Brother's Keeper ¹ || The walking dead

16.

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Glenn had decided to just outright blurt out the fact that there were walkers in the barn, freaking out everyone, especially Shane, who wants to kill all the walkers in the barn immediately.

Riven had decided to stay out of it. It wasn't his problem. Nobody he cared about was getting hurt, so it wasn't his business, but he was keeping an eye on Shane, and it seemed like he wasn't the only one.

Riley seemed to be keeping an eye on Shane, neither of them trusting the man.

Riven thought it was the baldness affecting his brain.

He was currently outside twirling his knife around in complete boredom when he spotted Hershel and Rick.

He stands up from the porch stairs and walks over to them, "we heading out?"

"No, we, just Hershel and I." Rick replied, turning to face him, and Riven hums,

"I'm a tag along, and I'm bored, cause the old man ain't lettin' me do anything." Riven said, looking at Hershal, turning his eyes pleading.

"He can come with." Hershel said after a moment, and Riven grins, turning to look at Rick.

"He says i can come with." He repeated, and Rick nods, cracking a small smile,

"I heard."

Riven followed after Rick and Hershel as they walked further out of land and into woods, listening to them talking about the walkers in the barn while keeping an eye out for walkers.

He stays quiet as they speak. Hershel hasn't come to terms with the fact that the world wasn't the same anymore, and the sick were just dead.

He stays back and watches as Hershal and Rick grab walkers, leading them back to the farm.

"..can I ask somethin'? If you don't mind?" Riven spoke up, moving to walk beside Hershel,

"What is it?" Hershal questioned,

"Does Riley do this, too? Grabs sick people and puts them in the barn?" Riven questioned, wondering if Riley did it to help out Hershel. He wouldn't blame him if he did.

"No," Hershel shook his head, "he doesn't like it. What do you think about all this? You're the only person who hasn't voice their opinion. To be honest, I thought you'll be the first one."

Riven shrugged, "Honestly, I don't care. My priority at the moment is Sophia."

They walk out of the woods with the walkers, and Riven curses under his breath when he sees Shane running over to them as they walk over to the barn,

The others followed closely behind Shane, and Riven gets pulled back by Riley as Shane starts shouting before he pulls out his gun and shoots at the walker that Hershal had.

"Shane, Enough!" Rick yelled at him, and Shane nodded,

"Yeah, Enough is enough." Shane walks towards the walker and finally puts it down,shooting it in the head.

Shane walks over to the barn and opens it.

Riven moves over to Carl and Lori, standing in front of them as walkers start to walk out of the barn, and the others start to shoot,

Gunshots rang out, echoing, most missed their targets , others hit their targets. Bodies dropped, and soon, all the walkers were on the ground full of bullet wounds.

Everything was quiet until a small snarl rang out as the final walker out of the barn, and riven took a small step forward, feeling like all the air in his body had been sucked out,

"..Sophia!" Carol ran forward, but Daryl stopped her, and Carol sunk down to her knees, crying.

The walker that had walked out of the barn was Sophia, a chunk of her shoulder missing, a walker had bitten her,

Tears welled in Riven's eyes as his body moves forward, tears slid down his face, as Carol cries were the only sound beside Sophia's snarls was the only thing he could hear,

Carl's crying was distant, sounding far away,

"Riven." Someone tried to stop him, but he simply shrugged them off as he walked over to Sophia, and he fell to his knees in front of her,

He pulled out his knife, his grip tight, and Sophia reached him. He wrapped an arm around her, pulling her close as he jammed his knife into the back of her head,

Clenching his eyes as the sound of flesh squishing reached his ears, he pulled his knife out as Sophia's body went limp in his hold.

"..Riven." Riley crouched down beside him, frowning, his eyes full of sadness.

"She was in your barn this whole time?" Riven's voice was quiet, his eyes teary as he looked at Riley,

Riley looks down at the ground, "Otis must've put in there."

Carol walks over, kneeling beside Riven, and Riven lets her take Sophia, her baby in her arms.

Riven stood up, and Riley followed, Riven wanted to scream. He wanted to shout, he wanted to be angry, and he wanted to take it out on everyone, but all he could do was let out a pathetic sob,

Riley pulls him into his embrace, and Riven hits him, his fist colliding with Riley's chest. It was a weak attempt to push Riley away, but Riley just held him.

Daryl watched as someone else comforted his brother. He felt jealous that he couldn't comfort his little brother, but at the same time, he felt glad that someone who wasn't him was comforting his brother.

"..Riven." Carol walked up to them, and she pulled Riven from Riley, and Riven wrapped his arms around her, hiding his face in her shoulder, crying.

He should be the one comforting her, but he couldn't, Sophia deserved better. She didn't deserve to die, not like that,

She suffered, she was in pain, and he couldn't have done anything about it.

His heart was aching, and he felt like someone was reaching into his chest and squeezing his heart tightly in their hand,

He pulls away from Carol, he is struggling to breathe, he brings a hand up to his chest as he turns and walks away from everyone,

He was taking deep breaths, trying to catch his breath, but nothing was working.

It feels like he was suffocating on dry land, his hands were shaking, and his vision was blurry.

He was having a panic attack. He had plenty of panic attacks to know what one feels like, but it never got easier.

He curls his left hand into a fist and smacks it against his chest. He wanted the feeling to go away. He wanted Sophia to be alive, and he just wanted the guilt to leave.

He clenched his eyes shut and took a deep breath,

"..fuckin' pathetic, Riven." He breathed out, letting out a shaky breath.

"..idiot."

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1119 words

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