Rick, Shane, Alexander and Jimmy were around a truck planning the search for Sophia looking at the map, which on the vehicle's capo, while ate some peaches that Glenn gave them.
Alexander would no longer participate in her search, but that doesn't mean that he won't help them to Planeala.
Daryl found Sophia's doll, but this meant nothing. The doll could have been there for days.
"We want to join today's shooting." Beth informed arriving them with Patricia.
"Hershel was very clear, I can't include any of you in what we do without your permission." Rick told them.
"He doesn't like it, but he accepted it." Beth mentioned.
"Otis was the only one who knew how to use weapons. Now that he is not ... we have to learn to protect ourselves. Her father understood." Patricia said referring to Hershel.
"Don't be offended, but I will ask Hershel." Rick said trying to avoid more inconveniences.
"Jimmy also said that Hershel had given him permission when it wasn't. We just want to make sure not to cause problems." Alexander added trying to show that it was not that they distrust them, but wanted to avoid problems.
Then he went with Shane to talk to Carl, who looked something strange.
"Hey, nice hat friend!" Shane said as they got to his side.
"Something happens?" Alexander asked noticing his brother's behavior.
"I want to learn to shoot, do you teach me?" He asked seriously.
"Emm, well, that depends on mom and dad." Alexander said.
"Can you talk to them? They pay attention to you." Carl said hopeful that they will help him.
"We'll see, okay?" Shane said to then see how Carl tried to leave. "Hey, show me that you have there." He said stopping him.
Knowing that he had no choice, Carl raised his shirt showing a weapon inside his pants.
Minutes later, Rick, Lori, Alexander and Dale were arguing what happened while Carl was sitting somewhat away.
"How the hell did this happen?" Lori asked altered.
"Well, it's my fault, I let him enter the rv. He said he wanted a transmitter you had asked." Dale replied.
"So, in addition to everything, he lied." Lori said even more angry.
"It is not the end of the world." Alexander said tired of his mother's behavior.
"He wants to learn to shoot. He asked us to teach him." Shane informed. "I know that is not my business but I will gladly do it. It's your decision."
"Well, I don't like the idea." Lori said refusing to the fact that her youngest son has a gun.
"He needs protection, we will not always be there to do it." Alexander said trying to convince his mother.
"I think here is safe. I don't want him to walk with a gun." Lori retorted flatly.
"Yes but, for how long? You think this place will last forever. Sooner or later we must leave and I prefer that Carl knows how to defend himself when it happens." Alexander said starting to get angry with his mother's stupid behavior.
"No." Lori refused. "It didn't seem good to me that he went to the forest with you and hopefully I would have said something, I had to follow my instinct." She added stubbornly.
"He is growing! Thank God. We must start treating as an adult." Rick intervened putting himself on his son's side.
"Well, act as such, it's not so mature as to wear a gun." Lori retorted still refusing the idea.
"Tsk, fuck this, i'm out." Alexander said leaving.
He didn't want to continue listening to his mother saying idiocy, he irritated him, so he moved away to relax.
"Are you okay?" Beth asked noting him as he came to his side.
"Yes, just a family disagreement." He replied calmly.
He didn't want to take his anger out on Beth, so he tried to relax.
"I see. Hey, will you teach in the practice of shooting?" She asked as he saw him.
She liked Alexander. He looked like a good boy and she had not talked to someone from her age besides her boyfriend.
"Yes, I'll be there." He replied. "Hey, Jimmy is your boyfriend, right?" He asked calmly.
"Ehh, yes, why?" Beth asked confused.
"It is not one of those toxic boyfriends who goes crazy do see their girlfriend talking with another guy, right?" He asked joking, although he also wanted to make sure, since he did not want to cause problems in his relationship.
"He, no, no, don't worry." Beth replied amused.
"Well, while we wait to go to the shooting field, would you like to chat a little?" Alexander asked.
Beth seemed like a nice girl, so he wanted to get to know her better. Also, he was bored.
"Yes, sure." She replied enthusiastically.
"Well, I will not ask you what you did before this because it is obvious that you went to school, so ... do you have any hobbies?" He asked trying to get conversation.
