A/N: Hey everyone! This is going to be a pretty long note because we have a lot to discuss:) If you don't want to read it all, then by all means go on and read the chapter (please read and review). Now for those of you who stuck with me, let's get started. I actually scripted this note the other day to make sure I told you guys everything, but I have even more news that I just found out today so hopefully I'll remember everything! As always, thank you for all the support. We are rapidly approaching the end of season 2 and I have to make a decision that has been plaguing me for weeks now. After much consideration of your input and a loooonnggg consultation with my friend, I've come to this conclusion. I'm going to write some of the winter months. Considering the time discrepancy in the Walking Dead (if you want to hear me vent about that pm me!) it would be nearly impossible to fill that gap of four or five months and keep all of you interested. SO! The solution? I'll write some of it probably ten to fifteen chapters (not 100% certain yet) and then go into Season 3 which will consist of tons of flashbacks to those lost months. So hopefully this will satisfy everyone and I can pull it off.
Now! For some awesome news (awesome to me at least)! I received an e-mail today asking me to submit a copy of my story to AMC for a contest they are doing! Holy crap right! I'm so freaking excited and none of this would be possible without each and every one of you! Thank you guys so much and for being patient with me! Now go read!
Morning crept up on us. One moment we were sitting quietly in the dark, mourning and reflecting, and the next moment the sun was shining and the birds were chirping in the trees. Rick was the first one to snap out of the dismal atmosphere.
"Okay, we have a lot to do today. First things first, we clear this land of each and every one of those bastards and burn them all. Then, we have a service for Dale," he said and for the first time, I found comfort in his leadership. Sometime during the night, Daryl had gotten his jacket from my tent and wrapped it around my shoulders because it hung there now and I took refuge in the familiar scent.
We all nodded and stood up stiffly. My knees ached from sitting all night but I stretched and took my gun from where it had been sitting next to me all night.
"Daryl, you, Shane, Andrea, and Adeline go to the front fields, reinforce those gates and clear out any walkers. T-Dog, Glenn, and I will help Jimmy and Hershel take care of the cattle," Rick said grimly. We were all exhausted but I slugged forward. I found myself glued to Daryl's side as we headed towards the truck with pick-axes and other assorted items to be used as weapons.
"You okay?" He leaned over and whispered in my ear, making me jump.
"Yeah, fine," I monotoned and he looked at me but didn't push it. But he did squeeze my arm once and I smiled up at him and got a ghost of a grin in return. We reached the truck and Shane immediately climbed in the driver's seat and Andrea climbed in next to him. Daryl put his crossbow and the other weapons on the bed before helping me up and hopping on himself.
I drew my knees up to my chest as the truck rocked over the rough terrain of roots and holes. Once we reached the northernmost field, we saw a group of walkers feeding on the gutted cow from the previous night. We stopped, cutting the engine and they all looked up and started hobbling towards us. Daryl and I jumped down, grabbing weapons as Shane and Andrea climbed out the cab and did the same. I ran towards the one closest to us and put the ax through her head easily. Blood gushed out and splattered my shirt and face but I didn't pause before using her head as leverage to get the ax out.
The others had fanned out and taken out three other walkers and Shane, being the one the farthest away from us, was heading towards the other three.
"Shane!" I yelled, noticing there were more hidden in the trees. He looked back and one of them grabbed onto his arm and I screamed. I started running, quick as lightening, towards him and reached him in a matter of seconds. He had managed to keep the walker from taking a bite out of him but the others were closing in quickly. I put the ax through the walker on him and watched him drop while Shane yanked his arm away.
As soon as I turned around, a walker was right in my face and I didn't have time to swing the ax before he had latched onto my arm. His fingers clawed at me and I shrieked and managed to punch him in the face, although it did no good.
