digging graves// rick grimes x OC//

What Lies Ahead Part 4

Morning arrives and the group gathers around. Rick rolls out the pack of weapons Carl had found, "Everybody takes a weapon."
"Those aren't the kind of weapons we need. What about the guns?" Andrea argues.
"We've been over that. Daryl, Rick, Winona, and I are carrying. We can't have people popping off rounds every time a tree rustles."
"It's not the trees I'm worried about," Andrea continues.
"Andrea, noise attracts walkers. Remember how pissed you were when Rick fired all those shots in the city? Now imagine if you attracted another herd from firing at a false alarm."
"Exactly, what Win said," Shane agrees, "Say somebody fires at the wrong moment, a herd happens to be passing by. See, then it's game over for all of us. So you need to get over it."
Andrea doesn't reply. Daryl begins to continue going over the plan, "The idea is to take the creek up about five miles, turn around and come back down the other side. Chances are she'll be by the creek. It's her only landmark."
"Stay quiet and stay sharp. Keep space between you but always stay within sight of each other," Rick advises.
"Everybody assemble your packs," Shane declares.
Rick walks over to Dale, "Keep on those repairs. We've got to get this RV ready to move."
"We won't stay here a minute longer than we have to. Good luck out there. Bring Sophia back."
Rick turns towards Winona, "I need you to stay back to help Dale, T-Dog's arm isn't looking so good and Dale will probably need an able body. Can you also keep an eye on Carl while we're gone?"
"Of course, be safe out there," Winona replies.
"I'm going with you," Carl states, "You need people, right? To cover as much ground as possible."
They all stand around, looking at the boy. Rick looks over to Lori for her decision, she begins to speak, "Your call. I can't always be the bad guy."
Winona begins to reason, "Well, he has all of you to look after him."
"I'd say he's in good hands," Dale agrees.
"Okay. Okay," Rick says, Carl gleams at Winona, "But always within our sight, no exceptions." Rick walks away to continue preparing.
Carl looks over at Dale and Winona, they wink at the boy and Winona gives a fist bump to Carl, "Be safe, Bud. No wandering off, okay?"
"I know, Nona," he hugs her and walks towards his mother.
Winona walks over to T-Dog, "How are you feeling, T?"
"Like shit, Wi."
She checked over his arm, "Shit, no wonder. The cut is infected. We're gonna need to find some antibiotics or else it's not gonna be good. I'm sorry, I thought the hydrogen peroxide would cut it."
"It's alright, Wi, you did what you could with what you had."
"You should be sitting, let me go find a chair." Winona finds a camping chair and brings it back for the man to sit, he thanks her and she sees an angry blonde stomping over.
Andrea goes up to Dale. The man holds his hands up, "Andrea, I'm begging you. Don't put me in this position."
"I'm not going out there without my gun. I'll even say please. It's not fair that Winona can carry one here, while I'm out there with nothing."
Winona chuckles, "You know the world doesn't revolve around you, right? I'm trained on gun safety and how to shoot, you didn't even know how the safety worked on a gun. I have my gun as back up, but in the mean time, I'll use my axe or one of those machetes."
Dale steps in between the two, focusing on the blonde, "I'm doing this for you."
"No, Dale, you're doing it for you," Andrea argues, "You need to stop. What do you think's gonna happen? I'm gonna stick it in my mouth and pull the trigger the moment you hand it to me?"
"I know you're angry at me. That much is clear. But if I hadn't done what I did, you'd be dead now."
"Jenner gave us an option. I chose to stay."
"You chose suicide!"
"So what's that to you? You barely know me."
"I know Amy's death devastated you."
"Keep her out of this. This is not about Amy. This is about us. And if I decided that I had nothing left to live for, who the hell are you to tell me otherwise? To force my hand like that?"
"I saved your life."
"No, Dale. I saved yours. You forced that on me. I didn't want your blood on my hands and that is the only reason I left that building. What did you expect? What, I'd have some kind of epiphany? Some life-affirming catharsis?"
"Maybe just a little gratitude."
