CHAPTER FIFTEEN » WALKER IN THE WELL
"This is a stupid plan."

♔

In the sunlight, the Greene farm was more impressive than I'd first gathered last night. The house was pure white, surrounded by a field of grass and a barn nearby. Daryl, Dale, Andrea and Carol had arrived earlier in the morning, in time for us to all gather round for Otis' funeral.

He was buried underneath a lot of rocks that we'd all placed above his body. I didn't know Otis, but I could see how loved he was. After all, death doesn't happen to you, it happens to the people around you.

My heart clenched at the thought of losing another member of our group. We were lucky that Carl was still here. It almost felt that in order to get Carl back, Otis had to be given up. One life is given, only to take another.

Beth, the youngest of the family, placed another rock from the wheelbarrow onto the pile around Otis' body.

"Blessed be God, father of our lord. Jesus Christ," Hershel Greene spoke, as everyone else moved into a semi circle around the burial. "Praise be to him for the gift of our brother Otis, for his span of years, for his abundance of character; Otis, who gave his life to save a child's, now more than ever, our most precious asset. We thank you, God, for the peace he enjoys in your embrace. He died as he lived, in Grace," he turned to his side, eyes resting on Shane. "Shane, will you speak for Otis?"

"I'm not good at it," Shane replied, shaking his head and lowering it. "I'm sorry."

"You were the last one with him," Patricia spoke, a sob in her throat. My heart completely broke for her. She lost her husband, her love, her best friend. "You shared his final moments. Please. I need to hear. I need to know his death had meaning."

Tears filled my eyes upon hearing the desperation in her voice. I've been lucky, in a sense, so far. The people we've lost, I was never that close to them. Part of that reason is because I've become hesitant to get too close to people. But if I were to lose somebody I cared so much about, somebody I truly loved, like family, it would destroy me. All it takes is a second to lose somebody. A small hesitation, a bad decision, a moment of fear. And they're gone. The pain that the Greene family were going through, I never wanted to experience that. Ever.

My hand reached over to Glenn's arm for some kind of comfort as I held the tears back in my eyes. I saw him glance over at me briefly, before pulling me closer to him.

"Okay," Shane started, nodding his head slowly. "We were about done. Almost out of ammo. We were down to pistols by then. I was limping. It was bad. Ankle all swollen up," his eyes flickered forwards as we all watched him. "We've got to save the boy. See, that's what he said," his voice cracked.

"He gave me his backpack. He shoved me ahead. Run, he said. He said, I'll take the rear. I'll cover you," he looked up again, the emotion gone from his eyes as he glanced over at Patricia, who was barley holding it together. "And when I looked back..." He trailed off.

The tears brimming in my eyes started to fall and I made no effort to brush them away. But it didn't feel like my place to cry about this man, someone I'd never even met. I watched as Shane limped over to the wheelbarrow and grabbed two stones.

"If not for Otis, I'd have never made it out alive," his eyes flickered around the group. "And that goes for Carl too. It was Otis." Finally, his gaze rested on Patricia, probably giving her some kind of comfort that Otis died for a reason. "If any death ever had meaning, it was his."

I felt a hand press on my back and looked up at Glenn who gave me a small smile. I tilted my head to the side, resting it on his shoulder. After a while, everybody started to move from the burial, apart from Patricia. Glenn's hand still rested on my back as the two of us slowly walked away.

How much more loss would we have to suffer before this was all over?

~

"How long has this girl been lost?" Hershel asked, after we'd explained the Sophia situation to him and Maggie earlier.

"This'll be day three," Rick answered.

Maggie came over with a map, placing it on the hood of the car. I moved, standing beside Rick and glancing down.

"County survey map," Maggie stated, placing some rocks in the corners to prevent it from blowing away. "Shows terrain and elevations."

"This is perfect," Rick commented. "We can finally get this thing organized. We'll grid the whole area, start searching in teams."

"Not you. Not today," Hershel shook his head. "You gave three units of blood. You wouldn't be hiking five minutes in this heat before passing out." Then he turned to face Shane. "And your ankle. Push it now, you'll be laid up a month, no good to anybody."

"Guess it's just me," Daryl spoke up, leaning forwards and pressing his finger against the map. "I'm gonna head back to the creek, work my way from there."

"I can still be useful," Shane said. "I'll drive up to the interstate, see if Sophia wandered back."

"All right, tomorrow then," Rick said, turning back to Hershel. "We'll start doing this right."