"Well, I'm kind of embarrassed to say it, but I sing." She responded somewhat embarrassed.
"Ah, that's great. You shouldn't be ashamed of that by the way." He opined while smiling. "It's what you like after all."
"I still feel a little embarrassed to sing in front of many people." She informed shyly.
"Weeell, right now it's just the two of us." He said looking at her with an amused smile.
"No, no, no." Beth began to nervously refuse as she understood what Alexander meant.
"Hmph, okay, okay, calm down. It's not like I'm going to force you either." He said before walking towards the truck in which they would go to the shooting range followed by Beth.
● ● ● ● ●
At the shooting range, Carl, Patricia, Jimmy, Beth and Andrea could be seen shooting at some bottles placed on a wooden fence.
Alexander, Rick, and Shane supervised them while Carol watched from behind, also glaring at Alexander, as he would no longer participate in the search for her daughter, although Alexander ignored her. It's not like she cared after all.
"Don't play the gangster asshole." Alexander scolded looking at Jimmy, who was pointing the gun sideways with one hand.
Paying attention to Alexander, Jimmy managed to shot the bottle, which made him smile.
"Do you feel the power?" Alexander asked, remembering that he felt the same the first time he fired a gun.
"Yeah, it's amazing." Jimmy replied still excited.
"By the way, when you're not shooting, put the safety back on, just to be safe." Alexander said before walking to Beth. "Keep your arms steady." He ordered correcting her when he saw that she had a somewhat relaxed position.
"Sorry." She apologized as she did what Alexander said.
"Don't worry, people learn from mistakes. Besides, I'm here to help." He said to then saw her shot a bottle.
"Did you see that!?" She asked excited about her achievement.
"With luxury of details." He joked before going over to Carl. "How are things with you?"
"Well, Shane and Dad taught me how to do it." He replied something cheerful.
"Let's see, show me what you learned." He said while crossing his arms.
Carl aimed the gun and after a few seconds fired, hitting the target.
"Mm, not bad, but..." He said as he held his gun in one hand and fired at a bottle while looking at Carl. "You still need more practice to surpass me." He added with a teasing smile.
"Smug." Carl said chuckling slightly.
"I've always said that if you're going to brag about something, you better be really good at it." He said as he gave a small flick down with two fingers to his brother's hat, which previously belonged to their father.
● ● ● ● ●
Back at camp, Alexander was on his way to talk to Daryl, who was inside his tent reading a book.
"Dary Dixon reading, the world is definitely wrong." He said jokingly as he sat down next to him.
"I do not have anything better to do." He commented nonchalantly. "Hey, I heard you weren't looking for Sophia anymore, is that true?" He asked seriously.
Alexander knew that Daryl would probably be upset, but he wasn't going to lie to him.
"Yes, it's true." He replied looking down, not wanting to see the look Daryl would send him.
"Why? I found a real clue to where she was, now we know where she might be more or less." He said trying to convince him.
"Listen, for me this search no longer makes sense." He said making Daryl start to get angry.
"You will leave a girl abandoned in the woods?" He asked angrily.
"If you want to see it that way." He replied calmly.
"There is no other way to see it." He retorted.
"Then yes." He said before getting up to leave. "Rest." He said as he walked away.
Alexander didn't want to have that conversation with Daryl, as he knew they would end up mad at each other due to their differing opinions.
As he walked, he noticed Beth at the horse stables, so he went over to talk to her.
"Hey." He waved so she knew he was there.
"Oh hi, what are you doing here?" She asked while feeding the horses.
"I saw you here and wanted to talk." He replied sincerely.
"Oh, I see. Since you're here, can you help me with this?" She asked referring to feeding the horses.
"Making guests work at your house, how cruel Greene." He joked as he helped her, causing a small laugh from Beth.
"Do you like horses?" Beth asked watching him pet one.
"Yes. Although I never rode one." He said as he continued to pet the horse.
"Well, that can be arranged." She told him as she looked at him with an excited smile.
"Your father won't be upset?" He asked smiling at the idea of riding a horse.
"Not if we don't go far." She replied as she went to find two mounts.
