Chapter 33: Words left unfinished

Chapter Thirty Three Words left unfinished▬ Third Person- No one’s P.O.V ▬       “Dale could get under your skin.” Rick started off with his speech. The Greene family along with the Atlanta survivors were gathered around the grave that now belonged to Dale which lay right beside little Sophia’s grave. “He sure got under mine, because he wasn’t afraid to say exactly what he thought, how he felt. That kind of honesty is rare and brave.” He informed everyone.      Rick was quite right, Dale was rare and brave, unlike Electra of whose hand was intertwined with her elder brother beside her. She wasn’t like Dale, she was afraid to say exactly what she thought and how she felt. She feared the look of disappointment that would surely twinkle in Shane’s amber eyes, which alone would cripple her within.      “Whenever I’d make a decision,” Rick continued on. “I’d look at Dale.” Rick admitted. “And he’d be looking back at me with that look.” He nodded, his eyes glancing around those gathered around. “We’ve all seen it one time or another.” He nodded.      Glenn had. Glenn had experienced that very look last night in the Greene living room when he had failed to back Dale about the whole Randall situation. He wished that he could turn back time, of course to prevent Dale’s death but to also make sure he backed the old wise man.      “I couldn’t always read him, but he could read us. He saw people for who they were. He knew things about us, the truth, who we really are. In the end, he was talking about losing our humanity.” The word ‘end’ was like a stab through Electra’s chest and caused Thea to cling even tighter to T-Dog. “He said this group was broken.”      Electra remembered it well. Dale had been passing Daryl but had stopped, placing a careful hand on Daryl’s arm to which, for once, Daryl did not react to as he murmured what Electra had guessed had been his earlier words to Dale in reference to them all.      “The best way to honour him is to unbreak it. Set aside our differences and pull together, stop feeling sorry for ourselves and take control of our lives, our safety….Our future.” Rick declared and he was right. Thea could see it, Andrea could see it, hell even Shane could see it. Electra held Stacie even closer than she had before, wondering how long it would be until she would have to inevitably let Stacie take control of her life, her safety and her future.      “We’re not broken.” Rick announced as the tears began to stream down Stacie’s face, wiping her nose in her powdered pink hoodie. “We’re gonna prove him wrong.” Rick nodded as he dropped his handful of dirt on Dale’s grave. “From now on we’re gonna do it his way.” Everyone nodded in agreement apart from Shane who just stared on. “That is how we honour Dale.”      Electra let go of Shane’s hand and wiped her teary eyes before they could stream down her face. She had done more than enough crying all through the night and definitely more than enough puking. It was a horrible way to go, having your guts torn out and then having to look into a friends eyes whilst they shot you in the head. Knowing there was no hope that all you could do was suffer until you took your last breath.       “Electra.” Immediately, as if she had been slapped, her head turned in the direction of Stacie who was glancing up at her through the tears that laced her sea blue eyes. Without a word, Electra brought her into a tight bear hug, willing to do absolutely anything to make and keep Stacie safe. “I-I-I-” she stammered, breathing into Electra’s dirtied grey top. “I was thinking about what you said…..about having a gun……I want one.”      “Stacie,” Electra said, backing out of the hug and holding Stacie by her shoulders. “Are you sure you want this?” she questioned her seriously at eye level. “I was wrong when I tried to force you into carrying a gun and I admit that. You will always have me to keep you safe, Stacie.” She assured her. “Always. So if you want a gun, that is completely and utterly your choice.”       “I know, Electra.” Stacie nodded biting her lip. “I know, but I want a gun.” She admitted. “You can’t save me all the time, Electra.” She told her causing Electra to exhale. “I know, I can count on you to save me pretty much all the time but you’re not with me 24/7.”      “We could change that, Stacie.” Electra uttered the words, dead seriously. “I want to be there for you, whenever you need me.” she breathed. “I want to-”      “You’re my mommy, Electra.” Stacie told her causing Electra to squint at her. “Not biology-” ‘Biologically.’ Electra corrected her mentally but allowed her to continue. “But you have done so much for me and I know you will always protect me but you can’t just be my mommy.” Stacie stated.       “What?”      “You can’t just protect me, you need to protect everyone else too. Carl, Shane, Glenn, T-Dog, Lori, Rick, Thea….even Daryl.” Stacie told her causing a small smirk to form on Electra’s face. “And whilst you protect them, away from camp and away from me, you protect me too but...” she frowned, unsure of how to explain her point completely.      Electra knew and pulled the spare gun from the back of her jeans and held it out to Stacie in full confidence. Stacie’s small hand wrapped around the gun and they stayed in that position for but a few seconds before Electra let go of the gun, knowing that she didn’t need to explain the rules on which she could have the gun on. Stacie was an old soul, unbelievably old.      “Go and find Carl.” Electra told her as she straightened up and shot up back to her feet, towering over the little girl. “Go and have a good time, kiddo.” She smiled at her causing Stacie to beam back at her whilst she tucked the gun into the belt of her dress. Turning away, she began to run in the direction of the house.      “So,” Electra nearly jumped out of her skin as she turned around to see Jared right behind her. She had been far too caught up in Stacie to even notice him lurking there. “It all worked out in the end, huh?” he said causing Electra to catch her breath.      “Yes.” Electra said coldly with a rock hard glare. “It did.” She spat. “No thanks to you, as usual.” She stated harshly before turning her back on him to see pretty much everybody moving around the front of the Greene ranch house like busy bees.      “It’s gonna be tight,” Electra overheard Rick as she finally re-joined the group. “14 people in one house.” He stated looking down at the paint before raising his eye line to Ellie. He threw her a small smile which she returned with a weak smile of her own.      “Don’t worry about that.” Hershel said dismissively. “With the swamp hardening, the creek drying up….” He began to list all the current problems that were arising due to the coming of winter. ‘Urgh, winter.’ Electra thought bitterly, she had always hated the gloomy season.      “With fifty head of cattle on the property,” Jared intercepted as he came up behind Electra once again causing her to resist rolling her eyes. “We might as well be ringing the damn dinner bell.” He commented whilst stretching over Electra to reach a box.      “He’s right. We should’ve moved you in a while ago.”      “All right,” Rick nodded in acceptance. “Let’s move the vehicles near each of the doors facing out toward the road. We’ll build a lookout in the windmill, another in the barn loft. That should give us sightlines both sides of the property.” He stated causing Electra’s and Shane’s ears to perk up immensly.      “I’ll ur….I’ll do the vehicles once I’m done moving in, yeah?”      “Yeah.” Rick confirmed that it was alright. “T-Dog, you take the perimeter around the house.” He said, turning to T-Dog who was currently pecking Thea, who was picking up another box, on the cheek. “Urm….” Rick said uncomfortably. “Keep track of everyone coming and going.”      “What about standing guard?”      “I need you and Daryl on double duty.”      “Gotcha.”      Shane and Electra both in took their breaths so quickly that they nearly choked. Since when did Rick not give Shane duties? Since when did Rick completely ignore Shane’s existence? Since when did Rick and Shane enter the level of not wingmen?      “I’ll stock the basement with food and water,” Hershel said as he returned carrying a couple of boxes in his arms. “Enough that we can all survive there a few days if need be.” He planned ahead smartly causing Rick to nod out of impressment.      “What about patrols?”      “Let’s get this area locked down first.” Rick said in an answer to Electra’s question. “After that, Shane’ll assign shifts while me and Daryl take Randall offsite and cut him loose.” He informed everyone causing Shane’s eyebrow to raise and Electra’s eyes to drift in between her two brothers before she turned to speak with Patricia.      “We’re back to that now?” Shane questioned Rick causing Rick to raise an eyebrow at Shane whilst he stopped in his tracks. With a sigh, Rick turned back around to face Shane dead on with a hand placed on his gun in his holster, being very comfortably.      “It was the right plan first time around.” Rick stated, looking on at Lori who was spying on Shane and Rick, then to Electra who was smiling at Patricia and Beth of whom she was in deep conversation with. “Poor execution.” He stated with a cough, looking back to Shane.      “That’s a slight understatement.”      “You don’t agree.” Rick observed, not that it was hard to observe as it was pretty obvious to everybody around. “But this is what’s happening.” He stated, his voice laced with authority and calmness. “Swallow it.” He ordered him. “Move on.” He told him as if he were a child.      “You know that Dale’s death and the prisoner, that’s two separate things, right?” Shane questioned Rick who remained silent, not feeling the need to present an answer to that question.  Seeing this, Shane sighed deeply. “You wanna take Daryl as your wingman, be my guest.”      “Thank you.”      “You got it.”      “I can see why my step brother’s got his eyes on you,” Beth told Electra as she, Beth and Patricia began to move in towards the house. “He likes pretty things who have a balance between having a sharp tongue and a caring heart.” she informed Electra causing her to laugh.      “Oh, I bet he does.”      “Don’t give him the time of day though.” Patricia advised Electra. “Sweet enough but a heartbreaker at that.” She informed her. “Don’t give him the time of day…. just romantically speaking….of course.” She stated giving her a sidelong look.         “Don’t worry, I don’t.”      “Ellie!” Rick called her causing Electra to draw to a stop whilst the other two laddies continued to march on. “When I’m out with Daryl, help Hershel here keep an eye on things around here.” He ordered causing Electra to throw Hershel a short nod as a form of greeting.      “Alright.” Electra nodded before the two men finally caught up with her. “I’ll help, but your agenda is?” she enquired as she walked alongside Rick allowing her to catch the expression of surprise cover her face. “Don’t you try to dare try to feed me no lies, brother.” she warned him.      “Shane’s…..” Rick trailed off causing Electra to glance back at him. ‘Be straight, just be straight with her like you usually are, Rick.’ Rick thought to himself. “Shane’s got a way of letting things get out of hand, especially when he’s all torqued up.” He stated.      “I think we’re all a bit torqued up at this point.”      “If you’re staying here permanently, he’s got to understand that it’s what Rick and I say, not whatever he wants.” Hershel spoke up.      “We know he’s not a bad guy, Ellie, he’s just his own worst enemy.”      “You want me to babysit…..Shane?” Electra enquired.      “I need to make sure every time I leave the farm all hell doesn’t break loose.”      “Shane’s not ‘all hell’, Rick.” Electra stated, knowing exactly what he was getting at. “You need to remember who you’re talking to here, brother.” she told him. “Tread carefully, Rick, I don’t do conspiracies…not against either of you, so you’re barking up the wrong tree.” She informed him. “You want to keep all hell from breaking loose? You’re out leader: Maybe you should stop leaving.” She advised him before turning her back on him.      “Can I-”      “Everything’ll be fine, Rick.”▬ First Person- Electra’s P.O.V ▬            “We’ve got the top left of the siting room!” I called up to my brother who was currently fiddling around with the old windmill, probably building a lookout like Rick had mentioned earlier. “Furthest away from the windows so it should be pretty cosy, I managed to square it with Patricia and Hershel!” I explained, fully aware that Shane didn’t really care. “Wouldn’t that be easier if you waited for some help?” I questioned.      “Aint no use waiting for something that aint gonna come.” Shane shouted back in response, still facing the windmill rather than me. “No, I’ll just……” he trailed off before a clunking sound came to my attention. “Just do it all myself.” He murmured.      “Yeah, you always do, don’t you Shane?” I nodded, raking a hand through my short waves. “Just like that time you showed up my ex-boyfriend fixing my shower that you broke whilst on holiday.” I teased him, resisting the urge to laugh at him as he did.      “Yeah.” He laughed, turning his head so that he could look down at me. “Just so you know, that’s not the reason your basement flooded.” I mocked with a smile. “You can thank Devon for that, using rubber washers with a metal pipe.” He murmured again, losing me at ‘rubber washers’. “What kind of name is Devon anyway?” he questioned with a breathy chuckle.      “Please come down.” I pleaded causing Shane to turn his head back to me again before sighing at the sight of my facial expression. Reluctantly, he made his way down the shaky windmill leaving me praying that he wouldn’t fall from it and break his neck.      “What’s up, Ellie?”      “This is real, Shane.” I breathed out causing Shane to raise an eyebrow at me, with all rights to do so. I was acting strange. “And after Sophia and Dale……” I trailed off, attempting to keep the tears at bay. “We….we can’t keep it at bay, anymore Shane.”      “Ellie…..” Shane attempted to comfort me, seeing that I was getting worked up as I raked my hand through my hair but kept it in there.      “It’s…..” I trailed off before exhaling deeply with a pathetic excuse of a smile on my face. “You see, it’s….it’s…..” I once again failed to get what I meant out of my mouth. “It’s already got us, Shane.” I blurted out. “And….And it just keeps on coming, doesn’t it?”      “Ellie-”      “Just…..” I interrupted Shane before he could interrupt me. “Just let me say this, just please let me say this, brother.” I said causing Shane to nod ever so slightly. “Thank you.” I thanked him. “You have kept this at bay for as long as you possibly can.  You have paused the inevitable and you have saved so many lives on countless occasions.” I voiced. “Thank you so much.”       “You don’t need to thank me for that-”      “Of course I do.”      “No, you-”      “Of course I do.”      “Oh, come here you.”      “I have no clue what I’d do without you, Shane.” I admitted as I sobbed into his chest as he held me close. “I love you so much, you’re the best brother and I’m not even lying to make you feel better.” I gushed causing Shane to chuckle a little as he stroked my hair.      “I love you too, Ellie.” Shane told me, stroking my back now. “I would do anything to keep you alive, anything to keep you safe.” He dropped a kiss on my forehead. “So dry your eyes, no tears are necessary.” He said causing me to withdraw out from the hug.      “Thank you, Shane.”      And with that, I was off. I turned my back on my brother and continued on in the direction of camp. I had initially come to help my brother but I guess I did what I needed to do rather than what I should have done. Pffft…..like I could care less about ‘should’      Before I knew it, I had climbed inside the R.V and had seated myself on the drivers seat with a unusual smell lurking around the place. Closing my eyes, I inhaled the smell, finally recognising it. I just stayed there motionless for a moment, pretending that Dale was there beside me. The smell was his after all.      Before I could get to caught up in it, I forced my eyes wide open once more. I turned to search for the keys but out of the corner of my eyes I saw them, still inserted in the key in the ignition and started the R.V with the full intention of moving it like Rick had said, but that was just it- it didn’t move.      “Ellie.” I heard a muffled voice come through the spluttering engine causing my line of vision to focus on Glenn who had just come out of the woodland surrounding us. In an instant, I released the pressure on the pedal. “Hey, did you try pumping the gas pedal?” he enquired.      “I think it’s been parked too long.” I stated after I had tried just that, the engine still spluttering a little.       “You gotta tap it three times-”      “And give her a twist.” I finished off for Glenn. Only Christ knew how many times Dale had said that too us, the idea was pretty much imprinted in our heads. “I know, Glenn, believe me I know.” I muttered under my breath despite the fact that Glenn couldn’t hear me as I tried again. A tapping noise caused me to look up once more and release the pressure off of the gas pedal.      “Let me see.” Glenn told me causing me to breathe and stuff the keys into my pocket as I stood up once more. On my way out of the R.V, I picked Dale’s toolbox up off of the table. The very toolbox he would have surely had us go back to Atlanta to get whether we forgot Merle or not. Finally, I put myself into Glenn’s view. “Uh. Dale told me that in these old vehicles the points get corroded.” He explained.      “Screwdriver?” Andrea questioned as she passed us, obviously hearing our conversation. She picked the screwdriver up and threw it at Glenn.      “Flathead.” Glenn corrected her, handing the screwdriver back to Andrea who smiled slightly. She chucked it into the toolbox and then fished out the flathead and passed it to Glenn. He got to work doing….whatever he was doing. “Could you hand me a file?” he enquired causing me to pass him the file and take the flathead back off of him. Again, he did whatever Dale had taught him to do. It wasn’t long until he stopped and closed the metal casing. “I let him down.” He breathed, not looking at either Andrea or I.      “No, honey, you didn’t.” I assured him, stepping forwards and laying a hand on his arm in a form of comfort. “He was proud of you, Glenn.” I told him causing Glenn to scoff and look at me out of disbelief. “Maybe not in that moment, but he was proud of you overall.” I squeezed him arm.      “That’s easy for you two to say: You had his back.”      “I have my share of regrets, but I think he knew how much we cared for him.” Andrea told him causing Glenn to break down into sobs causing me to withdraw my hand, knowing that it was no use. I wasn’t the only one that Dale had been a father too.      “That might do it.” Glenn breathed as he wiped his eyes, not wanting us to see them in his eyes as he made his way towards the R.V doors.      “Glenn.” I called him causing him to look back at me. I retrieved the keys from within my pocket and chucked them to him. He unlocked the RV door and sat in the drivers seat whilst Andrea and I climbed in after him. He inserted the key back into the ignition. “I bet it’ll work.” I smiled causing Glenn to turn the key and all of us to hear the engine roaring like it should.      “I miss him,” Glenn admitted on the ride to the Greene ranch house. “So much…….” He trailed off as he brought the RV to a stop right where Rick had instructed us too. “Everything just reminds me of him, you know?” he questioned. “Let alone this thing.”      “I know, Glenn.” I nodded. “Believe me, I know.” ◄◄◄▬ Third Person- No one’s P.O.V ▬       Electra Carlie Walsh could not have looked any more peaceful if she had attempted to. Her eyes tightly shut, her face relaxed, her breathing slow and steady and her waves of dark chocolate sprawled out across the silken cornflower blue pillowcase.      The warm early-morning sunshine softly shone into Electra’s bedroom through the big bay window, illuminating a long swathe of the double bed. It was too much for an eight year old, Cynthia and Nicholas Grimes had warned Claire and Anthony Walsh that they were spoiling both Shane and Ellie but Anthony had always just shrugged it off, claiming that his boy and little princess deserved the best.      So that is exactly what Ellie and Shane got.        Dream house.      Dream schools.      Dream parents.      Dream everything.   

     Ellie’s eyes fluttered open, taking their time to adjust to the warm early-morning sun shining on her face. Blinking vigorously, she tossed and turned in the spacious bed in order to unravel herself from the sheets in which she had cocooned herself in her sleep. Yawning, she pushed herself upwards so that she was set upright with her head resting lightly upon the wooden bedstead.      Slowly rubbing her eyes sleepily with her knuckles, she jumped enthusiastically out of her bed, for today was the way in which she could visit her mommy again. Stretching, she span around to face her door. Clad in a pair of purple pyjama’s Ellie skipped out in to the hallway to bang straight into a flat stomach, covered by a white blouse.      “Mommy!” Ellie addressed her enthusiastically before looking up to meet icy blue eyes rather than the expected amber eyes of her mother.  “Oh….” Ellie exclaimed as she identified the woman as not her mother. For a split second, as children did, she had forgotten that her mommy still lay in her hospital bed with something the doctor’s had called a ‘coma’. “Hey Auntie Cynthia.” Ellie greeted, beaming up at her with a toothy grin.       “Hey, Ellie.” Cynthia Grimes returned, paining her too look down at the bright eyed eight year old girl. “Did you have a good night’s sleep?” she questioned after contemplating for a little while. ‘It’s not my place, it’s not my place, it’s not my place.’      “Yes mam.” Ellie replied politely, shifting her weight between her feet awkwardly not knowing whether to question her or not. “Did you, Rick and Uncle Nicholas stay the night?” she enquired, clasping her hands behind her back as she bobbed up and down.      “No dear, just me.”      “Oh.”      “Don’t listen to her, Ellie.” A voice came from nowhere causing Ellie to spin around on the spot so that she was facing Shane who stood at the doorframe to the living room. There was something different in his amber eyes, a glistening. The area around his eyes was red, puffy and looked sore.      “Don’t do this, Shane.” Auntie Cynthia told him, sternly. Her tone nor facial expression wasn’t as icy as her eye colour. How could she be icy towards him? He had just found out that his mother had died. He had overheard the phone call that Cynthia had had with his father who could barely had gotten the words out in the first place.      “She’s lying.”      “Sh-”      “Lying about what?”      “Shane-”      “She says moms dead!” Shane screamed causing Ellie’s breath to catch in her throat.      “No.”      “Ellie, I am so sorry.”      “NO!”►►►      “What’s going on?” Electra enquired as she ran towards where everyone was situated- around the slaughter house where Randall was kept. Rick, T-Dog and Andrea were all inside the slaughter house inspecting it for any signs of what had happened. “Well? Anyone?” she questioned, outside of the slaughterhouse.      “Randall’s missing.”       “Missing?” Electra nearly choked on her words. “He-he-he’s missing?” she squinted at Jared who had just informed her of the situation. “He can’t be missing, he-” she started to deny before Jared slowly nodded. “How can he be missing?” she demanded.      “I don’t know.”      “How long’s he been gone?”      “What’s going on?”      “Is the door locked?”      “It’s hard to say.” Rick stated, exiting the slaughter house and entering Electra’s eye line. “The cuffs are still hooked.” He informed her along with everyone else. “He must’ve slipped them.” He hypothesized causing Carol to throw him a doubtful look.      “It’s possible.” Electra nodded in agreement. “It’s possible if you have nothing left to lose.” She spoke calmly, her mind busy with all her thoughts. “But…..” she trailed off with a doubtful and disconcerting look of her own. “The door. It was secured from the outside.” She pointed out. “How could he have gone out?”      And that was Shane’s cue.      Shane had been hiding in the woodland, his nose bloody from just walking in to a tree to imitate the illusion of a struggle. From the woodland he had been watching the commotion from a far, waiting and waiting. Now Ellie was questioning the logic of the situation, she had always been the smart one in the family, but now was when he needed to take the next step of action.      “Ellie!” Shane called out at the top of his lungs as he started walking towards them. Silence fell upon the group and Electra’s heart was filled with dread. “Ellie!” he yelled again causing her to freeze in fear, her eyes darting around. “Ellie!” Shane finally emerged into her line of sight.      “Oh my God.” Electra said upon viewing him from the distance. “Oh my God.” She exclaimed before she ran towards him, her hand instinctively going to his cheek as she avoided the nose that was surely broken. “What the hell happened?” she questioned, stroking his face.      “He’s armed!” Shane told her but told everyone else too, speaking at a very loud volume. “He’s got my gun.” He informed them all causing everyone else to look around where Electra’s eyes remained focused on him, refusing to leave his face.      “Are you okay?” Electra enquired, those mismatched eyes of her brimmed with concern as she placed her hands on either side of his face.     “I’m fine, Ellie.” Shane told her dismissively, before walking past her. “I’m fine.” He assured her, clasping her hand in his whilst he walked towards the others. “Little bastard just snuck up on me.” he explained. “He clocked me in the face.” Using his other hand, he gestured to the visible wounds.      “Oh, my God.” Electra managed to situate herself right in front of her brother, going back to stroking his face again. “Oh, my God.” She muttered again, unable to comprehend that her brother had been placed in so much danger. She was ashamed that she allowed him to be.      “Alright.” Rick spoke up causing everyone’s but Electra’s attention to turn to him. “Hershel, T-Dog, get everybody back in the house.” He instructed causing them to start speaking up and urging the others towards the house. “Glenn, Daryl, come with us.” He ordered.      “I’m coming too.” Electra said, not taking her eyes off of her brother.      “No, Ellie, you’re not.”      “Shane.”      “No, Ellie, it’s dangerous out there and I’d feel a whole lot safer if you would stay here for me, okay?” Shane told her causing her to look doubtful. “Please, just this once, stay put. For me?” he begged causing Electra to frown, not wanting to do what he asked of her.      “I love you.” Electra told him, throwing herself at him.      “I love you too, Ellie.” Shane whispered, kissing her forehead before turning away towards the forest along with Glenn, Daryl and Rick.     “Come on in, hon.” Thea said, pulling her by the arm ever so slightly. “He’ll be fine, just you watch.”▬ First Person- Electra’s P.O.V ▬       After the hundredth attempt, I successfully managed to tie my hair up in a simple pony tail.  I gave my gun a once over before placing it back into my leather holster. Exhaling, I grabbed a plaid shirt of Jimmy’s and shrugged it on, knowing full well that I was unable to fetch my jacket from its place on the coat rack downstairs. I couldn’t risk alerting the others. Not when Shane was involved.      “Going somewhere?”      Cursing at the sound of that southern drawl, I closed my eyes momentarily whilst pinching the bridge of my nose in frustration. It could never go my way, could it? No, the world decided to add unnecessary complications into my life. Unnecessary complication #1: Jared Greene.      “Maybe.” I spoke calmly as I buttoned up the oversized plaid top. Reaching over the bed, I picked up my black rucksack and slung it over my right shoulder. “Why?” I questioned with a cock of my head. “You gonn’ stop me?” I enquired as I slowly pivoted myself around to face Jared who was leaning in the doorframe.     “What kind of man would I be if I didn’t?”      “A smart one.”      My short and to the point reply caused him to chuckle slightly, his eyes trailing to the puke coloured carpet in Jimmy’s room. Oh, how I despised him. What I wouldn’t give to have Merle back here with his sexist and racist slurs. At least he wasn’t a deceptive little liar.      “Your brother told you to stay here.” Jared stated, his eyes slowly trailing back up my body and back up to my face. “You said you would, promised him, even,” he remarked, his weight still leaning on the doorframe with his hands crossed across his chest.      “Yeah, I know, I was there.” I retorted with a role of my eyes. “He’s my brother, Jared.” I stated. “Rick, too.” I nodded before licking my dry lips. “You’re a sibling yourself, you’d be a hypocrite if you kept me cooped up in here.” I pointed out. “Can’t you just let me do my duty as a little sister?” I questioned him.      “No.”      And then everything went black.►►►  ▬ Third Person- No one’s P.O.V ▬       “You say he got you with a rock?”      “That’s what I said.”      “Inside the shed? Because that door was shut when T-Dog rolled up.”      “I saw that, too.” Shane remarked, seeing that Rick was slowly picking apart his whole plan right before his eyes. “Must’ve slipped out through the rafters in the roof.” He ‘hypothesized’. “It’s easily done, Ellie managed to slip into the slaughter house through there using his sister.”      ‘That was low’ Rick thought to himself as he continued on through the field with Shane behind him. ‘Including his sister to deceive me?’ he resisted the urge to shake his head. ‘He really isn’t the man I knew anymore.’ He finally realised, after all this time.      “So this is where you planned to do it?”      “It’s as good as place as any.”      “At least have the balls to call this what this is…” Rick proposed as he placed his handgun back in his holster. “Murder.” He said whilst pivoting around to face Shane dead on. “You really believe if you walk back onto that farm alone, no me, no Randall-” Shane attempted to interject but Rick ignored him. “You really believe they’re gonna buy whatever bullshit story you cook up?” he questioned.  If this did go down the way Shane wanted it too, if Rick had faith in anyone to see Shane for who he really was….it was Ellie.      “That’s just it.” Shane started. “I aint no story.” He corrected him causing Rick to raise an eyebrow at him. “I saw that prisoner shoot you down. I ran after him. I snapped his neck.” He claimed, lying like it was his second nature…maybe it was. “It aint gonna be easy, but Ellie, Lori and Carl, they’ll get over you.” He nodded. “They done it before. They just gonna have to.” He pulled his gun on Rick.      “Why?” Rick questioned him with his arms out by his sides. “Why now?” he queried, not trying to manipulate Shane but out of pure curiosity. “I-I-” Rick stammered out of confusion. “I thought we worked this all out.” He stated, referring back to the trip they had taken beforehand.      “We tried to kill each other, man.” Shane reminded him with a loud scoff. “What did you think?” he questioned him. “We just gonna forget about it all?” he enquired, fighting back the urge not to laugh at Rick’s naivety. “We gonna ride off into the sunset together?”        “You’re gonna kill me in cold blood?” Rick questioned him in return with a lot more doubt in Shane than Shane had in Rick. “Control your sister? Screw my wife? Have my children, my children, call you ‘Daddy’?” he cocked his head at him. “Is that what you want?” he enquired. “That life won’t be worth a damn. I know you.” He breathed looking at Shane. “You won’t be able to live with this.”      “What you know about what I can live with?” Shane demanded in a raised voice. “You got no idea what I can live with, what I live with!” he roared at him. “You wanna talk about what I can do, Rick? How about what you can do?” he asked. “Here I am. Come on, man. Raise your gun.” He held his arms out.      “No. No, I will not.”      “What happened, Rick?” Shane questioned him. “I thought you weren’t the good guy anymore. Aint that what you said? Even right here, right now, you aint gonna right for ‘em?” Shane gained no response from Rick. “I’m a better father than you. I’m better for Lori and Ellie than you, man. It’s cause I’m a better man than you, Rick. Because I can be here and I’ll fight for ‘em.”      “Sh-”      “But you come back here and you just destroy everything!” Shane yelled at Rick out of frustration. “You’ve got a broken wife. You got a weak boy. You aint got the first clue on how to fix it.” He pointed out. “You call Ellie a sister even though you’re the one who destroyed her in the first place!”      What?      “So many times I have had to watch her cry over you, man!” Shane revealed causing Rick to squint at him out of misunderstanding. “All throughout high school ‘Why doesn’t he want me, Shane?’, all throughout my visits to her in England ‘Why doesn’t he call me, Shane?’.” He gushed, Rick looked down to the floor.      “Shane, I-I-I didn’t kn-”      “No one can be that oblivious, Rick!” Shane screamed at him. “That’s what you do Rick, you find new people and you forget about the old, man. You found Lori and forgot about her.” He stated. “You are the worst thing for her but she is so, so blinded by her feelings for you that she can’t see you in anything other than gold!” he hissed at Rick. “Now you raise your gun!” he ordered.      “You’re gonna have to kill an unarmed man.” Rick told him, raising his hands. “Watch my hand.” Rick took one hand down to his holster. “Easy does it.” He whispered. The sky appeared so much darker than before and the moon peaked through the dark clouds that filled the night sky.      “Listen to me, Shane. There is still a way back from this. Nothing has happened here. We're gonna lay down our guns and we're gonna walk back to the farm together," Rick held out his gun to Shane, inching closer as he speaks, "Back to Ellie, back to Stacie. Back to Lori, back to Carl….put this all behind us."      Shane slowly reached out to take Rick's gun from him as if he were in a trance.      Before Shane could make another move, Rick stabbed Shane in the abdomen with his knife that had been hidden in his ‘free’ hand the whole time.      Bang.      Rick held Shane’s body against his as he brought it to the ground, leaning over him.      Blood.      All he saw was red.      The pain was so intense and so searing.      Shane grabbed at his side, trying desperately to stop the bleeding but the blood oozed through his fingers and ran down his hands. He was unsure of when Rick had yanked the knife out of him, all he could focus on was the blood...his own blood.      All he saw was red.      Shane found Rick’s icy blue eyes, ironically finding a sense of comfort in the eyes that he had known for so long, it was a break from the surrealness….from the red. Then Rick began to wail, raging and raging. Screaming at the top of his lungs words of bloody murder whilst Shane had no choice but to look at him, unable to look down at the red anymore.      He couldn’t.      He didn’t want to.      “El-”      He never finished the word.