Angel With A Shotgun (Walking Dead Fanfic)

Chapter 31: Man periods

Hi,
As always I'd just like to say thank you from the bottom of my heart.
I also wanted to let you know that this book is ending it's inevitable end with only three chapters coming after this one.
Love as always, Tasha xox
_____
Chapter Thirty One


Man periods


▬ First Person- Shane’s P.O.V ▬ 


      Once the ring of the gunshot had ceased, the only sound echoing around the Greene farm was the howls of a mourning mother, the howls and sobs of Carol who was currently lying on the floor completely broken. I silently wondered whether she would ever be full again or whether she would remain that broken for as long as she would live. I wished that she would be full again, I really did.

     Daryl successfully managed to place Carol back onto her feet again, attempting to get her to look away from the walker that was once her daughter. As soon as she was on her feet she pushed Daryl away from her, still sobbing, she takes off behind me alone.

     Now another set of sobs erupted, this time they were from the petite blonde girl who was clinging onto Jimmy. Beth, I think. Without a struggle, she escapes Jimmy’s embrace and hurries over to the dead reanimated corpse that was once her step mother, to mourn.      

     “Shhhhhhh.” Rick attempts to shush her as she goes to pass him. “Wait,” he tells her but she continues to waddle on. “Wait.” He reached out for her arm but didn’t make a grab for it as she ignored him and passed him right by. Near one of the dead corpses, she kneels down.

     “Ma.” Beth sobbed, lifting the arm of another dead walker who had fallen by her walker mother’s side, off of her. “Ma.” She whispers softly but this was the only thing being said in camp so everyone could here her. Desperately, she turned her mother over so she could see her face.

     All of a sudden, the walker began to snarl and grab at Beth’s pig tails in order to drag her down to get a taste of her flesh. Her screams kicked everyone into action. Orders were barked as I suddenly found myself beside Rick, pulling Beth to her feet whilst Glenn removed the walker off of her. Hershel, Maggie and Jared ran to her aid whilst T-Dog started to try to kick in the walkers head.

     Suddenly, a scythe was driven through the reanimated Annette’s head and ended the struggle. Before I could catch my breath, the scythe was withdrawn from Annett’s head causing her to drop down to the ground before the scythe was dropped down to the floor as well.

     My eye line raised, just in time to catch a glimpse of my sisters blood splattered face. Breathing heavily, she simply turned away and walked away. I found myself going in her direction before I stopped myself. We wouldn’t be in this situation if it weren’t for Hershel. Turning myself around, I saw the back of Hershel and Patricia who were escorting Beth back to the barn with Maggie, Jared, Jimmy, Glenn and Rick walking along with them.

     “We’ve been out.” I started, making it my mission to catch up with them. The mission was very easy to achieve. “We’ve been combing these woods looking for her and she was in there all along?” I voiced my concern, stalking behind the Greene family, Rick and Glenn.

     “Leave us alone!” Maggie barked at me, refusing to turn around and face me as she continued to walk alongside her brother who had his arm around her.

     “Hey,” Glenn said, gaining my attention but not my eye line, I was still set on following the Greene’s and getting answers out of them. “Shane,” he addressed me directly, but I still marched onward. “Just stop, man.” He pleaded, backing up his little girlfriend whilst Rick attempted to stop me in my tracks.

     “Get your hand off me.” I snapped at Rick, marching straight passed him without so much as a turn of my head. “You knew.” I pointed out, badgering them for an explanation or an answer. “You knew all this time and you kept it from us.” I accused them.

     “I didn’t know.” Hershel denied.

     “That’s bullshit.” I spat, still speeding behind them, I could see that they were hoping to loose me but nothing was going to keep me from a confession of the truth. We deserved that. Ellie deserved that. “You know what I think? I think y’all knew.” I blamed them.

     “Well, we didn’t.” Jared replied curtly with a slight turning of his head to look at me out of the corner of his eye. “So, you know what I think?” he questioned me with a slight tilt of his head. “I think you should leave my family and I the hell alone!” he narrowed his eyes at me.        

     “Why was she there?”

     “Your……” Hershel began before cutting himself off, allowing Patricia and Beth into his home whilst he turned around to face me dead on. “Otis put those people in the barn,” he told me. “Maybe he found her and put her in there before he was killed.” He lied.

