"What?!"
Everyone snapped to attention. Dale's hand tightened on the crowbar he had not realized he was still holding. Miranda stepped in front of the couch where her kids were sleeping, one hand reaching for the knife at her belt.
Lucien had known that his presence here would change things. Butterfly effect was practically a law of time travel, or dimension hopping, or whatever the hell had happened when he hit that barrier at King's Cross. But he had not expected the changes to be this massive.
First, a fully armed religious cult that should not exist. Then the farm that was supposed to be neutral ground in the original story turning out to have connections to said cult.
He forced himself to slow down. He looked at Hershel, whose face had gone pale, whose eyes were fixed on the floor like he was waiting for judgment. Then he thought back to Otis in the forest.
These people were connected to the cult, yes. But they were not working with them. If they were, Otis would never have risked bringing them here.
They needed information.
"Glenn," Lucien said quietly. "Please wait."
Glenn stopped at Lucien's voice.
"Just... wait." Lucien stepped forward, putting himself between Glenn and the old man, and looked up at Hershel.
"Mr. Hershel," he said. "We were just ambushed by those people. They took half our group and blew up our RV with a rocket launcher. Your daughter was with them. But Mr. Otis saved us and said they were not good people."
He held Hershel's gaze. "We need to know what's going on."
Hershel's shoulders sagged. He leaned heavily against the wall, one hand coming up to cover his face.
"You are right. This is... this is all my fault."
"Then tell us," Dale said. "Help us understand."
Hershel was quiet for a moment. When he spoke again, his voice was distant. "About a month ago, my son Shawn brought in some people he found on the road. They were in bad shape, but they were decent folk."
He paused, his fingers absently rubbing the bridge of his nose. "There was a history professor named Lee. He had a little girl with him. Clementine. I do not believe she was his, but he cared for her as if she were. There was also a couple traveling with them, and a family of three. They stayed here a few days. We gave them supplies and helped them recover. Before they left, Lee told me about a man they had found on the road about a week earlier. The man called himself the Shepherd."
His eyes lowered slightly.
"Lee said the man had been close to death. A walker had bitten his arm. They thought he would not survive, but he cut the arm off himself. He cauterized the wound with a heated knife. "
He shook his head slowly.
"Somehow, he lived. Lee and his people treated him, gave him food and water, and sent him on his way. Then, a few days later, that same Shepherd came here. He did not come alone. He brought twenty armed men and three trucks loaded with supplies."
"He said he had come to repay our kindness. He called this place the Promised Land and said the Lord had guided him here to find good people." He looked up at them. "I believed him. I wanted to believe him. He seemed devout and genuine. He talked about building a community of faith."
His hands clenched into fists. "He invited all of us to join what he called his sanctuary. Lee and his people too."
"But Lee saw through him," Lucien said quietly.
Hershel nodded. "Lee pulled me aside and warned me about the Shepherd. He said the man was dangerous." He closed his eyes. "He begged me to take my family and run. But I... This place is everything. My father built this house with his own hands. I delivered both my children in that bedroom. My wife is buried under the oak tree out back." He looked around the room. "I could not just walk away. So I stayed, and Lee left."
Hershel drew in a shaky breath.
"He did not have a choice. The Shepherd was already starting to show his true colors, and Lee had people to protect. They left. And two days later, the Shepherd came back without his friendly mask."
"What did he do?" Glenn demanded.
"First, it was only about food and medicine. He claimed they were needed to help build his community. But the requests got bigger and more frequent. And when I said we could not spare that much..."
He fell silent for a moment before continuing.
"He said we were being selfish. He said the Lord punishes the greedy and the cruel. Then he made us an offer. We could join him and work the farm under his authority. Otherwise, we would face judgment. He never explained what that meant. But his men were carrying assault rifles, and we only had hunting shotguns. We had no way to resist."
The room was silent except for the soft breathing of the sleeping children.
"So... he took Shawn and Maggie."
After hearing the explanation, the doubt and hostility in everyone's eyes gradually faded.
