(Note: What did you think of the cover? Personally, this is how I imagine Jason. Here's another chapter. In the next ones, he will finally put his knowledge into practice and strengthen the Greene farm—for those who have been looking forward to this part…)
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Jason let out a long, low sigh as he walked away from the larger barn.
The morning sun hit his back, but he barely felt the warmth. His mind was far away, revolving around the image he had just seen a few minutes earlier: dozens of walkers, groaning, dragging their feet inside the barn....
With his intelligence, it was easy for him to understand why there were so many dead crammed into the barn. Hershel… truly believed it was still a disease. Skipping over how he had reached that conclusion in detail, it made sense when considering the old farmer's own stance, how he forbade him from approaching the larger barn, as well as the entire group of Rick, and how he had behaved since Jason met him nearly two weeks ago.
Honestly, he could understand Hershel's reasoning: deep down, there was almost a tragic beauty in that moral stubbornness, a refusal to accept that humanity had been lost. To Hershel, those bodies represented the faces of neighbors, friends, perhaps even family. Keeping them there was, in a way, preserving hope—believing that someday, someone would find a cure and bring them back.
But understanding Hershel's motivation did not mean agreeing with it. He had to restrain himself with extreme effort not to set the larger barn on fire, because if he left those dead there, at any moment something could happen and they could break free, turning everything into a true bloodbath. Even so, it wasn't a decision he could make impulsively. Any rash action would be a direct blow to his father-in-law's hope and, worse, to Maggie's feelings, making everything far more complicated.
In the end, all he could do was remain silent in the face of the situation. He knew he would need to have an honest conversation with Maggie. He understood her reasons for hiding it: loyalty to her father, fear of his reaction, the desire to protect her family. Even so, he couldn't stop a twinge of irritation from settling in his chest. They were officially dating now. And yet, she was carrying a secret that big, that dangerous—keeping walkers in the barn. He had his own secrets too, like the truth about the group he had eliminated in the city, but that didn't make it any easier to swallow the feeling of being on the margins of something so serious.
He took a deep breath, seeking clarity amid the tangle of thoughts.
First, he needed to talk to Maggie.
Then, he would find a way to deal with Hershel.
Jason slowly shook his head and continued walking calmly toward the house.
Halfway there, Glenn appeared coming from the direction of the trailer, carrying a toolbox. The Asian young man looked up and gave a quick smile, the kind that seemed a bit forced after everything that had happened over the past few days.
"Hey, Jason," he greeted, pausing for a moment. "Back early today. Everything alright in town?"
Jason stopped as well, giving a short nod.
"Alright enough. I just checked a few things and came back. What about here?"
Glenn shrugged, adjusting the box in his hands.
"Same as always. Dale's in the trailer with the binoculars, Andrea went to help Lori with some things… and I'm trying to fix that fence that broke yesterday." He hesitated for half a second, then added more quietly, "Still no news about Sophia."
Jason nodded calmly.
"We'll keep looking. I'll help you later....."
Glenn gave a grateful but tired smile.
"Thanks, man. Seriously. You've been helping a lot around here."
The two exchanged a few more quick words about the day's tasks—nothing deep, just enough to keep the conversation light. Soon after, Glenn went off in another direction, and Jason continued on his way to the main house.
As soon as he stepped through the kitchen door, he was greeted by a familiar mix of smells: fresh coffee and something frying in a pan. The environment carried an almost deceptive sense of normalcy, as if, for a moment, the world outside didn't exist.
Patricia stood by the stove, stirring the contents of a pot with calm, practiced movements. Andrea sat at the table, sipping coffee in small sips, her gaze distant but still attentive to her surroundings. Lori was organizing the dishes with silent efficiency, keeping everything in order.
With her back to the door, Maggie was washing a few cups in the sink.
The soft sound of the door opening was enough.
She turned her head.
The moment her eyes met his, her expression changed completely. A smile appeared immediately—genuine, relieved—as if an invisible weight had been lifted from her shoulders simply by confirming that he had returned safely.
"Jason…" she called, her voice softer, carrying something beyond a simple greeting. "You're back."
He held her gaze for a brief second before replying, a small smile forming.
"I'm back."
Andrea was the first to speak after the two lovebirds had their moment, turning in her chair with that curious half-smile she sometimes wore.
"And it looks like you came back in one piece..." she said, raising her cup as if making a toast. "Run into any trouble in town that made you come back early?"
Jason gave a short, polite nod, answering in the same light tone.
"No, actually, I just finished what I'd been doing these past few days...."
Lori looked up from the dishes she was organizing, her face still marked by constant concern for Carl, but trying to be kind.
"And what would that be?"
"Hmm... that I can't say. It's a secret for now...." he replied with a slight smile.
Patricia turned from the stove, wiping her hands on her apron.
"You must be hungry after being out all morning. Sit down and I'll fix you a plate. There's eggs, fresh bread, and some dried meat left."
Jason pulled out a chair and sat down, grateful.
"If it's not too much trouble, I'll take it. Thanks, Patricia."
While Patricia served the plate, Maggie quickly dried her hands and approached, stopping beside him.
