𝐩𝐫𝐚𝐲 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐦𝐞 » shane walsh

twenty four. a family friend

Glenn looked up suddenly, stumbling on his words as he tried to speak "Yeah-yeah I'm fine. Actually, shouldn't I be asking you that? I saw—"

"Whatever you think you saw you didn't, okay? Its better if you just forget about it." Athena brushed off, making Glenn question his conscious on whether to press her further or not. He knew exactly what he saw so why was Athena pretending he didn't. "I'm sorry. Just...please don't say anything. It may seem like something to you but it isn't, so just try and keep it to yourself."

Glenn didn't say anything, merely nodding and finding his silence was the best thing for this situation, before walking off towards the house to find Maggie.

Athena sighed and took a breath, giving herself a moment before the horses caught her attention. She turned on her heel and stepped over to the horses, placing her hand on its face and stroking it gently. "Life would be so much easier if I were you right now."

It was quiet and peaceful for a few moments before a voice interrupted. "You like the horses?"

Athena looked towards the voice to see it was Hershel. She hadn't had time to really speak to Hershel since she arrived at the farm, what with the Carl being shot, Otis dying and the search for Sophia, she hadn't had much time to get to know their hosts except for Maggie who she'd got along well with.

"They're beautiful. They remind me of the ones my grandfather had when I was a kid. My favourite was Ruby, she didn't do what she was told and I guess we kind of got each other." Athena laughed, earning a small smile from Hershel "My grandpa had a farm just like this."

"Then he'll know the hardships and frustration it takes to run a farm. It doesn't come easy."

"Of course, I saw how hard it was financially sometimes but he always got through it. Grandpa Chester was the toughest guy I knew, no matter how many times businessman came knocking to buy the old place, he told them all the same thing 'shove it or get shoved'."

Athena and Hershel strolled across the land towards the stables where she would put the horses back in their pen, pulling the horse gently by the reigns to keep it following behind. "I loved my grandpas farm. It was the only place I felt safe and made me feel like I belonged somewhere. Maybe that's why I've felt so safe here, it feels like home I guess." She shrugged.

"Chester?" Hershel said aloud as if in thought "You don't happen to mean Chester Daniels by some sort of chance?"

Athena furrowed her brows and looked at Hershel in confusion "Ye-Yes. I'm Athena Daniels his granddaughter, his only granddaughter really. H-How did you know him? Did you know him?"

Hershel smiled softly and patted the horses head as he put it back in the pen and shut the stable door "Chester was a dear old friend, I've known him since we were in our mid twenties. Back then I wanted nothing to do with this farm, but Chester, he loved his farm and worked on it with his father. We met each other in the local town which is the centre of the distance between our two lands going east and west. Once my father passed this land onto me, Chester gave a helping hand every now and then. He was a...good friend." Hershel had a glimmer of happiness in his eyes, almost like he was remembering the good times they had together.

"It's funny. I thought he maybe would have brought me here. He never mentioned anything about this place." Athena crossed her arms

"Well...after I inherited the farm after my father died, Chester and I grew up. Your grandpa had your father young and started his own family and later so did I. We visited each other with vegetable baskets we grew ourselves or resources from the farm but over time, our family's became our priority." Hershel explained with a saddened tone about his old friend

Athena smiled at her feet as memories flickered through mind "He really did love his family more than anything. Of course when my dad and my mom gave up on me and dropped me off at grandpa bootcamp he gave my dad a good telling to and gave him the big speech about how you never give up on your loved ones. He was a good man. One of the greatest people I've ever known." She nodded holding back the lump in her throat.

Hershel's eyes softened "May I ask what happened to him?"

Athena nodded, glancing between him and the horse in the stable. Stroking the horse was her way of distracting herself if she was going to get through telling the story. "Just before the outbreak, about six months or so, my grandfather became sick. Which didn't make sense since he never smoked or took drugs and he barely ever drank, especially when I came to live with him he never had alcohol in the house. He took care of himself, you know, he was a healthy guy. Anyway, I kept telling him 'go see a doctor' but he didn't believe he was sick enough and insisted he was fine. Only he wasn't. The longer he left it, the worse he got and eventually I dragged his ass to the doctor and turns out he had been living with Parkinson's disease and he never knew. The doctors said it could have been the pesticides from farming all his life but they didn't know for sure. All they knew was that he didn't have long left and was too far gone to start treatment." Athena wiped the stray tear that fell "He died a few months later."

Hershel was quiet, digesting the information himself and taking a moment to think of what to say "I'm sorry for your loss. He was a great man. I know it won't make up for the loss of Chester but I believe faith and god has brought you here. I'd like to believe Chester himself guided you here. Now I know we don't know each other well but Chester was like a brother which makes you family. Anything you need, you just ask."

Athena smiled through her saddened expression, her face almost gleaming with hope. The young brunette didn't believe in god or faith but she could get on board with the idea that her grandfather guided her here. In a weird way she didn't understand, it brought her some peace.

And right now she wasn't going to turn away a little peace to calm down the chaos.