Chapter 34: Gone

Chapter Thirty Four Gone▬ Third Person- No one’s P.O.V ▬       “I’m going after them.”      “Don’t.” Lori told Andrea who had just shot up off of the couch and on to her feet. “They could be anywhere.” She reasoned with her, leaning her weight against the doorframe of the Greene’s living room. “And if Randall comes back we’re gonna need you here.” She nodded before the other door leading into the room from the hallway creaked open causing everyone to perk up.      “Rick and Shane aint back?” Daryl questioned as he entered the room with Glenn right behind him. Lori’s heart immediately dropped at the sound of his voice rather than her husband's. Sure, she was glad Glenn and Daryl back but she’d have preferred if it was Shane and Rick.      “No.”      “We heard a shot.”      “Maybe they found Randall.”      “We found him.” Daryl said bluntly causing Lori to raise an eyebrow at him along with Maggie who was opening her mouth to enquire whether he was back in the slaughter house where they had kept him previously. “He’s a walker.” He revealed.      “Did you find the walker that bit him?” Hershel enquired from his seat in between his two daughters. This came as no shock to him. He’d knew sooner or later the odd walker would get on his land, they would have to deal with it like they had done before, but with death rather than keeping them captive.      “No,” Glenn told him causing everyone to stiffen up ever so slightly, those with guns placed there hand involuntarily on their guns. “The weird thing is…….” He trailed off, perking everyone’s interests up. What was weird? Other than the whole walker idea in the first place….  “He wasn’t bit.”      “His neck was broke.” Daryl explained causing everyone to look around at each other. “The thing is,” he started. “Shane’s and Randall’s tracks were right on top of each other.” He informed the others, some of which, didn’t get what he was saying. “And Shane aint no tracker, so he didn’t come up behind him.” He elaborated, still some were clueless. “They were together.” He clarified.      “Would you please get back out there and find Rick and Shane and find out what on Earth is going on?” Lori begged Daryl, hoping his response wouldn’t be the same response he gave her the last time she asked him to go out looking for Rick for her.        “You got it.”      “Thank you.”      Just then the same door that Glenn and Daryl had entered through only seconds ago was slammed open and Electra entered the room with a pissed of look on her face, as she did she walked straight into Daryl but she was so out of it that she barely realised.      “Woah.” Daryl exclaimed, keeping her at arm’s length before he caught her facial expression. “Are you okay?” he questioned as she rubbed her head.      “I’m fine,” Electra responded to his question unnecessarily defensively. “Not that you’d care.” She muttered underneath her breath but it was loud enough for Daryl to hear her as she passed by him. Emotionless, Daryl made his way through the door that she had just come from. “No thanks to Jared.” She said louder, her eyes finding Jared before glaring at him with accusing eyes.      “What do you mean?” Maggie questioned her.      “Your brother here took it upon himself to knock me out so that I wouldn’t go after my own brothers.” Electra stated, dropping Jared right in it as everyone looked to him. “I am sick and I am tired of covering for you, Jared Greene.” She stated with a shake of her head.      “Covering for him?” Hershel questioned her now. “What do you mean by covering him?” he enquired. “Jared’s done no wrong.” He denied.      “That’s where you are wrong, Hershel.” Electra told him. “And I am so sorry that I have to be the one to point this out to you all but like I said, I have covered for him and in return he knocks me out cold.” She spat. “He was the one that put Sophia in the barn, he knew the whole time.” She dropped the bombshell.      Silence.      In that moment everyone was rendered silence by Electra’s honesty in exposing Jared like she should have in the beginning.      “You are my group,” Electra spoke up, looking to Stacie, Glenn, T-Dog, Thea, Lori, Andrea and Carol. “And I should have told you sooner and for that I am sorry.” She apologized, thinking that the group was more angry at her than they were at Jared which, in itself, was preposterous.  “I guess I just wanted us all to live under one roof and not be hating each other for once.” She shrugged.      “Why?” Carol questioned causing Electra to look to the woman who’s expression was dark, cold and disappointment. So much so that it to her a moment to realise that Carol was not putting her question to Electra, but to Jared who stood behind her.      “I-” Jared began to explain himself or try to.      “WALKERS!”      Daryl’s call had stimulated something in every single person that had heard it. Immediately, those who had been sitting down had found there feet and those who was been standing up were frozen still. They’re blood running cold out of fear and uncertainty.      Without Rick and without Shane around, what were they meant to do?       “Okay.” Electra took control, speaking up at last. “Let’s just calm down, okay?” she said, her eyes meeting certain people individually as she spoke. “Everyone just needs to stay calm, alright?” she questioned causing Beth and Patricia to nod at her. “But we need to wake up and stay smart, okay?” she said, adding the okays in order to gain a response from those around her.      “What do we do?”      “There’s no need in us all going out on a wild goose chase.” Electra stated. “Everyone stay here.” She ordered with authority in her tone. She looked around for a select few or anyone that she might need. “Glenn.” She pointed at him. “You come with me to the porch to join Daryl, we’ll sort something out.” She assured them.      “What?” Glenn questioned her dopily before catching the glimpse of annoyance in her mismatched eyes. “Okay, okay.” He agreed, allowing her to lead him out of the safety of the Greene house and out to the porch where Daryl stood staring at the night.      With an enquiring look, Electra turned her head and finally saw what had alerted Daryl so much. There were way too many walkers for comfort, way too many. She stared out hopelessly at them as she watched them approaching the ranch house slowly.        “Christ.” Electra exclaimed before turning back to Daryl and Glenn who seemed to come up with no words. “They must be migrating or something.” She pointed out the obvious causing Daryl to slowly turn his head to glance at her with an expressionless face.      “We have nowhere near enough people, enough guns or enough ammo to take them all on from here.” Glenn pointed out to them.     “Yeah, I think we all gathered that, Glenn.” Electra gulped, racking her brain for any sort of plans. She was never any good at that stuff, it had always been Shane and Rick. Where were they when they all needed them the most? They needed someone like them, fast. She opened the front door wide and shouted into the building “Hershel!” It was practically seconds before Hershel popped his head around the living room door. “We’re gonna need whatever guns you have here!” she shouted.      “Right away!”      “We need a plan, now.” Electra stated, looking to Glenn and Daryl who said nothing. “Guys, did you hear what I said?” she questioned them. “We. Need. A. Plan. Now.” She enunciated every single word perfectly and forcefully, hoping to drive the idea into their heads.      “We need to get out there.” Daryl spoke up at last causing Electra’s and Glenn’s eyes to go to him. “All of us.” He stated and as if it were planned the rest of them entered the hallway, watching the walkers with wide eyes. None of them, however had gone onto the porch.      “You’re right.” Electra nodded. “You’re absolutely right.” She stated. “We can’t stay here.” She told them causing Glenn to open his mouth in disagreement. “We’re all cooped up here, if we stay here, we die.” She said bluntly. “No doubt about it. We need to fight.” She stated.      “This is all I’ve got.” Hershel said entering the porch and laying the bag of guns, along with a few shotguns and rifles of his own on the table. Glenn, Electra and Daryl slowly turned around so that they could see what Hershel had come up with for them.      “Hopefully, it’s enough.” Daryl commented.      “No one who can’t handle a gun, takes a gun.” Electra made the decision, looking up from the selection of guns to the people in the house. “Do you hear me?” she questioned. “We can’t risk it, you could end up hurting our people and you’d be wasting our ammo.” She said. “Those who can, come on up.” She said as she took up a Mossberg 500 "Persuader" shotgun, knowing too well that her handgun wouldn’t do the job.      “Carl’s gone.” Lori revealed as she burst out onto the porch.      “What?”      “He was upstairs.” Lori claimed but even she was doubting herself in that moment. “I was sure that he was upstairs, he was upstairs right?” she rambled before she turned to Stacie who was standing alongside Thea, nodding in confirmation. “I can’t find him anymore.”      “Maybe he’s hiding.” Glenn made a guess causing Electra to slowly turn her head to look at him with that look that she would give someone when they had said an incredibly stupid thing. “Or….” He trailed off looking at Electra. “Maybe he’s not.” He muttered under his breath.      “He’s supposed to be upstairs.” Lori reinforced having not heard Glenn who had muttered his words underneath his breath. “I told him to be upstairs. He was upstairs.” She gushed, the words just kept on flowing out of her mouth with no barriers. “I’m not leaving without my boy.” She denied.      “We’re not.” Electra confirmed causing Lori to look to her with a face with clear surprise. “Of course, we’re not going to leave without him.” She said. “You, Carol, Beth, Stacie and Patricia are going to look again, alright?” she said, looking Lori directly in the eye. “You’re gonna find him.” She assured her causing those who she had called to enter back into the house again whilst the guns were being passed out.      Jared took one.      Jimmy took one.      Thea took one.      Daryl took one.      Glenn took one.      T-Dog took one.      Andrea took one.      Hershel.      And even Maggie, much to Glenn’s surprise.      “Maggie.”      “You grow up country, you pick up a thing or two.” Maggie remarked causing Electra to hide a smile as Maggie cocked her gun. Glenn, still a little surprised and disapproving with the thought of Maggie armed with a gun like that simply stayed quiet.      “I got the number, it’s no use.” Daryl informed them causing Electra to simply glance at him out of the corner of her eyes before looking back to her gun, ignoring him. Daryl had known that information the whole time. When Daryl had said they needed to get out there, he meant they needed to get out of the farm, not what was going on.      “You can go if you want.” Hershel remarked indifferently.      “You gonn’ take them all on?” Daryl questioned.      “We have guns. We have cars.”      “We can kill as many as we can handle,” Electra informed Glenn, Daryl and Maggie. She had gotten Hershel’s message loud and clear, he would stay here and defend the farm from the safety of his own porch. “Then we use the cars to lead the rest of them off of the farm.” She proposed.      “Are you serious?” Daryl questioned not Electra but Hershel, he couldn’t understand why anyone, anyone, would try to take numerous walkers alone and stationed at the house which was pretty much the place where all the food was kept and such.      “This is my farm. I’ll die here.”      “All right. It’s as good a nigh as any.” Daryl shrugged his shoulders casually, accepting that the old man had made up his mind.      “We have a fright-liner, if you’re interested.” Hershel informed them. “It’s around the back.” He pointed out. “We used to use it to transport horses around….not that any more than one could fit in it, mind you.” He remarked, thinking it was of no use.      “Well, that’s another vehicle we can use.” Electra stated.  “Okay, Daryl you take your motor bike. Glenn and Maggie, you take the Hyundai Tucson. Jimmy, you take the RV. T-Dog and Jared, you take the freightliner. Andrea, Thea and I will take the Ford F-100.” She devised the plan causing Daryl to head towards his motor bike. “Hershel, you stay here and defend the house whilst Carol, Lori, Beth, Stacie and Patricia search for Carl.” She said to him solely before turning towards the others. “Good luck.”            ►►►      “Keep it steady, Thea.”      “I’m trying to, guys!”      “Try harder.”      Electra was seated in the passenger seat beside Thea, her shotgun out the window whilst Thea drove around the Greene farm which was riddled with walkers. They were everywhere. In the back seat was Andrea, she was situated in the seat behind Thea so she could get the walkers on the other side of the truck. Electra fired another shot but because of Thea’s unsteady driving she moved at the last second causing her to miss.      “Thea,”      “I’m sorry, okay!” Thea yelled out of frustration as she made yet another sharp turn to avoid a cluster of walkers that Electra managed to successfully take out, despite the bad driving on Thea’s part. “I’m trying my best, okay.” She stated, grumpily.      “Thea, we know you are.” Electra told her as she took another one down before reloading. “You’re usually better at driving than this, I mean you saved me twice with it.” She stated, choosing not to mention Aaron or Mark at a time like this.  “Whatever it is that you’re upset or worried about, can you just push it aside until we are safe?” she enquired. “Whatever it is will be fine.”      Electra’s little ‘inspirational’ pep talk must have been a lot more inspiration that she thought it was because it worked a treat and Thea began to drive like usual allowing Electra and Andrea to take down more walkers and have less wasted ammo.      “Good girl.” Electra smiled to herself as she took down yet another walker as the truck they were in passed the freight-liner that T-Dog and Jared were occupying. That was when she realised- Thea had been worried about T-Dog. Electra herself was worried but still kept her aim. At least by taking down walkers she was helping Rick, Shane and Stacie along with the others.      “They must’ve set the barn on fire to draw them in, right?” Thea questioned, her eyes glued to the windscreen as she took yet another turn. That was pretty much all she was doing, turn after turn. “Shane and Rick, they set the barn on fire. That was there plan right, to draw them in?”      “I can only assume.” Andrea stated, using her hand gun to make another head shot. “It’s not like there is anything else in the farm that would cause a fire,” she stated. “No electricity or anything like that, we can rule out natural causes.” She pointed out logically.      “Oh, who cares?” Electra said carelessly. “It’s doing it’s doing it’s job, I for one enjoy not having to take on even more of these sons of bitches.” She said, even though there was a horrible feeling in the pit of her stomach. What is Randall had contacted his mates and they had set the fire?      “They’re all over the place.” Andrea pointed out the obvious to the other two girls, but she felt it necessary. “There’s no corralling them.” She stated. “We’re gonna run out of ammo before we even make a dent.” She revealed causing Thea to frown.      “We need a new game plan.”       Electra hissed out of pain as she fired her gun once more. ‘God, what was wrong with me?’ Electra thought to herself. She had had this frightful headache ever since she had started. Little to her knowledge, it was a little after effect of being knocked out by Jared Greene.      HELP ME! HEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEELP ME! HEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEELP! SOMEBODY PLEASE HELP!!!!!!!!      “Is that Stacie?” Electra asked through the foggy haze that had settled itself on the Greene farm. Surely enough, she set eyes on the delicate little figure that was surely enough the source of the screaming. “Oh, my God.” She exclaimed. “Let me off, let me off now!” she hissed causing Thea to skid to a stop. “Y’all keep going, we’ll be fine.” Electra assured them as she practically jumped out of the truck and sprinted towards the figure.      “HELP ME! HELP ME!”      “I’m coming, Stace!” Electra screamed out into the night, diverting a few walkers attention away from the screaming girl. Without words or time for the surroundings and details to sink into Electra’s head, she took out the walkers surrounding Stacie and pulled her into a tight hug.      “Electra.”      “You make it to that freight-liner over there, okay?” Electra ordered as she remembered where they were. She then pushed Stacie away from her and stood back up once more, keeping Stacie at arm’s length. “T-Dog and Jared are in there, just run to it.”  She stated, pointing to the parked freight-liner was. “You run to it as fast as you possibly can and I’ll cover you from here, okay?”      “But, what about yo-”      “Just do it, Stacie!”      Reluctantly, Stacie began to run for her life. Screaming as she came into contact with walkers that were making grabs for her, their teeth grazing her skin ever so slightly every so often. Her shotgun rendered useless, Electra fished out for the handgun and shot the walkers making a safe (enough) path for Stacie, not stopping until she saw Stacie enter the back of the freight-liner.      Thank. Fucking. God.      It took a moment for the smile on Electra’s face to slowly droop into a frown as she realised.      She was alone.      She was alone and stranded.      She was alone and stranded with no means of escape.       A low groan erupted from behind her causing her to quickly spin around, whacking the walker in the face with her very short hair before pulling the trigger. The blood splattered in her face, thankfully missing her mouth and narrowly missing her eyes.      She was alone and stranded with no means of escape in the company of only a hundred or so walkers.      Before she could even think straight, a few more walkers walked towards her. Cursing, she drew her gun again and pulled the trigger.      Click.      Click-click-click.      ‘I cannot have no ammo, I cannot have no ammo, not now, not in a time like this.’ Electra thought to herself in denial. She repeatedly pulled the trigger but all that it came to was clicking noises. Frantically, she backed away whilst she patted her pockets down for more ammo.      Nothing.      “Oh fuck it.” Electra continued to back up whilst retrieving her hunting knife, knowing fully well that it wouldn’t make much of a difference as she was backing away from the walkers rather than attacking them. “Oh, why don’t you go bother someone with a loud noisy gun for a change?” she thought to herself before she backed into the way of a vehicle that flooded her image with light.      Shielding her eyes, she looked to the vehicle unsure of whether she should be thanking the vehicle for illuminating the road ahead or killing them for blinding her and nearly running her over.      “Come on, I aint got all day!”      Daryl Dixon, I fucking love you.      Just then the shots rang out and the walkers who had been so eager to get a taste of her were slowly falling down limply on the ground. Without so much as another movement, she jumped onto the back of his motorbike, winding her arms around his torso whilst he finished taking the walkers out.      “GO!”      And with that, they were off. ►►►     “We have to go back,”      “You’ve said that bout 500 times before.” Daryl told her with annoyance in his southern drawl. “Did I ever tell you how repetitive and whiny you are, woman?” he questioned her, keeping his motor bike steady with Electra’s hands wrapped around his torso.      “And did I tell you that we have to go back, Daryl?” Electra retorted, angling her head despite the fact that Daryl couldn’t see her. “We have to go back, Daryl, we have to!” she complained, clinging to Daryl afraid that she might fly off the motorbike if she let go due to the pure speed.

