Violent Delights¹︎ | D.Dixon

2.07 ➸

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CHAPTER SEVEN
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         LEONA STAYED WITH T-DOG, ANDREA, and Jimmy to bury the bodies. Annette. Shawn. Sophia. Leona helped T-Dog shovel one grave, and Shane helped Andrea after bringing the truck around to help transport the bodies. Jimmy had his own to do, and the silence that surrounded the five of them was almost deafening.

There wasn't enough manpower or time left in the day to bury all of the bodies, so Lori made the final decision that they stuck to burying loved ones: Annette, who'd been Hershel's wife, her son Shawn, and Sophia. The rest would be burned afterward.

Once the graves were dug to completion, they each hauled one of the three bodies beside each hole, dropping them in.

"I'll get Carol." Andrea stated, standing from her crouched position and wiping her dirt-caked hands on her jeans. Leona copied her actions, shaking her head.

"No, stay here with the others." She shot a glance towards Rick, who was talking quietly with Lori. "Watch them. I'll get Carol."

The blonde nodded in agreement, and Leona wondered if it was because she was worried that she was still irritated with her, but Leona didn't really care. She'd forgiven her once she'd gotten over her anger, and despite hating the situation she'd forced them into due to her ego, she was starting to understand.

T-Dog and Jimmy stayed behind, as well, and Leona headed to the RV, picking at the dirt remaining beneath her fingernails as she mulled over what she could say.

What could she say to a mother whose only child was dead? Leona wasn't sure, but after the spectacle Shane had brought about, she couldn't begin to imagine what the woman was going through.

Leona had built up hope in Carol, promising to find that little girl of her's, that Sophia was alive and they'd find her, and she'd lied. Sophia had been in the barn the whole time, and it was Shane who'd found her in the end. Not Leona, not Daryl, but Shane, high on his conquest for power.

The front door of the RV was wide open when Leona reached it, most likely done by Dale in order to allow some air flow to cool it off while it was parked.

She knocked on the outside three times before letting herself in, meeting Daryl's gaze first as she stepped into the compact space. He was sitting on the countertop, shotgun laying across his lap, with a solemn look on his face that Leona had never seen before. She gave his shoulder a reassuring squeeze as she moved to stand beside him.

Shifting her gaze over to Carol, she expected to find the image of a mother in morning, but instead the woman ignoring her presence completely as she gazed out of the window, her expression void of any emotion at all. Seeing Carol cry would've made her sick, but this? This was much worse.

"They're ready." She told her softly. Carol's gaze dropped to the table in front of her, shaking her head. "Come on."

"Why?" Carol's voice shook slightly.

"'Cause that's you're little girl." Daryl told her, his tone matching Leona's.

Carol looked up at him, and Leona saw that all of the emotion that was void on her face was lost in the depths of her eyes. There was so much pain swimming there, and anger, and hopelessness. An ocean Carol was drowning in. Leona's eyes began to well up with unshed tears.