The Place That Remains

Maggie sat across from Delaney at the dining room table, nervously bouncing her leg as she chewed on her nails. She had already begged Glenn not to tell the others about the barn, but he had pretty much told her he couldn't keep something like that from his group. Now, it was just a matter of time before he did it.

"Mags!"

"What?"

"Could you stop? You're shaking the whole table."

Maggie shook her head, running her hands through her short brown hair. "Sorry. I'm just nervous about Glenn."

"I know. But you've done all you can. If he tells his group anyway, it isn't your fault."

"Dad probably won't see it that way."

"Where is he anyway?"

Maggie shrugged her shoulders, quickly standing up from the table and walking out of the room, stomping up the stairs and slamming her bedroom door shut. Delaney sighed and ran her hands down her face before getting up to go outside, grabbing her machete and hooking it to her belt on the way out.

A quiet walk through the woods was what she needed. After spending three weeks all alone, she still wasn't completely used to being around people 24/7 again. It was going to take some getting used to. She walked past the group's camp and out through the open fields to the woods.

She was only completely alone for about fifteen minutes before she noticed him behind her. She didn't say anything at first but she did wonder why he was trailing her. She kept walking until she reached a shallow creek in a clearing of trees and she turned her head to look over her shoulder but she didn't see anyone. She chuckled to herself and shook her head. "Is there a reason you're followin' me?"

Daryl stepped out from behind a tree and gave her a confused look but she just grinned. "You're not as stealth as you think you are. You're used to sneakin' up on walkers."

He shrugged his shoulders, ignoring her earlier question. "Why you goin' out in the woods by yourself?"

"Just needed some alone time."

"In a forest full of walkers," he added.

"It's not like I'm unarmed," she told him annoyed. "Now why the hell are you followin' me?"

"Cause you shouldn't be out here by yourself."

"What, you gonna protect me? You aren't even healed up completely. You're just gonna hurt yourself even worse."

"Am not. I said I'm fine."

"Whatever. I don't need you to protect me."

Daryl scowled but he didn't refute her. Instead, he changed the subject. "I was goin' out to look for Sophia today, but Carol asked me not to."

"Why would she do that?"

"She thinks I ain't healed up enough. Don't want me to risk it."

"She's right," Delaney muttered under her breath.

"I don't wanna hear that shit. I'm fine and I need to be lookin' for that little girl."

"I thought Rick and Andrea were goin' out to look for 'er today." He seemed to be unhappy with that arrangement because a worried frown automatically appeared on his face. "You need to concentrate on gettin' healed up before you go trekkin' through the woods again," she told him as she stood up from the rock she'd been sitting on and walked over to him. "Sophia's still out there. And she's gonna be found so stop worrying so much."

She turned on her heel and began walking away from him. He quickly caught up with her and walked directly beside her. A comfortable silence settled between them as they walked along a trail that Daryl had made on his previous trips out.

"Your uncle's got a barn full of walkers," he stated bluntly after a moment.

She raised her eyebrows as she looked over at him. "Glenn told you, huh?"

"You knew?"

"Maggie told me last night. I didn't say anything to her, but something's gotta be done. My uncle doesn't see those things for what they are. He still sees 'em as his family and neighbors. They haven't had to deal with walkers up close and they don't understand what they're really like. My aunt's in that barn. And my stepcousin. But they can't stay in there, Daryl. They're a risk to everybody and we have to get rid of 'em."

"It ain't our problem though. It's your family's land and it's your family's problem."

"He'd never forgive me if I even suggested it."

"Then I hope Rick gets through to him. Cause Shane ain't gonna wait forever."

A groan came from a few feet far back behind them and Delaney turned to see a very large male walker stumbling toward them. Daryl made a move to reach for his crossbow, but she held her hand up to him as she gripped her hand tightly around the handle of her machete. "Don't want you hurtin' yourself anymore. I got 'im."

Daryl reluctantly conceded and took a step back as Delaney stood on the trail, her machete at her side waiting for him to come to her. When he finally got close enough, she lifted her weapon and swung it forward forcefully, slicing the head completely off the body. She looked down at her goo-covered blade with satisfaction and wiped it off on a nearby tree before turning back to him.

"Not bad," he shrugged.

