𓆝 𓆟 𓆞 𓆝 𓆟

"𝐔𝐌, Guys." Glenn got the attention of everyone sitting at breakfast outside. Casey was leaning against her mother's legs with a plate of bacon in front of her. She didn't like eggs at all, only bacon.

Everyone looked up at Glenn, who was just standing there. They all waited for Glenn to finish what he had to say, and when he finally did say something, shock went through every one. "So...the barn's full of walkers." It took Casey a minute to process that.

This Greene family, the one that took care of Casey, Daryl, and T-Dog had flesh-eating creatures in the barn and was keeping them as pets? That's how she took it. Why were they keeping those things in there?

Nobody even finished breakfast by the time the group walked over to the barn. Casey stood behind her father, a slight look of fear on her face as Shane stood at the double doors of the barn, looking through the cracks.

When Shane walked away from the barn, he clearly seemed angered. Casey was fiddling with her necklace as she waited for somebody to say something, anything at all. "You cannot tell me you're all right with this," Shane growled, walking up to Rick.

"No, I'm not, but we're guests here. This isn't our land." Rick was quick to answer him, and you could tell that Shane wasn't impressed by that answer.

Casey didn't exactly know how she felt about the Walkers in the barn. They freaked her out a little bit. What she was slightly thankful about was that in the three days she and her family had been there, they hadn't gotten out. Other than Glenn, nobody even noticed them.

"God, this is our lives, man!" Shane shouted in disagreement with Rick.

"Lower your voice." Glenn scolded him not wanting anyone to hear him, especially not the Greenes, specifically Maggie.

"We can't just sweep this under the rug." Andrea seemed to agree with Shane, something Casey noticed she's been doing. They'd been getting awful close lately, and she'd been seeing it. She just never told anyone since it didn't matter that much.

"It ain't right. Not remotely. We've either got to go in there, we've got to make things right, or we've just got to go. Now we have been talking about Fort Benning for a long time." Casey rolled her eyes at the mention of Fort Benning. It was Fort Benning this and Fort Benning that. She didn't want to hear it anymore.

"You've been talking about Fort Benning." She muttered, lightly brushing pieces of hair out of her face with her fingers.

"We can't go."

"Why, Rick? Why?" Shane questioned as if it weren't obvious. Sophia was still gone! They weren't leaving until they found her. Carol stepped in, right next to Rick. Had Shane completely forgotten about Sophia?

"Because my daughter is still out there." She told him as if it were obvious, which it was. Shane scoffed rubbing his hands on his face.

He thought Sophia was gone, she was dead. There was no finding her, she was lost in the woods! At this point, he didn't want to hear it. He wanted to pack up and go off to Fort Benning.

"Okay. Okay, I think it's time that we all start to just consider the other possibility-" Rick was quick to cut him off, no one wanted to hear the other possibility. Because there wasn't. Sophia was alive and looking for them.

"Shane, we're not leaving Sophia behind." Rick interrupted him.

"I'm close to finding this girl. I just found her damn doll two days ago!" Daryl told him off, ticked off by Shane in this. Everyone was everyone was annoyed by Shane, maybe not Andrea, but mostly everyone. He was being an idiot, considering the possibilities. Nobody was going to stop until they found Sophia dead or alive.

"You found her doll, Daryl. That's what you did. You found a doll."

"You don't know what the hell you're talking about." Daryl swung his arm, Rick quickly pushed him away but made sure to be careful so he didn't piss him off too much. He didn't want to piss him off because Daryl was like a ticking time bomb, except he didn't have the timer. He could go off at any given moment.

"I'm just saying what needs to be said. You get a good lead, it's in the first 48 hours." Shane argued back using the knowledge he had from being a cop.

The thing was that there were only a few of them in the group. Maybe if more people were looking for Sophia, they could've found her! They could've gotten proof, but only a few people were looking for her. There weren't huge search parties, just eleven people.

Rick was quick to yell at him for the sake of Carol, "Shane, stop!" He yelled at him.

"Let me tell you somethin' else, man. If she was alive out there and saw you coming, all methed out with your buck knife and geek ears around your neck, she would run in the other direction!" Shane shouted, Casey's eyes widened as everyone quickly ran toward the two.

Kaboom

Daryl blew up like that bomb. The non-existent timer hit zero, and he went off. With the two of them yelling, and everyone else yelling at them begging for them to stop. He immediately went after Shane, and Rick intervened as they both tried to throw punches.

