Hidden Truama

The Farm house

The next morning the kids woke to clicking and clacking outside the RV. The two hopped up and ran to the front window to see Shane with a Burnett woman they had never seen before.

"What thee hell is happening?" Daryl yelled as he climbed out of a car he was digging through.

"car was shot by their man Otis. We'll stay with their people till they fix carl."Shane responded as he got down from the horse with a fuel tank. "I figure we can collect some of the remaining gas from these cars and put it all in the RV."

Daryl nodded in agreement as he grabbed the fuel tank out of Shane's hands. "Where's the kids?" Shane asked Dale who was up on top of the RV.

"they're in the RV probably asleep. They didn't have a good day yesterday. Both were burning up with a fever, they could barely keep their eyes open." Dale said as he began to climb down.

"but they're ok?" Shane asked worriedly.

"yeah the fever went down last night, so we feed them and gave the lots of water."

"hey, Maggie? Would you mind taking the kids back to get examined by Hershel or someone else?" Shane asked the Burnett woman.

"do you know the way back?" She asked.

"like the back of my hand." He replied.

"sure go get them and I'll bring them back."

Shane turned and started walking to the RV. Mary and Peter quickly ran to the bed and laid down to pretend they were asleep. The kids went still when they heard the door open and Shanes loud boots begin to walk towards them.

"you two aren't slick. Get up get ready you guys are going with our new friend Maggie to her fathers farm. The rest of us will meet you there."

Mary and Peter hopped up with a smile. "Will there be animals?" Mary asked in excitement.

"I believe I saw a bunch of animals while I was there."  Shane said.

Marys smile grew even bigger as her and Peter ran to grab the few things they'd need which only consisted of Dales new book he gave to Peter to read. As the two made their way outside Marys face lit up at the sight of the horse. Maggie smiled at the astonished child and Shane came up behind the girl and picked her up and set her on the horse. Shane then turned to Peter and lifted him onto the horse as well.

"i understand you two have never seen a horse in person before but I need you two be on your best behavior. Is that clear?" Shane asked the two kids with a stern tone.

"yes sir." The two kids said in unison.

With that agreement Maggie started off towards the house with the kids. On the way Mary would turn to Peter and motion for him to feel the fur. Every time she would do that Peter would follow her excitement and pet the horse with her. As they reached the farm Maggie put the horse in the stable and helped the children down.

"alright lets get you two checked out." She said as she led the kids out of the stable to a big white farm house. Peter and Mary couldn't hold back their excitement. They were lab rats for crying out load, so they took of to the house tackling and tripping each other the entire way. Though Maggie knew she should stop them before they get hurt, it felt good seeing two kids having fun without a care in the world. It felt almost as if there weren't deadly walkers roaming around the entire planet.

As they reached the house Maggie went and grabbed her father who had just finished restabilizing Carl. He bent down in front of the two kids before giving them their check up.

"may i ask a question young lady?" The old man asked as he checked her blood pressure. Mary nodded in agreement. "Why is you're head buzzed?"

Mary looked at Peter unsure how to answer without giving away exactly what they are. Peter buts in to help her answer. "We were part of a laboratory test they needed to shave our head's for accurate reading and monitoring."

"what kind of tests did they do?"

"Brain strength tests."

The old man nodded before turning back to the girl. "Are you growing it out now? Seems pretty grown out." Mary nodded in agreement before rubbing Peters book from his hand.

"Inferno? Isn't that book a little advanced for your age?" Maggie asked as she sat next to the kids.

"Peters a genius. He's been teaching me how to read since I never learned." Mary said as she played with the cover.

"the Epidemic only started a few months ago?"

"i was in the science program when i was 4 and they don't really teach you how to read. They only make you do puzzles.."

"why would your parents do that?" Maggie asks the girl.

"money.. it was around 10,000 a month for them if they were to give us to them."

Maggie looks at the older man with a sad look before turning back to the girl. "So how did you and Peter meet?"

"he was the only one that wasn't mean. We were also stronger together-" Peter quickly turns to Mary as she cuts her sentence short.

"stronger?" Maggie asked.

"when we're together our brains solve things better she's better with puzzles I'm better with logistics." Peter said.

The old man looked between the two kids before standing up. "You're blood pressures low so we'll give you some food and water to bring it up. It will help make sure those fevers don't come back and time soon."

"thank you sir." The kids said in unison before getting up and sitting on the porch swing. When Maggie came back out with the snacks she saw the two reading the book together.

"mind if i listen in i haven't heard that book in a while." She said as she sat next to them on the ground. The kids nodded as they took the snacks and continued reading. Every now and then Peter would stop on a word Mary would point to a define it for her.