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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 Three

 

“This place is a graveyard.”  Lori said, sounding a little spooked.  “I don’t know how I feel about this.” 

Now that stopped me.  Daryl and I had discussed this when we were scavenging before the CDC, we knew that there would be someone not on board with this, but I just never expected it to be Lori.  She was a smart woman and I usually respected what she said…but what she was saying right now was naïve. 

Daryl scoffed next to me and turned around.  “The whole world’s a graveyard now, lady.  Either you survive or you die.” 

“Daryl,” I hissed, smacking his arm.  “Some tact, please.” 

Shane looked over at me, his eyes pleading with me to make her understand.  “Come on ya’ll.  Let’s have a look around, grab what ya can.” 

“Come on, Lori,” I said, pulling her away from the others so we could speak in private.  “Lori, these people are dead or long gone…but we’re not and we’re gonna need some things to get by if we’re ever gonna make it to Fort Benning.  Carl and Sophia are gonna need clothes, water, food, medicine.  We’ve gotta be smart now, not moral.” 

She nodded her head, brushing a few stray tears from her eyes.  I noticed that she had been very hormonal today already.  Hmm, must be that time of the month.  In this world, where the dead are eating the living and are highly drawn to blood, I was glad I didn’t have to worry about that anymore.     

“Yeah, I guess you’re right.”

“Oh, I know I’m right, just look at me.”  I told her, spinning around and shaking my ass in her face. 

She snorted, wiping her nose with the back of her hand.  “Yeah, right.  Anyway, Shane seems…tense, maybe even a little frustrated.” 

I laughed outright.  “Yeah, I may have teased him just a little in the truck—

“And Rick interrupted.”  She finished for me, shaking her head at me.  “I swear you two are something else.  I can only imagine what you’d be like if you had hooked up as teenagers…” 

“Yeah well, I don’t think Rick’s quiet ready to entertain that nightmare.”  I told her.  “Shane has always been…active.” 

“Doesn’t surprise me.”  She commented offhandedly as we made our way back to the caravan of people starting to rummage through the abandon cars.  “So you’re married now.” 

I shrugged.  “As married as I can be without a minister, not that I would have wanted one anyway.  In our eyes, we’re as married as you and Rick.” 

She nodded.  “I’m happy for you.” 

“Thanks.” 

“So, what’s he like in bed?” 

“Lori!”  I exclaimed, never in a million years did I expect that question to pop out of her mouth. 

“What?” She defended, crossing her arms.  “I may be married to your brother but I’m not blind, Birdie.”

Blushing like a mad woman, I ducked my head.  “He’s…intense.”

“Intense?”  Lori asked with a little laugh. 

“He’s just so…passionate.  That’s really the only word I can use to describe him.  I mean, I mean I knew goin’ into this that he was an experienced lover, but I never imagined…”

She laughed hard this time.  “You don’t have to explain, I get it.” 

When we made our way back to the rest of the group, Ricky was standing in the middle of the group, claiming everyone’s attention. 

“Split into groups, I don’t want anyone off by themselves.  Grab whatever you feel can be useful.” 

“Stay close, baby.”  Shane mumbled into the top of my head, before leaning down and kissing my temple.  “Don’t go off by yourself, ya hear?” 

I nodded, “Yeah, I’ll be careful.” 

Everyone split apart—except Andrea and Ed—who elected to stay in the motor home, big surprise there.  So, Carol, Lori and I all started for the vehicles with Carl and Sophia.  Daryl and T-dog went to siphon more fuel, while Glenn, Dale, Rick and Shane all stayed close to the R.V.

The first couple of cars we checked were a bust, either they were covered in gore or still had bodies in them.  But after a few tried we started to find things.

Carol was in the back of a gray station wagon, holding a red blouse to her chest and I smiled at her until her eyes met with something behind me and she dropped it, looking down in shame.

Turning around, I was met with Lori’s gaze and she looked a little remorseful.  I quirked an eyebrow at her and she shrugged her shoulders in apology as Carol began to speak. 

