Entombed

I couldn't shake the realization of Shane's crime from my head. When he emerged this morning with a shaved head, this along with his other actions raised my suspicions even higher. I wanted to talk to Hershel about my suspicion, but he was still focused on the boy, which I guess I had to be patient about. But then again, killing someone to get revenge for a complete accident is unforgivable.

I could have talked to Rick too. He had more control over Shane than any of us, but he was focused on the recovery of his son, even though Hershel announced he would pull through.

Glenn gave me a sympathetic look as I stood on the porch, leaning against a pillar. His group was huddled over the hood of a car with Hershel, looking at something.

"What's going on?" I asked Glenn before he was out of reach.

"We lost a little girl from a group when the walkers came through yesterday, they're setting up a plan to look for her."

"They won't find her." I murmur as he walked away. A little girl out there all alone? There's no way.

"We'll start searching in teams." I heard Rick say as I approached the truck. No one seemed to notice me, so I stayed quiet.

"Not you, not today." Hershel said, shaking his head. "You gave three units of blood, you wouldn't be hiking five minutes in this heat before passing out. And your ankle would be pushing that as well." He then said to Shane."

"Guess it's just me then." The red-neck looking one said, holding his bow up.

"I'll go." I said, though no one seemed to hear me.

"I'll head back up to the creek-" The red-neck continued.

"I'll go." I said louder, causing them all to turn and look at me.

"Shannon you must be out of your damn mind." Maggie said.

"Excuse me?" I asked. "I leave the farm all the time, on my own. I'm pretty sure I can handle it."

"No, she's right." Hershel defended his daughter, turning to me. "We need you here more than anything."

"Okay, you're not the boss of me either." I said slightly, feeling heated. "I've done plenty of runs this week, you have enough food and supplies for me to be gone a day."

Rick looked at me, trying to think of something to say. Shane stared right at me and I gave him a look back. I wanted him to know that I knew what he had done. And I wanted him to feel as uncomfortable around me as possible until he cracked.

"I can handle myself, I'll take a horse, track the other side of the river while he gets this side." I said, nodding my head at the red-neck when I said 'he.'

"Alright." Rick said. "You heard her, if she wants to go then we can't deny it. We need all the help we can get. Tomorrow, we'll start doing things right."

I nodded slightly, looking around at the rest of the group, and I could tell that my future partner was less than pleased.

"Well we can't have out people out there with just knives." Shane said. "We need gun trainin'."

"I'd prefer you not carrying guns on my property." Hershel said. I then remember the gun tucked in the small of my back, hidden away like a dirty little secret from Hershel. "We've managed so far without turning this into an armed camp. I'd like the keep it that way."

Shane wasn't very happy about this. But I tuned him out. This wasn't his camp, this wasn't his home. The decision was not his to make.

"This is your property. Any now, we will respect that." Rick said, making eye contact with Shane.

Rick set his gun on the hood of the truck and Shane reluctantly followed, neither of them looking for another confrontation to add to the past day's events.

"First thing's first. Set up camp; find Sophia."

I nodded and looked at the red-neck, offering him my hand. "Shannon."

"Daryl." He said, nodding his head but not making an effort to shake my hand.

"What time do you want to leave?"

"Soon."

I nodded at him. How lovely his attitude is.

"What happens if we find her and she's bit?" Shane asked and I looked over at him. I was so tempted to ask if he'd murder her too, but I bit my tongue.

"You do what has to be done." Rick answered, looking uncomfortable.

"And her mother? What do you tell her?" Maggie asked.

"We tell her the truth." I answered.

Shane started arranging to teach some of their group how to shoot, emphasizing that it would be off of Hershel's property. But that didn't mean it would make him feel any better about weapons being brought into his home. I don't know what he would say or do if he found out about my concealed weapon. The difference between me and these people is that I would never use it on the still living.

---

T-Dog and Dale had come back to camp from fetching water empty handed. I was sitting on the steps of the house braiding Beth's hair when they came in, and I thought it worth while to pitch in with whatever "issue" they said they had.

Most of their group and a few of us- mainly myself and Maggie, approached one of the wells on the far side of the farm. I couldn't believe it had taken Dale looking into the well to know something was wrong; I could smell it for a mile.

There was a fat, mutated and swollen walker trapped at the bottom of the well. The long exposure to the water and the high temperature together made his body not only bloat, but also mutate into a disgusting, disfigured man.

"Looks like we've got ourselves a swimmer." Dale said, pointing his flashlight down the well.

"How long do you think it's been down there?" Glenn asked.

"Judging by the gills...long enough." I answered, whipping off my forehead.

"We can't leave it in there, God knows what it's doing to the water."

