Until the End

Chapter Ten: Mean girls.

"Kirby would you mind looking around the area for some mushrooms? I usually do it, but Andrea wants me to help her catch some fish for tonight." Amy asked, holding up a red pale.

"Sure, it's no problem. I'll take Mallorie with more so it'll be like a nature walk." Kirby said, taking the pale from Amy.

Amy grinned.

"Just be careful and stay within shouting distance." Dale said from his place on top of the RV.

"Will do." Kirby said and walked over to where Mallorie sat drawling in the dirt. "Do you want to go with me to find some mushroom?" Kirby asked, kneeling down in front of Mallorie.

"Yeah." Mallorie said, smiling as she got up off the ground.

Kirby patted the dirt off of Mallorie's bottom, before taking her hand. Together they began their walk into the woods.

"What are those, Mama?" Mallorie asked, pointing to a patch of green leaves sticking out of the ground.

They had been walking for about fifteen minutes and have yet to find any form of a mushroom.

"Hm..." Kirby bent down to get a better look at it. "Sweetheart you just found us a patch of wild leeks." Kirby said, grinning at Mallorie.

Mallorie clapped her hands for finally finding something to put in the red pale she insisted on carrying.

"Do we pick them?" Mallorie asked.

"Not all of them, we want to make sure to leave some for next time. We can take some on the bulbs too." Kirby said and moved Mallorie in front of her.

She pointed to a few and clasped her hands over Mallorie's.

"See, we want this one here. Yeah, just like that. Now put it in the bucket and repeat." Kirby said quietly, concentrating on the task at hand.

The hair on the back of Kirby's neck stuck up, before she heard the dry leaves crunch behind her. Keeping herself between Mallorie and whatever it was, Kirby stood up. She relaxed a little when she saw Shane instead of a walker, but kept her guard up.

"What are you doing all the way out here without a gun?" Shane asked.

Kirby heard the irritation in his voice, even when his face showed concern.

"Gathering wild leeks. Did you follow us out here?" Kirby asked, keeping her eyes on Shane.

With half of the wild leeks in the red pale, Mallorie was clutching the handle in her tiny hands as she eyed Shane with fear in her eyes. She didn't like the tall man with dark hair. He reminded her so much of her the man that hit her all the time.

"You didn't come back to camp after five minutes, so everyone started to worry that something happened to you and Mallorie." Shane said, trying a smile.

"You don't have to lie Shane. I know you've been watching me. Why did you follow us?" Kirby voiced.

Shane's smile faltered, before turning into a smirk.

"So you've been watching me too." Shane stated, taking a step closer.

Kirby pushed Mallorie behind her with one hand and held out her other for Shane to stop. He did, but let his irritation show.

"I haven't been watching anyone. Come on, sweetheart." Kirby said, picking Mallorie up.

Kirby straightened up to come face to face with Shane. He grabbed her by the shoulders and shoved her back until she hit the tree they were near. Mallorie let out a frightened scream and dropped the red pale. Kirby shielded Mallorie away from Shane as he lifted his hand up. Kirby's eyes met Shane's and had his hand pause. Her green eyes were filled with hatred.

"If you so much as touch us, I will personally end you." Kirby hissed, glaring heatedly at Shane.

If it wasn't for the gleam in her eyes, Shane would have thought she was all words. Though it didn't stop him.

"Is that a threat?" Shane asked, smirking.

"No. Me threatening you will be when I say that if I ever see you so much as looking at my daughter, I will sneak into your tent while you lay sleeping and puncture one of your main arteries. You'll bleed out, before you could even figure out what's happening to you." Kirby said, malice dripping through her words.

Shane's face fell and he backed away. He then glared at her.

"Kirby?! Mallorie?!"

It was Rick who called out. Kirby could hear others calling out for them as well.

"They're over here!" Shane shouted, not taking his eyes off of Kirby.

Mallorie dug her fingers into Kirby's shirt and continued to silently cry. Rick, Daryl, Dale, Jim, Andrea, Lori, pretty much everyone from camp came running after hearing Mallorie's scream. Every one of them held some kind of weapon. Daryl ran over to Kirby and Mallorie.

"What happened?" Daryl asked, bringing Kirby and Mallorie into his arms.

"Nothing, Mallorie saw a spider and freaked out." Shane spoke up, before Kirby could.

She didn't stop glaring at him. Mallorie's crying grew louder and she stretched her arms out for Daryl to take her. He did.

"He was mean to Mama!" Mallorie screamed, her face red from crying.

Lori and Andrea were trying to calm the small girl down, but at her words, everyone turned to look at Shane.

"What the hell did you do?" Lori shouted, getting up in Shane's face.

"Nothing! I didn't do a damn thing." Shane shouted back.

Rick grabbed Lori when she went to slap Shane.

"Kirby? Kirby, what did Shane do?" Dale asked, eying Daryl who was breathing heavy.

"Kirby." Daryl said, giving Mallorie back to her.

"Okay, so we had a little spat. It's no big deal." Shane said getting all defensive.

Before anyone could stop him, Daryl threw back is right fist. He brought it back and hit Shane right in the jaw, knocking him off his feet. T-Dog and Jim made a grab for Daryl, before Daryl could jump on Shane.

"Get off me! I'm goin' to kick your balls so far up your throat!" Daryl shouted, kicking at Shane as T-Dog and Jim began dragging him away.

Rick sent Shane a look as Shane sat up, wiping the blood from his lip.

"You better watch your back, Shane. Daryl's out for more than your blood now." Rick stated, before walking away.

Lori and the other women moved along with Kirby and Mallorie in their care. Everyone left Shane to wallow in his own stupidity. Back at the camp, Kirby cradled an exhausted Mallorie in her arms as she looked around for Daryl.

"Honey, let us take her. And here." Jacqui said, handing Kirby her medical bag. "Daryl's down by the quarry. He's knuckle is cut a little deep."

"My guess is that he hit a tooth." Carol said, carefully taking Mallorie into her arms.

"Thanks girls." Kirby said, slinging the strap over her shoulder.

She made her way down to the quarry and found Daryl squatting at the edge of the water. She saw the cloudy pink water around his submerged hand and sighed.

'Be his luck that he'll need stiches.' Kirby thought.