     “You expect me to believe that?” I questioned him, disbelieving his ‘explanation’. “What do I look like?” I asked him, cocking my head at him whilst Rick placed his hand on my chest to try and ‘control’ me. “Do I look like an idiot to you?” I enquired.

     “Shane, hey, hey, hey.”

     “I don’t care what you believe!” Hershel roared at me whilst Rick tried to calm down the situation, failing, as usual. “Get him off my land!” he yelled at Rick who looked at him speechless, shaking his head, opening his mouth to ‘sort’ the situation.

     “Let me tell you something.” I passed Rick and went to close the space in between Hershel and I.

     “Hey!” I heard a roar from behind me but I didn’t respond to it. Next thing I knew Ellie popped up in front of me and shoved me backwards by my chest. “Don’t you dare touch him!” she said, shoving me back even further with a lot more power than I expected. Instantly, I recoiled. “Haven’t you done enough damage already?” she spat at me before passing by me again.

     “El-”

     “I mean it. Off my land.”      

     “Ellie” I called after her but she refused to respond, marching in the direction of camp. Without another thought, I went to go in her direction but I felt my arm being grabbed. “Get off of me, Rick.” I shrugged him off of me, walking a few steps in Ellie’s direction.

     “What are you doing?”

     “What am I doing?” I questioned him, turning my gaze onto him rather than Ellie. “What am I doing?” I nearly laughed. “What are you doing?” I demanded.

     “I’m am staying here and I am allowing Ellie to take whatever amount of time and space she needs right now.” Rick informed me causing me to open my mouth. “No, Shane. Just give her some time? I’m asking for her sake, not mine.” He enforced causing me to look to Ellie before sighing and looking back to him.

     “Fine.” I snapped at him. “But you should know that my sister, our sister, nearly died out looking for Sophia.” I reminded him. “She could have, any one of us could gave and I am gonna tell you right now: That son of a bitch, he knew.” I told him, pointing at the ranch house.

     “He didn’t know. He’s not like that. He opened his home to us.”

     “He put Ellie in danger, he put Carl in danger.” I muttered under my breath but loud enough so he could hear and hopefully see sense. “Put us all in danger.” I raised my voice a little so that I was now speaking at normal volume. “Man, he kept a barn full of walkers.” I tried to reason with him.

     “So you just start an insurrection, hand out guns and massacre his family?”

     “His family’s dead, Rick.

     “Well, he doesn’t believe that.” Rick argued with me. “He thinks you just murdered them in cold blood.” He said, pointing out the other point of view. It didn’t even deserve to be a point of view, it was stupidity and delusion, a mere hallucination. “I was handling it, brother.” he told me. “I was handling it, Shane, and you just went ahead and started a masa-”

     “You had us out in those woods looking for a little girl that every single one of us knew was dead!” I interrupted him giving him a huge dosage of reality. “That’s what you did Rick.” I growled at him fiercely. “You’re just as delusional as that guy.” I scoffed at him. “You handling it, huh?” I spat whilst I walked away.


▬ First Person- Daryl’s P.O.V ▬ 


     “How is Carol?” I was questioned as soon as I opened the door of the RV to exit. Glancing downwards, I saw that it was Thea who was standing at the steps of the RV. Immediately, I closed the door so that Carol could have the privacy she desired before stepping down the steps.

     “How do you think she is?” I retorted with another question as I barged passed Thea who was blocking the only way I could get off of the stairs. “She’s just lost her little girl, Thea.” I breathed along with a sigh. “Do you seriously need to ask that?”

     “I’m sorry, Daryl, I just…….” Thea trailed off along with a sigh of her own. With another exhale, she readjusted herself and recomposed herself. “You know what?” she questioned as I continued to walk. “Forget it.” She dismissed it causing me to turn back and look at her. “Have you seen Electra by any chance?” she questioned me, she was extremely stressed for a composed person.

     “No,” I told her, turning away again and continuing to walk before curiosity got the better of me. “Why?” I enquired, turning around to face her again with an arched eyebrow.

     “Because she may or may not have-”

     “Thea.”

     “No one can find her anywhere.” Thea admitted. “She just sort of shoved Shane in some kind of dispute and then took off, she marched into camp and I tried to speak to her but then she just speeded straight through camp without so much as a look at anybody else.” She explained to me.

     “What direction?”

