HEART FOR BRAINS • the walking dead

006: the barn

Rio sat besides Carl as Carol cooked breakfast over the fire. Lori leant over to Rick and gave him a kiss, keeping their faces close as they broke apart to talk. Carl watched them and then turned to Rio with an expression that meant only one thing: gross. Rio laughed at the look on his face, almost spitting out his drink.

Daryl was out of his tent today, eating his food on a camping chair across from him. He still wasn't fully well though.

Glenn got up from his seat, standing before the group nervously. He scratched his face and shoved his hands into his pockets. They all looked at him weirdly.

"Um, guys," he announced, everyone looked between him and their food, waiting for him to speak.

"So..." he hesitated, taking a shaky breath, "The barn is full of walkers." He had everyone's full attention now, joint looks of panic struck everyone. He was joking, he had to be. Rio thought.

"What?!" Someone exclaimed.

"The barn." He sighed. "It's full of walkers."

Shane was up first, out of his seat in seconds. He walked up to Glenn grabbing his upper arm and dragged him over to the barn. Glenn shrugged his arm off, heading over on his own. He kept looking back to the farmhouse, checking that no one could see.

Shane was peering through a gap between the wooden planks, looking into the barn when Rio got there. Everyone was crowded together, watching from a few feet away.

"You cannot tell me you're alright with this." He challenged Rick as he stepped back hastily.

"No I'm not," Rick returned as Shane kept walking, "But we're guests here. This isn't our land." He reasoned.

"Oh, god. This is our lives, man!" Shane returned his voice growing louder and louder.

"Lower your voice." Glenn hissed, he still fidgeted, not seeming any less anxious than he had before he revealed the news to the group.

"We can't just sweep this under the rug!" Andrea protested, siding with Shane.

"It ain't right. Not remotely." Rick agreed.

"We either gotta go in there, we got to make things right, or we just got to go." Shane took a breath. "Now we have been talking about Fort Benning for a long time."

"We can't go."

"Why, Rick?" Shane asked, voice rising again, "Why?"

"Because my daughter is still out there." Carol said finally speaking up.

"His brother too." Daryl added. Rio hoped he knew how thankful he was. "They're kids we can't just leave them."

"Okay." Shane muttered to himself, then he let out a scoff, "Okay. Okay, okay, I think it's time that we all start to just consider the other possibility."

"Shane we are not leaving them behind." Rick stood his ground.

He was staying here, even if they all left. Rio wouldn't leave if he knew there was even the slightest chance of his brother still being out there. Rick was right, he wasn't going to leave him behind.

"Man, you don't even know his brother," the other man replied, swinging his arm in Rio's direction. "And Sophia..."

"I'm close to finding these kids! I found the damn girls doll two days ago." Daryl argued with him.

Shane chuckled sarcastically. "You found her doll, Daryl. That's what you did. You found. A. Doll."

"You don't know what the hell you're talking about!"