Newly Revised
Morning rose over the campfire as the group ate their breakfast in relative silence. Tea was sitting between Daryl's legs in front of the campfire with Sophia sitting right next to her, much to Carol's chagrin. Even though she'd tried to talk to both mother and daughter, the pair refused to see eye to eye anymore. Carol was angry at both Tea and Sophia for what had happened in the woods while Sophia was angry at Carol for treating Tea like she was a villain and not letting her keep her knife. Apparently, Carol had taken it away before she'd even stopped to think about why the girl had a knife and in turn, it was found out that Carl had a knife, too. Both mothers were rather angry with her and the only thing Tea could do was argue the reasons she had given them to the kids. Daryl had had to take her back to the tent when she ended up crying after she'd been ganged up on by both angry mothers as well as Shane. It had almost started a fight between the two men until Rick had gotten in between and settled things down, siding with Tea about the need for the kids to protect themselves.
It was because of all of this that Carol didn't say a word to the three of them when she came over with eggs to go with the squirrel they were already eating. Tea moved to the side as the woman dished the food out onto Daryl's plate, which was the only reason she realized he was eating with his fingers rather than a fork life everyone else. It made her chuckle when she saw it and made both Carol and Daryl glare at her for a moment. Daryl ended up just knocking her with his knee as the other woman walked away with a sour look on her face. Tea moved half of her eggs onto Sophia's plate and told her to eat up as Glenn stood up and drew attention to himself. While Andrea was still sharpening her knife and Rick was staring off into space next to Lori, Dale was standing off to the side nodding his head at Glenn. Tea was wondering what the hell was going on with the two as the younger man looked back towards the farmhouse apprehensively and back to Dale. He didn't have any kind of poker face and the worry etched on it right now was almost comical until he called for everyone's attention, not just Tea's.
"Hey, guys?" he said, the camp pausing in their movements to look at him. "The barn's full of walkers."
"What?!" Tea yelled, trying to stand only for Daryl to pull her back down.
He made her sit in the chair he'd been in and told her to stay put while he and the others went to check on the old building. Rick managed to convince Carol and Lori to let the kids stay at the camp with Tea so that they didn't have to be alone or go with the others to the barn. If they had sent the kids to the farmhouse, it would have drawn attention to their group's activities and that was the last thing they needed right then. As soon as the others were out of earshot, Tea brought out her Darts with a mischievous smile and asked them if they wanted to practice throwing them. The kids were terrified now and the only thing Tea could think of to help them feel better was to get their mind off of it. An impromptu lesson in self-defense was the perfect way as it would allow them the distraction they needed and also help prepare them for if something happened with the barn. Some of the others were standing in front of the building while Shane, Daryl, and Rick were walking around the structure to make sure it was secure.
As Tea was showing the kids how to hold the knives, Daryl and Rick congregated with the others in front of the barn while Shane stared into the locked barn door in an attempt to get a count. None of them were happy with this turn of events since it meant that the safe haven they had found wasn't as safe as they thought. Daryl had been out in the woods every day since the girls had gone missing and had only come across three total but Tea and Sophia had killed a total of eighteen and had seen several groups of more walkers further out. Those walkers had been heading away from the farm, at least, but now they had one of those large groups right by camp with little more than worn boards keeping them at bay. Tea was barely starting to walk with a bad limp, her ankle only just starting to reduce in size; there was no way she would be able to run if the walkers got out. There had to be at least two dozen walkers in there just wandering around as Shane looked through a hole and drew attention from the walkers.
"You cannot tell me you're alright with this," he said as he stormed back up to the group, a walker banging on the wood behind him.
"No I'm not, but we're guests here. This isn't our land," Rick replied.
"This is our lives, man!" Shane hollered.
"Lower your voice," Glenn said, trying to get the man to at least be quiet.
"We can't just sweep this under the rug," Andrea said.
"It ain't right. Not remotely," T-Dog chimed in.
Storming back past the group, Shane quipped, "Okay, we've either got to go in there, we got to make it right, or we just gotta go. Now, we've been talking about Fort Benning for a while."
"We can't go," Rick insisted.
"Why, Rick, why?"
"Tea's ankle is still injured. We can't risk taking her on the road when she can barely walk. We can't go," Rick repeated.
Shane looked like he was about to blow a gasket as he ran his hands over his face trying to stifle his incredulous laugh, "So that's it, huh? Still riskin' the group for the resident headcase."
"Better watch your damn mouth!" Daryl spat at him.
"Let me ask you this, man," Shane hollered. "You think any woman in their right mind would want you? If they saw you comin', all methed out with geek ears around your neck, they'd run in the opposite direction!"
"The hell did you just say?" Daryl shot back. "Man, you don't what the hell you're talkin' about!"
"I know she's as much a liability as livin' next to a barn full of walkers! Psychotic bitch already gave kids fuckin' knives without anyone knowin' about it! How long you think it's gonna be before she jumps off the deep end and becomes walker chow, huh?!"
