Login with:

Facebook

Twitter

Tumblr

Google

Yahoo

Aol.

Mibba

Your info will not be visible on the site. After logging in for the first time you'll be able to choose your display name.

Of Blood and Breath

Chapter 26: Pretty Much Dead Already


“Guys,” Glenn spoke up suddenly. It was the early morning and the members of Rick’s group were all sitting around eating breakfast. “Hershel’s barn is full of walkers.”

Forrest’s head arose looking disbelievingly at Glenn, then at the barn.

“Let’s go,” Shane said, looking frustrated.

The group walked over to the barn, ready to investigate.

“Why’s he got them here?” Shane said as he peeked through a hole on the barn wall.

“He still thinks they’re people,” Dale said. “He thinks they’re sick and they can get better.”

“You knew about this?” Shane challenged Dale.

“Only for a day,” Dale defended himself. “Glenn wanted to be the one to tell everyone.”

“What do you think we should do?” Forrest got to the point. “Think we should just take them all out?”

“This is Hershel’s farm,” Rick stated. “We need to convince him otherwise before we just come in here and take over.”

“Someone needs to explain to him how viruses work,” Forrest muttered.

“I don’t think normal rules apply anymore, Rick,” Shane countered. “There ain’t no one to stop us, now is there? This is putting everyone in our camp in danger. Hell, we’ll be doin’ him a favor. He ain’t gonna be pleased when they all break out of here and tear apart his little girls, now is he?”

Forrest knew Shane was right, everyone did. The walkers weren’t people and they never were going to be ever again. Shane’s approach to the situation was what wasn’t right.

“Stop!” Rick said to his best friend. “We were the police. We’re here to protect others and make sure that their property is protected.”

“That’s it, Rick, that’s what we were,” Shane replied. “It’s about now, Rick. It don’t matter what things used to be anymore, we got to live in the moment! If you don’t think we should take care of this, then why don’t we just head out to Fort Benning?”

“Sophia,” Carol’s soft voice reminded him.

“I ain’t spendin’ anymore damn time lookin’ for a little girl that we all knew was dead the moment she didn’t come back the first damn night,” Shane roared, the vein in his neck popping out.

“I found her doll the other day!” Daryl yelled at Shane. “I’m close to findin’ her!”

“You found a doll, Daryl, a doll,” Shane said.

“The hell with ya!” Daryl said, swinging his arm angrily towards Shane.

“Enough!” Rick yelled. “I’ll go talk to Hershel. Sit tight and don’t do anything stupid.”

Forrest thought Hershel was being irrational. The man had his idea of how life should be and he would not change that. Hershel seemed to think that life was to be lived in black and white when it really should have been lived in color. Sometimes there was a need for compromise. The walkers had once been people. Those people were now dead because of a virus; a virus that used dead bodies as a host. They couldn’t be cured or brought back. It was assumingly Hershel’s family, friends, and neighbors in there. Hershel wasn’t ready to let them go and Forrest could understand them. He had never lost anyone close to him to the virus. He had seen Amy turn. She had died. Someone cannot be brought back from death and revert to who they are. Hershel just didn’t understand that.

Forrest was unsure how he would react to seeing someone in his family turned. He couldn’t imagine either Merle or Daryl ever as one of them. His mother and step-dad, Bonnie and Hank, he was not as sure. They had not always done him right, but he cared about them nonetheless. He hadn’t seen many of his siblings in quite some time- Dave, Tess, Angie, and Kyle- and he had suppressed a lot of the emotions that came along with that. As for Eli, well it was a difficult thing for Forrest to think about. Eli was his brother and no matter what Forrest did he couldn’t change that. He also couldn’t change the person Eli was. Eli was a disturbed child, incapable of remorse, but Forrest couldn’t point the finger at him. Eli was messed up because of all the things that had happened to him. He knew that the boy would be better off somewhere other than this world. It would be better that way for Eli and better that way for the rest of the world.

Forrest needed some time to think at this moment. He needed to think about what to do about the walkers. He needed time alone. He stumbled off into the woods, hoping for something but he wasn’t quite sure what. He knew he needed to find Sophia, but there was something inside of him that was scratching at his surface from the inside. He had thought back about his family and that was getting into his head. He wanted to see the ones that he had not seen in a long time, he wanted to find Merle, and he wasn’t sure what he wanted from Hank, Bonnie, and Eli. Maybe he had just wanted them to leave his mind forever.

As a walker approached him, he gripped his tomahawk tightly and forcefully impaled it into the walker’s head.

The barn was full of walkers. Sophia was probably dead. They would have to leave the farm soon. Why couldn’t people just see how things had to be now? Walkers were to be put down and good people were to stick together.

He spotted the sign he had put up for Sophia the other day. Where was that damn girl? She seemed to have just disappeared, ran away to another world. If she was alive, Forrest assumed that she would have waited for them at the highway. If she were dead, they would have found her rotting corpse by now. There was no way a twelve-year-old girl could have run off so far. Things just didn’t make sense.

Forrest finally left the woods and returned to the farm. He had been out there for hours, searching for Sophia, searching for a sign, searching for something. He spotted Beth standing outside the house, leaning against the white-painted wall and looking at the barn, a sadness in her eyes that Forrest could see from as far away as he was.

He decided to accost her. He knew what she was thinking and Forrest could sense that the group would be leaving the farm soon. Perhaps it was best to day goodbye.

“Hey,” he greeted.

She didn’t respond.

“That’s yer mom in there, isn’t it?” he questioned.

