Chapter Five: S'more the Merrier
Shane, Rick, Guillermo, and Daryll lead the others to the car. Miguel and Felipe helped Mr. Gilbert walk, the elderly man too weak to keep up on his own. Glenn stayed with Carl and Hershel, laughing about something.
"So what happened?" Shane asked. "What was with the gun shot?"
"There was a Walker in the vent," Rick replied. "Carl shot it."
"That was Carmen Lopez," Guillermo said. "She was bit. She was going to lead the Walkers away from the door before she died. But she was too scared. I don't blame her; none of us wanted her to do it."
"That would've been a bad way to go," Daryll commented. "Eaten alive by Walkers. No one deserves that."
"I'm glad she didn't do it." Guillermo looked up at the sky. It was getting dark. "She was only seventeen."
They walked out of Atlanta, taking the same route they had taken before. They passed a few Walkers, but managed to avoid them. They reached the cars and got in. One of the cars didn't start.
"What the hell." Shane got out of the car and went to the hood. He opened it. Felipe checked the engine.
"This isn't gonna work." Felipe inspected the engine. "This engine is a nothing but a paperweight now."
"Then we'll make two trips," Guillermo said. He pointed at Felipe. "Felipe, you take the old folks and the kid to their place. We'll stay here. Come back when you drop 'em off."
"I can stay!" Carl argued. He turned to his Dad and Shane. "I can practice my shooting!"
"He's right Rick," Shane said. "We didn't get a chance to teach him how to deal with Walkers properly."
"You're right." Rick took out his gun. "Felipe, you, Guillermo, Miguel, and Daryll drive Mr. Gilbert and Hershel to our place. The rest of us will stay here for the night. Meet us here in the morning."
"I'll stay here too," Guillermo told him. "Glenn can go back. I know a few places we can scavenge supplies from."
"Alright." Rick turned to Daryll. "Daryll, get them back to the house, keep everyone safe."
"Got it." Daryll went to the car and hopped in the driver's seat. "I'll come back in the morning to pick you up." He started the car. Felipe and Hershel helped Mr. Gilbert into the back, and Hershel sat next to him. Felipe went to Shane and Rick.
"I'll stay too," Felipe told them. "We gotta find medicine for Mr. Gilbert."
"No, you stay with him," Guillermo told him. "He needs you. Tell us what we need to get it."
"Alright." Felipe handed him some empty pill bottles. "He needs these."
"Don't worry," Rick said, "we'll get the meds. You just take care of him until then." Felipe nodded, and went back to the car. He held Mr. Gilbert's asthma inhaler in his hand, just in case he went into another attack.
Shane, Rick, Guillermo, and Carl watched the car leave. When it was out of sight, they turned to walk off. Guillermo lead the way. "There's a pharmacy a few blocks from the nursing home." He looked back at the others. "We were going to make a supply run week ago when everything went to shit."
"What happened anyway?" Carl asked him.
"The old folk started dying, one by one," Guillermo told him. "We didn't know that you came back no matter what. We didn't know what to do; half of my gang wanted to kill the old folk, or throw them to the Walkers. I told them we wouldn't do that."
"And you had a riot," Rick said. He didn't know for sure, but it was the only thing he could think of that would make Guillermo's group fall like that. "Fights broke out? People started trying to kill the old and sick?"
"Exactly right." Guillermo spit on the ground. "I tried to keep the peace, but a shot was fired. After that, all hell broke loose. They all started shooting each other. Some tried escaping into the city, but they just let the dead inside. The others and me, we just ran. We planned to retake the place, but it was infested in less than a day."
"How long were you locked up for?" Shane asked.
"I don't know." Guillermo had a depressed look in his eyes. Shane felt bad for him; everything he had worked so hard to defend fell, all because people were scared. "A few days probably. We went to the armory, armed ourselves. Felipe's grandmother was bit, begged him to end it. He did."
"It's a shame," Rick said. He put a hand on Guillermo's shoulder. "You had good people Guillermo. Most people would have left those people to die, but you and your men, you kept them safe."
"Anyone willing to do that is okay in book," Shane told him.
"How did you find them anyway?" Carl asked Guillermo. "Were you a doctor or something?"
"No." Guillermo looked at Carl. "I was the custodian." He then pointed at a building. "Over there's a place we can stay. We set up a few a safe houses, just in case we couldn't get back to the nursing home when we scavenging."
"That's smart idea," Rick complimented. "Really smart."
They headed for the safe house, Guillermo leading the way.
When they saw the safe house, they got more than they bargained for. The place was ruined and destroyed, all except for one room. The one room was furnished with a couch, a cooler full of canned goods and drinks, and even some guns and ammunition. They were also surprised to see a bathroom.
"This place is awesome!!" Carl said. It had been a while since he had seen a place so well made. He saw a bookshelf next to the bathroom door, and saw a book that he had once owned. He ran to the bookshelf and rifled through it. "You have all the 'Harry Potter' books!! I still haven't read the last two!"
"Yeah," Guillermo said, "we set this place up so you could stay here for days and not have to leave. Seemed like a good idea."
"We can take the cooler with us when we leave tomorrow," Rick said. He looked at Shane. "Shane, you take Carl and look for some food and gas. I'll go with Guillermo took look for medicine."
"Got it." Shane headed for the door. "Come on Carl. We should hurry."
"Coming!" Carl ran for the door.
Shane and Carl crouched low, walking past Walkers. Shane didn't want to attract any unnecessary attention, though Carl kept asking if he could kill some Walkers. They had searched several cars, but none of them had gas, not one drop. "Looks like Guillermo wasn't kidding about taking every drop of gas."
"What do we do?" Carl asked. "Do we look for the food?"
"Yeah. Better than looking for gas that doesn't exist."
The two of them hurried to an old convenience store that they spotted; they didn't know if there would be any food to be found, but it was better than doing nothing. They entered the store, and saw a few Walkers inside. Carl lifted his gun to shoot one, but Shane stopped him. "Don't be so rash," Shane whispered. "Do that and we'll have ten times more to deal with."
"Sorry." Carl lowered his gun. "How do we kill them then?"
"We use this." Shane unsheathed his knife. "You wanna use these as much as possible. It saves ammo and keeps everything nice and quiet."
"I can't reach with my knife," Carl said. "How am I supposed to kill them?"
"Umm." Shane didn't think about that. He looked around for something that Carl could use as a weapon. He spotted a dead body with one hand leaning on the wall; it was a bloody bat next to it."We'll get that," he said, pointing to the bat. "Stay here."
Shane walked to the bat, stabbing a Walker that was next to the body in the back of the head. He retrieved the bat and went back to Carl. He handed the bat to Carl.
"On three we'll kill them," Shane told Carl. "Remember, be quick. Don't hit them once, hit them several times. Until they're dead. Got it?"
"Got it." Carl held the bat in his hands. Shane took the Walkers on the left, while Carl took the Walkers on the right. Shane quickly dispatched his Walkers, then looked to Carl. Carl had one Walker on the ground, hitting it repeatedly with his bat. Another Walker came up behind him. Carl turned around and smashed the bat into the second Walker's head. The Walker fell to the ground, dead.
Shane saw the Walker on the ground reach for Carl. "Carl!" he told him. "It's still alive!"
"Huh?" Carl looked at the Walker on the ground, then brought his bat down on it's skull again. "There."
"Good job." Shane surveyed the store. "See if you can find any food and water. Don't leave anything unturned."
"Got it." The two of the searched the store for food. Shane found canned foods; tuna fish, raviolis, beefaroni, and other food that the group would certainly like.
Shane saw Carl reaching underneath an oversturned shelf and ran to help. He picked up the shelf, allowing Carl to reach what he was grabbing at. Shane looked down to see Carl holding a backpack with a giant 'L' on it's front; it seemed full. "Nice find."
"I wonder what's in it." Carl unzipped the bag. Inside he found a variety of sugary sweets. "Whoa! It's full of candy!"
"Who in there right mind would scavenge nothing but candy?" Shane asked. "Seems kinda stupid."
"Who cares!" Carl said. "Food is food!"
Shane took the pack from Carl and set it on the store counter. He put his findings in the pack. They searched the store for a while longer, but found nothing else. They left the store and headed back to the safe house.
When they arrived at the house, they found that Rick and Guillermo hadn't arrived yet. Shane sat on the couch, deciding to get some sleep. He fell asleep to the sight of Carl reading a book.
Shane woke up to Rick shaking him. "Come on," he said, "wake up."
"Rick?" Shane slowly opened his eyes. "When did you get back?"
"Last night," he said. "You've been asleep this whole time."
"I have?" Shane looked to the boarded up window to find sunlight seeping through the cracks. "Sorry."
"Forget about it." Shane saw Guillermo putting the backpack they had found on his back. "The others should be here to pick us up soon. We gotta go."
Shane stood up. "Alright." Shane stretched. "Just let me go to the bathroom." Shane went to the bathroom and closed the door. He did his business then rejoined the others. He looked at the bookshelf. "Let's take some of these." He took some of the books and put them in the cooler.
"Can we go now?" Guillermo asked. "I'd like to leave this place."
"Yeah, let's go." The four of them headed for where they left the car.
The four of them waited for Daryll to pick them up, talking about random things. Shane then wondered if Rick and Guillermo had retrieved the medicine.
"Did you guys get the medication for the old guy?" Shane asked.
"His name's Mr. Gilbert," Guillermo told him. "And yes, we did."
"We also got some antibiotics and pain killers," Rick said. "The place was pretty well stocked."
They waited in silence until they saw a car pulling up. They noticed it was T-Dog who was driving. He got out of the car. "Hurry up!" He seemed to be in a hurry. "Felipe said that he needs those meds as soon as possible!"
They piled into the car as quickly as they could.
The five of them arrived at the house in time to see Felipe and Hershel nursing Mr. Gilbert. Felipe saw them enter, and yelled, "Hurry up and give me the meds! NOW!!"
Guillermo fished the meds out of the pack and handed them to Felipe. Felipe gave the pills to Mr. Gilbert. They waited for Mr. Gilbert to calm. Hershel monitored his breathing. "He should be fine," Hershel said. "Just let him rest and relax for now."
Mr. Gilbert soon fell asleep, and the others went to show the group their findings. Felipe stayed next to Mr. Gilbert, unwilling to leave his patient.
"We found a lot of stuff," Rick told them. "Enough food and water to last us a few weeks. With what we had already, that'll give us about two months supply of food."
"And the meds'll be useful in case someone gets hurt," Miguel said.
Carl was placing the food and supplies on the table, showing everyone what they had collected. Most of the food was sweets, but what caught Carl's attention was the graham crackers and chocolate bars. "Hey, look!" he said, picking up the two items. "With the marshmallows we can make s'mores'!"
"Hey, yeah," Beth grabbed the marshmallows, which were still unopened. "We can make a campfire and make them tonight!"
