Black Sheep - Rick Grimes x Male

Hounded

The silence in the cafeteria made Moon feel terrible. It was a far change from the laughter last night. It seemed the losses had finally gotten to them. Though there was a silver lining in the dark tunnel, she was nameless but already the most loved baby in the world.

She watched him as she fed from the bottle Moon held, he sat beside Maggie at a table. The man gave the baby a sad smile, unable to stop his mind from wandering. Moon thought of Lori, the woman he never gave much care to. He thought of how she should be the one getting to feed her baby.

He felt sorry she didn't get to experience this. She wouldn't get to watch her little girl grow up. And he felt sorry the baby wouldn't get to know Lori. She wouldn't know how much Lori would have loved her.

"Everybody okay?" They heard Rick's voice from across the cafeteria, Moon looked up to see the leader looking around cautiously. Like there was something no one else was seeing. And maybe there was, it was no secret Rick saw more, he simply knew more.

"Yeah, we are." Maggie answered him, her eyes slightly widened as she took him in. He was covered in walker blood and the bags under his eyes were dark and puffy, it looked like Rick had aged nearly twenty years just overnight. "What about you?" Hershel turned in his seat to face Rick, his kind eyes held understanding and exhaustion.

Rick didn't answer for a second, silently staring at the older man. "I cleared out the boiler block." He didn't answer Hershel's question, choosing to ignore it entirely. "How many were there?" Daryl asked only to keep Rick present. Once the conversation ended he'd be gone again.

"I don't know. A dozen, two dozen. I have to get back. Just wanted to check on Carl." Rick patted his son's shoulder lightly. It wasn't hard to catch onto the way he wasn't acknowledging his daughter. In fact the father seemed focused on ignoring her completely.

"Rick, we can handle taking out the bodies. You don't have to." Glenn stood from his seat, worry invading his voice. Glenn's never seen a man go crazy, he's met crazy but he's never seen or even been so close to someone losing their mind. And what happened to Rick, not just with Lori but before that, it was a surprise Rick hadn't lost it sooner.

"No, I do." Rick nodded to himself, believing wholeheartedly in the phone calls he was hearing. Moon didn't say anything, his eyes switched between the man and the man's daughter. The leader walked over to Daryl, the smell coming from his bloodied body shot around the room in a disgustingly strong matter. "Everyone has a gun and a knife?"

"Yeah, we're running low on ammo, though." Daryl wasn't speaking to the newly widowed man any different than he did yesterday. "Maggie, Moon, and I were planning on making a run this afternoon. Found a phone book with some places we can hit, look for bullets and formula." Glenn spoke up, looking at his brother who nodded in agreement to the plans he was hearing for the first time.

"We cleared out the generator room. Axel's there trying to fix it in case of an emergency. We're gonna sweep the lower level as well." Daryl kept Rick informed, showing his care in keeping Rick engaged.

Moon put a small towel over his shoulder, moving the baby so he could burp her. "Good. Good." Rick made his way back in the direction he came from, not caring to continue the conversation. "Rick!" Hershel called out to try and stop him, but Rick just kept walking.

"Just let him go. Whatever he's doing, he needs to. He knows what he needs better than we do." Moon spoke up when Glenn went to walk after him. The kind of pain Rick felt was one not many of the people in the prison could understand. But they all seemed to understand what Moon was saying.

"We can't just let him kill himself." Glenn looked at Moon like he was crazy, not catching on as quickly as the others. He thought his brother would be the first person to go after Rick. To try and keep him safe when he was clearly not okay mentally.