     “She doesn’t have any weapons, I lied to Shane saying that she just wanted to be alone and wanted to hunt because I didn’t want to worry him-”

     “Where-?”

      “So I hid her bow and arrow in her sleeping ba-”

     “Thea! Which way did she go?”

     She pointed in the direction of the fields.

      “Thank you.”


►►►


▬ Third Person- No one’s P.O.V ▬ 
 

     Electra had never felt so much like a passage in her whole life, she had just been ‘returned’ to camp by Daryl then passed onto Thea. After being harassed by everyone around her (particularly Dale and Thea) she had taken to residing in peace and solitude.

     Finally entering camp once more, Shane sighed as he saw his sisters silhouette inside the red tent that seemed to resemble blood rather than ruby’s now. Out of the corner of his eyes, Rick glanced at Shane wondering what his next step was going to be.

     Shane approached the tent carefully and sank down to his knees in front of the entrance. Slowly, he reached for the zip, fumbling around with it in his hands before sighing once more. He resisted the urge to call out to her and began to gently unzip the entrance to see Electra lying on her sleeping bag facing away from him.  

     “What do you want, Shane?” Electra questioned curtly, not bothering to even attempt to face the intruder, she didn’t need to, she already knew it was Shane. Not even Stacie was the persistent (let alone the fact that she was inside the house with Carl) and Rick respected her enough to give Electra her much needed space. 

     “To see how you are.” Shane stated, squatting down inside the tent not bothering to zip the entrance back up. “Look, I know you’re pissed at me but-”

     “Now, why on earth would be pissed at you Shane?” Electra retorted, cutting him prematurely. “It’ not like you just massacred the whole Greene extended family and got us kicked off the farm is it?” she questioned. “Oh wait, you did.” She said harshly.

     “El-”

     “No, Shane.” Electra sat up vividly and faced him, her face dirty and fierce. “You just ruined everything for no reason at all.” She snapped at him causing him to open his mouth. “No, just stop.” She interrupted him again. “You give this big talk about doing what needs to be done. Yeah, maybe that needed to be done but it did not need to be done in that way, that was just cruel, Shane.” She said, ranting at Shane. “And you know what’s the worst thing? You couldn’t even do it. What needed to be done was to shoot Sophia, but you didn’t, Rick did. It’s fine doing what needs to be done when it doesn’t affect you, isn’t it?” she spat bitterly before collapsing back down on her sleeping bag, back to facing the blood red fabric that made up the tent.

     “You can’t stay mad forever.” Shane pointed out but his sister didn’t react. “Come on, Ellie. For all we know we could die tomorrow, and I for one don’t want to die with my sister being angry at me.” he pleaded but then he noticed her stillness.   ”But that’s not what’s wrong, is it?” Shane observed, glancing over at his sister carefully, she was now shaking ever so slightly.

     “You reminded me of dad.”

     If you could pinpoint the exact moment that Shane’s heart broke in two, it was right after the word ‘dad’ had come out of his sister’s mouth. Now, Electra was full out ugly crying into her sleeping bag and had been doing so before hence the trembling.

     “Oh, Ellie.” Shane said, tears nearly forming in his own eyes. He was truly and utterly disgusted. He, in his rage, had become his father who he hated with passion. Electra, still to this day, was terrified of her father and even more terrified of Shane ever becoming anything like him.

     Without so much as another word, Shane closed the space in between them and wrapped his strong arms around her, shushing her. Electra didn’t turn around, she was too caught up in sobbing to do so. Her tears felt warm as they felt on Shane’s strong forearm. Now he was pretty much apologizing and begging for her forgiveness infinitely in mumbles and murmurs that only she could here.   

     I never meant you any harm, Ellie.  


▬ First Person- Electra’s P.O.V ▬ 


     Finally, I had managed to drag myself from within my sorrow and from within my tent and was now watching on as Shane came to finish digging the last grave. It would be another funeral. Sure, it wasn’t as big as the last one but this was different. This was Sophia we were burying, little Sophia. This was something else, a whole new heart-breaking ordeal... a loss of hope.

     “Electra?” A voice snapped me out of my thoughts. Turning my head, I laid my eyes upon Lori who was standing right in front of me. I must have been thinking pretty deeply not to notice her disappearing from beside Shane and walking up to me. “They’ve stopped digging the graves,” she said. ‘No, duh.’  “Someone needs to get Carol, for the funeral…..” she trailed off awkwardly.

