Wow, I can't believe I'm already uploading the chapter where they're finding Sophia. 2x07. NOOOOOOO. 6 more episodes to write and I'm done.
Nooooooo. Already wrote the last chapter, made me cry like a baby. Nooo I don't want to post that last chapter. But looks like I have to! :D Soon! Nooo! Anyho, Connor doesn't have to suffer for once. Ha,ha,ha,ha :D

setting: episode 7 "Pretty Much Dead Already"

Salvation

Chapter 20 - Clarity

Daryl was the first to wake up the next morning, but when he shifted he could feel Connor moving behind him as well. The Irishman let go of him and turned on his back to sleep on. Daryl turned around as well and saw Connor still lying next to him. The Irishman didn't look so angry or sad anymore, Daryl even dared to think that his friend looked almost peaceful right now. The hunter sat up and got changed. It was the dawn of another day and he decided to get started on their search for Sophia right away. He put a new shirt and a pair of socks on, and once he was done he just looked at Connor, completely lost in thoughts. The Irishman suddenly opened his eyes and blinked a few times. His left eye was still black and blue, but it wasn't so swollen anymore. Connor raised an eyebrow when he saw that Daryl was looking at him.

"Ye going ta punch me again?" Daryl snorted and got up.

"Herschel should take a look at yer eye" he said and got out of the tent.

Connor sat up and snorted.

"Fuck et. I've had worse."

He got changed quickly and followed Daryl a second later. He shoved the hunter when he caught up with him.

"Could give ye one in return" he said and chuckled.

Daryl snorted.

"Try and yah won't see the rest of it."

They had slept pretty long because of last night, so when they joined the group, everyone was already busy doing something else. They had spared them some food though, so they sat down for a moment to eat and gather strength for another busy day. Carol was there and gave them food, and when she wouldn't stop hanging around with them Daryl got angry all over again. He knew that she obviously thought that they were friends now, just because he had shown her the rose. He hated it. For one because he'd never had any female friends and also because he didn't want Connor to know. The Irishman was watching them the whole time, and when Carol finally left he couldn't help but snort.

"Aren't ye two adorable" he muttered and snickered.

Daryl glared at his food and growled.

"Screw yah."

"Maybe I should sleep somewhere else tanight, so ye two can have a little private session.." Connor went on and laughed.

Daryl glared at him. He hated the Irishman for embarrassing him like that, but at the same time he couldn't help but be surprised to see Connor laugh.
The hunter just frowned.

"Are yah tryin t' get me laid now?"

The Irishman chuckled.

"Oh come on, don't be like that. How long' s it been?"

Daryl snorted.

"Fuck you, I ain't tellin yah."

"Why not? 's nothing t'be ashamed of these days. Fer me it's been years. Only got some action in my early 20s.
Kinda hard getting through fuckin puberty with all that bible shit."

Daryl pulled a face.

"Ew, disgusting. Too much information."

Connor laughed.

"Come on, we're men, that's what we talk about."

"There's walkers in that barn, the freaking apocalypse , a missing girl and yah wanna talk bout all the chicks you fucked?"

"It wasn't like it were hundreds..'t weren't even 10."

"Shut up, will yah."

The Irishman smirked.

"Yer so much like Murph. Prude an shit. He hated it when I made fun af him because I got more chicks than 'im."

"I ain't prude."

Connor chuckled and put his plate away.

"Fine then yer just nat gonna tell me. Yer boring as fuck."

"There's nothing much t' tell, yah freak" Daryl murmured and wouldn't look at him.

The Irishman stopped laughing and look at the hunter in surprise.

"Ye mean like.."

"Yah know me good enough by now t'get the picture."

"Jesus. Really?"

"Fuck you."

"Well you go ta heaven, good boy" Connor snickered and patted Daryl's shoulder.

"Screw yah" Daryl grunted and punched Connor's upper arm.

"Fuck you, but I really don't get it" the Irishman murmured.

"What?"

"I mean yer a decent bloke. Yer lookin fer missing kids and bring flowers fer their mothers and shit, yer a real proper dude with muscles and shit, don't get it."

Daryl frowned and looked at Connor for a while. The hunter shook his head and snorted.

"Leave me the fuck be. Could yah be any more gay? Good lord" he growled and turned around when he saw Shane coming down the road with the rifle bag.

