Don't Get Dead | TWD | Volume 1

[23] The Barn

We had been eating breakfast when Glenn decided he wanted to tell everyone. They were all here, all sitting quietly around the fire. There would be no better time than this, and I agreed. Glenn stood up from where he had been sitting and walked around for a few minutes, and I assumed he had been building up the courage to tell them before he said anything. I knew it would be hard for him, with Maggie staring him down from the porch.

"So, guys." Oh, here we go.

When no one paid him any mind, he cleared his throat to get everyone's attention. Still, they all just continued eating, glancing up occasionally to see what he wanted.

Glenn finally continued when enough people were listening. "The barn is full of walkers."

An unexpected silence settled around the group, which still made me clutch the side of my arm. There was no yelling or uproar like I had expected. Not yet, at least. I glanced around to see everyone's expression, which was much more aware of Glenn's existence now. They all stopped eating, lowering their forks to their plates as they all waited around, hoping that he had given out some kind of joke. When they realised there was no punchline, the questions started rolling in.

"Walkers?"

"What?"

"Did you say walkers?"

"In the barn?"

Glenn didn't expect many questions, as he was straight to the point about the walkers in the barn. The hopes that it was a joke still hung in the air due to the hesitancy of his answers, but he managed to stammer out a sentence that at least cleared up what he said. "I . . . Hershel's family keeps walkers in the barn."

Shane, who had been leaning against a nearby tree, stormed to the gate leading to the barn, "Show me."

Everyone else—including me—stood up and followed them down to the barn. I knew no one was happy about this, and I wanted to know what the plan would be now the group had learned that Hershel was keeping walkers. The most obvious choice was that we would leave the farm, but I knew the group wouldn't want to leave either.

There was muttering amongst the group as we walked across the field. Most people were in disbelief; others didn't understand how we had been here for so long and didn't know about the walkers. We had been in the dark for so long because Hershel asked us to stay away from the barn, and we followed his rules so he would let us stay on the farm. Glenn only knew because he wanted to sleep with Maggie.

Shane stormed to the barn, his steps slowing as he neared the building. His hand lay flat against the wood as he leaned closer to the crack between the middle of the two doors like he didn't believe there were walkers inside. He moved his head back and forth, and when he finally saw the corpses inside, he turned back to the group.

He looked pissed, his face tensed as he walked back towards the farmhouse. His shoulder bumped against Rick as he marched past. "You cannot tell me you're alright with this."

"No, I'm not," Rick snapped, his eyes never leaving the barn, even when he turned his head back to answer Shane, "but we're guests here. This isn't our land."

Shane spun around, "This is our lives!"

"Lower your voice!" Glenn yelled in a whisper.

I was facing the group now, glancing back to the barn over my shoulder. The group continued their argument just as loud as they had before.

"We can't just sweep this under the rug," Andrea said.

"It ain't right," T-Dog agreed. "Not remotely."

Shane was quiet for a second, but as I pictured, he started ranting about leaving. "Okay, we've either got to go in there, we've got to make things right, or we've just got to go. Now we have been talking about Fort Benning for a long time."