S2E59 - Having A Chat

The next couple days went by in a blur. We had a big funeral for all the walkers before burning the ones that weren't immediate family. Several of us came together to dig graves for both Annette and Shawn. During this entire time, the only time my sixth sense has actually gone off is when Lori looks at me all pissy. Other than that, the patrols are uneventful, with us not even spotting a single walker. And that's the part we've gathered for today.

Inside the kitchen in Hershel's house, the entire group has gathered around. Everyone of every age. I sit at the head of the table with Hershel sitting at the other end. Everyone else is sat on both sides. I speak to the group with a serious tone,

"I'm sure you've all noticed the lack of wandering walkers. Ever since we've left Atlanta, they've become more and more rare."

The group nods along,

"I don't think this is necessarily a good thing. While for now, yes this means we can walk alone without much worry. That in and of itself is a problem, but we can address that later. What I think is important is why we haven't seen any walkers in weeks."

Lori chimes in first,

"How is that not a good thing? It means that this place is safe. Much safer than this prison you all keep talking about that seems to be entirely covered in walkers."

I nod my head and say,

"Yeah, this seems safe. Much like r how the skies clear right before a hurricane. I believe that this signifies that walkers aren't necessarily going to be wandering in small groups anymore. Remember the incident that led us to meeting the Greenes?"

Dale looks at the ground before realizing what I'm saying and looking up at me with a worried look,

"You can't mean…"

Daryl finishes off his sentence, speaking from the archway just at the edge of the room,

"They're herding."

A quiet tension begins to build in the room, several of the standing members shuffle around and look around the room, while the seated members—— Hershel, Shane, Rick, Lori, Dale, and Gerard—— all seem to take deep breaths. I nod my head,

"Exactly. Humans are herd animals. There's plenty of examples of people joining in on people doing random shit just to fit in with the 'herd'. Now, I'm not gonna say that walkers are people, especially not after recent events. However, it is undeniable that they do still have human brains. So, who's to say that walkers don't still have some human instincts?"

Lori looks at me with genuine confusion and asks,

"D-do you think that there's a chance walkers could still have their memories or something?"

I shake my head and say,

"No, nothing like that. I'm saying that parts of the human brain could be causing them to seek out herds. Hell, we've already seen this before. One walker turns into two, turns into thirty, turns into hundreds."

Gerard then chimes in as I finish,

"Meaning that… if one of these mega-hordes decides to take a detour through Greene estate, we're all totally screwed."

I nod my head,

"Exactly. A barbed wire and picket fence aren't exactly sturdy enough to hold back hundreds of unfeeling, untiring dead heads with a craving for tasty humans."

Dale speaks up next,

"With how much clear area there is around the farm, we'd be able to spot a horde pretty easily."

I shake my head and am about to rebuttal when Rick jumps in in my stead,

"Unless… They come at night…"

Once again, the uncomfortable shuffle goes throughout the room. I nod to him and say,

"No matter how much ammo we have, taking on a horde of even one hundred walkers would be a bit difficult for us. And that's during the day. Sure, we could pick them off from a distance as they slowly trudge to the house, but that's still not certain. Even if we all sheltered into the house, one creaky step would be all it would take for us to become sardines in a can."

Shane then speaks up,

"Well… that's… appetizing…"

Hershel, who had been placid the entire conversation, finally asks me,

"So, what do you propose we do?"

I take a deep breath, ready to say the words that I believe will piss him off,

"That we all move into the prison together. Once it's been successfully cleared, of course."

Instead of the anger I was expecting, I instead see a man experiencing a moral dilemma. He looks over at his two daughters, they eyes still puffy from their grief. He looks over to the kids, seeing them having scared expressions, and he looks over to me, seeing that I genuinely don't want anything to happen to him and his family. He speaks to me in a calm and collected voice, looking around the room at all the old memories,

"I made a promise, Miss Penny. That I would stop letting memories outweigh my family. It's hard for me to say, bein' the ol' man who's stuck in his ol' ways… But… You're right. This home of mine is full of memories, good and bad. Memories of watching my baby girls grow up, memories of my parents awful marriage… Memories of my beautiful wife patting my back after a long day on the farm… But that's all they are. Memories. Things that will always return, but just not in reality."

He reaches over and holds onto Maggie's hand as she begins to cry some more,

"Memories aren't tied to some termite-ridden stack o' wood. They're tied to family… And friends… and, well, maybe it's about time this ol' man made some new memories before it's too late."

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AN: in case anyone tries to join the pat.reon, I've taken it down for now to rework it. it needs an update lol