'I know I'm just walker chow walking.' Tea had told him that once upon a time and hearing Shane say it had him seeing red. He charged at the cop, both of them yelling at each other and trying to get to the other as Rick put himself in between to hold them both back. Shane wasn't the one who'd run after Sophia and kept her safe for four days in the woods. Shane wasn't the one who'd been teaching the kids how to use knives and treat wounds in the field. He wasn't the one who knew what they could eat and what they could use as medicine. Yet it was Tea who was the liability? Daryl was already pissed at the asshole for constantly treating Tea like she was some kind of nutjob who couldn't think for herself because her brain was wired different. If it weren't for the fact that Carol and Andrea had gotten in between him and Rick while Shane was still acting a fool towards Rick and Lori, he would have been pounding his ass into the dirt.
"Back off!" Rick told Shane while Lori tried to push him away from her husband.
"Keep your hands off me," he told her angrily, beginning to walk away.
"Just let me talk to Hershel," Rick said. "Let me figure it out."
"Man, what are you gonna figure out?!" Shane roared at him as he charged once again only for Lori to push him back again.
"If we're gonna stay, if we're gonna clear this barn, I have to talk him into it. This is his land!" Rick told him.
"Hershel sees those things in there as people," Dale told them, several members of the group looking at him in shock that he'd already known about the walkers. "Sick people. His wife, his stepson."
"You knew?" Rick asked.
"Yesterday, I talked to Hershel."
"And you waited the night?" Shane asked angrily.
"I thought we could survive one more night. We did," he defended. "I was waiting 'til this morning to say something. But Glenn wanted to be the one."
"Man is crazy, Rick. If Hershel thinks those things are alive or no," Shane shouted.
He and Rick started shouting at each other, one trying to get the other one to calm down and the other arguing about what they needed to do. It was literally a power play between Rick and Shane that was leaving the entire group at odds with each other. The shouting didn't do any of them any favors either because it attracted the walkers who began banging on the doors of the barn in force. Everyone fell deafeningly silent while the sound of the walkers grew exponentially louder. When they'd been looking through the boards to try to get a count, the walkers had just been moping around in there, not making any noise and seemingly ignorant of their presence aside from the one that noticed Shane. None of them dared to speak as they broke away from each other, some heading back towards camp and a couple of the others heading to the farmhouse. Shane, Daryl, and Rick stayed around the barn until the walkers calmed down and they were certain none were going to break through. While Daryl and Rick headed back to camp, Shane volunteered himself to keep a watch the two of them didn't feel was necessarily needed as of yet.
"I'm sorry about Shane," Rick told the hunter when they were out of earshot of the man.
"Ain't your fault the guy's a dick."
"He's wrong about Tea," stated Rick.
"Tell me somethin' I don't know."
"She's certainly different. I don't think I would've been able to find Sophia or keep her safe like she did," he admitted.
"Girl's got grit and smarts for days. Used to think Merle was the toughest son of a bitch out there. Startin' to rethink my opinion," Daryl said.
"So you know, I don't see her as a liability. If anything, she's probably one of the strongest people I know. It's hard to believe that one person can have so much knowledge. She looks so young but she acts so much older. I can understand why you don't like other people speaking poorly of her. I have to ask...Shane," Rick started nervously, not sure if he even wanted the answer. "Has he...has he done anything to her?"
Daryl stopped and looked at Rick who was wearing an expression of concern. Technically, Shane hadn't done anything to Tea that she couldn't handle but at the same time, it had taken her knocking him out for the man to stop touching her. And even after that, he still tried to get her to do what he wanted the entire time she was in camp and argued with her more often to make her seem more unstable to the others. He'd used the fact that she'd given the kids knives to further make her out to be a villain and fully ostracize her to the point that she'd silently stood there and taken everything he, Lori, and Carol had been bearing down on her. Daryl had left camp for a couple hours to go hunting and come back to find her with her head down, tears streaming down her face, trying to balance her weight mostly on her good leg while using her bad to steady herself as Rick and Dale tried to argue on her behalf. She wouldn't even tell him what had happened other than saying she had gotten overstimulated having the three of them trying to get answers from her and argue with her without even letting her get two words in. Daryl had almost gone back out to punch Shane only for Tea to ask him to just stay with her and leave the situation alone. The only reason she hadn't gotten physical herself was because she was already being accused of being dangerous and out of control. Tea hadn't wanted Daryl to face the same discrimination that she had because he let his temper get the better of him. What Shane was doing was similar to what his own father had done to him after his mother's death to make him lose friends and make it easier to smack him around.
"He ain't gonna do nothin' to her," Daryl told him. "He even tries, I'm gonna shove my foot so far up his ass he's gonna taste it. And that's if Ania hasn't done it first."
