Shane returned, an hour later, he climbed over the railing and Briony walked up to him.
"Told ya I'd be back, didn't I?" Shane reassured her, pulling her in for a hug. She smiled, holding him.
He kissed her head, then let her go, moved closer to the group and gathered everyone around.
Briony joined them. "Right ya'll let's start moving these cars to make a clear pathway." Shane ordered.
The group started to get to work.
"Shane, what can I do?" Briony questioned.
"See if Dale needs help, if not, come back to me and I'll find you something to do." Shane advised.
Briony nodded, following his order and approached Dale who was working on the RV.
"Hey Dale." She called, he turned to look at her. "You need some help?"
He smiled. "That would be great, Pet." Dale was the grandad of the group. Old but wise, that cheeky grin that grandads always had.
He was loving, caring, he wanted the best for everyone. He was so sweet. "Can you pass me that flathead?"
Briony nodded, picking up the screwdriver and passing it to him. "You can learn something, watch me."
Briony nodded and watched Dale, as he worked on the engine of the RV. She knew nothing of cars but she needed to learn some skills, they were important for survival.
"Why aren't we all out there looking?" Carol approached Dale. "Why are we moving cars?"
Briony rolled her eyes, her brother was out there, looking for her daughter and along with Rick.
She should be grateful other people were risking their lives for her daughter. So why wasn't she?
Briony scrunched up her eyes at the woman, folding her arms.
Dale stopped working and turned to look at Carol. "We have to clear enough room so I can get the RV turned around as soon as it's running. Now that we have fuel we can double back to a bypass that Glenn flagged on the map."
Shane walked over, wiping his hands and joining in on the conversation.
He looked at Carol. "Going back's going to be easier than trying to get through this mess."
"But we're not going anywhere till my daughter gets back." Carol stated.
"Hey." Lori approached Carol. "That goes without saying."
"Look, Rick and Daryl, they're on it okay? It's just a matter of time." Shane told Carol.
"It can't be soon enough for me." Andrea joined, throwing Glenn a water bottle. He caught it swiftly and smiled at her.
Carol looked at all of them in disgust and then walked away, back to the railing.
"I'm so freaked out, from that heard that passed us by, or whatever you'd call it." She continued and took a sip of her water.
"Yeah. What was that? All of them just marching along like that?" Glenn questioned.
"Herd." Shane answered. "That sounds about right. Now we've seen it. It's like the night camp got attacked. It's a wandering pack, only fewer."
Shane sighed and then coughed. "Okay. Come on, people. We've still got a lot to do. Let's stay on it." He looked at everyone. "Let's go."
He started to walk away, to get to work.
↠ ↠ ↠ ↠
"Shane." Carl ran through the cars, carrying something in his hand, until he reached Shane.
Briony was directly across from Shane cars and she watched the scene unfold, a cigarette in hand.
"Carl, what happened?" Lori asked, joining him as she worried over her son.
"Mom, I found something cool." Carl bragged. Briony smiled to herself, he was so cute.
"Shane, check it out." He laid the item on the floor and unrolled it. Revealing, axes and tools. "It's an arsenal."
Shane didn't look, he shrugged Carl off like a bug on his shoulder. Briony raised an eyebrow and moved to a closer car, acting as if she was rummaging. Then slowly, sat down in the boot, just listening.
"That's cool, bud. Go give 'em to Dale." Shane replied.
"Check this one out. Whoa!" He got out a hatchet and started to swing it about. "Its a hatchet."
"Be careful." Lori cautioned. "Don't play with those."
"They're really sharp." He stated, continuing to swing it about in the air.
Briony smiled at his interest in weapon's, he was growing up. Soon he was going to want to learn how to defend himself. Briony knew, this isn't what Lori wanted.
Lori just wanted her son, to stay her baby boy.
"What did I just say?" Lori scolded.
"Can I keep one?" Carl asked.
"Are you crazy?" Lori grabbed the hatchet off him. "No way."
"Shane. Shane, tell her to let me keep one." Carl begged.
Shane looked down at him. "Hey, man, go give them all to Dale now. Go." Carl glared at him.
Even Briony was shocked at his approach. Carl grabbed the arsenal and stormed off to Dale.
"What was that?" Lori asked, once he was out of listening distance.
"What was what?" Shane questioned.
"The way you blew him off just now." Lori answered. "You crushed him."
Shane continued to work, completely ignoring her, she gasped. "I don't believe you. You're giving me the cold shoulder?"
Shane looked up at Lori. "Isn't that what you want?" He paused. "Weren't you the one who said stay the hell away from him and you?"
"You forget what happened at the CDC?" Lori spoke.
Briony gasped, lit up another cigarette and listened closely. If there was anything she loved, it was gossip.
Spill the tea, bitch!
"Your little meltdown in the rec room slip your mind?" Lori continued. "When you tried-."
"When I tried to what?" Shane asked, anger present in his tone.
"What do you think that was?"
"I think it is pretty plain what that was." Lori scoffed.
"One mistake. One that I admit to." Shane admitted. "I have a few mistakes under my belt, Lori. So do you."
Briony looked away and giggled to herself. She loved drama.
"No debate there. But, Shane, we need to stop this." Lori told him.
"Why do you think I'm prepping my new ride?" Shane asked.
Briony scrunched up her eyebrows. What the fuck did that mean?
"I'm leaving." He announced to Lori. Briony gasped, a lump started to form in her throat and her eyes stung.
She covered her mouth to muffle her cry.
"Leaving?" Lori gasped.