"Gratitude? I wanted to die my way, not torn apart by drooling freaks. That was my choice. You took that away from me, Dale."
"But—"
"But you know better? All I wanted after my sister died was to get out of this endless horrific nightmare we live every day. I wasn't hurting anyone else. You took my chance away, Dale. And you expect gratitude?"
Everyone looks at the two. Dale shakes his head, "I don't know what to say."
"I'm not your little girl. I'm not your wife. And I'm sure as hell not your problem. That's all there is to say." Andrea walks off, and the group begins to disperse.
Winona goes over to Glenn and hugs him, "Be careful, okay?"
"When am I not?" Winona crosses her arms and raises an eyebrow, "Okay, okay. I can be reckless here and there, but I promise I won't be."
"Thank you." He nods and leaves as well. Rick glances back towards Winona, she mouths, "Good luck," to which he smiles and nods, heading into the forest.
——
Hiking through the tall grass, Carl slows down to talk to the man behind him, "Shane, look. Dad said I could carry it and mom said as long as I was—"
"Keep it down," Shane interrupts, "We're looking for Sophia. You need to focus on the task."
Dejected, Carl stays silent. Lori notices him lagging behind, "Got to keep up."
"I am," the boy quietly replies.
Lori watches as Shane slows down, she turns back to face the front, "You okay?"
"I think Shane's mad at me. Did I do something wrong?" Carl questions.
"No," Lori says, "No, honey, I promise you. He's just— he's worried about Sophia, that's all. Come on."
As the group continues to trek further into the woods, Daryl spots a tent. They all crouch down, except for Shane who begins to talk, "She could be in there."
"Could be a whole bunch of things in there," Daryl replies. He begins to venture towards the tent, Rick and Shane following behind him. The tracker stops, motioning for the other two to stay put, he unsheathes his knife and approaches the makeshift camp. Unable to get a full view of what awaits inside, he turns back to the others and shrugs his shoulders.
"Carol," Rick whispers out to the older woman. Beckoning her over, he begins to give her instructions, "Call out softly. If she's in there, yours is the first voice she should hear."
Carol does what she's told, "Sophia, sweetie, are you in there? Sophia, it's mommy. Sophia we're all here, baby. It's mommy." No response, or reaction from anything that could've been inside the tent.
Rick motions for Carol to stay as he sneaks closer to the tent. Daryl slowly unzips the opening, coughing at the odor that came out. He steps in, spotting a dead body of a man in a chair.
The group becomes concerned over Rick and Shane coughing and Daryl not saying anything. "Daryl?" Carol calls out.
Daryl grabs the gun the man had used on himself, and shoves it into his waistband. He steps out shortly after, "It ain't her."
"What's in there?" Andrea asks.
"Some guy," Daryl answers, "Did what Jenner said. Opted out. Ain't that what he called it?"
Suddenly, they hear the sound of church bells ringing. Hopeful to find Sophia, they race towards the noise. "What direction?" Shane asks.
"I think that way," Rick says, pointing ahead, "I'm pretty sure."
"Damn, it's hard to tell out here," Shane complains.
"If we heard them, maybe Sophia did too," Carol says confidently.
"Someone's ringing those bells, maybe calling others," Glenn theorizes.
"Or signaling they found her," Andrea offers.
"She could be ringing them herself," Rick mentions, "Come on."
——
Back on the highway, Dale was currently taking watch, T-Dog and Winona were wandering around. T-Dog stops, looking up at Dale, "Ain't you supposed to be fixing that radiator? What if they come back with Sophia and Rick wants to move on right away?"
Dale walks closer to the edge of the RV. "He's had it fixed since yesterday," Winona reveals as she goes to take a sip of water.
"What?" T-Dog asks in shock, "What was all that rubbing and sanding for then? That's just bullshit?"
"Yeah, that's one word," Dale says, "Another word would be pantomime— just for show. No one else needs to know that."
T-Dog looks away, "Pantomime," he whispers.
"If the others know we're mobile, they'll want to mobilize and move on."
"So you don't think they're gonna find Sophia, that it?" T-Dog questions.
"I'm just guarding against the worst," Dale clarifies.