     “The hell we do,” Daryl snorted, keeping his eyes ahead as his motorbike zoomed down the walker ridden road, concentrating on swerving his bike when necessary. He was getting close to regretting saving her, she didn’t whine much, did she?      “But we have to go back to them!” Electra snapped. “What if they didn’t make it? What if no one made it?” Electra asked frantically running her fingers through her hair in worry. “We have to go back Daryl, we owe that to them. We can’t leave them,” Electra stated, but Daryl simply ignored her swerving to avoid the last walker in sight. “We can’t leave Shane and Stacie behind!” Electra protested.      “The farms gone, woman.” Daryl stated emotionlessly. “There’s no going back to it, it’s dead and gone, just get that.” Daryl said coldly causing Electra’s expression to turn into one of pure disbelief and disgust as she removed her hands from around him.      “Okay.” Electra nodded causing Daryl to exhale, glad that she had finally gotten the idea into her head. “Then let me off.” Electra demanded. When Daryl ignored her yet again not even turning his head slightly to look at her she lifted one of her legs up causing a little swerve.      “What the hell!?”      “Shane’s my brother!” Electra said. “Rick’s practically my brother and Stacie’s my responsibility!” Electra shouted at him. “They are our friends, they’re all I got and I hate to say it but they’re all you got too,” Electra argued. “So I’ll be damned if I just abandon them.”      Daryl simply thought over it for a moment before he released a huge sigh, taking her words in. “We’ll circle around head to the highway where we left supplies for Soph-” Daryl stated before they both caught a glimpse of a green Hyundai Tucson. “Do you see that-”      “Car? Yeah I do,”      “D’ya recognise it?”      “I don’t know, everything was such a blur, I-” Electra stressed. “But, it’s heading in the direction of the highway, the one where we left the supplies for Sophia….” Electra drifted off before realising something. “It’s Glenn and Maggie,” she nodded happily. “It’s Glenn and Maggie, yes!” she laughed out of delight.      “Are you sure?”     “I’m as sure as I’ll ever be Daryl,” Electra stated. “Now you turn this bike the hell around and you follow that car, Daryl Dixon!” Electra ordered with playful authority, still giddy knowing that there were other survivors….that there was hope of Shane being alive.      “Yes mam.”      ►►►      “RICK!” Electra hopped of off the back of the motorbike as Daryl drew it to a stop beside Rick, Hershel and Carl. “Oh thank God,” she murmured as Rick wrapped his arms around her. Everyone was caught up in the happiness of reuniting, greeting everyone and hugging them gleefully.

     “Electra!” Stacie hopped out of the freight-liner that T-Dog’s and Jared had been previously driving and approached the girl in a run before slamming straight in to her, nearly knocking Electra back. Immediately, Electra picked Stacie up and span her around, still in the hug, before placing her back down on the floor again.      “Nice to see ya, Stacie.” Electra smiled as they both backed out of the hug. “Oh, screw that. Thank GOD you are okay.” She remarked pulling her back into a hug before releasing her once more. Electra’s eyes scanned the scene of happy people eagerly. “Where’s Shane?” Electra asked no one in particular.       “He’s….” Rick began hesitantly causing Electra’s head to turn in his direction. He glanced in those familiar and comforting eyes of hers, one completely here own and the others Shane’s.  “He’s….” when he didn’t finish this time, all the hope drained out of Electra’s eyes. “He’s gone,” he looked down.      He’s gone.      The words echoed around Electra’s head as tears began to form in her mismatched eyes and her breath caught in her throat.      He’s gone.      And then she broke. She began to sob hysterically, not able to support herself properly as everyone watched her, unable to move themselves at the sight of it. Electra- so strong, so tough, so together….now so broken.      He’s gone.      She fell to the ground on her hands and knees, the gravel digging into her skin and grazing her knees. Shattered glass was sprinkled around and it was cutting her palms but she couldn’t feel the pain of it. Her body was numb, but her heart felt as if it were about to explode.      He’s gone.      Rick, no longer able to see his sister in so much pain crouched down in front of her, seeing her body shaking to it’s full extent as her head was facing the gravel.      “Electra,”      He’s gone.      But, that was just it. Electra wasn’t able to hear anything at all over her own sobs, everything was muffled in her mind. She couldn’t even hear Rick’s voice nor the shocked gasps for air that were erupting out of Carol nor the slight sobs of Carl as he clutched to Lori.      “Electra, look at me,”      Rick urged this time causing Electra to look up at him for but a brief moment before looking down to the ground again in reflex. Still, after all these years she couldn’t look at him whilst crying. The floodgates had opened up as if months or even years of emotions had broken through a dam with an unstoppable force.      “Electra….look at me,” Rick pleaded putting his hands on either side of her face gently, tilting her head even more gently so that he could see it, so that he could look into her eyes.      He’s gone.          “I am so sorry about Shane and I know how you feel,” Rick whispered to her as she found it hard to even attempt to breathe, let alone regulate her breathing. “I felt like that when I woke up in my hospital bed and thought that my wife and son were gone.”      