Regression to the Mean 3: Apocalypse

Secrets

“Good morning little Grimes, Soph, Lori” I smile as I centre the ground behind the Chicken coop where the three are feeding seeds to the free chickens.

“Good morning Grace” Lori smiles to me as I drop to the ground sitting with my legs crossed as chickens cluck around me, pecking seeds from the dirt.

“How are you feeling Carl” I ask the youngest member of camp.

“Better, definitely better” He smiles as he goes back to throwing the seeds. The door to the Chicken coop opens behind us and Patricia steps into view with a basket to collect England an old bucket. Smiling to the woman in greeting I turn to Sophia and grab a pile of seeds from her bucket then reach my hand out to the group of chicks and let them peck at the palm of my hands as they feed.

“Don’t look so worried” Carl says as we continue feeding the flightless birds.

“It’s my job” Lori argues with her son.

“No It’s not, you're a house wife” Carl fires and I audibly oooh and laugh along with Sophia as we watch the mother throw a hand full of seeds at her son.

“Yeah punk, you see my house around here?” She asks with a laugh before scoffing the words ‘House wife under her breath.

“They don’t have a mother” Carl sighs drawing Lori’s attention back to us as she looks to the chicks around Sophia and I ad the little girl has now joined me at feeding the younglings.

“She might be somewhere else” Lori offers

“Maybe she got eaten” Carl retorts and I send a worried glance to Lori as she sends the same look back to me, we then both turn to her son who look between us noticing our blank stares. “Everything is food for something else” Carl finishes and I have a hard time arguing with the boy.

Spotting Patricia leaving I get up off of the ground and brush myself off, removing the grass, dirt and seeds from my denim shorts.

“you're leaving?” Sophia asks, her sweet tone filled with hurt.

“I'm just going to offer Patricia some help, I’ll see you later” I assure the little girl as I begin to walk off and follow the farmers friend to a shack nearby, hiding down by the side, I spy on the woman through a crack in the wood as she pulls a live chicken into view  silently I watch as she grabs onto one of its feet and snaps it in half making the poor animal cry out in pain.

Covering my gasp, I continue watching as she stuffs it into an old sack and as it continues so scream out frightened and hurt. Watching as Patricia picks up the bag and exits the shack, I follow around the side and watch as she drops the bag in a wheel barrel, it is only then that I notice the bag is too packed for one chicken and my curiosity is plainly answered as more than one chicken calls from the bag, frightened. Realisation hits me off the animal's destiny as I watch as Patricia begins making her way to the infested barn.

Abandoning my hiding spot, I jog after the woman and quickly catch up to her. Patricia’s eyes widen as she turns to me but I give her a light smile as she hesitates to continue he journey as I walk on next to her.

“What ya doing?” I ask in a curious little girl voice as she looks at me like a deer caught in head lights.

“I’m just dumping out some old vegetables of Hershel” she offers the terrible lie that gets caught out when one of the ‘vegetables’ cluck.

Ignoring the sound I smile to the woman challengingly “That sounds like fun, I'll help you, that bag looks like it weighs a tone” I say with a fake small town girl tone.

“That's not necessary” Patricia declines my offer as she picks up the handles off the barrel and continues on her way, giving me a side glance as I follow after her in a skip.

“Oh I think it is, you see, you’re heading to the barn” I point to the old building in front of us as I continue to skip lightly along “And I’m wondering just how much more rotting vegetables you can fit in there until it finally bursts open and the farm is... infested with the pungent order”

“Hershel doesn’t like people going inside”

“Bull shit. I was in there last night. Nice collection you’ve got going in there. Who is it?”

“Shawn... Annette... friends... neighbours” the woman caves, knowing for sure that I know exactly what is going on.

“I get it, Hershel thinks this is a sickness that will pass over right? It won’t, not yet, not now. Those people in there, they won’t get any better, they’re not them. I want to believe that the could be themselves but they’re not”

“I don’t know what to know” she fires back angrily, we stop short of the fence when the running of hooves against the ground thunder through the air and nervous nelly is seen running in front of us back to her keep.

Continuing on, I follow the woman up to the side of the barn where the ladder is held and climb up before as she carries the bag of injured chickens, walking inside alone, I ignore the smell of decay as I walk to the side of the loft and sit on a pile of hay waiting for the older woman to join me. Soon enough she steps into the loft and is standing next to me looking down at the see of decay hesitantly. Silently I watch as she dumps out the bag, dropping three live chickens into the ground below to be fed upon.

“It’s not going to be enough” I say as I watch in slight disgust, thankful when the pained cries of the chickens seize. “it’s never going to be enough, nothing will ever be, they don’t think, they don’t feel. All they do is feed and destroy. Can you smell that? Of course you can... It’s the smell of dead flesh, this place is covered in it, they’re not alive Patricia; they’re not human, not anymore. They’re nobody's son, wife, daughter... husband. They’re shells deprived of peace because Hershel cannot see the truth, he can’t hear the cries of pain that they are in because they cannot speak. This isn’t right. This isn’t waiting for some miracle to come along and save the world... This is torture and you're aiding in it” finishing my speech, my voice holds no emotion. I watch as the woman with tears streaming down her face let’s out a strangled cry, her hand flying to her mouth as she refuses to look at me when she suddenly turns away and runs out of the loft leaving me alone with the dead.

