October 24th, 2010

It had been a couple hours since the whole Ed thing had happened. Amy and Andrea had just returned with a bunch of fish. A smile was on Winter's face

"Oh, baby. Will you look at that. Hey, check it out. Ladies.. because of you my children will eat tonight. Thank you" Morales said as Andrea handed him some fish

"Thank Dale. It's his canoe and gear" Andrea said

"Mom, look. Look at all the fish" Carl said

"Thank you" Lori said. Sam had come back with Michael. Apparently the two had went off to see if they could find anything to eat

"Found some berries" Michael said

"They're not poisonous, don't worry" Sam said with a smile

"Fish and berries" Morales said with a giant smile. Sam and Winter made eye contact. She smiled at him. The smile on his face dropped. He made a motion of wiping his thumb on his lip as he approached Winter. He was concerned

"What happened?" Sam asked

"Oh, it's nothing big. Don't worry about" Winter said

"Did somebody do that to you?" Sam asked

"Listen, it's fine. The guy already got his ass whooped by Shane" Winter said before subtly pointing at Ed. Sam looked and his eyes widened as Ed's bloody and blue face

"Damn, he should've continued" Sam muttered to Winter. She chuckled

"I agree" She said. Dale walked over

"I- uh.. I don't want to alarm anyone, but we may have a bit of a problem" Dale said before pointing at Jim who was up the hill. He was digging. So a group of the adults, went to talk to Jim

"Damn, you just keep beating that dirt. Are you okay?" Michael asked but he got no response

"Jim, why don't you hold up, all right? Just give me a second here, please" Shane said. Jim stopped

"What do you want?" Jim asked

"We're all just a little concerned, that's all" Shane said

"Dale says you've been out here for hours" Morales said

"So?" Jim asked

"So why are you digging? Are you heading to China, Jim?" Shane asked

"What does it matter? I'm not hurting anyone" Jim said

"Yeah, except maybe yourself. It's 100° today. You can't keep this up" Dale said

"Sure I can. Watch me" Jim said

"Jim, they're not gonna say it so I will. You're scaring people. You're scaring my son and Carol's daughter" Lori spoke up

"They got nothing to be scared of. I mean, what the hell, people? I'm out here by myself. Why don't you all just go and leave me the hell alone?" Jim asked

"Maybe you need to take a break, okay? Why don't you go and get yourself in the shade? Some food maybe. I'll tell you what- maybe in a little bit I'll come out here. I'll help you myself. Jim, just tell me what it's about. Why don't you just go ahead and give me that shovel?" Shane asked

"Or what?" Jim asked

"There is no or what. I'm asking you. I'm coming to you and I'm asking you, please. I don't want to have to take it from you" Shane said

"And if I don't, then what? Then you're gonna beat my face in like Ed Peletier, aren't you? Y'all seen his face, huh? What's left of it. See, now that's what happens when someone crosses you" Jim said

"No, no, he deserved that" Winter said

"She's right. That was different, Jim" Shane said

"Yeah, Ed was out of control. He was hurting his wife" Amy said

"That is their marriage. That is not his" Jim said

"So, you're okay with Ed beating his wife? What the fuck is wrong with you?!" Michael asked

"Let's not fight, okay? Just give me the shovel, okay?" Shane asked

"No, no, no" Jim said as Shane tried to take it. Jim pushed away Shane and then tried to hit him with the shovel. Shane ducked and then tackled Jim

"You got no right" Jim said

"Jim, just stop it. Hey, hey, hey, hey. Jim. Jim, nobody's gonna hurt you. You hear me? Jim, nobody is gonna hurt you, okay?" Shane asked

"That's a lie. That's the biggest lie there is. I told that to my wife and my two boys. I said it 100 times. It didn't matter. They came out of nowhere. There were dozens of 'em. Just pulled 'em right out of my hands. You know, the only reason I got away was 'cause the dead were too busy eating my family" Jim admitted as Shane handcuffed Jim. That night, everyone was eating fish and laughing. Winter took a bite of her fish

