Luckily the door opens before I have to answer and Rick quickly pushes himself off the sofa as Shane walks back in, interrupting Rick's questioning.
"The Fuck is taking so long?" Shane asks us and Rick huffs.
"Just making sure everything's clean." Rick lies and Shane doesn't even question it.
"So...is she going to be ok?" He asks Rick looking at me and then back at Rick.
"I don't know. Keres what do you think?" Rick asks as he starts wrapping up my wound again, better than Daryl did.
I nod, not knowing what to say. My heart is still beating in my chest from the private interrogation that I just had with Rick.
"Okay, that settles it. Just make sure you keep it clean and dry. It should heal up just fine as long as it doesn't get infected and as long as you don't put too much strain on it. Now, I'm no medical expert, but that probably means not doing things like archery or throwing heavy things. And definitely not putting yourself in harms way for people you don't even know." Rick states in his heavy southern accent and gives me a small smirk.
"Fuck, and to think I was excited to try bungee jumping for the first time." I sarcastically blurt out getting a chuckle out of Rick as he and Shane leave the RV.
I put on my other bra and extra sweatshirt that I found in the storage room at the hospital, along with Rick's stuff.
I start to walk out of the RV and see that most of the group have gone back to work or are getting ready to leave. A little girl comes running up to me and I roll my eyes not wanting anything to do with her.
"What was that mark on your arm?" She asks.
"None of your fucking business." I say dryly as I walk passed her.
She tries to keep up with me, obviously not getting the hint. She's trying to get my attention by waving her hands in the air in front of me but I just dodge her.
"Wait, I know I saw it! It looked like this." She says as she draws in the dirt in front of me.
I quickly wipe the design out of the dirt with my foot as fast as I can. My blood starts boiling so I close my eyes and take a deep breath. The last thing I need is to make a kid cry right now. Her dad will probably get all pissy with me and I'll get a lecture from Shane about getting along with others.
"Don't ever draw that again! Do you hear me?!" I say in a very serious and angry tone.
"I just thought-." She starts saying with big wide eyes.
"Look, you can't tell anyone about this ok?! You have to promise me you'll stay quiet about that." I say in a dangerous tone and she looks scared and runs off.
I huff and shake my head annoyed at how fragile children are. I never was. I didn't ever get the chance to be.
I hear people talking with one another while I'm left looking into the messed up dirt in front of me. I pull my sleeves down to cover the mark and I head back to camp and watch the others pack for their trip.
I'm leaning up against a tree when Daryl comes up to me.
"Hey, I just wanted to say that uh...well...sorry about the arrow and attacking your brother..." He says while looking down at the ground and scratching the back of his neck uncomfortably.
"It's all good." I say and I turn around and whip a knife at another tree and stick a squirrel.
I turn back to see Daryl looking at me still. He has a slight shocked yet, impressed expression on his face as he looks between me and the dead squirrel.
"Nice! Ya never said ya were an ass kickin' Assasin Ninja...actually ya never said anythin' a
for that matter." He jokes and playfully punches me in the shoulder and I punch him back with a smirk.
He starts heading off with Rick and gets the rest of the stuff ready. I go to get the squirrel but Lori blocks my path and looks at me with her arms crossed.
"What the hell was that?! What if one of the kids had been walking close to the tree?! What if you missed and hit someone?! You could have killed someone with that thing! And all for what?! A squirrel?!" She fumes clearly angry about my recklessness.
I just roll my eyes and grab my knife and the squirrel. But before I can even start walking away to skin it she grabs my arm again.
"Hello! I'm talking to you! You could have killed someone!" She yells getting everyone's attention now.
I bite my lip and try to hold my tongue. Knowing that nothing good will come out of my mouth, especially if it's towards her.
I've never really gotten along with Lori. She always looked at me as if I didn't belong or as if I wasn't good enough for her attention. She came from a privileged family who thought they were better than everyone else. Rick is the opposite, he grew up wanting to help people, no matter who they were. How those two ended up together I'll never know.
"Ok, what's goin' on over here?" Shane asks while he struts up to us with his arms out to try avoid conflict.
"Why don't you ask her?! She's the one
throwing knives like it's a freaking circus!" Lori huffs.
Shane look down at the ground with his hands on his hip and bites his lip. His eyebrow's arched as he figures out how to resolve the situation. He clearly doesn't want to pies either of us off.
"Keres is that true?" Shane asks in a deep warning tone as he looks over from Lori to me.
"Yeah, and? What's the problem? We suddenly start advocating for our little tree friends?" I joke but Lori glares at me.
"I was right there! Under that tree! What if I had stood up?! You know what you probably were hoping that I would stand up! That damn squirrel has been going around the camp all day! You had plenty of chances to kill it without putting someone in harms way!" Lori shouts in anger.
"Hey, trust me if I wanted to kill you, I sure as hell wouldn't waste a perfectly sharp knife on your thick ass skull! And if I wanted you dead I would have told you to go on the suicide mission with your husband!" I retort with a sneer.