Lori pushed Shane away from Daryl, looking him in the eye as she did. Rick and Glenn dragged Daryl away as he tried to rip away from them. "Get your hands off me," Shane commanded, his finger pointed at Lori.

"Now just let me talk to Hershel. Let me figure it out!" Rick exclaimed looking at him.

Casey could see both sides of the argument. Her father wanted to stay on this land, he wanted to stay here to keep his family and everyone else safe. So if that meant Walkers being kept in the barn contained, then fine. So be it. Let them stay there.

But she could see Shane's side of the argument as well. He didn't want them to hurt everyone. They ate flesh and blood. They were a danger to everyone! Why would you want them near you?

"What are you gonna figure out?" Shane yelled at him, and Lori pushed him away again.

"Enough!"

Rick pointed at the barn angrily. "If we're gonna stay, if we're gonna clear this barn, I have to talk him into it. This is his land." He had to remind Shane. It was like that fact was lost on him.

Shane thought it was all free land, but he couldn't be further from the truth. It's the Greene land, their farm, and their barn. Their house was here. It wasn't Shane's home, it was the Greenes's.

Dale put his hand out in front of him, quickly intervening. "Hershel sees those things in there as people—sick people, his wife, his stepson," Dale told everyone.

That's when Casey became very confused and she believed Hershel was a total kook at that point. He thought those things were people? Sick people.

"You knew?"

"Yesterday, I talked to Hershel."

"And you waited the night?" Shane questioned, he wasn't ashamed of the fact that he kept it. Not at all.

"I thought we could survive one more night. We did. I was waiting till this morning to say something. But Glenn wanted to be the one."

"The man is crazy, Rick if Hershel thinks those things are alive or not." The chains kept rattling on the door. Casey watched it and took a step away.

"I think we disturbed them." She told everyone, sharing glances with all of them

   
𓆝 𓆟 𓆞 𓆝 𓆟

          "𝐓𝐇𝐈𝐒 𝐈𝐒 𝐒𝐓𝐔𝐏𝐈𝐃," Casey whined as she did her math homework on top of the RV with Glenn. He's keeping watch for Dale while he gets water or something like that. Casey's just keeping him company.

Out of all the people at camp now, Casey likes Glenn the most. At first, it was Amy, but now it's Glenn. He's nice to everyone, especially Casey. And Glenn keeps her in the loop. He doesn't keep secrets like most adults do.

"It's not stupid, math is good for you." Casey rolled her eyes at the boy as she wrote down a random number so she could just get this done and over with. Glenn looks down at her, watching as she puts random numbers down. "Casey, 7x9 isn't 4." she shrugs her shoulders. She stared up at him, shrugging.

"It is now." She muttered as she grabbed one of the pretzels Dale had in the RV, and ate it. Glenn's probably her second favorite because he gives her candy and pretzels.

Casey put down one last random number before closing the math book. "Hey, Glenn?" She questioned as she closed her math book and sat up straight. He looked down at her and wondered what was up. "Do you like Maggie?" his eyes go wide and he stays quiet. "Like...more than a friend?"

He stammers for a moment and she grins. "Glenn has a crush on Maggie!" She exclaims, he quickly covers her mouth and looks around. He didn't want anyone to hear what the eight-year-old was yelling. "I'm not gonna tell anyone." She tells him, trying to reassure him.

"Especially not Uncle Shane. He's mad right now." She points at the man in the brown shirt who walked into the RV. He does it very angrily and Casey notices it. "Ever since he went bald he's been real moody." Glenn laughed as he greeted Shane's

"Sup." Glenn greets, but Shane ignores him and just walks inside the RV. He stormed inside, rummaging around making the top slightly shake.

Casey sighed, looking back at Glenn. "What's the deal with Maggie? Are you dating? Not dating?" She asked him, Glenn shook his head.

They heard Shane rummaging through stuff downstairs and they stayed quiet for a second. When Shane was out of the RV, he was so mad. "You see where he went?" He questioned. The pair didn't know who he was talking about.

"Who?" They asked at the same time.

"Don't even try to shit me, okay?" Casey just sat on the roof, letting her legs hang off as Shane looked up at them.

"What?"

"Dale, did you see where Dale went?" He asked.

"No," Casey told him honestly. He looks at his niece, pointing a finger up at her.

"You lyin', Casey Quinn?" She shook her head.

