Dead Man Walking | Rick Grimes

|8|

Today has definitely not been a good day. I should've taken Rick and Shane's offers to take it easy today, but noooo. The only plus side is that I no longer felt depressed. Instead, it was replaced by unbridled anger. To combat my anger and put my energy elsewhere that didn't involve kicking Rick and Lori's asses, I stabbed away at the ground beneath me, the shovel gripped tightly in both hands, nearly giving me blisters. My arms screamed at me as I repeated the motion, again and again, feeling sweat leave every pore in my body.

I figured the most I could do before leaving was dig a few more graves for these people. It was nice while it lasted, but I'm not wanted here, so why would I stick around in a place I'm not wanted? I stabbed the Earth one last time before straightening out, my hand wiping away the sweat that had built up on my forehead. I heard the crunch of gravel behind me and turned to see Shane and Rick coming my way, their gazes glued to me. I scoffed and leaned against the shovel, watching them and wondering what they wanted to say to me. Shane approached me first, his bottom lip stuck between his teeth as he observed me.

"You good?" He asked me, his hand finding his hips. Am I good? That's all he has to ask? Not, 'Hey, June. Why don't you stay with us and kick Rick and Lori's asses?' Instead, I sighed and nodded, opting for the better and possibly more immature approach, pretending that Rick wasn't here.

"I'm leaving tonight," I told him. Shane gave me a bewildered look and stuck his finger in his ear.

"What was that?" He asked again, taking his finger out of his ear.

"You heard me right the first time, Shane," I said, but for his sake, I repeated myself, "I'm leaving tonight." He shook his head and looked at Rick and then back to me. He repeated this motion twice before squinting his eyes at me, evidently having a suspicion of what was going on.

"Why?" For that question, I turned my attention to Rick, who was staring at the ground with a guilty look.

"Yeah," I spat, "Why, Rick?" He remained quiet, the ground taking up all his attention. I shook my head in disappointment and gave Shane my full attention, "According to Rick, I scare people, and they feel like they can't trust me." Shane looked at Rick, his face hardening. "So, I'm just digging a few graves, and then I'm probably going to take off."

"You can't leave." Shane said quickly, "Who said they couldn't trust you? I'll talk to them straight away." I turned back to Rick and gave him a fake smile, egging him to tell Shane what he told me, but apparently, he lacked the balls to do so.

"No one said it to my face, but apparently, Lori went running to her husband with concerns about me being dangerous," I explained, feeling the heat of my anger spike. Shane shook his head and looked back at Rick, his frustration apparent.

"Just her, Rick? Or did you talk to every single person here?" Shane asked the man. Rick shrugged his shoulders and finally made eye contact with me, his teeth catching his bottom lip nervously.

"Just Lori," Rick confirmed. I felt my heartbeat accelerate and threw my shovel down, so angry that I was tempted to go down there and show her how dangerous I could be. "She claimed she talked to everyone, and they agreed that June was dangerous; they didn't feel comfortable."

"Of course." I scoffed, "You didn't talk to them yourself." Rick shook his head, confirming my accusation, "Man, if you knew how much I am struggling to keep my cool right now..." I trailed, my fist shaking with anger. Shane looked at me and stepped closer, his hands grabbing mine to unclench them from my shaking fist. I don't know why Rick thought he had permission to touch me because he reached out, prompting me to slap his hand away. "Don't touch me." I spat at him. Rick dropped his hand and looked down at his boots again, reminding me of a kid when they were caught doing something they weren't supposed to do.