We had been eating breakfast when Glenn decided he wanted to tell everyone. They were all here, all sitting quietly around the fire. There would be no better time than this, and I agreed. Glenn stood up from where he had been sitting and walked around for a few minutes, and I assumed he had been building up the courage to tell them before he said anything. I knew it would be hard for him, with Maggie staring him down from the porch.

"So, guys." Oh, here we go.

When no one paid him any mind,he cleared his throat to get everyone's attention. Still, they all just continued eating, glancing up occasionally to see what he wanted.

Glenn finally continued when enough people were listening. "The barn is full of walkers."

An unexpected silence settled around the group, which still made me clutch the side of my arm. There was no yelling or uproar like I had expected. Not yet, at least. I glanced around to see everyone's expression, which was much more aware of Glenn's existence now. They all stopped eating, lowering their forks to their plates as they all waited around, hoping that he had given out some kind of joke. When they realised there was no punchline, the questions started rolling in.

"Walkers?"

"What?"

"Did you say walkers?"

"In the barn?"

Glenn didn't expect many questions, as he was straight to the point about the walkers in the barn. The hopes that it was a joke still hung in the air due to the hesitancy of his answers, but he managed to stammer out a sentence that at least cleared up what he said. "I . . . Hershel's family keeps walkers in the barn."

Shane, who had been leaning against a nearby tree, stormed to the gate leading to the barn, "Show me."

Everyone else—including me—stood up and followed them down to the barn. I knew no one was happy about this, and I wanted to know what the plan would be now the group had learned that Hershel was keeping walkers. The most obvious choice was that we would leave the farm, but I knew the group wouldn't want to leave either.

There was muttering amongst the group as we walked across the field. Most people were in disbelief; others didn't understand how we had been here for so long and didn't know about the walkers. We had been in the dark for so long because Hershel asked us to stay away from the barn, and we followed his rules so he would let us stay on the farm. Glenn only knew because he wanted to sleep with Maggie.

Shane stormed to the barn, his steps slowing as he neared the building. His hand lay flat against the wood as he leaned closer to the crack between the middle of the two doors like he didn't believe there were walkers inside. He moved his head back and forth, and when he finally saw the corpses inside, he turned back to the group.

He looked pissed, his face tensed as he walked back towards the farmhouse. His shoulder bumped against Rick as he marched past. "You cannot tell me you're alright with this."

"No, I'm not," Rick snapped, his eyes never leaving the barn, even when he turned his head back to answer Shane, "but we're guests here. This isn't our land."

Shane spun around, "This is our lives!"

"Lower your voice!" Glenn yelled in a whisper.

I was facing the group now, glancing back to the barn over my shoulder. The group continued their argument just as loud as they had before.

"We can't just sweep this under the rug," Andrea said.

"It ain't right," T-Dog agreed. "Not remotely."

Shane was quiet for a second, but as I pictured, he started ranting about leaving. "Okay, we've 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."

"Why, Rick? Why?"

I could think of a few reasons why especially with the news I had been given by Glenn. Maybe Rick knew about Lori now, but the main reason we couldn't leave was Sophia. I was glad when Carol immediately brought her up.

"Because my daughter is still out there."

Shane turned to look at Carol, his hands dragging down over his mouth as he let out a breathy sigh. "O-okay . . . I think it's time that we all start to just consider the other possibility."

"Shane, we're not leaving Sophia behind," Rick snapped, waving his arm in dismissal.

"I'm close to finding this girl!" Daryl yelled, shuffling on his feet. "I just found her damn doll two days ago."

"You found her doll, Daryl," Shane argued. "That's what you did. You found a doll."

Daryl's nostrils flared as he stared at Shane. I knew to take a step back, but my step back led directly to the barn. "You don't know what the hell you're talking about."

Shane was yelling now, ignoring the walkers. "I'm just saying what needs to be said! You get a good lead in the first 48 hours, which means nothing, especially not now! And let me tell you something, you think she's going to come to you—!"

Daryl lunged before he could even finish what he was saying. I took a step forward to grab the back of his shirt, completely forgetting that I was knocked on my ass when I tried stepping in between Ed and the women. He couldn't get close enough to Shane to cause any harm because Rick was standing between them and others stepped in to keep them apart.

