This story is about what would happen if Shane didn't do the things he did. I've been a big Shane fan only because he was fun to watch. Now here's the story and enjoy :)
disclaimer: I don't own anything, it's all the Walking Dead's stuff.
"Why? Why now?" Rick put up his hands slowly as Shane stood there with his gun ready to fire. Rick saw that uneasy look he had in his eyes. He knew Shane wouldn't kill him. He couldn't. He might of killed Otis, but he knew he couldn't kill his best friend. "I thought we worked this all out."
Shane wiped the blood off his nose and chuckled a little. "Yeah by killin' each other? You think after tha' fight, we would be on good terms?!" Shane raised his voice in anger. "I can't fuckin live like this! I've been tryin' ta keep this group safe! I've been tryin' ta keep Carl out of harms way! I've been tryin at keepin things in order. And.." His arms very slowly began to shake and he began to loose his grip on his gun. His eyes started turn glassy and looked down a little. "I've been tryin to understand my meaning in this group.. I've been questioning that since you came in the group in Atlanta. You destroyed my reason of being alive!" Rick saw how Shane was stumbling on his own feet. He realized how much he cared for Lori and Carl, but the former sheriff's deputy knew that his fellow officer was only tricking himself thinking he loved Rick's family.
Rick lowered his arms and placed a hand on his Colt Python .357 magnum. Shane noticed and quickly stiffened his arm back up. Rick knew how to break him at this point. He would try to convince Shane to make the tactically right and morally right decision, but ultimately, it would be up to Shane on what the outcome would be. "I did not screw up your meaning in the group, brother." He paused and gave Shane an innocent look. "Things change." Rick unbuttoned his holster and slowly began to draw his revolver. "I'm not going to do anything, just follow my lead." Shane began grinding his teeth and tightened the grip to his Glock 19. Rick drew his revolver very slowly and dropped it to the ground.
Shane cocked an eyebrow at Rick's unexpected move. He just stood there looking at him dead in the eye. Shane was having a hard time maintaining eye contact. "I'm going to give you a third chance, Shane, to maintain your humanity, as Dale once said. If you kill me right here," Rick brought out his arms, "then you will lose your humanity." Shane thought about what he said but quickly shook his head and lowered his eyebrows back down. "Best friends don't kill each other, hell brothers don't kill each other." He pondered on that comment at well. He's known Rick since they were in grade school, and for it to end like this? He wouldn't be able to live with himself. "For the sake of the group, do what's right. What is tactically right and morally right. I'm going to leave it to you now, Shane."
Rick crossed his arms and stood there to observe what choice his brother would make. Shane, without taking Rick off his sights, processed quite a bit of thinking about what would happen after this. 'If I kill Rick, then the group would collapse which would mean that Lori and Carl would take the fall the hardest. But I'm already dead, so now, what the fuck do I do?' He looked down at his gun and clipped the safety on. He brought down his gun and looked around the field trying to gasp for air.
"Well?" The former cop started. "What the fuck am I supposed to do now?" Rick's eyebrows raised a little but he did not crack even the slightest smile. He bent down, picked up his revolver and withdrew it back into his holster, then he stood up and turned to look in the field.
"Well.. I'm sure Daryl found Randal's body. He and Glenn are probably starting to figure out what you were planning." He looked back to Shane. Shane looked at his gun and threw it to Rick. The former deputy looked at the Glock, checked the chamber and the magazine. There were no rounds in the mag or the chamber which blew Rick's mind. He quickly glanced back to Shane who was just standing there biting his lip. "You had no rounds in here."
"I know." Shane rested his hands on his sides and turned a little to look in the woods.
Rick thought a little and played with the gun a little. He looked around thinking of why he wouldn't have any rounds in the gun. "You wanted me to kill you?"
Shane looked back to Rick, looked down and pointed his gaze back to the woods. Rick finally saw the pain Shane has been going through. "I see."
Suddenly there was rustling in the woods. Rick pulled out his revolver and cocked the hammer back. Two figures started to come into view. "Rick! Shane!" It was Glenn's voice and immediately Rick withdrew his gun. Glenn jogged up to them, but Daryl slowly came out from the woods eyeing Shane. The former cop just stood there and looked down at the cold ground. "We found Randell and he was a walker, but he had no bite marks." Daryl lowered his crossbow and approached Rick.
