(Anne Marshall belongs to AquaDestinysEmbrace!)
(I DO NOT own The Walking Dead, Code Lyoko or any kind of names or brands that appear in this story. I do own all OCs unless specifically named as they appear above this message.)
Several hours after he had been shot, an incredibly sore Daryl was recovering in one of the bedrooms inside Hershel's home. Everyone was relieved that he seemed to be fine.
Daryl told everyone that while he was out there in the woods, the horse he borrowed (without permission) from the Greene Family got spooked by a snake while he was on an embankment. The horse bucked him off and he tumbled down into a creekbed. The wound on his stomach came from one of his own crossbow bolts which he accidentally fell on during the rumble and tumble. It was difficult to climb out of the creek with a wound like that, and he had to kill a walker or two even despite his injuries, but somehow he got out of there with his life.
Well, until Andrea decided to pop off a round at him that is. Amazingly, Daryl somehow escaped that incident too with just a graze to the side of his head. If Daryl had been standing less than an inch to his left then he'd be dead right now. He was certainly a lucky bastard...
While they dragged Daryl to the house for medical help, everyone noticed he was wearing a necklace made from walker ears. Rick snatched it and stuffed it in his pocket so it wouldn't alarm Hershel or his family. It was an incredibly freaky thing for everyone who saw it and they had no idea why Daryl would even make such a thing.
After Andrea shot him, the group noticed that Daryl also had something else on his person - a pair of bloody earrings, one silver and one red. After he woke up, Daryl said he found the earrings amongst a torn-up shirt and a backpack which had a "weird flag" sewn onto it (it turned out to be the French flag, based on his description). Odd instantly recognized the earrings as the ones which belonged to his old Icelandic flame, Brynja Heringsdötir.
Thanks to Daryl's efforts, some more items from a lost Kadic student had been found. It was another new lead which hopefully will help the group track down anyone from the school.
As he laid in the bed, Daryl was having his wounds worked on by Hershel. The farmer was very annoyed by the rifle shot earlier and he was also annoyed with having to use up even more of his medical supplies now. Hershel Greene was a God-fearing Christian man who believed in always helping the needy, but he couldn't help but wonder how much longer his hospitality towards all these people could last when things like this kept happening.
While Hershel worked on Daryl, some of the Lyoko Warriors were at his bedside and they were asking him about where and how he found the earrings. Jeremie had laid down a map of the county on the mattress and Daryl pointed out the place where he found them at.
"Found your friend's stuff washed up on the creekbed here." Daryl told the teens, putting his finger down on a place called Horton Creek. "Your friend probably dropped her stuff while trying to cross somewhere."
"If we find more stuff belonging to everyone from Kadic in that area then that could help cut the search grid in half for that county." Aelita observed to her friends.
"Yeah, you're welcome..." Daryl sarcastically interjected.
Hershel continued working on Daryl's wounds. The one on his head wasn't much of an issue but he was worried that the one on his stomach could develop an infection. All of that wading around in the dirty river water and all of the muck Daryl rolled around in out there would've probably played serious hell on his immune system if Hershel didn't use up some of his supply of antibiotics on his wounds.
"How's he looking, Hershel? Will he be okay?" Rebecca wondered.
"I had no idea we'd be going through the antibiotics so quickly..." Hershel sighed. The group took that statement as him meaning that Daryl would be fine once he recovered.
After some careful tending to Daryl's stomach wound, Hershel went over to a wash basin to clean up his hands. The fact that Daryl was already incredibly dirty even before this accident was not appreciated much by the elderly farmer. Neither was Daryl now getting all of his muck all over what used to be some clean bedsheets. "Any idea what happened to my horse?" Hershel wondered as he took a hand towel to dry himself off.
"Yeah, the one that almost killed me?" Daryl backchatted to the group's host. "If its smart then it left the country."
An irritated Hershel shook his head as he walked back over to the bed. "We call that one 'Nelly.' As in 'Nervous Nelly.'" he informed. "I could've told you that she'd throw you if you bothered to ask."
Daryl rolled his eyes as he tried to rest on the bed, totally ignoring the point Hershel was trying to make. After he saw his horse Nelly was gone yesterday and after finding out that Daryl had taken her, Hershel had a talk with Rick, Lee, and Carlos about their man taking her without consent. The Lyoko Warriors didn't get much of the details but apparently there was also another incident where Beth's boyfriend Jimmy lied to Rick so that he could join one of the search teams, apparently thinking it could be fun or something. In reality, Hershel forbade Jimmy from leaving the farm since he was worried about him getting infected.
The leaders of the groups and Hershel all agreed that they needed to work better on their communications. Hershel made it very simple by saying: "I'll control my people, you control yours." After hearing of that impromptu agreement, the Lyoko Warriors wanted to abide by it too and help make sure that there wouldn't be any problems. The friction between Rick and Hershel couldn't be allowed to grow into a problem. If it did, they'd be forced to leave a safe place.
Jeremie went to roll up the county map for safekeeping as Hershel went to Aelita. He looked to be a bit in disbelief.
"It's a wonder how you people have survived this long." Hershel told the teenage girl.
"Wanting to stay alive is a pretty good motivator, Hershel." Aelita retorted with a smile.
Hershel felt amused, chuckling at the pinkette's response before he walked out of the bedroom. Daryl was stabilized and just needed a bit of bedrest now, so Hershel could leave him and go deal with some farm chores now. Likewise, the Lyoko Warriors each thanked Daryl for what he had done for them and then they left the room too. Daryl would probably be pretty bored in there with nothing to do for a bit, but he's on the road to recovery. Another day or two and he'll be back on his feet.
When the teens walked out of the house and onto the front porch, they found a guilt-ridden Andrea sitting on the steps and waiting for updates on Daryl's condition. Before she could ask them how the man she nearly killed was doing, Patrick spoke up for everyone else.
"Daryl's gonna be fine. You only grazed him." Patrick informed her.
Andrea was very relieved to hear that Daryl was okay. She finally allowed herself to relax for the first time in hours. The group couldn't imagine how bad she must've felt.
"You okay, Andrea? How're you holding up after all of this?" Odd wondered.
Though Daryl would be fine, Andrea still couldn't get rid of her guilt over nearly killing him. She looked up at the cone-haired teen with an expression of remorse, feeling very downhearted over what she had done. "I shot Daryl..." was her reply to his question.
Miranda went over to the older woman and she patted her on the shoulder.
"I wouldn't be too hard on yourself about it, Andrea." Miranda gave her a bit of friendly advice, then she grinned. "After all, I'm pretty sure that all of us wanted to shoot Daryl at one point or another..."
Andrea couldn't hold back her smile at Miranda's joke, and several of the Lyoko Warriors also broke out in some much-needed laughter. After all of the horrible things that has happened to them lately it felt pretty damn good for them to be able to laugh at something for once.
The teens then left Andrea to her thoughts and they started heading back to camp together. Some of the Lyoko Warriors were there but several others had already left over the last few hours to go search some places down near Greenville. With Jeremie and Aelita's very thorough work in organizing the search and marking off already-searched areas on all the maps, there were high hopes that sooner or later they'll find more items from the Kadic group or even someone from that group itself. The group all felt anxious to find any of their friends alive out there.
As the group walked back towards the camp, they noticed that Yumi and Ulrich were walking up the road leading to the farm. The couple were then swarmed by many of their closest friends, all of whom were happy to see the two but also concerned by how bloody and bruised they were now. Yumi and Ulrich had been reduced to a tired mess after everything that had happened in Peachtree City.
Ulrich and Yumi were subject to so many hugs and expressions of joy from all their friends. The hugs hurt their cuts, but they weathered through their pain as best they could since they were both just as happy to be back. As that all happened, Yumi tossed her looted box of guitar strings over to a very ecstatic Anne. The bandana-clad teen let out a loud whoop and thanked Yumi before she hurried off to find her guitar.
The two had much to tell their friends about what happened in Peachtree, but right now Ulrich and Yumi just wanted some food, rest, and someone to take a look at all of these horrible glass cuts all over their limbs and on the fronts of their bodies. They were very painful to them both.
"Easy, guys..." Yumi cringed but also smiled tiredly as she was subjected to the hugs.
"You both made it back!" Miranda praised. She and the others were so happy to see the pair that they didn't even notice they were in pain at first.
