Walkers in the barn. They were so not prepared to have this danger so close to where they had been sleeping. They had Carl and numerous women. And Lori was pregnant. What if one of them had gotten out. All it would take is one.
Shane ran his hand over his bald head. He was done. Daryl emerged from the house, still limping slightly but growled at anyone that tried to offer him assistance. Approaching the other man, Shane felt himself soften slightly, seeing the bruises and the marks as evidence that he had almost died. "Walkers in the barn," he told him simply. "We gotta clear it out."
Daryl looked at him, full on blank stare before muttering a quiet, "What the fuck?"
"Get your bow, man." Stalking off towards the RV, he had one purpose. Obtain a weapon that had enough rounds to clear a hoard.
"Shane!" Rick came running. "You can't do this. Those are Hershel's people. He thinks they're just sick. We gotta talk to him. We're on his land."
"Fuck his land, Rick!" he bellowed. "You want to just be walker bait, be my guest. I can't have Lori and Carl next to a disaster waiting to happen. I'm clearing it out with or without your help and Hershel's permission. The man is fucked in the head if he thinks he can save them." Grabbing his gun and bolt cutters, he stalked off towards the barn, already seeing Daryl checking his bow and arrows out in the field.
As he walked, he shouted at others to get their weapons. It took one squeeze of the bolt cutters to open the door. Stepping back, he readied his aim as the hungry bastards pushed the door open, slowly stumbling out, sniffing the air for their next meal in their new found freedom.
Hershel came running down with his daughters Maggie and Beth at the sound of the first shot. There was nothing they could do now as the men raised their weapons and fired. Hershel screamed as the bullets riddled walker after walker. "Stop it! Just stop it! These are my people! Get off my land! Rick, control your men!"
Shane turned to face the old vet, rage building in him. "You think they're just sick?" He took aim and fired at the chest of the closest walker, shooting a hole right through the heart. "There's the heart. She's still coming. Still think she's just sick?" He fired again, this time aiming lower. "Kidneys and stomach." He fired again, up and to the left in the chest. The walker stumbled but still kept coming straight for him. "Lungs. Still think she's sick?" He took aim one final time at the head, shooting her in the middle of her forehead. She finally went down in a heap. "You think she's still sick, Hershel. You better wake up old man. You have a disaster waiting to happen."
Rick raised his weapon along side him, killing the walkers as they emerged. There was nothing else to do. The fight was over. If they didn't kill them all now, they wouldn't survive the day. Maggie and Beth wailed as they saw their mother come stumbling out, looking around at the small group gathered. Shane took aim and she went down. The last of the herd slowly came out, moaning and groaning, looking for their next meal at the rich, sweet smell of flesh engulfed their nostrils. Quickly each one met their fate.
Then she came out. Daryl paused, lowering his crossbow. Carol screamed somewhere behind him but he paid her no heed. There was Sophia. She had been here the entire time. Time seemed to slow down as she stumbled forward. Carol tried to rush past him but he grabbed her, holding her to his body as the sobs of her sorrow wracked through her. The field had gone quiet with the lack of gunfire. Rick stepped up, tears in his eyes as he fired the trigger, dropping Sophia where she stood.
Daryl let go. Carol rushed forward, grabbing at the body of her lost daughter, sobbing quietly.
Both Shane and Rick turned towards Hershel. "I didn't know…," he tried to reason.
"You had that little girl here the entire time?" Shane screamed.
"Shane-" Rick started.
"No, man. Daryl nearly killed himself looking for her and she was here the entire time. You never thought to tell us that you had a little girl in there?" He shook his head, walking away.
They buried the ones they knew and loved underneath an old tree. Kind words were said about their lost ones. Daryl loving placed a Cherokee rose on Sophia's grave after everyone had left, thinking that he would be able to say his goodbyes in peace. The heavy crunch of the ground under a hard boot behind him though gave Shane away as he approached. "Bull in a china shop," Daryl muttered.
"Can't sneak up on you, man."
"You can't. Walk like an ox."
Shane stood silently staring at Daryl's back. The blood staining his shirt through his bandage made him grimace. "I'm sorry man."
Daryl stood, turning to face him and gave a one shoulder shrug. "'Sall right. Least we know where she is." Stepping forward, he risked raising a hand to try to touch the hunter's face, but he pulled away. "Look man… last night… I was high…"
Shane smiled and looked away. "Is this the 'it's not you its me' speech? Gonna fuck me and leave me?"