After explaining to Alexander how to ride a horse, they were both on one preparing to go for a ride.
"Let's go!" Beth said as they both made the horses move forward.
At first they would go slow and then accelerate a little, since it was Alexander's first time, Beth did not want him to fall because the horse was going too fast.
Alexander had a big smile on his face. He knew that this was nothing special, but he couldn't help but feel excited.
Although something happened.
His horse began to accelerate more and more, until it reached the point of running at full speed.
"Shit, shit, shit." Alexander thought as he tried to stop the horse, which he couldn't.
Beth was chasing him on her horse while shouting him how to stop.
They passed in front of the group's camp, who saw Alexander insulting the horse for not stopping and Beth chasing him desperate to help him on another, to which they couldn't help but laugh.
● ● ● ● ●
The next day, the group was eating around a campfire at their camp.
Alexander was leaning against a tree next to Shane.
"Umm, hey." Glenn said drawing the attention of the rest. "You know..." He said before falling silent.
"Spit it out Glenn." Alexander ordered watching his friend ramble.
"There are walkers in the barn." He said causing everyone to stare at him.
Alexander put down his plate and began to head towards the barn being followed by the rest.
Once there, he and Shane looked into the gap in the door, confirming what Glenn had said.
"Don't tell me you're okay with this." Shane told Rick as they both approached the group.
"No, I'm not, but we're the guests. It's not our place." Rick said strictly.
"This is not right dad, no matter how you look at it." Alexander retorted.
"It's not our place." He repeated seriously.
"But they are our lives!" Shane yelled angrily.
"Lower your voice." Glenn said worried that the walkers would hear them.
"We can't pretend this doesn't exist." Andrea retorted.
"It's not right, not at all. Either we go in there and do things right or we don't go. We've been talking about Fort Benning for a long time." Shane opined.
"We can't go." Rick retorted.
"Why Rick? Why?" Shane asked starting to get angry.
"Because my daughter hasn't shown up yet." Carol replied.
"Oh, you can't be serious. Listen, I think it's time to start considering the other option." Alexander said tired of this stupid search.
"Alexander, we are not leaving Sophia!" Rick replied annoyed by his son's proposal.
"I'm close to finding the girl. Two days ago I found her damn doll." Daryl retorted annoyed.
"You found a doll Daryl, just a doll!" Shane said angry that no one besides him and Alexander saw the reality.
"You don't know what the hell you're talking about!" Daryl retorted trying to get closer, but was stopped by Rick.
"I'm just saying what needs to be said, if you find a clue it's in the first forty-eight hours." Shane said pacing back and forth.
"Shane, Shane enough." Rick ordered trying to stop him.
"And let me tell you something man." Shane said ignoring Rick. "If she were alive out there and saw you coming all drugged up, with a knife and a necklace of ears around your neck, she'd run the other way!" He finished saying making Daryl angry, who tried to reach him, but was stopped by Rick and Alexander.
They all came closer and drove them away to avoid a fight between the two.
"Just let me talk to Hershel, I'll solve it!" Rick said to Shane, who was walking away.
"TELL ME WHAT YOU ARE GOING TO SOLVE!" He yelled trying to get closer, being stopped by Lori.
"If we will stay and clean out the barn! I have to convince him, this is his land." Rick retorted.
"For Hershel, those things in there are people, sick people, his wife, his- his- his stepson." Dale informed implying that he also knew about this.
"Are you serious? How long have you known?" Alexander asked angrily.
"Yesterday I spoke with Hershel." He replied.
"And you waited all night!" Shane retorted angrily.
"I thought we could survive one more night. We did." Dale said strictly.
"It was a bet. You bet with our lives." Alexander retorted.
"But I was right." He said then looked at Rick. "I was waiting for this morning to say something, but Gelnn wanted to tell you."
"Sure, because it was more important what Glenn wanted than warning us about this!" Alexander retorted sarcastically.
"Hershel is crazy Rick! If he thinks those things are alive-" Shane started to say, only to be interrupted.
"Let me talk with him!" Rick said trying to calm his friend down.
"NO!" Shane yelled.
Due to the screams, the walkers started pushing the barn door trying to get to them, so they walked away.
