Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, ect., are the property of their respective owners.  The original character and plot are the property of the author.  The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise.  No copyright infringement is intended.

Summary:  Part 2 of the Lil’ Bird Series.  With the hope of CDC lost, the Grimes and the Walsh families are on the road to Ft. Benning.  What will Birdie find along the way?  Will Birdie and Shane remain side by side wherever the road might lead?  *No evil Shane* 

Warning:  This fan-fiction is rated Mature for Language, Gore and Adult Situations.  Readers under the age of 18 are strongly discouraged from reading.

Pairing: Shane & Birdie Walsh

Chapter Seven

 

“You still worrying about it?”  Andrea asked looking to me as I stopped and looked back at the direction we had come from. 

“It was a gun-shot…”  I muttered distractedly, looking to my left when Lori threw her arm around my shoulder. 

“We all heard it, Red.”  Daryl commented, but I wasn’t paying attention to anybody but Lori. 

“What is it, Birdie?”  She asked, looking at me with tears in her eyes and that’s when I realized I was crying.  She knew better than anyone but Shane how connected my brother and I are…she had seen it in action too many times to count.  When something was wrong with my twin…I just knew.

“Don’t know,” I replied, wiping at my eyes.  “Something doesn’t feel right.  Why was it just the one shot?”

“Maybe they took down a walker.”  Daryl commented and both Lori and I turned to scowl at him. 

“Please don’t patronize us,” Lori growled.  “You know Rick wouldn’t risk a shot for one walker…and neither would Shane, they’d do it quietly.”

“Shouldn’t they have caught up to us by now?”  Carol asked, clutching her daughter too her with grief written all over her face. 

Daryl shook his head as he made his way back towards me.  “Nothing we can do ‘bout it anyways.  We can’t be wandering around in these woods chasin’ echoes.” 

“Look Daryl,” Lori spat.  “Birdie’s never been wrong in all the years I’ve known her…if she says somethin’ feels off…than it is.  So what do we do?” 

“Same as we been doin’.  Beat the bush for Ed, work our way back to the highway.”  He said shrugging his shoulders apologetically when I glared at him.

Andrea turned to us, looking sweeter than I had ever seen her act.  “I’m sure they’ll hook up with us back at the R.V.” 

Lori didn’t look convinced in the slightest…and I wasn’t.  Period.  But I knew I couldn’t let her panic, because if I did then I would lose my cool as well. 

“Daryl’s right, even if… There’s nothing we can do except end up getting lost out here.  Ricky, beat my ass into the ground if I let anything happen to you.” 

She looked back once more but nodded and began to follow along with the rest of the group but we all stopped when Andrea hung back with Carol.

“I’m sorry for what you’re goin’ through.”  Andrea said, looking like she genuinely meant it.  “I kind of know how it feels.” 

Carol nodded her head, but looked ungrateful at the comment.  “I suppose you do.” 

Carol turned back to all of us, hugging her daughter closer.  “Just the thought of him…out here by himself…

God, I thought to myself, she’s talkin’ about him like he’s a child.  Then, of course, I felt guilty for judging her so harshly.  I know I’d be a blind wreck if it were Shane alone out here—and he had a lot more goin’ for him than Ed did. 

Carol shook her head.  “I guess I find myself just prayin’ that he doesn’t end up like Amy.” 

Lori gasped and I covered my mouth with my hand and bit the inside of my cheek to keep myself from doing the same. 

The remorse was written all over Carol’s face as she apologized over and over again to Andrea for her callous words. 

“That’s the worst thing I ever said.”  Carol sobbed, but Andrea shook her head. 

“No, it’s alright…we’re all hoping and praying with you,”  She replied, “for what it’s worth.” 

Daryl strolled forward, his body taught with tension as he spoke.  “I’ll tell you what it’s worth—not a damn thing.  It’s a waste of time; all this hopin’ and prayin’.  We’re gonna locate your husband and we’re gonna get the Hell out of here.  Am I the only one Zen around here?” 

“Good Lord?” he huffed as he brushed by me, and I snorted and giggled hard under my hand.  Lori looked at me like I had just lost my damn mind. 

“Zen?  You, hothead?”  I asked, still trying hard not to laugh outright. 

