The group remained quiet, all taking in the information that had just been presented to them. Sadie's eyes grew, before turning around and looking up at Daryl. He continued to look at Glenn before staring at Rick, then at Shane. The group stood, Shane speaking first.
"What did'ja say Glenn? So I know I heard you correctly?"
"You heard what he said," Sadie spat, on the outside brave, her insides petrified.
Shane glared at her momentarily before puffing his chest and heading down towards the barn. The rest of camp stood as well.
Sadie pushed herself off of Daryl's legs as she stood, Daryl pulling her by the hand briefly before continuing to stomp out of camp down the dirt path.
By the time they made it past the tractor and in front of the now dangerous building, Shane waltzed right up to the two vast doors, peaking in between the slats.
" You cannot tell me you're alright with this," Shane growled as he stomped back past Rick.
"No, I'm not but we're guests here, this isn't our land." Rick retorted.
"Oh God, this is our LIVES man!" Shane shouted.
"Lower your voice!" Lori hushed, a hint of anxiousness in her voice.
"We can't just sweep this under the rug." Andrea interjected.
"It ain't right, not remote." T-Dog agreed.
"We either gotta go in there, we gotta make things right or we just gotta go; now we have been talkin' about Fort Benning for a long time-" Shane continued.
"We can't go," Rick raised his voiced.
"Why, Rick, Why?" Shane quipped.
"Cause my daughter's still out there" Carol stepped forward, Sadie stood behind her, hugging her arms close to her chest, swaying on the balls of her feet.
"Okay, okay," Shane sighed mockingly, raising his hands to his face and exhaled, "I think it's time we all just start to consider the other possibility."
"Shane, we're not leaving Sophia behind." Rick spoke.
"We're close to finding this girl, I found her damn doll two days ago." Daryl raised his hand, crossing in front of Carol.
"You found her doll Daryl, that's what you did, YOU FOUND A DOLL." Shane spoke with a demeaning tone.
"You don't know what the HELL you're talkin' about!" Daryl stepped forward, leering at the man.
"I'm just sayin' what needs to be said, if ya don't get a good lead in the first 48 hours..." Shane blathered on.
Rick had moved closer between them. Sadie reached out, grabbing Carol's wrist and squeezed briefly.
"Lemme tell you somethin' else man, if she was alive out there, saw you comin', all methed out, with your buck knife, geeks ears 'round your neck, she would run in the other direction man!" Shane finished, the veins in his neck bulging.
Daryl stood a moment before launching himself at Shane, "..Fuckin' Cop!"
The group converged as the two men began to go at each other; Rick had a plam on each man's chest, keeping them apart. Carol reached to pull Daryl back, as well as Lori grabbing for Shane. Glenn hollered towards Shane, pushing him back as Andrea pushed Daryl back towards Sadie.
"BACK OFF!" Rick yelled at his long ago partner.
"Keep your hands off me," Shane glared at Lori.
" Just let me talk to Herschel, lemme figure it out!" The men continued.
"MAN WHAT DO YOU GOT TO FIGURE OUT?" Shane stomped towards Rick, spitting.
"Enough!" Lori cursed at Shane, pushing him back slightly in what strength she had.
"If we're gonna stay, if we're going to clear this barn, I have to talk him into it, this is his land." Rick mustered.
"Herschel," Dale finally entered the fray, " sees those things in there as people, sick people; his wife, his, his step son.." he stammered.
"You knew?" Rick answered astonished.
"Yesterday, I talked to Herschel." Dale responded, as-a-matter-of-factly.
"And you waited the night?" Shane began to speak again.
"I thought we could survive one more night, we DID." Dale glared at Shane before turning back to Rick, " I was waiting 'til this morning to say something but Glenn wanted to be the one."
"The man is crazy Rick, if Herschel thinks those things are alive..." He was cut off as the doors from the barn began to push outwards, the moans and growls from the walkers inside.
The rest of the group backed away; Daryl and Rick stood their ground. Shane shrugged his shoulders angrily before heading back to camp. Sadie tip toed quietly, grabbing Daryl's wrist.
"Daryl..." she began, before he turned, staring down at his girl. He grabbed her arm as he pulled her back with him towards the camp, the rest of the group a few paces away. He hadn't answered her; but she could tell that the wheels in his brain were turning.
"Daryl," Sadie pulled back, slowly them both to a halt.
