Distractions

Natalie sat in the front seat of one of the cars and started pushing cars off the highway.

"Please be careful," Shane kept begging her.

Natalie rolled her eyes at him every time.

"Would you rather me hit cars or hit you? 'Cause I certainly have the desire to do both," Natalie teased, although she was dead serious.

"Is that really something you'd say to a friend?" Shane teased.

"Just a friend who used to be my cheating husband," Natalie retorted.

"Okay, okay, I deserved that one," Shane said with a chuckle.

Natalie continued pushing cars to the side of the road.

The highway was finally clear, but Rick and Daryl weren't back yet.

Shane spent the day trying to distract the group by giving them tedious and unnecessary tasks to perform.

Shane and Natalie walked back towards the RV, where a small group had congregated.

"Why aren't we all out there looking for my daughter? Why are we moving cars?" Carol asked.

"We need to make room for the RV to get through," Dale responded.

"We aren't going anywhere till my daughter gets back," Carol said quickly.

"That goes without saying," Lori interjected kindly.

Carol nodded.

"I know what you're going through," Lori said kindly to Carol.

Carol scurried away to the edge of the highway to look and see if she saw Sophia.

"Well, aren't you just the expert on how it feels to lose your child?" Natalie snapped at Lori.

"Oh, wait-- that's me," Natalie snapped angrily.

"Nat, don't do this right now," Shane whispered to her quietly.

"Back off, Shane. I might have to slap your whore and I don't think that's something you want to see," Natalie snapped at him.

He threw his hands up in surrender and walked away.

"You have no idea what she's going through. So don't say that you do," Natalie snapped at Lori.

"You act like I haven't been through things, Nat," Lori said.

"You think that having two men-- one being your ex-best friend's husband-- desperately in love with you and having a child that's still breathing is 'going through things'?" Natalie scoffed.

"You make me sound like I'm lucky," Lori said.

"You've been lucky as hell, Lori. Let's go through all the things that you've gotten since the world ended. Let's see, first you got my husband. Then, you got your husband. Then, you got to keep your child. Yours is the only one on this highway. Mine is dead and Carol's is missing. You seem pretty lucky to me," Natalie scoffed.

"God, what's next? You gonna announce that you're pregnant? Damn, I hate your skanky ass," Natalie scoffed as she walked away.

"What about your skanky ass?" Lori called after her.

"Oh, what? This thing?" Natalie asked, looking over her shoulder at Lori, placing a hand on the side of her ass.

"This is what's called a great ass. You wouldn't know anything about that," Natalie snapped, sending a wink in Lori's direction as she walked away.

"Bitch," Lori muttered.

"Oh, of you think I'm a bitch now, just you wait," Natalie threatened, not even turning around to look at Lori.

Natalie stormed off, trying to get away from everyone.

She leaned against the trunk of a green Prius, away from the rest of the group.

She didn't realize that Shane was working under the hood of the car.

"You okay?" He asked, gently cupping her face in his hand.

She jerked her head away from him.

"Come on, Nat," Shane said.

"What, Shane? I said that I forgave you enough to be friends and now you're acting like you're trying to win me back and I'm sick of it," Natalie snapped.

"I'm not acting," Shane said simply.

"Well, if you're not acting then you're just failing," Natalie said sharply.

Shane nodded, obviously hurt and angered.

Natalie could tell that it wasn't just her that was bothering him. Lori was, too. That was the worst part: knowing he was in love with both women and heartbroken over them both.

"Uncle Shane, Uncle Shane!" Carl called, running towards Shane.

"Carl? What happened?" Lori asked frantically, running over to them.

"I found something cool," Carl said excitedly.

"Well, let's see it then," Natalie said, a wide smile slipping onto her lips.

"Uncle Shane, check it out," Carl said, unrolling the leather, revealing a large array of different weapons.

"It's an arsenal," Carl said.

"That's cool, buddy. Go give 'em to Dale," Shane said, brushing the young boy off.

"Look at this one! It's a hatchet," Carl exclaimed.

"Be careful with those," Lori reprimanded.

"It's really sharp," Carl said excitedly.

"What did I just say?" Lori snapped.

"Can I keep one?" Carl asked hopefully.

"Are you crazy?" Lori asked.

"Shane, Shane, tell her to let me keep one," Carl pleaded, knowing that Shane usually took his side.

"Hey, man. Go give 'em all to Dale. Now," Shane ordered angrily.

Natalie sighed and rolled her eyes.

Carl ran off, upset.

