digging graves// rick grimes x OC//

Pretty Much Dead Already Part 1

    After the fight with Rick, Winona promptly stayed away from him. Avoiding not only him, but his family too. Every time she ignored the Grimes, it pained her more and more. She decided upon going to bed as early as possible and waking up as early as she could.
    The morning came much faster than she had anticipated. Even though she turned in before the sun fully set, Winona was unable to get a good sleep. Her mind constantly replaying the fight, her thoughts echoing the words Rick spit at her. When she had gotten up, she got ready for the day. Tiredly wiping her eyes, she steps out of her tent she had gotten from the run. "Good Morning, Winona," a voice says.
     Winona squints as her eyes begin to adjust to the dim morning light, she sees Carol starting to prepare some breakfast. She yawns, "Jesus, how do you wake up so early all the time?"
    The older woman chuckles softly, "Don't let it fool you, I'm not that much of a morning person either."
    Winona shares a laugh, "Well it is a beautiful morning already. Let me help you."
    "Oh, you don't have to," Carol argues.
    "I know I don't, but I want to," Winona smiles going over to the woman.
    As time passes, more of the group begins to awake. The pair finished breakfast and the group began to eat. Andrea sits, sharpening her knife. Winona gives a quick glance to Rick, but to her surprise, he had already been looking her way. She quickly looks back to her food. Rick spaced out, his thoughts running through his head. Lori glanced over to the woman, she then turned to Rick, "Hey," she said kissing him on the cheek and snapping him out of the daze, "Where'd you go?"
     He turns his face to look at her, "I'm here."
    Winona nudges Daryl who she was sitting by, "Glenn seem to be acting strange to you?" she asks, seeing Glenn stare over to the figure of Maggie shaking her head on the porch.
    "When doesn't he act strange?" Daryl huffs quietly.
    Winona nods, "Fair enough." She watches as Glenn looks over to Dale, who was nodding his head. Raising a brow, confusion grows as he gets up and walks to stand in front of the group.
    "Um, guys," he starts, "So..." he pauses fiddling with his hands, "The barn is full of walkers." If they weren't paying attention before, they definitely were now. Everyone turned with shock on their faces, Winona choked a bit on her food. Dale was the only one who didn't have a big reaction. He knew Glenn was going to reveal what was hidden inside the rotting wood.
——
    The group immediately headed to the barn to confirm what Glenn had exposed. Shane peeks through the slats of wood, seeing at least a dozen walkers inside. He stomps back to Rick, "You cannot tell me you're alright with this."
     "No I'm not, but we're guests here. This isn't our land," Rick declares.
     Shane yells frustrated, "This is our lives!"
    "Lower your voice," Glenn frantically says.
    "We can't just sweep this under the rug," Andrea piped up.
    "It ain't right. Not remotely," Shane says. He begins to pace, "Okay, we've either got to go in there, we've got to make things right or we've just got to go. Now we have been talking about Fort Benning for a long time."
    Winona groans frustrated, a headache starting to form, "God, Shane. Would you just shut up about Fort Benning already?"
    Shane shakes his head, "No, we're talking about it. We're need to leave."
    "We can't go," Rick demands.
    "Why, Rick? Why?" Shane asks.
    Carol moves up, "Because my daughter is still out there."
    "Okay," Shane scoffs rubbing his mouth, "Okay, I think it's time that we all start to just consider the other possibility."
    "We're not leaving Sophia behind," Rick states.
    Daryl steps forward, abandoning Winona's side, "I'm close to finding this little girl. I just found her damn doll two days ago," he argues.
    "You found her doll, Daryl. That's what you did. You found a doll," Shane emphasizes.
    Daryl swats his hand, yelling, "You don't know what the hell you're talking about."
    "I'm just saying what needs to be said," Shane yells back, "You get a good lead, it's in the first forty-eight hours."
     Rick steps in between the two, "Shane, stop."
