❛ You, what do you own the world? How do you own disorder? Disorder. ❜

SEASON 2, EPISODE 7
pretty much dead already

━━━━━━ day 71.

IT WAS MID-AFTERNOON the following day, and there seemed to be a tension in the air that seemed to stem from a hundred things at once. Bianca only knew of a couple things that might be causing stress to stir between a few people.

⠀⠀⠀Lori's pregnancy for one. Glenn, Maggie, and Dale all knew, as did Rick. Her attempted abortion, on top of that, seemed to have Rick a little out of it. Shane didn't seem to know. He wasn't acting any stranger than he already did around Lori.

⠀⠀⠀Glenn and Maggie seemed to be getting along well before whatever happened on their run the day before. So, there was obviously some romantic tension between them on top of Lori's situation.

⠀⠀⠀There was also Sophia in the woods, Daryl being shot, Shane butting heads with everyone on everything, the Greene's still being wary of their presence, and a hundred other minor things with those.

⠀⠀⠀However, there was something else Bianca could feel resonating within those stressors. Something she was missing.

⠀⠀⠀Bianca picked at the eggs Carol had made for them over the fire, finding herself helpful with chores to busy her mind from her missing daughter. Her eyes scanned the group, waiting to see if she could pick out the tension. Finally, she landed on Glenn, who stood with sweat pouring down his face in buckets, and he wrung out the bottom of his shirt nervously.

⠀⠀⠀"Um, guys," Glenn began, rubbing nervously at his face.

⠀⠀⠀Everyone continued eating, glancing at Glenn only to return to themselves. Glenn paused, waiting for them to look at him, but they continued, unperturbed by his sudden announcement.

⠀⠀⠀"The barn is full of walkers."

⠀⠀⠀Bianca's eyes widened while everyone else paused, staring back at Glenn as if they weren't sure if they heard him right. Glenn allowed the news to settle, waiting for their response. It was quiet at first, then Rick and Shane were on their feet and running to the barn.

⠀⠀⠀The others followed, leaving their shock behind them as they stood a few feet back from the barn doors. Shane took it upon himself to look inside through the crack in the wooden doors.

⠀⠀⠀Shane took a few steps away when a walker approached the door, then turned with a scowl as he stormed back to the group.

⠀⠀⠀"You cannot tell me you're alright with this," Shane said harshly to Rick, walking past him and nicking his shoulder.

⠀⠀⠀"No, I'm not," Rick assured him, his tone rough around the edges between the bind this situation puts them in. "But we're guests here. This isn't our land."

⠀⠀⠀"This our lives, man!" Shane snapped back, throwing his hands down.

⠀⠀⠀"Lower your voice!" Glenn snapped back.

⠀⠀⠀"We can't just sweep this under the rug," Andrea stepped in, her arms crossed as she, too, began to scowl.

⠀⠀⠀"It ain't right. Not remotely," Shane muttered, beginning to pace circles around the group. He stopped, standing at Rick's side as he stared firmly at him. "Okay, we've either got to go in there and make things right, or we've got to go. Now, we've been talkin' about Fort Benning for a long time—"

⠀⠀⠀"We can't go!" Rick barked, flinging his hand out to tell Shane to stop.

⠀⠀⠀"Why, Rick? Why?" Shane asked, growing frustrated.

⠀⠀⠀"Because my daughter is still out there," Carol spoke up, her arms folded across her chest as she stared at Shane with a frown.

⠀⠀⠀"Okay," Shane muttered, breathing in deep as he wiped his hands down his face and folded them over his mouth as he stared at her. "Okay, I think it's time that we all start to just consider the other possibility..."

⠀⠀⠀"We're not leaving Sophia behind," Rick told him firmly.

⠀⠀⠀"Shane! I'm close to finding this girl," Daryl claimed, stepping away from the back of the group towards him. "Just found her damn doll two days ago."

⠀⠀⠀Shane started to chuckle and told him, "You found her doll, Daryl. That's what you did. You found a doll!"

⠀⠀⠀"You don't know what the hell you're talkin' about," Daryl snapped back at him, throwing his arm out in front of him in dismissal.

⠀⠀⠀"I'm just sayin' what needs to be said!" Shane exclaimed. "You get a good lead; it's in the first forty-eight hours!"

⠀⠀⠀Lori and Carol stared at Shane with distraught expressions, seeming surprised to hear him so adamantly against looking for Sophia. Bianca watched on carefully, waiting for the inevitable fight to break out between the two as it always did. Rick tried to cut Shane off, stepping between them, but Shane kept going.

