Fall in Love or Fall Apart

Chapter 6

I woke up outside. I looked around and noticed I was outside Andrea's tent. I guess I must've fallen asleep here. I walked over to where everyone was eating. I grabbed a plate remembering my promise to eat more. I slowly ate, until Lori came and sat next to me.

"I saw where you fell asleep last night." I nodded at her in acknowledgement.

"Thank you for helping her last night." She got up and sat down next to Carol. They kept glancing over at me so I'm pretty sure they were talking about pizza... haha just kidding. Me.

I finished, putting my plate away and walked to the house. I went upstairs and sat down next to Beth. Everyone was still eating so I had some time to be with her. I told her about Dales death, and how I wish she was here. I saw something trickle down her cheek and saw she was crying! I wiped it away hoping she was "waking" up. But no movement. I went back to talking about missing her then I saw her eyes flutter. I rushed to her side. I hugged her tight.

"Water." She croaked.

I went downstairs to get some and as I did I ran to the front door calling out.

"Hershel!" Everyone stood up and looked at me as if they were asking what's happening. "Beth's awake." Everyone cheered and Maggie, Hershel, Jimmy, and Patricia followed after me. Beth sat there staring at nothing. Maggie hugged her sister while Hershel made sure she was healthy. I handed her the water and walled out leaving them to their reunion. I walked out and found Daryl.

"Daryl! Wanna go hunting before the service for Dale? I need to get my mind off things." He nodded and we were off. The service didn't start till sundown so we had a lot of time.

We walked around a while getting eleven squirrels each. I even had gotten a bird in mid-flight. That earned me a huge state of Awe from Daryl. I heard a crunch behind me and before Daryl could turn around I had shot the deer.

"Right eye. Every time." I said feeling proud. Daryl looked at me shocked.

"I knew you were good, but I didn't know you were now the reigning champ of the whole universe!" Daryl exclaimed exaggerating a little bit. We both laughed and he helped me carry the deer back to camp. We still had about three hours till sundown so I decided to make a big dinner for everyone. I skinned the deer and found some spices in Hershel's kitchen. I spiced the meat and chopped up some vegetables I "borrowed" from Hershel's garden. I put it in with the meat and cooked it. I set the table and poured a glass of water for everyone. Everyone was gathering around Dales grave so I ran out and stood beside Daryl. He leaned in and whispered.

"It was hard keeping everyone out of the house. They could smell your deer." He winked. Then Hershel began saying a few words from the bible. Rick walked up and told us that we weren't going to kill Randall and from now on, to honor Dale, we would do what Dale would want us to do. After I lead everyone inside. I pulled out the deer from the oven, that thankfully still worked, and set it down in the middle of the table. Everyone stared at it. Then to me.

"Well, I wanted to make us this, uh, feast to honor and pray for our loved ones. Annette, Shawn, Dale, Sophia, and many others. Let's raise our glasses to knowing they are now in a better place."

Everyone cheered and Daryl let out a "Boo-yah." We ate and everyone kept complimenting my cooking. I sat next to Carl who kept getting more.

"Looks like someone's hungry." I said mocking him from when he said it to me.

"Haha very funny and yes. It is the apocalypse. I'm always hungry." Carl now mocked me. I continued to eat my food. I stared at Beth who sat there in silence covering up her sadness with a fake smile. I knew because that's what I used to do.

After dinner everyone thanked me and went to go to bed. I went upstairs and sat down with Beth again. Maggie was spending some time with Glenn and now that she knew Beth would be okay she had relaxed.

"Will you lay with me?" Beth looked at me with her sad sad eyes.

I crawled into bed with her and she fell asleep. Then I followed a few moments later.

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I made Beth some chicken and put it on the tray. I walked up to Beth's room and placed it down.

"Once you finish will go for a walk." I told her.

I left and cleaned the kitchen. After about an hour I went upstairs to retrieve the tray. I grabbed it and walked downstairs. I put everything in the sink and noticed the knife was gone. I raced up stairs.

"Honey you don't want to do this give it to me." I said in a stern concerning voice.

She handed me the knife and I ran downstairs. I saw Maggie on the porch. I explained her the situation. Her eyes went wide and she raced upstairs. I saw Lori and Andrea arguing in the kitchen so I went outside. I sat down on the porch and read the medical books. I had stuffed them all in my bag so I didn't have to keep going inside and switching them out. I read for hours till I heard Maggie scream.

I ran upstairs and saw Maggie trying to get the bathroom door open.

"Beth locked herself in. I heard glass." Maggie said quickly still trying to get Beth to open the door.

I grabbed a metal pole next to the fire place. I jabbed it in between the door and the wall and pushed. The door snapped open and I saw Beth holding her bleeding wrist as she cried.

"I'm sorry."

Maggie held her as they went to go find Hershel. I walked past Maggie yelling at Andrea and went for a walk. My crossbow was slung across my back so I decided to go out and hunt. Hunting always calmed me down.

I saw a walker and shot it in the left eye. I pulled the arrow out and saw a group of about a dozen walkers coming my way. This is why I liked being by myself. I only had to worry about me. I climbed up a tree and shot the walkers down. I only had ten arrows so there were about 3 more walkers. I jumped down landing on the one closest to the tree. I stabbed its head and got up facing the other ones. I pushed one back and grabbed the other. Banging its head against the tree until it was smashed. The last one was right next to me. I shoved it back and fell backwards. I tried getting up, but the walker was already on top of me. I reached for my knife. It was all the way next to the tree. I grabbed a stick and pushed it slowly through the eye. It fell limp. I let out a breath exhausted. I retrieved all my arrows cleaning them. One snapped as I pulled it out of a walkers eye.

"Fuck!" I threw the now useless arrow aside. I loaded my crossbow as I readied myself and headed back to the farm. On the way I got 3 squirrels and a rabbit.

I walked by the shed where Randall was being kept. I got a water out of my game bag and opened the door to give it to him. He wasn't there. I ran up towards the tents.

"Did you guys kill Randall?"

"No. He's still in the shed." T-dog said.

"Well. He ain't now."

Everyone raced down and inspected the shed. All of a sudden Shane walked out of the woods. Saying the guy had hit him and ran. I doubt that. Daryl, Rick, Glenn, and Shane left to go look.
I went back to the house with Carl. He sat there looking out of his binoculars. Then he left. I followed him. He was heading towards the fields. I ran into the woods getting there before him. I saw Shane beating up Rick saying he was better for Lori and Carl. I ran up pointing my crossbow at him. Suddenly the tables were turned and Rick said something I couldn't make out. And killed Shane. Rick looked up at me. I gave him a smile saying I understood. Then I noticed Carl. Rick turned to see what I was looking at. Carl pointed the gun in his direction. Rick put his hands up begging Carl to understand. What he didn't see was that Shane stood up and was walking towards him. He was a walker. I pointed my bow at him, and I signaled Carl. He shot Shane and Rick turned to see his now fully dead ex-best friend. Rick ran to Carl engulfing him in a hug. I heard the all to familiar moans and turned around. Walkers.