The next morning we all sat quietly near the fire, eating our breakfast. The only sound being made was Andrea sharpening her knife. I noticed that Glenn looked nervous. I don't know why, but he was. I watched as he stood up and walked in front of the group.
"Um, guys. So..." Glenn started, "There's walkers in the barn."
We all stopped what we were doing and looked up at the asian boy. We set down our stuff and marched over to the barn. I didn't want Jamie to come, but he would be alone at the camp, so I picked him up and held him close. We all stood there while Shane looked between the wood and into the barn.
"You cannot tell me you're all right with this." Shane said angrily as he stalked up to Rick.
"No I'm not." Rick replied, "But we're guests here. This isn't our land."
"This is our lives!" Shane yelled.
"Lower your voice." Glenn hissed.
"We can't just sweep this under the rug." Andrea said.
"It ain't right. Not remotely." Shane stated, "We 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."
"We can't go." Rick insisted.
"Why, Rick, why?" Shane asked.
"Because my daughter is still out there." Carol answered.
"Okay," Shane sighed, "I think it's time that we all start to just consider the other possibility."
"We're not leaving Sophia behind." Rick said.
"I'm close to findin' this girl. I just found her damn doll two days ago." Daryl stepped in.
"You found her doll, Daryl. That's what you did. You found a doll." Shane replied.
"You don't know what the hell you're talkin' about." Daryl responded.
"I'm just saying what needs to be said." Shane said while Rick tried to shut him up, "You get a good lead, it's in the first 48 hours. Let me tell you something else, man. If she was alive out there ans saw you coming all methed out with your buck knife and geek ears around your neck, she would run in the other direction!"
Daryl lunged at Shane and Rick restrained him while Lori stopped Shane. I stood next to Carol with my arm around her shoulders.
"Keep your hands off me." Shane told Lori before he started walking away.
"Now just let me talk to Hershel." Rick said, "Let me figure it out."
"What are you gonna figure out?!" Shane screamed and Jamie buried his head into my neck.
"If we're gonna stay, if we're gonna clear this barn, I have to talk him into it. This is his land." Rick answered.
"Hershel sees those things in there as people, sick people, his wife, his stepson." Dale said.
"You knew?" Rick asked.
"Yesterday I talked to Hershel."
"And you waited the night?" Shane questioned.
"I thought we could survive one more night. We did. I was waiting till this morning to say something. But Glenn wanted to be the one." Dale answered.
"The man is crazy, Rick. If Hershel thinks those things are alive or no!" Shane yelled and the barn doors started moving.
We went back to camp, but we had someone on barn watch at all times. Right now it was Shane, and we all did our own things. Lori was with Carl and Jamie working on their education. I was working on organizing my stuff inside my tent when I noticed Glenn walking by with egg in his hair.
"What happened to you?" I asked.
"Maggie's mad at me." He answered.
"So she cracked an egg on your head?" I questioned.
He nodded and I laughed.
"It's not funny." He glared.
"Oh, it's funny. Give me your shirt, I'll wash it." I replied.
"Alright, I'll be back." Glenn said before going into his tent.
He came back in a different shirt and gave me his egg covered one. He left to go on watch duty on the RV and Daryl stomped towards me.
"Hey." I greeted.
Daryl didn't reply and stalked into his tent and zipping it shut harshly. I looked at the tent in confusion and looked towards the direction where he came from. In the entrance of the stables I saw Carol crying.
"What happened?" I asked, running up and hugging her.
"He's already done so much for my little girl. He's hurt and he's trying to go back out there again." Carol said. "I don't know if she's alive. I just don't want him getting even more hurt."
"What did he say to you?" I asked her.
"He didn't-"
"Don't listen to him. He's just angry that everyone wants to give up the search." I replied.
"Do you?" Carol asked.
I shook my head, "If it was Jamie out there, I would want to know if he was dead or alive. And he ain't even my kid. Same goes for Sophia. She ain't my kid. But I would still like to know."
I hugged her again before leaving her to her thoughts. I walked angrily to Daryl's tent and walked inside.
"Tha hell? What you doin' here?" Daryl asked
"Who do you think you are? She lost her daughter and now you're calling her names and being mean to her?!" I yelled at him.
"She thinks we should call off the search!" He yelled back.
"That doesn't give you the right to be mean. And maybe you should just deal with the fact that maybe Sophia's-"
"She's what? Dead? Everyone else seems to think so. Am I the only one who still wants to search for her?" Daryl huffed.
"Rick and Andrea are going out in a few minutes. We're not giving up. But Daryl, she's twelve. It's been days. Before the outbreak, if she got lost, we'd have a bigger chance. But now, there's walkers in those woods. She can't defend herself. I'm not saying we should stop searching, we should know if she's alive or not." I turned to walk out, "You should apologize to Carol."
I left and decided to sit on the RV with Glenn and help watch. We sat there for a few minutes and Shane walked into the RV.
"You two see where he went?" Shane asked, walking out of the vehicle.
"Who?" Glenn questioned.
"Don't even try to shit me, okay?"
"What?" I asked.
