Today Pete, Glenn, Andrea, and I are heading out to clear more of the cars off of the highway. "Why do YOU always have to do everything? Would be nice if you stood here with ME every once in while." Lori says. "You know what they say, want something done right, do it yourself." I respond "Well THEY are dead. We're not." She wraps her arms around my neck and lovingly gives me a kiss. "Don't worry 'bout me. I always come back." I assure her. "Shane, can I come?" Carl asks as I start to head out. "Not this time bud." I answer. "But I'm a good shot!" He snaps. "I know you are. That's why I want you to stay here, make sure everyone is safe." He reluctantly agrees by nodding his head. I exit our room and meet Pete, Glenn, and Andrea outside of the main post.
"You guys all set?" I ask our troop. "You're the one who has to do heartfelt goodbyes every time you have a job to do." Andrea quips. Pete and Glenn get a good laugh out of that. "You could have that too if you want, ya know." I tell Andrea. "Yeah right, Lori would kill you." She says. "Don't flatter yourself sunshine, I was talkin' 'bout you and Dale. I see the way he looks at you." She looks at me with a half smile. "Yeah, that's a funny one. Did you say you were a cop, or a comedian?" Even I laugh at that one. "Alright, enough lollygagging. Let's go move some cars." Pete says impatiently. We all agree and head out. Pete hasn't ventured past the vehicle buildup on the highway the entire time he was here. He says he didnt want to be on foot by himself, and he couldn't get a vehicle on the road because of the abandoned cars. We should be done clearing it in the next couple of days. Hopefully my Jeep and T-Dog's van are still waiting at the end for us.
While walking on the highway back to the blockade of cars, we encounter and dispose of four scattered geeks, then I notice something in the distance. Two PEOPLE walking towards us, a muscular looking man and a short female. "Andrea!" I yell out. "I'm on it!" She says as she readies her rifle, to look through the scope. "Holy shit." She adjusts her scope, as if to be sure of what she sees. "What? Holy shit, what?" I look at her, awaiting her answer. "I don't know the girl, but that's Daryl." She answers. I immediately start charging forward. Glenn starts running up with me. I couldn't wait to see this redneck, meth head, piece of shit, thief again. "Who's Daryl?" I hear Pete asking Andrea.
As I get closer to Daryl and his mysterious young lady friend he must notice the anger on my face, because he pulls his crossbow on me. "Slow down Shane. I don't want any trouble." He assures me as Glenn catches up and pulls his Glock on Daryl. "Drop it Daryl!" He orders. "Why don't you drop it." His female companion says as she holds a handgun unsteadily aimed at Glenn. I can tell she isn't very familiar with handling firearms. "Where's that piece of shit brother of yours? You run out of our stuff? Comin' back for more?" I scream. "It wasn't like that, I didn't know Merle was gonna rob y'all." He tries to explain. "Bullshit! You knew what was goin' on." I'm convinced. "Shane, listen man. Merle was the one who robbed you. I had nothing to do with it. I was--" He starts, before I cut him off. "Where is he? Your brother.. He out here somewhere?" I ask. Pete finally catches up with his gun drawn.
"The place we were stayin' at got overrun a few nights ago. It was chaos, we all got split up." He begins. "All? Where were you at? How many people?" I ask. "There was eight of us, including me and Merle. We were at her farm" He points to his female friend. "What's your name darlin'?" I inquire. She looks at Daryl, who nods to her to comply. "Beth." She answers. "Beth, you mind lowerin' that gun? It's just, you look nervous. Nervous people have accidents, and we don't want accidents. Glenn, Pete, lower the guns." I instruct. They grudgingly lower their weapons. Beth again looks to Daryl before lowering her own. "Let's talk. I wanna know everything, what happened at Atlanta, what happened at your farm, and why you're HERE. EVERYTHING." I instruct.
"Okay" He nods his head before he begins. "Back at camp is like I already said, Merle did what he did. I didn't know about it, but I wasn't gonna let him leave without me, that's my brother. It was always just ME and HIM. We heard a loud shot in the forest, rifle shot. Went searching for the shooter. Found Otis and a deer." He explains. "Otis?" Glenn asks, as Andrea walks up to join us. Daryl then continues. "Otis was a friend of the family who owned the farm. He shot the deer for food. Merle wanted the deer. We followed him back to the farm. As we got there, Beth's dad was stuffin' geeks in the barn, and--" I stop him. "WHAT!? Why the hell would anyone be storin' geeks?" Daryl looks at Beth.
"He thought they were sick people. Well as he was putting them in, the others were gettin' out. The old man was eaten alive. Me and Merle took the geeks out. Merle wanted to loot the farm and leave. I saw the look on Beth's face. She was lost. I couldn't leave. I convinced Merle to stick around the farm, he agreed and forced his 'leadership' on everyone. I didn't care. I looked after Beth and her sister Maggie. Then three nights ago, place gets swarmed by geeks. We all got split up, we didn't see where everyone went. I searched for my brother the first day. Figured if we can't find each other in 24 hours, with our tracking skills, then he was dead. My next idea was to come back to you." He explains. "I'm flattered." I joke.
"We went back to the Atlanta camp. Didn't look pretty. Saw that Jacqui, and Jim were geeks. Started thinkin' the worst for everyone. Then I seen some tire tracks leadin' out. Tracked y'all here. Saw your Jeep out there too." He points to the mess of cars behind him. "Look Shane, I know you're pissed. But you're pissed at Merle. Not me. I'm not my brother. I don't trust anyone else out here. If you won't take me, at least take the girl. She's already been through enough shit." I look at Beth. She looks completely bewildered and desperate. She couldn't be this great of an actress. I don't have any reason to distrust Daryl, but I'll certainly keep an eye on him. Even if he does try something, we have enough manpower now to stop it. "Alright. Welcome back." We shake hands and start heading back to Fort Benning.
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The Walking Dead: The Shane Walsh Alternative (Season 2)
FanfictionWe've followed Shane and his group as they fled the hilltop camp outside of Atlanta. We've followed them as they made their way to the King County Sheriff's Department. We've followed them to what was left of the Center for Disease Control. With lit...
