digging graves// rick grimes x OC//

Nebraska Part 2

As Rick joined the others around the pile of bodies, T-Dog spoke up, "You want us to start burying?"
"We need a service. Carol would want that," Andrea mentions.
"Yeah, we all want that," T-Dog reassures.
Rick stares ahead, not answering, Lori decides to step in, "Let's— let's dig a grave for Sophia, Annette and Shawn over by those trees," she plans, "And we'll need a truck to move the bodies."
Jimmy starts to move, "I'll get the keys."
"No no," Shane puts out an arm, stopping the teen, "I got the truck."
"And the others?" Jimmy questions, "That's a lot of digging."
"We bury the ones we love and burn the rest," Andrea explains.
Rick nods and Lori walks forward, "Let's get to work."
Everyone separates and begins to move the bodies. Lori turns around, facing her husband, she begins to whisper, "What did Hershel say?"
Rick looks around eyes landing on Winona who was exiting the house as Dale was walking in. He continues to watch her as she walks closer. Realizing he hadn't answered Lori, he slowly takes his eyes off the approaching woman and focuses back to the woman in front of him, "He wants us off the farm," Lori looks around now, eyes also landing on Winona as Rick continues, "Or Shane at least."
Lori shakes her head looking down, "That's not a surprise. We're lucky someone wasn't killed. And all that gunfire— more walkers could've heard it." Lori pauses as she studies Rick's face, "Baby, what is it?"
Rick sighs, pointing to the barn, "She was there the whole time."
"And you did everything you could," she reassures.
"Yeah, I know," Rick says frustrated, "I always do, don't I?" His eyes find Winona yet again, as she was almost near the barn. He looks down at his feet, "Went after her, protected her, killed those walkers, but she still got bit. And Carl still got shot." Lori nods, Rick presses on, "People are counting on me and I had 'em chasing a ghost in the forest."
"Hey," Lori places a hand on his cheek, but Rick backs away from her touch. He walks away, throwing a rock.
Winona witnesses the interaction, but as she walks past Rick, he doesn't meet her eyes as he continues towards the house.
——
Shane comes up to the truck, leaning against the side of the bed. He looks over to see Dale staring at him. He scoffs at the old man and gets into the truck. He fixes the side mirror to see Dale still looking at him. Flinging the door open he looks to the older man, "Do you got something to say, Dale?" no response, "Well, go ahead, man. Mr. Moral Authority, huh?" he chuckles, "The— uh— The voice of reason." Dale doesn't answer, upsetting Shane, he slams his fist against the wheel and gets out of the truck, "Let me ask you something, man. What do you do? What do you do to keep this camp safe, huh? What do you do? What, you fix up an RV? You babysit some guns. Man, you pointed one at my chest, right? But you just— you couldn't pull the trigger, could you? If I was such a danger, if I was such a threat, what did you do to stop me, huh? I smashed that barn open. I saved Carl. That's me. That ain't you. That ain't Rick. That's me." He turns back around, stomping back to the truck, "Tell you what, Dale— next time I need a radiator hose..." he scoffs sliding into the truck, "I'll give you a call, man." He drives off towards the barn.
——
The group helps dig the graves for the loved ones. Shane was helping Andrea dig hers while Lori gathered rocks. T-Dog steps out from the grave he had been digging, seeing all that had been dug, "That's it," he states.
——
Lori walks over to the RV, she steps in looking up at Daryl. She looks towards the grieving mother, "They're ready," Carol sat unmoving, "Come on," Lori encourages.
"Why?" Carol asks.
"'Cause that's your little girl," Daryl speaks up.
Carol looks at him, "That's not my little girl. That's some other," she pauses as a tear falls from her eye, "thing," she looks away, "My Sophia was alone in the woods. All this time I thought... she didn't cry herself to sleep. She didn't go hungry. She didn't try to find her way back. Sophia died a long time ago."
Lori stepped out of the RV, Daryl's eyes start to water but he quickly gets up to follow Lori.
——
Back in the farmhouse, Hershel gazes longingly at a photo of Annette before going through a drawer with a jewelry box tucked neatly inside. He begins to go through what was Annette's in the box and closet, placing them gently into a cardboard box. Hershel opens another drawer with his ties laying inside, he pushes them to the side to reveal and old flask. Setting it on the top of his dresser, he goes back to the box of Annette's belongings.
——
The wind continues to howl as everyone pays their respect at the gravesite. Shane was the first to break away from the group, causing the rest to follow.
——
Carol picks a delicate petal off of a Cherokee rose, bringing it closer for inspection. Daryl's story runs through her mind as she begins to crumple the pearly white petal in her fist. She begins to grab each of the flowers that bloomed in front of her, ripping them apart and tearing them out of the ground.
——
T-Dog lifts the upper half of a walker, while Andrea lifts the bottom. Winona begins to grab another as Rick walks over, "A few more trips."
Winona looks up briefly but continues to focus on the walker in front of her. Andrea begins to speak, "We got lucky. If that barn had any more, we could've been overrun."
Rick sees Winona struggling to lift the dead weight of the corpse and goes to help her. Opening her mouth to protest, T-Dog cuts her off before she's able to, "Good thing Shane did what he did when he did."
Dale speaks up, "You can't tell me this was right."
"It wasn't," Winona said bluntly, as the two lift the walker into the truck.
Rick nods, helping her slide the corpse in so the bodies will stay in, "She's right, it wasn't. It'll cost us with Hershel."
Andrea sighs in frustration, "He's grieving. He'll come around, see we had no choice. Look, I shot too. This wasn't all Shane."