    The man keeps going, "Let me tell you something else, man. If she was alive out there and saw you coming all methed out with your buck knife and geek ears around your neck, she would run in the other direction!"
    Daryl gets pissed off, trying to get up in Shane's face. Rick pushes the two away from each other and he goes to hold back Shane. Winona stands in front of Daryl pushing him back, she looks Shane dead in the eye and flips him off, "You're a piece of shit. I hope you know that."
    "Screw you, Winona"
    Rick yells at the angry man, "Back off!"
    Shane looks at Lori, "Keep your hands off me!" He begins to stomp away.
    "Now just let me talk to Hershel," Rick says, "Let me figure it out."
    Shane turns, his voice raising to a yell, "What are you gonna figure out?!"
    Lori pushes him back, "Enough!"
    Shane ignores Lori's attempt at pushing him back, Rick does too— focusing back on the man, "If we're gonna stay, if we're gonna clear this barn, I have to talk him into it. This is his land."
    Dale steps forward, "Hershel sees those things in there as people— sick people— his wife, his stepson."
    Rick looks at him, "You knew?"
    "Yesterday I talked to Hershel," Dale explains.
    Shane turns to the older man, "And you waited the night?"
    "I thought we could survive one more night," Dale answers sternly,  his voice growing louder, "We did. I was waiting till this morning to say something. But Glenn wanted to be the one. Winona knew too. And I know if she would've thought holding it one more night would be a problem, I'm sure she would've told you."
    Rick slowly turns to face the woman, "Yeah, a big secret like that..." Winona quickly looks away and Rick continues, "I'm sure she would've told me."
    Dale didn't catch on, "See? We were okay for another night and she thought so too."
    "The man is crazy, Rick, if Hershel thinks those things are alive or no," Shane yells. The commotion gained the unwanted attention of the walkers inside the barn. The undead began banging against the wooden door of the barn, the sudden growls scaring a few of the group.
——
    The sun was rising higher in the sky as Shane surveyed the barn. He approaches the door, pulling against the locks. As he tugged on the lowest one, the walkers inside pushed against the door once more, startling the man. He reached for his gun but quickly relaxed. He hadn't noticed the approaching figure, "Jumpy, aren't ya?"
    "What do you want, Winona?" he snaps.
    She sighs, "You've been down here for hours. I also wanted to say sorry for snapping earlier."
    "Yeah, well, someone oughta be. Why do you care?"
    "I still care about you, asshole," she says leaning against the scrap wood, "You've seemed a lot more irritable lately."
    "Maybe it's the fact you've ended things? Ever thought of that?"
    "Maybe it's because Lori ended stuff with you," she grumbles.
    Shane pinches the bridge of his nose, "What do you want, Win?"
    "I heard you were planning on leaving, you taking Andrea too?"
    His eyes widen but he quickly recovers, "Nah, I'm not planning on leaving anytime soon. What about Andrea?"
    Winona rolls her eyes, "C'mon, Shane, you act like I'm stupid. I guess you never grew out of your 'man-whore' reputation from high school."
     Shane glares, "Shut your mouth."
    "Oh no. Did I strike a nerve, big boy?" she mocks. Winona shakes her head, "You gotta chill Shane. You drooling over Lori won't do you any good."
    "So what are you sayin'? You and I get back together?"
    "Oh god no," she laughs bitterly, "I'm saying you and Andrea suit each other. You should focus on that. It might do you some good in the long run."
    "I'd rather not take advice from my ex," he crosses his arms.
    She raises her hands, "Hey, I never said you had to," sighing, she presses on, "What I'm saying is— I guess... I guess I still care about you. Even though you wrecked me and it didn't seem to faze you, I still care. I loved you, and it's not something a person can get over in a few weeks. I don't like seeing you spiraling like this. Just please take care of yourself and don't do anything extreme."
