Disarm ⋙ Shane Walsh ⋙ The Walking Dead

I Stay Away ⋙ f i v e

Last night's watch had gone by relatively fast. Shane and Kat spent the night talking and laughing and, well, flirting. But other than that, nothing eventful happened and Katherine wasn't brave enough to bring up the fact that Shane lied to her. When morning came Kat was reading with Sophia and Carl. She decided to take a break when Rick woke up. "Y'all go play, okay?" Carl and Sophia ran into the little wooded area around the camp. Rick had wandered out of the tent when Katherine jogged up to him. "Good mornin' Daddy." Rick smiled at her and hugged her. Carol walked up to the father - daughter duo and handed Rick his clothes. "They're still a little damp. The sun'll have 'em dry in no time." "You washed my clothes?" Carol gave a small smile. "Well, best we could. Scrubbing on a washboard ain't half as good as my old Maytag back home." "That was very kind of you. Thank you." Carol managed a small smile and Rick and Kat walked away. The two made it over to where Glenn was. Glenn was currently having a little meltdown over the Challenger that he brought back to camp. "Look at 'em. Vultures. Yeah, go on, strip it clean." Katherine chuckled and Glenn shot her a look. Dale turned to the group and said: "Generators need every drop of fuel they can get. Got no power without it. Sorry, Glenn." Glenn frowned. "Thought I'd get to drive it at least a few more days." Rick looked at him sympathetically. "Maybe we'll get to steal another one someday." Rick clapped Glenn on the back and Glenn hung his head. "Hey Kat, I need to talk to your mama. Mind giving us a few?" Kat shook her head and went in the opposite direction of Rick. She wondered what could possibly be so urgent, but all the thoughts rushed out of her mind when she saw Shane returning to camp. A smile bloomed on Katherine's face and she walked over to where he parked. He hopped out of his Jeep and smiled at Kat. "Hey Baby Girl. What're you up to?" Kat's smile never fell but she rolled her eyes at the use of his nickname. "Not much but-" Shane cut her off as he was grabbing jugs of water. "Water's here, y'all. Just a reminder to boil before use." "Wow Shane. Rude." Shane smirked at her. "Oh by all means please continue, Princess." Kat flushed a bright red. "I hate you, Shane." "No you don't." Kat sighed and began to speak, but she was cut off by the sound of screaming. "Mom!" They heard Carl yell. Katherine and Shane looked at one another for a split second and both took off towards the source of the screaming, as did the whole camp.

When everyone got down to Sophia and Carl, Katherine's heart dropped. All the men had grabbed weapons and began to walk over to the walker while Lori and Carol secured Sophia and Carl. The walker was currently snacking on a deer and it made Katherine want to puke. Kat gagged and the walker turned to the group of people and began to shuffle over. The men of the group ran over and began to beat on it with their weapons. Dale delivered the final blow by cutting it's head off with an axe. Everyone stood still in a strange sort of daze. Dale was the first one to break the silence. "It's the first one we've had up here. They never come this far up the mountain." Kat's heart sank. She knew this meant it was about to be time to move. She swallowed the lump in her throat and Jim spoke. "Well, they're running out of food in the city, that's what." Kat was full of anxiety at the thought of having to move camp. On one hand, she had her daddy back, so everything would be okay. But on the other, this was home now. This was Katherine's new sense of normal. The eldest Grimes child was pulled from her thoughts by the sound of snapping twigs. Her head jerked towards the source of the noise and she let out a sigh of relief, seeing as it was only Daryl coming out of the brush. This relief was only temporary. She knew he would soon find out that his dick of a brother didn't make it back. "Oh Jesus." Dale mumbled. Yeah. That pretty much sums it up. Daryl soon caught sight of his deer and stated: "Son of a bitch. That's my deer! Look at it. All gnawed on by this... filthy, disease-bearing, motherless poxy bastard!" Kat winced at the harshness of his words. Daryl sent a harsh kick to the body of the walker and Kat winced again. I am not cut out for this damn world. Dale was the first one to speak. "Calm down son, that's not helping." Daryl shot a look at Dale that could have killed. "What do you know about it, old man? Why don't you take that stupid hat and go back to "on golden pond"? I've been tracking this deer for miles. Gonna drag it back to camp, cook us up some venison. What do you think? Do you think we can cut around this chewed up part right here?" Shane gave a disapproving look. "I wouldn't do that." Daryl sighed again. "That's a damn shame. I got some squirrel... about a dozen or so. That'll have to do." The group stood there in an awkward silence for a second when the head of the walker began to move it's mouth. Katherine gagged and walked over to her mom. She couldn't handle this right now. "Oh God." Daryl looked absolutely shocked by the fact that the group reacted this way. "Come on people! What the hell?!" Daryl proceeded to shoot the walker through the brain with one of his arrows. "It's gotta be the brain! Don't y'all know anything?" 

