—
A few hours later and there was still no sign that the man on the radio had somehow picked up on their voices. It had gotten to the point where the only person that bothered to keep lookout was Dale.
Lori and Amy left it upon themselves to sort out the mushrooms they collected, hoping it was enough to feed anyone.
Remington had a sneaky suspicion that it wouldn't be and had already planned it out in her mind that she'd be giving her portion to Rudy.
Speaking of the girl, she was currently pretending to be interested in Carl's explanation of his action figures. She didn't really care, but Sophia was quite obvious on her dislike and Rudy didn't enjoy seeing the crease in Carl's brows that showed he was upset.
Seeing that the girl was occupied and clearly being watched by both Dale and Carol, Remi silently stood from her shadowed area by the trees, collecting a sharp knife that she had brought with her from her parents kitchen.
It had been a solid two days of her giving her food to Rudy and while she wanted to ensure that her sister ate, she couldn't last too long without eating.
Taking one last glance at Rudeth, Remington sighed softly to herself before starting her walk deeper into the woods, unaware of the blue eyes that followed her every movement.
•••
It was less than five minutes before Jameson followed after Remi. Last thing he wanted was for the blonde to get in trouble for leaving without telling anyone, so he did the same, wanting to get both of them back at camp and quickly and safely as possible without anyone having the suspicion that either of them left.
He hadn't wanted to startle her, so he kept a distance, watching her pick a few berries that Amy and his mother missed. He didn't know how she did it, but the girl seemed pretty smart when it came to which ones were edible or not.
James scared both himself and the girl in front of him when he accidentally stepped on a branch. He was far too lost in his thoughts to realize he wasn't watching where he stepped.
He gasped in shock once he found himself pinned to a tree with a kitchen knife to his neck,
"What are you doing?"
"Ensuring you don't get eaten alive." He squeaked out, "Can you get that away from my neck?"
"Why'd you leave camp?" Remi pulled away, looking him up and down as she backed up.
"I was just looking out for you." He raised his hands in defense, "We should get back before anyone realizes we left."
Remington's eyes narrowed suspiciously, "You didn't tell anyone I left?"
"Why would I?"
She hummed, shrugging her shoulders, "Just thought you were a tattle tale."
"You aren't a kid. Why I would 'tattle tale'?" He mocked her, holding back a smile as he stared down at her, "I was just being a good person. If you want to stay out here and get taken down by geeks, be my guest."
Remington's arms fell limp as she took a look at her surroundings, Jameson's footsteps getting further and further away,
"Wait!"
He turned back at the sound of her voice, "Yeah?"
"I don't know my way back."
She was embarrassed to admit it, too lost in her berry picking to pay any attention to where she was going.
James smiled, chuckling softly, waving her forward, "Come on."
•••
Their walk back to camp was practically silent, aside from the sound of their footsteps crushing the leaves they walked on.
James looked behind him every few seconds to make sure Remi hadn't been snatched up.
He could hear he rummaging around through her small bag, keeping his head forward before he felt a tap on his shoulder. He tensed at the contact but relaxed the minute before saw her chipped purple nail polish.
"What?"
"Here." She waved her hand in front of his face, "I figure you're hungry."
His rough hand touched her soft ones for a mere second before he took the small handful of berries from her hand,
"Are these edible or are you trying to kill me?"
Remi rolled her eyes dramatically, "I wouldn't be eating them if they weren't edible, Jameson."
He hated that his heart beat spiked at the sound of his name leaving her lips. He hardly knew the girl, this being the longest time she was ever in his presence, their longest conversation being the one they had a few minutes ago. And yet, here he was, face flushed red because she simply said his name.
"Thanks." He took them, quickly turning around, "We're almost there."
She looked ahead to see Dale's van, the man being sat on top of it. She froze, however, at the sound of muffled moans coming from the left of her.
It appeared that James heard it too, frowning in confusion. He thought that they would need to prepare for a fight, pushing the girl behind him. A second, more pleasure filled groan followed.
It was then that he realized that he hadn't seen his mother or Shane when he followed after Remi.
He scoffed, jaw clenching in anger as he stomped forward, "Come on."
Remington followed without hesitation, sensing that now probably wouldn't be the best time to mention that his whore of a mother and the one man (other than Merle Dixon) that she disliked were having sex in the woods.
"Remi!" A chirpy voice filled her ears, successfully snapping her out of her thoughts.
She smiled down at Rudy, glancing at James to see he busied himself by faking a smile in Carl's direction.
"Where were you?"
"Uhm...I got berries."
•••
Shane played with Carl, while Lori stared at them.
The Walsh man had offered Rudy a spot in whatever game they created to cure their boredom but the girl wasted absolutely no time in declining. She didn't need her sister to speak up for her on that one.
Shane was weird, Rudy knew he was weird. She was eleven not stupid. So, instead, she busied herself with braiding her big sister's hair. In a way, she was doing them both a favor. Remi no longer had to stick with the low ponytail and Rudy had something to fun to do.
Surprisingly, James took place near the sisters rather than with Carl, Lori and Shane. But that didn't stop him from staring the three down,
"Attaboy." Shane praised, "And three, two, one... pull it."
They laughed.
"Start it over. Make your "p" the other way... around your finger. Good, just tie it like around your finger. Attaboy."
James absolutely despised the look on their faces. He knew Carl wasn't aware of what was going on, he was only twelve after all. What would he know aside from what he was told? He wasn't going to ruin his good time by blurting out how their mother was a complete jackass and easily forgot about their father.
Lori looked far too happy seeing the way Shane treated Carl.
He wasn't their father. James knew that much, he hated how Shane tried to fill in. Shane would never be able to fill the void that was Rick Grimes. James hated that he tried. What made it worse was that Shane knew he could get through to him so he went for Carl instead.
"Hello, base camp! Can anybody out there hear me? Base camp, this is T-Dog. Anybody hear me?"
All heads snap to the radio in nervousness, excitement and fear.
Dale took the radio, "Hello? Hello? Reception's bad on this end. Repeat. Repeat."
"Shane, is that you?"
"Is that them?" Lori asked.
"We're in some deep shit. We're trapped in the department store."
Shane looked around for confirmation, "He said they're trapped?"
"There are geeks all over the place. Hundreds of 'em. We're surrounded."
"T-Dog, repeat that last. Repeat." Dale said.
The radio stopped. Of course it stopped. Just their luck, Remi thought.
"He said the department store."
"I heard it too."
Lori looked to the self proclaimed man in charge, "Shane?"
"No way. We do not go after them. We do not risk the rest of the group. Y'all know that."
"What? Are you fucking stupid?"
Lori gasped at her eldest son's language, "Jameson."
"So we're just gonna leave her there?" Amy asked in disbelief.
"Look, Amy, I know that this is not easy—"
"She volunteered to go to help the rest of us."
"I know, and she knew the risks, right? See, if she's trapped, she's gone. So we just have to deal with that. There's nothing we can do." Shane shrugged.
James scoffed, crossing his arms over his chest as he watched Amy grow angry at Shane's dismissive behavior, "She's my sister, you son of a bitch."
Shane didn't seem to care, looking away as the blonde stormed away.
Rudy wrapped her arms around Remington's waist. The thought of losing her last family member and no one caring being the only thing swarming through her mind.
Lori looked at Shane and then followed after Amy.
"Amy..." Lori tried comforting the girl.
James could do nothing but watch as Shane ran his dirty hands across Carl's shoulders, gently pushing him away, "Come on. It's all right, buddy."
Remi's voice filled his ears, her words making a snort exit his lips despite the current situation,
"What an asshole."