salvation → g. rhee

shoot, shot

"So, how long before I can carry a gun?" Andrea asked, as Shane led her and Carol to a place off of Hershel's land for training.

Shane chuckled. "Let's not get ahead of ourselves."

"I'm not in a very patient frame of mind these days, Shane, you might've noticed."

"No, shit. Like I ain't worried about you offin' yourself, ya know, got ol' Dale pissin' his pants lately."

Andrea made a guilty smile. "He did come within a minute or so of being blown to hell because of me to be fair."

"Look, I see you have the desire for gunwork, and desire'll take ya a long way, but there's something you need to know about survival so listen carefully," Shane said, adjusting the bill of his police baseball cap.

"I'm listening."

"Paper targets is one thing; easy to hit what ain't movin' but taking down an assailent, one that - one that's try'na kill you is different. They say in that kinda situation, things slow down. That's bullshit, if anything, they speed up. Adrenaline," he paused a let out an almost nervous chuckle.

"It'll cripple you if you let it. You need to use your instincts, get it all ruled out, because somebody is gonna die and you better hope you're making that decision."

"How? How do you do that? Does your daughter know how to?" Andrea asked, turning to him as they walked up to waist-height fence.

"Turn off a switch, the one that makes you scared, or angry, or sympathetic, where you don't think you just...act. Odds are somebody else is counting on you, whether it's your partner, or your friend, or your kid. There ain't nothing easy about taking a man's life no matter how little value it may have, but when you get it done, you have to forget it. I guess I haven't gotten that last part down yet."

"But you're getting there."

"I hope so," he replied, turning to the woman. "And I hope my daughter never has to kill a man, but I know that's an unrealistic hope to have."

〄

"You ever ride a horse, Glenn?"

"Does that time at the county fair count?"

Aubrey chuckled but didn't reply.

"You know, usually this is something I do alone. Solo. It's sorta my thing. I'm a loner."

When she still hadn't said anything, Glenn turned to her. Her face was set in a slight scowl and her hands were gripping the reins unnecessarily tight.

"You alright?"

"I'm fine. Still a little shaken up from the well," Aubrey muttered, as Steve's Pharmacy came into view.

"Eventually you'll go a little numb to things," Glenn shrugged.

"That leads me to believe you've seen some shit, huh?" Aubrey asked, her tone lighter.

"Whoa," she said, signalling to dismount the horses.

"You could say that," Glenn agreed as they walked up the store front.

A cardboard sign in the window read, take what you need and god bless.
Aubrey scoffed when her eyes finished reading the words.

"What?"

"Never understood why people believe in some big man in the sky," she said simply, before pushing open the door.

"I'll go look around for some antibiotics. What else do we need?" Aubrey asked. "Uh, wait, I have the list." She dug around in her pocket and handed him the bigger list. "Get started on that."