Chapter eleven
"Do something nice for Hershel and his people."
The next morning, Scarlett was helping Carol out with the laundry as they were hanging it on the clothes line, Lori came walking up to them "I can't believe I slept in." she told them "you must've needed it." Carol told her "we would've woke you if we needed you." Scarlett told her "you can wake me up whenever you want. Especially on laundry day." Lori told them, as the three grabbed more clothes to hang "we can manage." Carol told her, as the three began hanging the clothes "I had an idea I wanted to run by you two." Carol told them.
"What's that?" Lori asked "that big kitchen of their's got me thinking. I wouldn't mind cooking in a real kitchen again. Maybe we all pitch in and help cook dinner for Hershel and his family tonight." Carol told them, as her and Scarlett turned to grab more clothes "kind of looking for things to keep my mind occupied." Carol told them "well after everything they've done for us seems like the least we can do." Lori shared "do one of you mind extending the invitation?" Carol asked.
As Lori and Scarlett looked at each other with furrowed brows "it'd just feel right coming from one of you." Carol told them "why?" Scarlett asked "well Lori's Rick's wife and we've all seen you talking with Rick to Hershel." Carol shared "morning, guys, let's get going we've got a lot of ground to cover." Rick shared, as him and Shane walked by "fine. I'll see. But don't expect me to cook anything, I was a surgeon. Sandwiches and take out were most of the food I made." Scarlett shared, as Lori chuckled "and that is why we always invited you over for dinner." she shared, as they continued with the laundry.
Where sometime had passed, as Scarlett was looking at the house wondering how she was gonna ask Hershel about cooking for them, feeling like it went against his rules and that's not what they needed now since he was still thinking about if they could stay but nobody knew that, as she realized maybe asking Maggie would be the better option, Shane walked up to her and scoffed, Scarlett looked to him "what?" she asked, furrowing her brows "it's..it's Rick, you know? He's got every abled body out in those woods scourging for a little girl we know is likely dead." he shared "you want him to call off the search." Scarlett realized.
"Cause everything now is about survival, Scarlett. You know that. Your entire life has been that. But all Rick does is spread us thinner and thinner. I'm trying to keep all of us alive and he's always running off saving cats from trees." Shane shared "Sophia's a little girl who got scared and ran off. Whether she is dead or not finding her is something this group needs." Scarlett told him, as Shane pointed at her "no, no, see that's where your wrong!" he voiced, and when he did, Scarlett shook her head, she turned to walk off, Shane stepped toward's her, grabbing her arm and turning her back toward's him, Rick who was standing nearby talking to Lori watched them.
"Don't..don't walk away from me, alright? You keep doing that and it's cause you think I'm wrong. But I'm not. If me and you left like I said, me and you would be halfway to fort benning right now and Carl wouldn't have been shot. And then you and me we wouldn't have.." Shane told her "we wouldn't have what? Hmm? You wouldn't have thrown me out of the way and shot a man in the leg in cold blood?" Scarlett asked, and when she did, Shane's grip on her wrist got stronger, as Scarlett winced "if I hadn't done that we wouldn't have made it out of there. And you..your the one who.." he told her "I put him out of his misery. You were gonna leave him alive to be ripped apart by all of them. So whatever you thought that gunshot was for, you are wrong." Scarlett told him, pulling her arm out of his grasp, she turned walking away at a fast pace, Rick was still watching them, having seen what Shane had done.
Having gone and asked Maggie if they could cook dinner for them to thank them, she said it wouldn't be a big deal, as Scarlett, Lori and Carol were in the kitchen with Patricia and Beth, Maggie was setting up the dining room "I never thought I'd be so happy to see a potato." Carol said, as Beth laughed "I'm just glad we're not roasting squirrels over a fire in the woods." Lori shared "well we have to thank Patricia for letting us cook in her kitchen." Scarlett shared, as Patricia smiled at her, they all continued cooking.
But as they did, a gunshot could be heard, as they dropped everything and all went running out of the house "no! No!" Rick could be heard screaming in the distance "Rick!" Lori yelled, as they all stopped running "what on earth's going on out here!" Hershel voiced, as Scarlett went off running, Lori and Carol followed her.
Where when they met up with the others, Daryl had been shot by Andrea, where thankfully she just grazed him, as he lied on the bed, Hershel was holding the cloth up to Daryl's head where he was shot to stop the bleeding while Scarlett was stitching up Daryl's side that an arrow had gone through, while Rick had the map rolled out on the bed, Daryl was looking at it, as Shane sat behind Rick "found it washed up on the creek bed right there." Daryl shared, pointing at the part of the map about Sophia's doll "she must've dropped it crossing there somewhere." he told them, as Rick turned to Shane "cuts the grid almost in half." he said.
"Yeah, you're welcome." Daryl said, looking to his stiches "you really have to stop moving." Scarlett told him "how's he looking?" Rick asked "I had no idea we'd be going through the antibiotics so quickly." Hershel shared, as Scarlett finished the stitches on his side, she swapped with Hershel and looked at Daryl's gun shot wound and when she did, Hershel noticed the fresh bruise on her wrist "any idea what happened to my horse." he asked, turning around, side eying Shane as he walked toward's the bowl to clean the blood of his hands.
"Yeah, the one who almost killed me? If it's smart, it left the country." Daryl told him, as Rick rolled up the map "we call that one nelly as in nervous nelly. I could have told you she'd throw you if you'd bothered to ask." Hershel shared, drying off his hands as he walked up to Rick "it's a wonder you people survived this long." he told him, as Rick stepped around him, he stopped behind Scarlett who began stitching up where the bullet grazed him on his head, he saw the bruise on her wrist, as Shane stood up "let's leave them, man." he told him, walking around Hershel to head out, Rick waited behind Scarlett, as Shane walked out, Rick then turned following after him.
Leaving Scarlett and Hershel with Daryl "you can get the gauze ready to wrap around him." Scarlett told Hershel, as she turned putting the tools down that she had used to sew up the wounds, Hershel walked up to her with the gauze as she turned to grab them, Hershel didn't hand them to her right away "if he's hurting you.." he whispered to her "I'm okay. You can go." Scarlett told him, knowing that he didn't want to get close to them, he made that pretty clear, as he then gave her the gauze, he turned walking out of there.
And when he did, Scarlett then dropped her fake smile, letting out a breath, she turned and began wrapping the gauze around Daryl's chest, where she got to his back, she noticed all the scars and she knew they weren't from today so she didn't say anything, continuing to do what she was in here for, knowing that the second she walked out of her she was gonna have to put that brave face back on and act like nothing was wrong, which was strange because she hadn't had to do that in a long time, but here she was, hiding, because she no longer felt safe, where she fell for the charm and the smile all over again.
Dinner soon was ready, where Jimmy, Beth, Maggie and Glenn were all sitting at the small table, while the rest of them sat at the big one, where Scarlett was sitting at the head of the table, where Rick was to her left and Shane was to her right, as they were sitting there in silence as they all ate dinner, Scarlett felt Shane's eyes on her and as he was looking at her, Rick was looking at him, Hershel was then looking at all three of them "does anyone know how to play guitar? Dale found a cool one. Somebody's gotta know how to play." Glenn told them "Otis did." Patricia said, as Shane turned looking at them "yes, and he was very good too." Hershel said, as they all continued eating in silence.