Sheriff's Lover ||| Rick Grimes x Reader (TWD x Reader)

Chapter 34) Gone

Y/N walks up to the porch where Rick sits in a rocking chair.

"Hey." She says, leaning against the railing.

"Hey." He says back.

She takes a deep breath. "Listen... I wasn't supposed to say anything but... Carl was out in the swamps yesterday. He came across a walker stuck in the mud. He got scared and ran off."

Rick stands slowly, as he thinks. "This the same walker that killed Dale?"

She nods.

He sighs as he rubs his eye bags. "I'll talk to him. I don't know what's gotten into him lately."

Y/N shifts her weight onto her other foot as she gently crosses her arms in front of her chest. "That's not all. He had Daryl's gun. Took it from his bike."

Ricks eyes widen as she continues. "I gave it back to Daryl but... and I don't mean to intrude on your family, he might need to start carrying. Things are just gonna keep getting worse around here. Better to be safe than sorry."

Rick nods. "Thank you, Y/N." He takes a step closer to her. "And don't ever think you're intruding. You are part of this family now." He clears his throat. "You all are."
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Later, T-Dog, Daryl, and Y/N all go to the barn to get Randall.

They finally decided to send him away for good. She just wishes Dale could've been here for it.

T-Dog snaps the lock off the barn. "Yo, Randy. Governor called, you're off the hook." He opens the door and steps inside. Suddenly he shouts. "Oh hell no!"

He exits the barn with a panicked expression.

"What's wrong?" Y/N asks glancing at Daryl who is just as lost.

"Randall's gone."

Y/N peeks inside and curses. "Shit!"

She runs as fast as she can back to the house, calling for the others. Rick is first out. He runs up to her and grabs her by the shoulders.

"What happened?" He asks her quickly as he scans her eyes.

"Randall is missing."

Before long, everyone is back down by the barn.

"How long has he been gone?" Andrea asks.

"Hard to say." T-Dog says scratching his still recovering arm from when he cut it back on the highway.

Daryl comes out of the barn. "Cuffs are still hooked. He must've slipped 'em."

"Is that possible?" Carol asks.

Glenn sighs. "It is if you've got nothing left to lose."

Y/N shakes her head. "It doesn't make sense. The doors were locked from the outside. He couldn't have gotten out."

Suddenly a shout comes from behind them. Shane comes barreling out of the woods, nose all bloody.

Lori furrows her eyebrows in confusion. "What happened?"

"He's armed! He's got my gun!"

Shane gets closer and stops in front of Rick. "Little bastard just snuck up on me. He clocked me in the face."

Y/N narrows her eyes. Randall is small. He's probably the size of Beth. He is also weak and still recovering from a major injury. It doesn't add up. How could he have beaten Shane?

She's dealt with Shane. He's strong. It took everything in her to get away the last time he attacked her.

Rick glances at her. "Alright. Hershel and T-Dog, get everyone back in the house. Daryl, Glenn, Y/N come with us."

They do. They walk through the woods, Daryl trying to track. The sun is starting to set.

Shane points in a direction. "I saw him head up through the trees that way before I blacked out.
I'm not sure how long."

Glenn adjusts his grip on the gun. "He couldn't have gotten far. He's hobbled. Exhausted."

"And armed." Shane says again.

Y/N eyes him. "So are we."

Daryl shakes his head. "I don't see nothin'."

Shane shakes his head. "Hey, look, there ain't no use in tracking him, okay? He went that way. We need to split up. We spread out, we just chase him down. That's it."

Daryl narrows his eyes. "Kid weighs a buck-25 soaking wet. You trying to tell us he got the jump on you?" Y/N nods at that.

"I say a rock pretty much evens those odds, wouldn't you?" Shane replies.

Rick waves his hand. "Alright, knock it off. You three start heading up the right flank. Me and Shane'll take the left."

Y/N's eyes go big as she looks at Rick. He nods at her and gently pushes her toward the other two men.

Hesitantly, she goes with them, sparing one last look at Rick.
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Daryl points a flashlight at the ground. The sun has set by now and it's dark under the trees.
"There's two sets of tracks right here. Shane must've followed him a lot longer than he said."

Glenn points at a tree. "Fresh blood."

"There's more tracks. Looks like they were walking in tandem." Daryl says.

There's a pause and Daryl shines the light on the dirt. "Yeah, there was a little dust up right here."

Glenn itches his head. "What do you mean?"

"I mean. Something went down." He says waving the flashlight.

Y/N gets a bad, sinking feeling in her chest. She sighs. "I think it was a bad idea sending Rick with Shane. I'm going to go find them."

"Are you out of your mind?" Glenn asks.

Daryl shakes his head. "He almost killed you twice."

"Exactly. What if he tries to kill Rick? I have to go."

Hesitantly, they nod and she turns back the way they came, searching the dark woods. Every branch that snaps, every rustle of the breeze, makes her jump.

Is it Randall? Shane? Walkers? She doesn't want to find out. Finally she makes her way to a clearing, on a hill. She spots two figures ahead of her.

She pulls out her gun. She slowly sneaks up behind the first man. It's Shane. His back is turned.

He's talking to Rick.

Rick notices movement behind Shane and he spots Y/N creeping up behind the other man. He doesn't show a reaction but she swore she saw his eyes widen the slightest bit.

"I'm a better father than you, Rick. I'm better for Lori than you, man. It's 'cause I'm a better man than you, Rick. 'Cause I can be here and I'll fight for it. You come back here and you just destroy everything! You got a broken woman. You got a weak boy. You got that slut on the side." Shane says.

Rick huffs angrily. "You're gonna have to kill me unarmed." He takes his knife and gun and tosses it to the side.

Y/N raises her own gun. Rick takes a deep breath, speaking to Shane. "We're gonna lay down our guns and we're gonna walk back to the farm... Together. Back to Lori. Back to Carl. Put this all behind us."

He makes the mistake of glancing at Y/N. Shane notices his eyes move behind him. Shane whips around to see her standing 5 feet away, gun in hand.

Her eyes widen. Shane laughs. "Oh, look. Here's the slut now. I was planning on killing you later but you have damn good timing."

Y/N's hand shakes. Her finger rests on the trigger, as Shane inches toward her.

"I'll shoot you, Shane." She tries to sound confident but her voice gives away her fear.

Shane gets closer when suddenly he gets tackled to the ground. Rick is on top of him, trying to wrestle the gun away.

Shane gets the upper hand and flips onto Rick. The two are shouting. Punches are thrown.

Suddenly a gunshot goes off, and then all is quiet.
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