Angel With A Shotgun (Walking Dead Fanfic)

Chapter 17: The Aftermath

Hey, 

Had hoped this would have been up on Christmas Day for a little Christmas present for you guys but I may or may not have failed that. So this is a belated Christmas present/ early New years present for you guys. 

Happy Holidays
                               Tasha xox

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Chapter Seventeen


The Aftermath


▬ Third Person- No one’s P.O.V ▬ 


     The morning after the massacre at camp Electra was stood by her tent scrutinising every detail, hoping to find something…..anything that could tell her that it was all a dream. She gazed over at Rick who was sat, staring out at the sunrise whilst talking into his walkie talkie. Frowning, she caught a glimpse of T-Dog and Glenn throwing dead bodies into the fire as Daryl brought a pickaxe down on a dead walkers head.


     Guilt struck her as she eyes Andrea who was still cradling Amy’s body next to the R.V as Lori seemed to be attempting to comfort her. From what Electra could see she wasn’t successful. Of course she wasn’t. Andrea’s sister had just died, she would be over there too but she knew better- Andrea needed space. She needed to grieve, and if this was her way of doing so then so be it.


     Sighing, Electra took a seat down on the log Shane had been sat on for hours. Silently, the siblings looked at one another saying exactly what they needed to say with their eyes alone. That they were mourning their losses, that they loved each other and that they were so happy that Andrea’s and Amy’s fate hadn’t become theirs. Electra curled up into her brothers side as he threw an arm around her, holding her close as Lori and Rick approached them.


     “She still won’t move?” Rick enquired, obviously referring back to Andrea whilst he wiped a bead of sweat off of his nose.


     “Won’t even talk to us,” Lori informed him with a sigh as she took a seat in the green camp chair. “She’s been there all night,” she pointed out as if the others didn’t stay up all night also. “What do we do?” she questioned them with no ideas of her own.


     “We can’t just leave Amy like that,” Shane spoke up. “We need to deal with it,” he voiced. “Same as the others,” he explained looking around at the others.


     “I’ll tell her how it is,” Rick nodded soberly before turning away from them trying to approach the blonde. “Andrea,” he addressed her but instantly Andrea pulled her gun on him causing Lori, Electra and Shane to jump to their feet at the unstable blondes actions.


     “I know how the safety works,” Andrea told Rick, clearly referring back to the department store in Atlanta where she had first pulled her gun on him with the safety still on.


     “Alright, okay,” Rick uttered, slowly raising his hands in surrender. “I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m sorry,” he apologized backing off cautiously until he was back with Lori, Electra and Shane. Back to stage one, Lori and Shane sat back down again.


     “Y’all can’t be serious,” Daryl scoffed as he joined the group who had been rendered silent. “The dead girls a time bomb,” he quipped.


     “That dead girl is her sister,” Electra interjected, scanning him. “One of us, not a time bomb,” she scolded him, placing a hand on her hip.


      “What do you suggest?”


     “Take the shot!” Daryl proposed causing Electra to tut, displeased with his suggestion. “Clean in the brain from here,” he continued. “Hell! I can hit a turkey in between the eyes from this distance,” he stated.


     “She is not a turkey!” Electra rebuked him, raising her voice in anger. “She’s Amy!” she reminded them before marching away from their conversation to deal with the dead survivors which had been laid down in one row.  Daryl looked at Rick and Shane.


     “No,” Lori denied from her spot. “For God’s sake let her be,” she insisted. Not gaining the consent of Rick, Daryl spat out of disbelief and walked off.


     “Wake up Jimbo, we got work to do,” Daryl prompted the still man to move as he passed by him. Morales was crouched down to start to move yet another dead body, seeing this Daryl dropped his pickaxe and helped him to drag the body towards the fire.


     “Hey!” Glenn called, watching them do so. “What are you guys doing?” he asked hastily but they ignored him. “This is Reece,” he pointed out to them. “Our people go in that row over there,” Glenn pointed towards Electra and the row of dead bodies.


     “He’s dead-”


     “Ou-our people go over there,” Glenn stammered causing both Morales and Daryl to let go of Reece and stand up to look at Glenn. “We don’t burn them! We bury them!” Glenn yelled, his voice cracking in his distress. “You understand? Out people go in the row over there!” he pointed again causing Morales and Daryl to drag Reece in that direction.


      “You reap what you sow,” Daryl grunted, frustrated and sweating from the heat.


     “You know what, shut up man!” Morales shouted at him as they laid Reece in the row of the dead walker ravaged survivors.


     “Y’all left my brother for dead!” Daryl raged, raising his voice so all the survivors could hear. “Y’all had this coming!” Daryl barked as Electra went to pass him.