"Yeah, there was that. But there was also anotha thing." He looked over to Shane then back Rick with an on edge stance. He knew that something was up with Shane. Shane knew that he knew too. Daryl was a hard redneck to fool. "Shane, y'got somethin ta tell us?" He asked in a very serious and intimidating tone.
Shane just shook his head and looked in the opposite direction. "Y'all already know the situation." He pierced his lips shut and squinted his eyes.
Daryl nodded his head and smirked a little. "Yeah," he brought up his crossbow and aimed at Shane. Shane noticed but he didn't react. "Yer makin this group be broke." Shane just laughed and shook his head.
Rick pushed the crossbow out of Shane's line of sight. "Stop Daryl."
"Why? He's was goin to kill you man!"
Rick shook his head and pulled out Shane's Glock. "He had no rounds in the chamber or the mag," he looked over to Shane, "he wanted me to kill him."
"Then why not get it over with?" Daryl was losing his patience. Glenn just stood there not knowing what to say or do, but in his mind, he's been wary of Shane for quite a while.
Rick glared back at Daryl. "Because he's my fucking best friend." Daryl just glared back at the former deputy.
Shane noticed a small figure in the distance walking towards them. Looks like he had a hat on. Shane knew it was Carl which pissed him off. Suddenly they heard a stick crack in the woods. All four survivors directed their attention to the tree line.
"Shane, you wouldn't happen to still have those rounds on you?" Rick asked quietly.
Shane nodded his head and patted his pocket. Rick slowly walked to Shane and handed him the Glock 19. Daryl noticed and became uneasy of Shane considering that he could of just gunned down their leader. Shane took the mag out and started loading up the twelve rounds he had in his pocket. Noises in the woods started to escalate with addition of moans. Walkers.
"We have to go.." Rick quietly ordered. Shane finished loading up his mag and slapped it in the handgun. Then he restlessly scanned the area for Carl.
"Rick, I saw Carl out here,"
Rick's expression was full of shock and anger. "What is he doing out here?" He quietly shouted. Shane shrugged his shoulders. Daryl whistled to get their attention and he pointed out in the distance. There were hundreds of walkers roaming the field. "Holy Shi-" Suddenly they heard shots fired, repeated shots in the direction of the farm house.
They all started sprinting to the gun shots. As they ran through the field they noticed Carl running away from roughly fifteen walkers. "Carl, get to the house!" Rick yelled out at Carl. Carl heard him and started sprinting to the house but he was cut off by more walkers. He looked around for a place to go and noticed the barn. He hesitated a bit and began sprinting to the barn.
Rick saw him run to the barn and stopped everyone. "You guys get the house now! I'm going after Carl!" The three began sprinting to the house. Rick saw the swarm of walkers all over the farm. Didn't matter to him, all that mattered to him was Carl.
Rick kept running as fast as he can possibly go towards the barn. There were too many walkers to count around the barn trying to get Carl. Rick pulled out his Python and fired rounds at a couple of walkers on the way. As he got closer to the barn, he saw an open ladder leading to the second floor. He quickly began climbing up the ladder. Just before he reached the top, he looked up and saw the end of the barrel to a gun. He froze and stared up at gun.
"Dad!" The gun lowered and Rick saw his son standing there scared out of his mind. He reached out a hand and helped his father up to the second floor. As soon as Rick came up, he hugged Carl.
"You alright? Are you bit?!" Rick felt a wet red spot on Carl's shirt and nearly lost his head. He quickly lifted his shirt to see for himself.
"No! I'm fine, I'm fine!" Rick put hand under his shirt to just to be sure. He was just fine. "It was close, dad.."
Rick nodded, "I know, your fine though. That's all that matters." He turned his gaze to the lower level of the barn and saw a couple of gas containers. Then he restlessly went through his pockets and he felt a lighter. He had a good idea. "Carl, I have plan, this is what we are going to do.."
Shane, Glenn and Daryl were finally approaching the poach to the farm house. The noticed that walkers were somewhat far behind them but they knew that they would swarm the house in a matter of minutes. The rest of the group started piling out of the house, Hershel in front. "I heard shots fired what happened.." His voice trailed off as he noticed hundreds of walkers in his fields. "Oh my Lord.."
Shane stopped him, "No time to think, Rick and Carl are'n the Barn." Lori's eyes got really wide and she brought a hand up to her head not know what to do. "We gotta get out outta here right now! Carol, hurry an' get all of our stuff an' pack i' up in that blue truck," he pointed at the truck, Carol quickly nodded and rushed into the house. "T-Dog and Andrea, get'n a car an' start clearin a path outta here." T-Dog and Andrea both went to grab a gun and as much ammo as they can and rushed to an open car. "Jimmy, you think that you could clear a path out for Rick an' Carl?"
