Didn't See That Coming | The Walking Dead(1)

Part 3 (Attack on the Quarry)

It was late in the afternoon. The bright sun was still beaming down on the quarry, the weather almost contradicted the moods of some people of the group. They guys left about 5 hours ago now. Most of the women were down by the water doing laundry. CJ was supposed to help them, but Lori had said she wasn't feeling good, so she asked CJ to stay with Carl. CJ was more than happy to do so: honestly, she would have agreed to anything if it meant getting out of doing laundry for one day.

They were currently sat on the ground in front of the RV. Carl was behind CJ, the pair sitting back to back while he was drawing random doodles on the paper in front of him and CJ was sharpening her knives.

"Um, CJ?" Carl asked almost nervously. CJ responded with a hum. "You used to teach people to fight and kill stuff right?"

CJ's eyes widened as she laughed and looked over her shoulder at the boy who had turned his whole body to look at her. "It's called self-defence and survival training, Carl," she chuckled out. Carl just stared at her with an obviously confused look and CJ sighed a bit and turned back to look down at her knife again. "But basically, y-yes." she stated, stuttering a bit and furrowing her eyebrows at just how bad it sounded.

"You think- you think you could teach me that stuff?"

"Well, I don't think your mom and dad would be too happy with me showing you how to punch and kick people," she spoke with a small laugh. "But maybe one day I'll teach you about hunting. I'll show you how to track stuff, navigate, find water. You'll be a pro."

"Really?!" Carl exclaimed with an excited smile as he got off the ground and came to stand next to CJ.

"Hell yeah!" she grinned. "Maybe one day I'll even show you how to shoot a bow and arrow."

"Awesome!" Carl responded as he wrapped his small arms around CJ. She returned his hug with a smile and a giggle.

The two quickly let go of each other and CJ stood up abruptly when they heard what sounded like fighting coming from where their people were working down by the water. She hurriedly told Carl to stay by the RV where Dale could see him and she ran down to see what was happening.

As she approached the group, she was greeted with the scene of the women huddled around a seemingly devastated Carol, all watching in horror as Shane was repeatedly punch Ed on the ground. They were all screaming at Shane to stop.

"You put your hands on your wife or anyone else in this camp again I'll kill you, ya hear me?" Shane spoke quietly through gritted teeth as he held Ed by the throat. The beaten man nodded his head as best he could and mumbled out a 'yes.' "I'll beat you to death, Ed," Shane whispered.

"Shane," CJ started calmly as she approached him as he stood up just staring down at a barely conscious Ed on the floor. "Walk away."

Shane looked up at the redhead, keeping the same angry expression on his face. CJ hated Ed and she completely understood why Shane would take his anger out on him, but this wasn't the way and she had to put her own emotions aside. The others continued to watch Ed from the side in shock, whilst Shane kept his gaze on CJ. She held eye contact with him and noticed his hesitation.

"You've made your point. Walk away. Now," she repeated a bit more firmly. Shane let out a scoff and stormed past her shaking his head as he headed back to the main camp.

It didn't take a detective to figure out what was bothering Shane. After noticing the tension that fell between him and Rick that morning, CJ worked it out. Shane and Lori clearly had something going on when they though Rick was dead. They tried to be discreet but after seeing how close they were and them disappearing a few times together, CJ put two and two together. She didn't really care, and it was none of her business. But if Shane was losing it, that's when it became an issue.