"Miranda..." Ulrich cringed as he was hugged by a few people. His cuts were sore before, but now they burned. Miranda was always too tight of a hugger...
Eventually, it all became too much for the couple to bear. The groans of pain that Yumi and Ulrich let out finally got the group to release them from their death-grip of hugs. It was only after they let them go did the group notice some of the cuts on Ulrich and Yumi's arms, shocking them. The pair looked like they had been thrown clear through a window! What the hell happened to them in Peachtree?!
Ulrich and Yumi sensed the concern of their friends, and Yumi hesitantly spoke up.
"We... ran into a little bit of trouble out there." Yumi sighed. "There was some armed people. Hostile armed people... We don't think they were with Carver though, because they were talking about some other guy who they answered to."
Ulrich lowered his gaze, remembering what he had to do to one of the armed people so that he and Yumi could live. "I had to push one of them into some walkers so that we could escape... The guy didn't make it."
The jaws of all of the Lyoko Warriors dropped as they listened to Ulrich. He killed a guy out there?! Well, maybe he didn't kill a living person, but...
The group couldn't believe what they had heard, and they also couldn't imagine what their friends had gone through in Peachtree City. Even so, they all knew that Ulrich and Yumi must've been in a really bad life-or-death situation if something like that happened. Everyone was mostly used to killing walkers by now, but they all still couldn't really comprehend actually killing living people.
Since it was clear that Ulrich didn't want to talk about what had happened with that guy in Peachtree, the Lyoko Warriors decided to move on to a different topic for his sake. The couple didn't even know about what had happened with Daryl anyway, and they had to be informed.
Jeremie awkwardly rubbed his neck and he gestured back over to the farmhouse. "Um... Daryl got shot, kind of." he said bluntly, getting the news out of the way as if he was ripping off a band-aid.
Yumi's face paled at what he said. "Daryl got shot?!"
"Are you guys serious?!" Ulrich's jaw dropped. "Is he okay?! What the heck happened?!"
"He's fine! Andrea only grazed him, thank God." Rebecca told the pair to calm them down. "Andrea shot him because she thought that he was a walker. From her distance and with the sun in her scope, it admittedly was pretty easy to make that mistake."
"She really should've been more careful though. Honestly." Chase added with a shrug.
Ulrich and Yumi didn't come back to the farm expecting to hear that someone had gotten shot while they were away, especially in some foolish mistake. Though they both had more than enough issues with Daryl before, they never wanted him dead! Ulrich and Yumi were very glad that he was alright and they both hoped that he'd get back up on his feet very soon...
Yumi decided to change the subject to something far less alarming. "Did you guys find anything out there while we were gone?"
The group was happy that Yumi asked this question. Rather than answer her with mere words, it was probably best that they just show her and Ulrich what Alex, Verity, Anne and Patrick had found out there in Greenville. The group led Ulrich and Yumi back to camp so they could see the stuff with their own eyes.
On a table near Aelita and Jeremie's tent was Herb's glasses and Sissi's diary. When they recognized these items and remembered who owned them, Ulrich and Yumi's jaws dropped. In front of them was the first real proof that at least some people from Kadic Academy had not only survived Atlanta but made it out of there alive!
"WHAT?!" Yumi was completely floored by these discoveries.
"Sissi and Herb were in Greenville?!" Ulrich gasped as he looked at the items.
"Yeah! Both of them made it out of Atlanta. Daryl also found Brynja's earrings at a creek too." Odd smiled at the couple.
Sissi, Herb, and Brynja all made it out of that hellhole alive... If they made it out, then others had to have made it out too! There was a real chance that more of their friends and teachers were still alive out there somewhere! They just had to find them... somehow.
Yumi and Ulrich then saw Odd's face fall. "We didn't find them, though... Brynja, Herb and Sissi are still out there somewhere." Odd added on to what he said, mournfully lowering his gaze.
"Yeah..." Jeremie sighed, sadly. "Sissi wrote in her diary about the terrible things she and Herb went through during and after Atlanta. Brynja probably went through hell too."
Both Yumi and Ulrich were saddened at hearing this, but they were not surprised. They've both been inside Atlanta. They both heard the stories from their friends about how bad escaping the city was. And they both knew how bad things were out there beyond the city too. Sissi, Herb, Brynja, and any other Kadic survivors who made it out of the city were not nearly as lucky as the Lyoko Warriors have been... God help all who made it out of that hellhole alive.
Though they were sad about what their friends had gone through, they were hopeful that they could reunite with them one day. Yumi was so exhilarated by the news that she would've headed straight to Greenville right now if it wasn't for all of these terrible cuts on her body. One or two of them felt so deep that she wouldn't have been surprised if they needed stitches. As anxious as she was to follow up on those leads and hopefully find her brother, she realized she needed rest and these wounds fixed up. Reluctantly, Yumi resigned herself to another day gone by without her little brother.
After talking a little more with their friends, the couple left them for now and they went to find Carlos since they knew that Hershel had already had his hands full dealing with that mess with Daryl. Ulrich and Yumi didn't want to annoy their host more than he already was.
As Yumi and Ulrich walked off to find Carlos, the rest of the Lyoko Warriors went back to the camp to find something to do. Mainly, chores. Tomorrow, many of them would head back out to continue the search in Greenville and Horton Creek. Hopefully the Lyoko Warriors will find something, or even someone.
Early the next morning, Odd, Yumi, and Ulrich were searching the homes in a suburb near Horton Creek one by one for any signs of Brynja or the others from Kadic. So far, the three teens weren't really having much luck in finding anything. Their luck had gone from bad to worse.
At least two homes in the suburb had been burnt to the ground, all of the homes had been looted heavily, and there was also so many walkers in the area that Ulrich and Odd had even thought more than once of cutting their losses and just heading back to the farm. But Yumi refused to entertain the idea at all, so the two boys stuck with her just to watch her back and make sure that she wouldn't get herself killed.
Yumi, Ulrich, and Odd watched their surroundings carefully as they walked. They've already killed several walkers just in this one suburb. If they weren't careful then they were definitely going to get bit by these creatures.
"Yumi, c'mon!" Odd urged as he stabbed another walker in the head, kicking away its corpse a moment later. "We've already checked seven houses! There's walkers all over this neighborhood! We need to go!"
"Not yet! There's still more houses on this street!" Yumi replied dismissively, not even thinking of leaving just yet.
There had to be something out here... Heidi, Sam, Taelia, Delmas, Emily, Jim - someone from Kadic had to have come through this area. As totally foolish as she knew it was to allow, Yumi had gotten her hopes up so much after she learned of what had been found at the Greenville courthouse. Hiroki had to be out here somewhere in one of these stupid towns. She just had to keep looking.
Odd and Ulrich were getting worried by how hard Yumi was pushing herself. They understood that it was her little brother who she was looking for. As far as they knew he was the last surviving member of her family, after all. But they also wanted her to try to stay safe. Hiroki wouldn't really matter much to Yumi if she got herself killed while looking for him. Ulrich also didn't want a repeat of what happened in Peachtree City...
The three teens pressed on down the street, killing more and more walkers that got in their way. Yumi was getting more and more aggressive against the undead as time went on, even beating in the skull of one of them with the stock of her AR-15. Ulrich and Odd shared a concerned look at that, but they said nothing.
After getting about halfway down the street, the three teens realized that more and more walkers were heading for them from every direction. It was clear this neighborhood was much hotter than they originally thought, and they also recognized that they would have to find some immediate shelter or risk getting killed out here. These three Lyoko Warriors decided to hold up in one of the houses until they could figure out what to do next.
Ulrich, Yumi, and Odd fought their way through a crowd of the walkers to get to the closest house. They ran up the steps of the front porch to find the front door and the windows were all barred shut tight from the inside, but Odd pointed out a ladder on the side of the house which led up to an open window on the second floor. There was plenty of walkers that were between them and that ladder, but the teens couldn't stay on the porch to get mauled to death.
The three hopped off the side of the porch and they ran for the ladder as fast as they could. Almost immediately it got to the point where Yumi, Ulrich, and Odd had to use their guns as well as their blades. There was just too many walkers for the three to deal with. Even though they knew their gunshots would definitely draw in walkers for many miles around, they had to shoot to even make it to that ladder. Yumi's AR came in handy in this situation.