"A celebration!" Hershel said. "To celebrate our coming together."
"Sounds good to me," Daryll said. "I'll get the wood for the fire." Daryll left the house to retrieve firewood.
The group sat outside, eating delicious, messy s'mores. Everyone was there. They celebrated for two groups coming together, old friends being saved, and for a hopeful future. With four new friends in their group, Shane felt that they could survive anything that came their way. He just feared getting cavities from the multitude of sweets they had retrieved.
Ever wonder what fanfiction can do? It can retell famous literary events from a different point of view. It can connect any awkward dots between sequels. It can carry out a story's fridge implications to their logical conclusions. Then you read fanfics on the internet, and find your expectations ruined by slash pairings and Rule 34. Join the Skeptics...where we make the fanfiction dream a reality.
Showing posts with label Survival of Shane. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Survival of Shane. Show all posts
Monday, February 11, 2013
The Walking Dead S.o.S.: Chapter Four: Los ancianos de los muertos
Chapter Four: Los ancianos de los muertos
Rick and Shane drove in the lead car with Carl, Lori, and T-Dog. Shane drove with Rick sitting in the passengers seat. Rick held the radio in his right hand. They were looking for somewhere to stay for the day, an abandoned building, a group of cars, a camp site; somewhere they could get a good nights sleep. A week had passed since The Greene Family Farm had been taken over by the dead, and everyone wondered if they would ever find a place to call home again.
They rarely spoke since the night Rick and Shane told them everything. Shane avoided the glaring eyes of Maggie and Beth, the fearful ones of Carol. They all tried to think of a place to go, but nothing came to mind.
"There's a path," Shane said, pointing to a beaten path, his hands still on the wheel. The path looked like it hadn't seen any use in weeks. "We can try there."
"Take the turn," Rick told him. He brought the radio to his mouth. "We're turning here," he spoke into the radio. "May have found a place to stay. Stay alert."
Shane took the turn, followed by the others. He drove for a few minutes until he saw an abandoned house in front of them. He stopped about twenty feet away from the house. This had become a caution they would take whenever they found a new place; stop a few meters away and go in as a team to take out any Walkers they found.
Rick and Shane got out of their car. "T-Dog," Rick said, looking at him through the back wondow. "Stay here with Lori. We'll check the place out."
Rick and Shane looked behind them to see Daryll, his crossbow at the ready. "We ready?" he asked.
"One sec." Rick looked at the Carl, sitting next to his mother. "Carl; you're gonna come with us."
"What?" Lori said. "You can't be serious." She opened her door and got out of the car. Carl followed suit, as did T-Dog.
"He's gotta learn to fight the Walkers," Rick told her. "Better sooner than later." Rick looked at Carl. "You think you can do this?"
"Yeah," Carl told him, his voice full of confidence; ever since he had killed those Walkers at the farm he had become much more confident in his abilites. "I can do this!"
"Good." Rick looked at Lori. "He'll be fine. I promise."
"We promise," Shane added. "I won't let anything happen to him."
Lori looked scared and uncertain, but relented. She wanted her son to be strong, someone who could survive on their own. "Alright. You have to stay with him though."
"I will," Rick told her. "Come on." Rick lead Shane, Daryll, and Carl to the house.
Line Break
The four of them walked in the house after checking their guns. "I'll go with Daryll to the top floor," Rick told them. "Shane, Carl; you clear out the first level."
"Got it, Dad," Carl said.
"Remember," Daryll told them, "use your knives to kill silently. We don't need to attract any more than there probably are." Rick and Daryll headed upstairs, leaving Shane and Carl to clear the bottom level.
Shane walked in front of Carl, to make sure nothing would happen to him. "Keep your guard up at all times," Shane whispered to Carl. "Don't use your gun unless you have to."
Carl nodded. He had his gun ready at his side, holding a wooden baseball bat with a firm grip. He was actually hoping to find some Walkers, so he could practice his swing. They walked cautiously, opening every door quickly and quietly. Shane heard movement from upstairs, and heard something drop. He disregarded it, concentrating on the matter at hand. They soon checked the whole first floor and found no Walkers whatsoever.
"Huh." Shane was surprised they didn't find any Walkers. "Nothing. Must be our lucky day."
"Yeah," Carl laughed, smiling. "Let's go check on Dad and Daryll."
"Good idea." Shane walked up the steps, followed by Carl. Halfway up, they saw Rick and Daryll standing over a dead body.
"Hey," Shane said, getting them to turn their heads to him. "What happened?"
"Nothin'," Daryll told him. "This poor bastard was in that room." Daryll jerked his thumb at the open door beside them. "Looks like he's been dead a few weeks."
"How'd he die?" Carl asked.
"Blew his brains all over the wall." Carl walked to check the room, and indeed saw blood and chunks on the wall. "Cool."
"Get the others," Rick told Shane. "Tell them it's safe to come in."
"On it." Shane hurried down the stair and out the door. He saw everyone standing by the lead car. "Hey!" he yelled. "It's safe to come in!"
The others hurried to the house, and went in one by one.
Line Break
Everyone had gathered in the living room while Rick, Shane, and Carl looked around for food and supplies. Daryll had gone off hunting, hoping to catch some squirrel, or maybe even a deer.
Rick searched upstairs while Shane and Carl searched the first level. Shane looked around the kitchen, looking for anything edible. Aside from maggots, flies, and a moldy sandwich, there wasn't much to find. They needed to stock up on food for the coming winter, and anything would've been good now. "Not a goddamn thing!" Shane said, frustrated. "Hope Carl and Rick have better luck than I do."
Shane went to the living room and sat beside Lori. "Coudn't find anything," he told the group. "Unless y'all like maggots."
"No thanks," Lori said. "I don't think I could stomach that."
"Me either," Carol said.
Shane heard Rick coming down the stairs, and looked to see that he had returned empty handed as well. "Nothing," Rick said. "Absolutely nothing."
"Maybe Carl found something," Shane said.
"I did!" Everyone turned to see a smiling Carl, holding a sealed bag of large marshmallows. "All we need now is chocolate and some graham crackers!"
"Nice." Shane stood and took the bag from Carl. He wasn't a big fan of marshmallows, but it was better than most of the stuff they had eaten recently. He tossed the bag to Rick.
"It's hardly a meal." Rick looked at the bag. A door opened, and Daryll walked in.
"Couldn't find a damn thing." Daryll sat down between T-Dog and Carol, clearly frustrated. "All I found were some Walkers."
"Don't worry about it," Rick told him. "We got enough food for the next month. Besides, what we need is canned goods, things that are preserved."
"We can make maggot soup for today," Shane joked. "Found a whole bunch in the kitchen."
"I'm not that desperate," Rick laughed. "At least not yet."
They sat in silence, each passing the bag of marshmallows to the next. They weren't eating them, just passing them around; they didn't know how to equally divide them, and no one wanted to be greedy.
Glenn had the bag when he got sick of the silence. "So what're you hoping the the baby'll be?" he asked.
Lori looked at him and smiled. "I don't know. Either would be nice."
"I hope it's a girl," Shane said. "I always ... I always liked baby girls better." Shane spoke with a sad undertone. Shane had patched things up with Rick, but he was afraid that if he brought it up, then everything would be undone. He believed that Lori's baby was his, and wanted to be the one the child called 'Daddy'.
Rick looked at him with a glare; he knew what he was thinking, and he didn't like it. He didn't hate him for it, he just didn't like it. "Whatever it is, it'll be perfect. Boy or girl."
"I just wish we had another physician with us," Hershel said. "I could use a someone who has medical training."
"Not gonna find many doctors out there," T-Dog said. "God knows if there's any left."
"Nurses either," Shane added.
"A nurse," Glenn said. He remembered something. "Rick, we know a nurse!!"
"We do?" Shane asked. "Where exactly is she?"
"Glenn," Rick said, "what are you talking about?"
"Back in Atlanta! Remember? That group in the nursing home!"
"That's right," Daryll added. "The one I shot in the ass, right?"
"Whoa, whoa," Shane said. "What are you talking about? What group? What nursing home?"
"The day we went to get Merle, we encountered another group. They were good people, looking after the sick and the old. They were lead by a man named Guillermo. One of them was a nurse."
"How come you never told us this?" Lori asked. "That there was another group?"
"Honestly?" Rick said, rubbing the back of his head in embarrassment. "It completely skipped my mind."
"The Walkers attacking the camp kinda made me forget too," Daryll told him. "We all forgot."
The group discussed The Vatos Gang, and what they should do.
"You said they had sick and old people, right?" Shane asked. "Chances are those people are dead."
"And if they died, then they became Walkers," T-Dog finished. "Chances are the place was overtaken. Like the farm."
They sat in silence, contemplating what to do. "They have some of our guns," Glenn said. "Remember? We gave them some."
"Wait," Shane interrupted, "you gave them some of our guns?"
"They were good people," Rick said. "They needed protection, so I gave them some."
"Alright." Shane looked at the group. "Doesn't matter either way. I say we go."
Rick looked at Shane with disbelief. "Did you just say let's go?"
"Yeah. Why not? If their alive, then they can join us. If not, then we can take back the guns."
"It's a win-win situation," Daryll said. "We get something out of it either way. We can also pick up some food and other supplies while we're there."
"I'll go with you," Hershel told them. "I can get the proper medical supplies for when Lori goes into labor."
"Then it's settled." Rick took out his gun and checked the barrel. "Some of us'll go in a few days. Hopefully they're okay."
Two days later, Shane and Rick were discussing an important decision. They stood outside of the house they had taken refuge in before; amazingly, it had been a comfortable two days. "We should take him!" Rick argued. "He's gotta learn." They were debating over whether or not Carl should come with them to Atlanta; Rick believed he needed to learn how to better deal with Walkers, while Shane believed that taking him to Atlanta was too dangerous.
"I know he does," Shane told him. "But Atlanta's too heavily infested with Walkers; he takes every shot he can, doesn't conserve ammo!"
"We gotta take him." Rick looked around for Lori; he didn't want Lori around to side with Shane, and they both knew she would. "He's gotta learn how to deal with Walkers."
Shane stood there, silent. Carl didn't conserve ammo, he didn't use it sparingly; he ran out of ammo back on the farm, and it nearly cost him his father's life. Though he wanted to protect Carl, he knew that Rick was right; he would have to deal with Walkers in the future, and it would be better if he learned sooner rather than later.
But in the end, Shane relented. Carl needed to learn how to conserve his ammo, only kill Walkers when necessary. "All right," Shane said. "We gotta teach him how to conserve his ammo, how to deal with Walkers properly, and I guess taking him to Atlanta might help with that."
"Good." Rick walked into the house, leaving Shane outside. He walked to his car and stood there, waiting. They had discussed who would be going and who would be staying; Rick and Shane were to go, as were Daryll, Hershel, Glenn, and Carl. Daryll would be useful with his silent bow, Hershel would know what kind of medications to take, and Glenn knew his way around the ruined city.
