red. maggie greene

03 | THE FARM

IT FELT LIKE WE were waiting forever over the next day, in that cramped RV like sitting ducks. It was awful not having cell phones anymore. Finally reuniting with the rest of our group, on this new farm, was a relief.

When we arrived, everyone was outside on the porch, waiting to greet us. Dale parked the RV, and the second I was able, I all but rushed out, eager to just not have to be in it anymore.

Rick and Lori were the first people I went to. I was slightly breathless from my running, and my face was contorted into an expression of concern. "Carl?"

"He's gonna be okay," Lori said, a small smile on her face as she nodded.

I let out a big breath as relief flooded my body. After losing Sophia, I didn't think I could handle losing Carl, too. He was practically my little brother. I stepped forward, pulling Lori into a hug that I knew we both desperately needed after these past couple of days. Her arms were around me in an instant, tight and warm and motherly.

After our little reunion moment, we pulled away and Lori looked behind her at an old man, the woman on the horse who grabbed Lori, and other members of their family. "He's gonna be okay, and it's because of Hershel and his people."

"And Shane," Rick added in a weak voice, clearly exhausted. "We'd have lost Carl if not for him."

My gaze shifted over to Shane, who was standing off to the side, and my eyes widened. His thick, curly black hair was shaved off, and he was wearing a way-too-big pair of overalls.

Dale stepped forward to hug Rick next, and Mom came over to hug Lori. Gradually, hugs started spreading through our whole group as everyone greeted each other. I made my rounds, as well, glad to see T doing much better, his arm wrapped and treated.

"How'd it happen?" I heard Dale ask Rick from a couple of feet away from me.

"Hunting accident," Rick explained. "That's all—just a stupid accident."

After speaking with Lori a bit more, I learned that one of Hershel's people, Otis, had been the one who shot Carl; he'd been hunting a deer that Carl had seen, and the bullet went right through the deer and into Carl. Otis had taken Shane to some high school for medical supplies for the surgery, but it was swarmed with the dead, and Otis died.

Hershel and his family were having a funeral—a funeral by this world's standards—for Otis, and out of respect, our group was attending. Farther out onto the land of the farm, there was a large tree, where Hershel and his family had piled up rocks while we all stood and watched.

"Blessed be god," Hershel began, holding a bible—he'd gotten dressed up for this— "father of our lord jesus christ. Praise be to him for the gift of our brother Otis, for his span of years, for his abundance of character; Otis, who gave his life to save a child's, now more than ever, our most precious asset. We thank you, god, for the peace he enjoys in your embrace. He died as he lived, in grace." He paused for a moment. "Shane, will you speak for Otis?"

I looked over at Shane to see him clearly alarmed and taken aback by Hershel's request, seeing as he didn't know Otis for more than a few hours. But I understood why Otis's family would want Shane to speak—he was the last person to see their loved one alive.

"I'm not good at it," Shane murmured, seeming apathetic, which made me slightly confused. "I'm sorry," he whispered.

"You were the last one with him," a blonde woman named Patricia, Otis's wife, said, her voice unstable from her tears. "You shared his final moments. Please. I need to hear. I need to know his death had meaning."

Shane's eyes were wide as he was speechless for a moment, but eventually, he gave in. "Okay." A silence fell over him once more as he awkwardly fidgeted and looked around, as if trying to find the words written in the grass for him. "We were about done. Almost out of ammo. We were down to pistols by then. I was limping. It was bad. Ankle all swollen up. 'We've got to save the boy.' See, that's what he said." Shane spoke passionately, but I couldn't shake the feeling that the emotion seemed... artificial. Ingenuine.