𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐏𝐓𝐄𝐑 𝐅𝐈𝐕𝐄
𝐖𝐀𝐋𝐊𝐄𝐑𝐒 𝐃𝐎𝐍'𝐓 𝐁𝐑𝐄𝐀𝐊 𝐅𝐎𝐑 𝐏𝐄𝐃𝐄𝐒𝐓𝐑𝐈𝐀𝐍𝐒

︶꒦꒷★꒷꒦︶

Claire sat there for what felt like hours, but based on the yelling echoing from the house, she knew it was only minutes.

"Are you alright?" Claire wiped her nose with her sleeve, looking up at Roman, the girl sucked in a breath before nodding, squinting up at him. "Uh, yeah. I've just never seen Shane like that, I don't even recognize him."

Roman nodded gently, "I haven't known them that long, but I've noticed something off about Shane since they got here."

Claire looked up at the man standing in front of her, "Did you know? About the barn? About Sophia?"

Roman sighed, "I knew about the barn, yeah. But I had no idea about Sophia, truly. When I got here, Hershel welcomed me with open arms. I had serviced his trucks and trackers countless times. It wasn't until about 2 weeks ago that I stumbled across the barn. He told me what it was for, and I just kind of left it at that. They were locked in there; they couldn't get out. If it helped the man sleep at night, then it didn't bother me, really. What harm is it, ya know?"

Claire let her head fall back into the car with a sigh, "I don't think it's that big of a deal, but Sophia being in there, it kind of makes it all worth it. Who knows how long Rick would've been looking for that poor girl."

Roman pulled his lips to the side, not knowing what to say, so instead reaching out a hand to her. "Come on, they're gonna bury them and have a silent service." Claire reached up, allowing the man to help her up from the ground.

Wiping the back of her jeans, she began walking towards the barn. Roman watched as she walked away, before turning on his heel to go find Hershel. As Claire approached Lori and Carl, she watched as Rick placed the hat on the boy. The girls frown upturned to a faux smile when Carl appeared around the corner to go inside.

"Hi, Claire," Carl said, and Claire looked down at him, "Hey, bud. Head inside, okay?" She spoke, placing a gentle hand on his head. The boy nodded, continuing his journey to the house, and her smile fell as she turned her head back to where Lori stood.

Claire walked a little longer, the heat of the sun pounding down on her cheeks. When she finally approached the barn, Lori, Andrea and T-Dog were grabbing shovels from next to the barn, "Hey,"

Lori looked over at the girl with a grim look. "Hey, honey."

"What can I do to help?" Lori sighed, grabbing another shovel and handing it to her, "Start digging." Claire grabbed the shovel gently, "I wanna help too."

Claire spun to look at Marcus, who was handed a shovel from Lori. He looked over at Claire, "Come on," He nodded his head in the direction of Jimmy and Shane, who were both actively working on a grave.

Claire slowed her steps at the sight of the man, and Marcus halted to a stop, looking behind him, "Just ignore him." He mumbled, bending his head down so no one else could hear him.

They picked a spot next to the two men, before they started digging.

★

The group was silent, Hershel dressed in his finest suit as he said his silent goodbyes to his wife and stepson. Claire inhaled a deep, shaky breath, placing her hands on her pockets and turning around as soon as the group began to disperse.

The experience of digging a grave small enough to fit a 12-year-old girl had Claire in a choke hold. How was she ever supposed to forget the feeling of watching Shane and Marcus lower the small girl into the grave? She could do nothing but picture having to dig a grave for Eli. Lowering him into the ground and covering him with pieces of the Earth.

The thought made her stomach turn, the feeling of throwing up growing in her throat for the second time that day. She headed inside the house, ignoring the others inside and running up the stairs and into the bedroom.

The girl rubbed the sweat from her forehead before bending down and grabbing her backpack. With a sigh, she slipped her arms through the straps.

She needed to find her brother, even if that meant the others staying behind. It was already at least noon; she has 6 hours of light left and she'd be damned if she didn't look for him today.

Turning and walking out of the room, she quietly made her way down the stairs, before bolting out the door and across the field towards Dale's RV.