"Just trying ta help ye" Connor said and shrugged.

He turned his head and looked at the policeman as well.

"I don't need yer fuckin help" Daryl growled and got up to ask Shane what was going on.

"What's all this?" he asked and pointed at the guns. Connor got up as well and frowned.

"You with me, guys?" Shane asked and threw their guns at them. Connor caught his Berettas and cursed.

"Eh, careful!" he complained and checked his weapons to make sure they were okay.

Shane kept walking and approached the rest of the group which had gathered in front of the farmhouse.
Connor and Daryl looked at each other with a frown and followed the policeman.

"Time to grow up, you already got yours?" he asked Andrea and handed Glenn a gun.

"Where's Dale?" Andrea asked and Shane went over to the next member of the group.

"He's on his way."

"I thought we couldn't carry" T-Dog said and looked just as confused as the others.

"We can and we have to."

"Why? What te fuck's up?" Connor asked.

Shane stopped walking and looked at them all.

"Look, it was one thing sitting around here picking daisies when we thought this place was supposed to be safe. But now we know it ain't" he said and nodded at the barn.

Everyone turned their head and a few nodded.

"I've been waiting for Rick t'figure it out, but another night and those things are still in there. Can you shoot?" Shane asked Maggie and she got angry.

"Can you stop?"

"What the fuck's wrong with this guy, man?" Connor asked and snorted.

He checked his magazines and shook his head.

Daryl checked his shotgun and shrugged.

"Got a point."

"You do this, you hand out these guns, my dad will make you leave tonight" Maggie tried to reason with the policeman, but Shane ignored her.

"What is this?" Lori asked as she came to join them.

"We ain't going anywhere, okay?" Rick's friend said and got his own gun.

"Now look, Herschel, he's just gotta understand. Okay? He...Well, he's gonna have to. Now we need to find Sophia. Am I right?"

He knelt down in front of Carl and offered him a gun.

"Damn right" Connor could hear Daryl say and frowned even more. He didn't know what was going on.

A minute ago everything had been quiet and peaceful, so why was Shane acting like this all of a sudden?

"I don't know, man" Connor murmured and put his Berettas in his leg holsters.

Then he folded his arms and shook his head when he saw how Shane placed a gun in Carl's hand.

"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."

"Now, hold te fuck up buddy, I didn't teach the kid how t'shoot a gun just so you can talk him into some bullshit" Connor said and stepped forward, but Lori was already on her way. She placed herself in front of her son and glared at Shane.

"Rick said no guns. This is not your call, this is not your decision to make."

"Ohhh shit" T-Dog interrupted them and everyone turned around to see what he was talking about.

They could see five people making there way to the barn on the other side of the field.
They narrowed their eyes and gasped when they realized that it were Rick, Herschel and Jimmy who were guiding snarling and growling walkers with sticks.

"What the fuck?!" Connor asked and widened his eyes.

"Murph, ye fucking see that?"

Daryl rolled his eyes.

"Of course, I ain't blind, dumbass."

Shane started running and after a moment of hesitation everybody followed.

"Shane wait!" Glenn and Lori shouted after him but the policeman wouldn't listen.

"What the hell are you doing?" Shane yelled at Rick as soon as they reached the barn.

Connor and Daryl positioned themselves right next to the walkers and pointed their guns at their heads just to make sure that nobody would get hurt.
The Irishman couldn't believe that this was happening. What sort of people had taken him in?

"Shane, just back off!" Rick said but Shane ignored him.

"Why do you people have guns?" Herschel asked.

Rick and Shane kept arguing. Connor and Daryl stood right by the walkers and wouldn't move or put their guns down.

"Are you kidding me?" Shane spat.

"You see? You see what they're holding on to?!"

"I see who I'm holding onto!" Herschel yelled and Connor snorted.

"Yer holding onto fucking monsters!" he said to him since he was standing right next to the old man.

"Just fucking look at 'em!"

Herschel wouldn't listen to him. The Irishman saw that Rick could hardly hold his walker back anymore.

"Shane just let us do this and then we can talk!" the policeman tried to reason with his friend, but Shane exploded.

"What is there to talk about, Rick? These things ain't sick!They're not people! They're dead! And they can't feel nothing because you know what they do?
They kill! These things right here!"Shane yelled and pointed at the walkers who kept struggling.

"They're the things that killed Amy!" he went on and looked at Andrea.

