So question – do you want asshole!Merle or asshole but still decent!Merle? You have time until the end of January to decide. The poll is on my account.
Chapter 3
The drive to the quarry was maybe an hour long and when they arrived on the camping place the sun was already going down. From the traffic snarl only seven cars had followed them up to the quarry. Those people that now got out of the cars were all tired looking and had slightly lost expressions on their faces. Lori herself felt exhausted and could feel a headache building, the fresh and cooling air was helping but she really needed some good sleep after those last few days. Beside her Carl didn't look much better, her son was close to falling asleep where he was standing. Shane was leaning behind them against his Jeep, his shirt was soaked through with sweat and the beard that had begun to grow in the last few days made him look gruff and he looked like nothing she was used to from Officer Walsh. The former Sheriff Deputy had his eyes closed, while his shoulders relaxed a bit and Lori noticed the deep bags under his eyes that didn't stick so out during the day. Their group of three desperately needed a break; hopefully things would be looking up now.
Coming out of her musings Lori looked around again, the conversations were all at a whisper level and the sounds of the forest easily drowned out the human ones. Lori wasn't sure why exactly this caught her attention but it made her feel uncomfortable. Humanity hadn't been afraid of the dark woods for a long, long time after all.
When one of the, what looked like college students started to pitch up his tent, the others took this as a sign to do the same and suddenly there was chaos everywhere in the clearing, though the noise was barely increasing and Lori was still on edge. With the other people pitching up their tents for the night she followed the general consensus and walked back to the Jeep to get the package with the tent meant for her and Carl. Shane was once again sitting in the Jeep, though this time his feet were dangling out of the open door and he watched lazily the going ons around him. The brunette could just barely muster up a small smile for the man that had been emotionally supporting them for the last month and now protected them from the undead. Lori felt a bit ashamed of herself for depending so much on her husband's best friend, Shane really deserved a break.
In the next moment Lori was ripped out of her musings by a rude comment that echoed over the clearing.
"Fuckin' city people, no idea what the hell they are doing."
A glance at Shane let her know that he was tired and really annoyed; he clearly didn't want to deal with whatever dispute was coming up right now. Neither did she but Lori was also aware that she had a better chance to dissolve the situation without any violence, the whole group of strangers was tense enough as it was.
So with a quick hand to his shoulder she pressed Shane back into the car seat when she passed him with the tent bag over her shoulder; she hoped he would understand her silent request to not jump the gun yet. Shane could be a real asshole when sleep deprived and she REALLY didn't want to deal with a fight.
One glance through the crowd let Lori zoom in on the redneck that was sitting a bit apart of the group. Behind him were two pitched up tents and right now he was tending to a small fire in front of him.
His deep and gruff voice had been audible over all the other conversations when he snorted and shook his head in distaste. Lori could only roll her eyes inwardly at this behavior, they had been there for less than fifteen minutes and the idiot was already alienating the majority of the people in the clearing. Lori was torn between amusement, tiredness and anger. She really wasn't feeling up to witnessing a fight between the redneck and whoever lost their temper first; which hopefully wouldn't be Shane. She knew that if she wanted this whole altercation to end bloodless and with no hard feelings that could be a problem later on she would have to diffuse the argument in a sneaky way. So Lori held back that sarcastic comment that sat on the tip of her tongue. Why, oh why did they have to have rednecks in this group?
Instead she asked in a calm and careful controlled voice, "What would you suggest they do?"
Throwing accusations and disdain at the redneck wouldn't help; he would probably only get defensive or even violent and they REALLY didn't need this, not after such a day. Furthermore she had no idea if that hillbilly was going to be useful in the near future. They didn't have to become best friends but Lori had to admit that in an apocalyptic world like this a redneck in their group could make the difference between life and death, though for that she would to actually have to have some conversations first and test his reactions… play it cool Lori, just like that time when you sounded out the best summer camp for Carl, she reminded herself.
After finishing her question she opened the package of her and Carl's tent, Shane had thankfully brought his own and they wouldn't have to share. Friend or not Shane was a heavy snorer and she could do without that right beside her ear, thank you very much.