Everyone was still shouting as they were separated. My hand moved from his shirt to feebly hold his shoulder back as he took a few steps away from them. He glanced at me but shook my hand off and walked away backwards.

Shane was yelling even as he was pushed away, way more hot-headed than Daryl was asking. "Back off, man! Stay the hell away from me!"

Lori pushed him away, and he turned to me. "Keep your hands off me."

There was a moment of silence.

Rick turned to Shane. "Now, just let me talk to Hershel; let me figure it out."

Shane was yelling again. "What are you gonna figure out?!"

"Enough!" Lori yelled.

"If we're gonna stay, if we're gonna clear this barn, I have to talk him into it," Rick explained, his voice still calm and rational. "This is his land."

Dale took a step forwards. "Hershel sees those things in there as people. Sick people: his wife, his stepson."

"You knew?" Shane glared over at him.

"Yesterday," Dale stated simply. "I talked to Hershel."

"And you waited the night?!"

"I thought we could survive one more night!" Dale snapped. "We did. I was waiting till this morning to say something. But Glenn wanted to be the one."

Shane was still so angry, and he was still yelling. "The man is crazy, Rick. If Hershel thinks those things are alive or no—"

The walkers slammed against the doors behind me, making me jump around to face the doors. I stepped back, bumping into someone behind me and turned to see Daryl. After muttering a quick sorry and a few moments of silence later, the walkers started to quiet down.

"This is fucking crazy," Shane muttered, turning around to leave.

Everyone watched as he walked away before turning to Rick.

Rick was quiet for a second as he mulled over what to do in his head, "Okay, let's everyone leave the barn alone for now. I'll speak to Hershel, try and plead our case."

More muttering hung in the air as everyone walked away, following Shane back towards camp. Daryl scoffed, taking one last look at the barn before walking back towards the camp.

"Mom," I heard Carl. "We're going to stay here, right?"

Rick spoke to Hershel the first chance he got, leaving everyone sitting around camp to wonder what was to come. They had been talking about the barn nonstop, not that I was surprised; it was a huge deal.

Andrea had been pacing since we got back. "Should we start packing? I mean, what do we do if Rick can't sort this out?"

"I don't know," T-Dog shook his head.

"We can't stay, can we?" Glenn asked.

"I'm sure Rick and Hershel will come to some kind of agreement," Lori stepped in, running her fingers through Carl's hair. She had been trying to convince everyone to move on from the topic so Carl wouldn't be worried about leaving the farm.

"What kind of agreement?" Andrea asked, leaning against the tree. "If Hershel thinks they're sick and won't kill them, I don't want to stay here."

"We can't go anywhere until we find Sophia," Carol chimed.

"Oh, God," Andrea placed her hands over her face and then turned to Carol. "Sorry, I'm not saying that. I know we have to find her, but we can't stay here with those walkers in the barn. What if it opens? We'll be overrun."

I had enough of the conversation, seeing as it had reminded me that the only plan there was to look for Sophia today was Rick heading out with Andrea. It was good that they were going to look, but I wanted to help too. I wanted to be involved.

With no plan in mind, I wandered over to the fence, looking over at the barn. I was surprised to see Shane was standing by a tractor that I hadn't noticed existed in the field before. He was staring at the barn, watching for anything that could bust out of the doors.

I called out to him from the fence. "What are you doing?"

Shane glanced over when he heard me, pushing himself away from the tractor with his lower back and walking over. He glanced back at the barn as he reached the fence and leaned on it, resting his elbows on the splintered wood.

"Just keeping an eye on the barn in case anything happens."

I understood his fear that the barn may break the second we're unprepared because it was one of the things that kept me awake the night before. I even checked the barn to see how secure it was, and even though I knew that it would not open, knowing the walkers were just a hundred metres from camp scared me.

"I don't think anything is going to happen. The barn is pretty secure. We didn't even know about it until earlier, and it hasn't broken yet."

Shane raised his eyebrows.

"How do you know it's—?" He stopped, his face contorted before he finally tilted his head to look at me. "You knew?"

