Author's note: I'm back! Sorry for the long wait, please forgive me! I'll try to update more often. Anyways, I hope you all enjoy and review. Please don't forget to vote in the poll; I want to end it soon. This pooch needs a name.

He Went Too Far

I smell food. Lifting my head up I sniff the air. Yep, I smell food. I can even hear it cooking. After standing up with a stretch, I take in my surroundings. Oh yeah, I came to sleep next to Daryl after that nightmare. I shudder remembering it. I'm not sure what's worse, the memory parts or the part about Daryl and the pup. I look at the formerly sleeping, now awake, human and decide that the part about him was the worst.

"Damn mutt, wakin' me up," Daryl grumbles. There's no real anger in his voice, just slight annoyance. I hop off the bed to give him room to get up. Hearing someone walk towards the tent I look to the flap.

"Mr, Dixon," it's the pup, "breakfast is almost ready." She peeks into the tent and sees me. Smiling she says, "There you are! Come on girl, time to eat!" With a final stretch I limp towards the pup, casting a glance at Daryl.

"Yea, yeah, I'm coming." Walking out of the tent, I see that the pup's mom is the one cooking. Oh, bless the woman. Daryl heads over to an empty chair by the fire while the pup goes to sit next to the runt on a rock. I look around for somewhere to sit.

I'll leave the pup and runt to talk, same with the runt's parents. Daryl probably wants a little alone time after I stole a good chuck of his cot. Sitting by Deputy Dickhead is out of the fucking question. No way am I sitting next to the woman sharpening a knife, really why do that when it's time to eat? T-dog is doing something by the fire so I'll leave him alone. Glenn looks too distracted, most likely about the barn of walkers. I guess that leaves by my third favorite person here at camp, Dale.

I start limping towards Dale. The pup's mom gives Daryl a plate of food while I do so. I glare at Deputy Dickhead as I walk past him, he glares right back. Good, our mutual hatred is still intact. When I reach Dale I nudge his arm before sitting next to him. He pats my head before looking at Glenn, I follow his gaze. I can tell, Glenn has to decide right now whether to tell the pack about the walkers or not.

Glenn looks between a woman on the porch, who shakes his head at him, and Dale, who nods at him. Then he sees me staring at him. I don't break eye contact. He averts his eyes before looking back at Dale and me. He's made his choice. Standing up, Glenn walks next to the big tent in front of everyone.

"U-um guys," Dale and Shane look at Glenn, "so," now Daryl, Lori, the pup and runt, "the barn's full of walkers," everyone else finally looks at Glenn when he said those last five words. You could feel the dread settling in the air, but I was proud of the boy. Dale was too. Glenn did the right thing.

In a rush everyone gets up and heads towards the barn. When we get there, even the humans can hear the groans and shuffling coming from inside. The humans stand a good distance away in fear. Deputy Dickhead's the one who walks up to verify want everyone already knows by walking right up to the barn and looking between the boards.

When I walker came right up to where he was standing, on the other side of the wall, Shane was pissed. Stomping right past Rick he said, "You cannot tell me you're alright with this."

Rick was rightfully angry as well. You could hear it in his voice when he said, "No I'm not, but we're guests here. This isn't our land." That did nothing to pacify Shane.

"Oh God, this is our lives man!" As much as I hate to agree with him, Deputy Dickheads right. I think a part of my pride died admitting that.

"Can you lower your voice?" Glenn has a point. The walkers are getting restless. I place myself between the pack and the barn, just in case.

The woman, who was sharpening the knife earlier, stated the obvious when saying, "We can't just sweep this under the rug."

T-dog stated, "It ain't right, not remotely." I stare harder at the barn.

"We either gotta go in there, we gotta make things right, or we just gotta go. Now we have been talkin' about Fort Benning for a long time now."

Rick interrupted Shane saying, "We can't go!"

Shane retorted with, "Why Rick, why?" I'm done listening to the humans arguing. They're no longer saying anything important. They're just raising their voices and starting to physically fight. It's a waste of damn energy and is doing nothing but riling the walkers up!

"Now just let me talk to Hershel! Let me figure it out!"

"AND WHAT ARE YOU GOING TO FIGURE OUT!" I raise my hackles at the noise.

"ENOUGH!" Dammit, can't the humans argue somewhere else?!

"If we're going to stay here, if we're going to clear this barn, I have to talk to him into it. This is his land!" Deputy Dickhead needs to just shut up and listen to Rick.

"Hershel sees those things in there as people," I turn away from the barn to look at Dale, "sick people, his wife, his-his step-son." He has got to be kidding.

"You knew," Rick questions him.

"Yesterday I talked to Hershel," Dale starts to explain.

"And you waited the night?!" Deputy Dickhead needs to get his head OUT of his ass and shut up!

"I thought we could survive one more night! We did!" Dale turns back to Rick, "I was waiting till this morning to say something, but Glenn wanted to be the one." I turn back to the stirred-up-walker filled barn.

