Solitude -> The Walking Dead

56

"You didn't have to come, you know." I replied.

She shrugged before looking into the same direction as me. While I looked at possible threats, she seemed to look beyond it. Her mind was elsewhere.

"I don't like being far from you, either.
Not after Ryan."

My eyes snapped shut upon hearing my little brother's name. It brought everything I was avoiding back to the front of my mind. The image of him that flashed before my mind was one of him with a devilish smirk on his face.

It quickly faded as it changed into his lifeless eyes and the bloody bullet lodged in his throat. I inhaled sharply as I tried to keep it together. We weren't here to grieve Ryan, but to save Beth and Carol. It's what he would've wanted.

I swallowed a lump in my throat. "This isn't the time nor the place, Dakota."

A scowl appeared on her face as soon as I replied. She was holding in her frustration best she could. Yet the way she clenched her jaw made it clear she was upset with me.

"Then when is it time? Because you haven't said a word about him, about what happened to him." she argued.

Not to her, at least. Abby and I briefly touched upon it and even that made me sick to my stomach. If I don't talk about it, then it feels just a tiny bit less real and painful.

"You think you want to know, but you don't. I was the one who found him and I'll never be able to unsee what-" I cut myself off.

What his eyes look like without the spark of life in them. What his throat looks like with blood gushing out of it.

I'll never be able to think of him without remembering how cold and heavy his body was as I cradled him.

"He's gone. That's all there is to say." I stated.

Abby and Dakota were blessed in a way. They get to go on in life with a picture perfect image of him in their head. Alive and untouched by death.

Dakota went to argue when Tyreese ran into the part of the building we were in. "Lamson's escaped."

The news came like a cold shower to both me and my sister. While we were distracted, Lamson was able to slip past Sasha and flee.

"Should we go after him?" Dakota asked.

Tyreese shook his head. "Rick's on it, but we need to guard the others."

We joined him and the others at the base of the building where the other two cops were being held. I waited impatiently to see if Rick was successful in capturing him again.

When he did show up, he did so alone. Daryl went up to him and they discussed what happened. We couldn't hear what they were saying, but it was clear that Lamson was gone.

If he had escaped, Rick would've been upset. This wasn't his upset face, this one was cold and calculating. I shifted uncomfortably at the thought of him carelessly killing Lamson. We needed him for the trade.

Rick and Daryl approached the cops we were guarding. The situation has changed, that much was clear. Rick wasn't given the chance to say anything as Shepherd spoke up first.

"He was a good man. He was attacked by rotters. Saw it go down." Shepherd said.

Rick tilted his head. "Huh. You're a damn good liar."

The way it was easy for her to hide the truth made me uneasy. She could be planning something while lying to our faces about it. A good survival tactic but inconvenient for us.

"We're hanging by a thread here. He was attacked by rotters. That's the story." Shepherd argued.

A good of a story as any. No matter how skilled of a warrior someone is, getting bit by a walker was surprisingly easy. Especially if there's more than one.