"Addie!" I heard Shane and Daryl scream before I was pushed to the ground along with the walker. I landed with someone on top of me and the wind got knocked out of me. The weight lifted quickly and Daryl helped me to my feet as Shane drove a knife into the walker's eye. Andrea had taken out two walkers who had gotten too close during the fight and that left us with two. Shane and Daryl quickly dispatched them and we were left panting in the field.
"Did he scratch you?" Shane asked and walked over to me, grabbing my arm roughly.
"No," I said and pulled it back, still angry with him. He didn't say anything else, just nodded and headed back to the truck.
We set out to fix the fences then. Shane had brought some tools and we went around, finding weak spots and fixing them, hopefully to keep the walkers out for good. Daryl and I found a whole section of fence that had been broken and set out to fixing it, the barbed wire pricking my fingers as I untangled the mass of it lying at the base of the fence. All the repairs were taken care of quickly and we were ready to head back in no time.
We loaded up the bodies quietly and drove back to camp, waiting for Rick's order on where to burn them. He and the others came up just a moment later, Glenn and T dragging another walker behind them.
"We'll burn them over there," Rick said gesturing to a grove on the other side of the field. We all nodded bleakly and climbed back in the truck and drove over. It was a difficult task to pile all the bodies up and stack them so they would burn. Finally, we drove away from the thick, choking, smoke and the smell of burning flesh.
…
We gathered under the trees where we buried Sophia after Dale had been buried next to her. We stood in silence for a while, not really knowing what to do. Dale had been this group's moral compass and despite our argument, I had always viewed him as a role model. He never let this world bring him down, but expected it to rise to his standards. Finally, when it seemed like we would be crushed by the grief, Rick spoke.
"Dale, he could just get under your skin. He sure got under mine, because he wasn't afraid to say exactly what he thought, how he felt," Rick's voice traveled over us loudly. We were all standing around the patch of freshly turned dirt, looking at the ground solemnly. We could still smell the burning bodies across the field and see the flames licking at the sky. I was standing next to Daryl, a little ways behind the rest of the group. I allowed myself a glance at Shane who seemed the least disturbed by the events of the previous night.
"That kind of honesty is rare, and brave," Rick continued. "Whenever I'd made a decision, I'd look at Dale, he'd look back at me with that look he had. We've all seen it one time or another. I couldn't always read him, but he could always read us. He saw people for who they were. He knew things about us, the truth, who we really are. In the end, he was talking about losing our humanity, he said this group was broken. The best way to honor him is to unbreak it, set aside our differences and pull together, stop feeling sorry for ourselves, and take control of our lives, our safety… our future. We aren't broken. We are gonna to prove him wrong. From now own, we're gonna do it his way. That is how we honor Dale," silence washed over us once he was finished until people started moving away.
There was a lot to be done today since Hershel had told us we could all move into the house. We had to pack up the camp and situate it all in the house and make sure all the things we didn't need inside were ready to go, just in case. An air of silence was over everyone. There was no idle chatter or laughter as we packed and began unpacking inside the house. The only time that broke was when we started talking about what needed to be done.
"What about patrols?" Andrea asked after putting a box of clothes on the bed of the truck.
"Let's get this area locked down first. Then Shane'll assign shifts while Daryl and I take Randall offsite and cut him loose," Rick said, walking over and looking Shane in the eyes.
"So we're back to that now?" Shane asked from where he was leaning against the truck.
"It was the right plan the first time around," Rick defended. "Just poor execution."
"That's an understatement," my brother quipped and I wouldn't look at him. I knew this was going to get ugly. They stared each other down for a second, having a silent testosterone battle.
"You don't agree, but this is what's happening," Rick growled lowly. "Swallow it. Move on."
"You know, Dale's death and the prisoner-that's two different things, right?" Shane asked and all of our heads snapped up. Rick got a dangerous glint in his eyes but didn't interrupt. "You want to take Daryl as your wing man, be my guest," his voice was hard but I could see the hurt in his eyes and I had to look away before I would feel sorry for him.
"Thank you," Rick said and walked away.
"You got it."