~x~
Andrea walked back to camp ahead of the others and watched as Tea threw a knife up into the air before catching it and immediately throwing it at the tree in front of her. It surprised the blonde when the two children who were watching her followed through with the same action, lodging their knives just below the first one. The children looked overjoyed as Tea smiled at them and sang praises, telling them to retrieve the knives. When they brought the knives back, she showed them how to hold the knives differently and then threw it, the two children once again repeating the move and hitting the tree, though this time neither knife stuck into the tree. They both looked disheartened until Tea said something and made them both smile and laugh. It was hard to imagine she had this side to her after seeing her treating so many of the others so harshly. She hadn't trusted anyone, fought with Shane and Lori all the time, and had a look of annoyance painted on her face most of the time. Looking at the joy on the kids' faces when they had been painted with fear not even ten minutes ago was like night and day with what the adults got. Then again, she had always treated the kids different from the adults. As Tea looked back and saw the adults coming back, telling the kids to head to their moms, Andrea decided to put Daryl's words to the test about the woman being an open book. She was still curious about what Daryl had meant about the horror stories and wanted to know how she'd gotten lost in the woods.
"You teach them that?" she asked the green-eyed woman, motioning to the knives she now had in her hand.
"Don' tell their mothers. They might make the kids stay away completely. Havin' a hard 'nough time with Carol and Lori bein' pissed I was teachin' 'em ta use 'em ta begin with."
"Can I ask why?"
"Why what?" Tea asked, giving her a confused look.
"Why teach them?"
"Why do ya care? Ya neva even botha'd ta talk ta me 'fore this, so why care now?"
"I guess I'm just trying to understand you. You're so different with how you act with the kids and the adults. I don't think I've ever seen you smile at anyone but the kids. So why? Why teach them?"
"Sophia took down four walkers out in those woods. Do ya think 'er motha taught 'er how ta do that or even knows how ta do that 'erself? Do ya even think Carol or Lori could savive in this world without someone takin' care a them?"
"No, I suppose not," Andrea said thoughtfully. "Why are you so focused on the kids, though? Why not train everyone?"
"Ain' my responsibility ta tell an adult how ta live or what ta do. Kids, though, if their parents aren' goin' ta teach 'em how ta savive, someone has ta. Carol and Lori are still teachin' 'em history! History! As if anythin' but basic readin', writin', and arithmetic is goin' ta do 'em any good in this world. They need the basics and then they need ta learn a trade, like bein' an apothecary or a docta, masonry, blacksmithin', cultivatin' or farmin'. Trades that our savival will depend on goin' in. Carol and Lori, all they're doin' is keepin' the kids from bein' able ta protect 'emselves, ta be able ta defend against walkas or people. They aren' lookin' at the bigga picture and want ta make things seem as normal as possible. Jus' like how they keep wantin' the women folk ta do the domestic work and let the men do all the heavy liftin'. The men are sittin' 'round twiddlin' their thumbs more often than doin' anythin' else while the women toil away with laundry and dishes and cookin'. Makes no sense in a world like this. Everyone needs ta be able ta take care a themselves, whetha it be cookin' or fightin' or knowin' how ta treat a wound. Othawise, ya goin' ta end up shites creek without a paddle."
"It certainly seems that way," Andrea agreed. "Listen, I owe you an apology."
"For what? Actin' like I was a ruffian at the camp 'cause I wouldn' listen ta Shane or Lori? Not wantin' Amy ta hang around me afta I laid Shane out? The fact that ya did nothin' but give me the side-eye afta I told y'all 'bout my mind? Or the fact that ya neva once told Daryl, Merle, or I thank ya for what we did for the camp? How ya were actin' at the CDC when I wasn' lettin' Jenner weaponize ya loss against ya? How 'bout what ya said when I was gone? Yeah, Daryl told me 'bout ya and Carol and Shane and ya doubts. Told me how ya treated Dale, too. Ya apologized ta him, yet?"
Andrea looked at the woman in shock at everything she'd noticed and perceived as a slight, let alone the fact that Daryl had told her what had been said against her. It was true, though, that she had been rather ungrateful the entire time to both Daryl and Tea. She'd thanked Glenn often enough for going on the runs when he'd bring things back for her, but she'd never once thanked the hunters for basically feeding the entire camp since they'd set up. Out of everyone, it had been the two of them that had made it to where they hadn't starved far more than anyone else. She'd thought that Carol had been being harsh on her since she brought Sophia back safe but never once had stopped to think about her own actions towards the woman. Now that she looked back on her behavior, Andrea realized that she hadn't really given the woman any fair attempt at proving herself. She really had assumed that just because she acted differently than anyone else. Tea didn't act anything like everyone else in the group and had been able to stand toe to toe with Merle when not even Shane could control the man. Andrea's own jealousy had gotten in the way, too, since Tea had accomplished so much at such a young age while she was just a civil rights lawyer. That someone so young could be both knowledgeable and strong enough to face the world alone completely baffled the older woman as Tea held a leveled look at her.
You butted heads with Lori and Shane when they were holding the camp together-"
"Holdin' the camp tagetha!" Tea laughed heartily while holding her stomach and slapping her knee. "Oh, that's a good one, Andrea. Lori and Shane holdin' the camp tagetha...ah...I might jus' die from hearin' that."
"Well they did."
