Chapter Two: Coming and Going
Shane is drunk again, nearly as drunk as he'd been at the quarry, when Daryl finds him. He's slumped in the very corner of the recreation room, bottle of high end whiskey sitting between his legs, and the lights turned down real low. The man had disappeared not long into the drinking, Lori not long after, and when Lori had come back but not Shane, well, he'd gotten curious. From what he'd gotten Shane was not the brunette's biggest fan, so he knew the woman probably meant to corner Shane. There are red bleeding scratches on his neck that prove Daryl right.
"Gonna share any ah that?" Daryl muttered, sliding down the wall beside the ex-cop, pointing at the whiskey. "Ya gone and made off wit' all the good shit." Which was a lie, but one he figured Shane wouldn't question.
"Sure, man, take it, I ain't drinking no more of it." Shane grimaced as he handed the half full bottle over and Daryl noted his shaking fingers. Nerves or pure drunkenness, he's not sure.
"Saw Olive Oyl make after ya." He mumbled, biting into the edge of his thumb for a second before taking a gulp of the whiskey. If he was gonna be talking about his shit, he wanted to keep his buzz.
"Shit, man. I don't know what to do about that fucking problem." Shane shrugged, tilting his neck back against the wall. The way they were sitting made Daryl realize that Shane was actually a few inches shorter than he was, which surprised him. The cop carried himself all squared, shoulders back, made him look bigger than he was. The cop had broader shoulders no doubt, but Daryl was taller, with bigger biceps.
"What'd the bitch want?" Daryl gave the cop a side eye, watching the way Shane's face pinched at his brows in stress. Man had had a rough few months, Daryl reckoned. Especially with the she bitch riding his ass.
"She don't want me to tell Rick." Shane shook his head with a miserable snort. Daryl figured the guy probably wouldn't be so open talking about this shit except he was wasted out of his head. He should probably leave the cop well enough alone, but his curiosity was getting the better of him. "Says she'll tell him I came onta her, make it sound like I tol' her that if she didn' put out she could get out type ah thing. Like she had ta say yes, cuz she was afraid fer Carl."
"Fucked up." Daryl muttered, because honestly it was. From what he'd over heard Lori had taken advantage of Shane and now she wanted to blame him for all of it. None of his business really, except his sudden interest in Shane.
"Yer tellin' me, man." Shane's voice was getting more slurred, his accent more prominent. "Like she didn't wait till I was pissed drunk and drop herself on my dick. I was so drunk I couldn't of found my own damn dick let alone her pussy." Shane shook his head, slumping a little further into the wall. "And I'm fucking gayer than fucking...I don't know fairy dust, unicorns, whatever, ain't never even been with a woman before that fucked up mistake."
"Fer real?" Daryl squinted at the other man skeptically. He'd heard Lori telling Andrea and Amy that Shane was a real ladies man before all this shit happened.
"Never told nobody." Shane hiccuped in a breath, closed his eyes and thunking his head back against the wall. "Not even Rick. Course I told 'em stories, I jus' never said it was a man instead of a woman. Wanted ta tell 'im, just, ya know, bein' a cop and bein' gay is hard. Force don't like ta share a locker with a faggot, ya know? Think I'm leerin' at them or some shit. Rick wouldn't have told nobody, but I jus', I wanted ta keep that part of me separate. Woulda told him eventually. Now it's gonna bite me in the fuckin' ass is what it's gonna do."
"He yer brother, ain't he?" Daryl asked quietly, scrunching his brows together. He knew what Merle woulda done if Daryl ever told him he thought Shane was pretty. That he'd had a filthy dream about him. He woulda beat Daryl black and blue until Daryl promised never to think about that shit ever again. "Supposed ta believe you." Least he thought that was what brothers were supposed to do.
"That's his wife, man, he's been married ta her fer...shit, I don't know, 18 years? High school sweet hearts and shit." Shane rubbed his hands roughly over his hair, squeezing his eyes shut.