     “I’ll do it.” I sighed with a slight nod, glancing down towards the dirt. I made my way towards the R.V but Lori placed her hand on my shoulder, telling me that that wasn’t what she was asking. Nevertheless, I gently knocked against the R.V door before nervously stepping inside. I was slightly surprised by the sight of Daryl sitting on the counter, but that wasn’t important, I immediately wrapped my arms around Carol who was sat motionless at the table.

     “They’re ready.” Lori announced, obviously having followed me inside the R.V and standing somewhere behind me. I didn’t remove my arms from around Carol despite the fact that she didn’t seem to be hugging me back….or making any move. “Come on.” Lori urged her, but still she didn’t move.

     “Why?” As soon as this question was uttered from Carol, I removed my arms from around her and moved back slightly. This wasn’t out of disgust or anything, this was out of shock and in order to see her expression. Her face was cold and emotionless.

     “Cause that’s your little girl.” Daryl answered for me, as I readjusted myself on the seat.

     “That’s not my little girl.” Carol denied bluntly, causing me to bite into my lip. “That’s some other thing.” She pointed out. “My Sophia was alone in the woods. All this time I thought……” she started but cut herself short with a sigh. “She didn’t cry herself to sleep. She didn’t go hungry. She didn’t try to find her way back.” She announced softly. “Sophia died a long time ago.”

     I was the first to see that we would be unable to change her mind and stood up. Before walking away, I pecked her on the cheek. With a sombre look, I stepped outside of the R.V with Daryl and Lori hot on my heels. As I walked a little further, I could feel a presence behind me.

     “She would have bled out for five minutes at least.” I told whoever it was with my head hung a little. “Five minutes, she died in pain.” I breathed. “In the CDC I promised….I-I promised her that-” I stopped myself. “I promised her that she wasn’t going to die, I promised her that we were going to beat this world…..all of us……..” I gulped. “What kind of person makes a promise to a child that they can’t keep?” I questioned, crossing my arms.

     “A good one.” The soft familiar southern drawl came along with arms wrapping around me. Rick. Slowly, I turned into a short embrace which ended with a small kiss being placed on my forehead. “Come on.” He urged whilst backing out of the hug, holding a hand out to me.

     Sniffing, I gladly took Rick’s hand. He squeezed it comfortingly before I allowed him to slowly lead me out to where the three graves had been dug and where the service was being held. We were the latest arrivals and Rick immediately dropped my hand to walk over to his son who’s glance was fixated to the ground along with everyone else’s.  My hand immediately found Stacie’s and held on tight.

     Silence.

     No words were said, no looks were exchanged….just silence.

     It wasn’t a service.

     It was a silent goodbye.

     The first to walk away was Shane who was no doubt still feeling awful about the whole ordeal. I knew he did the right thing, I just wish, for everyone’s sakes as well as my own, he had found a more affective and calm way to carry it out. It was too late now. The damage was done.

     It would come as no surprise when we would have to move on from the farm, I think most survivors had heard Hershel’s shouting at Shane to get off of his land beforehand. Those who hadn’t would most definitely be suspecting such a thing. Whilst I was in the R.V, I has taken my own gun which was placed in my holster along with an ownerless gun that was stuffed into my belt.

     “Hey, Stace?” I called out to the little girl who was currently walking in the direction of camp. Slowly, she turned towards me. “Would you come here for a second?” I questioned causing her to nod and head towards me whilst I retrieved the ownerless gun. 

     “Hi.”

     “Look, Stace.” I started off hesitantly, licking her lips before sighing. “I need you to do something for me.” I told her whilst crouching down so that we were at eyelevel. “I need you to take this.” I told her nervously, holding the gun out to her. Immediately, I could see Stacie cringe and back away ever so slightly. “Stacie, you know I wouldn’t be telling you to do this if it weren’t important. You need to be able to protect yourself. I don’t want you to end up like Sophi-” I attempted to reason with her.

     “NO!” Stacie screamed before turning on her heal and running away from me. I considered calling or running after her but decided against it. Instead I watched on, seeing her scoot towards camp, no doubt with tears sparkling in her baby blue eyes.

     “It’s hard being the bad guy………” A voice came from just behind me as I stuffed the gun back into my belt. “Isn’t it?” They questioned as I turned around to meet Jared’s watchful leaf green eyes. “I know where you’re coming from, I really do.” He told me.

