Angel With A Shotgun (Walking Dead Fanfic)

Chapter 33: Words left unfinished

     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.