By some miracle, the three got to the ladder with their skins intact. But the walkers were very close.
Odd hurried up the ladder first as Ulrich and Yumi kept firing at the walkers. Next up was Ulrich, who hurried up as quickly as he could so Yumi could climb up after him. Yumi tossed her rifle up to Odd so that he could fire on the walkers with it as she and Yumi climbed up the ladder.
Only a few rungs up, Yumi felt something grab her ankle and try to pull her back to the ground.
"AGH!!!" Yumi exclaimed as another walker latched onto her ankle, then another, and then another. They started pulling her rung by rung back down from the ladder...
"YUMI!!!" Ulrich screamed, snatching her AR-15 from Odd so he could stop the walkers himself.
Ulrich fired off several rounds at the walkers holding onto Yumi, Odd also helped with his Glock. Though they were both a bit inaccurate from the height and the distance, their gunfire hit a few walkers in their heads and shot up several others in their torsos, arms, and legs. A few moments of this was all it took for the walkers to release Yumi, who hurried as fast as she could up the ladder. After the two boys pulled Yumi in through the window, Ulrich pushed away the ladder so that the undead couldn't climb it. He had no idea if they could or not but he wasn't going to try to find out.
The three teens breathlessly collapsed onto the floor of the bedroom they climbed into, happy to have gotten out of that mess outside.
"Y- You okay, Yumes...?" Ulrich asked as he sat up and looked at his girlfriend.
Yumi had already started examining her ankle when Ulrich asked that question. She was looking for any scratches or bite marks, and when she didn't find any she sighed and nodded with relief. "Yeah, I'm good..." she smiled softly at him.
A relieved Ulrich handed Yumi back her rifle as they stood up. Odd removed the magazine to his pistol to check how many bullets he had: only three. Cursing to himself, Odd loaded the magazine back in and put the Glock back in his leg holster. Bullets were rare and he used up a lot to help save Yumi. It was worth it, but given their bad situation they needed to save as many as possible for later. He also tried not to think about what would happen if the house got surrounded by a swarm of walkers with no way out. Three rounds? Three teens? It wasn't a good thought to dwell on.
Ulrich stuffed his revolver back into his jacket and then he unsheathed his katana again. He took point as he, Odd, and Yumi left the bedroom together. Even from upstairs they could hear the walkers scratching and banging against the walls and windows downstairs...
The three teens checked the other bedrooms upstairs first. The rooms were all trashed completely, and there was nothing of value that they could find. There was a safe that was locked tight, but they didn't have the time to try to get it open. It most likely held nothing of value anymore anyway.
After checking the second floor, Yumi, Ulrich, and Odd carefully made their way down the stairs with their weapons at the ready. The noises from the walkers outside became much louder now that they were on ground level. Though they could see heavy items like the refrigerator and a bookcase covering the front door, and boards of wood holding up against the front windows, the teens could tell that there was more and more walkers that were gathering up on the front porch. The door and the windows would last for a little while, but certainly not forever.
Yumi, Ulrich, and Odd smelled something very foul as they entered the living room of the home. They discovered the source of the smell immediately.
Sitting on two chairs in front of the TV were the corpses of a man and a woman, both long-dead and rotting in the terrible Georgia heat. Yumi raised her rifle and she aimed at the two corpses. She almost shot them in their heads since she assumed they were walkers, but she relented when she saw that there were already holes in their heads and a rifle in the man's hands. These dead were, for once, actually dead. Suicides, it seemed.
"Jesus..." Odd muttered as the three walked up to the corpses.
"God, the smell..." Ulrich gagged as he covered his mouth and nose with his shirt.
Pinching her nose, Yumi reached down to take the rifle away from the dead man's hands. The weapon that the man and woman used to end their own lives was a bolt-action hunting rifle, a Winchester. It wasn't anything fancy but the camp needed all the guns that they could find out here, so she was taking it despite how it was used to end the lives of its previous owners. The rifle had a strap, so Yumi was able to hold the weapon on her back while keeping her AR-15 ready in her hands.
On the coffee table in front of the two chairs was a piece of paper, which Odd picked up to read.
"Roy, if you find this, you already know what happened to Eleanor and I." Odd read aloud. "Water's run out. Food's all gone. All we got left is my old rifle and two cartridges. We both decided to end it on our own terms before we become dinner for the infected. Been nice knowing you while it lasted... Good luck out there, and adios amigo. - Bill."
Odd cringed when he read the last sentence. "P.S., if you ever find that thieving piece of shit kid out there, do me a favor and put a bullet in his skull for me. Walker or not."
The cone-haired boy set the paper back where he found it, shaking his head with disbelief. Yumi and Ulrich cringed as well when they heard Odd read that final part of the note, but Yumi focused on a single word of it. 'Kid.' Could the kid mentioned in the note have been someone from Kadic Academy? Even Yumi admitted to herself that the odds were incredibly low, but since Brynja had been near Horton Creek then maybe someone else might've come through this area too...
... or maybe Yumi was desperate enough to think that maybe the kid in the note could have been Hiroki.
Sighing despondently to herself, Yumi finally gave in to the realization that there was probably nothing to find anywhere in this suburb. Maybe Brynja really was the only person from Kadic to have come through this area after Atlanta fell... This search was going to end as yet another disappointment. Yumi couldn't help but figure that she probably should've been used to it by now.
Ulrich and Odd watched as Yumi silently walked off to check a few of the other rooms downstairs before they'd try to leave. After she went into one of the rooms, the two boys looked at each other.
"She's not taking this very well..." Odd stated as a clear observation.
"You don't say?" Ulrich deadpanned at his closest friend, sarcasm in his voice.
Odd sighed and shook his head as he tried very hard to ignore the sounds the walkers were making outside. He could've sworn that their banging, scratching, and snarling was getting louder by the second. There must be more and more of them gathering outside...
Though the walkers were concerning, Odd had only one pressing question on his mind right now. It was about Yumi.
"... what'll happen with Yumi if we don't find Hiroki?"
Ulrich tried to think of a good answer, any sort of solution at all. He couldn't. If they didn't find Hiroki then who knew what Yumi would do... She was at her wits end trying to find him, after all. And there was a very good chance that despite the group's best efforts she never will reunite with him. For her sake, maybe they should-
A loud crashing noise broke Odd and Ulrich out of their thoughts. To their horror, the two bots that the boards over one of the windows of the living room had been broken apart by the walkers. The walkers had already broke the glass and they were now crawling through in an attempt to feast. Yumi ran back to Ulrich and Odd moments later, and the three of them started to open fire on the walkers again.
Once Odd used up the last few rounds he had in his Glock, Ulrich loaned him his snub-nosed revolver before hurrying to find a back door to the house. He found the back door in the kitchen, but it was barricaded like how the front door was. Ulrich worked on getting it open while Yumi and Odd watched his back and kept the walkers at bay.
As the walkers broke into the house and advanced towards them, Yumi and Odd were both forced to step back further and further. There was just so many walkers this time... Dozens. Hundreds? This herd seemed to be very massive and none of the teens had the ammo to hold out for long. Each step Yumi and Odd took backwards into the kitchen meant less and less space between them and their certain demise.
But luckily, Ulrich got the back door opened up just as Odd and Yumi ended up practically back to back against him. Though there was a lot of walkers in the backyard too, the three didn't waste any time in running out for their lives. The three Lyoko Warriors ran through the walkers in the backyard and they climbed over a tall fence.
The three teens then ran like hell away from the infested neighborhood...
Several blocks from Odd, Yumi, and Ulrich; Chase, Robert, and Dylan were combing through another home for any signs of the people from Kadic Academy.
Having practically torn apart most of the downstairs of their sixth house, Robert went to check the garage while Chase and Dylan went to check the rooms on the second floor. A quick sweep showed that there were no walkers up there, so the brothers were free to look around without fear of getting bitten or scratched. In a children's bedroom they found a fantastic collection of knives which they stuffed into their backpacks for everyone back at the farm, but alas there wasn't any trace of anyone from Kadic. Or at least nothing they could see or recognize.