"Dale asked me to run and get him some water he said he'd cover me on watch," Glenn told him, standing up from the chair.

Casey played with her hands as Shane looked out into the woods. "And he was gone when you got back, huh?" Shane concluded Casey didn't really know what was going on, so she slowly climbed down the ladder and walked off quickly.

"Yeah. You think he's okay?" Glenn questioned gentility worried about Dale. Shane seemed very angry with him, and Casey didn't know why. She didn't know how anyone could be mad at Dale!

"Oh, he's fine." Shane started walking off, shaking his head angrily.

"Why'd he bail, then?" Glenn questioned.

"So you wouldn't tell me which way we went."

"I don't get it."

"Nah, you wouldn't," Shane said before storming away from the pair.

Nobody gets it, Casey truly doesn't. But, she's concerned about Glenn and Maggie. Of course, she's worried about Dale, but, he's hopefully ok, right? "Come on, tell me!" She exclaims, changing the topic from Dale back to Maggie and Glenn.

"It's complicated, dude. I swear, one minute she likes me and the next she hates me!" Casey grabs a pretzel, sighing. She doesn't know anything about relationships, so, she doesn't know what advice to give him. So, she just talks since that's what she's good at.

"First of all, don't call me dude, that's weird. And what have you done to make her hate you?" Glenn furrowed his eyebrows.

"What makes you think it's my fault?" She shrugs, watching as her blue Converse sneakers dangle off the RV.

"Just a hunch."

Glenn let out a sigh and answered the question she'd asked a moment ago. "I wasn't supposed to tell everyone about the barn."  Casey winces, knowing Maggie. couldn't have been happy about that.

It's quiet for a minute and Casey doesn't know what to say. "Well...maybe, um. Maybe try to get her to know why you told us?" Glenn doesn't know how to answer that.

"That's if she'll talk to me..." Casey shrugs and keeps swinging her feet off the RV.

It's quiet for a while and the two just sat there. Casey's letting her legs swing off the RV as Glenn lets all the secrets eat away at him.

He had a few secrets, the barn, and something that had to do with Lori. Casey didn't know what was going on, but, Glenn didn't seem to know that. But, he wanted to know if Casey knew...

"Casey, have your parents said anything about um...The storks or anything? Any storks coming around lately?" Casey furrows her eyebrows at him.

"No? Why would you ask that?" Glenn just shrugs.

"Uh, nothing just- go make me a bracelet, yeah?" Casey rolls her eyes and walks toward the ladder of the RV.

"Whatever, weirdo." Glenn chuckles as she walks down the ladder and over to her tent.

                       𓆝 𓆟 𓆞 𓆝 𓆟

𝐂𝐀𝐒𝐄𝐘 𝐖𝐀𝐒 𝐒𝐈𝐓𝐓𝐈𝐍𝐆 𝐖𝐈𝐓𝐇 Maggie and Glenn. Maggie's braiding her hair as she makes a bracelet while she sits on the ground with Maggie behind her.

"Glenn?" Casey asked him curiously. He was wearing Dale's hat and she doesn't know why. "How come you're wearing Dale's hat?" Maggie laughs as she looks at the boy next to her.

"Looks like he's in line for the early-bird special, doesn't he?" Casey laughed as she tied the end of her other braid with a hair tie.

"Yeah." She laughed as Maggie took off Dale's hat and placed it next to her. She looked toward Glenn, her tone soft as she chuckled.

"Go grab your cap and I'll wash it for ya." Glenn stood up, going to walk toward where his hat was.

But, then he stopped.

Everyone was up and staring off the porch. It started with T-Dog and Andrea walking over. Glenn was getting up for some reason. "Where is everyone?" T-Dog asked as Casey stood up with Maggie behind her. She put her hand on Casey's lower back and guided her near everyone else.

"You haven't seen Rick?" Glenn asked. Casey's face contorted into a worried expression, hearing her dad wasn't there.

"He went off with Hershel. We were s'posed to leave a couple hours ago." They stopped in front of Glenn, and then Daryl started walking over.

"Yeah, you were. What the hell?" Carol was following behind him, quick to ask a question.

"Rick told us he was going out."

Something was off...

"Damn it! Isn' anybody takin' this seriously? We got us a damn trail!" He turned around, punching the air, or throwing his arm. Casey didn't understand just what was going on. He turned around to see Shane walking over with all the guns. Why did Shane have guns? Hershel banned them. "Oh, here we go."