With a  last glance to the dead, I climb off of the hay pile and exit the barn, stopping at the top of the ladders and way h as the woman who recently held my company, runs back to the house in a hurry.

Exiting the vicinity of the barn I make my way back to the camp and notice Glenn watching me  through binoculars in the distance only to stop when Maggie comes up to him.

Ignoring the two I continue walking into the camp and over to the RV where Dale and T-Dog are setting up a canopy. “Morning Dale” I smile as I walk up to them, “T” I nod to the African American man as he helps Dale continue with setting up small parts of camp.

“Morning Grace” they both reply with matching smiles. Dale looks over me curiously before reaching forward and pulling a strand of hay from my hair. “Busy morning?” the elder man questions as Glenn walks over to us.

“I was helping Patricia move some useless crap into the barn loft” I lie smoothly to the two as Glenn looks at me with wide eyes as to ask ‘Why the hell would I go back in there?’ I raise my eye brows at him striking him back to reality.

“Dale here's some peaches for ya”. Glenn says as he shifts away from me while Dale takes two  peaches from the basket and hands one to me.

“Sup” T says to Glenn after Andrea walks out of the RV greeting Glenn and I before walking off into the direction of some of the tents.

“Nothing, nothing's up why?” Glenn asks slightly crazed, taking T's greeting as and actual question. Dale and T-Dog send me confused glances as we watch the Korean boy walk away, rolling my eyes I chuckle lightly as I begin to walk away too.

Slowly walking back to camp, I pass Andrea as she steps out of Daryl’s tent who gives her a Dixon warning about shooting at him. I continue walking until I come up  to Glenn and Lori talking quietly.

“you need vitamins, medicine, a Nice pillow” Glenn whispers but with my super hearing I can hear perfectly. Coming up behind Lori, I watch as Glenn reaches down and grabs something before handing it to Lori “Here you can have my share”

“Honey, I don’t want your food... Okay, eat” the woman denies it as she begins pouring water I pot above fire.

“you need to eat” Glenn pushes “you’re too skinny...and if you’re not going to let Rick take care of you then someone has too... Lori, you have a medical condition, I'll make another run into town, just tell me what you need”

“I need you to be quiet about this, alright?... please” Lori begs lowly.

Somehow the word has gotten around that Glenn is handing out peaches as Shane whistle out for him from the other side of camp. With one last look to Lori, Glenn walks off.

“Hey Lor, here” I call out as I walk toward the pregnant woman handing out my unbeaten fruit “seems like Glenn forgot to give you yours, take this one, I'll grab another in a minute” I say as I walk closer to the woman and place my peach in her hand, not giving her time to refuse it. “we all have to keep our strength up” I smile as I walk away over to where Rick, Shane, Liam and Jimmy are standing over Carol's Cherokee looking over a map.

Noticing Glenn looking past me at Lori as I come closer, I shake my head as I catch his eye, making sure to keep his mouth shut, telling Rick should be Lori’s decision.

“My binoculars” Shane reminds Glenn though all the awkward stares. Hurriedly to get away fir the awkwardness Glenn takes of the binoculars and hands them to Shane, then picks up the basket of peaches and walks away with an awkward 'bye'.

“Hey G, you okay?” Liam calls as I watch Glenn’s retreating figure.

“Yeah I’m good” I smirk as I walk over to the 4 men and slip my arms around Liam’s waist, and take a bite out of the peach in his hand as he puts it to his lips.

“Hey!” he complains as the men around us chuckle, Jimmy forcing his laugh just a little too much.

“We'd like to join you for gun training today” a young voice says from behind Liam, I look over his shoulder at Beth and Patricia, the latter doing everything to keep her eyes off if me.

“Hershel's been very clear, I can’t involve any of you in what we do without his okay” Rick informs the two women.

“He doesn’t like it but he consented” Beth assures Rick.

“Otis was the only one who knew guns... now he's gone, we gotta learn how to protect ourselves” Patricia specks up “Her father say the sense in that” she finishes as Shane walks away over to Carl.

“No offence but I’ll ask Hershel myself” Rick nods to the ladies then turns to Grace “What about you? Can you shoot?” he asks me and I give him an offended look

“I was trained by Chris Argent...”

“She's a perfect shot” Liam finishes for me, leaning down to kiss my cheek.

“Yeah well you are biased, you think she’s perfect at everything” Allison chuckles as she walks up to us with Merle, Jackson and Ethan at her sides.

“No he's right, I’ve seen her shoot” Ethan adds with a smile and a wink to me making me chuckle as Liam pulls me closer to him making me laugh more at his jealousy.

“Rick, Grace” Shane’s voice calls from where he is now standing with Lori, Dale and a scared Carl. Confused, I step out of Liam's arms and follow Rick over to the four of them and listen to Shane as he informs us that Carl stole one of the guns.

Taking the gun from Shane’s hands, Lori walks to Carl who is sitting on one of the benches and she scolds him loudly for the whole camo to hear.

“How the hell did this happen?” Lori asks as she walks over to us, handing me over the gun that is marked with the clear initials G.L.H.M on the barrel.

“Well it’s my fault, I let him into the RV, he said he wanted a walkie, that you'd sent him for one” Dale admits looking to Rick.

“So on top of everything else, he lied?” Lori asks pissed “What do you think?” Lori asks her husband.

