I don't own Total Drama and The Walking Dead.
Sorry if you find any grammar mistakes. I'm still learning English because it's not my first language.
Ms. Sleepy Clover: Spending recently a lot of time around Shane mixed with his desire to prevent everyone from sharing the same fate as Lindsay is definitely starting to show in Tyler, and don't worry, I have something in mind for most of the characters that you mentioned.
SomeGuy2020: I'm glad you liked it! :)
Rick and Chef stared at the lifeless bodies of Sophia and DJ's Momma in front of them, hearing the sobbing of the Greene's, Carol and DJ behind them. The sheriff deputy turned to look at his group and saw his wife who was still holding their sobbing son, Hershel who was still on his knees, Maggie who was comforting her father, and sobbing Beth who was being comforted by Jimmy.
"Don't look." Daryl said to crying Carol, bringing her back to her feet. She pushed him away and started walking away from the group, away from the barn, away from the corpse of her daughter.
"DJ..." Bridgette said, coming closer to DJ, intending to place a comforting hand on his shoulder. He didn't let her. He stood up from his knees and turned to walk away.
"I need to be alone for now." He said, not even looking at her, or at anyone from the group. He just walked away, wanting to be alone for now.
"Mom!" Beth cried out pushed herself into run towards one of the corpses. Rick tried to stop her from approaching it but she pushed away. She kneeled down in front of the body of her mother and some other man who laid on top of her. She gently pushed the body of the man off her mother before pushing her mother onto her back to see her face.
Just seconds after that, her mother let out a growl and started reaching towards her. She screamed in fear when her mother grasped her shoulder as Chef quickly went over to her and started pulling her away from the undead. He was quickly joined by Shane, Rick, Jimmy, Maggie and Glenn who quickly managed to pull her away from her zombified mother.
Alejandro who quickly pulled his tomahawk from the slot on his belt made sure to take care of Beth's undead mother. He went over to the walker, stabbing the undead in the back of it's head, finishing it off for good. The teen grunted and pulled his tomahawk from it's head while Hershel took both of his daughters to his side and began to lead them away from the barn towards their house which Shane didn't fail to notice. He quickly followed them and Rick followed him to make sure his best friend wasn't going to make things worse than they already are. Glenn followed them too.
"We've been out. We've been combing these woods looking for her and she was in there all along?" Shane demanded to know, following Hershel and his family with Rick, "You knew?"
Maggie glared at him, "Leave us alone."
"Hey, Shane." Rick said, trying to stop Shane, "Just stop, man."
Ignoring Rick, Shane continued, "You knew and you kept it from us."
Hershel didn't even look at Shane when he replied, "I didn't know."
"That's bullshit." Shane stated, "I think y'all knew."
Maggie repeated her father's words, loudly, anger evident in her voice, "We didn't know!"
"Why was she there?!" Shane once again demanded to know.
Hershel stopped right in front of the steps to the porch of his house and turned to look at him, "Otis put those people in the barn. Maybe he found her and put her in there before he was killed."
"You expect me to believe that?" Shane asked, not believing in a single word that left Hershel's mouth, "Do I look like an idiot?"
"I don't care what you believe!" Hershel shouted.
"Everybody just calm down." Rick tried to calm both of the sides down, but it didn't work, just like he excepted.
Hershel pointed at Shane, "Get him off my land!"
"Let me tell you something..." Shane tried to say, coming closer to Hershel.
"Don't touch him!" Maggie slapped Shane across his cheek, stopping and shushing him, "Haven't you done enough?"
"I mean it." Hershel said, turning away from towards the entrance to his house, "Off my land."
He and his family walked up the stairs before entering their house. Shane, Rick and Glenn exchanged a look with themselves before the asian man entered the house as well, leaving Shane and Rick with themselves.
"Hey, what are you doing?" Rick quickly asked his friend what was on his mind since Shane opened the barn.
"Daryl and Duncan almost died looking for her, Rick. Any of us could have." Shane pointed out, pointing at Hershel's house, "I'm gonna tell you right now, that son of a bitch, he knew."
"He didn't know." Rick shook his head, disagreeing with Shane, "He's not like that. He opened his home to us."
"Put us all in danger." Shane stated, "Man, he kept a barn full of walkers."
"So you just start an insurrection, hand out guns and massacre his family?" Rick retorted.
"His family's dead, Rick." Shane pointed out.
"Well, he doesn't believe that." Rick explained, "He thinks you just murdered them in cold blood."
Shane shook his head, "No, man, I don't care what he thinks."
"I was handling it, brother. I, Chris and Chef. We were all handling it and you just..." Rick didn't even had chance to finish what he was saying.
Shane cut him off with a snort, "You had us out in those woods looking for a little girl that every single one of us knew was dead! That's what you did. Rick, you're just as delusional as that guy."
Chef sighed as he placed a sheet over the lifeless body of DJ's Momma. He turned his gaze away from her now covered body to Duncan who had just finished placing a sheet over Sophia's body. He shared a quick look with the juvie who rose up from his knees and turned towards the barn, starting to walk towards it.
He turned away from the juvie and saw Bridgette, Gwen and Leshawna approaching him. He send the other teens to check on DJ and Carol to see how they were doing right now after what happened with the barn, even though the answer seemed quite obvious, "How's DJ?"
