So many more new followers to this story! I wanted to get this next part up soon; we're almost out of season two!
Sandradee27: Glad you're enjoying the story! And I was usually really annoyed with Lori most of the time as well!
Galwidanatitud: Absolutely agree :P.
Katarzyna88gb: Here's another one for you then! It's kind of long, too.
Lady-Finwe: I'm glad you're enjoying it!
Guest: So great to hear that you're enjoying the story and the developing relationship! Hope you enjoy this chapter as well!
Carol and Lori had woken up a little earlier than the rest of us and managed to cook up quite a few scrambled eggs. The smell alone drew everyone to the low burning campfire that was surrounded by lawn chairs. Lori, Rick, and Carl were seated amongst each other, eating silently. Shane was not too far behind them, leaning up against a tree as he ate his breakfast. Dale was nearby, his eyes more focused on Shane than his own eggs as Andrea sat near him, sharpening a knife. Daryl was sat in one of the lawn chairs, the wound on his temple looking better this morning. He sat with a slight lean, favoring his uninjured side as he shoveled forkful after forkful of egg into his mouth. I had occupied an empty chair near Carol, Glenn, and T-Dog. Carol had finished her breakfast early and was collecting the empty plates when people had finished. Glenn was currently handing her his empty plate, his eyes darting up at Maggie who was standing on the front porch eyeing him and shaking her head. I watched Glenn's attention switch to Dale, who was then shaking his head.
My eyes narrowed between the three as I stabbed more scrambled eggs onto my fork. Something was going on. I chewed and continued watching the three. It was almost as if they were having a conversation that Glenn was stuck in the middle of. I was finishing up my breakfast by the time Glenn seemed to have come to some sort of decision on whatever had been going on. He stood up and awkwardly made his way towards the campfire. I handed Carol my empty plate and noticed that no one else was paying Glenn any mind. It wasn't until he cleared his throat that T-Dog even noticed he was standing nearby.
"Hey guys," Glenn said awkwardly, "So…the barn is full of walkers."
Everybody immediately stopped what they were doing at Glenn's announcement. I spotted Dale sending Glenn looks of approval and figured that this is what the silent conversation had been about. And probably the secret Hershel had been keeping that Maggie had been pissed about on our pharmacy run because Glenn knew.
I took a moment to try to wrap my head around this information. It wasn't that hard to believe, considering the Greenes, and my sister included, seemed to view the walkers like people affected with some sort of sickness. I knew that Hershel's wife and son had been infected, which stood to reason he'd corralled them and kept them in the barn. Probably in hopes that they'd get better or that some cure would be discovered. But he had not been out there—out in Atlanta, or anywhere past his farm—to understand the full scope of the world's current situation. The CDC wasn't even operational anymore. This outbreak had happened in every country. There was no cure.
Shane set his empty plate down on the ground, a look of determination on his face as he strode off straight towards the barn. Rick was on his feet, immediately following after his old friend and ex-partner. I could tell by the look on Rick's face that he wasn't happy to hear the news that we were all sleeping next to a barn full of walkers the last few days, but that didn't mean he wasn't going to make sure Shane didn't do anything reckless.
Daryl immediately got up out of his chair, a slight wince on his face at the movement. Carol was already rushing over to grab his empty plate from him. He began to stalk off in the direction Shane and Rick had gone.
Moments later, the entire group was on their feet and making their way towards the barn.
"Quite a few of them in there," Shane said as he peered through a crack in the wooden doors. A bang against the door caused him to jump back. He spun on his heel and turned straight to Rick. "You cannot tell me you're alright with this."
"No I'm not," Rick replied, his voice sounding every bit as angry as Shane. "But we're guests here. This isn't our land."
"For God's sakes!" Shane spat. "This is our lives!"
"Would you lower your voice?" Glenn pleaded, his eyes glued to the barn of walkers. They were becoming restless with all of the noise.
"We can't just sweep this under the rug," Andrea said to Rick, clearly taking Shane's side.
"We either gotta go in there, make things right, or we gotta go," Shane told Rick. "Now we have been talking about Fort Benning for a long time now—"
"We can't go!" Rick said forcefully, his voice interrupting Shane.
"Why, Rick? Why?" Shane challenged him.
Carol spoke up immediately, her voice surprisingly quiet and even. "Because my daughter is still out there."
Shane threw his hands over his face in frustration before he let out a deep exhale. "I think it's time we all just consider the other possibility."
"Shane!" Rick yelled in a warning tone. "We are not leaving Sophia behind."
