TWENTY ONE. the wrong call

The light that radiated off of the sun was blocked by the nylon fabric of her tent, knees tucked to her chest in an overwhelming silence. Nearly everyone was out searching for Sophia - but there Adeline was, put on bed rest by Hershel Greene himself. Occasionally, Glenn or Dale popped in to check on her but was usually greeted with a thumbs up or sleeping figure. The Grimes girl knew that resting was the right thing to do, but she felt useless napping when she could be out searching for Sophia. Sighing deeply, Adeline flopped back into the cots frame and craned her chin to the ceiling. Wallowing in her guilt and regrets wasn't how she planned to spend her day, but it was something she was forced to deal with.

The Greene family had found her a set of crutches, the teasing objects lingering in the corner of her tent. The only reason why she had refused to use them was the nagging reminder in her head that she had killed Otis, or had at least helped . What mattered was that she was involved and she could have stopped it but she didn't. One thing that always came above others was the need to keep her family alive. That's her reasoning, those were the words she repeated to herself over and over in hopes of tricking her mind into believing it.

Pressing her hands on either side of her head, she turned over and let out a muffled groan into the soft pillow underneath her. The constant reminder in her mind failed to cease, and all of her attempts proved to be futile. The sound of her tent door opening caused a thumbs up to be sent in the air - "I'm fine, Dale." Adeline guessed the name of her visitor, her words muffled by the fabric of her pillow as she talked.

"If I were Dale, I probably still wouldn't believe that." The voice of her brother caused her body to turn and sit up, eyeing his approach figure with a curious face. Rick smiled softly before motioning towards the empty part of her cot, "I need to talk to you."

Adeline scooted over and avoided her ankle as she patted the spot next to her. "Something happen?" She questioned, feeling the cot shift as Rick sat down and placed his head in his hands. "Are you okay?" The quest of getting an answer continued, eyebrows furrowing in concern for her brother as he lifted his head to meet her worried eyes.

"I just had a long talk with Shane." He informed, which immediately gave her the impression that he knew Lori had cheated on him. This sent nervousness barreling down Adelines spine, sighing deeply while running a hand through her tangled hair, "Rick, I-"

"He wants to call off the search." Rick interjected with a steady voice, crystal eyes settling upon his sister. "He says that my good intentions are making us weaker, that I can't make the hard decisions for the good of the group." His words continued, his sister taking in the information with a conflicted face as she tucked her knees to her chest.

Adeline cast her eyes to the fabricated floor, "I think he's used to being in charge. You know him, he's always been power hungry. Whatever decision you have to make is always gonna be a hard one, that's how this world works." she stated with a careful choice of words. Every time her brother and husband argued, it came down to her. What she said led to what they would do and how they would act, and there was nothing more she hated than that. But no matter what, she wanted and needed to be there for the two men even if sometimes they failed to return that need.

"But maybe I'm holding on to a way of thinking that doesn't make sense anymore. He says it's math, basic survival - how much fuel, how much food, how much ammo. Not much room in that equation for being soft." Rick continued, eyes on the ground. "It's pretty simple when you start thinking of life like that."

At her brothers words, she felt a tug on her stomach that pulled her in two different directions. "You do what you have to do to keep us and yourself alive. If that's your way of thinking then I see no fault in that." Adeline swallowed the words that begged to leave her throat, the truth that pleaded to leave. "The way Shane thinks is only leading him down a path of no return. You can't lose your humanity, Rick. But, I need to pull him out of that before it's too late." She informed with glossy eyes, head resting against knees as he took in what she said.

Realizing her call as one for help, Rick moved to say something but was interrupted by the flap of her tent opening. Beth Greene peeked in, "Mr. Grimes, my dad wants to talk to you." She informed with a soft voice, informing them where Hershel was before walking away.