"Dale, Violet. Did any of you see where Dale went?" Shane asked.
"Yeah," Glenn answered, "He asked me to run and get him some water. He said he'd cover me on watch."
"And he was gone when you got back, huh?" Shane asked, looking around.
"Yeah."
"You think he's okay?" I questioned.
"Oh, he's fine." Shane answered.
"Why'd he bail then?" Glenn asked.
"So you wouldn't tell me which way he went."
"I don't get it." Glenn said.
"No, man, you don't." Shane stated before leaving.
"Why is there so much drama in this camp?" I asked, sitting on the RV again.
"I ask myself that a lot." Glenn replied.
A while later Glenn and I saw Maggie walking down the road. Glenn set down the rifle and took off his hat.
"Maggie." She ignored him. "Hey."
"I'll cover for ya." I told him and he nodded in thanks before climbing down.
He ran over and they started having a heated talk. They stopped near the house and Glenn took the basket way from her. After talking, Glenn started walking away. Maggie stopped him, then kissed him.
"Whoop whoop!" I yelled.
They stopped and looked at me and I shrugged,
"At least someone's getting some." I yelled before going back to watch.
About an hour later I saw Shane walking towards the house with the bag of guns over his shoulder. I climbed down from watch and ran over where everyone else was. Shane handed a gun to Daryl and I stopped beside Andrea,
"Where's Dale?" I asked.
"He's on his way." Shane answered, handing me my pistol.
"Thought we couldn't carry." T-Dog said and Shane gave him a gun.
"We can and we have to." Shane replied, giving Tyler and gun and he smirked. "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." Shane walked over to Glenn, "How bout you, man? You gonna protect yours?"
Glenn looked at Maggie before taking it and Shane turned to her, "Can you shoot?"
"Can you stop?" She asked, "You do this, you hand out these guns, my dad will make you leave tonight."
"We have to stay, Shane." Carl said, walking down the stairs.
"What is this?" Lori asked, coming over to the group.
"We ain't going anywhere, okay?" Shane told the boy. "Now look, Hershel, he's just gotta understand. Okay, he's gonna have to. Now we need to find Sophia. Am I right?" Shane asked Carl, holding out a gun. "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."
Lori stepped in front of her son, "Rick said no guns. This is not your call. This is not your decision to make."
"Oh shit."
We all looked across the field and saw Rick, Hershel, and Jimmy coming out with two walkers on dog poles. The others started running towards them and I turned to Jamie who was on the porch.
"Stay behind me, got it?" I told him and he nodded before running over and grabbing the back of my shirt.
We stayed next to Lori and Carl, who had to walk because of his injury.
"They're the things that killed Amy! They killed Otis! They're gonna kill all of us!" Shane yelled as the four of us walked up.
"Shane, shut up!" Rick yelled.
"Hey, Hershel, man, let me ask you something. Could a living, breathing person, could they walk away from this?" Shane asked as he shot his gun into the female walker three times in the chest.
"Stop it!"
"That's three rounds in the chest. Could someone who's alive, could they just take that? Why's it still coming?" Shane questioned before shooting it again, "That's its heart, its lungs. Why is it still coming?"
"Shane enough!" Rick yelled.
"Yeah, you're right, man. That is enough." Shane replied, walking up to the walker and shooting it in the head.
Hershel dropped the poll and went down on his knees.
"Enough risking our lives for a little girl who's gone! Enough living next to a barn full of things that are trying to kill us! Enough. Rick, it ain't like it was before! Now if y'all want to live, if you want to survive, you got to fight for it! I'm talking about fighting right here, right now!"
Shane ran towards the door of the barn and Rick looked at Hershel, "Take the snare pole. Hershel, take the snare pole. Hershel, listen to me, man, please! Take it now. Hershel! Take it!"
Shane grabbed a pickaxe and smashed it against the lock, breaking it. He banged against the door before baking up and letting the walkers out. Shane started shooting the first ones, and Andrea, Daryl and T-Dog ran up to join him. Shane turned around and shit the walker at the other end of the pole that Rick had.
"Maggie." Glenn said.
"It's okay." She told him before Glenn ran up and started shooting to.
I stayed behind next to Lori and Carl, holding Jamie in my arms. Eventually all of the walkers were dead and they lowered their guns. Beth was sobbing and I turned and saw Dale walk up. I heard more growling from the barn and I turned and saw a small, dirty, tennis shoe step out, followed by a little girl with short hair and a ripped blue t-shirt.
It was Sophia.
She had a giant bite on her shoulder and she looked towards us, hunger in her milky eyes.
"Sophia? Sophia!" Carol yelled and ran towards what used to be her little girl.
Daryl grabbed her and they both fell to the ground. Jamie sobbed against my chest, knowing who that walker used to be. Carol sobbed, too, as the little walker child came towards us, none of us making a move to shoot her. I looked over and saw Carl crying, watching her. Rick grabbed his gun and walked in front of our group. He aimed his gun at her head and shot her once she got close enough. I buried my head into Jamie's hair, tears falling out of my eyes for the little girl.
She's in a better place now.