𝒃𝒖𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒘𝒐𝒍𝒇 𝒔𝒖𝒓𝒗𝒊𝒗𝒆𝒔 ➪ «𝑑𝑎𝑟𝑦𝑙 𝑑𝑖𝑥𝑜𝑛»

ch. XLIV pt. II

oOo

Diana had run inventory and had given Glenn a list to take on his run with Maggie. He had seemed somewhat nervous about it, and Diana could relate. Being alone with Maggie for an extended period of time would make her nervous, too. Man, she would blush just by holding eye contact with her for more than five seconds; she was seriously pretty.

Now she had finally sat down to scribble down updates on Carl's condition in her medical records notebook, relieved to let her mind rest with a menial task.

A brown hand with chipped nail polish interrupted her by blocking the page. She pursed her lips with a sigh and looked up through her lashes.

Alice's expression didn't betray anything; it was Felix's that got her worried. She straightened in her chair and faced them properly. "What's wrong?"

Alice simply took the book from her hand, flipped back and forth through the pages until she found what she intended, then handed it back to her.

Diana stared at Sophia Peletier's record; the last entry still from back at the Quarry. She frowned at it, then at her brother and sister. "I don't get it."

"I saw her in the barn," Alice whispered in their native language, glancing around the camp.

Diana blinked rapidly, trying to process her words, but her mind seemed to have purposefully blacked out the core information. "Wha- bish, why were you in the barn? Hershel said it was off-limits, he said that thing's falling apart. You guys thrill-seeking? Regular nowadays life not enough?"

"Bruh, did you not hear what I said?" Alice hissed and grabbed Diana by the arm, dragging her into their tent with Felix in tow. Once inside, Felix zipped it up, and they were encased in the tarp walls, away from prying eyes and eavesdropping ears.

"Diana, the barn's full of walkers," Alice began anew, and this time Diana listened intently.

Alice and Felix told her of their intention of poking around the mysterious pad-locked barn, and what Alice had seen once she'd gotten in. All the walkers, among them Sophia. She relayed her thoughts to both her siblings: that the farm was a trap and they were welcoming people to their deaths.

It was disturbing. And it had Diana going for a second, ironically, feeling betrayed by people she didn't even know. Hershel had seemed like a somewhat trustworthy old man.

She then recalled something she'd heard Patricia say in passing. "We're just waitin' out this insanity," she'd said, "Our loved ones will be coming back to us soon enough, restored by the hand of the Lord." It had struck her as odd. The conviction in her words had run from somewhere deep.

And Diana had thought her to be delusional and in denial until now. "There's no cure."

"Yeah, we know," Felix said matter-of-factly, glancing at Alice.

"But they don't. They don't know. I think they believe the dead might resurrect, like resurrect-resurrect, not walking-dead-resurrect. That they can be cured, healed. Patricia called it an 'insanity', I think they think the walkers are just ill."

"So, what, they- they what? Keep them quarantined in there waiting for it to blow over like it's a common cold? And Sophia? They know our people out looking for her like madmen. They've been playing us like fucking Bratz dolls."

Diana digested everything while massaging her temples. When she reached a solid theory, she couldn't bear to look her sister in the eye, they were burning with such intensity. She settled for a spot on her neck, bracing herself. "Alice... I think she might've already been dead when they put her in there."