Make it Till You Don't

Walkers in the Barn

After a few hours in the woods, I came up empty. No leads, no evidence... no Sophia; hell, no Walkers either. It was as if this part of the woods was left untouched by the world we now live in. Back to when all you had to worry about was the bugs and poison ivy.

Seeing it was getting late, I began making my way back to the camp. About thirty minutes of walking, I was able to see the farm and made my way to the camp.

"Where the hell have you been?" I glanced up, seeing Shane walking over to me.

I kept walking, avoiding his gaze. "Out." I replied, walking into the RV.

Shane walked in behind me, not noticing that I didn't want to talk. "Out? By yourself?" He pushed on.

I put my ax down on the table, turning to look at him. "The hell's your problem?" I raised a brow at him.

"My problem?" Shane, rubbed his head. "My problem is you. You show up and invade our group and now you think you can walk around here and do whatever you please and not do a damn thing. Well, let me tell you something-"

"No, let me tell you something." I cut Shane off, glaring at him as I poked his chest. "While all of you were playing target practice I took it upon myself to go search for Sophia, who's still missing incase that hasn't hit your radar, and is more than what you've done the past couple days."

"More than I've done? I've been keeping this group alive long before you showed up, hell, Carl wouldn't even be alive had it not been for me." Shane retorted back, getting in my face.

"Oh yeah? And what about Otis, huh?" I asked, raising rhetorically. "When you told that story during his funeral, I gotta say, you had everyone convinced. But me? Didn't believe it for a second. I mean, his gun is here, but he ain't. Mean to tell me he let you go ahead and stayed behind without his gun? Just willingly fed himself to the Walkers?"

There was a moment of silence, the two of us glaring at each other before Shane spoke up. "I'd watch my back if I were you." With that, he stormed out of the RV, leaving me stunned. Did he just threaten me?

I stood there for a few minutes until I heard someone speak up. "You okay?"

I snapped out of it, glancing at Dale, who stood at the door. "Yeah- I... just forgot what I came in here for is all." I told him, walking past him and out the door.

I walked over to the fire the others had built, sitting near it. "Hey."

I looked at Glenn, nodding to him. "What's up?"

"I uh- earlier Carol told me you needed a tent before I went on my run... I didn't find one." He told me, frowning.

I shook my head, waving him off. "It's fine, don't worry about it. I'm sure we'll find one soon."

"Yeah." Glenn agreed before speaking up again. "If you want, you can take mine. I'll be fine without one."

"Nah, keep it. I don't want you to give it up for me." I told him, giving him a small smile. "I'll just hold up in one of the cars until then, it doesn't get much safer than that."

"You sure?" He asked, sounding unsure. I nodded, letting him know it's fine. "Kay, well I'm going to go turn in for the night." Glenn told me, walking toward his tent. "Night."

"Night." I waved him off, before standing up and heading to one of the cars, settling into the backseat. Beats the outside and it's comfy.

———

"Um, guys..." I looked up to Glenn, along with everyone else, from where I sat on the ground. "So... the barn is full of Walkers."

In an instant, we were all gathered around the front of the barn, Shane looking through the cracks of the doors before walking back over. "You cannot tell me you're alright with this."

"No, I'm not, but we're guests here. This isn't our land." Rick reminded him, a look in his eye as he glared at the barn doors.

"God! This is our lives!" Shane shouted, losing his temper.

"Lower your voice." Glenn hushed Shane.

Andrea looked over to Rick. "We can't just sweep this under the rug."

"It ain't right. Not remotely." Shane added, pacing around. "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." Fort Benning?

"Uh, guys... Fort Benning is-"

"We can't go." Rick cut me off, not hearing me.

"Why, Rick? Why?" Shane argued back.

"Because my daughter is still out there." Carol told Shane matter-of-factly.

"Okay-" Shane let out a curt chuckle, rubbing his face in frustration. "Car- Okay, I think it's time that we all start to just... consider the other possibility-"

"Shane, we're not leaving Spohia behind." Rick stopped Shane from talking.

Daryl walked forward to the two. "I'm close to finding this girl. I just found her damn doll two days ago."

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

"It's more than what you did." I told Shane pointedly as Daryl began to shout.

"You don't know what the hell you're talking about!" Daryl swung his arm, walking towards Shane.

Rick held an arm out to Daryl, stopping him in his tracks. "Alright, alright." Rick tried to intervene.

"I'm just saying what needs to be said!" Shane shouted back, bucking up towards Daryl. "You get a good lead, it's in the first forty eight hours."

Rick placed a hand on Shane's shoulder. "Shane stop." He spoke louder.

"Let me tell you something else, man." Shane continued, ignoring Rick completely. "If she was alive out there and saw you coming, all methed out with your buck knife and geek ears around your neck, she would run in the other direction, man!"

Daryl stepped forward to Shane once again, the two shouting at each other as Rick tried to break him up, others joining in. "Back off." Lori warned Shane, pushing him away.

"Don't touch me." He knocked her hand away, pacing back and forth.

"Now just let me talk to Hershel." Rick spoke up once more. "Let me figure it out."

"What are you gonna figure out?!" Shane snapped, marching towards Rick.

Lori stepped in, stopping him from getting any closer as Rick replied. "If we're gonna stay, if we're gonna clear this barn, I have to talk him into it. This is his land."

"Hershel sees those things in there as people- sick people." Dale chimed in, causing me to look at him. "His wife, his-his stepson."

Rick looked at Dale in disbelief. "You knew?"

"Yesterday. I talked to Hershel." Dale admitted.

"And you waited the night?" Shane argued.

Dale countered back, glancing at everyone. "I thought we could survive one more night. We did." He then gestured over to Glenn. "I was waiting till this morning to say something but Glenn wanted to be the one."

Shane shook his head. "This man is crazy, Rick. If Hershel thinks those things are alive or no-"

The sound of the barn doors rattling, and growling from inside, caught everyone's attention. "Let's head back to camp, stay away from the barn for now." Rick finalized, walking off.

———
Published: 03/07/2024