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Some time had passed and the wreck of a group all moved back to camp. The majority of the group was on edge. Not only because of the walker being so close, but because of the fact that Daryl still had no idea that Merle didn't come back with the group. Daryl jogged into the middle of the campground and began to yell out for his older brother. "Merle! Merle! Get your ugly ass out here! I got us some squirrel! Let's stew 'em up." Shane and Rick exchanged looks and Shane took a breath. "Daryl, just slow up a bit. I need to talk to you." Daryl stopped and turned to Shane. "About what?" "About Merle. There was a... There was a problem in Atlanta." Daryl's face was blank. Zero emotion, zero indication that he cared. "He dead?" Shane placed his hands on his hips and looked down before answering. "We're not sure." Daryl began to get a little heated. "Either he is or he ain't!" Rick decided that it was time to step in. Kat eyed her daddy, worried for his safety. Shane looked at Katherine and motioned for her to get back a little. She nodded and took a few steps back to stand with Lori and Carl. "No easy way to say this, so I'll just say it." Daryl cocked a brow at her daddy. "Who the hell are you?" Rick swallowed. "Rick Grimes." Daryl took a few steps towards him and looked him dead in the eyes. "Rick Grimes, there something you want to tell me?" Rick stared back, showing zero weakness. "Your brother was a danger to us all, so I handcuffed him on a roof, hooked him to a piece of metal. He's still there." Daryl was now unreadable and Kat was nervous. She and Lori looked at one another and stepped in front of Carl. "Hold on. Let me process this. You're saying you handcuffed my brother to a roof and you left him there?!" Rick looked down and then back up into the redneck's blue eyes. "Yeah." That was enough to push him over the edge. Daryl lunged at Rick, but Rick managed to push him away. Daryl pulled out a knife and went for Rick again but Shane locked the redneck into a chokehold. Katherine gasped as Shane did so. She instantly covered her mouth as Lori glared at her. Kat's face flushed. She was ready to fight for Shane if it came down to it. "Okay! Okay!" Shane said as Daryl began to lose strength. "You best let me go!" "I think it'd be best if I didn't." Shane and Katherine locked eyes for a second. "Chokehold's are illegal!" Katherine rolled her eyes as she knew some sort of smartass remark was about to come out of Shane's mouth. "You can file a complaint. Come on, man. We'll keep this up all day." There it is. Rick was over this whole situation and he decided to get it under control. "I'd like to have a calm discussion on this topic. Do you think we can manage that? Do you think we can manage that?" Shane looked down at Daryl as he struggled. "Hmm?" "Mmm. Yeah!" Daryl struggled a bit more and Shane let him go. Daryl brushed himself off and looked to Rick. "What I did was not on a whim. Your brother does not work and play well with others." It was now T-Dog's turn to speak. "It's not Rick's fault. I had the key. I dropped it." Daryl's attention shot to the man. "Ya couldn't pick it up?" T-Dog looked down at the ground with shame all over his face. "Well, I dropped it in the drain." Rage flashed across Daryl's features. "If it's supposed to make me feel better, it don't." T-Dog fought to keep himself calm. "Well, maybe this will. Look, I chained the door to the roof... So the geeks couldn't get at him... With a padlock. It's gotta count for something." "Hell with all y'all! Just tell me where he is so that I can go get him." Lori decided it was time for her to speak. "He'll show you, isn't that right?" Lori shot a nervous glance at Katherine and stepped forward to her husband. Katherine grabbed Carl's hand and held him in place as he tried to join him mom and dad. "Easy, Bubba." Kat whispered to her younger brother. Carl began to fidget a little. Rick took a breath and everyone looked at him. The words he spoke next made Katherine's heart shatter. "I'm going back."