digging graves// rick grimes x OC//

Nebraska Part 1

The aftermath, something no one thought about. A silence followed Rick's gunshot, Carol's sobs intermittently disrupting it. The silence was heavy as Rick slowly spun to face the group. His eyes land on Shane, then Lori and Carl, then finally Winona. He watched her the longest. As she stands frozen, staring at the corpse of the little girl she had grown so fond of, tears rolling down her face without making a noise. She hadn't known she was crying as she wiped her face, surprised from the waterfall of tears cascading from her eyes. She breaks out of her trance hearing the gruff voice of Daryl, "Don't look. Don't look." Winona glances over to see him lifting Carol off the ground, the older woman pushes him away and begins to leave, sobbing louder.
The group looks in pity at the mother. Beth cries into Jimmy, Hershel holds his face in his hands as he looks upon the massacre in front of him.
Beth rushes towards the bodies, Winona tries stopping her, "Wait wait." The young girl brushes her off. Rick tries, too, but Beth glares at him. The teen looks over the corpses, stopping at a pile. She sobs as she pushes the dead walker that was on top off of a female one below. She rolls the body onto its back, "Ma..." However, the walker wasn't dead. It reached up, growling and grabs Beth's pigtails.
Everyone runs over, Shane grabs onto Beth trying to pull her away from the gnawing corpse. Glenn grabs at the walker's arms trying to break its grasp. "Pull her away, pull her away!" They get Beth out from the walker and Hershel runs over to her, comforting her.
T-Dog runs up, kicking the walkers head. Glenn fights against the walker to try to keep it on the ground. Winona gets frustrated of the back and forth between the group and the walker. Looking around, her eyes land on a weapon, grabbing a scythe that leaned against the barn, she pierces the walker's head, subduing the undead.
——
Hershel leads his family towards the house. Glenn follows Maggie. Shane proceeds to follow the older man, "We've been out. We've been combing these woods looking for her and she was in there all along?" Rick starts to jog to catch up to the other man. "You knew," Shane accuses.
"Leave us alone," Maggie talks back.
"Hey, Shane, just stop, man," Rick says grabbing the man's arm.
Shane slaps his hand away, "Get your hands off me."
"I—" Hershel begins but is quickly interrupted.
"You knew and you kept it from us," Shane argues.
"I didn't know," the older man says, his voice wavering.
"That's bullshit. I think y'all knew."
Maggie turns around, "We didn't know!"
"Why was she there?!" Shane yells.
"You're—" Hershel starts as Maggie leads Beth up on the porch, "Otis put those people in the barn. Maybe he found her and put her in there before he was killed."
"You expect me to believe that? What do I look like? Do I look like an idiot to you?" Shane asks.
"Shane, hey hey hey," Rick distracts the man, pushing him back.
"I don't care what you believe!" Hershel raises his voice.
"Everybody just calm down," Rick mediates stepping between the men.
"Get him off my land!" Hershel demands.
Shane steps forward, "Let me tell you something."
"Hey," Maggie yells pushing Shane away, "Don't touch him!" and slaps him in the face. Glenn steps forward to stay in between the two, worried Shane might lash out on Maggie like he's done to Winona. "Haven't you done enough?" Maggie asks walking up the stairs.
Hershel stops before walking inside, "I mean it— off my land."
Glenn looks between Rick and Shane and heads inside the house.
Shane turns away, "What are you doing?" Rick questions him. He doesn't give a response back, causing Rick to repeat himself, "Hey, what are you doing?"
"Daryl almost died looking for her, Rick. Anyone of us could have. I'm gonna tell you right now—" Shane points towards the house, "that son of a bitch, he knew."
"He didn't know," Rick defends, "He's not like that. He opened his home to us."
"Put us all in danger. Man, he kept a barn full of walkers."
"So you just start an insurrection, hand out guns and massacre his family?"
"His family's dead, Rick."
"Well, he doesn't believe that. He thinks you just murdered them in cold blood."
"No, man, I don't care what he thinks," Shane says, the volume of his voice rising.
"I was handling it, brother," Rick's voice rises, too, "I was handling it and you just—"
"You had us out in those woods looking for a little girl that every single one of us knew was dead! That's what you did. Rick, you're just as delusional as that guy," he scoffs and walks away, "You handling it, huh?"
——
The leaves rustle from the strong winds. Winona helps Andrea cover Sophia, a somber mood settles over the two women as Winona lays a hand on Andrea's shoulder. Andrea looks towards the RV, Winona looks over to see Daryl stepping in.
——
Inside, Carol sits gazing out the window. Daryl stands silently, Carol acknowledges him and takes his presence as comfort.
——
Glenn stands in the living room of the farmhouse, "I have to ask you—" Maggie turns her head, "Did you know she was in the barn?" Maggie turns around fully, she looks at him with disbelief and walks to sit in front of Glenn. He quickly covers, "You know, maybe in some way this is for the best. At least we know and now we can move on."
The man walked over to the window and Maggie raises an eyebrow, "Move on?"
"Yeah, it's just like it meant so much to everyone— finding her, you know? And then—" he turns back around.
"So now you'll just move on?" Maggie says cutting him off.
"If we can. I mean, we've lost others," he gives a sad laugh, "This is— this is Sophia. The whole group— this one was different."
"So what happens now?" she asks.
"We bury her... with your stepmom and your stepbrother."
"And then?" Maggie asks, tears brimming her eyes.
Glenn walks over to her, he holds her head in his hands and brings his lips to her forehead, "I don't know."
——
Carl sits unmoving from the ground in front of the barn, "I thought I'd find her."
"We all did," Lori consoles.
"I mean me— that I'd be the one. Like maybe she was hiding somewhere in a cave or a tree. She'd be safe and I'd find her and bring her back. He did the right thing, shooting her like that. I would've done it too," Carl reveals, Lori looks at her son with concern.
Lori looks between Winona and Dale, "Dale?"
The older man looks up, "Yeah?"
"Could you take Carl to the house?" she brushes Carl's hair, "I want you to rest."
Dale's glances towards Winona, "I'm sure Nona wouldn't mind." The woman looks up at the mention of her name.
Lori shakes her head, "I'm sure she's busy."
Carl pipes in, whispering to his mom, "Can Nona do it?"
The woman sighs, "Winona?"
Winona brushes her hands off her pants and straightens up, "Come on, Carl."
Carl smiles, grabbing onto Winona's outstretched hand, "Okay."
As the two begin to walk towards the house, Rick walks by, stopping Carl, "Hey, you dropped that," he says placing the cowboy hat onto his son's head. Rick nods towards Winona, but she ignores it and continues walking forward.
As they approach the house, Carl slows and looks up at the woman, "Why did you stop hanging out with me? Do you not want to anymore?"
Winona frowns, squatting in front of the boy, "Of course not, Bud. It's just—" she looks back towards Rick, "Things have gotten a little complicated and hard. I figured you should be spending as much time as you can with your family."
Carl from looking down, "Oh.." he then looks up at the woman, "But, Nona, you're family."
Winona freezes, her heart aching, she gives a sad smile, "I'm glad you think so highly of me."
"Dad does too," Carl says suddenly.
Her stomach flutters just at the thought of Rick, "I don't think so. He thinks the same of everyone else in the group," she replies standing back up.
The two start walking again, "He trusts you the most, Nona."
She gives a bittersweet chuckle, "You're just saying things now."
"It's true."
"Okay okay. Let's get you inside before your mom yells at me."
"I'm happy you're here Nona. I'm happy you stayed with Dad... that you brought him back."
She smiles at the boy, "I am too, Bud."
——
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