crooked heart → the walking dead ⁵

[ 011 ] adaptation.

CROOKED HEART.

chapter eleven, adaptation.
[ season nine, episode nine ]

"YOU DIE NOW," A voice whispers.

Cori shakily turns her eyes back to Jesus. She gently lifts his head and sticks her knife into the back of it. As she pulls it out, a sob slips past her lips.

"Cori," a hand grabs her shoulder. "We gotta go."

She looks up to see Aaron looking at her. Tears fall down her face. "We got him."

Daryl nods at her. Cori pushes herself to her feet, barely able to keep herself standing. She stumbles through the open gate.

Daryl and Jesus pull Jesus's limp body into their arms. Michonne follows them out of the gate. Theo rushes forward and slams the gate shut. He swiftly locks it.

Cori's mind is numb as she races away from the cemetery and the man she murdered.

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Odessa and Brielle makes their way to where Alden, Enid, Tara, Marco, Flynn, and DJ stand around a table.

"I mean, shouldn't we give it a little while longer?" Alden questions. "Michonne's only been gone a few hours."

"I mean, it's almost been a full day since they went out looking. . ." Enid trails off.

"And given what Rosita said," DJ says. He glances at the mother and daughter as they come to stand between Flynn and Tara.

"Des?" Tara looks to her. "Any suggestions?"

She shakes her head. Odessa then looks to the boy beside Flynn. "Marco?"

"Maybe we have two two-person teams loop around their part of the grid, see what we see." He suggests.

"Okay." Tara nods. "Let's do it. One loop. No risks. And get Oscar from the gate. We're gonna need a fourth."

"I'll do it," says a sudden voice.

All eyes turn to see Luke, one of the five new faces. "Hey. . . Luke here. Uh, just say you needed an extra hand? Cause I got two. Um. . . you need help, I'm your guy."

"You sure?" Odessa questions.

"Yeah, uh, Connie and Kelly, they're— they're in the gardens already. And Magna and Yumiko, they're— they're out there. I just wanna do my part."

"He can ride with me." Alden says.

Odessa and Tara share a small smile at this. Odessa has never been fond of strangers or new faces but she likes Luke.

"Hey," Luke says as they shake hands. "Two Hand Luke." He laughs at his own joke. "That was a bad joke."

Odessa laughs lightly at the joke. Flynn grins to himself while Brielle speaks up, "I like that."

Luke points at her with a grin.

Odessa watches their exchange with bright eyes and a hidden smile. For so long now, Brielle has only had a handful of people she cared about. And Now Luke is here, and Odessa can tell the teen has already taken a liking to the older man.