Chapter fifteen: Fight the bald, fear the crazy.
"The most dangerous people are the liars who believe they are telling the truth."
I slept badly that night, dreaming about the barn opening, Walkers pouring out in millions; I imagined three red haired boys in amongst the horde, snarling and snapping like rabid dogs. With a gasp, I sat bolt upright, staring wide eyed at Daryl, who had his head poked through the mouth of my tent, scowling, it was still dark outside.
"Are you alrigh' in here?" I swallowed hard and then nodded. "You sure were makin' a lotta noise." Chuckling, I left my tent and stood in the dark, staring up at the sky.
"I dreamt that there were millions in the barn and that my brothers were in there, dead." I recounted, Daryl didn't immediately start to talk but he chewed his thumbnail for a minute instead.
"They ain't in there," I nodded and took a deep breath, "we're gonna find 'em."
"Yeah, if anyone can find 'em it'd be you." I replied and Daryl simply grunted and chewed the inside of his lip as an owl hooted in the distance and I shivered. "Goddamn it, I hate owls." Daryl sat in the camping chair beside his tent, whittling arrows. "I don't know if they've told you this, Daryl, but this group would be nothin' without you." I added, feeling the atmosphere start to get awkward and retreating back to my tent.
When the sun had come up, I crossed the camp to ask if Carol needed any help, dressed in my angler fish shirt, grey jeans and black sneakers. I sat with Carl and Sophia as they did their math problems, helping them whenever they asked; at around noon, Daryl stormed up the drive, crossbow on his shoulder and a scowl on his face.
"You kids stay here with Carol." I muttered, briefly placing a hand on Sophia's hair as I made my way up to the house.
"You look like you should be in line for the early bird special." Maggie joked; Glenn grinned and nodded, looking over at the woman. "Go get your cap, I'll wash it for you, okay?" He nodded again and looked over at Daryl as I stopped not far from him.
"Do you know what's goin' on? Where is everyone? You haven't seen Rick?" He asked irritated, no one said anything until Andrea nodded.
"He went off with Hershel; we were supposed to leave a couple hours ago." She replied suspiciously, crossing her arms and leaning her weight over on her left leg.
"Yeah you were what the hell?" T-Dog muttered, shaking his head.
"Damn it, isn't anybody takin' this seriously? We're runnin' outta food here." Daryl sighed, throwing a hand up as I frowned over his shoulder at Shane, who had the bag of our guns on his shoulder.
"Oh, here we go. What's all this?" I called and Shane thrust a shotgun at Daryl, who took it.
"You with me, man?" Shane asked and Daryl nodded as I crossed my arms with a frown.
"Yeah, I am."
"Time to grow up," Shane announced, glancing at Andrea with a gun in his hand, "you already got yours?" And she nodded before looking back to where Shane had come from.
"Yeah, but where's Dale?" She inquired and Shane held a gun out to me, I refused it before looking over at Maggie's furious expression.
"He's on his way."
"I thought we couldn't carry." Glenn reminded and the older man shook his head.
"We can and we have to." He paused and looked around the gathered members of the group before continuing. "Look, it was one thing sitting around here picking daisies when we thought this place was supposed to be safe, but now we know it ain't." He offered Glenn the other shotgun he held. "How about you, man? You gonna protect yours?" The younger man took the gun and stepped out of the way. "That's it. Can you shoot?"
"Can you stop?" Maggie hissed arms rigid by her sides. "You do this, you hand out these guns and my dad will make you leave tonight." She finished, refusing to touch the gun Shane held.
"We have to stay, Shane. What is this?" Lori asked, glaring from the porch as Carl and Sophia joined us, Carol not far behind.
"We ain't going anywhere, okay? Now look, Hershel, he's just gotta understand. Okay? He... Well, he's gonna have to. Now I want you to take this. You take it, Carl, and you keep your mother safe. You do whatever it takes. You know how. Go on, take the gun and do it." I stepped between Shane and the children, staring up at him angrily.
"Rick said no guns. This is not your call and this is not your decision to make." I argued, but he was staring over my shoulder as T-Dog stood up.
"Oh shit." He exclaimed, half of the group peeled away and bolted down the drive towards where Hershel, Rick and Jimmy were controlling two Walkers on the end of snare poles.
"What is that? What is that?" Shane chanted and the rest of us ran to keep up with him.
"Shane!" Lori screamed, trying to keep Carl behind her as she and Carol kept the children by the gate and safe.
"What the hell are you doing?" Shane demanded while riling the two Walkers as Daryl took aim at one of them.
"Shane, just back off." Rick snapped, struggling with the snare pole he held as I hung back with Beth and Patricia.
"Why do your people have guns?" Hershel asked ignorantly, as if he couldn't see Shane pacing back and forth in front of him.
"Are you kidding me? You see? You see what they're holding onto?" He shouted, putting on a good show for the rest of the group, who were stood around looking dumbfounded by the whole situation.
"I see who I'm holding onto." Hershel argued, Jimmy dancing away from the reaching Walkers.
"No, man, you don't."
"Shane, just let us do this and then we can talk." Rick begged desperately, eyes fixed on his friend.
"What you want to talk about, Rick? These things ain't sick. They're not people. They're dead. Ain't gonna feel nothing for them 'cause all they do, they kill! These things right here, they're the things that killed Amy." I watched Andrea nodding in agreement, gun in her hand. "They killed Otis. They're gonna kill all of us."
"Shane, shut up!" Lori called, coming a little closer.
"Hey, Hershel man, let me ask you something. Could a living breathing person, could they walk away from this?" Shane fired three bullets into the chest of the female Walker, who growled louder and made a pass at him. "That's three rounds in the chest. Could someone who's alive, could they just take that?! Why is it still coming?" He fired another two shots. "That's its heart, its lungs. Why is it still coming?"
"Shane, that's enough." Rick bellowed and the bald man nodded.
"Yeah, you're right, man. That is enough."
