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chapter sixty-six | the unaware
LAUREL STARED AT the back of Tyreese's head, begging herself not to look at the burnt bodies in front of him. She focused on Rick's words besides the fact that Karen, someone she had considered a friend since saving her and Ren from the truck months ago, was burnt to a crisp after becoming sick of the flu that tore its way quickly through their home.
Daryl and Carol stood on both sides of her, all of them sharing the same look as Rick talked to Tyreese. "You found them like this?"
Tyreese looked back at the sheriff, "I came to see Karen... and I saw the blood on the floor. Then I smelled them. Someone dragged them out here and set them on fire!"
Laurel flinched slightly as Tyreese raised his voice, wildly swinging his hands around as he gestured to the corpses. She flinched harder when Tyreese abruptly turned to Rick, getting into his face. Rick remained calm but Daryl stepped behind the bigger man, shifting on his feet just in case as Tyreese said, "You're a cop. You find out who did this and you bring 'em to me. You understand? You bring 'em to me!"
"I know what you're feeling. I've been there," Rick calmly said, "you saw me there. It's dangerous—"
"Karen didn't deserve this! David didn't deserve it!"
Laurel shared a concerned glance with Daryl as Tyreese became more sporadic. He sent her a gesture to step back but instead, she stepped forward which caused Tyreese's attention to go to her. "Ty, I personally will bring whoever did this—"
Tyreese stepped into her face, opening his mouth to say something but before he could, Daryl grabbed his arm and pulled him back. Laurel gasped as Tyreese turned and grabbed onto Daryl's vest and threw him against the gate behind him. Rick, Laurel, and Carol all stepped forward to help him but Daryl held out his hand, gesturing for them to stop as Tyreese pressed him harder into the metal. Laurel shook her head, biting her lip as Daryl let the broken man yell in his face.
"We're on the same side, man," Daryl said calmly once Tyreese stopped yelling.
"Hey, look, I know what you're going through. We've all lost someone, we can help but you've got to calm down," Rick gently said.
Tyreese growled, letting go of Daryl to turn to Rick and punch him. Rick fell to the ground to the large's man strength. Laurel ran forward to put herself between the two men to try to stop Tyreese, but as doing so, Tyreese couldn't stop his punch before it landed on her temple.
Laurel fell to the ground in front of Rick, her cheek smacking into the concrete. She groaned, her arms coming up to cover herself as a ringing noise echoed in her head, only feeling someone's hands grabbing her.
It took her a few seconds to come to, opening her eyes to Carol crouching over her, whispering "I'm sorry" and behind her, Rick was punching Tyreese repeatedly before Daryl tugged him off. Tyreese rolled over with a sob, blood pouring out of his nose.