Beside me, Daryl grew furious. "I'm close to findin' that little girl!" he spat. "I just found her doll two days ago!"
Shane started laughing at Daryl, which only pissed him off further. I could see the muscles in his jaw and arms clenching and unclenching.
"You found her doll, Daryl," Shane shot at him. "That's all you did. You found a doll."
"You don't know what the hell you're talkin' bout!" Daryl snarled back.
Daryl took a step forward towards Shane, but I immediately held my arm out to stop him. I was surprised when he stayed put. I could tell he was close to beating the hell out of Shane.
"I'm just saying what needs to be said!" Shane yelled.
"Alright, alright!" Rick called out, trying to break up the heated argument.
"Let me tell you something else, man," Shane continued on, ignoring Rick. "If she was alive out there and saw you coming all methed out with your buck knife and geek ears around your neck she would run in the other direction!"
Daryl immediately lost it, pushing past my outstretched arm. Rick jumped in between the two quickly. He was trying to hold Daryl back with one hand, but when Shane started rushing forward, Lori came in and tried to pull him back. It took a few moments to break the two apart before anything came to blows. Shane shot Lori a meaningful look as he told her to keep her hands off of him. He tried to make his way back towards the camp, but Rick's voice stopped him.
"Just let me talk to Hershel," Rick called after him.
"Man what're you going to figure out!" Shane shouted back at him.
"If we're going to stay, if we're going to clear this barn, I have to talk him into it," Rick explained to Shane. "This is his land."
"Hershel sees the walkers like sick people," I spoke up. Everyone's eyes were on me. "He doesn't understand what they really are. None of them do."
"It's true," Dale said suddenly. "His wife, his stepson, his people."
"You knew about this?" Shane spat as he took a few steps back towards the group.
"Yesterday," Dale confirmed. "I talked to Hershel."
"And you waited a whole night to say anything?" Shane growled.
Dale shot him an irritated look. "I thought we could survive one more night. We did. I was waiting until this morning to say something, but Glenn wanted to be the one."
"Man, that's crazy if Hershel thinks those things are alive—"
"Enough!" Rick yelled at Shane.
The door to the barn began banging against its lock furiously. The snarls coming from inside were louder now. Lori dragged Carl a few steps farther from the barn, shielding him against her in case the doors suddenly burst open.
"Everybody back to camp. Now," Rick ordered firmly. "Shane and I will check how secure the barn is before I go speak with Hershel."
The group slowly disbanded. Lori, Carl, and Carol were the first to make their way back to camp, closely followed by T-Dog and Dale. Andrea, Daryl and I were still standing there eyeing the barn.
"Go," Rick ordered us.
Reluctantly the three of us turned and left. Daryl immediately headed towards the stables and I had an idea of what he was about to do. I followed silently after him, leaning up against the wall as he stubbornly grabbed a saddle and rested it on a rack. He was panting and wincing the whole time.
"You can't go out there," I called over to him.
"I'm fine," he muttered back.
I pushed off the wall and took a few steps over to Daryl as he pulled a bridle from off of a peg on the wall.
"Hershel said you needed to heal," I told Daryl.
"Yeah," he mumbled out. "I don't care."
I watched as he unlatched the stall door and pushed it open, still wincing as he did.
"Well I do," I said. "Rick is planning to go out later to look for her. I was going to go with him."
He let out a snort as he began readying the horse. "I ain't just goin' to sit around and do nothin'."
"No," I said, hearing the annoyance in my voice. "You're just going to go out there and get yourself hurt even worse."
Daryl said nothing as he continued fastening the bridle onto the horse. Out of the corner of my eye a movement caught my attention. I turned to see Carol striding into the stable.
Her eyes were on Daryl as she asked me, "Is he trying to go out to look for Sophia?"
"Yes," I answered her.
"You're supposed to be resting," Carol told him.
Daryl let out a grunt in response.
"Rick and Isabell were going out later to look for her," Carol tried again.
"Already told him that," I said. "He's hell bent on running out there without a thought to his own health."
Carol let out a deep sigh. "You can't go, Daryl. We don't even know if we're going to find her. There's no point in getting yourself injured even more."
I felt my own jaw drop as Daryl stiffened. I shot a look at Carol who stood with her arms crossed, an unreadable expression on her face. Daryl turned and held her gaze for a long moment, a look of surprise in his eyes.
"We don't know if we'll find her," Carol said again, her voice softer this time. "I don't."
Daryl stopped fastening the bridle and turned, taking four determined steps until he was a foot away from Carol.
"What?" his voice asked, low and unbelieving.
