Dark Meat [Walking Dead]

Chapter Eleven

-Third Person-

The man laces fingers with his wife, simply enjoying the company of his family. "Disoriented, I guess that comes closest." He says to those around the fire. Long shadows are casted across Rick's face, making him look even more drawn. "Disoriented. Fear, confusion... All of those things, but disoriented comes closest."

Dale's lips tighten slightly as he says, "Words can be meager things. Sometimes they fall short."

"I felt like I had been ripped out of my life and put somewhere else." Rick looks over the intrigued expressions of the other survivors. "For a while I thought I was trapped in some coma dream, something I might not wake up from ever."

A chilly breeze blows through from the nearby forest, causing the flames to flicker. The silence stretches for a few moments only, however. "Mum said you died." Carl, Rick's son, mumbles looking up at the ghostly white face above him.

"She had every reason to believe that." He reassures, giving Lori's hand a light squeeze. "Don't you ever doubt that."

"When things started t-to get really bad, they told me at the hospital that they were gonna medevac you and the other patients to Atlanta. That never happened." For a brief moment, the woman's dark eyes flicker up to Shane's, locking on and silently conveying a deathly quite message.

Rick tilts his head slightly. "Well, I'm not surprised, after Atlanta fell."

"Yeah."

"And from the looks of that hospital, it got overrun."

"Yeah, looks don't deceive, I barely got 'em out of there, y'know?" Shane say almost guiltily, skimming the palm of his head across the thick hair on the back of his head. He chews his bottom lip in anxiety.

Rick looks up, pale blue eyes shining with untold happiness. "I can't tell you how grateful I am to you, Shane. I can't begin to express it." 

"There go those words falling short again..." Mutters Dale. The group is left to contemplate the entire situation for a few moments prior to Shane's incidnt with Ed. From waking out of a coma, midway through the zombie apocalypse and to find his family in the midst of everything is more than a miracle, except the situation wasn't picture perfect. Not in a physical sense, but an emotional one. Obviously, there is something very wrong.

Tension, something that had always hung over the group, thickens tightly as Shane returns wearing a stony expression. He resumes his seat but avoids Lori's sharp gaze.

"Have you given any thought to Daryl Dixon?" The white-haired man asks, voice sounding a little strained. Naturally the change of topic was one that requires great deligence. "He won't be happy to hear his brother was left behind."

Jacqui sighs briefly as her dark eyes flicker up from the fire. "Or Tessa. She's been having a real hard time lately, and this won't help." Rick looks over to her. "It might push her over the edge."

With elbows resting on his knees, T-dog groans inaudibly. Despite Merle's roudy behavious and recklessness, the guilt had all but fallen on him. "I'll tell him. I dropped the key, it's on me."

"I cuffed him, that makes it mine." The officer quickly argues solemnly.

"Guys, it's not a competition." Says Glenn tersely. Although he doesn't show it, his nerves are beginning to get the better of him, not only from fear of Daryl but out of worry for Tessa. "I don't mean to bring race into this, but it might sound better coming from a white guy."

"I did what I did. Hell if I'm gonna hide from it!" Comes the reply. T-dog avoids eye contact after that.

Amy sits up a little straighter, shifting under the weight of her older sister's arm. "We could lie?"