Brother's Keeper ¹ || The walking dead

4.

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Riven had been forced out of his tent later that night by Amy, who all but practically dragged him out of his tent and planted him next to Dale near one of the fires,

Rick was speaking, but Riven was barely listening as his mind raced with thoughts about Merle, He hoped that old fart wasn't dead.

He pulled his jacket closer to him as he felt chills going through his body. He wanted to go back to his tent, away from everyone, and wait until Daryl came back from hunting.

"..you want to rethink that log, Ed?" Shane spoke, and everyone turned to Ed,

"It's cold, man." Ed replied, waving off Shane, and Riven scoffed under his breath,

"What? You think you can play by different rules just cause your fat -"

"Riven!" Riven snapped his mouth shut as Amy whacked his leg, keeping herself from laughing, and she seemed to be the only to find it amusing as everyone else gave him a judging look.

Ed glared at him, and Riven glared right back, a smirk appearing on his face as he took in Ed's bruised face,

"We keep the fires low." Shane told Ed as Carol removed the log from the fire, and Riven stood up, removing his jacket. It was light and didn't do much to keep out the chill air, but he placed it over Sophia, she had a thin jacket on, and with his, it will keep her from going cold.

Riven threw Ed a look before walking away, and he heard footsteps behind it, but he didn't turn around as he recognized who the footsteps belonged to.

"..Riven, wait, I need to talk to you for a second." Lori called out, stopping Riven from walking away from her by gently grabbing his arm, and he turned to face her.

"I want to apologize about before, I was just worried about Carl. When I couldn't see him, he told me what happened, and thank you for bringing him back." Lori said, and Riven stared at her for a moment before nodding his head.

He turns to walk away, but Lori's voice makes him pause, " I meant it, Riven, Thank you."

"..your kid is bored of doing homework." Riven told her before actually walking away this time.

Riven made it back to his tent, and he went inside, lying down and letting out a deep sighed,

He couldn't sleep, sleep didn't come naturally to him even before the dead started to walk, he always had troubled sleeping,

Maybe it was because he spent most of his nights hiding from his father or just simply scared that his father would simply get mad at him for sleeping,

Or maybe he spent his nights awake whenever Merle friends were around, always listening to them, listening to the floorboards creak, wondering if they were gonna go into his room. He usually went into Daryl's room, but sometimes Daryl was never at home when Merle had his friends over.

Riven let out a small sigh, closing his eyes as he passed a hand over his face. He shouldn't be thinking about it, Merle friends were probably dead.

"..Merle is probably dead too.." a voice in the back of his head quietly said, and Riven hated thinking that Merle could be dead.

He wanted to shut off his mind and wanted all the unwanted memories and thoughts to stop. He wanted it all to stop, but he never knew how to simply shut it off.

A noise from outside caught his attention, and he sat up and listened closely, but he didn't hear anything.

He went back to lying down but the noise came back again, and he grabbed his knife from his bag before walking out of his tent, glancing around, it was dark and he saw nothing but trees.

Riven quickly spun to the left as a shuffle sounded, but he relaxed once he saw it was Sophia,

"..can I stay with you tonight?" Sophia quietly and nervously questioned, and Riven nodded, putting his knife away.

"Your mom okay with this?" Riven questioned as Sophia walked over to him,

she nods her head, "she told me to ask."

Riven nodded, and he sat outside of his tent, pulling his bag out and pulling out a small piece of wood.

"What are you doing?" Sophia questioned, sitting inside of the tent, but she kept her eyes on Riven, intrigued.

"Carving a mermaid." Riven replied,

"What for? You don't seem the type to like mermaids." Sophia said, and Riven shrugged,

"Amy's birthday, and she likes mermaids, just don't tell her I carved it, it'll go to her head, and she'll think I like her." Riven told Sophia, who nodded,

"I promise," Sophia grinned a little as she held up her small hand, holding out her pinky.

"Gotta pinky promise, though or else I'll tell." She told him, a little hesitant of being playful around Riven,

She knew he had a temper, but Riven never yelled at her, never snapped at her, He never hurt her. He looked after her instead, and Sophia liked to imagine that if she had an older brother, he would be like Riven.

Riven stares at her for a moment before hooking his pinky with hers, "Our secret, don't go telling Carl about this, alright? Cause he'll be annoying me about it later."

Sophia nodded, "Of course, we pinky promise, and pinky promises are forever."

Riven hummed, "Get some sleep, I'll keep an eye out."

"Aren't you tired?" Sophia questioned, and Riven shook his head,

"No. I can't sleep. Hey, once you wake up, I'll be done with this, and I'll let you paint it, but you gotta sleep." Riven told her, and Sophia nodded before she fixed herself so she was lying down, and it didn't take her long for her to fall asleep.

Riven pulled out his knife and started to carve, keeping an eye out for Ed or any of the dead.

He spotted Carol from the corner of his eye, and she sadly smiled at him, a nod of appreciation towards him.

Riven looked away from her and back down to his carving.

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1032 words

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