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After Shane's conversation with Cali it was safe to say that he was upset. Shane was pissed at himself for letting her walk away angry. He was also pissed that Lori had walked in on them. Shane was ready for Rick to know about their relationship. He was scared that Rick and Lori would use it to turn everyone else in the camp against him.
The Walsh man hadn't seen Cali since she stormed off. He knew he need to talk to her but now wasn't the right time. Shane was used to Cali getting angry, she needed to cool off for a little before he'd be able to have a proper conversation with her. So Shane decided that needed to focus on where the group was going to go from here.
Everyone in camp knew about Shane's plan to head to Fort Benning since the moment they set up camp. He felt like that was the best place for them to go but apparently nobody wants to agree with him anymore, at least not since Rick arrived. To Shane, it seemed like every one of his thoughts or plans were being questioned or they needed to be ran by Rick.
And he didn't like it one bit.
Shane had kept the group safe and fed for weeks before Rick showed up. It wasn't fair that his role as a leader was now being put second to Rick's.
"Say it!" Rick suddenly snapped pausing the movement of his shovel and looking at Shane. The two males were currently digging graves near their camp for the fallen members.
"Okay..." Shane sighed also pausing his movements to look at his friend. "I'm thinking if you'd of stayed here, if you'd have looked after your own... Instead you went off. You took half our manpower with you. I'm thinking maybe our losses wouldn't have been so bad."
"If we hadn't gone off and brought those guns back when we did, I think our losses would have been a lot worse." Rick sighs watching as Daryl drives his truck filled with bodies towards them. "Maybe the entire camp."
"I still think it's a mistake not burning these bodies. It's what we said we'd do, right?" Daryl huffs opening the bed of his truck and beginning to pile the bodies up by Rick and Shane's holes.
"At first." Shane sighs.
"The Chinaman gets all emotional, says it's not the thing to do, we just follow him along?" The redneck rolls his eyes remembering how Glenn freaked out on him.
"He's Korean." Cali's emotionless voice startles the trio, causing them all to turn in her direction.
"Whatever." Daryl scoffs at the teen before turning back to her father at the same time Lori joins the growing group. "These people need to know who the hell's in charge here, what the rules are."
"There are no rules."
"Well, that's a problem." Lori states looking at her husband. "We haven't had one minute to hold onto anything of our old selves. We need time to mourn and we need to bury our dead. It's what people do."
"What happens after that? We can't stay here anymore." Cali wonders looking at Shane and her dad.
Neither man had a definite answer to the teen's question. They didn't know what was going to happen once they left the Quarry. All Rick could do was hope that the C.D.C would work out. And all Shane could hope was that Rick's plan would fail and everyone would see that he isn't cut out to be their leader.
The funeral for the dead was pretty depressing in Cali's opinion. She shed a few tears as she watched Andrea lower Amy's body into the shallow grave. As much as the brunette tried to not get attached to the bubbly blonde her efforts were useless. Even though her and Amy weren't as close as she and Jade once were didn't mean Amy's death hurt any less.
Fortunately the funeral didn't last long. No one really wanted to stick around after the bodies were to put rest. The Grime's family were the last to leave the grave yard. Cali walked next to her younger brother as they listened to their parents talk.
"Burying other people is bad enough, but the thought of one of us..." Rick trailed off shaking his head.
"Shh." Lori hissed at her husband gesturing towards their children. She didn't want them hearing about such a sad topic.
"Are we safe now, dad? Now that we're together?" The young boy asked looking up at his father.
"We'll never be safe." Cali mumbled to herself not thinking anyone heard her, but her parents most definitely did.
"I won't leave again." Rick said seriously placing a firm hand on Cali's shoulder as he spoke to both her and Carl. "I promise you that. Not for anything." Carl nodded believing his dads words but Cali wasn't as easily persuaded. "Now give me a chance to discuss some things with your mom and sister, okay?"
The trio watched as Carl rushed off back to the camp mumbling something about going to play with Sophia
A moment of silence passes over them before Rick pulls Cali into a warm embrace. "I know I can't promise that I will be around forever but I want you to know that I will never purposely let anything happen to you or your brother."
"I know dad." Cali sighs returning his hug.
Lori watches the two with a feeling of guilt at the knowledge she holds. She doesn't want to jeopardize the relationship between the father and daughter but, Rick needs to know about Cali and Shane. She just hopes he doesn't look at their daughter differently once he finds out.
"Shane blames me for not being here. Do you?" The man asks looking between two of the most important people in his life. "We got guns now. We're stronger."
"And we have fewer people. That makes us weaker." Lori replies running a hand through her hair contemplating what to say to her husband. "You want me to say I think you were right?"
"I want you to be honest."
"Neither one of you is entirely wrong." Cali decided to speak up. "Shane's right about us not losing as many people if you would have stayed but you're right that we needed more guns. No one could have predicted that happening. It's no ones fault."
"What about the C.D.C.?"
"Rick..." The Grimes woman trails off.
"We're at the ragged edge here. We need relief and we got a sick man who needs help." Ricks snaps exasperdly. "I don't know why people can't see that."
"Well, look at their faces. Look at mine. We're all terrified."
"It doesn't matter if we go to Fort Benning or the C.D.C. we're taking a chance on both." Cali cuts in before her parents can start an argument. "We just have to hope that we make the right choice.
"How do we know if we're making the right choice?" Lori asks.
"We don't."
• | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | • here's chapter forty one this is kind of a filler chapter please let me know what you guys think vote/comment • | | | | | | | | | | •