“Shut-up, Red,” he snarled, but any heat lacing his words was lost with his mischievous smile.

Lori smiled at me as soon as Daryl’s back was turned, clasping her hands together and batting her eyelashes.  I smacked her in the back of the head and repeated Daryl’s last comment.  “Shut-up.” 

~

“How much further?”  Lori asked as we shuffled through brush of the Georgia woodlands. 

As much as I would have loved to tease Lori—who for as long as I’ve known her was a very “indoor” girl, I was in the same boat as she was right now.  I was tired, hungry and worried out of my mind for the safety of my brother, my nephew and my husband. 

“Not much,” Daryl panted beside me.  “Maybe a hundred meters…as the crow flies.” 

“Too bad were not crows.” Andrea replied wittily without hesitation and I looked back and smiled at her.  Yeah, we definitely weren’t crows. 

It was only a few minutes later when we heard the scream. 

“Andrea!”  Lori yelled.

We all took off at a sprint, only to be stopped dead in our tracks as we watched a young woman with short brown hair on horseback damn near take the head of the walker who had been attacking Andrea with a baseball-bat. 

“Lori,” the young woman called and my heart sunk.  “Lori Grimes. Whoa.”  She asked again as she steadied her mare.

Everyone rushed forward but me—my feet felt like they had been glued to the forest floor in my panic. 

“I’m Lori,” my sister said as she rushed to the girl’s side.

“Rick sent me, you gotta come now.”  She panted, looking at Lori with a face that I had been dreading.  The young woman looked absolutely horrified. 

“What?”  Lori asked, dazed.

“There’s been an accident.  Carl’s been shot.  He’s still alive but you gotta come now.” 

Lori, much like me, seemed to be rooted in fear where she stood. 

“Rick needs you…just come!” 

The rest seemed to play out in slow motion for me; Lori jumping on the back of that horse and Daryl trying to stop her.

“Rick said you had others on the highway…that big traffic snarl?”

Glenn seemed to be the only one with a functioning mouth beside Daryl and he nodded.  “Ah-ha.”

“Backtrack to Fairbairn Road, there’s a farm about two miles down, you’ll see the mailbox, the name’s Green.” 

I felt my knees buckling under me and tears were already streaming down my face as I watched my family ride off with a stranger.  My knees hit the dirt a few seconds later as I tried and failed to get myself under control.  This whole time I had thought my brother was in some kind of danger…

“Hey Red, you alright over there, girl?”  Daryl asked as he shot the walker who was apparently still alive with a “Shut-up.” 

It was then that I realized that I could hardly breathe.  My entire body was shaking and I was sobbing uncontrollably. 

Get it together, Birdie… Pull your-fuckin’-self together.  Do it now.

“I gotta go.”  I told them, rushing to my feet and nearly tumbling back down as all the blood rushed to my head. 

“Whoa, Red.”  Daryl said, gripping my arms.  “You got it?” 

I nodded and took off back towards the highway. 

~

“Shot?” Dale asked loudly as I nearly knocked him over as I charged over the guard rail still set in a dead run.  “What do you mean, shot?” 

Glenn panted behind me as I raced to the Semi, slinging everything I had into the back.  “I don’t know, Dale.  This girl road out of nowhere like Zorro on a horse and took Lori.” 

“And you let her?”  Dale asked, though I still didn’t bother to look and see who he was talking to.  I was on a mission and Heaven help the sorry son of a bitch who tries to get in my way.

“Climb down out of my ass, old man.”  I heard Daryl snarl a second later.  “Rick sent’er.  She knew Lori’s name and Carl’s.” 

“You gonna be alright, Red?”  Daryl asked, approaching the door of my Semi with caution. 

I shook my head, afraid to speak.  I was so certain at this point that if I opened my mouth—I would start sobbing like a scared little girl.  Right now, I needed a level head and that wouldn’t help anything. 

“You need anythin’?”  He asked again and I finally turned around to fully look at him. 

“Spot me?”  I whispered, my voice cracking under the weight of my grief.  “I need to get turned around.” 

“Birdie,” he sighed, squinting up at me with remorse.  “I can’t let you go off—

“Will you or won’t you?!”  I snapped, not having the patience to have one of those ridiculous gender bending conversations right now.  I knew perfectly well that in most cases: women were a weaker sex...but this was my nephew…my Godson’s life on the line and my brother needed me.  The Devil himself couldn’t stop me right now from getting to that farm. 

