The Separation
Okay, I think I got a bit of an idea so bare with me on this my dear readers.
A fight had broken out between Rick and Shane when they tried to discuss courses of action. Anna had quickly jumped in, mediated, and somehow over the course of two and a half hours, an agreement had been settled on. Shane had apologized to Hershel and the girls for the things he'd done, including letting out the walkers even though he still stood his ground on it needing to be done. In return, Hershel had invited the whole group into the house, giving them shelter from the upcoming winter.
Daryl had made the suggestion that they fix up the barn, turn it into a second place for the survivors to bunk in so that they didn't crowd the house. The suggestion was taken into consideration and ultimately agreed on. Over the course of the next few days, Daryl, T-Dog and Shane had gone through the woods, chopping down trees to use and then got to work on making up the wood panels.
A tragedy struck when Carl had gone off on his own, the first time since leaving Atlanta that he had done such a thing. Dale had gone to retrieve him but ended up being the target of a hungry walker. Rick and Daryl had found them and Daryl had put the bullet in Dale's head to ensure he didn't turn. Somewhere over the course of discussing the incident with Anna, Rick had ended up revealing that Jenner had told him every single person was infected and all it took was dying to turn, no bites. She had convinced him that he needed to tell the rest of the group and he had done so, facing off some criticisms about not telling them earlier.
In the end, everyone accepted his reasoning and went on with their ways.
"Coming along pretty well." Anna commented, standing by the barn and looking up at the men currently on the roof. Rick looked down and shot a half smile her way, something Daryl didn't miss as he laid out another plan of wood to get nailed in over a hole. "You boys need anything?"
"We're good for now Anna, thanks." Rick assured her. He rolled his sleeves up past his elbows and looked down at the work they had done so far.
"Okay...remember to come up with something for Carl to do soon." Anna pointed out. "That boy wants to help out."
"We'll get something for him." Rick agreed, smiling again. Anna smiled up at him then turned and walked back to the house. Rick's eyes followed her until he heard Daryl chuckle then he looked to the hunter with a raised eyebrow.
"You got it bad for that one." Daryl pointed out, lining up the wood and grabbing some nails.
"What?" Rick asked, surprised.
"You and Anna." Daryl stated. He held a nail to the wood and gauged the distance before picking up a hammer and starting to secure the nail in place. "Everyone sees it man. She's got a thing for you and there ain't no way you can tell me that you don't like her all the same." He set up another nail and glanced up at his friend. "Ain't like you got Shane to compete with. Him and Andrea been getting it on for a while now."
"That explains his mood." Rick muttered, slightly surprised by the revelation. His eyes gazed across the camp, coming along the edge of the forest. He spotted Shane and Andrea there, his friend behind the blonde woman and attempting to teach her how to swing an axe properly to get the best cuts into a tree. They looked to be having fun, they looked close. It almost threw Rick off, remembering how Shane and Anna had been weeks ago. Anna was still the person that the deputy went to if something was really grating on his nerves but it seemed that their relationship had turned more to friends or siblings.
"I realize you just lost your wife and all but I doubt anyone's gonna give you a hard time if you move on already." Daryl pointed out vaguely, not paying too much attention to his words as he hammered in more nails.
"I doubt anyone else is going to catch Bo's attention." Rick countered, turning the conversation around on the redneck. Daryl paused and slowly lifted his eyes to the Sheriff. After the one night, Bo had spent two more separate from Daryl and then just ended up back in his tent. It had only been sleeping, they didn't touch each other, barely even laid near each other, but they managed to get better sleep that way than either of them did on their own.
Outside of the tent, they were still as they had been before that first night. They didn't go around each other, didn't talk much unless the activity required it. It was like some silent agreement between the two of them, until they could get over the issues, they weren't going to push anything.
"What's that supposed to mean?" Daryl asked.
"I was still awake when you were talking to her the other night." Rick informed his friend. Daryl frowned slightly, not liking people eavesdropping even though he had been doing the same thing on Rick and Bo's conversation. "You don't have anything to worry about with her."
"We ain't exactly the emotional type of yahoos the rest of the bunch is." Daryl grumbled, turning his attention back to his work. He paused as he discovered that he had already finished with the plank he was working on.