      “Really?” I questioned him with a raised eyebrow, causing him to nod in confirmation. “To me it seems like whatever I do, I’m doing the wrong thing.” I told him. “I even told Daryl this morning that we were going to find Sophia…..I just didn’t think we were going to find her like this.” I bit my lip.

     “I knew.”

     Immediately, I stiffened up and angled my head so that I was staring directly into those pretty green eyes, right into Jared’s soul. I was hoping that I had heard that wrong or that he was referring to something else or that he was joking about that, but I didn’t and he wasn’t.

     “You-” I started off before cutting myself off and placing a finger on my lips. “You knew. I stuck up for your family this morning and you……you knew!”

     “Ele-”

     “No, Jared!” I stopped him prematurely, I did not need to hear whatever pathetic excuse he was prepared to feed me. “You don’t get the right to excuse yourself…..you know why? Because there are no excuses, Jared!” I spat at him. “You watched us, this whole time, you watched us go out looking for Sophia. Daryl and I could have died out there. You and Jimmy even joined in to help us, even though you knew she was gone….this whole time.” I yelled at him, before breathing heavily. “You knew…..this whole time…….”

     “My father never wanted you or your people on his land in the first place!” Jared yelled back at me causing me to flinch wildly. “He would have thrown you out on your asses the second Carl was on his feet if it weren’t for the fact that you were searching for Sophia!” he snapped. “By not telling you she was in there, I kept you alive.” He yelled at me causing me to grimace.

     “Oh well, I’m glad to know you have so much faith in me, Jared!” I retorted with a sarcastic chuckle. “You don’t know me, Jared. You don’t know my brother, you didn’t know Sophia and you sure as hell don’t know me.” I shouted at him. “You don’t know any of us, you don’t know what any of us have been through. Don’t you even dare pretend that you did this in our best interests.”

     “Electra!” The call of a wild looking Lori caused me to stop yelling at Jared and turn to her instead. “We need you.” She told me causing me to raise an eyebrow at her. “It’s Beth.”


►►►


▬ Third Person- No one’s P.O.V ▬ 


     “Moving to the suburbs I see?”

     Daryl glanced at her from the corner of his eye once before bringing his gaze back to where he was sharpening sticks for arrows. He said nothing. She had invaded his own little camp. Why couldn’t she just stay back with the others? He asked himself mentally. He had moved here for more space and solitude after all, did no one respect?

     “Listen…..” Electra trailed off, finally having reached her final destination of towering up high right in front of Daryl whose eyes were still diverting her own. She wasn’t too sure whether he was ignoring her or as to whether he was concentrating on whittling. “You know, if you adjust your angle a little bit you’ll find a sharper edge.” I advised him, but he didn’t pay me any attention.

     “I know how to whittle, Electra.” Daryl told her causing Electra to sigh. He was back to calling her Electra again, just great. “Luckily, otherwise I would be left with no arrows. You’ve been so busy doing whatever it is you do to whittle me the arrows you owe me.” he pointed out causing Electra to roll her eyes. “Now, something tells me you didn’t come down here to give me whittling lessons.” Daryl stated, continuing to whittle.  
  
      “Alright, we’re back to this now are we?” Electra sighed loudly enough for Daryl to be able to hear her but softly enough for him to be able to fool her into thinking he hadn’t. “And there goes me thinking we had evolved.” She murmured under her breath. “Right.” Electra coughed, getting back on track. “Listen, Beth is in some sort of catatonic shock.” I explained. “We really need Hershel right now.”

     “Yeah.” Daryl confirmed that he had been listening but the casualness in his tone was easily able to fool Electra into thinking that he hadn’t. “So what?” This question made it official- Daryl was, once again, playing the douchebag character very well.

     “So…..” Electra continued on in her explanation, taking all her might not to start another argument. “Lori needs you to run into town real quick and bring him, Rick and Glenn back.” I informed him. “I would go myself but I have to hold down the fort with whatever crappy medical knowledge I have.” I continued in explanation but once more, Daryl appeared not to be listening.  “Earth to Daryl?” Electra sung out.

     “Your bitch went window-shopping.” Daryl spat back at her without bothering to meet her eyes which were now full of shock and disbelief. “You want him?” he questioned, adjusting the angle of his hunting knife ever so slightly. “Go and fetch him yourself.” He suggested.