● ● ● ● ●
Alexander was sitting on the porch of the house looking at the barn, where Shane and his father were talking.
"Hey, everything okay?" Jimmy asked coming in front of him along with Beth.
"Yeah, just that we found out about the walkers in the barn." He replied seriously.
"I'm sorry I didn't tell you. Dad told us not to." Beth said feeling somewhat guilty.
"Don't worry." He said quietly. "Even though this changes things, we'll probably leave."
"You will go?" Jimmy asked.
"Sooner or later it was going to happen, it was just a matter of time." He replied still looking at his father and godfather, who seemed to be arguing.
"And where will you go?" Beth asked.
"Fort Benning surely, we've been talking about it for a while now." He said to then see his father walk away from Shane. "Excuse me, I have to do something." He said before starting to walk in the direction of Shane, who was leaning on a tractor.
"Hey man, what's up?" Shane asked as he saw him come to his side.
"You plan to stay all day looking at the barn, I don't think it's a very interesting sight." He joked trying to cheer up his godfather, who was looking sad.
"Heh, well, someone has to." He replied looking back at the barn.
"Hey, I noticed that we never talked about what was going on between you and mom after dad came back." Alexander said softly as he looked at the barn.
"There's nothing to talk about. Your father came back and everything went back to the way it was before." Shane said not wanting to bring it up.
"Are you okay with it?" He asked turning to look at him.
"Listen Alex, I don't want to talk about this." He said harshly. "Sorry." He said after a few seconds.
"It's okay, really." He assured calmly.
He wasn't upset that Shane yelled at him. He understands that the subject bothered him, so he wouldn't bring it up again.
"I don't think I ever told you but I like your new look, it suits you." He said mockingly trying to lighten the atmosphere.
"Hmph, what can I say? Everything suits me." He commented continuing with the joke.
"As you say baldy." He said receiving a slight nudge from Shane. "Go rest, I'll stay watching." He added as he patted him on the back.
"No, don't worry, you go." He denied.
"Go or I'll knock you so you rest." He threatened jokingly.
"Hehe, fine, fine, I'm leaving." He said before ruffling his godson's hair and then leaving.
● ● ● ● ●
Hours later, Alexander and Beth were delighted to talk on the front porch of the house as they watched Carl and Patricia play chess. Maggie and Glenn were sitting in some chairs near them. Then T-Dog and Andrea came over.
"When will they leave?" Beth asked softly.
She liked Alexander. She didn't want him to leave, but that's how it would be.
"Supposedly we should have done it a few hours ago." He replied as he watched Daryl and Carol arrive.
"Damn, is no one taking this seriously!? We found a clue!" Daryl complained to them when he saw them without doing anything. "Oh, let's see." He said watching Shane approach with a bag of weapons. "What is all this?"
"Are you with me man?" Shane asked offering her a shotgun.
"Yeah." He replied taking it.
"Time to grow up. Do you have yours yet?" He asked Andrea.
"Yeah. Where's Dale?" She asked when she didn't see him.
"He is on the way." He replied before walking to T-Dog.
"I thought we couldn't." He said receiving a gun.
"We can and we must. It was one thing to stay here gathering daisies when we thought this place was safe, but now we know it's not. What do you say man? Will you protect yours?" He asked Glenn offering him a shotgun, which he took. "That's it. Do you know how to shoot?" He asked Maggie.
"Can you stop? If you hand out the weapons, my father will drive them out tonight." Maggie assured angry at Shane's action.
"Alex? Are you with me?" He asked offering him a shotgun as Alexander reached his side.
"Always." He replied with a smile, which made Shane smile as well. "But I prefer my weapon, if it's not too much trouble." He added taking his magnum out of the bag, although he also had hidden the small revolver he found.
"We have to stay Shane." Carl said coming down the porch steps.
"What's going on?" Lori asked arriving.
"We're not leaving, okay?" Shane said to Carl. "Hershel...he just has to understand, okay? He- well, he'll have to." He said before kneeling in front of Carl. "We must find Sophia, am I right?" He added and then offered him a gun. "Now I want you to take this. Take it Carl and protect your mother. Do whatever it takes, you know how. Take the gun and do it."
