Better Kept Buried

1

At the beginning of Elizabeth's life, her family was whole. Young parents, Caroline and Shane were still together; that didn't last long.
Shane always had a type,
"unattainable"
And Caroline wouldn't give him a chance in high school, both of them were troubled and they lived for the chase and banter. When she finally gave in on prom night- that was enough. She got pregnant, went steady with Shane- and they had a beautiful, healthy baby girl by the end of junior year and they named her Elizabeth.
Shane by Caroline's side, they were a young and clueless couple recklessly bringing another human into this world. They were happy to do so, for a while at least. Longer than Rick and Lori ever thought Shane would commit to playing house.
Caroline was Shane's longest relationship, but when they graduated she started pressing him about marriage... The chase was over;
he lost interest.
It was a domino effect that everyone saw coming, they broke up, Caroline and Elizabeth lived with her parents in a tiny doublewide.
Shane and Caroline tried to coparent, and it worked at first; Elizabeth would go over to Shane's apartment every other week, some of her better memories started there whether she admitted it or not. He had this cruddy apartment in town but still made space for Elizabeth. And Shane realized he wanted more, and somehow you were in the way. Shane's best friend and Elizabeth's uncle Rick married a few years after they graduated, to his high school sweetheart, Lori. Rick and Shane went to the same police academy together, and became part of the local sheriff's department soon after.
Even though Shane followed Rick, he still slept on his futon, leaving the one bedroom for you, just in case he was ever ready to face you again.
Rick never agreed to how Shane handled your upbringing, he always asked about you just to get a half truth answer, but Shane's face said it all. Guilt. He wasn't an active father to Elizabeth, not when it mattered, and honestly he didn't know a thing about his daughter. Elizabeth grew up hearing excuses from Shane after he missed her big milestones, recitals, sports events, and Elizabeth was a truly gifted child; Slowly burning out as long as she could remember she would consistently get disappointed by Shane's empty promises, so she stopped trying to gain his approval.
Lori became friends with Caroline, who didn't make life any easier for Elizabeth; Caroline started dating Xander, a grade A asshole but it was the only way she and Elizabeth could get out of her parents house. Caroline got sick, not in a way that was obvious at first,
pills.
That's when Lori distanced herself, it was around the same time she was pregnant with Carl. The Grimes family still sent Elizabeth cards on her birthday, same as Shane along with a gift that "got lost in the mail". They were always one call away, and they actually called back most of the time.
When Elizabeth was seven years old, Shane brought her to the hospital to visit the Grimes family. Carl was born, her little cousin, Rick and Lori thought involving you would somehow influence Shane to be more active, but as you got older you got angrier, you were the one to put distance from everyone and keep it. angry, not at the Grimes family, never at them. You were envious of what they had but never angry at them,
Elizabeth's moms boyfriend, Xander, was a pill pusher around town, not the rich kind. The kind that got belligerent on his own product, mixing it with alcohol and fought with Caroline. Elizabeth and Xander argued constantly, she would be lying if she said he never scared her; because he definitely did.
But she wouldn't let him get away with beating on her mother, who took most of the hits. Caroline was too high to care most of the time, but Elizabeth didn't blame her for it. She blamed Shane. For leaving her to this.
She loved her mother, Caroline loved her too, in her own way. But at least she stayed, there would be times where she would be high, a lit cigarette hanging from her lips and she would just look at Elizabeth with complete disgust; she wouldn't say a word- just look at her. Elizabeth would always try to analyze it, make sense of the look; the look that was tattooed into her memory.
Did she do something wrong at that exact moment?
Did she look too much like Shane?
The year Elizabeth turned fourteen everything changed, her mother collapsed in front of her. An overdose, the funeral followed. In the lawyers office with Shane and Xander, who argued about custody and inheritance. Your mother didn't have a will; not that you even had anything to inherit, but to everyone's surprise; Shane didn't leave you at your grandparents trailer park. Shane took you in, the dynamic was distant more than ever despite being in the same apartment. On the bright side you got to see the grimes and Carl more often.
By Elizabeth's sixteenth birthday, she was more like Shane than ever, she started to go by "Eli". Spending as much time away from home as she could. A short fuse and a horrible attitude, and god she hated cops. Not just because she was in trouble all the time, because every time she got in trouble Eli and her father had to acknowledge each other.
Neither of them enjoyed that.
Like the time she was caught shoplifting. Rick the town's deputy was Shane's partner. They pulled up to the station together, Shane cursing, storming inside his place of work trying to explain to his boss why his daughter can't stay out of trouble. Explaining to Eli how lucky she is, the store wasn't pressing charges. Despite the trouble she would get into Shane and she went to the Grimes house for dinner at least once a week.
Carl looked up to Shane and Eli, she didn't know why. She was a horrible influence but she didn't let Carl see that, he was a good kid. Eli got a job, dated an older guy in her teen years, with what happened to her mother she tried to stay away from controlled substances. She really did try, but weed and alcohol made her happy for a little while. Pothead burnout, or her principal called her;
wasted potential.
Mostly because she did the bare minimum, staying below the radar just enough to pass and to stay out of honor classes. Eli's smart, she could have tested out of core classes her sophomore year if she wanted to.
After she graduated she dumped the older guy and actually started considering college. Even if it was a community college, she didn't want to end up like either of her parents, she actually wanted to be someone that Carl could look up to.
Too little too late, the news broke out in stages. She would sit in the living room with Shane and watch it all go down, a sickness, one that's never been seen before.
Talk of a cure in the works that never came. Day to day was normal, until it got worse, military coming in through the towns, civilians panicking. Rick got shot shortly before, in a coma at the town's hospital. Everyone thought he was dead, Shane said that when he went to visit Rick, the military came through; shooting people, he barricaded the door. After that Shane got his daughter to go pick up Lori and Carl to keep them safe during whatever was brewing under their nose.
The power grid and phone service was slammed first, they squeezed in Lori's hatchback, stuck in a traffic jam that spread for miles along the highway that led out of Atlanta. They came across other people on the highway.
Carol, her husband Ed and their daughter Sophia.
Sophia was about Carl's age.
Eli could see she was a good kid, and Carol was a good mother. That's the night that Atlanta was lit up, the military's way of trying to stop something that's already too far gone. They got off the highway as soon as they could, Carol's family followed.
They met more people, a lot more. A couple weeks in they had a relatively good set up in the woods. Plenty of working vehicles, even an RV.
The group was getting bigger, good people mostly.
Dale
Angela and Amy
T-Dog
Morales and his family
Daryl And his brother Merle
Glenn
Carol and her family
And a man named Jim.
Eli saw things, how people acted. Carol's husband was an abusive asshole. Dale was like the dad of the group, he looked over everyone without being asked, he's a kind old man with an RV. Daryl and his brother Merle were damaged, both addicts; But Daryl hid it better. And her father Shane would sneak off with Lori Grimes...
The match that made her sick to her stomach, Carl lost his father, Lori lost her husband, Shane lost his best friend; and this is how they mourned? By sneaking into the woods to check traps and come back empty handed, when there was a group that needed to eat.
Lying and sneaking around like they were in high school.
Eli is an adult in the legal sense, she shouldn't judge them; they are adults. But she can't help but to think that they were being selfish.
Glenn, Javi, Angela, and Merle went out for a run into the city. Eli was doing chores with Lori, Carl, and Sophia; while the others tackled different tasks.

