digging graves// rick grimes x OC//

Chupacabra Part 2

    The sound of a crossbow breezes through the woods, landing in a squirrel that Daryl had his eyes on. The hunter recollects his bolt and stuffs the carcass behind him. He cautiously weaves the horse through the trees and down hills. A faded doll washed up on a log catches his eye. He slows the horse as he looks down the ledge. Hopping off the horse, Daryl ties it to a tree, and taking his crossbow in his hand, he walks further down the steep hillside. 
     As he approaches the small doll, he picks it up and recognizes it as the young girl's. "Sophia!" he calls out, hoping she may be nearby. With no answer in return, he climbs back up the hill to the horse, remounting it and heading along the overgrown path.
     Further along, some birds fly out in front of the horse's face causing Daryl to have to calm it down, "Woah. Easy easy," he reassures. He presses on.
     Not seeing a snake camouflaged among the leaves, Daryl directs the horse to continue. However, as the slithering creature hissed, the horse became spooked and began bucking, throwing the man off the saddle. It gallops away, not looking back, while Daryl tumbles down the rocky hillside into the water below. As he finally reaches the bottom he grimaced in pain, "Son of a bitch." Excruciating pain burned at his side, he glances down to find his crossbow bolt causing the discomfort to his abdomen— it had impaled him during the fall. Daryl groans, blood turning the water a deep red around him. He lays unmoving, unable to get up from the injuries, he mumbles, "Winona is gonna kill me."
    Regaining his strength, he crawls out of the water, clutching his wounded side. He reaches the shore and immediately takes action, unsheathing his hunting knife to remove the sleeves of his tattered flannel. He ties the two pieces of fabric around his abdomen and around the bolt to secure it, Winona told him it was a better not to remove it if possible. He gazes up, seeing the rocky face that he would need to conquer in order to get back to the camp. Slowly getting up, he limps over to a large stick and digs it into the sandy dirt. The sound of rustling and the all familiar sound of growling in the foliage nearby causes him to cease. He begins to feel for his crossbow, discovering that it wasn't near him and that it was most likely in the water. Daryl takes the stick and begins combing the bottom of the pond where he fell, eventually pulling it up when he finds it.
    Using the stick to help walk, he reaches the cliff side and begins attempting to climb it. His breathing becomes ragged as he puts more and more strain on his wound. He pushes through the discomfort as best as he can.
——
    On the farm, Glenn is torn up knowing Lori's secret. He watches as she approaches and he quickly stands up. He opens his mouth, but before he can speak, she cuts him off, "Mind your business, Glenn."
    "You're pregnant," he whispers.
    Putting the bucket down, she stops, "You can't tell anybody, okay? It's bad enough Winona found out, I don't need anyone else knowing."
    "Wait. What? Winona knows? What do you mean she knows?" he quickly whispers.
    "It doesn't matter how she knows, Glenn, what's matters is that she knows and no one else needs to. Okay?" Lori harshly whispers back.
    Glenn's eyes wander behind her, landing on the two potential fathers coming back from their search. Lori turns around seeing them as well, turning back she gives Glenn a, "They don't know either," face. He picks up on what she was expressing, "You haven't told him yet?" Lori doesn't answer and instead focusing back on the bucket. Glenn rolls his eyes and walks away, deciding to find Winona.
    Lori runs her hands through her hair as she walks over to Rick and Shane. Seeing Shane aggressively take the shotgun out of Rick's hand, she looks at Rick confused, "Something wrong?"
    He waits until Shane is out of earshot, "I just had a long talk with Shane," he pauses looking over her face, "He wants to call off the search."
    Lori tilts her head and quietly speaks, "What do you think?"
    Rick shakes his head, "What if it was Carl? Would you want us to keep looking?"
    "If it was Carl, yes I'd want to know one way or another," she answers without hesitation.
    "Shane says my good intentions are making us weaker, that I can't make the hard decisions for the good of the group."
    "They're all hard decisions," Lori responds.
    "But maybe I'm holding on to a way of thinking that doesn't make sense anymore. He says it's math, basic survival— how much fuel, how much food, how much ammo. Not much room in that equation for being soft. It's pretty simple when you start thinking of life like that."
    Lori grabs his face, "Hey," she says, "None of us were prepared to be living life this way. You are making the best decisions you can with the information you have. I don't see soft in that."