“Ed never lets me wear nice things like this,” Carol stated, clearly embarrassed.  “We’ll need clothes.” 

“Carl,” Lori called to my nephew as he began to wander… “Always within my sights.”

“You too, Sophia.”  Carol tacked on. 

“I’ll stay with them.”  I called over my shoulder as I chased down the wandering duo.  It was the least I could do, and admittedly, hanging out with the kids would get me away from the Ms. High n’ Mighty act that Lori seemed to be on today.  What the hell was with her, anyway?  I’ve known Lori a long time and she never acted like she was better than anybody before. 

In the small time that we had foraged we had actually acquired some fairly useful and much needed supplies.  I found a few pairs of jeans that fit—which was godsend, because I was down to one pair and I knew without a doubt that I’d never fit into Lori’s—that woman was built like a stick—and I’d rather shoot myself in the foot than ask Andrea.  We also came across a few suitcases worth of clothes that would fit Carl and Sophia and something’s to fit Rick and Shane as well.  Shane wasn’t hard up for clothes…but Ricky, he seriously needed to get out of that uniform. 

I also came across a vehicle with the license plate of M.D., it was a goldmine.  Bandages, disinfectants, suture kit…it was almost like a perfect first aid kit. 

“Hey Aunt Birdie,” Carl said as he wandered over from a black Ford next to me.  “Dad’s trying to get your attention.” 

I turned around and immediately saw Ricky waving his hands in the air like a mad man.  He was mouthing something to me that I couldn’t understand, but then he started pointing to the undercarriages of the cars.  What the hell?

It didn’t take long to figure out what he was freaking out about.  Walkers…a horde of them were making their way straight to us. 

“Shit,” I hissed lowly, grabbing my pistol from my side and checking the clip before sliding one into the chamber.  “Get under the car.  Now!” 

Carl got under first followed by Sophia.

I threw Trusty up into a rig and told him to lay down.  He did as he was told, curling down into the floorboards of the truck we were under.  “Stay quiet boy.” 

Then the walkers came…a never ending parade of walkers.  Carl was white as a sheet and panting heavily but the kid never made a sound…I was so proud of him.  Sophia on the other hand was something else entirely.  Every time one would get close she would try and make a run for it.  After a few tries, I ended up clamping a hand over her mouth and pressing most of my body to hers to keep her quiet.  I felt terrible having to do her like that, and I hoped Carol—who was watching us intently from underneath an SUV a few car lengths down—wouldn’t be too mad at me.  I had quite a grip on her daughter and if she kept struggling the way she was, she was gonna bruise somethin’ fierce. 

Lori, I noticed seemed to have just about the same hold on the girl’s mother and I could only imagine what would have happened had it been the both of them together under one vehicle.  I hate to say it, but they would have been walker bait. 

“Help me!  Oh God!  Help me!”  Sophia jerked in my arms as Ed’s voice carried over the groaning and shuffling of feet.  She tried to get up, but I wasn’t having it.  I gripped her tighter, even with her sharp little nails digging into my skin—God, I hope she’s not drawing blood. 

I looked to my left and saw Ed leaping over the guard rail, two walkers on his heals as he disappeared into the forest.  My brother leapt over next and I wanted to scream!  Why would he risk himself like this…again? 

“Stop it,” I hissed lowly into Sophia’s ear as she struggled, and scratched at my arms.  She even tried to bite me once and I promised myself if she did, that I wouldn’t be angry.  She was terrified and she just saw her father being chased by walkers. 

She’s a little girl, Birdie… She’s just a scared little girl. 

Yeah, little girl or not, she had claws like razor wire and she was tearing up my arms. 

As the last walker passed, she tried again to bite as she struggled to free herself from my body.  Again I hissed into her ear, “We’re gonna wait!” 

It was a flurry of confusion as everyone emerged from their hiding places.  I had to say that I was both relived and ready to be parted from the terrified little girl who had almost gotten us all killed. 