"The man is crazy, Rick! If Hershel thinks those things are alive, I KNOW!" I growl at Shane when the walkers start trying to open the barn door. The women start backing away quickly with the children. I ready myself in case they get through.

Rick guides everyone away from the barn, but I stay. Even when the pup tries to call me, I stay standing in front of the barn, teeth bared. Deputy Dickhead stays too. If things get out of hand, I'm biting his leg and leaving him. I know he would do the same.

It takes a while, but the walkers eventually calm down. Deputy Dickhead and I start patrolling around the barn, looking for weak spots. We circle it a few times, as bidding time to make sure the walkers are calmed. When we make it back to the front again, we stop and look at the barn doors. I follow Deputy Dickhead when he slowly walks towards them and take a few sniffs of the wood. Defiantly old, not the strongest, and slowly weakening, in other words, the wood is crappy but good enough for the time being.

Dickhead first tests the strength of the chains. I give a warning growl when I hear some walkers shuffling closer. Deputy Dickhead gives me a quick glance before checking the padlocks. While he was checking the sturdiness of the board across the doors, the walkers pushed against them. He jumps back and reaches for a gun while I follow suit and get ready to attack.

Seeing that the walkers aren't going anywhere I stand straight and look to Deputy Dickhead. Only to see no gun in his hands and him looking pretty damn annoyed. He rips his hat off and spits on the ground. I growl at him when the spit just barely missed me. He just releases a sigh as he turns to look at the camp, completely ignoring me. As much as I hate this man, I'm not taking my eyes off that damn barn.

I follow him when he heads over towards the tractor and sit a tolerable distance away from him. I don't know exactly when, but the woman from earlier comes over and talks to Deputy Dickhead. He tells her something about a watch duty and guns. She grins before heading over to the RV. I scuff and shake my head.

"What? You know I'm in the right." I growl at the overconfident human. I shake my head at him again. We both just go back to watching the barn in silence. After a while I hear someone walking over to us. Taking a sniff of the air I relax smelling Rick. Finally someone I like comes over. When Deputy Dickhead notices him, he shifts his position on the tractor. Deputy Dickhead's the one to speak first. I listen patiently and watch them.

"What's it going to be, man? Which way does this thing go?"

"I don't know yet."

"Well what did he say?"

"We're negotiating." Deputy Dickhead lets out a humorless chuckle.

"Clock's ticking, Rick."

"No, no, no, it isn't Shane. That-the barn's secure." For now "We didn't even know about it till this morning."

"We didn't. Well, we know about it now. Right, we know there's over a dozen walkers in there." Shane turns to face Rick. "We know it's about a stone's throw away from our camp, Rick, where we sleep. So, look, if we're not going to go in there and clear it out, then we just got ta go."

"We're not going to clear it out and we're not going to go." I look at Rick confused.

"We just need our guns."

"We can't have them, not here." Rick cannot be serious. I don't like the idea of Deputy Dickhead or the woman with the knife having a gun, but the rest should have something.

"Why do you want to stay here when it's not safe, Rick? I can't..." Fuck, I'm in agreement with Dickhead again.

"It's safe." No, it's not. "We can make it safe." I look up in though, now that we can do.

"How we gonna do that?" By having faith dumbass.

"We will, okay?"

"How we gonna make it safe, Rick?!" I growl at Deputy Dickhead, but it went unnoticed.

"We will, okay?!"

"No man! It's not okay!" That man needs to shut up.

"Lori's pregnant." Well that shut him up. Actually, I think it put him in shock. I shake my head at the humans, so much drama. "We need to stay," Rick looks right into Shane's eyes when he said this.

"We need our guns."

"No, you know what? I can work this out." Rick started to walk away. He turns back. "You good?" Well that was a complete flip in the tone of the conversation.

"Yeah," Deputy Dickhead chuckles, "Lori's having a baby, man. Congratulations." There's something off about the way he said that to Rick. I'm not sure what, just something.

While Rick was walking away he told Deputy Dickhead, "Thank you."

Deputy Dickhead went back to staring at the barn. There was something different about him now. It's not a good different either. I make a noise to get his attention. He looks at me before looking at the camp.

"Stay," he commands before walking away. I growl at him but didn't move. I wasn't really planning on leaving my self-assigned post without reason. After a few minutes the woman who Dickhead was talking to earlier came over to take his watch with T-dog. I roll my eyes at the female's posture, too condescending. Turning towards to field, I spot Deputy Dickhead marching through it towards to woods. I glare at the small shape of his retreating back before following. Something is NOT right.

"Where are you going?" I don't even bother sparing the woman a glance. "Well then!" I ignore the annoyance at me in her voice as I speed up. Shit, he's already in the woods! Sniffing, I faintly catch Dale's sent in the direction Shane's heading, along with the smell of metal and gunpowder. I growl deeply. If he even tries to harm that old man, I will rip his throat out.