The two brothers were about to leave the room to check up on Robert, but Dylan froze when he noticed a small picture of a man and a boy taped up on a wall mirror. Chase watched Dylan with confusion as his younger brother pulled the picture off the mirror, examining it very closely. Dylan sighed and he showed the picture to his brother, a sad look in his eye.
"The guy in this looks a lot like Uncle David, doesn't he...?" Dylan asked, remembering their dear uncle.
Chase's face fell at the mention of their uncle who was still back in France. The man who raised Chase and Dylan like they were his own sons after their dad disappeared and their mom, his sister, died. The man who, for all that Chase and Dylan knew, was most probably dead by now... Both Enheart brothers tried their hardest to ignore the very real possibility that their Uncle David was just a corpse rotting away in the streets right now, or, God forbid, the even worse possibility that he was just a walker among many roaming around somewhere in Paris now...
Dylan handed the picture over to Chase, letting his brother look at it for himself. Whoever the man in the picture was, he and their Uncle David did look eerily similar. Chase and Dylan missed their uncle terribly, so this discovery just brought up some heartache which neither teen needed right now.
"Christ..." Chase muttered, a chill running through him. He quickly set the picture on a dresser nearby so that he wouldn't have to look at the lookalike on it again.
"Do you think he's still alive back in Paris...? Or your mom and dad...? Or even Grandpa Bradley up in Chicago...?" Dylan hesitantly wondered.
"I have no idea, Dyl..." Chase sighed, sadly shrugging at his brother's question. "But you know what things are like out there these days. I want to think that they're all still alive and well, but I just don't know what to tell you, bro..."
Feeling a little dejected as he remembered the family who they lost because of this terrible pandemic, Dylan went to sit on the lower portion of the bunk bed that was in the room, deep in thought. Chase went to sit down next to him. Both were thinking of the happier times they had with the Enhearts and Schaeffers before the pandemic. Chase, who was adopted by the Enhearts many years ago, and Dylan, who Waldo and Anthea and Aelita Schaeffer all viewed as their own flesh and blood after the whole family was reunited again.
Uncle David... Grandpa Bradley... Waldo and Anthea... Both Chase and Dylan knew that there was no chance of ever seeing any of them ever again. They both were forced to just accept it since they recognized the sheer hopelessness of ever getting back home, but it still didn't hurt Chase and Dylan any less. The two were so tired of losing people in their lives. It kept happening over and over again and it never got any easier for either of them...
The brothers both sat there in silence together for a long while, each thinking of the memories of their loved ones from the years prior. Eventually, Dylan began to speak again as a sad smile crept up on his face.
"Remember that Christmas party that Uncle David had when we were little?" Dylan suddenly asked as a memory resurfaced. "Y'know, the one that he invited everyone in the neighborhood to that one time? I think it was maybe a year or two before my mom died...?"
"You mean that one with Mrs. Laurent...?" Chase cautiously asked. Though he was a bit hesitant, a sad smile appeared on his face too.
Dylan nodded, his sad smile slowly turning into a full-blown grin. "Yeah, the one with your little 'accident'..."
Chase blushed a deep crimson red as he suddenly remembered that party all those years ago. Uncle David had invited the Enheart family so they could celebrate the holidays together, but the party almost instantly became very boring for the young Chase and Dylan. The two foolish children decided to play a game of tag right in the middle of Uncle David's crowded parlor. One thing led to another and Chase ended up tripping on a rug. In his attempt to not hit the floor, Chase reached out to a woman named Mrs. Laurent who's husband was a very good friend to Uncle David.
Chase missed Mrs. Laurent's arm, grabbed onto her dress instead, and, well... suffice it to say, it was really unfortunate that she decided not to wear a bra that day. Looking back on it, accidentally ripping off that lady's dress in front of a few dozen people like that was easily one of the most embarrassing moments of Chase's whole life. He'd pay good money to get that memory removed from his head. He was so embarrassed about it that he never even told Jenny or Aelita or any of the others!
Dylan must've sensed his brother's thoughts, because now he was openly laughing at Chase's reaction. Chase deadpanned at him in response.
"... Shut up, Dyl ..." Chase mumbled, still blushing.
"God, I- I still remember the look on my mom's face when you did that!" Dylan laughed at his brother's expense.
"And I still remember how much trouble I got in with her for it... Lost my PlayStation for two months, and worse." Chase rolled his eyes as he listened to the laughter.
As Dylan kept laughing very hard at each detail he remembered, Chase's annoyed expression slowly eroded away. Within seconds, Chase was biting his own lip in an effort to force himself not to laugh with his brother at the memory. It didn't work though, because soon enough Chase and Dylan were laughing like crazy together. Both boys laughed so hard that their faces were turning red and tears welled in their eyes.
Dylan and Chase laughed so long that they were struggling to breathe. It felt good for them to laugh after everything they've been through together...
"Um... did I miss something?"
Chase and Dylan froze as they suddenly heard Robert's voice, and their eyes widened when they saw the confused teen standing by the door and staring at them. He must've came up to check on them while they didn't notice...
The two brothers both shut their traps, cleared their throats, and they acted like nothing had just happened at all.
"Uh... No, not really." Dylan awkwardly rubbed the back of his neck.
"Something up, Rob?" Chase asked the confused teen to try and change the subject, trying but failing to look as casual as possible.
Robert had absolutely no idea what he had just walked into. However, Robert didn't really want to know either, so he simply tried to ignore it. He simply came out of this weird moment with a brand new realization that Chase and Dylan Enheart were a little bit weirder than he originally thought. Thank God that Aelita was always gonna be the normal sibling between the three...
"I found a car in the garage. I fueled it up with some gas cans I found next to it, and it runs fine." Robert announced. "We can drive the car back to the farm once we're all done looking through the neighborhood, if that's what you guys would like."
"You found a working car?! Awesome! Everyone back at the camp is gonna love that." Dylan happily praised his friend.
Robert smiled at Chase and Dylan. He was about to say something else, but some noises outside quickly drew the attention of all three teens. It was a bit distant from them, but still pretty loud. It sounded like... maybe gunshots?
... wait, GUNSHOTS?!
"What the fuck?!" Chase asked, pulling out his M1911 pistol and readying it for whoever fired off those rounds.
"Oh God, is that Carver's guys shooting out there?!" Dylan asked as he unholstered his Beretta.
Robert hurried over to the window of the bedroom and he looked out onto the street in front of the house. Down the street he could see walkers. A lot of walkers. And they were after three people running down the road as fast as they could. Robert couldn't make out the three for several moments, but eventually they got closer and he could recognize them as Yumi, Ulrich, and Odd. They must've ran into trouble out there.
"Guys, follow me!" Robert told the two brothers as he hurried out of the bedroom.
Chase and Dylan hopped off the bottom part of the bunk bed and they ran after Robert, who had already made it down the flight of stairs. Robert hurried to the front door, opened it, and ran out into the street to get the attention of his friends. Once they made it outside and recognized the three who were coming their way, Dylan and Chase hurried to good spots where they could give the three cover.
"Over here, guys! Get inside this house! We'll cover you!" Robert shouted at Yumi, Ulrich, and Odd before readying his own pistol.
Yumi, Ulrich, and Odd had used up the last bullets they had with those gunshots which were heard earlier. The three exhausted teens were absolutely ecstatic to have finally bumped into Robert, Chase, and Dylan. They all needed to get out of this suburb now.
Chase and Dylan fired at the walkers as Robert ushered the three inside the home. After the three made it inside, Robert ran in and then Chase and Dylan did too. They were not safe though, as the walkers were only a house or two down the road. The gunfire from the teens certainly drew many for miles around just like what happened with Odd, Yumi, and Ulrich in that other neighborhood earlier.
"Get in the garage!" Chase barked at the others.
As the walkers made it to the house and pounded on the front door and windows, the six teens hurried into the garage in a desperate dash for safety. To the surprise of Yumi, Odd, and Ulrich, they saw that there was a running car parked inside the garage. Since the walkers were practically about to bust inside the house, they didn't have the time to ask any questions.
The six teens hoped into the car just as the walkers busted the front door down. Dylan was in the driver's seat, Robert was in the passenger seat, and the other four teens sat in a very cramped backseat. There was a garage opener inside the car, so Dylan pressed it with the hope that he could just drive straight out of the garage and be long gone before the walkers could get them. Dylan revved the engine as the garage door slowly lifted open...
