Butterfly Effect or Justin Effect

Chapter 26 Butterfly Effect or Justin Effect

POV Rick Grimes

2 days after the CDC explosión

"We're running out of food if we don't get food…" Shane says looking at a map on the hood of his car. We are in the middle of the road, we have managed to get some gasoline from some abandoned vehicles, but we have not had any luck finding food.

"A horde of walkers passed through this area recently because of the tracks we found in the surroundings, this, in turn, scared away most of the animals." Daryl says pointing to some places on the map. "There are farms in this area, we can try our luck if they still have some livestock or supplies stored." He says loading his crossbow on his shoulder.

"What if there are still people on those farms and they don't want to help us?" Glenn asked nervously without looking anyone in the face.

"We convince them." I say quietly. "Otherwise, we will do whatever it takes to keep our people alive." I say with a dark look, this world is not like it used to be and it will never be like this again.

"Rick is right." Shane says nodding his head.

"Looks like the friendly officer's balls have grown." Merle comments dryly. "Where were those eggs at the CDC?" Merle asks in a bad mood, at this Daryl intervenes and takes him away from us. He was not the only person affected by the events at the CDC, the entire group was affected.

"Everyone get ready, we're going to check the farms." That's all I say, at this, everyone starts to get into the vehicles and we head in the direction of the farms marked on the map.

"Don't worry dad, we're going to win." Says my son Carl sharpening a knife in the backseat. "It's what Justin would have wanted." He says with a sad smile. Since our escape from the CDC my son wants to learn how to shoot and use a knife, Shane has taken it upon himself to responsibly train children how to hold and use a knife. At first, Lori and Carol adamantly refused to allow the children to carry sharp objects. However, Shane is right, we will not always be with them to protect them, they must learn to survive.

I will never lose anyone again.

Hours later, we toured some nearby farms, finding nothing useful until we ran into an old man.

"This is my property!" An old man shouts pointing a shotgun at us, while an obese person points a rifle at us.

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"Go back the way you came!" the old man shouts. At this, I pointed my pistol at the old man while the rest of the men had their weapons ready. The women along with the children stayed inside the mobile home for safety.

"Everyone, please, can we calm down for a moment?" Dale exclaims, getting between all of us. "We are just looking for a safe place and some food, our people are hungry, we have children with us." Dale says defusing the situation.

I keep aiming my gun. "We don't want trouble, we have people to protect just like you." I say as I watch several people leave a house.

"Dad, what are you doing?" Asks a girl approaching the old man, I guess she must be her daughter.

"Not now, Maggie, go back to the house with the others, it's dangerous here." Says the old man a little nervous.

"Are you not seeing that they have children?" She asks pointing to the trailer, from my position I can see Carl being reprimanded for spying on us.

The old man slowly lowers his shotgun while puffing a little. "I'm Hershel Greene."

At this, I lower my gun, and shortly after the rest of the group stops aiming as I walk over to Hershel to shake his hand. "I'm Rick Grimes."

We managed to get about two weeks of quiet until we discovered that there were walkers in the barn. It should be noted that Hershel did not take it well at all and shortly after finishing off the walkers he decided to go to a bar.

Later, I returned to the farm with a drunk Hershel while Lori waited for me with a worried look on her face.

"I'm pregnant." Lori says drawing the attention of the people around her. Given this, I stay still trying to figure out what she wants to tell me.

"Shit…" Shane whispers with his hands on his head.

My vision flips back and forth, I look at Lori, then at Shane, then back at both of them in turn.

"Sorry, Rick." Is all Lori says when my fist collides with Shane's face.

2 weeks later.

"I thought you died, we both did." Shane says sitting next to me. It is night as I am sitting on the ground in an open field near the trees. "I know you're still upset and I understand perfectly, but the child that is growing inside her is not to blame for the mistakes that adults make." Shane says keeping quiet for a moment.

"Do you know what Justin said to me when we were at the quarry?" Shane wondered as his gaze fell on the moon. "He asked me what I would do about it." He says with a dry laugh. "My convictions are clear. I plan to protect them, Rick, I don't care if you hate me for what I did to you, but I will protect Lori, I will protect Carl, and I will protect that baby." Shane exclaims and then points his finger at me. "I would give my life for you and you know it." Shane whispers, getting to his feet and walking away from me a bit.

"Shane!" I exclaimed standing up and capturing his attention.

"You got my wife pregnant. What did you think? That we would just forget everything? That we were going to walk together until we saw the sunset?" I exclaimed approaching him. However, Shane quickly unholsters his gun and points it in my direction.

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I don't have time to react when Shane shoots. He didn't shoot me though, at which I quickly turn around and see a walker with a bullet hole in his head fall to his knees next to me and then to the ground. Unfortunately, the shot attracted the attention of the rest of the walkers who are now prowling around the farm and there are many of them.

"Walkers!" Shane yells starting to shoot at the approaching walkers. "Tell the others to be quiet, I'll distract the walkers while you guys get in the vehicles!" Shane yells backing away from me as he draws the attention of hundreds of walkers by firing his gun.

The people inside Hershel's house and the makeshift camp began to quickly pack up seeing the number of walkers we would be up against. Shane had locked himself in the barn which was starting to catch fire surrounded by most of the walkers.

"Shane!" I scream as I try to go after him, however, Daryl pushes me into one of the vehicles and fires his crossbow through the head of an approaching walker.

"There is no time and you know it." Says Daryl closing the door of the vehicle while in the distance I watch as the barn collapses.

Thanks to Shane's sacrifice we were able to leave the farm on time without any further casualties.

So we set off back onto the highway to an uncertain destination…again.

1 month later.