      “Not the time Daryl,” she mumbled continuing to walk an inch.


     “Hey!” Thea called from somewhere behind the woman causing her to spin around and Daryl to turn his head as Thea stopped beside him. “Can I speak to you?” Thea asked.


     “Go right ahead Thea,” Electra urged, placing a hand back on her hip as she looked at the younger woman who looked anxious.


      “When you, Rick, Daryl, T-Dog and Glenn were away at Atlanta…” Thea began. “Shane…..…” she trailed off causing Electra to cock her head to the side out of interest. “Shane kind of beat up Ed Peletier,” she revealed.


     “Shane did what?!” Electra exclaimed out of disbelief causing Daryl to grow interested in topic and stay to overhear the events.


     “Ed was arguing with Andrea, Jacqui, Amy, Carol and I, then Ed slapped her so Shane dragged him off of her and beat  him up,” she explained.


     “Oh,” Electra sounded relaxed and not worried anymore. “Well thanks for informing me Thea,” she nodded, about to turn away.


     “No, Electra wait,” Thea grabbed her arm to stop her causing Electra to turn back around to face her. “Shane didn’t just beat Ed up, he beat the shit out of him. His face was practically disfigured, it was swollen and bruised like hell. You could barely recognise him,” Thea elaborated causing Electra to look at Shane off in the distance.


     “Leave it to me,”


     “A walker got him!” Jacquie declared stopping Electra in her tracks. “A walker bit Jim!” she announced causing Electra to spin around on the spot as the others around stood up and stared at Jim.  


     “Show it to us!” Daryl demanded, holding his pickaxe but Jim did not respond only looked like a bunny caught in the headlights of a car. “Show it to us!” he ordered barging past Electra whilst approaching him.


     “I’m okay,” Jim told them, but he grabbed a shovel to press the group away from him as they were closing in around him, throwing orders and demands.


     “Grab him!” Daryl hollered ay the ones closest to Jim. “Grab him!” he thundered.


     “Easy now Jim,” Shane said with a level head, stood up and trying to calm down the situation. “Put that down,” he told him but Jim did nothing of the sort. “Put that down now!” There was a threatening tone mixed with anger in Shane’s voice now. T-Dog ran up behind Jim grabbing him whilst disarming him. Daryl ran in and lifted his shirt up revealing a bite wound on his abdomen.


     “I’m okay!” Jim assured them. “I’m okay, I’m okay, I’m okay, I’m okay,” Everyone had backed off by now, watching Jim in silence and uncertainty. “I’m okay,” Jim said, with far less conviction.



▬ First Person- Electra’s P.O.V ▬ 



     Whilst everyone was arguing around the camp fire about what to do with the walker-bitten Jim, he was sat by the R.V all by himself probably trying to get a listen to what his fate would become. Frowning, I made my way over to Jim who was still staring out intently at the group as I slipped down next to him.


     “They’re all scared of me…aren’t they?” Jim asked me, studying the group of people as I glanced down at my worn leather boots.


     “Naw,” I shook my head. “They’re just worried about you Jim, that’s all,” I assured him looking back up to meet his brown eyes.


     “Naw,” Jim denied looking back at the group. “They were worried when you went off to Atlanta, I’ve seen ‘em worried.” he explained. “They’re scared all right,” he commented before returning his eyes to mine. “I mean…I don’t blame them. I am bit after all,” he chuckled bitterly.


     “How did you?” I questioned him out of curiosity. “Get bit?” I added in a form of explanation. “I mean…” she trailed off awkwardly.


     “I was fighting two walkers at once,” he started. “When they were dead I spun around and next thing I know a set of teeth were being sunk into my stomach,” Jim explained.


     “I’m so sorry Jim,” I sympathized sincerely. “I really am,” I couldn’t help but frown once more. God. This was truly depressing.


      “Thanks, but sorry’s can’t help me now,” Jim frowned back at me. “Nothing can heal me now,” he sighed. He had given up.


     “You don’t know that for sure,” I gushed, he opened his mouth to speak but I opened mine first. “There’s been talk about going to the CDC- the centre for disease control. For all we know there could be a cure we don’t know abo-” I began to reassure him.


     “Let’s just say I’m a pessimist,” he cut me off. “If anything this is karma, ya know? For leaving my family behind,” I grimaced, Shane had filled me in on what had been going on with Jim whilst I was gone.


     “You had no choice Jim; you wouldn’t have been able to save them,” I assured him. There was no point living in regret anymore.


     “Would that have stopped you?” Jim asked back causing me to raise an eyebrow at him. “If it was your brother?” he interrogated.


