Sheriff's Lover ||| Rick Grimes

20 ~ Threat

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And in plain sight you hid

But you are what you did

And I'll forget you, but I'll never forgive

The smallest man who ever lived

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"You're a fucking psycho!!" She shouts.

He rubs his head, where a bald spot is now, from a chunk being pulled out. "He was slowing us down."

She scoffs, as hot tears stream down her face. "We all could've made it! You didn't have to shoot him!"

"Elaina, we have to get back to Carl. I couldn't risk it."

"You are insane. You are genuinely insane. We could've fucking made it!"

He suddenly hits the brakes on the car, turning to face her in a brief second. He grabs her by the throat. She gasps and blinks away more tears as his hands wrap around her. "If you tell anybody, I swear to god, I will kill you."

She tries gasping for air, but he squeezes tighter. "Do you understand?"

She can't breathe. She nods slightly and he releases his grip on her.

She curls up against the passenger side door, holding onto her throat, where she is almost positive a bruise is forming.

They make it back to the farm and the headlights shine onto the house. Shane parks the car and hops out, bringing the bags up to Rick.

Elaina slowly gets out of the car and walks up.

Rick immediately notices her throat and shoulder. Shane's leg too.

"What the hell happened?" He asks angrily.

Hershel, who is standing on the porch, looks at the two. "Otis?"

Shane shakes his head. Elaina looks at the ground.

Hershel lowers his own head for a moment. "We say nothing to Patricia. Not till after. I need her."

Shane sighs and looks at Rick. "They kept blocking us at every turn. We had nothing left. We were down to 12 rounds. Then he said... he said he'd cover us and that we should keep going. So that's what we did. We just... kept going. But I... I looked back and he..."

"He wanted to make it right." Rick says, never taking his eyes off Elaina who stands near the truck, shaking.

Once Shane goes inside, Rick walks over to her and embraces her tightly. She winces as the pain in her shoulder persists. She hasn't set it back into place yet. She begins to sob into his chest.

He pulls away and gently touches her throat. "What-"

She just shakes her head, hugging him again.

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Elaina sits on the floor of the bedroom where Carl is asleep. The surgery went by smoothly, but he has yet to wake up.

Rick sits in a chair and Lori lays in the bed next to Carl. Glenn, and T-Dog sit outside on the porch.

Suddenly there's a groan and everyone sits up.

Carl is awake. He opens his eyes slowly and winces in pain. He smiles at the sight of Elaina.

He looks at his mom. "Sophia?"

Rick grabs his hand as a tear slides down his face.  "She's fine. She's fine."

Elaina sighs softly, saying nothing. Sophia isn't fine. They haven't found her. The search came to a halt when Carl was shot.

Carl coughs. "What happened Elaina?" He lifts his arm the tiniest bit to point at her neck.

Lori and Rick both turn and look at her expectantly, awaiting her answer.

She just smiles. "I'm fine. Rest, okay bud?"

He nods and the three adults leave the room.

Headlights shine through the windows and a motorcycle revs. They quickly make their way outside where the others are just arriving from the highway.

Daryl is the first to walk up. "How is he?"

Rick steps forward, blocking the headlights so he can see. "He's alive. Thanks to Hershel and his people. And Shane and Elaina. We'd have lost Carl if not for them."

Carol sighs. "Thank god."

Dale nods. "We were so worried."

"How'd it happen?" Andrea asks.

"Hunting accident. That's what all this was. A stupid accident..." Rick mumbles.

The group exchange hugs and quiet hellos. Everyone from Elaina's group asks her about her arm and neck. She doesn't give anyone a straight answer.

She wants to tell someone about what Shane did so desperately, but at the same time, she's terrified.

She saw what he did to Otis. He wouldn't hesitate to do it again. That makes her even more afraid. What if he snaps and kills someone else? Carl? Rick?

She shakes away the thoughts. He wouldn't kill his best friend. Right?

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The next day, Elaina's arm is in a sling. Hershel set her shoulder back into place and Daryl gave her some medicine from Merle's stash. The pain has already started to dissipate, and now the sling is just being annoying.

They all stand around near a large tree. A pile of rocks sits before them.

"Blessed be God, father of our lord Jesus Christ. Praise be to him for the gift of our brother Otis, for his span of years, for his abundance of character; Otis, who gave his life to save a child's, now more than ever, our most precious asset. We thank you, God, for the peace he enjoys in your embrace. He died as he lived, in grace." Hershel says.

They are holding a funeral for the man that Shane murdered. Of course, nobody knows that yet.

Except for Elaina.

He throws her warning glances every few minutes, to remind her of the threat from the prior night. She avoids his gaze, instead standing near Daryl.

Hershel turns to Shane. "Will you speak for Otis?"

Shane runs a hand through his freshly buzzed hair. "I'm not good at it. I'm sorry."

Patricia, one of the women from Hershel's group, who also happens to be Otis's wife, wipes a tear. "You were one of the last people to see him alive. You shared his final moments. Please. I need to hear. I need to know his death has meaning."

Shane throws another glance at Elaina as he steps forward. "Okay... We were about done. Almost out of ammo. We were down to pistols by then. I was limping. It was bad. Ankle all swollen up. Elaina's shoulder was popping out. 'We've got to save the boy.' See, that's what he said."

She looks at the ground. All the lies. Otis could've lived. He should've lived. Shane robbed him of that. They were almost free. Almost to the truck.

Shane continues. "He gave me his backpack. He shoved us ahead. 'Run,' he said. He said, 'I'll take the rear. I'll cover y'all.' And when I looked back... If not for Otis, we'd have never made it out alive. And that goes for Carl too. It was Otis."

He looks at Elaina once more. "He saved us all. If any death ever had meaning, it was his."

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