Heading back to camp, Lenora's face was red and sweat was beating down her brow. The sun had been beating down on her like no other, and the Georgia heat was never kind. When they walked back to the farm they approached the house, where confusion was present.
"Do you know what's going on?" T-dog asked Glenn as he and Andrea approached the house.
"Where is everyone?" Andrea asked him, following up on T-dog's question.
"You haven't seen Rick?" Glenn asked worried.
"He went off with Hershel. We were supposed to leave a couple hours ago." Andrea explained to him as the group of three approached them.
"Yeah you were." Daryl spoke, interjecting himself into the conversation. "What the hell?"
"Rick told us he was going out." Carol explained.
"Damn it." Daryl raised his voice slightly and Lenora made her way up by the porch where Carl sat playing a board game with two of the Greene sisters. "Isn't anybody taking this seriously? We got us a damn trail."
The redneck man scolded his group. Wondering why nobody seemed to care about finding Sophia as deeply as him and the girl's mother. He turned around, noticing Shane walking towards him with a bag of guns.
"Oh, here we go." He spoke, approaching Shane. "What's all this?"
"You with me man?" Shane asked him, handing him a shotgun.
"Yeah." Daryl all but whispered. He took the shotgun from Shane, pumping the barrel once. He made eye contact with Lee, who was watching him wearily.
"Time to grow up." Shane spoke, determination on his face. He turned to Andrea next. "You already got yours?"
"Yeah." She spoke, confused as ever. "Where's Dale?"
"He's on his way." Shane explained, Lenora thought he looked like he was on a war path. Which in some ways, he was. The man was losing what little control he had over his mind. It scared the girl, and she wondered if anyone else noticed.
"Thought we couldn't carry." T-dog asked him. Reminding him of Hershel's rules for staying on his land. If they lost the farm, she didn't know what they'd do.
"We can and we have too." Shane said. "Look, it was one thing sitting around here picking daisies when we thought this place was supposed to be safe. But now, we know it ain't. How about you man, you gonna protect yours?"
Shane had approached Glenn, handing him another gun. The asian man looked at him distrust flooding his features, before looking back and forth between the former sheriff and Maggie. He took the weapon from Shane cautiously, if not to defend the farm then maybe to keep it out of Shane's hands.
"That's it, can you shoot?" Shane then asked Maggie.
"Can you stop?" Maggie began to reason with him. She was the oldest Greene present, and she was responsible for what went on at the farm when her father wasn't there. "You do this, you hand out these guns? My dad will make you leave tonight."
"We have to stay Shane." Carl spoke from beside Lenora, working his way down the stairs as Lori rushed out of the house.
"What is this?" She asked.
"We ain't going anywhere, okay?" Shane falsely reassured the group. "Now look Hershel, he's just gonna have to understand. Okay? He, well, he's gonna have to."
This is the moment that Lenora feared Shane had truly lost his mind. The amount of power he had over the group would never be equivalent to that of Ricks, who they all respected. It was obvious that he didn't like that whatsoever. She knew he was only becoming more unhinged as days past by.
"Now, we need to find Sophia." Shane said, approaching the two children that stood in front of the porch. He knelt down in front of them, holding a handgun out toward both of them. "Am I right? Now I want you to take this. You take it, and you keep yourselves safe. You do whatever it takes."
"Aye, leave her out of this." Daryl warned him, taking a singular step closer before Lori stepped in front of the two children. Pushing them both behind her protectively.
"Rick said no guns." Lori said, looking down on the man angrily. "This is not your call. This is not your decision to make and you sure as hell won't give them to children."
"Oh shit." T-dog spoke, gathering the attention from the rest of the group. Lenora turned her head quickly, seeing Beth's boyfriend Jimmy come out of the forest, two walkers on sticks trailing him being led by Rick and Hershel.
"What is that?" Shane asked, beginning to run towards the men luring the walkers. The rest of the group followed, Lenora looking at Carl who hesitated a moment with her before they began to follow. They shouldn't stay at the house alone, each deciding to follow their guardians.
"Shane!" Lori called to the man who had a large head start and was much faster than any of them.
"What the hell are you doing?" Shane asked, pushing through the gate that separated them.
"Shane just back off." Rick told him, struggling to keep hold of the walker he was guiding. Lenora came to a halt behind Daryl, who was holding up a gun to the walkers. The walkers seemed more interested in them than ever. The group of survivors arriving was like a buffet for them.
"Why do your people have guns?" Hershel shouted, angrily taking notice of the guns that Shane had passed out moments prior.
"Are you kidding me?" Shane began to shout over the walkers groans. "You see? You see what they're holding on to?"
"I see who I'm holding onto!" Hershel yelled at him, his usual steady features were clouded with anger.
"Nah man, you don't" Shane was circling the two men holding walkers like a predator. In his eyes, he was the lion and they were the lamb. As he stalked around the two men holding walkers, he pointed out every single mistake he felt Rick had made.