     “No, it wouldn’t have. But-”


     “There are no ‘buts’ Electra,” Jim interrupted me. “Normal people, you included, would have died alongside their family. But me? I panicked, I practically used them as a distraction to get out of their alive,” Jim discussed, hanging his head in shame. “Speaking of,” he slowly looked back up again as my eyes were on my hands. “Your brother has been staring at us ever since you sat down,” Jim told me causing me to lift my eye line to see Shane who held my gaze, showing his warning in his eyes.


     “Maybe he’s admiring your scarf,” I mused still looking at Shane causing Jim to let out a short laugh which made me look at him with a small smile. “What? It is a pretty nice scarf,” I commented.


     “We all know what needs to be done!”


     I heard a shout, I looked in its direction to see Daryl coming towards Jim and I with a pick axe, going for Jim. Shooting to my feet at the same time as Jim, I intercepted by jumping in front of him just as Daryl got ready to swing stopping as Rick’s gun dug into the back of his head.


     “We don’t kill the living,” Rick specified with authority and a stone cold look on his face which Daryl could not appreciate seeing as his eyes were on Jim behind me.


     “Funny,” Daryl commented before turning his head slowly to look at Rick. “Coming from the man with a gun to my head,” Daryl snarled before turning back to Jim and I. “You’re really gonna risk your life for a dead man?” Daryl asked me with malice in his voice.


     “He’s not dead,”


     “He’s as good as,” Daryl snapped but I stood my ground, refusing to move an inch. Daryl paused for a second, assessing the situation before throwing down the pick axe. “Whatever happens, it’s on you,” he looked between me and Rick before storming off. 


     “I think we should move you to the R.V,” Rick voiced, wiping a bead of sweat off of his forehead after a moment before looking at Jim.


     “Yeah….” I trailed off. “I think that would be wise,” I nodded causing Jacqui to take Jim’s arm and lead him up the R.V steps and into the R.V.


     Silently, I pulled the pickaxe out of the ground and headed over to the pile of dead humans and walkers nearby Daryl who had now retrieved an axe. Ignoring him, I dragged a dead walker off of the pile and swung the pick axe down on the walkers head.


     “Why’d you protect him?” Daryl demanded as he brought his axe down on a walkers skull. Sighing, I began to pull the body away for Morales and T-Dog to deal with. “He’s bit, you and I both know he’s as good as dead,” he grumbled from beside me, he laid his walker down next to mine.


     “Too many people have died,” I responded unable to ignore him any longer. “I don’t think people can handle anymore, not now,” I asserted.


     “Who cares? They deserve everything they get! This is karma! Karma for leaving my brother behind in Atlanta! Karma for-” Daryl began to rant angrily.


     “You have to stop this!” I shot up straight to look him in the eye. “Lashing out at any opportunity? It’s doing no one good. I understand you’re angry but you have to stop blaming all of these people. They had nothing to do with Merle. You want someone to blame and lash out on? Blame and lash out on me!” I suggested with venom in my tone.


     “Jim’s bit. The dead girl was to. They’re going to turn. I don’t know why you and that idiot are sticking up for Ji-” Daryl merely snarled, not raising his voice like I had.


     “Because it’s the right thing to do!” I cut him off. “Because I learnt my lesson from what happened to Merle and I’m trying to make it right, trying to stand up for people no matter what,” I vented. “I should have stood up for Merle, but I didn’t and I regret it,” I held his gaze whilst saying the words.


     “Alright,”


     Glad you got the message.


     The next body I came across was Ed’s. Thea was right; his face was so deformed that I could barely recognise him. A pang of guilt went through me and it disgusted me. Why should I feel guilt or sympathy for him? He disgusted me. Any man who beat his wife and child deserved whatever came to them. Raising my pick axe I looked up to see Carol becoming unable to swing it back down again. That’s why.


     “Let me,” Carol stopped me. I opened my mouth to protest against the horrible idea. “He’s my husband,” she reminded me causing me to look down at Ed’s body.


     Reluctantly, I allowed her to take the pickaxe from my hand and took a step back to stand beside Daryl who was watching her. Sobbing, she swung the pickaxe down on Ed’s skull repeatedly, no doubt taking out all the years of abuse in this final act to ensure that he didn’t turn. I could feel Daryl stiffen beside me whilst I watched on silently cringing. It was to much.


     “Carol,” I addressed her cautiously but she ignored me continuing to hack away at her dead husband’s skull. “Carol, that’s enough-” And again. “Carol!” I grabbed her from behind causing her to drop the pickaxe to the ground and begin to sob hysterically as I held her. “Shhhhhh,” I comforted her before a groan erupted somewhere far off.


     A walker.