“Yeah, alrigh’.”  He nodded.  “Just…take someone with you.” 

I nodded and got to work, firing up the engine and resetting all my mirrors from when Shane drove the last time. 

Oh God, Shane…  I cut off that train of thought directly…I couldn’t be bothered with thoughts like that right now.  As much as I would love to have him here to comfort me, I had shit to do. 

~

The sun was just beginning to slip behind the horizon by the time I got turned around a path cleared to back to the road the young woman on horseback had told us about. 

“I won’t do it, I can’t just leave.”  Carol stated shaking her head as I asked the others who wanted to accompany me to the Green’s farm. 

My blood boiled under the surface of my skin as I tried to hold back my anger.  Nobody was telling her she had to go anywhere…it was just an offer. 

Dale looked at her as he leaned against the door of his R.V.  “Carol, the group is spilt.  We’re scattered and weak—

“What if he comes back and we’re not here?”  She asked, looking at all of us like we were the crazy ones. 

I scoffed, not caring anymore if I upset her delicate sensibilities.  My nephew could be dying right now and she was more worried about that fuckin’ parasitic, woman beatin’, child molesting bastard?

“Carol—

“Easy, Red,” Daryl said softly as he laid a hand on my shoulder and scooted me back towards him.  “Now ain’t the time.” 

She looked at us all again, her eyes shifting quickly over every face as she defended her theory with a weak, “It could happen.” 

Andrea nodded, somehow agreeing with Carol.  “If Ed found his way back here and we were gone…that would be awful. 

Unable to hold my tongue any longer, I shirked off Daryl’s hand and stepped forward with angry tears burning down my face.  “I don’t give a flyin’ fuck what the rest of ya do.  I’m goin’, anybody that wants to come, be ready in five or fuckin’ stay here!” 

“Okay, Red, easy.”  Daryl said, gripping on the top of my arm.  “We gotta plan for this.  I say tomorrow we pull up stakes…give us the chance to…rig up a big sign.  Leave’im some supplies.  I hold here tonight, stay with the R.V.”

“If the R.V.’s stayin’ than I am too.”  Dale pitched in. 

“Thank you,” Carol cried graciously. 

I was growing more impatient with every word spoken and I was about two seconds away from blowin’ my top.  

“I’m in,” Andrea stated, holding up her hand...not that I’d miss her much. 

“Well, if you’re all stayin’ then—

“No, not you, Glenn,” Dale commanded and pointing a finger at me.  “You go on and go with Birdie…she’s gonna need someone with her.”

“Me,” he scoffed, looking at me with a hint of trepidation.  What the hell did I ever do to him?  “Why is it always me?”

Glenn looked over at me with that same scared look, and groaned as Dale droned on about reconnecting with our people and getting T-dog medical attention.

That somewhat snapped me out of my funk.  I turned to look at the black man who was sweating profusely and then down to the blackened bandage around his arm that I specifically told him to keep clean. 

“Get your ass in the truck, Boyo.”  I told him as he scowled up at me from the bumper of the R.V., pointing to the Semi as I spoke.  I was ready to cleave the meat from his hide I was so upset with him. “I told you to keep that bandage clean…are you tryin’ to kill yourself.  I told you we didn’t have any antibiotics…now you gone and got yourself an infection.” 

Daryl looked thoughtful for a moment before he turned and went back to his brother’s Triumph and snatching one of Dale’s grease rags off the seat and pulling the biggest ziplock back of pills I had ever seen out of the saddlebags.

“Keep yer oily rags off my brother’s motorcycle…” Daryl bitched, throwing the rag at Dale before he settled the bag of narcotics on the hood of nearby car.  “Why’d you wait till now to say anything?  I got my brother’s stash.” 

All of us gathered round, looking on with different shades of bewilderment on our faces.  Leave it to the “raciest” redneck to swoop in and save the day…again.

“Crystal…X, don’t need that…some kick ass pain killers—it’s what I gave to Chirp for her head,” he trailed off, tossing the bottle to Glenn. 