"Shane just let us do this and then we can talk." Rick reasoned with him. His actions were simply making things worse. Lenora watched as one of the walkers reached for Jimmy who jumped out of the way.
"What do you wanna talk about Rick?" Shane screamed. "These thing's ain't sick. They're not people. They're dead. Ain't gonna feel nothing for them. Cause all they do, they kill! These things right here! They're the things that killed Amy. They killed Otis! They're gonna kill all of us."
"Shane, shut up!" Rick yelled at him. It was obvious that Shane was doing his absolute best to rile the group up, so they'd agree with him. His motivating factor always resorted to fear. Still, Lenora knew the dangers that fear could bring. Fear created chaos, and disorganization, they couldn't afford that these days.
"Hey, Hershel man, let me ask you something. Could a living breathing person. Could they walk away from this?" Shane asked pulling his gun out and pointing it towards the group, causing them all to duck. He shot the walker that was just in front of them, and Lenora flinched at the sound. What if that bullet had gone stray and hit someone?
"No!" Rick screamed. "Stop it!"
"That's three rounds in the chest." Shane explained. He raised his finger, beginning to point at him. "Could someone who's alive, could they just take that?! Why is it still coming?"
The enraged man began to fire more and more bullets at the walker, Hershel stared between him and the dead woman in disbelief. Lenora, took another step towards Daryl. Realizing he was right when he said he didn't trust Shane.
"That's it's heart, it's lungs." Shane said, firing even more rounds into the walker. "Why is it still coming?"
"Shane." Rick yelled at his friend. Lenora began to wonder if they would ever be friends again after this incident. "Enough!"
"Yeah, you're right man." Shane said agreeing with him, he stalked up to the walker, holding his pistol directly in front of its head and pulling the trigger point blank. "That is enough."
Hershel fell to the ground in disbelief as Shane began to stalk up towards the barn doors. He was a man on a mission, and nothing would stop him. Turning around, he began to go on a tyrant, screaming at them all.
"Enough risking our lives for a little girl who's gone! Enough living next to a barn full of things that are trying to kill us. Enough! Rick, it ain't like it was before! Now, if y'all want to live, if you want to survive, you got to fight for it! I'm talking about fighting, right here, right now."
The man finished his rant, running up to the barn doors. As Rick began to shout for Hershel to take the snare pole out of his hands. Unfortunately, the man had gone into some kind of shock and Rick's pleas weren't heard. Shane began to beat at the lock on the barn doors with a pickaxe, reminding Lenora of the CDC where Jenner had locked them in. Despite the group's pleas, Shane continued beating at the door, soon enough breaking it open. He removed the piece of wood that held them shut, beating on the doors and riling the walkers up further.
"Stay behind me Lee." Daryl grunted, placing himself protectively in front of her like he'd done numerous times before. She listened, moving herself to be even further behind the mans back.
Slowly but surely, walkers began to spill out of the barn doors. Eyeing what could be their next meal. Those with guns ran to the front, determined to protect their friends from the dead. One by one, each walker fell. The young girl flinched with every body that hit the floor. Lenora felt herself tremble at the amount of walkers that had been living in the barn. It was like a never ending wave.
Finally, silence fell upon the group as the gunshots came to a halt. Each walker lying dead on the ground, ridden with bullet holes. Disbelief hung in the air, and Lenora felt her heart beating out of her chest as her ears rung.
Quietly, a walkers moans filled the air and a small body came into view. A walker with a blond head of hair and rainbow shirt made its way out of the barn.
"Sophia?"Carol's sobs began to fill the air and the woman rushed to her daughters decaying form. Daryl caught the woman in his arms, holding her close as her dead daughter began to straggle forward. "Sophia!"
Lenora felt her body shudder with a sob, raising her hand to her mouth. Her knees began to shake as she watched Sophia come closer. Nobody could do anything but stop and stare. Slowly, Rick made his way towards the dead girl, pulling his gun out to do what no one else wanted to. He hesitated for a moment, before finally laying the girl to rest.
At the sound of the gun shot, Lenora felt herself drop to her knees. Carol's sobs ringing in her ears as she stared at the dead girls body. The girl who was the same age as her, and had a loving mother that was currently mourning her as she watched in disbelief. She heard Carl crying as well, he'd known the girl for longer than she had. They were friends before Daryl had even found her and brought her back to camp.
"Don't look," Daryl muttered to Carol as the woman struggled to her feet. She turned around, shoving Daryl away from her and running towards the camp, away from her daughters corpse.
The redneck took one look at Lenora's crippled form on the ground staring at Sophia's body before grabbing the girl and pulling her into a hug.
"Come here."Daryl whispered he didn't wait for her to respond and simply held her head closely to his chest. As her small body racked with sobs and she struggled to gain her breath. He held her tightly, shifting his body so that Sophia's corpse wasn't visible. "Don't look Lee, don't look. Don't look..."
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Word Count: 2028
I hope you enjoyed. I love Lenora with my entire being, hurts to put my girl through this pain of losing her friend.