     With one arm still around Carol and without any hesitation, I put my hand on my gun. But later found myself enable to fish it out of my belt as I spied Amy in the distance, pawing at the air. She was the walker. Slowly, she reached for Andrea grabbing at her hair. As she pulled herself up I looked to Rick and Shane who were standing guard, grabbing their guns.


     Bang.


     The gunshot which had erupted throughout camp caused my attention to turn back to Amy who was now limp in her older sister arms and Andrea with her gun in her hand.


     Oh God.


►►►


     I did not glance backwards as I wandered over to my tent, wiping the sweat off of my brow. It had become too much for me. Half of the camp dead, Jim being bitten, Carol having to brutally smash her dead husbands head in, Daryl’s brother still still M.I.A and witnessing Andrea shooting her younger sister in the head.

     Way too much.

     After unzipping the entrance I could hear the sound of whimpering coming from within. Peeking through the gap, I saw Sophia, Stacie, Carl, Eliza and Louis huddled in the corner with tear stained faces. God knows how long they had been there, a few minutes or all night? I think everyone was too caught up in the whole situation to even think about the children’s whereabouts, I sure as hell had been. Silently, I slipped through the entrance and sank down beside little Sophia who was holding Rory tightly with her face buried into the teddy bear’s light brown fur.  

     “How long have y’all been hiding out in here?” I questioned them all but mostly speaking to Stacie since Sophia was still crying and the rest looked at me with blank expressions.

     “I’m not sure. Me and Eliza brought Sophia in here because she felt sick, later Louis and Carl came looking for us then stayed,” Stacie divulged to Electra who couldn’t help but look back to Sophia.

     “We didn’t want to be outside…” Eliza admitted. “It is…… it’s so horrible out there,” she spoke for herself and judging by their faces, the others too.

     “Yeah, it is….it’s really, really horrible,” I frowned agreeing with her as I carefully placed an arm around Sophia as she was crying. “I’m really sorry,” I apologized sincerely. “About your daddy,” I told her. In the long term it would be better for her, but for now with her mind set? It was bad. “But you and your mommy will pull through,” I assured Sophia causing her to sniffle and lift her blue eyes to meet mine. “My momma died when I was eight years of age,” I explained. “It….It felt like my whole world came crashing down at me all at once…but I got passed it,” I revealed. “It will get better, I promise you,” I reassured her.

     “Is my daddy a monster?”

     This question struck me, I was so sure she was making an enquiry into whether her father had turned into a walker but there was something else. Something in her eyes, in the way she spoke the words that suggested differently. That she may be questioning whether her father was a monster, as in a bad man.

     Yes.

     There were no words to describe how badly I wanted to say the word but I resisted. I couldn’t do that to a little twelve year old girl. I couldn’t help but wonder how it was like growing up in an atmosphere like that, with that being the norm, with that being acceptable, with that being thought to be normal. Brainwashed into believing it.

     “He didn’t reanimate,” I shook my head, choosing my words carefully whilst looking at the ruby red plastic sheet which formed Stacie and I’s tent.  No, not ruby red…..blood red. “We made sure of that,” I explained with a nod before looking back at her.

     “Is my mommy alright?”

     No, she was an emotional wreck.

     She had been brainwashed too, loving a man blindly and recklessly despite the mental and physical abuse she endured by his hand on a regular basis, probably brainwashed into believing she deserved it as well. So many questions which held double meaning behind them.

     “She’s with Jim in the R.V,”    

     “We heard a gunshot,” Louis piped up causing my eyes to flicker to the dark haired, dark eyed boy who looked unusually pale compared to his usually tanned complexion.

     “Yeah….” I sighed thinking back to poor Amy and Andrea. “It’s nothing to worry about y’all, we’re all safe. No more walkers,” I smiled weakly, not wanting to worry or upset them.

     “But there will be,” Carl stated causing me to glance at him with curiosity plastered on my face. “Jim’s been bitten, hasn’t he? That means he’s going to turn….right?” he quizzed, his dark eyebrows knitted together. “We heard all the shouting…” he elaborated causing me to lose my confusion. Poor kids, no wonder they had kept cooper up inside here with hearing all the aggression and violence out there.

     “We’re going to do whatever we can to make sure that doesn’t happen,”

     “What about Amy?”

     Sighing I looked down at her bloodied boots, not having being given time to mourn the death of her friends. I had been too worried about Andrea’s mind, about Jim, about keeping the camp safe and together to even gain the chance to mourn Amy.

     “She’s in a better place,” This caused Sophia to let out another sob but this time cry into my shoulder rather than into Rory’s fur. “Shhhhhh, shhhhhhh, shhhhhh,” I stroked her hair gently, as I sighed. Lately, I had been doing a lot of sighing. “We’re all going to be alright now, everything’s going to be alright, you’ll be safe Sophia, and so will the rest of us,” I comforted her.

