ONE RULE • THE WALKING DEAD

chapter seventeen - he knows

"Alright guys," I started awkwardly, trying to get back into the leader groove again.

Everyone was busy eating a late lunch, some eggs Carol had whipped up as soon as they'd gotten back from their gun training.

Shane looked up mid-chew. Daryl spared me a glance. Sophia smiled at me which I couldn't help but smile back to, even though all hell was going to break loose in a minute.

Rick pointedly stared at the ground, sitting on a log far from both Lori and Carl.

I eyed him for a moment, hoping if he looked at me, his eyes could give away what he was currently feeling.

I'd never felt so in the dark with him before.

I clapped my hands together once, trying to figure out how to say it.

I began. "Last night, we made a discovery--"

"I made a discovery. Daphne didn't know 'til this morning," Glenn interrupted, standing next to me. I threw him a side-eye. Was this his way of trying to protect me from Shane's inevitable tantrum?

"Besides the point," I said through my teeth, eyeing each and every one of them. "I was waiting for all of us to be together. So we could handle the situation as a group."

"What is it?" Shane pressed.

I sighed, sharing a look with Glenn. "There's--"

"The barn is full of walkers."

Goddamnit.

I shook my head, pinching the bridge of my nose as I glared at the ground. I could throttle Glenn right now.

"Fuck," I muttered as Shane went storming past me, straight to the barn. I rushed after him, hearing the rush of footsteps behind us.

"How many of them?" He asked impatiently.

"I don't know. I haven't seen them. Glenn did."

I halted a few feet away from the barn, watching as Shane stormed right up to it and looked through the cracks. I felt everyone else join beside me.

"You cannot tell me you're alright with this," Shane spat as he rounded back toward us.

I shook my head quickly. "Of course not."

"No, we're not," Rick suddenly appeared beside me. "But we're guests here. This isn't our land."

We're not? I wasn't aware we were on the same page. Before I could make a snarky response to his comment, Shane was pacing around us.

"No, this is our lives!" Shane emphasized. I couldn't help but agree with him.

"Lower your voice," stressed Glenn.

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

Shane shook his head. "It ain't right. Not remotely. Okay, we've either got to go in there, we gotta make things right or we've just got to go. Now we have been talking about Fort Benning for a long time."

"You wanna leave?" I asked automatically. I thought the general consensus was staying on the farm, no matter what. We had community and food and shelter. All things we would absolutely need if there was a baby on the horizon. "We can't go."

I shared a tense glance with Glenn. Then my eyes traveled over to Lori who was completely unreadable. I wondered if she had taken the test already.

"Why, Daphne? Why not?" Shane rounded on me, getting much closer than I expected. In shock, I stumbled back a little. He didn't get much closer before Rick was shoving him back roughly.