A week ago we abandoned the vehicles when we ran out of fuel and began to walk the roads, surviving with what we can find. So far we have not met any person or any safe place.

"How much longer will we keep walking aimlessly?" Andrea asked shuffling her feet.

"Andrea, enough." Amy says leaning on Andrea.

"Around the corner, there is a 5-star hotel waiting for us big breasts." Merle scoffs causing some laughs.

"We'll find a safe place." I say as I keep walking, we have to be hopeful.

"Walkers in the trees." Carl says running towards one of the walkers coming out from behind some trees with a knife in his hand. He then knocks one of them down and stabs the walker in the eye, while one walker takes an arrow to the head courtesy of Sofia who has a makeshift bow.

"You've improved your aim, Sofia." Daryl says nodding at Sofia and then looking at Carl. "Not bad, Carl."

Before the flattery, both children smile with pride. Carol and Lori have worried looks, but they understand that this is necessary, even they receive knife training.

I approach the bodies of the walkers and something about them catches my attention, they both have the letter 'W' tattooed on their foreheads. "Weird." Says Daryl noticing them too.

"Let's pick up the pace, something doesn't feel right here." Says Otis carrying his rifle on his back as we all start to move faster. However, we didn't get very far when we found an abandoned vehicle with strange graffiti in the middle of the road.

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"I think we should find another way, it will be dark soon and I don't think this way is very safe." Glenn says as he takes Maggie's hand and looks worriedly at the graffiti.

"We have nowhere to go, even if we go back we won't get to any kind of shelter in time before night falls. We have to keep moving forward, it's the only option." I say while looking at the strange graffiti.

"Merle and I are going to tour the surrounding area." Says Daryl taking his brother with him and disappearing into the trees.

"I propose we rest here while we wait for the Dixon brothers." Dale mentions, at this, I nod my head.

However, after a few minutes, shots are heard in the distance causing everyone to be on alert. At the same time Otis who was near the bushes falls to the ground holding his throat while behind him, several figures come out of the bushes running towards us with knives in their hands and a 'W' tattooed on their foreheads.

"Otis!" Patricia screams trying to run towards her husband, however, she is stabbed by another of the attackers.

"Nooo!" Hershel yells firing his shotgun at an attacker who was approaching her daughters, quickly finishing off the attacker.

Glenn dodges a knife in his direction and shoots another of the attackers in the head. Dale swings the butt of his rifle at another attacker who was moving toward Carol.

An arrow protrudes from the leg of one of the attackers courtesy of Sofia and falls to the ground, whereupon Carl jumps at him and stabs him through the eye killing him instantly. I don't have time to think about it, everything is happening so fast.

"We are releasing you, do not resist!" One of them yells as he lunges at me with an ax in his hands. Given this, I pointed my gun at him and shot quickly killing him a few meters from me. At that, I started shooting at the attackers who were approaching us.

Shortly after, the attackers were eliminated thanks mostly to the power of the firearms, some of us were injured with minor cuts, however, Otis and Patricia died from their injuries.

"Why would they attack us? How low have people fallen?" Dale asked with an unreadable look as he shook his head looking at the bodies on the ground. However, one of the attackers was not quite dead and takes Dale hostage by threatening him with a knife to his neck.

"Let it go!" I scream as I point my gun at him. "Let it go right now!"

"I'll let him go if you lower your weapons and promise to let me go." He stutters the assailant as he holds his knife to Dale's neck.

"You don't have to do this." Dale says weakly.

"Okay, we'll lower our weapons and you can go, you have my word." I say placing my weapon on the ground, in that, the rest of the group also place their weapons on the ground.

The assailant pushes Dale towards us as he begins to run into the bushes, however, a machine gun blast shoots him down, killing him instantly. The eyes of all of us widen in shock and panic at the sight of a new person with a smoking rifle in his hands.

"You cannot negotiate with them, they are no longer people." Says the strange person, while behind him several armed men appear along with the Dixon brothers.

"Good old Merle got some new friends." Merle says with a fucking smile. "And guess who else I found?"

Behind Merle comes Shane with a shotgun to his shoulder looking at us like he can't believe it before a small smile breaks out and his eyes glaze over. "I found them, thank God I found them." It's all he says.

"We found Shane two weeks ago and he has spoken highly of you. Recently our village was attacked by these beasts." Says the man pointing his gun at one of the bodies on the ground. "Since then we have been tracking them, however, they travel in small groups indiscriminately attacking anyone they come across." He says shaking his head before looking at us with interest.

"We have a village a few kilometers from here, we can take them in our vehicles, we have food, electricity, security and we can also treat their injuries." He says, at this my eyes do not stop looking at this person and then at Shane who nods at me.

I look carefully at the members of my group, some with doubt in their eyes but with contemplation. We need the help of these people.

"We accept your offer." I say with a small sigh. Maybe things will start to look up after all.

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"My name is Philip Blake, but you may refer to me as the Governor."

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Author's note:

Justin has made too many plot changes so a lot of things will be different from the TV show.

The group does not meet the horde on the road due to leaving the CDC 1 day later than in the series. As a result, Sofia is not lost, however, they still managed to find the farm for supplies, and Carl was not shot.

Randall's group did not appear, remember that they met Justin before Rick's Group, therefore, the entire plot of Randall at the farm never happened and Shane did not distance himself from the group so much.

Shane has his problems and is trying to face them thanks to the words that Justin told him a long time ago.

The farm is still invaded by walkers, however, Shane distracts most of the walkers allowing the rest to escape safely.

In the television series, the group spent 8 months wandering aimlessly after the farm until they found the prison. However, here they meet some members of 'The Wolves' and later the Governor's group 1 month after the farm.