"That means we can't have our people out there with just knives," Shane added. "They need the gun training we've been promising them."

"I'd prefer you not carrying guns on my property," Hershel said, causing me to raise an eyebrow. Did he not know what the world outside his farm was like? Like Shane said, we can't exactly defend ourselves with knives. "We've managed so far without turning this into an armed camp."

"All due respect, you get a crowd of those things wandering in here-"

Rick cut Shane off. "Look, we're guests here. This is your property and we will respect that," he said, his gaze hardening on Shane and then on me, as if he knew I'd be reluctant about the idea too. Rick took out his gun, placing it on the hood of the car. Shane followed reluctantly, clearly annoyed at the idea. I slid the gun from my belt loop and placed it on top of the car too. "First things first: Set camp, find Sophia."

"I hate to be the one to ask," Shane started, leaning his hands against the hood of the car. "But somebody's got to. What happens if we find her and she's bit? I think we should all be clear on how we handle that."

I glanced over at Rick, waiting for his answer. "You do what has to be done."

I crossed my arms over my chest, shifting my weight onto the left side of my body. The thought of having to put down Sophia made me completely uncomfortable.

"And her mother? What do you tell her?" Maggie asked.

"The truth," I mumbled, the idea making me feel slightly sick.

"I'll gather and secure all the weapons," Shane said. "Make sure no one's carrying till we're at a practice range off site. I do request one rifleman on lookout. Dale's got experience."

Hershel looked hesitant and Rick noticed, turning to him. "Our people would feel safer, less inclined to carry a gun." Hershel gave him a small nod. "Thank you."

"That stuff you brought-" Maggie said, turning to Rick. "Got more antibiotics, bandages, anything like that?"

Rick let out a heavy sigh. "Just what you've seen."

Maggie nodded, turning to her father. "We're running short already. I should make a run into town."

"Not the place Shane went?" Rick asked, concern in his voice.

"No, there's a pharmacy just a mile down the road. I've done it before," she replied, a pleading tone to her voice.

I glanced over to where Rick was looking and noticed Glenn. Already knowing what he was about to say, I quickly stepped forwards. "I'll go too."

Rick shook his head. "I don't know, Blaire. I mean Glenn-"

"Is busy..." I trailed off, nodding over to him. He was stood turning a piece of paper the other way round, probably the instructions for the tents, with a frown. "And I'm not. Plus, I've been on countless of runs. So I'll go."

Maggie nodded. "Okay."

"Fine," Rick replied, looking back over at the guns on the hood of the car and picking mine back up. "Take your gun."

I took it from his hands and pushed it back into my belt loop. "Thanks."

After Maggie had saddled the horses, Lori headed over to me, an awkward smile on her face.

"Hi," she greeted. "Here's your list. And, um," she reached into her back pocket, hesitantly pulling out another piece of paper. "There's one other item. I wrote it down separately. It's personal. If we could be real discreet about that, okay?"

I nodded, taking the list from her hands. "Sure."

"Thank you," she said, a breath of relief leaving her.

I glanced down at the list in my hand, curiosity instantly getting the better of me. "Uh, what is it?"

"Kind of missing the point of the whole discreet thing, Blaire."

"Yeah, right, okay," I said awkwardly. "Where am I supposed to find this?"

"Try the feminine hygiene section."

I nodded, giving her a small and knowing smile. "Consider it done."

~

Before Maggie and I could leave, Dale came and found us, asking for help. What I didn't expect to see, like ever, was a walker in a well.

Dale, T-Dog, Shane, Maggie, Lori, Andrea, Glenn and I started circling the well. Dale shone a light inside, exposing the slimy, hissing walker.

"Looks like we got us a swimmer," Dale commented, a grimace on his face.

Glenn leaned over, peering inside the well. "How long you think it's been down there?"

"Long enough to grow gills," Andrea replied.

"We can't leave it in there," Lori said. "God knows what it's doing to the water."

"We got to get it out," Shane added.

"Easy. Put a bullet in its head," T-Dog said with a shrug. "I'll get a rope."

"Whoa whoa, guys," Maggie glanced over at T-Dog. "No."

"Why not?" Glenn turned to her. "It's a good plan."

"It's a stupid plan," I said, crossing my arms over my chest.

"If that thing hasn't contaminated the water yet, blowing its brains out will finish the job," Andrea added.

"They're right," Shane glanced down at the walker again. "Can't risk it."

"So it has to come out alive?"

"So to speak," Shane replied.

