Room for Pain (Shane Walsh love story)

Chapter Eleven: Being Realistic

Chapter Eleven: Being Realistic

After Shane and I had returned back to camp after doing our search, Shane went off to tell Rick about his thoughts on the matter of finding Sophia. I knew this talk wasn't going to go well, and so I simply retreated back to doing chores where I knew I might be able to buy some peace and quiet from the constant jabber of Rick and Shane arguing at each other.

Lori and Carol were busy cooking dinner for the Greene family tonight as a way of saying thanks. Although I wasn't particularly fond of Lori, I did make an effort and ask if I could help in any way, to which I was kindly told that I wasn't required. And so I recoiled to our campsite where Andrea was standing on top of the RV with a rifle in hand, talking with Dale from the ground. I groaned upon seeing her, not wanting to work with her either as she had been rather gruff with me ever since we arrived here. Thankfully, it appeared that Shane was done verbally attacking Rick. I glanced over my shoulder quickly and spotted him. He looked pissed off, fuming in fact. His unbuttoned shirt flapped behind him in the breeze, his glorious abdominals seemingly chiseled from stone by the gods on display for all to see.

"Baby, hey-" I hushed as I walked up to him and tentatively tried to cup his face in my hands. He turned his head at that moment and took a step back. I instinctively folded my arms in annoyance, "-what's the matter with you?"
"I'm sick of this; sick of Rick pushing us back all the time." He growled.
My arms flopped down to my side, "forget about it. Rick is your friend, you had an argument, that's all."
He nodded before picking up one of my hands and putting it against his cheek, "I love you."
"I love you too." I smiled as Shane moved my hand from his cheek to his lips and gave it a tender kiss.
"Cheeseball." I smirked, looking up to the top of the RV where Andrea stood with her back straight glaring down at us. I ignored this look and retracted my attention back to Shane.

"Walker!" screamed Andrea.
My head perked up as I looked out across the field.
"Just the one?" asked Rick as he jogged over to the RV.
"Yeah." Replied Andrea, taking another look at Shane before lying down on the roof of the RV with her rifle positioned at the dead-one. "I bet I can nail it from here."
"No, no!" yelled Rick, "Andrea, put the gun down!"
"You best let us handle this!" agreed Shane, leaving my side to grab a gardening pick with a long handle whilst T-Dog grabbed a silver baseball bat that had been left out by the side of his tent.
"Shane, hold up." Said Rick, "Hershel wants to deal with walkers!"
"What for, man? We got it covered."
"Damn." Growled Rick, running off to find a weapon.
"Be careful!" I called as Shane and T-Dog made their way across the field.
I watched Shane picking up his pace and beginning to run despite his limp. I shook my head in disbelief.
"Guys." I whispered to myself.

The dead-one was beginning to approach them, but it wasn't reaching out as they normally would. It wasn't clawing at the air like a maniac. It was just walking with a bad limp in one leg, carrying an item in one arm whilst the other swished lazily by its side. And then it hit me: this couldn't be a dead-one.
I looked up to the top of the RV where Andrea had her gun poised yet again.
"For fucks sake, Andrea! Don't shoot it!" I scowled at her.
"Piss off, let me deal with it."
"It's not a dead-one!"
"Nope, it's a walker!"
"You don't know that!" I yelled back as she lay back down on the roof, aiming at the moving figure.
"Andrea, don't." chimed in Dale.
"Back off, Dale."

I continued looking and saw that whoever, or whatever it was, wasn't coming any closer. They were staying there whilst our men gathered around them. Suddenly, the ear blasting sound of a rifle being fired echoed around the area. I clasped my hands over my ears to block out whatever noise I could, although by the time my hands reached up the sound was over.
"What the hell, Andrea?!" I screamed.
"NO!" yelled a voice that identified with my ears as belonging to Rick.
"Yes." Breathed Andrea.
"NO! NO!" the yelling continued.
"Are you fucking stupid?" I exclaimed, raising my arms and letting my hands sit on the back of my sun heated head.