She rolled her eyes and began walking again, with him a few steps behind. "We should get back to the farm." She hated the look he was giving her. It was like he was surprised that she could actually kill a walker.

"I do somethin'?" he asked, noticing her mood change.

"No, Daryl, you didn't do anything."

"Then why you suddenly such a bitch?"

She stopped in her tracks, wheeling around to face him. "I'm not a bitch. It just pisses me off that you obviously think I'm incapable of doing anything. I took care of myself out there for a month, Daryl. I was completely alone and I survived. I can kill walkers just as well as anyone else in your group. So stop acting like I'm some stupid little girl who can't do anything on her own."

She stalked away from him, knowing immediately that her reaction had been way too much. Her emotions were messing with her and blowing up on Daryl for a reason as small as that was just ridiculous. She decided she'd apologize to him later.

When they made it back to the farm, Daryl immediately went off with Carol and Delaney went into the house to avoid the rest of the group outside. Lori was slouched in one of the chairs in the living room, one hand on her forehead and another resting on her abdomen.

"Lori? You alright?"

She jumped at Delaney's voice but then she nodded, giving her an uneasy smile. "Yeah, I'm fine. Just not feeling the greatest."

"Anything serious? Should I go find my uncle?"

"Oh," she chuckled awkwardly. "No, it's nothing like that."

Delaney gave her a strange look and she sighed, dropping her eyes from the other woman's. "I'm pregnant," she said quietly.

"Oh....Wow. Um, congratulations." Delaney knew that her uncle Hershel had said the group could only stay until Carl was healed up, and now he was, so they should have been leaving soon. A pregnancy was quite possibly a death sentence in the world they were living in. If not for Lori, for the baby.

"Thanks," Lori replied. She knew what Delaney was thinking and she even agreed. A baby couldn't survive with walkers always around. The group couldn't survive with a baby around. And that was if they both even survived the birth.

An awkward silence took over the two women until they both heard yelling outside. Delaney followed Lori out onto the porch, where Shane had congregated most of the group. She looked at Shane questioningly. "What is this?"

"Now look, Hershel, he's just gotta understand, okay? Well-....well, he's gonna have to. Now we need to find Sophia, am I right?" He knelt down in front of the little boy, handing a gun to him. "Now you gotta take this. You take it, Carl, you keep your mother safe, you do whatever it takes. You know how. Go on, take the gun and do it."

Lori jumped in front of her son, pushing him back from Shane. "Rick said no guns," she said lowly. "This is not your call. This is not your decision to make."

"Oh shit!"

Everyone turned to look at T-Dog and found him looking out at the edge of the woods where Beth's boyfriend Jimmy was leading two walkers toward them, Rick holding onto one and Hershel holding onto the other.

"What is that?" Shane asked before taking off running toward them. Maggie took off after him and then the entire group was running. Lori called after Shane but he ignored her, his anger already boiling over. Delaney was right behind Glenn and Maggie as they all reached Rick and her uncle with the two walkers on leashes.

Rick and Shane yelled back and forth at each other. Shane was furious about this whole situation and Rick was attempthing to get him to calm down and shut up. Shane went on and on about how dangerous the walkers were and how they needed to be killed.

"Hey, Hershel man, let me ask you something," Shane said, pulling his gun from the back of his pants. "Could a living breathing person, could they walk away from this?" He fired his gun at the female walker and the shot hit her directly in the chest. Rick yelled at him to stop but he continued on with his demonstration. "That's three rounds in the chest! Could someone who's alive, could they just take that?! Why is it still coming?!" he asked, before shooting it again, over and over.

"Shane, enough!" Rick yelled at him.

"Yeah, you're right man. It is enough." He stalked forward toward the walker and shot it directly in the head, before turning to walk away from it as it dropped to the ground. Hershel watched it with complete horror on his face and Delaney looked around at the rest of the group, the looks of shock at Shane's actions evident on their faces.

"Enough riskin' our lives for a little girl who's gone!" Shane shouted, looking at Daryl. "Enough livin' next to a barn full of things that are tryin' to kill us! Enough! Rick, it ain't like it was before! Now if y'all wanna live, if you wanna survive, you gotta fight for it! I'm talkin' bout fighting, right here, right now!" Shane finished his tirade and ran over to the barn to began trying to break off the lock.

