Arrow to the Side

Breakfast was a somber affair. Anna sat beside Daryl. They didn't say a word to each other but they were content in each others presence. Anna kept glancing at Glenn. She could tell something was troubling him. He kept avoiding everyone's eyes and glanced toward the barn so often. Anna didn't miss when he looked towards Maggie and became increasingly worried when Maggie shook her head slowly back at him. Had they head some sort of fight in the barn? She wanted to ask him what was up but she decided it was probably not best to call him up in front of everyone.

She soon got her answer, though. Glenn stood up and paced slowly. His eyes had a distinct, rabbit in the headlights, look about them.

He threw one last look at the barn before speaking.

"Ugh, guys" No one responded except Anna, who was watching him intently. He tried again. Anna could practically hear his heart racing. She offered him a small smile which he did not see.

"So..." Still no response from the group But Anna could not think of anything that could be more important. She had never seen Glenn so spooked.

"The barn's full of walkers."

The effect was instantaneous. It was like time had stopped except for the beating of Anna's heart. She was so happy here and now she could see the cracks forming in her new family. She felt sick to her stomach.

30 seconds passed. A minute. No one moved or spoke. The tension was palpable.

As sick as Anna felt though. She wanted to fight to stay with the group. This was a problem and she knew it had to be dealt with. She Stood up slowly and flicked her eyes across the group.

"Let's go check it out then." She said it as calmly as she could muster but she knew the others could see through it. She looked to Shane and he took her meaning. As much as Anna hated Shane she knew the position he had in the group was a strong one. He had an air of authority around him, as threatening as it was. The pair started walking to the barn and the others followed suit.

Daryl caught up to her. She could tell he had seen through her calm exterior in an instant.

"You feelin' okay." He asked quietly.

"Yeah, thanks." Daryl put his hand on her shoulder and nodded. He left the subject there and Anna was grateful.

Shane looked through the graying wood of the barn door. It was obvious that the creatures inside had noticed as the low pitched groans inside increased in frequency and in length.

"You cannot tell me you are all right with this." He walked past Rick in frustration.

"No, I'm not but we are guests here. This isn't our land."

The groups voices mingled together.

"This is our lives man!"

"Lower your voice."

"We can't just sweep this under the rug"

"It aint right, not remotely"

"We either gotta go in there and make things right or we just gonna go, we've been talking about Fort Benning for a long time now."

"We can't just go."

"Why, Rick, why?"

"Because my daughter's still out there." Carol stated quietly.

Anna felt sorry for the woman. Her whole mind was set on the fact that her daughter was still alive. She couldn't bear to think about how she could handle her daughters death.

Shane let out a deep breath to calm himself.

"Okay, I think it's time that we all just consider the other possibility..."

"Shane! We are not leaving Sophia behind." Anna could hear the doubt in Ricks voice but she said nothing.

"We are close to finding this girl, I just found her damn doll in the woods a few days ago." Anna felt like crying. She was really warming to Daryl but she knew that Daryl was also holding on to false hope.

"You found a her doll, Daryl" Shane scoffed."That's what you did, you found a doll." He put emphasis on the last word.

Daryl took a threatening step towards Shane. "You don't know what the hell you're talking about." Anna stepped closer to Daryl protectively.

"I'm just saying what needs to be said here." Shane started to rant.

Rick stepped closer and put a restricting hand on Shane's chest.

"An' I'll tell you something else, man. If she was alive out there an' saw you coming, all methed out with your buck knife and geek ears 'round your neck, she would run in the other direction ,man!"

Daryl pushed towards Shane with fury in his eyes. Rick stepped in front of Shane and Anna put a cool hand on Daryl's chest. He pushed it off and moved closer.

Anna moved around and pushed Daryl's entire chest, not breaking eye contact. He moved back a few steps, surprised by her strength.

"Ignore him, Daryl. It's not worth it."

Daryl looked down at her. His arms relaxed but Shane still hadn't given in. Lori stepped in front of Rick protectively and Shane backed off.

"Keep your hands of me." He turned his back and started to walk away.

"Just let me talk to Hershel, Let me figure it out." Rick said to his retreating back.

Shane whirled around and started his yelling anew.

"And what are you gonna figure out!"

Rick waved his arms down.

"If we're gonna stay, If we're gonna clear this barn, I have to talk him into it." His voice was calmer but still carried an edge to it.

"This is his land!"

"Hershel sees those things in there as people. Sick people.His wife. His,his step son." Dale cut in.

Rick looked at him incredulously.

"You knew?"

"Yesterday. I talked to Hershel."

"And you waited the night." Shane accused.

"I thought we could survive one more night. We did."Dale defended. He looked back to Rick. "I was waiting till this morning to say something but Glenn wanted to be the one."

"The man is crazy, Rick. If Hershel those things are alive..." A flurry of groans erupted from the barn and the doors shook loudly. The group stepped back in fear and surprise. With all the argument it was almost like they had forgotten that there were walkers not 10 meters away.

Anna looked towards the group and they disbanded. She threw Rick a sympathetic look. She couldn't help but feel sorry for him. His wife was pregnant and he was stressed enough as it was with the pressure Carol was putting on him to find her probably dead daughter. It wasn't fair that he had to deal with this now. She pushed open her tent flap and started cleaning her gun. That was one thing she was grateful for, Because she was hunting with Daryl no one had any doubts about her keeping her gun with her.

Look on the bright side, Anna.