"Nah, Daryl did by huntin' damn near every day. Glenn did by goin' on runs every couple days ta get whateva it was the people wanted, from fuckin' lotion ta magazines, neitha a which is needed for savival. I did by foragin' and huntin' with Daryl. Hell, Merle, showin' y'all how ta cook the squirrels, givin' me the livas and kidneys a everythin', makin' sure ta give the kids a bigga portion when 'e cooked the meat, 'e did more ta keep the camp tagetha than Lori and Shane combined. I mean, did Shane do the huntin'? Did 'e bring in any game? Hell nah. Did 'e go on any runs? Hell nah! He sure as hell don' know how the fuck ta forage past a few types a shrooms! And Lori, fuckin' Lori, what the fuck did she do ta 'hold the camp tagetha?' Laundry? Fuck Shane? Pretend ta be the queen bitch on campus? Exactly how did she hold it tagetha?"
"I never thought about it that way," Andrea admitted. "But you're right. If it weren't for you, Daryl, and Glenn, we would have run out of food weeks ago. I have to admit, I never thought I'd be eating daisies and dandelions. How'd you learn to forage anyway?"
"My papa. Afta I ended up at 'is place for the first time and 'e saw how skinny I was, 'e asked what I ate. I told 'im scraps, sometimes nothin' 'less I stole it from the store or the kitchen. Told me it was wrong ta steal and when I asked 'im how I was s'pposed ta eat, 'e told me ta go ta his house every day afta school. So I did. Ya got ta eat, and what I gained from that man was worth everythin' I went through ta learn it, 'specially since everythin' went ta hell."
"How did you pay for school if your family couldn't even afford food? I never pictured you to be that poor with all the degrees you have."
"They weren' poor," Tea said bluntly.
"What?"
"My grandpa had almost a five million dolla estate in northern Michigan that housed almost two dozen on-call staff, includin' a butla, head maid, and personal security. My daddy had a trust fund almost as large as the price a the house and my sista had a half a it. I don' know why, but I wasn' worth the air I breathed, so I didn' have nothin'. They weren' poor at all, they jus'...they didn' like me."
"God, that's awful," Andrea said, more shocked that she had said it as if that was a regular occasion. "How did you get lost? This time and when you were younger?"
"Lost when I was younga?"
"Daryl, he said he got lost when you were half Sophia's age."
"Ah, he must not a wanted ta tell ya the truth. I didn' get lost. I got knocked out and left behind. See, my sista had this project that involved bugs, but she hated 'em. So my daddy took me with 'em ta carry 'er gear while they went on a nature hike and picnic ta this place 'bout five miles away from home. Today, that'd be nothin' as long as I got my bearin's, but for six year old me, I didn' know my left from my right, literally. Used ta get 'em mixed up all the time. Anyway, my sista had a project involvin' bugs and didn' like 'em, not that I did eitha, but I had ta catch 'em for 'er. Now, there's one thing 'bout me that y'all don' know yet, and that's that I'm a serious arachnophobe and will involuntarily scream and freak out if a spida gets too close ta me. The reaction is even worse for daddy long legs. And what do ya know? My sista jus' happens ta fuckin' love the damn things. I don' mind the scorpions, but fuckin' spidas and daddy long legs. They terrify me. I was gettin' the fuckin' bugs for 'er project and she comes up and throws two a the fuckin' things on me, a long legs and a jumpin'. I screamed, started hypaventalitin', and dropped everythin', breakin' the box the bugs were in. Some a them flew inta her hair and she screamed and ran ta daddy. He knocked me ova the head and left me there and went home. I was lost in the woods for two weeks 'fore I stumbled across a campsite and made it home.
"Sad thing is, when I got there, I was beat and asked how I had the audacity ta come back alive. I didn' get dinna 'til they went out lata that night. I caught a lucky break in the form a them forgettin' ta lock the door ta my 'room' and was able ta go ta the kitchen. Made myself a steak, roasted potatoes, and ate one a the salads in the fridge the chef made for 'em. When they got home and found out what I'd done, they beat me black and blue 'til I puked. Still, worth every fuckin' bruise ta eat that meal. Best meal I got ta eat 'til afta I moved out. Sad thing is, the chef took pity on me and taught me how ta cook, which lead ta him bein' fired and me havin' ta make the food."
"That's horrible. Why would they do that?"
"That was normal," Tea said with a shrug. "It's not like I had much choice in what was done ta me, so I don' think 'bout it no more. And like I said, they didn' like me much."
"You're accent is different. You said you were kind of Irish?" asked the blonde, wanting a change from the heavy subject; Daryl wasn't kidding when he said she had horror stories.
"Yeah, me momma was full blooded Irish. Momma had the full brogue and I picked up on it betta than talkin' normal 'cause a a speech impediment. When I was liddle, as in 'fore I started school, they didn' care 'cause it made me more different than 'em. Then when I started school, my teacha's used ta say I sounded like a hillbilly compared ta my sista, so my momma started smackin' my face or head every time I said somethin' like she would. I did my best ta hide it, but my best left me how I talk taday. It gets worse the more upset I get 'til I have the full Irish brogue goin', like it was at the quarry when I was forced ta let everyone know I'm a versie. The more in control I get, the less it shows 'cause I been beat ta the point I can' stand talkin' like that, and it reminds me a my momma. I hate it, but I been told recently I sound unique," Tea told her.