"Maybe Olive Oyl shoulda thought of that 'fore she jumped yer drunk ass. What'd she wait a week after we made camp?" Daryl swigged another gulp of whiskey, having no idea why he was sitting here with this man. Maybe it was because he was already half drunk. Maybe it was because he liked how dark Shane's eyes were. Maybe he just felt like it, fucked if he knew.
"Two days. We were at camp fer two days." Shane cringed, obviously thinking back on the encounter. "Gotta say, don't like women any more than I did before, actually I think I'm gayer than I was before." He joked darkly, rolling his shoulders. "Should go ta sleep before I get even more depressing."
"Nah, shit happens, man, nothing you can do 'bout it. Wasn't yer fault ta begin with." Daryl told him, shaking his head at himself. Still not sure why he was here talking to Shane but not wanting to leave either.
"I miss my little girl." Shane suddenly shifted topic, nearly making Daryl's head spin. Little girl? He hadn't heard nothing about no little girl. " She woulda cheered me up, woulda insisted." He sniffed wetly and Daryl realized with a kind of horrified fascination that the other man was crying. He'd never seen the other man cry in the whole two months they'd been at the quarry, no matter how tough it got.
"Thought you was gay? Daryl muttered, watching Shane huff from the corner of his eyes. He didn't want to look directly at the tears pouring down the man's face.
"She wasn't blood but she might as well have been. Loved her more than anything, woulda done anything fer that little girl. You know it's her thirteenth birthday in a little while?" Shane thunked his head back against the wall again and then roughly wiped at his face, scrubbing at the tears.
"I think we done had our girl talk limit, man. Think you should hit the hay, sleep off some ah this drink." Daryl said, a little uncomfortable. It was clear Shane was still grieving for the girl, no matter how stoic he acted anytime else.
"Yeah, think yer right." Shane muttered, pulling himself up slowly, using the wall for support. He wavered, then laughed when he almost went toppling over.
"Christ, man, how much you drink?" Daryl snorted, having caught the man by the elbow to keep him from nose diving. "Can't even hold yer damn alcohol."
"Guess that's a damn fact nowadays." The cop said darkly with a grimace, thinking back on another night he hadn't held his liquor either.
"Come on, you can crash on the couch in my room." Daryl offered gruffly, pulling the shorter mans arm over his shoulders. He felt pleasantly warm from the whiskey and he decided he liked the idea of Shane sleeping where he could hear him. "Yer gonna choke on yer own fucking puke if yer not careful."
"Thanks, man. Really, 'preciate it." He muttered, his head coming to rest on Daryl's shoulder, squeezing his eyes shut to block out the spinning. Man had to be plum fucking wasted. Daryl could smell the whiskey on him, that on something spicy that must have just been Shane.
"Nah, don't mention it." Daryl said seriously. He didn't want no awkward thanks or nothing like that in the morning. As it was the guy was definitely gonna be feeling all that whiskey in the morning.
"Ya got pretty eyes." Shane slurred against his shoulder, eyes closed and slumped against him as Daryl dragged him towards the door.
Head whipping around, Daryl squinted at the drunk cop, his ears already turning pink. "Now I know you done drank to much." He mumbled, not sure why he'd liked Shane saying that so much.
"Don't have ta be drunk ta notice." Shane pointed out, more reasonably than Daryl would have given his drunk mind.
Daryl opened his mouth to reply but closed it again when he saw exactly who was hovering outside the door. Meeting Rick's eyes, Daryl studied the almost sick expression on the man's face. Obviously he'd been listening in for a minute, maybe even from the beginning. The cop was slumped against the wall, blue eyes dark, one hand clenched on the back of his neck, like he was keeping himself steady. His eyes were tormented as they rested on his best friend. Glancing at Shane, who still had his eyes closed and was slowly giving Daryl more of his weight, Daryl decided not to say anything. Guy'd had a shit night already, didn't need to add this too. Instead Daryl gave Rick a nod and firmly steered Shane around him without the man ever even realizing there was another person there.
