Changing To Adapt ➵ TWD

➵ ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀ ᴛᴇɴ

The silence is too loud. 

The blanket slides off his bare knees when he stands, gathering in a heap on the floor. Realistically, he could have swung it around his shoulders to fight off the cold of the night, but he's too antsy to start moving, so used to being on the run.

He drags the tips of his fingers across the wall on his way to the Rec room. Jenner had suggested it for the kids, but maybe he could find a book or two. Something uplifting. With pictures.

"Sha- Shane!"

Lucas halts.

His heels are fastened to the floor, one in front of the other. He's in the woods again, every snap of a twig or shift of the leaves startling him into only one option. Run.

"Please- stop-"

And he does as he's always done. Ran.

Lucas betrays all instincts to run away, and rushes toward it instead.

"Stop, Lori- It's alright, just-"

He snatches the door handle, the metal cold against his palm and shoves the door open with his body, eyes finding Shane.

Jerking away from where he has Lori pressed against the pool table, the man dares to give him the same glare, clasping a hand against his bleeding jaw.

A feral wolf facing off against its prey.

Lucas tears his eyes away, searching Lori's face instead. She meets his cautious stare carefully, shaking tremors lifting her chest.

He kneads his fingers together, trying to stimulate a reasonable response. I can't fight him face to face.

Shane steps forward.

Lucas takes one back. He studies the other man. The size difference is evident to everyone in the room.

Still, "You're drunk." He stands his ground, "Leave."

Shane almost snarls, the way he looks him up and down is a challenge. Calculating eyes, judging his height, the distance between the door, if Lori would interrupt the possibility of a fight.

Lucas knows what he's doing. And the longer the silence rages, the more sure Shane is.

"C'mon, Shane. Don't make this worse than it already is. You're a good person, right? Was I wrong in that department?"

For a moment, nothing happens.

Finally, Shane scoffs, storming past him with a shake of the head.

Lucas visibly relaxes when the door slams shut behind him, turning to see Lori cover her face with her trembling hands. 

He glances at the door, considering.

Berating himself, he shakes his head and twists back around.

"Lori. . ." Lucas steps closer, "You alright if I. . .? Um," he studies her, unsure, and in the end, sets himself against the pool table next to her, their arms just touching. "I'll just. . . be here."

From behind her trembling hands, her head bobs.

At first glance, Shane seemed okay. Reliable, strong and sure, intimidating. But he's their leader, and that had to mean he had good qualities. A cop, too, and a job like that usually comes with a certain level of trust.

Lucas isn't so sure anymore.

Glancing at her, he produces a pair of scissors from the box of arts and crafts beside him, "If he puts his hands on you again, you cut 'em off."