"Let me guess, Daryl?"
"Nah, Sophia."
"I'm sorry I shot you," Andrea apologized again. "Though, I must say, I didn't expect you to give me pointers."
"If ya goin' ta shoot, ya got ta know what ya doin', not jus' be a good shot. Neva, neva eva, fire inta the sun unless ya one hundred percent sure ya not pullin' friendly fire like ya did ta me. 'Sides, it's not like it's the first time I been shot by accident," Tea said leaning towards the older woman and moving the strap of her shirt over to show an ugly scar along the clavicle. "Got this the first time I eva went huntin'. 'Notha kid was out on 'is first trip too and discharged accidentally."
"And the bruises around it?" Andrea smirked knowingly.
Tea looked at the woman with a million dollar smile, "Daryl."
~x~
Daryl had found Tea a decent walking stick when he'd gone out to hunt which was where he was at at the moment since she'd been complaining about feeling old having to use a cane. Hershel was allowing them to use eggs from his farm since there was an ever abundant supply of them, but Daryl had still been bringing in the better part of the meat. Tea was antsy sitting in the camp for the last three days since she couldn't even do anything about the barn let alone run if its doors broke. Her ankle was slowly getting better and it wasn't painful to step on lightly anymore, but she still couldn't put her full weight on it and was still relying on mostly Daryl's help, though Rick and Glenn had been helping her get around too. She'd managed to get a couple more lessons in with the kids about field dressings and what was edible and not and that had been the extent of her usefulness the last few days. It didn't help that Shane was slowly losing his mind because Rick came back.
Tea had noticed it almost as soon as Rick had decided to go back to Atlanta for Merle. The old friends had begun to butt heads, and Tea was pretty sure it had to deal with the fact that he had been sleeping with Lori and gotten very close to Carl. She knew there was also the fact that Shane kept blaming everything that went wrong on Rick's decisions even if it was his decisions that had led to this safe haven. But that wasn't the only thing that had the man cracking under the pressures of the world. It was the fact that his own leadership had become moot as soon as Rick had returned with the group of people Shane had said were on their own and couldn't be rescued. That had proven to many that Rick was real leadership material since he was unwilling to leave people behind whereas Shane immediately jumped to doing so. He'd gotten worse, presumably, since the farm, since that's when Daryl started noticing the tension between him and Rick, especially when it came to Carl getting shot. Hell, he'd been willing to give up the search for Sophia after just forty-eight hours even though Tea had been with the little girl and knew she'd make it back soon enough. If they had moved on like Shane had wanted to, she would likely have never seen Daryl again and would have been responsible if anything had happened to Sophia. Needless to say, Tea liked Rick infinitely more than Shane and was willing to do as Rick asked because he wasn't so quick to give up.
She was working on scraping the bark off of the stick to make it smoother for her to hold onto, using the small knife her papa had given her when she was eight to use if her life was ever really in danger. In all honest, holding the knife felt a bit complicated because it had been the same one she'd used when she first got out on her own to help her 'feel.' She knew now that pain was not the only way to relieve frustration, anger, and sadness, but back then, all she'd know was pain. And now she was using this tiny knife that once brought her anxiety to even look at to take the bark off her stick. It was rather boring work as she sighed and listened to Glenn asking Dale if he had an extra hat because his had 'gotten dirty;' it had only taken Tea a little bit of prodding to find out about him and Maggie and the fact that Maggie had broken an egg over his head. Tea had laughed quite a bit when he'd told her that and had jokingly called him Egghead as he told it was oh so funny. She was still snickering when she looked up at the man on the RV, which was why she'd been keeping her head down. When Dale sent Glenn to get a glass of water, though, her head snapped up as she watched Dale leave the RV with a bag before the young man had even had a chance to return. Not wanting to get involved, she simply went back to her stick when Glenn came out and asked her where Dale went since he had his water. Tea just shrugged and took the water from him with a thanks before taking the last bit of bark off the piece of wood. About five minutes later while she was carving a nice little rune above where she would be placing her hand, Shane came storming past her and almost knocked her chair over before he stomped into the RV and started banging around.
When he stormed back out of it and noticed Glenn on watch, he asked the Asian in irritation, "You seen where he went?"
"Who?" Glenn asked.
"Don't even try to shit me, okay?"
"What?" the young man answered completely confused.
"Dale, Glenn!" Shane asked turning around and spotting Tea looking towards them. "Did you see where Dale went?" he reiterated to the man.
"Yeah, he asked me to run and get him some water. He said he'd cover me on watch," Glenn answered.
"And he was gone when you got back, huh?"
"Yeah," Glenn said. "You think he's okay?"
"Oh, he's fine."
"Then why did he bail then?"
"So you wouldn't tell me which way he went."
"I don't get it."
"No, man, you don't," Shane said storming over to Tea. "You see where he went?"