She nodded, a tear falling down her soft pale cheek.

“And my brother. My neighbors. My friends.”

“Thought so,” Forrest replied, his eyes resting on her face gently. Her gaze never met his. They faced either the Georgian dirt beneath her feet, or they wandered over to the old barn. “I hate to say this to you, but yer mom ain’t here anymore, neither is anyone in that barn. They’re gone. If I could say so myself, they might be the lucky ones. They don’t have to deal with any of this, they don’t have to worry ‘bout survivin’ or facing the rotting corpses of the people they loved.”

“What does that mean for us?” Beth’s gaze rose and met his. “The living people? We should be dead too. Do you think there’s a reason why I’m standing here, why you’re still standing here?”

“I don’t know,” Forrest shook his head as Beth turned to face away from him once again.. “I ain’t never believed in much, but I’d like to think that there’s a reason for all of this. I’d like to think that there’s a reason why both of us are standin’ right here, why we’re still breathing. It can’t last forever, but it should last for enough time for something to happen. I ain’t gonna jus’ be another dead guy and I hope you ain’t got plans for that either.”

She turned to face him again, this time she was speechless. No words came out of her mouth but it was like Forrest knew all about her just by the pain in her eyes. He had the urge to wrap his arms around her and tell her that everything was going to be alright, but he decided against it. He wasn’t sure how she would react.

“It’s a virus, Beth. There ain’t nothin’ more we can do for them ‘cept put ‘em down. It sucks, I know, but there’s nothin’ we can do to change that. I wish you could see that. I wish your dad could see that.”

“I know,” she said, her voice barely audible but not quite a whisper. “I’m not sure that I’m ready to accept it though.”

“They’re dangerous, Beth,” Forrest reasoned. “I don’t think there’s any reason for them to stay around when they ain’t gonna do nothin’ other than risk yer life.”

They looked back at each other for quite some time silently, Forrest waiting for her reaction, unsure of what it was going to be. It was like the world had faded into dust and there was nothing left but four blue eyes.

She suddenly stepped forward and wrapped her arms around him, burying her face in his chest. He was a good half of a foot taller than her. Forrest was unsure how to react at this moment. He had not experienced many tender touches or signs of affection from other people, never had he had the courage to initiate anything like that either. Having this bond with Beth was strange to him, they were two different worlds and they had collided. This was something that had never been present in Forrest’s life before, he knew he liked it but he didn’t know how to react to it.

He went with his instincts, returning the gesture, wrapping his arms around the girl and resting his head on her chin. He wasn’t sure what the gesture meant, but he was willing to stay in that position forever.

The sound of running footsteps pulled them out of that moment, Forrest lifting and turning his head to see all the others led by Shane towards the barn, Shane wielding the bag of guns that they had stored in the RV.
“These things ain't sick. They're not people. They're dead. Ain't gonna feel nothing 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 shouted as he handed out the guns to the other survivors.

“Oh, shit,” Forrest muttered.

He let go of Beth and began running towards Shane.

“No!” Beth cried, running behind Forrest. “Don’t do this!”

Rick emerged from the woods with Hershel and Jimmy, the two older men with walkers restrained on sticks.

“C’mon man, this is ridiculous!” Shane said. “They ain’t people! Could a living person survive this?!”

Shane fired shots into a female walker’s chest and stomach repeatedly.

“That’s the heart, the lung!” Shane informed the group. “But no, it’s still comin’!”

“Shane,” Rick shouted. “That’s enough!”

“You’re right, man, that is enough,” Shane sarcastically agreed, shooting the walker in the head.

Shane handed a shotgun to Forrest.

“You got what it takes, I know you do!” Shane said. “We ain’t gonna live like this anymore! We ain’t gonna let these things control our lives! It ain’t like it was before, Rick!”

He ran over to the barn doors, opening them as the walkers crawled out. The group opened fire with their shotguns and pistols, taking down the walkers one by one. They spilled out of the barn as the Greene family watched hopelessly and helplessly. Shane didn’t have any right to do it like this, but there was something that needed to be done eventually, just maybe in a different manner.

It appeared to be over, the group almost ready to walk away from the carnage, when a small frame emerged from behind the barn doors. Forrest instantly recognized it as the body of Sophia.

“No!” Carol cried, trying to run towards her undead daughter.

Daryl’s arms restrained her body from moving any further. The group looked at the walker hopelessly, unsure of what to do. Rick stepped forward, walking towards the monster that Sophia had unwillingly become. He drew his revolver and pointed it at her head, pulling the trigger.

Notes

Comments

Hope to see this fic continue, its super good

Twitterpated Twitterpated
10/7/17

@thewalkerinme
I have some plans for the future. Thanks so much, your feedback means a lot to me. You'll have to wait and see :)

ForrestDixon ForrestDixon
4/17/16

@thewalkerinme
I have some plans for the future. Thanks so much, your feedback means a lot to me. You'll have to wait and see :)

ForrestDixon ForrestDixon
4/17/16

Ahhh! God, I freaking adore Forrest. He's such a great dude. The future of this story excites me to no end. How will you play out the zach thing, and her death, and just her whole story ark in general agh I'm so excited to find out! Beth and Forrest have the cutest scenes together, and he even fits so well with other characters like talking to Rick and Dale *sobs agh my heart*
Keep this up. I look forward to many many more updates!

thewalkerinme thewalkerinme
4/17/16

@thewalkerinme
Sorry for not seeing this until now. I'll do my best to get this story fully back in action. Thanks for commenting!

ForrestDixon ForrestDixon
4/10/16