The next morning I once again got up before Daryl. I put on my short shorts and a tank top and left my hair down. I walked outside and Carol was cooking eggs over the fire. "morning." she mumbled. I smiled at her and continued walking. Andrea was sharpening her knife. Shane, Rick, Lori and Carl were eating their breakfast. My first glance went to Glenn. He was staring palely at Maggie who was standing on the porch shaking her head.
Daryl walked out. I gasped. "what are you doin' outta bed?"
"I'm okay, Belle. I need food." he mumbled. I nodded and helped him to a chair. Carol gave us scrambled eggs and scapple on a plate and we shared.
Just then, Glenn got up. "um….Guys?"
Everyone looked at him carelessly.
"So….The barns full of walkers." he said plainly.
We all stopped eating and stared at him. I looked to Daryl. He gave me a causious look.
We all put out plates down and ran to the barn. Shane looked through the cracks and seen them. He turned around and looked to Rick. "You cannot tell me you're alright with this."
"No I'm not. But were guests here, this isn't our land." Rick grimaced.
Shane threw his arms up. "Oh GOD! This is our LIVES man!" Shane screamed.
"Lower your voice!" Lori scolded.
"We can't just sweep this under the rug." Andrea chimed in.
"It ain't right. Not remote." T-dog said.
"We either gotta go in there, make things right, or we just gotta go. Now we have been talkin' about Fort Benning for a long time now-" Shane started.
"We CAN'T go!" Rick said firmly.
"Why, Rick? Why?" Shane asked.
"Cuz' my daughter is still out there." Carol said plainly.
Shane shook his head. "Okay...Carol...I think it's time we all start to just...consider...the other possibilities."
"Shane!" Rick scolded. "We're not leaving Sophia behind.
"We're close to findin' this girl! I just found her damn doll a few days ago!" Daryl defended.
Shane laughed in his face. "You found her doll Daryl, that's what you did. You found a DOLL."
"You DON'T KNOW THE HELL YOU'RE TALKIN' BOUT!" Daryl screamed.
"Daryl, Daryl." I cooed, patting him back.
"You obviously know what I'm saying! Now you get a good lead, in the first 48 hours! And lemme tell ya something else man, if she was alive out there, saw you comin, all methed out with your buck knife and geek ears around your neck, she WOULD RUN IN THE OTHER DIRECTION!" Shane screamed back.
"Shane, shut up!" Rick hollered.
Daryl slapped Rick's hand out of the way and got into Shanes face. "WHAT YOU TRYNA SAY!" he screamed. Just then they both got into a pushing match. "HEY HEY!" Rick screamed.
"DARYL!" I hollered and me and Rick got into the middle of them both. Lori pushed Shane out of the way, and then I slapped him. "BACK OFF." I gritted through my teeth.
Shane got in my face. "You keep your hands off me."
Everyone stopped and stared. "Just let me talk to Hershel! Let me figure it out." Rick yelled.
"AND WHAT YOU GONNA FIGURE OUT!" Shane screamed. "ENOUGH!" Lori screamed, and patted Shane away.
"Were gonna stay, were gonna clear this barn, I have to talk him into it. This is HIS land!" Rick defended.
"Hershel says those things in there are people." Dale commented. "Sick people. His wife. His, his...His stepson."
"You knew!" Rick said.
"Yesterday. I talked to Hershel."
"And you waited the night!" Shane yelled.
"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." Dale defended.
"That man is crazy Rick! If Hershel thinks those things in there are alive- ENOUGH!" Shane screamed.
Just then, the walkers in the barn attacked the door.
We all looked.
After awhile Rick went to go talk with Hershel. Daryl took me on a walk to the other barn. He was fired up. "Did you know about this?" he accused.
My eyes widened. "What!? Daryl, are you outta your damn mind!?"
"Just answer the damn question!" He hollered.
I shook and took a step back. "No." I choked.
Just then he took a saddle and tried lifting it. Carol came in. "You can't." She said.
"I'm FINE." He said, irritated.
"Hershel said you need to heal."
"Yeah….I don't care." He replied.
"Well I do…" She mumbled. I stiffened. "Ricks going out later to follow the trail."
"Yeah… Well I ain't sittin' around doin' nothin'."
"No, you're going to go out there and get yourself hurt even worse."
But he wouldn't listen. He kept saddling the horse. "We don't know if were going to find her Daryl." She said finally.
Daryl turned around and looked at her in disgust. "We don't. I don't." She said, tearing up.
He walked up to her and looked her in the face. "What."
"I can't lose you too." She cried. I really stiffened. Daryl shook his head and dropped the reins. He then went over to the saddle and picked it up, and through it. But then he hurt his side. Carol and I both ran to his aide. "Are you alright?" Carol asked.