"Just because you're pissed off doesn't give you the right to take it out on him," Natalie sighed angrily, running after Carl.

"Hey, Carl! Wait up!" Natalie called, jogging up behind the boy.

"Is Shane mad at me?" He asked.

"No, sweetie. He's just upset about Nicky still. It's gonna take us both a long time to heal," Natalie said kindly, knowing it was only partly true.

"Yeah, that makes sense. It seems like everyone forgets that he was my friend, too," Carl sighed sadly.

"I haven't forgotten," Natalie reassured him.

"I found something in the car that I think he would want you to have," Natalie said, reaching in her back pocket.

She pulled out a small picture frame, only about the size of a deck of cards. In the frame was a picture of Nick and Carl.

"Here," Natalie said, handing it to him.

"Thanks, Aunt Nat," Carl said, admiring the photo.

Natalie smiled at him.

"It's pretty damn cool you found those weapons," Natalie said excitedly.

"You think so?" Carl asked.

"Absolutely! That was a great find. You really did well, Carl!" Natalie exclaimed.

Carl smiled widely.

"And by the way, you looked really badass with that ax," Natalie said with a chuckle.

"Really?" Carl asked.

"Yes! You looked like that guy from that movie you and Nick used to watch all the time at my house," Natalie said, giggling.

"The Shining?" Carl asked, laughing.

"You can't ever tell your parents I let you watch that," Natalie said with a laugh.

"Promise," Carl said.

"Now, one more thing. Since your mom said you couldn't keep one of those weapons, I was thinking I would give you something," Natalie said, trying to hide her grin.

"What?" Carl asked, trying to act cool and not overly excited.

"Your dad lent me this back in high school. He gave it to me when I had to walk home alone after a football game one night. Apparently, it's not safe for a pretty girl in a tiny cheerleading uniform to walk alone at night," Natalie joked, making Carl giggle.

"It was your dad's and I think he would want you to have it. It'll do you more good than it will me," Natalie said, reaching into her pocket again.

This time, she pulled out a red pocket knife engraved with the initials R.G.

"A pocket knife! Cool!" Carl exclaimed.

"Don't tell your parents I gave it to you. I just want you to have it in case something happens again. I won't lose you like I lost Nicky," Natalie said kindly.

"Are you sure you don't want to keep it?" Carl asked.

"I don't need it anymore," Natalie said gently.

"Yeah, 'cause you've got Uncle Shane to protect you now," Carl teased.

Natalie hesitated for a moment, her smile faltering for just a moment.

"Yeah, bud. I've got Shane to protect me now. And I've got you to protect me," Natalie said, ruffling the boy's hair.

"Go on, Dale will store those weapons for you," Natalie said, nudging Carl towards the RV.

A couple hours later, Rick and Daryl emerged from the woods. Sophia wasn't with them.

"You can't leave my daughter out there all alone in the woods," Carol cried.

Natalie's heart broke for Carol.

Her mind was racing, trying to think of a way to get the little girl back safe and sound. She didn't realize she had completely zoned out of the conversation.

She couldn't think of any way that Sophia could make it on her own. She wanted to believe that the girl would be okay, but there was little hope that she could even make it through the night.

She was snapped out her thoughts by Rick storming off.

Lori didn't go after him.

"Don't worry, Lori, I'll go after your husband. Let's just hope he's not sad and lonely and just a hint horny. Or maybe you should hope he is. We can even the score if you want," Natalie snapped quietly to Lori.

Natalie scoffed and walked away from Lori and jogged after Rick.

"Ricky! You okay?" Natalie asked when she caught up to him.

"Carol blames me for what happened," Rick sighed.

"Mother's whose children are gone are always looking for someone to blame. Even if their blame is wrongly placed," Natalie said.

Rick was silent.

"Believe me, I know," Natalie said with a sad chuckle.

"Yeah, I know," Rick said, putting a comforting arm around his friend's shoulders.

"Hey, Nat! Come on. I'm heading in for the night. I'm finally off watch duty," Shane called out to her.

"And duty calls," Natalie said with a laugh.

"Go on," Rick said with a chuckle.

"If you need anything, I'm here for you, Ricky," Natalie said with a kind smile.

"What, Shane?" Natalie asked, annoyed.

"We're shacking up in that car over there," Shane said.

"Who said I'm bunking with you?" Natalie asked.

"I did, now let's go," Shane said with a chuckle.

Natalie rolled her eyes and followed him to the car-- she didn't want to be alone.

• • •