Reply #33: Well, if you find a 'tween female walker...

[krispos42]

...and then a day later ten people come to your farm saying one of their own was shot while looking for a lost girl, you should be able to put two and two together to get four.

I think he thought he had to keep Sophia the walker a secret so the group would move on. I think that's why he was pushing for them to leave, even though it was obvious that the farm would need manpower to plant and crow crops in an environment without modern farming tools such as fertilizers, tractors, insecticide, and high-yield seed.

Once he didn't tell them immediately, he was trapped on the path of continuing to hide her from them, both to protect his initial duplicity and to protect his secret in the barn.


I suppose he could have salvaged his position by somehow separating Sophie the walker out of the barn herd and letting her free, to be discovered by the sentry on top of the RV, but that operation would have risk of discovery.