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Lonnie ducked behind the counter, feeling her heart thud painfully in her chest. There were five of those things passing the window of the little gas station she was holed up in. She knew she might be able to knock three of them down and get away but five was definitely not an option. Keeping her breathing quiet, Lonnie scuttled further into the shadows behind the counter, taking her backpack with her. If she needed to run out the back she had to keep her pack with her and ready to grab.
As she waited Lonnie tried to keep her eyes from tearing, feeling her throat get tight. Blinking back the tears she pressed herself against the shelves tightly, feeling them dig into her back. She hated this the worst, being stuck and unable to move. She felt trapped and her skin was crawling, just listening to those things outside. Being stuck also gave her time to think, which she might hate more then anything these days. Moving always gave her something to do, things to watch, precautions to take. But being still like this and waiting, she didn't have anything but thinking.
She'd been alone a while now, nearly two months, pretty much since this whole thing had started. After what she'd seen some of the other survivors do, she guessed she was lucky to be alone. But she didn't feel like she was lucky. Not without Shane.
Pressing her hand to her mouth, Lonnie pressed her back closer to the shelves. She'd looked for him, when this all started. But he hadn't been at the station when she'd finally made it there. It'd taken her longer than she thought to get through town though, what with everybody panicking. But he hadn't been there, so she'd reluctantly gone back home to wait for him there. It wasn't until she got there that she realized her mistake. As she'd topped the stair well she'd immediately seen the broken down door and she'd known right away. Known that he'd tried to find her but she hadn't been there. Instead he'd found that mess, with her cousin Leslie on the floor and her mother and Uncle Linney turned into those things.
She hadn't known what to do after that. She'd just kinda stopped there in the hall and her brain just hurt. Without Shane she just...didn't know where to go. Her mom and Uncle Linney were dead...or infected or whatever this was. Her real dad lived a few hours away, and he might not even be home besides. Or he might be gone already too. She didn't have nobody else. Not close enough for her to get too. So what did she do?
What would Shane have done? Was what she'd thought to herself. He'd been at the hospital with Rick to begin with today. Shane would have come here first to get her. Then...he would have tried to get Carl and Lori out. She had to get there before they left without her!
As she'd gone to turn, to bolt down the stairs as fast as she could, a low drawn out noise had snatched her attention. She'd looked and then wished she hadn't. There was her mom, stumbled out of their apartment, ragged, skin gray, clothes covered in blood, with Uncle Linney just a step behind. She'd stared, horrified, and then she'd heard what must have been Leslie too, a scraping dragging noise from within the apartment. She'd seen them of course, before she'd left the first time, but seeing them again wasn't any easier. Choking on a sob, she'd scrambled down the stairs, leaving her blood family behind to follow Shane.
Only she'd gotten to Carl's and it's been already too late. They'd been gone, photos and albums snatched up behind them. She'd remembered sinking to her knees in the middle of their living room, struck dumb, and she hadn't gotten up for almost a whole day. She thought maybe it could have been shock or something, but she wasn't sure. All she knew was that she'd snapped out of it eventually and then she'd tried to think of where Shane would go.
There were two options she could think of off the top of her head. The first choice was Atlanta, only because she'd heard on the radio that there was some kind of refugee camp there. Shane might have gone there, thinking of Lori and Carl. Or he could have thought of Fort Benning. It was the closest military base and it should be safe, and Shane would know that. But Atlanta was the closest.
She'd spent the rest of the day scrounging around, looking for the things she needed. She couldn't drive so she'd had to walk, but she'd never been to Atlanta so she had to have a map. She'd ended up with a good sized duffle bag of odds and ends, anything she found that she thought might be useful. She'd slung it over her back and began walking, determined to find Shane before he moved on.
Of course even the best made plans got screwed up. Now nearly two months into her trip, she'd made it to Atlanta, barely. Only to find it a ghost town, or she guessed an undead town would be more appropriate. Shane wasn't here, might not have ever come here. Which meant she had to get to Fort Benning.
Taking a deep breath, fighting back her tears at last, Lonnie listened carefully. After a minute of hearing nothing she peeked cautiously over the counter. The windows of the gas station were clear, but she knew that really didn't mean much. For whatever reason those things sometimes went still and didn't move until they heard something. Those ones were the ones that were hard to spot, the most dangerous. And here in the city she had to be extra careful because attracting even a little bit of attention was bad.