Sophia raced to her mother and they embraced, both crying as I released Trusty from his hiding spot.  “You alright, boy?”  I asked, scratching his ear. 

His only reply was to lick me.  Wonderful; dog slobber. 

“Are you okay?”  Carol cried tearfully. 

“Carol, I’m so sorry if I hurt her…she—

“No,” Carol interrupted, shaking her head.  “You saved her…if it wasn’t for you, I just don’t know…”

“Jesus Birdie, you’re arm.”  Shane growled, appearing out of nowhere, rushing forward to examine it. 

“What happened, were you scratched?”  Lori asked as she struggled to remove her shirt and tie it around my right arm. 

“Yeah,” I laughed, “By a little Sophia monster.”  I said, looking at the little girl who ducked her head sheepishly.  “It’s alright, Sophia, I understand.”

“Aunt Birdie saved us.”  Carl announced proudly to Shane—who laughed even though he didn’t look amused in the slightest. 

“Yeah, your Aunt Birdie is good like that, ain’t she?”

“What happened?”  He asked, looking to Lori.  “Where’s Rick?”

She shook her head and replied in a tone that promised my big brother was gonna be in trouble when he returned.  “He went after Ed.” 

“Lori, I’m so sorry for—

Lori shook her head again, this time cutting off Carol’s apology because apparently I wasn’t the only one who knew it wasn’t Carol’s fault she was married to a spineless coward.  Shane however, did not share our sentiments. 

“Goddamnit,” he growled, throwing his arms into the air in exasperation.  “That’s the second time he’s run off like a little Bi—

“Shane!”  Lori snapped, leveling my husband with a glare that had me shaking in my boots.  Lori might have been a stick skinny little waif of a woman, but she could be downright terrifying when she wanted to be.

Shane glowered back at her, swearing under his breath, but he didn’t finish calling Ed a little Bitch either. 

Just as Lori finished tying off the checkered scraps of her shirt around my still bleeding arm, Ricky came out of the trees soaking wet and looking drained.  Ed was not with him.

Lori rushed forward, jumping the guard rail and into my brother’s arms just as I heard Glenn exclaim, “Holy shit!” from behind me.  “What happened to you?”

Whirling around, I came face to face with Daryl and T-dog, both looking worse for wear, but T looked terrible.  He was completely covered in blood and holding a rag over his arm much in the same fashion that I was holding Lori’s shirt over mine.

Breaking out of Shane’s hold on me, I jogged to his side.  “Let me see.”  I told him, dropping my pack to the ground and digging through it to find the medical supplies I pilfered earlier. 

Pulling the wad of cloth from his skin, I nearly shirked when a spurt of blood went shoot passed me, nearly missing squirting me in the face.  Oh dear God. 

“Jesus,” I said quietly, looking at the horrifyingly wide cut that nearly extended from T-dog’s wrist to his elbow. “We need to get this cleaned out and stitched…now.” 

“You know what yer doin’, Red?”  Daryl asked me, eyeing the cut on T’s arm with his nose turned up a little as he crouched and scratched at Trusty’s neck. 

Sighing a little, I ignored the new nick-name and grabbed the suture kit from my pack and a handful of antiseptic wipes.  This was not the way I wanted to do this, but I didn’t have much of a choice either. 

“Daryl, I grew up with two boys who were always getting hurt, I’ve got him.  Do me a favor will you and go see what the situation is with Ed?”  I asked, ignoring the confused look on his face as I removed the shirt from T-dog’s arm. 

He nodded and wondered off a second later as I helped T-dog into a sitting position on the ground in front of the R.V. It would have been easier to just do it inside, but the thought of adding any more gore to the inside of that motor home made me physically sick to my stomach.  Not to mention I had just watched Shane and Glenn hauling the dead body of a walker out the side door a few seconds before.  Apparently, Andrea had manned up and killed a walker herself, despite Ed running off and leaving her for dead. 

