𝑩𝒂𝒕𝒕𝒍𝒆 𝑺𝒄𝒂𝒓𝒔 | ᵀᵂᴰ

11: The Kid's are alright

I was on the back of Daryl's motorcycle holding onto him as we headed to the farm.

Sophia didn't come back. She's still out there alone and scared.

We pulled up to the house, and I saw the Greene girl standing behind Lori and Rick. I looked down so I wouldn't smile so big.

I looked up and saw another beautiful girl. She was blonde. Looks around my age. She was standing next to the brunette girl that took Lori. She looked at me, and I looked away as fast as I could.

"How is he?" Dale asked.

"He'll pull through, thanks to Hershel and his people." Lori said.

"And Shane." Rick said.

I looked at Shane and almost jumped. The last I saw of him, he had hair. I was gone for only a day. What the hell happened to him?

"We'd have lost Carl if not for him." Rick said. What did he do? Give him hair?

Dale hugged Rick, and Carol hugged Lori.

"We were so worried." Carol said. "How'd it happen?" Dale asked. "Hunting accident." Rick answered. "That's all- just a stupid accident." Did it take Shane's hair?

➳

The beautiful blonde girl sat a rock on the pile in memory of a man who died last night.

"Blessed be God, Father of our Lord Jesus Christ." Hershel read. A boy came up and picked a rock from the wheelbarrow and put it on the pile. "Praise be to him for the gift of our brother Otis, for his span of years, for his abundance of character; Otis, who gave his life to save a child's, now more than ever, our most precious asset. We thank you, God, for the peace he enjoys in your embrace. He died as he lived in grace." Hershel said.

Hershel seems like the church every Sunday type. He also sounds like a pastor. I would know. Ledger's dad was one. It's like everything in this world now always brings me back to Ledger.

"Shane, will you speak for Otis?" Hershel asked.

"I'm not good at it." He said. "I'm sorry."

"You were the last one with him." A woman said. I assume she was this Otis dudes wife. "You shared his final moments. Please. I need to hear. I need to know his death had meaning." "Okay." Shane said quietly.

"We were about done. Almost out of ammo. We were down to pistols by then. I was limping. It was bad. Ankle all swollen up. "We've got to save the boy." See, that's what he said. He gave me his backpack. He shoved me ahead. "Run," He said. He said, "I'll take the rear. I'll cover you." And when I looked back..." Shane trailed off.

He limped towards the rocks. "If not for Otis," He pulled a rock out of the wheelbarrow. "I'd have never made it out alive. And that goes for Carl, too. It was Otis. He saved us both." He said. "If any death ever had meaning, it was his." Shane told the woman before placing a rock onto the pile.

➳

"How long has this girl been lost?" Hershel asked.

"This'll be day three." Rick answered.

The brunette girl came over.

"County survey map." She said, unrolling the map on the hood of a truck. "Shows terrain and elevations." She placed rocks at both top corners. "This is perfect. We can finally get this thing organized." Rick said. "We'll grid the whole area, start searching in teams." "Not you. Not today." Hershel said. "You gave three units of blood. You wouldn't be hiking five minutes in this heat before passing out." He looked at Shane. "And your ankle. Push it now, you'll be laid up a month, no good to anybody."