“He wants to learn how to shoot, he asked me to teach him. Now it’s none of my business, but I’m happy to do it. It’s your call”

“well I’m not comfortable with it” Lori disagree “Oh don’t make me out to be the unreasonable one” Lori growls as she sees the looks that pass between Rick, Shane and I.

“We're not, it’s just... he wants to learn... he needs to. Just yesterday you told me it was a good idea for Allison and I to be teaching Sophia how to throw knives and fight. Carl should be learning too”

“you’re teaching Sophia with knives and crossbows, not guns... he was just shot, he's just back on his feet and he wants a gun”

“Better him being afraid of them, there are guns in camp for a reason, he should learn to handle them safely” Rick jumps in.

“I don’t want my kid walking around with a gun” Lori stresses to her husband.

“How can you defend that? You can’t let him go around without protection”

“He's as safe as he can ever be right here” Lori shoots back.

“But we can’t stay here forever” I step up, looking between the two.

“Look, everything you guys are saying makes perfect sense, it feels wrong, I mean, I didn’t feel good about him following you out into the woods and I wish I had said something, I should have gone with my gut”

“He's growing up, thank God, but we gotta start treating him more like an adult”

“Then he needs to act like on” Lori snaps to Rick. “He’s not mature enough to handle a gun” she growls looking to her son.

“I’m not going to play with it mom, it’s not a toy” Carl defends himself bravely. “I’m sorry I disappointed you. I want to defend our camp, I cant do that without a gun”

“Sophia will end up being trained in guns, but until her leg is healed, Allison and I agreed to keep her on silent weapons” I offer the worried mother.

“Shane's the best instructor I know, I’ve seen him teach kids younger than Carl”

Mulling over her husband’s words , Lori silently walks over to her son and grabs his face in her hand, making sure he listens “you will take this seriously, and you will behave responsibly and if I here from anyone in this camp that you are not living up to our expectations...”

“He won’t let you down” Rick interrupts his wife looking straight to his son.

“Yeah” the youngest group member agrees.

“Perhaps it might be a good idea for Grace and Allison to teach I’m with some knives as well, so he is not to rely on a gun so much” Dale inputs, reminding us that he is there.

“I’m fine with that” I smile to the others as Shane calls to everyone that they are to get ready to leave for training.

Soon enough the cars are packed, including mine, as Liam, Amy, Jackson, Ethan and Allison tag along, the latter announcing she is rusty on automatic weapons and the others having no dropper training at all. I reside to stay back with Sophia as her mother leave for training, promising to protect the child with my life. Watching as everyone leaves, I turn to Dale and Glenn who have also decide to stay.

“Spark plugs huh?” Dale asks the Korean, receding to the lie to Shane. “Wanna tell me what’s going on?”

“you’re old, you’re, you know things... so what if somebody told you something that somebody else should know...”

“Glenn...” I warn lowly but get ignored by the two.

“Listen, stop being dramatic... spit it out”

“There's walkers in the barn, Lori's pregnant and half the people in camp are supernatural creatures” Glenn rushes out but his words are clear to understand.

Flailing my arms around my head I freak out exclaiming the Koreans name, gaining the men’s attention.

“What the hell Glenn, even Sophia is able to keep that one secret” I growl, flashing my eyes to the Korean, scaring him and Dale. The only reason I stop advancing to beat the shit out of him is that Sophia grabs onto my arm and pulls me back a Little.

“There are walkers in the barn?” she asks sending a terrified glance to the mentioned building  

crouching down beside the little girl, I tuck a stray strand of hair behind her ear and tell her the truth. “Yeah kiddo there are, although we should have told you earlier Dale...” I say looking up to the Korean and old man “Glenn only found out last night... this is on me”

“And how long have you known Grace?”

“Just a little bit longer” is the only word I admit too before walking away with Sophia in tow. “I’m scared of what people might do if they find out too fast, from what I’ve heard Hershel doesn’t want us here much longer, he’s scared that the others will find out about the barn and try something, those walkers in there used to be his family, his friends... Hershel is still in mourning, and even though it is hard, we must respect that” I say to the little girl as I kneel on one knee in front her. “Atta girl” I smile at he nod in agreement and ruffle her dirty blonde hair. “You need your hair washed little bug... come on, lets go clean these knots out before your hair matts and we have to cut your hair with hedge scissors” I push the young girl in the direction of the camp and begin to get to work, taking solace in the fact that Shane is out training so I can waste ‘precious time’ to do something as simple as a girls hygiene.

“Grace?... how many people know about you, Liam and everyone?” Sophia asks as I massage the shampoo into her hair.

“I’m not quite to sure little bug... you, Merle, Daryl, Rick, Glenn, Amy... Hershel though I am not too sure about his family. I may have hinted to Lori a little. And now thanks to captain big mouth... Dale... I think that is all”

“Why don’t you guys just tell everyone instead?” she asks as I repeatedly rinse her hair with a jug filled of warm water from above a fire pit.

“People don’t like what they cannot explain, the dead have risen to take over the world, how do you think they would feel if they found out there are werewolves and wendigoes crawling around as well. They’d point fingers and blame us for letting this all happen. They’d say we allowed the end to come because we are monsters and it’s our nature”

“I don’t think you are monsters, Liam saved me, monsters don’t do that”

“That’s because not all monsters do monstrous things?”  I smile down tot he girl as I untangle her hair with conditioner.