“Doxycycline…” he said tossing me the bottle of antibiotics.  “Ain’t the generic stuff neither…that’s first class.  Merle got the clap on occasion.”  He told me with a shrug and a wink.

I laughed…I actually laughed, but in my defense—how could you not. 

Dale looked about as tickled as I did, but as he looked back towards T-dog—who looked ready to collapse we both sobered and raced to his side.  Dale grabbed a bottle of water on his way and I already had two pills out and ready for consumption. 

“Take these,” I told him, almost shoving the pills into his mouth myself.  “Swallow and then get your big ass into my truck…no bitchin’, moanin’ or groanin.” 

~

It wasn’t long after that before I was flyin’ down a dark back road, at speeds that I’m sure were scarin’ the living shit out of T-dog and Glenn, but at least they knew better than to say anything. 

The Green farm wasn’t hard to find in the slightest…the young girl was right when she had said we couldn’t miss the mailbox…

My door was thrown open as soon as the engine was cut and I was flyin’ towards the front door.  “Ricky!  Ricky!  Shane…Lori!”

I was met on the front porch by the same girl on horseback that I had seen earlier.  “You Birdie?”  I nodded.  “I’m Maggie.  Rick said you’d be comin’.  Come on, I’ll take ya to’em.”

I could make out Glenn and T-dog hollering for me to wait up as I passed through the screen door behind Maggie.  “Carl?  Is he still…

“He’s still alive…for now.  He needs surgery.  The other man that was with Rick…the one with the bloodhound—

“Shane?”  I gasped; worry already creeping into my bones. 

“Yeah,” she nodded as she led me through the old farm house to a dark stained bedroom door.  “He went with our man Otis to gather supplies from a FEMA station.” 

“Thank you,” I told her, passing under her arm and into a bedroom. 

My heart stopped as I took in Carl’s pale pallor and the sight of the massive bruise on his lower abdomen. 

“Dear God!”  I cried.  “Ricky…”

Ricky and Lori both jerked at the sound of my voice, as did an older white haired gentleman who was currently checking my nephews pulse. 

“Oh Birdie,” he cried, as rushed to his side and fell into his arms.  He was nearly as white as Carl.  “My little boy…my little boy…

“Pressures dropping again,” the older man said, looking down at Carl with little hope.  He looked to me then.  “Are you the Aunt?”  I nodded at him, fighting back a sob.  “Rick tells me you’re a universal donor, I’ll need you here.” 

Again, I nodded.  “Anything…anything you need…?” 

“You can call me Hershel.”  He turned back to my brother, his eyes hard and clinical.  “We can’t wait much longer.”

Rick held out his arm with a crazy look in his eye.  “Take more,” he said.  “Take whatever he needs, then I’m gonna go.” 

Lori’s head snapped up from my other shoulder and she jumped to her feet.  “Go…go where—

“They said five miles…they should have long been back by now.  Somethin’s gone wrong.” 

I couldn’t really understand what they were talking about…not that I needed to, something had happened to my husband.  I sat down heavily in the chair Rick had just vacated, shaking my head to clear Ricky’s voice out of my head. 

Shane’s strong, Birdie… Shane will make it. 

“Are you insane?” She asked calmly…much too calmly.  “You’re not goin’ after them.”

“Rick, listen to your wife—

“I’ve got it under control…

“You’re in no condition to do anythin’ about it.  You’ve given too much blood. You’re barely on your feet…you wouldn’t make it across the yard.”  Hershel agreed as he tried to make my brother see reason. 

“Ricky—

“No, if somethin’ happened, I-I have to go—

Lori shook her head, cutting him off.  “No, your place is here.  If Shane said he’ll be back…he’ll be back.”

“He’s like you that way…”  I said, my voice choking on the different emotions I felt whirling through me like the spinning tea-cups at Disney. 

“I can’t just… sit here!—

“That’s exactly what you do!”  Lori screamed, finally letting lose.  “If you need to pray, or cry, or tell God he’s cruel, you go right ahead…but you’re not leavin’.”

“Ricky, you listen to her…Carl, your baby boy, he needs you right now.”  I told him, scowling up at him from where I sat holding my nephews hand. 

Lori nodded, “He needs you here, Rick.  And I can’t do this by myself.  Not again, not this one.  I can’t…I can’t…”