"It's definitely not safe to drink." I said. "This well is worthless to us now."

"Well, we gotta get it out." Shane said.

I looked at him with almost a glare. If they wanted to waste a perfectly productive day on this swollen walker, then let them. Even with the walker removed, it would take months for the water to even be half safe to us. Plus, we had enough other wells on the farm to compensate for this one.

"I'll get rope."

"Woah, woah guys, no." Maggie said, scrunching her face up.

"It's a good plan." Glenn said.

"It's a stupid plan." Andrea reiterated. "If that thing hasn't contaminated the water yet, blowing it's brains out will finish the job."

This is about the time I started to walk away. Let them be idiots on their own. The water was long contaminated, and pulling a walker from it wouldn't solve the problem as quickly as snapping your fingers.

---

When I made it back to the house, Daryl was heading out. I ran into my Uncle's room to grab the gun that Shane had brought back in place of him. It would come in handy whether Hershel approved or not and I couldn't risk wasting my personal weapon on some child who was probably dead. I found Otis' supply of bullets and shoved the box into my back pack.

When Daryl saw me approaching, he nodded his head and nodded back and we started our way out of camp.

The walk was long and quiet. Daryl led and I followed, mostly in his footsteps, to avoid crunching branches beneath my feet or creating more trails than desired.

We came across a few walkers, which he silently took out with his bow. If I were to take any out, I would attract 20 more in it's place. My Uncle's gun was strapped over my shoulder and I held a bat in my hand. It wasn't nearly as lethal, but it would still protect me in the event that Daryl couldn't .

Walking with Daryl was nice. Not nice in that I enjoyed his company; his rough steps and his pissed off attitude, but I enjoyed the quiet, and I enjoyed the wilderness.

I loved the woods, I loved the color of the leaves and I loved the fresh air. It was hard to come by in this tainted world. Which made me only appreciate more.

After quite a few miles, we happened upon an old house. Two stories, the windows either boarded up or shattered. It looked like it was abandoned before the outbreak even happened. That or the people who lived in it didn't care about living in a broken down home.

Daryl kicked open the door at the top of the steps. He had his bow ready, loaded; and I had my bat ready in my hands. The floor creaked beneath our feet as Daryl went left and I went right into the rooms opposing the front door.

Everything in my room was knocked over or broken. Dirty and dusty and definitely untouched. No one had been here for ages, and I could tell by the fact that my feet left footprints on the aged and dusty floor.

"Clear." I yelled, loud enough for Daryl to hear.

He didn't answer me but I reunited with him when I exited through the back of the room I had entered. He still had his bow up and was headed toward the open back door. Daryl considered checking upstairs for a moment but then decided against it. There was no one here and he knew that too.

I noticed that in the kitchen, there were cans of food on the bottom of a shelf. I walked past Daryl and grabbed the dusty cans, not even checking to see what they were before I shoved them in my bag. We needed all that we could find, and soon we would run out of food in town and then at the house.

Daryl started approaching a slightly closed door to another cabinet, as if expecting a walker to pop out. But nothing did.

"Come on." He murmured to me.

I nodded and followed behind him, shaking my head as he shouted for the little girl.

Once it started to get dark, and we could see or feel the sun anymore, we headed back to camp. I followed Daryl, my skills not nearly as good as his. He could have found his way back to camp blindfolded.

When we did get back, Daryl nodded at me again and climbed into the RV to report the news, or lack of, to Carol. I snuck into the house with my gun, quickly retreating to my room. I slid Otis' gun and ammo under the bed, always keeping my own gun on me.

I took the cans I had found out of my bag and headed into kitchen to leave them on the table for whoever took up that night's cooking. We usually did it in shifts.

When I went outside to sit on the porch, Glenn was sitting in one of the rocking chairs. I sat on the railing in front of him and looked over, resting my hands on my lap.

"So how did fishing go?" I asked, smiling at him.

Glenn smiled slightly and then shook his head, looking down. "I was the bait."

"Shouldn't let them walk all over you like that." I said."You could have said no."

"Didn't think I had much of a choice."

"You always have a choice." I said, looking straight at him. "They can't control you, you know."

"I know that. I'm just trying to help."

"Being the bait seems more like a death wish then helping, no offense."

Glenn nodded his head and then looked up at me. Looking at me the same way I had only seen a few times before.

"What?" I asked, pushing my hair back. "Do I have something on my face?"

"No." He laughed slightly. "Just thinking."

I raised an eyebrow. "Don't you get any dirty thoughts about me into your head."

I smirked as her turned red. "I wasn't- I mean I didn't-"

I laughed and got off of the ledge, patting his shoulder. "No harm done."