"I am not looking foward to this," Shane said to himself.
"You and me both!" Shane turned to Daryll, his crossbow in hand.
"Don't you ever put that thing down?" Shane asked jokingly.
"Never." Daryll went to the trunk and opened it. "We takin' Carl or not?"
"Yeah, we are." Shane looked at Daryll; he sided with Rick on Carl's attendance, but he expected nothing less. "He's gotta learn how to conserve ammo."
"Yeah, that is a problem," Daryll said. "Not like you can take the bullets out, not like my beauty here." He kissed his crossbow. "Silent, quick, and I can take the bolts back. And I can make new ones."
"You don't have to brag." Shane opened the front door and got in the drivers seat. He wanted to get this thing over with.
Rick, Hershel, and Carl came walking out of the house; Carl looked as though he would pop a gasket he was so excited. "Rick! Let's get a move on!" They piled into the two cars and drove off.
The six of them arrived at Atlanta in a matter of hours. "So where is this place?" Shane asked. "I wanna get out of this place as soon as we can."
"It's about twenty minutes away," Glenn said. "Maybe thirty."
"I hope they're okay," Rick said. "Their place was pretty well fortified, and they had a lot of strong men. But they were looking after the old and the sick."
"So those people may have died of natural causes." Hershel hoped the group were okay; a group of people looking after the old and sick were saintly in his book. "Let's just hope that nurse of their's took good care of them."
They walked in silence as they neared the nursing home. They would avoid killing Walkers whenever they could, though Carl would ask if he could shoot just one. "Does anyone remember their names?" Daryll asked. "It'd be kind of awkward if we showed up without knowing their names."
"Yeah," Glenn told him. "There was Guillermo."
"The leader," Rick added.
"Miguel." Glenn closed his eyes, trying to remember the names of the gang.
"The one we had captured."
"And the one I shot in the ass with an arrow," Daryll added. "Felipe."
"You shot someone in the ass?" Shane asked, laughing. "That's funny."
"That is funny," Carl agreed.
The six of them arrived at the entrance of the nursing home, finding it open. "That's not good," Rick said. They headed inside, getting their weapons ready.
As they walked, they saw the bodies of both elderly and young people. They all had head wounds, either from a gun, a knife, or a blunt object. "They haven't been dead too long," Daryll said, alertness in his voice. "This must've only been a few days ago. A week at most."
"Let's see if we can find anyone alive," Rick told them. "Stick together. Carl." He looked at his son. "Don't fire your weapon unless we tell you otherwise. “Got it?”
“Got it Dad!” Carl said.
They walked cautiously, taking deliberate steps. They looked for fresh bodies, listened for voices, steps, gun shots, anything that could mean life. Or death.
Carl walked in the middle, between everyone else. He was told by his father to stay in the center, so he wouldn’t be the first to get grabbed if a Walker attacked. “You know where they kept their guns?” Shane asked Rick. “Or are we just going around aimlessly?”
“They probably kept them in a storage closet,” Daryll guessed. “Where else would they keep ‘em?”
“No idea,” Rick said.
They continued their trek, looking for any signs of life. Glenn tripped over something, and they looked down to see a mutilated body. “Oh God.” Glenn choked back vomitting.
“This was recent.” Shane bent down to get a closer look. “Blood’s not dry yet.”
“We gotta hurry.” Rick quickly went ahead. “If there’s anyone left alive, they won’t be for long.”
They followed Rick, fearing that there trip was in vain.
Rick stopped the group when he heard a loud rustling noise. “You guy’s hear that?” Rick asked.
“Yeah.” Carl spoke a little to loud for Rick’s liking. “What is that Dad?”
“Trouble,”Daryll answered. He walked ahead of the others. “I’ll check it out.” Daryll walked quickly toward the source of the noise. He turned at a corner and stopped. He looked amused. He turned to the others, and walked back, silently and slowly. “You won’t believe what’s over there!” he whispered, failing to hold back a laugh. “There’s an assload of Walkers clawing at the door at the end of the hall!” He went back to the wall, keeping an eye on the Walkers.
“You’ve gotta be kidding me,” Shane said.
“We can sneak past them,” Carl said. “It’ll be easy.”
“It’s not that simple,” Hershel told him. “What are they trying to get at?”
“People,” Rick answered. “Considering the Walkers are still clawing at the door, it’s safe to say that someone is alive in there.”
“How do help them?”Glenn asked. “There’s too many for us to kill. And we can’t lead them away, not without one of us dying.”
They stood there, trying to think of what they could do. Shane spoke first. “We should leave them.” The others looked at him. “We can’t save them, it’d be suicide to even try.”
“He maybe right,” Hershel said sadly. “Unless you have any idea’s Rick, we have to leave them.”
Rick’s eyes swayed left and right, trying to think of a way to get in that room. He looked up, trying to think, when he saw an air duct. “There.” He pointed at the air duct. “One of us can go in and get into that room.”
“I’ll go,” Carl volunteered. “I can fit in there.”
“So can I,” Glenn said. “We’ll get to the room then lead whoever’s in there back here.”
“You sure you can do this Carl?” Rick asked his son.
“Yeah.” Carl took off his hat, the one his father had given him, and handed it to him. “Hold on to this. I don’t wanna lose it.” Carl and Glenn went to the air duct. Glenn unscrewed the duct and took off the grate.
"I'll boost you up." Glenn cupped his hands together, and boosted Carl into the vent.
"Okay, I'm coming up." Glenn hopped up and got in the vent as well. "We'll be back soon."
The others waited for Glenn and Carl, killing any Walker that decided to venture away from the door. When a loud noise sounded from the vents, they jumped. "What was that?" Shane asked, though he already knew what it was.
"A gun shot," Rick said. "We-"
He was cut off by Daryll, who yelled, "They're comin'!!" He aimed his crossbow at the hall of Walkers, and fired a bolt. "RUN!!"
"The vents!" Rick ordered, pointing at the vents. "Get in!"
Rick hopped in as fast as he could, followed by Daryll. "Come on!" Daryll told the others. "Hurry!"
Shane went to the vent, but stopped when he saw a Walker behind Hershel. He shot the Walker with his pistol, killing it. Realizing they wouldn't be able to get in the vents, Shane ran away. "Come on!" he yelled to Hershel. They ran as fast as the could.
Shane and Hershel ran as fast as they could. Shane noticed Hershel was running out of breath, and immediately looked for a room to take Hershel into. He shut the door. Seeing a plank of wood, obviously used as a barricade, he placed it on the door. "We should be good for a few minutes." Shane went to check on Hershel, seeing that he was breathing heavily. "You okay?" Shane didn't realize that he was breathing heavily as well.
"I'm fine." Hershel sat down. "But how do we get out of here?" He looked over the room; an elderly woman lay there, dead, a bullet hole in her forehead.
"The vents," Shane replied. He went to find a vent, but saw none. "Where's the god damn vent?!?"
"There is none." Hershel looked around from his seat. He saw no vents, no way to escape. "We're trapped."
"No." Shane punched the wall. "We are not going to die here!"
"Shane." Hershel stood and walked to Shane. "We're trapped."
The two of them sat in silence, Hershel thinking of how he could comfort Shane, and Shane thinking of a way to escape. Hershel decided to speak up. "Shane." He stood. He walked next to him. "There's something I have to tell you."
"What is that?" Shane asked sardonically. "The Birds and the Bees?"
"No." Hershel knelt down, looking him in the eyes. "I knew."
"Knew what?"
"About Otis. I knew you killed him." Shane looked at him, shock on his face.
"What?"
"I could see the guilt on your face when you came back. I knew you had done something that made you sick, that made you want to die."
"You knew?" Shane was dumbfounded. Why did Hershel not confront him? Why did he allow him to stay on his farm? "Why didn't you say anything?"
"Because I knew you were a good person," he replied. "That you still are a good person."
Shane, feeling renewed vigor, shot up out of his seat. "We are not dying here," he said. "We're getting out."
"Shane-"
"NO!" Shane said forcefully. "I'll find us a way out of here. I promise." Shane went around the room, opening every door, checking every wall; maybe one of the walls was weak enough for them to break through it. "There's gotta be something-" Shane stopped talking when he opened a closet door. He saw an army bag, and he went to open it. "I think we found the armory!" he said. "I can't believe we didn't look in the closets!"
"How many guns are there?" Hershel asked. Shane opened the bag, and was depressed to see only a handgun and a few shotgun shells.
"None we can use," Shane said. He rifled through the bag some more, looking for anything he could use. He stopped when he saw a small green object. He smiled. "But we can use this!" Shane picked up the object, turned around, and showed it to Hershel.
"Is that a grenade?" Hershel asked, surprised.
"Yeah." Shane hurried to the door; he could here the Walkers clawing at the door. "We just throw this outside and BOOM!! No more Walkers." Shane pulled the pin and held the release lever down. "Get in the closet; I'll get in after I toss the grenade."
Hershel went to the closet, and Shane turned to face the door. He took off the barricade and opened the door as fast as he could, dropping the grenade just outside of it. He ran for the closet, and got in a second before the grenade went off. He inspected the door, seeing it was blown completely off. He saw dead Walkers strewn all about the floor.
"Let's go," Shane told Hershel. They left the room that was once a death trap, Shane holding his pistol and Hershel holding the army bag.
Shane and Hershel hurried through the halls of the ruined nursing home. They were backtracking to the room where they saw the Walkers, hoping the others were in there. They reached the hallway, seeing a lone Walker walking around. Shane approached the Walker and stabbed it in the head. Hershel cautiously opened the door, only to find a gun pointed at his face.
"Hershel?" Shane looked to see Rick. "You're alive."
"Yeah." Hershel put his hands on the gun, lowering it.
"Why're you still here?" Shane asked him. He pushed Hershel into the room and closed the door.
"We were waiting for you." Shane looked to see Daryll. "We figured you'd come to this room, so we stayed here."
"We were gonna leave in an hour." Shane then saw a Mexican man with facial hair tending to an old black man. He turned his head toward the old man. "Keep breathing. My name's Felipe."
Shane also a young man, clean shaven, maybe nineteen, twenty, wearing a white tank top next to another man. The man next to him seemed to exude an aura of confidence. The confident man looked at Shane. "I'm Guillermo." He pointed to the teen. "This is Miguel, Felipe's cousin."
"Nice to meet you." Shane turned to face Rick. "What was that gun shot from earlier?" Shane asked. "What-"
"We can't talk about that now," Rick interrupted him. "We have to get out of here. It's only these four left. Everyone else is dead."
"What about the supplies?" Glenn asked. "Should we get them?"
"We can't!" Felipe yelled. "We need to get Mr. Gilbert out of here! He's suffering another asthma attack!"
