HEART FOR BRAINS • the walking dead

007: special kid

Rio picked his head up off of Carl's leg and snuck out of his and Lori's embrace. He headed forward, past Glenn who tried to hold him, past Shane and past Rick and past Daryl who now held a sobbing Carol.

"Don't look. Don't look!" He called out to Rio. He didn't answer, he just ignored him.

He stopped at the front of the group, aware of all eyes on him and walked towards his brother. What was left of him. Rio identified him instantly from the clothes he was wearing. He tripped over an arm on his way towards him but continued going. He needed to see. He needed to make sure.

Rio dropped to the floor once again. His fingers tracing the bullet wound in his brothers head. His breath hitched as he held the other boys face. He held it in his hands and gagged as blood pooled out of the wound and trickled into his palm. Rio jumped back, wiping his bloody hand in his shirt, shouting when it just smeared, it wouldn't go away, it wouldn't go away.

A pair of arms engulfed him, Rio didn't know who. He didn't care who. All he knew was one thing: he couldn't stay here.

Everything was hazy, he collapsed into the person, clinging to their arm as he sobbed. He stayed there for a moment, hoping it would all just disappear or maybe that he would disappear. He couldn't hear anyone else's sobs but his own. The person went to pull him up. Rio got scared and slipped beneath their arm. He turned around. Rick, it was Rick.

His face was splattered in blood and now his arm was also smeared with what was on Rio's palm. He stared back at the man, eyes wide and watery. He couldn't stand it.

Rio ran, he took off in the direction of the farm house but turned at the last second, heading for the field behind it. His legs didn't carry him as fast as they usually would but this time no one was chasing him. He didn't have to outrun anyone. He tripped over rocks and stumbled along the path before slowing down.

His leg was hurting and he sat on the ground. Dust kicked up around him as he rested against a fence and curled his legs into himself. He squeezed his eyes shut and tried to slow his frantic breathing.

Dead. He was dead. He was bit. Rick had shot him. Each new thought sent him spiralling again, he couldn't believe it was real. He didn't want to.

He tried to count to one-hundred. Tried to focus on anything else. He tapped his foot against the floor and hit his fingers against his arm.

It took a few minutes of counting but soon someone was in-front of him. They just stood there, watching him rock back and forth for a while, trying to calm down. Rio opened his eyes and looked up.

"Are you... okay?" Daryl asked.

"No?" Rio choked out, it was somewhere between a laugh and a sob. The absurdity of everything had him feeling insane. Jesse was gone, he was gone! He'd felt the hole through his head, his blood stained Rio's hands. And shirt. And jeans.

Daryl awkwardly came and sat down to his left. He leant his head onto the man's shoulder. Rio sniffled, but let out a small smile. Deep down he'd known. He'd known Jesse was gone. When his brother didn't come home after the first day he'd suspected it, but by the second day he knew. Jesse wouldn't have left him, he just didn't want to admit that his brother was really gone. Not lost, gone.

"I think you should maybe talk with Carol. When you're, you know, okay." Daryl said quietly. He bit down on his lip nervously, he hadn't really spoken to Carol much, aside from their conversation about feeling useless. Rio had never wanted to say any more to her. He'd always feared saying the wrong thing.

He nodded along as they sat in silence for a while, not knowing what to say to each other. Rio started crying again. At first it was just tears, Daryl hadn't even noticed, but soon sobs over took him.