“Someday, I wanna be just like you” Sophia sighs happily as she tips her head back for me to rinse the product out of her blonde locks.

“You know, I used to say that to my brother. No matter what he did, I always wanted to be as great as him, but as I grew older, I realised I couldn’t be, because there is only one Scott McCall. And there is no one better to me than him”

“You really miss him don’t you?”

“Yes, I miss everyone I used to know. Even some of the bad guys” I answer honestly

“You miss bad people?” Sophia looks to me confused.

“I miss how it was with them... my life although it was complicated, it was normal, its what I grew to know. To fight for people, to protect people when they couldn’t protect themselves. Now it just feels like waiting for the end”

“You think we are all going to die?”

“Everyone dies eventually, but I promised you, that wont be for a very long time... Remember?” I ask and smile when she nods.

“When are you going to teach me to fight?” Sophia asks as I wrap a towel around her head and squeeze some of the water out.

“When you can stand on two feet without falling on your ass” I smirk and unravel the towel. “Okay little lady, it’s your decision, what do you want?”

“Scalp plait please” she smiles a big toothy grin at me whilst dragging her ‘e’s’ out when saying please.


“You’re lucky you are cute” I nudge her but stop with a little jump when I begin to hear shots fired out in the distance.

Feeling my jerked movement, Sophia turns around to look at me, making me drop her hair in the process of styling it. “What’s wrong?”

“Nothing’s wrong sweetie, sometime I just forget how to cancel my powers out. I smile ignoring the constant booms of the gunshots. “Hey Dale, going somewhere?” I call to the old man as he passes in front of us.

“Nope, not anywhere important” He denies looking shiftily towards the stable where we can see Hershel moving around inside.

“Leave it alone Dale, this is Hershel’s land” I huff as I go back to styling Sophia’s hair... ignoring the fact that not 3 hours ago I was the cause of giving Patricia a breakdown.

“This supernatural stuff...”

“Rick knows” I interrupt

“Shane?” He questions and Sophia lets out a small laugh and covers her mouth with her hand.

“No one trusts Shane” Sophia answers for me proudly.

“Okay then... Well I’m still going to talk to him...”

“I’m not going to stop you, but I will be listening” I warn him. The old man gives me a wide eyed nod and turns and leaves, Sophia and I sit and watch as Dale walks across the farm. As he gets closer to his destination, I look down to Sophia’s hair as I finish off the braid and address the presence  behind me. “I’m not mad Glenn... it was selfish of us to ask you to keep our secret”

“Perhaps selfish, but necessary. When you guys walked off Dale told me I was foolish, that what if the others were here and I just... exploded, all hell would break loose and you would end up with guns to your heads. And I’m 99.9% sure that if it came down to it, you guys would be the ones left standing”.

“That’s true” I smirk and turn my head to listen in on Dale and Hershel who have already begun their conversation.

“... Took a long walk this morning. I ended up by the barn. I heard the moans” Dale confesses a lie.

“That’s unfortunate”

“I’m sure you have your reasons for keeping this a secret”

“ I saw the broadcast before they stopped, saw the irrational fear, the atrocities, like the incident at my well”

“We put down a walker” Dale says confused of anything else it could be.

“You killed a person”

“Well if you watched the same broadcasts I did, you saw walkers attack, Kill. They’re dangerous”

“A paranoid Schizophrenic is dangerous too. We don’t shoot sick people”

“With all due respect... You are cut off from the outside world here. I have seen people that I cared about die, and comeback, and they’re not people”

“My wife and stepson are in that barn... They’re people”

“I’m sorry” I hear Dale reply sincerely. “Let me help, I’ll speak to Rick, he’s a good man, we’ll make the barn more secure, keep everybody safe”

“The barn is secure. Keep this to yourself if you want to help. Rick is a man of conscious. But are you so sure about everyone else in your group” Silence follows the two men and I allow my thoughts to travel along theirs. There is no way that Shane or even Andrea would let this fly over.

“What’s happening in there?” Glenn asks sitting next to me as he stares at the stables.

“Dale’s unsuccessfully convincing Hershel to secure the barn” I reply as I warm up my hands and run them over Sophia’s hair, the heat drying her instantly and removing any possibility of her getting sick.

*****

Time passes as spend the last few hours of everyone being gone drawing, winding down the window 10 minutes into sitting as the Georgia heat begins to feel like it is melting the insides of my car. After finishing my final drawing of Glenn in his baseball hat, just a simple portrait, in the bottom corner of a page next to another small drawing of Dale. I flick through my other works of the day and smile at the lost faces of Derek, Isaac, Aiden even Peter and Matt, both who have tried to kill me at some point. I had moved on from my drawing of the monsters we’ve faced... Darach, the Oni, A Berserker, Le Bête, I even add in a few walkers here and there into my ‘Diary’. I prefer to draw things then to write them down, sometimes and image can say a lot more than words, although I do write who or what they are in my ‘sexy joined up writing’ as Liam calls it, next the image I have drawn. Finally as I close my book on the sketch of the Korean a tap on my Car window cause me to jump in fright as I had not been paying attention to anything around me and slightly mentally scold myself for being potential walker bait.

“Back so soon Sheriff?”

