Next chapter is up! There will be two more chapters before this story comes to an end. :(

Chapter 33

Shane lounged in the back of the truck next to his passed out friend. He pulled out the piece of paper he had written on a while ago. He needed to talk to Rick about something. Thankfully, Rick wandered over to the side of the truck, "So about finding that new place. I think we should go looking tomorrow. We need to move as fast as possible." Shane agreed, "Yea. Me and you? Like old times." Rick shrugged, "If you're ok with leaving the group with an injured Daryl." Shane looked down at Daryl, "Yea I think he'll be fine. Let me tell everyone else. Watch him for me will you?" Rick grinned, "How in the world are you going to look for a new place to stay if you can't leave him alone for five minutes?" Shane shook his head, "Shut up Rick." Rick laughed quietly.

Shane turned to him and took a breath, "Rick, I need you to keep something for me ok? Just in case something happens to me. Will you make sure that gets in the right hands?" Rick took the paper and read it, "Yea I got it. I hope you aren't planning something stupid." Shane shook his head, "You can never be too careful in this world." Rick nodded, "You got that right."

Shane turned away and walked towards Carol who was packing up one of the cars. "Hey Carol," he said as he crouched down on the ground. Carol smiled slightly at him, "What do you need Shane?" Shane grinned, "Am I that easy to read? Well Rick and I are going to look for a new place to stay. Will you watch Daryl for me? Make sure he doesn't do anything stupid?" Carol nodded, "You can count on that." Shane nodded, "Thanks."

His next stop was Glenn. "I'm going to need you to run the camp for a little while," he said. Glenn frowned, "Isn't that Daryl's job? But yea I can do it." Shane nodded, "Thanks. Rick and I are going to find a new place. We need a person in charge. Pass the word around for me will you?" Glenn nodded, "Yep you got it." Shane headed back to the truck where Rick was pulling himself on to the top.

Shane grinned, "What are you doing?" Rick smiled, "Do you remember that one time when you got shot and kept begging me to let you come with me? You sat on the front of my cruiser and wouldn't move until we started laughing." Shane nodded, "Yea I do remember that. I also remember you forcing me to go to the hospital." Rick sat down on the top of the truck, "Yea well you needed medical attention." Shane just shook his head and climbed up next to him, "I told them. We move out tomorrow." Rick nodded, "Let's find this place."

Shane stepped quietly through the forest with Rick on his heels. They had left early and weren't planning on returning until the night. Rick cursed as he tripped over something, "Why the hell did we not realize how many trees and shrubs covered this state?" Shane shrugged, "I don't know. Guess we never thought about living in the zombie apocalypse."

The two of them continued on in silence for a little longer. Shane looked around the area and saw a thin trail leading away from them, "I say we follow that. Maybe we can get somewhere off of it." Rick nodded and followed Shane up the path. It took them a good twenty minutes but they eventually found a road. Shane glanced up and down the road, "I say we each go one way. Go about a mile down and then turn and come back." Rick nodded again, "Alright see you in a bit then." They parted ways.

Shane headed down the road, scanning for any sign of a place to stay. He was afraid that he and Rick would have to return empty handed. It wouldn't be safe for them there much longer. He didn't want to just drive off with no purpose. They could miss something important. He still hadn't forgotten their other drive. The one where they had been ambushed by the Governor.

He was about to turn back as he figured he'd gone a mile when something caught his eye farther down. He turned to look down the empty road and then jogged off farther. He reached the top of the hill that had been a little off of the road and looked down. He couldn't believe it. There it was. Just sitting there and waiting. A prison. They'd need to do some walker extermination but other than that it looked sturdy. They could fix it up and make it Governor-proof. Maybe they could make it through this. He ran back to where he and Rick were supposed to meet and saw Rick waiting. He grinned, "Rick, I found it. I found it. Come on. It's perfect."

Shane saw Rick's face light up as he took in the prison. The other man turned to him, "You're right it is perfect. I think we could get this to work great." Shane nodded eagerly, "We should move tomorrow morning. Get here as fast as possible. Do you think we could get here tonight?" Rick shook his head, "To much to do. Tomorrow morning for sure. The future looks bright Shane." Shane smiled, "Yea it does doesn't it? Come on let's get back to camp. We got to tell everyone."

The first thing they noticed was the silence. It was too quiet for the camp. Usually someone was shouting or someone would be alerting the group of their return. Shane glanced at Rick who was looking at the camp. When they heard the gunshot ring out in the silence, the two raced to camp. Shane threw his gun into the truck as he looked around the camp. Then he saw them. The group was standing a little away from the camp and Daryl was kneeling on the ground. People were crying.

Shane ran to the group. As he approached he saw Daryl slowly stand up and turn to look at him. The kid just shook his head and gestured to the circle. Shane looked down and couldn't believe it. Dale was lying there and it looked like he had been torn into by a walker. He also had a bullet hole in his head and Shane could only guess that Daryl had been the one to shoot him. Shane looked at Daryl who didn't meet his eyes. Rick appeared next to him, "Oh my god." The words were said so quietly that Shane had barely caught them.

Daryl finally looked up at Shane. "A big herd of them came through about an hour ago. Took a while to fight them off. Had to be careful. One of them got to him. We tried to get to him but the thing was strong and it tore him open before I had the chance to kill it," Daryl said quietly. Shane nodded sadly as he looked down at Dale. They'd met him a long time ago. One of the first people to join up with after Carol and her family. They hadn't always seen eye-to-eye at first but things got easier as time went on. "Stupid apocalypse," he muttered softly. He turned to the group, "We need to bury him. Out here." The group nodded and dispersed.

It didn't take long with the whole group digging and they got the grave done quickly. Shane wasn't good at talking about people. The stuff they did. It wasn't his thing. But he knew he had to do it now. They'd lost someone important. He took a step forward and glanced at the surrounding group members. Daryl stood off to the side by Rick. The two were watching him expectantly.

He took a breath and started, "I knew Dale since the beginning of this descent into hell. He wasn't always on my side but we worked things out. We got the group organized and we got it to stick together. He was the one who kind of helped me through the very beginning of this and got the path set for us. We all knew what a great guy he was and if he wasn't with me on every decision he'd always have my back. They say that the good people in this world are always the ones who go first. I think that's the stupidest thing in the world but its true. But if I knew anything about Dale I'd say that he'd want us to keep going. To stick together and keep the foundation that we built a long time ago." He finished and people were nodding. Shane slowly backed up and glanced at Rick and Daryl who were nodding their approval. The group slowly trickled back to camp. Daryl walked next to Shane. Shane was able to read Daryl well enough that he knew something was up.

"If I could've run a little faster. One extra second and I could've made it Shane," Daryl said softly. The two of them were sitting in the back of the truck. Rick was on watch but everyone else was asleep. Shane was pretty sure that Rick could hear them but he didn't point it out. "Don't go blaming yourself for this Daryl. You did everything you could," he said. Daryl just shook his head, "Stupid, freakin, injury. If I didn't have it I could've made it. How many people am I going to let die Shane? Merle, Dale. What if its you next time?" Shane looked down at him, "I said stop blaming yourself."

The two of them sat in silence for a little longer and then Daryl spoke again, "Did you find it? The place you were looking for?" Shane had completely forgotten about the prison. "Yea we did. It's not far. We'll leave tomorrow," he said. Daryl nodded, "That's good. I knew you'd find it." Shane smiled a bit. It was quiet again for a while and Shane saw Daryl was asleep. Rick turned from the tree he was sitting in, "We never told the group about it. We'll have to announce tomorrow. Get some sleep Shane. You get the early watch." Shane nodded, "Yea alright."

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