Out of the corner of her eye Lori could see said man lazily climbing out of the Jeep while he took in the situation and positioned himself on the edge of the group, good she would have back up should the asshole in front of her try to become violent, not that he was very threatening at the moment, sitting in front of his fire and glowering, now she just had to hope that Shane would let her continue her little game. Walsh was pretty damn smart on a normal day and would recognize her attempts at a conversation for what it was but unfortunately Shane also belonged to the sort of males that fancied themselves ladies men, the oversized macho that he was, the last part was thought fondly, okay so Lori had to admit that she found his behavior often charming but she didn't want interference right now.
So to the head off a confrontation Lori continued to speak, "I mean you clearly do know what you are talking about, after all you had those tents set up in less than fifteen minutes and already have a fire going…"
She pointed out while her voice kept even, no sarcasm and no taunts she reminded herself. Men always responded well to their ego being stroked, worked every time.
Out of the corner of her eyes Lori could see Shane rolling his eyes in response, the Grimes knew that the former deputy Sheriff normally would have jumped in and taken control but right now she was pretty sure that he was feeling too amused about her outmaneuvering the redneck to interfere, at least she hoped so.
With her attention back on the redneck Lori noticed that the sandy colored man in front of the fire looked confused and mistrustful at her for a moment. Maybe he was checking if she was mocking him before he seemed to come to the conclusion that she wasn't. Finally the man also noticed how the other people around them had stopped what they were doing to watch their interaction. As a result he tensed somewhat before he just pointed over to the place some of the college kids had decided to use.
"The moment it starts to rain the water will run down that path and you stand ankle deep in mud." He mumbled then made a hand motion into Lori's and Carl's direction, "That's too close to the woods. Normally it wouldn't matter but should the geeks come up here you will wanna have a bit more space between them and ya kid." he stated manner of fact.
Lori's eyes widened while her heart made a painful jump, than she nodded in agreement, better be on the cautious side. Inwardly she was congratulating herself that she had kept her temper in check, the redneck had already proven to be a lot more useful than she had thought. If playing nice with him would grant her more sound advice about survival she would do it. After all Carl depended on her!
The people around them shifted in embarrassment and awkwardness, only a few moments ago they had looked like they wanted to tear into the blonde man or dismiss his advice as unimportant. The mood was still a bit uncomfortable; nobody liked to be called out at doing something wrong after all. To stop any resentment against this clearly useful man Lori asked him to give them some more tips of where he thought they should pitch up the tents.
The redneck was at first reluctant before he stood with a small grunt and more than a few annoyed sighs showed them with some hand gestures where to put the tents up. He arranged the group so that the girls and families with kids were in the middle and that there was enough space in every direction to see a Walker coming from the tree line. Additionally he barked at Dale to move his RV to one side of the camp so that it blocked the direct view into the camp from the street.
The redneck's tents were on the outskirts, closest to the woods and looked more like an outpost to the camp than anything else. During that time of setting up Lori noticed another man's silhouette in the second tent that had been pitched. The brunette had to admit that she was curious who that was and why he hadn't joined them outside when he clearly was awake. Squashing her nosiness for now, her attention went back to the visible redneck.
After some last instructions to a family of four he made his way back to his tent to reinforce the fire and probably to start cooking. On the way he passed by two of the young college girls that looked like they wanted to share a tent. It was easy to see that they had no clue at all what to do. Lori watched now quite a bit amused how the dark blonde man let out a resigned sigh and an eyebrow twitch before he snatched the tent parts out of their hands and had the tent up in five minutes flat and without instructions. The girls looked at him wide eyed before they stuttered a thank you after his already leaving back. The other people around them were now clearly unsure what to think of the hillbilly, he wasn't exactly polite but… well he HAD helped them.
Lori on the other hand patted herself on her back once more; it had been a really good idea to not blow him off. He may have not been useful to her before this whole undead debacle but during an apocalypse? He and the other man probably knew a whole lot of simple tricks that would make their lives easier and safer. Also while the blonde had grumbled and complained he HAD helped them without asking for anything in return. This alone made Lori more inclined to trust him in the vicinity of her and her son.
A quick glance around the camping place cleared up Shane's whereabouts, he was putting up his own one man tent somewhat close to Carl's and hers. His movements were slow and a bit clumsy, he really had to be tired. Wordlessly Lori moved closer and held up the canvas of the tent, a quick smile from Shane and they had it up in less than a minute. With slow movements she followed him back to the Jeep to get some of their bags. A quick check back to her own tent alerted her to the fact that Carl was already spreading his things around inside and she had to hurry before the chaos became even worse.