As her brother reluctantly left her alone, Adeline eyed the crutches in the corner of the tent. Slowly and while ignoring the slight ache in her knee, she changed into a more suitable outfit that consisted of a pair of leggings and oversized shirt before placing the crutches underneath her arms and making her way out of the shared tent. The bottom of her boots and base of the crutches made prints into the soft ground, the weight that came along with all of her weapons now vacant from her body. Limping around completely weaponless made Adeline feel vulnerable, her mind more on guard than ever.

"Aren't you supposed to be on bed rest?" Glenn questioned from behind the woman, causing her to turn around with frustrated eyes. Adeline sighed deeply and pinched the bridge of her nose, "Not right now, Glenn. Not right now." she confirmed curtly before digging her crutches into the ground and walking away from the boy. Immediate guilt seeped into her veins, knowing he was only doing what Dale told him to do which was check up on her and make sure she stayed in bed all day.

Caramel eyes sharpened into careful ones as she entered the RV, her crutches padding against the wooden floorboards. Slipping through the bathroom doors, she rested the two objects against the wall and looked into the mirror with furrowed brows. Gripping the counter for support, she kept herself steady while reaching for the hairbrush she knew belonged to Andrea. Running it through her tangled hair, she frowned at the sight of a few strands falling to the ground due to stress. Placing the brush back into its original spot, Adeline tied her hair into a low ponytail before splashing her face with the cool water from the sink.

Retrieving the crutches from the wall, she moved away from her exhausted face and hovered her hand over the collapsible door just as the RV shifted underneath her. Staying still, she nearly walked out of the small bathroom until another person entering the vehicle stopped her. "Sorry, just returning your book." The voice of Glenn flooded through the camper.

"Oh no, I'm sorry." The second person revealed themselves to be Dale as Adeline remained quiet in the bathroom and noisily listened in. "If I had known the world was ending, I'd have brought better books."

"Uh, Dale. Do you think Adeline's on her period?" The question made the woman hidden in the bathroom cup a hand over her mouth and suppress the laughter in her throat. It was the first time in the past few days that she genuinely felt a burst of euphoria, and it caused a much needed smile to lace her lips.

"I'm only asking 'cause it's like all the women are acting... really weird. And I read somewhere that when women spend a lot of time together, their cycles line up and they all get super crazy hormonal at the same time." Glenn continued, a snort threatening to escape Adelines nose as she lowered herself down on the edge of the toilet to hold in her giggles. The boy was young and naive, there wasn't a snowball chance in hell that she would get mad at him over a simple accusation. To her, it was more amusing than angering. Although the other women in the camp probably wouldn't think so.

Dales voice resurfaced, "I'm gonna advise you to keep that theory to yourself."

Breathing deeply, Adeline composed herself and placed her crutches back underneath her armpits before hastily slinging the door open and connecting eyes with Glenn and Dale. Their faces soon turned into shocked expressions mixed with fear of what she was going to say, but when a chuckle toppled from her lips and her face scrunched up in pure amusement, they relaxed. "I don't know, Dale. I kinda like the theory." Adeline assured, squeezing the boys shoulder before walking away and out of the RV to give the men their space.

Slowly making her way into the makeshift camp space, Shane caught sight of her and began to walk towards her with determined eyes. Taking notice of his unbuttoned top and exposed chest, she adverted her eyes. With believing nothing but that he was coming to talk to her about his conversation with her brother, she prepared herself by breathing deeply and arching a brow at him as she lowered herself down onto the wooden bench. "Can I talk to you about something?"

The question slipped out of his mouth, eyes diverting from Ricks curious stare sent their way. Remembering the situations like this before the end of the world brought a small smile to lace her lips, head casting to the ground just as an alerted voice ripped through camp. "Walker! Walker!" Andrea shouted from her position on top of the RV.

"Just the one?" The curious voice of Rick inquired, shielding his eyes from the sun. "I bet I can nail it from here." Andrea assuredly spoke while grabbing a rifle.

