Ellie Dixon

The Barn

We were all sitting outside of the tents and eating our breakfast. We had scrambled eggs, it wasn't my favourite meal ever, but it would do. Sophia was sitting in one of the chairs nearby while I was sitting on the floor, leaning against my dad's chair. I was also reading the book that Beth had given me. Well, I was until Glenn stood up and made a rather shocking announcement. "Uh... Guys. So... Barn's full of walkers."

Natually, we headed down to the barn. I hung back with Sophia since she obviously couldn't move so fast. Shane and Rick were practically running down there which was a little funny to watch. My dad was at the front of the group as well. Shane was peering through the gap between the chained doors when me and Sophia got there.

Shane backed away from the barn before facing the group. "You cannot tell me that you're alright with this." Shane directed it at Rick.

"No, I'm not but we're guests here, this isn't our land." Rick replied.

"God, this is our lives, man!" Shane yelled.

"Lower your voice." Glenn reminded us.

"We can't just sweep this under the rug." Andrea pitched in.

"It ain't right. Not remotely." T-dog added.

"We've either got to go in there and make things right, or we just got to go." Shane told us. "Now, we have been talking about Fort Benning for a long time."

"We can't go." Rick insisted.

"Why, Rick? Why?" Shane questioned.

"Because my son is still out there." Carol reminded him.

"Okay... Okay, I think it's time we all start to consider the other possibility here." Shane ran his hand over his face. Sophia gasped quietly next to me.

"Shane, we're not leaving Jacob behind." Rick shook his head.

"We're close to finding this boy. I just found his damn car two days ago." Dad pointed out.

"You found his toy, Daryl. That's what you did. You found a toy." Shane nodded.

"You don't know what the hell you're talking about!" Dad yelled at Shane, taking a couple steps closer to him.

"I'm just saying what needs to be said here! You get a good lead, it's in the first forty-eight hours!" Shane ranted.

"Shane, stop!" Rick tried as Sophia started to cry, so I put my hand on her shoulder gently.

"Let me tell you something else, man!" Shane said to dad. "If he was alive out there and saw you coming, all methed out with your buck knife, and geek ears round your neck, he'd run in the other direction!" Dad lunged at Shane, but Rick kept them apart. Shane kept trying to get to my dad so Andrea, Glenn and Lori all stepped in. Dad had glanced at me and stopped trying to fight Shane quite quickly "Get your hands off me." Shane said to Lori before starting to storm off.

"Just let me talk to Hershel. Let me figure it out!" Rick tried, causing Shane to stop walking and turn back to his friend. 

"What are you going to figure out!" Shane yelled very loudly, causing me, Sophia and Carol to all flinch. When my first-grade teacher told me to make friends by finding things in common with people, I did not think she meant trauma.

"If we're going to stay, if we're going to clear this barn. I have to talk him into it. This is his land." Rick insisted.

Dale stepped forward to talk. "Hershel sees those things in there as people. Sick people. His wife and stepson are in there."

"You knew?" Rick raised his eyebrows.

"Yesterday. I talked to Hershel. I was going to tell you this morning, but Glenn wanted too." Dale explained.