Later that day, camped out on the roof of a small fish and game store, just on the outskirts of Atlanta, Lonnie nearly jumped clean out of her skin when an explosion ripped through the air. Eyes flying up, scanning the horizon, she spotted it, not far but not close either. Which meant that explosion was huge. Big plumes of smoke were curling up into the sky, attracting all the wrong kinds of attention. Down below, in the alley, some of the biters began to get excited, near breaking into a run. Shielding her eyes, Lonnie squinted at the fire, hoping those people knew to get out quick.
With a shake of her head, Lonnie went back to scanning her map, the same one she'd had since the start. She'd marked her route out with a thin black pen, meandering through a part of her map. Her route had been mostly indirect, as she'd circled around obstacles or back tracked for supplies. Now she bit her lip as she tried to decide the best route to Fort Benning.
Really her choices were either a direct route or an indirect route. She'd found that back roads were often safer and with less obstacles and biters. But if she went that route, then she had less of a chance of finding Shane if he was traveling too. All through her trip she'd kept a close eye out for his jeep, but she hadn't seen it. As she thought about it Lonnie wasn't quite sure what to do. She'd walked to Atlanta but Fort Benning was farther. Could she really walk that distance? She was sure she could but how long would it take?
Huffing at herself, Lonnie tipped her head back again to peer at the billowing smoke in the distance. Maybe what she needed was a car. Or maybe a truck, with bigger tires so she could take it off road. She'd seen enough traffic snarls to know sometimes the road wasn't an option. Only she didn't really know how to drive. Oh, she'd sat it Shane lap and he'd let her steer his jeep around the parking lot, but he'd never let her control the gas and brakes. She'd have to find something with the keys still inside and that actually still started. That and she'd have to have some way of getting gas along the road.
Wrinkling her nose, she supposed she should be glad her real dad was a no good asshole. She'd seen him siphon the gas from the next store neighbors generator before, which she thought was sorta the same as doing it from a car. So all she'd need was a long length of tubing and a few gas cans. She might as well find all of that stuff while she was here in the city, where she was more likely to find it.
Nodding her head to herself, Lonnie pulled out her little spiral note book, that she kept to keep track of the days and where she'd been, she began to make herself a list of things she wanted before she left the city. She wasn't likely to be in a city as big as this one again in a long time and she needed to make sure she grabbed what she could. The little places farther out of the city were already getting looting by people, so this was the most likely place for her to stock up. Tongue between her teeth, she stayed up on the roof until the next morning, making sure she'd tried to think of everything she'd need just in case. If her real daddy had been good for one thing, it was that he taught her to be prepared for anything, no matter what.
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Lonnie, 11 Years Old, Two Months Prior To Outbreak
Lonnie looked up from her book as Carl shifted in his seat for the fifth time in the last minute. The two of them were sitting out on the Grime's back porch, on the bench swing with the cushions Lonnie liked. They'd both been reading, Carl his newest comic book and Lonnie her copy of Sherlock Holmes. But ten minutes ago Carl had started almost wiggling in his seat. He had that look on his face that she knew meant he wanted to say something but he just wasn't sure how to get it out. So she waited patiently, hiding her smile by keeping her head down.
"Hey, Lonnie, we've been best friends a while, right?" Carl finally asked, nervously plucking at a loose thread on his jeans
"Almost four years." She confirmed with a nod, finally looking up at him and setting her book to the side. Carl always got her full attention, no matter what. She got carried away when she was reading so she tried not to do it with Carl, because he was her best friend and she liked listening to what he had to say. Usually it was funny, and it was never anything stupid. So she tried her best to always give him her full attention and listen.
"Well, it's just...well..." He nearly stuttered, his pale cheeks tinging pink. His eyes, which she always thought were such a pretty bright blue, flickered to her face before he looked away again.