I frowned, peering at the grimy walker before looking around the rest of the group. "How do we do that?"

The only way we'd be able to get it out would be with that rope. But how would we attach it to it? We'd have to tempt it with something - fresh meat.

"We need live bait," Andrea said. At the mention of that, I saw her look at Glenn and realised that everybody else was too. He seemed to notice and let out a sigh, nodding his head.

"Okay, now this is a stupid plan," I said, shaking my head as the others started to get some rope. "Maybe we should reconsider?"

I was ignored and the rope was instead tied around Glenn. Anxiously, I watched as he was lowered to the well, waiting there as the rope was tightened. My heart pounded in my chest as I thought of all the bad possibilities.

"Okay, but there are like so many ways this can go wrong," I blurted, not intending for it to come out so bluntly.

Glenn turned around, narrowing his eyes at me. "Thanks, Blaire. Seriously, thanks."

"No, I meant that-" I cut off. "Look, this is a crazy idea." Nobody replied and I stepped forwards, glancing at Shane who was tightening the rope. "Shane?"

He said nothing as Glenn took a flashlight from Lori. "Have I mentioned that I really like your new haircut?" Glenn said to Shane, who was now tying the rope around the metal bar. "You have a nice shaped head."

"Don't worry about it, bud," Shane gave Glenn a pat on the shoulder. "We're gonna get you out of here in one piece."

"Living piece," Glenn said quickly. "That living part is important." He exhaled shakily as we all stood around the rope. "Nice and slow please."

"We got you," I assured, slightly under pressure by the fact that Glenn's life was literally in our hands.

"Oh, you people are crazy," Maggie said from the sidelines, shaking her head as she watched us.

"You want to get it out of your well or not?" Shane asked from the front of the line.

Dale pointed towards the well. "Give us an eye there, Maggie."

Begrudgingly, she glanced into the well. "Doing okay?"

"Yup, doing great," Glenn replied sarcastically. "Living the dream."

"Little lower," Maggie instructed and I let the rope move through my hands more. "Little more."

Suddenly, the pump on the ground broke, causing Glenn to soar lower into the well with a scream. Everyone rushed to the pump, T-Dog and Shane holding it as the rest of us grabbed the rope. I tightened my hand around it, holding it as hard as I could.

"GET ME OUT OF HERE!"

Using as much strength as I could, I frantically pulled the rope and pump further away from the entrance.

"Get him!"

"Pull, pull, pull!"

"Oh my god, oh my god!"

The pump got pulled back and Shane was instantly on his feet, grabbing the rope again and pulling it single handedly. I also dived for the rope, pulling it as hard as I could. "Come on!"

"Get me out, guys!"

As soon as I saw Glenn appear at the top of the well, I rushed forwards, reaching for him and pulling him onto the ground. I bent down beside him, feeling his body absolutely trembling in fear. "Glenn, are you ok?"

He moved himself up, me still holding onto him gently. My heart was thudding against my rib cage, my breaths coming out short, like everyone else's.

"Back to the drawing board," Dale stated.

Glenn lifted his head, a grin breaking out on his face. He lifted up a single rope in his hand. "Says you."

Everybody moved away as he got to his feet, handing over the rope. I walked over to the well, noticing the walker had been roped up. "Nice one."

After we'd devised a plan, Maggie brought her horses round for balance and to make it easier for us to pull the walker out. It was heavy, really heavy, and it took us a while to pull it out of the well.

"Nice and easy, just a little more." The walker stretched it's arms out, reaching for T-Dog. The disgusting smell of decay filled my nostrils and I grimaced, trying not to gag. I pulled on the rope harder, bending my legs and leaning back for extra strength.

The geek moved towards us before unexpectedly splitting completely in half. The weight shifted and I fell forwards, the rope slipping from my hands. "Son of a bitch," I cursed, pushing myself up from the ground and brushing my myself down. Half of the walker was sprawled out on the ground, reaching towards us, the rest of it in the well.

"We should seal off this well."

Shane rubbed the back of his head. "Yeah, might be a good idea."

"So what do we do about-"

T-Dog suddenly started slamming the pump into the geek's head, hammering over and over until it looked like mush. I turned away, catching eyes with Glenn briefly. The squishing sound stopped and I turned back around to see T-Dog staring at us with a blank expression.

"Good thing we didn't do anything like shoot it."

❃

Words: 2695
Published: 25th July 2016

Guys I'm so shook from the season 7 trailer someone cri with me