"Nah, jus' know 'e ain' 'ere," Tea told him with a dirty look.
"You got your gun?"
"Rick said he put it in the bag with the others when I got back. Don' really care, though. I prefa my knives."
"Dale's got that bag," Shane said angrily. "The barn's full of walkers and we ain't got no guns."
"I mean, it's secure right now, right? Daryl's sure a it 'nough ta go out huntin' while leavin' me here, so I ain' really worryin' 'bout us not havin' guns. 'Sides that, Hershel don' want 'em on 'is farm past the lookout. I don' know why ya so worried 'bout it all when Rick ain' so worked up."
"Look, there are over a dozen walkers in that barn, maybe more. You really think it's gonna stay that way forever? You really willin' to risk that with the kids in camp?"
"Ya know how ta track, don' ya? Get ta it," Tea told him in annoyance.
"You're a better one, right? Why don't you help me get the guns back?"
"'Cause I can' walk that long on my ankle and I don' want ta go anywhere alone with ya."
"Still on that are we? All I want is those guns, alright?" Shane basically pleaded, but the look in his eye momentarily scared Tea; it was the same look her father would get before blowing up at her.
"And I want ta be left alone. Looks like neitha a us are gettin' what we want taday," she quipped back as she reprimanded herself and refused to back down just because of a stupid memory.
Shane scoffed and looked off before looking back and scoffing again before he walked away, but not before she heard him say, "What'd I expect out of the psychotic bitch?"
Watching as Shane searched around the RV before finding the older man's trail, Tea couldn't help the pit in her stomach that told her something bad was going to happen. She used her stick to help herself up before heading off after Shane at a distance so that she could intervene depending on what he did. Daryl had told her his conclusion about Otis, which was why she was so worried about Dale. If he was willing to most likely leave a man behind intentionally just to get away, what would he be willing to do to a man who was consistently getting onto his case about his behavior? It wasn't like Shane was afraid of leaving people behind so Tea knew he wouldn't be afraid to leave someone to save his own ass. That's actually what she'd come to expect of Shane after the man had been willing to leave her in the woods even though Daryl had offered to go looking for her. Shane did not give two shits what happened to anyone else so long as it followed along with his own desires. Even though it hurt her ankle to follow him for so long, she managed to get to the swamps shortly after Shane had, staying back so that only Dale could see her presence.
"Man, this is a good hidin' place," Shane called out, startling the old man. "We ain't been to the swamps much, have we? How about you just give me that bag, huh?"
"I'm not gonna do that," Dale told him.
"Yeah you are, Dale," Shane said confidently. "Unless, well, you do have that rifle over your shoulder."
"Shane!" Tea exclaimed, making the man furiously turn around and give her a dirty look.
"Thought you weren't coming."
"And leave Dale ta deal with ya wrath alone? Not a chance. Eva since Rick came back ya been actin' more and more insane and I trust ya less and less as the days tick on."
"Oh, that's rich comin' from you," he sneered at her.
"I'm autistic and ADHD. I ain' insane. Insanity is an actual condition that includes erratic behavior, emotional lability, and aggression, all things ya demonstratin', Shane," she corrected. "Don' matta if ya call me crazy at this point, 'cause the insane one is really ya. Ya litarally tellin' Dale ta shoot ya ova some guns."
"You really think I'm gonna listen to you?" Shane scoffed before turning back to Dale. "I'll tell you what's going on, Dale's gonna give me those guns and we're gonna protect camp. That's all there is to it," Shane told her, trying not to think about what she had just said. "Now come on, old man. Hand them over or shoot. Or else."
"Shane!"
"What? You going to shoot me like you did Otis?" Dale asked, earning a gasp and a questioning gaze from Tea. "Tell another story?"
"Nah, man," Shane started. "Hell, when you really look at it, in the cold light of day, you're pretty much dead already."
"Shane! That's enough!" Tea said, trying to hobble over to Dale in the thick underbrush while paying attention to both roots and the men in front of her.
"Just give me the guns. Do it now," he continued, ignoring Tea.
"You think this is gonna keep us safe?" Dale asked him.
"Mh-hmm, I know it is," came the quiet reply.
"Rick is trying to get Hershel to let us β"
"Dale, shut up. Just shut up and give me the guns."
The look on Dale's face all but screamed devastation as he put the gun back down and turned back around with his rifle locked, loaded, and aimed right at Shane's chest, asking, "Am I gonna have to shoot you? Do I have to kill you? Is that what it's going to take?"
Shane chuckled at Dale before walking right up to the man so that the barrel of the gun was right against his chest and stared the man down. Tea had one of her throwing knives pulled out and ready to be thrown, but there was only so much she would be able to do to protect Dale if things took a turn for the worst. Her ankle was still busted and it was already throbbing from walking so much. She knew damn well Dale wasn't about to shoot, but everything she tried to say to get through to Shane fell on deaf ears as he and Dale locked eyes. Dale still believed in the old world and its principles while Shane had moved on into a kill or be killed sense of survival that rivaled Ricks sense of honor. Even Tea believed that there was a happy medium between honor and safety in the world as it was; as long as the risks were lower than the gains, there would be a chance to save someone, otherwise, they had to go. Shane, though, if he continued down the path he was on, without medicine, without a counselor he was willing to work with and listen to, he would only get worse to the point of having a psychotic breakdown. And Shane didn't seem to care at all about what he was doing as long as he got what he wanted.