Adeline stood from her spot on the bench, crutches cluttering to the ground as Shane gripped her elbow to keep her steady. "Andrea - don't. That's stupid and it'll attract any nearby. What if a herd's passing through?" She questioned with sharp eyes.

"Let us handle this." Shane followed up with his wife's words, making sure she was okay to stand on her own before grabbing the pickax next to the bench.

"Shane, hold up! Hershel wants to deal with walkers." Rick interjected quickly, holding his hand out to the man.

Furrowing her eyebrows, she looked to her brother with a confused expression. "What for? I'm sure we deal with them the same way they do." Adeline assured, watching as Rick rushed to get his python. "Stay here!" He yelled, running past her with a determined face.

"Wanna race or something?" She retorted, her voice loud and clear. "I think I might win if you tried!" Adeline retorted sarcastically before slumping back down onto the bench with a tired face.

Looking up to the roof of the RV, frustration ripped through her veins at the sight of Andrea aiming her rifle sights onto the walker in the field. "Isn't Dale supposed to be the one carrying that?" The Grimes sister yelled out in attempts to stop the blonde.

"Just let me try." Andrea pleaded, cocking the gun and laying down flat on her stomach.

Grabbing the binoculars that laid against the surface of the bench, Adeline scooted over on the wooden seat and lifted the object up to her eyes and towards the field. Squinting, the sudden realization of who the walker was slammed into her like a freight train off of its rails. "Andrea, no!" Her yell ripped through camp, blending in with a loud gunshot that burned tracks in her mind.

"No! I told you to stop! I told you!" Adeline yelled, body hurriedly pushing off of the bench and onto the dirt ground. Making sure to stay off of her brace covered ankle, weeds whipped against the thin material of her leggings as she rushed through the field and towards the now shot Daryl Dixon. "Please don't be dead, please don't be dead." Her voice begged in a raspy tone.

Breathless pants left her lips, meeting the men halfway with worried eyes. "I told you to-" Rick started, but was only cut off by a curt middle finger and body rushing over to the limp redneck in his and Shanes arms.

Examining his bloodied body, the sound of rushed footsteps caused her to turn around and find Dale and Andrea fast on her tail. "Oh my god, oh my god, is he dead?" The blonde questioned repeatedly.

"You grazed him." Adeline informed, her once clean fingers now covered in blood as she pressed her hand against the wound on the side of Daryls head. "When someone tells you to stop, maybe you should think about listening." She retorted with a sharp voice, her husband placing his hand on her lower back to usher her forward.

Glenn looked to the bloodied Daryl, "Look at him. What the hell happened?" He inquired while pointing at the numerous wounds on the rednecks body. "He's wearing ears!" He yelled, the ears on a necklace now coming into sight for Adeline as she reached her hand towards the black string and jerked it off of Daryls neck.

Scrunching her nose, she slung the ear necklace deeper into the field before turning around. "That stays between us," She spoke up - motioning towards the people approaching them.

"Guys!" T-Dogs voice stopped them in their tracks, heads turning to find him holding up a raggedy doll. "Isn't this Sophia's?" He questioned - Adelines eyes immediately recognizing the doll as the one the little girl head when they were under the car together

"HOLY SHIT,"

━━━ AUTHORS NOTE.
𝑖 𝑤𝑎𝑛𝑡𝑒𝑑 𝑡𝑜 𝑡ℎ𝑟𝑜𝑤 𝑖𝑛 𝑎 𝑙𝑖𝑡𝑡𝑙𝑒 𝑏𝑖𝑡 𝑜𝑓 𝑎 𝑙𝑖𝑔ℎ𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑎𝑟𝑡𝑒𝑑 𝑚𝑜𝑚𝑒𝑛𝑡 𝑏𝑒𝑓𝑜𝑟𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑛𝑔𝑠 𝑠𝑡𝑎𝑟𝑡 𝑡𝑜 𝑔𝑒𝑡 𝑠𝑒𝑟𝑖𝑜𝑢𝑠
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