"Carl?" She set her hand over his, where it was still fiddling with his pants and waited until he looked at her again before she smiled. "You know you can tell me anything, that's what best friends are for, right?"
"Right!" Carl breathed out a huge breath of air, returning her smile as his fingers tangled with hers. He seemed to have regained some of his usual confidence. "Just, you know, I really like you, Lonnie." He kept his eyes on her face, waiting for her reaction.
Scrunching her brows Lonnie cocked her head to the side. "Of course you like me, if ya didn't we wouldn't be friends." She said, a little confused.
Carl laughed, shaking his head at her. Lonnie was smart, smartest girl he'd ever met, but sometimes she just didn't understand things. But that was okay, that was why he was there. "No, Lonnie, I mean I like like you."
"Oooooh." Lonnie's eyes widened in surprised. She'd never had a boy like like her. They all thought she was weird. Half her friends only hung out with her because she was attached to Carl.
"Yeah. So I was wondering if maybe...you know, you'd be my girlfriend? Scott asked Maddie if she'd be his girlfriend yesterday and I thought...that maybe we'd make a really good pair?" He smiled at her, his cheeks still tinged with a dusting of pink, making his freckles stand out.
Lonnie smiled at him brightly, feeling like her heart was about to beat right out of her chest. She'd like liked Carl too, had for a while, but she never thought he'd want to be more than friends with her. And she'd never want to do anything that would destroy her friendship with Carl. Not ever.
"I'd really like that." Lonnie told him, giving him a sudden kiss on the cheek. She'd done it before, they were best friends after all but this time it made Carl flush even redder as he grinned back at her. Then her brain caught up with her and she frowned a little, biting her lip.
"What is it?" Carl asked nervously, concerned about the sudden frown on her face. Did she not like him? Had he asked her and ruined everything? Did she-?
"Well, it's just that I'd really like to be your girlfriend but Shane says I'm not old enough to have a boyfriend yet." She told him uncertainly. And she usually listened to what Shane told her.
Carl nodded, feeling disappointed but not completely, since she'd said she wanted to. He also knew how important Shane was to her, so he didn't try to convince her otherwise. "How old did he say you had to be?" He asked instead.
Lonnie shrugged, looking out into the yard, narrowing her eyes as she thought it over. "I guess maybe thirteen? I'd be a teenager then so I guess that'll be old enough?" She looked back at him hesitantly. Carl was generally the one that knew the answers to those kinds of things.
"That's in two years." Carl nodded again, biting his lip in thought. "I can wait, we'll just be best friends until then." His answer got a brilliant smile from the redhead.
"What're you even supposed to do when you're dating?" She asked after a moment of silence, squinting a little. She'd never paid much attention to how married couples acted or what people that dated did. Her mother was never with the same guy more than once, sometimes twice, and that wasn't dating.
Carl leaned back in the swing, setting it swinging lightly with his bare toes as he thought the question over. "I guess I'd love you, and tell you you're the prettiest girl I know every day." He was blushing a little but he continued anyway when she squeezed his hand. "I'd remember your birthdays and I'd get you candy on valentines day. I'd take care of you, you know, carry your books to class for you and make sure no body picked on you."
"That sounds really nice, Carl." Lonnie told him, leaning into his side with a blush.
"And then, when we get to high school, we'd go to all those dances together and everybody will be jealous 'cause we love each other so much." He continued with a grin, tilting his head back as he thought up their future. "And when we get to college I'll make sure you eat, even though you'll wanna study all the time, and make sure you have fun. And if we go to different colleges I'd call you every day and we'd make sure we visited each other until we graduated."
"Hmm." Lonnie urged him on with a little sound, resting her head on his shoulder. The affection was common between the two of them, had been since they'd met, and neither even thought twice about it now.
"And we'll both get great jobs, you doing something with numbers 'cause you love them so much, and I'll be a cop, just like dad and Shane." He grinned at the thought, blowing a strand of her fiery hair away from his face. "Then we'll get married and we'll come home every day and I'll ask you how your day was and tell you I was the luckiest guy ever. Then we'll have two kids, a girl to look just like you and a boy that looks like me. " Of course he only had the think back on his parents recent fighting to know life wasn't like that really, but he and Lonnie would make it work. So he tacked it on to his plan, just to say it. "And sometimes we'd fight 'cause we were being stupid, but we'd say I love you anyway and it'd get better. And we'd live to be really old and still happy."
