Rick dropped his head and was at a loss of words.
"Fuck you Lori! How am I the one who's a bitch?!" Susan shouted defensively. "I backed the fuck off once Rick was reunited with you! You're the one who can't seem to put a little bit of goddamn trust in people!" Lori hadn't taken her eyes off of Susan the entire time, venom piercing her. Instead of answering Susan with words, Lori had charged toward her and tackled her to the ground. Susan tried desperately to hold her off but it was no use—she was stronger than she looked. Susan threw a punch at Lori's jawbone. Rick and Shane tried to pull the women off of each other but couldn't interfere without getting themselves hurt. Lori ripped a chunk of Susan's hair out of her head to which Susan responded by dragging her fingernails along Lori's arm with force, causing deep blood red to rush out of Lori's arm, dripping all over the place. They rolled in the dirt, Susan's hands around Lori's throat, choking her.
"THAT'S ENOUGH!" Rick shouted while he and Shane had finally pulled the two seething women apart from each other. "THIS IS FUCKING RIDICULOUS. END THIS SHIT NOW!" Rick's eyes raged with fury. Susan glared at Lori one last time.
"I didn't fucking know Lori! I thought you were dead! Hell, Rick even thought you were dead! Nothing has happened since we found you and nothing will you fucking bitch!" Susan yelled before storming off towards the camp still wanting to hurt Lori but forcing herself to do otherwise. Shane quickly followed behind her.
"Susan hold up! Are you okay?" Shane asked while out of breath—rattled from the fight he'd just witnessed and placing a gentle hand on her shoulder. Susan shook his hand off instantly.
"Oh yeah. I'm just fine, Shane." She replied sarcastically while continuing to stare straight ahead and heading toward the farm house. "Just leave me alone." Susan snapped while bursting through the front door of the Greene's home and heading toward the bathroom. Shane was left standing on the front porch, exasperatingly running a hand through his hair, ignoring the amount of eyes staring at him in shock.
"Now look Lori, you know I didn't mean what I'd said. You're my wife… And I love you. I just needed to say something quickly to make Shane stop the abuse." Rick said pleadingly while staring intently into Lori's eyes. Lori rolled her eyes and shook her head.
"Whatever Rick." Lori cried while tears came streaming out of her eyes. She then stormed away back in the direction of their tent. Rick called out her name while following close behind her. He couldn't let anyone else know about his earlier confession and tried to calm Lori down while inside of the tent—away from everyone else, including Carl.
-
The sun had begun to set four hours after their encounter with the barn walkers and Susan still hadn't come out of the bathroom. She knew it seemed extremely cowardly but she couldn't stand to take another look at Lori, and frankly Shane had scared the living shit out of her when strangling her against a tree trunk and wasn't ready to face him yet—worried that he may abuse her again. She also couldn't help but question whether or not Rick had been serious about loving her, and if he was, would it change anything?
"Sue, come on outta there please. I'm not leaving until you come out," Pleaded Shane from outside of the bathroom. He'd been trying to get her to come out for nearly two hours now. Susan glanced at the door with a disgusted look on her face after staring at her watery eyes in the mirror and decided to continue ignoring him. Shane let out a deep sigh. "Fine then. I'll be waitin' in our tent for you. Don't keep me waitin' for much longer. I mean it. I'm getting' sick of you actin' like a child and locking yourself in a goddamn washroom for hours." With that, he slammed his fist on the door and stormed back outside muttering swearwords to himself.
-
The rest of the survivors have all been quiet and sticking to themselves. Hershel had been upstairs in his room since witnessing the deaths of his zombiefied wife and son. Maggie and Beth sulked around on their front porch with the company of Glenn, Carl, T-Dog, Carol, Dale and Andrea, sharing wonderful memories from the good old days with each other.
The next morning Susan had woken up on the bathroom floor and stretched out her stiff neck and back wondering how long she'd been in there for. After standing up and analysing the dark circles under her eyes in the mirror she grabbed a clean facecloth and began washing her face with cold water. She took a deep sigh and walked toward the door, unlocking it and opening it. Sun was shining through all of the windows and when she stepped into the living room she froze in her steps while noticing Shane was sitting in the lazy boy chair staring intently at her. He too had large dark circles under his eyes seeming as if he hadn't gotten even five minutes of sleep that night.