Bridgette sighed sadly, looking down at the cook, "He is sobbing his eyes out in one of our tents. We tried to talk with him, but he didn't respond to any of our calls."
"I'll try to talk with him in a few hours." Chef said to which Bridgette nodded her head in understanding, "What about Carol?"
"Daryl tried to talk with her, but she just like DJ remained unresponsive." Bridgette explained, her mind still trying to process the fact that Sophia's was right under their nosses in the barn, and that DJ's Momma was in the barn as well, "Daryl's not taking this very well too."
"Like we all are." Chef said, sadly, to which Bridgette could only give a small sad nod in agreement.
"What happens now?" Gwen wanted to know.
"We bury both of them." Chef answered, standing up from the ground, referring to Sophia and DJ's Momma, "And the closest people to Hershel's family."
"And then what?" Leshawna asked.
"I wish I knew the answer to this question." Chef shrugged his shoulders, "There is a huge posibility that we may get kicked out from this place after what Shane did. I, Chris and Rick helped Hershel bring more walkers to this barn because we wanted to convice him to let us stay on his farm. After that we'd take care of the problem of the walkers in the barn, but now, considering what happened, I'm not exactly sure."
They turned to in the direction of the barn when they heard someone sigh. They saw Duncan who sat down on the ground, leaning against the barn, staring sadly into the sky.
Courtney approached him, "Duncan."
The juvie shook his head at her, "I thought I'd find her, princess."
The CIT sat down next to him and placed a comforting hand on his shoulder, "Don't blame yourself for what happened. You did everything you could."
Rick made his way back to the barn, observing all of the bodies around him when he heard T-Dog who stood with Andrea, Tyler, Alejandro and Heather ask him, "You want us to start burying?"
"We need a service. Carol would want that." Andrea stated.
T-Dog nodded his head in agreement, "Yeah, we all want that."
"We should dig a grave for Sophia, DJ's Momma, Annette and Shawn." Chef stated, pointing at the trees not too far from the barn, "Over by those trees."
"And we'll need a truck to move the bodies." Tyler stated.
Jimmy took a quick glance at the trees that Chef pointed at, "I'll get the keys."
"No, no." Shane shook his head at him, beginning to walk away to get the truck, "I got the truck."
"And the others?" Jimmy asked, turning to look at the corpses, "That's a lot of digging."
"We bury the ones we love and burn the rest." Alejandro explained, "Just like we did in Atlanta."
Chef eyed everyone gathered around the barn as Chris approached his fellow host, "Let's get to work, soldiers."
Everyone went off to take care of their job. Duncan, Courtney, Bridgette, Leshawna, and Gwen went back to the camp, while Jimmy, Andrea, T-Dog, Alejandro and Tyler made sure to take care of the bodies.
The co-host of Total Drama waited until everyone will leave to do their job before walking over to Rick with Chris, asking him, "What did Hershel say?"
Rick sighed, "He wants us off the farm, or Shane at least."
Carol watched throught the window of the RV how Shane, Tyler, Alejandro, Andrea and Jimmy were digging graves for her little girl, DJ's Momma, and the members of Hershel family when she heard someone enter the RV. She and Daryl turned to look at the person and saw Duncan who sighed and gave her a pitful look before walking over to the younger Dixon, stopping by his side.
Lori was right behind the juvie. She stayed outside for several more seconds to tell Owen to find DJ and tell him about something to which the overweighted teenager nodded his head before heading out towards the tent where DJ was.
She watched Owen walk away before entering the RV, telling her, "They're ready. Come on."
Carol shook her head, letting out a depressed, "Why?"
"Cause that's your daughter." Daryl said as gently as he could.
"Your little girl." Duncan added.
Carol shifted her glances between all three of them, "That's not my little girl. That's some other thing. My Sophia was alone in the woods. All this time I thought...she didn't cry herself to sleep. She didn't go hungry. She didn't try to find her way back. Sophia died a long time ago."
Lori, Daryl and Duncan all stared at the short haired woman for a moment, having no idea what to say to her. Lori came out of the RV without saying a word. Daryl was quick to follow her, letting out a sigh. The juvie came out of the RV as well, despise entering this vehicle several seconds ago.
DJ finally brought himself to come out of the tent, rubbing the tear marks off his cheeks. He started heading out from the camp. He knew that the others were worried about him, Bridgette, Gwen and Leshawna told him about that when they tried to talk with him, but for now, he just didn't feel like talking with anyone.
Only a moment after leaving the camp, he saw a vehicle heading out from the farm. His group didn't own a car like this one so, it must have belonged to the Greene's. He went over to it to ask what was going on and saw the driver.
"Hershel?" He asked, "Where are you going?"
"I'm going to get drunk." Hershel said, not even hiding his intentions from the teenager.
DJ bit his lips. It took him a few moments before he brought himself to say this. He knew that his Momma wouldn't like this, but his Momma was dead. He wanted something to make him not think about it, even for a second, "Would you mind if I came with you?"
Hershel stared at DJ for a second. DJ was definitely not old enough to drink, but the kid just lost his mother. He opened the passenger seat in the front for him, saying, "Get in."
