𝐇𝐈𝐑𝐀𝐄𝐓𝐇 || ᵈ.ᵈⁱˣᵒⁿ

XVII

—/<3/—

Rory asked Daryl to wait for her to get back so they could still go to the woods together, but she doubted he would. He wasn't the type to wait around for hours when he could already be doing the job. She hoped he would though, she still wanted to try find Sophia, even if she had to do something for Rick first.

The drive into town was quiet. Rick hadn't said a word despite supposedly wanting to talk to her about his friend and Rory didn't feel comfortable enough to start a conversation.

"Shane's been acting real strange lately," Rick finally began. "He's snappy and violent, you obviously know something and I need to know too, so I can look out for everyone." He cleared his throat, taking his eyes off the road to look at Rory for a second.

"It's not my place to say. You'd be better off talking to Lori or Shane. I'll tell you what he did when both the kids are safe and I know we can leave the farm without any trouble."

"We aren't leaving the farm. I've been tryin' to convince Hershel to let us stay permanently," Rick said.

Rory turned to him, her face serious. "Rick, when Hershel finds out what Shane did, we'll be lucky if we don't have bullets flying at us."

"Just tell me what it is and I'll talk to Shane about it," he pushed.

"That's not a good idea, you're the one he hates the most now. You might have been best friends before the world ended, but trust me when I say that he will not take kindly to you, of all people, meddling."

"Goddamn it Rory, work with me here. We're on the same side." Rick said, frustrated.

Rory sighed. "Are we? Are you sure you're not too loyal to Shane?"

"I've been doubting my friendship with Shane for a while now. Tell me what he did so I can fix things."

"He killed Otis, you can't fix that. When Hershel finds out, he'll kick us off the farm. We need to find Sophia before we go anywhere."

"Oh god..." Rick slammed the brakes on, stopping the car in the middle of the road. He was silent for a few stifling minutes and then turned to her. "Are you sure? How do you know?"

"He was acting all sketchy when he came back, his story was weirdly detailed like he was trying to overcompensate and Daryl said he saw Otis' gun on him when he came back, like he sacrificed him to save himself. You can't tell anyone. If this gets back to Hershel before we find Sophia we'll lose our chance of bringing her back."

"So you were keeping this to yourself for a reason, not just so you could blackmail Shane?" Rick asked.

"Why would I want to blackmail Shane?" Rory's eyebrows furrowed.

"I don't know Rory, that's what he's been telling us and with that whole argument you two had the other day, it was believable. It's not like you've spent a lot of time getting to know everyone, you stay with your own...and Daryl I suppose."

"I spent the two months before you turned up getting to know them Rick and some of them are completely unbearable so forgive me for not wanting to talk to them. I get along just fine with most of them, I was even friends with Lori until you showed up and then she stopped talking to me. I'm trying to help Carol find her goddamn daughter, of course I'm not going to be in camp as often." Rory rambled, her cheeks and the tips of her ears turning red with anger. She was trying her best, but somehow people still didn't like or trust her enough to see that.

"I know, I'm sorry. I've known Shane since high school, so my first instinct was to believe him, but then you said he'd done somethin' bad and last night Lori said he was dangerous so now I don't know what to think."

"I have no reason to blackmail Shane, there's nothing I want from that man. I agree with Lori, he's getting dangerous, I don't know what he was like before this happened but before you got here, he wasn't like this. He's got something against you Rick, you need to talk to Lori about him."

—/<3/—

As expected, Daryl hadn't waited for her to get back, instead, an angry Hershel stomped over to her mere minutes after she stepped out of Rick's car rattling on about a stolen horse.

"That feller you're always with has taken Nelly, without my permission might I add! I need you to go get her. She's a nervous horse and if she's not handled properly, she's buck him and bolt off. Your boy will probably be injured so it's in both of our best interests that you get her back, and him too I suppose." Hershel rambled angrily, his pasty face glowing red with anger.

Rory sighed silently and looked to Rick for the go ahead. He nodded slowly, the frown from their previous conversation only deepening.

"Tell Archie I'm heading out." Rory stalked off towards the woods in the direction she and Daryl had planned to go that morning.

It was hard to keep her head clear as she made her way through the woods. Her fist clenched around the hunting knife she carried, reading herself for any threats but her attention waned, too caught up in her conversation with Rick to keep a proper eye out for danger. She soon learned her lesson when a walker stumbled out from behind a tree, almost managing to grab her arm. Rory jumped back last minute and forced her knife into its eye, her heart beating erratically as she watched it fall to the ground.

—/<3/—