She looked surprised, but nodded.

"They killed Otis! Murphy!" he went and looked at Connor who startled at the mention of his brother's name.

For a moment he felt like he was petrified.

"Don't lose yer shit now" he heard Daryl growl and shook his head.

No, because hearing Murphy's name just made him angry.

"They're gonna kill us all if you don't take care of this!"

"Shane, shut up!" Rick spat and tried to keep hold of the walker.

"Hey Herschel man, let me ask you something. Tell me this, could a living breathing person walk away from this?"

The policeman asked and grabbed his gun. He pulled the trigger three times and hit the female walker Herschel was holding.
It groaned but kept walking and struggling.

"Stop it!" Rick yelled.

"I hit it in the chest! Could someone who's alive just take that, why is it still comin?"

Shane didn't stop. He shot the walker again and Connor backed off in surprise. He'd almost been hit himself because the bullet's went straight through the body.

"Fuckin hell, watch it, man!"

"Why is it still coming?"

And he shot her again.

"That's its heart, its lungs! Why is it still coming?"

"Shane, enough!" Rick demanded and his friend walked up to the creature.

"Yeah, alright man, that is enough."

He placed his gun on her forehead, pulled the trigger and shot her in the head. She fell to the ground and Herschel lost grip of the stick he'd been holding her with. He looked at the body and the women and children covered their mouths in shock. Connor just stared at the dead walker for a minute as the head shot rang a bell. Then, as he stared at the pile of dead rotten flesh, he couldn't help but smile. Another one of the things that killed his brother was dead. Shane was right. They all deserved to die. He saw Daryl eyeing him and looked at him in surprise. Then he came to join his friend and helped him with the remaining walker.

"Enough, risking our lives for a little girl who's gone!" Shane spat and Daryl and Carol looked at him in surprise.

"Enough living next to a barn full of things that're trying to kill us! Enough! Rick it ain't like it was before!"

Rick looked at him but seemed to be too shocked and clueless. He didn't say anything.

"If you want to survive, you've got to fight for it! And I'm talking about fighting right here! Right now!"

With that Shane walked up to the barn and grabbed a hatchet. Everyone tried to run after him and screamed. Rick was losing it as he kept begging Herschel to take the remaining walker. But Herschel just sat there in shock. When he wouldn't respond to Rick it was Connor who reacted. He shot the walker right in the head just as Shane managed to open the barn.

"Do not do this brother! Please! This is not the way! Please!" Rick kept begging but the barn doors swung open.

All hell broke loose as the walkers started coming out. Connor stood right next to Daryl when they started shooting them. As soon as he shot the first walker in the head just like the professional he'd been for the past 10 years, he zoned out completely. The anger was eating him up. He hated those things. He hated himself. For everything they'd done to Murph. For everything he'd done to him. And he shot one walker after another. He saw Daryl standing right beside him and for one moment it was almost like back in the old days. Him and Murph. With guns. Taking out dangerous, evil men. And he got so caught up with it that he ended up shooting most of the walkers on his own. Daryl, Andrea, Glenn and T-Dog stopped when they saw that no more walkers were coming out of the barn.

Daryl watched how Connor took them out. One by one, all on his own with nothing but his two silly handguns. And written on his left index finger, pulling the trigger over and over again, he could see it. Veritas. He just watched him for a moment. The expression on his face. He actually looked scary like that. Because he wasn't showing any emotions. No fear. No mercy. He shot everything that came out of the barn. In cold blood. For the first time Daryl really believed that this man had killed over 20 people. The massacre ended after just a couple of minutes. The children and women were in shock, the shooters out of breath. It was quiet for a moment and Daryl just eyed Connor who looked back and frowned. Then he put his guns away and looked back at the barn. Suddenly they heard groans. When another walker stepped out of the barn everyone's face fell. It was a little blonde kid wearing a blue shirt. There was a chunk of flesh missing from her shoulder. And as she approached them they could hear Carol crying.

"No! Sophia!"

Daryl threw his gun away when Carol came running. He grabbed her to pin her down and hold her back. When Connor saw how both Carol and Daryl reacted he understood who the little girl was. He just looked at her sadly. After a long moment of silence and Sophia coming closer and getting angry, Rick grabbed his gun and approached her. When he pulled the trigger and shot her in the head, everybody startled.