Disarm ⋙ Shane Walsh ⋙ The Walking Dead

Hey Man, Nice Shot ⋙ e l e v e n

After a small discussion about what to do with Jim, the group decided to tie the man to a tree in an effort to calm him. Katherine was at a small table with Lori, Carl, Carol, and Sophia. The three ladies were helping Carl and Sophia do some basic level school things. Math and a little reading. The group could see Jim from where they were sitting, but tried to avoid making eye contact. Carol and Katherine were helping Sophia read The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway. Kat had grown quite fond of Sophia during their time at camp. She was the sweetest thing and Kat couldn't get enough of her. Carol and Lori began to talk amongst themselves. "Ms. Kat? I have a question." Kat snapped out of her daze and looked at Sophia. "What is it, Sweetheart?" Sophia beamed at the nickname. "What does it mean to be sa-sa-salao?" Sophia cocked her head, not sure if she was pronouncing the word correctly. "Yes, salao. Salao is the worst form of luck." Sophia's mouth made an 'o' shape at Katherine's answer. "Thank you, Ms. Kat." Kat couldn't stop the huge smile from growing on her face. "You've very welcome, Ms. Sophia." Kat winked at the girl and she beamed as bright as she could. Kat looked up from her exchange to see Carol smiling down at her. "Thank you" Carol mouthed. Kat nodded. She was going to school to be a teacher, but that obviously wasn't going to happen. This was as close as she could get to that goal. That was perfectly okay with her.

Shane and Dale passed by the makeshift class with a bucket of water and a cup for Jim. Shane crouched down in front of Jim. "Jim, take some water?" Jim nodded. "All right." Shane cracked a small smile. "Yeah? All right. Here you go, bud." Jim gratefully took the water. "Pour some on my head?" Shane nodded. "Yeah. Cooling you down, huh?"Shane dumped the cup of water on Jim's head. He basked in the coolness. Shane put the cup down and Jim looked over at him. "Yeah. How long you gonna keep me like this?" "Well, yeah. Until I don't think that you're a danger to yourself or others." Jim looked over to the class. "Sorry if I scared your boy and your little girl. Sorry for my comment, Kat." Everyone looked over at him. Lori was the first one to speak. "You had sunstroke. Nobody's blaming you." "You're not scared now, are you?" Sophia shook her head. "No Sir." Jim managed a small smile at this statement. "Your mama's right. Sun just cooked my head is all." Dale looked down at Jim with a questioning look on his face. "Jim, do you know why you were digging? Can you say?" Jim swallowed hard. "I had a reason. Don't remember. Something I dreamt last night. Your dad was in it. You were too. You were worried about him. Can't remember the rest. You worried about your dad?" Kat bit her lip at the comment. She grabbed her brother's hand tight. "They're not back yet." Kat and Lori exchanged looks. Lori rubbed Carl's back comfortingly. "We don't need to talk about that." Jim realized his mistake and quickly covered for it. "Your dad's a police officer, son. He helps people. Probably just came across some folks needing help, that's all. That man, he is tough as nails. I don't know him well but... I could see it in him. Am I right?" Shane looked at the Grimes family and snapped his head back to Jim. "Oh yeah." He said while nodding his head. "There ain't nothing gonna stop him from getting back here to you, your sister and your mom, I promise you that." Shane sighed and grabbed the bucket. He began to walk away from Jim and the others when he called out: "All right. Who wants to help me clean some fish, huh?" Carl's face lit up. "Sweet! Come on, Sophia!" The two ran after Shane and Carol followed. "Stay with Carol, all right?" Lori and Kat briefly looked at each other and then got up. The mother - daughter duo walked over to Jim. "Keep your children close, Lori. Katherine, don't stray from Shane." The girls were confused, but nodded. Lori and Katherine got up to join Shane, Carl, Sophia, and Carol.

xxx

It was now late afternoon and everyone was busy setting up for tonight. People were moving chairs around the fire pit and chattering. "I, uh, built up the rocks all around. See? So the flames can be a little higher and have 'em be hidden." Lori smiled at Morales. Shane, Katherine, and Carl all walked over to Jim. Shane patted Carl's head and squeezed Katherine's hand. The two smiled at each other. Kat and Carl hung back as Shane walked up to Jim. "Hey, Jim. How you feeling, man?" Shane crouched down in front of the man. "I'm better. More myself now." Shane nodded. "I hope you understand the need for this... this timeout. I've got others I've got to think about. I just want to make sure there's no... there's no hard feelings." Jim shook his head. "There's not. I do understand." Shane smiled. "Okay." He chuckled. "Why don't you come join in with the rest of us? Big ol' fish fry." Jim smiled. "I'd like that very much." Carl smiled up at Kat. "Okay." Shane untied Jim and the four walked back to camp together. When the group arrived back at camp, everyone was relatively happy. Kat looked over and saw Carol and Sophia emerge from their tent. She heard some bitching from Ed, but didn't pay too much attention to it. Fuck him. He's nothing to worry about anymore. Shane took care of that.

Everyone was now sitting around the fire enjoying a feast. Katherine would be forever grateful to Amy and Andrea for all of the fish. It was a wonderful change from squirrel. There were people buzzing with conversation. It was like there was literally nothing wrong in the world. Kat was sitting in-between Shane and Carl, with Lori on Carl's right side. Although she was having a wonderful night, she couldn't shake Jim's warning. Lori couldn't either, as she kept Carl nearby at all times and made sure that Kat was with her or Shane. Katherine was dragged out of her mind when Morales spoke. "I've got to ask you, man. It's been driving me crazy." Dale looked up at the man. "What?" Dale had a curious look on his face. Morales smiled. "That watch." "What's wrong with my watch?" "I see you every day, the same time, winding that thing like a village priest saying mass." Jacqui decided to join in the conversation. "I've been wondering that myself." "I'm missing the point." Dale was genuinely confused. Jacqui smiled. "Unless I've misread the signs, the world seems to have come to an end. At least hit a speed bump for a good long while." Morales decided to chime in again. "But there's you every day winding that stupid watch." Dale sighed and a slight smile bloomed on his face. "Time... it's important to keep track, isn't it? The days at least. Don't you think, Andrea? Back me up here. I like... I like what, um, a father said to son when he gave him a watch that had been handed down through generations. He said, "I give you the mausoleum of all hope and desire, which will fit your individual needs no better than it did mine or my father's before me; I give it to you not that you may remember time, but that you may forget it for a moment now and then and not spend all of your breath trying to conquer it." Amy spoke for the first time. "You are so weird." Everyone laughed. "It's not me. It's Faulkner. William Faulkner. Maybe my bad paraphrasing." Everyone laughed again.

A little more time had passed and some people had dispersed. Kat was sitting there joking with Carl when something caught her ear. It sounded like Ed was bitching about something. Oh well. It's probably nothing. Carl looked up at his sister with a concerned look on his face. "What's wrong?" Kat managed a small smile. "Nothing, Bubba, I'm just sleepy." The two siblings looked over to the RV when Amy stepped out. "We're out of toilet paper?" She asked. The next thing that happened seemed to occur in slow motion. A walker struggled right up to her and took a bite out of her arm. Everyone was stricken with fear. Lori was screaming for Katherine and Carl. Kat pushed Carl to their mom and grabbed a bat. "Kat, be careful!" Kat nodded to her mom and her brother before smashing a walker's head open. Shane had grabbed his shotgun and was taking walker after walker out. "Move, Baby!" He yelled at Kat. She did as she was told and he took another one out. Kat felt anxiety set in. She was in fight mode now and she would stop at nothing to keep her family safe.