Disclaimer: Don't own the Walking Dead.
Alice sat in front of the RV peeling potatoes for dinner, sweat dripping down her face. It was hotter than usual today. Everyone went on about his or her day, pretending that Shane had not nearly beaten the life out of Ed earlier.
Alice placed the potato and knife down to wipe the sweat off her forehead. It was days like these she missed her air conditioner and a nice cool shower. Every part of her felt sticky from her sweat. Her hair was oily and plastered to her forehead, saying she felt disgusting was putting it lightly. What she wouldn't give for a decent shower and a glass of sweet tea.
Dale stood above her on the roof of the RV, keeping watch. He put down his binoculars and looked down at the blonde-haired woman, smiling affectionately. He and Erma had wanted children, but after her first miscarriage, she never wanted to try again. He couldn't blame her, but he had to admit, it would have been nice to be a father.
"Will you be cooking again tonight?" he asked.
She looked up at him, squinting her eyes slightly from the sun rays. "Yeah. Why? Does my cooking suck?" she joked.
"No, you're really good. That's why I asked. Where did you learn?"
"My ma taught me." A proud smile crept onto her lips as she resumed peeling potatoes. "She always said a good wife has to believe in God, cook good enough to keep her man home, and bare them children. It was like her motto when me and my sister were growing up."
"I didn't know you had a sister."
"Yeah. Smart thing, she was. Always was book smart." Alice started to frown, her eyes getting misty. "I always knew she'd be something great, you know? Maybe the first woman president, cause she was a natural leader. I always wished I was like her, even though she was younger than me. I could never be that smart or strong." It felt strange to talk about Jessica in past tense. No one knew she had seen her sisters body covered in blood on the kitchen floor or that she watched her father kill himself. It was too painful to bring up. She hadn't even mentioned it to Shane, not that he asked about Jessica or anyone else in her family.
"There's a chance she's still alive Alice."
She shook her head. "She's gone Dale. I saw it with my own eyes." Dale wanted to ask her to elaborate, but figured she'd tell him when she was ready. Her eyes drifted over to Shane, who was watching Lori and Carl. "Jessica, that was her name. Jessica always hated Shane. She said I was too good for him." Dale stood silent, but listened closely. She hardly talked about anything personal. "Maybe she was right. She didn't like him even when I went to high school with him."
Dale's eyebrows shot up. "You were high school sweethearts?" he questioned.
She let out a small laugh "Oh, goodness no. I wasn't even allowed to date back then. Shane never really noticed me; he just knew that I was a friend of Ricks. I didn't dress like all the other girls, at least not the ones he went for. I always wore long skirts and long sleeve shirts. My ma said it was sinful to show too much skin, it would give the wrong impression that I was a jezebel. I was the dorky looking church girl that wasn't too smart or pretty. The only real friend I had was Rick." She looked down at her bare arms and smiled. "My ma would have a heart attack if she saw me wearing a tank top like this."
Amy and Andrea walked into the camp excitedly, holding up fishes on lines. Everyone grew equally excited and thanked the two girls for catching so much.
"Where did you learn to fish like that?" Morales asked, grinning from ear to ear.
"Our dad." They both answered at the same time. They looked at each other for a moment before busting out laughing. Alice smiled at the sisters, missing her own even more.
"Well because of you two, my family will be eating well tonight. Thanks ladies."
Alice stood up from her chair and glanced up at Dale.
"Looks like I got more work to do. I better help clean those fish."
Alice had just begun to gut the fish with Jacqui when she felt someone standing over her. Looking back, she saw that it was Shane. She smiled at him, but it didn't reach her eyes.
"Mind if I steal my lovely wife for a moment?"
Jacqui frowned, but shrugged her shoulders. "Shouldn't you ask her if she minds being around you?"
"What's that supposed to-"
"Come on Shane." Alice put down her knife and fish.
