Forfeit ~Shane Walsh/OC~

Chapter Three

            “Cold don’t change the rules does it? Keep our fires to just embers so the light can’t be seen from a distance,” Shane said raising his voice a little bit.

            “I said it’s cold! Why don’t you mind your own business for once?” Ed snapped back at Shane.

            “Oh, no,” I whispered just so Shane could hear me. He apologized as he moved around me to go talk to Ed.

            “You sure want to have this conversation right now?” Shane asked as he stood over Ed.

            “Take it out, then. Go on!” Ed raised his voice to his wife. She got up and took the log out of the fire but Shane put it out for her.

            “Hey, Carol, Sophia. How y’all doing tonight?” Shane asked the woman and her daughter.

            “Fine. We’re just fine. Sorry about the fire,” she started to apologize to him but Shane cut her off.

            “No apology needed. Y’all have a good night,” he told her before he turned his attention back to Ed. “Thanks for the cooperation.” He made his way back to our fire and inched closer to me and returned to his original position behind me. “Don’t talk to him, okay?” he whispered in my ear. I just nodded to assure him that I heard what he said.

            “Have you given any thought to Daryl Dixon? He’s not going to be very happy his brother was left behind,” the old man who owns the RV asked the group.

            “I’ll tell him. I dropped the key. It’s on me,” T-Dog told the group.

            “No I cuffed him. That makes it mine,” Rick said.

            “Guys, it’s not a competition. But it might sound better coming from a white guy,” Glenn told the two of them.

            “I did what I did. Hell if I’m gonna hide from it,” T-Dog felt terrible about dropping the key.

            “Dude was out of control. Something had to be done or we would’ve gotten killed,” I finally piped in.

            “Your husband did what was necessary and if Merle got left behind it was nobody’s fault but Merle’s,” Andrea backed me up.

            “And that’s what we tell Daryl?” the old man, Dale, asked us again. “Word to the wise: We’re going to have our hands full when we gets back from his hunt.”

            “I was scared and I ran. I’m not ashamed of it,” T-Dog said, mostly to himself.

            “We were all scared. We all ran. It’s okay,” I told him with a smile.

            “But I stopped long enough to chain the door. The staircase is narrow and only half a dozen geeks can get at that door at one time. That’s not enough to break that chain. My point is Merle is alive still handcuffed on that roof. That’s on us,” T-Dog got up and walked away. Rick’s face twisted in guilt as he watched T-Dog walk away.

*****

            “You want to keep watch with me tonight? It’s my shift,” Shane asked me once we were back in our tent.

            “Your wife coming back isn’t a valid enough excuse to call out sick?” I asked him with a huge grin. He grinned back and shook his head as he walked closer to me.

            “God, I missed you,” he held my face in his hands and kissed me gently. He pulled away before I was ready for him to. “Now get your gun and come on.” He smacked my ass lightly and laughed as he turned to leave. I followed behind him, gun in hand and climbed to the top of the RV. He had two chairs set up for us.