walkers in the barn.
honestly, i think the world's going to end bloody. but it doesn't mean we shouldn't fight. we do have choices. i choose to go down swinging

IT was the next day, and Octavia felt like she had gotten more used to the group, but she still didn't trust them. Trust was a hard thing to come to Winchester's. It had to be earned, and it had to be kept.

Looking up from her scrambled eggs, her blue eyes landed on Glenn who was standing before the whole group, looking out of place - nervous. After looking to Dale, she saw that his eyes them glazed over at Maggie who was standing on the porch, her arms crossed.

"Um, guys-" He started, gulping. "So... the barn's full of walker's."

Widening her eyes, Octavia started choking on her eggs. Reaching for her cup of water, she gulped it down quickly before looking to Glenn. "Excuse me?" She pushed her plate away from her, standing up from her seat. "What did you just say?"

Suddenly everyone was up and moving, making their way towards the barn that Glenn had told them about - a barn that looked completely harmless, though, looks can be deceiving.

They all kept their distance as Shane moved towards the double doors that had been locked up tightly with multiple chains and locks. He pressed up against them and carefully peered into one of the slits.

"Anything?" Octavia asked, clenching her hands in anticipation.

Shane nodded his head before backing away and turning to the group who all stood with wide, disbelieving eyes. "There's dozens of them," He said and then looked to Rick with anger filled eyes. "You cannot tell me that you're alright with this."

"I'm not," Rick said harshly. "But we're guests here. This isn't our land."

"But these are out lives!" Shane argued.

"Lower your voice!" Octavia shouted at Shane when she began to hear growls from inside the barn which were beginning to get louder due to the yelling. "They hear us!"

"We can't just sweep this under the rug," Andrea stated firmly, placing her hands on her hips.

"It ain't right. Not even remotely," Shane continued to argue. "Okay, we wither got to go in there. We've got to make things right or we've just got to go. We have been talking about Fort Benning for a long time."

"Can you shut up about Fort Bennig?" Octavia asked Shane, running a hand through her hair in frustration.

"We can't go," Rick said sternly.

"Why, Rick? Why?" Shane continued on, his voice growing louder by the second.

"Because my daughter is still out there," Carol said, stepping forward, her voice strong and her arms crossed.

"Okay," Shane started with a dry laugh and then covered his face with his hands, taking a deep breath. "Okay, I think it's time that we all start to just consider the other possibility-"

"Shane, we're not leaving Sophia behind," Rick snapped angrily.

"I'm close to finding this girl!" Daryl shouted, his voice raspy. "I just found her damn doll a few days ago!" He threw his arms up in an attempt to exaggerate his statement.

"You found her doll, Daryl! That's what you did. You found a doll." Shane laughed humorlessly.

"You don't know what the hell you're talking about," Octavia spat, defending Daryl. They might've only talked once and it was only for a good couple minutes, most of it spent in silence, but she knew how much finding Sophia was important to him.

"I'm just saying what needs to be said," Shane started, sighing as he continued. "You get a good lead, it's in the first forty eight hours-"

"Shane! Shane," Rick tried calming his friend down, but to no avail, he was unsuccessful.

"Let me tell you something else, man. If she was alive out there and saw you coming all methed out with your bucked ears and geek ears around your neck, she would run in the other direction!" Shane screamed at Daryl, pointing behind him to prove his previous words.

Daryl launched himself at Shane, yelling at him to shut up. Rick stepped in front of the two and pushed them back from each other.

Everyone else stepped backwards in fear, making Octavia scoff and roll her eyes.

She jumped into what was about to turn into a brawl, and she placed her hand on Daryl's chest to push him away, but he slapped her hands off of him. She froze for a second before looking up at him with narrowed eyed. "Back off!"

At her tone and the look on her face, Daryl stepped back, breathing heavily, and clenching his jaw in anger.

Once she saw that Daryl wasn't gonna attack, she nodded and stepped back, but stayed close enough just in case he was gonna pounce again.

