eight - "innocence"

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𝐆𝐎𝐃'𝐒 𝐂𝐎𝐔𝐍𝐓𝐑𝐘𝐃𝐀𝐑𝐘𝐋 𝐃𝐈𝐗𝐎𝐍
❝ innocence ❞

𝐆𝐎𝐃'𝐒 𝐂𝐎𝐔𝐍𝐓𝐑𝐘 — 𝐃𝐀𝐑𝐘𝐋 𝐃𝐈𝐗𝐎𝐍❝ innocence ❞

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"SAY IT." Rick Grimes sighed heavily as he climbed out of a freshly dug grave. He dusted off his pants, though the action did nothing. The man propped himself against his shovel, eyes narrowed at her brother.

Her brother copied the other man's stance while a tense silence fell among them. He then spoke, "I'm thinking if you'd of stayed here, if you'd have looked after your own... but instead you went off. You took half our manpower with you." Madeline hugged her knees closer to her chest, looking between the two men. "I'm thinking maybe our losses wouldn't have been so bad." He finished.

"Shane, that's not fair!" Madeline hissed, eyes wide at her brother's accusations. Sure, she didn't disagree with what he was saying. At least not fully. But she didn't think that Rick was the only one at fault. People had gotten too comfortable, they had let their guards down, and it bit them in the ass.

"If we hadn't gone off and brought those guns back when we did, I think our losses would have been a lot worse," Rick argued. "Maybe the entire camp."

"No one knew this would happen, and no matter what we weren't prepared. No one is to blame." Madeline cut in, looking between the two men as a truck approached. She climbed to her feet, dusting the dry dirt off of her behind. Her ankle was wrapped, thanks to Issac, so she put most of her weight onto her non-injured leg. The two men merely sighed and nodded, knowing that she was right.

Shane had barely let his sister leave his line of sight once Daryl had come back with her. Madeline had been understandably shaken, as had everyone else, and didn't mind the overbearing brother act one bit.

She hadn't slept at all after running into the forest, on high alert while in the tree. She didn't sleep when she got back to camp either, deciding to stay by Emily and her brothers. The former had lost her mother in the attack and wasn't handling it well. As the day progressed, and as everything seemed to set in, Madeline felt numb.

She knew that she wasn't safe anymore and that anyone could die. It wasn't about gender, age, or race: anyone can die in the new world. And she had learned that the hard way. Ed, someone she had luckily not associated herself with had been among the killed. Emily's mother, Susan, who was an introverted yet kind older woman was too. And then there was Amy, who was younger than Madeline herself. She had her whole life ahead of her, but it all ended so quickly that she didn't even realize it was.

It felt like whatever was left of Madeline's innocence had died with her.

As the sun began to rise, Shane had forced her to join him and Rick up in the clearing. He didn't feel right leaving her alone after Emily left to be with her mom. He knew how her thoughts wandered, and with the events that had conspired the night prior, along with her lack of sleep, he knew that whatever thoughts she conjured up wouldn't be kind to her.

𝐆𝐎𝐃'𝐒 𝐂𝐎𝐔𝐍𝐓𝐑𝐘 - 𝐃𝐀𝐑𝐘𝐋 𝐃𝐈𝐗𝐎𝐍Where stories live. Discover now