    Shane sighs, leaning beside her, "I never stopped caring for you either, Win. I know what I did was really shitty and I'm sorry about that. I wasn't thinking straight. Seeing you ignore me or avoid me completely did hurt— it hurt a lot. I don't blame you. I'm sorry for how I treated you, I really did love you too. But you were right," Winona looks at Shane and raises a brow as he continues, "We're different people now. We've changed. And our relationship suffered because of it, but I won't let that stop me from looking out for you. I've finally started to come to terms with you and I not being 'you and I' anymore."
    She gives a bittersweet smile and reaches out her hand, "Friends?"
    He shakes it, "Friends. I hope you find someone."
    "Me too," she pulls her hand away, "And I think you should really go for Andrea. She's pretty badass and can handle herself well."
    He chuckles, "I know. I've seen her in action."
——
    Rick was pacing he decided to head down to the barn to make sure no walkers were getting out. However, he stopped dead in his tracks seeing the sight of Winona laughing with Shane. A feeling Rick couldn't pin down, spread throughout his body. His heart twinged seeing the two smiling together. Rick missed Winona and he didn't know how to fix what he had done. He was kicking himself in the ass for the stupid words that came barreling out when he was enraged. But he wasn't angry at Winona, no, he didn't think he could ever be upset with her, he was frustrated with Lori and Winona ended up getting caught in the crosshairs. The man felt terrible, Winona told him she still trusted everything he did and he didn't doubt it, so why did he snap at her? He was upset with Lori for keeping that secret. Winona did what she thought was best, and she was right— it wasn't her business, why couldn't Rick see that in the moment? He snapped out of his daze and shook his head to clear his thoughts. Giving one last look, Rick heads back towards the camp.
——
    In the chicken coop, Maggie gathers the freshly laid eggs. "Maggie," Glenn said, coming up to fence, "Hey, Maggie, just talk to me." She left out the door, shutting it. She walks around the side as Glenn approaches her once more, "Hey." Ignored again. "Maggie," he repeats.
    Finally she turns around, "Give me your hat." When Glenn doesn't respond, she continues, "You said talk to you, I'm talking to you. Give me your hat." The man obeys her and hands over his tattered baseball cap. She places an egg into the hat and puts it right back on his head with enough force to crack it.
    He cringes and removes his hat, "Why would you waste an egg like that?"
    She smirks and turns back around, "I think it was rotten."
——
    Carl sits at the picnic table with a textbook, as Lori supervises his work. He pauses, "Does Shane think Sophia's dead?"
    Lori ponders over her answer, "Shane's just scared."
    "Of the walkers in the barn?" the young boy asks.
    "Yeah," she replies, nodding.
    Lori looks out towards the barn and Carl gathers his words, "Mom," he looks to Lori, "I'm not leaving until we find Sophia. And I Don't want to go even after that."
    "Well, we're not leaving, Carl," she reassures. "You finish those problems," Lori says trying to change the subject.
    "I just think she— she's gonna like it here. This place, it could be a home," Carl concludes.
    Lori pulls him into an embrace.
——
    Tossing the saddle onto the stand, Daryl grunts from his still healing wounds. Carol walks in, "You can't."
    "I'm fine," he huffs.
    "Hershel said you need to heal."
    "Yeah, I don't care."
    "Well, I do. And you know Winona will have your head if she finds you exerting yourself. Rick's going out later to follow the trail."
    "Yeah well, I ain't gonna sit around and do nothing."
    "No, you're gonna go out there and get yourself hurt even worse", Carol argues. When Daryl remains silent, she continues, "We don't know if we're gonna find her, Daryl. We don't." Daryl turns around in disbelief to stare at the woman, Carol looks down, "I don't."
    He walks over, "What?"
    "Can't lose you too," Carol states. Daryl squints at the woman who was beginning to cry. He walks away pushing over the saddle, pissed off. He groans, grabbing his wounded side. Carol rushes over, "Are you alright?"
