Living in a world where all you know is survival is vigorous, friendship could be the only thing we hold onto. With Michelle's new friendship development with the sheriff, she cherishes it deep down. But she could sense that it could turn into somet...
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As the rest of the group and I are driving, we see the farm. It was beautiful. It looked so clean and untouched. There was a big house in the distance that fit the scenic fields, and a barn to the far left of it; rustic looking. I was hoping we could settle down here for a while. It's what this group needed.
Daryl was riding his brothers motorcycle, leading the pack. I was driving the SUV that Shane had hot-wired on the highway. Dallas was riding with Carol and Andrea with the RV behind me. We all pulled up right in front of the house. I saw T-Dog, Lori, Rick, and some people I didn't know erupt from the house. I got out immediately, nervous with how Carl was doing. Dallas and I stood behind everyone else. Still waiting to hear from either of the parents. Lori was the one who spoke up,
"He'll pull through. Thanks to Hershel and his people." She said motioning behind her to the unknown people. I let out a breath I didn't know I was holding. I was happy he was alive. Lori tried to hold back her tears of joy.
"And Shane. We'd have lost Carl if not for him." I looked around trying to find him. He was off to the side, by the porch. I almost gasped at his shaved head. I wasn't expecting it. I looked at him for a few seconds, he had a weird expression on his face. Once his eyes met mine, I looked away hurriedly.
I walked up to Lori and gave her a hug. I couldn't imagine the anxiety and unsureness that she was feeling at the moment. I saw Dallas go up to Rick and hug him. I slowly let go of Lori and walked over to the sheriff. I engulfed him into a big hug. I heard him chuckle at my actions, he probably wasn't expecting it from me.
"Everything's going to be okay." I whisper into is ear. Once I pull away, I squeeze him arm once more and walk back over to Dallas.
Dallas put his arm around my shoulder as I took in Hershel's family. Hershel was the one who was taking care of everybody. Maggie and Beth were the daughter's of Hershel. Jimmy was Beth's boyfriend, and Patricia was a family friend.
Patricia's husband, Otis, went with Shane on a supply run to help save Carl. He didn't make it. We had helped the family hold a service for them, it was the least we could do. We were all standing around his grave, that had rocks stacked on top of each other. I look to my right and see Shane have a frightened expression on his face. I touch his upper arm, getting his attention.
"You okay?" I whisper, trying not to interrupt Hershel's speech. He only gave me a quick nod before turning his attention back to the grave. I just sighed and turned my attention back on the rock grave.
I zoned out until I heard Shane speak,
"We were about done. Almost out of ammo. We were down to pistols by then. I was limping. It was bad. Ankle all swollen up. We've got the save they boy. See, that's what he said. He have me his backpack, shoved me ahead. Run. He said. He said I'll take the rear. I'll cover you. And when I looked back..." He stopped and looked off into the distance. Something was off. I didn't believe a single word that came out of his mouth if I'm being honest.
The service had ended, and I wanted to talk to Shane about what had really happened. I spotted him walking towards the house.
"Shane!" I yelled to him. He turned around and waited for me to catch up.
"What happened back there?" I asked, falling into the same pace as he was going.
He glared at me before looking ahead again, "What?" was all he said, trying to act dumb.
"Come on, is that really the whole story? Your face says otherwise." I wanted to see his expressions when I questioned his story to see if there actually was something off.
He scoffs and laughs a little bit, acting like I'm the crazy one. Not a good sign.
"Why don't you go find your boyfriend, Michelle." Then he walked off, not looking back at me once. I ignored his statement about Dallas, everyone knew we weren't together.
I decided it's not worth the effort to try and pry any information out of that man.
I was walking over to Dallas, who was setting up our tent, when I heard someone call my name. It was Rick and he was standing over by the RV.
"What's up?" He looked nervous, fidgeting with his belt buckle. Now I know that this is the end of the world and I shouldn't be focusing on it that much but Rick was a good looking man. Clean shaven, nice build, and I've always loved a man in uniform. But I shake the thought almost instantly whenever it comes into my brain.
"Can I, confide in you for a minute?" He looked as though he was ashamed of his question.
I chuckled at his behavior "Of course you can." I said as I sit on the steps leading into the RV, him standing right in front of me.
"I think,"he pauses, trying to collect his thoughts, "I think Lori and Shane had something going on. While I was away."He was shuffling all around and looking everywhere else but me.
"Well, what gives you that idea?" I could see this coming from Shane, but Lori doing it I couldn't wrap my head around it.
"Well I was in the hospital. They thought I was dead and before all of this they used to be at least cordial with each other. But now, Lori seems pissed at him all the time and Shane looks at her with this certain look that I don't even know." He signed after his little ramble. I didn't really know what to say, or do. I mean I trust Rick's gut with every bone in my body so he wouldn't be saying this if he didn't 100% believe it.
"Well Rick, I would probably just talk to her, don't talk to him because lord knows that he will deny, deny, deny. I think if you just ask her you will be able to get your answer pretty quickly." I said standing up, leaning against the RV.
He pondered on what I said for a moment. He chuckled to himself lightly and turned his head to face me, "Well, thank you for that, really. Here I was scared that you were gonna laugh in my face for asking that." I chuckled at that.
"Well whenever a friend is in need, I'm there. Don't ever question that." I smiled at him and went to walk away, "Hey, Michelle?" I turned around and squinted my eyes from the beaming sun. This Georgia heat really is no joke.
"I hope you plan to stick around. We need you. You do a lot for us and I want you to know that I notice it." I just gave him a sharp nod and a smile and went on my way.
