At the end of the world- A walking dead fanfic, Book 1

5- Something like that

Jim sweeped the shovel towards Theresa, only narrowly missing her. That act of violence made Kyllian snap. This was getting out of hand and dangerous. There was only one thing he could do. He dashed forward and tackled Jim to the ground with ease. Kyllian wrestled the shovel away from him with just as much ease.

"No, you got no right!" Jim cried out beneath him. He wiggled and tried to break free.

"Jim, just stop. I'm not going to hurt you, okay? Shh." He told him quickly, easing his grip on him. He felt Jim shake and sob beneath him. "Nobody's gonna hurt you." He repeated.

"That's a lie. That's the biggest lie there is." He sobbed quietly. "I told that to my wife and two boys. I said it a 100 times. It didn't matter. They came out of nowhere. There were dozens of them." He took a shaky breath. "Just pulled them right out of my hands." He paused briefly. "You know the only reason I got away was because the dead were too busy eating my family." He closed his eyes and sighed deeply, his fight was over for now.

None of them knew how to react. Jim had never talked about what happened to him, but they had all imagined the horrors he must've witnessed. But hearing him talk about it made it so much worse, it made it real. Dale opened his mouth to say something, but found himself unable to even form the simplest words. And he let go of Jim completely. Jim remained motionless, he was drained.

Theresa walked forward and helped him to his feet. Jim's body swayed, with everything drained out of him he was barely able to support his own weight. It was almost as if he was hollow. They brought him back to camp where they had him sit down in the shade against a tree. With his behavior still being unpredictable and possibly dangerous, Kyllian stayed back with him.

Shane approached him barely a couple of seconds later. "Is he alright?" He asked, concerned. Kyllian was never quite able to pinpoint whether or nor Shane's emotions were genuine, but this time Kyllian did believe so.

He peeked back over his shoulder at Jim. He seemed to be floating and Kyllian figured he wouldn't be able to hear him. "No." He told Shane honestly. "He wasn't going to stop, he became outright dangerous. I had to tackle him."

Shane snickered. "Your skinny ass? There's not a pound of muscle on you."

"It's all about technique." He shrugged. "But that's why I'm staying here with him, to make sure nothing happens."

"We could tie him up to make sure. I still have my handcuffs." Shane offered sincerely. "It would make sure nothing happens, for sure."

"No." Kyllian shook his head. "He needs help, not to be treated like a damn animal."

Shane pointed back over his shoulder. "Your sister..." His finger was pointed to the low table that functioned as a makeshift classroom for the children, led by Lori and Carol. "What if he gets to her? She can't defend herself."

"That's why I'm here." He hissed, ending the conversation with Shane.

Theresa came back with a bucket of water and bottle of cool drinkable water. She sat down next to Jim and used cool wet rags from the bucket to cool him down.

"Is that better?" she asked him.

He nodded silently. He wasn't ready to talk yet. He looked to the table where the kids were working on their school work and then back to Theresa. "Sorry if I scared them." He said weakly.

"You had sunstroke, no one's blaming you."

"But they're not scared of me now, are they?" He asked, a little bit louder this time. It was loud enough for the people at the table to hear him and all 5 heads turned his way. The three children kept their lips firmly pressed together and stayed quiet, they were scared.