Complicated ✔

Ch. 27 - Barn Showdown

KATHRYN'S POV

Glenn kept me away for most of the day. Just walking around, not saying a word. I was still very pissed with Shane for trying to say that Sophia was dead and we should just give up the search for her. Glenn and I found this small pond not too far from the Greene's house, it even had a dock to it so I knew they probably came down here to swim back when the world was in better shape and our dead weren't walking around trying to eat us alive. We walked out onto the dock and sat down, taking our shoes and socks off before placing our feet into the cool water. It was so quiet where we were, I didn't have to worry about the walkers that were in the barn, and I didn't have to think about anything other than trying to relax and calm down from the earlier events.

We stayed there until Glenn decided it was time for us to head back to the farm house with the rest of our group. By the time we got back, Shane had the bag of guns and was spouting off bullshit to the group saying we needed to protect ourselves and eliminate the problem in the barn. I stood next to Glenn as we came up to the Greene's front porch, watching as Shane handed out the guns he had with him. Everything seemed to happen so fast around me as I watched in disbelief. In the next few seconds, everyone was staring behind me and Glenn before Shane took off running in that direction. When I turned around to look, I couldn't believe what I was seeing.

I ran with everyone, trailing behind them actually, as I watched my Dad, Hershel, and Jimmy lead two of those walkers to the barn. I stood back, Lori and Carl coming to stand beside me, as we watched Shane shouting with Dad about the walkers and shooting them to try and make Hershel see what was right in front of him. Everything happened so fast after Shane shot the walker Hershel had in the head before walking away from where he knelt on the ground to stand near that barn. "Enough," he shouted, "risking our lives for a little girl who's gone!" I wrapped my arms around Carl's shoulders as he stood in front of me, my fingers lightly balling up the fabric of his shirt at the top as I felt tears slip down my cheeks as Shane continued to shout before he turned towards the barn.

I tightened my grip on Carl as Shane broke the lock on the barn door before throwing away the wooden beam that was across it. I watched in panic as he beat on the door before walking away from it to stand back next to Dad and drawing his gun. I pulled Carl behind me the second the first walker stumbled out of the door. As more came out, the sound of gunfire filled the air as one by one the walkers were shot before they could reach us. I watched Shane turn to look at Dad before putting a bullet in the brain of the walker that he had a hold of. "Daddy," I cried as I ran to him, Carl right behind me before he held his hand out and stared at me. "No stay back," he shouted causing me and Carl to skid in the dirt to stop behind me.

I looked behind me as Carl fell to the ground from the slide while I merely stumbled a moment. I glanced up to see Lori come running before collapsing on the ground behind Carl as we watched the scene before us unfold. "Dad," I whispered out as it went quiet, taking a step towards him as the last walker fell to the ground and the gunfire ceased. I watched as Daryl, Glenn, T-Dog, Andrea, and Shane all lowered their weapons as the last walker stopped moving. I looked from my dad to the others as I gauged the reaction of everyone to the events, but more importantly sent glares at Shane for his stupidity in doing this to begin with.

RICK'S POV

I stared at Shane, trying to figure out what in him finally snapped to cause him to act so irrationally. Looking behind me for a second, I saw Lori and Carl sitting on the ground looking at the mess before us, while Kathryn stood on her feet with her eyes glued to the barn doors. I caught her eye after she finally looked away, fear clearly there as she stared at me. The sound of growling however, broker her stare before she turned her eyes back to the barn, her face paling at whatever she was seeing behind me. Turning to look myself, I saw the reason for her fallen face. There, walking out of the barn doors and growling, was Sophia. "Sophia," I heard Carol cry out before she went running past, straight for the walker that was once her own daughter and only being stopped by Daryl as he dropped the rifle that had been in his hands.

KATHRYN'S POV

I felt my knees weaken under me before I hit the ground seconds after Daryl and Carol had when he stopped her from running to Sophia. A sob left my throat as I stared at the little girl we all tried so hard to find. I could feel the tears flowing down from my eyes as I stared at the little girl as I sat on my knees, my palms flat against the dirt beneath me. I was heartbroken, and I could only imagine how Carol felt. I thought we would find her safe. I believed so much that we would. But here she was, this whole time, in that barn with the other walkers. The tears fell harder as my sobs got louder, my vision beginning to blur as I lowered my head down to rest on my arms as I crossed them in front of me and dug my nails into the dirt. The sound of a sudden gunshot causing me to jump as it broke the silence before the sound of a small thud reached my ears.

"Kathryn," I heard the small voice of my little brother mutter out through tears of his own before I heard crawling headed for where I lay on the ground. Lifting my head up and looking back at him, I wrapped my arms tightly around him as I placed his head under my chin and looked over towards Dad, seeing that he was the one who finally shot Sophia and put her body to its final rest. I looked over to Carol and Daryl as I held on tightly to Carl, watching her cry over the loss of her daughter. "C'mon," I whispered to Carl before I stood to my feet, pulling him with me and then wrapping my arms back around his shoulders to lead him away. I heard footsteps behind me and turned to see Lori following behind, tears running down her own cheeks from the loss of the little girl who was part of our group, our family.

I sat on the porch to the Greene's home. I wasn't going to the funeral. I've done cried enough tears just seeing that little girl walk out of the barn. To watch her be placed in the ground would make this all the more real. Carl left with Lori to be with the others for it, but everyone left me be. I guess they noticed the vacant expression that I'm sure was present on my face at that point in time. So I just sat there, on one of their rockers, with my knees up to my chest and my arms wrapped tightly around them while resting my chin on top. I could see off in the distance as they gathered around where we were burying Sophia and the Greene's loved ones, but that was as much as I wanted to see. I never was one for funerals, even back before the world went to hell.