Without hesitation Lori backhands me across the face and her wedding ring slices my cheek. I can feel the warm sticky liquid exiting the wound down my face. Rick immediately jumps up and gets between us as I just let out a little chuckle.
"Really? That's the best you got?" I say as I look down at my fingers with some blood on them.
It hurts a bit, but nothing more than if a bee decided to sting me on my face. But I can't really expect much else from someone as weak as Lori.
"Ok, everybody just calm down alright?! Keres are you alright?" Rick asks in a worried tone as he lifts my chin up to see the damage.
"Yeah, I'm fine." I chuckle as I walk away from his touch and bend back down to pick up my squirrel.
I see Carl standing behind Shane with a worried expression on his little freckled face. Lori turns around and sees him and she softens back up like a light switch.
"Carl, come here baby." Lori says softly.
"I'm sorry, you shouldn't have had to see that." Lori adds as she kneels down and hugs Carl.
Two faced bitch. I think to myself as I roll my eyes.
Everyone else in the camp just watches me walk away without saying a word, probably afraid of what I might do. I just roll my eyes and keep moving.
Shane comes over to me once again and puts his hands on his hips and raises his eye brow. Unfortunately for me I'm not getting off easy.
"Wanna tell me what that was all about?" He asks as he taps his middle finger on his side.
"Saw an opportunity to get my dinner and took it." I shrug.
"And you just had to do it when Lori was standing there." He states knowing I don't get along with her.
"I can't help it if squirrels are attracted to nutbags." I joke and he huffs and rolls his eyes and leaves.
"Hey, Keres. I wanted to come check on your wound before I left." Rick says as he walks over and sits next to me.
I nod my head and carefully pull my arm out of my shirt and remove the bra strap so he can look at the wound under the bandage. He carefully peels the bandage back and his fingers tickle my skin. He looks at the wound for a few seconds and then up at me.
"It's looking good." He says and nods his head.
He helps rewrap it and I can feel his breath on my neck while he concentrates on the bandage. He stops for a second and I see him gulp out of the corner of my eye.
"Everything okay?" I ask and he seems to snap out of his own mind and he nods his head.
"Yeah, everything looks good. Just remember what I said about not getting it infected or ripping the stitches out." He says and then clears his throat.
I nod my head to tell him that I will and he gives me a smile. I carefully pull the bra strap and shirt back on and he just sits there next to me in silence.
"Do you really have to go? I don't know if I can deal with Shane on my own." I mutter and Rick gives me a putty smile.
"I'll be back before ya know it. Just do your best to stay on Shane's good side." Rick chuckles and pats my uninjured shoulder.
"I wasn't aware he had a good one." I mutter and he smirks.
"He does, deep, deep down." He jokes and I can't help but smile.
"But, I promise, I'll be back soon." He repeats and then gets up.
"Take care of Shane for me while I'm gone." He says with a wink and then walks away.
I watch him walk over the the group and then look to my right and see Lori glaring at me. I can't believe she's still mad about the damn squirrel. I think to myself
The guys head out to the city to retrieve Merle while I just stay in my own space, away from everyone, especially Lori. I don't get why she hates me so much but I can practically feel it radiating off of her. I don't know if it's because she regrets fucking my brother or feels guilty about it and needs to try and push it onto someone else.
After a few minutes I finish eating my squirrel and stomp out my fire, ready to turn in. I'm about to get up when Shane comes over and sits down next to me and waits for me to say something. A few minutes pass and he finally breaks the silence.
"Look, I know this is hard for you. It's hard for all of us. But we need to learn to get along with one another. That means you can't go around and starting fights. I know all of this is a big adjustment but your not alone-." Shane starts saying before I cut him off.
"This. This isn't hard for me Shane. This is a fucking walk in the park! Plus it's not even about the walkers or any of this." I start but stop, not knowing if I really want to finish my thought.
"Well, then what is it? You gotta give me something to work with, bud. I can't help you if you don't-." He offers but I cut him off.
"I know about you and Lori." I blurt out in a whisper making sure no one else heard.
He looks at me confused as if he is trying to hide his guilt. But it's painted all over his face. The guilt of doing that to Rick. They're best friends, they have been since they were little. And to do this...well, it's a big fuck up.
"What are you-." He starts saying but I interject.
"Don't! Okay. Just don't try and lie to me. I see the way you look at her and the way she looks at you. I know you didn't mean for it to happen. Nobody ever does, but Rick is alive and she needs to make up her mind. I didn't say anything to him because it really wasn't any of my business. But...he's your best friend. You two have done it all together. If you think that this is going to destroy your friendship then I guess you really don't know him as well as you thought you did. But not telling him will destroy your friendship. I can guarantee that. But whatever it's none of my business so I don't even know why I give a fuck." I finish and wait for a response.