After Sophia's body fell to the ground no one did or said anything. Mostly because no one knew what to say or do. The only sound was Carols sobs as Daryl lifted her off the ground trying to stop her from looking at Sophia. Once she was stood on her own Carol pushed Daryl away from her before running back towards the house.
Hershel was still kneeled on the ground shocked as Beth started to sob even harder running over towards her dead mother. Rick tried to stop her but she ran past him calling out for her mother.
Just as she rolled her mothers body over she reanimated grabbing Beth's hair pulling her down trying to get a bite of her. The whole group instantly ran to her most trying to grab Beth as some tried to pulled the walkers hands off her
Cassie had her arms around Beth's shoulder as she pulled along with everyone and once they got her lose thanks to T-Dog stomping the walkers face in. She carefully handed her off to Hershel who held his daughter close. Andrea then swung a farm tool the blade going through the walker's forehead before it fell to the ground.
Everyone then slowly made their way back to the farm Shane not leaving the Greene family alone who just wanted some peace.
"We been out we've been combing these woods looking for her and she was in there all along? Hey you knew"
"Leave us alone" Maggie yelled at him sick of him constantly shouting at her family who were trying to mourn.
"Hey Shane just stop man" Glenn said as he walked alongside Maggie.
Rick tried to pull Shane away from the situation which only ended him pushing Rick away "Get your hands off me"
As the Greene family kept walking trying to ignore Shane he wouldn't let up "You knew and you kept it from us"
"Shane they didn't know leave them alone" Cassie told him but he ignored still choosing to follow the Greene family.
"That's bullshit I think they all knew"
"We didn't know" Maggie told him and Cassie could tell from her tone of voice it wouldn't be long till Maggie lashed out on Shane.
"Why was she there?" Shane asked them.
"You know Otis put those people on the barn. Maybe he found her and put her in there before he was killed" Hershel answered.
"Your expect me to believe that? What do I look like? Do I look like an idiot to you?" Shane questioned as Rick and Cassie tried to stop him approaching Hershel.
"I don't care what you believe" Hershel stated.
"Everybody just calm down". Rick said trying to reason with the two men.
"I want him off my land"
"Let me tell you something man" Shane started getting in Hershel's face which was enough for Maggie to step in and give him a good slap to the face.
"Don't touch him! Haven't you done enough?" She said before taking her father and going inside with Patricia and Beth.
"I mean him off my land" was the last thing Hershel declared before he went inside. Glenn waited a moment before following leaving Cassie, Rick and Shane stood together.
"Why did you do that? Why?" Cassie asked Shane getting into his face.
"Daryl almost died looking for her. Any one of us could"
"That's not why you decide to open those barn doors and cause a slaughter" Cassie argued as Shane paced back and forth.
"I'm going to tell you both right now that son of a bitch he knew" Shane told the pair causing Cassie to scoff.
"He wouldn't do that he's not like that. He opened his home to us" Rick argued.
"He saved Carl and Daryl" Cassie added.
"He put us in danger. He kept a barn full of walkers"
"So you just hand out guns and massacre his family?" Rick asked Shane. Cassie couldn't help but feel guilty about shooting along with the others but she felt she had to protect the ones she cared about.
"His family's dead, Rick"
"We'll he, he doesn't believe that. He thinks he just murdered them in cold blood"
"I don't care what he thinks"
"I was handling it"
Cassie couldn't take the shouting anymore "Shut up both of you. Standing yelling at each other this isn't going to solve anything"
"You know what also didn't solve anything? The fact the he had all of us put in those woods looking for a little girl every single one of us knew was dead"
"Sorry the rest of us had some faith and hope that a little girl was alive" Cassie yelled back.
"Your both delusional. Just as delusional as that guy" Shane muttered before he began walking towards the barn leaving the Grimes twins stood together.
"Are you mad at me?" Cassie asked as they began walking towards the barn. "I shot too"
"No I'm not. You didn't do it cause you wanted to you did it to protect others" Rick reassured her putting a hand on her shoulder.
As they approached the group Carl and Dale walked the other way Rick giving Carl his hat back. They surveyed the bodies in front of them as everyone stood together.
"Want us to start burying?" T-Dog asked.
"We need a service. Carol would want that" Andrea added.
"Yeah we all want that"
"We should bury Shawn and Annette as well. They also deserve a proper burial and service" Cassie suggested turning to Lori who nodded in agreement.
"Let's dig their graves over by those trees" Lori pointed out "And we'll need a truck to move the bodies"
"I'll get the keys" Jimmy suggested before Shane stopped him.
"No no I got the truck" Shane grumbled before he walked off to grab the truck.
"What about the others? It's a lot of digging"
"We bury the ones we love and burn the rest" Andrea told Jimmy.
"Let's get to work" Lori said as everyone started to move. Cassie walked off with Jimmy and T-dog to find shovels to dig the graves leaving Rick with Lori to talk. She knew they needed it.
Cassie helped Jimmy once they got to the spot for the graves digging out three graves for each of the bodies of the ones they loved. She wiped the sweat of her forehead as they finished seeing the big pile of dirt in front of them.
When Lori went to get Carol for the service she asked Cassie to go with her finding comfort in her sister in laws presence. When they arrived at the rv where Carol was sat in Cassie noticed Daryl sat on the countertop near her.
Lori knocked cautiously at the door before going in to stand next to Carol as Cassie stood by Daryl. When she put her hand on the counter to lean on it Daryl noticed and secretly slipped his hand on top of hers.
Cassie felt herself let a small smile slip out before she stopped it reminding herself of what had just happened and turned to Lori and Carol. "They're ready"
Carol simply shook her head making it clear she didn't want to go. "Come on" Lori encouraged.
"Why?" Carol asked. One simple question that held many answers.