Lonnie turned to look up at him with a mischievous grin, the one he thought made her eyes look extra gray. "You didn't say anything about what I'd do for you?" She asked, raising her brows.
Carl shrugged. "I guess you'd just have to be you. I like you just like you." He said carelessly, which was the truth. He liked almost everything about Lonnie. In his young mind he wouldn't have her any differently.
"Well, I don't think that's very fair." Lonnie sniffed playfully. "I think it's my turn to tell you what I think."
Carl smiled, happy with the situation. Peter from next door had said last week that Lonnie was the prettiest girl in their class, which was true, and Carl was glad she was his best friend. "What do you think, then?"
"I'd love you too, and make sure to tell you every day." Her mother hadn't ever told her she loved her and she imagined it'd be nice to hear it every day. "I'd make sure I remembered your birthdays too and valentines day. I'd carry my own books, 'cause I'm not a sissy, but I'd let you walk me to class since I like to see you between classes. If anybody tried to mess with you I'd make sure I pranked them really bad too." Which she did that already. Last week she'd dumped a Gardner snake down the back of Greg's pants because he'd called Carl a baby. "And we'd go to all those dances and dance our butts off and all the other girls will be jealous 'cause I'll be with the cutest boy there."
"Oh, come one!" Carl protested, face red but smiling. "I'm gonna be handsome, not cute."
Lonnie rolled her eyes but corrected herself anyway. "Okay, they'll be jealous 'cause I'm with the most handsome boy there. And when we go to college I'll help you with your math and make sure you get good grades and if we're not in the same college I'll call every day because I'll miss you really bad. Then we'll get married and you'll be really happy being a cop and I'll do something with numbers 'cause I love them so much." Here she shot him a smile. "I'll ask you about all the bad guys you arrested and you'll tell me all about it while we eat dinner together and then I'll tell you that I'm the luckiest girl alive, to have a husband like you. And then we'll have two kids, only the boy will look like me and I'll teach him math and the girl will look like you and you'll teach her how to roll around in the mud."
"I don't always roll in the mud!" He protested, which was a lie. Lately he'd made every effort he could to get dirty, just to see the look on his moms face when she saw him.
She ignored him and continued. "And we'd fight 'cause we're both stubborn but we'd forgive each other before we went to bed and say I love you no matter what. And then we'd get really old and still be happy with each other." She finished with a nod.
"I think that sounds pretty cool." Carl nodded too and the two of them sat for a while in silence, thinking it over. He knew grown ups were complicated and things were different when people grew up, but he found himself hoping that this plan, as imagined as it was, didn't change. He'd just have to make sure. "So does this mean that if I ask you to be my girlfriend on my thirteenth birthday that you'll say yes?"
Lonnie laughed, swatting at him as she picked her book back up. "Yeah, I guess it does."
000
"Don't look at me, man, don't know where he gets that. I sure as hell wasn't ever that smooth." Rick told Shane, eyes laughing. The two men were in the living room, the window cracked, and they'd heard every word of the conversation between the eleven year olds.
"God dammit, gonna have ta beat the guys off with a stick once she gets older." Shane muttered, taking a slug of his beer. Despite himself though his lips were curled up into a smirk.
Carl and Lonnie had hit it off right away, ever since Carl laid eyes on the girl really. Hell, he'd ignored every other one of his friends to chatter her ear off the first time he'd seen her. And Lonnie wasn't much better. Usually she was socially awkward with anyone her own age but with Carl she'd latched right on and then it'd been history after that. And of course it hadn't been any surprise that Carl had a crush on her, he made it about as plain as day.
"Carl's a good kid, don't figure I gotta worry about him. Not with her." He finally shrugged, which was the truth. He thought the kid would probably run through fire rather than hurt her.
