Forfeit ~Shane Walsh/OC~

Chapter Three

            “It’s best not to dwell on Merle getting left behind. Nobody’s going to be upset that he was left behind. Except maybe Daryl,” Morales told Rick. He was deep in thought about what had happened on the roof.

            “Daryl?” I asked him.

            “His brother.” Just then Glenn sped around us in his sports car screaming at the top of his lungs. A few of us giggled. “At least somebody’s having a good day.”

            Glenn was already at the group’s camp, still pumped up with adrenaline as we pulled up.

            “Come meet everybody, you two,” Morales said as he patted Rick’s shoulder. Rick and I stayed behind for a moment.

            “What’s wrong, Rick?” I asked him knowing Morales’ words didn’t help him much.

            “Nothing,” he sighed. He grabbed my hand and squeezed it. “We will find them,” his eyes met mine and he forced a smile. I smiled back, trying to keep him strong and squeezed his hand back.

            “Well, let’s go!” I grabbed his arm and pretty much yanked him out of the van. We approached the group together. We both looked down as we approached the group of people in front of us knowing all eyes were on us. I worked up the courage to look up first and my eyes went directly to one person.

            “Shane?” I whispered before screaming his name. “Shane!” I broke out into a full on sprint with tears streaming down my face and giggling like a crazy person.

            “Abby?” I heard him say as he held his arms open for me. I flew into them and wrapped my legs around his waist and hid my face in his neck. “How? Where have you been?” he whispered in my ear as he dropped to his knees still holding onto me tightly. For a minute I forgot that Rick was looking for his family too. I looked around searching for Lori and Carl and saw them already in Rick’s arms on the ground. Rick met my eyes and we smiled at each other. We found them. We knew we would.

*****

            That night we all sat around a campfire and Rick and I told our survival story to the group. Rick had Carl in his lap and is arm draped around Lori and he looked so relieved. I sat between Shane’s legs and he had is arms wrapped around me tightly. We were directly across from Rick and his family.

            “From the looks of it, everything was overrun,” Rick told the group after Lori explained what the hospital had told us what they were doing with Rick and the other patients.

            “Well, looks don’t deceive. I barely got them out, you know,” Shane told him quietly like he wasn’t supposed to say anything. My eyes met Lori’s for the first time since we’ve been here and she immediately darted them in another direction. I let it go, for now, and held Shane’s arms tighter around my body to keep warm.

            “I can’t begin to tell you how thankful I am for that, Shane. Words can’t express it,” Rick told Shane sincerely.

            “Hey, man, you got Abby back to me. I’d say we’re even,” Shane said with a smile. I blushed a little but it went unnoticed in the low light of the fire. There was a family with a separate fire not too far from us. The man of the family got up and dropped another log in the pit.

            “Hey, Ed? You wanna rethink that log?” Shane asked him.

            “It’s cold, man,” Ed said back to him. The woman and little girl shifted in their seats in discomfort.