"I checked the barn, and it seems sturdy," I knew Shane would probably be as angry with me as he was with Dale this morning. Glenn was the one that wanted to tell the group today, but I would have been happy enough to let them know whenever. Either way, I was preparing myself for a lecture. "The only thing I'm worried about is if he puts more in there, then there might be enough of them to open the door."

Shane exhaled, his eyes turning to the ground. He glanced over his shoulder again, checking the wooden building before turning to face me. "You have to tell us when you find out something like that."

I knew the heavy stare; he was treating me like he would if he were explaining a new concept to a child. Like I didn't understand the importance of the elephant in the barn. Which only made me more frustrated with him, "Why?"

"It's just better for the group if we know those things as soon as possible."

My head tilted to the side, but I held my gaze with him. "First of all, it wasn't my secret to tell. Besides, I don't trust you enough to follow through with what Hershel or Rick wants. So that's why I waited for Glenn to tell you."

Shane pinched his eyebrows together. "Is that what you think?"

"That's what I know," I said. "I want to stay here and look for Sophia, and I knew that you would either make us leave or do something, so Hershel makes us leave. Either way, everything we did here would be gone."

Shane tensed his shoulders, his gaze moving to the ground as he listened to what I had to say. It was true; we both knew it. He already spoke about opening the barn and killing the walkers, and if Hershel believed they were sick, then he would just make our group leave the farm.

After a couple of seconds, he glanced at me from the corner of his eye. "You know there's a very small chance that Sophia is alive, right?"

I frowned. "Why are you saying this?"

"You need to know," He said, straightening his back and placing his hands on the fence where his elbows were once seated. "I don't want to upset you; that's not my intention. But if you keep getting your hopes up over the smallest chance she's alive, you'll be crushed."

"You're talking like she's already dead," I accused.

"That's because you need to start thinking like she is," he told me.

I could only stare at him, shaking my head in denial. I couldn't believe he was saying this, but those were the exact words coming out of his mouth. My mouth hung open, and I leaned back a little.

Shane sighed, glancing down at his hands. "Remember what I told you about the switch? It works here too."

I squinted. "The switch was to not get distracted by adrenaline and just act."

"It's about ignoring distractions," he corrected, "and forgetting about the decision after it's done."

"Are you trying to convince me we should leave?"

"There's a couple of options," Shane shrugged. "If we take the barn, we'd be able to stay."

"Hershel would make us leave," I told him, my words slow as if he wouldn't understand them at an average pace. "If you open up his barn and murder his family, he will make us leave. It's barbaric."

"We wouldn't have to leave," Shane said.

"Hey!" A voice interrupted me from arguing with Shane anymore. When I glanced over my shoulder to see who it was, I saw Daryl walking over with my yellow bag in his hands. He threw it over to me, and I caught it just before it hit the ground. "Ready to go, or what?"

I was glad that I was facing Daryl when he asked because I had no idea what he was talking about for a second. Had we spoken about leaving? Daryl said something the day before, but I never expected that he would follow through on that, so I just forgot it was even planned.

"Go where?" Shane asked from behind me.

Then I realised this was his plan to get me away from Shane or to stop us from arguing. Maybe he was just trying to annoy Shane.

"None of ya business, got nothin' to do with you," Daryl turned to face me, nodding his head as a gesture. "C'mon."

I nodded quickly, swinging my bag onto my back and following after him before Shane could say anything else. Part of me wondered why I even tried speaking to Shane, knowing he would just complain about the barn and lecture me on my secret keeping anyway. Whenever I talked to him, it was getting harder and harder to hold a conversation without getting mad at him.

At least I didn't have to tell Rick I was leaving the camp because Shane knew. Not only that, but we passed a lot of people around camp as we walked through the garden outside the house. Some of them gave a weird look, so they definitely knew we were leaving.

As we neared the fence gate, I pulled my bag off my back. "Is my knife in here?"

"Yeah," Daryl gave a single nod, opening the gate so we could leave the farm. I walked through, and he closed it behind me, barely looking as he swung the latch into place. "Ya left some stuff on the ground outside ya tent. Just grabbed it all."

"Thanks for that," I said before clarifying what I meant quickly. "Helping me with Shane, I mean."

