Daryl's Girl

Chapter 24

Before anyone could stop him, Shane shoved the gun back into his belt and sprinted across the field towards Rick. Daryl, Maggie, Glenn, Andrea, Tdog and Carol all running behind leaving Carl, Lori and I standing on the porch. I glanced over at the two of them and Lori nodded. She knew what was about to go down and so did I. It was only now that I understood why Maggie didn't want me to know. Now it all made sense.

We quickly threw the guns further onto the porch and the three of us set off after Shane, listening to his aggressive growls. "What is that? What is that?" He yelled, grunting as he continued to run towards Rick. That was when he threw the gate open and charged through, closely followed by Glenn and Daryl with the rest of us catching up from behind. "Now what the hell you doing!" He yelled again.

"Shane just back off!" Rick grunted back, trying to keep the walker he was holding under control. I looked at Hershal who was doing the same thing. The look in his eyes, I didn't know what to think, how to react at what I was witnessing.

"Why do your people have guns!" Hershal then barked, noticing the gun on Shane's belt first before seeing most of the group also holding one. He then looked at me and back at the walker in front of him, almost relieved I wasn't carrying one. There was no way I was encouraging Shane's behaviour. It was clear what he wanted from the get go and this was just an excuse. 

From the moment I met him, I noticed there was something off about him. The thing with Shane was that he's too predictable. He wants to be the alpha male and will stop at nothing to get what he wants and see both Rick and Hershal out of the picture. It didn't matter who got hurt in the process. My only hope was that the others finally see it and hold him accountable.

"Are you kidding me! You see...you see what they're holding onto!" Shane screamed, drawing my attention back to him. He was now blocking the way, making circles in front of Rick and Hershal, pointing and waving his arms. 

"I see who I'm holding onto!" Hershal yelled back and every part of me felt sorry for him. He didn't understand how these things worked, how they kill and destroy lives. There were better ways to deal with it. All Shane was doing was making it a whole lot worse. 

Maybe it wouldn't be such a bad idea if I did stay.

"Shane just let us do this and then we can talk." Rick grunted as he struggled with the walker in front of him again. I had a feeling Rick was on the same page as me, though, I couldn't really tell just yet. Was it a ploy to have Hershal let the group stay? Or did he genuinely want to help? Want to do this?

"What do you want to talk about Rick. These things ain't sick. They're not people. They're dead. Ain't gonna feel nothing for them 'cause all they do is they kill! These things right here." Shane wouldn't let up, pointing again at the walkers and moving away so that he wouldn't get grabbed. "They're the things that killed Amy. They killed Otis. They're going to kill all of us!" He continued. I don't know who Amy is, but I remember Carol mentioning the name on the day Carl got shot and by the look on Andrea's face when Shane said her name, I think she might've been some sort of relation. 

I turned around as I heard the sound of the gate and saw Lori holding Carl's hand as they walked through and toward us. Rick and Shane still yelling at each other. Once again Shane spouting a load of bullshit about Otis. I couldn't take it anymore.

"Shane, enough!" I spat, preparing myself to tell everyone the truth about what really happened to Otis that night. Whether they believed me or not.

"Hey, Hershal, man, let me ask you something. Could a living, breathing person walk away from this?" Shane asked, ignoring me as he pulled out his gun. He then aimed it at the walker Hershal was holding and shot it three times in the chest.

"Shane, that's enough!" Rick growled, but Shane still wasn't listening.

"That's three rounds in the chest. Could someone who's alive, could they just take that? Why is it still coming?" Shane aimed his gun again and let off another two shots. This time he hit it right through the heart. "That's its heart, its lungs. Why's it still coming?" 

"Shane!" I snapped again, attempting to get close enough to grab the gun. He spun on me quick, aiming right at my head. I stopped, looking him dead in the eyes, almost daring him to do it.

That was when Daryl put himself between us.

"You let lover boy protect you." Shane scoffed and everyone turned to me and Daryl. "Look here folks, we got ourselves some love birds." Neither of us said anything. If people hadn't worked it out by now, I should've known he'd be the one to throw it back in our faces. We'd tried to be discreet, but there was no point trying to hide it anymore. I wouldn't have gone as far to say love birds though after only one kiss.

"Shane, stop!" Rick snapped, but he didn't care.

"Yeah, you're right man. That is enough." Shane laughed, bringing his voice back down to a reasonable tone. He then walked right up to the walker Hershal was holding and fired a shot right into its brain.

The walker fell to the floor and Hershal went down with it, still holding the pole. He let go as the lifeless body stopped moving and lay in a heap in front of him. Everybody stepping back in shock as no one knew what to say about the events that had just unfolded in front of them. Daryl pushing me behind him before raising his gun on Shane. 

Behind me I turned and watched as Maggie ran to Hershal, who was now kneeling on the floor and Beth did the same, running into Jimmy's arms. Everything was all falling apart because of one asshole and I didn't know what to do.

"Enough risking our lives for a little girl who's gone." Shane raised his voice again and I glanced over at Carol. She looked broken. "Enough living next to a barn of things that are trying to kill us. Enough." Shane paused. "Rick, it ain't like it was before! Now if y'all want to live. If y'all want to survive. You got to fight for it! I'm talking about fighting, right here, right now!" Shane finally finished and before anyone could say anything, began running towards the barn doors.

I went to run after him, to try and stop him, but Daryl held me back. All of us just watching. 

It was too late.