Chapter 18: Nebraska
I turn away from the scene in front of me, not believing what we, what I, had just done. I look over my shoulder one, quick, last time before slowly walking to stand at the back of the group.
"Don't look," Daryl says to Carol as he pulls her up to from the ground as I walk by. He starts helping her walk back to the farm, but she pushes him off of her and she walks away crying.
Hearing the sounds of footsteps, the groan of a walker, and screams, I can only assume the worse.
Quickly turning around, I see a walker yanking on Beth's -- Hershel's youngest daughter—hair.
Beth starts screaming in panic and we all quickly take action. Not wanted to lose another person in a span of two minutes, I rush to Beth's side.
I stomp on the walkers arm that I closest to me, breaking its arm and letting Beth loose a little. I yank Beth away before the walker has another chance to grab onto Beth.
Standing Beth up, I pull her back away from the walker and Andrea picks up a pickaxe, running over to the walker that Glenn has a secure hold on and put the pickaxe through its head.
"We've been out in those woods looking for her and she was here all along," Shane calls out to Hershel who was walking a crying Beth back up the path to the house.
"Leave us alone," Maggie says to Shane.
Rick runs to Shane, putting a hand on his shoulder, pulling him back.
"Hey man, get your hands off me," Shane snaps at Rick.
"You knew and you kept it from us," Shane says, pointing a finger at Hershel as he, Beth, Maggie, Patricia, and Jimmy are walking to the farm house.
"I didn't know," Hershel says to Shane with Beth tucked under Hershel's arm.
"That's bullshit and I think you knew."
"We didn't know," Maggie yells to Shane.
"Why was she there?" Shane yells at her.
"Odis, he put those people in the farm," Hershel says as he turns around, looking at Shane. "Maybe he found her and put her in there before he was killed."
"And you expect me to believe that?" Shane ask him rhetorically.
"Whoa, whoa, Shane, just give them a break would ya?" I snap at Shane, pushing him back away from Hershel.
"I don't care what you believe," Hershel says to him.
"Everybody, just calm down," Rick tries to reason.
"Get him off my land," Hershel yells, pointing at Shane.
"Let me tell you something," Shane says, walking towards Hershel. Maggie steps up to Shane and pushes him away from her father and slaps him.
"Don't touch him," Maggie yells at Shane. "Haven't you done enough?" She rhetorically asks and walks inside the house.
"I mean it, off my land," Hershel says, turning around before he got to the door.
Glenn walks into the house, following after Maggie.
*
I walk back down to the barn again. Lori and Carl are sitting side-by-side talking to each other, Hershel is walking around in front of them with a sniper rifle in his hands, and Andrea is crouching down next to Sophia's dead body, covering her with a blanket.
I stand in the middle of where Lori and Carl, and Andrea, looking between Dale, Andrea, the Grimes, and the dead bodies.
"Dale?" Lori asks.
"Yeah?" Dale asks, turning around to her.
"Can you take Carl up to the house?" She asks him, then turns to Carl. "I want you to rest," she says.
I notice Rick following after Shane to where we are standing.
"I'll go with you," I say, not wanting to be in the middle of another shouting fest between them.
Carl stands up and walks between Dale and I up to the house.
Looking over my shoulder, I regrettably look at the blood and bodies.
"It's going to be OK," I say, not knowing who I am assuring, Carl, Dale, or me.
*
A few hours later when some of our group finished digging graves for loved ones, we all stand together for the funeral.
Feeling someone walk towards me, I look and see that it's Daryl. Looking pass him, I see Hershel, Patricia, Maggie, Jimmy, and Beth looking down at the graves with tears streaming down their cheeks.
*
"Sweetie, can you hear me?" Maggie asks Beth as she strokes her cheek.
Glenn came to the camp by the house, telling Lori and I – who were cleaning clothes at the time – that Beth had passed out.
"What's wrong with her?" I ask Maggie, walking into the room where Beth is laying.
"She might be in shock," Lori says, looking at Beth, who has her eyes open, staring into nothingness.
"Where's Hershel?" I ask, knowing that he will be able to help his daughter.
"We can't find him anywhere," Maggie says as she puts all her concentration onto her sister.
Lori goes while I stay.
"Is there anything I can do?" I ask Maggie, crossing my arms, looking at Beth with concern.
"I need my dad."
*
"Your stepmother's stuff?" Rick asks Maggie as we stifle through Hershel's belongings in his room to find where he has gone.
"He was so sure she'd recover," Maggie tells him with a sigh. Looking over at Maggie from my place by the window, looking through some papers on a desk, I see her resting against a bureau against the far wall. "He was sure they would just pick up where they left off."
"Looks like he found an old friend," Shane says, picking up a flask on another bureau on the adjacent wall, passing it to Rick.
"That belonged to my grandfather," Maggie explains. "Gave it to dad when he died."
"Didn't take Hershel for a drinker," Rick says to Maggie as he passes the flask to her.
"No, he gave it up on the day I was born," Maggie tells. "He didn't even allow liquor in the house."
"What's the bar in town?" I ask Maggie. "He might be there," I suggest.
"Hatlin's. He practically lived there in his drinking days."
"Betting that's where I'll find him," Rick says to Maggie
"Yeah, I've seen the place," Glenn says from Maggie's side. "I'll take you."
"Alright, I'll get the truck," Rick says, walking out of the room.
*
"Her hearts racing, she's burning up, we need Hershel," I say to Andrea and Lori, updating them on Beth's condition. "He'll know what do to do."
"Would you look after Carl for me?" Lori asks Andrea as she paces to the window.
"Of course," Andrea says to Lori with no hesitation and Lori walks out.
I look over at Andrea, shrugging my shoulders, then turn back to Beth's room in case they need help.
YOU ARE READING
Revival (The Walking Dead)
Fanfiction-Seasons 1 and 2- Catelyn found a group she felt safe with. They had guns, ammo, bodies, and Daryl Dixon. #689 dead