"What?" He responded sullenly.
"What are you thinkin' about, right now?"
"Nuthin', I'm fine."
Sadie crossed her arms across her chest, "Daryl Alden, that's a bullshit lie and y'know it."
"Oh, I'm suppose ta' just tell ya what's on my mind when I know somethins' botherin' the hell outta you and ya won't say shit!"
His voice raised, and Sadie stepped backwards.
"It's not that easy..." she trailed off, looking past the man's shoulder.
"What's not easy?" Daryl's eyes narrowed, stepping closer.
Sadie's eyes water and she sighed deep, turning her head in a weird form of nod before her eyes landing on Shane; her heart rising in her throat.
"I can't, okay?"
"SeeSee, the hell is wrong?"
"Daryl I wish I could tell you," she reached out, and he backed away before walking past her in the direction of the stables.
"Daryl!"
He continued to stomp away, waving his hand dismissively.
Sadie turned on her heels , raising her hands to her face until a hand rested on her shoulder.
"Trouble in paradise?"
She turned to face Shane, wiping her eyes, and tripping backwards.
"Get the fuck away from me!" She hissed, narrowing her eyes.
"What? Just wanted to see how you were doin', the walkers in the barn were..."
"Leave me alone, that's shit."
"Yer right, just makin' sure you haven't said anythin' to anyone..."
"I haven't, so leave me alone..."
Sadie turned back to camp as she continued to hold in her tears, almost running Carol over who had some dirty clothes in her arms.
"Oh Carol, Carol I'm sorry..." Sadie knelt down, sniffling and retrieving the objects.
"Sadie," Carol knelt beside her, resting her hands on top of hers, "Sadie, stop." She calmed her with her soothing voice, "What's wrong hun?"
Sadie continued to stare at the ground, "Nothing, why?"
Carol grabbed Sadie's chin in her hand and turned it towards her, taking a thumb and rubbing a straggling tear off her cheek and spoke.
"Now why don't I believe you one bit?" She smiled, bringing the girl up to her feet.
"I swear, nothing is-" Sadie began.
"Has Daryl...?"
"Daryl's done nothing wrong, I just, I-" Sadie breathed, turning and looking back behind her, watching Shane examine the barn before turning back to Carol.
"Can you keep a secret?"
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The morning had grown into early afternoon and Sadie had took a long nap in the tent before keeping herself busy. Daryl had headed down to the stables, and she hadn't seen him since.
Stretching, she exited the tent and headed over to the RV, climbing atop and sitting quietly next to Glenn without a sound. She leaned closer, resting her head on his shoulder underneath the candy cane umbrella.
"Hey stranger," she sighed.
"Hey", Glenn rested the rifle on his lap, before wrapping an arm around her, "How come I never see you anymore?"
He joked, squeezing her from the side.
"Look who's talking, Mr. Mack Daddy With Maggie." She giggled as Glenn's eyes grew.
"How do you know? Nobody in camp knows," he turned to face her, astonished.
"I can see the way you two act around each other, the way she looks at you." Sadie smiled.
"Like the way you look at Daryl?" Glenn teased.
"Yes," Sadie stuck out her tongue then turned to stare out at the field, as she saw Daryl and Carol walking far off down towards the small pond on the property, her heart raced and she caught her breath.
"What? What's wrong?" Glenn stood a top the RV quickly, raising his fire arm.
"Nothing trigger," Sadie hushed him, pushing his gun down, "easy there, I didn't see anything bad."
"Oh, good." Glenn sighed and resumed his position back on his chair.
"So Glenn, may I ask you something?"
"Fire away padawan."
She smiled, "How did you find out that there were walkers in the barn?"
"Ahh, that," he laughed anxiously, waving his finger in the air, "kind of a little embarassing."
"Oh come on," she nudged him, "we're best friends, you can tell me."
Glenn stretched before turning back to her.
"Well, remember when we had dinner in the farmhouse and Maggie and I were sat at the "kiddie table" as I'd like to call it?"
"Mmmhmm," she nodded.
"Well I suggested that we, y'know," Glenn trailed off.
Knowing exactly what he meant, Sadie toyed with him, "No, I don't know Glenn, what ever do you mean?" She stuck her tongue out.
"To do it in the hayloft, sheesh!" He responded, exasperated.
"Oh Glenn you sly dog you!" Sadie belted out laughing, slapping her hand against her thigh.