Winona scoffs but says nothing. "Look, I got no qualms about it," T-Dog states, "Walkers in my backyard? Hm-mm," he hums in disagreement.
Winona speaks, "I'm not saying that we shouldn't have taken care of the walkers, but the way we solved it... was not the best approach."
Dale nods, "We created a panic!"
Lori, who had been silent the whole conversation, speaks up, "There's no point arguing about it. It's done. There's nothing we can do about it." She shares a subtle glance towards Rick, as if her words had a second meaning.
"Better get moving," T-Dog reminds as he slides into the drivers seat, Andrea goes towards the passenger side. Winona did not want to be left alone with Lori or Rick, so she kicked the tailgate, signaling an all clear, and sat in the back with the corpses. Rick and her lock eyes for a moment, before she breaks it, readjusting her legs as T-Dog drove away.
T hits a bump, causing an arm to break off of a decaying body, Winona alerts the two, "Hey! Hey!" Bringing the car to a stop, she gets off and runs to grab the detached limb, quickly tossing it in the back once more. She lifts herself back in the bed, "All good!" she calls out.
——
Later, inside the house, Glenn leans against a wall, his posture immediately straightening once he sees Maggie walking towards him. She looks at him and takes a deep breath, "So if your group leaves, you wouldn't stay?"
Glenn unfolds his arms, "I— I hadn't really thought about it. I mean, I— I didn't know—" he stumbles over his words, caught off guard by the question, "Do— do you think this is really the time... to discuss this, I mean?"
"Well, I'm not really feeling like there's a lot of time for anything."
Glenn steps forward, "No no, there— there is. There is. I mean, I-I— I want—"
Clattering from the kitchen cuts him off, Maggie turns around seeing a fainting Beth, "Oh my God." she rushes over to the younger girl.
——
Maggie sits next to her sister, who was laying with her eyes open , "Sweetie, can you hear me?" Lori rushes in, Maggie looks nervously at the woman , "What's wrong with her?"
"She might be in shock," Lori theorizes, "Where's Hershel?"
"We can't find him anywhere," Glenn speaks up, "Or Winona."
Lori leaves the room, Maggie continues to try to urge a response, "Hey, kiddo."
——
Lori ran to tell the others that Hershel was missing, leaving out the fact that Winona was also no where to be found. Rick and Shane begin to look for any clue as to where he might've gone. Rick sifted through the box that sat on Hershel's bed, "Your stepmother's things?"
"He was so sure she'd recover," Maggie says, "They'd just pick up where they left off."
Shane lifts up the old flask, tossing it to Rick, "Looks like he found an old friend."
Rick flips it over, inspecting it, as Maggie explains, "That belonged to my grandfather, gave it to dad when he died."
"I didn't take Hershel for a drinker," Rick states.
Maggie holds the flask, "No, he gave it up on the day I was born. He didn't even allow liquor in the house."
"What's the bar in town?" Rick asks.
"Hatlin's," the girl answers, "He practically lived there in his drinking days."
Rick walks over to Glenn, "Betting that's where I'll find him."
"Yeah, I've seen the place. I'll take you," Glenn mentions, he then pauses, "Hey... maybe Wi saw Hershel leave, and followed after him, she could be there too."
Maggie nods, "Yeah, maybe."
Rick tilts his head, "What? What do you mean?"
Glenn scrunches his eyebrows in confusion, "Lori didn't tell you?"
Rick glances back at an anxious Lori, "Tell me what? What's wrong with Winona?"
"She's been MIA since they got back from one of the trips to burn bodies," Glenn clarifies, "I asked T-Dog and Andrea but they said they didn't know where she went after getting back."
Rick turns to Lori, "You failed to mention that."
Lori crosses her arms, "I'm sure she's around the farm somewhere, probably with Daryl... besides, Beth needs her father."
He shakes his head, "Winona's a nurse, Lori! We need her here just as much as we need Hershel."
Lori's eyes widen, "I—"
A switch inside Rick flips, as he interrupts her, turning back to a shocked Glenn, "I'll get the truck."
"Okay," he says getting ready to follow.
Maggie steps in front of him, "N-no."
"It's an easy run," Glenn says confused.
"Like the pharmacy?" she mentions.
"Hey, Maggie?" Rick gets the woman's attention, "I'll bring him back," he chuckles.
"Maggie, that was different," Glenn whispers, slightly embarrassed.
Rick leaves the room, Lori follows after, "Rick?" he slows, "You want to have a conversation about this before you leave?"
Rick sighs, getting ready to answer. Shane comes out, cutting him off, "So you're seriously gonna go after this guy with everything that's going on, huh?" Rick pinches the bridge of his nose, "What you gonna do?" Shane questions.
Lori scoffs, "He's right. This is not the time to head off, not today. You don't know what's—"
Rick interrupts, frustrated with the two, "I'm not arguing. It's the least I can do for Hershel after we—"
"What?" Shane stops him, "After we what?" he steps between the two and walks away.
"Carl said he would've shot Sophia himself," Lori reveals, "That's your son. He's getting cold. He's growing up in a world with—— He's growing up in a world where he needs a father like you— around, alive, not running off, solving everybody else's problems."
"It's not just his problem I'm trying to solve. We need Hershel for the baby. I'm going after him," Rick declares, beginning to leave. Before he gets far, he turns back around, "And you've seem to have forgotten who else could be out there; Winona, our friend, a nurse. She helps Carl try and live a decent life in this world we're living in right now. We need her, not just for the baby, but for Carl. I'm going after her."
——
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