Sneaky

Chapter 72

I watched him for a good 20 minutes, leaning against another tree, but as I stood. My mind drifted, as it often does.

There were plenty of opportunities to learn this stuff before. Why now?

Why not before, when we did gun practice, or during the search for our lost lamb.

There's just one thing I can't figure out about that whole ordeal, and it's been eating at the back of my mind for days now.

When Rick & Hershel were bringing those two walkers to the barn. You can see the barn from every corner of the property. Especially from the house.

"Hey"

Rick turned around.

"When you and Hershel were takin' those walkers to the barn. Do you really believe they didn't know she was in there."

Rick leaned his weight on one leg. "I do"

"Why?"

"Because" Rick drawled, in a heavy exhausted tone. "Hershel told me Otis must'a put her in there before he died. I believe him. He has no reason to lie about that, nor was he in the state too."

I put my hands up. "I'm not tryna start a fight. Just trying to get my head around this."

He sighed; visible tension lifting from his shoulders. "Sorry. I know. I been tryna do the same thing."

Are things that bad between him and everyone? That he feels the need to defend his stance in a simple conversation?

I observed him carefully and it was long enough to make him ask, "What?"

Seems Daryl isn't the only one I need to say this to. "I've got your back, Rick."

He looked at me, confounded.

"That won't change, even if I don't agree with everything you do or every decision that's made."

Rick chuckled, and I almost saw the exact moment of relief. Just hearing someone say it. I forget sometimes that not everybody has the same distrust of words that I do.

"You sure have been chatty lately."

It was my turn to chuckle. Because Daryl said the same thing to me before. "Desperate times. Desperate measures."

Rick's smile began to fade as he stared at the crunchy orange leaves on the ground.

So he sees it too. Daryl & I aren't the only ones who see what's happening. What's tracking on this group's horizon.

I took a deep breath, leaning my head back against the tree.

Otis, huh?

I never got to meet the man, but from what I know he was a decent person. Perhaps more so than we are anymore.

He was responsible for Carl's gunshot wound but he's also the reason he's alive.

I can't hate the man for what happened, it was an accident, and he tried to fix it, which is more than I can say for most people. Before or after the turn.

Wait but, that all went down the day after Sophia went missing. If Otis is the one who put her in the barn, that means...

-

I made my way towards Daryl at the treeline, where he was adjusting a newly made arrow.

He noticed me as I came up and stood, holding his crossbow in front of his chest with the loaded arrow aimed at the ground. "Have a nice chat?"