     “Sophia?”

     Carol.

     “Now you cheer up yeah? Put on a bright little smile for your mom alright?” I suggested to her in a whisper causing her to sniffle as she wiped her eyes.

     Letting out a deep breath I got up onto my feet and placed my hands on my hips as I walked back out of the tent to see Carol calling around camp.

     “She’s in there Carol,” I told her in a shout causing her to turn to look in my direction and smile. I nodded at her but as I was about to pass her Carl grabbed my arm causing me to stop and turn around to look at her. “Yes?” I questioned curiously.   

     “Thank you,” Carol said with a weak smile causing me to open my mouth. “Stop looking so confused, I’m thanking you for what you did back there,” she explained causing me to draw in a breath. “And don’t you say it was nothing, or that it was no problem because it certainly wasn’t nothing,” Carol voiced before letting go off my arm and walking into my own tent.  

     “Hey Mismatch!”

     Pivoting around to face the direction of the call I saw Daryl standing with his grey-blue 1973 Ford F-25 on one side and a pile of dead bodies on his other side. Silently with my arms crossed against my chest I stopped on the spot and waited for him to speak to me.

     “Give me a hand!” Daryl roared at me as he bent over to pick a walker up, any normal person would have asked but not Daryl, Daryl demanded. No one demands Electra Walsh.

     “Okay,” I responded with a grin before picking up a walkers hand off of the floor and throwing it in his direction. The hand hit him directly in the side causing me to smirk as he stood up straight and faced me. “You’re welcome,” I smiled sweetly at him as he looked at me with an annoyed look on my face.

     “Very funny,”

     “I know right? I’m hilarious,” I agreed with him.

     “But seriously, give me a han-” Daryl ordered before cutting himself off. “Give me some help here,” he corrected himself. “Everyone else I refusing to,” he grumbled before looking back down at the pile of walkers.

     “I can’t think why,” I replied sarcastically before tapping my bottom lip with my index finger. “I mean, you asked so nicely after all,”

     “I get it, I get it,” Daryl growled before straightening up and looking at me. “Give me a helping hand, would ya Mismatch?” he asked but still with a commanding tone making me cock my head ever so slightly to the side. “Please?” he added onto the end of it.

     Success.

     “Alright,” I agreed roaming towards him beginning to help him haul walkers and the dead bodies into the back of his pickup truck.      

     “What do you think about this?” Daryl questioned me as he hauled the last walker into the back of the pickup truck as I raked a hand through my hair.

     “About what?”

     “Burying the dead,” Daryl spoke as he straightened up. “Instead of burning them like we all said we would,” he elaborated.

     “I don’t know to be honest,” I shrugged telling him the truth. “I think the sooner we get this done the better, you get me?” I raised an eyebrow at him.

     “Yeah…I get you,”

     “Yous two all done?!”

     Startled, I turned around on the spot to see that Jacqui was the one who had shouted at us. Behind her were all the remaining camp massacre survivors (minus Rick and Shane who were digging the graves of the dead survivors) ready to go out to the funeral we were going to host.
        
     “Yeah, let’s get goin’”


►►►


▬ Third Person- No one’s P.O.V ▬       


     Electra hopped out of Daryl’s pick up to see Rick and Shane stop their conversation immediately, suspiciously quickly to her. She could see that they had been arguing about something judging on the look on Shane’s face, she would have usually called them out on it but she decided to interrogate Rick about it later as Daryl jumped out the other side of the pickup.

     “Still think it’s a mistake,” Daryl voiced straight away heading towards Rick and Shane as the others slowly trailed behind the pickup truck. “Not burning these bodies,” he explained. “That’s what we said we’d do, right? Burn them all. Aint that the idea?” Electra looked up at her brother through her dark eyelashes.

     “At first,”

     “Trying to get us all emotional? That is not a the thing to do,” Daryl challenged them both. “These people know to who the hells in charge here….what the rules are,” he pressed them for an answer to the question, a question Electra had wondered herself. Who was in charge? Her brother or Rick?

     “There are no rules,”

     “Well that’s a problem,” Lori’s voice caused both Rick and Shane to stop digging as Electra turned around to look at the woman. “We haven’t had one minute to hold onto anything of our old selves, we need time to mourn and we need to bury out dead,” she spoke calmly. “It’s what people do,” she asserted.


