Future Ghosts • TWD

25. The Barn.

"You knew?!" Rick asked.

"Yesterday, I talked to Hershel," Dale said.

"And you waited the night?!" Shane spat, inching closer to Dale with an angry look on his face.

"I thought we could survive one more night. We did," Dale defended himself. "I was waiting till this morning to say something, but Glenn wanted to be the one."

"The man is crazy, Rick, if Hershel thinks those things are alive or no!"

At the sound of Shane's furious yelling, the barn doors started to rattle as the walkers pounded against them, attracted to the noise. Shane went up to the doors, checking the locks and chains. When the walkers pounded against the door again, he jumped back, reaching for his gun on his waist, but it wasn't there. He took his hat off of his head and threw it down, making Rosie jump back a little. She jumped again when she felt a hand on her shoulder.

Turning around, she saw that it was just Lori. "Come on," she said, placing her hand on Rosie's back. Not wanting to make anyone mad by disobeying, Rosie went along with Lori and Carl.

Much to Rosie's disappointment, Lori had Carl and Rosie sit down at the picnic table and placed math books in front of them. Upon seeing the math book, Rosie stood up to leave, but Lori put her hand on the girl's shoulder and made her sit back down.

"Your education is still important," Lori claimed.

Rosie rolled her eyes, leaning her chin on her hand. "Who cares if I know math if I'm just gonna get eaten by walker by the time I turn ten?" she muttered.

Lori's eyes widened as she stared at the girl. "Don't say that," she scolded, placing a pencil down on the math book.

"What? It's true," Rosie shrugged. Lori was appalled.

"It's not," Lori said sternly, looking Rosie in the eyes. Feeling a little uneasy, Rosie picked up the pencil and started tapping it on the table as she avoided Lori's eyes. "Now, what grade were you in?" Lori asked.

"Third," Rosie answered.

"Were you doing fractions?"

"I stopped goin' ta school before they got to that," Rosie said, shrugging.

Carl furrowed his eyebrows, turning to look at her. "You stopped going to school?" he asked.

"Kind of," Rosie said, not really wanting to get too much into it. Lori pulled the book towards herself and started flipping through the pages as Rosie watched with disdain. She hated math. Not because she didn't understand it, but because she found it boring. Everyone knows that three times three is nine, so why did she have to write it down in a book?

When Lori pushed the book back towards Rosie, it was on a page about fractions. Rosie looked down at the page, her eyes landing on a drawing of a pie cut up into three pieces, and she groaned.

They sat silently, each doing the problems Lori told them to while she watched over silently, keeping them on task.

"Mom," Carl said, looking up from his question about how many CDs he could buy from a CD store with $17. "Do you think we're really gonna have to leave?" he asked.

"We're not leavin', Carl," Lori assured him. She nodded down at the book page. "You finish those problems."

Carl obeyed, looking back down at his work, but kept talking. "I just think this place... it could be a home," he said, a small smile appearing on his freckled face. Lori looked into his pale blue eyes for a moment before leaning forward and pulling him into a hug.

Rosie watched the interaction quietly. Her head was tilted down as if she was focusing on the page in the math book, but her eyes were pointed up at Carl and Lori. She couldn't help but think about her own mom. She wondered who she was, if she was still alive. And she wondered if her own mother would hug her like that if she was there.