She wiped her hands on an old rag as they walked a little away from the camp. Shane watched her, but didn't speak before they stopped walking.
"You been acting weird all day."
She tilted her head. "What do you mean?"
"You ain't talk to me much."
"I'm just worried about Rick and the others."
"Ain't you say he should go in the first place?" he snapped.
"Don't mean I can't worry about him." She mumbled, looking down at a rock by her foot.
Shane let out a sigh, running his hand through his hair. "Look, I ain't mean to snap at you like that." He reached out and pulled her to him. She used to get so happy when he held her. "Come here. Been a while since I just held you." Now she wanted to run away from him.
"We both been busy." She felt him run a hand through her oily hair.
"You know I love you, don't you?" He kissed the top of her head.
She hesitated. "Yeah… Yeah I know.
"And you love me, right?"
"Yeah." She wasn't so sure. He grabbed her chin and brought her into a kiss. His lips were a little chapped and that was all she could focus on until he broke the kiss. Alice hadn't really kissed him back, but he figured it was because she had a lot on her mind. That had to be it.
"We're gonna make it through this, you and me."
"I think we have a problem!" Dale yelled as he climbed down the RV. Shane took Alice's hand and led her over to the older man. She understood how trapped animals felt when they would try to gnaw off a limb to get free. The thought was tempting.
"What's the problem? Shane asked, still holding his wife's hand.
"Jim." Dale pointed to away from the camp. There Jim was, shoveling like mad. "I have no idea what's going on with him."
Everyone hiked up the large hill where Jim was, all curious as to why he was shoveling nonstop in the heat. Two holes were already dug; he was working on the third. He barely noticed the others.
"Jim." Dale called cautiously, keeping his distance. Jim kept digging. "Jim, you ok buddy?"
"Yeah." He answered quickly, still not looking up.
"It's pretty hot today to be working this hard, over 100 degrees."
Jim frowned, but did not stop digging. "I'm fine."
Shane stepped forward "Hey Jim, give me the shovel."
"Or else what?"
"There is no or else. I'm asking you to hand me the shovel."
"Just like you asked Ed to stop bothering the women. I saw his face."
Alice stepped closer to the man. "Jim, that was different." She wrung her hands nervously. "Ed wasn't just bothering us."
Jim kept digging. "Yeah, defend your husband."
Shane's lips tightened for a moment, but his voice remained calm. "Look, just give me the shovel. I don't want to have to take it from you. Just gimme it. We can all go back to the camp, get you some water. After you rest, I'll even come back with you and help you dig. How does that sound?"
"I don't need help!" Jim snapped.
"I'm just gonna come out and say it since no one else will. You're scaring Carl and Sophia. What's going on?" Lori boldly asked, holding Carl close to her.
"I'm not doing anything wrong! I'm just digging! What's wrong with that?!" Jim hissed. "Am I hurting anyone by digging?!"
"Come on," Shane grabbed the shovel. "Give me-"
"Let it go!" Jim jerked the shovel away and tried to hit Shane with it. Shane dodged it and quickly tackled him to the ground, using his body weight to keep him down. "Get off of me!" Jim struggled under the larger man, but all he was doing was wearing himself out.
Alice's lip trembled as if she were about to cry. "Please Jim, stop fighting Shane. Everything's gonna be alright."
Jim let out a sound between a laugh and sob as he stopped struggling. "That's what I told my family when this whole thing started. Everything's gonna be alright. Look how that ended. The only reason I got away was because the walkers got to them before me. Oh God my family. I had to watch those things attack them, eat them…" His voice grew into a whisper. "Don't tell me everything's gonna be alright." Everyone stood in silence, not sure what to say.
Shane hauled the man up and dragged him back to the camp. Jim did not fight back. Carl and Sophia clung to their mothers as they watched. Alice didn't speak, but walked back to the camp with her head hanging low. She couldn't even begin to imagine what Jim had witnessed, she didn't want to.