digging graves// rick grimes x OC//

Triggerfinger Part 1

Night has fallen, a dim light flashes inside the flipped vehicle. Lori lays unconscious inside, a gash along her forehead leaks blood. The walker, that caused her to crash in the first place, notices the meal and begins to push at the glass. It moves further up, its dead eyes landing on the hole in the windshield. It begins to push its head into the hole, trying to get to the woman inside. Lori begins to regain consciousness, seeing the sight in front of her, she begins to yell. Terrified.
——
Hershel, Glenn, and Winona gather around Rick. Staring at the body of Tony. "Holy shit," Glenn breathes out.
"You alright?" Rick asks the younger male.
"Yeah."
"Graves?"
"Ask me tomorrow."
"Hershel?"
The older man looks around the bar before nodding, "Let's head back."
Rick squats, grabbing Tony's shotgun. He begins to pat his pockets, finding a few more shells.
Glenn crouches to grab Dave's handgun. Lights begin to cascade around the room. "Car. Car," Rick whispers, "Get down." The four begin to sit against the wall.
Winona hears an engine turn off and doors opening. "Dave? Tony? They said over here?" A man's voice says outside.
"Yeah," another replies.
"I'm telling you, man, I heard shots," a different voice says.
"I saw roamers two streets over. Might be more around here," voice number two says.
"It's hot," the first man says, "We gotta get out of here."
"Dave! Tony!" the voice, who heard the shots, yells out.
"Shut up, you idiot! You wanna attract 'em?" The first voice retorts, "Just stick close. We gonna find 'em."
The group watches in silence as silhouettes of the men approach the doors and the window. Winona's heart was hammering in her ears, she was petrified. "Dude, he said to stay close," voice two says.
Glenn looks to Rick in fear, as the footsteps continue to move.
——
The walker continues to attempt to push its rotting face inside the car. Peeling the skin off as it forces it inside. Lori, begins to attempt to get out of the car, climbing over to the passenger side that was pointing towards the sky. Unable to pull herself up, she falls back inside. The walker had now managed to begin to push its hand through the glass. The decaying body successfully gets its hand all the way in, grabbing at the woman inside. It grips onto her hair, causing her to begin to scream. She reaches for a makeshift weapon and stabs the walker through the eye, killing it.
She gets out of the car, taking a step back. However, before she's able to relax, another walker grabs at her, "Shit!" she yells out. It rips her coat off, and she kicks it in the leg, knocking both her and the walker down. The walker grabs at her legs, "No!" She begins to crawl towards a detached hubcap as the walker continues to try to chow down on her flesh. She grabs the hubcap, knocking it into the corpse's face. The walker was still alive, she needed to kill it and fast. She stumbled back to the car, eyes landing on the gun inside. The dead man gets up as she reaches for the small revolver. Getting a hold of it, Lori turns back to see the corpse approaching. Taking aim, she fires, hitting it directly in the eye. Knocking it down for good. She looks around, paranoid for anymore walkers.
——
All was quiet on the farm, everyone too concerned for the missing to worry about anything else. Patricia begins to set the dinner table as Andrea and Shane walk in. "They should've been back by now," Andrea states.
"Yeah. They just got holed up somewhere," Shane theorizes, "We'll— we'll head out first thing in the morning," he clears his throat as he begins to scoop the food, "Thank you." Patricia gives a small nod. Shane looks at the young boy, "Carl, I want you to keep your head up, okay? Your old man, he's the toughest son of a—"
"No cussing in the house," Patricia quickly and sternly interrupts.
Shane's mouth twitches, "Sorry."
Carol walks towards the living room, "Lori, dinner."
"She's not in there," Maggie responds.
"Where is she?" Dale asks.
The table goes silent as everyone looks around. Shane leans forward, that same switch Winona witnessed at the hospital flips inside him once more, "Carl, when's the last time you saw your mom?"
"This afternoon," he answers.
"She was worried about Rick, asked me to look in on Carl," Andrea explains.
"She went after them?" Dale questions.
"She didn't say that," Andrea says.
Shane stands up, "Nobody panic. Gonna be around here somewhere." This causes everyone else to stand and begin to look for the missing woman.
——
Winona's heart was practically in her throat as the four of them waited with their backs against the wall. Looking, listening, for any sign the strangers were leaving. Hearing the boards creak, Rick gets up, peaking through the curtain. He crouches back down, scooting over to the other three. "Why won't they leave?" Glenn suddenly whispers, causing Winona to jump at the unexpected voice.
"Would you?" Hershel replies.
"We can't sit here any longer," Winona declares in a hushed tone.
"Graves is right," Rick agrees, "Let's head out the back and make a run to the car." They all stand, beginning to move, but the sound of gunfire quickly halts their progress. They all go back to their spots along the wall.
The faint conversation from the strangers can be heard through the thin windowpane, "What happened?"
"Roamers, I nailed 'em," the gunman replies to his group.
"They disappeared but their car's still there. I cleared those buildings. You guys get this one?"
"No."
"Me neither."
"We're looking for Dave and Tony and no one checks the damn bar?" The strangers quickly make their way to the front of the building.
Rick clicks the safety of his gun off. Glenn glances towards Winona with a scared look upon both of their faces. The door begins to be pushed open and Glenn, without hesitating, slides against it to hold it shut. "What?" one of the strangers says.
"Someone pushed it shut. There's someone in there," the man who tried opening the door explains to his group. Winona slowly slides next to Glenn to hold the other door shut. "Yo, is someone in there?" the man asks, his voice now louder, "Yo, if someone's in there, we don't want no trouble. We're just looking for our friends."
Winona's eyes drift to the two corpses lying on the floor, she grimaces. "What do we do?" the one asks to his group.
"Bum rush the door?" one suggests.
"No, we don't know how many are there. Just relax," the one who opened the door says, he speaks up once more, "We don't want any trouble. We're just looking for our friends. If something happened, tell us. This place is crawling with corpses. If you can help us not get killed, I'd appreciate it."
Winona looks past Glenn to see Rick rubbing his forehead. The man weighing his choices. "You're bugging. I'm telling you nobody's in there."
"Someone guard the door. If there in there, they might know where Dave and Tony are."
Hearing the sounds of footsteps departing, Rick hesitates before speaking up, "They drew on us!" Hershel facepalmed at the predicament that was going to put them in.
The footsteps began to get closer, "Dave and Tony in there? They alive?"
"No," Rick answers truthfully.
"They killed Dave and Tony," the man informs his group.
"Come on, man, let's go," one of the other men says.
"No, I'm not leaving, I'm not telling Jane. I'm not gonna go back and tell them that Dave and Tony got shot by some assholes in a bar," the leader argues.
Rick gets frustrated, "Your friends drew on us! They gave us no choice! I'm sure we've all lost enough people, done things we wish we didn't have to, but it's like that now. You know that!" Glenn glances to Winona who has concern etched into her features. Rick continues to try and de-escalate the situation, "So let's just chalk this up to what it was— wrong place, wrong—"
BANG
A shotgun fires, cutting Rick off. The man had shot through the frosted glass door. Rick stands up, beginning to lay suppressive fire, "Get out of here! Go!" he commands Glenn, Winona, and Hershel. The three waste no time running towards the back of the bar. Hershel and Winona make it around a wall, while Glenn is stuck hiding beside a piano, unarmed. Winona gasps, she crouches down, sliding the shotgun, that had slipped from Glenn's grasp, back to him. They make eye contact with each other as they try to catch their breath. The group was in for a hell of a lot more than they bargained for.
——
1486 words