We finished packing the truck and T-Dog drove it up to the house and Daryl drove his motorcycle up as well while we carried other supplies up to the porch. The next order of business was to build lookout towers on the wind turbines and board up the windows of the barn. Once that was done, Daryl and Rick would head out and Randall would be out of our lives for good.
"Want to help with the barn?" Daryl asked me, a hammer and box of nails in his hands.
"Sure," I smiled and walked with him to the building. We climbed up the ladder and stood on the roof where we had already put some plywood to use for boarding up the windows.
"You okay going with Rick?" I asked him after a couple minutes of silent working.
"Yeah. You gonna be okay here?" He asked and I couldn't hide the smile that played on my lips. The old Daryl never would have asked that. I nodded.
"I'll be fine," I assured and we lapsed into a comfortable silence.
We finished up quickly and once we were back on level ground, Rick came looking for Daryl, ready to go.
"See ya when you get back," I told him lamely before walking back towards the house to see if anyone needed help.
It didn't take long to find something to do. Andrea was lugging two buckets of water towards the house.
"Hey! Let me help," I called to her and took one of them. She smiled and we walked up to the house in silence.
"Hershel wants it in the basement," she said once we were inside. I descended the steps to the old, damp, basement and sat the bucket in the corner with some others. Then, I helped Patricia with putting some food together to put down there as well, just in case. After all that time in the house, I needed some air and walked outside. The air was cool and I was thankful for Daryl's jacket wrapped around me. I saw Shane standing on one of the turbines, working on the lookout. I sighed. We needed to talk, seriously this time.
"Need some help?" I called, looking up. I used my hand to shield my eyes from the sun so I could see him more clearly.
"I got it," he grunted and I sighed again before climbing up anyway. He looked at me coolly but didn't try to stop me. "Shane. Please," I whispered, placing my hand over his. He pulled away.
"I'm busy Adeline," he hissed and I tensed. But no. I wouldn't let him do this. I wouldn't let him push me away.
"Well I can wait," I said and crossed my arms over my chest. I went quiet and watched him work. He glanced up at me from under his lashes.
"What are you doing?" He asked.
"Nothing. You said you were busy so I'm waiting for you to finish."
"Addie, I'm not in the mood," he said and I shrugged. He went back to working but stopped again after a minute. "You aren't going anywhere are you?" I shook my head. "Damn you are stubborn," he said and sighed, sitting on the wooden platform he had made and I sat next to him.
"Shane, we have to work through this. We can't stay mad at each other forever," I told him sincerely.
"There's nothing to work through. We both made it clear how we feel," he wouldn't look at me and I knew he was trying to stay angry.
"Don't do that, please. I need my big brother," I begged, putting a hand under his chin to tilt his head up so he would meet my eyes.
"Well," he said, grabbing my wrist and wrenching it away. "I needed my sister to support me. I guess we were both disappointed," he spat and I recoiled from him, prying my wrist out of his grasp.
"Shane…"
"No! I'm sick of this Addie. I'm sick of dancing around the real issue! You've lost sight of what's important. You've taken their side over mine and I'm your family, damn it!" He exclaimed, jumping up and pulling me up by my shoulders before pinning me against the turbine's leg. I cried out but he didn't let go.
"Shane. You're hurting me," I whispered pathetically but he just sneered.
"Now you have an idea how it felt when you turned your back on me sister," he hissed the last word like a curse. "How it felt when you sided with Dixon over me!" He was yelling now, shaking me with each word.
"Shane! Stop! Please!" I screamed, grabbing his hands with my own but his grip didn't lessen.
"What do you think mom and dad would say? Huh?" He asked and I froze and he stopped shaking me but didn't le go. "Do you think they'd be proud of ya? For being with him, for abandoning me when I needed you?" He asked with narrowed eyes and a lowered voice. I was breathing wildly and he let go and I sunk to my knees, tears coming quickly. "I thought you were strong, I thought I could count on you, but I was wrong," he scoffed and climbed down, leaving me alone in the cold.