With bullets whizzing by and ricocheting off of vehicles, I feel strangely at ease. I calmly survey my surroundings and see part of Nate's skull get blown clean off from a shot out of Andrea's rifle. Belle is screaming on the ground in a fetal position behind Pete, who has yet to fire a shot, and looks a bit scared himself. Dale and Glenn are firing wildly in the direction of Dave's group. I look at Daryl and he looks calm as can be. Steadily firing shots from his handgun, so he doesn't waste any arrows. Dave and Tony start moving up the left side where Belle and Pete are. As i ready my weapon to fire at them I hear Glenn scream out in pain. He's been hit in the leg by Sean. I stand up and fire 2 shots at Sean, hitting him in the chest and dropping him. Dale moves over to check on Glenn and cover him.
Randall starts shooting at Andrea, causing her to have to roll off the hood of the van and take cover underneathe of it. I look back over to where Pete and Belle were. Pete is alone now, cowering behind a car. I spot Belle trying to run from Dave and Tony. "Pete! What the hell are you doing!? Help Belle!." I yell to him. He gives me a helpless look and continues to cower in fear. "Goddamnit! Daryl, cover me!" I start sprinting towards Belle, who has now been grabbed by Dave. Daryl begins firing at Randall to keep him off my back. As I get closer to Belle, Tony notices me coming and begins to aim his gun at me, but he's not fast enough. I fire first hitting him square in the head and try to fire at Dave, but I'm out of ammo. Instead I tackle him to the ground and start punching him unmercifully. I think of Pete the whole time. That goddamn coward was going to let Belle get taken.
After about a dozen or so punches Daryl pulls me off of Dave, but not before I manage to get a kick in too. "Where's the other one?" I ask Daryl about Randall. "I hit him in the shoulder and the little son of a bitch ran off." Daryl explains. "Is everyone okay?" I ask. "Seems everyone avoided getting shot except you and Glenn." Andrea says. Me? I look down and see that I took a shot clean through my left bicep and didn't even notice. Now that I know it's there, it burns like hell. "Are you okay?" Belle asks me. "Yeah, I'm fine." I answer while glaring at Pete. "What the hell is your problem man!?" I yell at Pete as I get right in his face. He can't even look me in the eyes. "I froze." He states, with his head hanging in shame. "You froze!? You could've gotten Belle killed! You stiffen up again, and I'll make sure you stay that way! You hear me!?" He's lucky I don't leave him here, right next to Dave. "Hey what are we gonna do with this guy?" Dale asks, standing over Dave's limp, bloodied body.
"Leave him here." I instruct. "What? We can't just leave him here. He'll die." Dale says. "Yeah that's the idea, Dale. You wanna share a room with him?" I shoot back. "No but.. can't we lock him up in a room or something?" He responds. "Yeah, lets lock him up and feed him and look after him." I reply sarcastically. "Get a grip Dale! This asshole tried to kill us!" I continue. "Aren't you a cop? Is this how you handled things as an officer?" Dale asks. "The dead weren't walking around when I was a cop, there were rules then. I'm not a cop any more." I point at Dave. "And he's not 'innocent until proven guilty' any more. He's a threat. I don't wanna live with the threat!" I proclaim. I notice Sean's reanimated corpse beginning to stand up. "Maybe we can take him in too." I sardonically continue. Dale looks to everyone else, and can see on their faces that they don't agree with him. "Fine." He gives in and starts walking away. Daryl aims his crossbow at Sean. "Wait. Let him take care of his friend." I instruct Daryl to leave Sean's corpse to finish off Dave.
As the group walks back to Fort Benning, Daryl breaks the awkward silence. "What if they're part of a larger group? That one kid got away. He could be going to get them right now. They know where we're staying." He was right. We don't know anything about those guys. We might have to prepare for retaliation. "We're gonna have to put more people on watch. Do a 24/7 lookout. Change out in shifts." I insist. I notice Belle looking sluggish and a bit shaken up. I move next to her and place my arm around her. "You okay?" I ask. She nods her head. "Ya know, I wanted to kill Pete for not trying to help you. It took everything I had to NOT attack him." I explain. Belle smiles slightly. "Thanks Shane, but I don't blame Pete. He was scared, so was I. I won't be next time. I don't want to have to rely on anyone anyway." She says. She's a tough kid. Smart too. She'll be okay. "Just don't get reckless. If you need anything, you ask ME." I finish.
We return back to Fort Benning and enter the main post where the rest of the group is waiting. "Oh my god, you're shot!" Lori says as soon as she sees me. "I'm alright, bullet passed right through, same with Glenn. We got lucky." I tell Lori. "What happened?" She asks. I tell her about Dave's group, then I explain to everyone that we may face retaliation. "I want 6 people on watch at all times. There are 3 entrances here, I want 2 people at each of them at ALL times. We'll work in 6 hour shifts. We're gonna need all hands on deck for this, that means Carl and Sophia too. This fort is worth our lives, and we WILL protect it. I'll take watch with Belle at the main entrance. Lori, Carl, take the side entrance. Andrea and Pete take the rear. The rest of you, get some rest and be ready to relieve us in 6 hours." I instruct the group. Everyone nods in agreement and does as instructed.
YOU ARE READING
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...