“Can’t keep waitin’ too many bullets, we need the AMO just in case” He replies as I place my sketch book and pencil case in the glove compartment and climb out of the car.

“Where are Shane and Andrea?” I ask looking around for the two missing campers.

“She did pretty good at practise so Shane has taken her to the advanced classes” Rick smiles as we walk further into the camp.

“Does the advanced class have teeth? Because I don’t think walker hunting is a very good idea”

“Rope and a log would be my guess”

“But I wouldn’t put it past Shane to do something as stupid as hunting down the dead” I sigh as we  pass Carl and Sophia sitting doing their homework.

“Would you?” Rick asks as we stop and turn to each other, quickly peering over his shoulder I notice  Lori and Hershel conversing near the stables.

“If I was alone and didn’t have another soul to care about, then yeah I probably would, but I’m not going to put anyone in danger”

“You and your friends have a thing with putting everyone before yourselves, don’t you?”

“Nous protégeons ceux qui ne peuvent as se protéger eux-mêmes” I smile to the sheriff as I walk off into the direction of Liam and Allison.

“what does that mean?” Ricks words travel off unanswered in the slight breeze.

Walking the way through camp, I join Merle and Allison as they skin the gutted squirrels found earlier today by Allison as Daryl is still being forced to stay on bedrest by Hershel.

“Everything alright there Dixon? You look like you are going to melt someone with that glare” I ask as I sit down in a folding camp chair, across from the two and lean back soaking in the heat from the sun.

“He’s just pissed at Lori” Allison shrugs as she continues to work on the squirrel.

“Why?” I ask chuckling as I tilt my head back and close my eyes.

“Smart mouthed bitch just likes to walk around the place like she’s the damn queen of her own fucking ice castle” Merle adds with a n impressive growl. Cracking my eyes open right my body and scan the camp. I don’t have to look very hard to find the dark haired ‘Ice Queen’ as I just follow Merle glare and find Lori walking her way over to Hershel.

“Oh God, what is she doing now?” Allison asks. And although it seems like it is to no one in particular. It is obvious between the three f us she is talking to me.

“I have no clue. Maybe she needs some doctoral advice” I smile to her but she just gives me a unimpressed glower. “wow tough crowd. You know it’s rude to eaves drop”

“Just quit ya yappin and start listenin’ sunshine” Merle huffs as he gets back to work.

“They are talking about Carl shooting... him being better... us leaving Hershel doesn’t want us to stay much longer. Thinks we are a danger to him and his family”

“You can’t blame him. He doesn’t want us to find out about the barn” Allison adds as we watch Lori walk back to camp and over to Rick.

“Y’all think Sheriff friendly knows about His wife and bestie bangin’ in the bushes?” Merle asks with a sick smirk on his face.

“No, and you’re going to keep your mouth shut or I’m going to melt your lips together” I glare to the redneck.

“Empty threats” he literally brushes it off, swiping his hands through the air in carefree movements. Rolling my eyes I stare at a tree above Allison but zone in on Rick and Lori.

“Hershel expects us to leave?” Lori asks but is given silence so she continues “Does anyone else know?”

“Not yet” Rick answers in a whisper

“Were you going to tell me?”

“of course”

“WHEN?” Lori snaps back in a harsh hush. “How long have you known”

“Not long, you don’t need to worry about this”  

“How do you expect me not to worry, we have shelter here, and food and water and medical care”

“I've been talking with Hershel. It's not carved in stone.” Rick attempts to assure her.


“He thinks it is. We have to fix this. People are settling in here. They'll be devastated.”


“I know. I'm working on it.”


“Maybe I can talk to him too and plead our case.” Lori offers


“No, things are uneasy. The best thing right now is to give Hershel some space...Don't look at me like that.”


“Like what?”


“Like you're scared. Like you don't trust me. I can take it from everyone else, but not from you.”


“I don't understand how you could keep something like this from me. Carl's barely on his feet.
And Sophia's, Daryl and T-Dog are hurt. How can we leave?”


“It's not what I want either, but if we have to go, I'll do whatever it takes to make sure you and Carl are okay. We'll get by. We will.”


“Okay.”


“What was all that about?” Allison asks bringing me back to our little group that ha now doubled as Liam, Amy and Sophia have join 


“She’s mad because Rick didn’t tell her about our eviction”


“Can you blame her” Liam asks from beside me


“She’s scared, we all are. People are comfortable here”


“Too comfortable” I say and I lay back, close my eyes and take a nap that is ruined 20minutes later by Glenn coming to ask if we needed anything as he is going on another run.
“hold up Glenn, I’m coming with” I interrupt the conversation.


“But I need to get... stuff for Lori” The Korean drags out his words. Words that finally have me lifting my head up and opening my eyes to look at him where he stands in front of us with a little white sheet of scrap paper cured in his hands.


“Gimme” I demand shortly holding out my hand and wiggling my fingers. Seeing Glenn’s hesitation I sigh out loud and stand from my chair and walk closer to him as I begin speaking. “I’m bored here Glenn. I need to get out and do something. Don’t make my use you as target practice”


The thing with Glenn is the simple empty threat from a friend and he will cave as he hands over the piece of paper... albeit reluctantly.