"How long have you been waiting here for?" Susan asked with a confused expression, not daring to take a step toward him. Shane rubbed his fingers along the stubble growing on his jawline glaring at her with no expression on his face and not answering her. After a few minutes of pure silence Susan rolled her eyes and began walking toward the front door, leading to the porch where she could hear Glen playing Maggie's guitar while she sang along.
"Get. Over. Here." Shane said slowly through his teeth. Susan's eyes widened as her fear from the previous day came over her again. She stopped where she was and quickly debated whether she should listen to him. She figured she may as well for if he started hurting her she could scream and someone would come to the rescue in less than a minute. She walked closer to him and stopped when she was about five feet away from where he was sitting. "Come on, come sit on my lap and we can talk." He smiled calmly.
"N…no Shane. I'm just fine right here thanks." Susan answered shakily. Shane's smile vanished quickly from his face and then reappeared again.
"You're afraid of me aren't you? I can tell by the way you're acting." He chuckled to himself. "You should be afraid of me Susan." The smile vanished quickly again and he began grinding his teeth and cracking his knuckles before continuing to speak. "I told you to get out of that fucking bathroom last night a million times. I warned you otherwise you fucking bitch. How dare you disobey my commands like that. This isn't the first time either and I'm getting sick of your act." He jumped out of the chair and grabbed her forearm forcefully.
"Shane, let go of me or I'll scream and they'll come rushing in here!" Susan screeched while trying to free her arm from his tight grip. Shane had so much anger building up inside of him at the realisation that she was correct.
"You better love me as much as I love you. I never want to see you talk with another guy, do you understand me? Not only will I fuck that guy up I'll also make sure you never do it again." With that he released her arm while giving her a little shove, causing Susan to lose her balance and fall backwards on the carpeted floor. Shane stepped over her body and walked outside.
-
Upstairs Hershel was laying in his bed having had yet another terrible sleep. He couldn't get the images of his family and friends being shot down the day before and was extremely furious with Shane. While deep in concentration on what he should do about the situation he heard a knock on his door. He sat up and cleared his throat. "Come on in!" he shouted to whoever was on the other side of the door.
"Hey Daddy," Beth whispered with Carol beside her. They both stepped into the room and smiled brightly. "Since we had such a hard day yesterday Carol, Susan and Lacy offered to make us all a big dinner tonight. Is that okay with you?" Beth asked sweetly. "I'd love to help them out. I haven't cooked a big meal since Mama left us." Hershel glared at the two of them and a small smile grew on his face.
"Of course sweetie. Ya'll can make whatever you can find. But I'd like to have a serious conversation with the group after dinner. A lot of things need to be discussed." He said while looking at Carol.
"Yes, I understand what Shane did was totally out of line but the rest of us will really try hard to make it up to you and your two lovely daughters." Carol replied while smiling and glancing at Beth.
After a quick breakfast Daryl and Lacy had decided to go out into the forest so Daryl could teach Lacy how to use his crossbow.
"Breathe slowly, keep your arm straight." Daryl whispered in her ear. Lacy quickly did as she was instructed. Though she knew a lot about weapons, she had never used a crossbow before. She was nervous, but excited. Her arm shook lightly from the tension so Daryl placed his hand on hers and the shaking ceased. "Aim for the eye," he breathed.
The pair had gone hunting, tracking a doe for what seemed like hours. Far from the problems on the farm, they had shared a laugh on their journey; something they hadn't done in a long time. But now the deer was so close, just grazing lazily without a care, unaware of the danger it was in. With his hand still steadying hers he brought his lips to her ear,
"Ready….release." Lacy pulled the trigger and watched as the arrow sped towards the doe, lodging itself in the eye of the creature. It landed with a dull thud on the forest floor. Lacy looked back at Daryl to see that he wore a grin just as wide as her own and before she realized what she was doing, she hugged him. Her eyes grew wide and she quickly broke the hug, her eyes on the ground and her cheeks flushed.
"Sorry, I don't know what came over me…" she apologized hastily.
"It's fine; you're a good shot, Red." Daryl said reassuringly, his cheeks tinted as well. They stood from their hiding spot among the brush. Daryl removed his hunting knife from his bag and started to gut the doe where it fell. Lacy followed suit, never afraid to get her hands dirty. They worked silently, removing anything edible from the deer.
When they were finished, the two bagged the meat and prepared to leave. They heard a low growl and crouched to the ground with weapons in hand; a walker must have smelt the blood. Daryl rose slowly to take out the creature and swore under his breath before signalling Lacy to get ready. She raised her head just high enough to see over the long grass and her eyes widened. There were at least a dozen walkers heading for the hunters and they had been caught off guard. Daryl looked at Lacy, giving her quick instructions before charging towards the walkers. Lacy did as she was instructed, taking out four of the undead in a matter of seconds.