... then the engine died.
Everyone lost the color in their faces once the engines went silent. For a moment, Dylan just sat there in the driver's seat as if he couldn't believe what had happened. It was as if the walkers couldn't either, as for a brief moment they simply stared at the car and its occupants. But then they began to stumble towards the car as the teens struggled not to panic at their new situation.
"Jesus Christ!" Dylan exclaimed as he turned the key in the ignition, hearing only a clicking noise.
"Jesus Christ!" Robert exclaimed as a walker started pounding on the passenger window.
"Jesus Christ!" Odd exclaimed as a walker went onto the hood, banging against the front windshield.
"... Allah?" Chase blinked as he saw a walker wearing a turban pound against his window and door.
The walkers soon surrounded the car in the garage and they kept pounding their fists against it, causing the car to start rocking back and forth. The teens couldn't risk shooting at them because that would just shatter the windows and hasten their deaths. What the fuck was wrong with the car?!
"Dyl, turn the key harder!" Robert suggested out of panic.
"I'm turning the key as hard as I fucking can, Rob! I don't see how that'd help us anyway!" Dylan snapped as he kept turning the key. He also pressed his foot on the gas pedal in the hopes that it could help. It didn't really do anything. Nothing!
"Dylan, there's walkers all over the place! Hurry up and get us out of here!" Chase urged his brother.
Dylan's eye twitched from utter stress and annoyance at everything going on. "I realize that, Chase!"
Finally, Yumi raised her rifle and she fired off a few shots through her window and at the walkers. The loud gunshots in such a small space hurt everyone's ears but they just couldn't worry about that right now. Tinnitus or deafness is a problem to deal with later, the threat of getting pulled out of this piece of shit car and being eaten alive by all of these walkers took priority.
Each passing second meant less of a chance of getting out of this alive. Everything Dylan tried to do to get the car started failed. What was worse was that obviously no one could go out and check the engine itself for whatever the problem was. Getting in this car was among the worst mistakes that these teens have done in recent memory. This nonsense was going to get them all killed! Out of sheer anger, Dylan screamed and slammed his fist down on the steering wheel...
Suddenly, the engine came back to life and sounded strong, as if there had been no problems at all after Dylan hit the wheel. Dylan and the others were completely shocked by whatever just happened with the engine but no one dared to say a word. They didn't want to jinx this miracle.
Dylan slammed his foot on the gas pedal and the car sped out of the garage. Many walkers got run over, many were simply thrown over the top of the car, but Dylan sped down the road and got out of this stupid neighborhood as fast as the car could go.
All of the teens breathed a huge sigh of relief, happy to have gotten out of such a close call...
After he got back from searching a block of homes in Greenville with Nick and Miranda, Charles handed over the shotgun he borrowed back to Dale so it could be returned to the camp armory in the RV. After that, he immediately went over to Kyra's tent.
His Canadian friend was still inside there and had been for well over a day now. As far as Charles knew, Kyra still hasn't spoken a single word to anyone. Seeing that kid really messed Kyra up it seemed...
Though he was feeling pretty exhausted after all of the searching today, Charles wouldn't dare allow himself to get some shuteye until he was fully certain that Kyra was okay. Cautiously, Charles approached the front of Kyra's tent and he cleared his throat to get her attention.
"Kyra...? Kyra, you still in there?"
No answer.
Charles's face fell. "Kyra, can you let me in so we can talk...? I'm worried about you..."
Silence...
The quiet from Charles' best friend was very alarming to him.
"... please, Kyra? For me, at least ...?"
Initially, Charles was greeted with even more silence from Kyra. The Australian teen sighed in defeat, figuring that he might've failed in helping his traumatized friend. Charles turned around and he started walking back towards his own tent since he desperately needed to catch up on some sleep after his endlessly-long search today. He was going to go on another one tomorrow and he couldn't afford to fall asleep right in the middle of it.
But Charles stopped dead in his tracks when he suddenly heard the sound of Kyra's tent flap being unzipped to allow him entry. Looks like his words did get through to her after all...
Charles hurried back to the tent and he crawled inside to find Kyra sitting with her back turned to him. She was totally silent, and her face was down as she hugged her knees to her chest. For the sake of their privacy, Charles zipped up the flap behind him and then he went to sit on his knees just a few feet away from Kyra, giving her all the space which she needed right now. Though Kyra didn't say it, she was appreciative.
The two teens silently sat there for several moments. Both of them felt a little awkward, as Kyra was waiting for Charles to say something whereas Charles was also waiting for Kyra to say anything at all. This little silent 'standoff' between the two teens kept going for a bit but it was Charles who ended up speaking first.
"Kyra... I'm really worried about you. All of us are." Charles told her in a gentle tone.
Kyra didn't seem to react to what Charles said, though she knew how concerned he and everyone else was. The looks she got from her fellow Lyoko Warriors whenever she left her tent was as clear as day.
Charles pressed on. "I... I heard about what you saw out there in Sharpsburg, Kyra... I'm so, so sorry..."
Kyra didn't seem to react to what Charles said, nor did she say anything to him in response. She just... sat there. Seemingly listening to him, but continuing to be silent.
That poor boy in that tent... That... That wasn't right... That just wasn't fucking right...
She knew that things were really bad out there. But even after everything she and the others have been through since the outbreak began, that undead kid was a horror Kyra never could have comprehended. It haunted her...
As Kyra stayed silent, Charles continued to speak to her. "I won't pretend to understand how bad it was to see something like that..." he scooted a little bit closer to her. "But you know that I and the of us are here for you, right? That you don't need to be dealing with any of that all by yourself...?"
As he spoke to her, Charles gently moved his hand and placed it onto Kyra's shoulder. After a few more moments, a silent Kyra hesitantly raised her hand to place it on top of his. She also turned her head, glancing at his face out of the corner of her eye. Charles smiled when his eyes met hers, and soon the two friends locked hands together. They both went silent again for a couple of minutes, just happy for each other's presence.
"I'm always here if you need a shoulder to lean on, Kyra. Anything you need, really." Charles promised his closest friend. "You don't need to say anything to me if you don't want to, Kyra... I just wanted to let you know I'm here for you. Always and forever."
Charles paused for a moment, then continued again as a blush formed on his cheeks. "... and I want you to know that you're the best thing I have left in my life, Kyra. I don't want you to go through this alone."
Kyra's lips curved upwards into a smile as a single tear went down the side of her face, as if a massive load has just been taken off of her shoulders thanks to him. Wordlessly, Charles reached out to wipe the tear away with his thumb, inadvertently cupping her cheek. Both teens blushed when they realized this intimacy and Charles tried to pull his hand away, but Kyra quickly moved her hand up to his to keep it in place, relishing the contact.
Both teens stared deeply into each other's eyes, finding nothing but pure affection for the person they each considered to be their greatest friend. Little did either teen know how the other truly felt about them...
Maybe... Maybe things would actually be okay...
Charles gave a light, affectionate stroke to Kyra's cheek before he let go of it. He then went to unzip the tent flap before turning back to face Kyra again, offering her his hand once again. "Wanna come and get a bite to eat with me before I go help with some chores, Kyra? You must be pretty hungry..."
As if on cue, Kyra's belly rumbled with hunger, causing her to blush yet again. Some food would probably do her well...
Though initially hesitant, Kyra reached out and she let Charles take her hand. She was beaming with joy now, and she looked happier than she has in many days.
"... okay, Charlie ..."
A few days after the search missions near down Greenville and Horton Creek, everyone was back at Hershel's Farm. Though no one in the groups had really found much else after Brynja's earrings, the search was still continuing down in Greenville and its surrounding areas. Daryl had also gotten back up on his feet to help everyone search some more. All of the Lyoko Warriors were not going to rest until they finally found their friends and teachers. They were out there somewhere...
But right now, the teens were just resting up around a fire at the camp. The last week had been very taxing for each and every one of those kids. Even Yumi who was so determined to find her little brother needed a rest, if only for a little bit. After all, she and Ulrich went through so much in Peachtree City, and then they and the Enheart brothers, and Robert had all also gone through quite a lot out there in Horton Creek too...