Rick yelled at Hershel, asking him to take the walker from him so that he could stop Shane but the old man was frozen on his knees on the ground, looking around in shock. Rick then yelled at Shane, begging him not to do it. Glenn was yelling, Lori was yelling, Maggie was crying as she hugged her father from behind, and the rest of the group just watched in disbelief and fear.

Andrea, Shane, T-Dog, and Daryl all raised their guns as the doors slowly opened and walkers began to pour out of the barn, running toward the group as fast as their decaying bodies would allow. The armed members of the group began to shoot them down one by one. After an apology to Maggie, Glenn also stepped up to help take them out.

Delaney stood toward the back of the group, one of Patricia's arms wrapped around her back. Beth was sobbing in her boyfriend's arms right next to them as she watched a shot hit the walker that used to be her mother, causing it to fall to the ground. A few tears escaped Delaney's eyes as the walker that was her cousin Shawn was shot down as well.

She knew almost every one of these walkers. They had been people she had grown up around, people she had spent time with during her summers at her uncle's farm. And now they were falling to the ground dead one by one right in front of her.

When the last walker had fallen and the gunshots had stopped, the farm became eerily silent. No one said a word as they all stared at the pile of bodies. Delaney reached out her hand to Carol, who took it in hers and squeezed tightly in apology for the losses she had just suffered. Patricia let go of her and she instantly wrapped her arms around Carol in a hug.

Suddenly, there was a hissing, gurgling sound that came from the barn. The group raised their guns again at the sound of movement and the shadow that appeared at the door of the barn, but when a small girl stumbled out, every single one of them froze.

Carol immediately began to sob and she broke free from Delaney's arms and started to run full speed toward the barn. Delaney shouted after her, which caused Daryl to turn just in time to catch Carol in his arms and sink to the ground with her to keep her from running toward the young walker. This must be Sophia, she thought for a brief second until Carol confirmed it by calling out the girl's name.

Delaney looked over at Carl, who had been very close with Sophia considering their close ages. He was crying as Lori held him tightly in her arms, a look of pure shock on her face.

The girl walked forward toward the group, growling and hissing, as Carol sobbed from Daryl's hold on the ground and the rest of the group looked on, unsure of what to do. They knew that Sophia was no longer Sophia. She was a walker and she had to be put down just like all the other walkers. But no one wanted to be the one who had to do it. Even Shane had hesitation.

Rick finally stepped forward and walked toward where the girl was, slowly drawing his gun and pointing it at her head. He hesitated for a moment but then he pulled the trigger and the girl fell dead to the ground. Delaney held her hand up over her mouth to keep the sob from escaping her lips as she listened to Carol's painful wailing. She hadn't even known the little girl, but the pain on everyone's expressions was enough to make her feel sick.

On top of Sophia, there were twenty more dead walkers lying in front of the barn that had been people she knew and loved. The losses she'd experienced in one day seemed just too many.

Carol stood to her feet, still sobbing, and shoved Daryl away from her as she ran back to their camp. The rest of the group watched her go with sympathetic expressions while Delaney locked eyes with Daryl. Beth pushed her boyfriend away and ran toward the pile of bodies. Rick tried to stop her from going past him, but she dodged him and continued on, dropping down next to her mother's body as she sobbed.

Whoever had shot her had not shot her in the head because when Beth rolled her over, she instantly growled and grabbed at Beth, who screamed and cried harder. Rick, Shane, Glenn, and T-Dog immediately went to her rescue, pulling her away from the walker as Andrea embedded a scythe into its skull, killing it for good. Hershel hugged his youngest daughter as Delaney and Maggie watched the scene from farther back, holding each other tightly as they cried.

Eventually, Hershel, Beth, Maggie, Patricia, and Delaney walked back up toward the house, their arms around each other in comfort. Shane went running after them and Rick and Glenn went after him to get him to shut up. He yelled at the family, about how they probably knew about Sophia being inside the barn all along.

Maggie wheeled around and slapped him across the face. "Haven't you done enough?" she asked him with a glare. Delaney pushed Patricia and Beth inside the house and shut the screen door back before she turned to her uncle. He was staring Rick down.

"I mean it. Off my land," he commanded, before turning to walk back into the house with Maggie. With one last look back at them, Delaney followed her family inside, leaving Rick and his group alone.