"Yeah," Shane whispered menacingly towards Dale. "That's what it's gonna take."
"Shane, if ya don' back the fuck off, I'm goin' ta put a damn knife in ya, more'n one if I have ta! This is ridiculous! I don' know how the fuck ya acted 'fore everythin' went ta shite, but I sure as shite knew ya were a bastard at the quarry! Leave Dale the fuck alone! Right fuckin' now!" Tea yelled, dropping her stick and bringing out another knife, readying her stance as best she could to have a face off even though she knew if it got physical she would most likely lose.
"This is where you belong, Shane," Dale told him, putting his rifle down and turning around to grab the gun bag.
"How's that, Dale?"
"This world, what it is now. This is where you belong. And I may not have what it takes to last for long, but that's okay. 'Cause at least I can say that when the world goes to shit, I didn't let it take me down with it," he told him sadly as he thrust the bag into Shane's hands.
"Fair enough," Shane said, grabbing the bag and opening it long enough to find Tea's gun and shoving it into her hands. "Gonna need that for what's comin'. And try to keep up. Never know how long it's gonna be 'til that barn busts open and the kids are in trouble. Gotta protect them, right? That's what you're all about, right?"
The way he stormed off after that left both Tea and Dale speechless and terrified. The man had just threatened the kids' safety just because he wanted to take care of the walkers in the barn? Tea almost wanted to say he was crazy, but he was actually going insane. Rick coming back had been the start of it and she was completely sure that he had tried to rape Lori at the CDC based on how the two acted towards each other the next morning. But he had completely lost it, according to Dale as they began the journey back, after Carl had gotten shot and Shane came back without Otis. And ever since he'd found out Lori was pregnant, something that surprised Tea completely, the man had become more unstable. It was worse than when he'd gotten pissed when she and Daryl began spending more time together and Dale told her that he feared for the safety of the camp with Shane around. He knew for a fact that the man assumed the baby was his because of what had happened between him and Lori and Tea couldn't help but agree. Rick had only been back a little over a week; there was no way in hell that Lori would have gotten pregnant in that little of time and knew about it. Even she knew that a woman's cycle didn't work like that and it took at least a few days before menstruation to get a positive if a woman was trying. If not, well, they'd know by the time mother nature's curse was supposed to arrive whether they were or not, because she just wouldn't show up. If Lori was pregnant, the child couldn't be Rick's, and that was the final catalyst for what was happening with Shane.
"I didn' know he'd gotten that bad," she told him.
"He's dangerous," Dale said.
"I think 'e's goin' ta get way worse, I'm afraid," Tea replied.
"Why do you say that?"
"He's litarally goin' mad, Dale," she said as they walked along, Dale offering his shoulder to lean on so more weight was off her ankle than just with the stick. "He's not goin' ta be takin' ordas for much longa, not that 'e's wantin' ta take 'em now. He's gonna get bolda in 'is actions and deny any wrong doin' or anythin' otha than what 'e wants ta believe. Delusions a grandeur, a fantasy becomin' reality, excessive aggression, erratic behavior. Dale, Shane's gone. The man we met at the quarry, he's dead, and the worst thing 'bout that is 'e wasn' much a a man as 'e was a beast in man's skin. Ya need ta tread carefully 'round 'im Dale or else ya could become a target for 'is anga, an even bigga one than me, Daryl, or Rick. He won' be hesitatin' ta kill much longa."
Daryl was walking up to the house as Shane got to it, taking the gun he offered. It was obvious he had been looking for her because as soon as he spotted her, he stormed over to her and took her from Dale with a nod at the old man. He gave her a dirty look, clearly not happy that she'd walked off on her own, but all Tea could do was shrug and watch Shane carefully as continued on his rampage. The man was stomping around like a damn hyena trying to defend its kill, handing out guns to anyone who would take one, including T-Dog and Andrea. Most of their group had congregated at the front of the house, Maggie, Beth, and Patricia joining them. Daryl took the better part of her weight right off the ground, essentially letting her hop around rather than put any weight on her ankle at all while they walked back to the group. Tea wanted nothing more than to make the kids go in the house as they stood around with their mothers while this maniac was on the rampage, but she didn't have that kind of authority when their moms were around whether or not there was a maniac standing within ten feet of the kids.
"Look, it was one thing sitting around here picking daisies when we thought this place was supposed to be safe. But now we know it ain't," she heard Shane say, offering a gun to Glenn, who reluctantly grabbed it after looking at Maggie, "How about you, man? You gonna protect yours? That's it. Can you shoot?" he asked the farmer's daughter.
"Can you stop?" she asked right back. "You do this, you hand out these guns, my dad will make you leave tonight."
