The group safely made it back to the farm, the walk back being filled with unspoken tension. Everyone's mind had the same thing replaying on a loop. It was near impossible to believe that someone so timid or fragile could do such severe damage like that.
Danny was the only one who wasn't as disconcerted or unsettled as the others were. He was slightly thrown off guard when he saw the clearing but he also had seen plenty of other things in the apocalypse; so, he wasn't as surprised as he would've been back before the world ended.
Fluttershy was silent the whole way back. That worried the others, creeping them out honestly. Normally, that would've gone unnoticed, just her being shy and timid as usual if not for what happened in the woods. Rainbow stuck to her like glue, constantly making sure she was okay; it would've come off as nagging under normal circumstances.
Applejack lead the way beside Danny. She still had her problems with him, she hadn't forgotten about how nonchalant he was when Rainbow - who she also had a bone to pick with - murdered that person. He seemed like a decent person who unfortunately got matched up with the wrong people.
Lee also bared a slight amount of resentment toward them. He didn't know whether or not, they would become hostile if they had announced their presence but there was definitely a more just way of going about it; compared to Rainbow Dash's heinous method.
He made sure to check up on Fluttershy when on the way back to the farm but it always ended with one worded answers.
"We've got a bath in the house, you could get cleaned up in that." Danny said as they walked toward the farmhouse.
Rainbow nodded, a small smile on her face. She thankful for his hospitality and even more when he had backed her up on "offing" the bandit.
As they were walking up, they could see Andy crouching down and working on what appeared to be a generator. Carley and Ben were standing by the gate. The teenager opened it to let them in. Lee and Applejack knew something amiss as soon as they saw the grim expressions written on their faces. Carley with her arms crossed and Ben with a pitying look.
Andy looked similar as he came over and noticing Fluttershy. "I-Is... that your friend?" He asked, looking at her blood-soaked figure.
Not taking kindly to the obvious judgement, Rainbow answered bitterly. "Yeah, it is. Danny said you guys have a bath in the house, we need it."
"Oh, uh mama should be done with Mark so I guess it's fine."
Lee frowned at the tone of his voice and began to survey the area for him. The others, except for Ben and Carley, had the same confused frowns.
Applejack's eyes darted to one side for a second before they rested on Andy. "Done with Mark?" She said, raising a brow.
"Where is he?" Lee asked.
None of them answered, an unwanted pause filling the conversation. "A-ah'll let you tell 'em." Andy reluctantly said before he gestured for Fluttershy to come with him. "Come on, ah'll show you where you can get yourself cleaned up."
Not wanting to leave her on her own, Rainbow stepped up straight away. "I'm going with you."
Andy looked at them for a second before nodding and lead them toward the house, leaving the group to their discussion.
"Ah leave y'all to your peace." Danny said, turning to Lee and Applejack. "Ah'll take back those guns now."
Lee handed over his rifle as Applejack handed over the revolver, a dirty look on her face. Danny took it back, appearing to ignore her rough gaze. He nodded before taking his leave.
"What happened with Mark?" Lee inquired after a few moments.
Carley and Ben exchanged a knowing look right before she shook her head, a vexed look to her face. "When you guys left, Andy said he needed some help with fence. Apparently, the walkers tend to get tangled up in the wires so we decided to help out. We were around somewhere out there." The reporter pointed past a tree with a swing tied to it. "Anyway, we got fucking ambushed by, well, I think they were bandits but yeah. We got ambushed and Mark ends up getting shot with an arrow!"
"Bandits!? Here too!?" Applejack exclaimed.
Carley nodded. "Yup and get this, the St. Johns have some sort of deal between them."
"What type of deal?" Lee asked.
"Andy said they had conflict with them in the past. Said the bandits killed a bunch of their farmhands or something but they got them to stop by trading food with them."
Applejack and Lee were already uneasy from their last encounter with them, hearing about Carley's up-close-and-personal encounter just made matters worse for them.
"Ah suppose it was too good to be true." Applejack commented.
"What do you mean?" Carley asked.
"Ah mean that ah actually thought this was farm was gonna be good but there's bandits eye-ballin' this place." The farmer sighed, the nostalgic heartache rushing back to her.
Carley understood and nodded.
"So, Mark's in the house now?" Lee added.
"Y-yeah, Brenda was helping him." Ben replied.
"By the way, what the hell happened to your friend? Why is she covered in blood?" Carley recalled back to how dumbstrucked she felt when she saw the group walking up to the farm with a bloody figure accompanying them.
Lee and Applejack shared a slight grimace "She was the one who ended up killing the bandits." Lee explained.
Carley was stunned upon hearing the news, Ben was equally the same as they tried to imagine the scenario. "As in... the bandits? The ones who captured her in the first place?"
"Yeah, we didn't even need to use-" Applejack suddenly stopped when she thought back to the life-changing event. To the moment where Rainbow had suddenly become a careless lunatic and murdered that one bandit. "-our guns..."
Lee noticed the change in her tone but didn't comment on it. "We only saw the aftermath. It was... unpleasant, to say the least."
"Shit." Carley said, surprised. "Do you think she'll be okay?"
Applejack's gaze fell to the ground, frowning. Honestly, she highly doubted that the shy and caring girl that she come to know will ever be okay again. Nobody would be the same if they were forced into a similar situation, Applejack didn't think she'd be either. "Honestly? A-ah don't think so. She didn't even want to eat animals let alone... k-kill people."
"I-I'm just surprised she was able to... y'know, kill them. I mean, how did she even manage to do that? Didn't Rainbow say they had guns?" Ben asked to only be met with inquisitive looks.
"We dunno. It was just her there, we didn't see anyone else." Lee answered.
Applejack frowned, thinking back to the two bandits they saw at the camp. "You think those two bandits could've had somethin' to do with it?"
"I... don't think so. It looked like they just wanted to stay out of it. Besides, they didn't say anything when we were listening in on their conversation."
The farmer nodded, wondering to herself. Ben brought up a good point. How in Equestria did she manage to kill all of those bandits singlehandedly? As he pointed out, they had guns; plenty of which she saw back at the clearing, Fluttershy had none. Just a random kitchen knife, a knife she used to carve them all up.
There was no way, they were able to miss all of their shots. There were more of them then there were of Fluttershy, they couldn't all have poor-classed aim; so, how did she manage to survive all of that?
Applejack made sure to remember to ask when all was resolved.
"What do you think we should do? With the bandits here, I mean." Carley inquired.
"Ah think we should just take our food and go. This place ain't as safe as we thought, its better if we just leave while we can instead of gettin' shot up. The St. Johns said they had a deal with 'em so ah'm sure they'll be fine here on their own."
"They should've told us to begin with. Right when they sent us out there." Carley commented, bitterly.
"She's right. Once Fluttershy and Mark are settled, we'll get our food to go." Lee concluded. They all nodded in agreement, on edge with the knowledge of bandits stalking this farm. They weren't as concerned for the St. Johns since they had some type of, appear to be on-going deal between them.
If they weren't being up front with information as crucial as that then what else could they be hiding? Why didn't they just tell them about it instead of being in the dark about it? Mark was inches away from becoming deceased because of it. In any case, it didn't matter because once Fluttershy and Mark were fixed up and ready to leave, all that was left was to get their food. Once that was done, they were too...