Afraid of Being Alive (Shane Walsh Love Story)

Chapter 13: Zero Tolerance for Walkers

The sound of the tent being unzipped startled Shane and I, causing us to awkwardly have to break our kiss. My lip trembled as paranoia flooded our brains, Shane instinctively pulling me back behind him in case of a dead-one trying to attack the camp for the second time this evening. But this wasn’t a member of the undead entering the tent; it was just Lola who felt ready to go to sleep.

“Did I disturb you?” she asked, dry tears staining her pale cheeks.

“No baby, it’s alright.” I breathed, opening my arms for Lola, “c’mere.”

She sniffed as I beckoned for her to come into my arms. She curled up next to me and hugged my arm for comfort as Shane looked over at the two of us.

“Can I stay with you for the night?” she asked.

“Of course.” I smiled, “you can sleep in my bed.”

“You don’t think the dead-ones will get us here, do you?” she sniffled.

“Absolutely not!” I exclaimed, wiping her weeping eyes, “I’ll hold onto you all night long, and Shane here is a good shot.”

“You’re not so shabby yourself.” Smirked Shane, “you got that walker that was attacking Lola right between the eyes, I’d say that’s a pretty impressive shot.”

“That was you?” asked Lola as she stared up at me.

“Yep.” I grinned, impressed with myself. “Now why don’t you get changed into something that isn’t dirty and covered in blood and come back here, aye?”

She nodded with a sad smile across her face and leapt up from the mattress, exiting the tent yet again.

Shane smiled kindly at me before stripping down to his underwear yet again, then tucking himself into his bed. Before long, Lola was back in a pair of track pants and low cut singlet with a gothic lace trim.

“Night girls.” Called Shane.

“Good night, Shane.” Lola and I chorused.

She crawled underneath the covers next to me and wrapped her small arms around my waist. It was hard to remember that she was only seventeen. She felt like a toddler at times, but I loved her for it. I could now see why she and Amy got along so well: They were too much alike.

“Good morning” I mumbled as I turned around to see Lola getting up and off the mattress.

“Morning.”  She replied, leaning back down and giving me a friendly kiss on the cheek. “How did you sleep?”

“Didn’t get much.” I answered honestly, “you?”

“Pretty shit too.” She sighed before looking over at the empty mattress across from us, “where’s Shane?”

“Huh, you tell me.” I scoffed, pulling the covers off and getting off of the mattress.

I walked outside to see that people around the camp were busier than usual. It appeared that Lola and I were the last two up which was a little embarrassing in more ways than none. I sent Lola off to go and change back in the tent that she used to share with both Andrea and Amy while I got changed in my own. It was awfully hot today, boiling in fact. I slipped into a pair of black high-waisted short with a plain white tank top thrown over the top, the thin material exposing the outline of the French lace from my bra.

As I walked back out to see what everyone was doing, I saw the men of the group including both Lori and now Lola joining them, huddled around an extinguished fire-pit. They were all talking amongst each other, Lori leaving everybody and making her way over to Andrea who was still in the same position as last night. I glanced over to see everyone else in our group burning bodies and for some reason smashing open the heads of the totally dead too. As I wandered over to the group that were surrounding the fire-pit, I saw that Lori was done talking to an unresponsive Andrea, walking away and over to me. She pat my back and we walked in silence to the men and Lola.