⠀⠀⠀"Let me tell you somethin' else, man," Shane stated, a smile spread across his face believing he was right, and they were all too stupid to believe him. "If she was alive out there and saw you comin' all meth-ed out with your buck knife and geek ears around your neck, she would run in the other direction!"

⠀⠀⠀Daryl grew red as he darted forward, hands out like claws wanting to rip Shane to shreds. Rick was already beside them, pulling them apart. Bianca darted by their side, helping pull Daryl along with Andrea while Lori and Rick forced Shane back.

⠀⠀⠀"Now, just let me talk to Hershel!" Rick shouted at Shane's back. "Let me figure it out."

⠀⠀⠀"What you gonna figure out?!" Shane yelled back, turning on his hell as he began to rush Rick. Lori stepped in his way, her hand pushing back against his chest as he shouted 'enough.'

⠀⠀⠀"If we're gonna stay; if we're gonna clear this barn. I have to talk him into it. This is his land," Rick explained with fire in his words.

⠀⠀⠀"Hershel sees those things in there as people," Dale claimed, walking over to Rick. "Sick people. His wife. His step-son."

⠀⠀⠀"You knew?" Rick spat, glaring down at Dale.

⠀⠀⠀"Yesterday, I talked to Hershel," Dale said, nodding.

⠀⠀⠀"And you waited the night?" Shane asked.

⠀⠀⠀"I thought we could survive one more night. We did," Dale explained sternly, punctuating each word to further his point. "I was waiting 'til this morning to say something, but Glenn wanted to be the one."

⠀⠀⠀"The man is crazy, Rick," Shane stated, growing increasingly louder. "If Hershel thinks those things are alive or not!"

⠀⠀⠀The argument settled as the barn doors started to rattle, everyone turning to move back further as the walkers began to hear them. They stared at the doors, growing increasingly nervous until they decided to head back to the farmhouse and settle things there with Hershel.

BIANCA SAT ON the steps of the farmhouse with Glenn and Maggie. She had been correct in her earlier assumption that something was happening between the two. Now, they seemed to be getting along better with the secret out to all of them.

⠀⠀⠀Bianca walked over just as Maggie pecked Glenn's lips. She leaned against the banister and smiled down at them. A smile rose to her face.

⠀⠀⠀"Y'all are cute," Bianca cooed, looking between them expectantly. Maggie and Glenn both looked up with giddy smiles on their lips. "Wish I'd been invited to the wedding."

⠀⠀⠀"Ha, ha, very funny," Glenn said, amused, as he rolled his eyes in response. A flush filled his cheeks, and he ducked his head under his hat. Maggie didn't seem bothered by her comment, just patted his thigh lovingly.

⠀⠀⠀"Was it a themed wedding? Everyone dress up like grandpas?" Bianca asked curiously, furrowing her brows.

⠀⠀⠀"No, why would you think that?" Glenn asked in confusion, looking up at her.

⠀⠀⠀"Your hat."

⠀⠀⠀"What's wrong with my hat?" Glenn asked, pressing his hands on top of his head. "Is there something wrong with my hat?" he asked Maggie with a frown.

⠀⠀⠀Maggie grinned, so bright and beautiful, one that screamed she was madly in love with him. Maggie looked over his face, then at his hat, and let out a breathy laugh.

⠀⠀⠀"You do look like you should be in line for the early bird special," Maggie shrugged, taking the hat from his head. "Go get your cap. I'll wash it out for you, okay?"

⠀⠀⠀Glenn stood just as T-Dog and Andrea arrived with urgency in their steps.

⠀⠀⠀"Do you know what's goin' on?" T-Dog asked, stopping Glenn in his tracks.

⠀⠀⠀"Where is everyone?" Andrea asked, throwing her hands out.

⠀⠀⠀"You haven't seen Rick?" Glenn asked.

⠀⠀⠀"He went off with Hershel," Andrea explained. "We were supposed to leave a couple hours ago."

⠀⠀⠀"Yeah, you were. What the hell," Daryl agreed, walking over to the front of the farmhouse with Carol. He looked over the group crowding the porch and scowled. "Dammit! Isn't anybody taking this seriously! We got us a damn trail. Oh, here we go."

⠀⠀⠀Shane approached from the woods next, a bag of guns in his hand as Daryl walked to meet him halfway. The two talked for a moment, Shane looking very intense as he did before handing Daryl a gun. Then, he continued forward and met the rest of the group.

⠀⠀⠀"Thought we couldn't carry," T-Dog said warily, eyeing Shane with a raised brow as he was handed a gun.

