"Days Gone Bye"
Shane watched Rick walked further into the trees. Still slightly shocked that Rick didn't remember him, it stung. Though, the doctors at the hospital did say that if Rick woke from his coma, there was a huge risk of him suffering from amnesia. The stinging became nearly unbearable when he discovered that the ex-cop didn't even remember Lori or Carl. Anger swelled in the pit of Shane's stomach when he remembered seeing the Colt strapped to Ricks hip, he can remember his gun but not his family. The anger disappeared slightly when he looked on the bright side. Maybe now, him and Lori can be together forever.
It took them round about an hour to reach the quarry, Shane looked up to see Dale shouting down to everyone that was in the camp. "Hey! They're back!" Andrea's sister, Amy ran from the camp and hugged her older sister. Everyone smiled at the sight of the two sisters. Shane walked up to Lori, her eyes looking at him in concern and relief. He dropped everything he was holding beside the RV before looking Lori in the eyes.
"Can we speak in private..?" Her face morphed into confusion but she nodded, they both walked to the tree line at the edge of the camp. "..." Shane was speechless, he didn't know what to tell her.
"Shane, spit it out." After a while of silence, Lori went to ask him again. "Shane, what i-"
"Ricks alive.." Shane looked at Lori, her jaw was hanging and her eyes were wide.
"W-what.."
"He's alive, I met him in Atlanta, he's with another group and looks to be well and healthy."
"Wha-... Shane where is he?! If he's alive then where is he now?!" Lori looked around frantically, trying to see if her husband had returned with Shane. When she didn't see him, she looked back at Shane. "If he's alive, then why didn't he return with you, did he really chose that other group over his best friend?!"
"No, that's the thing.." Her eyes narrowed in confusion. "He doesn't remember us." Lori's eyes widened, shock clear on her face.
"What do you mean he doesn't remember us?"
"When we bumped into him and his group, he acted as if I was a total stranger, even when I told him my name he didn't recognise me. I then started to question him... Lori he doesn't remember you or Carl.." He saw the hurt in her eyes, the tears that started to build up.
"He... H-he doesn't remember me.. His son.." Lori tried to hold in her tears. The fact that the man she loved didn't remember her was painful. Every night since the world went to hell, she would dream of him arriving but never him arriving and not remembering his family. She was about to say something else when Dale spoke up.
"Erm, guys. Why isn't Merle and Glenn with you?" Nobody showed any worries for Merle, it was that fact that Glenn was gone that made those who weren't on the supply run think the worse.
"Is he..?"
"No, he's okay." Shane reassured them, leaving the tree line and walking to the centre of the camp. "He's with the other group we met."
"Wait., another group?!"
"You met more survivors?!" Two camp members shouted. Shane nodded.
"Why is he with them and not you?" Amy asked from her sisters side.
"Because, he's gonna guide the group here, they say that they're gonna stay for a few more days and then they'll be out of our hairs." Shane looked around the group.
"Are you sure that we can trust them Shane?" Dale asked what was on everyone's mind.
"Yeah, the seem like nice people." He nodded, not telling them that his best friend was part of the group. "So, everyone prepare for when the arrive." Everyone nodded before walking off to do their thing. Shane turned to Lori. "Before you ask, yes Rick is part of this group." Lori couldn't stop herself from sucking in a breath. "Now, I want you to tell Carl about Ricks loss of memory and prepare him for when Rick gets here." Her eyes widened when she thought about how her son would react to this news. She swiftly nodded before turning to find Carl, quickly whipping of the tears that had started to fall from her eyes. Half an hour later, when the sun was beginning to set. The quarry group spotted two cars driving towards them. The cars stopped in front of the line that the group made at the entrance to the camp, most of them broke into large smiles when they saw Glenn step out of the first car. Glenn walked up to them and received hugs from a few. Everyone's attention was turned to the cars when the other group started to get out. They were surprised to see a group that was nearly the size of their own group, eleven people stepped out of the cars. Eight men and three women. They slowly made their way towards Shane and the group. Lori felt herself tighten the grip she had on Carl when she saw Rick walk along side a dark skinned man and a boy that looked like the man's son. She couldn't believe that she was looking at her husband that she thought was dead. Carl looked at his father in shock, he didn't believe Lori when she told him that his dad was alive but now looking him, he wanted to run to the man and hug him. He felt tears begin to build up when he remembered how his mother told him that he was to stay away from him because he didn't remember them. How could he not remember them? He didn't want to believe his mum but when Ricks eyes landed on his, he felt his body stiffen when he saw no recognition in the man's eyes.