"This is really good" She said with a smile. Sam, who was sitting next to her, just stared at her which a smile on his face. She turned to Sam

"Try it" She said as she held a piece of fish in her hands. Sam's eyes widened

"I have my own fish" Sam said but Winter had already put the piece of fish in Sam's mouth. His face turned red, but because it was dark out, no one could tell

"How's it taste?" She asked

"Just like my fish" He said

"I've got to ask you, man. It's been driving me crazy" Morales spoke up as he looked at Dale

"What?" Dale asked

"That watch" Morales said. Dale smiled as he looked at his watch

"What's wrong with my watch?" Dale asked

"I see you every day, the same time, winding that thing like a village priest saying mass" Morales said

"I've wondered this myself" Jacqui said

"I'm missing the point" Dale said

"Unless I've misread the signs, the world seems to have come to end. At least hit a speed bump for a good long while" Jacqui said

"But there's you every day winding that stupid watch" Morales said

"Time- It's important to keep track, isn't it? The days at least. Don't you think, Andrea? Back me up here" Dale said with a smile. She didn't say anything as she took a sip of beer

"I like- I like what, um, a father said to son when he gave him a watch that had been handed down through generations. He said, 'I give you the mausoleum of all hope and desire which will fit your individual needs no better than it did mine or my father's before me; I give it to you not that you may remember time, but that you may forget it for a moment now and then and not spend all of your breath trying to conquer it.'" Dale said

"You are so weird" Amy said causing everyone to laugh

"It's not me. It's Faulkner. William Faulkner. Maybe my bad paraphrasing" Dale said. Amy suddenly got up

"Where are you going?" Andrea asked

"I have to pee. Jeez, you try to be discreet around here" Amy said. Everyone laughed as Amy walked off. A minute after they heard Amy speak up

"We're out of toilet paper" She said before they all heard screaming. Everyone's head snapped in her direction to see a walker biting her arm. More people began screaming. Winter pulled out her gun as did Shane. The two both started firing round into walkers. Though, unlike Shane, who was shooting them in the chest, Winter was aiming for their heads. Sam, Jim, and Michael had all grabbed weapons like axes or bats, and they began to beat the walkers. Dale got his own gun and began to help shoot

"What do we do?" Lori asked worriedly

"Follow me!" Shane yelled. Amy screamed as a walker took a bite out of her neck

"No! No!" Andrea screamed as Jim used a bat to hit the walker that had bit Amy. Winter kept firing rounds into walkers

"Oh! Oh!" Andrea cried as she rushed to Amy who was bleeding out. Winter could feel tears getting ready to fall, but she had to stay strong. She could cry later. She went to shoot another walker that was getting close but she needed to reload. She did her best to reload as quick as she could but the walker was getting to close. Before it could get her, Sam used the bat in his hand, and slammed it down on the walker's head. All you could hear was screaming and chaos. Everyone tried their best to stay close to Shane

"Get to the R.V.! Go!" Morales yelled. As they were getting closer they heard more gunshots. The group of four had returned. Rick began yelling out for his child. Carl ran to him. Then, soon enough, all the walkers were dead. They had lost a bunch of people. Winter looked at Amy who was barely hanging on

"Oh, Amy. I don't know what to do, Amy" Andrea said before Amy closed her eyes. Andrea just cried, she couldn't even speak she was so heartbroken. Winter dropped her gun as her hands began to shake. She felt her knees give in and she fell to the ground as she began to cry. She felt somebody wrap their arms around her as she cried. Winter couldn't stop looking at Amy's dead body

"C-Come on.. you don't need to look" Sam stuttered as he couldn't help but cry as well

"Son of a bitch" Michael said as he ran his hands through his short hair

"I remember my dream now, why I dug the holes" Jim said

(1579 words)
11/24/22