"Fucking prick," Daryl asked. "The hell was he talkin' 'bout anyway? Seemed pretty pissed."

I shrugged. "Lots of things, really. I think he was trying to convince me we should leave the farm. He tried talking about Sophia and told me Hershel is delusional. Then he found out I already knew about the barn, and he got really annoyed. I don't understand how I'm old enough to decide to kill someone but can't say whether the barn is secure or not."

"What?"

"When he was teaching me to shoot, he kept going on about making important decisions to save my life. He kept going on about how I may have to kill people and 'the right choice is the one that keeps us alive'. It was weird."

Daryl scoffed, shaking his head. "Fucker's unhinged, I swear."

"I doubt it; he's just been through a lot lately."

"Why tell ya tha' shit? He's dangerous. I'd stay away from him if I were you," As we entered the woods, Daryl kept peering around for walkers, making me realise that we were probably coming out here to kill walkers again. "He's jus' tryna make ya listen to him, so when he makes some stupid decision, he's got people backin' him up."

I frowned. "Like killing the walkers in the barn?"

Daryl shook his head. "Nah, tha' has to be done."

Funnily enough, this seemed to be the only thing Daryl and Shane ever agreed on, which made me second guess what I thought about the barn. It was Hershel's decision, and we wanted to stay on his land, but living next to the walkers was wrong and dangerous. Maybe opening it was the best way, but there had to be some way to get through Hershel.

"It's secure for now. But Rick can still try to convince Hershel the walkers are dead first. Then Hershel would know they're not sick, and we can stay on the farm, and the barn will be dealt with."

"Doubt Shane is gonna go for tha' plan."

My head tilted to the side as I looked at him. "Rick is the leader."

"Yeah, Shane don' believe that neither," Daryl rolled his eyes, his eyebrows lowering as they pinched together. "The group's broken too got some people following Rick and some people following Shane."

The group is broken. I had never considered that, but maybe he was right. No one understood who was in charge, like Daryl once said, making it difficult to decide who to listen to.

Rick had always been the obvious choice to me; he was kinder than Shane and seemed to care about what the rest of the group wanted, getting their opinions before making any decisions.

On the other hand, Shane was the opposite: intimidating, uncaring, harsh. I have been upset with Shane for many reasons, but mainly because he made me leave my dad, and that may have been piling up on top of everything else. Shane had been through a lot after what happened to him at the high school, so maybe he had gotten more malicious.

I turned to Daryl. "Who do you think is in charge?"

"I don' care."

"I know that's a lie," my eyes returned to the path ahead. "Back in Atlanta, you said we should know who's in charge and the rules. You wouldn't say something like that if you didn't care."

Daryl stood taller, pausing for a second as he thought. He stopped walking altogether when he spoke. "Rick looks to Shane, but Shane just does whatever the hell he wants anyway. Like I said, the group's broken."

Maybe the group was broken, but I could never tell. In reality, I never felt close enough to the group to understand what was going on. Maybe I just didn't pay enough attention because Daryl seemed like a complete outsider to the group, and he knew everything. Maybe being outside the group gave him more of a vantage; he was just a really observant person.

He did seem annoyed with the conversation, though; that was one thing I noticed. So, I decided to change the conversation, "Are we killing some more walkers today?"

"That's the plan," he simply answered.

I sensed he didn't want to talk to me, so I thought about something else. I was still wondering what Shane was trying to tell me earlier about how we wouldn't have to leave the farm. If Rick couldn't convince Hershel of the dangers of having pet walkers, then we would have to leave the farm.

But Shane was sure we could stay. It almost seemed like he was staying no matter what Hershel thought or said, which was my main concern. He hated Hershel, and he didn't respect his opinions or authority. So if he was serious that he was going to stay here no matter what, it worried me.

Then my mind wandered to how he was yelling at the barn, about how we either had to deal with the walkers or just go. He knew leaving was an option, but the next time I spoke to him about it, it didn't seem like it was an option anymore.

Finally, his fight with Daryl crossed my mind, which made me return my gaze to the redneck walking ahead of me. It was evident to me at this point that Shane thought Sophia was dead, and while the thought crossed my mind, Daryl had no doubt that she was still out there alive. That surprised me. He didn't seem like the person who would still care about this issue after so long.