Carol struggled to meet his unwavering gaze. "I can't lose you too."
His jaw clenched shut, his mouth tightening into a straight line. He shook his head once before walking over to where the saddle sat mounted on the rack still. Furiously, he grabbed the saddle and threw it across the stable. As he threw the heavy object, he bent forward in pain, letting out a loud snarl of frustration and hurt.
I rushed to his side, worried he'd pulled the stitches from his injury.
"You alright?" I asked him frantically.
He flung a hand out to push me away, growling at me in answer. "Just leave me be!"
I stood there in shock, my mouth partially open. Daryl turned to go, a hand clutching his injured side as he began to limp out of the stable.
"Stupid bitch," Daryl muttered as he left.
I didn't know if the insult was directed at me, or Carol, or the both of us, but I felt a sting at his words. I bit my lip, trying to fight back whatever the feeling welling up inside of me was, and turned to Carol. There were a few tears openly running down her cheeks.
"It's me he's mad at," she said softly. "For losing hope."
"Don't listen to Shane," I told her. "He's got his own issues he's pissed about and he's just trying to drag everyone down with him. He's restless."
Carol nodded her head softly, though she didn't look convinced. She made her way out of the stable quietly.
I took a deep breath and tried to calm down before heading to the open stall. I undid the horse's bridle and closed the stall back up before placing the bridle back onto the wall. I made my way over to where Daryl had tossed the saddle, bending down and picking it up. My arms ached at the weight and I wondered how he'd even managed to lift it earlier. I carried it back to its place and set it down before leaving the stable and closing the doors behind me.
As I made my way back to the camp, I could see Shane making rounds around the walker-filled barn while Andrea was examining the front door of it. Dale was eyeing Shane's every move from a distance.
"Where's Rick?" I asked the older man.
"Inside speaking with Hershel," Dale answered distractedly. "He's going to look for Sophia afterwards. Andrea wanted to go with."
I nodded and decided to make my way into the house. Maybe there was some way I could try to help Rick persuade Hershel to let us take care of the walkers inside of the barn.
Hershel's stern voice could be heard the moment I entered the house. I made my way to the kitchen where his voice had come from to see him eating lunch and reading a book as Rick leant up against a chair next to him. Rick spotted me before turning his attention back to Hershel.
"I just want to have a discussion," Rick said, trying to keep his voice even.
I stopped at Rick's side and watched as my uncle stared up at the two of us. He took a sip of what looked like red wine from his wine glass before setting it down.
"I need you and your people gone by the end of the week," Hershel said firmly.
"Uncle Hershel," I started, feeling awkward referring to him that way as he looked at me. "I know you and my cousins and my sister view the walkers differently." Hershel's mouth turned into a frown at the term. "But those…people. They aren't alive anymore. Whatever they are, they aren't the same person they were before they got sick. They come back from the dead. But us? We're alive. Right now. Right here. Right in front of you. If you send everyone back out there, that could change."
Hershel eyed me for a moment. "I've given you all safe harbor. My conscience is clear." He paused before continuing, "That's my family in that barn—your family—if you think the right decision is to murder them all, you can pack a bag and leave with the rest of them. I won't have you poisoning the rest of my family with your talk."
I could feel the heat rising up to my cheeks as I watched Hershel go back to his book and his food.
Furious, I stormed off past Rick and outside onto the porch. I could hear Rick desperately trying to explain the state of the world to Hershel, his voice carrying through the screen door. In the distance I watched as Daryl began moving his tent and his belongings farther away from our camp. He was limping still and I knew he should just be resting in his tent, but after the scene in the stable just a bit ago and my conversation with Hershel just now, I couldn't be bothered to say anything.
The yelling inside the farmhouse soon stopped. I turned at the sight of Rick exiting the house.
"I'm going to talk to Shane before we head out," Rick told me before he headed straight to the barn without waiting for a response.
Andrea, Rick, and I were leaning over the county survey map that Hershel had given to us a few days ago to use to find Sophia. My pack was at my feet and my knife was at my side as I listened to Rick detail the route we would be taking this morning. When I spotted Hershel approaching us, I frowned and nudged Rick. He shot me a questioning look before I gestured to the older man.
"Rick," Hershel greeted as he neared us.
"Hershel," Rick copied his greeting. "We just have our guns out because we're about to go search for Sophia."
Hershel nodded. "Before you do that, I could use your help with something."
"Count me in," Andrea spoke up quickly.
"Thank you," Hershel said, acknowledging her briefly. "But I just need Rick. And my niece."