"Don't worry," Rick told him. "We'll get him out of here." Rick looked at a pile of guns. "We'll have to leave some here."
"No, we won't," Hershel told him. He handed Rick the army bag. "We found this in one of the rooms; we can pack them in here."
"That great!!" Carl said. "Let's go!!"
Rick and Guillermo packed the guns into the bag as quickly as they could. Once they were packed, the group of ten left the room.
Rick and Shane drove in the lead car with Carl, Lori, and T-Dog. Shane drove with Rick sitting in the passengers seat. Rick held the radio in his right hand. They were looking for somewhere to stay for the day, an abandoned building, a group of cars, a camp site; somewhere they could get a good nights sleep. A week had passed since The Greene Family Farm had been taken over by the dead, and everyone wondered if they would ever find a place to call home again.
They rarely spoke since the night Rick and Shane told them everything. Shane avoided the glaring eyes of Maggie and Beth, the fearful ones of Carol. They all tried to think of a place to go, but nothing came to mind.
"There's a path," Shane said, pointing to a beaten path, his hands still on the wheel. The path looked like it hadn't seen any use in weeks. "We can try there."
"Take the turn," Rick told him. He brought the radio to his mouth. "We're turning here," he spoke into the radio. "May have found a place to stay. Stay alert."
Shane took the turn, followed by the others. He drove for a few minutes until he saw an abandoned house in front of them. He stopped about twenty feet away from the house. This had become a caution they would take whenever they found a new place; stop a few meters away and go in as a team to take out any Walkers they found.
Rick and Shane got out of their car. "T-Dog," Rick said, looking at him through the back wondow. "Stay here with Lori. We'll check the place out."
Rick and Shane looked behind them to see Daryll, his crossbow at the ready. "We ready?" he asked.
"One sec." Rick looked at the Carl, sitting next to his mother. "Carl; you're gonna come with us."
"What?" Lori said. "You can't be serious." She opened her door and got out of the car. Carl followed suit, as did T-Dog.
"He's gotta learn to fight the Walkers," Rick told her. "Better sooner than later." Rick looked at Carl. "You think you can do this?"
"Yeah," Carl told him, his voice full of confidence; ever since he had killed those Walkers at the farm he had become much more confident in his abilites. "I can do this!"
"Good." Rick looked at Lori. "He'll be fine. I promise."
"We promise," Shane added. "I won't let anything happen to him."
Lori looked scared and uncertain, but relented. She wanted her son to be strong, someone who could survive on their own. "Alright. You have to stay with him though."
"I will," Rick told her. "Come on." Rick lead Shane, Daryll, and Carl to the house.
Line Break
The four of them walked in the house after checking their guns. "I'll go with Daryll to the top floor," Rick told them. "Shane, Carl; you clear out the first level."
"Got it, Dad," Carl said.
"Remember," Daryll told them, "use your knives to kill silently. We don't need to attract any more than there probably are." Rick and Daryll headed upstairs, leaving Shane and Carl to clear the bottom level.
Shane walked in front of Carl, to make sure nothing would happen to him. "Keep your guard up at all times," Shane whispered to Carl. "Don't use your gun unless you have to."
Carl nodded. He had his gun ready at his side, holding a wooden baseball bat with a firm grip. He was actually hoping to find some Walkers, so he could practice his swing. They walked cautiously, opening every door quickly and quietly. Shane heard movement from upstairs, and heard something drop. He disregarded it, concentrating on the matter at hand. They soon checked the whole first floor and found no Walkers whatsoever.
"Huh." Shane was surprised they didn't find any Walkers. "Nothing. Must be our lucky day."
"Yeah," Carl laughed, smiling. "Let's go check on Dad and Daryll."
"Good idea." Shane walked up the steps, followed by Carl. Halfway up, they saw Rick and Daryll standing over a dead body.
"Hey," Shane said, getting them to turn their heads to him. "What happened?"
"Nothin'," Daryll told him. "This poor bastard was in that room." Daryll jerked his thumb at the open door beside them. "Looks like he's been dead a few weeks."
"How'd he die?" Carl asked.
"Blew his brains all over the wall." Carl walked to check the room, and indeed saw blood and chunks on the wall. "Cool."
"Get the others," Rick told Shane. "Tell them it's safe to come in."
"On it." Shane hurried down the stair and out the door. He saw everyone standing by the lead car. "Hey!" he yelled. "It's safe to come in!"
The others hurried to the house, and went in one by one.
Line Break
Everyone had gathered in the living room while Rick, Shane, and Carl looked around for food and supplies. Daryll had gone off hunting, hoping to catch some squirrel, or maybe even a deer.
Rick searched upstairs while Shane and Carl searched the first level. Shane looked around the kitchen, looking for anything edible. Aside from maggots, flies, and a moldy sandwich, there wasn't much to find. They needed to stock up on food for the coming winter, and anything would've been good now. "Not a goddamn thing!" Shane said, frustrated. "Hope Carl and Rick have better luck than I do."
Shane went to the living room and sat beside Lori. "Coudn't find anything," he told the group. "Unless y'all like maggots."
"No thanks," Lori said. "I don't think I could stomach that."
"Me either," Carol said.
Shane heard Rick coming down the stairs, and looked to see that he had returned empty handed as well. "Nothing," Rick said. "Absolutely nothing."
"Maybe Carl found something," Shane said.
"I did!" Everyone turned to see a smiling Carl, holding a sealed bag of large marshmallows. "All we need now is chocolate and some graham crackers!"
"Nice." Shane stood and took the bag from Carl. He wasn't a big fan of marshmallows, but it was better than most of the stuff they had eaten recently. He tossed the bag to Rick.
"It's hardly a meal." Rick looked at the bag. A door opened, and Daryll walked in.
"Couldn't find a damn thing." Daryll sat down between T-Dog and Carol, clearly frustrated. "All I found were some Walkers."
"Don't worry about it," Rick told him. "We got enough food for the next month. Besides, what we need is canned goods, things that are preserved."
"We can make maggot soup for today," Shane joked. "Found a whole bunch in the kitchen."
"I'm not that desperate," Rick laughed. "At least not yet."
They sat in silence, each passing the bag of marshmallows to the next. They weren't eating them, just passing them around; they didn't know how to equally divide them, and no one wanted to be greedy.
Glenn had the bag when he got sick of the silence. "So what're you hoping the the baby'll be?" he asked.
Lori looked at him and smiled. "I don't know. Either would be nice."
"I hope it's a girl," Shane said. "I always ... I always liked baby girls better." Shane spoke with a sad undertone. Shane had patched things up with Rick, but he was afraid that if he brought it up, then everything would be undone. He believed that Lori's baby was his, and wanted to be the one the child called 'Daddy'.
Rick looked at him with a glare; he knew what he was thinking, and he didn't like it. He didn't hate him for it, he just didn't like it. "Whatever it is, it'll be perfect. Boy or girl."
"I just wish we had another physician with us," Hershel said. "I could use a someone who has medical training."
"Not gonna find many doctors out there," T-Dog said. "God knows if there's any left."
"Nurses either," Shane added.
"A nurse," Glenn said. He remembered something. "Rick, we know a nurse!!"
"We do?" Shane asked. "Where exactly is she?"
"Glenn," Rick said, "what are you talking about?"
"Back in Atlanta! Remember? That group in the nursing home!"
"That's right," Daryll added. "The one I shot in the ass, right?"
"Whoa, whoa," Shane said. "What are you talking about? What group? What nursing home?"
"The day we went to get Merle, we encountered another group. They were good people, looking after the sick and the old. They were lead by a man named Guillermo. One of them was a nurse."
"How come you never told us this?" Lori asked. "That there was another group?"
"Honestly?" Rick said, rubbing the back of his head in embarrassment. "It completely skipped my mind."
"The Walkers attacking the camp kinda made me forget too," Daryll told him. "We all forgot."
The group discussed The Vatos Gang, and what they should do.
"You said they had sick and old people, right?" Shane asked. "Chances are those people are dead."
"And if they died, then they became Walkers," T-Dog finished. "Chances are the place was overtaken. Like the farm."
They sat in silence, contemplating what to do. "They have some of our guns," Glenn said. "Remember? We gave them some."
"Wait," Shane interrupted, "you gave them some of our guns?"
"They were good people," Rick said. "They needed protection, so I gave them some."
"Alright." Shane looked at the group. "Doesn't matter either way. I say we go."
Rick looked at Shane with disbelief. "Did you just say let's go?"
"Yeah. Why not? If their alive, then they can join us. If not, then we can take back the guns."
"It's a win-win situation," Daryll said. "We get something out of it either way. We can also pick up some food and other supplies while we're there."
"I'll go with you," Hershel told them. "I can get the proper medical supplies for when Lori goes into labor."
"Then it's settled." Rick took out his gun and checked the barrel. "Some of us'll go in a few days. Hopefully they're okay."
Two days later, Shane and Rick were discussing an important decision. They stood outside of the house they had taken refuge in before; amazingly, it had been a comfortable two days. "We should take him!" Rick argued. "He's gotta learn." They were debating over whether or not Carl should come with them to Atlanta; Rick believed he needed to learn how to better deal with Walkers, while Shane believed that taking him to Atlanta was too dangerous.
"I know he does," Shane told him. "But Atlanta's too heavily infested with Walkers; he takes every shot he can, doesn't conserve ammo!"
"We gotta take him." Rick looked around for Lori; he didn't want Lori around to side with Shane, and they both knew she would. "He's gotta learn how to deal with Walkers."
Shane stood there, silent. Carl didn't conserve ammo, he didn't use it sparingly; he ran out of ammo back on the farm, and it nearly cost him his father's life. Though he wanted to protect Carl, he knew that Rick was right; he would have to deal with Walkers in the future, and it would be better if he learned sooner rather than later.
But in the end, Shane relented. Carl needed to learn how to conserve his ammo, only kill Walkers when necessary. "All right," Shane said. "We gotta teach him how to conserve his ammo, how to deal with Walkers properly, and I guess taking him to Atlanta might help with that."
"Good." Rick walked into the house, leaving Shane outside. He walked to his car and stood there, waiting. They had discussed who would be going and who would be staying; Rick and Shane were to go, as were Daryll, Hershel, Glenn, and Carl. Daryll would be useful with his silent bow, Hershel would know what kind of medications to take, and Glenn knew his way around the ruined city.
"I am not looking foward to this," Shane said to himself.
"You and me both!" Shane turned to Daryll, his crossbow in hand.
"Don't you ever put that thing down?" Shane asked jokingly.
"Never." Daryll went to the trunk and opened it. "We takin' Carl or not?"
"Yeah, we are." Shane looked at Daryll; he sided with Rick on Carl's attendance, but he expected nothing less. "He's gotta learn how to conserve ammo."
"Yeah, that is a problem," Daryll said. "Not like you can take the bullets out, not like my beauty here." He kissed his crossbow. "Silent, quick, and I can take the bolts back. And I can make new ones."