She turned around to see Rick trying to calm his best friend down who was storming away. "Now, just let me to talk to Hershel. Let me figure it out," Rick tried to say calmly.

Shane then whipped around and started charging towards Rick with wild eyes. "And what are you gonna figure out?!" He asked angrily.

Lori jumped in between them and shoved Shane hard in the chest. "Enough!" She yelled, standing protectively in front of Rick.

"If we're gonna stay, if we're gonna clear this barn, I have to talk him into it," Rick explained in a harsh voice as he pointed back at the barn with his thumb. "This is his land."

Dale came forward raising his hands carefully, almost as if he had been caught red handed. "Hershel sees those things in there as people. Sick people. His wife, his stepson, all of them in there. People."

"You knew?" Octavia asked, exhaling sharply, running a hand down her face in exaggerations. Wow, these people were more dumb than she thought.

"Yesterday," He admitted, nodding, staring down at the ground like he was being scolded by his parents. "I talked to Hershel."

"And you waited the night?" Shane's gruff voice asked loudly.

"I thought we could survive one more night. We did." Dale looked to Shane with a sharp expression. "I was waiting till this morning to say something. But Glenn wanted to be the one."

"The man is crazy, Rick," Shane started yelling again, giving Octavia a headache. "If Hershel thinks those things are alive-"

"Shut the fuck up!" Octavia screamed at the top of her lungs, getting tired of him, of his voice, of this group's stupid decisions, and this whole damn apocalypse. She wanted it to go back to before, because, at least then, they would've have to be worrying about everyone who didn't know how to handle more than simple jobs like a cashier. These people, these normal people didn't have the common sense to survive this world, and they were going to drag her down with them. But, she couldn't help but want to stay and protect them.

Just then, the barn doors started to shake, the moans from the undead was heard throughout the group. The rusting chains rattled against each other as the walkers desperately trying to get to them. Grey fingers emerged from the cracks in the wooden doors, the growls loud and hungry, making the group jump back in shock and fear.

Octavia bumped into Daryl's chest, and she let out a breath, moving away from him, an angry look them adorning her face as she looked at the barn.

The farm wasn't safe anymore.

"WHAT happened to you?" Octavia asked, looking up from where she was sharpening her dagger. His face with covered with egg yoke, it was running down his face. All he had to do was glance over at Maggie, and it all clicked together. "Dude!" She exclaimed, a chuckle escaping her mouth. "You just got yoked on!" She jokes, making him crack a smile.

"You think you're so funny," He said, trying to hold back a smile.

"I think I'm adorable." She looked at him through her eyelashes and gave him a smile.

He chuckled and shook his head. "Yeah, no," He simply said before walking away.

"You love me, Glenn!" She shouted after him. He turned around and have her a mock salute, then continued his walk towards the RV.

Sighing, she looked down, her smile disappearing. Yes, she was able to joke around with Glenn, but that was because he was such a nice and smart guy, and he was easy to get along with. Though, Octavia wouldn't go as far as saying that she considered him a friend or that she trusted him.

SITTING down on the porch, she was joined by Maggie and Glenn who were talking about his yoke covered hair and hat.

T-Dog and Andrea walker towards them, looking confused and a little irritated. "Do you know what's going on?"

"Where is everyone?" Andrea asked, glancing over at the three of them.

Octavia furrowed her eyebrows, standing up. "You haven't seen Rick?"

"He went off with Hershel. We were supposed to leave a couple hours ago," Andrea informed the raven haired Winchester with slightly narrowed eyes.

"Yeah, you were," Daryl announced as he approached the group, Carol by his side. "What the hell?"

"Rick told us he was going out," Carol said, glancing at Daryl who was getting more annoyed by the second.

Daryl frowned. "Damn it, isn't anybody takin' this seriously?" He asked angrily referring back to poor little Sophia. "We got us a damn trail."

Suddenly, something off in the distance caught Daryl's attention and he rolled his blue eyes. "Oh here we go."

