Prior to the infection, the world seemed grey to Maggie as she would watch Beth ride Nelly throughout the fields. She felt that God was giving up on the world, or as though the world was giving up on God. The following morning Hershel got up and looked at his crops, he knew the farm was suffering from a drought and once again it would be no easy day. He was getting tired due to his age and the farm is what he thought kept him alive; his life was in that farm and had been his families for 160 years.
About a week passed and Hershel looked over at the field as he always did and walking over to the chicken coup. Hershel walked up to it, and saw at a distance that a trespasser was walking towards him, he wondered if he should help or hide from this appeared-to-be drunk man.
"Sir, how can I help you?" Hershel asked calmly.
The man stumbled closer to Hershel and it appeared to Hershel that the drunk looked like he hadn't slept in days and his weight insisted that he hadn't eaten either.
"Oh dear, you need help? I have food inside, are you lost?" Hershel backed away from the man.
The man tripped over the wiring by the coup and grunted in a low voice. Hershel went to help him up and the man grabbed a chicken passing by and ripped a wing off and began to bite the chicken.
"Oh Lord have mercy, Sir! I can help!"
The man got back up covered in blood and went for Hershel, grabbing his arm he opened his mouth and went to bite down. Right before he managed to make a snack, the intoxicated man was yanked back and fell with a thud. Otis was standing there with a rifle in hand ready to stop the man from attacking Hershel again.
"He needs help! Lots of it! Otis, please show him his way off the property." Hershel commanded. Otis nudged the man to go but instead he stood up and tried attacking again. Otis pushed the man past the gate and locked it immediately. Instead of walking away from the barbed wire fence, the man climbed it, cutting every inch of his body. The man climbed to the top of the fence when his hand went through a thin wire and was cut down the middle. He continued to climb as if nothing happened.
"Get inside. I'll take care of this." Otis yelled to Hershel and Hershel did as he was told because he knew he couldn't do much about this issue.
Otis begged the man to go away but the man refused. I don't wanna shoot nobody, honest. Never have and never want to. Otis muttered barely loud enough for the crazy man to hear. Otis decided a simple plan and ran to the barn. The man chased after him and went inside the barn. Otis went through the back door and closed it. He then ran to the other side of the barn and locked it.
"Otis! Are you alright?" Hershel grabbed Otis and hugged him.
"Ya, the man is in the barn…" Otis said after a moment of studdering.
"That man is sick, what should we do" Hershel asked.
"Leave him, it's not safe to let him out, we can care for him at a distance until his drugs wear off or until his sickness is cured."
Maggie walks into the room puzzled, "what is going on?"
"Maggie a man is in the barn, don't go near it." Hershel said in a strict voice.
"I won't. Beth wants to know if she is safe to come out. She watched the ordeal from the window and is scared to death. She is hiding beside her bed." Maggie pointed upstairs.
Beth was crying next to her bed and jumped when Hershel walked into the room. She looked away then back at him.
"Are you okay?" She asked bawling.
"Honey, I'm okay. We're okay." Hershel tried comforting her.
They walked downstairs and Annette also had fresh tears on her face and kept looking over at the barn. "I was by the crops on the far side and I came back and Otis told me what happened."
Hershel looked over at Otis who was being clutched by his wife, Patricia. They looked worried. Hershel knew he was the only one who could calm everyone down at that moment and simply said, "He is locked away, we are safe, let's rest. I will sleep down here just to show security and that we are safe in here. I will keep an eye out on the barn."
The next day Hershel walked over to the barn, checked the lock and banged on the door.
"Sir, are you okay yet? I mean no harm. You probably blacked out, come talk to me by the door." Hershel said.
The man greeted Hershel with a loud bang and moaning, he was pushing against the door. Hershel jumped back and decided to go back inside. He had his hand over a bible as he was watching TV, not unusual for him because he usual read in that chair at night. His program was cut off for a "breaking news report", there was no sound, only a video of a man being chased by another man with blood all over himself.
A news anchor appeared, "Lock your doors, do not panic. There is a small outbreak of an unknown disease. It does not appear to be very contagious. Do not meet up with strangers. You are safe, stay indoors.
"God, help us all." Hershel said.
More chapters to come very soon (this is my first fanfiction) please review!