"You don't have to brag." Shane opened the front door and got in the drivers seat. He wanted to get this thing over with.
Rick, Hershel, and Carl came walking out of the house; Carl looked as though he would pop a gasket he was so excited. "Rick! Let's get a move on!" They piled into the two cars and drove off.
The six of them arrived at Atlanta in a matter of hours. "So where is this place?" Shane asked. "I wanna get out of this place as soon as we can."
"It's about twenty minutes away," Glenn said. "Maybe thirty."
"I hope they're okay," Rick said. "Their place was pretty well fortified, and they had a lot of strong men. But they were looking after the old and the sick."
"So those people may have died of natural causes." Hershel hoped the group were okay; a group of people looking after the old and sick were saintly in his book. "Let's just hope that nurse of their's took good care of them."
They walked in silence as they neared the nursing home. They would avoid killing Walkers whenever they could, though Carl would ask if he could shoot just one. "Does anyone remember their names?" Daryll asked. "It'd be kind of awkward if we showed up without knowing their names."
"Yeah," Glenn told him. "There was Guillermo."
"The leader," Rick added.
"Miguel." Glenn closed his eyes, trying to remember the names of the gang.
"The one we had captured."
"And the one I shot in the ass with an arrow," Daryll added. "Felipe."
"You shot someone in the ass?" Shane asked, laughing. "That's funny."
"That is funny," Carl agreed.
The six of them arrived at the entrance of the nursing home, finding it open. "That's not good," Rick said. They headed inside, getting their weapons ready.
As they walked, they saw the bodies of both elderly and young people. They all had head wounds, either from a gun, a knife, or a blunt object. "They haven't been dead too long," Daryll said, alertness in his voice. "This must've only been a few days ago. A week at most."
"Let's see if we can find anyone alive," Rick told them. "Stick together. Carl." He looked at his son. "Don't fire your weapon unless we tell you otherwise. “Got it?”
“Got it Dad!” Carl said.
They walked cautiously, taking deliberate steps. They looked for fresh bodies, listened for voices, steps, gun shots, anything that could mean life. Or death.
Carl walked in the middle, between everyone else. He was told by his father to stay in the center, so he wouldn’t be the first to get grabbed if a Walker attacked. “You know where they kept their guns?” Shane asked Rick. “Or are we just going around aimlessly?”
“They probably kept them in a storage closet,” Daryll guessed. “Where else would they keep ‘em?”
“No idea,” Rick said.
They continued their trek, looking for any signs of life. Glenn tripped over something, and they looked down to see a mutilated body. “Oh God.” Glenn choked back vomitting.
“This was recent.” Shane bent down to get a closer look. “Blood’s not dry yet.”
“We gotta hurry.” Rick quickly went ahead. “If there’s anyone left alive, they won’t be for long.”
They followed Rick, fearing that there trip was in vain.
Rick stopped the group when he heard a loud rustling noise. “You guy’s hear that?” Rick asked.
“Yeah.” Carl spoke a little to loud for Rick’s liking. “What is that Dad?”
“Trouble,”Daryll answered. He walked ahead of the others. “I’ll check it out.” Daryll walked quickly toward the source of the noise. He turned at a corner and stopped. He looked amused. He turned to the others, and walked back, silently and slowly. “You won’t believe what’s over there!” he whispered, failing to hold back a laugh. “There’s an assload of Walkers clawing at the door at the end of the hall!” He went back to the wall, keeping an eye on the Walkers.
“You’ve gotta be kidding me,” Shane said.
“We can sneak past them,” Carl said. “It’ll be easy.”
“It’s not that simple,” Hershel told him. “What are they trying to get at?”
“People,” Rick answered. “Considering the Walkers are still clawing at the door, it’s safe to say that someone is alive in there.”
“How do help them?”Glenn asked. “There’s too many for us to kill. And we can’t lead them away, not without one of us dying.”
They stood there, trying to think of what they could do. Shane spoke first. “We should leave them.” The others looked at him. “We can’t save them, it’d be suicide to even try.”
“He maybe right,” Hershel said sadly. “Unless you have any idea’s Rick, we have to leave them.”
Rick’s eyes swayed left and right, trying to think of a way to get in that room. He looked up, trying to think, when he saw an air duct. “There.” He pointed at the air duct. “One of us can go in and get into that room.”
“I’ll go,” Carl volunteered. “I can fit in there.”
“So can I,” Glenn said. “We’ll get to the room then lead whoever’s in there back here.”
“You sure you can do this Carl?” Rick asked his son.
“Yeah.” Carl took off his hat, the one his father had given him, and handed it to him. “Hold on to this. I don’t wanna lose it.” Carl and Glenn went to the air duct. Glenn unscrewed the duct and took off the grate.
"I'll boost you up." Glenn cupped his hands together, and boosted Carl into the vent.
"Okay, I'm coming up." Glenn hopped up and got in the vent as well. "We'll be back soon."
The others waited for Glenn and Carl, killing any Walker that decided to venture away from the door. When a loud noise sounded from the vents, they jumped. "What was that?" Shane asked, though he already knew what it was.
"A gun shot," Rick said. "We-"
He was cut off by Daryll, who yelled, "They're comin'!!" He aimed his crossbow at the hall of Walkers, and fired a bolt. "RUN!!"
"The vents!" Rick ordered, pointing at the vents. "Get in!"
Rick hopped in as fast as he could, followed by Daryll. "Come on!" Daryll told the others. "Hurry!"
Shane went to the vent, but stopped when he saw a Walker behind Hershel. He shot the Walker with his pistol, killing it. Realizing they wouldn't be able to get in the vents, Shane ran away. "Come on!" he yelled to Hershel. They ran as fast as the could.
Shane and Hershel ran as fast as they could. Shane noticed Hershel was running out of breath, and immediately looked for a room to take Hershel into. He shut the door. Seeing a plank of wood, obviously used as a barricade, he placed it on the door. "We should be good for a few minutes." Shane went to check on Hershel, seeing that he was breathing heavily. "You okay?" Shane didn't realize that he was breathing heavily as well.
"I'm fine." Hershel sat down. "But how do we get out of here?" He looked over the room; an elderly woman lay there, dead, a bullet hole in her forehead.
"The vents," Shane replied. He went to find a vent, but saw none. "Where's the god damn vent?!?"
"There is none." Hershel looked around from his seat. He saw no vents, no way to escape. "We're trapped."
"No." Shane punched the wall. "We are not going to die here!"
"Shane." Hershel stood and walked to Shane. "We're trapped."
The two of them sat in silence, Hershel thinking of how he could comfort Shane, and Shane thinking of a way to escape. Hershel decided to speak up. "Shane." He stood. He walked next to him. "There's something I have to tell you."
"What is that?" Shane asked sardonically. "The Birds and the Bees?"
"No." Hershel knelt down, looking him in the eyes. "I knew."
"Knew what?"
"About Otis. I knew you killed him." Shane looked at him, shock on his face.
"What?"
"I could see the guilt on your face when you came back. I knew you had done something that made you sick, that made you want to die."
"You knew?" Shane was dumbfounded. Why did Hershel not confront him? Why did he allow him to stay on his farm? "Why didn't you say anything?"
"Because I knew you were a good person," he replied. "That you still are a good person."
Shane, feeling renewed vigor, shot up out of his seat. "We are not dying here," he said. "We're getting out."
"Shane-"
"NO!" Shane said forcefully. "I'll find us a way out of here. I promise." Shane went around the room, opening every door, checking every wall; maybe one of the walls was weak enough for them to break through it. "There's gotta be something-" Shane stopped talking when he opened a closet door. He saw an army bag, and he went to open it. "I think we found the armory!" he said. "I can't believe we didn't look in the closets!"
"How many guns are there?" Hershel asked. Shane opened the bag, and was depressed to see only a handgun and a few shotgun shells.
"None we can use," Shane said. He rifled through the bag some more, looking for anything he could use. He stopped when he saw a small green object. He smiled. "But we can use this!" Shane picked up the object, turned around, and showed it to Hershel.
"Is that a grenade?" Hershel asked, surprised.
"Yeah." Shane hurried to the door; he could here the Walkers clawing at the door. "We just throw this outside and BOOM!! No more Walkers." Shane pulled the pin and held the release lever down. "Get in the closet; I'll get in after I toss the grenade."
Hershel went to the closet, and Shane turned to face the door. He took off the barricade and opened the door as fast as he could, dropping the grenade just outside of it. He ran for the closet, and got in a second before the grenade went off. He inspected the door, seeing it was blown completely off. He saw dead Walkers strewn all about the floor.
"Let's go," Shane told Hershel. They left the room that was once a death trap, Shane holding his pistol and Hershel holding the army bag.
Shane and Hershel hurried through the halls of the ruined nursing home. They were backtracking to the room where they saw the Walkers, hoping the others were in there. They reached the hallway, seeing a lone Walker walking around. Shane approached the Walker and stabbed it in the head. Hershel cautiously opened the door, only to find a gun pointed at his face.
"Hershel?" Shane looked to see Rick. "You're alive."
"Yeah." Hershel put his hands on the gun, lowering it.
"Why're you still here?" Shane asked him. He pushed Hershel into the room and closed the door.
"We were waiting for you." Shane looked to see Daryll. "We figured you'd come to this room, so we stayed here."
"We were gonna leave in an hour." Shane then saw a Mexican man with facial hair tending to an old black man. He turned his head toward the old man. "Keep breathing. My name's Felipe."
Shane also a young man, clean shaven, maybe nineteen, twenty, wearing a white tank top next to another man. The man next to him seemed to exude an aura of confidence. The confident man looked at Shane. "I'm Guillermo." He pointed to the teen. "This is Miguel, Felipe's cousin."
"Nice to meet you." Shane turned to face Rick. "What was that gun shot from earlier?" Shane asked. "What-"
"We can't talk about that now," Rick interrupted him. "We have to get out of here. It's only these four left. Everyone else is dead."
"What about the supplies?" Glenn asked. "Should we get them?"
"We can't!" Felipe yelled. "We need to get Mr. Gilbert out of here! He's suffering another asthma attack!"
"Don't worry," Rick told him. "We'll get him out of here." Rick looked at a pile of guns. "We'll have to leave some here."
"No, we won't," Hershel told him. He handed Rick the army bag. "We found this in one of the rooms; we can pack them in here."
"That great!!" Carl said. "Let's go!!"
Rick and Guillermo packed the guns into the bag as quickly as they could. Once they were packed, the group of ten left the room.
Tuesday, December 25, 2012
The Walking Dead: Survival of Shane (S.O.S.). Chapter Two: Roadside Rage.
Here's chapter two; Roadside Rage. Please remember to Read &
Review. I had fun writing this one. Funny thing: I had written this
before, but then it got backed up to a previous date. I tried to find a
way to recover the file, but I couldn't. Oh well. ENJOY!
