Shane glanced at her, then gave her rifle a suspicious look. After less than two seconds of hesitation, he pulled out a spare handgun from their group's gear and shoved it into Calista's hands.
Before handing it over, he deliberately opened the magazine for her to see. It was full.
Calista stiffly accepted the gun, letting it hang at her side.
Shane seemed a little surprised she didn't respond right away, but there was no time to say anything more.
He turned and, under the gaze of the others. Some supportive, some silently approving, some terrified. He yanked open the barn door latch!
"No!!" Hershel's cry was filled with despair.
But it was already too late.
The walkers inside the barn surged out like a breached flood.
"Open fire! Fire at will!" Shane's voice was resolute. He turned his head and immediately took down the two walkers Rick and Jimmy had been pushing forward with their ropes.
Rick's hands slackened, and the bodies of the walkers hit the ground with a heavy thud.
He knew. At this moment, there was no turning back.
Rick had tacitly allowed Shane's actions. And with it, this final reckoning.
Gunfire erupted instantly, crackling like a string of firecrackers.
Daryl, Glenn, T-Dog, Andrea, even Jacqui. All of them raised their weapons.
One walker after another fell.
An elderly woman in a skirt. A man in work pants. A young girl.
They had all once been someone's wife, mother, neighbor.
Maggie bit down hard on her lip as tears streamed silently down her face. Watching those familiar figures collapse under the gunfire, the fragile world her father had built also shattered piece by piece.
Beth had already collapsed to the ground in terror, sheltered behind Maggie.
Caught in the storm of bullets, Calista felt unbearably out of place.
Gun in hand, she neither fired nor retreated.
Leah and Merle stood tightly at her sides, guarding her. They too made no move, watching coldly.
When a walker snarled and charged in her direction, Calista knew she couldn't keep pretending anymore.
She quickly raised her arm. It looked like she was aiming, but with a subtle flick of her wrist. Bang. The bullet struck the walker's shoulder blade, making it stagger and slow down.
Almost at the same moment, Shane fired a shotgun blast from the side, blowing its head apart with precision.
While reloading, Shane shot Calista a glance.
He had seen her move. Skilled, steady. And yet, she had clearly avoided the vital points on purpose.
This girl was more interesting than he'd thought.
Calista didn't fire wildly like the others, nor did she shrink back in fear. She stayed in a delicate balance, doing only the bare minimum to "participate."
Maybe that bastard Merle really did get lucky this time.
The thought flickered through Shane's mind.
As he looked over, Calista quickly averted her gaze, focusing on… the ground. Anything to avoid meeting anyone's eyes.
She just wanted this forced farce to end as soon as possible.
When the last walker. A female walker in an elegant dress. Staggered out of the barn, Beth suddenly found a burst of strength from nowhere. Crying out, "Mom!" she broke free from Maggie and ran straight toward it.
"Beth! Come back!" Maggie and Glenn shouted at the same time.
Someone fired, hitting the walker in the cheek. It fell to the ground, motionless.
Everyone thought it was dead.
But it wasn't.
The moment Beth got close, it suddenly jerked its head up. Its rotting face hollow and greedy, jaws snapping open as it lunged for Beth's pale neck.
"Watch out!"
At the critical moment, Andrea and Shane, the closest ones, lunged forward together.
Shane yanked Beth back with force, then drove a hard kick into the walker's chest, sending it stumbling.
Immediately after, Andrea pressed her pistol against its forehead.
Bang.
The final gunshot brought the massacre to an end.
Corpses littered the ground in front of the barn. Beth collapsed into Maggie's arms and fainted from overwhelming fear and grief.
Calista quietly walked over to Dale, who was cleaning up the aftermath. She gently placed the barely used pistol onto the gun bag at his feet and said softly, "Thanks. We won't be needing it."
Then she turned and left, without looking at anyone.
The gun Shane had forced into her hands. Like a hot potato. She had finally gotten rid of it.
Hershel seemed to age ten years in an instant. He staggered to the front of the barn, his body swaying slightly as he stared at the corpses of his "family" scattered across the ground.
Jimmy, Otis, and Patricia huddled in a corner. They had neither taken part in the slaughter nor tried to stop it.
Hershel lifted his head and looked at Rick. The warmth and tolerance that once filled his eyes were gone, replaced by cold despair and complete estrangement.
"Now… are you satisfied?" His voice was hoarse, like sand scraping against sandpaper. "Get off my farm. Now. Right now."
Shane immediately shot back, "Don't you understand yet, old man? We saved you! If it weren't for us—"
"Shane!" Rick cut him off. He looked at Hershel, his expression conflicted. "Hershel, I'm sorry. But can we at least—"
"There's nothing left to say, Sheriff." Hershel interrupted. He turned away, no longer looking at anyone, and staggered toward his house, his back heavy with desolation and despair.
What followed was a heavy, suffocating cleanup.
No one spoke. Only the dull scrape of shovels digging into the earth.
They loaded all the walkers' bodies onto a truck, drove them to an open area at the edge of the farm, dug a large pit, and buried them together.
There was no ceremony. No gravestones. Only silence and the lingering stench of decay.
Shane wanted to burn the bodies, but Rick stopped him.
As the final shovelful of dirt fell, it felt as though Hershel's long-held beliefs and convictions were buried along with them.
Back at the farmhouse, Beth remained unconscious from shock and grief.
Maggie stayed by her sister's bedside, while Glenn quietly kept her company.
Maggie held tightly onto Glenn's hand, as if he were the only thing keeping her afloat.
But a greater blow soon followed.
That afternoon, when Maggie stepped out of the room, exhausted, to find her father and talk things over, she discovered that Hershel was gone.
All he left behind was a hastily written note, filled with pain and confusion:
"I need some time alone. Glenn can take care of you. You need to take care of Beth."
Hershel. The pillar of the farm. After his beliefs completely collapsed and his loved ones. In his eyes. Were slaughtered. He chose to run away.
In his mind, he had entrusted Maggie to Glenn, and Beth to Maggie.
The farm instantly fell into panic, leaderless.
Beth needed a doctor. The farm needed someone to hold things together.
Rick looked at the chaotic scene, took a deep breath, and forced down his guilt and exhaustion.
Now wasn't the time for regret.
"Glenn," he said to him, standing beside Maggie, "we need to find Hershel. It's too dangerous for him out there alone. And Beth needs him."
Glenn looked at Maggie. Her face streaked with tears, helpless. Then he nodded firmly.
"I'll go with you."
He turned to her.
"Don't worry, Maggie. I'll bring your dad back safe."
...
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