Shane took out a rifle or some big gun, Casey didn't know for sure. But, he gave it to Daryl, who asked "What's all this?" She knew nothing good was coming out of this as Maggie's hand went on her shoulder.

"You with me, man?"

Daryl gave a firm nod, taking the gun. "Yeah. Time to grow up You already got yours?" He asked Andrea as Daryl cocked the gun.

Casey looked around for her mother, not seeing her close by. She bit her lip out of worry, not understanding what was going on.

"Yeah. Where's Dale?" Andrea questioned, her eyebrows furrowed.

"He's on his way." Shane started giving everyone guns like they were candy. He gave a handgun to T-Dog, who was just as confused as everyone.

"Thought we couldn't carry," T-Dog said, his eyebrows furrowed with confusion.

"Well, we can and we have to. Look, it was one thing sittin' 'round here pickin' daisies when we thought this place was s'posed to be safe but now we know it ain't." He walked towards Glenn, giving him a large gun. "How 'bout you, man? You gonna protect yours?" Glenn took it into his grasp, and Shane nodded. "That's it," He stopped in front of Casey, crouching down in front of her with a handgun.

"Daddy said we couldn't have guns, so did Hershel-"

"C'mon, Case. I trust you with it. Take it." Slowly, he placed it into her hand and she looked around nervously.

He turned to Maggie, starting to grab a gun out. "Can you shoot?"

"Can you stop? You do this, you hand out these guns, and my dad will make ya leave tonight!" Maggie argued, and Carl walked down the porch steps.

"We have to stay, Shane." Casey looked back at her brother who was walking downstairs, acting like he actually had a say in it all...

Lori started walking across the porch with a look of distress on her face. "What is this?" She questioned.

"We ain't goin' anywhere, okay? Now look, Hershel, he's just gotta understand. Okay? He-Well, he's gonna have to." He started walking toward Carl, taking a gun from his holster. "Now we need to find Sophia. Am I right?" He asked, kneeling in front of him. "Huh? Now, I want you to take this. You take it, Carl and you keep your mother safe, your sister, your daddy. You do whatever it takes. You know how. Go on, take the gun and do it." He encouraged, his voice low. Lori put Carl behind her, not allowing him to take the gun.

"Rick said no guns. This is not your call. This is not your decision to make." He looked up at her angrily, and Casey nervously stood there, not knowing what to do with the gun in her hand. Did she do what Shane said to do? Give it to someone else? Lori didn't want Carl to have one, so why should she?

"Oh shit!" Lori's scolding was cut off by T-Dog, cursing at the scene in front of him. Everyone looked over to see Rick with a Walker in front of him. Jimmy was leading him...

What is going on?

Everyone went running behind Shane. Shane was angry, you could tell. "Hey! What the hell you doin'?" He yelled at them. Casey didn't know what to do. She didn't know if she should run, stay, walk.

She just followed behind, trying her best to ignore the pain where her wound was...It wasn't the best decision, but, it was the one she thought was right...

"Shane, just back off," Rick warned, struggling to keep the Walker in front of him.

"Why do your people have guns?" Hershel asked as Casey put the gun in the back of her waistband, hiding it from her father, mother, and Hershel...

"Are you kiddin' me? You see? You see what they're holdin' onto?" Shane asked, Casey looked slightly worried as she watched her uncle completely go off.

But she was also confused by Rick...It was crazy. He used to kill walkers, but now he has one in on the leader. In her opinion, Hershel's a damn nutcase for this. Holding things that can possibly kill all of them.

"I see who I'm holding on to."

"No, man, you don't," Shane answered him.

"Shane, just let us do this and then we can talk!" Rick strained, trying to control the Walker.

"What you want to talk 'bout, Rick? These things ain't sick! They're not people. They're dead Ain't gonna feel nothin' for 'em 'cause all they do, they kill! These things right here, they're the things that killed Amy! They killed Otis! And they're gon-" Dad was quick to cut him off. Andrea flinched back at the mention of her sister. Casey stood there, her hand over her bandage as she took deep breaths, trying to catch hers from running.

"Shane, shut up!" Rick screamed, aggravated.

"Hey, Hershel, man. Let me ask you somethin. Could a living breathing person, could they walk away from this?" He pulled out his gun, cocked it, and blew three rounds at the Walker's chest.

Casey jumped back, a look of fear in her eyes as he suddenly shot the gun.