DJ entered the vehicle and both of them drove off towards a certain bar that Hershel had in his mind. The teenager didn't saw that Owen entered the tent to inform him that the body of his Momma was about to get burried under the ground. The overweighted teenager ran out of the tent and made his way over to the nearest person which happened to Izzy and informed his girlfriend that DJ was gone.
Tyler grabbed the corpse by it's shoulders, sharing a quick look with Alejandro who grabbed it by it's legs. They lifted it up from the ground and started carrying it towards Otis' blue truck. They were right behind Andrea and T-Dog who just placed another body in the back of the truck, before moving aside to give two teenagers enough space to move around.
"We got lucky." Andrea stated, as Tyler and Alejandro placed the body in the back of the truck on top of another body, "If that barn had any more, we could've been overrun."
T-Dog wiped his hands on his pants, "Good thing that Shane did what he did, when he did."
"I couldn't have said it better myself, amigo." Alejandro nodded his head in agreement.
"At least I won't have to worry about the walkers digging their teeth into my neck while I'll be sleeping." Heather stated, standing next to the driver seat.
Dale looked at them, "You can't tell me this was right."
"It wasn't." Rick stated, "It'll cost us with Hershel."
"Maybe it was, maybe it's wasn't, but I don't have seconds thoughts about this. Walkers in my backyard?" Alejandro shook his head at Dale, pointing at the bodies in the back of the truck, "No. Just, no."
"What else were we supposed to do?" Tyler asked Rick, clearly displeased by Rick's actions, "What Shane did was right. He knows how to keep our group safe. Unlike you. You've been in Atlanta. You've been in your camp when it was attacked. You know how dangerous the walkers are. You know how dangerous the world became to all of us, and yet, despise that all of that, you didn't do anything about Hershel delusions and let him believe that the walkers are just sick people. You put all of us in danger by making us live with a barn full of walkers in our backyard, and kept us gunless while doing so."
"Tyler." Dale said to the jock, "I think that's enough..."
Rick opened his mouth to speak but Tyler continued, coming closer to the sheriff deputy. He wanted Rick to hear what he had to say to him, "How many more of us have to die before you'll understand how to keep our group safe?
Noah watched from the porch how the blue truck drove through the fields of the farm. T-Dog and Heather sat in the front seats while Tyler, Andrea and Alejandro sat in the back, a few inches away from the lifeless bodies of the walkers from the barn. He normally would have his nose burried in one of his books, but he didn't feel like reading right now, considering everything tthat had happened today.
He stood up from the chair made his way into the house, quickly spotting Glenn who was leaning against the wall, watching over Maggie who was talking with Beth.
The asian man turned to see who just entered the house and saw him, offering the bookworm a quick, "Hey."
Noah offered him a simple "Hey." in response.
"So..." Glenn paused for a moment, trying to think of something to say to the bookworm, "How do you feel about all of this?"
"I don't know." Noah answered, "I've seen walkers before. I've seen the people I knew die by their hands over these past few months, but this is the first time when I saw a kid as one of them, and worst of all, it was Sophia."
"You wanted our group to find her?" Glenn asked him another question.
"What kind of question is that, Glenn?" Noah asked, raising his voice a bit, looking suprised that Glenn even asked him this question, "Of course I wanted our group to find her! I may have stayed on the highway when most of the group went looking for her, and I may be sarcastic and cynical for most of the time but I do care about people in our group, even though I may not showing it that much."
"I'm sorry." Glenn apologized, shaking his head, "It was a dumb question. I'm just still trying to get my head over wGat happened today."
Before Noah could answer to Glenn's apology, Maggie turned away from her sister and approached them. She looked at Glenn and took a deep breath, bracing herself to ask this question that had to be asked, sooner or later, "So if your group leaves, you wouldn't stay?"
"I-I hadn't really thought about it." Glenn stuttered out in response, "I mean, I-I didn't know that-do-do you think this is really the time...to discuss this, I mean?"
"Well, I'm not really feeling like there's a lot of time for anything." Maggie stated.
Glenn stepped towards her, "No no, there-there is. There is. I mean, I-I-I want..."
He was cut off by the sound of someone collapsing on the floor. It came straight from the kitchen. Glenn, Maggie and Noah all quickly went into the kitchen and saw Beth laying on the floor.
"Oh my gosh..." Maggie gasped, kneeling down in front of her sister.
"Guys!" Bridgette shouted as she ran into the house. She made her way over to Glenn, Noah, Maggie and Beth having no idea what just happened, "Have you seen DJ? We can't find..."
"No, we haven't. seen him. " Noah shook his head as Bridgette paused when she saw Beth laying of the floor, "But there's something else we should take care of now."
A look of concern grew on Bridgette's face, "What's wrong with her? Is she in some state of shock?""
"I think so." Maggie answered, giving a quick panicked nod of her head, starting to lift her sister up from the floor, "We should lay her down on a bed."
Bridgette went over to Maggie, "Let me help."
Maggie nodded her head to the surfers words and both of them lifted Beth up from the floor.