     They had staged a funeral for their dead which consisted of their friends and their family. Luckily, Electra had not bonded immensely with most of those dead. She still had all of her friends and her family…...all but one..….all but Amy. They had buried all but one of the bodies now and were currently burying the last one. ~

     Burying Amy was something which Electra would be able to watch but something she was unable to watch was Andrea dragging her dead sister inside a body bag along the ground, proceeding towards the last grave. Dale was stood by, attempting to help Andrea but Andrea refused his help insisting that she was fine as she dragged Amy into the grave.

     Cautiously, Dale moved her feet helping Andrea lower her sister into the grave before letting her position her. Tears flooded Electra’s eyes as she grabbed her brothers hand fiercely, unable to watch much longer. Dale offered Andrea his hand which Andrea took using it to get out of Amy’s grave.

     Shane squeezed Ellie’s hand tightly before moving away and letting her hand go, going to grab a shovel to fill up Amy’s grave with. Exhaling, Electra wiped her tears with the back of her hand.

     “You alright?” Glenn questioned causing her to remove the hand from her face and sniffle ever so slightly like a little child.     

     “Who is?”

     “Fair point,” Glenn nodded awkwardly digging his hands into his jeans pocket as he looked down at his red vans. . “This is all my fault,” Glenn announced causing Electra to lift her eyes to his and open her mouth to object. “I drove up here with the alarms blaring, I led them here: This is my fault.” Glenn’s brown eyes flooding to the brink with tears.

     “Glenn, this is not your fault…” Electra denied shaking her head vigorously. “It was no one’s fault Glenn, you can’t blame yourself. It was going to happen sooner and later and walkers wouldn’t be able to pinpoint the source of the noise,” she assured him causing him to look convinced and look slightly better.

     “I’m scared Electra, not scared….terrified,” he admitted looking up at her.

     “So am I Glenn,” she revealed. “So am I,” she exhaled deeply. “I’m just thanking God that it’s not Shane in that grave, I don’t think I’d be able to handle that,” she barely managed to articulate. “Is that selfish, Glenn?” she quizzed him out of curiosity.

     “Not in the slightest,” Glenn assured her touching her arm lightly causing Electra to smile ever so slightly. “That’s better, now come on, let’s go back to camp. There’s nothing for us here,” he suggested leading Electra back to camp, Stacie joining them by squeezing in between them and holding their hands.

     “I don’t feel too good,” Stacie admitted with a frown.

     “I don’t think anyone feels too good Stacie,” Electra responded to her, looking down into the girls big blue eyes. “Must be going around,” she sighed causing Glenn to smile weakly at her. “I think I may have a chocolate bar back in camp, might help you to feel better,” This caused Stacie to brighten up.  

     “Hey Electra…..” Stacie said causing Electra to look down at her and smile weakly. “Do you think you’ll ever have children?” she enquired.

     “In this day and age?” Electra chuckled. “No, I don’t think I’ll ever have children. It’s not a subject I’ve thought about for a long, long time,” she explained.

     “I think you’d make a great mommy,”

     “Thanks Stacie…”

     “I think you’d make a great mother too,” Glenn agreed causing Electra to flash a true smile at him which he returned in an instant.

     “I think you and Glenn should make babies….or you and Daryl,” Stacie voiced causing Electra to nearly choke on her own saliva at the same time as Glenn.

     “Erm…..” Electra began to crack up into laughter, Glenn shortly joining her. “I don’t think that’s going to happen any time Stacie,” she giggled.

     “Hey Ellie!”       

     Quickly, Electra spun around on the spot until she was facing the direction of Rick’s call. Rick was kneeling down on the ground in front of Carl and Lori stood beside them both.
  
     “Would you mind keeping an eye on Carl for a while?” Rick questioned Electra, straightening up from his crouched position on the floor.

     “Isn’t that all she does anyway?” Daryl murmured under his breath overhearing the conversation as he passed Electra, Glenn and Stacie.

     “Sure I will,” Electra nodded, smiling weakly at Lori and Rick taking the hint before moving her eye line down to Carl. “Come on Carl,” she called causing Carl to walk to her. Turning her head as they walked off Electra nodded at Rick sincerely knowing he was about to have an important conversation with his wife.


▬ First Person- Electra’s P.O.V ▬


     “How is he?!” I demanded, practically bombarding Rick with the question as he barely emerged out of the R.V. Uncrossing my arms whilst he closed the door after him and continued to walk down the R.V stairs slowly and looking slightly depressed.

     “He’s not good Ellie,” Rick told me, running a hand through his greasy dark hair. Oh God. “He’s….he’s coughing up blood, in and out of it,” he sighed. “He even asked me to keep an eye on the boat….” Rick trailed off causing my eyebrows to furrow. Keep an eye on the boat?

     “What? Why would he-”

     “He asked me to keep an eye on the boat…..” he repeated. “He said that I said I would and that……that Amy is swimming in the lake,” he brought to my attention.

