Chapter 2
"This girl has got a smile that could make me cry..."
-The Cure; Bird Mad Girl
There's a storm of emotions in her eyes, and despite his best efforts not to, he finds himself steadily getting swept in. He leans in closer to get a better look at the hurricane brewing inside her, finding many of the same emotions there that he'd experienced not to long ago. Grief seems to be the most dominant emotion in her though. Swirling viciously behind those much to green orbs buried deep into her sockets. She's tense, covered in a thin layer of sweat either from the hot Georgian sun or from nerves, and breathing harder than a runner after a 30 mile race with no breaks in between checkpoints. Carol's terrified, that much he can tell with absolute certainty, but rather it's from the impending arrival of the walking dead or his presence this close in her personal space, he doesn't really want to know. She's starring intently at the bushes behind the both of them, and Shane can sense she's just as on edge as he is right now. He reaches a hand out to wipe the small beads of sweat steadily forming on her brow; an affectionate move to still her nerves that she immediately refuses when she once again recoils from his touch. She's glaring at him. Eyes shining with something as she leans away from him as much as she possibly can. Some feeling of fear and anger and disgust that flashes across her face, and that look is suddenly all to familiar to him and yet not enough to completely piece together. A feeling so hurtfully close that he feels it from the others everyday and still equally distant enough to be nearly unrecognizable. Shane wises he could pretend that he didn't deserve even the slightest amount of contempt she has for him. The amount everybody seems to have for him now.
The walkers could be showing up any second now, and he knows its a foolish idea to be so caught up with Carol. There both in great danger and Shane knows that very well. Knows its only a matter of time before the ambling corpses from the forest are clawing at their necks, but he still can't force himself to move from his position. Can't bring himself to turn his back on her for even one second, because he knows he'd miss it if he did. Miss the opportunity to stop the fracture caused by the stress of the situation. The fracture that would lead to the thick, jagged spider cracks in her already damaged resolve, and she'd just break up right there on the spot. Burst into millions of tinny tiny little shards and he'd be left to pick up all the sharp pieces of the half-strong woman she once was. So he doesn't dare move. Not when cracking of twigs and the rustle-rustle of the bushes signify the geeks as they've no doubt breached the boundary separating the clearing from the woodlands. Not even when the moaning gets so loud he's practically sure that its right in his ears. He stays exactly in the same position in front of her. Trapped by the silence of her body and her mind, and just as hopelessly enthralled by it as well.
So enthralled that he's moving ever closer; rising up in front her enough that their eyes meet at the same level. Carol's still afraid, and for some odd reason he feels compelled to relieve her of that fear. He wraps an arm around her waist, another around her upper back and draws her body as close as he can towards his own. Rock Hard pectorals created from extensive training meeting small, soft breasts with firm and reassuring pressure. His sweaty forehead reaches out to press against her own, deep brown eyes meeting sky blue ones with enough intensity to spark a light bulb. Her body tremors against his, and he isn't quite sure why it hurts him so much to know that she fears him with such a great intensity.
"Hey...its gonna be alright Carol. It's all gonna be alright.." He coos soothingly into her ear. Voice thickly sopped in a softness Shane can honestly admit is foreign to him in these desperate times. He wants to calm her, sooth her fears and make her feel safe. He wants to hold her close; closer than he ever did dream of before and melt away everything that hurts inside her. Wants to make her OK enough to laugh and smile again. Smile that beautiful smile between silent pain and forced contentment that made him want to shed tears for her so many times before back at the quarry. She was beautiful then; all prim and proper and quietly dignified just like the many conservative women Shane never used to ask out on dates. He never liked going out with women like Carol because they usually felt they were to smart or classy to give him the time of day, or were to good to put out without some pressuring, and he just didn't have time for those types of games back then.
He'd be damned if he couldn't admit that it took the end of the world for him to want to make time for them now. He let's his lips lightly brush the tip of her ear, allowing the reverberations of her shivers to send sparks shooting through his entire body. He presses another kiss, this time to her temple, and Shane can't even pretend to suppress the moan that crawls from his throat when she shrieks. He wants to try for another, a third kiss for good measure when her body language suddenly changes completely. Her eyes go wide as dinner plates as she squirms, trying what looks like her damnedest to wriggle away from him. Carol's deathly afraid now, but somehow Shane knows it's not just from him now.
He turns; trying to figure out what changed around them, when he shifts around to come face to face with a rotten, stinking walker as it reaches out to snare him by the throat. Ice cold hands earned by death grip his shoulders, pulling him towards gnashing teeth with a strength uncommon to that of living men.