Glenn suddenly understood. "No wonder… No wonder she saw that I was still alive and didn't report it…"
Miranda, who had been silent the whole time, suddenly spoke, "Maggie doesn't seem to hold a low position among the Believers, does she?"
Although she had pretended to be dead in the RV, she had been paying close attention to everything happening outside.
"I heard it. That man Ben suggested checking the RV, and Maggie shut him down with barely an argument. The leader did not question her."
What Maggie said at the time had some logic to it, but from their perspective, it still meant letting potential risks go.
Miranda's analysis caused the atmosphere to tense once more. "That's not how you treat a hostage who just joined the organization."
Hershel's expression changed instantly.
"Maybe it is because I helped Lee and the others. The Shepherd has rules and doctrines. Maybe he sees Maggie as—"
"As what?" Miranda asked. "One of them?"
"No. She is doing what she has to do to survive. You do not understand—"
"We understand plenty," Glenn said. "We understand she saved our lives today. But you are not telling us everything."
"I have told you everything I know," Hershel insisted.
Lucien did not think that was true, but pushing would not help right now. He had more important things to worry about.
Lee, Clementine... The names kept circling in his head.
"Mr. Hershel," he said suddenly, "what were the names of the couple you mentioned?"
Hershel blinked. "Paul and Karina, I think. Why?"
"And the history professor was just Lee? No last name? What about the others?"
Hershel frowned slightly as he searched his memory. "Everett. Lee Everett. The girl was Clementine, though I do not recall him ever giving her last name. And there was Kenny and..."
When Hershel mentioned Kenny, Lucien's eyes dimmed briefly. He felt like the floor had dropped out from under him.
Lee Everett, Clementine, Kenny...
He knew those names from a game he had never played but had heard about a hundred times in his previous life. The game was set in the Walking Dead universe.
The Walking Dead: The Telltale Series.
Everyone said it would make you cry. At its heart, it told the story of a young girl and a convicted criminal who became her protector. Together, they faced impossible choices, each one carrying the weight of inevitable heartbreak.
"Lucien?" Glenn was looking at him with concern. "What is wrong? Do you know these people?"
"I..." Lucien's mind was racing too fast to form coherent sentences. "I met Paul and Karina at Harrison Memorial Hospital. They taught me... they helped me learn some things."
That was true. He had encountered them, even if the memories felt weird and distant now.
But the rest...
The butterfly effect. That was the term for it, was it not? One small change rippling outward, creating consequences nobody could predict.
He had saved Paul and Karina at the hospital. So they had lived instead of dying. And then they had met Lee and Clementine, and Kenny on the road. And that group, that impossible crossover group of TV show and game characters existing in the same timeline, had saved the Shepherd.
And now Rick and the others were prisoners.
Because he had saved two people at a hospital.
"Lucien," Glenn said again, more urgently now. "Talk to us."
"It is nothing," Lucien managed. "I am surprised they made it this far. That is all."
He could not explain that he had somehow rewritten reality just by existing in it. He could not make them understand that this was his fault without explaining things he had no way to explain.
So he pushed it down.
When he had been truly a child in his previous life, he had learned something important: not every good deed got rewarded. Sometimes helping people just put a target on your back. And sometimes kindness got you hurt.
And he had learned something else too, something darker that he did not like to think about but could not deny: when kindness failed, when doing the right thing made everything worse, you had to be willing to do something harder.
He had tried to help people. And now Rick's group was paying the price for his interference.
If he had still been that weak, useless wizard who could not cast a single spell, maybe he would have accepted that. But he was not that person anymore.
"Mr. Hershel. Where is their base? Where do they operate from?"
Hershel frowned. "An abandoned factory on the outskirts of town. Maybe fifteen miles from here. Why do you—"
"Good," Lucien interrupted. He looked around at the others. "That is good."
"Why are you asking about their base?" Hershel demanded.
Lucien met his eyes. "Because they have our people. And I am going to find a way to get them back."