Maybe I'm just bad at reading people. Daryl Dixon was not an easy person to understand. Here he was, using my how-to-kill-a-walker lesson as another excuse to come out and look for the lost little girl.

It was so sweet, but I would never tell him that.

Instead, I did one better and decided to ask him about his feelings. "Are you okay? You just seemed really upset when Shane was talking about Sophia."

He glanced over at me with a look of are-you-serious? "'M fine."

I nodded my head and returned my gaze in front of me. Daryl did the same, and I knew he was praying that the conversation was over, but I did hear him sigh when I said: "I just didn't expect you to care so much."

"Why's that?"

My face scrunched up as I thought about how I would say it, "You're a little . . . abrasive."

I could practically hear his eyes rolling, "You'll see how abrasive I am when I throw you at a walker; now keep looking. Ain't wasting my entire day out here."

"See, that's not how you talk to people," I smiled. "That was very uncalled for."

"We don' need to be talkin'," Daryl scoffed. "Ya wanna kill a walker? Focus on that."

My eyes rolled, but I did as he said. He would probably stop bringing me out here if I kept annoying him. Still, I had no idea why he started bringing me out in the first place. I know I asked him to, but he really did not want to teach me to kill walkers when I first asked, so the offer, in my mind, was ultimately off the table.

We walked on through the woods, stepping over the gravelly dirt. I had to keep my eyes on the ground most of the time, so I didn't trip over any tree roots, but I kept my eyes out into the distance for walkers.

It was quiet, which was nice. Maybe this is why Daryl went out hunting so much, so he didn't have to hear any hassle from the group. I guess it defeated the point if I was tagging along, so for a while, I was making a conscious effort to keep my voice down as we walked.

Until I finally saw a walker. A man still wearing his dressing gown, with a bite mark and blood curling down his hand and around his fingers.

"Daryl," I whispered, tapping his arm. "There."

"The hell ya tellin' me for?"

I felt my cheeks heat up, and my gaze moved to the ground. Of course, he'd want me to go over and kill it now. He was only here at this point because Rick didn't want me to leave the group alone.

Stupid.

Instead of apologising like I usually would have, I didn't want to get the walker's attention, so I began creeping over to the corpse to take it down. Mainly it was so I could get away from Daryl and hopefully the embarrassment.

Creeping over like I had done the day before, I was almost behind the walker when there was another noise. One that almost sounded like the engine of a car. It couldn't have been any from our group because Andrea and Rick hadn't planned on going out until much later.

Daryl was also confused by the sound because he looked around for the source. The only problem was that we weren't the only ones that heard it.

The walker snarled, reminding me it was there and still fully able to kill me at any second. Its head slowly turned to the source of the noise behind Daryl and me, so as it turned around, it became fully aware of my presence.

Oh fuck.

I took a few steps backwards before the walker lunged at me. My eyes widened as I thought about what to do, but there wasn't much time. I hadn't been prepared for it to see me, and now it was attacking.

"Shit," I heard Daryl mutter before he called out. "Ace!"

The next thing I heard was his footsteps as he ran over from where he was waiting, another reason I knew he hadn't been expecting the car. At least he hadn't actually been planning on throwing me at a walker.

Instead of waiting for his help, I kicked the walker as hard as possible in the stomach, making it stumble. While it was off balance, I ran forward, plunging the knife through the rotting skin on its face. The walker fell back onto the ground, and my knife came free from the skull. It still jerked and snarled, so I retracted the blade and swung again and again and again until the undead man was finally lying on the ground still.

Daryl stood to the side, his crossbow aimed directly at the walker's head. Part of me had forgotten he was even there until I heard his footsteps again as he moved around to the front.

I stood up, placing both hands on my knees and panting.

"Holy shit! Did you see that?" And when I finally could remember what happened through the haze of my panic attack, I finally remembered what had gotten me spotted in the first place. I looked back over my shoulder at where I heard the sound. "What was that?"

"Car sounded like."

"Was that one of ours?" I questioned, knowing he would have no way of answering. "Maybe it was other people. Another group?"

"Dunno."