Opening the scrap, I read the words in two different forms of hand writing. The messier, hurried writing obviously belonging to Glenn scribed down in pencil as he has hurried to keep up with everyone’s different demands. But the first set, the ink scrawled elegant scratches displayed neatly onto the paper with well thought words. Even though it is clear as day, they are hard to read. I myself could not do this. But I understand her position. To bring a child into this world with no with no true home and four walls to keep us safe from what is out there. I do not blame her for thinking this way.


“Liam are you coming?” I ask as I crumple the paper and stick it in the back pocket of my shorts.


“I’ll go get our stuff” My mate nods, gets up and walks off to our tent.


Quickly scribing down the products that everyone hopes for, I head off to the barn to gather the horses. Opening up two of the stalls, I lead to of the animals out and begin to attempt to saddle them. It has been a while since I last tried this, so this is me praying.


“You and your people have a thing of not asking to lend my horses” Hershel’s voice hollers from the dark shadows.


“I’m sorry, I thought you would have been informed, Glenn mentioned Maggie was going to go with him. So I figured you knew” I gesture to two of the empty stalls as Maggie has already been in and taken two horses for her and Glenn.


“Oh, I did. I just came over here to give you something” he says as he holds out and piece of cloth that is wrapped around something. I never even noticed he was holding anything. Smiling shyly , I take the object and unwrap the cloth to reveal an old worn whip.


“Read the base of the handle” Hershel instructs me.

Turning the object over I find a small metal plate at the hilt of the whip, wiping of the dirt that has managed to layer itself over the years I reveal the name elegantly scribed into the steel slab.


Abigail


“My first wife bless her soul... was Josephine Benson”


“I don’t understand, Abigail had no kids, there was only Larrin, her sister”


“And my Josephine”


“There was three of them?  Wait, That means Maggie”


“Is your second cousin.”


“But Maggie is older than me wouldn’t that mean she would be in line before me?”


“Josephine was a child when her sisters died and your grandmother had already given birth to your mother. The link between the sisters was broken once mother was born and your grandmother died. Abigail was the oldest, the Larrin. The power would have  been passed to your mother, as you should already know. But her untimely death took that from her. And was passed to her child then to you”


“So if I was to die... My power would go to Maggie, she’s my closets living relative”


“She is, and it’s more than likely, yes. And Although I know that your power is for greatness, I do not want that for my daughter. That world, your world... it would destroy her.”


“I’ve been bitten twice now by those... things. And I’m still standing here. I thought it was because I couldn’t be killed with being the last in line, but it’s not... I’m just immune” I say to myself in wonder. “How did your wife get this?” I ask holding the whip up to him


“She was there when Abigail was killed. She removed things that the authorities would question. Things that would lead them to your world”


“Thank you... Hershel” I smile to him and continue saddling the horses properly with his help then we both lead them out to where Liam is waiting along with Rick, Glenn and Maggie. The last two who are on top horses.


“Be careful?” Rick asks as he helps me up onto the horse.


“Who are you, my father?” I smile to him and kick off following behind Maggie and Glenn.


We travel in silence over the fields following Maggie in case we get lost. As we finally get closer to the town and the horse hooves hit the hard lain road. We finally break our silence. 


“So Maggie is your cousin” Liam whispers, sending a look ahead to make sure the others haven’t heard and then out of the corner of my eye, I seen him glance at me.


“Second cousin. And you know we really have a problem with eaves dropping on others conversations”


“I was just wondering what was taking you so long. Then I sort of couldn’t stop, besides you would have told me anyways”


“Did you tell anyone else?” I asks finally turning towards him after keeping my stare forward.


“No”


“Good, I don’t want people to have to find out and then realise I’m just expendable”


“Hey, your not expendable” Liam stops his horse and looks to me. Stopping mine also I turn to my mate with a blank stare and answer him back.


“If the others find out that my powers will transfer to Maggie once I’m dead, what’s to stop the form throwing me at the first horde that comes our way. I can heal form one bite Liam but I’m pretty sure I’ll died if my limbs are torn off and my insides are eaten”


“I wont that happen” Liam replies determined “I love you”


“I love you” I reply as we start moving again after Maggie calls back to us asking what our problem is. Once we catch up to them we stay silent and just begin to enjoy the rest to the ride, that is until Glenn speaks.

“Maggie, I...”


“I asked for your trust and you betrayed it. Now my dad's pissed at me. Your turn” She snaps to him, completely ignoring the fact that Liam and I are here and that we also know.


“So your dad thinks they're sick? You agree with that, even after what you saw at the well?” Glenn questions, sending a glance to me.


“I'm not sure what I saw at the well” Maggie denies as we stop the horses and dismount then proceed to tie them up.


“Yes, you are.” I call forward but Maggie just continues to ignore me.


“Look, if you'd seen Atlanta, you would not have a barn full of walkers.” Liam and I check if the surroundings are clear before moving to the building of the pharmacy were we stand at the sides of the door and knock on the glass waiting for any noise, it is a little hard to focus on the noises inside as there are so many outside with all the arguing going on.


“I wish you'd stop calling them that.” Maggie hisses


“What do you call them? Mom, Shawn, Mr. and Mrs. Fischer, Lacey, Duncan.” When she says the word mom, a slight pang of hope, hits me until I remember that it is her step mother and the fact that the woman is also locked in a barn to stop her from munching on people


“Oi, can you two keep it down for a second?” Liam barks then he goes back to listening inside. Making eye contact wit me he Shakes his head and we move into the building and begin to gather some of the supplies around before heading to the back.


