It Comes With The Name

Chapter 23: Running From The Mess You Made

"Let's finish this up back at home."

When Hershel gave no response, Lauren spoke up, taking a step toward the two men. "Beth collapsed. She's in some sort of catatonic state. I think she's in shock... and you probably are too."

Hershel thought for a moment. "Maggie's with her?"

"Yes. But Beth needs you." Rick insisted.

"What could I do?" Hershel said solemnly, turning his attention back to the empty glass in front of him. "She needs her mother. Or rather to mourn like she should have done weeks ago. I robbed her of that." The old man looked off, lost in his own thoughts. "I see that now."

Rick shifted on his feet, shooting a glance at Lauren and Glenn. It was getting dark. They needed to talk Hershel into leaving fast. "You thought there was a cure. You can't blame yourself for holding out for hope." Rick tried consoling.

"Hope?" Hershel scoffed. "When I first saw you running across my field with your boy in your arms, I had little hope he would survive. But he did."

Rick nodded. "He did."

"Even though we lost Otis. Your man Shane made it back and we saved your boy." Hershel continued, finishing off the remainder of what was in his glass. "That was the miracle that proved to me miracles do exist. Only it was a sham, a bait and switch. I was a fool, Rick, and you people saw that. My daughters deserve better than that."

Rick sighed and walked back to Glenn and Lauren. The three of them stood huddled at the door talking quietly, though not quietly enough.

"So what do we do? Just wait for him to pass out?" Glenn asked.

"Just go!" Hershel's voice rang out.

Rick sighed, turning to face him. "I promised Maggie I'd bring you home safe."

Hershel chuckled dryly once again. "Like you promised that little girl."

Lauren's jaw tightened as she turned to look at Hershel with pure anger and disbelief. It hadn't even been a day since they had officially lost Sophia. She was furious. He didn't get to sit here and act all high and mighty.

Spitting venom into each one of her words, she marched over to him. "So what's your plan? Finish that bottle? Drink yourself to death and leave your family to fend for themselves? That's fucking pathetic."

"Stop telling me how to care for my family. My farm. You people are like a plague!" He suddenly stood, whipping around to face her. His voice raised with each sentence. "I do the Christian thing, give you shelter. And you destroy it all!"

"Hey, the world was already in bad shape when we met." Rick stepped forward trying to intervene.

Hershel stood taller, taking a step forward and turning to Rick. "And you take no responsibility! You are supposed to be their leader!"

"And you're supposed to be their father!" Lauren shouted, looking up at the man before her. In other circumstances, she may have been intimidated as he was quite a bit taller than her and probably stronger. But she didn't care, she was so angry she probably would've taken on Shane had he been there.

Rick stepped in front of his sister, clearly trying to appeal to the old man, but Lauren was over that. He obviously wasn't listening and they didn't have time for this.

"Come on," Rick said calmly. "Your girls need you now more than ever."

Hershel turned back to face the bar, placing his hands atop the counter and hunching over in defeat.

"I didn't want to believe you." He spoke bleakly. "But when Shane shot Lou in the chest and she just kept coming, that's when I knew what an ass I'd been; that Annette had been dead long ago and I was feeding a rotten corpse!" Hershel's voice was thick with emotion as he choked out his late wife's name. "That's when I knew there was no hope."

When Rick couldn't give a response, the old man turned to Lauren. "When that little girl came out of the barn, the look on your face... I knew you knew it too. Right? There is no hope."

Lauren crossed her arms defensively across her chest, pressing her lips tightly together. She wanted to tell him he was wrong. That she still had hope. But she couldn't. Since the beginning, with each new day that passed a small bit of her hope would fade. She had managed to hold on to a fair amount, but seeing Sophia emerge from the old barn had broken her completely.

"Are you ready?" Rick asked him after a moment of silence. They really needed to head out soon, but Hershel simply turned back around. Once again facing the bar. "Look, how many times are we gonna have to do this?"

Lauren scoffed, a wave of frustration masking her grief. "Okay, I'm done. I'm not doing this anymore. No more waiting patiently for you to get your shit together." She stomped over, slamming her hands down on the countertop. "You can't just abandon your family and then claim it's for their own good. That's selfish. Yeah, shit sucks right now, but you know what? Death is death. That's just what it is, whether it's from a walker, or a bullet, or cancer- it doesn't matter. Once you're dead, you're dead! It's what you do when you're alive that counts. So make it count!"

The ring of the bell above the front door indicated someone entering the bar. They all froze when an unfamiliar voice came from the entrance.

"Son of a bitch. They're alive."