ONE RULE • THE WALKING DEAD

chapter sixteen- the barn

Author's Note

writer's block is a bitch but we're back

"Daphne."

I jerked backward in shock, knocking my head against the tree trunk and pulling the binoculars away before I could completely lose balance.

"What?" I hissed back, glaring at Glenn who stood below my tree. It was broad daylight, still early enough that there was a slight breeze to soothe the summer heat.

He shuffled nervously, looking back at the chicken coop across the land and then back at me. He seemed unable to speak, spooked to the core. "Glenn, what is it?" I asked more assertively.

He kept looking back, as if he were afraid to get caught. Annoyance glared through me at the thought of Glenn feeling like he wasn't allowed to talk to me.

I'm gone for a few days and suddenly I'm a stranger or something?

I extended my hand, inviting him up into the tree. It offered more privacy and he looked a lot less nervous once he was concealed within the leaves.

"Daph, you gotta listen to me—"

I jerked my head back to look for whoever had him in such an anxious state.

"No!" He hissed, turning me back around. "Promise me you won't do anything."

"I can't make a goddamn promise if I don't know what I'm getting myself into," I hissed back.

"Wha-- but its me!"

"It's not you I'm worried about. It's the fact that I know I'm going to have to kick someone's ass."

Glenn shook his head frantically. "No. No ass kicking involved. Just... don't freak out when I tell you this."

I took a deep breath and fixed him with a deadly stare. "...okay."

He cleared his throat and removed his cap. "So, I took your advice. Last night, I planned to meet with Maggie again, but when I got to the barn..."

I gave him a look, urging him to go on.

"There was walkers in it."

I stayed silent for a minute, furrowing my eyebrows as I searched for the problem. "Like... how many?"

"A lot," he breathed anxiously.

I brainstormed, feeling a little more comfortable in my walker-disposing skills. After all, I'd kept me and Sophia alive all on my own. "Well, we can just gather up the best hunters in the group and take 'em out one by one. I wonder how they got in there, was the door open or something--?"

"No, Daphne, you don't understand," Glenn cut in hastily. "Hershel and his family are keeping them in there."

"What? Like-- like pets?"

Glenn shrugged with a grimace, glancing over my shoulder again.

"Who the fuck are you looking for?" I demanded, fed up. "Did any of them catch you looking?"

"Maggie."

My expression dropped further. It made sense, she must've read the note and went running like a bat outta hell.

"What'd she say?"

"She said Hershel collects all the walkers he can find and puts them in there. He thinks they're just sick. I mean, his wife and stepson are in there, Daph!"

I suddenly felt an overwhelming guilt. I hadn't told Glenn what Jenner had revealed just before his death.

Everyone's sick.