It was early in the morning at the moment and the Lyoko Warriors were eating some breakfast together. Charles had gone out on a patrol with Kyra, who was finally starting to return to her old self thanks to the talk they had the other day. But all of the other Lyoko Warriors were sitting near a campfire and they were watching with everyone else as Aelita took her very first steps since she and Anne were shot.
With a great deal of support from both Jeremie and Chase who were holding onto her arms, Aelita stood up from her wheelchair and she began to give it her best shot. One leg forward, then the next, and repeat as much as she could.
One step... Two steps... Three... Four... Five... Six... Seven...
Okay, so far so good...
Take it slow and steady, Aelita...
Aelita's legs were very wobbly as she slowly took her steps forward, giving the effort her all. She was clearly straining to walk at even the slowest of paces and she also felt sore everywhere, but she was making some good progress despite how terrible she was feeling. The pink-haired supergenius was determined to get out of that chair and to walk again unassisted, and she was far stronger than she appeared. She'll manage somehow.
"O- Oh.. god..." Aelita strained, sweat beading on her exerted face as she kept walking. She stumbled a couple of times as she walked and she almost fell at one point, but her boyfriend and brother together kept her upright without a problem. They wouldn't dare let their princess get hurt again so soon.
"Easy, Aelita, we've got you..." Jeremie assured the girl he loved.
"Take it slow and steady, Princess. You're doing great..." Chase encouraged his sister.
Appreciating Jeremie and Chase's words, Aelita took deep, heavy breaths and she kept her focus as she forced herself to keep walking forward. Slowly but surely, the young pinkette made her way in a circle around one of the campfires, going past all of her friends both old and new as she started regaining the use of her legs. Everyone thought that Aelita was doing very terrific given the circumstances.
Aelita had shut her eyes for a long time as she fought through the discomfort and pain in her lower body. When she opened them again, she turned to tell Jeremie to stop for a moment so that she could rest. But... he wasn't there. Aelita's eyes widened when she noticed that Jeremie and Chase were both several feet behind her, having let go of her arms so that she could walk completely unassisted. Both boys and everyone else at the campfire looked so proud of her.
Though she was still feeling weak, Aelita was officially out of that wheelchair now. The pink-haired teen herself couldn't hold back a huge smile as she slowly walked back to her friends.
The Lyoko Warriors began to celebrate together over Aelita's recovery, but alas it wouldn't last for too long. Before the teens could go out and pop the champagne corks so to speak, they saw Glenn awkwardly stand up and go to the center of the camp. He stood there silently, waiting and watching as he gradually got the attention of everyone who was there. It was pretty clear that he had something important to say.
What he had to say caught everyone completely off-guard.
"So... uh... the barn is full of walkers..."
Upon hearing of this new threat that had been right under their noses this whole time, everyone froze in disbelief or horror or both. It was as if everyone couldn't understand a word Glenn had said at first, but reality quickly set in for all of them. They realized that they were all in mortal danger right now, and that they had been in mortal danger for many days already.
Walkers...
In the... barn?
Hershel had been keeping a very serious threat from them this whole time. Aelita looked over to her fellow Lyoko Warriors and she saw they were all clearly as shocked as she was. The pinkette was so taken aback by Glenn's revelation that her legs began to grow weak again, but luckily Jeremie hurried with her wheelchair to catch Aelita before she could fall on the ground.
Naturally, most of the people who were around the campfire immediately hurried towards the barn. They had to go see what was in there for themselves...
The low growls. The shuffling. The scratches and bumping against the walls. The shadows moving under the cracks of the big barn doors. That terrible stench of death...
Shane was in total disbelief as he carefully studied all of the figures who were moving around throughout the inside the barn. It was very dark in the barn, but the stunned former cop could tell that the figures all looked humanoid and animalistic, behaving just like the undead would. The creatures in there definitely weren't human... well, not anymore at least.
Son of a bitch... Glenn really wasn't joking...
When the face of one of the walkers suddenly appeared in the crack of the doors front of him and growled at the smell of some fresh meat, a disturbed Shane simply backed away from it. Shane just couldn't believe that they've been staying on this farm for so long without ever noticing these walkers. He considered everyone at the camp to be incredibly lucky that none of these walkers found a way out and attacked someone in the middle of the night like what happened back at the quarry...
This barn was a ticking time bomb just waiting to go off in their faces. If one of these things got out and got Lori... or even Carl...
Some people from the groups had come to the barn to see this threat for themselves. Many were horrified, many were disturbed, and many just wanted to pry open the doors and take care of this threat right here, right now. It was easy to understand everyone's views on the situation. After all, these walkers were probably in here long before Aelita got shot by Otis...
Incensed at the idea that Hershel had been keeping these threats on the property all this time, Shane stormed back towards his best friend. "Yeah, you cannot tell me that you're alright with this, Rick." he practically demanded action be taken right then and there regardless of what their host thought.
"No, I'm not, but we're guests here." Rick didn't like being near those things one bit, but the group had to stay on Hershel's good graces.
"Are you kidding me?!" Ulrich exclaimed with disbelief at what he just heard. "Rick, for once I agree with Shane. We've got kids here in this camp! We can't let these walkers stay so close to where all of us sleep! What if one gets out and kills some of us?!"
Andrea nodded in agreement. "That's right. We can't just sweep this under the rug."
"We can't just pretend that we're at the O.K. Corral either, Andrea." Jeremie reasoned.
Though some of the group such as Aelita or Jeremie or Dale agreed with Rick's concerns, and although pretty much everyone respected Hershel and his family, many more saw the threat of the walkers in that barn to be too serious to be allowed to continue. Regardless of whatever Hershel and his family thought about the undead in general, many in the group felt that the walkers needed to be put down as soon as possible. These weren't sick people. They were killing machines.
Shane was so angry about this situation that he was close to breaking down the barn doors right now. Hershel must've lost his mind ages ago if he was willing to do this...
"We've either got to go in there and make things right, or we just got to go." Shane said to Rick and the others who gathered at the barn. "Now, we have been talking about Fort Benning for a long time." he added, suggestively.
"Fort Benning's a hundred miles away, Shane." Kyra said, dismissively.
"I get that, but it could be our best shot at surviving." Shane countered. "The military could still be over there and holding down the fort! It could be the safest place in the whole state right now! It could be worth the risk!"
"We can't go." Rick was weighing the pros and cons of leaving in his mind, and the cons won out.
"Why?! Rick, why?!" Shane demanded an answer.
"Because we're safe here at the farm and not out there!" Rebecca interjected.
Shane was growing very agitated. "Oh yeah, Rebecca? For how much longer?!"
"Hey! You watch your tone with her, Shane." a frowning Dylan warned the cop. He wasn't going to let that asshole treat his girl like that...
As the others argued with each other, Jennifer kept a watchful eye on the barn doors in case they weren't as solid as they appeared. The group was getting awfully loud in this discussion and it didn't take a genius to know that the walkers could hear everything they were saying. Some were already pushing against the doors in an attempt to get out, but for now it seemed like their attempts were totally fruitless. Nevertheless, the Texan girl was worried the undead would break out of the barn and rush the group if they all didn't shut the fuck up soon.
"Guys, lower your voices!" Aelita urged the others, though she was ignored.
"We can't go to Fort Benning with no food or fuel! Besides, aside from this barn, all of us are safe here!" Anne stated to the angry cop.
Shane scoffed at the bandana-clad teen's words. "Okay..." he took a deep breath and tried to calm down. "Okay, I think it's time that we all start to just consider what'll happen if that door opens..." so many scenarios were already going through his mind and all of them ended terribly. How anyone wouldn't want to take these walkers out right now was beyond him.
"Shane, we're not leaving... We're all safe here!" Luke stated even though the situation unnerved him.
"Is that right?" Shane scoffed and then gestured over at the barn. "What's this barn full of then, Luke? Huh? Is it a buncha Girl Scouts sellin' Caramel Delites?" he questioned in ridicule.
Luke scoffed at Shane's words, but Shane kept pressing him. "Honestly, how'd you feel if one of these damn things broke out and ate your face off in the middle of the night? You really want Hershel to round you up and put you in there with them after that?!"
"We can handle the barn!" Jeremie replied, insistently. "We can convince Hershel to get rid of those things!"
