Chapter thirteen: I'll just pat my own shoulder.
"We're not so different, you and I."
Well it turned out that Hershel was only too happy about loaning out his shower, but only if we agreed to go easy on the hot water, since the boiler was running off generators, like at the CDC. It didn't matter, I was only going to be under the spray for a few minutes, hoping to cool myself down after the day's heat; I used a sample of shampoo I'd found in the bottom of my back pack to wash my hair, it was supposed to smell like strawberries, but I found it more similar to coconut or almond instead. It wasn't bad, just not what I would have expected; I also used my own towel to dry off, not believing in using other people's belongings without permission, which I did not have.
When I got out, I braided my hair in a single red braid, letting it dry that way to keep it out of my way; as I returned downstairs, I smiled a Beth, who was sat doing a puzzle.
"Hello, I'm Ellie." I said kindly and she smiled.
"Beth, Maggie's sister." I nodded and then sat opposite her.
"Are you havin' any fun?" She shook her head. "Don't look like a very easy puzzle."
"It's not, but I think that's what I like about it, takes my mind off everything going on." She replied and I stared at the table top, wondering what else I could try and talk to the girl about. "It's alright, no one really knows how to talk to me, I'm not old enough for adult talk but I'm too old for talking like Carl or Sophia."
"You sound like my brother, he was always tellin' us we didn't know what his life was like. Dumb kid, we're all young once." Beth looked at me in surprise.
"You have a brother?" I nodded.
"Three of them actually, Sam, Phineas and Jonah…triplets and all with red hair like mine and they're about six or seven years older than I am." I responded and she leant closer. "Sam, his real name is Adriel; our mom had a weird fascination with embarrassin' her kids. There's Adriel, Phineas and Jonah and I'm Elyssa…with an E." We laughed and I shrugged. "What do you expect; her name was Doralie-Edna."
"That is just awful." Beth commented and I nodded in agreement. "Do you think they're out there somewhere…your brothers?"
"I do, the three stooges were all in construction, so you can just imagine the trouble they used to get up to." I finished, getting up and patting the table top. "Well, goodnight, I had a long day and accordin' to your Dad, I was supposed to rest up today."
I headed out into the yard, looking around at the falling sun and wondering where the Redneck had taken my tent away to, I glanced around and saw it set up next to his before I frowned. Walking over, I saw that Daryl's tent was zipped shut already and decided to keep going, further into the field where I sat down in the grass and looked at the fence that blocked us from the cattle yard; back in the main camp they were arguing over something, I could hear them, complaining that Hershel was going to kick them off the farm and I sighed heavily.
"You shouldn't be out here." I looked up at Andrea, who was scowling. "It's not safe." I didn't answer her, so she sat next to me, knees bunched up and her arms wrapped around them. "Daryl isn't interested in anyone in camp you know that right? He probably just sees you as a little sister he was forced to babysit." I stayed silent, which annoyed Andrea more. "Most of the times he went looking for you and Sophia, I was the one he requested to go with him. Not Rick or Shane, me, that must mean he trusts me more than the others right?"
"I don't know." I finally whispered, standing up and brushing down my pants before heading into my tent, ignoring what the blond had said until I was laying in my sleeping bag, frowning up at the tent.
I didn't want to get up the next morning, sitting cross legged in my tent fiddling with my bag straps, trying to make them look less like they were falling apart and more like they were supposed to look this battered. Eventually though, Rick was outside telling me to come and get some breakfast with the others like a normal person; I sighed and put down my bag, following him to the campfire in their camp.
I sat down on the floor next to Dale, who handed down a plate of food and as I set in, Glenn set his food down and stood, wringing his hand nervously,
"So um…guys?" Everyone looked up at him expectantly. "So…the barn is full of Walkers." I choked on my mouthful and looked at him incredulously; as did Shane and Daryl, who had paused with his fork halfway to his mouth. It took less than about thirty minutes for Shane to have gathered the bulk of the group in front of the barn, pacing back and forth in front of the doors before going up close and peering through the tiny gap in the doors.
We all heard the snarling and rasping as he stepped back, one of them was pressed tight against the door, as if it was about to burst through at any moment.
"You cannot tell me you're alright with this Rick." Shane snarled before rubbing his head agitatedly as his friend shook his head.
"No I'm not, but this isn't our land, we're guests here." Rick argued and no one seemed happy about the situation.
"This is our lives we're talking about here." I watched Lori rolling her eyes with a sigh.
"Lower your voices." She warned, not that either of the men listened to her.
"You can't mean to just sweep this under the rug, that ain't right, not remotely. Okay, we've either got to go in there, we've got to make things right or we've just got to go. Now we have been talking about Fort Benning for a long time." Shane was pacing back and forth now, gesturing madly as Carol frowned and then looked over at Sophia, who was shivering beside Carl.
"Now just let me talk to Hershel." Rick said softly, trying to diffuse the quickly rising tension between himself and Shane. "Let me figure it out."
"What are you gonna figure out?!" Shane demanded, stepping closer and getting in Rick's face, trying to dominate the situation, but Rick held his ground.
"If we're gonna stay, if we're gonna clear this barn, he needs to be slowly and gently talked into it. This is his land." I nodded and then sighed heavily, Daryl looking over at me with a frown; Dale entered the circle of testosterone and held his hands out.
"Hershel sees those things in there as people, sick people, his wife, his stepson are in that barn." He explained, Shane abandoning Rick to round on Dale, who held as firm as he could.
"You knew?"
"Yesterday I talked to Hershel." Dale admitted, Rick grimaced and shook his head but kept his mouth shut otherwise.
"And you waited the night?"
"I thought we could survive one more night." Shane scoffed and shook his head, turning his back to the older man.
"And we did." I agreed quietly, nibbling on a hang nail as Shane glared across at me, but I didn't look at him or even pay him a second of my time.
"I was waiting till this morning to say something, but Glenn wanted to be the one." Rick nodded and Carol laid her hand on Dale's arm supportively.
"The man is crazy, Rick, if Hershel thinks those things are alive or not, they need to be dealt with. I for one want this barn open and empty and those things dead." I smirked and looked at Rick.
"Well, that solves the problem," they all looked over at me, "Shane can go on a one man killing spree using nothing but the power of his bald head." I finished, Rick smirked as Shane levelled a finger at me.
"You're crossing a line there." He warned and I shrugged.
"Life is no fun without stepping on the line, Tinkerbell."
