Dead Man Walking | Rick Grimes

|19|

Nope. It's way too early for this. I tossed onto my stomach, refusing to open my eyes and face the day. Usually, the camp's liveliness is my alarm clock, so the fact that it's still dead silent out there is my sign that it's way too fucking early. I kept tossing and turning, trying to lull myself back to sleep but failing epically. I finally turned onto my back and sighed, succumbing to my fate and opening my eyes. It was still dark around me, but it wasn't pitch black. I could tell the sun was about to rise – my suspicions were confirmed by the sounds of chickens coming to life all around us. Lifting my head, I squinted at the sleeping man a few feet away and felt the corners of my lips quirk. He was safe and sound, snoring lightly in a ball against the other side of the tent. I don't know how long I lay there, staring up at the top of the tent with no real thoughts flooding through my brain. It must have been a while because I watched as the darkness faded around me and shone with light the sun provided.

Finally, after a mental battle with myself, I slowly sat up and grabbed my boots. Trying to be as quiet as possible, I crawled out of the tent, zipping it back up. Yesterday Daryl forced me to take it easy. Now today, I'm going to force him to take it easy. I sat outside our tent, lacing my boots, and put my knife in its holster. The machete is a great weapon, but it's more for when I leave the farm than when I'm just patrolling or helping around.

Walking quickly, I entered the main camp and sat by the lowly burning fire. I heard rustling from behind and turned, seeing Dale come towards me with a bucket of fresh water. He sat down next to me and smiled, greeting me. We sat in silence, the two of us not wanting to be noisy for everyone. Dale turned to me again, his eyes heavy with thought as his mouth opened slightly.

"June." He whispered as he leaned closer to me. "I don't want to tell Rick anything, and I definitely can't come to Shane with this."

"What happened?" I whispered, my mind already flooding with worst-case scenarios.

"We need to talk about Shane." He practically mouthed to me, his voice dropping lower than what my ears could pick up. I wish I could say I didn't see this coming, but it was inevitable. He's been a loose screw for a while, and I'm worried he'll fully loosen and hurt someone one day. "I'm sure you've noticed how—"

"He's been off." I interrupted. I wiped my face, trying to physically remove the stress from my body, "Since we got here, something's been off with him."

"You've seen it too." Dale muttered, "So, I'm not imagining things." I shook my head at him and scanned the silent camp, ensuring we were still the only two up.

"He's been..." I trailed as I tried to find the right words to say, "More hostile."

"Back at the quarry, when you asked me to go walk perimeter for you—I saw him aiming for Rick," Dale whispered, concern washing over his features as he returned to that day. Aiming for Rick? I hope that doesn't mean what I think it means.

"Aiming for Rick?" I questioned, not believing what I was hearing but knowing deep down that it was true. Ever since Rick came back, he's changed. If I could see that, and I only knew him for a few hours before Rick made his grand reappearance, then people who've been with Shane longer can definitely see it. "Like trying to shoot him?" Dale nodded at me and looked around cautiously.

"I think he's a danger to us." Dale sucked on his teeth and frowned, "It's only a matter of time before he snaps." So he agrees with me. Shane has the possibility of being a loose cannon. I chalked down his shift in attitude to tension since I caught him attacking Lori. But now that Dale is bringing this to my attention, this can blow up in our faces. However, I can't just confront Shane about it without starting a fight, so for now, I'm going to keep an eye on him and keep a safe distance from him. Something tells me he'd gladly kill me if he views me as a threat.