"Very funny," Glenn tried to keep a straight face, but a small smirk began to creep in the corner of his mouth.
"How's things now?" Sadie asked.
"She won't talk to me because I told you guys about the walkers in the barn."
"Well chief, I think you'll find the right words to say," she answered, standing and straightening out her shirt.
"Don't mention anything, okay?" Glenn stood as well, hugging his friend.
"When d'you get off watch?"
"In a little bit, see ya soon?"
"Sure loverboy," Sadie giggled as she descended the ladder onto the soil, and headed back over to the tent to grab a spare book to read on the wrap around porch.
x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x
After being well into one of probably the last books in the great state of Georgia, Sadie's company had grown on the porch. Carl, Beth, and Patricia had greeted her, and been well into a quiet game of checkers. Eventually, Glenn and Maggie had joined at the porch as well, sitting on the bottom step and giggling to each other. It wasn't until the rest of the group started to show up that Sadie lost her concentration on the book and watched from the top step.
"Do you know what's goin' in?" T-Dog spoke to Glenn, Andrea alongside him.
"Where's everyone?" Andrea chimed in.
"You haven't seen Rick?" Glenn questioned, genuinely confused.
"Went off with Herschel, we're supposed to leave a couple hours ago." Andrea continued.
"Yeah you were, what the hell?"
Sadie's head jerked to the familiar voice as Daryl's voice entered the conversation and Carol beside him.
"Rick told us he was goin' out." Carol spoke.
"Damnit, isn't anyone taking this seriously, we got us a damn trail!" Daryl raised his voice slightly, turning in the direction towards the barn, waving his arm in a pointing gesture, " Huh, here we go..." He trailed off as Shane crossed the dirt path, the bag of guns in his hand.
By this time, Sadie had left her book next to her pack of cigarettes and stepped down off the steps on the dead grass, her arms resting on the railing. Shane had made it closer to the group.
"What's all this?" Daryl pointed to the guns.
"You with me man?" He growled, handing off a shot gun to Daryl, who promptly loaded it without question, "Time to grow up! You already got yours?" Shane motioned to Andrea, who nodded and agreed.
"Yeah, where's Dale?" She asked innocently.
"He's on his way," Shane stomped further towards the steps, handing off a handgun to T-Dog.
"Thought we couldn't carry," T-Dog frowned at the man.
"Well we can when we have to," Shane turned towards the rest of the porch; Sadie stood with her arms on her hips next to Maggie; Carl, Patricia, and Beth had abandoned their game and moved to the steps, "Now look, it was one thing sittin' around picking daisies when thought this place was suppose to be safe, but now we know it ain't."
Shane turned again to the group, this time offering a gun to Glenn.
"How 'bout you man, you gonna protect yours?"
Glenn sighed, looking at Maggie, then reluctantly grabbing the fire arm.
Shane then turned to Maggie, his eyes bouncing from her to Sadie rapidly, back to Maggie.
"Can you shoot?"
"Can you stop?" She glared at the man, "You do this, you hand out these guns, my dad will make you leave tonight."
"We HAVE to stay Shane," Carl piped up, coming down the steps and standing next to Sadie, grabbing her wrist; Sadie promptly grabbed his hand for a brief moment, and squeezed back in reassurance.
"What is this?" Lori had shown up, crossing the porch towards the group.
"We ain't goin' anywhere, okay?" Shane assured Carl, " Now look Herschel, he's just gonna understand okay, well he's gonna have to; Now we need to find Sophia, am I right?"
Shane knelt in front of the boy, Sadie's chest rose up and down rapidly, she leered at the crazed man. In her brain she yelled, kicked, screamed, pulling the small hand gun from his and shooting him square between the eyes; but on the outside, she stood, her hands shaking, barely visible.
"Now I want you to take this, you take it Carl, you keep your mother safe, you do whatever it takes, you know how, go on take the gun and do it."
Lori stomped down the steps, pushing her son back behind her.
"Rick said no guns, this is not your call, this is not your decision to make!"
"Oh shit." T-Dog broke the attention of the group from Shane and Carl to down along the tree line; Herschel, Jimmy, and Rick had two walkers in snare poles, heading in the direction of the barn.