She stepped inside, breathing heavy as she caught her breath as her eyes flickered around the empty RV. Her breaths were loud as she walked quickly over to the cabinet next to the bathroom and yanked it open, pulling out her gun that Rick had taken and put away after the shed incident.

Checking the cylinder, she made sure she still had bullets left before sliding it into the back of her jeans and shutting the cabinet.

Claire gasped as Marcus' face appeared behind the cabinet door. "What the hell-"

"I'm going with you." Claire furrowed her brows at the boy, "What? No."

"Yes. You don't know these woods as well as I do, when we find your brother, I'll be able to get us back to the farm, you won't." Claire sighed, shaking her head, "I'll do just fine." Her frustration showed through her southern accent as it became more pronounced the more the boy persisted.

"I'm coming too."

Claire groaned, looking over Marcus' shoulder at Kira, who had appeared in the doorway of the RV. "No. No one's coming with. I will not be responsible if anything happens to you."

"Exactly. You won't be responsible. None of us are children, Claire. We can make our own decisions. And plus, God knows we could use a break from the farm. With Hershel grieving and Shane losing his goddamn mind, there's enough chaos around here to make a soap opera out of." Marcus nodded, silently agreeing with Kira and shrugged, "We're coming with. Deal with it." Claire groaned, "Fine."

"Sweet!" Kira rejoiced, throwing her shotgun over her shoulder, adjusting her jeans and tightening her backpack straps, "Well? Let's go. Chop, chop. Lots of ground to cover and not enough daylight."

Claire sighed, mirroring Kira and tightening the straps of her backpack, following behind Marcus as the two exited the RV. Rounding the side of the RV, Kira suddenly stopped, Marcus coming to a halt causing Claire to bump into him, "God, what-" Claire groaned, looking up.

"Where do you think y'all are going?"

Claire sighed, crossing her arms, "Roman, move. I'm going to find my brother." Roman chuckled, "Bringing the whole peanut gallery with you, huh?" He smirked, looking between the three teens. Kira rolled her eyes, "Shut up, Roman. Get out of my way." The girl attempted to move the tall man, but he didn't budge.

"You think you'll make it out there all alone? A couple of teenagers against hundreds if not thousands of walkers. Are you fixing to get killed?"

"We can handle our own." Marcus spoke up, attempting to make himself bigger, but to no prevail, seeing as how Roman was a whole 5 inches taller than him.

Claire groaned with a roll of her eyes, crossing her arms as she stepped in front of Roman, "Then come with us. I know that's where this conversation is going." Roman smirked down at the shorter girl. "Well since you asked so nicely."

Claire walked past the boy as he wrapped the strap of his gun around his chest, leading the group into the woods.

The four had made it about a mile into the dense trees before Roman stopped Claire, placing a hand on her shoulder. "We don't have enough daylight to cover the amount of ground that we need to. The highways about a mile straight, I can fix up a car and get us further out of the area you've already searched."

"Cars too loud, the highway was crawling with walkers just a few days ago, imagine how many there are now." Marcus spoke, stepping in front of the two. "That herd is long gone by now, those things move in packs and if we can get there in time, I'm sure I can get a car up and running before the next herd passes through." Roman was stern and bossy, but Claire knew he could do it. "He's right. We'll cover more ground in a car. We can walk along the highway and find a car that isn't blocked in."

Marcus rolled his eyes, visibly annoyed by Roman's presence. Marcus hadn't liked Roman; he was cocky, and a know-it-all, and he acted like he needed to lead the group. He knew Roman growing up, they had only shared a year of high school together, but you didn't need to go to school with him to know who he was. Infamous for illegally selling car parts and dating almost every girl in their small town. He was promiscuous and a cheat, it was a miracle he even graduated high school.

Roman nodded at Claire, knowing he wouldn't have led them to the highway if Claire didn't want to. The man walked off towards the highway, and Claire followed, sending a small smile at Marcus as she passed him.

"You can admit that Roman's a threat to your manly ego. It's okay." Kira teased, shoving Marcus' shoulder. "Shut up, I hate you." Marcus muttered, turning around and following the others.

★

"Dude, come on, I thought you said you could fix this damn thing. You've been at it for 45 minutes."