    Beth walks up behind the two, "Mr. Grimes," the couple breaks apart, "My dad wants to talk to you." Rick nods and walks towards the house, leaving Lori alone.
——
    Once Glenn had left Lori, he was on a lookout for Winona. Finding her over by the fences with some of the cattle, he approaches her. He sees her with a sad smile as she is spaced out looking at the cows. "Hey, Wi," he greets softly, "You good?"
    She snaps out of her daze, "Oh, hey Glenn," she greets back, "Yeah, I'm fine."
    "You knew?" Glenn asks. She looks at him confused, he continues, "About Lori?"
    Winona's eyes widen and she looks at him shocked, "How did you—" remembering he was the supply runner, she connects the dots, "You got her the test, didn't you?"
    Glenn nods, "Yeah. She was pretty adamant about keeping it secret, did she tell you?"
    Winona's eyes lower to the ground, a sad expression replaces the shocked one, "I found out last night. It was after I got back with Daryl. Everyone was doing their thing and I saw Lori acting shifty— walking out towards the field alone and with a knife. Curiosity got the best of me and I followed her. I shouldn't have," Winona looks up to see Glenn studying her, "I watched as she took the test, her reaction gave me all the information I needed. But when I was trying to leave, knowing it wasn't my business, I ended up stepping on a branch and got caught. She then confessed she doesn't know who's baby it is, stating that Shane could very well be the father," Winona rubs her temples, "I felt hurt. My best friend just admitted that she had sex with my fiancé. Granted, Shane and I are over, but a part of me still aches for him. It's hard getting over someone you loved. I couldn't deal to be around her so I left, heading back to our tent. That's when you guys saw me and asked what was up."
    Glenn rubs her back, trying his best to comfort her, "Jesus, Nona, you can't catch a break can you?"
    She gives him a small smile, "I guess so. Next thing you know, more shit will go down based on my current luck," she sighs. She looks back to the cows, "I think that's why I came out here. With the cows."
     Glenn raises his brow, "What do you mean?"
     She smiles as she watches the animals graze, "I grew up on a small farm. I can remember, when I was little, being excited to help my dad feed the cows in the morning," her face falls, "When I was barely double digits, my dad passed and my mom sold the farm making us move into town. What's funny is that was when I met Shane and Rick, we all went to the same high-school. I wasn't close with them and I don't even think Rick liked me back then, he would always avoid me or ignore me when I'd wave to him in the hallways," she laughs leaning against the fence, "I've missed the countryside and staying here reminds me of my younger self," she shrugs, "I guess watching those cows keeps me grounded. It sucks knowing I'll never see my family again, but with the cows, they're untouched— hidden— from this shitty new world we're living in. It's peaceful to see them, it feels like a look into the old world."
     Glenn smiles and looks out to the cattle as well, "You're right," he leans against the fence, "I had two sisters that I grew up with in Michigan. My parents had immigrated from Korea, so being the son of first generation immigrants I had some pretty high expectations set for me. I graduated school and decided I wanted to move south, I got tired of those brutal winters," he laughs, "I ended up getting a job as a pizza delivery boy in Atlanta," his face slowly falls, "I kinda always felt like I failed my parents because I never went for a bigger and better job. And once the end of the world happened, it was chaos. It was hard coming to terms I would never see my family again. I ended up almost getting myself killed and T-Dog rescued me, we stuck together and we started meeting more of the group as time went on," he reveals, "I'm kinda glad that supply run went to shit when I saved you and Rick, who knows where we would be now."
     "Probably walker food," Winona snorts, "Thanks for saving us. I'm glad we're getting to know each other, finally," she chuckles.
     "I'm happy I did, and I am too. We call each other best friends but we don't know a lot about each other," Glenn laughs back.
     "You're right about that," Winona looks towards the farmhouse, "We should probably go help around camp, I need to check up on Carl anyways."
     "Yes boss," Glenn mock salutes, "Lead the way."
——
     Daryl continues attempting to climb the steep hillside. His skin is covered in a combination of blood and sweat. He stops looking to see how far he has made it up, he was almost to the top. Grunting, he motivates himself, "Oh, come on. You've done half. Stop being such a pussy. Come on." Breathing heavily, he tries to move up but he is unable to get good footing. Losing his grip, he starts falling back, all his progress— gone.
——
1800 words