Maggie and Bridgette laid Beth on the bed and made sure to take of her while Glenn and Noah tried to find Hershel but the eldery farmer was nowhere to be found which just added another problem to their list along with the fact that DJ was gone too. The blond haired girl remained unresponsive to any of the words that were said to her and staring at the ceiling was the only thing she did.
As for now, Rick, Lori, Shane, Chef, Chris, Glenn, Noah and Maggie were gathered in one of the rooms in the house. Bridgette decided to stay in Beth's room just in case if something happened.
Rick touched some of the thins in the box, before glancing up at Maggie, "Your stepmother's things?"
Maggie nodded her head in confirmation, "He was so sure she'd recover. They'd just pick up where they left off."
Something caught Shane's attention on the cupboard. He reached out to grab it and his suspicions turned out to be true. It was a flask. He showed it off to everyone, "Looks like he found an old friend."
He threw the flask to Rick who caught it and handed it to Maggie who eyed it carefully, "That belonged to my grandfather, gave it to dad when he died."
"I didn't took him for a drinker." Chris stated.
Maggie shook her head at Chris' words, "No, he gave it up on the day I was born. He didn't even allow liquor in the house."
"What's the bar in town?" Rick asked her.
"Hatlin's." Maggie answered, "He practically lived there in his drinking days."
"Betting that's where I'll find him." Rick stated.
"And DJ." Chef said, earning everyone's attention, "I followed his tracks from the tent. They suddenly stopped on the road leading out from the farm. He must have come across Hershel and tag along with him."
"Do you think this is where we'll find him?" Lori asked, referring to DJ.
Chef shrugged his shoulders, "This is our only lead so far."
"I know where that bar is." Glenn spoke up, "I'll take you there."
"All right," Rick nodded his head, turning to towards the exit, "I'll get the car."
"Okay." Glenn gave a nod of his head in return, stepping forward to follow the sheriff deputy.
He was stopped by Maggie, "No."
"It's an easy run." Glenn assured her.
"Like the pharmacy?" Maggie pointed out.
"Don't worry, girl." Chef said, placing an assuring hand on Maggie's shoulder as Rick walked out of the room, followed by Lori and Shane, "He'll come back in one piece. I and Rick will make sure of that."
"Rick?" Lori called out to her husband, following him out of the room. He stopped in the middle of hallway and turned to look at her, "You want to have a conversation about this before you leave?"
Shane approached them, "So you're seriously gonna go after DJ and this guy with everything that's going on, huh? You know you can always send someone else with Chef and Glenn?"
"He's right." Lori agreed with Shane, "This is not the time to head off,not today. You don't know what's have..."
Rick cut his wife off, "I'm not arguing. It's the least I can do for Hershel after we..."
"What?" Shane cut his best friend off, already knowing to which he was going to referr to, walking past him and Lori, "After we what?"
Lori watched Shane leave for a second before turning back to her husband, "Carl said he would've shot Sophia himself. That's your son. He's getting cold. He's growing up in a world with-he's growing up in a world where he needs a father like you-around,alive,not running off,solving everybody else's problems."
"It's not just his problem I'm trying to solve. We need Hershel for the baby." Rick pointed out, shushing his wife, "I'm going after him."
A few minutes later Rick stood in front of the farm house with a car that everyone related to Total Drama got from the gas station which they were going to use in their search for Maggie's father and DJ. He saw how the entrance to the farm house was opened and Chris and Chef stepped out, followed by Glenn and Maggie. The two hosts moved down the steps towards him while Maggie and Glenn stayed on the porch for a second.
Chef stopped in front of Rick and titled his head towards Chris, "Pretty boy is coming with us."
Rick nodded his head to that, turning to Chris, "We could use one more person to help us."
Chris nodded his head in response as they turned to look at Glenn and Maggie who walked down the steps and shared a quick kiss, making the sheriff deputy and the two hosts turn away the pair. Glenn tightened his grip around his shotgun and turned away from Maggie towards Rick, Chef and Chris and started walking towards them.
"You ready, soldier?" Chef asked the asian man.
"Yeah." Glenn said with a quick nod of his head.
Rick got himself into the car and sat in the drivers seat as Glenn took the passenger seat next to him while Chef and Chris took the seats in the back. Rick started the engine, bringin the car back to life before driving away.
DJ let out a long sigh after taking his first sip of a drink that Hershel poured him, trying to get rid of the sour taste in his mouth. This drink turned out to be more sourer than he excepted. It took him a few moments to get used to it this taste, and when he finally did, he simply stopped paying attention to that.
"...And then after our bus crashed in the abyss." DJ said as Hershel refilled their glasses, "She went out with Geoff, Trent, Eva, Katie, Sadie, Beth and Justin to get help."
"Was it the last time when you saw her?" Hershel asked him.
"Yeah." DJ sighed sadly, "The fact that all of this began only a few days later makes this whole thing feel like it was a thousand of years ago."
"What about your father?" Hershel asked him another question, "Have you meet him?"
DJ was silent for a few seconds before shaking his head, "No. My Momma was the only parent I have ever had."
"Do you know anything about him?" Hershel stopped for a second to take a sip of his drink, "Like his name?"
"No. My Momma never spoke much about him and I can't really blame her for that." DJ shook his head, once again, "What about your dad?"