     “Okay…..hold up a minute.” Electra told Daryl, adjusting her stance and placing her hands clasped, in front of her own face. “(A) I don’t know whether you’re referring to Rick but either way: Rick is not my bitch.” I clarified. “(B) I just told you: I can’t.” I reminded him calmly. “And (C) What the hell is wrong with you?” she demanded, her southern drawl coming through real nice.

     “Nothing is wrong with me, Electra.”

     “Stop calling me ‘Electra’!” Electra snarled at him. “And there clearly is something wrong with you because you are not this person, Daryl Dixon.” Electra stated but Daryl was ignoring her. “Okay, just tell me this….are you bipolar or something? I am being dead serious, because there is seriously something wrong with you. One minute you’re all hero material and nice and the next minute you are one cold bastard.” She voiced her concerns.

     “I’m not bipolar, Electra.” Daryl growled, placing his finger on the top of the arrow, drawing blood. “I got better things to do, so if you want those idiots, I aint helping you.” he told her emotionlessly. “I’m done looking for people.” He growled.

     “Clearly.” Electra spat with a clear glare on her face before pivoting in the direction of the Greene house and marching away from Daryl’s stupid little pathetic excuse for a camp. When arriving at the Greene house, she informed Lori of the news before setting herself down on the steps to the porch moodily. It wasn’t long before T-Dog sank down next to her whilst she sighed.

     “Tell me something, T.” Electra said, not bothering to turn to face him, instead she placed her elbow on her knee and rested her head in the palm of her hand. “When guys spend lots of time together, do their man periods get aligned?” she questioned causing T-Dog to chuckle.

     “What?”

     “You know…..” Electra started off unenthusiastically, not really paying attention to her own speech. “Like women’s are meant to?” she questioned but T-Dog was still cocking his head at her. “Well, lately it seems like the only two people who are solid are you and Dale.” She admitted.

     “You seem upset.” T-Dog pointed out. “You’re not the only one.” He explained causing her to face him with curious eyes. “Stacie.” That was when Electra let out a sigh. “Yeah, she was pretty shaken and I don’t think it was just about Sophia….I take it you know what I’m on about.”

     “Yeah……” Electra trailed off. “My sense of timing wasn’t completely skilful not considerate.” She admitted with yet another sigh. “I asked her to take a gun….I know, I know. I don’t need any judgy looks, I know I was in the wrong. I just don’t think I can take it if she ends up like Sophia, you know?”

     “She won’t.”  


►►►


     “They should have been back by now.” I heard Andrea point out whilst I was holding a jug underneath the running tap in the Greene kitchen. I pretended that I hadn’t felt a shiver go down my spine at her words and turned the tap off before making my way into the dinning room.

     “Yeah.” Shane agreed as I set the jug down on the aged oval table. “They just got holed up somewhere.” He hypothesized as I sank down on the seat in between Shane and Stacie, Stacie of which, was playing with the food that she had been given.

     “We’ll head out first thing in the morning.” I made the decision causing Shane to nod in agreement. “Could you pass me the water jug please, sweetie?” I questioned Stacie causing her to reach over for the jug, holding it out to me with her little arm. Before I could take the jug from her, her arm collapsed under the weight causing the jug to tip over. Shit. I sprung up from my seat in shock but I was too late, my jeans were already soaked right through. 

     “I’ll go get some kitchen towels.” Maggie stated, squeezing through the gap between my chair and the wall and making her way back into the kitchen as I cringed. Urgh, wet jeans. There was no way I was bothering to change again, I’ll just have to deal with it. “Here you go.” She said as she offered me some to dry my jeans whilst she rubbed furiously at the table surface.

     “Why don’t you just go sit at my seat for now, Electra?” Patricia pointed at the seat that was on the other side of Shane. Muttering, in agreement I went to pass Stacie who looked very apologetic and whispered a short ‘sorry’. I simply ruffled her hair to know that she was forgiven whilst I passed her and eventually set myself down on the seat besides Shane, the plate full. Smiling in a form of thanks, I looked to Patricia. “Welcome.” She told me before moving on in order to serve Thea.

