Evelyn// Daryl Dixon

12.

The silence was so present that you could hear the insects chittering. The only sound was Carols breathless sobs. Daryl tried to get her to not look but she broke free from his grasp and left towards the farm. Maggie's younger sister, Beth, made her way towards the dead. She had seen them the same way Hershel had. That was her mother there.

"This what you wanted Shane?" Evelyn spoke up.

"At least we don't have to look for Sophia no more"

There was no time for retaliation as Beth's screams filled the air. The walker had a strong grip on her, it took everyone to pull her free. T-Dog stomped on the walker who was still coming, but it wasn't enough. Andrea put it to rest with a scythe through the head.

When Hershel's family started to walk up to the barn to mourn in their houses, everyone else followed. Shane was relentlessly still attacking Hershel.

"That whole time we've been looking for her, she was in there the whole time?" He came at Hershel as if he knew.

"Leave us alone" Maggie stood as the strongest in her family, she could fight back and put her foot down when they couldn't.

"Shane, stop" Glenn urged him.

"You knew" Shane continued to press.

Rick had tried to pull him aside but Shane fought back. He threw Ricks hands off of him angrily.

"Shane, they didn't know Sophia. This isn't their fault" Evelyn tried to reason once again.

"You knew and you kept it from us" Shane droned on.

"I didn't know" Hershel spoke weakly.

"Bullshit"

"We didn't know!" Maggie repeated louder.

"Then why was she in there?"

"Otis put those people in the barn. He probably found her and put her in there before he was killed" Hershel had responded.

"You expect me to believe that? Do I look like an idiot?" Shane came towards Hershel and Rick pushed him back, trying to distract him.

"I don't care what you believe!" Hershel exclaimed.

"Everybody just calm down" Rick put himself fully between Hershel and Shane.

"Get him off my land" Hershel tried to wrap up the sentence and regain his authority.

"Let me tell you something" Shane walked towards Hershel.

"Hey! Don't you touch him!" Maggie stepped in, slapping Shane to keep him in line "haven't you done enough?"

"Man, you've been hit by a girl twice today" Greyson sneered from a few feet away.

Maggie and Hershel made it onto their porch. Hershel paused before entering his house.

"I mean it. Off my land" Hershel had almost generalized the statement from Hershel to everyone.

Glenn went in the house after Maggie. Greyson and Evelyn took the queue to leave Shane and Rick to talk alone.

"I'm here if you need anything" Evelyn put a hand on her brothers shoulder and whispered to him before leaving with Greyson.

"That comment was good" she laughed, trying to stay light-hearted in this moment.

"I know, wasn't it?"

"But don't pull that immature shit again, Shane could've beat your ass to the ground and you know it" Evelyn tugged on Greyson's ear forcefully to make a point.

The rest of the day followed grey and overcast. Evelyn took a few pills to calm her nerves after it all. Few of the group dug graves down near the barn. The rest straggled around the campsite and in the RV. Carol and Daryl had been in the RV for over an hour. Greyson and Evelyn sat in their tent in silence.

"It wasn't right, but we had to" Evelyn spoke, trying to clear her guilty conscience.

"Wether you joined or not, it wouldn't change our predicament and you know it" Greyson told her the truth.

"Yeah, you're right"

Lori poked her head in the mesh window of their tent.

"Funeral is happening in a few" she told them before leaving on her way.

Evelyn and Greyson left the tent into the surprisingly  pleasant air. They walked down to the barn where everyone else stood. Three fresh graves lined up at the foot of everyone. Everyone except Carol.

There were no words spoken due to the high tension between Hershel's family and the group that resides on their land. A moment of silence that lasted for a brief few minutes. Shane broke off first then the others followed suit.

Days like this is was hard to keep a sense of time. No sun rising throughout the sky as it was blanketed behind clouds. Rick left the house with Glenn behind him.

"Eve" Rick called out her name and she walked out of her tent.

"Yeah" she responded, wiping her hands clean on her pants. 

"We need you to come into town with us. Bring a gun. We'll be quick"

"Alright" she nodded and got the gun she had earlier.

She followed Rick and Glenn to the truck. Rick drove, Evelyn sat next to him and Glenn got in on the passenger side. Rick took directions from Glenn to the bar.

"Why do you need me again?" Evelyn asked.

"Hershel is at a bar, he was an alcoholic" Glenn explained.

"So we're doing the classic junkie to alcoholic talk. Addict to addict. I know what you're going through bullshit" she retaliated.

"It might not be bullshit to Hershel. It's worth a shot is all I was thinking. Me and Glenn going, that's not enough. He doesn't like how I let Shane out of control and Glenn is with Maggie. You, he let you and Greyson in the house. Let you guys shower and board there. You've got some upper hand in this situation" Rick preached to her, trying to get her on his side.

"I guess it's too late to go back anyways"

"It isn't too late. You not trying when we get there, that's when it'll be too late. Right now you have a chance to make yourself useful to this group, make your place known like you've wanted. You getting on Hershel's good side may give us a chance. That's what we need. Another chance"