𝑻𝑯𝑬 𝑮𝑶𝑶𝑫 𝑮𝑼𝒀 ❦ Rick Grimes

- eight

— ACT ONE OF THREE —
THE BEGINNING OF THE END

chapter eight | finished acting the part
* edited

CARL'S belching caused them to erupt in laughter. Most of them were wine drunk. Surprisingly, Sadie was the most sober of them all, after only having a few sips of the red wine before handing it off to her brother.

Her brother was shit-faced. As he normally had been from the day he turned twenty-one. That's where she found him when the world had gone to hell. Sitting in a bar off of forty two with Merle by his side.

The two of them had barely had one drink by the time Sadie had shown up.

"Is that who I think it is?" Merle muttered.

Daryl mumbled a few incoherent words as he watched his estranged sister walk inside Earl's. Her hair was longer, darker too. "What the hell are you doing here?" He stood up and yelled at her in frustration.

He was angry. Livid, even. They hadn't seen Sadie in over ten years.

"Thought I'd find you fuckers here," She said, almost as if she were bored. "Turn on channel seven." She demanded from the bartender.

And that first night, they saw what the world was succumbing to. The world was dying, and it was bringing the living down with it.

Sadie reminisced that awful night. Carter was still alive and so was Merle. She never imagined Daryl and her would be the last of them. In a perfect world, all of her loved ones would be alive. Not that there were very many of them to begin with. She toyed with the gold strand around her neck, holding an engagement ring.

Carter, her dead fiancé, made it almost a week before he got bit. He begged her to put him down, but she wouldn't do it. Or maybe she couldn't. Either way, Daryl was the one who took the gun from her hand and put Carter out of his misery.

Sadie was shook from her thoughts when she felt a burning gaze on her. She looked to see Rick, his bright blue eyes staring into her. He, too, had only had a few sips of wine.

He wouldn't let his guard down. Not this time. So instead, he stared at the woman across from him. Her curly, dark hair sat in a messy bun at the top of her head, held by a worn out hair tie.

It was no denying that Sadie was beautiful. Anyone with eyes would be able to see that. It was when she opened her mouth that you couldn't help but want to teach the girl a lesson.

"Maybe just stick to soda pop, bud." Shane laughed, along with the rest of them.

"Not you, Glenn." Daryl commanded, a smirk heavy on his lips.

Glenn's face fell, "W-What?"

"Keep on drinkin' little man, I wanna see how red your face gets!" Daryl sneered, causing Glenn to laugh even harder at the joke he made.

Suddenly, Rick stood up with his water glass in hand. "It seems to me we haven't thanked our host properly."

"He is more than just our host." T-Dog snickered.

A chorus of Thank You's, and Hoorah! came from the table, causing the doctor to raise his glass.

"So when you gonna tell us what the hell happened here, doc?" Shane asked.

"We're celebrating, Shane. Don't need to do this now." Rick warned.

Sadie rolled her eyes, turning to Shane, "Don't be a dick just because your idea was dumb, and Rick's wasn't."