"—Mainly Shane," Winona cuts in, "He's already thinking we're not gonna find her alive."
"Precisely... and sooner or later, if she's not found, people will start doing math. I want to hold off the needs-of-the-many-versus-the-needs-of-the-few arguments as long as I can," Dale continues to explain.
"That is one tricky hose, huh?" T-Dog jokes.
"Very," Dale smiles.
——
The group searching for Sophia finds the church. Shane speaks up, "That can't be it. Got no steeple, no bells." Rick ignores Shane and the logic and begins to head towards the building anyways.
Running up the stairs, they push open the doors and see three people in the pews. They turn around towards them, revealing that they are actually walkers. Lori hands Rick a machete and he goes in, followed by Shane and Daryl. The three take down the walkers that were occupying the place of worship. Rick yells out for Sophia.
Daryl walks up to the front where the cross stands, "Yo, J.C., you taking requests?"
Shane goes over to Rick, "I'm telling you, it's the wrong church. It's got no steeple, Rick. There's no steeple." Just as Shane finishes his sentence, the bells begin to ring again.
Rushing outside, they see it was a speaker playing the bells. Glenn rips the box open and tears out a piece, halting the noise. "A timer. It's on a timer," Daryl says out of breath.
"I'm gonna go back in for a bit," Carol says out loud. The group slowly losing hope as the time passes.
Andrea sits down against the wall, she overhears Lori and Shane talking. "Are you really leaving?" Lori asks.
"Don't you think it's best for all of us?" Shane replies.
"I think it is. What made you decide? Was it Winona?"
"Gotta back away. Just trying to be the good guy here, Lori, even if you or Win don't see it. None of this was intended. I hope you know that. Well, don't matter. As long as I said it."
"You're just gonna disappear?" Lori asks upset, "You're not even gonna tell Rick? What about Winona, huh?"
"He'd only try to stop me. No, that's on you. You tell him what you want. Or tell him nothing at all. You're his wife. And if you haven't heard, Winona and I aren't together, and she hellbent on keeping it that way."
"And Carl? We dragged him into this," Lori says on the verge of tears.
"I love Carl."
"He thinks you hate him."
"I'm trying to put some distance. I'm trying to make this easier. This ain't easy on any of us, least of all me. I'm the one who looses you."
Lori walks away. Andrea stands at the corner and Shane spots her but says nothing. Glenn was inside the church, but he also overheard everything, and boy was he excited to tell Winona.
——
Inside the church, Carol was praying, "Father, forgive me. I don't deserve your mercy. I prayed for safe passage from Atlanta and you provided. I prayed for Ed to be punished for laying his hands on me and for looking at his own daughter with whatever sickness was growing in his soul. I prayed you'd put a stop to it, give me a chance to raise her right, help her not make mistakes. She's so fearful. She's so young in her way. She hasn't had a chance. Praying for Ed's death was a sin. Please, don't let this be my punishment. Let her be safe, alive and safe. Please, Lord. Punish me however you want, but show mercy on her." After she finished, Lori gestured for her to come over and she began to console her, everyone watched in some form of pity.
——
Andrea, jogging after Shane, begins to pester him, "I'm coming with you."
"I don't know what the hell you're talking about," Shane says, playing dumb.
"I'm not stupid and I'm certainly not deaf. Look, I don't know the story."
"There is no story," Shane cuts her off.
"Fine, I don't care. Don't confuse me with someone who does. Look, all I care about is getting out of here. As far away as I can, like you."
"We're gonna sail off into the sunset together? We gonna hold hands?" Shane asks in disbelief.
"I'm not asking you to go steady, Shane. I'm asking for a ride, a chance to start over somewhere else. You observe this group lately? I have. I see two people who don't belong. We're the odd men out. Between the two of us, we'd make a great third wheel."
"So what? Say we do, we just run off. What's in it for me except for the extra ass I got to cover?"
"The chance to do something for someone else."
"Yeah."
"And a door that swings both ways. Put a gun in my hand, I'll cover your ass too." Shane scoffs, Andrea notices Rick walking behind him and she starts to walk away, "Think it over."