He began eating slowly, exchanging light words with the women. Andrea commented on the heat, Lori asked if he had seen anything unusual in town, Patricia talked about how what he had taught about planting had been very useful. He responded calmly, keeping the conversation flowing without effort, but without going too deep.
When he finished eating, he wiped his mouth with a napkin and looked directly at Maggie. His voice came out low, just for her, but clear enough for the others to understand it was private.
"Maggie, can we talk for a minute? Alone."
The three women exchanged quick, knowing glances—subtle, but unmistakable. Patricia hid a small smile as she returned to the stove. Lori lowered her gaze to the dishes with an understanding expression. Andrea raised an eyebrow but said nothing.
Maggie nodded without hesitation, wiping her hands one last time.
"Of course."
She left the kitchen beside him. The two walked in silence to a more secluded spot outside the house, where the shade of a large tree protected them from the sun and curious ears.
As soon as they stopped, Maggie turned to him, her expression shifting from mild curiosity to more serious concern.
"What happened? You're making a strange expression..."
Jason took a deep breath, looking at her for a moment before speaking directly, without beating around the bush.
"I saw the larger barn today."
Maggie froze. Her face lost some color, her lips parting, but no words came out at first.....
He continued, his voice low but firm:
"I had put Duke in the smaller barn and was leaving when I heard a loud noise coming from there. I went closer and came face to face with a bunch of those things...."
Maggie swallowed hard, the sound audible in the silence between them. Her expression changed almost immediately—not fear, but a sadness mixed with hurt, as if his words had touched something she kept very carefully guarded.
"Don't call them that..." she murmured hesitantly. The upset was clear in her green eyes, which avoided his for a second. "They're not 'those things' to me."
Jason paused, studying her face closely, as if trying to read something beyond her words.
"Then… what do you call them?" he asked calmly.
There was no direct accusation in his tone, just a certain curiosity, although inwardly he already had his own conclusions. Maggie wasn't naïve. They had almost died in the city the first time they went together; she had seen with her own eyes what those things were capable of. Her hesitation… said more than any answer. It meant that, deep down, she knew those things were no longer people.
Maggie took a deep breath, as if gathering strength to say the names out loud.
"Mom… Shawn… Mr. and Mrs. Fischer… Lancey… Duncan." Each name came out slowly and hesitantly. "They were people I knew since I was little. Neighbors. Family friends. People who didn't have the same luck as us and ended up like that...."
"Even after everything you saw by my side… after everything we went through together in the city, you still see them as people you knew? Maggie, you saw what they're capable of...."
Maggie crossed her arms and gripped one of them tighter, her fingers trembling slightly against the fabric of her sleeve.
"It's exactly because I met you and went through all of that with you that I can still see them that way..." she replied, her voice thick with emotion but unwavering. "I know very well those things are dangerous. I'm not the farm girl who follows my father's ideology of seeing them as sick anymore, but you showed me that there's still hope. That things can get better. That maybe… maybe there's still a way to save someone. I believed in you, Jason. And if you can learn everything so fast… then why couldn't there be a chance to cure them too?"
Jason remained silent for a few seconds.
Human beings tend to attach disproportionate intensity to what falls outside the ordinary, especially when that "unusual" represents a possible solution to their deepest pains; in the face of loss, grief, and helplessness, logic often gives way to hope, and that hope seeks an anchor—someone or something that seems capable of doing the impossible. In his case, his above-average intelligence, his ability to learn quickly and produce concrete results in a short time, placed him, in the eyes of others, not just as useful, but as exceptional—almost like a kind of blessed savior. And it is precisely onto this type of figure that people project their most impossible desires, such as reversing death or curing what has already been lost, not necessarily out of naivety, but out of emotional necessity.
He had never thought Maggie would fall prey to that. He let out a long, heavy sigh and held her face with both hands, his thumbs gently caressing her cheeks.
"Maggie… I'm sorry I gave you that kind of hope...." he said, his voice low and sincere. "I am optimistic, yes. I believe I can find a way to stop someone from dying from a bite. I can create vaccines, stronger antibiotics, maybe even something that neutralizes the virus before it spreads. But reversing the process after someone has already turned… that I can't do. There is no cure for someone who has already died and come back. They're no longer the people you knew...."
Maggie turned pale. Her body seemed to sag slightly against his hands, her eyes filling with tears, though they didn't fall.
Jason continued, his voice soft, but without softening the truth:
"I'm sorry. Truly. But we have to be realistic now. There's a barn full of those things just a few meters from where you sleep, where Beth sleeps, where you and I sleep. If something happens and they get out, someone is going to die....."
Maggie stayed silent for a long time. She lowered her gaze, her lips trembling slightly as she processed his words. The hope she had nurtured so carefully seemed to slowly unravel before her.
Jason pulled her into a tight embrace, one hand stroking her hair while the other held her firmly by the back.
"I'm here..." he murmured against her hair. "I won't let anything happen to you. But we need to talk about this with your father as soon as possible. Convince him that those things are no longer the people you knew when they were alive, and that they're a danger to all of us...."
Maggie tightened her arms around him, her face buried in his chest. Her voice came out muffled, almost a whisper:
"I know… just… give me some time to process this, okay?"
"Of course," he replied, kissing the top of her head. "All the time you need."
They stayed there, holding each other under the shade of the tree, the wind blowing softly around them.
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