Shane then approached them width a gun bag slung over his shoulder, making Octavia huff and place her dagger in her combat boot.

"You with me man?" Shane asked Daryl as he passed him a shotgun. Once Daryl took it, he nodded, satisfied. "Time to grow up!" He announced, turning to Andrea. "You got yours?"

"Wait! What the fuck?!" Octavia exclaimed, angrily marching up to them. "You got your gun back?" She asked the blonde who smirked and held out her gun, looking smug. "Why the hell haven't I gotten mine back?!"

"Here!" Shane literally shoved her gun in front of her face. "You only get one, so shut your damn mouth!" He moved onto the next person.

Octavia snarled, clenching her jaw as she held herself back from knocking Shane on his ass. Instead, she looked down at her gun and smiled - it was the only thing she had left of her dad. He had given it to her on her sixteenth birthday. It had been engraved with her initials.

Furrowing her eyebrows, Octavia then looked up as something dawned on her. Dale was the one who was suppose to be guarding the weapons. "Where's Dale?" He must've done something to him.

Shane scoffed, not glancing at her. "He's on his way," He answered as he began passing guns out to each member of the group.

T-Dog frowned in confusion. "I thought we couldn't carry?"

"We can and we have too. Look, it was one thing sittin' around here pickin' daisies when we thought this place was supposed to be safe but now we know it ain't," Shane said and then turned to Glenn handing a gun to him. "How about you man? You gonna protect what's yours?"

Glenn took the gun, but that angered Maggie who was standing beside him. "Can you stop?" She asked angrily. "If you do this, if you hand out these guns, my dad will make you leave tonight!"

"He can't hear you over his ever growing ego," Octavia told her with a sigh. She turned to Shane and glared. "Stop trying to be the leader, you never were and you never will be."

Carl appeared out of nowhere, walking towards Shane. "We have to stay, Shane," He said sternly.

"What is this?" Lori asked appearing in the house doorway.

"We ain't goin' anywhere, lil' man okay?" Shane assures Carl. "Now look, Hershel's just gotta understand. He's gonna have to. Now, we need to find Sophia, am I right?" He squatted down in front of Carl, pulling out a gun. "Now, I want you to take this, Carl. You take it and you keep your mother safe. You do whatever it takes. You know how. Go on, take the gun and do it."

Octavia quickly walked up to Shane and shoved him away from Carl. "You so much as suggest to give him a gun again, I will kick you so hard in the fucking balls that you will turn into a walker," she threatened, gently pushing Carl towards Lori who glared at Shane.

Rick said no guns," Lori spat angrily. "This is not your call. This is not your decision to make."

Oh shit," T-Dog gasped suddenly.

They all turned around to look at something in the distance, near the barn. Hershel and Rick had walker's on snare poles, and Jimmy was guiding them towards the barn.

Acting on anger, Shane took off towards them, and the others quickly followed. Octavia was running as fast as she possibly could seeing as her hip still hurt badly. Though, it did feel so much better since she's been taking care of it a lot more lately.

"What the hell is happening?!" Octavia yelled aloud, her eyes wide in horror and panic. This was gonna go all wrong and she didn't know what the result was gonna be.

"What the hell are you doing?" Shane yelled as he tried to keep them away from the barn.

"Shane, just back off!" Rick yelled, struggling to keep his hold on the snare pole as the walker jerked, reaching towards the group with hungry eyes.

"Why do your people have guns?" Hershel asked in confusion.

"That's not important!" Octavia snapped. "Why are you holding them like their dogs? They're not!"

"Are you kidding me?" Shane asked angrily before turning to the group. "You see? You see what they're holdin' onto?"

"I see who I'm holding onto!" Hershel corrected.

"No man, you don't," Shane replied bitterly, shaking his head.

"Shane, just let us do this and then we can talk!" Rick yelled, his face covered in sweat, his eyes wide, and he was biting his lip as he tried to keep a hold on the snare that held the walker.