"Rick said no weapons, it's not up to you, this is not your decision." Lori retorted gritting her teeth, putting herself between Carl and Shane.
"Oh crap." T-Dog said drawing the attention of the rest.
Looking where he was looking, they saw Rick, Hershel, and Jimmy bringing in two walkers using sticks that are used to grab animals by the neck.
Seeing this, Alexander and Shane angrily began to run towards them. They did not understand what was happening. Rick was willing to help Hershel with his madness putting them all in danger in the process?
The rest followed them yelling at them to stop, which they ignored.
Shane jerked the fence open before they both came up to them.
"What the hell are you doing!?" Shane asked angrily.
"Shane, Alex, just back off." Rick told them nervous about what could happen.
"Why do your people have weapons?" Hershel asked somewhat annoyed.
"Are you kidding!? See!? See what you're clinging to!?" Shane asked angrily.
"I see who I hold on to!" Hershel retorted while struggling to contain the walker.
"No man, you don't see it!" Shane claimed.
"Shane, just let us do this and we'll talk!" Rick said trying to calm his friend down.
"What the fuck do you want to talk about dad!? These shits aren't sick people, THEY'RE FUCKING WALKING CORPSES!" Alexander retortedalso furious at the situation.
"They feel nothing, because all they do is kill!" Shane added. "THOSE RIGHT HERE ARE THE ONES WHO KILLED AMY! THEY KILLED OTIS! THEY WILL KILL US ALL!" He yelled furiously.
"SHUT UP." Rick yelled at them, although it was in vain.
"Let me ask you a question old man!" Alexander began to say taking his weapon and removing the safety. "A normal person, who lives and feels, could bear this!?" He said to then shoot the walker that Hershel was holding four times in the chest.
"ALEXANDER, STOP!" Rick yelled as the rest of the group did as well.
"THOSE WERE FOUR FUCKING GUNSHOTS IN THE CHEST AND THE BITCH IS STILL STANDING! WHY THE FUCK IS SHE STILL STANDING?!" He screamed and then shot it in both legs. "SHE CAN EVEN STAND WITH HER LEGS INJURED! WHY THE FUCK IS SHE STILL STANDING?!" He added more and more furious.
"ALEXANDER, ENOUGH!" Rick yelled again.
"Yes, you're right, that's enough." Shane said approaching the walker and then shooting her in the head.
No one said anything, as the entire group was speechless at what was happening.
"Enough of risking our lives FOR A GIRL WHO IS NO LONGER HERE!" He yelled hurting Carol. "ENOUGH LIVING NEXT TO A BARN FULL OF THINGS THAT WANT TO KILL US! Rick this isn't like it used to be. Now if everyone wants to live, IF YOU ALL WANT TO SURVIVE, WE MUST FIGHT! AND I'M TALKING ABOUT FIGHTING RIGHT HERE AND NOW!" He finished saying to then approach the barn door and begin to remove the padlocks.
Everyone was yelling at him to stop, except Alexander, who reloaded his gun and approached the barn, ready to fire.
"LISTEN TO ME, IT'S NOT THE WAY! PLEASE!" Rick pleaded as Shane began to bang on the barn doors, drawing the attention of the walkers inside.
The walkers began to come out. Shane and Alexander began shooting at them, to which Andrea, T-Dog, Daryl, and Glenn quickly joined them, as the Geene's sobs could be heard in the background.
Alexander finished off six walkers before shoting the last one, or so he thought, since after a few seconds another walker started to come out of the barn.
This walker was Sophia.
This left everyone speechless, some more than others.
"SOPHIA! SOPHIA!" Carol yelled as she ran towards her daughter, only to be stopped by Daryl.
Seeing that no one moved and Sophia was getting closer and closer, Alexander began to walk towards her.
Once close enough, he pointed his gun at the walker's head and fired without hesitating for a second, surprising the rest because of the coldness he displayed.
Alexander also noticed this. He was becoming more and more cruel, cold, without compassion, but he didn't care anymore.
If he wanted to survive in this world he would have to be able to do this kind of thing.
And he was glad he could.