"Because that's your little girl" Daryl answered.
"That's not my little girl. It's some other thing. My Sophia was alone in the woods. All this time, I thought she didn't cry herself to sleep. She didn't go hungry. She didn't try to find her way back. Sophia died a long time ago"
After Carols speech Lori set out a small sigh before she left. Cassie slipped her hand out from underneath Daryl's and followed after thinking he was gonna stay with her.
Lori noticed her sister in law not following and turned to see her hovering near Daryl. When there eyes met Cassie gave her a 'please' look. Lori smirked at the pair before waking ahead to the funeral.
Cassie waited till Lori was a while away before she turned to Daryl and they slowly began to walk towards the funeral. Cassie reached out and grabbed Daryl's hand who to her surprise held it back giving her hand a soft squeeze.
"Are you okay?" She asked him looking over to him however he wouldn't meet her gaze choosing to stare down at his shoes as they walked over the grass. He never gave her a verbal response only nodding his head.
Cassie knew that Daryl felt he was to blame for Sophia's death. He didn't find her like he said he was going too and now he blamed himself for it. He couldn't bare to look at Cassie while he felt such guilt. It made him feel weak just like his father had called him and he never wanted to feel like that in front of her.
Once they were a few feet away from the rest of the group who had their backs to them Daryl dropped Cassie's hand and walked quickly ahead taking his place a few feet away from everyone else. Cassie took in a breath before she also walked over being the last person to arrive before Hershel began the service.
Everyone was there except for Carol and Cassie understood she probably just wanted time alone to mourn her daughter. They stood in front of the freshly dug graves as Hershel spoke from the bible. After he finished when she turned to face Daryl he was already waking away to do god knows what.
Cassie didn't know how long she was stood staring down a Sophia's grave, her guilt growing stronger with every passing second before she felt a hand on her shoulder. When she turned around she saw Dale was stood with a worried look on his face.
"Cmon Cassie. It's over now no need to kick yourself over it" Dale said trying to drag the blonde away but she stood firmly in place.
"I left her out there" Cassie blankly stated and before Dale could speak again she continued "If I had just stayed with her and let Rick take care of the walkers. Or maybe if I had took her with me then she'd still be here and not in the ground. I killed her"
Dale was slightly shocked at Cassie's words not knowing Cassie felt so deeply about it. This was because Cassie had always chosen to try and hide her emotions thinking she would be a bother if she didn't. The phrase 'I'm fine' left her mouth on so many occasions when really she wasn't but it's all she said.
"Cassie Sophia's death was an accident. There was nothing we could of done. But you tried like hell. You and Daryl so don't beat yourself up over it. Your not a killer unlike some people" Dale told her as he managed to get her to start slowly walking back towards camp.
"You mean Shane?" She asked as Dale turned to her with wide eyes.
"How do you-?" He stuttered.
"Shane said Otis was covering him. But he had Ricks colt python when he came back and I know Rick gave that to Otis. He came back with the dead guys gun so I believe Shane killed Otis" Cassie shared her theory with Dale who didn't seem shocked more relieved.
"Shane all but admitted it to me. I think he sacrificed Otis to save his own life"
"Dale I think your right. But I mean no one will believe us to them Shane's a hero for saving Carl and emptying the barn"
"Cassie it doesn't matter what everyone else believes just make sure you keep away from Shane" Dale warned her.
"Don't worry I was going to do that anyway" Cassie felt after talking with Dale a small weight had been lifter off her shoulders. Of course she still felt guilty about what happened to Sophia she didn't think that feeling would go away any time soon. But now the guilt felt less heavy on her shoulders than it had before.
Once they reached the farm Cassie decided to go check on Maggie to make sure she was okay. Once she reached the farmhouse she heard shouting coming from inside which was obviously between Glenn and Maggie. Just as she was about to turn away she heard Maggie ask Glenn if he'd stay with her on the farm if Hershel kicked the rest of them out.
Cassie held her breath waiting for Glenn's response but all he did was stutter out an 'I don't know' Cassie felt herself beginning to grow angry as she ran down the stairs of the porch and went out towards the woods in the same direction she had went to find Daryl earlier.
Would Glenn really stay here without her? She understood Glenn cared for Maggie a lot probably even loved her but after all they'd been through would he really abandon her. She decided that rather than think about it to take her anger out in the lake she was now stood in front of. Her mind had been so clouded with all her thoughts she hadn't realised she had arrived until she nearly put a foot in the water.
She picked up a stone and threw it in the large splash it made coming soon after. She threw stones repeatedly as if she were trying to throw her anger out. One stone for the anger she felt over losing Sophia. One for her anger over Shane. One for Glenn. One for Andrea who hadn't done anything in particular but she still hated her for nearly killing Daryl.
As she picked up her next stone ready to throw she thought of Daryl. Out of the whole group he was the one who put the most effort to find Sophia. Hell he nearly died trying to find her. He did more than anyone else and now judging by the fact he had stood away from everyone at the funeral then walked away without another word Cassie knew what he was doing.
He was trying to pull away again. And if she let him she'd be stuck with the old Daryl. The one she knew back in Atlanta who wouldn't talk to anyone but Merle . The guy everyone thought was just another redneck asshole but she knew now and slightly then that that wasn't true. She knew when Daryl wanted to be and when they were alone together he could be a really sweet guy and she didn't want to lose that.
After throwing a few more stones till her anger had lessened slightly she began the walk back to camp to try and stop Daryl form reverting back to his old ways.
When she eventually arrived back however and went to the space Daryl's tent normally was in she found nothing but a patch of empty grass. "If your looking for Daryl he packed his stuff up and moved out over there" Carol said from behind her causing Cassie to jump slightly.
"Thank you Carol" Cassie thanked the other women before she started walking towards Daryl's new camp.