Dead Man Walking || RICK GRIMES POV -SLOW UPDATES-

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Refer to chapters 7, 8, & 9 for this part

The night was a long one. Every muscle in Rick's body begged him to stop as he and Shane pulled on a body, trying to clean up the camp. It wasn't until the sun started poking through the night sky that they decided to take a breather. But, there was still one thing on his mind – one person.

June had never regained consciousness after she fainted, and Rick tried to put it out of his head and tried to worry about the dead currently infesting the camp, but he couldn't. She infiltrated his thoughts when he had a moment of peace, nagging at him to check on her. So finally, after fighting the urge to check in on her all night, he convinced Shane to at least chat with Daryl, who had been standing outside the tent nearly all night.

The first thing Rick noticed as they slowly approached the rugged man was the insufferable tweeting from above them. In his exhaustion, he felt irritable, and the tweeting from above only annoyed him. If gunfire didn't draw walkers, Rick would've shot the damned bird that was getting on his last nerve.

"How is she?" Rick asked as they neared the man. Daryl popped his thumbnail out of his mouth and gave a curt nod, acknowledging the men.

"Still out cold," Daryl explained, "What the hell happened out there?" Rick only wished that he knew the answer. One minute, she was fine, mowing her way through the walkers; the next, she was a fragile shell of a woman. What set her off? Rick sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose, fatigue, annoyance, and stress rearing their ugly heads. Shane sighed heavily, darting his eyes in the other direction momentarily.

"I don't know," Rick muttered, "Could it be from exhaustion or something?

Shane shrugged, his mouth opening, "Man, she is one tough chick, though." Rick and Daryl both had to agree with that. Rick had never seen anyone take down as many walkers as she did. She went on autopilot and did what needed to be done, and because of her, they scathed by without suffering more significant losses.

"You know how many walkers she took out single-handedly? Damn impressive; Never seen a girl fight like that." Shane finished, and he was right. Rick had never seen a woman fight like June did the night before. But the energy she exerted with the run prior to the fight must've had her running on fumes.

"Which leads me to believe it was exhaustion." He said out loud.

"I don't know, man," Daryl muttered, "She bawled her eyes out there with Andrea, and she didn't even know Amy too well. Then, when I got her in the tent, she kept repeating something about summer." Maybe something about seeing Amy dead set her off? But why? Daryl was right when he said that June didn't know Amy too well, so what was it that knocked June Gomez on her ass?

A rustling came from within the tent, making all three men turn their attention to the entrance. A small whimper could be heard before the zipper opened, revealing a restful but miserable-looking June. Her eyes landed on the three, and she smiled weakly at them, showing them that whatever happened last night was a thing of the past. With a scrunched-up face, she used Daryl's leg to help her onto her feet, her arm slowly rising to cover her eyes from the beaming sun.

"You okay?" Daryl asked her.

"Yeah," She groaned, "Just sore is all." So that's how she wants to play it, Rick observed.

"Not what he meant," Rick said, trying to break down the wall she was putting up, "What happened last night?"

She merely shrugged as if it was no big deal and started stretching her sore muscles out, "Walkers attacked camp."

"After that," Shane pressed on, "The whole scene with Andrea and then you just –"

"Look," She snapped, "I'm fine now, and I rather not talk about it, okay?" Rick nodded alongside Shane and Daryl, his gaze dropping to his feet. He didn't want to push her into talking about something she didn't want to, and he definitely didn't want to get on her bad side.