like real people do | c.g [#wattys2019]

F O U N D

EVERYTHING WAS GOING WELL and calm today, the only thing I had in mind for today being showing Carl how to throw knifes, until Glenn stepped up during breakfast. "Uh guys... so, the barn's filled with walkers." Everyone stops, turning to him completely shocked, as he looks from Dale to the rest of us.

They lead us all to it, Shane getting closer to it and looking through a hole. "You cannot tell me you're okay with this." He tells Rick, walking away from it.

"I'm not, but we're guests here. This isn't our land." He explains.

"These are our lives-" Lori cuts Shane off.

"Lower your voice! We can't just sweep this under the rug."

"It ain't right, not remotely." T-Dog agrees.

Shane walks around, completely livid, as he nearly yells. "We either gotta go in there or we just gotta go. We have been talking about Fort Benning-"

"We can't go!" Rick yells, and Shane asks him why.

"Because my daughter's still out there." Carol answers.

"I think it's time that we all start to consider the other possibility-" People cut him off saying that they'll never leave Sophia behind. Shane and Daryl start having a go at each other, Carol and Rick having to hold them back. Rick tries to tell him he's gonna reason with Hershel, but Dale steps up.

"Hershel sees those things as people. Sick people. His wife, his stepson. Yesterday, I talked to Hershel."

"And you waited the night?!" Shane yells.

"I thought we could survive another night! And we did! I was waiting until this morning to say something, but Glenn wanted to be the one to say it." Dale explains. Shane starts to argue again, but is now stopped by the sounds of the doors rattling.

Lori nearly pushes us away from the barn, bringing us over to some tables, wanting us to study. I raise an eyebrow at the fact that even after the apocalypse, kids still have to study. I get why though, my mom made me read every book in the rec. room, some of them being academic books.

"Does Shane think Sophia's dead?" The casualness in Carl's voice kind of startles me for a second, before I remember that things like this are casual. That asking if an a adult thinks your best friend is dead is casual now. Because there's a big possibility that she is.

"Shane's just scared." Is her excuse. Because that's what it is, an excuse. Shane isn't scared, Shane wants to get out of here, but in order to do so Sophia can't be a priority anymore, so he's convinced himself that she's dead.

"Of the walkers in the barn?" He asks, raising an eyebrow. She nods. "Mom... I'm not leaving until we find Sophia, and I don't wanna go even after that." He says. "I just think... She's gonna like it here. This place, it could be a home." Lori hugs him tight and I smile, trying to focus on my math problems to not ruin their moment.