"Elizabeth, keep an eye on Carl for a while?"
Lori said, conveniently a little after shane went to "monitor the perimeter."

Even Carl had something to say about it
"Bathroom again?"

Eli scoffed and shook her head, they were barely being subtle.
That disapproving gesture didn't miss Lori... her eyes met Elis for a brief moment, guilt passed both of their expressions.
"Is that alright with you?"
Lori knows Eli was onto them... or worse, she knew that what she was doing was wrong. Eli saw her too, and she felt guilty for judging her, Eli feels that shane was taking advantage of the situation. A silent exchange between the two, the woman that tried to include Eli in her family for as long as she could.
Eli just nodded and shrugged. Lori turned away to leave and Eli looked away, it wasn't Eli's place to say a word about it. But they knew she wasn't stupid.
After she went into the woods Carl had a mischievous look. Whispering something to Sophia, clutching her doll she laughed and crunched up her nose, shaking her head.
"What are you two scheming?" Eli's voice was tired, but not cold, not with the kids.
Carl tossed some dirt to Eli, trying to contain himself. Eli's eyebrows scrunched up, confused.
"Nice, Carl... real nice" she said wiping some dirt from her hair but something moved in her hair, she took the piece loose and it was an earth worm. Elizabeth Hates... no she despises any sort of worm. She jumped up, her skin crawled and she almost gagged, Carl and Sophia laughed... he hasn't laughed much since Rick passed, so Eli didn't retaliate THAT bad.
"Oh yeah?" She said, slowly walking around to them. A smile on her face she couldn't hide. She points to Sophia. "You have a hand in this?"
Sophia giggles and shakes her head, standing with Carl "No!"
they both backed away with every step you took closer, grinning ear to ear.

Eli took a bin of lakewater they had from the nearby lake and she acted like she was going to pour it on them. Harmless fun, eli could easily go down and get more water... but

"Sophia!" Her father called out to her. Stomping over, this caught Carol's attention and she rushed over there too, but Eli gently grabbed Carl and Sophia to pull them behind her, not dramatically; just protective.
"She didn't do anything... Everything's fine." Eli said, trying to diffuse the situation but she always had a problem controlling her expression; Her gaze was sizing him up. Carol got Sophia, Ed was practically in Eli's face now.
"I don't think you're a good influence... I call for my daughter. I expect her to come."
"She's not a dog Ed..." She wanted to say more, so much more but she looked over at Carol who just shook her head, silently asking Eli not to escalate it.
Eli kept calm, she knew how to handle guys like Ed, it reminded her of Xander, except Ed wouldn't take his anger out on Eli if she snapped back, he'd just take it out on Sophia and Carol the second he's alone with them; like a fucking spineless pig. Eli didn't want that, so she backed off, Carol gave her an apologetic look, one that she returned.
Walking away with carl