"I'm not saying to go out and confess ever dying love for her." Rick laughed, shaking his head. "I'm just saying stop worrying that she's going to lose interest because obvious she hasn't. She's willing to admit that she's...your woman." He stayed silent, waiting for a response, but when he got none he let out a sigh. Somewhat disappointed that things were apparently going to remain messed up, he nevertheless stepped into action on the repairs.
***TWD***TWD***TWD***TWD***TWD***
Andrea, who had gotten far better at shooting these days then she had been back at the Atlanta camp, had gone with Anna to do some training. Bo could have laughed when she realized that Rick and Shane both seemed to get more and more anxious, the longer then women were gone. When the two finally came back, it wasn't quite what anyone had in mind. They came running back as the sun settled over the horizon, yelling that the group had to move. Mild curiousity turned into outright panic as the group saw the herd of walkers staggering along behind the women.
Bo was honestly too stunned by the turn of events and too busy shooting to notice much else between the first arrival of the walkers and Daryl yanking her up behind him on the motorcycle to make an escape. She gripped the denim vest he wore, unsure of what else to do, and nuzzled her head between his shoulders. The echoing ring of the others yelling had faded off but still repeated in her head, along with the lingering scent of decay.
The pulled up along the others after some time and Bo stumbled off, grateful when Daryl grabbed her arm to steady her. Her eyes ran around the people present. T-Dog stood with Glenn as the younger man watched Maggie embrace Beth and Hershel. Rick, Carl and Anna stood a few feet away, Rick and Anna talking quietly with each other with worried expressions.
"Who's missing?" Daryl asked, eyes narrowing.
"Andrea and Shane." Rick replied, frowning. He was torn between going back to find his friend and staying on track. On one hand, Shane knew where they had planned to go towards and he was likely with Andrea, they'd be safe together, surely. On the other hand, that was a massive herd that had torn through the farm.
"What do we do?" Bo asked.
"We can't risk going back." Rick stated, shoulders slumping. Anna looked at him sympathetically. She didn't want to leave Shane and Andrea anymore than he did but it was a dangerous thought to go back and try to find them. There would just be no way to do it.
"So what are we doing?" Glenn asked.
"We move on, try and find some shelter, we need to get ready for the winter." Rick instructed. The rest nodded in wary agreement. Daryl slung his arm heavily over Bo's shoulders and refused to budge it when she shrugged experimentally. He simply gave a light tug, pulling her to his side, and she caved into the warmth of his body.
"You ain't getting out of my sight." Daryl murmured to her, his lips right at her ear. Bo tilted her head up to look at him curiously before giving a nod. His hand, which had been gripping her sleeve, finally loosened up and his fingers absently attempted to smooth out the material.
***TWD***TWD***TWD***TWD***TWD***
They had run out of bullets a while ago but thankfully it seemed like they had also lost most of the walkers chasing them. They could still hear the groaning of at least one. Andrea glanced behind her, slowing down for just a second and receiving a yell from Shane to keep moving. She ducked under a branch, her hand holding firmly to that of the man behind her.
She risked another glance back just as her foot hit a hole in the ground. It wedged itself in long enough for the unexpected resistance to cause a disturbance in the woman's balance. She let out a surprised yelp and fell forward, feeling her ankle pull roughly and twist as she landed on the hard ground. Shane fell with her but managed to remove his hand from hers in time to be able to brace himself over top of her without crushing her. The pained cry she emitted made him thinking momentarily that he had misjudged his own strength.
"Shane." Andrea spoke in a panicked tone as she looked behind him. Rolling slightly but keeping the woman covered, Shane turned in time to see the lumbering figure of the walker loom over them.
And then swiftly lose it's head.
The pair on the ground were silent, only their heavy breathing echoing around them. Both pairs of eyes slowly moved to the three figures that stood nearby. Two of the figures were missing their arms and lower jaws and were obviously dead. But the other figure, the one that held the walkers by chains, stood in a hooded cloak with a sword in her hand.
Shane reached for his empty gun, hoping that the person wasn't going to be a threat to him or Andrea with his lack of defence weaponry.
For a long time, there was only silence.
So this is really short but I wanted to try and get at least one story updated for Christmas. I make no promises to the other stories but at least now I'm in season 3 stuff with this one.
Do you guys want to see some glimpses into what would happen between the seasons here?