Shane’s gone.      “I know you loved him to pieces, I loved him too,” Rick identified with her, desperation in his voice, reaching out to Ellie as far as he could. “He was my friend,” Rick said to her as her body kept on trembling in fear, shock and pure and utter agony. “My brother.”      My brother’s gone.      “But you and me?” he said leaning his forehead against hers as she placed both of her hands on either side of his face also, her eyes on the floor. “We’re going to get through this, okay?” Electra was still staring at the floor silently crying. “We’ll survive this,” Rick assured her causing Electra to look up to see Rick’s eyes boring into her own. “He’d want us too, he’s kick both of our asses if we didn’t,” Rick said. “We always survive,” he said, their eyes still connected.      “He’s really gone…..isn’t he?”      “Yeah.”      Rick sat up further placing his chin on top of her head and wrapping his arms around her as she buried her head into his shoulder and sobbed. His arms were tight around the broken girl, as if he were holding onto something so precious for dear life. He did it as if all the pain and hurt might release itself from Electra’s heavy heart. Daryl looked down at Electra and felt the most sympathy he had ever felt before, it pained him to look at her like that.      “Where’s Thea?” Daryl questioned no one in particular after looking around to notice that there were absences: Thea, Andrea, Jared, Patricia and Jimmy. “And Andrea?”        “Thea and I were saved by Andrea but then I lost them,” Carol explained.      “We saw them go down,” T-Dog told the group causing Electra to sob even harder and her nails to dig into Rick’s back as she was gripping onto him so tight. It was as if she had crumpled into him, the musky smell of Rick’s shirt and scent filling her nose. She inhaled deeply, wanting to find comfort in it.      Shane’s gone.      Thea’s gone.      Andrea’s gone.      “Let me take her inside the freightliner,” Carol suggested to Rick approaching the pair of them. “It’s not doing her any good being out here, I’ll tend to those cuts too,” Carol stated causing Rick to nod as he reluctantly let go of the crying Electra, allowing her into Carol’s arms. “Come on honey, let’s get you inside,” she soothed Electra’s hair down as she led her up the stairs and into the freight-liner.      “Patricia?” Hershel questioned Rick, Glenn, T-Dog and Carol.      “They got her too,” Beth piped up from under her fathers and sisters arms. “Took her right from me, I was-” she stammered. “I was holding onto her Daddy, she just-” she finished beginning to cry into her father’s chest. “What about Jimmy and Jared, did you see Jimmy?” she turned asking her elder sister.      “Jimmy was in the RV, Jared was there too, I think he tried to help him out or something.” Rick stated looking over at the three remaining Greene’s as they looked back at him with wide eyes. “It got overrun,” he said causing Beth to start crying again.      “You defiantly saw Andrea and Thea?” Maggie asked desperately.      “There were walkers everywhere,” Lori stated looking around aimlessly.      “But did you see them?” Maggie asked causing T-Dog and Lori to look thoughtfully, questioning themselves and thinking back to the scene.      “I’m going back for them,” Daryl stated seeing their uncertainty, flinging his leg over one side of his motorbike. If there’s any chance that they are alive, I have to save them.      “No,” Rick stated, stopping him from doing so.        “You can’t just leave them!” Daryl protested.      “You don’t even know if they’re still there,” Lori said reasonably to Daryl.      “They aren’t there,” Rick denied shaking his head. “They aren’t,” he stated. “They’re either somewhere else, or they’re dead,” he stated. “There’s no way to find them,”      “So we’re not even going to look for them?” Glenn asked Rick in disbelief. “Thea’s with T-Dog, Rick. Andrea’s Electra’s best friend. What if one of them went down and the others out there by herself looking for looking for us?” he enquired, hoping to appeal to Rick’s better side.      “We gotta keep moving. There be walkers crawlin’ all over here,”      “I say we head east,” T-Dog suggested.      “Stay off the main roads,” Daryl added moving forward. “Bigger the road, the more walkers,” he reloaded his crossbow. “More assholes like this one,” he stated referring to the walker which was approaching them. “I got him,” he aimed and shot him in the head.►►►     Electra lay on the R.V couch crying, she had guessed that the group had already decided a plan without her and she couldn’t blame them. She was a mess and she knew it. She was still praying, hoping that this was all some sick, twisted nightmare and that she would wake up in a minute and see Shane shaking her frantically asking her what was wrong and she would practically throw herself onto him, not letting him out of her arms for at least a week. But it wasn’t a nightmare, it was her painful reality.      He’s gone.         He’s really gone.      So was Thea.      So was Andrea.      