Hershel refilled his glass, replying, "My father liked to use his fists to show me how he felt. When he died, I did not go for him, and that is something I will never regret."
DJ nodded his head in understanding. He didn't had to ask more about Hershel's father. He was already aware that he must have been not a pleasant person.
"DJ." Hershel said. He felt like he had to ask this question to someone, considering that he was on his farm since the beginning, "How were the first days of all of this on the road?"
DJ sighed. He understood why Hershel would ask him this question. The old man was on his farm since this begun, "The day when I saw my first walker was one of the scariest days of my life. The screams of the people in Atlanta when the army dropped napalms into the city was just horrifying. It was hard for everyone that thought about taking shelter in Altanta, like we did. We found some other people and created a camp outside of the city and lived there for a few months."
Hershel just nodded his head to DJ's answer, before taking another sip of his drink, "Is the world outside of my farm really as bad as Rick says it is?
DJ opened his mouth to respond but was cut off when the two heard a car stop outside of the bar. The teenager turned to the doors and saw Rick entering the bar. He wasn't alone. Chef, Chris and Glenn were right behind him. Chef and Glenn held their shotgun in ready while Chris' moved his Glock around the bar, looking around to see if there any walkers around.
It was when they spotted Hershel and DJ. It made Chris, Chef and Glenn lower their guns as Rick moved towards them, "Hershel, DJ."
"Who's with you?" Hershel asked.
"Chef, Chris and Glenn." Rick explained as he walked up to the eldery farmer and leaned up on the counter next to him, "How many have you had?"
"Not enough." Heshel replied.
"DJ." Chef said, walking over to the teenager, relieved that his suspicion turned out be real and DJ indeed went with Hershel, "There you are. We were worried about you. You just disappeared from the farm."
"I know that I should have tell you someone that I'll be gone for a few hours, but you didn't had to worry about me." DJ answered, turning back to look at Chef and Chris who slowly approached him. He had to admit it to himself. He could have tell someone from the group that he'll be gone for a few before leaving with Hershel. "I'd return by the end of the day."
"How many drinks did you had?" Chris asked, leaning against the counter.
"I didn't had many." DJ told him, pointing at his glass, "This is my third one. I came here with Hershel to forget about the body of my Momma. I wanted to stop thinking about it, even if it would last only a second."
"Did it help you?" Chef asked the teenager another question that was on his and Chris' mind.
DJ thought for a second before answering. He came here to forget about seeing the body of his mother, even if it would last a few seconds, but considering that he and Hershel spend their entire time here talking about their families, the answer was quite obvious. He have them a quick and silent shook of his head in response.
Chef placed a comforting hand on DJ's shoulder, "We already burried your Momma. We can take you back to the farm so you can pay your respects to her and say goodbye."
DJ nodded his head. This will be the first thing he'll do when he'll return to the farm. Saying goodbye to his Momma was something he just had to do.
"Let's finish this up back at home." Rick whispered to Hershel, "Beth collapsed, is in some sort of state. Must be in shock. I think you are too."
"Maggie's with her?" Hershel asked him.
"Yeah." Rick nodded his head, "But Beth needs you."
Hershel remained silent for a few seconds, toying with his glass, "What could I do? She needs her mother. Or rather to mourn like she should've done weeks ago. I robbed her of that. I see that now."
"You thought there was a cure." Rick tried to reason with him, "Can't blame yourself for holding out for hope."
"Hope?" Hershel chuckled and took a sip of his drink, "When I first saw you running across my field with your boy in your arms, I had little hope he would survive."
"But he did." Rick stated.
"He did." Hershel nodded his head, "He did. Even though we lost Otis. Your man Shane made it back and we saved your boy. That was the miracle that proved to me miracles do exist. Only it was a sham,a bait and switch. I was a fool,Rick,and you people saw that. My daughters deserve better than that."
He began to pour himself another glass. He turned to look at DJ to see if the teenager needed to have his glass refilled as well, but turned away when he spotted that DJ's glass was full while Rick, Chef and Chris walked back to Glenn, forming a circle.
"So what do we do?" Glenn asked.
"We don't need to worry about DJ." Chef answered, "He'll return to the farm with us."
"We need to worry about Chris." Chris added to which Chef nodded in agreement.
"Should we just wait for him to pass out?" Glenn asked.
"Just go." Hershel shouted as he turned to face them, "Just go!"
Rick turned back to Hershel, "We promised Maggie we'd bring you home safe."
Hershel chuckled, "Like you promised that little girl?"
"So what's your plan?" Rick asked, storming towards the bar, "Finish that bottle? Drink yourself to death and leave your girls alone?"
Hershel stood up from his seat, "Stop telling me how to care for my family, my farm. You people are like a plague! I do the Christian thing, give you shelter,and you destroy it all!"
"The world was already in bad shape when we met." Rick pointed out.
"And you take no responsibility! You're supposed to be their leader!" Hershel shouted in return.
"Well, I'm here now, aren't I?" Rick shouted, losing his cool.
"Yes." Hershel sat back down on his seat, "Yes, you are."
"Now come on." Rick said, placing his hand on Hershel's shoulder, "Your girls need you now more than ever."
