crooked heart → the walking dead ⁵

[ 012 ] when the dead come knocking.

CROOKED HEART.

chapter twelve, when the dead come knocking.
[ season nine, episode ten ]

THE DEAD NEVER SLEEP.

Odessa learned that a long time ago. It's been many years since she's seen one of her ghosts, but it's also been a long time since she lost someone she loved.

She sits with her back against the guard post wall. She told Tara she'd wake her up when her shift ended, but Odessa's shift ended two hours ago.

Silent tears fall down her cheeks as she mourns a dead man. Jesus Rovia, one of the best people she's ever met in her life. Her brother, her friend. He's been there for her since they met all those years ago, even if she pointed a gun at him the first time they ever met.

He was good.

Jesus was a good man.

And just like with Carl, that goodness is what got him killed.

As she sits in the darkness, Odessa wonders if she has to be that person again. The girl, the monster she was all those years ago during the war. She doesn't want to be that girl again. She doesn't want to seek vengeance, she doesn't want to pick up her knives again.

But Jesus is dead.

Cori and Flynn are in pain.

Brielle is angry.

Koda is confused.

And there's one thing Odessa Grimes doesn't play about, it's something she's never played about.

Her family.

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The two girls, Mara and Lydia, sit side-by-side against the far wall of the cell. They stare at Daryl and Odessa who sit in two chairs, looking through the bars at the girls.

After hearing about Daryl pulling Henry out of his cell because he told the sisters about the Kingdom, she agreed with stopping the eavesdropping. They have family in the Kingdom. People they love. Odessa wants to slap Henry upside the head for being so damn stupid.

"You finally come to kill us?" Lydia asks them.

Daryl says nothing as he pulls a small, orange container out of his pocket. One pill rests inside. He holds it up for the girls to see. His words are directed at Lydia, "it's for your ear. You keep pullin' on it like it hurts."

She turns her head away.

"No?" Odessa raises her eyebrows. "Fine by us, we don't give a shit. Means we got more for the rest of us."

"What is this?" Mars glares at them. "Some good cop, bad cop shit?"

"It's whatever you want it to be." Odessa says. She leans forward, resting her elbows on her knees. "Two of ours are missing. One of them is one of my best friends. We found their horses, though. Half skinned, half eaten. You two know anything about that?"