Rick tore his eyes off the boy that stared back at him. He looked at Shane. "Are you all sure that it's okay for us to be here?" He saw nearly everyone nod their heads.
"Yeah, there's room for plenty."
"Thank you very much." Sam spoke on behalf of the group. The line broke up to allow the new comers to come into the camp and settle in. Both groups helped to get the tents up and the cars parked somewhere better. By the time everything was sorted, the sky had turned black. Both of the groups where gathered around a single bonfire. Everyone was silent before Carol spoke up, her daughter Sophia wrapped up in her arms.
"So.. Where are you all from..?"
"I'm from Atlanta but I moved away to stay with my auntie." Kym answered. "Don't know where everyone else is from though.."
"Why did you move?"
"...just... I moved because ... Lets just say I didn't have a good life in the city.." After everyone told each other where they came from, Rick sat down beside Stella.
"Where were you?" Mitch asked the ex-cop.
"I was taking a walk around the camp, making sure nothing unwanted had found us."
"Don't worry, we've never seen a walker in this area, we're safe." Dale spoke up.
"Fault of habit, better safe than sorry." Rick mumbled to himself more than to Dale. "About that Merle guy? Anybody that will miss him?" He looked up to see most of the group shaking their heads.
"No, the only person that would miss him would be Daryl, his brother." Rick and Sam shared a look.
"What happened to Merle?" Lori spoke up, Carl sat by her side. She felt her throat tighten when Rick looked at her.
"He was a threat to both of our groups so I cuffed him to a pipe on a rooftop." Rick looked at everyone. "I'll tell Daryl what happened tomorrow."
"No, I'll do it." Everyone turned to look at T-dog. "I was the one that dropped the key, I'll tell him." Rick was about to reply but Shane bet him too it.
"I'll do it." He looked at Rick. "No offence but you don't know what Daryl's like, you don't know how to handle him. I'll do it." The tree men started arguing with each other on who should be the one to tell Daryl what had happened to Merle. At the end of the debate Rick raised his voice.
"That's enough, I'll do and that's that." Everyone was silent at the sound of the authority in Ricks voice. Later that night, everyone turned in for the night. Rick walked up to Dale. "If it's okay, I'll go on watch and you can rest." Dale nodded with a small smile before handing him the rifle. Rick gave a small smile back before climbing onto the RV. The cool night air gently chilled its way down to Ricks lungs. The gentle wind and starry sky brought peace to Ricks mind. His peace was broken when he heard somebody climb onto the roof of the RV with him. He turned around to see that it was the kid that kept staring at him when he first arrived. Rick felt his muscles relax when he saw that the kid wasn't a threat but then questioned why the kid was here? "What you doing here? Shouldn't you be asleep?" He saw the kid tense up when he spoke to him. Wonder why? "What's your name kid?" The kid stayed tense but Rick saw a sadness settle in the young boys eyes.
"I'm Carl." Carl answered one of his questions. His name started something in his head. The voices came back, once again chanting ' remember '. "I just... Was walking about and then saw you up here and..." Carl didn't know what to say, his mum was right, he didn't remember him.
"Well Carl.." Carl felt a shiver go down his spine hearing his fathers voice say his name, the familiar feeling that it gave him. "I think you should go to your tent and sleep." The boy slowly nodded his head before climbing off the roof and walked to his tent. He stopped outside to look back at Rick, the man had his back to him. Carl couldn't help but feel the rejection growing in the pit of his stomach.
The next morning, Rick walked through the camp. Carol smiled at him as she ironed. "Hey, how was your night?"
"I was on watch, had a quiet night." He smiled back at her before walking off. Rick walked to the front of the camp to see Shane walking up to him.
"I should be the one telling Dar-"
"Well your not, I'm telling him and like I said last night, that's that." Rick cut him off. The two glared at each other before they heard the screams of Carl and Sophia.