Hershel brushed his hand away and turned back to look at Rick again, "I didn't want to believe you. I didn't even want to believe Chef, or even Chris when I saw their expressions when we started bringing Lou to my farm. You told me there was no cure, that these people were dead, not sick. I chose not to believe that. But when Shane shot Lou in the chest and she just kept coming,that's when I knew what an ass I'd been, that Annette, or Shawn, or even DJ's mother had been dead long ago and I was feeding a rotten corpse! That's when I knew there was no hope. And when that little girl came out of the barn,the look on your face. I knew you knew it too. Right? There is no hope. And you know it now,like I do. Don't you? There is no hope for any of us."
"Hershel." DJ stood up from his seat and walked over to Hershel, "They're right. We should head back to the farm."
Hershel turned to DJ and shook his head, "Not you too."
"Just listen to what I have to say." DJ said as gently as he could, "I know this day was hard for you. It was hard for me too, and I know what you're feeling right now. But, you still have family out there. You still have someone you can look after to. You can be there for your daughter now, in the moment when they need you the most. You can be with them, for as long and you'll be able to."
"Look, I'm done. I'm not doing this anymore, cleaning up after you." Rick said, not even giving Hershel a chance to reply to DJ's words, " You know what the truth is? Nothing has changed. Death is death. It's always been there,whether it's from a heart attack, cancer, or a walker. What's the difference? You didn't think it was hopeless before, did you? Now there are people back at home trying to hang on. They need us, even if it's just to give them a reason to go on,even if we don't believe it ourselves. You know what? This-this isn't about what we believe anymore. It's about them."
Hershel was silent. He grabbed his glass and took one last sip of his drink. He slammed now empty glass on the counter as DJ smiled at the farmer as Rick gave him a pat on his back.
They suddenly heard someone open the door. All six of them turned to look at it only to see two men enter the bar.
The muscular man in a tank top on the right turned to his overweighted friend who was wearing a simple white shirt and a hat and said, "Son of a bitch. They're alive."
Rick, Chef, Chris and Glenn all readied their guns, but didn't point them at the strangers. The man on the right quickly raised his hands in the air, "Whoa, chill out, all of you. We didn't came here to cause any trouble."
"That's right." The overweighted man agreed with his friend, "If we wanted to attack you, woukdn't we have already done that?"
The skinnier man on the right took a few steps forward, picking up a dusty glass from the table, "Is this place yours?"
"No." Chef shook his head, "We're just passing by."
"Good, because." The skinnier one sat down on one of the chairs, "Me and my friend here could use a little drink. Would you mind if we poured ourselves a glass or two?"
He pointed at the one of the vodka bottles on the shelves. Chris pointed at one of the bottles to which the man nodded in confirmation. The host of Total Drama grabbed the bottle and handed it to the man who unscrewed the lid and poured everyone a glass.
"My name is Dave." The man who introduced himself as Dave turned to look at his overweighted friend, "That scrawny-looking douche bag there is Tony."
Tony laughed, "Eat me, Dave."
"Hey, maybe someday I will." Dave laughed at his own joke, "We met on I-95 coming out of Philly. Damn shit-show that was."
"I'm Glenn." Glenn introduced himself to them with a smile, "It's nice to meet new people."
"Rick Grimes." Rick introduced himself shorty after.
Chef was the next one to introduce himself, "Chef Hatchet."
"Chris McLean." Chris introduced himself right after Chef.
"Devon Joseph, but friends call me DJ." DJ was the last one to introduce himself. He turned to look at Hershel who remained silent. He just kept staring at them.
Dave looked at Hershel, "How about you, pal? Have one?"
"I just quit." Hershel shook his head in response.
"You've got a unique sense of timing, my friend." Dave grinned.
"His name is Hershel." Rick introduced Hershel to them, "He lost someone today, and so did DJ."
"I'm truly sorry to hear that." Dave's grin faded from his face. He shifted his glances between Hershel and DJ, actually looking sorry for them after hearing this information from Rick. He raised his glass in the air, "To better days and new friends. And to our dead."
Rick, Chef, Chris, Glenn and Tony all nodded their heads at his words, before all of them took a quick sip of vodka from their glasses, DJ just gave a quick nod of his head in response, deciding not to drink and Hershel just proceeded to stare at Dave and Tony.
Dave set his glass down and pointed at Chris, "You."
"Me?" Chris asked, setting down his glass on the counter, "What about me?"
"I think I saw you somewhere before, both of you." Dave explained, as he pointed at Chef, "Were you in TV before all of this happened?"
"We were." Chris nodded his head in confirmation, a bit suprised that Dave didn't recognize DJ as well, "Total Drama."
"Total Drama. I never saw a single episode of this show. I saw you on the news. Never was a big fan of reality shows." Dave said as he turned to look at Tony, "How about you, Tony?"
Tony shook his head, "That makes the two of us, but I recall one of from our group telling us that one of his friends from his time in the juvie was in this show."
"Speaking of the guy that Tony mentioned." Dave said, seeing in Rick's group an opportunity to ask about the whereabouts of one person from their group, "Would you happen to come across someone named Timothy?"
"A friend of yours?" Glenn asked.
Dave nodded his head in confirmation, "Yeah. We haven't seen him in days."
