Forfeit ~Shane Walsh/OC~

Chapter Seventeen

Shane and Rick never left Randall 18 miles out. They ended up bringing him back to the farm. None of us knew exactly what to do with him but I know Shane just wanted him gone.

“Watcha gonna do? We’d all feel better if we knew the plan,” Lori said as she leaned over the fire to boil some water. The group was having another meeting to discuss exactly what was going to happen but we were ultimately waiting for Daryl to return from interrogating Randall.

“Is there a plan?” I asked. Shane and Rick looked at each other briefly.

“We will know soon enough,” Rick told us as he nodded to Daryl who was walking up the trail. The first thing I noticed was his right hand was covered in blood and his knuckles were swollen.

“He’s got a gang of about 30 men. They got heavy artillery and they ain’t looking to make friends. They roll through here, our boys are dead. And our women…” Daryl trailed off for just a moment to look at me. He held eye contact and his eyes were full of worry. “Our women are gonna wish they were,” he finished.

“No one goes near this guy,” Rick announced.

“What are we gonna do?” Shane asked Rick.

“We have no choice. He’s a threat. We have to eliminate the threat,” Rick said harshly. Shane looked proud.

“You’re just gonna kill him?” Dale asked.

“It’s settled. I’ll do it today,” Rick’s eyes were empty. I knew he really didn’t want to go through with this but it’s one of the burdens as the leader. Rick walked off and Dale followed closely behind. We could all see that Dale was desperate to convince Rick otherwise.

“Abby, I need you on guard duty for a few hours,” Shane told me. “I trust you the most to take care of the situation if anything goes wrong. Daryl and Glenn can come with me and we will figure out the best way to take care of this,” Shane finished and we all split up to do our own thing.

I just sat and listened to Randall rattle his chain for what seemed like forever until he realized I was sitting on a barrel outside.

“Hello? Hey. Can I get some water?” Randall asked after his chains went silent. I didn’t answer him. I didn’t even want to acknowledge that he was in there. “Please? I’m very thirsty,” he continued to plea but I stayed silent. I heard his chains again and almost felt him walk as close as he could to the door. “They’re gonna kill me right?” he asked quietly. My neck snapped in his direction and our eyes met through a crack in the door. My heart sank at the sight of his swollen, bloody face. Daryl beat the hell out of this kid. I heard Carl and Shane talking not too far away and apparently Randall did too because he quickly turned away from me. I hopped off the barrel once I noticed Shane was making his way over to me.

“Can I ask you something?” he asked me and I willingly walked over to him and nodded. “What if I just wanted to go in there and take care of this, would you stop me?” I just looked at him for a minute before answering.

“You know I’m with you on this,” I said with full confidence.

“So Dale hasn’t gotten to you yet?” he asked me quietly.

“I don’t think Dale thinks he can convince me to go against you. I’ve stood beside you since the beginning,” I told him, hoping he would show something of the old Shane I once loved but quickly lost hope once he opened his mouth.

“That’s cute,” was all he said. He continued his thought like I never said anything at all. “You see what’s happening, don’t you? These guys ain’t gonna go through with this. They’re gonna pussy out and if they do, we’re gonna have a big problem on our hands.” He grew quiet again but started talking just as quickly as he stopped. “Lemme ask you something else. Every time we have a problem around here, who do you think is behind it?”