The Infected || C.G₁

5- Secrets

 This morning, I was outside helping Patricia gather the chicken eggs. Lori and Carl, who had recently recovered enough to walk, were on the other side of the coop feeding the chickens. I heard Carl say to his mother, "Don't look so worried." I would have listened in, but Patricia started speaking to me.

"We need a chicken to give to them," she said in a low tone, making sure Lori and Carl couldn't overhear. By "them," Patricia meant the dead people Grandpa believed were sick. I'm not sure what I believe about them. They're the dead who came back to life to kill. Grandpa thinks they just need to be cured and that a cure will come.

I say I believe that, but honestly, I'm unsure. Anything to keep my family happy, I suppose. Plus, it could be true. I haven't had much experience with the dead. Mama wouldn't even let me watch the news when the dead first started coming back. I've been completely shielded from them. Maybe it's for the best.

"How about this one?" I asked, pointing to a mother chicken.

"Yeah, she'll do," Patricia responded.

"Yeah, Punk? You see my house around here?" Lori laughed as she threw chicken feed at Carl, who had made a joke about her being a housewife. "Housewife," Lori chuckled, brushing off a feather as she and Patricia exchanged amused glances. Carl glanced over at us, and I noticed the boy was quite cute. We held eye contact for a moment before I smiled and waved. Carl looked back at his mom and continued feeding the chickens. "They don't have a mother," he said, his tone a mix of sadness and resignation.

"She might be somewhere else," Lori answered, trying to sound reassuring while brushing off another feather.

"Or maybe she got eaten." Lori's face fell a bit at this. The mother chicken wasn't eaten yet, but she would be. Maybe Carl had a knack for predicting the future. Patricia and I picked out three or four more chickens to take to the dead, and we left them there, heading back to the house with the buckets full of chicken eggs. As we walked up the path to the farm, I tried to convince Patricia to let me come with her to feed the dead.

"Just this one time, please? Mama doesn't have to know," I pleaded, knowing I was probably being annoying by now. Otis used to be the one who gave food to the dead; he never let me go either. It seemed like everyone on this farm wanted to keep me hidden from the world. But that couldn't last forever. They were just being silly, really.

"No, Daisy. It's not happening," Patricia said sternly, handing me the buckets. "Go on inside now."

I sighed and took the buckets back to the house.

Later that day, Mama came up to me while I was sitting in the lounge room reading. "Hey, Daisy?"

"Yeah?" I looked up from my book.

"Rick's going to be training his group to shoot. You want to learn?" she asked, looking like she might regret it.

"Seriously?" I shot up in excitement.

"Yep. Figured you might need to know how to protect yourself one day."

"Yes!" I said eagerly. "Go find Beth and Patricia, then. They're going to ask Rick now."

I quickly got up and found Beth and Patricia, who were already heading out the door.

"Your coming too?" Beth asked.

"Mhm! Mama said I should!"

The three of us made our way to Rick, who was leaning against a car with Shane and Jimmy. "We'd like to join you for gun training today," Beth called out.

"Hershel's been very clear. I can't involve any of you in what we do without his okay," Rick responded, taking a bite from a peach.

"He doesn't like it, but he consented," Beth added, glancing at Patricia and me.

"Otis was the only one who knew guns. Now that he's gone, we've got to learn to protect ourselves. Hershel saw the sense in that." Rick sighed slightly. "No offense, but I'll ask Hershel myself." He nodded to us before turning away. We all headed back to the house, and as we walked, I heard Shane call out to someone by the RV.

I turned my head and spotted Carl leaning against it. We made eye contact for a moment, and I shook my head with a smile before turning away. "Now what's got you smiling like that?" Beth whispered with a laugh.

"Nothing," I replied with a grin.

A little while later, we were off to a small field away from the farm. I rode in the car with Beth, Jimmy, and T-Dog. Carl was there too, learning how to shoot. Lori seemed uneasy about him being there, which was understandable.

I had a small gun and was standing next to Beth as we both practiced shooting our targets. "Hey, come on man. Don't give me that gangsta shit," T-Dog said to Jimmy, who was holding his gun sideways. Jimmy adjusted his grip, and immediately his aim improved.

After gun training, we all headed back to camp, except for Shane and Andrea, who stayed behind for some advanced classes. As I was walking back to the house, I heard Carl call out from behind me.

"Hey," he said.

I stopped and turned around, Beth, who had been walking beside me, chuckling as she continued on her way.

"Hi," I replied.

"I'm, uh, Carl. Still. I already introduced myself to you," he said with a shy laugh, squinting against the sun.

"And I'm still Daisy," I responded, laughing. We chatted for a bit longer until Carl's mother called him. "Hey, uh... wanna hang out tonight?" Carl asked before he left.

"...Sure. Why not," I said with a laugh.

"Cool! Meet by that tree over there? I'm sure I can sneak away," Carl smiled.

"Sure," I agreed.

Carl headed over to his mom, who was still calling for him, while I went back to the house. Mama was preparing to head out on another supply run with Glenn. She mentioned something about Lori needing something, sounding somewhat annoyed. I said 'bye' to her before she left, then went upstairs to read some comics. I eagerly awaited the night, excited to hang out with someone my age for the first time in a while. Beth's great to hang out with, especially when it's just us and Jimmy, but it's Beth and Jimmy. Like I've mentioned before, all they want to do is run off together and make out. Ew.

After maybe an hour or two, I looked up from my comics and glanced out the window. I saw figures walking to the left of the house. Upon closer inspection, I realized it was Mama and Glenn. Mama looked noticeably irritated about something. There was some blood on her shirt. Had she been attacked? I couldn't hear anything, but I tried to interpret their body language and expressions to figure out what was going on. Suddenly, Mama grabbed Glenn's face and kissed him. Whoa. I wasn't expecting that. I knew they had been passing notes and sneaking out together, but still.

When Mama came inside, I was already at the bottom of the staircase. "What was that all about?" I asked in a singsong voice, struggling to hold back a laugh.

"You shut up," Mama said with a laugh as she walked past me.

CHAPTER 5- END

WORD COUNT: 1204