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ACTIONS HAVE CONSEQUENCES, SADIE is very familiar with this.
Her mother's actions of getting with shitty men led to the consequences of two mentally damaged children before the world even fell. The actions of those men and Sadie's lack of courage that night led to the brutal murder of Rose with the consequences of Sadie killing a man and The Governor finding Sadie in that gas station.
Uncle Shane's death was caused by his actions Sadie still does not know the full extent of, she doesn't know if she wants to.
Just like someone's actions led to the burnt corpses that are still emitting smoke that belong to Karen and David.
Consequences; whoever did this will more than likely be exiled from the prison and Tyreese has lost his lover.
The stench of burnt flesh has flooded Sadie's nose. She holds back a gag, a hand over her stomach. Acid reflux is not her friend right now.
There's two deep, dark lines of crimson that have been left behind by whoever dragged them to their death. "You found them like this?" Rick questions. "I came to see Karen.......and I saw the blood on the floor. Then I smelled them," Tyreese shakily explains, a wave of anger on his tongue, "Somebody dragged them out here and set 'em on fire! They killed them and set them are fire!" He roars in grief.
The yelling makes Sadie instinctively take a step back, her frame half hidden behind Daryl. Tyreese spins around at Rick like he's ready to jump him. Daryl bounces forward, ready for anything. Tyreese's eyes are wild with anger as he begins to lowly speak, "You're a cop. You find out who did this and bring them to me! You understand? You bring 'em to me!" Tyreese's yell echoes off the brick walls around them.
Sadie's hands clench and unclench, nails digging into her skin to form small crescent moons in the palm. She isn't scared of Tyreese. The man reminds her of a soft giant but grief does things to people they wouldn't do when they're thinking straight. But, she understands him completely.
Sadie wanted those men dead by her own hands. She got half of her wish, killing one. This is also a callous murder just like Rose's. Tyreese deserves to avenge her.
"We'll find out who—"
Rick starts but Tyreese is seething when Daryl tries to pull him away. Rick knows this feeling. The feeling of losing your partner and not knowing who to be more mad at. Yourself for letting this happen or the person that caused their death.
"I need to say it again?" Tyreese seethes. Rick bows his head down submissively, letting the man take his anger out on him. "I know what you're feeling. I've been there. You saw me there. It's dangerous," Rick whispers but it does nothing to calm Tyreese. When Daryl moves forward, so does Sadie despite the uneasiness in her chest that is crushing her lungs.
"Karen didn't deserve this," Tyreese adds, "David didn't deserve it! Nobody does!"
"Tyreese, we will find them! There will be consequences!" Sadie yells. Tyreese spins around, nostrils flailing but she knows this anger isn't directed at her and rather the situation they've found themselves in. That sentiment doesn't stop the shivers that crawl down her back when Tyreese takes a big step forward. Daryl is quick to jump in front of her, grabbing his arm, "Man, alright—"
"Man, I ain't goin' nowhere till I find put who did this!" Tyreese raises his voice as he slams Daryl back against rusty metal bars.
Sadie's breathing becomes ragged and uneven at the grip Tyreese has on Daryl's collar. Rick and Carol move to stop the fight but Daryl shoots his hand out, telling them not to. Tyreese's hard breaths fan Daryl's face. Calmly, Daryl looks at the man who has him in a vice grip, "We're on the same side, man."
Rick gently moves Sadie back as he speaks up, "I know what you're going through," He repeats, "We've all lost someone. We know what you're going through right now, but you've got to calm down." Before anyone has the chance to stop it, Tyreese roughly shoves Rick away, huffing like a wolf. "You need to step the hell back!" Tyreese howls. "We should leave this area. Get away from the sight of their bodies," Sadie softly says.
The grief stricken man's eyes only soften for a moment as he looks at the teen. Her words rattle in his head, chest heaving. "I'm not leavin' her!" Tyreese exclaims. Sadie swallows, biting nervously at the skin of her lip. With a trembling breath, Rick gazes up at Tyreese, "She wouldn't want you being like this—"
That's Tyreese's last straw.
