Let the Truth Sting

Later that afternoon, while the majority of the Greene's were out in the paddocks tending to the cattle, we as a group went to take a closer look at this barn. Now that I was aware of what was inside those doors I was surprised that no one had heard them groaning and hissing before Glenn found them. Standing just outside the doors I could hear the dragging of their feet on the hay and every so often one would ricochet its body off the panels trying to get out. We all stood in silence as Shane walked up to the side of the barn, peeking in through one of the cracks to take a look.

"You can not tell me you're alright with this," Shane said angrily, walking back from the barn.

"No I am not," Rick spat back, "but we're guests here, this isn't our land." These two were at odds lately about pretty much everything. Shane was a hot head and he hated that everyone, without question, looked towards Rick for guidance and answers before him.

"God! This is our lives man-" Shane yelled.

"Okay, lower your voice," Glenn spoke quickly, worried that one of the Greene's would hear and he'd be in trouble with Maggie.

"We can't just sweep this under the rug," Andrea spoke up. This was going to be another one of those debates between the group where everyone had something to say.

"We either gotta go in there and make things right, or we just gotta go. Now we've been talking about Fort Benett for a long time now-" Shane offered up two options.

"We can't go!" Rick raised his hand to him, calming him down.

"Why Rick? Why?"

"Because my daughter's still out there," Carol squeaked out.

I felt like I was watching a mess unravel in front of me. I could see Shane getting angry, rubbing his head like he was trying to hold back what he was going to say, but he never can.

"Okay-kay," he laughed in disbelief, "I think it's time we all just.. consider the other possibilities-"

Rick immediately cut him off, "Shane, we're not leaving Sophia behind!"

"I'm close to finding this girl, I just found her damn doll a few days ago," Daryl spoke up. He cared about finding Sophia and Shane just laughed some more.

"He found her doll," he bellowed. I swear I thought Daryl was going to hit him. "That's the thing Daryl you. Found. A. Doll."

"Man, you don't know what the hell you're talkin' about!" Daryl yelled stepping towards Shane.

"Let me tell you something, you find a missing child within the first 48 hours, after that, it's a dead body!" Shane yelled at Daryl, Carol was crying in the process and everyone else was yelling at Shane trying to get him to stop. I seemed to keep myself quiet, stunned by how broken our group was at the moment. "And you know what, let's say you do find her; you really think she's gonna go with you all methed out, geek ears hanging around your neck? No, she's gonna run in the other direction!" Shane continued to yell.

I was infuriated now, at least Daryl was trying. I watched as Daryl jumped towards Shane, but didn't make it far with T-Dawg holding him back. All the women were shouting 'stop' like it was going to help in any way. I was sick of hearing Shane speak. Snapping out of my thoughts I stepped into the action, slipping right under Rick's right arm that was holding Shane's chest back, and I socked him straight in the jaw. Shane finally stopped yelling, shocked by what just happened. Once he stopped screaming, everyone did, and I knew he wasn't going to swing back.

"Shane just let me talk to Herschel," Rick now said calmly, "If we're gonna stay, if we're gonna clear this barn, I have to talk him into it. This is his land."

"Herschel sees those things in there as people," Dale stepped in, "sick people, his wife, his step-son-"

"You knew?" Rick asked.

"Yesterday, I talked to Herschel-"

"After Daryl got shot we were waiting until this morning to say something, but Glenn wanted to be the one to tell you guys," I spoke up.

"The man is crazy Rick! If Herschel thinks those things are alive!" Shane yelled again. I had to agree with him on that.

We all snapped our heads around, hearing the group of walkers from inside the barn all barreling themselves against the door trying to get out. They could hear us from the outside and desperately wanted their next meal. All of us stepped back, scared.

------

"We can't go back out there, we just can't, this farm is safe," I said to Glenn. We sat back at the campsite. Once everyone cooled down, Rick said he would talk to Herschel and he ended the argument. "Lori has to tell Rick that she's pregnant and Rick has to tell Herschel that, it's the only way he could possibly let us stay," I talked quietly.

"It's not that simple for her," Glenn whispered back.

"What? He has every right to know."