Chapter Two: Roadside Rage
Rick, Shane, and Carl ran as quietly as they could, heading for the house. "I think we should think about another plan." Shane whispered. They could hear gunshots coming from every which way, but none close enough to tell where they came from.
"What do you mean?" Rick whispered back. "We can't just leave everyone, leave Lori!" Rick was loading Carl's gun with bullets.
"I didn't say that!" Shane said whispered. "I just meant that we should head somewhere else; they probably left the house, I mean look around! Do you think they stayed?!"
Rick thought of what Shane said. He finished loading Carl's gun and handed it back to his son. "Don't waste the bullets; choose your shots carefully." He looked to see how close they were to the farm. "We're close. We'll check the surrounding area; if it's surrounded, then we have to go back."
"Fine." Shane looked at Carl, whose finger, he noticed, shivering, whether from fear or being trigger happy, he didn't know, though he guessed a lot of both. "Don't be so jittery Carl. You don't wanna miss any shots; you're on a roll." Carl smiled, though his finger still shook.
They got closer to the house when they heard a gunshot that was close to them. They looked to where the shot sounded from, and ran to it. Rick lead the way, and soon saw Hershel shooting at Walkers, standing his ground, not moving an inch. Rick wondered why he wasn't running.
Rick saw a Walker heading for Hershel from behind, unseen by the farmer. Rick took aim and shot it dead. Hershel looked to his right, seeing the trio head for him. "Hershel, where're the others? Where's Lori?" Rick asked.
"They went on ahead." Hershel told him. "I don't know where they are now." He aimed his gun at a Walker near them, and shot it.
"Well we gotta go, now!" Rick told him, grabbing Hershel's arm. He pulled him but the old man wouldn't move.
"I'm not going." He said. "I'm staying here; I'm dying with my farm." Rick looked him in the eye, and saw that he meant what he said.
"What?" Shane said, surprised at Hershel's words. "You're insane. You wanna stay, stay." Shane went to Rick's side. "Rick, we gotta go, now! Leave him if he wants to stay."
Rick looked at Shane. He clearly didn't realize that they needed Hershel. He looked back to Hershel. "What about Lori?" He asked. "We need you to deliver the baby. We need you!"
Hershel looked at him, and relented; he was the only doctor they had, and he couldn't let Lori deliver without him. "Alright." He said. "Lori and the others left the house already; we're not going to be able to find them."
"What do we Dad?" Carl asked. "We can't just leave Mom and the others here!" He looked around, taking a quick survey of his surroundings.
"We stay we die Carl." Shane said. "Besides, they're not gonna stay here; if anything, they'll go somewhere familiar."
"Shane's right." Rick said. "For now we have to get out of here." Rick looked around for a car, hoping for a way to escape. He spotted Hershel's station wagon, and headed for it. "We'll go back to the highway, where the herd of Walkers passed us before. Hopefully the others'll be there."
"Good idea." Shane said. The four of them ran to car, keeping an eye out for the others as they did. They made it to the car, and got in. Rick drove, with Carl in the passengers seat, and Hershel and Shane in the back. "Go!"
Rick started the car, and began to drive away. He was hoping to come across someone, but saw no one as he drove. He headed for the road, leaving the farm behind, to be overcome with Walkers.
The four of them drove in silence as they neared the highway where they supplies for Sophia; they hoped that the others had also thought of going there. The car soon began to slow. Rick looked at the gas meter, and saw it was on empty. The car died a few yards away from the highway.
Getting out of the car, they headed for the car where they left the supplies. They saw no one. "Why aren't they here?" Carl asked. "Dad, you said they'd be here."
"I said I hoped." Rick went ahead to search for stray Walkers. He saw one, and hid behind a car until it passed. He then took out his knife and stabbed it in the back of the head, killing it. "We'll just wait here. They're bound to show up."
"Your Dad's right." Shane stood a few feet away, keeping an eye out for Walkers. "Chances are they'll come soon."
"Rick." Hershel walked away from Carl and Shane, gesturing for Rick to follow. They went off the road and stood there. "You have to leave; you have to get Carl somewhere safe."
"What are you talking about?" Rick asked him. "We've gotta wait for the others, for Lori!"
"You've got to think about Carl's safety; we don't know how long it'll be until they get here, if they come here at all. We don't even know if they're alive." He looked Rick in the eyes. Neither wanted to admit it, but they both believed that they were all dead. "I'll stay here, just in case they show up. But you have to get your boy to a safe place, away from here."
Rick looked at him with confusion; he didn't want to leave, just in case they showed up, but he didn't want to risk Carl's life. He ran back to Shane and Carl, trying to figure out what to do. When he came back, he saw Carl talking with Shane; Rick could only think that he was asking about his mother.
Shane saw him coming. "Rick!" He yelled. "How long you think until the others show up?" Rick prepared himself for what he was going to say. He walked up to them. Shane saw the look in his eyes and became worried. "What's the matter?"
Not waiting any time, he decided to come straight out with it. "We have to go. It's too dangerous to stay here." He looked at Carl, whose face churned with fear.
"But Dad!" he yelled, "what about everyone else? What about Mom?" Rick was about to speak, but was cut off by Shane.
"Carl's right!" Shane yelled at him. "We can't just abandon them!" He walked up to Rick, anger in his eyes. "For Christ's sake Rick, Lori's pregnant!"
"Don't you think I know that!" Rick looked him in the eye. "But I've gotta think about Carl; we don't even know if they're alive." His voice cracked a little at the end. "We have to think about Carl, right here, right now."
Shane looked at him, thinking of Carl. He didn't want abandon Lori, abandon the baby, but chances were that they wouldn't see each other again. He looked at Carl, and saw in his eyes that he thought he was going to side with him.
"You're right." Shane lamented. "We have to go."
"But we can't!" Carl argued. "We have to wait for Mom!"
"We can't do that Carl." Rick told his son. "We have to think of what's happening now."
"But-" Carl began.
"Carl, you and your Dad go on." Shane interrupted him. "I'll stay here, just in case they come back." Rick looked at him.
"But you can't!" Carl told him. "I want us to stay together!" Carl began to break down; he didn't want to leave his mother behind, the unborn baby.
"Carl." Rick said. He got down to look his son in his eyes. "We have to go. We don't know if your mother's coming here. We don't even know if she's alive." Rick felt a few tears going down his cheeks. "We have to make sure that you're safe."
"But Dad!" Carl began. "We can't just-"
"Carl!" Rick interrupted. "I don't want to leave her either, but we've got to think about right now." He looked at Shane and Hershel, then back to his son. "Shane and Hershel will stay here, just in case. But we have to get you somewhere safe." Rick's voice cracked. "O-"
Rick stopped talking when he saw a familiar car approaching the highway. He stood up, and began to walk to it. Shane, Hershel, and Carl turned around to see T-Dog parking one of their cars. Next to T-Dog was Lori.
"MOM!" Carl yelled. "MOM!" He ran to Lori as she quickly got out of the car. She ran to her son.
"Carl!" Lori yelled. They hugged the moment they got to each other. "Thank god, you're okay!"
Rick slowly walked to his wife, shocked that she was there, that she was alive. He saw T-Dog get out of the car, looking at the reunited family. Rick then saw another car pull up, this one containing Glenn, Maggie, and Beth. They all got out of the car.
"Dad!" Both Maggie and Beth yelled. They ran to Hershel, who looked like he about to cry. They hugged their father as tightly as they could.
"Maggie." Hershel said. "Beth." He hugged his daughters, happy that they were safe and with him again. "Thank god you're okay!"
"Glenn made sure we were safe." Maggie said. "He saved us."
Hershel looked at Glenn with admiration and pride. "Thank you Glenn." He released his daughters, then hugged Glenn as tightly as he could. "Thank you so much." He was happy that his daughter had chosen such a good man to be with. He knew he made the right choice in giving Glenn his family's pocket watch. Glenn returned the hug awkwardly.
A loud revving sound made everyone look back to cars. They saw Daryll approaching them on his motorcycle, with Carol sitting behind him. Stopping his bike, Daryll nodded his head at the group. "Sup." He said nonchalantly. "Everyone here?"
Everyone looked around. "Where's Andrea?" Shane asked.
"I saw her on the farm." Carol told them. She stood next to Daryll, keeping close to him at all times. "I was with her before we got separated by the Walkers."
"I'm going back for her!" Daryll said., walking to his bike. "I'll be back soon."
"You're not going anywhere." Rick told him. "We're not separating, not again."
"You want us to leave her there?!" Daryll asked. "What if this were Carl, or Lori?" He got closer to Rick.
"We don't know if she's alive." Rick said. "Even if she is alive, she's not gonna be at the farm."
"Rick's right." Shane spoke up. "Either way, she's a lost cause."
Daryll didn't say another word; he didn't want to admit it, but they were probably right. He walked passed the others and sat down on one of the many abandoned cars.
"We have to get off the road." Rick told everyone, speaking up so everyone could hear him. "Let's gather as much fuel as we can from these cars, then get off the road."
The group gathered all the fuel they could muster from the abandoned vehicles, though not much remained after their first scavenging venture. They headed out once they filled up the tanks.
The group passed no buildings as they drove, or at least ones that wasn't infested with Walkers. As night drew near, the group decided to stop at a clearing off the side of the road; they made camp in the center of a formation of rocks.
Rick stood, looking at his group. Shane sat next to Lori and Carl; Glenn was with the Greene Family; Carol was sitting next to Daryll, who Rick thought looked a little uncomfortable with the woman so close to him. They sat in silence as the fire crackled, contemplating the loss of the farm, their safe haven, their home.
"We should try and get some rest." Rick said, deciding to break the awkward silence. "Get up early so we can find somewhere safe in the morning."
"I'm gonna go look for something to eat." Daryll said, getting up from his spot next to Carol. He grabbed his bow and began to walk to the woods. "We're gonna want to conserve our canned goods. See if I can find anything."
"Don't go too far in," Rick told him, "we don't need to lose anymore people."
"Shane and I'll survey the area, make sure nothings around that can hurt us."
"Alright." Shane said, getting up. He held his shotgun in his hands. "Carl, keep an eye on everything."
"Alright." Carl said. No one laughed; it wasn't meant as a joke.
Rick and Shane walked around the area surrounding their camp, keeping an eye out for anything hostile.
"We have to talk." Rick said once they were far enough away from the camp. "About earlier."
"I was kinda hopin' you would've forgotten about that." Shane admitted.
"I didn't." The two of them stopped, and they looked each other in the eye. "You tried to kill me."
"I know. I was there." Shane began to look around, just in case a Walker was near and they didn't notice; neither of them wanted a repeat of what had happened earlier.
"You aimed a gun at my head!" Rick told him, loudly whispering.
"I remember!" Shane told him. "I tried to kill you; to murder. Okay? I admit it!"
