This is the second to last chapter! Oh no. How could I? Thanks to all of you who have reviewed, favorited, followed, and read this story!
Chapter 35
He stared down at Dale's still form. Daryl was kneeling next to it with his gun in his hand. He walked forward as Daryl turned to him, "Where the hell have you been?" Shane shook his head, "I went out to find that place. With Rick." Daryl shoved him back, "You left and look what happened. We got attacked and Dale died. If you were here you could've stopped it! You could've helped us fight them off!" Shane winced at the words, "I didn't know!" Daryl glared at him, "It's your fault he died! You weren't here! A good leader is there for his group when they need him, so where the hell where you!?" Shane turned away, "I didn't know. How was I supposed to know that you would get attacked?" Daryl walked past him but turned back, "You blame yourself for everything. Rick said that you were a guy who likes to protect everyone. If that's true then why did you leave?" Shane didn't speak. He didn't trust his words. He knew Daryl was right. It was his fault Dale was gone.
Shane woke up with Daryl leaning over him, "Are you alright? You ask me if I'm having a fit when I sleep well you should see yourself." Shane slowly sat up, "Yea. I'm ok. I'm fine." Daryl eyed him but shrugged and got up, "Come on. We gotta get ready to move on. I'm ready to get out of here." Shane nodded as he climbed out of the truck. He headed towards the group. Daryl followed him and they joined Rick who was standing towards the edge of the group. Rick turned to them, "Are you going to tell them?" Shane nodded, "Yea. We need to move. It's not safe here." Daryl gave Shane a push forward, "Well don't tell us. We already know." Shane took a step forward and addressed the group, "Ok. Guys I know this is really sudden after Dale's death and everything but Rick and I found a new place to stay on our scout yesterday."
He was about to continue when Lori cut him off, "Well you actually found something. That's impressive. We all thought that you had come back empty-handed and there shouldn't have been any deaths yesterday. If you had been back he would still be here." There were a few mutters of agreement. Glenn looked angry and so did Maggie but Andrea was nodding slightly. That hurt. Daryl stepped in while Shane was searching for words, "Shut it Lori. This guy has been risking his life every single day to make sure you guys are all safe. He does everything he can to keep you guys alive. He could walk out of here and be fine for years by himself but he doesn't. He went out to find a place that we could all be safe at and he found it. Stop giving him such a hard time over something he doesn't have control over."
The group was quiet as Daryl finished. Shane glanced at Daryl who nodded, "Go on." Shane nodded, "We're going to go out to it tomorrow. We need to get packing. Everyone has to be ready by tomorrow. We can leave the tents out so we can sleep but other than that everything needs to be ready for tomorrow. Daryl and I will be leaving early in the morning to secure it. Rick will lead you all there later on. This is our last day here no matter what." The group nodded and started to work around the camp.
Daryl looked at him, "I thought we were leaving today." Shane shook his head, "I thought about it but we need time to organize and get a plan. We can't just run in there and not be prepared. You're coming with me tomorrow." Daryl nodded and went off to get his things ready. Shane glanced towards Rick, "I think I'm going to go on a hunt. I'll be back by night but we're running low on food and we're going to need it." Rick nodded, "Do you want any help?" Shane shook his head as he went to grab a gun, "Nope I'll be fine."
Carl came up to both of them, "Shane can I talk to you?" Shane looked down at Carl, "I can't talk right now Carl. I'm going hunting. Tell me when I get back ok?" Carl looked unhappy but nodded, "Ok. Be careful Shane." Shane smiled, "I will. Rick make sure Daryl doesn't abuse his second in command power." Rick grinned, "I will." Daryl came over, "Hunting? Thought that was my job." Shane loaded his gun, "Yea it is but I feel like doing it right now. You keep watch over the group. Get a few people to get water." Daryl nodded, "Alright. Hurry back. If you're going to the prison you're going to need sleep."
Shane moved into the trees. He was only a mile from the camp but he knew he would need to go farther. Five miles out probably to even find something close to food. He almost wished that he had brought Daryl with him. The kid was good at moving through the trees without making noise and he could probably pick up some edible plants. After mentally insulting himself he continued on his walk. A deer would be nice. He hadn't seen many of them. If he could get his hands on one of them the group could be fed without a problem for a week. Daryl would take his usual hunts and if he ever had a bad day they'd still have food. With that thought he kept going.