Daryl snorted. "It's not like that. We didn't…" He stubbed his boot in the ground. "Did we? I don't remember that part…"
Shane snorted. "No. I jacked you off and then you wanted to return the favor but Rick walked in the room."
Rick. Daryl sighed as he remembered their conversation in the woods. He wasn't lying that he was interested. Rick was the kindest, strongest man he had ever met. Shane was intriguing, but he reminded him a lot of his brother and dad. All brute with kind words to try to soothe you over to trust him. He shook his head. He wasn't sure where any of this was headed but it was probably best to stop it all before anything else got started. "I just can't man… I'm not gay. 'S nothing against you or anything like that." He looked back over at the camp as the women busied themselves making the evening meal. "And ya got Lori and the baby."
"Now we both know I could never claim that baby. That's Rick's kid in the end, even if it has my blood."
Daryl nodded. "Yeah, but still. You should care about that more than some lowlife like me."
Shane shook his head, unable to believe the words coming out of Daryl's mouth. "You ain't no lowlife, Daryl. You nearly killed yourself looking for that girl when everyone else had given up. You're every bit as good as Rick and me."
Daryl shook his head, trying to end the conversation and walk back to camp but Shane's strong hand on his arm stopped him from walking past. "I mean it, Daryl." He ducked his head slightly, trying to catch the downcast blue eyes. "You are a good man."
There was no dirt to hide his blush this time as he pulled his arm out of the other's grasp and walked back towards camp, Shane's words rolling through his mind on repeat.
Rick caught him as he walked past camp. "Daryl, can I have a word?"
He sighed. He was really getting sick of people trying to talk to him today. Giving a single nod of approval, Rick stepped in next to him walking over to Daryl's camp. "I'm sorry about what happened today. I know how hard you were looking for Sophia."
"It's all right. Nothin' we could do."
"No. And I know Carol appreciates how you continued to look for her. We all do. You sacrificed a lot for her."
"Yeah, now I guess we can move on since we found what we were lookin' for."
Rick ran his hand through his hair, looking back up at the house. "Yeah… I don't know how much longer Hershel will let us stay here, but its worth asking still I suppose. This is a nice setup."
Daryl snorted. "Yeah, barn full of walkers. Wonder what else he's hidin' from us."
With a long sigh, Rick stepped forward, taking Daryl's shoulders in his hands. "We appreciate you, Daryl. I want you to know that. I hope today, and last night, didn't change your opinion of us."
"Naw. Always knew you were a good man, Rick." Warm, work-rough hands ran down his arms, sending a chill down Daryl's spine.
"As are you. I wanted to talk with you a little bit more about what we said in the woods, but I know today probably isn't the day."
Daryl pulled away, walking towards his tent. "Don't need to talk about nothin'. Was just words. Your wife is alive and pregnant. You should go be with her."
Rick's face scrunched as he moved to follow him. "No, Daryl it ain't like that. That's not what I wanted to say."
"Well it should be what you say. Your wife is pregnant, Rick. You shouldn't be fuckin' around with someone like me. Give you some kind of redneck disease, isn't that what Shane said around the fire that one night?"
Recoiling from Daryl's words, Rick wasn't sure what should be his next move. This wasn't the way he was hoping for this conversation to go. He knew he shouldn't have brought it up right now. Today was not the day. Daryl was hurting and it was evident, whether he wanted to admit to it or not. Sophia had become his purpose and now he had lost that. He watched as the hunter grabbed his bow and arrows from his tent. "Daryl. Shane didn't know what he was saying and you shouldn't believe that at all. Yes Lori is pregnant and I think we both know whose baby that is. We were having problems in our marriage before this whole… before the world went to shit, okay? My marriage wasn't salvable then and it's not salvable now. I wanted to ask you for a chance, not push you to the curb."
Daryl nodded, looking down at his bow. "It's ok. I said it for ya. Goin' huntin'. I'll be back before the sun goes down."
And with that, he turned and headed for the woods. Rick watched his back as he walked away, dumbfounded at the turn in conversation. Turning back towards camp he saw Lori staring at him intently, Shane a ways behind her looking towards him as well.