"What you wanna talk about, Rick?" Shane asked rhetorically, huffing. "These things ain't sick! They're not people! They're dead! Ain't gonna feel nothin' for them 'cause all they do is kill! They kill! These things right here, they're the things that killed Amy! They killed Otis! They're gonna kill us all!"

"Shane!" Octavia yelled, trying to defuse the situation before it got out of hand. "Stop!"

Shane ignored her, like usual. "Hey, Hershel man, let me ask you something," He started as he pulled his gun from his waistband and aimed it at the walker trapped in Hershel's snare pole. "Could a livin', breathin', person walk away from this?" He fired three bullets into the walker's chest. "That's three rounds in the chest! Could someone who's alive just take that?! Why's it still coming?" He fired again. "That's it's heart! It's lungs! Why is it still coming?" He demanded and then continued to shoot into the walker's chest.

"Shane enough!" Rick yelled angrily and desperately.

Shane marched towards the walker in Hershel's snare pole. "Yeah man, you're right, this is enough," He spat and then fired a final bullet into the walker's head causing it to drop to the ground - dead.

"You're insane!" Octavia screamed, watching as Hershel dropped to the ground by the walker's dead body, his face emotionless. It was like the life drained from him.

"Enough risking our lives for a little girl who's gone! Enough living next to a barn full of things that are 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." Shane ran to the barn doors, his body tense.

"Take the snag-pole! Hershel, take it!" Rick yelled desperately at the older man as Shane grabbed an axe.

Octavia ran towards Shane, trying to stop him, but once she grabbed his arm, he swiveled around, punching her in the face, making her stumble back, and fall to the ground.

She angrily scurried to her feet and was about to lunge towards him when she was grabbed from behind, hands gripping her waist tightly. She thrashed around in their hold, and even turned around, punching them in the gut harshly.

"Fuck," the guy spat and she stopped, realizing that it was Daryl. She breathed in deeply through her nose. "Damn, woman. Last time I ever stop you."

Upon hearing the creaky doors being pushed open, she turned around in horror.

The walkers made their way out of the barn, craving for flesh, snarling in hunger,

Octavia rose her gun up and start shooting at the walkers, in sync with the rest of the group.

One by one, all the walkers went tumbling to the ground, now fully dead. And once the last one fell, the sobs from the Greene family were the only sounds heard throughout the farm.

Octavia breathed heavily, bowing her head to the ground in sadness. No family should have to watch their friends and family be slaughtered right in front of them. It was too much to handle, even for a hunter.

A low growling filled her ears, and she instantly brought her head back up and look towards the barn. There was shuffling. The first thing that she saw was dirty shoes and legs before anything else. Once it - most likely a girl -came out out of the barn, there was a very distinct bite mark on her shoulder, dry, old blood around it. It looked like she had to of died a couple of weeks ago.

Once the light hit her face, Octavia stepped back in shock. Her whole body shutting down, making her drop her gun in the process.

"No..." She mumbled, shaking her head.

It was Alex.

She was a girl who was turned into a vampire but hadn't fed yet, so the Winchester's were able to save her, and help her. Octavia was the one who went out of the way for the cure and to send her to Jody - a woman who was like a mother to her - for help and to have a place to live. Octavia had gotten really close to her, same with Claire.

Taking in a shaky breath, Octavia picked up her gun and walked towards the seventeen year old girl who had become a great friend. Raising her gun, a single shot went off, and Alex's shell of a body fell to the ground, lifeless.

Sucking in a huge breath, Octavia's whole body shook as she tried to hold in her feelings.

No one said anything, but just looked at her in worry. This was the first time she was showing emotion other than anger or annoyance. And they felt sorry for this to be the first time she was to show her feelings, because she had known the girl she had just shot. Given the fact the the girl wasn't in there anymore, it still hurt to kill someone - something - that looked like someone you once loved.

Octavia clenched her jaw and then she dropped to the ground in shock, a tear skidding down her cheek.