“What does she want now?” Maggie asks as she walks past us where we stand at the entrance.


“I can't say” Glenn mumbles and I roll my eyes, dragging Liam with me, moving to the other side of the store away from Mr and Mrs argumentative.

 
“God they argue more than Stiles and Derek” I say with a light chuckle at the memories and Liam and I begin piling things in our bags.


“So what was this run all about. Who needs something so important they couldn’t wait until we needed more useful things then mouth wash?” Liam asks from beside me.


“Lori”



“of course, and what does her highness need?” Liam questions as he bags random things from the shelves.


“Abortion pills” I answer as I leave him and follow Maggie to the back of the store to the shelves behind the counter and begin looking for said boxes.


Ransacking through the low stock shelves a little further back then Maggie, I begin picking out useful medicine and sticking it in my pockets and backpack.


I watch when Maggie finally gets to the part with the pills for Lori, she sends a smile my way as she plucks the last few of the boxes and begins to pull her hand away when a cold slimy hand latches onto her wrist and a walkers head pops through the other side and tries to either drag her or itself through the white lined wood.


“LIAM!” I call frantically as I rush over to Maggie, not wanting to have yet another person bit on my watch... again. But my plead is unnecessary as my mate is already at Maggie’s side and throwing the dead man away from her as the frightened girl continuously calls for Glenn


“Did it get you? Did it bite you?”  Glenn asks as he and Liam check over her for any bite or scratches.


“Grace!” Maggie cries out to me and I turn in the direction on the walker to see it rising to it’s feet. With half its neck handing from its shoulders as Liam had torn it apart slightly when he threw it away.


“Eww” I curl my nose to the sight and reach for my bat only to realise that I have left it with the horses outside, however in its place is the whip, tucked just inside my belt. Pulling it out, I flick it towards the dead guys ankle as se begins to shuffle forward but all it does is snap against the scuffed jeans.


“Grace” Liam warns me as the walker is getting closer to me. Huffing in annoyance I turn slightly to the three behind me and glare slightly.


“Give me a second will you, I got this” I assure them before turning around to find the walker is much too close for comfort, meaning in leg distance. So kicking out I send the walker stumbling back and wait for him to right himself as much as he possibly can with his head hanging on by tearing flesh. 

Trying a few more times to grab a hold of the walker the whip finally latches onto it’s arm but unfortunately slices through the flesh, leaving more of him handing.


With one more shot, I aim for the dead mans jean clad ankles and successfully wrap it around him and pull, sending the walker to the floor where the force of the crash causes his head to rip the rest of the way off leaving a much more terrifying sight. When the head is dismembered it still moves!!


Liam comes from behind me and begins stomping on the walkers active head as I stand back and Glenn consuls Maggie at what she just witnessed. Once the dead man’s head is basically road kill Liam turns towards me and pulls me into his arms whilst whispering to me that was awesome and slightly hot. We stay like that for a small amount of time before pulling apart and gathering our things to leave. With Glenn guiding away a shaking farm girl.


“Damn thing didn’t make a noise when we knocked” Liam mumbles as we look back to the walker.


“Maybe it was sleeping... or dormant. I don’t think it had bitten anyone” I reply as I had noticed when it tried to bite Maggie it had a lack of blood around it’s mouth and I highly doubt these guys use napkins or soap.


“Come on, lets go” Liam insists as he grabs my hand and drags me outside where Glenn and Maggie are already atop their horses and ready to go.


The ride back tot he farm is even more silent than the once to the town as we all give Maggie the mental space to process  the new world that has been hidden from her. However once we do get back to the farm Maggie jump from her horse and storms off towards our camp with Glenn following after her.


“I guess we should go and take these guys back” Liam chuckles as we watch Maggie stand up to Lori. We grab onto the other two horses and lead them towards the stables where we leave them with Beth, who offers to do it as she feeds them.


We gratefully thank her and remove the bags of items and haul them back to the camp and over to Rick and Carol who sort all the stuff out as they watch over Sophia and Carl who sit at garden table whilst being taught maths by Allison.


“Everything go okay?” Rick asks as he looks over us with the protective father gaze.


“Talk to Glenn” I say giving a 1000 watt smile. Glancing around camp, I see that everyone but Andrea and Shane are around. Even Daryl is up off of his ass and sitting with Merle working on arrows for his bow. “Shane and Andrea not back yet?” I ask the Sherriff.


“Give them a little more time... Shane can handle himself”


“And Andrea?” I asks looking around to make sure Amy can’t hear me talking about her sister


“Lets not go flying off to the rescue just yet, give them more time”


“is that a supernatural joke? Huh are you really getting use to he freak world?”


“It’s growing on me” Rick smiles to me.


“Have you told Lori yet?” I ask, knowing... hoping that if he has told her then she may have told him the truth. Although it seems quite unlikely as our latest run mission.


“I’ve hinted... I think. But something is up. I’m not sure”


“Talk to your wife Sherriff, But just wait until after I’ve been” I reply as I start walking backwards towards the tents, watching the man smile as he turns back to the back packs.


“Glenn, wait” I stop the Korean from getting any closer to the tent. “Let me, go and explain to Rick what happened with Maggie, I got this” I say gesturing to the tent behind me where I know Lori is sitting inside.