Roman sighed, looking up over the hood of the SUV and glaring at Marcus. "Well, if you can somehow locate my $600 tool kit that I lost before the outbreak, then I'll be able to fix it faster." Roman smiled sarcastically, and Marcus rolled his eyes. "Aren't you some mechanic prodigy child?" Marcus mumbled, leaning against the car. "Listen, kid. I'm working with 4 wrenches and a bunch of nuts and bolts under here, it'll take longer than 5 minutes."

Claire groaned as she turned around, taking her eyes off the highway and glaring at the two boys, "Marcus, leave him alone, he's doing his best. If you're that nervous about walkers, why don't you go back. You're obviously not handling this very well."

Kira snickered, continuing to clean her gun, legs crossed as she sat on the top of the Saturn that was parked next to the Ford Escape Roman was fixing.

"It's a new car! Literally manufactured last year! It shouldn't be that hard to start up." Marcus argued, "And I'm not nervous, I just don't feel like getting caught in the middle of a herd that decided to take a mid-day stroll through the Georgia countryside."

"Fine," Roman mumbled, wiping his forehead with the back of his arm, throwing the dirty random-t-shirt-turned-rag at Marcus, "You fix it."

Marcus scoffed; his brows raised as he threw the dirty cloth back at him, "What? You're the car guy. I didn't spend my prime high school learning years ditching class to work on my car and date every girl in town."

Claire could feel the rage building up in her chest listening to the two boys argue, and she couldn't comprehend why Marcus couldn't just shut up in such an important time. Before she knew it, she was shouting over them. "God, will each of you just shut up!" Claire raised her voice, causing Kira to pause and look up through her lashes. Roman raised an eyebrow at the girl, sticking his tongue in his cheek.

"I'm sorry, Claire. But if he hadn't butted into this, we'd probably be several miles out of town by now, actually looking for your brother."

"Yeah. Hot, hungry, and exhausted." Kira whispered, her distain for the idea of walking several miles evident on her face.

Claire could feel her chest beginning to burn at the arguing boys but grunting sounds from behind her caught her attention. With a slow turn of her head, she glanced back. Wide eyes watched as several walkers slowly began appearing from behind cars.

"Shut up." Claire whispered, putting her hand up to the group. The others sighed, looking over at the girl before they began to panic at the sight of the walkers.

Kira swiftly jumped from the top of the car, grabbing Marcus and dragging him under the Saturn. Roman grabbed Claire's hand and guided her slowly under the green SUV, the two rolling underneath it and looking over at Marcus and Kira, who were both staring straight at the underneath of the car.

"There's too many of them, we have to wait it out." Roman whispered to the others, who just nodded and gave a thumbs up. Claire's breathing was shaky as the moaning of walkers began to grow closer. This was bad. If she died before she could find Eli, who knows what could happen to him. He could be taken by shitty people, eaten by a walker, or worse, turned into one of them.

She needed to make it out of this. For Eli.

"Shh." Roman quietly shushed her, placing a finger over his own lips. He was laying on his stomach, while Claire was on her back.

The tar and rubble dug into her exposed shoulders, and there was a rock stuck under her head, but she was too petrified to move, tears beginning to form in the corners of her eyes, as walkers began to shuffle slowly by the car.

A hand grasped hers, snapping Claire out of her terrified trance on the dirty brake lines that ran along the underside of the car.

'Breathe.' Roman mouthed as he released his hand, and Claire released a silent, shaky breath. Her heartbeat was pounding in her ears. They were slow. So painfully slow. Scuffing the ground with their feet as they wobbled on by. There were so many of them. a few dozen of them at the least. If it weren't for the pounding in her ears and her hand clutching Romans, she swore she might've passed out. This was the closest she'd gotten to this many walkers since that fateful night at the camp.

She attempted to keep out the traumatizing groans and moans of the walkers, trying not to let her suppressed memories of killing her mother raise to the forefront of her thoughts.

But she couldn't stop them. The sounds of walkers surrounding her and the fire and the feeling of shooting her mother, it all came crashing down around her. Her heartbeat began to pick up as more tears began to flow from her eyes. Keeping her sob in hurt like hell, all she wanted to do was crawl into a corner and cry.

A hand placed itself over her mouth, and Claire's eyes popped open, watching as Roman removed his hand from her mouth and pointed beside her, where dirty old shoes were stopped outside the car, facing towards them.