I refused to meet Hershel's gaze, still furious about our conversation earlier. Now he suddenly decided to count me as family? I was the one who'd lost my memories of my family, not him.
"I'll be down at the barn keeping watch until you're ready then," Andrea said before she disappeared.
Rick shot me a glance before turning back to Hershel. "We'll help."
Hershel nodded once before turning and leading us away from the farmhouse and down to the road. We walked in complete silence as I readjusted the strap of my backpack. I was curious about what he could possibly need help with, but not curious enough to ask.
The sun was nearly up at its peak in the sky, so I was sweating by the time we made our way into the forest. I began wishing I'd grabbed a hair tie before we'd left. I slid a few strands of hair behind my ears to try to keep it off of my face.
We met up with Jimmy by the creek. He was holding two long, metal poles in his hands. Stuck in the creek were two walkers, hissing and snarling at Jimmy. They kept trying to grab for him, but they couldn't move.
"That stuff on the bottom is like glue. You just sink right into it and get stuck," Hershel began saying. "That's Loo Bush. As in Louise. She's got a farm up the road. Sweet corn mostly. I don't know the man, but judging by the coveralls, that might've been where he worked."
We had stopped right beside Jimmy now as Hershel continued talking.
"How many have you killed?"
"Too many to count," Rick told him.
"Can you stop?" Hershel asked Rick before his eyes landed on me.
So Hershel had brought us out here to give us one last chance. Prove to him that we weren't murderers and would leave the barn of walkers alone, he'd most likely let us stay.
"They're just people who haven't been in their right minds," Hershel continued. "People I believe that can be restored. It doesn't matter if you see them as human beings anymore, but if you and your people are going to stay here, that's how you're going to have to treat them."
I stood silently beside Rick, watching as the walkers continued snarling and snapping their teeth at us. How could Hershel not get it?
"My farm, my barn, my say," Hershel said firmly.
Hershel extended the long pole with a loop at the end towards Rick as Jimmy made his way towards me and made the same gesture. I frowned and watched Rick, though I knew what he would do. Silently, he accepted the pole and I followed suit after him.
"Just loop it around their necks and lead them out of the mud. They'll follow after that," Hershel told us.
It was a few minutes of hard work pulling the walkers out of the mud. Hershel helped Rick as Jimmy helped me. All the while the walkers were snarling at us hungrily, swinging their arms out. A few times I jumped back, almost having been caught by the male walker's hand. I kept my mouth shut the whole time, despite how badly I wanted to tell Hershel he was being foolish and irresponsible keeping a herd of walking dead in his barn. The more he put in there, the more likely they were to break out of it. And then they'd all be dead. Or worse—turned into a walker.
"What happens when the barn gets full?" Rick asked Hershel, voicing my very same concerns.
Before Hershel could even answer, Rick let out a sound of surprise. I turned to see he'd slid in the thick mud. Jimmy rushed over to hold the walker back from him. As Rick got back up, Jimmy handed the pole back to him.
"You said this was easy," Rick said, his voice loud enough to reach over the walkers' noises.
"It's easier than some things," Hershel called back to him as he began leading us towards the farmhouse.
The entire walk back to the farmhouse was a struggle. The walker I was trying to lead kept wanting to turn around and attack me, or he would suddenly jolt forward after Hershel or Jimmy, dragging me along with it like an excited dog on a leash. Though the walker weighed more than a dog and was harder to stop.
I was relieved when we finally exited the woods. I could see everyone gathered on the porch and in front of the house and I wondered what was going on. A tug on the pole caught my attention though, and I focused back on the dangerous walker I was trying to lead.
Pounding footsteps caught my attention and I glanced up again. I saw the entire group that had been gathered now racing towards the fence line towards us. Shane and Daryl were leading the group, Andrea and Glenn close behind the two. All four were holding guns.
"What the hell're you doing?!" Shane shouted as he flung open the gate.
"Shane, just back off!" Rick yelled at him.
The walkers we were holding onto were even more excited now. I fumbled forward, nearly losing control of the walker.
"Why do your people have guns?" Hershel questioned roughly.
"Are you crazy?" Daryl growled at me. "You tryin' to get yourself killed?"
I narrowed my eyes at him in response. "Wasn't my idea."
"You see what they're holding on to?" Shane shouted to the group gathering around us.
I was losing my strength as the male walker tried to lunge forward again. We were so close to the barn, it was just twenty feet ahead of us, but Shane was suddenly blocking our way.
"I see who they're holding on to," Hershel shot back at Shane.