Glenn although hesitantly leaves, walking away into the direction I had just came from. I watch as he makes his way to Rick and the two are immediately brought into deep conversation. Taking a deep breath. I turn around and step into he opening of the Grimes tent.


Upon seeing me in the entrance Lori casts her eyes down to the boxes laid in front of her on the table in front of her.


“The blood on Maggie's shirt”


“She was attacked.”


“Are you guys all right? How bad was it?”


“It was pretty close.” I admit, seeing that the walker did have a pretty good hold on the farm girl... my cousin.


“I'm so sorry. I should never have asked you to go.”


“you didn’t Glenn offered. And the rest of us tagged along”


“I thought the town was safe, but if you hadn't come back”


“Walkers can’t kill me Lori, not that easily. And Glenn, he always comes back. I’m pretty sure the gy is pure luck. The morning-after pills... Will they even work?” i asks after a few moments of silence where we just smile at each other.


“I don't know. And I don't know if I want them to.”


“well then I got these too, just in case” I smile as pull out the paper bag from where I had it tucked in my belt and hidden under my shirt, handing it over.


I stand silently and watch as Lori pulls the box from the bag and smiles at the contents “Prenatal vitamins. That's a hell of a choice.”



“Lori, we're friends, aren't we?”


“With everything we've been through... yeah”


“I can't tell you what to do. I could never tell you something like that. But your choice... Maybe you shouldn't make it alone. I don’t know Rick like you do. But I know that he is a good man. And I know that if you just... explain what happened... you know with... Shane” I struggle to say as she looks up to me with wide eyes. When she doesn’t answer me back, I retreat out of the tent and head to my own where I crash down onto the sleeping bag and just stare at the ceiling. Hoping for the right decision to be made.


It isn’t log before I hear someone running past my tent into the trees that I realise that it is Lori. Jumping up I grab a water bottle from the side and run out of the tent, following the sounds of heavy panicked breathing I get to her in time to see her forcing herself to be sick.


Sitting down beside the older woman, I hand her the water bottle and gently rub her back in an attempt to calm her down.

“It will be okay” I try to assure the woman who just stares back at me. “come on” I demand as I stand to my feet and pull her up with me. “lets go for a walk”


Its an hour maybe before Rick shows up, walking toward Lori and I in determination.


“Rick’s here” I inform her as we just stand with our backs to him at one of the fences overlooking the fields.


“Is there something you need to tell me?” Rick asks as I stand back from the two.


“We can't leave. I'm pregnant.” Lori replies bluntly.


“Are you?”


“I threw them up... You can yell if you want. You can scream if you have to, but talk to me.”


“How long have you known?” Rick asks his temper rising.


“Does it matter?” I question but end up being ignored.


“Days? Weeks? And you didn't tell me?”


“I'm telling you now.”


“No. I found these. So Glenn knows, right? Instead of coming to me, you sent him to get pills?”


“I panicked. You tell me we have no roof and no walls” Lori panics


“Do not put this on me! You tear into me for keeping secrets when you're holding onto this?” Rick screams.


“You want me to bring a baby into this? To live a short, cruel life?”


“How can you think like that?”


“We can't even protect the son we already have.”


“So this is the solution?”


“Rick, I threw them up... I screwed up. I don't know how we do this” Lori cries and leands down against the fence next to me.


I stand there in the awkward silence and finally make eye contact with Rick. Flicking my eyes to his wife, I jerk my head toward her to get him to speak with her. Since when did I become a couples therapist?


“We can make it work.” Rick finally speaks but I roll my eyes at the fact that that is the only thing he says.


“How? Tell me how.” Lori demands.


“We'll figure it out. Shouldn't we try to figure it out? You threw up the pills. You want this baby. I know you do.” Rick insists.


“Not like this. Not giving birth in a ditch. Not when its life will hang by a thread from the second it's born. Not when every cry will put it, and Carl, and everyone we care about, in danger. That’s not right”



“Not even giving it a chance isn’t right either” Rick insists.


“You think we’ll care about that?” I ask butting in on the lovers tiff. “Lori you’re seeing this child as a burden. As an alarm to bring the walkers. But your wrong. This baby will be loved by everyone in camp because it is a sign that... No matter what tomorrow brings there is a chance to have a future”


“Maybe all this is why I didn't want to tell you.”


“I still, I still don't understand why. You really think I'd make you have a baby you don't want?”


“No, so that if I went through with it, it would be on my conscience and not yours.” Lori explains, and I realise what she is getting at.


“Maybe that's true, but I can't live like this anymore, Lori. We can't live like this. Is there anything else I should know about?”


“Shane and I.”


“I know. Of course I know. You thought I was dead. The world went to shit and you thought I was dead. Right?” Rick asks and I silently hold my breath waiting for the answer, hoping that it didn’t start before the world ended


“Yeah.” Lori replies with a steady heart beat.


“Okay” Rick breathes “No more secrets?”


“No more secrets” Lori agrees and Rick turns to me.


“Oh boy” I breathe and turn towards Lori. Rick and I spend the rest of the after noon explaining everything about the supernatural world. And lets just say once we finished Lori never let me out of her sight. Not in the ‘I think your a monster and want to eat my child’ way, but the ‘oh god you poor thing’ motherly love that is always welcome.