Entombed

I woke up the next morning with a bad feeling in my gut. I usually didn’t remember my dreams, but the one I woke up from had stuck with me. It was about Glenn.

Throughout the entire dream, he looked worried and distraught. He kept asking me why I was doing something and what he should do. I was unresponsive and just watched him walk around, asking me a bunch of questions I had no answers for. Immediately before the dream ended, flames roared to life behind Glenn and gunshots rang in my ears.

When I opened my eyes, a cool breeze brushed against my sweaty forehead. I rose from my bed, my shirt sticking to my back. Dizziness overwhelmed me when I stood up and I leaned forward to use the wall for support. I looked out of the window and saw Rick’s group having breakfast.

Glenn was pacing around anxiously, just as he was in the dream.

I rushed downstairs after throwing a random outfit on and found Maggie standing on the porch. Her arms were crossed and her eyes were nailed to Glenn.

“What’s going on?” I asked her. “Are you okay?”

“He’s going to tell,” she said angrily.

I blankly followed her gaze and watched Glenn pace. Eventually, he stopped. Everyone looked at him and several seconds later, their faces were visibly and drastically different. They all started looking around and Rick rose from his seat. His hand motions signaled for everyone to calm down.

“Let’s go,” Maggie said, linking arms with me. She dragged me back into the house and rushed up to Hershel, who was in the kitchen preparing breakfast for himself.

“Dad,” she said. “They know about the barn.”

Hershel froze where he stood. “What? How did they find out?”

Maggie looked down at the floor, shoving her hands in her pockets. “I don’t know.”

“Maggie,” Hershel said, turning around. “Did Glenn tell them?”

“Yeah.”

“You told me he wouldn’t say anything.”

“Dad, he didn’t make any promises--”

“Enough!” Hershel shouted. “I warned you about getting close with that boy. Now look what’s happened.”

Maggie burst into tears and screamed back at him. “Why are you blaming this all on me?”

I walked away, entering the room that Carl had been resting in when he was injured. The sheets were changed but there was still an eerie feeling when I sat down on the bed. I felt completely melancholy and didn’t know what to do. Several minutes later, Maggie stormed off to another room in the house and slammed the door shut.

I knew that things were about to get terrible between Hershel and Rick’s group. I knew for a fact that Hershel was the only one who viewed the walkers as sick people within a thousand mile radius. And I didn’t exactly understand why. I could sympathize with Annette and Shawn’s deaths being a reason why Hershel hoped for a cure, but after all this time, he should have figured out that there wasn’t a cure.

There was never going to be one.

I was lost in my thoughts until I realized that Rick had entered the house. The heavy footsteps of his boots echoed throughout the structure and they soon stopped. After Rick attempted to start small talk with Hershel about reading his bible for breakfast, the conversation was suddenly severed. That was when Rick realized that he needed to jump to the point.

Hershel was quick to shoot down Rick about working something out and told him that they all needed to leave. I almost gasped when I heard Hershel say such a harsh thing. I didn’t want Rick’s group to leave, and though my interest in Rick and Glenn had very much to do with that, I still wouldn’t be able to handle their departure.

“Lori’s pregnant,” Rick said.

It didn’t make a difference to Hershel, though there was hesitance in his voice. Rick left soon after and I rushed to the front door to see him descending the porch steps. I was tempted to call after him, but stopped myself. As soon as I saw him talking to Glenn, I hid away in the house just as Maggie did.

--

The afternoon grew hotter as Rick’s group grew more concerned. When I had stepped foot out of the house, I was hounded with questions and accused of insanity. My responses were meek and full of anxiety.

Everyone was waiting for Hershel, Jimmy, and Rick to return. From what I’d heard from Maggie, they’d gone off to the swamp to fetch some walkers to put in the barn. Hershel had told Rick that that was the only way they could make an agreement about their stay at the farm.

Just as the sun was reaching a scorching heat, Shane emerged from the woods with a bag of guns in his hand. As he got close, everyone asked what was going on. He rose his voice like a military officer, rallying the group up by handing out the guns.

“What the fuck do you think you’re doing?” I asked him. I closed the space between he and I and glared into his eyes.

“Taking care of the sick shit you’ve got goin’ on over here,” he replied.

My hands tightened into fists. “This is not your property!” I shouted. “You can’t just go shooting up the walkers--”

“Sure I can,” he said with a smart smirk. “I’m protecting my group.”

“You mean Rick’s group.”

His smile disappeared and he looked down at me with burning hate on his face. My cheek twitched at the sense that he would strike me, but instead, he walked away. His group followed him over to the barn and Maggie and I were on their heels.

Just as we came to a stop, Jimmy was leading Hershel and Rick out of the woods. On the end of the ketch poles were two new walkers. I recognized the one that Rick held--Louise. I had only seen her once or twice in the past year, but her face was one I wouldn’t forget. Especially now.

“Tell me, can a living person walk away from this?” Shane asked as Hershel and Rick reached us. He fired three shots into Louise and she continued to snarl at him.

“Shane!” Rick screamed. “That’s enough!”

“You’re right, man. That is enough.” Shane shot Louise in the head and she fell straight to the ground, pulling the pole right out of Rick’s hands.

Shane began to bust the barn lock until it came undone and he pulled the chains away from the door. The walkers began to slowly stalk out of the barn, squinting their dilated eyes at the daylight and charging right at us.

Glenn looked at me while Maggie held Hershel. He was asking me if he could shoot the walkers. I nodded.

The gunshots rang throughout the entire property until all of the bodies fell. They all took a breath while the stench of the spilled walker blood filled the air. But there was one more walker left that we were all unaware of.

A young, walker girl that looked to be eleven years old around the time of her demise emerged from the barn, with a blue shirt and khaki shorts on. Her hair was blond and cut at mid-neck. There was a bite on her shoulder--most likely from an adult walker. Her staggering steps out of the barn were unsettling.

I wondered why they hadn’t shot her down already, but then I realized.

This was the girl they were looking for. Sophia.

Carol came running towards Sophia but was stopped by Daryl, who held her in his arms while they fell to the ground. Carol called out her daughter’s name but Sophia obviously did not recognize the motherly voice.

When the rest of Rick’s group failed to take action, Rick stepped forward. He raised his gun to Sophia’s head as she approached him, growling for the taste of his flesh.

Bang.