Sadie yells a loud NO when the bigger man's fist winds up and collides with Rick's jaw, sending him into the concrete. "Stop! Stop!" Carol yells, trying to get in the middle of them but Tyreese lands another punch across Rick's already bruising face.
Sadie lunges at Tyreese when blood falls from the Grimes man's mouth. "You don't need to do this!" Sadie cries out. Arms wrap around her, pulling her away from the two men as Tyreese lands another bone crushing blow across Rick's face. Carol holds her wiggling, crying frame. Finally, Daryl pulls Tyreese back from Rick, "That's enough!" He grunts.
"Rick?" Sadie calls out, wincing at the bloody, bruised pale skin. Rick stumbles up and in his blind rage throws a hard punch against Tyreese's face so hard he's thrown out of Daryl's hold and onto the ground. Rick limps over to Tyreese, kicking him in the gut. Carol still has Sadie in her hold as Sadie cries out for both men to stop, that it doesn't need to happen and for everyone to breathe even if she herself cannot catch her panicked breath.
Rick stands over Tyreese and just continuously lands his knuckles across his face. "He's gonna kill him," Sadie whispers to Carol, "Daryl, stop this shit!" The blue-eyes man rushes over to his best friend, grabbing a tight hold of him and pulling him away. "Let go of me! Let go of me!"
Rick roars and that's when Sadie realizes the anger she sees isn't just from being punched in the face. It's everything that has stacked on top of each other, feelings of disdain he's been trying to hold back and now he can't, as seen with his lilac and deep blue knuckles.
Sadie's back hits the wall, hand over her mouth at the damage done to each other. Rick's hand is coated in Tyreese's blood while the side of Rick's face is dripping in his own blood from the blows received. She watches as Rick's hand trembles. He locks his gaze with Sadie's frightened one, body shaking. She steps over to him, staring down at Tyreese as he sobs on the ground.
No one knows how to approach Rick. They all share a look but Sadie swallows, taking the step forward to engulf Rick's crimson coated hand with her own clean ones. Rick doesn't flinch, he sighs, closing his eyes for a moment.
"Let's get you to Hershel," Sadie mumbles, leading Rick away from the mess of bodies dead and alive.
KAREN AND DAVID ARE dead. They were sick, Koa doesn't feel sick. Koa is fine—perfectly fine. That's what she's telling herself. Ignoring the sweat on her brow and the tightness of her chest.
Footsteps sound as if they echo in Koa's clogged head that she has convinced herself is not clogged. She's just tired, stressed. Anything but this damn flu.
"Koa?" The quiet voice of her sister calls out. The blonde settles in her sister's doorway and Koa's eyes immediately fall to the dried blood Sadie has on her hands. Frantically, Koa hops down from her top bunk, "Sadie, what the hell happened?"
She had moved all too fast for her own good. A wave of nausea smacks Koa in the face, nearly sending her to the ground if Sadie hadn't grabbed her with one hand.
The younger's face has paled, deep purple circles under her eyes. Sadie's eyes widen at the sight of her little sister but her hand still doesn't leave her clammy skin, "Koa, you're sick." The brunette inhales sharply, "Stop," She warns, backing away from Sadie, "I moved too fast. What happened to your hands?" Sadie clicks her tongue at Koa trying to change the subject, "Rick tussled Tyreese because of Karen. He's fine. You, Koa Faith Finch, are not. You look like a fish outt'a water. I'm getting Rick—"
"Sadie—"
"I'm getting Rick," Sadie sternly says, walking away from her sister. Koa slumps against the cold floor, which feels good against her sweaty skin. Boots scruffle across the floor and soon enough Carl appears in front of Koa's doorway.