"JUST LEAVE ME BE!" He hollered. He started walking away. "Stupid bitch."
I stopped in my tracks and tears welled up. Carol looked at me and the walked away crying. I dropped to my knees, to the ground in the stables, and cried hard. After about an hour of hard crying….I walked out the stables and went on the walk Daryl takes me to see the roses. But then I seen him and Carol by the roses.
"See it?" He said.
"See what?" She asked.
"I'll find her." He said soothingly.
They looked at eachother. My heart dropped. "Hey look….I"m sorry about what happened this morning." he apologised.
"You wanted to look for her. Why? This whole time I just...I wanted to ask you."
"Cuz I think she's still out there. Truth is? What else I got to do?" he said plainly.
Carol touched the flower. "We'll find her. We will. I see it."
My heart completely torn into two. I back away slowly. I couldn't watch anymore. I ran to the barn and sat on a hay bale. I bawled into my knees. Andrea came up to me. "Bellefaire?" she put her hand on my back.
"He loves her." I sobbed.
"Who?" Andrea asked.
"Carol." I sobbed and sobbed. She sighed and rubbed my back. "He dosen't love her like he loves you though Bellefaire. You have to see that." And she left me.
I seen Shane hollering and handing out guns. "Christ almighty." I mumbled to myself. Then I seen them running to the field. "WHAT IS THAT!" Shane screamed. I ran the scene, along with everyone else including momma and Beth. Rick, Hershel and Jimmy were holding walkers.
"THESE THINGS AIN'T PEOPLE! THEY AIN'T SICK! THEIR DEAD! THEY WON'T FEEL NOTHIN'! THESE THINGS HERE! THEY'RE THE THINGS THAT KILLED AMY! THEY KILLED OTIS! THEIR GONNA KILL ALL OF THAT'S WEAK! Hey Hershel, lemme ask you something. Can the living feel this?" Shane screamed, and shot the walker.
"STOP IT!" Rick screamed.
"That's three rounds to the chest. Can someone that's alive? How they they just take that! Why's he still comin!?" and he shot the walker again. "That's it heart! It's lungs! Why's it still comin!" And he shot it again.
"SHANE ENOUGH!" Rick screamed.
"Hey, you right man! That is enough." And he shot the walker in the head.
Hershel hit his knees. Beth and Momma cried.
"ENOUGH! RISKIN' OUR LIVES FOR A LITTLE GIRL WHO"S GONE! ENOUGH! LIVIN NEXT TO BARN FULL OF THINGS THAT ARE TRYING TO KILL US! ENOUGH! RICK! It AIN'T like it was before! NOW IF YA'LL WANNA LIVE! IF YA"LL WANNA SURVIVE! YOU GOTTA FIGHT FOR IT! I'M TALKING ABOUT FIGHT! RIGHT HERE! RIGHT NOW!" Shane screamed and ran for the barn doors.
"NO!" I screamed and ran in front of him. He laughed in my face. "Move bitch."
I slapped him across the face. And he stared at me. I slapped him across the face again. He shoved me to the ground and went for the barn doors again. I got up and went in front of him again. He sighed and put his hands on his hips. "What're ya gonna do, Shane? Hold me down, hurt me? Rape me again?!" I shouted.
"You just shut your God damned mouth." he said, getting in my face.
Everyone gasped and looked at eachother looking for answers. Daryl took a step forward.
"What's the matter Shane? Didn't you let Rick and the others know what you did to me that night at the CDC?" I said, tears forming.
"What the hell is she talkin' about Shane?" Daryl said, raising his voice.
"Pathetic pig." I said, and the spat in his face. That sent him over the edge and he punched me in the face. I hit the ground and he attacked me. Momma and Beth gasped and called for me crying.
"SHANE!" Andrea screamed.
"YOU SUM BITCH!" Daryl screamed and grabbed Shane off of me. He punched him in the face several times. Lori and Carol got ahold of me and drug me away from them.
"HEY HEY HEY!" Rick was screaming, but he still had the walker.
T-Dog and Glenn got Daryl off of Shane, and Shane went straight for the barn doors, and shot them open.
Daryl could no longer attack him because walkers were coming out. Everyone shot them all down. Carol hovered over me as I cringed from the noises and blood came out of my mouth.
Everyone was crying. Beth cried into Jimmys chest.
Just then…. Sophia came out of the barn…. She was a walker….
"Oh my….Oh my….Oh my God…" Carol started crying. She got up from me and started running to her. "SOPHIA! SOPHIAAA!" She cried but but Daryl caught her and held her down. I cried into the dirt as blood poured out of my mouth.
I knew I couldn't continue life any longer after this. Daryl wasn't in love with me anymore. I shamed myself in front of everyone. I was nothing.