WAKE UP / rick grimes⁰¹ ✔︎

chapter eight.

Rick ran over to Alicia and pulled the man off of her. The man's wound covered her chest in blood, and she had a gun in her hand. "Were you hit?" Rick examined her but found no injury, just blood.

"Were you hit?" Rick asked a second time, finally getting an answer out of Alicia. Gunshots began going off from on top of a building, and Rick looked up, eyeing the sniper. Dylan came running over and helped his mother up, "Mom, we have to go!" Alicia pushed herself up from the ground and made her way to the car. A herd of walkers began approaching, and the sniper jumped off of the building. And instead of landing safely on the ground, he landed straight through a metal fence, piercing his leg through it.

The other man in the truck took off just as he began screaming out for help. Rick turned to Dylan and asked him to get Hershel. "Grandpa! Grandpa!"

"Where the hell is Rick? We can't leave without him!" Hershel yelled out before hearing the screams of someone. He ran across the way recognizing Rick and Alicia standing at the fence.

"We have to help him!" Rick rested his hand on top of the boy's leg before Hershel demanded they leave and said goodbye to the kid. The boy pleaded for help, as did Rick, explaining he they couldn't just leave him.

Dylan spoke up, defending his Grandfather, "He was just shooting at us!"

Rick spat back, "He's a kid!" Hershel explained they couldn't save his leg after they lifted it through the fence, and it would tear his muscle into shreds causing him to bleed out.

"That hatchet still in the car?" Rick spat out. The boy begged them not to cut off his leg, but Hershel had already begun tying the kid's leg with his shirt and a stick. Rick pushed the boy against the garbage can he had landed on, trying to keep him still. More walkers began approaching because of the boy's screams, causing Rick to place his hand over his mouth, shutting him up.

Walkers began coming out from all sides, and the group had no choice but to shoot them, taking time away from cutting this kid's leg. Alicia had almost run out of ammo, looking back at Rick and then again at Hershel, only concerned with the walkers coming towards them, "Guys, we're running out of time!" Alicia grabbed the bottom of the boy's shoe and pushed his leg up through the fence, and he began screaming at the top of his lungs.

Hershel and Rick carried him to the car, placing him in the back seat. Alicia grabbed a towel up from the ground and tied it around his face, covering his eyes.

"What? We have to make sure he can't see where we live." Alicia slammed the door shut and sat in the back with her son, and Rick asked her if she was okay.

"I'm fine. I'm just tired." She let out, feeling unsure.

-

Carl ran to the car upon seeing his dad pull up. Rick rushed out to Lori and Carl, hugging them. Something Alicia missed. Dylan jumped out of the vehicle startling the group. Patricia ran to Dylan, "I can't believe you're here!" She hugged him and kissed him on the cheek. He brushed past everyone, trying to look for Zoey.

"What's going on? Where's Zoey?" Everyone stood there in silence, not knowing who he was talking about. "Dylan...she's gone." Alicia wanted to be the one to say it, but she couldn't. It was Maggie that spoke up. He immediately turned to his mom in denial. "No...You're lying. Where's my sister?" Dylan ran into the house, pushing the door open, causing it to slam back into the wall. Alicia ran off in tears instead of chasing after Dylan.

"Who the hell is Zoe?" Shane had blurted out, having no respect whatsoever. Rick scoffed, "Zoey is Alicia's daughter. She passed away."

Zoe's room was locked, and Dylan began pushing himself into it. Rick came running towards him with Shane close behind, trying to calm him down. "Listen, kid, she's gone, and she isn't coming back." Dylan pulled his gun out from the back of his pants, pointing it at Rick. Rick held his hands up in defense, "Listen to me. You don't want to do this." Dylan suddenly shifted the gun and pointed it at himself instead of Rick.

"Put the gun down, Dylan." Dylan cried out, saying he never got to say goodbye. Rick explained, "Sometimes stuff like this happens, and it's not fair, I know. You have to hold on to what you have. Your mother needs you now more than ever. You put that gun down, don't do this to your mother. She's already lost, one child." Dylan dropped the gun on the ground and fell to the floor. Rick jumped towards him, grabbing the gun. He held Dylan in his arms and handed the weapon to Shane.

-

Alicia was at Zoey's grave when suddenly she heard footsteps approaching. She pulled out her knife in defense before realizing it was a woman from Rick's group. Alicia sat back down, "I'm sorry...I-" Alicia couldn't finish, and instead, she began crying. The woman had sat next to Alicia, grabbing her hand, "Every hour, I tell myself it's going to get better, but it doesn't. Finding my little girl in that barn just tore me apart, and I don't think someone could ever come back from that."

"I remember one time she snuck cookies in her bed. She came running into my room covered in chocolate, complaining about ants. I went to check, and there were ants everywhere. I lost it, and I was more concerned about what her father was going to do when he got home-" She lost her words and instead found comfort in Alicia's silence.

"Zoey took my car keys one night to show off to her friends or something. Instead of putting the car in reverse, she put it in drive and crashed straight into my father's barn. She came out crying, and I just laughed. I sat there and laughed, and soon enough, we began laughing together. Her father made her repaint the barn after he fixed it, and she came out covered in paint and chicken feathers-" Alicia let out a small laugh before the woman began laughing with her.