"Ariel! Get your ass in here!" my father shouted.

Reluctantly, I walked into the living room. It was obvious to see that he had been drinking. This always meant one thing, we're all in trouble. Even if we did nothing wrong, the three of us were going to be punished.

"Where the hell are your fucking brothers?" The man was swaying back and forth as he looked down at me.

I stayed silent.

"Don't make me ask you again," he threatened.

I didn't have an answer for him. I hadn't seen Daryl or Merle in days. My guess was Merle was either wasted in a bar or in juvie again. Either way, he wasn't here. Daryl on the other hand was probably hunting. It is unusual that he's been gone for so long. I haven't seen him for at least for a day or two.

"Well?"

"I... I don' know," I answered him in a whisper.

"What?"

My voice raised only slightly. "I said, 'I don' know.'"

Before I knew it, I was on the floor holding my face. I was only eight so I went down without a fight. In a normal situation, Daryl would be here to protect me. But today, he was nowhere to be found.

It impulsed me to go find him and bring him back. The only problem with that plan was I had no clue where he could be. I yearned for his presence but I didn't even know where to start looking. I was too young then to look anyways.

For the next week, when my father wasn't banging some waitress, he was home drinking. When he was home drinking, I was in for it. My arm was nearly blackened and my back was in severe pain. I prayed Daryl was home to protect me. Hell, even Merle wouldn't let that son of a bitch touch me.

Daryl was lucky that when he eventually did come home, the old man wasn't there. I didn't even notice him come in at first. He went right to the kitchen and made himself a sandwich.

When he saw me in the doorway, he smiled slightly. I was wearing a long sleeved shirt, so he didn't notice the bruises. Daryl walked over to me and told me about his past few days. He had went out and chased some rabbit through the woods for some time, but ran so far that he couldn't find his way back. For nine days, he had been eating berries and wiping his ass with poison oak.

I laughed at his misfortunes, forgetting my own. That was until he asked how I was doing. When I didn't respond, he knew immediately. He forced the sleeve of my shirt up and observed the black and blue marks the spread up my arm. I swore to him that the bruises were the only thing even though my back must have been bleeding from some of the knife wounds. Nothing deep, just rough scratches.

That night when our father finally came home, Daryl put me to bed and told me to cover my ears. Daryl was only eleven at the time, but very mature for his age, especially when it came to me.

The next morning when I woke up, our father, as usual, was nowhere to be found. Daryl's back was bleeding and he had a fresh mark under his eye. I automatically blamed myself and swore that I would never let someone I care deeply about, get hurt because of me. If they were lost, I promised myself that I would find them, no matter what the cost.

The lot of the school was practically empty. That was the first sign that something was wrong. This seemed like the perfect place for walker to hang out and wait for their next meal to show.

With my gun in hand and knife at my side, I cautiously stalked forward. Where the hell could he be?

My question was soon answered with a gunshot from inside the school. More followed and stopped as soon as it started. The silence was the worst possible thing I could hear right now.

Before I made up my mind on my next move, more gunshots rang through the air. These ones were in the back. They got out.

I saw a gate on the left side and thought it was the best way to get to the back. One shot after another forced my feet to run as fast as they could carry me. It was a rough run, but I had no choice. Shane and this other guy needed my help.

A lone walker was headed my way. She was dressed in a floral dress that was torn at the bottom. She walked with a limp and her arms desperately reached for my flesh. She must have been a teacher in her past life. Now, she's here and ready to eat me.

I pulled out my knife and took her out silently. I didn't want to attract any attention to me with a gunshot. Then I would have no chance to getting to Shane.

Every step I forced myself to take was taking my energy little by little. With that, my hope was failing as well. It was practically impossible to find him in a hell hole like this, but I had to try.

As my hope started to quickly fade, I saw a man with a limp and a bag on his back. He was fairly large and muscular and he leaned against a fat man. That had to be Shane. He didn't see me, but a smile spread across my face. I did the impossible and found him.

My smile quickly faded as he aimed his gun at the other man's leg and fired. I forced myself back with a scare. The man collapsed and Shane pulled the other man's bag from his back.