He sighs and heads over to Rick, "Got to move here, man. These people are spent. There's only so many hours of daylight left. We still got a long way back."
"I can't stop yet," Rick says.
"We still got a lot of ground to cover, whole other side of the creek bed. So we search that on the way back."
"She would've heard those church bells. She could be nearby," Rick states.
"She could be a lot of things."
"I can't go back," Rick repeats, "Her being out here is my fault."
Shane lets out a bitter chuckle, "That's great. Now they got you doubting yourself, huh?"
"What about you? You doubt me?"
"Hey, we can assign all kinds of blame."
"This means something, finding her."
"Oh man."
"It would be the miracle we need. We can't give up."
Shane sighs, patting him on the shoulder. He walks over to the group and clears his throat, "Y'all gonna follow the creek bed back, okay? Daryl, you're in charge. Me and Rick, we're just gonna hang back, search this area another hour or so just to be thorough."
"You're splitting us up," Daryl points out, "You sure?"
"Yeah, we'll catch up to you."
Carl jumps in, "I want to stay too. I'm her friend."
Shane chuckles quietly, and they all look to Lori. "Just be careful, okay?" she says.
"I will."
"When did you start growing up?" Lori asks pulling him in for an embrace.
Rick walks over and hugs her, "I'll be along soon enough." He then pulls away, taking out his gun, "Here, take this. Remember how to use it?"
"I'm not taking your gun and leaving you unarmed. I think Winona would actually kill me if she found that out." They laugh at that.
Daryl walks over and hand her the gun he found in the tent, "Here, got a spare. Take it." Andrea rolls her eyes at this. Daryl's group begins to depart.
"Give me a minute?" Rick says to Shane. Shane nods and Rick walks into the church. "I don't know if you're looking at me with what? Sadness? Scorn? Pity? Love? Maybe it's just indifference," he says towards the crucifix, taking off his hat, "I guess you already know I'm not much of a believer. I guess I just chose to put my faith elsewhere. My family, mostly. My friends. My job. The thing is, we— I could use a little something to help keep us going. Some kind of... acknowledgment. Some indication I'm doing the right thing. You don't know how hard that is to know," he looks back up at the crucifix, and chuckles putting his hat back on, "Well, maybe you do." Rick begins to walk out, but shortly spots and turns back around, "Hey look, I don't need all the answers. Just a little nudge. A sign. Any sign will do."
As Rick walks down the stairs, Shane speaks up, "Get what you needed?"
"Guess I'll find out," Rick answers.
——
Daryl's group is heading back towards the highway. Carol begins to talk, "So this is it? This the whole plan?"
"I guess the plan is to whittle us down into smaller and smaller groups carrying knifes and pointy sticks," Andrea says, she turns to Lori, "I see you have a gun."
"Why, you want it? Here, take it," Lori says, fed up. "I'm sick of the looks you're giving me. All of you," she turns to Carol, "Honey, I can't imagine what you're going through. And I would do anything to stop it. But you have got to stop blaming Rick. It is in your face every time you look at him. When Sophia ran he didn't hesitate, did he? Not for a second. I don't know that any of us would have gone after her the way he did or made the hard decisions that he had to make or that anybody could have done it any differently. Anybody?" No response. "Y'all look to him and then blame him when he's not perfect. If you think you can do this without him, go right ahead. Nobody is stopping you."
Andrea hands the gun back to Lori, "We should keep moving."
——
During the search for Sophia, Rick's group hears branches snap, expecting a walker, they draw their weapons. However, what they see is a buck walking through the brush and stopping in a clearing. Rick smiles when he sees Carl get excited. Shane raises his shotgun to shoot but Rick stops him, nodding towards his son, who was walking closer. Shane smirks at the sight. Carl looks back towards the two with a wide grin donning his face. They're surprised to see Carl getting so close. The deer was staring right at him.
𝑩𝑨𝑵𝑮
Carl flies back, struck with a bullet that passed through the deer. Rick rushes towards his son in disbelief. Crashing to his knees with tears flooding his eyes.
——
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