Concern falls down his face. God, I must look like shit, Koa thinks. "I–I was gonna ask if you wanted to come with me to quarantine. I–I need to get dad," Carl stammers. "Oh my fucking—Sadie is getting him, okay? Go, Carl," Koa snaps accidentally. The heat that has taken her over makes her more irritable than usual. The boy's face twists from offense to annoyance with a nose scrunch, "I was trying to help!"
Koa sighs guiltily, head falling to her hands.
"Carl—go watch Judith. Do not come near me!" Koa tries to yell but suddenly her throat goes dry and a strong wet, hard cough comes with it. Carl gulps, holding onto his bag of stuff to move cell blocks, "Koa, you'll be okay," He says before turning on his heel and walking away. Koa exhales deeply. The feeling of lying down and sleeping becomes more and more welcoming but the fear of suddenly dying in her sleep forbids her.
A few agonizing moments later, Rick and Sadie show up. She inhales like her lungs are deprived of air, which they probably are from the sickly fluid filling them.
Her eyes try to focus on Rick's cut and bruised face but her vision is becoming blurry and her head hurts more than ever. "She's gonna pass out. The color in her face is gone. She needs medicine," Rick says as calmly as he can as he watches one of his kids succumb to the sickness, "Sadie, I'll take her. Go with Carl and Judith."
"I'll risk gettin' sick for her," Sadie retorts. Rick runs a frustrated hand over his face. Koa is blinking, at least it feels like she's blinking. Black spots are clouding her eyesight so she can't tell if that's manually doing or subconsciously.
Is this what death feels like? Is this how Lori and Uncle Shane felt seconds before their death?
Koa groans at pain in her stomach and fear that can't be formed into cohesive words, just grunts that make her sound like Daryl. "Sadie, please," Rick begs, running over to help Koa as her body sways back and forth. He holds his breath, pleading with Sadie. Her honey brown eyes shake with tears as she looks at her sister. With a held back sob, Sadie bids Koa one last glance and leaves to pack her stuff up for quarantine.
A blur. Everything is a blur.
Koa can feel Rick's hands as he leads her over to the designated cell block for sick people. She can hear sounds from his mouth but it doesn't make sense to her. It sounds like the Peanuts parents. It's becoming too much for Koa to even keep herself up.
Squeaks of the rusty doors ring in Koa's ears. Low snarls make her gulp, gripping onto Rick with as much strength as she can muster left in her.
For the smallest second, Koa's vision becomes normal and the first thing she sees is a sweaty Glenn sitting on a bed. And the last thing she hears is the squeal of a door then, she passes out.
SEPARATION ANXIETY. IF A therapist was around that's what Nellie would get diagnosed with regarding her mother. That's how she ended up between Bob and a bruised Tyreese in the back of Zach's old Dodge, their fastest car according to Daryl.
Because Nellie felt her chest cave in at the thought of what happened to Zach happening to her mother and her hands shook at wondering what would've happened if she and Carl weren't there yesterday to save her mom.
But for once Michonne agreed to her daughter coming on a run without much of a fight. She'd rather her be out here, away from the sick than stuffed in the prison with them. Nellie keeps narrowing her sight on Tyreese's closed shut eye, wanting to ask how the hell he got it but given his recent brutal loss, she keeps her curiosity to herself.
Daryl speeds the car down the road, "Hey, I knew you weren't running off. It's just—the trail went cold. You know that, right?" He refers to Michonne and her need to find The Governor. Nellie sighs, "Maybe you'll listen to him," She looks right in the rearview mirror, locking eyes with Michonne. Her mother presses her lips together, forming a stern look but Nellie sends one right back before looking away.
Michonne doesn't respond to Daryl. A beat of silence falls on them. "If it was any different, I'd be right out there with you," Daryl says. The two exchange a knowing look, one that silently says, I know.
Once the air is cleared, Daryl reaches to turn the radio up but just static crackles through it. "Great song," Nellie sarcastically remarks. "You've been hanging out with Koa too much, Miss Sarcasm," Daryl playfully remarks.
