accidental act of "releasing" the walker might indirectly get Dale killed.
"Oh my God…" Lori covered her mouth, her eyes filled with panic.
She turned to Calista, rushed over, and grabbed her arm like a lifeline, her voice urgent. "Calista! Please, help us! Rick and the others are still on the other side of the farm reinforcing the fence. They won't make it in time! We can't let anything happen to Dale, and we can't, we can't let Carl…"
She didn't finish, but Calista understood.
Dale could not die, and Carl could not bear the guilt of "killing" a teammate because of a child's recklessness. That would devastate both the group and the child.
Calista looked at Lori and Andrea, who was on the verge of breaking down. "Let's go. We'll search inside. Stay quiet. Use melee weapons. Avoid firing guns if possible so we don't attract more walkers."
Andrea practically stumbled as she rushed in the direction Dale had gone. Lori handed her son to Carol and followed close behind, her face pale.
Calista drew her dagger and followed calmly.
As dusk approached, the woods felt even more eerie than during the day.
Twisted roots and dense undergrowth swayed in the wind, as if something might leap out from the shadows at any moment.
The wind howled through the treetops, masking faint sounds and amplifying the fear in their hearts.
"Dale! Dale! Where are you? Answer me!" Andrea ignored Calista's warning and shouted, her voice trembling with tears as it echoed through the silent woods.
"Andrea, keep your voice down!" Lori urged nervously, though her own voice shook uncontrollably.
She worried about Dale, feared hearing a terrible answer, and dreaded that the walker might be drawn by the noise.
Calista did not stop Andrea from calling out. She focused instead on scanning the ground and the surroundings, searching for any traces Dale might have left behind.
They stumbled through the woods, step by uneven step. Time dragged on, each second unbearably long.
Andrea's cries grew increasingly desperate, and Lori's heart sank little by little.
Calista suddenly stopped, her gaze fixed on a patch of bushes.
The ground there was marked by chaotic signs of trampling and dragging, and several leaves were caught on dark scraps of fabric.
Andrea and Lori saw it too, and their breathing hitched.
Just then...
"Ah.!!"
A short, agonized scream burst from the deeper darkness not far ahead.
The voice was old and familiar. It was Dale.
The scream cut off abruptly, as if something had forcibly silenced him.
"Dale!!!"
Andrea let out a heart-wrenching scream and rushed toward the sound without a second thought.
Lori followed close behind, her face drained of color.
Calista's eyes sharpened. She tightened her grip on the dagger and quickly followed.
Her heart clenched. That scream suggested the worst might already have happened.
Was Dale still alive?
Could they make it in time?
Driven by instinct, Andrea and Lori ran frantically toward the source of the sound, with Calista right behind them.
They pushed through a patch of thorns, and the sight before them nearly froze their blood.
In the beam of the flashlight, Dale lay on his back on the ground, both hands braced desperately against the shoulders and chest of a walker.
It was the same one Carl and Sofia had encountered earlier that day.
Its body was shriveled, its skin gray and lifeless. Its rotting mouth gaped open as its thin yet powerful claws raked wildly at Dale's abdomen.
Dale's shirt had already been torn open, but fortunately, the old man's undershirt underneath was holding up for now, preventing the claws from tearing straight through.
Even so, he was clearly exhausted. His face was twisted with fear and pain, and he was on the verge of giving out.
"Dale!" Andrea's eyes burned with fury as she instinctively raised her gun.
"Don't shoot! It's too close!" Calista shouted sharply.
The light was dim, and the two were tangled together. A stray bullet could easily hit Dale.
In that split second, Andrea understood.
She dropped the gun, screamed, and lunged forward, grabbing one of the walker's arms from the side and pulling back with all her strength.
"Get away! You monster!" Lori also surged forward with desperate courage, grabbing the walker's other arm and its filthy hair, dragging it backward with everything she had.
The combined force of the two women slowed the walker's downward pressure, giving Dale a brief moment to breathe.
But he was still pinned beneath it, the rotting face only inches from his own.
Now.
Calista seized the opening created by Andrea and Lori and stepped in swiftly.
Without hesitation, the dagger in her right hand flashed coldly as she drove it straight into the walker's open mouth with precise force, the blade piercing through to the back of its skull.
The walker froze.
The sickening guttural sound stopped.
Its clawing ceased, its cloudy eyes went still, and then its full weight collapsed downward.
"Pull it off him!" Calista ordered, yanking the dagger free and drawing out a stream of thick, dark fluid.
Only then did Andrea and Lori react. Working together, they struggled to drag the now lifeless walker off Dale and shove it aside.
Dale lay limp on the ground, gasping for air. His chest rose and fell violently, his eyes unfocused. He was clearly still in shock.
His face and body were covered in foul-smelling slime and dirt flung from the walker during the struggle.
...
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