With a dark chuckle, Shane rolled his eyes before he turned his attention over to the Lyoko Warriors. "You mean before or after we all get ourselves killed trying to find some strangers who're probably already dead?" Shane deadpanned at the kids. Now the argument was starting to derail from the walkers in the barn over to the mass search for the Kadic people.
All of the teens didn't appreciate his remarks, but none more so than Yumi. "You son of a bitch! My little brother is one of them!" Yumi growled at the former cop.
Yumi looked at all of the people who've assembled in front of the barn. The Japanese teen was nothing less than furious by what Shane had said. "We didn't force you to help us find our friends! We didn't force any of you to! If any of you don't want to continue to help, then that's fine! We'll just keep looking for them ourselves!" Yumi's voice held venom in it.
She then looked to Shane and scowled deeply at him. "And once we do find them, we'll leave just like Shane wants us all to!" she spat.
"Jesus fucking Christ..." Shane was getting so tired of this nonsense already. To him, it was crazy that they'd risk their lives for people who're probably gone now. Why in God's name was Rick and the others playing along with this?! "Has none of you kids even tried to consider the 'other possibility' yet?" he challenged. "I'm sorry, but like I said: all of your friends are probably long de-"
"Shane, most of those missing people are just kids like them! Some are younger! We can't just write them off as dead and move on!" Alvin interrupted in protest, knowing that helping the Lyoko Warriors find their friends was the right thing to do.
"I'm close to findin' at least one of 'em!" Daryl added. "I just found her damn earrings just a few days ago!"
Shane actually laughed out loud at what the redneck said to him. "Earrings, Daryl! That's what you did - you found a pair of earrings!" he said with a tone that was very obviously mocking and condescending.
"Man, you don't know what the hell you're talking about!" Daryl angrily dismissed.
"I'm only saying what needs to be said here!" Shane continued to egg the redneck on. "You know, you get a good lead in the first forty-eight hours-"
"Shane! Shane, stop it!" Rick tried his hardest to diffuse this argument before it could get out of control. Knowing both Shane and Daryl, it was much easier said than done.
Not listening to a word his best friend was saying, Shane pressed on. He gestured at Daryl as Rick tried to keep them apart. Some of the others tried to help Rick out but it was pretty much a lost cause since both Shane and Daryl were not dropping this subject.
"And let me tell you somethin' else, man!" Shane continued to egg on Daryl. "If that girl 'Breeja' or 'Brenja" or whatever the hell her name is - if that girl saw you comin' all methed out with your buck knife and the ears around your neck, she'd turn and run in the other direction!"
That did it.
Enraged by what Shane had said, Daryl charged at the man only to be grabbed and held back by several of the others. Shane tried to march over towards Daryl too, whether to attack him or continue to mock him no one could say, but Rick stopped him and he stood between the two angry men and he tried to keep the peace as best as he could. The barn situation had grown incredibly tense for everyone. Tearing at each other's throats would only make it worse.
After a few moments, both Daryl and Shane finally ceased trying to get at each other. However, Shane was still very pissed about Rick's reluctance to go in the barn, about the search for the missing Kadic people, about Hershel practically lying to their faces, and about everything else...
"Can't believe this bullshit!" Shane loudly cursed. "If the walkers in the barn don't kill us all first, then we're just gonna get ourselves killed while we're lookin' around for a buncha stupid kids who're all just walker food by now!"
That did it again.
"FUCK YOU!!!" Yumi growled and tried to charge at the man to hit him, being held back only by the strength of her friends.
Shane and Yumi began yelling at each other, with Yumi cursing him and his family and his entire lineage for what he had just said about her lost friends and brother. None of the Lyoko Warriors had never seen her this angry before, and some worried that she might literally kill him. Yumi even started to cuss out Shane in Japanese, though clearly the former cop understood none of it and he also demanded that she, in his words: "at least speak English if you're gonna cuss me out, lady!"
Eventually, this second altercation ended after the groups pulled Yumi and Shane far enough apart. Out of sheer frustration, Yumi stormed back towards the camp and didn't bother saying another word to that idiot Shane. Ulrich hurried after her to make sure she was okay even though he knew she wasn't.
Having had enough of this nonsense too, Shane began to head back for the camp but he was stopped by Rick.
"Just let me talk to Hershel! Let me figure this out..." Rick urged his best friend.
"WHAT ARE YOU GONNA FIGURE OUT?!" Shane turned back and he loudly got in Rick's face, angry at his way of doing things.
"Enough!" Lori yelled at both of the men.
Rick gestured back towards the barn. "If we're gonna stay, if we're gonna clear this barn, I have to talk him into it. This is his land!" he told everyone who had gathered there.
"Are you nuts?!" Alex gawked at the man. "Rick, these are walkers! All of them need to be put down like the animals they are!"
Dale approached the bickering people, seeing that everyone needed to take a moment to calm down before anything could happen.
"Hershel sees those things in there as people. Sick people. His wife, his stepson..." Dale informed everyone, seemingly knowing why these walkers were in the barn.
Hershel's wife... Hershel's stepson... So that was why all these walkers were there in the barn. Hershel lost some people who he loved dearly and he just wasn't ready (or even willing) to pacify them, at least not yet. It was as sad as it was disturbing and horrifying. But how did Dale know about this already...?
"Wait, you knew about this?!" Odd asked.
"Yesterday, I talked to Hershel." Dale confirmed to him and the others.
"And you waited until right fucking now to tell us?!" Nick asked with disbelief.
Dale innocently shrugged. "I thought we could survive one more night!" he reasoned, then he gestured over to Glenn. "I was waiting 'til this morning to say something, but I guess Glenn wanted to be the one."
"Jesus Christ..." Luke muttered, pinching the bridge of his nose.
For the most part, the group had finally calmed down after all of that mess between Shane and Yumi and Daryl. They hoped that some calm heads could prevail in figuring out some kind of solution to dealing with these walkers in the barn without pissing off Hershel. They couldn't let Hershel keep hoarding walkers like this, especially if the groups were hoping to make this farm a permanent home for themselves.
The gathered people looked on at the barn as if they were still in disbelief. But they could hear the faint growls of the walkers even a short distance away from the doors. This really was happening...
"Hershel has to be crazy or something, Rick." Alvin protested. "If he thinks those things are people-"
"That's exactly what I've been saying! The man's lost his mind, Rick!" Shane threw up his arms in frustration.
"What do you expect us all to do, Shane?!" Aelita gawked. "This land belongs to the Greene Family! We can't just start shooting things on it without their permission! Besides, some of those walkers in the barn used to be their family! They still think of them like that!"
A greatly frustrated Shane almost began to yell at Aelita, thinking that her and Rick were completely idiotic in a situation like this. But everyone's attention had turned back to the barn after the walkers suddenly began to push up against the doors, having heard the people after they got too loud. The growling and the banging served as yet another reminder to the group that they were in grave danger.
This farm wasn't as safe as they thought.
They had to talk with Hershel... now.
Rick, Lee, and Aelita had a job to do.
Somehow. Someway, the three had to convince Hershel to let everyone continue to stay on his farm, and they also had to convince him to let them deal with the walkers that were in the barn. The three took it upon themselves to be the representatives of all three groups and they hoped that they could sway the farmer however they could. Their lives and the lives of everyone still alive who they cared about are on the line, so they couldn't afford to fail.
Hershel's Farm was an oasis in the desert. If he made them leave, then they would probably die out there somewhere. There had to be a way to change his mind somehow. They couldn't go back out into that walker-filled world...
Walking with the aid of an old cane now rather than rolling around in a wheelchair, Aelita followed close behind Rick and Lee as they went into Hershel's home together. These two men and the teen explored the home and they soon found Hershel sitting at his dining room table. The three noticed that Hershel was relaxing after a hard day of tending to his fields. He was eating some vegetables while reading through chapters of the Bible, keeping the faith in these difficult times.
"A little light reading for lunch?" Lee asked with a quick wit as the three entered the room.
Hershel smiled softly at that, but it fell as he kept reading through some of his favorite chapters of. "Been working so hard lately... I get my studying where I can." the elderly farmer reasoned.
"You know we can help you out with your work." Rick offered the hard work of the groups.
"It's my field to tend." Hershel dismissed, already realizing where this conversation was heading.