His thoughts then trailed off to Dale. The man had become distant from him about two weeks before Daryl arrived. The guy had been there during a lot of tough situations. For some reason they'd stopped communicating. Maybe it had been the walker issue. Andrea's sister, Amy had been killed during that attack. It had hit both Dale and Andrea pretty hard. He and Glenn had been on patrol when the walkers came around the back of their camp. He had, once again, not been there when the group needed him. They'd moved off after the attack and found Hershel's home. The man had been nice enough to let them take shelter there for a little while.
Should he go back to the camp? He couldn't risk messing up again and not being there if they needed him. No. Daryl and Rick were there. They could protect the group. He continued on into the woods hoping to find some game. He was glad that he had his senses sharpened up during the apocalypse. He managed to get a few rabbits on his belt but he was close to seven miles out. He knew he should head back but he was close to finding that deer again. He could be a little bit late couldn't he?
Shane continued his hunt. He wasn't going to let that deer get away from him again. The group needed the extra food. He wasn't the tracker that Daryl was but even he could follow the tracks of the deer. He remembered the time that Daryl had brought them back a deer with four arrows sticking out of it. The kid had explained that he had just let the deer kill itself. It had to die with how many times he'd shot it. He couldn't waste bullets or he'd do the same thing. He glanced up at the sky and groaned as he knew he would have to call it a day. He had an eight mile hike ahead of him and the sun was already halfway down. He'd be making the last two miles of his journey in the dark he knew for sure.
He started picking his way back the way that he'd come. Stupid deer. He hoped that Rick would be ready to take Daryl to the prison because he wouldn't be waking up early the next day. He walked quietly waiting for the sound of walkers approaching or animals moving. He wasn't disappointed and managed to catch a few more rabbits on their way home. He kept up his trek. He had gone a bit far out. He hoped the Governor was still recovering from the previous battle and wouldn't come after him. He also hoped he wouldn't stumble in on their camp since he was taking a bit of a detour to avoid a difficult area of his trail. So it was only natural that he froze when he heard a twig snap. He scanned the area not daring to move. Nothing. Ok.
He continued on but he was more careful. He scanned the trees a lot more than he had been. It was really starting to freak him out. He'd hear a strange noise that didn't belong in the forest but nothing was there. He wasn't going to go trying to find out what it was. That was what the stupid people in movies did and ended up getting themselves shot. He smiled at that and picked up his pace. He was done with these woods. They'd be far away from it by tomorrow afternoon. He heard the noise again but he actually jumped as it sounded like it was right behind him. Spinning around, he looked over the empty trees. He cursed quietly and kept going. He knew he should've gone faster. From his point in the woods he was still five miles out.
He didn't hear the twigs snapping this time but he did feel the bullet explode into his back and found himself lying down on the ground. He had a feeling this was not going to go anywhere good. He tried to pull himself up but any sudden movement sent waves of pain through him. Nope he wasn't going anywhere. He heard footsteps approaching him and he tried to look up but his vision swam. Rolling onto his back would be a bad idea.
The person approached him and bent down next to him, "Sorry about that Shane but it had to be done." Hang on. He knew that voice. Who was it? Who was it? He searched through his mind but his thoughts weren't clear. He was going to black out in a minute if he didn't pull himself together. The person spoke again, "I'll let you turn. I hope your friend gets to put you down. It would be good to see him break." Shane tried to pull a glare together but that wasn't going to happen. He shut his eyes and waited for the killing shot. It didn't come. Well it didn't come to where he was expecting. He did feel a shot go into his leg. Great the crazy asshole was going to let him bleed out.
The footsteps of his killer disappeared and he was alone. He heard the groan of walkers. The shuffling of feet. This was it. He thought back to something he wanted to remember. The only words he could remember was the time that Daryl had told him that he was every bit as good a leader as Rick was. He breathed out and thought again. When Rick had come back. It had been the best moment in his life. His best friend had magically come back from the dead. One more thing. One more. He remembered when he, Rick and Daryl had went back for Merle. How hard it had been for Daryl to put Merle down. He hoped that if he somehow walked back to camp as a walker that Daryl would be able to shoot him. Or Rick. It would be hard and one of them would want to do it. He hoped that when he was a walker he would walk as far away from camp as he possibly could.
He would've shot himself if he could but that asshole had kicked his gun into the bushes and there was no way he could move with all the walkers around him. He heard the first walker step into the clearing he was bleeding out in. He wouldn't scream. No matter how much it hurt. No matter how much he got torn apart. No matter what. He felt the walker's hand on his leg. No matter what. He wouldn't scream.
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