"We have to stay, Shane,", Sophia said, noticing how Tea had begun to lean on Daryl more than her stick. "Miss Tea isn't well enough to travel."
"I'm fine, sweetie. I've dealt with worse and done more afta," Tea smiled at her, earning a concerned look from the girl and a glare from Carol.
"What is this?" Lori asked as she came out of the farmhouse.
"We ain't going anywhere, okay?" Shane assured the little girl. "Now look, Hershel, he's just gotta understand. Okay? Heβ well, he's gonna have to. Now, we need to keep the camp safe, am I right?" he said walking up to Carl and kneeling. "Now I want you to take this," he told the boy while holding out a gun. "You take it, Carl. You keep your mother safe. You do whatever it takes. You know how. Go on, take the gun and do it."
"Ya ain' 'is parent ta make that call, Shane!" Tea growled; giving knives for emergency purposes and training them was one thing, but Carl had been shot and had one day of weapons training! What the hell was the man thinking?! Right, she thought, he's goin' mad so he ain' thinkin', jus' doin'. Fuck.
Lori pushed her son behind her as soon as Tea was done talking and viciously told Shane, "Rick said no guns. This is not your call. This is not your decision to make."
Whatever arguments that were going to be made got cut off by T-Dog's expletive exclamation drawing the attention of most of the group. Even Tea couldn't believe what she was seeing and had immediately drawn a throwing knife as well as her gun as Rick came out of the woods following Hershel and Jimmy, two walkers on snare poles in front of them. They were leading the damn things to the barn as the entire group began running towards them, even Tea and the kids. Shane was by far in the lead with Daryl and T-Dog close enough behind to have their guns up by the time Shane was hollering right in front of Rick. Tea managed to get there at the same time as the others, her own handgun drawn in anticipation of what would come next in Shane's tantrum.
"What in the hell are you doing, man?!" Shane roared at Rick.
"Shane, just back off," Rick said.
"Why do your people have guns," Hershel asked.
"Ya said ya wouldn' do this, Shane!" Tea yelled.
"Are you kidding me?" Shane continued as he paced in front of the two. "You see? You see what they're holding onto?"
"I see who I'm holding onto," Hershel said.
"Just let us do this and then we can talk," Rick bargained desperately.
"What you want to talk about, Rick? These things ain't sick. They're not people. They're dead! Ain't gotta feel nothing for them 'cause all they do, they kill! These things, right here! They're the things that killed Amy! They killed Otis! They're gonna kill all of us if we do not β"
"Shane, shut up!" Rick roared above him.
"Hey, Hershel, man, let me ask you something. Could a living, breathing person, could they walk away from this?" he asked as he pulled his gun and shot the walker the older man was holding three times in the chest.
"No!" Rick shouted. "Stop it!"
"Shane, enough! Ya gotta stop!"
"Could someone who's alive, could they just take that?! Why is it still comin'?" the madman asked Hershel as he fired off two more rounds. "That's its heart, its lungs. Why is it still coming?" He fired another into its gut.
"Shane! Enough!" Rich shouted.
Pacing over to the corpse Shane said in a calmer, quieter voice, "Yeah, you're right, man. That is enough," before shooting it in the head as both Hershel and the walker dropped. "Enough riskin' our lives for shit that's just gonna slow us down! Enough living next to a barn full of things that are trying to kill us. Enough! Rick, it ain't like it was before! You can't have weak links and cracks in defenses if you want to survive! Now if y'all wanna live, if you wanna survive, you gotta fight for it!" He said as he tried to rile everyone up. "I'm talking about fighting right here, right now!"
Rick began pleading with Shane not to do what he was planning, but the man was too far gone in the head to even be able to hear his partner's words. The cacophony of Shane and Rick yelling over each other was greater than Tea was comfortable with and made her flinch as it only grew louder and louder as Rick began begging Hershel to take the pole he was still holding. Shane was not listening to reason as he took a pickaxe to the chains and boards keeping the barn door closed and hollered at the walkers inside. Lori had forced Carl behind her while standing way too close to the barn while Carol was standing the furthest away, Sophia in front of her with her knife in hand even as her mother pleaded with her to back away. It didn't take Shane long at all to get the door open and have his gun up and ready for the walkers that were inevitably coming. He was the first to start shooting along with Daryl, T-Dog and Tea coming up to help deal with the mess Shane had gotten them in, too.
Before Tea could even get her safety off, though Daryl literally shoved her back and made her fall behind him, hurting her ankle again in the process. The gunfire only lasted for a few minutes before it quieted down, every walker falling as Tea busy trying to make sure she hadn't popped her ankle out of place again. Whatever Daryl had been thinking when he'd pushed her away was not a good enough excuse in her mind. She wasn't the one who'd needed to be protected. She wasn't the one at the greatest of risk in the group, knowing how to shoot and use her knives. Whatever reason he had as an excuse to have done that would never be good enough to make sense to her as he came up and tried to help her stand. All she did was smack his hand away as she stood by herself, not even bothering to look at him in her anger.