He seemed interested, but he wasn't about to run off chasing a car that could have been miles away by now, especially with the chance of it being our own people. Another group seemed more likely, but there was always the chance that Rick and Andrea would leave to look for Sophia early.

Daryl nodded back to the farm. "We should head back; we don' know who that was."

"Yeah, okay."

The walk back was quieter than the walk out as I honoured Daryl's wishes of not speaking to me. It was nice, though; even though he was here, it felt like the most privacy I had ever gotten since being with the group.

Mainly I thought about killing the walker. Again, it didn't feel right, but I knew that was something I would have to get over. I would be killing a lot of walkers in the future, and if every little kill bothered me, I would never get any sleep. I didn't think about it until after we spoke about the car.

Most of the group were sitting outside the farmhouse when we got back. They all gathered around talking, but none looked very happy. Part of me hoped they weren't still speaking about the walkers in the barn, but they probably were. I watched as T-Dog and Andrea joined the discussion, but Glenn was the first person I heard.

"You haven't seen Rick?"

"He went off with Hershel," Andrea shook her head. "We were supposed to leave a couple hours ago."

"Yeah, you were. What the hell?" Daryl called, walking over to them.

"Rick told us he was going out," Carol agreed.

Rick going awol was strange, especially as he wanted to find Sophia as much as I did, so I didn't understand why he was missing when he was supposed to be searching. I looked at Daryl, whose eyes met mine for a second.

"Damn it! Isn't anybody taking this seriously? We got us a damn trail!" He swung his arm and spun around but stopped yelling when his eyes landed on someone. "Oh, here we go."

I looked back over my shoulder, hoping it was Rick, but it wasn't. Shane was storming over to join us, holding the blue duffle bag filled with guns. He didn't look like he was coming from the RV with them, so I was confused as to how he managed to even get the bag.

"What's all this?" Daryl asked.

Shane didn't answer, but held out a pump shotgun to Daryl. "You with me, man?"

Daryl nodded, taking the gun and cocking it. "Yeah."

I knew what the guns were for. Shane was going to kill all of the walkers in the barn, no matter whether Hershel agreed or not.

"Time to grow up," Shane stated.

He stood in front of me, rifling through the bag over his shoulder and pulling out the Beretta Rick had been teaching me to use. I looked to Daryl for some guidance, unsure of what to do, but the one thing Shane and Daryl agreed on was that killing the walkers in the barn was the right thing to do.

Maybe it was the right thing, but there had to be a better way of going about it. We could show Hershel that the walkers are dead some other way, then he would agree to getting rid of them. But breaking open his barn? It was like we were killing them, because Hershel and his family still believed that they were alive.

"Take it."

The gun was practically in my hands before I could deny him. I opened my mouth to argue with him, but the only thing that came out was a jumble of stutters and words. I shook my head and went to hand it back to him but he had already turned away

Shane looked to Andrea. "You already got yours?"

"Yeah," she nodded, before looking around. "Where's Dale?"

"He's on his way."

Shane held a gun out to T-Dog, who said: "Thought we couldn't carry."

"We can and we have to," Shane told him, and T-Dog nodded and grabbed the gun. "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, holding out a shotgun, different to the one he gave Daryl. "How about you, man? You gonna protect yours?"

Glenn looked at Maggie, but nodded and took the gun from Shane.

"That's it," Shane nodded, and also looked at Maggie. "Can you shoot?"

"Can you stop?!" Maggie snapped. "You do this, you hand out these guns, my dad will make you leave tonight."

Carl ran forwards. "We have to stay, Shane!"

Lori followed Carl off the porch. "What is this?"

Shane ignored her. "We ain't going anywhere, okay? Now look, Hershel, he's just gotta understand. Okay? He—Well, he's gonna have to," Shane explained, kneeling down to Carl's level and holding out a gun. "Now we need to find Sophia, am I right? 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.

Before Carl could take the gun, Lori stood in front of him and pushed him back. "Rick said no guns. This is not your call, this is not your decision to make."

"Oh shit!"

We all turned to T-Dog, who was looking down across the field and over to the farm. I ran over to see what he was looking at, when I saw Rick and Hershel holding two walkers on sticks, like what dog catchers would use in movies. Jimmy was in front of them, almost leading the walkers because both of them followed after him.