Rick, Hershel, Glenn, DJ and Chris had no idea who this Timothy was and shook their heads, but Chef actually froze for a second after hearing Dave mention this name. It couldn't be this Timothy that he had to kill to stop him from killing Duncan when the juvie was searching for Sophia, right?
He had to be sure, "Can you explain to us how he looks like?"
Dave nodded his head, "He is around DJ's age, has blond hair. Wears brown jacket, blue jeans and black boots. At least this was what he wore when I saw him for the last time."
Now Chef was certain that they were talking about the Timothy that was on his mind. Duncan told him about the things that Timothy admitted about his group after the juvie declined his offer when they were walking back to Hershel's farm. He knew that he had to watch out for Dave and Tony.
He shook his head at him, lying, "I'm sorry but we haven't seen anyone matching his description."
Dave sighed, "That would be a damn shame if something happened to him. He's a good kid that knows how to care of himself. He became a valuable member of our group after he joined us."
He reached out to pour himself another glass of vodka. Chef spotted something in his waistband. It was a pistol. Dave stopped and saw Chef staring at his pistol. He decided to pull it out and show it off to everyone, "Not bad, huh? I got it off a cop."
"I'm a cop." Rick said.
Dave grinned, putting his pistol in his pocket, "This one was already dead."
"You two are a long way from Philadelphia." Chef stated.
"It feels like we're a long way from anywhere." Dave pointed out.
"Well, what drove you south?" Rick asked.
Dave rubbed his forehead, "Well,I can tell you it wasn't the weather. I must've dropped 30 LBS. In sweat alone down here."
Tony rolled his eyes, "I wish."
"No, first it was DC." Dave said, "I heard there might be some kind of refugee camp, but the roads were so jammed, we never even got close."
"We almost made it to the refugee camp in Atlanta." Chris said, as Dave titled his head at him, curious, "At the end of that night I was actually quite relieved that we didn't made it there."
"I heard that the army threw napalm into that city." Tony said.
"They did." Chris nodded his head in confirmation, "I, Chef and DJ could only watch it happen from the distance."
Dave nodded his head in understanding, continuing, "We decided to get off the highways, into the sticks, keep hauling ass. Every group we came across had a new rumor about a way out of this thing."
"One guy told us there was the coast guard sitting in the gulf,sending ferries to the islands." Tony added.
"The latest was a rail yard in Montgomery running trains to the middle of the country-Kansas, Nebraska." Dave explained.
"Nebraska?" DJ asked.
Tony chuckled, "Low population, lots of guns."
"Kinda makes sense." Glenn stated.
"Ever been to Nebraska, kid?" Dave asked DJ and Glenn who shook their heads, "A reason they call 'em flyover states. How about you guys?"
"Fort Benning, eventually." Rick answered.
"I hate to piss in your cornflakes, officer,but..." Dave paused for a second, "We ran across a grunt who was stationed at Benning. He said the place was overrun by lamebrains."
"Fort Benning is gone?" Glenn asked, wanting to be sure if he didn't misheard it, "Are you for real?"
"Sadly, I am." Dave confirmed with a nod of his head.
Chef sighed, "I guess it leaves us with no destination right now."
"I'd drink to that, my friend if I didn't had an empty glass." Dave said, "To be honest I'm not exactly sure if there is a way out from this mees. Just keep going from one pipe dream to the next, praying one of these mindless freaks doesn't grab ahold of you when you sleep."
"If you sleep." Tony added.
"Yeah." Dave agreed with him, "it doesn't look like you guys are hanging your hats here. You holed up somewhere else?"
Rick shook his head, "Not really."
"Those your cars out front?" Dave asked.
"Yes." Chef confirmed, coming up with a quick lie, "We use them to move around and have been living in them for over a month right now."
"I wouldn't say that." Dave shook his head, "You see, we're living in ours. Those look kinda empty,clean. Where's all your gear?"
"We're with a larger group out scouting." Hershel said, "Thought we could use a drink."
"A drink? Hershel, I thought you quit." Dave smiled, "Well, we're thinking of setting up around here. Is it-is it safe?"
"I wouln't say this place safe." Chef answered, trying to make Dave and Tony leave, "I recently almost died because of the walkers."
"Walkers?" Dave asked, "That what you call them?"
Glenn nodded his head, "Yeah."
"Someone in our group started calling them like that, and we just followed." DJ added.
"That's good." Dave stated, "I like that better than lamebrains."
Tony nodded his head to that, "More succinct."
"So what-so what, you guys set up on the outskirts or something? That new development?" Dave asked.
"Trailer park or something?" Tony asked, standing up from his seat. He walked across the bar, "A farm?"
Dave sang "Old McDonald had a farm.", making Tony laugh, before asking, "You got a farm?"
No one answered his question. The only thing that could be heard in the room was the sound of Tony pissing on the wall, making everyone send him an awkward glance.
"Is it safe?" Tony asked.
"It's gotta be." Dave stated, "You got food, water?"
"You got cooze?" Tony asked, looking at them over his shoulder, "Ain't had a piece of ass in weeks."
"Listen, pardon my friend." Dave said, "City kids, they got no tact. No disrespect. So listen, Glenn..."
