Feral Citizens

Lori

There was a search party organised by Shane. Lori had been missing almost an hour now, and she'd not told anyone she was going.

"She's not at the barn." T-Dog was panting. He'd run all the way down and back again. "Glenn checked the yards, she ain't down there."

"Alright." Shane's eyes were wild with fear, he was sweating and had Carl glued next to him. It had suddenly dawned on me that his love for Lori was obvious.

Not that he was the only one worried. We'd lost two kids in the woods, and only one had been found. And she had been dead. Lori should have damn well known better than to race off anywhere without telling anyone where she was going. She was pregnant, for god's sake, she couldn't just be worrying about herself anymore.

This felt so much like Andy and Bethanne. Left to scavenge a mall for us; they had promised that they would be back in a few hours. Our group had waited three days before we realised, they weren't returning. Would Lori be able to get back without any trouble? Would she even come back?

Shane started commanding everyone places. He volunteered himself to drive along to the town and see if she'd made it there or not. "I want some people to scout the woods. She might've taken a walk or something, maybe even walked to town."

"I'll go," Andrea said, sliding a gun into her waistband. I offered my help too; I couldn't leave Andrea to do it alone. Lori had been good to me, even though we had our difference. She had a hell of a slap too.

"Me too." We all turned around to look as Carol spoke. She went red and mumbled, "just thought I could be useful." Shane smiled at her.

"Thank you, Carol." Carol pulled her new gun from her bag and tried to imitate Andrea by sticking it in her waistband. It was placed a little awkwardly, but she was getting the hang of it. "Patricia, Beth, ya'll take the kids into the house to wait?" Patricia rolled her eyes and went to reply

"You think you can take the stick-"

"We'll take good care of them!" Beth cut in. She shooed the three children into the house and dragged Patricia along with her. Shane dispersed the group and asked me to talk to him privately. I glanced back at Daryl, who's eyes never left Shane and me, watching.

Shane leaned against the fence and observed me aloofly like he hadn't threatened me earlier. He leaned forward. "I need you to promise me something. Promise me ya'll will get Lori back here."

"Kinda obvious given the situation."

"Nah, you don' seem to understand. You get her back here no matter what. Jesus, lie to her if ya'll have to." He was absolutely insane. And sincere. There was no point in telling him that Lori would kill us if she found out we'd lied to get her back here. "you understand?" He made it seem so joking; his tone was lighter. But there was a darker undertone, and I knew he wasn't waiting for a promise. He was making sure I understood that bad things would happen if I didn't do as he ordered. "should get going. See ya'll when I get back." I didn't say anything. I wasn't easily intimidated, but Shane's protectiveness over Lori was terrifying when you were on the other side of it.

Andrea and Carol had waited by the barn for me. The woods in front of us were pretty damn big, and we could only pray that if Lori had come through here, she'd not gotten far. "Ya'll know the drill. Keep an eye out and use a knife unless you can't." Andrea huffed. "I mean it. If you shoot a walker and a dozen others appear outta the trees, I ain't stickin' round to save your stupid ass."

"I just hope Lori's okay," Carol said. She held the knife with the utmost care as if afraid it would turn around and bite her.

"She will be. She's smart." I gestured for them both to follow. The forest was already dark. I was thankful that we had brought a torch because in a few hours it would be dark.