What the fuck?

When he saw them, Shane was at my side and immediately started running. "What is that? What is that?!"

I sprinted after him, managing to keep close enough to Shane. I glanced back over my shoulder and saw that I was running just in front of Glenn. Shane burst through the gate, and it slammed back against the fence as he ran through.

Lori was shouting behind us. "Shane!"

Shane ignored any calls, running past Rick and standing just out of arm's reach of the walkers. "What the hell are you doing?!"

"Shane, just back off!" Rick snapped.

"Why do your people have guns?" Hershel asked, looking at me and then the rest of the group.

It made me remember that I was still holding the gun Shane gave me, and so was everyone else. Daryl had his gun aimed at the walker Rick was holding, ready to shoot if it broke free of Rick's grasp.

Jimmy had to dodge back out of the way when the walker spun around to try and bite him, and I flinched, seeing how close the arms were to grab him.

"Are you kidding me?!" Shane turned back to the group. "You see? You see what they're holding onto?"

"I see who I'm holding onto!" Hershel snapped.

"No, man," Shane shook his head, the anger never leaving his face. "You don't.

Rick looked over at him, but then his gaze immediately back to the walker who was now swinging around to face me. I jumped back a step, but Rick pulled the thing backwards before it could grab me.

"Shane, just let us do this and then we can talk."

"What do you want to talk about, Rick?" Shane stormed around with jerky movements; his nostrils flared as he looked at the monsters. "These things ain't sick; they're not people! They're dead! Ain't gonna feel nothing for them 'cause you know all they do? They kill!"

I understood what Rick was doing, but I didn't like it. Hershel offered that if he treated the walkers like they do, he might let us stay on the farm. It didn't seem worth it. I didn't want to stay here if this was the price of living on the farm.

But Rick wanted to stay here. He probably found out about Lori by now, and Hershel had the training to ensure that Lori could give birth safely. If Shane did this, and we had to leave, how could Lori give birth? We would be out there with all these walkers, herds, and a crying baby.

"These things right here!" Shane continued. "They're the things that killed Amy! They killed Otis! They're gonna kill all of us."

"Shane, shut up!"

I looked back at Andrea, but at the mention of her sister, she stood up straight and nodded in agreement. Patricia was also staring at the walkers with hatred and despair over the loss of her husband.

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

He aimed his gun at the walker Hershel was holding, sending three rounds into its body.

Rick tried holding his walker still, shaking his head as he yelled. "No! Stop it!"

"That's three rounds in the chest. Could someone who's alive could they just take that?! Why is it still coming?" He pointed at the walker before aiming the gun again and shooting it more and more. I lost count of the bullets that landed into the dead woman's chest. "That's its heart, its lungs. Why is it still coming?!"

Hershel looked devastated. I couldn't tell whether it was because he suddenly realised the walkers were dead and not sick or because Shane was shooting the woman in the chest.

Shane turned and stormed to me. "How many are in there?!"

I shook my head. "I-I don—"

"—How many, Ace?!" He snapped.

"I don't know," I stammered, desperately thinking back to the day before so he would leave me alone. "I didn't see all of them."

"Shane, enough!" Rick yelled.

"Yeah, you're right, man," Shane agreed, his tone low. "That is enough."

He walked forwards, holding up his gun and shooting the walker in the head. It fell to the ground, the dead weight dragging Hershel down with it. He landed on his knees and stared down at the body. I couldn't read his expression, but it was almost like he was absent now; he wasn't there anymore.

"Enough risking our lives for a little girl who's gone!" My eyes snapped to Shane, and my mouth hung open. "Enough living next to a barn full of things that are trying to kill us. Enough! Rick, it ain't like it was before!"

There was a hitch in my chest as I tried to breathe, but Shane continued yelling.

"Now, if y'all want to live, if you want to survive, you gotta fight for it! I'm talking about fighting right here, right now," Shane turned and sprinted to the barn.

Wait, he's just going to open it and let them out? Any hurt I had felt over his intimidation and yelling left my chest, now replaced with the fear of those walkers overrunning the farm. There were way too many in there to just let out, but that's what he was doing.