"We've said enough." Chef said, sternly, crossing his arms.
"Well, hang on a second. This farm, it sounds pretty sweet." Dave stated, turning to look at his friend, "Don't it sound sweet, Tony?"
The overweighted man nodded in agreement, tightening his belt and turning around to look at the rest, "Yeah, real sweet."
"How about a little southern hospitality?" Dave asked, "We got some buddies back at camp,b een having a real hard time. I don't see why you can't make room for a few more. We can pool our resources, our manpower."
"Look, I'm sorry." Rick said, exchanging a look with Chef, "That's not an option."
"Doesn't sound like it'd be a problem." Dave stated.
"I'm sorry. We can't." Hershel told them.
Chris looked at Chef who nodded his head at him. The host of Total Drama shook his head, "I don't think that we can take more people in."
Dave chuckled, "You guys are something else. I thought-I thought we were friends. We got people we gotta look out for to."
"We don't know anything about you." Rick pointed out.
"No, that's true." Dave nodded his head, "You don't know anything about us. You don't know what we've had to go through out there,the things we've had to do."
Chef glared at him, the things that Duncan found out from Timothy popping into his mind. He thought to himself, "I'm certain that you enjoyed some of those things."
Dave continued, "I bet you've had to do some of those same things yourself. Am I right? 'Cause ain't nobody's hands clean in what's left of this world. We're all the same. So come on, let's-let's take a nice friendly hayride to this farm and we'll get to know each other"
Rick looked down at his glass and shook his head, "That's not gonna happen."
Tony shook his head, glaring at Rick, Chef, Chris, DJ, Hershel and Glenn, "This is bullshit."
"Calm down." Rick told him.
"Don't tell me to calm down. Don't ever tell me to calm down." Tony snapped, "I'll shoot all six of you assholes in the head and take your damn farm!"
In less than a second Rick was back on his feet as Chef quickly reached out for his shotgun, ready to use it at any moment.
Dave quickly stood up form his seat, knowing that he had to figure out how to calm everyone down, "Whoa whoa whoa whoa whoa whoa. Relax. Take it easy. Nobody's killing anybody. Nobody's shooting anybody. Right, guys?" He walked over to the counter and hopped over it, "Look. We're just friends having a drink. That's all. Now where's the good stuff, huh?"
He noticed the look that Rick and Chef were giving him. He even saw that Chris had his hands on his Glock, even though he looked more nervous about it than the other two. Dave could already tell that the host of Total Drama didn't had a chance to get his hands dirty. Same thing with Hershel, DJ and Glenn. He pulled out his pistol and placed it on the counter so that they wouldn't see him as a threat. He bent down behind the car as Rick, Chef and even Chris made sure to keep their weapons in ready.
Dave came back up with a bottle of rum, offering them a quick grin, "Hey, look at that. That'll work."
Chef looked around the room. He could see DJ and Glenn looking nervously at Dave while Hershel was staring at him with a look of fear and disgust. He looked over at his fellow host who nervously held his Glock in ready. Chris became a rather good shot during their lessons, but still, shooting an alive target that was not a walker was still something that his fellow host was completely unfamiliar with and Chef couldn't blame him for being nervous.
"You gotta understand. We can't stay out there," Dave insisted, pouring himself a glass of rum, "You know what it's like."
"Yeah, I do," Rick answered grimly. "But the farm is too crowded as-is, I'm sorry. You'll have to keep looking."
"Where do you suggest we do that?" Dave wanted to know.
"I don't know," Rick shrugged, "I hear Nebraska's nice."
"Nebraska." Dave laughed bitterly, "This guy."
Everything changed drastically changed in only one second. Dave let go off the rum bottle and reached out for his pistol. He never had a chance to fire it because Rick drew his Python faster and fired a single bullet which hit Dave straight in the head, killing him instantly. Dave's blood splattered across the wall and the counter as his lifeless body collapsed on the ground.
It wasn't over.
Chef quickly turned towards Tony who was about to reach for his shotgun. The co-host of Total Drama made sure that he wasn't going to hurt anyone in the bar. He fired a single round at Tony's stomach, making him grunt in pain as he collapsed on the ground. The impact made him pull the trigger of his shotgun which fired a single round at the ceiling. Chef came over to Tony and finished off with a single shot to his head. His head exploded into pieces and his blood painted the wall behind his body.
Rick holstered his Python and looked at Chef who lowered his shotgun. Chef turned to look at the sheriff deputy and nodded his head at him, receiving a nod in response from Rick.
They turned around to look at the rest. Hershel's expression remained emotionless, Glenn stared at the scene before him nervously with a hint of disgust in his expression, DJ looked away for a second, clearly disgusted by what had become of Tony's head, but slowly turned his gaze back to his group, and Chris who took his hand off his Glock. He rubbed his forehead with his other hand, bitting his lips in disgust.
Rick and Chef could understand them and their reactions. Chris, Glenn, DJ and Hershel have never seen someone being killed right in front of them.
There was one more thing that Chef and Rick were certain about. That they did what they had to do to keep their group safe.
A question for you:
Who do you think is going to be still alive from the rest of the original cast when they will come across Rick and his group?
Hope it wasn't that bad. See you in another chapter.
