wastelands → the walking dead ¹

[ 019 ] missing pieces.

WASTELANDS.

chapter nineteen, missing pieces.
[ season two, episode eight ]

"DON'T LOOK, DON'T LOOK," Daryl says to Carol as he pulls her to her feet. Shes fast to turn around and shove him off. She takes off running in the direction of the RV.

Odessa gun remains on the ground where it fell. Her tears fall from her face, hitting the dirt beside her fallen gun.

Beth's sobs fill the air in the place of Carol's as she makes her way towards the walkers.

Odessa watches with sad eyes as Beth brushes her father off when he tries to stop her. She quickly reaches the walker she searches for and pushes another off of her.

"Ma—" Beth sobs as she rolls the walker over. Her eyes catch the first real glimpse of her mother's reanimated and decaying face.

But then, the walker, who was once her loving and caring mother, reaches up and grabs hold of Beth's golden hair. She screams.

Before anyone can react, Odessa is screaming, "no!" And then she's running as fast as she can. She is the first to reach Beth. Her arms go around her in attempt to pull her away from the too strong walker. Seconds later, everyone else is around them, arms going around both Beth and Odessa in attempt to get them away while other pull at the walker.

T-Dog kicks the walker. Amidst the chaos, Andrea grabs the pickaxe that Shane used to ruin everything. With a grunt, Andrea plunges the tool through the head of the walker.

Everyone releases Beth. Odessa hesitates but she does. Hershel pulls his youngest daughter into his arms, shielding her away from turn trauma.

"Odessa," Rick touches her arm gently. She looks at her dad with red, tear-filled eyes.

"I'm sorry," her voice cracks as she apologizes. Only she isn't sorry for what she did. She isn't sorry for stepping up when needed and killing the walkers. She's sorry for her father, for him not seeing the real problems.

She will not apologize for doing what was evidently the right thing. It could have been done in a better way but they all knew in the end they could not live next to a barn full of man-eating monsters.

Odessa bends down and snatches her gun off of the ground. She begins to make the trek back to the RV so she can be with Carol. Her blue eyes glance towards the house where Shane, Rick, and Glenn follow closely behind the Greene family.

The three men are all there for different reason. Glenn is there to comfort Maggie. Shane is there to badger them. And Rick is there to stop Shane from doing something he will later regret.

Odessa at stops walking. She looks at the RV before looking behind her, towards the woods. Without thinking twice, the teenager turns on her heel and begins to walk in the direction of the woods.

When she gets deep into the woods, she climbs a tree. She lays her head back against the trunk. In the peace of the woods, she allows her tears to fall full force.

Sophia.

The sweet, timid little girl is dead. Odessa felt heart ache when Amy, Jim, and Jacqui died. But this is different. Sophia is— was twelve years old. The same age as Odessa's own baby brother. Only a child. Odessa looked out for her. Odessa sat with her and held her while she cried. Odessa taught the girl how to handle a knife just in case she ever needed to defend herself against a walker or her father.

She failed Sophia.

They all failed Sophia Peletier.

How many others will Odessa Grimes fail and watch die? Her own brother? Her parents? Dale? Glenn? Daryl? Beth? T-Dog? Who else will she fail in this world? Who else on this farm will die?