     “Oh,” was all I managed to get out as I looked down. God dammit. This was not good news, he was hallucinating? Was that what happened to those turning?

     “What do you think we should do?” Rick enquired causing me to look back up at him, his beautiful eyes looked so dead inside.

     “I-” I breathed, cutting myself of realising I honestly had no clue as to a solution. “I honestly don’t know Rick,” I corrected  myself.

     “You’re brother is blaming me for the massacre…..” he informed me causing me to look into his eyes yet again. “And I have to ask…do you?”

     “No Rick, of course not,” I didn’t rely it was an instinct. What was it with everyone and blaming themselves for things they couldn’t control? “We’ll never know what would have happened if we stayed: It may have been better or been worse,” this caused Rick to frown “But I do know something, I know that we did the right thing- going back for Merle and the guns,” I assured him and myself.

     “And my plan about heading to the C.D.C?” he put forth. “What do you think about that?” he interrogated me, looking for assurance yet again.

     “I think it’s as good as any,”

     “Shane disagrees,” he told me, I sighed. How had it come two this? Two best friends disagreeing over everything possible? “He thinks we should head to Fort Benning, the army base,” he added.

     “Ah,”

     “What do you think?” Rick questioned me with a pair of curious eyes. God dammit, now I am expected to pick sides. Please no.

     “I think we need to make a plan and we need to make it now,” I stated, not wanting to take sides. “People need certainty, assurance, stability,” I thought out loud. “Pick whichever one offers those things, and pick it fast,” I nodded at him. Seemed pretty legit.

     “Okay,” Rick said thoughtfully looking over in the distance. I followed his eye line to see Shane and Lori talking…arguing more like. “You have any input?” Rick looked back at me as he took a step forward towards the pair.

     “Nope,” I popped the p. “I’ll be behind whatever you and Shane agree on,” And with an incoherent murmur Rick was off, walking towards his wife and my brother.         


▬ Third Person- No one’s P.O.V ▬
 

     Shane and Rick trekked through the forest, a lingering and awkward silence among them which was sometimes broken by the sound of leaves crunching underneath their feet or a twig breaking under their weight. Both waiting for the other to start. Looking at Rick once more, Shane sighed and decided to give in.

     “I gotta tell you, these people man? They’re not convinced,” Shane stated from a little behind his best friend. “Heading to the C.D.C? You might be on your own…..You gotta really consider putting Carl and Lori in that space, man,” Shane advised him. 
    
     “I need to do what’s best for my family,”

     “Best for your family?” Shane echoed his words in a questioning tone. “Exposing them to all kinds of risks?” he interrogated.

     “As to what?” Rick questioned in turn. “Crossing a hundred miles of hostile territory,” he shot back at his best friend, not looking backwards. “We’re looking for a life line here; I say we swing towards the closest ship not further out to sea,” he pointed out. “Why can’t you back me up on this?” he challenged.

     “Look, I want to it’s just…..I don’t see it,”

     “Ah,” Rick sighed. “If it was your family you’d feel differently,” he told Shane curtly as he continued onwards. Shocked at his words Shane stopped and looked on at his friend. Confused about the silence, Rick stopped and turned around slowly to face his best friend.

|

     “Electra honey,”

     The voice caught Electra by surprise, snapping her out of her little trance causing her to nearly lunge forwards to the ground from her spot on the log. She was jumpy, of course she was. Who wouldn’t be in an apocalyptic world in the first place, never mind after a massacre? Jerking her head around she saw Lori standing up behind her and flashed her a small smile.

     “I’m sorry,” Lori apologized sounding sincere. “I didn’t mean to startle you,” she stated causing Electra to shake her head absentmindedly. “Can I have a word with you?” she questioned before glancing at Stacie beside the mismatched eyed brunette. “In private?”

     “Sure,” Electra smiled, briefly turning to Stacie and squeezing her hand before getting on her feet and following Lori at the edge of the woodland.

     “How many times have you and my husband slept together?”

     “What?” Electra barely managed to get the words out, she was in shock. Lori was her friend. Why would Lori even accuse her of sleeping with Rick? Electra and Rick’s relationship had been completely platonic on Rick’s part. “Lori, I-” she started.

     “Don’t try to lie about it, Electra,” Lori interrupted her. “I see the way you look at each other, there’s a history there I can see it,” she placed her hands on her hips.

     “Well you’re right: Me and Rick do have history,” Electra confirmed nodding and looking at the dirt underneath her feet causing Lori to glare at her.

|

     “What’d you say to me?” Shane demanded, staring at Rick now. “I have family, I have my sister- I have Ellie,” he snapped at Rick causing Rick’s face to drop. “Lori, Carl? I kept them safe man, I looked after them, they were my own. That’s what I did Rick!” Shane raised his voice causing Rick to realise he had really offended the man.