"MUM!" The adults went into action as Rick, Shane, Morgan, Mitch, Stella, Lori, T-dog, Jimmy, Carol and Morales ran towards the children. The kids ran into their mothers arms as the others ran onwards to find a walker feasting on a deer. It turned to look at them before Rick and the others attacked it. Even when decapitated, the head still tried to get to them. That was when their attention was turned to a man who walked out of the bushes. Covered in dirt and sweat with a bunch of squirrels on a line around his shoulder. In his hands was a crossbow.
"Aww man, I've tracking that 'hing for miles!" He mounded at the deer. "Shit guys, don't forget the head." The stranger that Rick guessed was Daryl shot the walkers decapitated head before walking up to it and retrieving his bolt. Daryl then walked over to the deer's head and took out his knife. "You think I could cut around it?"
"Wouldn't be wise."
"Fuck." Daryl hardy whispered before standing up and walking towards the camp. When everyone reached the camp Daryl started shouting. "Merle! Merle! Where the fuck is Merle?" The redneck snarled at everyone. Rick sighed before walking towards him. "Who are you?"
"I'm Rick-"
"Well Rick you got something you wanna tell me."
"Yes, I chained your brother Merle to a rooftop in Atlanta." Rick held in his breath when Daryl started pacing. It wasn't long before Daryl's anger showed itself as he threw the squirrels at Rick before charging at him. Shane and a few others grabbed him and tried to calm him down. "He was a threat to everyone I had too."
"So you thought that by fucking chaining him up it would make everything better."
"No, it's my fault that he's still there." T-dog made himself known. Daryl continued to try and get out of everyone's hold so that he could get to either Rick or T-dog, after nearly an hour, he finally calmed down.
"I'm going to go get him." Daryl snarled like an animal before grabbing his crossbow. It took another while before he agreed to letting Rick, T-dog and Glenn come with him.
Night had fallen by the time the four of them had returned to the group, without Merle. Daryl avoided everyone as the two groups came to the front. Rick, T-dog and Glenn slowly walked out of the bushes, Shane stormed up to Rick. "What happened?" Rick looked Shane in the eyes before licking his lips.
"When he got there, Merle was gone."
"Walkers?"
"No, he cut off his own hand to get away, he took our truck. That's why we walked it back." Shane was quiet for a while before slowly nodding his head, he then turned and walked away. Rick noticed that the kid from last night, Carl, glared at Shane as he passed him. 'Wonder what happened between the two while we were gone?' Carl couldn't help but glare at the man. Earlier that day, when Daryl and the others left. He noticed the way Shane was acting, towards him and Lori, how his mum treated and acted around Shane. It took his a while to realise but he finally understood. Shane and Lori were trying to replace Rick. How dare they. They had already givin' up on him all because he can't remember them. Both Carl and Shane had a shouting match. Shane shouting about how Carl should respect him for teaching and treating him more like son and being a better father than Rick, Carl shouting about how no matter what, Shane would never be as good or ever replace Rick. The two ended up stomping away from each other. Lori tried to talk to Carl but he wouldn't have that, not when she was trying to have Shane take what was rightfully his fathers place. Oh no, he wouldn't stand for that.
The next day, Shane and the gang woke up to the sound of Rick and the others packing their things. "Where the fuck are y'all going?!" Shane shouted from the top of his lungs.
"I told you when we came here, after a few days, we would leave." Rick answered, not even turning to look at Shane. That seemed to anger Shane.
"Why didn't you wake us up?"
"Because, we thought it would be better to let you sleep." This time it was Hayden that spoke up in a shy voice. He couldn't help but feel intimidated by the anger he saw in Shane's eyes, he almost ran and hid behind Rick.
"That or you were robbing us!" Shane accused. Rick stopped packing before letting out a sigh, he turned to look at Shane.
"We haven't taken anything that doesn't belong to us, if you really don't believe me, then ask Daryl." He then pointed to Daryl who was sitting on a rock at the tree line fixing his bolts. "He's been awake since before us, he's seen what we've taken and what we haven't taken." After he finished talking, Shane and the others noticed that the other group had finished packing and were now jumping into their cars. "Well, we'll be out of your hairs now. See ya." Rick said goodbye before sitting in the car beside Sam. The Atlanta crew watched as the two cars drove away from their camp.