HOMESICK - 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘞𝘢𝘭𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘋𝘦𝘢𝘥

𝟎𝟏𝟑 | FATHER DEAREST

By time they'd reached the RV, the last of the walkers had been finished off. Mya turned to her mother guiltily, "I'm sorry, we tried to get back sooner, I swear. Mom, I'm so sorry." She apologised, shakily trying to explain through her own tears that had began to brim.

The fear on Carol's face was clear, but despite being so worked up, she still tried to reassure Mya, "We're okay, we're alive. That's what matters." She told her to which Mya only nodded in response, not having the strength to disagree. 

She couldn't look at the bodies in front of her, both walkers and members of the camp. She didn't want to think about all the lives that had been lost while she'd been out there trying to rescue Merle Dixon of all people. What if she could've prevented this?

Mya furrowed her eyebrows as she felt eyes burning into the back of her head, she turned to see Shane staring her down. She wasn't sure whether he was going to burst into tears or not by the look on his face. Questions raced through her mind endlessly, what was wrong? Had he been bit? She was almost too scared to find out.

"Shane? Something's wrong, what is it?" She asked him as she approached him, tilting her head as if it would help her to understand better.

He could hardly look at her now, his guilt visible. "Your dad." He began, those two words being enough for her to let out a sigh. The look on his face said it all, Ed was dead, he must've been. "He was in his tent, earlier today I-"

She wasn't worried for her father, if it hadn't been for her mother and sister, she wouldn't have cared less. There'd never been any love between her and Ed, he didn't deserve that and he didn't deserve her concern. "I'll.. go see if he made it." She announced quietly.

"I'll go with you, he's my husband." Carol insisted, although Mya could see how reluctant she was. She also saw how her mother sent Shane a quick glare - something had happened.

Mya shook her head, turning to her mother, "You need to stay with Soph." She told her in a hushed tone, a fact she knew Carol agreed with deep down, "If anything happened, I don't want you to see that. She needs you right now."

Her mother didn't push it any further, much to Mya's relief, she didn't want to argue about it. Mya placed a hand reassuringly on Sophia's shoulder before heading towards their tent with Shane following alongside her. They didn't speak, something Mya figured was for the best, given the look on his face. Besides, Mya had no idea what to say.

The tent was already open once they'd arrived, the smell of rotting flesh and blood hitting Mya's nostrils as she held back a gag. There was only one corpse in the tent, Mya assumed the walker that had attacked must've left towards the rest of camp once it heard the gunfire. Her father had been torn apart, organs splattered across the family's tent, his eyes still wide open in fear.

Ed Peletier was dead.

"Fuck." Shane mumbled regretfully.

Mya could only stare blankly at what was left of her father. "He's dead." She stated, practically numb to the horror before her. She'd seen enough today. She glanced over at Shane, there was one thing she couldn't understand, "What was he doing in here alone?"

He was reluctant to answer, but eventually, words began to spill out, "He.. Back at the quarry, he hit Carol. Things just got out of hand and I beat him before he could hurt anyone else." He explained and Mya could tell he was more sorry about Ed's fate than she was, "I guess he must've come here to rest up."

Her eyes fell back upon the sight of her father, "Thank you." She muttered softly, glad that someone had defended Carol whilst she wasn't there.

Shane almost did a double take, "What? Mya, he's still dead." He reminded her, like she wasn't stood in front of what was left of Ed Peletier. She didn't expect him to understand, she didn't expect anyone in camp to really understand. Mya wasn't lucky enough to have a father she could care about, everyone else was.

She nodded, "You protected my mother. Nobody else would've." Mya informed him, pausing to sigh softly. Before the world had ended, she'd never planned to see her father again, she hadn't even planned to go to his funeral, now she had no choice. But she refused to mourn him. "You were right, I shouldn't have left today but please don't blame yourself for this. Let's not pretend Ed was a good man."

By the looks of things, Shane was more upset about Ed's death than Mya was. "He was your father, you can-" He tried to suggest, only for Mya to stop him.

"No... No, fuck him." She interrupted, staring back at Ed's corpse bitterly.

Shane frowned, "Mya." He began and she could've sworn he thought she was hiding how upset she was. She wanted to scream that he finally got what he deserved, she wanted to leave his corpse here to rot. How could he not understand that?

She scowled, "I'm serious, Shane. We both know he doesn't deserve to have people mourning him." She insisted, anger beginning to take over. He was dead and somehow her father was still able to get under her skin, "Don't make me cry for the man that ruined my life."

The sound of screaming picked up again and morbidly enough, Mya was able to recognise the scream as that of Andrea's. She glanced over to Shane, horrified and ready to go help her friend. Shane shook his head, not concerned by the scream, but saddened.

"It's Amy. Amy's gone." He commented, lowering his head.

Mya shook her head in denial, but she knew he was telling the truth. Another life that had been lost tonight, someone who'd been kind to her and her family and most of all, someone who hadn't deserved to die. This was wrong, it was all wrong.

She looked back at Ed's corpse, turning her nose up in disgust. She knew her mother, maybe even Sophia, would mourn him but Mya wasn't sure she could stand to, she couldn't even shed a tear for him. However, there was one thing that she knew for sure, the group couldn't stay here, not after tonight, they couldn't risk anymore lives.