     “I didn’t mean it in that way,”

     “How do you mean it?” Rick looked off in the distance sighing, the last thing he had wanted to do was provoke Shane. “Go on man, how’d you mean it?!” Shane egged him on.

     “You’re misinterpreting,” Rick stated with a sigh. “You’re mad man, you’re just hearing it wrong….Shane. You know that I can never repay that debt,” he gestured to himself. “Look man, Ellie wants us to work this whole thing out together, she-” Rick started.

     “How would you know what my sister wants?” Shane questioned him. “You didn’t contact her for twelve years….Twelve years Rick!” he reminded Rick. “Don’t act all concerned about her,” he shot at him cruelly.

     “I am concerned about her wellbeing, she’s my best friend and so are you!” Rick argued back but was trying to calm the situation down too. “I know what she wants because I consulted her, which you obviously haven’t done!” There. The words were out and they stung Shane, enraged him even further.

 |

     “We’re best friends. We go way back…..we’ve practically known each other from birth,” Electra stated level-headedly causing Lori’s glare to deepen even further. “We have never slept together Lori,” she asserted before gripping onto the conversation. “And….and how dare you even infer anything like that?” she queried. “I am perfectly capable of respecting your relationship Lori Grimes,” she spat at Lori.

     “Stop lying!”

     “Look!” Electra was prepared to go all out but cut herself off realising the obvious. “You want to feel like you’re not the bad person in the relationship, don’t you? You want to feel like you and Rick are equal and have both made poor choices.” Electra figured her out, her voice soft and pleasant when saying the words.

     “What-”

     “I am sorry to disappoint you but Rick has never betrayed you,”
 
|

     Shane opened his mouth, more than ready to add more fuel to the fire. How dare Rick talk about him and his sister like that? How dare Rick infer that he was a bad brother to Ellie?
     
     Snap.

     Funny how a simple thing could send two grown men completely into weariness, making them forget their argument at once. Exchanging looks, they both took to cautiously searching for their threat with their guns raised. Doing his part, Rick walked forward and from his spot Shane’s aim landed on Rick.

     Shane held it there, just for a few seconds, contemplating his actions. Breathing heavily, he now glared at the back of Rick’s head thinking of how easy it would be to shoot him just there.

     Another sound broke his focus.

     “Jesus.”

     Dropping his gun, Shane slowly turned his head to catch a glimpse of Dale who- judging by his expression- had been watching him the hole time.

     “I know.” Shane agreed, attempting to cover his actions. “We gotta start wearing reflective vests up here- seriously,” he shrugged it off, but Dale did not look convinced. “Come on man!” he called to Rick before putting on his baseball cap, feeling the suns heat before turning back to Dale again who was still frozen. “Come on man, let’s go. No hope being up here,”

|

     Electra turned her back on Lori and strutted away with a glint of anger in her eyes, heading back towards where Stacie was sitting as Lori stood there frozen.

     “What did you just say to me?” Lori demanded heading after her grabbing Electra’s arm causing Electra to shrug Lori’s hand off and turn to face her.

     “The truth,” Electra said refusing to lose her temper. “You slept with Shane, Rick didn’t sleep with me,” she reminded her causing Lori’s facial expression to turn dire and her to open her mouth, forming it for the words. “No. I haven’t told Rick and don’t intend too,” she spelt it out for Lori.

     “But-”

     “You’re welcome,”


▬ First Person- Electra’s P.O.V ▬


     Keeping my teeth gritted together in fear that I would cause a huge argument which wasn’t necessary, I turned around to see Dale, Rick and my brother emerging out of the woods together. Immediately, most approached them and those who did not were called to. Next thing I knew everyone was stood around the camp fires looking at Rick and Shane for the answers.

     “I’ve uh, I’ve been thinking about Rick’s plan,” Shane started off cautiously looking primarily at me, there was something wrong- I could see it.

     “And?”

     “Look there are no guarantees, either way I’ll be the first to admit that,” Shane admitted looking among more of the survivors. “I’ve known this man a long time, I trust his instincts,” he nodded. “I say the most important thing here is that we need to stay together,” his gaze shifted towards Lori for a moment.

     What?

     Something’s wrong. Shane’s stubborn as hell… nearly as stubborn as me, I knew that more than anyone. Sure he could change his mind but he hadn’t, anyone could tell that he did not believe in the words he was saying but everyone seemed to buy into it. Everyone but me.    

     “So, those of you who agree we leave first thing in the morning, okay?