73 Chapter 73

- Xenon -

I wasn't surprised to see that Hershel finally decided to prioritize his living family over his not-so-living one, albeit he said that he wanted to bury them first, which is more problematic than it sounds at first.

If they wanted to bury them, it means we have to kill them first. I had no intention of pulling the trigger myself this time. The people inside that barn are their family as far as they are concerned, so it's better if they do it themselves. I don't want to be 'blamed' for killing their family, though I'm sure it's going to happen anyway. But at least now I can say that I didn't pull the trigger.

It was as heart-aching as predicted. Hershel could barely pull the trigger, looking at the moving body of his wife and friends. A good thing Shane was there to help him; he did not hesitate for a second.

They spent the evening crying their hearts out at their deceased relatives while they buried them in a nearby cemetery. We helped them with everything we could out of sympathy with their loss and to speed up the whole process.

Hershel collected himself impressively quickly, knowing full well that he is still responsible for the rest of his family and should look out for their future. He discussed with Xenon the details for their relocation.

They needed to take their livestock with them, and judging by the size of Hershel's farm, it was bound to be a pain in the ass. Which means we had to make another run to the nearby city to get the necessary vehicles or trailers. Thus, we gave up another day to help Hershel move out everything of value to us.

Honestly, Hershel brought with him a lot of value, which is the main reason I had been targetting him all this while. Not only is he a veterinarian, which means he would know his way around 'animals', but he is also a farmer, which not only meant the former, but he also knew his way around... well farming, something most of us hadn't a clue about. The fact that he already had a lot of animals on his farm was just the icing on the cake.

Everyone was worried about Beth, Hershel's youngest daughter, who was devastated by the loss of her mother. She was understandably grieving, and I would never dare to say I know what she is going through because I don't. What I can say is that it significantly delayed our progress... I sound like a dick, don't I? And it's not that I can't empathize with her; I am fully capable of such feelings, but the impending doom that I constantly feel is dwarfing any such emotions.

We had packed everything of importance by the evening of the second day and drove off to the prison. Ironically, we could spot a big hoard heading straight to Hershel's farm on our way out.

"Don't panic." I spoke through the talkie. "The walkers are too slow to catch up to us, no need to go faster." I wanted to avoid accidents. I could easily see one happening here; someone makes a bad turn at high speed and the vehicle rolls over... I've seen this scene enough to know it could be a real problem... Maybe...

I couldn't tell how big the hoard was because of the distance, but I'm certain there were at least a hundred walkers there. A hoard that big could be potentially problematic if it ever crashes into the prison... We would need to devise countermeasures, just in case.

"You were right, after all." Shane remarked as he was driving Xenon's van. "I wasn't sure they'd agree to come with us, to be honest with you. Hershel didn't look like it."

"He didn't have a choice." I shook my head. "He values his family a lot, and the hoard he had to fight before had already lowered his hesitation significantly."

"I don't appreciate you keeping vital information to yourself though." He said accusingly.

"It never came up." I shook my head. "And quite frankly, I spent a lot of time thinking about it. I've seen it happen before, but I was never definitively sure of it. Not until Rick confirmed it, that is."

"Really?" He frowned. "It seemed like you were pretty sure of it."

"I lied." I deadpanned, while he turned to me with an incredulous look on his face. "Is it really surprising?"

"A little bit." He admitted.

"It's not exactly a lie though, especially since I had some evidence to back up my claim." I chuckled. "Besides, I'd lie any time of the day to prevent a delusional old man from sentencing his own family to death."

"Amen to that." Shane chuckled. "Out of curiosity, when did you see it happen?" I didn't answer immediately, instead took some time to think if it would be worth it to tell him the truth.

"Remember that time, when I went back to Atlanta alone for ten days?" I asked; he nodded. "I was supposed to come back two days earlier."

"What happened?"

"I was held at gunpoint by two men. They tied me up, wanted me to slave for them, probably..." I shrugged. "It didn't end well for either of them." We settled into an uncomfortable silence for a while.

"You did the right thing by keeping it a secret." He admitted. "I'm sure we would've reacted negatively back then."

"You tell me..." I shook my head. "We still believed everything would eventually go back to normal at the time..."

"No." Shane shook his head. "WE did. You... already knew. We never believed you, but you knew..." He was silent for a moment before he continued. "The others are too soft for their own sake... Too afraid to do what must be done... It will get us killed in the long run."

"I couldn't agree more." I nodded my head, very happy about the recent developments. "Frankly, I am glad we took in the two moles." Shane raised an eyebrow at that. "Experience is what will make us a better group. The sooner we are confronted with the cruelty of our new reality, the sooner we will adapt to our circumstances. When we show them what plans they had for us, they'll realize just how close to death we were this whole time... Perhaps that would open their eyes, yeah?"

"I wouldn't count on it." Shane snorted. "Some of us are just too set in the olden ways."

- Narrator -

Daryl was very unhappy at the state of things. He wanted to make their two captives talk, but the others vehemently refused to let him do it, their main argument being that he should wait for the others to come back. They knew Daryl can easily get carried away, and reasoned that they can't act on the knowledge anyway.

The prison was surrounded by trees from one, and the group was left with a single task before Xenon departed: cut down as many trees as possible. The reason being is that wood will be their main construction material in the foreseeable future, especially inside the prison. Xenon and Shane had assured them that they would do their best to convince Hershel to join them, and should they succeed, they would need to build a shelter for all the animals they'd be bringing. It was a gamble, but one they couldn't lose because the wood would be useful regardless.

They debated about the use of chainsaws in that task and ultimately agreed that it would be worth it. They had fuel in abundance at the moment, so they could spare some of it.

The group was separated into two teams: one to set up a perimeter around them, eliminating any walker that would approach them, while the other would do their work. The sound would undoubtedly draw walkers to them, so they had to work fast, while the others would cover enough distance to give them space to deal with threats. Another group would stay at the prison on top of the towers to keep an eye on everything, especially because they were expecting the group Dave mentioned to attack them at any moment.