Brother's Keeper || The walking dead

36.

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Zack was dead. They managed to get him to Hershel, but he died anyway. Riven was the one who had to put down as he decided to stay with Zach.

Zach had turned, and Riven killed him because he couldn't save him. He failed at saving him, he tried. He tried so hard to save Zach, but it didn't matter. None of it mattered because Zach still died.

He was the one who buried him because Zach didn't have anyone, and Beth wasn't upset about zach's death, not like Riven was.

Beth just brushed it off, like Zach was some complete stranger. It didn't help that Riven had a major headache, and he could feel himself just wanting to snap at someone, release all the pent-up anger.

Riven lets out a small sigh as he sits back once he is done placing the cross on zach's grave.

He still had his blood on his arm, on his clothing, he could distantly hear Zach thanking him, but what for? Riven only brought him a couple of minutes, nothing more, he died anyway.

Riven heard footsteps approaching, and he pulled out his knife, stained with zach's blood.

He gripped his knife as he pulled out a rag to try and get the blood off.

The footsteps stopped beside him, and he didn't have to look up to see who it was. He knew it was Carl.

"Do you wanna know what I think about all this?" Carl spoke, and Riven huffs,

"No. I honestly don't care." Riven muttered as he cleaned his knife,

Carl sighs, "I think there's something wrong with you, "Riven pauses, staring down at his knife, he could see his reflection staring back at him, his eyes staring back at him.

"Like there's something wrong with your brain. Maybe that's why you keep failing to save people all the time." Carl told him, and he was right.

Carl was right. There was something wrong with him that made him keep failing people.

"It's your fault, Zach is dead because of you, just like Sophia." Riven snapped his head towards Carl, his eyes full of anger,

He stood up, towering over Carl, "Stop, bringing her up."

"Or what?" Carl challenge, "You gonna beat me up, like you did with Ed?"

"Ed deserved it." Riven told him, bringing his hand up as he felt something sliding down his nose. The taste of metallic filled his mouth before the back of his hand touch under his nose, and he brought his hand back and saw flesh blood.

"You're having a nosebleed." Carl told him, concerned, and Riven scoffs,

"Yeah, no shit..bitch." Riven turned and walked away from Carl,

His vision blurred, but he shook his head as he held a hand to his nose as blood kept sliding out.

He kept his head down as he walked into the prison, heading towards his room, and he accidentally bumped into someone,

He briefly glanced up and saw it was Patrick, "Sorry, Patrick."

If Riven was paying any attention to Patrick, he would've noticed how sick he looked, but Riven rushed away from Patrick and into his room.

He sat on the bottom bunk because the top bunk used to be zach's. Riven was regretting letting Zach bunk with him, tears welled up in his eyes as he caught what Zach had left behind,

He clenched his fist, keeping his head down as he clenched his eyes, hoping for the nosebleed to stop soon enough.

His head was pulsing, his brain was pushing against his skull, it felt like his skull was cracking with the force,

His body swayed before his head hit the pillow, his eyes closing as he passed out, blood still sliding down his nose like a faucet.

⭐️

A scream startled Riven awake from his unconscious state. He lets out a groan. His pillow is full of dry blood, and he grimaced in digust before he caught his reflection in the mirror that Zach had insisted on keeping. It was small and rounded, a bit dirty,

There was dried blood below his nose, on his lips to his chin, and cheeks, a bit of blood made it to his neck, and another scream rang out,

Riven stood up, his vision blurring as his body swayed. He reached his hand, catching himself and regaining his balance.

He waited a minute for the blurriness to go away, and once it did, he walked out of his room.

He heard snarls and saw walkers, but not just any walkers, people he knew, people he shared a cell block with,

He was roughly bumped into, and he lost his balance, and he fell to the ground. A snarl snapped his attention towards the walker that was nearing him.

It was Patrick, his face was covered in blood, but Riven could see the blood that was sliding out of his eyes, but there was no sign of any bites on him.

A gunshot rang out, making him flinch, and Patrick's body fell,

"Riven!" Riley grabbed Riven by the shoulders, and Riven's eyes met his, "Are you okay? Shit, you're bleeding."

Riley helped Riven up, "he's sick.."

Riven pushed Riley away from him, and Riley looked at him confused, taking a step closer to him,

"No! Don't worry. You need to stay back, you need to go, and you need to tell everyone else to stay away from us!" Riven told him,

"Riven, what's going on?" Riley questioned,

"Riley, go, please.. you have to tell everyone to stay away from this cell block! I'll deal with the walkers, just trust me on this, okay?" Riley stared at Riven for a moment before nodding.

"Okay, okay, here, take this." Riley tossed him the gun, and Riven caught it,

"Thanks, now go!" Riven watched as Riley ran off, and Riven pulled out his knives and rushed to help the ones still alive.

Most of the people were bitten, but still, not with much time left, and the others were just dead.

Riven gripped the handles of his knives tighter,

"Lock yourselves in your cells!"

⭐️

1020 words

Thought?