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WHISPERS ECHO THROUGH THE woods, alerting Aria that she's close. She had followed Shane here, believing something is wrong with Dale. Her eyes catch sight of Dale and Shane and she darts behind a tree, her footsteps quiet. With her back pressed up against the rough tree bark, Aria peeks around, her ears and eyes wide and alert.
"What? You gonna shoot me like you did Otis? Tell another story." Her mouth falls open in shock and she raises a trembling hand to her mouth, fear consuming her. Sure she thought Shane had a couple of screws missing but she never thought he had killed Otis. "Just give me the guns. Do it now." Shane mutters, his tone low, sending shivers of Aria's spine. "Rick is trying to get Hershel—"
"Dale, shut up. Just shut up and give me the guns." She watches intently has Dale sets the garbage bag full of guns against the tree full of algae. Terror fills her eyes as Dale begins to pull the rifle off his shoulder, cocking it. They didn't seem like anything was wrong between them at the camp and now they're sudden enemies?
"Am I going to have to shoot you? Do I have to kill you? Is that what it's gonna take?" Dale threatens, his gun aimed at the chest of Shane. Is she about to witness a murder? What does she tell the group? Does she lie? She can't handle this pressure! Shane begins to walk forward, stopping once the barrel of the gun presses against his chest. Is Shane fucking stupid? Aria thinks to herself, shock covering her features. Who in their right mind would walk towards a loaded gun? No one.
Shooting back behind the tree, she waits for a bullet to go off, her eyes squeezed shut. No bullet sounds and she peeks back out, watching as the pair talk. This is her time to go if she wants to make it out unnoticed and she knows that. Beginning to run back to the farm at her full pace, she darts through the trees, knowing if she slows down, Shane and Dale will notice her.
With her heartbeat thumping in her ears, Aria bursts through the trees, her lungs beginning to burn from the run. Glancing behind her, she watches as Shane emerges through the trees, no Dale with him. Aria begins to wonder if Shane killed Dale while she was running. Squeezing through the bard wired fence, Aria begins to walk quickly towards the house, a small and nervous smile on her face as she realizes the group is staring at her, waiting for answers.
"You're flushed.." Maggie notes, pointing at the blonde's red cheeks. Aria furrows her eyebrows, realization suddenly hitting her. Shane was gone and so was Aria, oh hell no. "That's disgusting. I was—jogging." Aria answers quickly, sending a tight-lipped smile towards the group, her eyes meeting Daryl's. He harshly glares down at her, his jaw clenched. He's obviously thinking what the whole group was thinking and that saddens Aria, do they actually believe she would sleep with someone like Shane—scratch that, do they actually believe she would sleep with anyone at all?
As Shane walks up behind Aria, turning the attention off of her, thankfully. Once the attention diverts off of her, it's like a weight has been lifted off her shoulders. "You know how to shoot?" Shane asks her after handing Daryl a gun. Aria slowly nods, a pistol being shoved in her hand. She takes a step back to catch herself from falling backwards and she looks down at the gun in her hands, a frown on her face.
She hasn't used a gun since her and her father had a huge fight and now she's nervous. Taking a deep breath, she snaps out of her daze. "Oh shit." Looking behind her, her eyes widen as she watches Rick lead a walker on a pole. The group begins to run downhill towards Rick, confusion written all over their faces. "You see what they're holding onto?" Shane yells, marching around Hershel and Rick, as if they're apart of a circus and he's the ringleader, showing them off.
"I see who I'm holding onto!" Hershel yells back and Aria's face saddens. He doesn't understand what it's like, he thinks they're sick and he thinks he doing the right thing by keeping them locked up. "These thing ain't sick. They're not people. They're dead. Ain't gonna feel nothing for them 'cause all they do, they kill! These things right here, they're the things that killed Amy. They killed Otis. They're gonna kill all of us." And for once when Aria heard her sister's name, she didn't feel sad, she felt stronger and that told her something; she doesn't need to prove nothing to anyone. She needs to prove something to herself.
A bullet whirls past Aria's body and she jumps out of the way, a hole in the walker's abdomen. "That's three rounds in the chest. Could someone who's alive, could they just take that? Why is it still coming?" Shane growls, raising his gun back up. Two more gunshots fire, shooting the walker in its heart and lungs. "Shane, enough!" Rick yells, fury written in his features. "Yeah, you're right, man. That is enough."
Shane walks towards the walker, pressing his gun against it's forehead before firing, killing the corpse. "Enough risking our lives for a little girl who's gone! Enough living next to a barn full of things 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." As if everything turns into slow motion, Aria's eyes dart around, horror filling her body as Shane begins to beat on the chains with a pickaxe. Aria rushes forward as the chains break, mumbling an apology to the family who's hearts are breaking.
As the walker's begin to spill out, Aria raises her gun, taking aim at the first walker and shooting it down. She moved her gun over, setting her sights on a female walker racing towards her. She pulls the trigger, the walker falling to the ground, limply. Two more bullet release from her gun as she misses aim, successfully knocking it down the second time.
Bodies begin to fall down one after one as gunshots echo through the air. Blood pours out of the wounds of the walker's, coloring the dirt red. Smoke from the guns fly freely in the air, the smell of smoke mixing with the rotting corpses scent. As the last body falls limply to the ground, Aria lowers her gun, her eyes closing. He had to do what he had to do, but now they're probably not going to have a place to live no more and that hurts.
A lone growl comes from inside the barn and out of reflex, Aria raises her gun, her eyes snapping open. Sadness rushes through her body as a familiar girl steps out into the sun, a huge red bite on her neck. Lowering her gun, she raises a trembling hand up to her mouth, tears welling up in her eyes. The once sweet girl that she knew is now replaced with a deadly monster out for blood. Beside her, Carol drops to the ground as Daryl prevents her from running towards the monster that took over her daughter.
And just as fast as Sophia appeared, she disappears, a bullet being sent through her brain and killing her.