    He snaps and brushes her off, "Just leave me be." As he walks away he mumbles under his breath, "Stupid bitch."
——
    Dale watches the pacing Shane in front of the barn. He turns around and Glenn speaks up, "Andrea's looking for you."
    "Thank you, Glenn."
    "Any chance you got an extra hat?" he questions.
    Dale shakes his head and slips off the bucket hat that adorned his head and tossed it to the man, "Nope."
    "Thanks," Glenn said.
    Just then Winona walks up, "Heya, Pops. Rhee."
    "Hey, Wi," they greet back. Dale heads into the RV as Winona climbs up the ladder to keep Glenn company.
    "So why are you rocking Pop's hat?"
    Glenn sighs, "Maggie smashed an egg over my head in my hat because I told the group about the walkers."
    Winona pats his back, "Yikes. Sorry, Rhee."
    Glenn shrugs, "Yeah, sucks. I either do the right thing and lose the girl I like or don't do it and potentially cost the group their lives."
    "Hey. It's gonna be okay. She'll come around, I know it."
    "If you say so," Glenn says glumly.
    Winona rolls her eyes and nudges him, "Oh stop being so negative. What happened to you being 'a glass half-full kinda guy?'"
    He gives a small chuckle, "Yeah, you're right. Maybe I'll try talking to her again."
    "That's the spirit, Glenny," Winona laughs. However she's quickly stops when they hear Andrea and Dale's conversation.
——
    Dale steps into the RV, his eyes widening as he sees Andrea with all the guns. She wastes no time, "Going off with Rick to look for Sophia."
    "I thought he was talking with Hershel," he speaks.
    "He is. We're gonna go after. I'm headed to the barn in the meantime. Shane wants a watch duty down there."
    "Does Rick?"
    Andrea pauses as she slings the bag over her shoulder, "Why wouldn't he?"
    "Are you only getting yours?" Dale asks referring to the guns. Andrea gives a look of judgment and the older man continues, "I don't know what's going on with you and him."
    "Him?" she questions.
    "Shane," he clarifies.
    "Dale."
    "It's not my business. All that matters to me is that you— you may not really know him. I mean look how he was with Winona."
    "We don't need to do this. You and I are finally—"
    Dale interrupts, "It's important."
    "I get it. You don't like him."
    "It isn't that."
    "Then what is it?"
    "Is that how you want to be? Like him?"
    Andrea looks off, "He's not a victim."
    Dale shakes his head, "You don't know him."
    "Dale, I need you to stop. You spend so much time watching me, looking out for me."
    "You want to beat me up anytime I show any concern. Go ahead. I'm done."
    "I'm not beating you up, Dale. I'm okay, really. Things are... different."
    "You got your gun."
    "Okay," she says walking out.
——
    Winona sees Andrea as she walks towards the barn, she calls out, "Andrea!"
    The blonde turns around, "Yeah?"
    Winona climbs down the ladder and walks over, "I know about you and Shane—"
    Andrea cuts her off, "Oh my God. Jump off my case."
    Winona waves her hands frantically, "No no no. That's not what I'm getting at. I think you should go for him. You two are a good match."
    Andrea shifts her weight to her one leg, "Oh. Huh. Didn't expect that. Thanks."
    Winona nods and heads back up to Glenn. Andrea turns back to continue to the barn. Glenn looks down on the ceiling vent, "You okay?"
    "Yeah," the older man calls back. He pauses for a moment, "You guys mind running and getting me some water? I just— I need a second."
    "You'll keep watch?" Glenn calls back.
    After not getting a response, Winona chimes in, "Pops?"
    "Yeah sure," he calls back from inside, zipping up the bag of guns.
——
2896 words

hey sorry it's been awhile since the last update. i know this update is pretty short too. i've been meaning to continue the story. lots of stuff planned for rick and winona, so keep an eye out. thanks for reading :)