It Comes With The Name

Chapter 21: Hoax

"Pull her away, pull her away!" Shane shouted, still holding down the corpse. In any other circumstance, Lauren would have rolled her eyes at his command. What the hell else would they be trying to do? She didn't have time or energy for a witty remark, however.

Beth continued screaming as Lauren wrapped her arms around Beth's mid-section and Rick, her arm. The walker growled, snapping its jaw at her. A million hands and arms were working to try and separate the two.

The cold hands finally loosened their grip enough to allow Beth to be pulled away. She stumbled backwards into Lauren who still held onto her tightly. Lauren pulled Beth further away from the chaos as the rest of the group handled the walker. Beth turned around, pure terror in her eyes as she looked at Lauren. She simply held onto her tighter and Beth reciprocated, clinging to Lauren as the others struggled to finish the job.

T-dog stomped down on its head, enough to subdue it for a moment but not enough to penetrate the brain.

"Don't look," Lauren told her as calmly as she could manage. The last thing Beth needed to see was her mother's body being mutilated for a second time. "Don't look."

Beth took ragged breaths as she squeezed her eyes shut and buried her face into Lauren's shoulder. Maggie and Hershel hovered closely beside them. Andrea finally grabbed one of the farm tools beside the barn and swung it into the walker's skull, stopping its rampage.

"It's okay, it's okay." Lauren soothed, though she was fairly certain Beth could feel the rapid heartbeat in her chest. She passed Beth off to her father and sister, who enveloped her in an immediate embrace. They slowly began to gently guide her towards the house. Glenn glanced at Maggie, then gave Lauren a look before heading off with them. They made it a few yards before Shane noticed them leaving.

Lauren groaned as she saw Shane start after them. "Shane, please don't."

The last thing they needed was to traumatize the family even more. Shane ignored her, stomping after them. "We were out combing these woods for that little girl and she was in there this whole time? You knew."

"Leave us alone." Maggie said bitterly as they continued towards the house, Hershel and Patricia guiding Beth.

Rick and Lauren caught up to them. Rick placed a hand on Shane, trying to separate him from the Greene's.

"Hey, get your hands off me!" Shane snapped before continuing his accusations. "You knew and you kept it from us."

"I- I didn't know." Hershel muttered quietly, continuing forward and not looking at Shane. He still looked pretty shaken up.

Shane scoffed. "That's bullshit."

"We didn't know!" Maggie turned back to glare at Shane. Glenn turned around from where he was walking beside Maggie and caught Lauren's eye. He looked distraught, obviously put in a very uncomfortable position.

"Why was she in there?" Shane demanded.

Hershel turned around at the bottom of the porch steps. "Otis put those people in the barn. Maybe he found her and put her in there before he was killed."

"You expect me to believe that? What do I look like, do I look like an idiot to you?" Shane took another step forward.

Hershel didn't back down. "I don't care what you believe ."

"Okay, everyone just calm down." Rick took a step in between the two men.

"Get him off my land!" Hershel demanded, pointing to Shane.

Shane clenched his jaw and stepped towards the man again. Lauren grabbed his arm in an attempt to keep him back, but she was quickly brushed off.

Lauren stumbled back slightly as Shane continued to advance towards Hershel. "Lemme tell you somethin', man-"