In seconds, Shane had bolted from the front of the porch, sprinting in the direction of Rick and Herschel; Jimmy was clapping his hands together, drawing the walkers attention as the other two pushed them towards the direction of the barn. The rest of the group were starting to catch up to Shane as he swung the iron fence open, starting to yell at Herschel.
"MAN WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOIN'?"
"Shane, just back off!" Rick pleaded.
"Why do your people have guns?" Herschel hollered over to Rick.
"ARE YOU KIDDING ME? SEE? YOU SEE? YOU SEE WHAT THEY'RE HOLDING ONTO?" Shane continued on his tirade.
" I see WHO I'm hanging onto," Herschel ignored the man circling him.
Rick interjected, " Shane, let us do this, then we can talk!" He pushed the walker that had been wearing a garage jump suit when he turned.
By this time, everyone had made it into the fenced in area; Sadie stood in no man's land, not exactly with everyone else, but not the back of the group. Her heartbeat throbbed in her ears, anger boring on Shane. Sadie's eyes darted back and forth between everyone, and she felt so helpless. She snapped back to attention as Shane retrieved the gun he had from behind his back, swinging it in his hand, like he was trying to conduct a class.
"Hey Hershel man, let me ask you something, could a living breathing person, could they walk away from this?"
He pulled the trigger, unloading a couple rounds into the female walker. Everyone ducked as the sounds split the air.
"Whoa!" Glenn, who had his shot gun prepared, shook as he witnessed what was in front of him. Herschel's face contorted in fear. The walker, unphased, persisted; snapping and reaching in hopes for food.
"Shane, stop!" Rick pleaded, the male walker still on the snare pole, Daryl's gun aimed at the back of it's head.
"That's three rounds in the chest! Could someone who's alive, could they just take that? WHY IS IT STILL COMIN'?"
He unloaded another few rounds into the walker.
"That's its heart! Its lungs! WHY IS IT STILL COMIN' ?"
"SHANE! ENOUGH!" Rick screamed.
The walker's body shook in a weird dance, still snarling.
"Yeah, you're right man, that is enough." Shane finished, stomping right up to the walker and planting a round square between it's eyes.
Sadie rose her hand to her chest, feeling her heart in her chest race.
"ENOUGH risking our lives for a little girl who's gone! ENOUGH living next to a barn full of things that are trying to kill us! ENOUGH Rick, it ain't like it was before."
The man's eyes had a fire within them, the same eyes that Sadie had remember seeing when he was on top of her; when he snaked his hands into her against her will.
"If you all want to live, if you all want to survive, you have to fight for it! I'm talkin' about fightin', right here, right now!" he roared; and with that Shane turned on the group and charged towards the barn, tearing the lock and chain away with a pick axe.
From there, Sadie could all but watch as an execution line formed at the front of the barn. The air rang with the explosion of gunfire, ripping through walker upon walker the spilled out of the barn. Sadie for the first time in her life, rose her hands to her ears as Daryl, T-Dog, Shane, Glenn, and Andrea poured lead into the dead.
As the last bullet flew, she lowered her hands, holding her arms to her chest. Everyone was quiet; all that was heard was breathing coming from the inside of the barn. As Sadie stared, she first saw the tiny pair of ankles that had belong to that little girl she grew to love, Sophia, with a giant bite on her shoulder, and she was snarling.
Sadie felt a brush of air as Carol ran past her, trying to get to her daughter, but was stopped by Daryl, who wrapped his arms around her, pulling the woman to the ground. Behind Sadie she heard the cries and gasps of Lori, who had a crying Carl in her arms, situated in her lap. Sadie still couldn't believe that the little girl she had cared for had became the one thing she had feared.
Tears welled in her eyes as she heard the sounds of the people she grew to care about heart's break as Sophia continued to stumble towards them. Sadie dropped to her knees, holding herself in as the tears flowed down her cheeks as she watched through blurred eyes as Rick gather himself, cocking his firearm and raising it towards the little girl.
Passing between Shane and Andrea, Rick raised his gun and fired, ending the hope that everyone had been clinging to.
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SWEET LORD. Now I don't want to be hearing any complain' okay? haha, an extra extra long chapter for you all to hold off until the show comes back in a few weeks. I've decided that I'm going to go along with the show, doin' my thang, just because. And I know that I've kept a couple things open so you'll just have to stick around and wait now don'tcha? :D But you know the drill, questions, comments, concerns, rants, and reviews please! :D xx