Nellie's eyebrows twitch at his comment, not out of anger or annoyance but because she's never had people so close besides her family that she has picked up their humor or habits. Internally, she knows Sadie has made her softer, more open but she hadn't realized she also picked up some of Koa's personality.
"Would you hand me one of them CDs right there?" Daryl kindly asks. Right as Michonne goes to hand him one, a faint voice crackles through. It almost makes no sense, like a mash up of syllables until Nellie lets her brain settle for a moment.
"Find sanctuary," Nellie mumbles to herself, repeating the words. "Was that a voice?" Bob questions but he's met with a quick shush from Daryl. It crackles in again and Nellie moves forward in her seat to hear better.
"........determined to survive......"
Daryl plays with the radio until a clear Hello comes from it then a, Keep alive.
Nellie and her mom share an uncertain glance, uncomfortableness settles in Nellie's stomach. Suddenly, she's practically flung into Tyreese's lap when Daryl swerves the car to avoid a walker hit and run.
She grips the headrest of her mom's seat as he continues to swerve erratically. The tires squeal beneath them and Nellie for a moment believes this is how she'll die. Not from a walker bite but from Daryl Dixon and his driving. It'll send them wrapped around a tree.
Finally, the rollercoaster comes to a stop. Not off Daryl's own accord though but because he has to. A herd of walkers has blocked their way to the veterinary hospital. Nellie gulps as their grimey hands begin to scratch at the car, leaving dirty fingerprint marks on the window. "Grab something!" Daryl yells. Nellie listens, gripping into the headrest even tighter then before.
Daryl reverse the car and unlike before, he rams the walkers with the bumpers until they get stuck under the car. "Go to the left!" Her mom orders but the wheels just spin. Nellie can see the blood and guts coming with the tires spinning. "We're jammed up! Make a run for the gaps right there!" Daryl yells, "You three, make a run for the woods and you don't stop for nothing!"
Nellie takes a determined breath, already knowing she'll have to do the majority of protecting Bob. "Bob, hurry up!" Nellie yells as the man struggles with his seatbelt. Daryl and her mother are already out there killing walkers to make a path for them. Finally, Bob gets it off and the three exit the vehicle.
A walker grabs at Nellie's leg but she stomps its head in with the heel of her boot and moves towards her mom. Like butter, Nellie slices through the heads of the monsters with her cleaver.
She slams the blade into the head of one, expecting it to die easily like the rest but this one must be newer because the weapon gets stuck in the combination of skull and brain. She tugs and tugs but it doesn't come loose. Walkers are beginning to crowd her and she can hear the faint of her name between all the snarls and growls.
"Fuck this," Nellie mumbles and grabs her pistol from her boot. She shoots the walkers that dare to come close in the head, causing the splatter of what was once useful skulls to spray across her and the ground. She lets off four shots before a majority of the walkers either get shot with an arrow or a sword to the head. Nellie smiles a sigh of relief as she dislodges the cleaver from the skull only to see Ty struggling with a group of them.
"We need to help him," Nellie says, contradicting her thoughts from a mere six months ago. Tyreese is just screaming, begging the walkers to come at him, begging to let his sorrows out. Her mother tugs her away, more concerned about her child's safety than her friend's. They run through the woods, killing walkers until they reach a clearing.
Nellie catches her breath, wiping guck from her exposed dark skin. "Hold up," Daryl says, tracking two more walkers that stumble from the bushes. He holds his cross bow up to kill them but a slam in the back of the head from a hammer kills to before he can. Nellie swallows in delight at the sight of a bloody but alive Tyreese. He falls to his knees out of exhaustion. They have no time to relax as more walkers emerge into the clearing.
The group is forced to run for their lives again, pushing the child ahead of the danger as she kicks up dirt with her boots, suddenly wishing Daryl's driving killed her and not the very high possibly of the herd behind them.
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