warm shadow, ᴛʜᴇ ᴡᴀʟᴋɪɴɢ ᴅᴇᴀᴅ¹ [REWRITING]

003; we don't kill the living.

       MOST people were still around the rv as the sun rose, too scared and upset to go to sleep. shane initiated the cleanup. he set up groups to separate their own casualties from the dead, and they would use jim's pre-made graves. frankie wanted to help but dale assessed her arm and said she should probably avoid strain, though he thought it was only badly bruised. she was lucky really, compared to a lot of others.

    she remained sat on the ground in front of the rv. andrea was still bent over amy a few feet to her right. the younger girl hadn't turned yet, but everyone knew it was only a matter of time. there were multiple people stood around ready to finish the job if andrea couldn't.

    shane must've read his daughters thoughts because he crossed the clearing and huddled into a group with rick and lori. he was trying to keep his voice down but the silence in camp was making it hard, "can't just leave amy like that. we need to deal with it, same as the others."

    rick scratched his stubble, "i'll tell her as it is."

    he made his way over to the mourning woman. instantly it was obvious it was a bad idea, andrea extended her arm backwards and held her gun at rick.

     "i know how the safety works," she warned.

    rick nodded slowly, stepping away, "i'm sorry, i'm sorry."

    he moved back to the small huddle of survivors who were watching on anxiously. frankie had moved closer to her father so she could listen in, and joel and hailey stood beside her. the younger boy seemed to be having to comfort his sister a lot. frankie couldn't imagine what she was feeling.

    "y'all can't be serious. let that girl hamstring us? the girls a time bomb!" daryl seethed, raising his arms to show his anger at the situation.

    "what do you suggest?" rick shot back, visibly stressed. he'd been here two days and people were already looking to him in every situation. he was trying his hardest to take leadership in his stride.

    "take the shot!" daryl huffed, his voice more hushed now as he glanced around the group, "clean, in the brain from here. hell, i can hit a turkey between the eyes from this distance."

     lori shut him down instantly, "no. for god's sake, let her be."

     frankie rolled her eyes at the group of adults and made her way towards the edge of the woods. she was exhausted. tired of the arguments and pointless fights. they'd just lost people and still nobody could get along. she was far too shy to say anything, but if she worked herself up to it she'd like to tell them all to be quiet.

"can i sit?" asked a voice from behind her. she glanced over her shoulder and squinted against the sun. joel stood there. she scooted over slightly, answering his question without words.

he sat next to her, leaning his arms on his knees, "first time something like this has happened to you?"

frankie nodded, staring at her shoes, "i've seen them before...but we've been so sheltered up here. i think some of us forgot what it's like."