Feral Citizens

One Down

I wasn't able to avoid Daryl the next morning; Carol and T-Dog had made breakfast for everyone. I sat in the seat next to him and avoided his gaze. I didn't know why I felt so ashamed. I hadn't actually done anything to be ashamed of. I had abandoned Daryl's brother. Even if I wanted to kiss him, there was a very good chance he didn't want to kiss me. I was lucky he even spoke to me after what I had done to him, to Merle.

The atmosphere in camp this morning was peaceful. There was laughing, and some really weird conversations going on between T-Dog and Dale. Josie was sat cross legged on the grass next to Sophia, and both of them were giggling over something.

I watched amusedly as Glenn fidgeted in the background. Every so often, his head would whip between Dale and Maggie Greene on the porch. His food would be cold if he kept this up. It was pretty nice food too.

He turned around, and his face was pale and sweating. Glenn had to take several shaky breaths before he spoke. "Um, guys. So... The barn is full of walkers."

My plate almost slipped out of my hand. I couldn't even tell who was angrier; Shane was shaking with silent fury, but Rick kept hissing "Shit!" under his breath.

The words kept repeating in my head, over and over again. They rushed through my bloodstream, drilled into my bones. The barn was full of walkers. The barn was full of WALKERS. How hadn't we noticed, why the hell hadn't Hershel told us? Anyone could have accidently stumbled upon that and panicked. They could have broken out. Josie could have gotten hurt or killed.

Surprisingly, it was Lori who was the first to start marching towards the barn. Shane followed suit, along with Andrea, Carol, and Rick. After much deliberation, I decided to head down, and I heard Daryl get up too. Everyone else stayed away- or were forced to by T-Dog and Dale.

The barn was eerily quiet. That was a good sign, there wasn't too many inside. Shane put his eye to the space between the barred doors and swore. Whatever he saw wasn't good.

"You cannot tell me you're all right with this." He spat at Rick.

"No, I'm not, but we're guests here. This isn't our land." He was right, it wasn't our land. But it was our families at risk.

"We can't just sweep this under the rug." Andrea added. Shane agreed with her.

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

"And if Fort Benning doesn't exist?" I asked, raising an eyebrow. "look, I agree with you on this, but we still haven't found the kids."

"Those kids have been missing just under a week, Liz. I think it's time we started realising that-"

"That what?" Carol snapped. Shane stepped back in shock as the usually timid woman tore into him. Even Daryl was surprised. "You want us to abandon two kids out in the woods because you believe they're dead? It's wrong, and you know that if it was Carl you would have decided differently." She took a long, drawn out breath, and then ducked her head down to her chin. Shane had been hit hard by her words, though he stood as resilient as ever.

"We're not leaving the kids behind. I'm close to finding them. I just found Eliza's damn doll two days ago." Daryl growled. Shane laughed in his face.

"You found her doll, Daryl. That's what you did. You found a doll."

"You don't know what the hell you're talking about." Daryl was enraged. I was struggling to stay focused on the subject. Inside the barn, the walkers were starting to get louder. The commotion out here was exciting them.