"Yeah, but I'll need the RV."
"Alright, get in the RV an' go help them out, EVERYBODY ELSE," Shane shouted at the top his lungs, "GET THE STUFF Y'ALL CAN GET AN' GET THE HELL OF THIS FARM!" Everyone went on the move. Glenn and Maggie grabbed a handgun and a shotgun and got in the green Hyundai. Daryl took a .38 special revolver and powered up his motor cycle. Shane went in the house to get help out with packing up. Hershel picked up a shotgun and loaded six shells of 12 gauge. Beth and Patricia began stocking as much food as they possibly could.
Rick poured all the gas out of three containers but he noticed that walkers were tearing down the barn doors. He looked up at his son, "you ready Carl?" Carl took out the lighter and nodded to his father. Rick ran to the doors and opened them up. Walkers began piling in five after five. "Come on you sons of bitches!" Rick instigated. The walkers just hissed louder and tried their absolute best to get to the fresh and live meat in front of them. Rick climbed up the ladder, "alright do it!" Carl lit the lighter and dropped it in the middle of the walker mosh pit. Flames immediately combusted burning all the walkers. The walkers didn't even care that they were on fire. Rick ran up to Carl and hugged him, "good job Carl, this will make a huge distraction."
Suddenly they heard the horn to the RV and lots of shots fired. Rick cane to the top window and began yelling and waving his arms in distress. The RV came up right next to the side of the barn and Rick and Carl jumped on top of it. They scanned the surroundings and saw an opening to the house. Right below him, he heard Jimmy's screams and cries of agony. "Shit! We need to get to the house!" He and Carl climbed down the ladder of the RV and quickly sprinted to the house. There they saw Hershel picking off many walkers with a Remington 870. Shane was behind the farmer with his favorite Mossberg 590 lighting off shells.
"Rick, nice distraction with the barn! Lets get outta here!" Shane yelled. He turned around and fired off more shells.
Rick nodded and suddenly noticed many walkers behind them. He drew his .357 and railed a couple of walkers down then he and Carl both headed to the red SUV. Rick went into the driver's seat and turned the ignition.
"SHANE! HERSHEL! WE ARE LEAVING!" Shane heard him and began pulling Hershel. "C'mon man we gotta go!" Hershel fired a couple more shells into the large walker swarm and began walking back.
Lori ran to the blue truck with Beth and Patricia. T-Dog was in the truck hustling them to run faster. "C'mon ladies we gotta move!" As they ran, a walker grabbed a hold of Patricia and bit her neck. Blood squirted out of her neck and she fell to the ground screaming out in agony. Beth was crying out in horror at the sight of the person that treated her like a mother being eating alive.
"Come on Beth, there's nothing we can do!" Lori pulled her to the blue truck and they both got in. T-Dog locked the doors, stepped on the gas pedal and drove off into the dark of the night away from this walker assault.
Daryl watched as the barn was burning down to the ground. At the sight of the flames blazing up, he couldn't help but smile. Normally, others wouldn't be smiling at a sight like this, but to him, the flames and the barn's collapse was symbolic. The only thing that crossed his mind was Sophia, not the fact that she was dead, but the fact that she can finally be at peace. The hunter thought of the arising flames as an ascension to the other side. He wasn't a person of faith, but he did believe that there was a paradise.
Suddenly he heard a cry of desperation. The hunter leaned up from his bike and spotted Carol scrambling away from an incoming wave of corpses. Quickly, he pumped up his huge bike and drove off towards the cries. As he got closer, Carol was about to get mauled by a larger walker. He squinted his eyes in anger and rammed the walker sending it flying ten feet forward of the bike. Daryl looked at the shell shocked woman. "C'mon, I ain't got all day!" Carol snapped back into reality and jumped on the bike behind the hunter.
Shane was in the back seat of the red truck rubbing his forehead. He knew that there had to be some casualties in that attack. He looked at Carl in the seat next him. Carl was sitting there with a very uneasy look on his face, then he leaned forward. "We have to go back for mom!"
Rick looked back at him with a serious expression. "We can't Carl, that place isn't safe anymore.."
"But it's MOM!" He yelled out.
