ɢʜᴏsᴛs ~ 𝚃𝚑𝚎 𝚆𝚊𝚕𝚔𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝙳𝚎𝚊𝚍¹

(7) The Hero

Season 1, Episode 5: Wildfire

October 5th, Day 62

RORY DIDN'T WANT to be here anymore. She sat near the logs of the pyre that used to be there. Now would be a good time to think. Before the Outbreak, all she had was...her mind flashed. Everything was fuzzy. She didn't have a father, or siblings, or a mother. Didn't she? She remembered playing with them...no, she had siblings, she had to have them. Then why...? She had a sister. No, she had a twin sister, not a twin brother.

She groaned in frustration, putting a hand to her forehead. Her left arm was in a makeshift sling of shirts courtesy of Daryl, who grumbled the whole time, saying how much he hated everything or something. Carol had checked. Carol had broken bones before, so she knew. Sophia, too.

Amy had died. So had Ed, but...no one cared. Not even Sophia or Carol. Or maybe they did. Carol just seemed angry.

Her arm throbbed in pain, causing her to wince. She adjusted the position, but that only caused sharp pain to shoot through her arm. How could she be so stupid? She should have fought back at least. They didn't have any medical supplies, so Carol tried her hardest to reset the bone, hoping the break was clean.

Eye bags were under the girl's eyes. How could she sleep after what just happened? Her arm throbbed every minute, causing her to wince. At least it's better than being dead, she supposes. How to determine dead from living? Pain.

"She still won't move?"

Rory snapped out of her thoughts, looking over at Rick Grimes. Andrea wouldn't move. She has cradled Amy's body since she died. Rory's lips curved into a frown, gazing down at the ground in sorrow. Rory stood up, too quickly as her arm started throbbing. She almost stumbled from the pain, but Daryl had held her steady.

"Careful," he grunts, "don't want another broken bone."

Rory exhaled, looking over at Amy. Her blue eyes lifeless, pink blush fading, and her smile was gone, never to be seen again.

"She won't even talk to us." Lori said tiredly from where she sat on one of the logs. Lori hadn't slept either, which was understandable. "She's been there all night. What do we do?"

"Can't just leave Amy like that." Shane stated. He also had a lack of sleep, and was extremely exhausted, just like Rick and pretty much everyone else. "We need to deal with it. Same as the others."

Rory gazed over at Sophia, eyes watering. Her father had died. Rory didn't feel sorry but Sophia had lost her father. That abusive asshole she was forced to call her father. Poor Sophia. She probably never got a safe environment growing up.

Rick nodded slowly, using the back of his hand to wipe the sweat from his brow. "I'll tell her how it is."

Rory looked back over at Rick. He was sad too. He was a policeman, and Rory could tell he'd wish it were him instead that died. He was covered with blood and dirt, bags under his eyes. He was happy before but not anymore.

"Andrea-"

Before he could say another word, Andrea had cocked her gun and pointed it straight at his face. "I know how the safety works."

"All right. Okay." Rick backed away slowly with his hands held up. "I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry."

"Mr. Grimes?" Rory mumbles once Rick was within earshot. "Don't worry. You don't always gotta be the hero. There can't only be a singular person to lead, okay?"

Rick sighed, nodding. She knew he blamed himself.

"Y'all can't be serious." Daryl hissed, shaking his head in disbelief at them all. "Let that girl hamstring us? The dead girl's a time bomb."