"As in gone for good." Shane replies. "Gonna quietly slip away first chance I get."
Briony entered her own world of darkness, she didn't want him to go. She loved him.
She needed him.
"Okay, let's get back to work." She heard him announce to the group. Everyone scattered away once again and Briony looked up at him as he put a suitcase in the boot.
Their eyes connected and he sighed. He realized, she must've heard every single word.
"Sweetheart, you alright?" He closed the boot and proceeded towards her. She couldn't help but cry when he sat next to her.
"You heard all that didn't you?" He asked, cuddling her. "It's for the best."
Briony looked up at him and glared. "Best for who, Shane? For you, maybe. For me, no. What about everyone else here?"
Briony stood up. "You are the person that brought me to the group, you are the person that reunited me with my brother. You saved me, without even realizing." She pushed him sightly.
A tear rolled down her face. "You don't get to decide what's best. And you certainly, do not get to come into my life and just leave."
Shane sighed. "Calm down."
Briony grabbed a bag from the boot and chucked it onto the road. "Don't you dare, don't you dare. Everyone in my life has either died or left me, please don't go as well. You and Daryl are all I have left."
Shane grabbed her and wrapped his arms around her, she tried to fight him out of anger but soon gave up and held him tight.
She cried into his shoulder. "Shane, I love you. Please, please don't go."
He pushed her away from him and looked into her eyes. "Okay, I promise. I won't go." Briony smiled and hugged him tight, she was glad he changed his mind. She needed him.
Shane wanted to leave but the little girl, he was holding on to, that was his priority. He promise her he wouldn't leave, he was gonna stay to that promise. Whether he liked it or not, he loved her.
↠ ↠ ↠ ↠
The sun was setting, the sky was a beautiful orange, giving a glowy colour around the group. Briony was sitting in a car boot, Bandit laid down next to her, counting up the food, water and supplies they'd scavenged.
"Everything cool?" Shane asked Andrea, she was fuming about something. Briony sighed and watched on.
Couldn't everyone just get on for like 1 minute. Briony was getting drained from all the bullshit.
"No, I want my gun back." Andrea spat.
"I don't think it's a good idea right now." Dale told Shane.
"Why not?" Shane questioned.
"I'm not comfortable with it." Dale explained. Briony rolled her eyes, but what Andrea did wasn't anything to do with him, was it?
Andrea scoffed and Shane looked at her, she looked right back at him.
"The truth is, less guns we have floating around camp, the better." Shane stated.
"You turning over your weapon?" Andrea asked,
Shane chuckled. "No. But I'm trained in its use. That's what the rest of y'all need is proper training. But until that time I think it's best if Dale keeps them all accounted for."
Andrea scoffed once more and licked her lips, nodding. "Mmm-hmm."
Andrea walked off, Briony got up and replaced her, looking at Shane.
"What's going on?"
"Oh, God, they're back." Glenn gasped, Briony turned around sharp and saw Daryl heading up the hill.
Briony smiled and ran over to him, he opened his arms and she ran into them. "You okay?"
She looked up at him while she held him, smiling. "I'm fine, Chick." He smiled, rubbing her back.
They let go of each other, he wrapped his arm around her and they joined the group.
"You didn't find her?" Carol sobbed.
"Her trail went cold." Rick explained. "We'll pick it up again at first light."
"You can't leave my daughter out there on her own, to spend the night alone in the woods." Carol replied, Lori joined her side. The group surrounded them.
"Out in the dark's no good. We'd just be tripping over ourselves. More people get lost." Daryl added.
"But she's 12. She can't be out there on her own. You didn't find anything?" Carol sobbed.
"I know this is hard. But I'm asking you not to panic. We know she was out there." Rick defended.
"And we tracked her for a while." Daryl added.
"We have to make this an organised effort. Daryl knows the woods better than anybody. I've asked him to oversee this." Rick explained.
Carol looked down at Daryl's trousers and gasped. "Is that blood?"
They all looked at his trousers, including himself, he then looked up at her. Carol's breathing increased.
"He took down a walker." Rick told her.
"A walker." Carol panted. "Oh God."
"There was no sign it was ever anywhere near Sophia." Rick crouched to get eye level with Carol and put both his hands on her shoulders.
"How can you know that?" She asked, still breathing heavily.
"We cut the son of a bitch open." Daryl answered. "Made sure."
Carol sat carefully down onto the railing, breathing heavily, Lori joined her side, her arm around her shoulder.
"How could you just leave her out there to begin with?" Carol asked, blaming Rick. "How could you just leave her?" She started raising her voice.
Anger suddenly came over Briony, that comment made her blood boil.
"Those two walkers were on us. I had to draw them off. It was her best chance." Rick explained.
"Sounds like he didn't have a choice, Carol." Shane added.
"How was she supposed to find her way back on her own? She's just a child. She's just a child." Carol continued to sob, Briony rolled her eyes.
"It was my only option. The only choice I could make." Rick spoke, you could see the sorrow written all over his face.
"I'm sure nobody doubts that." Shane spoke, looking at Briony.
"My little girl got left in the woods." She sobbed, looking Rick dead in the eye.
Rick nodded and stood up, then turned to walk away. Daryl followed behind and Andrea joined Carol.
"Oh dear, Carol." Briony started clapping her hands, chuckling.
"Briony, stop." Daryl started. He knew exactly, what she was about to do.
"No!" She shouted, making people jump. She chuckled and slowly turned to face Carol, staring her down.
Carol just brought the psychopath in Briony, out to play.