Surviving the Apocalypse

Episode 5

A.N. Just realized I didn't include Elodie with any of the group's last episode, during Andrew's revenge. She was with Maggie, Lori, and Carl, but Maggie still delivered Judith. 

Also want to apologize for taking a few days to upload, I had a busy week and weekend. Back to posting, hopefully daily, this week. 

       There comes a time in life where you lose someone close to you, whether they're family or a close friend. A wave of anguish washing over you, pulling you further and further into a pit of darkness, until you're buried in grief. It hurts so bad, an indescribable pain, something you want so desperately to stop but it refuses, pushing itself into your heart, splitting it in two.

They lost two people, gained one, and no one knew what to do. Glenn had rode with Maggie to get something for the baby to eat, after Hershel looked the little girl over. Rick disappeared, leaving his frozen son behind, in the care of an old man, a mother, two prisoners, four teenagers, and a five year old.

Daryl couldn't imagine how Carl felt right now, even though he had lost both his parents. He loved his parents, in a 'you're my parents so I have to' kind of way, and it hurt when he found out about his mama burning up. Carl had good parents, even if they didn't get along too well themselves.

They both had areas in their parenting that needed some work, but they were one thousand percent better than Daryl's parents. Nathan, who had dealt with something similar not to long ago, was trying to get Carl to focus. The boy was in shock, having not only watched his mother suffer, but also put her down.

"Daryl, Oliver." Elodie called out to the two boys, needing something to distract them with. "Go help Nathan dig the graves." She ushered all three to get to work, before squatting in front of Carl.

Elodie had been with Maggie when she had to deliver the little baby, Lori's screams still echoing in her ears. She hated that Carl was the one to end it with Lori, but she also understood why he had wanted to.

"Hey, buddy." She spoke softly, trying to get Carl's eyes to focus on her. He had yet to shed a tear, his face stoic even at the ripe age of twelve. Even with his eyes pointed in her direction, Elodie knew he wasn't really seeing her.

       Slowly, they moved inside and out of the sweltering heat. Elodie had walked back through the hallways with Daryl and Oliver, the boys leading her to where T-Dog's remains were. They had agreed to carefully move his and Lori's bodies out and into the field, so they could be buried.

Unfortunately, they weren't able to find Carol's body, and a walker must have taken care of Lori's because hers was missing. They instead placed markers on their empty graves. Carol's headscarf was accompanied by a Cherokee rose, placed by Daryl.

Lori had a necklace, one Carl had found and given to her, because the stone matched her eyes. T-Dog had a baseball cap that he liked but never wore because he said his head enjoyed the breeze, and a cross necklace.

Elodie told the boys that they would have a proper funeral, once Rick and Carl were better and Glenn and Maggie were back. Daryl was hoping they would find a good bit of baby stuff, they had a few boxes of diapers but only one box was the size she needed now.

Beth was carefully rocking the newborn, managing to get her to quiet down to sniffles, rather than the wailing she was projecting moments ago. Daryl quickly made his way into their pantry/ storage cell, grabbing a diaper, pacifier, and a onesie from the shelf.

He handed them over to the blonde, helping her when she couldn't remove the paci from the package. It had a small bow on the front, a light pink color that was perfect for the little girl. Charlotte was standing next to him, looking up at the baby in awe, she had never seen a real life baby doll before.