Rick's Ruby

Chapter 1

It had been more than a week since the farm had been overrun, sending the broken and beaten survivors out into the wild. They were lost, out of fuel and almost out of food, and the ammo was starting to look like an out instead of a defense. Rick Grimes had taken off into the woods, in the opposite direction of Daryl, looking for food... anything they could use. He was not missed, he knew. Since the admission about the real reason Shane was dead his crew had become wary, afraid of him. And Lori... well, she had shut down completely. They didn't speak or touch, and even the looks she gave him were tinged in disappointment and disgust.

The respite of the woods was a welcome one. He would take a walker any day over the people at the makeshift camp and they looks in their eyes. The truth was, the moment the light had gone out of Shane's eyes Rick had changed. No longer was he 'Officer Friendly'. He was pissed off and he was intent on regaining some semblance of control, intending to hold it with an iron fist once he'd gotten it. See, that was what it took in this world, to survive. He'd tried the gentleness and the voting on decisions, and people died. He was done with it.

He had his Python in his steely grasp as he picked around the broad tree trunks and over fallen branches on the ground. He tried to move as silently as he could so as not to either draw walker attention or scare away any potential game. The activity gave him time to think, but he had little patience with that right now. All his thoughts were poisonous, and when they invaded his brain yet again he paused and ran a frustrated hand over the long stubble on his face, taking a deep breath and blowing it out through his nose. He rested against a tree trunk and looked out over the still and silent trees. The sun was setting, but he didn't turn back. No one would care if he returned or not.

The land was starting to slope and he followed it down, not having the energy to walk up. The trees parted slowly, and he saw the reflection of the setting sun in water beyond them, sparkling like a million lights. Long ago had his mouth become painfully dry and he headed toward it gratefully, falling to his knees at the waters edge and scooping it up into his mouth and gulping it down eagerly. When he'd had enough he holstered his gun and began to wash his filthy arms and face free of dried blood and grime. He watched the water around his hands turn red and drift away, and he felt almost hypnotized by it.

A sudden splash nearby caused his head to snap up. To the right, cattycorner to his position behind a large boulder, and over a short dock that stretched into the water, he saw a young woman bent over, water up to her thighs and up to her elbows. Rick backed up a step and peered around the boulder at her, his gun back in his hand in a second.

She was bathing, and doing a much better job than his little attempt a moment ago. She had her back to him, and she was dressed in a pair of blue boy shorts and a gray bra, which she was removing at the moment. She held it in her hand and ducked below the water, swimming out a little further so the water went up to her graceful, tanned shoulders. He still hadn't seen her face because of her angle in the water, but from the look of her curvy and lithe body she was young, and he looked around quickly to see her companions, but he came up empty. She looked to be alone, and he frowned. Surely she wasn't, no way. She seemed too at ease, picking up a bottle floating nearby and pouring soap in her hand and lathering up her hair. He watched as she leaned her head back in the water and rinsed her hair free of bubbles, and she made a motion below the water and brought up the skimpy underwear she had been wearing in her hands and soaped them up too.

Six months ago, he would have turned away, ashamed at himself for watching a perfect stranger in such an intimate and private moment. But his anger and bitterness had erased such manners from him and he just felt wary and mistrusting. He moved from around the boulder and to the entrance to the dock silently. She rinsed the articles of clothing and her hair one last time, and turned toward him.