Ch2

It was uncomfortably hot in the shed. Sam felt the sweat run down his back making the fabric of his shirt stick to his back. He could already tell that he was going to get a heat rash from the whole experience. His hands were also becoming chafed from the cuffs they had slapped on his wrist.

He was glad that they at least didn't chain him down and allowed him free roam of the small confined space that they had thrown him into. Small victories and all that.

After he had come out of the woods with Sophia and that blonde lady had pointed a gun at him she had taken his guns, which had pissed him off more than being imprisoned, and thrown him in the trunk of the car. Not that it had done her any good.

Fifteen minute drive with a left turn at the five and ten minute interval.

Once the car had stopped there had been a fair bit of yelling and debating.

From what he could tell, they didn't know what to do with him.

One wanted him out, another thought they should talk to him see what he wanted. There were a bunch of different ideas as to what to do with Sam but ultimately they decided to lock him in the shed until they could decide.

Not that Sam could fault them for that.

Strange man comes out of the woods with a little girl that they had been looking for during the apocalypse. Hell putting Sam in the shed seemed kind to him.

If only if it wasn't so goddamn hot then Sam would have had nothing to complain about.

"You awake in there?" Someone banged loudly on the door.

"Of course not!" Sam shouted back. Man I really need to not do that.

The door creaked open and three men walked into the stuffy shed. Sam noticed that only one had a gun, but the other one had a crossbow.

"Who are you?" the one with the gun demanded.

"Alright, revolver and a bit of a beard, you're Rick Grimes."

"How do you know that?"

"Sophia really looks up to you. You too Daryl. The crossbow gave it away. Yeah she told me about all of you. Nothing bad I assure you. Well except about a fella named Sane, who I'm assuming is you," he pointed to the third man with a buzz cut.

"Who are you?" Rick demanded again.

"Samuel Conall."

"Where'd you come from?" Shane asked next.

"You don't know? Well when a man and a woman love each other very much-"

Shane grabbed Sam by the throat, "You think this is a game?!"

"Shane! Enough!" Shane released Sam. "Listen, we just need to figure out if you're a threat to us. So stop with the jokes."

Sam nodded. "Alright, I'll cut back. As to where I'm from, Ireland. Came here on a school trip. Everything went to Hell our third day here. I was with a few friends for a while and about a month ago a big group of 'em swarmed us. I got away, don't know if the others did."

"Where'd you find the girl?" Daryl asked next.

"I don't know. It was somewhere in the woods. We were trying to get to the highway but a group of Walkers made us take a bit of a detour."

The three of them looked at one another. Shane shook his head and Daryl shrugged with indifference.

"Where were you planning on going after you got Sophia here?" Rick asked me.

"Well she said that there was a possibility of me joining you fine people," he lied. Sophia had never said anything of the sort. In fact they never discussed what would happen after they found her mother.

"And you believed her?"

"She painted me the picture of you being a reasonable and good lot. I took her for her word. Are you're gonna make her a liar?" The just stared at him. "Look, I get you treating me like this, locking me up and what not, but all that I ask is you give me a chance. Surviving out there on the road, especially alone, is brutal. So all I ask is for a chance. I know that's a lot to ask nowadays, but if you do give me a chance, you will not regret it. I can assure you that."

It had been two days since they had let him out of the shed and most of the group had been avoiding him like the plague that had taken over the world. Well everyone except Sophia and her mother Carol that is. They were some of the only people that would give him the time of day, and even then Carol would look at him with suspicion.

Once again it was understandable but after a while it got annoying how people would look at him. He hadn't done anything to anyone. He gave all the food he had over to the group since food was shared in the group.

"Hey uh peach?" Sam looked up and saw… he forgot the name of the asian guy.

"Sure, um what's your name again?"

"Glenn. Your Sam right?"

Sam nodded, "Aye, sorry about forgetting your name."

"It's alright. To be fair I haven't really talked to you all that much."

"No one really has." Sam looked at the basket Glenn was hauling. "Those for us?"

"Oh uh yeah, Maggie brought us some peaches and jerky."

Sam grabbed a peach and a small amount of jerky, "Nice. I never thought I'd see a peach without mold on it again. Oh and it tastes way better than a moldy peach as well."

"Were things that bad out there?"

"Worse. When you're out there on the road by yourself you really learn to eat anything. Moldy peaches and household pets included."

"Pets?" Glenn looked horrified.

"Two things I learned. One: cats are hard to skin. Two: they taste amazing with barbecue sauce." Sam laughed when Glenn backed away and almost tripped.

Sam sat down and ate his peach in silence.

The other inhabitants of the camp were off doing their morning rituals.