Nose to the ground I follow Deputy Dickhead's sent. Then closer I get to him, the closer I get to Dale. I glare in the direction, he's tracking Dale. That much is obvious. I speed up my pace, being careful where I step. We're heading deeper into a swamp like area. Warning bells are ringing in my head. Why would Dale come here?

I stop when I hear voices. Listening closely, I recognize the voices as Dale and Deputy Dickhead. Dammit all! My leg is really starting to hurt again from all this walking, but, I swear, I will tear Shane to shreds if he harms Dale. My leg be damned!

"…you do have that rifle over your shoulder." They're close! I can make out what they're saying now.

"What, are you going to shoot me like you did Otis?" He won't even get the fucking chance. "Tell another story?" Keep staling him until I get there old man!

"Heh, naw man. Hell, when you really look at it, cold light of day, man you pretty much dead already." That pissed me off. "Just give me the guns. Do it now." I can see them now and speed up.

"You think this is going to keep us safe?"

"I know it is."

"Rick is trying to get Hershel to let us—"

"Just shut up. Just shut up and give me the guns." I see Dale lean them against a tree and holds his rifle in front of himself.

"I'm going to have to shoot you." Do it! "Do I have to kill you? Is that what it's going to take?" He points it at Shane when the bastard steps closer after chuckling. I hurry my pace again when Shane walks right up to the gun. What's Dale waiting for? Shoot him!

"Yeah, that's what it's going to take." After a pause, Dale lowers his gun. I stop at the look in the old man's eyes. No…Dale isn't the kind of human to kill another, even if the other is Shane.

"This is where you belong, Shane."

"How's that, Dale?"

"This world, where it is now, this is where you belong. I may not have what it takes to last for long, but that's okay." Dale picks up the bag of guns and shoves them into Shane's arms. "Because at least I can say 'when the world goes to shit, I didn't let it take me down with it'!" I stare at the ground. I-is that what I did? I didn't ley this world drag me down, did I? Fuck, I did. I wanted Dale to shoot someone, DALE OF A HUMANS!

"Fair enough." Shane walks away with Dale watching him. I whine as I limp up to Dale and nuzzle against his hand. He pets my head.

"At least I'm not the only one who wasn't dragged down." In shock I look at Dale's soft sad eyes. I-I-I wasn't dragged down with Shane? But? "Come on girl, let's get back to camp." I limp at Dale's side. I won't be dragged down, and if, for some reason I am, I will claw my way back up. Dale, the pup, and especially Daryl deserve at least that much.

At the edge of the field I see everyone running towards Rick and Hershel guiding…oh my God! They're guiding walkers! Ignoring my leg I run towards them, towards the barn. I see and hear Shane shoot one multiple times. Yelling about who those things killed and how something alive couldn't take being shot like that and live. Shane's going too far! Hershel can't take this much!

"SHANE, ENOUGH!" Listen to him, Shane. Listen to Rick!

"Hey, you're right man. That is enough." Panting, I stop just behind Hershel as Shane fires. I can do nothing but watch as Hershel falls to the ground with the now dead walker.

"Enough! Risking our lives living next to a barn full of things that are trying to kill us! Enough! Rick, it ain't like it was before! Now if you all want to live, if you want to survive, you got ta fight for it! I'm talking about fight! RIGHT HERE! RIGHT NOW!" I stand in horror as Shane runs towards the barn. I just stand, not doing anything. Not comprehending what Rick is saying, or what anyone is screaming. But when I look behind me and see the pup crying, I growl and glare at Shane. I get ready to run at him after he breaks the lock on the barn, but stop after he removed the board and bangs on the door. That crazy fucker!

Walkers start pouring out of the barn. The people with guns start shooting. I flinch and whine at every fired shot. When it finally stops I look around. The pup and runt are being held by their mothers. Dale, who just showed up, and Hershel's people are staring in horror at the carnage. Rick is staring at Shane appalled. Everyone who was shooting is staring at the barn or looking at the others, some in pride others in worry. When I look at Hershel and his eldest daughter I let out a whine. Hershel looks completely broken.

I look back at the barn when I hear one last walker groaning. Slowly, the decaying body of a young man steps out. Shane holds up his gun ready to fire until a scream stopped him.

"Shawn!" Daryl had to physical stop the young long haired girl from running to the walker. "He's my brother! Let me go! Please!" All the shooters froze, staring at the girl and Hershel. No one moved, listening to the sound of the girl crying for her brother. I glare at the ground. Now, after mercilessly taking down those other walkers, no one could do it to the last one since it was given an identity. I growl. This isn't right.

I look up as I hear someone walking. I watch Rick as he walks up to the walker and holds his gun to its head. Stopping before it, he stares at it for a while before pulling the trigger. I close my eyes and drop my head. Listening, I hear the pup crying before my eyes snap open and I look directly at her.

If I didn't find the pup when I did, she could have been one of those walkers…No, she would have been. Slowly I limp over to the crying pup and her mother. When I reach them I nuzzle the pup's tear stained face and start licking her. She pulls me between her and her mother as they cry. I try to sooth them as much as I can.

Shane went too damn far…

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