⠀⠀⠀"We can, and we have to," Shane said firmly, approaching the others. "Look, it was one thing sittin' round here pickin' daisies when we thought this place was supposed to be safe, but now we know we ain't. What about you, man? You gonna protect what's yours?" Shane asked Glenn.

⠀⠀⠀Glenn looked to Maggie, then back to Shane, and took the gun.

⠀⠀⠀"That's it," Shane praised, then looked at Maggie. "Can you shoot?"

⠀⠀⠀"Can you stop?" Maggie scolded him. "You do this; you hand out these guns. My dad will make you leave tonight."

⠀⠀⠀"We have to stay, Shane," Carl said, walking down the house steps.

⠀⠀⠀"What is this?" Lori asked as she rushed from inside the house.

⠀⠀⠀"We ain't goin' anywhere, okay? Now, look, Hershel, he's just gotta understand. Okay? He... well, he's gonna have to," Shane told them, then kneeled in front of Carl. "Now, we need to find Sophia. Am I right? Huh?" he asked, pulling a gun out for Carl. "You take it, Carl, and you keep your mother safe. You do—"

⠀⠀⠀Bianca forced her way in front of Shane, scowling with edges of red beginning to fill her vision. She took in a deep breath, trying to calm herself. Her fists clenched as Shane looked up at her in annoyance, cocking his head.

⠀⠀⠀"We got enough people who will help you. You don't need to get him involved," Bianca sneered at him.

⠀⠀⠀"He knows how. He's gotta learn sometime," Shane replied, gritting his teeth as he stood, towering over her as he squared his shoulders.

⠀⠀⠀"No, he ain't your kid," Bianca snapped at him, causing a ripple of emotion to cross Shane's face before it balanced back to the stony glare. "You got the rest of us to boss around."

⠀⠀⠀"What? You in, then?" Shane asked, trading the gun he was reserving for Carl with a rifle.

⠀⠀⠀Bianca took it, a little reluctant, but she also agreed somewhat that the walkers in the barn were a problem. Lori, however, rushed forward as she rested her hand on Bianca's shoulder and pulled her back.

⠀⠀⠀"Rick said no guns. This is not your call," Lori hissed at him. "This is not your decision to make."

⠀⠀⠀Lori might've lectured Shane for the rest of the evening if it weren't for T-Dog catching their attention. His well-worded 'oh, shit' had them all turn to see Rick, Jimmy, and Hershel appearing out of the woods across the farm with walkers on poles.

⠀⠀⠀"What is that?" Shane growled, beginning to jog towards them.

⠀⠀⠀The others followed behind all the way to the barn, Shane forcing the gate with a loud crash and shutter. The culmination of their decision, to clear the barn or leave the farm, seemed to be forcing them to choose now. Bianca wasn't sure which was the better idea.

⠀⠀⠀"What the hell are you doin'?!" Shane screamed at Rick.

⠀⠀⠀Rick held a walker with a pole while Hershel held another. They stepped carefully, both looking tense, as the Atlanta group was armed and ready to fight.

⠀⠀⠀"Shane, just back off!" Rick yelled back at him.

⠀⠀⠀"Why do your people have guns?" Hershel demanded.

⠀⠀⠀"Are you kidding me?" Shane asked, pissed by Hershel's hypocritical questioning of them when he kept dangerous, man-eating creatures just feet from where they slept. "You see? You see what they're holdin' onto?"

⠀⠀⠀"I see who I'm holding onto," Hershel corrected him.

⠀⠀⠀"No, man. You don't."

⠀⠀⠀"Shane, just let us do this, and then we can talk," Rick struggled to say as he tried to keep the walker in his grip.

⠀⠀⠀"What you wanna talk about, Rick?" Shane spat, jumping around them in anger. "These things aren't sick. They're not people. They're dead. Ain't gonna feel nothin' 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!"

⠀⠀⠀"Shane, shut up!" Rick yelled, feeling his power slip through his fingers as Shane continued to rile the group up.

⠀⠀⠀"Hey, Hershel, man, let me ask you somethin'," Shane continued, walking, so he stood in front of him. "Could a living, breathing person... could they walk away from this?"

⠀⠀⠀Shane raised his gun, and three shots went straight through the walker Hershel was holding. Hershel stared at the woman, shocked, as it kept moving and growling with barely a hitch in its walk. Bianca felt for the man who, for the first time, didn't seem as convinced in his beliefs since they'd gotten there.

⠀⠀⠀"That is three rounds in the chest," Shane stated. "Could someone who's alive, could they just take that?! Why is it still comin'?"

