1. Shane, bees/flying insects with stingers

His mama had been real allergic to anything that could fly and had a stinger. Almost died a couple of times, according to his pa, when they had been sweethearts and sneaking off to the woods to kiss and fool around. Honey bees, bumblebees, yellow jackets, hornets; Shane's mama was allergic to all of them. And since it ran in the family, Shane had been raised to always run away from the buzzing sound of what might be his imminent death.

Growing up, Rick had thought it was hilarious, Shane's fear of the bees. When they went camping, it was the funniest thing Rick could witness, just sneaking up behind his friend and imitating a buzzing noise. Then during high school, the first day of football camp a month before their junior year started, a junior coach had pointed out that a hive had formed at the T on one of the goal posts, and another boy had thought it was a great idea to poke it with a stick. When the swarm came out, Shane took off for his truck and locked himself inside, shaking and refusing to come out. Rick (who had suffered a few stings, but nothing major) had laughed at first, then sat in the bed of the truck so he could talk to Shane through the back window (which was closed, but thinner than the other windows) to calm him down. It took two hours, and the confirmation that the football field was bee and hive free before Shane agreed to come out. Rick hadn't made fun of him for it since.

Being in the woods made Shane nervous; not because of the walkers, but because he knows some hornets like to make their nests in the ground. Being at the farm was nice enough; they were out of the woods and Rick had checked where they made camp for anything that buzzed before he let them put up their tents. Searching for Sophia made him anxious, though; it'd been too long since she'd been last seen, and tromping through the brush made him hyper-aware of any noises.

Shane was doing a perimeter check with T-Dog when a lone walker came out of the treeline. They were far enough away from the farmhouse that even if Hershel had binoculars he wouldn't see them take out just one walker, so Shane picked up a fallen branch that seemed sturdy enough and thwacked it over the head. Easy pickings, the walker's skull caved in and it fell to its knees, then face-up onto the ground.

"Nice hit, man," T-Dog nodded approvingly. "I call the next one."

"Alright," Shane handed over the branch. That's when he heard it; the buzzing. "You hear that?"

"Sounds like bees," T-Dog peered into the treeline. "I don't see a hive, do you?" The buzzing grew louder. "I see a walker, though, and...it's waving?"

A second walker burst from the treeline, flailing it's arms...one of which had a beehive stuck on the end of it and an angry swarm attacking it's head.

"Okay, I'm going in," T-Dog spared a glance at Shane, then blinked. "You okay man? Shane?"

"B-b-b," Shane stuttered as he started to shake, "BEES!"

"Oh hell naw," T-Dog huffed as he watched Shane run away from the bees. He turned back to the walker and dispatched it, running away himself so the bees wouldn't sting him either. He caught up to Shane, who had stopped running and was panting and shaking. "What the hell Shane? Resident badass motherfucker, but scared of bees? I don't get it, man. We've all been livin' in the woods after the motherfuckin' apocalypse, you just took out a member of the walking dead, and you're still scared of bees?!"

"Family allergy; my ma was real allergic to bees, hornets, yellow jackets," Shane panted, still shaking a bit. "Been runnin' away from the little flying bastards my whole life. You kill that walker?"

"Yeah, and thanks for sticking around to watch my back," T-Dog frowned. "Come on, we still gotta check the rest of the perimeter."

"You...aren't gonna say nothin' about this back at camp, are you?"

"How can we? You know how Hershel feels about the walkers; anything we say in camp is gonna get to him eventually, and I don't need an old white dude cluckin' his tongue at me while he judges us for thinkin' walkers ain't people."

"...Thanks, man."

"Though it was awful funny to watch you run away from that walker like your ass was on fire."

"Oh shut up."

Each chapter will be a different character. Enjoy!