Rick and Shane seemed to be in deep discussion about what the group was meant to do next now that Sophia had been found, which they had been arguing about for the past two days.

Carol was washing and hanging clothes while Lori was boiling the water that the group used. Andrea was on top of the R.V. with a rifle. Daryl was off doing whatever it was that he did. Sam never asked. To be frank the southern bowmen scared the living shit out of Sam.

Daryl seemed like the kind of man that could kill you with the flick of his wrist.

Sophia and Carl were off doing homework that their parents had given them. Sam shuddered at the thought of doing math equations. It was the apocalypse, couldn't they just let the kids be free from math?

Sam was brought out of his observations when he heard someone approaching him.

He looked up and saw Rick.

"Sheriff, to what do I owe the pleasure?"

Rick gave Sam a suspicious look over before speaking. "We're going to have gun practice today. Interested?"

Sam smiled. "Are you saying that you trust me enough to let me use a gun?"

"I'm saying that you haven't caused any problems. And now I'm asking you, if I can trust you?"

"Rick, if I wanted to kill you and everyone here I would have done it the night you let me out of the shed. Right when you all went to bed I could have gone into your tents and slit your throats. But I didn't, because you all seems like a decent sort and I have no intention of becoming a murderer. That being said I already know how to use a gun."

"That may be true, but for all I know you're just saying that. I need to be sure that you know how to use a gun before I let you have one."

Sam grinned and stood up. "Alright then. When do we leave?"

Shots rang out along the firing line that they had formed twenty-five feet from the fence.

Sam saw one of the farmers people, Jimmy he thought, firing his gun sideway. He quickly walked behind him.

"Hey dumb ass! If you shoot like that then the shell's liable to fly into your eye!" Sam told him. "Hold it right or put the gun down."

Jimmy seemed unnerved by the young Irishman's scolding and aimed the gun properly. He hit the target that time.

"Good, keep aiming your gun like that and you'll be fine."

When they had first arrived Sam had quickly grabbed his pistol and shot down his bottles.

Shane had told him that it was impressive but that bottles weren't moving targets. He didn't even finish his sentence when Sam had aimed upward and shot a flying bird.

Rick had asked him to stick around and help those that were struggling. Thus his yelling at Jimmy for holding his pistol like a stereotypical gangster.

Mostly everyone else was a decent shot. T-Dog hit all his targetss after a few tries. Lori seemed to be decent. Carl was a natural from what he could see. He never had to tell the boy anything since either Rick or Shane were there at all times.

One of the farmers daughters had her gun aimed down at a bottle and seemed to be concentrating intensely on the target. Based on her stance and the way she was holding the gun Sam was sure she was going to miss.

She put her finger on the trigger and slowly squeezed it and… she missed.

"I think you were off a bit." Sam ginned.

She looked back and Sam saw the look of dejection on her face.

"Just a bit though. If you just close up your stance a bit then loosen up your arms you'll hit it."

She gave him a skeptical look but followed his advice. She took aim and pulled the trigger and sure enough she hit her mark.

She beamed and smiled at Sam. "Thanks, I thought I was never gonna hit that thing."

"No problem, you just need to keep hitting the target and it'll be like second nature."

"Soon enough I'll be better than you," she smirked.

"Oh yeah, sure. You killed a bottle. I'll call you in case they ever rise and begin eating the living," Sam joked before walking away.

At the end of the practice everyone had "killed" all of their targets. And Sam and gone up a level in Rick's eyes.

Pretty good day.

Sam was running a whetstone down the length of his machete when he heard the gate slam. He saw Glenn and the other farmers daughter barreling towards Lori.

"Hey! We got your stuff!"

"Maggie, hang on, please!" Glenn said as he tried to stop the girl.

Lori looked around and spotted Sam, her face looking more and more concerned by the minute.

"Come on in here," Lori said, trying to be discreet.

"Why? Nothing to hide! We got your special delivery right here!" Maggie dug into her bag and began pulling things out and throwing them to the floor. "We got your lotion! Got your conditioner! Your soap opera digest!"

Sam snorted at the last one.

"Maggie," Lori pleaded as she whipped her head toward Sam who was smiling as he watched everything unfold.

"Next time you want something, get it your damn self! We're not your errand boys!" Maggie continued.

"Honey, I-"

Maggie bent down and scooped something off of the ground. "And here's your abortion pills!"

"Oh damn," Sam said as he looked at both women in sock before both Maggie and Glenn walked away.

Lori looked to Sam.

"So you're pregnant I take it?" Sam grinned.

"Don't tell. Please." Lori begged him.

"I could only tell if I heard something. And I didn't hear a thing." Sam grinned and walked away.