"No! Stop it!" Rick screamed at him.

"That's three rounds in the chest. Could someone who's alive, could they just take that?! Why's it still comin'?" He shot it again, two more rounds. "That's its heart! It's lungs! Why's it still comin'?" He kept going, he couldn't stop.

"Shane, enough!"

"Yeah, you're right, man. That is enough." He said, walking toward the Walker. It was moaning and groaning, then...he shot it in the head.

There was that time bomb again...Shane's time had just gone off. He was angry...again. Casey stepped back, her mother's arm quickly wrapping around her.

Hershel dropped to his knees, dropping the snare pole in his hand. He looked upset, emotionless. The color was drained from his old face.

He looked defeated.

"Enough risking our lives for a little girl who's gone! Enough living next to a barn full of things that are tryin' to kill us! Enough! Rick, it ain't like it was before! Now if yall want to live, if you want to survive, you gotta fight for it! I'm talkin' 'bout fightin' right here, right now!"

He ran toward the doors of the barn, and Rick immediately went off. He tried to get Hershel to take the Walker on the snare pole. "Hershel! Take the snare pole! Hershel, listen to me, man, please. Take it now. Hershel! Take it!" He begged.

Hershel didn't get up. He was disoriented and in shock of everything going on...Shane started hitting the locks open with an axe. "No, Shane. Do not do this, brother. Wait!"

"Rick!"Lori screamed, holding her children close to her.

"Please!"

It didn't work. Hershel didn't get up...

He broke the locks of the barn, and started rallying the Walkers out. "Come on!"

"Shane! This is not the way! Please!"

He took his gun out, and walkers spilled out quickly. He shot the first one right in the head, Andrea coming up next to him.

Gunfire started going off, Walkers went onto the ground as each was shot. Glenn, T-Dog, Andrea, Daryl, and Shane were the ones responsible.

Casey went running toward everyone shooting, and Lori quickly wrapped her arms around her, holding her back. "Stay back!" Rick shouted to his family.

They shot all of them dead...well, more dead than they were. Then, it was quiet. Beth was crying in Jimmy's arms, Maggie was next to her father. Casey was just standing there, shocked.

When we thought they were all dead...we heard a growling. The doors slightly opened, and the Walker came out...

Khaki pants, old sneakers. It had a blue shirt with a rainbow. It was pale...it had strawberry blonde hair.

It was also Sophia.

Casey stepped back. It's almost as if everything had come back...All that grief. Everything she felt...She felt like it was her fault again...

Maybe Shane was right, maybe they should've thought of any possibilities.

"Sophia! Sophia!" Carol cried, running towards what used to be her daughter. Daryl quickly grabbed her, holding her back. She cried in his arms, and he comforted her, holding her close. She cried her name as she further walked out.

Carl was crying in Lori's arms. What used to be Sophia limped through the bodies, growling at us. Casey was standing there, staring at the ground with tears in her eyes.

My fault.
My fault Carol's crying.
My fault Sophia's bitten.
All my fault...

Casey just stood there, holding back her tears as she watched her stumble out. She wiped her eyes on her shirt.

Don't cry, don't be a stupid baby when it's your fault.

Rick pushed past everyone, taking his gun out. Lori held Carl in her arms, trying to help her daughter...Trying to get her to keep her eyes away from what was happening.

"Casey...look away." She didn't. Her eyes were glued on the situation. Carl was hiding his face in his mother's stomach and she just kept watching...

Rick pointed his gun at Sophia...poor little Sophia....His finger shook on the trigger as he found the courage to finish the job...Finally, he pulled the trigger. A loud bang from the gun came, and her body dropped to the ground.

Then the only sound heard was Carol sobbing.

She'd lost all of her family in a short matter of time.

                      𓆝 𓆟 𓆞 𓆝 𓆟

a/n:

the song half return with this chapter just makes sense with me...idk why. anyways casey gonna go through a little bit of self blame bc why would i not let her struggle? why not just give her a break? THATS NOT HAPPENING IN THIS HOUSEHOLD!

But I was thinking the other day, Negan Smith would be SUCH a softball dad. Like, he would be the one sitting on the bucket while his kid pitched to him, or stand at the fence. you cannot tell me i'm wrong. And he would literally coach them i'm not even kidding he'd be like that annoying sports dad. nobody can ever tell me im wrong on this. i literally had a dream about this.

anyways love yall

-Abby