     “Carl,” Shane addressed the boy who was looking down at the table, no doubt in worry. “I want you to keep your head up, okay?” he cocked his head in attempt to get a better view of the boy who was now looking up at him through his eyelashes. “Your old man, he’s the toughest son of a-”

     “No cussing in the house.” Patricia said before he could finish.

     “Sorry.” Shane apologised. For some reason, a reason which I was unable to identify myself…..Shane had been the most respectful to Patricia out of all the Greene’s. It was definitely apparent through any interaction he had with her. Maybe he still felt responsible for her husband’s death.  

     “Lori, dinner!”

     “She’s not in there.”

     “Where is she?” I questioned Carol who had spoken before me who just looked blank. “Carl,” I addressed him as I turned towards him. “When’s the last time you saw your momma?” I interrogated him instead causing his eyes to slowly raise to meet my own.

    
▬ Third Person- No one’ P.O.V ▬ 


     “Why’d you do that?” Electra questioned him as she tread further into Daryl’s little camp. Daryl’s refused to react to the intruder. He knew too well but to give into Electra Walsh so easily. “Awe, were your makeshift arrows to crappy to use so you had to burn them instead?” Electra teased him with mock sympathy and a mocking pout on her lips.

     “Electra, I-” Jared began to warn her, watching the dangerous glint that had suddenly arisen in Daryl’s eyes as his eye line was raising up Electra. Jared had always been fearful of Daryl, Daryl was a loose cannon but he had always seemed to be on good terms with Electra. But now? He wasn’t so sure.

     “No, Jared.” Electra cut him off abruptly. “You don’t get to talk to me, you have been stripped of that right.” She said maliciously. “You should be glad that I didn’t rat you out by there, you’re only here cause my brother paired us up.” She spat. “Now, go do both of us a favour and piss off.” She told him dismissively. “Lori’s missing.” Electra updated Daryl on the situation as her eyes followed Jared disappearing into the night. “Rick, Glenn and Hershel still aint back.” She stated, her eyes trailing right back to Daryl’s face.

     “That dumb bitch must’ve gone looking for them herself.” Daryl mused to himself causing Electra’s eyes to widen noticeably. She had figured as much but she had been hoping her instincts were wrong. Lori….alone…….pregnant…..looking for Rick…..bad, bad, bad idea. “Yeah,” Daryl confirmed. “She asked me to go out to search for them shortly after you did, I guess I got you to thank for that.” Her murmured causing her to place a hand on her hip.

     “And?”

     “And what?” Daryl enquired aggressively. “Told her the same as I told you.” Electra rolled her eyes at this. “Told her I was done being an errand boy,” he told her causing her to sigh. Yes, done being errand boy and back to being a pain in the ass instead.      

     “God dammit, Daryl.” Electra raked a hand through her unruly hair. “And you didn’t think to mention anything?” Gaining no response, Electra sighed and pivoted in the direction of the Greene house before she stopped herself. “Don’t do this, Daryl.” She said calmly, turning back. “Daryl, please…..please don’t do this.” She pleaded. “We’ve already lost Sophia.” She stated.

     “Yeah,” Daryl pushed himself up to his feet before closing the space that lay in between the two. “That wasn’t my problem neither.” He said causing Electra to look him up and down before backing up.

     “Whatever.”

     And with that, Electra turned on her heal and began to rush towards the Greene house. She could shed some light on the current situation because, unlike Daryl, she would chose to share the Intel with the group. When she arrived, they were all in mid conversation.

     “Guys!” Electra called out, waving her hands and gaining their attention as she travelled towards Shane, T-Dog Carl, Andrea, Thea, Stacie and Dale.

     “What’d you get?”

     “She asked Daryl to go into town to look for them.” Electra informed them as she caught her breath. “Must’ve gone off by herself.” She stated causing tears to gather in Carl’s eyes. “Hey,” she reached out to comfort him as he began to sob but he began to run off. “Carl.” Electra took a step forward, seeing that he was running in the direction of the Greene house. She sighed.

     “Did you know about this?” Electra overheard Shane’s enquiry causing her to turn around and see him standing dangerously close to Dale.

     “No.”

     “Look, just,” Shane started before sighing and looking down, showing the concern and worry on her face. “Just…..” he exhaled once more and placed a hand over his mouth and taking a deep breath. “Did she take a gun, Dale?” he questioned causing Dale’s eyes to broaden.   