Why did he make her stay at the house with the others? Why did she let him make her stay at the house with the others? Why did she go with the others? What if she had went with him and Rick? Could she have stopped it? Maybe. And if not, she could have died along with him.        The freight-liner drew to a stop but she was too caught up in her own thoughts she didn’t even realise.      “We’ve stopped,” a gentle voice brought her out of her own self pain, she looked up ever so slightly to see that it belonged to Daryl who was had slid open the door just as fast as he had closed it. “Run outta gas, gonna spend the night here. Glenn’s building a camp fire now,” he explained, seeing that Electra didn’t really care he sighed and moved inside the R.V slightly. “Stacie gave me Rory,” he stated holding out the huge stuffed animal to her. “The bear that you gave Stacie….it was with her things which she packed, she thought you should have it at this moment in time,” Electra nodded taking Rory and holding it in her arms breathing in its scent: Stacie’s scent. “Rick has Shane’s necklace, he wanted to give it to you himself later on,” he added on as she sniffed.      “Thanks,” Electra mumbled still curled up in her little ball.      “I’m really sorry about Shane,” Daryl expressed with sympathy. “May not have been best friends with him, but he was your brother and a good one and that,” Daryl nodded before going to exit the R.V before Electra caught onto his hand. Without a word he sat down on the couch and held her in his arms.      “Thank you, so much,” she cried. “I know the others have no clue what to do with me, no clue how to approach me, how to say what they want to say,”      “Neither do I, Electra,” he said stroking her hair. “Believe me, if I could do anything to do to take away your pain I would,” he stated.      “You’re a good man Daryl,” she sobbed. “I’m sorry that I told you that you weren’t, I was angry at you, hurt ya know? We had a fight and then you were so distant….I-I-”      “You don’t need to apologize or explain yourself, never expected you too, especially not now when you have so many things on your mind,” Daryl dismissed her. “I realised how stupid I was the moment you rode away on that horse, then things happened….I had hallucinations after the fall, hallucinations about Merle who enforced his psychology on me, and for some reason I began to follow it,” Daryl explained.      “Where are we headed?” she sniffed.      “No clue, don’t think Rick has much of a clue either but he’ll figure it out,” he stated truthfully. “He always does, he’s a good man,”      “He is,”      “We’re all infected,”      “What?”       “It’s not the bite that does it,” Daryl said slowly. “If the brain isn’t destroyed you come back no matter how you die. It’s going to happen to all of us,” Daryl explained. “That’s what Jenner whispered in Rick’s ear at the CDC,” he stated as Electra just lay there. “Randall was killed, no bite, he came back,” Daryl explained. “Whatever it is, we all carry it,” Electra just simply breathed.      Oh God, oh God, oh God, oh God, oh God.      “I don’t even know whether that makes everything different or nothing at all different,” Electra admitted still in his arms. “I mean, they aren’t us are they? After we’re dead, we’re dead. Our soul has gone, that part of the brain which is us is shut off. It won’t be us, it’ll just be our bodies…” Electra explained. “It shouldn’t mean anything for us, we won’t suffer any more if we just die naturally,”      “But the people around us will….” Daryl stated.      “No special treatment, we should all know this by now. A walker is a walker, no matter who it is,” Electra spoke her thoughts out loud.      “That’s not what you thought when Jim was bit,”      “I thought there was still some kind of cure. There isn’t, I know it now.”►►►      “I’m ready to go outside,” Electra let Daryl know after about hour of  cuddling Rory and being held in Daryl’s arms in a comforting matter.      “Are you sure?” Daryl asked surprised. “You don’t have too, there’s no reason why you have too…I mean if you’re not completely sure you should just stay in here,”      “I’ll never be completely sure, I can’t just lie in this freight-liner for the rest of my life,” Electra cut him off in mid-sentence. “Might as well get it over and done with…”      “Alright,” Daryl helped her up off of the couch as if she were a two year old. She was fragile, he knew it, she knew it, but she chose not to show it.      “I am doing something! Rick snapped at Carol over the whole walker in the woods dilemma. “I’m keeping this group together, alive! I’ve been doing that all along no matter what, I didn’t ask for this!” Rick raged as Daryl slid open the freight-liner door in the middle of his little rant but he was too frustrated to even notice. “I killed my best friend for you people for Christ sake!” Rick shouted causing Electra to let out a choked breath as she finally reached the ground causing Rick to look over in her direction, his expression chancing from anger to remorse. “Electra, I-”      “W-w-what?!” Electra asked him, determined to expect that she had just heard him wrong. That he said that his best friend died for them.      “I’m sorry Electra, I really am but you saw what he was like-” Rick started to be explained to her but Electra wasn’t listening to him anymore she was just frozen out of disbelief.      Rick killed Shane.      “How he pushed me,” Rick continued. “How he compromised us,” he listed. “How he threatened us,” he added on.      Rick killed Shane.      Electra walked in his direction, stopping when she was right in front of him. Everyone was watching them now, in horror, in shock, in sympathy.      “Give me his necklace,” Electra demanded coldly causing Rick to dig his hand into his pocket and take out the necklace that Electra snatched at his hand at the first sight of it. “And yours,” Electra stated causing Rick to look confused. “AND YOURS!” she shouted at him causing him to obey.      She slapped him.      It was a good, heard slap with the full weight of her body behind it which caused his head to snap to one side. As he turned back she was the blood rise in the cheek she has slapped. The pure force of the slap had caused him to move back slightly and her hand to sting in a pain.     Rick killed Shane.     Then it all went to hell.      Electra went to lunge at him, absolutely intending in killing him or at least permanently injuring him but Daryl and T-Dog intervened, holding her back away from Rick.      “He was my brother!” Electra growled at him in pure anger, still going to lunge for him, sighting against T-Dog and Daryl’s hold on her.      “He staged the whole Randall thing, led me out to put a bullet in my back,” he explained.      “He. Was. My. Brother.”      “And he was my best friend,” Rick added, attempting to empathise with her. “But he came after me!” he argued back in his defence.      “HE WAS MY BROTHER!”      “My hands are clean!”      “HE WAS MY FUCKING BROTHER!” Electra shouted, screamed and growled all at the same time. “YOU SON OF A BITCH!” Electra screeched at him. “YOU KNEW HIM YOUR WHOLE LIFE! YOU SAID HE MIGHT ASWELLL BE YOUR BROTHER SO MANY TIMES BUT THAT WAS COMPLETE AND UTTER BULLSHIT!” she raged. “AND YOU HAD THE CHEEK, YOU HAD THE CHEEK TO TOUCH ME, TO COMFORT ME, SAYING HOW WE WOULD SURVIVE THIS WHEN YOU FUCKING KILLED HIM!”      “MY HANDS ARE CLEAN!”      “YOU DON’T EVEN THINK OF KILLING SOMEONE WHO IS YOUR BROTHER, YOU DON’T FUCKING THINK! YOU CAN’T EVEN BEGIN TO UNDERSTAND HOW IT FEELS LIKE TO BE A SIBLING!” she shouted. “I WOULD HAVE RATHER DIED THAN KILLED HIM! I PHYSICALLY WOULDN’T BE ABLE TO DO IT, I WOULD DIE FIRST!” Electra shouted. “I WOULD HAVE DIED FIRST!” she screeched. “I WANTED TO DIE FIRST!” she revealed in a yell. “YOU ARE FUCKING DEAD TO ME! YA HEAR?! YOU ARE FUCKING DEAD!”      “Electra leave it,” Daryl said keeping his hold firm on her but she wasn’t listening. “He’s not worth it, you’re not a killer, you have to be better than him,” Daryl said level headedly. He felt indifferent about Rick, he knew that he had to do what he had to do but he could completely understand Electra and she needed someone on her side.       “You are dead,” she spat at him, finally not attempting to lunge at him anymore.      “Y’all think you can do better than me?” Rick asked everyone, back to his rage. “There’s the door, why don’t you go and find out yourself? Send me a post card!” he shouted at everyone else. “Go on, there’s the door. You can do better. Let’s see how far you get!”      The instant the words were out of his mouth Electra grabbed her backpack which was lying at the side of the campfire and slung it over her shoulder.      “No one?!” she shouted at them angrily out of disbelief, realising that she was the only one who had moved, the only one prepared to leave. Still no one moved. “Fine,” she snapped. “Stay with a murderer, be my guest,” she said to them. “Come on Stacie,” she urged, grabbing Stacie’s hand in her own before turning around about to make her way around Rick.      “Electra-” he reached out for her but she instantly jerked away and stopped to look at him.      “Don’t you dare,” she said coldly. “Don’t you fucking dare.” ►►►     Bang      The gun shot rang out throughout the night causing everyone who was sitting around the camp fire to shoot up to their feet and look around aimlessly into the darkness.      “Was that a gun shot?”      “You don’t think it was Electra do you….?” She looked at Rick. “Offing herself?” Maggie asked with a frown causing Glenn to stiffen beside her.       “Come on,” Rick said to them causing them to run out blindly into the night. Weaving around trees and bushes and thorns proved difficult, but didn’t seem to matter to any of them. No matter what Electra had said, no matter what Electra had did and no matter whether Electra was with the or not- she was Electra. They owed her.      Rick was the first one to stumble onto the scene before the others did also, opening their mouths to speak and to question what was going on but their speech and their questions never came. They were dumbfounded, absolutely dumbfounded.      Electra was on the ground.      Electra was on the ground cradling Stacie’s lifeless figure in her arms.________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________READ NEXT 'CHAPTER'