Rick looked at Shane with intensity. In the blink of an eye, Rick grabbed Shane's revolver, and held it up so he could see. "Then why was your gun empty?" He opened the barrel, revealing that there were no bullets in it whatsoever. "Who tries to shoot someone with an empty gun?"
They looked at each other. Shane couldn't think of an excuse for the empty gun. "You wanted me to kill you, didn't you?" Rick pushed him. "DIDN"T YOU?!" He screamed as low as he could, so as to not alarm the others.
"Yes!" Shane said back. "Okay? I did!" He did not push back.
"Why?" Rick asked. "Why would you make me kill you?"
"Because you ain't built for this world." Shane told him. "You can't protect Lori and Carl as well as you think you can!"
"What do you mean?" Rick asked. "I've protected them! I've killed for them!"
"But you have to get better. You're not hard enough, not like me." Shane felt some tears fall down his cheek. "If you were harder, then you could protect them better, better than either of us could now."
They looked at each other, and didn't say a word to each other. Rick finally broke the silence. "I understand." He turned back and began to walk back to the camp, with Shane following behind. "But I can protect them; I showed you that. So no more of this idiotic behavior." He turned around to look at Shane again. "Understood?!"
"Yeah." Shane knew that Rick still felt ill will towards him, but he didn't press the matter for fear of making things worse. "Understood."
They walked back to their camp in silence.
How did you like it? Good? Bad? I feel that my original draft was better, but I couldn't remember how it went; only that it sounded better. I finished this early as a Christmas gift to you all. Except for you. Remember to Read & Review!
Chapter Two: Roadside Rage
Rick, Shane, and Carl ran as quietly as they could, heading for the house. "I think we should think about another plan." Shane whispered. They could hear gunshots coming from every which way, but none close enough to tell where they came from.
"What do you mean?" Rick whispered back. "We can't just leave everyone, leave Lori!" Rick was loading Carl's gun with bullets.
"I didn't say that!" Shane said whispered. "I just meant that we should head somewhere else; they probably left the house, I mean look around! Do you think they stayed?!"
Rick thought of what Shane said. He finished loading Carl's gun and handed it back to his son. "Don't waste the bullets; choose your shots carefully." He looked to see how close they were to the farm. "We're close. We'll check the surrounding area; if it's surrounded, then we have to go back."
"Fine." Shane looked at Carl, whose finger, he noticed, shivering, whether from fear or being trigger happy, he didn't know, though he guessed a lot of both. "Don't be so jittery Carl. You don't wanna miss any shots; you're on a roll." Carl smiled, though his finger still shook.
They got closer to the house when they heard a gunshot that was close to them. They looked to where the shot sounded from, and ran to it. Rick lead the way, and soon saw Hershel shooting at Walkers, standing his ground, not moving an inch. Rick wondered why he wasn't running.
Rick saw a Walker heading for Hershel from behind, unseen by the farmer. Rick took aim and shot it dead. Hershel looked to his right, seeing the trio head for him. "Hershel, where're the others? Where's Lori?" Rick asked.
"They went on ahead." Hershel told him. "I don't know where they are now." He aimed his gun at a Walker near them, and shot it.
"Well we gotta go, now!" Rick told him, grabbing Hershel's arm. He pulled him but the old man wouldn't move.
"I'm not going." He said. "I'm staying here; I'm dying with my farm." Rick looked him in the eye, and saw that he meant what he said.
"What?" Shane said, surprised at Hershel's words. "You're insane. You wanna stay, stay." Shane went to Rick's side. "Rick, we gotta go, now! Leave him if he wants to stay."
Rick looked at Shane. He clearly didn't realize that they needed Hershel. He looked back to Hershel. "What about Lori?" He asked. "We need you to deliver the baby. We need you!"
Hershel looked at him, and relented; he was the only doctor they had, and he couldn't let Lori deliver without him. "Alright." He said. "Lori and the others left the house already; we're not going to be able to find them."
"What do we Dad?" Carl asked. "We can't just leave Mom and the others here!" He looked around, taking a quick survey of his surroundings.
"We stay we die Carl." Shane said. "Besides, they're not gonna stay here; if anything, they'll go somewhere familiar."
"Shane's right." Rick said. "For now we have to get out of here." Rick looked around for a car, hoping for a way to escape. He spotted Hershel's station wagon, and headed for it. "We'll go back to the highway, where the herd of Walkers passed us before. Hopefully the others'll be there."
"Good idea." Shane said. The four of them ran to car, keeping an eye out for the others as they did. They made it to the car, and got in. Rick drove, with Carl in the passengers seat, and Hershel and Shane in the back. "Go!"
Rick started the car, and began to drive away. He was hoping to come across someone, but saw no one as he drove. He headed for the road, leaving the farm behind, to be overcome with Walkers.
The four of them drove in silence as they neared the highway where they supplies for Sophia; they hoped that the others had also thought of going there. The car soon began to slow. Rick looked at the gas meter, and saw it was on empty. The car died a few yards away from the highway.
Getting out of the car, they headed for the car where they left the supplies. They saw no one. "Why aren't they here?" Carl asked. "Dad, you said they'd be here."
"I said I hoped." Rick went ahead to search for stray Walkers. He saw one, and hid behind a car until it passed. He then took out his knife and stabbed it in the back of the head, killing it. "We'll just wait here. They're bound to show up."
"Your Dad's right." Shane stood a few feet away, keeping an eye out for Walkers. "Chances are they'll come soon."
"Rick." Hershel walked away from Carl and Shane, gesturing for Rick to follow. They went off the road and stood there. "You have to leave; you have to get Carl somewhere safe."
"What are you talking about?" Rick asked him. "We've gotta wait for the others, for Lori!"
"You've got to think about Carl's safety; we don't know how long it'll be until they get here, if they come here at all. We don't even know if they're alive." He looked Rick in the eyes. Neither wanted to admit it, but they both believed that they were all dead. "I'll stay here, just in case they show up. But you have to get your boy to a safe place, away from here."
Rick looked at him with confusion; he didn't want to leave, just in case they showed up, but he didn't want to risk Carl's life. He ran back to Shane and Carl, trying to figure out what to do. When he came back, he saw Carl talking with Shane; Rick could only think that he was asking about his mother.
Shane saw him coming. "Rick!" He yelled. "How long you think until the others show up?" Rick prepared himself for what he was going to say. He walked up to them. Shane saw the look in his eyes and became worried. "What's the matter?"
Not waiting any time, he decided to come straight out with it. "We have to go. It's too dangerous to stay here." He looked at Carl, whose face churned with fear.
"But Dad!" he yelled, "what about everyone else? What about Mom?" Rick was about to speak, but was cut off by Shane.
"Carl's right!" Shane yelled at him. "We can't just abandon them!" He walked up to Rick, anger in his eyes. "For Christ's sake Rick, Lori's pregnant!"
"Don't you think I know that!" Rick looked him in the eye. "But I've gotta think about Carl; we don't even know if they're alive." His voice cracked a little at the end. "We have to think about Carl, right here, right now."
Shane looked at him, thinking of Carl. He didn't want abandon Lori, abandon the baby, but chances were that they wouldn't see each other again. He looked at Carl, and saw in his eyes that he thought he was going to side with him.
"You're right." Shane lamented. "We have to go."
"But we can't!" Carl argued. "We have to wait for Mom!"
"We can't do that Carl." Rick told his son. "We have to think of what's happening now."
"But-" Carl began.
"Carl, you and your Dad go on." Shane interrupted him. "I'll stay here, just in case they come back." Rick looked at him.
"But you can't!" Carl told him. "I want us to stay together!" Carl began to break down; he didn't want to leave his mother behind, the unborn baby.
"Carl." Rick said. He got down to look his son in his eyes. "We have to go. We don't know if your mother's coming here. We don't even know if she's alive." Rick felt a few tears going down his cheeks. "We have to make sure that you're safe."
"But Dad!" Carl began. "We can't just-"
"Carl!" Rick interrupted. "I don't want to leave her either, but we've got to think about right now." He looked at Shane and Hershel, then back to his son. "Shane and Hershel will stay here, just in case. But we have to get you somewhere safe." Rick's voice cracked. "O-"
Rick stopped talking when he saw a familiar car approaching the highway. He stood up, and began to walk to it. Shane, Hershel, and Carl turned around to see T-Dog parking one of their cars. Next to T-Dog was Lori.
"MOM!" Carl yelled. "MOM!" He ran to Lori as she quickly got out of the car. She ran to her son.
"Carl!" Lori yelled. They hugged the moment they got to each other. "Thank god, you're okay!"
Rick slowly walked to his wife, shocked that she was there, that she was alive. He saw T-Dog get out of the car, looking at the reunited family. Rick then saw another car pull up, this one containing Glenn, Maggie, and Beth. They all got out of the car.
"Dad!" Both Maggie and Beth yelled. They ran to Hershel, who looked like he about to cry. They hugged their father as tightly as they could.
"Maggie." Hershel said. "Beth." He hugged his daughters, happy that they were safe and with him again. "Thank god you're okay!"
"Glenn made sure we were safe." Maggie said. "He saved us."
Hershel looked at Glenn with admiration and pride. "Thank you Glenn." He released his daughters, then hugged Glenn as tightly as he could. "Thank you so much." He was happy that his daughter had chosen such a good man to be with. He knew he made the right choice in giving Glenn his family's pocket watch. Glenn returned the hug awkwardly.
A loud revving sound made everyone look back to cars. They saw Daryll approaching them on his motorcycle, with Carol sitting behind him. Stopping his bike, Daryll nodded his head at the group. "Sup." He said nonchalantly. "Everyone here?"
Everyone looked around. "Where's Andrea?" Shane asked.
"I saw her on the farm." Carol told them. She stood next to Daryll, keeping close to him at all times. "I was with her before we got separated by the Walkers."
"I'm going back for her!" Daryll said., walking to his bike. "I'll be back soon."
"You're not going anywhere." Rick told him. "We're not separating, not again."
"You want us to leave her there?!" Daryll asked. "What if this were Carl, or Lori?" He got closer to Rick.
"We don't know if she's alive." Rick said. "Even if she is alive, she's not gonna be at the farm."
"Rick's right." Shane spoke up. "Either way, she's a lost cause."
Daryll didn't say another word; he didn't want to admit it, but they were probably right. He walked passed the others and sat down on one of the many abandoned cars.
"We have to get off the road." Rick told everyone, speaking up so everyone could hear him. "Let's gather as much fuel as we can from these cars, then get off the road."
The group gathered all the fuel they could muster from the abandoned vehicles, though not much remained after their first scavenging venture. They headed out once they filled up the tanks.
The group passed no buildings as they drove, or at least ones that wasn't infested with Walkers. As night drew near, the group decided to stop at a clearing off the side of the road; they made camp in the center of a formation of rocks.
