[3rd POV]
While Ash slept, Shane raided the barn. He opened the doors and walkers poured out in the dozens. They shot every last walker. But when the last walker came out the doors, Carol screamed and sobbed as she tried to run to her daughter Sophia. Sophia wore were her blue shirt with a rainbow and her tan jeans with her worn out sneakers. Her skin was drooping and grey but they all knew who it was.
The little girl they have been looking long and hard for just walked out of the barn on the farm they took refuge in. Rick lifted his arm, aimed his glock, and pulled the trigger. As the girl went down, Carol cried harder into Daryl who held her to keep her from going any closer. Everyone cried as they stared at the body of a walker, the body of a girl they hoped to find alive.
Daryl got Carol up off the ground and she ran off towards her tent in a fit of sobs. Beth, a girl from the farm, runs forward, crying her own griefs as she runs to her mother who lays dead beside Sophia. She sobs over her mother as she turns her over.
Suddenly, her mother comes alive once again and bites at her. She screams as everyone rushes forward to get her away from the walker. Andrea swings a corn scythe into her head and she stops moving and falls dead for the third time. They all get up and walk back towards the house.
"We've been out. We've been combing these woods looking for her and she was in there all along?" Shane questions to Hershel as they walk. "You knew."
"Leave us alone." Maggie, Hershel's daughter and Beth's sister, says in anger.
"Hey, Shane, just stop, man." Rick tries to calm him down by stopping him from going after Hershel.
"Get your hands off me!" Shane yells at Rick as he pushes him away. "You knew and you kept it from us."
"I didn't know." Hershel says sincerely.
"That's bullsh*t. I think y'all knew." Shane says as he storms up to them.
"We didn't know!" Maggie yells at him.
"Why was she there?!" Shane demands.
"You're..." Hershel begins as he and his family step up on the porch. "Otis put those people in the barn. Maybe he found her and put her in there before he was killed."
"You expect me to believe that? Do I look like an idiot?" Shane asks as he advances onto Hershel with a murderous glare.
"Shane, hey hey hey." Rick says as he steps in front of him.
"I don't care what you believe!" Hershel defends himself.
"Everybody just calm down." Rick says.
"Get him off my land!" Hershel demands as he points at Shane.
"Please. No." Rick says calmly.
"Let me tell you something." Shane says as he gets close to Hershel but Maggie slaps him in the face and pushes him back.
"Hey! Don't touch him!" She yells at him with a glare. "Haven't you done enough?"
The family walk to the door and they all file in and Hershel turns to Rick. "I mean it -- off my land."
After a fight with Shane, Rick walks into the house and goes to Ash's room. When he walks in, he sees she has a torturous look on her face. He becomes concerned as he walks towards her. "Ash? What's wrong? Are you okay?" He asks and her face relaxes a little but then becomes pain filled again.
"Uh...yeah...I just...I didn't wanna bring it up because it was awkward but...I really have to pee." She says and Rick is silent a moment before laughing. "Hey! Don't laugh at me! This is serious!" She says in a small whiney voice that causes him to laugh more.
"Hey, it's fine. Let me just go get a bucket--"
"I am NOT peeing in a bucket."
"How else are you going to go?" Rick asks with a laugh.
"You can drag me to the toilet, you can even put me outside, but I refuse to pee in a bucket." She declares.
"How about a bedpan?"
"Rick!"
"Hahaha! Alright, I'll go get one of the girls to help you." He says as he walks out of the room with a laugh.
Andrea and Maggie come in after a couple of minutes...with a bucket. Long story short, Ash was not happy with Rick. When she was done and Rick had replaced the girls, she would not talk to him for a long time until he finally said, "What would you do without me?" He asks in a joking manner and she snorts.
"Not pee in a bucket, that's for sure." She says and he laughs again. Finally, she starts laughing too until they are both dying of laughter. "I hate you!"
"Aw, but you love me." He says and they both go quiet for some reason.
Ash thinks back to what her sister said. She bites her lip awkwardly and for a moment she is glad she is blind so she doesn't have to look at his face and they both sit in the awkward silence until they both clearly hear her stomach growling. Rick laughs as he stand up. "I'll go get you something to eat." He says and walks out.
"Okay..." She says quietly and it goes back to the awkward silence as she screams at herself in her mind. 'Why didn't you say anything!? What is wrong with you?! That was so awkward! Where is the hole I can crawl in and die of embarrassment!?'
When he comes back, he sets the sandwich on the bedside table. "There you go." He says as he sits down once more. When she smells the peanut butter from the sandwich, her stomach growls again. She tries to lift her arm but is futile when she remembers she can't. What Hershel says hits her. She doesn't have a good chance, if any, to survive in a world like this. She can't even go to the bathroom. Or eat a sandwich.
Tears prick her eyes as it all comes crashing down. She will never be able to walk or move or open her eyes to see all the colors and faces the world has to offer. She will have to depend on others her entire life just to keep her alive. It's like being on a machine in the hospital after a tragic accident. You can't breathe on your own, you need help from machines.
And that's how she felt. She felt like she couldn't breathe. Her breaths were coming out uneven and tears were streaming down her face. Sobs escaped her mouth without her permission and she wished Rick wasn't there to see her like this. He quickly went to her side and started saying soothing things to calm her down from her panic attack.
After she calmed down, he still didn't move from her side on the bed. "It's okay. You're gonna be okay."
"But what if I'm not?" She asks and he looks at her confused. "I will never move or see again and I will have to depend on all of you just so I can stay alive. What kind of a life would that be? I will get in your way and people will die trying to protect me and--" Rick stops her before she goes back into another panic attack.
"Ash. Ash, you listen to me. We will do anything to protect you. We care about you, Ash. You are a part of this group and that will never change. And you will walk again. I will help you." He promises and he sees hope fill her features and he smiles.
"How?"
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Into The Dark
Fanfiction[Currently Under Rewrite] She was lost. She was alone. She was scared. She was surrounded by the dead. Ashley Grant was thrown into the terrifying world of the dead walking the streets. All she wanted was to go to the grocery store but she ran into...