Shane padded his chest. As much as the man hated to say this, he needed to. "Yer dad is right, m'sorry Carl.." Carl sat back and tears started forming from his eyes. Shane thought about whether or not he wanted Lori to survive. Just seeing her kills him inside. To an extent, he wished that Rick killed him to get relieved from the pain, but he knew that he didn't have it in him to kill himself. He thought about just jumping into a walker mosh pit, but that would just be painful. He just wanted the pain to go away.
"Head to the highway. That's where everyone will meet up," Rick exclaimed. Hershel took the road that headed to the highway. When they got there, they exited the truck and scanned the area for any survivors or any threats. There was nothing to see, except the sign they rigged for Sophia.
Hershel came up to Rick, "Rick, you have to get your boy out of here. This place isn't safe."
Rick raised a hand and began shaking his head. "No, we have to wait for the others." Shane looked off into the distance and rested his Mossberg behind his head.
"I'm not even sure if they made it.."
Rick shook his head. "They had to. We are a strong group."
Hershel still had the look of doubt in his eyes. "Don't be so sure, Rick.."
Rick snapped and turned to Hershel face to face, glaring at the old man. "You're a man of God! Have some faith!" The former deputy hissed.
Hershel looked down and shook his head. "I can't profess," he took in a deep breath and looked off in the morning sky, "Christ promised the resurrection of the dead. I just thought he had something different in mind.." Rick didn't know what to say in reply to that hopeless statement. "There is no hope.." Shane just smirked and shook his head. He really wasn't a person of faith. He figured that he didn't need help from the old gizzard, although, it would be nice if he would help them by letting most of the group survive that attack. Shane still had that sense of pride, but he's slowly starting to realize that doing things his way isn't working out well for the group or him for that matter. He knew that Rick's intentions were driven by morality, but in the end, the ends justify the means, at least in his eyes. But that belief also started to fade after last night.
Suddenly, Shane heard a set of moans coming their way and ran up to the others. "Guys, there's a bunch of walkers comin' this way." The four hid behind a couple cars and they saw a group of five walkers shuffling by them. They stayed out of their line of sight and made no noise. The walkers just strolled past their red truck and off into the distance.
Hershel once again insisted, "Rick you have to get your boy to safety." Rick simply shook his head. Hershel didn't know what else to say.
A half hour passed and Shane was sitting on top of a truck surveying. He looked down at Rick with an expression of regret. Rick saw it in his face too, but they weren't going to talk about that now. Shane suddenly noticed a reflection in the distance and stood up. "Hey, they're here!"
Daryl road up on his motorcycle with Carol behind him. Behind him came the blue truck with T-Dog, Beth and Lori. After them came Glenn and Maggie. Rick looked to Hershel, "There is hope."
After an hour, the group was prepared to move along. They ditched the blue truck and claimed another SUV. Shane claimed a convertible jeep and found a pair a sunglasses. He checked the mirror and frowned. The sight of himself in the mirror made him sick. He had absolutely no clue what to do with himself. He pulled the gear into drive and followed up behind the group.
Hours past by and they lost track on how far they were from the farm. Rick noticed that the truck was running extremely low on gas. "Shit." He smacked the wheel out of frustration.
Lori glanced over at her husband with an expression that gradually became more concerned. "What's wrong?"
Rick looked over at his wife. "Been running on fumes.." He hunked the horn which made the entire convoy stop.
"What's wrong?" Called out Glenn as he exited the green Hyundai with his Mossberg 500.
Rick came out of the truck and rubbed his forehead. "I've been running on fumes." Rick looked around for a place to stay for the night. He found a stone complex over the edge of the road.
Hershel came up to Rick with a concerned reaction. "We need a place to stay. This place isn't the safest place to be."
"I know, I know. We'll stay here for the night and starting looking tomorrow."
Glenn spoke up, "Maggie and I can go on a fuel run-"
"No no, we can't split up right now," Rick hissed. "We've been through too much as it is. Last thing we need is someone stranded without a car!"
Glenn started losing his cool for the first time. "Rick, we are stranded."
Daryl picked up his crossbow and walked over to Rick with confused look. "Eh Rick, Glenn and I found Randell in the woods."
"Yeah what happened?"
Daryl looked at Glenn and shrugged. "He was a walker, but th' thing is tha' he didn't have any bites, jus' his neck was broke." Shane looked up at Rick and Rick looked back. Half Shane's reaction was on guard but the other was extremely confused on why Randell came back. Rick turned around and walked a little ahead.