Rick looked down at Hershel and started calling out to him. "Take the snare pole. Hershel, take the snare pole. Hershel, listen to me, man, please. Take it now. Hershel! Take it!"

Maggie stood just behind Hershel, but neither of them moved to help Rick. I really wanted to take the pole from him, but I would not be able to hold a walker still, not a man that size, at least.

Rick changed his plan. "No, Shane. Do not do this, brother!"

Shane grabbed a pick from the ground, using it to tear the padlock from the barn door. It popped out from the wood, and Shane slammed down on the door with his hand, yelling to the walkers to get them riled up.

I shook my head. "Shane! Stop!"

"Don't do it!" Glenn yelled.

I heard Lori, over all the shouting, calling out to her husband. "Rick!"

"Come on!" Shane called out to the walkers. "Come on, we're out here!"

"This is not the way!" Rick was still yelling. "Please!"

Shane lifted the plank holding the door closed, throwing it to the side and stepping back, still yelling. "Come on!"

Shane walked back towards us, stopping just before Rick and Hershel. He faced the barn, his body twisted to the side and holding his guns in both hands, ready for the walkers to come out from the barn.

The chain on the top of the barn doors only held it open enough to let two or three walkers through at a time, but they still came out in a long line. Shane shot down the first few walkers as more and more and more lumbered out through the doors.

There were so many of them, like when Glenn showed me. Andrea ran forwards, standing at his side and shooting some of the walkers. Then Daryl and T-Dog, all aiming and shooting at the walkers.

I was holding my gun ready in case any of them got through the front line, but I didn't know if I would be able to hit any. I didn't get a shot on the log when Shane took me out shooting, and this would be so much harder. Walker's movements were jerky and never stayed still enough for me to shoot.

Glenn was the last person to run forwards and join the front line, stopping right in the middle of everyone. He still had the shotgun Shane gave him and shot down some more of the people who marched out of the barn.

Most of the shots flew into the walker's shoulders or chests, very few actually hitting the brain. Some got closer than others before they were finally downed by someone who hit the head.

Shane stopped shooting, glaring back at Rick, who was still struggling to hold the walker still. He raised his gun and shot the walker that Rick was holding, and Rick released the pole as it fell to the ground.

The number of walkers finally whittled down, and it got quiet almost immediately. Everyone lowered their guns, looking down at the floor at all the bodies. My gun fell to my side, and I glanced around at everyone.

Beth was crying, being held still by Jimmy. I forgot they were here, so distracted by Shane and the walkers, but this was exactly what I knew would happen. They still thought they were alive, and now in their minds, Shane had killed their family. The same thing happened with Hershel and Shane.

Dale finally returned, his eyes wide at the scene in front of him. He stared at the bodies on the ground and then looked at each of the Greene family for their reactions. His eyes finally landed on Shane, the look turning from shock and fear to one of resentment and hatred.

But that wasn't it.

More noises came from the barn, and everyone prepared for the second wave of walkers. But there was no second wave of walkers . . . just one. A small girl wearing a blue shirt and beige shorts.

Sophia.

Sophia stepped out of the barn, quietly snarling around at the group. She walked out of the shadow and into the harsh sunlight, showing off the bite mark and blood dripping down her neck. She was a walker.

She was dead.

I couldn't look anywhere else, my mouth hanging open in despair. My head shook automatically, the movement becoming bigger the more I stared at her. I reached up to cover my mouth, hiding any sobs I had let out.

Carol ran forward, calling her daughter's name and crying out. Daryl lunged forwards, stopping her just before she got past the front line. I did that to her; I was why Carol was crying over her daughter. I was the reason Sophia was dead.

Sophia walked forwards, her movements slower than the other walkers. She headed straight for Shane, snapping her teeth at everyone standing around on the front line.

Rick looked back, his eyes meeting mine. His eyes sank to the ground and then back up at Sophia. He nodded to himself like a decision had been made before walking forward and past the front line of people. He pulled the Python from his holster and walked towards her, Sophia—the walker. When he was close enough, he raised his gun, pointing it at her head.

He couldn't do it immediately, but when Sophia snarled at him and lunged forwards, he shot.