Forfeit ~Shane Walsh/OC~

Chapter Ten

“Not you. Not today,” he said. “You gave three units of blood. You wouldn’t be hiking five minutes in this heat before passing out.” He then looked to Shane. “And your ankle - push it now and you’ll be laid up for a month. No good to anybody.”

“Guess it’s just me,” Daryl said. “I’ll head back to the creek. Work my way from there.”

“I can still be usesful,” Shane told us. “I’ll drive up to the interstate and see if Sophia wondered back.”

“Alright, tomorrow then.” Rick admitted his defeat.

“That means we can’t have our people out there with just knives,” I said crossing my arms. “They need the gun training we promised them.”

“I prefer you to not carry guns on my property. We’ve managed so far without turning this into an armed camp,” Hershel told us. Shane took his hat off to further explain my point.

“All due respect, you get a crowd of those things wandering in here, there’s a slim chance of getting out,” Shane told Hershel. Rick started talking before Hershel could respond.

“Look, we’re guests here. This is your property. We will respect that,” Rick’s eyes met all of ours before he laid his gun on the hood of the car. Shane bit his lip and followed suit as did the rest of us. Once that was settled, Rick continued with the plan. “First things first, set up camp and find Sophia.”

“I hate to be the one to ask this but someone has to,” Shane placed his hat back on his head and tugged on it gently. “What happens if we find her and she’s bit?”

“You do what has to be done,” Rick answered grimly.

“And what do you tell her mother?” Maggie asked him.

“The truth,” I told her and Hershel shook his head in disbelief. “I’ll gather and secure all the weapons,” I volunteered. “Nobody will be carrying until we’re at a practice range off site.”

“I do request one rifle man on lookout. Dale has experience,” Shane told Hershel hoping he would let at least one of us carry. Hershel was silent for a moment.

“We would feel safer and less inclined to carry a gun,” I said hoping to help with his decision. He just nodded in agreement and Rick thanked him.

*****

            “Hey, Daryl?” I called out to him as he walked across the front lawn. Hey slowly turned to look at me but didn’t linger long. He kept moving, showing me he didn’t want to talk. “You gonna be okay on your own?”

            “I’m better on my own,” he said, never turning around. “Don’t worry, I’ll be back before dark.”

“Hey, we can get this properly organized now,” I told him. He finally turned and walked toward me.

“You got a point or are we just chatting?” he snapped viciously.

“I don’t think you need to go alone. We can create a buddy system, you know? Just in case-“

“Nothing’s gonna happen to me, Raggedy Anne. And to make this clear, I don’t need a buddy,” he spit as he got closer to me.

“Hey!” I heard Shane’s voice yell from across the yard. We both looked over and Daryl took a step back from me. Shane jogged over as he continued talking. “What’s going on here?”

“Not a damn thing,” Daryl snapped one last time at me before turning on his heels and continuing into the wood line. Shane sighed heavily and put his hands on his hips as he waited for the story.