Dinner and Gunfire at the Barn

The sunset's lingering glow bathed the wooden house and barn at Greene Farm in warm colors.

The smell of roast meat and stewed beans filled the air, overpowering the town's gun smoke and rotten stench.

Sophia sipped the ibuprofen suspension Min-seon had prepared. Her high fever had subsided, and she nestled in Carol's arms, her gaze weak but settled.

Carol held her daughter's hand and looked gratefully at Lynn.

Hershel Greene stood outside the main house, watching them, his tightly pressed lips relaxing.

He drew a deep breath, his booming voice breaking the evening quiet. "Everyone, come over! Set the tables! We're eating in the yard tonight!"

The invitation caught Lynn's group off guard.

Dale stopped wiping his wrench, Andrea leaned out over the RV's roof, and Shane straightened beside the jeep, his eyes appraising.

The cold barrier of the three-day deadline seemed to have loosened a little.

Maggie and Beth happily set rough ceramic plates and simple cutlery on the long wooden table.

Patricia brought out a steaming pot of stewed beans, while Jimmy took the sizzling, crisp-skinned rabbit meat off the grill.

The aroma stirred their weary stomachs.

"Sit down. Make yourselves at home."

Hershel beckoned everyone over, his face showing a warmth absent for a long time, though the wariness in his eyes remained.

He put an extra piece of the tenderest rabbit meat on Sophia's plate. "Eat more, child. It'll help you get better faster."

The atmosphere was reserved but loosening.

Rick sat down with Lori's support.

Lori's eyes swept over the food, and her hand unconsciously brushed her flat abdomen, her gaze complicated.

Glenn sat beside Maggie, ill at ease, his fingers picking at the edge of the wooden table.

Maggie noticed and lightly nudged his knee beneath the table, seemingly reminding him of something.

Lynn sat opposite Hershel, calmly cutting his rabbit meat.

He knew what this meal meant-Sophia's recovery had provided an opening, but he had to create the turning point himself.

The time had come. The matter of the barn needed to be addressed.

Halfway through dinner, the atmosphere had eased a little.

Lynn set down his knife and fork, looked calmly at Glenn, and gave an almost imperceptible nod.

Glenn tensed. He felt Lynn's gaze and Maggie's puzzlement.

He drew a deep breath and worked up his courage, his voice dry with nerves as he abruptly broke the peace:

"Mr. Hershel... there's something... we need to talk about."

Glenn's voice was quiet, like a stone striking the surface of water.

Everyone stopped chewing and turned to look at him.

Hershel frowned. "What is it, Glenn, my boy?"

Glenn swallowed, not daring to meet Maggie's suddenly sharp eyes. He lowered his head, his voice trembling. "About... the barn. That day... Maggie and I..."

He stopped, his face flushing, unable to get the words out.

Maggie abruptly put down her fork, the metal clattering harshly against her ceramic plate.

"Glenn!"

Her voice was shocked, angry, and panicked as she tried to stop him from continuing.

Under the invisible pressure, Glenn forced himself to go on. "We... didn't mean to... there's a gap behind the barn... we... saw inside..."

He looked up, fear and disgust in his eyes. "What's... locked up in there... isn't livestock. They're people! They're... they're walkers! Lots of them! Locked inside, banging on the doors, growling."

Dead silence!

Utter silence enveloped the dinner table!

The smell of roast meat lingered, but the air froze.

Carol covered Sophia's ears.

Andrea and T-Dog sprang to their feet, reaching for their weapons.

Shane's eyes instantly turned vicious, like an enraged beast's, as he stared fixedly at Hershel.

Rick went deathly pale. He gripped Lori's and Carl's hands, looking at the old man in disbelief.

The blood drained from Hershel's face. His gentle expression froze, then shattered, revealing an ashen pallor beneath.

He sprang up, knocking his chair over with a crash!

"What the hell are you talking about?!"

Hershel roared like a wounded beast, filled with fury and deeply buried fear and pain.

He pointed a trembling finger at Glenn, his gaze sweeping across Lynn's cold face. "You! How dare you snoop around my property! Those are my family, my wife, my neighbors.

"Otis, they're sick, just sick! They're not monsters."

"Sick?" Shane sneered like a snake flicking its tongue. He slammed the table and shot to his feet, his finger nearly jabbing Hershel in the face. "Are you blind, you old bastard?! What are those things outside? They'll tear your 'sick' family apart and eat them alive.

"You locked a bomb in a barn less than a hundred meters from your daughters, from us?! Are you trying to get everyone killed?!"

"Dad! Is what he said true?"

Beth asked tearfully, staring at her father in terror before looking toward the huge, silent red barn, her body trembling.

Maggie was deathly pale. She looked at her father, then Glenn, her eyes full of pain, conflict, and anger.

Patricia and Jimmy were stunned, at something of a loss.

"It's not true! Beth! It's not like that!"

Hershel tried to soothe his younger daughter, the panic and desperation in his voice exposing everything.

He turned to Shane, his eyes fierce and obsessive. "What do you know?! You've never lost anyone! You've never watched loved ones fall and been powerless to help! They're still conscious! In there... getting better! I can cure them! I know I can!"

His voice carried a mad fixation.

"Cure them?"

Andrea's voice was icy as she pointed at the barn. "Listen! Listen to what's coming from inside!"

Her hearing was excellent. She had heard some strange sounds earlier but had not thought much of them.

As though in confirmation, faint, persistent thuds came from deep within the barn, accompanied by indistinct, low growls that were anything but human.

In the evening stillness, the sounds were especially clear and terrifying.

Those sounds became the final straw.

Beth stifled a scream and threw herself into Patricia's arms.

Maggie closed her eyes in pain. She had long known the truth, but she had been equally unable to convince herself.

Hershel swayed as though struck by a heavy hammer.

His fury gave way to immense pain and despair.

He looked at the frightened, angry, distrustful faces around him, at his daughters' anguish, and at Lynn's fathomless, utterly unruffled eyes.

"Get out..."

Hershel's voice was hoarse, carrying the force of heartbreak. He pointed toward the farm's gate, his finger shaking violently. "All of you, get out! Now! Right now!

"Get off my farm! Take your medicine and get out!"

The last pretense shattered completely.

The illusion of dinner was torn apart, leaving only a cold confrontation and rifts.

"Let's go!"

Lynn's calm voice broke the stalemate.

He was the first to rise, without hesitation or reluctance.

Davis, Shane, Andrea, and the others immediately followed, casting cold glances over Hershel's family.

Glenn looked guiltily at Maggie. The deep pain and distance in her eyes stung him into lowering his head, and he hurried after the others.

Rick gave Hershel a long look, his eyes filled with shock and anger, but more than anything, an inexpressible sorrow.

In the end, he said nothing, turning to leave with Lori and Min-seon supporting him.

The fire crackled, and the rabbit meat on the grill burned.

Cups and plates lay in disarray across the long table.

Hershel stood alone, like a stone statue that had aged and lost its vitality in an instant.

Maggie steadied her tottering father, while Beth's stifled sobs rang clearly through the yard.

Lynn's group silently withdrew to the camp outside the fence, the atmosphere oppressive to the extreme.

Shane walked over to the RV, yanked open the rear door, and tore the dirty canvas off a long wooden crate, revealing cold, heavy RPG launchers and rockets.

He roughly grabbed a launcher and hefted it onto his shoulder, its cold metal gleaming faintly in the moonlight.

He turned, his vicious gaze crossing the fence and locking onto the red barn, which stood like a silent giant beast in the night.

The heavy sound of a shotgun being chambered erupted through the quiet night.

Click-clack!

In the darkness, a gun barrel silently rose.