Rick stood, looking at his group. Shane sat next to Lori and Carl; Glenn was with the Greene Family; Carol was sitting next to Daryll, who Rick thought looked a little uncomfortable with the woman so close to him. They sat in silence as the fire crackled, contemplating the loss of the farm, their safe haven, their home.
"We should try and get some rest." Rick said, deciding to break the awkward silence. "Get up early so we can find somewhere safe in the morning."
"I'm gonna go look for something to eat." Daryll said, getting up from his spot next to Carol. He grabbed his bow and began to walk to the woods. "We're gonna want to conserve our canned goods. See if I can find anything."
"Don't go too far in," Rick told him, "we don't need to lose anymore people."
"Shane and I'll survey the area, make sure nothings around that can hurt us."
"Alright." Shane said, getting up. He held his shotgun in his hands. "Carl, keep an eye on everything."
"Alright." Carl said. No one laughed; it wasn't meant as a joke.
Rick and Shane walked around the area surrounding their camp, keeping an eye out for anything hostile.
"We have to talk." Rick said once they were far enough away from the camp. "About earlier."
"I was kinda hopin' you would've forgotten about that." Shane admitted.
"I didn't." The two of them stopped, and they looked each other in the eye. "You tried to kill me."
"I know. I was there." Shane began to look around, just in case a Walker was near and they didn't notice; neither of them wanted a repeat of what had happened earlier.
"You aimed a gun at my head!" Rick told him, loudly whispering.
"I remember!" Shane told him. "I tried to kill you; to murder. Okay? I admit it!"
Rick looked at Shane with intensity. In the blink of an eye, Rick grabbed Shane's revolver, and held it up so he could see. "Then why was your gun empty?" He opened the barrel, revealing that there were no bullets in it whatsoever. "Who tries to shoot someone with an empty gun?"
They looked at each other. Shane couldn't think of an excuse for the empty gun. "You wanted me to kill you, didn't you?" Rick pushed him. "DIDN"T YOU?!" He screamed as low as he could, so as to not alarm the others.
"Yes!" Shane said back. "Okay? I did!" He did not push back.
"Why?" Rick asked. "Why would you make me kill you?"
"Because you ain't built for this world." Shane told him. "You can't protect Lori and Carl as well as you think you can!"
"What do you mean?" Rick asked. "I've protected them! I've killed for them!"
"But you have to get better. You're not hard enough, not like me." Shane felt some tears fall down his cheek. "If you were harder, then you could protect them better, better than either of us could now."
They looked at each other, and didn't say a word to each other. Rick finally broke the silence. "I understand." He turned back and began to walk back to the camp, with Shane following behind. "But I can protect them; I showed you that. So no more of this idiotic behavior." He turned around to look at Shane again. "Understood?!"
"Yeah." Shane knew that Rick still felt ill will towards him, but he didn't press the matter for fear of making things worse. "Understood."
They walked back to their camp in silence.
How did you like it? Good? Bad? I feel that my original draft was better, but I couldn't remember how it went; only that it sounded better. I finished this early as a Christmas gift to you all. Except for you. Remember to Read & Review!
Thursday, December 20, 2012
The Walking Dead: Survival of Shane. Chapter 1: Fires of Earth.
Here's Chapter One of SoS! It was much longer, but I decided
to cut it into two different chapters. This one ends halfway through the
attack on the farm. Read & Review please! It was fun writing this,
it really was.
Sunday, November 25, 2012
The Walking Dead: SoS
I am now
writing a Walking Dead Fanfic. Hope you all enjoy it. I know it wasn't
on the list, but those are still in the process of being finished in my
head. This story is all but finished. Please remember to Read &
Review.
The Walking Dead: Survival of Shane
Prologue
Shane stood his ground as he aimed his gun at his best friend Rick Grimes. He aimed his gun at his head, looking into his friends' eyes as he did so.
After the dead came back to life and began to eat the living, Shane had taken Rick's wife, Lori, and his son, Carl, to what he believed was a safe place. Or at least safer.
Shane remembered the day he had tried to save Rick from the hospital; he had been shot and put into a coma by a bank robber about a month earlier, and hadn't woken up yet. Shane wanted to carry him out, but he didn't know if it would kill him to take him off of the machines.
Shane had looked out the door of Rick's room, and saw soldiers from the military shooting at people in patient gowns. The people weren't walkers, and didn't appear to have been bitten, so Shane had assumed that the military was ordered to kill anyone in hospitals, for fear of infection.
Not wanting to die himself, and he hid behind Ricks' bed only seconds before the same peope came to the room they were in. They didn't fire at Rick, and didn't notice Shane. They left without firing a single bullet; Shane assumed that they didn't want to waste the bullets on a comatose man, so they left him alone.
Once they left, Shane went back to trying to wake Rick. Seconds later, there was an explosion, and Rick's machines had gone off-line. Shane didn't know if Rick was dead or alive; he wanted to get him out of there, even if he was dead, but knew that if he tried, then he would die as well. He left his room, and blocked it the door with an empty gurney; he could only hope that Rick was alive and would wake-up soon.
Shane killed Randall, knowing he would have been a threat if he was allowed to live; he would have rejoined his old group, consisting of murderers and rapists, if he had the chance. He knew where their camp was; he was leading Shane there when he freed him, and that was what made Shane kill him.
Shane also killed Otis, a good man who wanted nothing but to help them, but only because it was either him or himself. Shane had told him to go ahead, but he wouldn't, not without Shane. Shane didn't want to kill him, but if he hadn't, then they both would have probably died. And if they died, then Carl died, and he wouldn't allow that. Not for anything.
Shane knew he was coming unhinged; that's why he wanted to leave after the CDC explosion. But with Carl's being shot, he couldn't; he could never forgive himself if he did. When he killed Otis, he shot him in the leg, so the walkers would be distracted with him. Shane screamed his apologizes, saying, "I"M SORRY! I"M SORRY!", over and over again, and when he got back to the farm, he shaved his head. He didn't want to look at that man in the mirror, and it was the only thing he could think of.
And now he was here, looking his best friend in the eyes with a gun aimed at his head. He had saved his life months before, and he now held a gun to his head. Rick wasn't built for the world they now lived in; he could kill another man, but only if they were an immediate threat, like the two from the bar.
"Don't do this brother!" Rick pleaded. "We can get through this. Just put the gun down." Rick had his gun on Shane, but slowly lowered it. He came closer to him, lowering the gun with one hand, and holding the other out.
Shane didn't know what to do; he wanted to make things right, but Rick made it hard. Shane began to lower his gun ever so slightly, then saw as Rick quickly reached for his knife. On instinct, Shane grabbed the knife and threw Rick to the ground. He aimed his gun at him, and looked him in the eye; he had tried to kill him.
Rick kicked the gun out of Shane's hand, then once in the stomach. Shane doubled over, and Rick kicked him in the face. Shane fell back to the ground, in a daze from the kick. Rick grabbed the gun Shane had on him, and aimed it at him.
He looked him in the eye. "You did this. I'm sorry!" His voice cracked with every word. "Good-bye Brother." This isn't what Shane wanted. Rick pulled the trigger, only to hear a click from the trigger. No bang.
How did you like it? The next chapter will feature the farm's destruction, but this time with Shane. Please Read & Review.
The Walking Dead: Survival of Shane
Prologue
Shane stood his ground as he aimed his gun at his best friend Rick Grimes. He aimed his gun at his head, looking into his friends' eyes as he did so.
After the dead came back to life and began to eat the living, Shane had taken Rick's wife, Lori, and his son, Carl, to what he believed was a safe place. Or at least safer.
Shane remembered the day he had tried to save Rick from the hospital; he had been shot and put into a coma by a bank robber about a month earlier, and hadn't woken up yet. Shane wanted to carry him out, but he didn't know if it would kill him to take him off of the machines.
Shane had looked out the door of Rick's room, and saw soldiers from the military shooting at people in patient gowns. The people weren't walkers, and didn't appear to have been bitten, so Shane had assumed that the military was ordered to kill anyone in hospitals, for fear of infection.
Not wanting to die himself, and he hid behind Ricks' bed only seconds before the same peope came to the room they were in. They didn't fire at Rick, and didn't notice Shane. They left without firing a single bullet; Shane assumed that they didn't want to waste the bullets on a comatose man, so they left him alone.
Once they left, Shane went back to trying to wake Rick. Seconds later, there was an explosion, and Rick's machines had gone off-line. Shane didn't know if Rick was dead or alive; he wanted to get him out of there, even if he was dead, but knew that if he tried, then he would die as well. He left his room, and blocked it the door with an empty gurney; he could only hope that Rick was alive and would wake-up soon.
Shane killed Randall, knowing he would have been a threat if he was allowed to live; he would have rejoined his old group, consisting of murderers and rapists, if he had the chance. He knew where their camp was; he was leading Shane there when he freed him, and that was what made Shane kill him.
Shane also killed Otis, a good man who wanted nothing but to help them, but only because it was either him or himself. Shane had told him to go ahead, but he wouldn't, not without Shane. Shane didn't want to kill him, but if he hadn't, then they both would have probably died. And if they died, then Carl died, and he wouldn't allow that. Not for anything.
Shane knew he was coming unhinged; that's why he wanted to leave after the CDC explosion. But with Carl's being shot, he couldn't; he could never forgive himself if he did. When he killed Otis, he shot him in the leg, so the walkers would be distracted with him. Shane screamed his apologizes, saying, "I"M SORRY! I"M SORRY!", over and over again, and when he got back to the farm, he shaved his head. He didn't want to look at that man in the mirror, and it was the only thing he could think of.
And now he was here, looking his best friend in the eyes with a gun aimed at his head. He had saved his life months before, and he now held a gun to his head. Rick wasn't built for the world they now lived in; he could kill another man, but only if they were an immediate threat, like the two from the bar.
"Don't do this brother!" Rick pleaded. "We can get through this. Just put the gun down." Rick had his gun on Shane, but slowly lowered it. He came closer to him, lowering the gun with one hand, and holding the other out.
Shane didn't know what to do; he wanted to make things right, but Rick made it hard. Shane began to lower his gun ever so slightly, then saw as Rick quickly reached for his knife. On instinct, Shane grabbed the knife and threw Rick to the ground. He aimed his gun at him, and looked him in the eye; he had tried to kill him.
Rick kicked the gun out of Shane's hand, then once in the stomach. Shane doubled over, and Rick kicked him in the face. Shane fell back to the ground, in a daze from the kick. Rick grabbed the gun Shane had on him, and aimed it at him.
He looked him in the eye. "You did this. I'm sorry!" His voice cracked with every word. "Good-bye Brother." This isn't what Shane wanted. Rick pulled the trigger, only to hear a click from the trigger. No bang.
How did you like it? The next chapter will feature the farm's destruction, but this time with Shane. Please Read & Review.
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