"Just let us do this and then we can talk," Rick said.
"What the hell do you want to talk about, Rick?" Shane spat back at him.
I watched as Daryl raised the rifle in his hands at the walker I was holding on to.
"These things aren't sick! They're not people!" Shane continued to yell. "Don't gotta feel nothing for them cause all they do is kill! These things right here!" He pointed at the female walker Rick was trying to keep under control. "These are the things that killed Amy! They killed Otis! And they're going to kill all of us if we do nothing about it!"
"Shane stop!" Rick screamed over him.
"Hershel, let me ask you something," Shane said, his voice dangerously calm now. He pulled a gun from his waistband and turned off the safety, aiming it at the female walker. "Can a living, breathing person walk away from this?"
Rick's shouts of protests were immediately drowned out by the sound of gunfire. Three bullets lodged their way into the female walker who had once been Louise Bush, the woman with the sweet corn farm up the road. She didn't drop to the ground, but instead began flailing her arms forward at Shane even more.
"Three rounds in the chest!" Shane began shouting again. "Could someone that's alive take that and still be standing?" He shot two more bullets right into the walker's heart. "Why is it still coming?" He shot two more bullets in its chest.
"Shane, that's enough!" Rick yelled.
"You're right, Rick. That is enough." He raised the gun and shot one bullet straight into the walker's head. It fell down and stopped all movement.
Nobody spoke as Hershel dropped to his knees beside the dead walker.
"That's enough risking our lives for a little girl who's gone," Shane shouted at the group. "That's enough living next to a barn of things trying to kill us! If you all want to live, if you want to survive, you've got to fight for it!"
Shane sprinted over towards the barn and began pulling off the wooden bar across the door. Hershel sat frozen on the spot as everyone was shouting at Shane to stop. I suddenly lost control of the walker as it jolted forward. I fell down and watched as it went straight towards Rick. It was on him immediately and he struggled against it. Daryl moved quick, racing over and holding the rifle to the walker's head and firing before it could take a bite out of Rick. The walker fell limp and silent to the ground.
A loud bang caught everyone's attention. Shane had managed to smash the one lock on the door open with a pickaxe. He raced back a few feet and raised his gun, ready to shoot the walkers as they emerged.
The first one slipped out and Shane shot it down with a bullet right to the head. Two more trickled out afterwards; Andrea, T-Dog, and Daryl now joined Shane's side, shooting each one down. Suddenly five more were standing outside of the barn, and I found myself back on my feet fishing my gun from out of my pack. I turned the safety off and joined the four. At this point Hershel was going to throw us out, I might as well make sure none of us died before then.
As each walker came out, they each dropped when a bullet struck them in the head. After what appeared to be ten walkers down, it was a few moments before anymore emerged. We could hear their snarls before we saw them. My heart sank the moment a little girl emerged.
Sophia.
She hadn't made it. After all of this time.
Carol was screaming by now, tears racing down her face as she called out to her little girl. Sophia kept coming forward, snapping her jaws and snarling. No one in the group reacted as the sight of the dead girl registered with our group.
Carol was running forward suddenly, trying to get to her daughter, but Daryl caught her and stopped her. She fell to the ground, taking him down alongside her.
Rick was the one who stepped forward, his face a mix of emotions as he raised his gun and aimed it at the little girl's forehead. She continued making her way towards him as he hesitated on the trigger, Carol still crying loudly as Daryl held her back. I could hear Beth and Maggie crying behind us as well.
Rick pulled the trigger and Sophia dropped to the ground. Sobbing filled the air around us. And then the sound of a few more snarls emitted from the barn.
"No!" Sarah was shouting, racing forward.
I grabbed at her and tried to pull her back to me, but she slipped out of my grasp and stood in front of the barn doors as two walkers emerged. A man and a woman.
I felt like someone had punched me in the stomach suddenly. I recognized their faces from the photo in my pocket.
"You can't kill our parents!" Sarah was shouting at me.
A sharp pain suddenly erupted in my head and I winced, throwing a hand up to my forehead. Images I couldn't fully comprehend began swimming across my vision: a birthday cake with fourteen candles, my mother playing a piano, my father saying grace over dinner, a young Sarah playing soccer, my mom's smile, my dad's booming laugh.
I fell to my knees, unable to make sense of all of the images and sounds forcing their way forward, making themselves known. I tried to look over to where Sarah was standing in front of the barn. She needed to move or our parents would attack her, tear her apart. I tried to shout but I couldn't open my mouth. Everything was turning black.
Two shots rang out. Sarah was screaming.