As she was distracted, a walker snuck up from behind. It took hold of her shoulders, aiming its rotting mouth for her neck. She struggled as she tried to kick at her attacker, using all her strength to wriggle free; no use. The walker just inches from her throat, she closed her eyes and hoped Daryl would have the good sense to stab her once she was bit. The bite didn't come, the rasping breathe at her ear was gone; the strong grip on her shoulders was released. She opened her eyes to see the walker on the ground, Daryl's knife protruding from its skull. He placed his hands on her shoulders gently, turning her in every direction to make sure she was unhurt. Once he was sure, he brought his hands to her cheeks and lifted her head to meet his gaze.
"Don't ever expose your back, Freckles." He cracked a small smile and she returned it. Lacy realized she had been crying and wiped her tears away with shaky fingers. She composed herself quickly, mad at her stupidity and embarrassed. She blushed when she noticed Daryl still had his hands on her cheeks. When he saw the colour of her face he dropped his hands just as quickly as he had raised them, running his fingers through his shaggy hair and shuffling his feet awkwardly.
"Um…we should get back; it'll be dark in an hour." She changed the subject as she slung the bags of meat over her shoulder. She looked at him expectantly, waiting to leave. He seemed dazed but snapped out of it when she cleared her throat, quickly removing his knife from the walkers skull and strapping his crossbow across his back. The journey to the farm was comfortable silence, Daryl walking behind Lacy, consumed with his own thoughts.
-
Carol, Susan, Lacy, and Andrea made dinner that night for everyone. They felt terrible for the barn incident and wanted to do something nice for the Greene family. With the deer that Lacy had killed earlier, they were able to cook plenty for everyone. They peeled and diced potatoes and chatted while they worked. Carol set the table and called everyone to dinner when it was ready. The table was crowded but no one minded; they were starving. Sitting at the head of the table, Hershel said Grace and everyone dug in.
The only noise was the scrape of forks on plates, a silence that was broken by Hershel clearing his throat. "I think it's time we all had a talk," he said, everyone's eyes were trained on him. "Y'all have over-stayed your welcome. Your people are healthy and able; it's time y'all move on." There was an exchange of concerned glances before Rick addressed him.
"Hershel, you have been more than hospitable and we are so grateful for your help. I think we could work well together and create a home for all of us; but if that's what you really want, I respect your decision." Rick said calmly, though the disappointment was clear on his face. Shane was sitting at the far end of the table, anger bubbling inside of him. How dare Hershel send us back into danger?
-
Shane grabbed a packet of matches that he had in his tent and stealthily made his way across the yard toward the barn's front entrance. "That old fucker wants to kick us all out of here? Fine by me. Good luck dealing with this fire old man." Shane muttered to himself while kneeling down and lighting one of the matches, holding the flame up against one of the bales of hay until it caught fire. With all of the adrenaline pumping though his veins, he jumped up and quickly got out of the barn before anyone saw what he'd done. As he glanced around the fields before making his way back into his tent before someone announced the emergency he caught a person staring at him out of the corner of his eye. He shot his head around and was surprised to see it was Lacy. Panic grew inside of him but he knew what he had to do. He ran toward her and before Lacy had the chance to defend herself she was being pulled into the nearby forest with Shane holding his hand tightly against her mouth. He stopped after a couple of meters and grabbed Lacy's shoulders staring directly into her eyes.
"If you ever let it slip to anyone that I started this fire I will fucking kill you and your crazy boyfriend or whatever the fuck. I will make you watch me torture the fuck out of him and I'll force you to finish it off. Do you understand that you little shit?" Shane whispered harshly. Lacy shook her head slowly but showed little fear in her expression, throwing Shane off. Just then they heard a high pitched scream coming from the farm and instantly knew that the fire had grown and people were beginning to notice. "Let's get over there and act casual Lacy." He released her and started sprinting back toward the barn where most of the people were standing with shocked faces. He ran up beside Dale and asked, "What the fuck is happening here?!"
"Not sure! Beth and Carl just came running into the house and told us smoke was coming from inside of the barn so here we all are totally confused! Not a chance in hell that we can stop this from burning all of the way." Dale answered sympathetically. "My question is, how in the hell did this fire even start?"