With the man down, the walkers saw an easy meal. They all went to him and started to tear him limb from limb. Shane had just shot this man and left him to die to save his own ass. The shock was just as painful as my father's fists making contact with my body.

He started to walk in my direction, ignoring the man's screams. He halted, however, when he caught sight of me. It was obvious that he knew what I was thinking. My expression said it all. My mouth was wide open, my hair was flying into it.

Shane knew he was in deep shit either way he went, so he decided to head towards me. There were a few walkers that followed, but I covered him. One shot at a time. For the longest time, I didn't even know where I was. I just kept firing and firing. My mind went blank and my hearing faded. I didn't know what to think. I just fired the gun and hoped that I hit something.

My mind and face was brought back to reality when Shane pulled my arm and we started running. We sprinted through the parking lot. It was non stop without a sound from either of us. If he was speaking, I wasn't hearing it. This was all too much.

Coincidentally, our vehicles were about ten feet apart. Shane's was the first. He still had his hand around my arm, trying to pull me into the truck. I shoved him off and continued running to Carol's car. There was no way in hell that I wanted to be in the same vehicle as him. I needed to think.

Shane was the first to drive off and I followed. Mindlessly, my hands turned the steering wheel and my feet pressed down on the petals. I was driving, but I wasn't paying any mind to the world around me. I had just witnessed a murder happen right in front of my eyes.

If the group found out about what Shane had done, it would be over for him. God only knows what they would do or how they would respond. Even though Shane killed a man, I still cared for him deeply. I was pissed off beyond all belief, but I couldn't tell anyone. His actions may have just saved Carl's life.

Before I had time to entirely process tonight's events. we were pulling up to the farm house. I parked far enough away, so Shane wouldn't try to stop me to talk.

Rick, Hershel, and the rest of the people came rushing out from inside of the house. I walked slowly to them, keeping my expression neutral to not let them know that something went horribly wrong.

Shane handed the two bags he was carrying to Hershel and Glenn. I thought that maybe I should have grabbed one of those bags because of Shane's busted legs, but the hell with that. He deserved the little extra work.

My heart stopped pounding for a good five seconds when I heard Hershel ask about Otis. My face shot directly to Shane. All he could do was shake his head.

Hershel's shoulders slumped. "We say nothing to Patricia," he instructed. "Not till after. I need her."

My body remained idle as Shane and Rick shared a 'welcome back' hug. Shane was clearly upset about what he had done, but I knew that he would never tell Rick. I couldn't hear what he was saying, but I could tell that he was giving him some bullshit story.

When the two were done talking, Rick looked at me. He started to head my way. I didn't know exactly what to do, so I started to take few steps back.

"Ariel," Rick called. I stopped moving, not wanting to make it seem I knew something was wrong.

Rick stopped about two feet away from me. "You just drove off, not even thinking. You didn't listen and you didn't care." The anger in his voice was becoming progressively more obvious. "You didn't even tell someone you left. You could have died just to see of he was alright." He paused taking a breath. "And with that I thank you."

My eyes quickly shot him a look of confusion. Why the hell would he thank me for not listening to him?

"It's because of you that he made it back at all." His arms loosely wrapped around me and pulled me into a hug. He was appreciative that I went out and risked my life to save his best friend. I didn't want to tell him, but I didn't do it for him. I did it for myself.

Rick released me and started to make his way back to the house, but stopped and turned back. "Don't worry, I won't tell Daryl."

I let out a small chuckle and Rick walked away. Honestly, I kind of forgot completely about Daryl. Oh, if he found out I did something like that, he would be furious. He would never let me out of his sight ever again.

My eyes managed to make their way to Shane, who was still standing by the truck. He was staring at me. He knew what I was thinking, but didn't want to approach me. Good. I didn't want to talk to him, not yet at least. I needed to clear my head and I needed to be as far as I could possibly be from him.

I turned my back from him, not wanting to look at him anymore, and headed to the edge of the forest. This was the only place where I could feel at peace and alone. I looked back only once to see if Shane had followed me. Thankfully, he hadn't. It looked like he went into the house and was staying in there.

As much as I liked Shane, this couldn't go unnoticed. He killed a man right there and didn't look back. He did do it for Carl, though. What was I going to do?