"I know that, but I think she's scared. Listen before you showed up to the campsite in the mountains and before Lori even knew Rick was alive, she was with Shane," he explained and I began to connect the dots. "I don't think she even knows whose baby this is."

I rubbed my face in my hands, "holy shit, this is a mess."

"You got that right."

"Okay, what do we do then?"

"Nothing, for now, it's not our place too. All we can do is wait."

-----

Later on that day there was quite a bit of tension around the camp. Not only from the argument, but I believe the word got out about Lori being pregnant. Glenn was right, all we had to do was wait and people were eventually doing what needed to be done. It didn't make it any easier though. We waited patiently to hear back from Rick, him and Herschel did have a talk, but before we could get any answers he took Rick on a mission in the woods with his second daughter, Beth's boyfriend, Jimmy. For now, I was helping Carl with his writing, to alleviate some stress off of Lori for the moment. While we were stationed at the farm they had him read a few books and write a short paragraph on them afterward.

"Does Shane think Sophia's dead?" Carl dropped his pencil to ask.

I paused, not knowing what to say to him. I didn't want to disappoint him with my answer, the possibility of crushing his hopes by telling him what Shane really thought.

"Shane's just scared," I answered.

"Of the walkers in the barn?" he suggested.

"Yeah, which we all should be."

"Well I'm not scared, because I'm not leaving until we find Sophia," he said. Carl was one brave kid, it astounded me. How much he had grown since the first day I met him. "And I don't want to go even after that."

"Well, we're not leaving Carl," I said, but the truth was I had no idea what laid ahead of us.

"I was just thinking, she's gonna like it here, this place could be a home," he nodded his head. I smiled at him, placing my hand on top of his hair and ruffling it.

"You're right, now finish your paragraph-" I was cut short.

"Where is everybody?" Daryl came in hot.

"We were supposed to go out hours ago, but Rick went out with Herschel for something instead," Andrea answered him.

"God, is no one takin' this seriously? We got us a damn trail," Daryl said, referring to Sophia. With everything going on no one has been out looking for her all day. "Oh, here we go," he pointed behind us. We all turned to see Shane walking towards the group, a large bag of guns in hand. He looked pissed, tired of waiting around for answers.

"You with me man?" he asked Daryl, throwing him a shotgun. "Time to grow up! Listen, it was one thing sittin' round here pickin' daisies when we thought this place was supposed to be safe," he called out. He was handing out guns to everyone as he spoke and the noise drew the rest of the Greene's out from the house. "But now we know it ain't! How bout you man? You gonna protect yours?" Shane asked Glenn, reaching out a shotgun to him. Glenn was nervous, looking back and forth between the shotgun and Maggie, eventually, he agreed and took it.

"Can you stop! You do this, my dad will make you leave tonight!" Maggie yelled.

"Oh shit!" T-Dog said, causing us all to look in the direction he was staring. We could hear the groans of walkers as we watched Herschel, Jimmy and Rick emerge from the forest. They had two walkers attached to the end of a snare pole, pushing them towards the barn. Herschel was trying to make Rick understand.

We all ran off in a sprint towards the barn, Shane cursing under his breath.

"Man, what the hell are you doing?" he screamed as we approached them. The walkers were strong, fighting back on the snare pole and they were having a hard time holding onto them. When walkers were within a few feet from food their strength was unmatchable.

"Shane just back off," Rick called out, struggling.

"Why do your people have guns?" Herschel asked, he held on tight to the female walker.

"Are you kidding me? Do you see what they're holding onto!"

"I see who I'm holding onto!" Herschel fought back.

"No, you don't! These things ain't sick, they're not people, they're dead!" Shane shouted. "Hey Herschel, man, let me ask you something," Shane raised his gun at the walker he held onto, "can a living breathing person, can they walk away from this?" He let off eight bullets straight into the stomach of the walker. Herschel was stunned as we watched the walker continue to sway and swing its arms in the direction of Shane.

"Shane enough!" Rick yelled. He couldn't do anything though, he was still trying to control the other walker.

"Yeah you're right, that is enough," Shane said, walking up to the walker and shooting it directly in the head. The only way to kill it. Herschel dropped to his knees with the walker, his once friend, crying.