⠀⠀⠀He sent two more rounds through it.

⠀⠀⠀"That's its heart, its lungs. Why is it still comin'?"

⠀⠀⠀Another shot.

⠀⠀⠀"Shane, enough!" Rick bellowed.

⠀⠀⠀"Yeah, you're right, man," Shane agreed, stepping forward and resting the barrel on the walker's head. "That is enough," he said and killed it.

⠀⠀⠀Bianca's mouth opened. The quick shot, without any emotion, was unsettling. Sure, it was a walker Shane had killed, and not even Bianca believed they were the same person after death, but with all the emotions running high, Bianca thought maybe he would hesitate.

⠀⠀⠀But, nothing.

⠀⠀⠀"Enough riskin' our lives for a little girl who's gone! Enough livin' next to a barn full of things that are tryin' to kill us! Enough! Rick, it ain't like it was before," Shane claimed with a frown as he turned to his friend. Then, he turned back to the rest of them. "Now, if y'all wanna live, if you wanna survive, you gotta fight for it! I'm talkin' about right here, right now!"

⠀⠀⠀If Bianca wondered what Shane had meant, it didn't take her long to understand. Shane turned on his heel and sprinted for the barn doors. He stuffed his gun into the back of his pants before using a pickaxe lying around to bust open the lock. When it was loose enough, he used his fingers to pry it open the rest of the way. The doors were still shut as Shane slammed his hands on the wood, drawing the walker's attention before running back.

⠀⠀⠀Rick screamed at Hershel all the while to take his pole from him so that he could stop Shane, but it was too late either way. Shane wanted this to happen, and Rick could not do anything to stop it.

⠀⠀⠀The walkers inched the door open, and at first, only a trickle came out. A few were knocked down with ease by Shane. Then, a flood of them that Hershel and his family had collected over the first few weeks.

⠀⠀⠀There were too many and all of them out in the open, ready to be walker lunch. Bianca didn't consider it much more than that, running forward with the gun and putting into practice what Rick had taught her. She managed to take a sliver of the whole lot of them out. Daryl, Glenn, Andrea, even Lori shot them down as well once they knew this was the only option left.

⠀⠀⠀When it was over, it felt like the wind still. Tension already there became palpable, warming the skin as they waited. It seemed like they all knew it wasn't over. Something inside was still resonating to them.

⠀⠀⠀A growl emitted from inside the barn. One that had Bianca's heart drop and her stomach coil in anticipation. There was one left inside, easy to take out until small hands clawed the door before walking out.

⠀⠀⠀It was evident from the second the little girl stepped into the light that she was theirs. A rainbow t-shirt, blue shorts, and light-up shoes that had been haunting their dreams and waking lives.

⠀⠀⠀Bianca stumbled back a few steps with wide eyes as she realized Sophia was. Sweet little Sophia, so kind and sweet, who hated math and was best friends with Eliza Morales. Who's dad was dick, and her mom tried her best. The little girl who deserved a lot better was no more invincible than any of them.

⠀⠀⠀A sweat broke across Bianca's forehead, and her hands clenched as she rested her gun down toward the ground. What did that mean for any hope to any of them? If Sophia went out into the woods and was only left for a second, could that even mean Cal was still out there alive? Sophia was right under their noses, and Cal's car had been on the highway.

⠀⠀⠀Bianca worried Cal had gotten away from the highway but ended up here as a walker. She tried to look over the bodies in her worry, but so far away, she came up with nothing.

⠀⠀⠀"Sophia? Sophia!" Carol sobbed as the shock started to settle. She ran forward, wanting to cradle her dead child in her arms. However, Daryl caught her, dragging her down before she could go any further.

⠀⠀⠀Rick stepped forward, gun drawn, and pointed at Sophia when no one else, not even Shane, could make the call. He waited a moment, then pulled the trigger. The search for Sophia concludes with her limp body falling to the dirt.

AUTHOR'S NOTE —

I find this chapter kind of boring :/ it felt necessary to include this episode and yet nothing really happens. However, I hope it was interesting either way.

Get this, I only have two more episodes and I'm finished pre-writing season 3 :0

Also, I've started hyper-focusing on Sims... someone send help. (If you're curious, I'm playing with Bianca and Cal and they just had a lil babey!)

SONG: Toxicity by System of a Down

Thank you for reading! Please leave a comment if you'd like. However, this is an all kind of reader safe space. So even if you ghost read or comment every chapter, I hope you know it means the world to me that you've come into this fic ♡ I hope you enjoyed this chapter, and until the next one.