"How is that possible?" Carol muttered with a concerned look. Everyone looked at each other sheepishly. Lori walked up to Rick and wrapped her arms around her. Shane couldn't bare to look and he turned around.
Rick inhaled a deep breath and exhaled slowly. It was now or never. He decided it was time to say.. "We're all infected.." Everyone's eyes opened up in complete shock. Shane turned around and glared at Rick at the same time being astonished. Lori let go and walked back a couple seconds. "At the CDC, Jenner told me and it doesn't matter how we die. Whatever it is, we all carry it." Shane rubbed his head and squinted his eyes. He couldn't believe the fact that his best friend was keeping this huge truth from everyone, especially him.
Carol spoke up, "How can you keep such a big truth from us?" Carol was getting pretty pissed about it. Lori couldn't believe that he didn't say anything to the group and she put her hands on her forehead in complete astonishment.
Glenn, in an extremely pissed mood, spoke up, "Rick, when I knew about the walkers in the barn, I told the group for the better!"
"Yeah? Well I thought it would be better if everyone didn't know." Glenn closed his mouth and glared back at Rick. The former deputy just glared back. Hershel didn't even twitch at the surprising news. Likewise with Daryl.
Later that night, they took refuge in a stone complex and built a fire. There was complete silence. No talking. Shane looked to Rick who was just outside the complex standing guard and walked up to him. Rick noticed him coming to him. "What do you want, Shane?"
Shane leaned on the stone wall and looked around. He thought about talking about the incident, but decided not to. He knew now that Rick was just trying to keep everyone alive. Shane knew that his own judgement meant absolute shit to Rick. "So, what's the plan for tomorrow?"
Rick expected some sort of criticism from him and he just looked at Shane with a slight hint of surprise in his expression. "Well," he hesitated, "we just have to keep moving." Shane didn't have any rebuts and knew if he did, he wouldn't say them. Rick was waiting for that compromising comment, but it never came.
"Alright. I'll leave it to ya then." Shane walked back into the complex and sat beside the dying fire. He threw in another large piece of wood then looked over to Lori who was holding Carl in her arms. He thought about their future and figured it meant shit. The former officer convinced himself that his fantasy with Lori wasn't going to go anywhere, but it was hard for him to let that state of mind sink in.
Carol leaned up to Daryl. "Do you think we should stay here with him? After keeping that secret from us?" Daryl just looked at her with a disappointed look. He just nodded. "You are his henchman. His foot soldier. You deserve an honorable man."
His expression just became more annoyed. He looked back to the fire and threw in another small log. "Rick is honorable."
Maggie and Glenn were holding onto each other keeping one another warm and Maggie leaned in to Glenn. "I think we should take our chances."
"Don't be foolish, we have no food, no fuel, no ammo," Hershel exclaimed. He held on to Beth keeping her company. She was still crying about witnessing the death of Patricia.
Suddenly they heard a stick crack in the woods. Everyone quickly got up and started taking the safeties off their guns. "What was that?" Beth whispered. Rick came in the complex and tried to make everyone keep their voices down.
"Could be anything. Possum, a coon, or a walker," Daryl replied while putting an bolt in his crossbow.
"Stay here, the last thing we need is everyone getting lost in the dark, we don't have the vehicles," Rick muttered.
Carol got to her feet. "Do something!"
"I AM doing something! I'm keeping this group together, alive! I've been doing that all along! I didn't ask for this!" Rick gave Carol a death look. "There has to be a place we can call home, there has to be one out there! Somewhere! That place is out there, a place where we can a build a life for each other!" He noticed everyone giving him a questioning group. He knew they were questioning his leadership. "Maybe you people right. Maybe you people are better without me. Maybe I'm just lying to myself. Maybe I'm tricking myself with this little pipe dream. Well you can leave if you want. I won't stop you. There's the door! Lets see how far you get! Send me a postcard!" He raised an arm pointing to the outside. Everyone looked at each other but nobody moved. "Nobody? Fine. But I'm telling you this. This ISN'T a democracy anymore." The entire group stood there in awe, shocked at Rick's explosion of rage. Lori looked to Shane to see his reaction. His reaction was unchanged and accepting like Rick was right. Shane caught Lori's gaze and began nodding letting her know that he's right. The former police officer looked over to his best friend. Rick turned around marched out the complex.
Hopefully I nailed the characters, if I didn't, review the story. Lots of it are quotes but I tweecked it up since Shane is still around. Anyways thanks for reading :) please review!