++++++ I do not own the Walking Dead or any affiliated characters apart from my OC's ++++++

Twelve

I got back to the farm the following day just as they were finishing up with lunch.

I pulled the Jeep up just behind the RV and went straight to the back of my baby to get the couple of bags I'd managed to rustle up, thoroughly picking through what was left in the town and a number of houses by the time the sun had come. It was safe to say that there was nothing left in the town any more apart from corpses.

I grabbed the bags and headed towards my tent only to be stopped by Ebony who was trying her dandiest to copy my mother's best bitchface."Morning Ebony," I smiled.

"Where the bloody hell have you been?" Ebony snapped. She sat an empty basket on the ground and folded her arms. "And why the hell do you look like a bloody peacock, PJ?" she asked me.

I ran my hand through my newly dyed bright pink hair. "Peacock's are like a blue-green colour, Eb's."

She rolled her eyes at me. "Why the hell do you look like an advertisement for Mardi Gras?"

"Was unarmed and stuck in a room full of dye products-what was I supposed to do whilst I waited?" I asked her. "Plus I like it-hot pink cause I'm such a hottie. It'll wash-out in twenty washes according to the bottle and when it does I have a whole new range of colours-blue, green, purple, orange."

"Did you find anything?" Ebony asked me, shaking her head at my pink hair.

"Couple cans of spam, some medical supplies-low grade," I listed. "Some stuff from a hair salon-"

"Are you stoned?" Ebony suddenly asked. She leant in to get a closer look at my eyes. "Oh my god you're stoned!" She shook her head again. "What the hell did you do? Where did you get drugs?"

"Counter of the convenience store," I smirked. "It really was a convenience."

"Why?" Ebony asked me. She grabbed the basket, "talk to me whilst I get the washing off the line."

I sighed and followed her. "Listen, Eb's. I don't think it's good if I stick around anymore."

"No!" Ebony snapped. "I'm not leaving! Jade's safe-we're safe."

"I meant just me," I frowned. "Eb-I kissed Rick last night."

Ebony gasped. "You what?" she asked me. "You kissed Rick?! PJ! What the hell?"

I put my hand over her mouth. "Ebony-just focus, please. I can't stay here anymore. If you wanna stay then that's fine but I can't."

Ebony shook her head and pushed my hand away. "You don't understand," she sighed. "You ran off last night so you weren't here for breakfast." She started pulling stuff off the clothes line. "First thing-Lori's pregnant."

I frowned. "Lori's what?" I asked her.

"P-r-e-g-n-a-n-t," Ebony spelt it out to me. "I overheard Lori and Dale talking about it. Apparently Glenn spilled the beans to Dale and he confronted Lori." She dropped the clothes in the basket, "and there are walkers in the barn."

"That barn?" I asked her, pointing towards the barn near the house. "That barn?" I asked again. "There are walkers in that barn whilst there are children running around this farm? There are walkers in this barn whilst Jade, Sophia and Carl are running around playing? Is Herschel keeping them as pets?"

"Herschel believes that they're just sick and can be saved," Ebony answered. "

I shook my head and stormed off towards the Jeep where I had a Winchester 70 hidden in a locked box underneath the back seat. Ebony was yelling at me but I didn't hear anything. I sat my bow in the front seat and grabbed the rifle before heading towards the barn. I slung the rifle over the back of my shoulder and climbed up the back of the barn in search of the hay loft entrance.

When I found it, I could smell the stench of rotting flesh and hear the strangled moans as soon as I hit the wooden slats. I stuck my head over the side of the loft to see a number of walkers in the barn, some with fresh blood around their mouths and on their hands.

Someone had been feeding them.

Question is-feeding them what?

Ebony screamed at me from outside the barn.

I stuck my head out the window. "What?" I yelled.

"Get down here!" she yelled. "Don't go doing anything rash! We have to discuss this as a group."

I rolled my eyes. "You're fucking kidding me?" I snapped. I climbed down the way I had come up and got inches away from Ebony's face. "Discuss this as a group? You've integrated into this little group-which is fine by me-but I haven't. I don't discuss this as a group. I discuss this with me."

"Don't get angry with me because you screwed up PJ!" Ebony shouted back. "You were the one that kissed a married man with a pregnant wife."

I sighed. "Eb's-babe. I'm sorry, but I can't stay anymore. I just can't. I'm a lone wolf."

"That's bullshit," Ebony growled. "Hell-Herschel makes more sense when he catches walker's and sticks them in the barn over you. So you're saying that you want to leave because you're a lone wolf? You grew up in one of the biggest families I've ever seen. You're family Christmas dinners alone were a huge affair. Fifty Lucas family members running around your great uncle's farm for three days of fun. That's why we came this way-to see if the insane bastard was still alive and kicking because if anyone would be-it would be retired Colonel Joshua Lucas."

"I'm going to catch a few hours shut eye," I told her, trying to change the subject.

Ebony grabbed my arm. "If you don't wanna stay because it's something to do with Rick then I can accept that but if you walk out on Jade that's a different thing. I will never forgive you PJ. Never." She pushed past me roughly and headed off towards Carol and Beth who were folding clothes.

I sighed. Heading back to the Jeep I put the rifle back in the box and punched the seat in anger.

"Are you alright?" Lori asked me.

I jumped and turned around. "What do you care?" I growled.

"I was just asking a question," she frowned. Lori cleared her throat, "I wanted to thank you for helping us out-taking Rick and going looking for the supplies."

"Don't thank me," I urged her. Fake graces from women like her bugged the crap out of me. "Please, don't."

"I want you to stop spending so much time with Rick," she added.

"Why?" I asked her. "Worried something's gonna happen?" Shaking my head I laughed. "I'm not the kind of woman who likes to cheat. Sure I've screwed up but at least I'm not the one that's pregnant with a baby that's either Rick's-or Shanes." I grabbed my bow and walked away from her. "Don't assume you can tell me what to do because you can't. I'm going to grab some shut eye," I yawned, disappearing into the tent, hoping for a couple of hours at least.