Lee, Rick, and Aelita stayed silent as Hershel went back to reading the good book, though they didn't leave the room. For their own sakes and the sakes of everyone left alive who they care about, they couldn't. Their fates may well rest on this conversation.
As Hershel went back to reading through the verses, Aelita sighed as she decided that now was the time to confront him about the barn.
"We know what's inside the barn, Hershel..." Aelita told him.
Hershel paused for a moment or two at the revelation, but soon he kept reading as if nothing had happened.
"Leave it be..." Hershel requested, not looking up from his book.
"Well... we'd like to talk about it. But either way it's your barn, your farm, your say." Rick promised their host.
The farmer sighed, realizing that they just weren't going to drop this issue no matter how much he pressed them. In a way he could understand. They saw those people in the barn as monstrous cannibals, but he saw them as just some poor sick folks who'd benefit from a cure whenever one is made. Though even as much as Hershel understood the worries of the groups, he wasn't about to let them put bullets in those sick people's heads. Besides, they were going to have to leave his farm sooner or later since both Anne and Aelita were back on their feet.
Hershel looked up at the three. "I don't want to talk about the barn. I don't want to debate."
"This isn't a debate, Hershel. This is just a discussion, nothing more." Lee responded. "If you leave those walkers in that barn, then God knows what'll happen..." Lee felt just as concerned as Rick and Aelita and everyone else, but he was also worried about the Greene Family. It seemed like they either truly didn't know what they were dealing with here or they were just in denial about the true nature of the walkers. It could get them all killed so easily.
By now, Hershel had finished up his meal and he read up as much of the Bible as he planned on doing for lunch. Hershel wiped his mouth with a napkin then he spoke again.
"I need you and all of your people gone by the end of the week." Hershel gave them his ultimatum as politely as he could.
The hearts of Rick, Lee, and Aelita all sank at the ultimatum. However, they weren't going to give up on this matter just yet. These three weren't quitters.
"Lee and I talked to Dale..." Rick told Hershel. "You and us have our differences with the way we look at the walkers. Those people..." he tried to be careful with his words so as to not offend the farmer. To that man, the walkers were still just people.
Lee nodded in agreement. "They may be dead. Hell, they might even be alive. But us three are alive right now, right here, right in front of you. So is everyone else over down at the camp. If you send us all out there, then that will change. If you kick us out then you'll be handing us a death sentence..."
"I've given you all safe harbor... My conscious is clear." Hershel firmly dismissed their concerns.
Aelita frowned at Hershel's dismissal. The pinkette then gestured down at his Bible and spoke. "Is it not to share your food with the hungry and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter— when you see the naked, to clothe them, and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood?" she quoted straight from the good book, knowing quite a lot of religious texts like the back of her hand thanks to all of her studies while stuck in Lyoko. She seemed to be correct in assuming it could be useful someday.
Hershel seemed a bit surprised by what he had heard. He knew that Aelita was a very smart girl, but compared to him it seemed like she knew the good book like the back of her hand. Even despite the tension Hershel couldn't help but feel impressed, and he could also concede that the passage she recited from Isiah had a very valid point. But even though it did, Hershel felt that he's done more than enough for the groups. He couldn't harbor them forever.
The pinkette sat down in the chair next to Hershel and tried her hand at negotiation. "Hershel, your farm is special..." Aelita told him. "This place of yours? It's been shielded from everything that's been happening out there... If you send us back out into that terrible world out there, then the walkers will kill us all. I'll die, my brothers will die, my boyfriend, my best friends... we won't survive like how you and yours did."
Aelita lowered her gaze and shut her eyes, her worry overtaking her. "No matter what I'll always be thankful to you, to your family, and to Otis for saving my life. Everything that you guys did was some of the greatest acts of kindness that anyone's ever given me... But I can't go out there just to lose even more people that I love and care about, Hershel... You're the only person who can ensure I won't lose them."
"Dale said you saw everything on the news? Well, I hate to break it to you, but its been a long time since the cameras stopped rolling..." Rick added in his own words to Aelita's efforts.
Having heard more than enough about the barn and about the group's permission to stay here, Hershel stood up from his table with the finished plate of food and he walked off into the kitchen without saying a word. Lee, Rick, and Aelita followed close behind him and they were trying not to become desperate. Hershel put his dirty plate into the kitchen sink as the three practically hounded him.
Rick spoke up first. "The first time I saw a walker, it was just half a body snapping at me from the ground... My inclination was to kill it. But what the world is out there isn't what you saw on TV. It is much, much worse, and it changes you. Either into one of them, or something a lot less than the person you were."
Aelita spoke next. "My first encounter with a walker was when some of my friends and I got swarmed by them in a town far from here. We crashed our rental van and after that we lost a close friend of ours, William. Our first encounter with the end of the world was a walker trying to rip my boyfriend's face off, and a swarm eating William alive. I... I'll never forget how we had to leave him like that..."
Lee told his tale after her. "I was in the back of a police car when it all went down." he ignored the surprised looks from Aelita and Rick who had no idea of his past. "The cop driving me hit one of them and we crashed. He got killed while I was unconscious... I went to check on him after I woke up, and if I didn't get his shotgun then I'd be dead right now. I saw that man go from being a living, breathing person to trying to eat me alive."
Hershel listened, but he still seemed unconvinced about the threats which awaited the groups out there in the world beyond his property. Aelita then walked over to him and she placed her hand on his shoulder, looking pleadingly at him.
"Please, Hershel... Please don't send us back out there again..." Aelita outright begged the farmer for the group's continued sanctuary.
The sheer pity Hershel felt for this girl and all of the others was indescribable... but even so, he was certain that them staying here permanently just wouldn't work out. All of the differences between him and those groups were too significant, too serious. Sooner or later it'd have bad results, and for the sake of his own family Hershel wasn't willing to allow any chance of that to happen. The groups would just need to find safety and shelter somewhere else.
Maggie, Beth, Patricia, Jimmy - keeping them safe were his top priority. Not the people in the groups.
It was sadly obvious that the three just weren't getting through to Hershel. The farmer just stood in silence as Aelita stared at him, desperate for an answer. When she got none, her heart sank. His silence more than likely meant the deaths of herself and everyone else she loved in the future.
Rick then spoke up again, and what he told Hershel shocked everyone else in the room.
"...My wife's pregnant..."
Lee and Aelita turned to face the former sheriff's deputy, both completely taken aback by what they just heard. Lori's pregnant?! Even Hershel seemed to be surprised at the news. Now he wouldn't just be sending the groups out there into dangers known and unknown, he'd be sending an unborn life out there too...
"That's either a gift here or a death sentence out there." Rick continued trying his hardest to convince their host. "If we were to stay, we could all help you with the work, with securing this place... We can survive together!"
Hershel sighed. "Rick, I'm telling you all that we can't."
"Just... Just think about this for a second, think about what you're doing-" Rick started to urge.
The farmer interrupted him. "I've thought about it."
It was clear that Hershel considered this matter to be over and done with, that everyone would leave his farm very soon. But Rick, Lee, and Aelita were desperate and so was all of the people back at the camp. Though Lee and Aelita were growing annoyed and upset, Rick's blood finally began to boil as he realized that he wasn't getting through to this man. This man was basically giving them all a death sentence whether he realized it or not...
Finally, his anger blew over. "Just think about it!" Rick said, much more forcefully.
"I'VE THOUGHT ABOUT IT!" Hershel nearly yelled back, defiantly.
Aelita frowned at the farmer after he raised his voice. "We can't go back out there, Hershel! So just think about it again!" she was as frustrated as she was desperate now.
Hershel, Aelita, and Rick were all getting very heated about this discussion. Lee thought that it was best for himself and for the other two representatives to leave now before they'd earn Hershel's wrath. Or even worse - get everyone kicked off the farm immediately rather than later. Reluctantly, both Rick and Aelita agreed with Lee and they both followed him back out of the house, having had enough of talking to Hershel for now.
The farmer watched his three guests leave his home. Hershel sighed after the door shut, shaking his head at what had just happened.
He then saw that Maggie was in the other room, having heard everything that the four had said to each other. Her dad was doing to make them all leave soon. Make Glenn leave soon... and after that, she would never see him again. Or even worse, he'll get eaten alive out there and turned into one of those... things...
Without saying a word to her father, Maggie simply turned and walked away, leaving him to his thoughts.