     “I don’t know.” Dale expressed to him, innocently, which of course- he was. “I wouldn’t let her go out there alone.” He voiced honestly.

     “Look,” Shane turned so that he was now facing Electra individually. “Look, Ellie, I’m going to go after her, okay?” he told her causing her mouth to open. “No objections.” He interjected before she could get a word out. “I’ll be back soon, okay?” he reasoned.

     “Okay.”

     There was no way in hell Electra was alright with this. Reluctantly, she watched on as Shane hoped into one of the cars and slammed his foot down on the peddle. Slowly, she turned around to meet the eyes of everyone else who looked extremely lost.

     “Just, uh……” Electra trailed off, falling short for ideas. “Just head back to the house, I’ll be back soon.” she promised but none of them moved. “I’ll be fine.” She assured them but still no movement. “This…..gun.” she said, retrieving the gun and putting it on show. “I happen to be the best person here at handling one. Relax, I’ve just got some stuff to do.” She stated before turning back into the forest.  


►►►


     Electra was happy to let Daryl think that she had given up on him. In all honesty, it would be better for her if he did. Now he was not suspecting her to come back so she could easily keep out of Daryl’s watchful eyes whilst she was stealthily having a look around his camp.

     It wasn’t long before she came across something odd hanging lowly in one of the trees. Approaching the tree she saw a necklace that appeared to be made out of walker ears. ‘What the hell?’ Electra thought to herself as her eyes scanned over the necklace as she reached out for it.

     “What are you doing?”

     The voice behind her caused her to jump, flinging the necklace right out of her grasp and retrieve her hand gun instead. In one swift motion, she span around and aimed her gun right in between the eyes of her ambusher. Daryl, on the other hand, didn’t look too threatened by the gun.

     “Fucking hell, Daryl.” Electra cursed having had the fright of her life before removing the gun from his head and placing it back into her holster. Sure, she had been stealthy but Daryl was much stealthier than she had been. Much to her disappointment, she had been caught red handed.

     “What the hell are you doing? Stalking me or something?”

      “Says the one who pops up behind me.”
        
     “Only cause you were stalking me first.”

     “Ha,” Electra chuckled. “You think highly of yourself, don’t you?” Electra looked Daryl up and down whilst he kept his gaze on her face. “If you’re gonna make your own camp, you might as well make it secure.” She told him, biting her lip. “I’m looking out for you, Daryl.”

     “Well, aint you a peach?” Daryl said bitterly causing Electra to roll her eyes, shake her head ever so slightly and fold her arms over her chest.

     “Not the word I would have necessarily chosen to describe myself……” Electra said overthinking his words.  “…but okay.” She finished off causing him to start to walk away. “I’m not gonna let you do this, Daryl!” she called after him. “You’re not pulling away, not now, I’m not gonna let you pull away.” She said stubbornly causing him to pause. “You’ve earned your place, Daryl.”

     Abruptly, Daryl turned and marched so that he was standing directly in front of her. “If you spent more time babysitting like you used to instead of being a nosey Lara Croft wannabe, maybe Sophia wouldn’t have gotten lost in the first place.” He snapped at her.

     “Go ahead.”
 
     “Go ahead and what?” Daryl questioned her but he knew exactly what she had meant the second after the words had come out of her mouth.

     “Do ahead and do what they always do.”

     “Just go! I don’t want you here!” Daryl yelled at her, disgusted whilst taking in her words. He was disgusted that she thought that that was even acceptable and that she assumed that he would do it. He was about to take of but he stopped himself. “You are a real piece of work lady.” He spat at her causing her to squint at him.

     “What?”

     “What, are you gonna make this about my daddy or some crap like that? Man, you don’t know jack.” Electra stayed quiet, allowing Daryl to let out whatever rage he needed to on her. “You’re afraid, that’s what you are. You’re afraid cause you’re surrounded by people but in reality you are all alone. You can’t identify to any of them, not anymore.” He commented. “Shane….Rick…..they both picked Lori over you, man. That’s why you’re here. You don’t know what to do with yourself anymore.”

     That was the blow that hit the hardest because she knew it was true.

     “Well, I aint your problem and you sure as hell aint mine!” Daryl screamed at her but this was not what caused her to flinch. It was his swift movement in which he had gotten even closer to her. She closed her eyes and expected to feel a blow but she didn’t.

     Her eyes opened and she was alone.