VITRIOL | Shane Walsh

XXIV

Our cute little moment was disrupted by and an increasing amount of decaying hands bursting through the wooden walls. I wiped away Caleb's tears as Shane and Negan dragged two corpses through the growing gap. Shane seemed to understand what was going on as he simultaneously leant down and ripped open the leathery skin holding in their insides.

"These are putrid, decaying organs, dead, blood, piss and shit that's been cooking all day in the Virginian sun. Any of you people ever get sick from this shit?"

"We're from Georgia" Father Gabriel responded with the snide remark. I caught a whiff of the smell and gagged at the scent. They smelt bad enough with their organs inside and now we're about to be soaked in them I'm guessing. After struggling to completely cover myself, Shane turned me around so he could drench a pool of intestines on my back. Caleb also looked to be having a problem.

"Hey kid, I'll get it," Shane suggested. Caleb looked at him with a scowl but when I placed my hand on his arm he softened and gave in. Shane scooped up more of the rotting insides and spread them across his back. 

"Is that the jacket I gave you at Grandpa's?" I noticed the aviator jacket and where it once reached down to his knees it was now slightly too small and was pulled tight around his shoulders. The time we spent at the farm was so simple. I was comfortable him running around unsupervised and the simple moments like feeding the horses together motivated me to keep going. Maybe one day we could take him back to our beach house by Oceanside and live in peace like once planed.

"Yeah, I kept it along with Dad's hat too"

He sounded slightly defeated. If after all these years he decided to keep Shane's police hat, there still had to be hope for him to be accepted back into his life again. We were soon fully covered in the disgusting substance and we rose up off the floor ready to face the herd. Everyone had to walk solo or else too much attention would be drawn.

"Let's make some noise" Negan shouted before we all separated and slammed our fists onto the walls and shouted. The door was thrown open and walkers soon piled in. I disappeared into the crowd and I could only see Negan towering above them all.

We walked out into the courtyard and nothing would've prepared me for the sheer amount of bodies around. I'd not seen anything like this since the farm and I was terrified. We were all walking in the general direction of the factory when I didn't quite notice the rather overweight walker in my path. It was just my luck that I was caught alone, not able to run and unarmed. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Gabriel hit the ground and Shane hauling him up and pushing away any hungry mouths.

As soon as I bumped into the walker, it turned around and snapped its teeth at me in a desperate manner. Its face was chared from the recent explosions and the skin around his eyes had started to peel. I silently squealed and stumbled backwards until I bumped into yet another corpse. This time round I slightly let out a gasp and drew the attention of more walkers.

From absolutely nowhere Caleb came charging through with a knife taking down two walkers and stabbing the large on in the head.

"Mom! You need to find Dad or Negan. Go!" He ripped the knife from its skull and reached out to push me forward. Suddenly a walker bit into his neck from behind. He let out a gurgled scream as blood poured from his shoulder and out his mouth. 

"AAARRRGGGGH!" I screamed with intensity. I'd only just got my baby back and now he was falling to the floor with the undead devouring him. The only reason that they weren't paying attention to me was that they were too focused on their meal.

A hand clamped onto my shoulder and i quickly turned around in panic. It was Negan. He lifted my arm over his shoulder, supported my weight and dragged me toward the doors as quick as he could. When we shoved ourselves into the main hall I collapsed onto the floor balling my eyes out. I wailed continuously as I slammed my fists onto the floor. Negan had one hand planted on the walk and other over his face as his shoulders shook.

Not long after I heard the door open and close again and two voices followed. I heard the hazy voices of Gabriel and Shane trying to make conversation with us.

"Where's Caleb?" Shane strained out and I finally tore myself from the floor.

"HE'S DEAD SHANE. DEAD!" I fell back to the floor as I heard a stream of mumbled 'no's fall from his mouth. He squatted down onto the ground and cried just as harshly as I was.

Both the men in my life were mourning the death of my baby.

My baby who I'd never hold again. 

- - - 

Short chapter I know but it felt complete.