I don't venture down to the barn with the others, I don't want to go anywhere near that place personally. I see a fight break out between Daryl and Shane but I can't hear anything. To be honest I didn't even want to know what was going on.
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"Hey Selene come on. Mom said we can go to the chickens before we have to do our homework." Sophia exclaims as she and Carl run up to me. "Fine, I know I'm going to hate this though," I tell the two who just laugh and pull me along.
When we get to the chickens we see Maggie leaving Glenn. I laugh as I see the egg dripping down his face. "Hey Glenn you gotta little something on your face." He smiles at me sarcastically as he flicks his cap in my direction. I squeal as I avoid the yolk that he flicks my way.
"I hope the chickens chase you."
Carl and Sophia run around to where the chickens were out free no problem. "Come on." They wave me over but I hesitate, "there's so many of them." I complain as they go to the buckets of food for the chickens. "There's only five."
I shuffle forwards and Sophia puts a handful of the chicken feed in my hand. "Look just scatter it towards them." She instructs, I hold it in my hand a bit too long because they start coming towards me. That freaks me out and I throw the feed but they still advance. I can't help but scream as I run away. "Why are they chasing me?"
Carl and Sophia laugh as they watch me. "Stop running." I can't, "then they'll catch me." I decide to run for it back to house or the others, just away from these winged demons. "Ah!" I bump into someone as I'm looking over my shoulder keeping track of the chickens who were still on my tail.
A hand catches me around the waist and by all the laughter I hear, I just know it's Daryl. "Oh my god." I breathe out as he lets go of my waist and I stand behind him, he scares the chickens off and I sigh leaning my head on his shoulder as I catch my breath. He turns to me and looks me over, "Hershel told you to take it easy today."
"Not my fault they decided to attack me." I sigh. "And what did I tell you would happen if you came to make fun of me?" I question as he smirks, "oh yeah? Go ahead, go grab one of them chickens then." He chuckles as he knows I will not be doing that.
"Get back to the others, go rest." He tells me and I nod not wanting to be anywhere near these damn chickens anymore. I hear a chicken cluck after I turn my back making me yell as I nearly trip over my own feet. "Not funny!" I huff as I realise Daryl was the one who made the sound and was laughing at my fear.
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A nap later I leave the house to see everyone gathering at the porch, Shane handing out guns. "I don't know how to shoot a gun." I hiss shoving it back in his hands once he hands me a gun from the bag. He scoffs at me but moves on to Carl. "Now I want you to take this. You take it, Carl, and you keep your mother safe. You do whatever it takes. You know how. Go on, take the gun and do it." Lori pushes forward and pulls crap behind her, not letting him touch the gun.
"Rick said no guns. This is not your call. This is not your decision to make."
"Oh, shit!" I look over to see what had caught T-dogs attention and am very surprised to see Rick with Hershel, both with walkers on snare poles. "What is that? What is that?" Shane and the others go running but I don't, not right away. I stand in place and think about the headache this was going to bring and wether I wanted to get involved or not.
I end up joining everyone outside the barn as Shane is yelling at Hershel, trying to get him to see that the walkers are dead. Not sick like he thought but gone.
"Shane, enough." Rick says firmly, I've just reached the group after watching Shane shoot at the walker Hershel was holding on to. "Yeah, you're right, man. That is enough. Enough living next to a barn full of
things that are trying to kill us. Enough! Rick, it ain't like it was before!"
"Now if y'all want to live, if you want to survive, you got to fight for it! I'm talking about fighting right here, right now." He's going towards the barn doors, there's lots of shouting for Shane not to open the barn but he does. Breaks the locks on the door and allows the walkers to spill out. Carol and Lori clutch their children trying to shield them as everyone else goes at them with the guns.
I don't feel anything as I watch this all go down, I just stand there watching everyone else's reactions. I was about to turn back when the barn doors start to move again. There's one walker left, "wait!" I yell running forwards, "wait! Wait! Please." Everyone other than Shane does what I ask and lowers their guns, he's about to shoot and so without thinking I push him. His shot misses the walker and he turns to me face full of anger. "What the hell do you think you're doing?" Daryl's behind me in an instant about to pull me away.
I shrug Daryl's arm off, "don't kill him please." I beg. Shane looks confused, everyone looks confused. "I'll do it. I have to do it." I tell him holding my hand out for the gun. He gives me an unsure look but places the gun in my hand and instructs me how to shoot it.
I ignore everyone's eyes on me as I walk forwards, my shaking arm raised. I stare my father in his cold dead eyes. "Selene." They're trying to rush me because he's fast approaching. "I know, I know! Just let me do this." My eyes shut as I think back to when his eyes were warm, when they would crinkle at his boisterous laughter.
"Selene!" Letting out a sob I open my eyes and pull the trigger. I drop to my knees as he falls and I just continue crying. I can't even get up so I crawl over to his dead body, my arms clutching his shirt as I put my head on his chest. My sobs don't ease as I think of all the times I would hug him, my cheek to his chest just like this. Only now the only thing I could hear were my devastated sobs echoing through this hollow chest.
"What the hell is wrong with her? She's killed walkers before." I vaguely hear Shane's voice over my own, Glenn is the one to answer; "it's her dad." He murmurs softly, he must've recognised him from the picture I showed him this morning. I cry as I think of the picture and how if I'd never seen it I may have not even recognised my own father. How I could've just let him die all over again without a second thought.
"You found me daddy, you found me." I whisper, continuing to cry and refusing to let go of his corpse. "Selene," Daryl's voice is the softest I've ever heard it as he crouches by me and places his hand on my back. "Selene we've gotta take him now." He tells me.
"No, no, no, you can't take him." My voice cracks and I grip my dads shirt harder. "Please, I only just got to see him again. Don't take him from me, don't take him." He gives me a sympathetic look as he places his hands over mine and he gently pries my fingers free. "Please Daryl, please. Please don't." He looks regretful as he pulls me back and Rick and Shane come into view. They grab each end of my father and I try to lunge forward but Daryl's grip is too strong for me to break.
"No! No! Dad! Daddy! Daddy! Please!" They avoid my eye as they carry him off and I sink back into Daryl's hold just continuing to cry. "We're gonna bury him with Hershel's family. We'll have a little ceremony and everything." He tells me whilst I still. "Selene? Can you hear me?" I can hear him but I can't respond, my body just won't let me.
He stands me up, my knees weak so I lean on him and he lets me. He wraps his arm around me and leads me to the RV. He sits me on the edge of the bed before pulling my shoes off for me. "Here lay down a while." He tells me, taking a step back. I grab his hand making him look down at them confused. I don't say anything but I hold his hand tighter so he nods and sits beside me as I lay down.
I don't let go of his hand.