Good for her, I thought truthfully to myself.  I was glad she had snapped out of her funk and defended herself.  It meant she wanted to live. 

Andrea popped her head out a few minutes later, looking at T-dog with a horrified face.  “Can I do anything to help?”  She asked, genuine concern coloring her voice. 

“Yes,” I told her as nicely as I could.  We were both adults after all; we should be able to get along in situations like these.  “I need any clean towels you can find and some tweezers.  Then I’m gonna need your help holding him still while I look for glass shards before I stitch him up.”

She nodded and disappeared back into the motor home as Dale came around to fill us in on what was going on with the rest of the group. 

“How’s he doing?”  He asked, looking down on T-dog with concern. 

“He’ll be better after I get him sewn up and some Tylenol into him…I wish I had some antibiotics but…we’ll just have to keep the cut clean and make do with what we’ve got.”

Dale nodded, looking thoughtful.  “Yeah, I suppose we must.  Daryl, Glenn, Rick and your husband have gone back in to look for Ed.  Rick said that they got separated and that Ed must have gotten lost.  They took Trusty with them.” 

“Hopefully, he got eaten.”  Andrea said with a sneer as she stepped back out of the motor home with the things I had asked her to fetch me. 

T-dog and I laughed while Dale looked at her reproachfully. 

“What?” She defended, “he’s a bastard and a bigger liability than a child.” 

For once, I agreed with Andrea whole-heartedly.

~

Not long after I got T patched up did Shane and Glenn emerged from the forest, both looking a little down. 

“What happened?”  I asked, running up to Shane and embracing him. 

“Where’s Ricky?  Trusty?”  I asked at the same time Carol went racing forward.  “Where’s my husband.” 

“Nobody panic,” he told us, but we all knew he was speaking to Lori and Carol.  “Ed must’a gotten lost, he veered off the trail, Daryl’s trackin’ him now.  I figured I’d leave Tru with them.” 

She nodded, fat tears streaming down her face as she held her little girl to her.  “Oh, Ed.”  She cried mournfully. 

Shane looked at her like she was crazy and I could tell for the good of the group he was biting his tongue so he wouldn’t say something to hurt Carol’s feelings.  Hell, I think we all were.  It may have been wrong to judge one man’s life against another…but as far as I was concerned, Daryl and my brother equaled ten of Ed…if not a hundred. 

Soon after, Shane had us all put to a task.  Dale was still working to fix the R.V. with a radiator hose that Glenn had found.  Andrea was helping me and Shane move the wreckage of cars using other vehicles and the Semi—which was unloaded to help better maneuver through the mess of twisted metal.  Lori was with Carl foraging through more cars with Glenn and T-dog was made to go lie down. 

As Andrea and I made our way back to the R.V. for a drink of water, Carol approached Dale. 

“Why aren’t we all out there lookin’?  Why are we movin’ cars?”  She asked, looking a little pissed off at the new arrangements. 

Dale looked at her with a slight frown.  “Well, we have to clear out enough cars so Birdie and I can get the Semi and R.V. turned around.  I’m almost out of fuel, we need to double back to a bi-pass Glenn found on the map.”

Shane who had been pushing a Navigator out of the road, jumped out of Carol’s Cherokee—shotgun in hand—and pulling up his pants. 

“Turning around’ll be easier than tryin’ to get through this mess.” He commented offhandedly.   God, he was filthy.

“We’re not goin’ anywhere until my husband gets back.”  Carol snapped quietly. 

The urge to tongue lash her was strong.  I didn’t like the way she was sneering at everyone but the fact that her blame seemed to be placed on my brother—and by default—Shane, Lori and myself really pissed me off.  Her husband—Mr. Macho—was the one who decided to run and leave Andrea behind instead of fighting for himself, so I really didn’t feel all that bad about Ed disappearing.  Andrea was right earlier when she said that Ed was more of a liability than a small child.