Abnormality || Glenn Rhee [1]

15| Walker in the Well

CHAPTER FIFTEEN » WALKER IN THE WELL
"This is a stupid plan."

♔

In the sunlight, the Greene farm was more impressive than I'd first gathered last night. The house was pure white, surrounded by a field of grass and a barn nearby. Daryl, Dale, Andrea and Carol had arrived earlier in the morning, in time for us to all gather round for Otis' funeral.

He was buried underneath a lot of rocks that we'd all placed above his body. I didn't know Otis, but I could see how loved he was. After all, death doesn't happen to you, it happens to the people around you.

My heart clenched at the thought of losing another member of our group. We were lucky that Carl was still here. It almost felt that in order to get Carl back, Otis had to be given up. One life is given, only to take another.

Beth, the youngest of the family, placed another rock from the wheelbarrow onto the pile around Otis' body.

"Blessed be God, father of our lord. Jesus Christ," Hershel Greene spoke, as everyone else moved into a semi circle around the burial. "Praise be to him for the gift of our brother Otis, for his span of years, for his abundance of character; Otis, who gave his life to save a child's, now more than ever, our most precious asset. We thank you, God, for the peace he enjoys in your embrace. He died as he lived, in Grace," he turned to his side, eyes resting on Shane. "Shane, will you speak for Otis?"

"I'm not good at it," Shane replied, shaking his head and lowering it. "I'm sorry."

"You were the last one with him," Patricia spoke, a sob in her throat. My heart completely broke for her. She lost her husband, her love, her best friend. "You shared his final moments. Please. I need to hear. I need to know his death had meaning."

Tears filled my eyes upon hearing the desperation in her voice. I've been lucky, in a sense, so far. The people we've lost, I was never that close to them. Part of that reason is because I've become hesitant to get too close to people. But if I were to lose somebody I cared so much about, somebody I truly loved, like family, it would destroy me. All it takes is a second to lose somebody. A small hesitation, a bad decision, a moment of fear. And they're gone. The pain that the Greene family were going through, I never wanted to experience that. Ever.

My hand reached over to Glenn's arm for some kind of comfort as I held the tears back in my eyes. I saw him glance over at me briefly, before pulling me closer to him.

"Okay," Shane started, nodding his head slowly. "We were about done. Almost out of ammo. We were down to pistols by then. I was limping. It was bad. Ankle all swollen up," his eyes flickered forwards as we all watched him. "We've got to save the boy. See, that's what he said," his voice cracked.

"He gave me his backpack. He shoved me ahead. Run, he said. He said, I'll take the rear. I'll cover you," he looked up again, the emotion gone from his eyes as he glanced over at Patricia, who was barley holding it together. "And when I looked back..." He trailed off.

The tears brimming in my eyes started to fall and I made no effort to brush them away. But it didn't feel like my place to cry about this man, someone I'd never even met. I watched as Shane limped over to the wheelbarrow and grabbed two stones.

"If not for Otis, I'd have never made it out alive," his eyes flickered around the group. "And that goes for Carl too. It was Otis." Finally, his gaze rested on Patricia, probably giving her some kind of comfort that Otis died for a reason. "If any death ever had meaning, it was his."

I felt a hand press on my back and looked up at Glenn who gave me a small smile. I tilted my head to the side, resting it on his shoulder. After a while, everybody started to move from the burial, apart from Patricia. Glenn's hand still rested on my back as the two of us slowly walked away.