𓆝 𓆟 𓆞 𓆝 𓆟

          𝐑𝐈𝐂𝐊 𝐖𝐀𝐒 𝐀𝐓 the highway when he stopped the car. It was daylight when they got there, and Casey hadn't closed her eyes other than to blink. The blood on her face had dried up, and now it all felt crusty and disgusting. Her head hurt, she was dizzy and everything.

She felt sick, of course. She probably had a concussion for Christ's sake, but, not just because of that. Because of the idea that she was some killer. She killed Shane. That's what killers do. They kill people. People they love.

The thought of it made her want to throw up. It made her want to scream and cry like a child, which she was. She was a child who was protecting her father when it should've been the other way around.

Rick stopped at the highway, sighing as he left his hands on the wheel for a moment. He looked at his daughter, seeing the blank expression on her face. He patted her knee, not bothering to ask are you okay? question because he knew the answer.

He opened the door, getting out. He was followed by Carl, Hershel, and finally Casey. She tossed her gun onto her seat, slamming the door behind her after doing so.

Carl walked up beside Rick, who was walking toward the car that had stuff left for Sophia. Drinks, snacks, stuff like that. Casey stopped for a second, looking at it.

Sophia wouldn't be lost if it weren't for her. Sophia wouldn't be dead if it weren't for her.

"Casey."

Her head whipped around looking over to Hershel, who was slowly getting out of the car and closing his door. "Yeah?" He looked at her, a confused look forming on his face.

"I didn't say anything, dear." She nodded her head, sighing.

"Sorry, I thought someone said somethin'." She told him shyly. She looked over to Carl and Rick, who were talking to one another.

"It's- It is mom. We need to get her and not be safe a mile away!" Carl yelled up at him. Rick shushed him, bending down and placing his hand on his shoulder.

"Shh. You need to be quiet, all right? Please." He whispered, Carl let out a breath.

"Like you want me to be about Casey?" Her head shot up, looking over at him. He glanced over at her, then looked back at Rick.

She wiped her sweaty hands on her bloody jeans, looking away from him. "Please...It's mom." Rick didn't know how to answer him.

"Carl, just-"

"No." He stormed away, walking back over to the truck, and pushing past his sister. She watched him walk away, keeping his head down.

She rocked back and forth on her feet, watching Rick about to go after him but Hershel stopped him. "Rick, you've got to get your children to safety. I'll wait here for my girls and the others. I know a few places. We'll meet up at one of them later." He told Rick, Casey leaned up against the car, twiddling with her thumbs.

"Where? Where is safe?" Rick asked, his arms going out at his sides. "We're not splitting up." He told him, his expression serious. His tone was stern and maybe the slightest bit scary.

"Please, keep your boy and your girl safe. I'll hide in one of the cars. If a walker gets me, so be it. I've lost my farm. I've lost my wife and maybe my daughters." It sounded like Hershel had lost a little bit of hope.

"You don't know that! They'll be here." Rick was insistent on the fact that everyone from the farm would show up on the highway. Like they were mind readers or something. Like everyone knew to get back here.

"And you don't know that." He stated, Casey looked down at her hands.

They were blood-soaked and there was blood and dirt in her fingernails, and in the small creases of her palms and her fingers. She looked behind her back, seeing Carl staring at her. She stared back and Carl looked away, a not-so-happy look on his face.

"You're a man of God. Have some faith." Rick told him.

"I can't profess. To understand God's plan, but Christ promised the resurrection of the dead. I just thought he had somethin' a little different in mind." It was silent after Hershel said that. Rick said nothing.

"We stay together."

Casey picked at her fingernails, looking back down again. Rick walked over, squeezing her shoulder. "Hey," she barely acknowledged him. "Look at me." His tone softened, and she looked up at him.

"You did what you had to do, you saved my life, Casey. You hear me? You saved me." He told her, wiping the blood from her face with his calloused fingers. It didn't really wipe away, it just crusted because of how dry it was.

"By killing Shane?" Carl cut in, she glanced over at him. Rick looked back at him. "How did he turn if he wasn't even bit? How about-"

There was a growl, cutting him and his curiosity off. "Get your gun," Rick whispered, Casey shook her head no. She didn't want that gun. She killed someone with that gun. She didn't want it in her hand. Not now, not ever. "Casey, get the gun. Now." He commanded.

"No, I'm never touching one again-"

Rick let out a huff before opening the door of the truck and grabbing her gun. He grabbed her wrist, forcing it into her hand. "You shoot if I tell you to." She let her hand drop limply to her side, holding it in her hand. "Casey." She glared at him, turning the safety off and getting it ready.

He led them to the back of the car where a walker walked past to the front, not seeing them.

They made sure to be as quiet as possible, not wanting to attract it or waste any ammo and attract more. When it walked past, Hershel whispered to Rick. "I don't know how much longer we can stay here." Carl looked up at Rick.

"I-I'm not leaving without Mom."

Casey stayed out of it. She knew it was gonna be Rick's way or the highway...Well, not the highway because Rick's way was the highway. But, it was gonna be Rick's way no matter what.

"So we're just gonna walk away? Not knowing if my wife, your-your girls are still out there. How do we live with that?" Rick asked. Casey looked past him, making sure no more walkers were around.

"You've only got one concern now—Just one, keeping them alive. Nature may be throwin us a curveball. But that law is still true." Casey raised her eyebrow, not knowing what Hershel meant by that statement. Rick looked down at her, wishing she'd fix her face and not judge everyone, but, now wasn't the best time.

Rick took a deep breath, taking a moment to think. If he got Casey and Carl hurt, and he saw Lori, how would he explain it? His children were his first priority...He knew that.

He crouched down to the level of his children, looking up at them both. "Casey, Carl. It's not safe here. I'm sorry. Well-" the sound of an engine was heard, and he stood up straight.

He turned his head, seeing not one but two vehicles. Both of which he knew. He saw Carol and Daryl, both on a motorcycle. Then he saw Maggie and Glenn in a light green car...Then a light blue truck came into view with Lori, Beth, and T-Dog.

Maybe everyone did know to come to the highway.

Everyone went running out of the cars over to their loved ones. Casey put her gun in her waistband, walking behind Rick and Carl over to Lori. Rick and Daryl both shook hands, and Daryl's hand messed up Casey's hair.

He expected a smile, a scowl, or anything, but he got nothing. Casey was blank. She wasn't her usual self, and Daryl, out of all people, could tell. She just walked past him, paying him no mind, and walked over to Lori, who was already hugging Carl.

Lori was ecstatic to see the two. She pulled Casey in as well. Shane had told everyone that Randall must've taken her when he'd escaped...

Lori was worried that something was bad. Would happen. But, she was relieved to see her daughter. Maybe a little bloodied and bruised, but she was thanking God that she saw her. Rick joined as well and he kissed his wife on the cheek.

When they broke away from the hug, Lori looked at her daughter. Her hand went on Casey's cheek, seeing the bruise and the cut along her cheekbone and the one through her lip, and all of the dried blood was pretty hard to miss. "Baby...what happened?" She whispered as Casey slightly winced at her touch.

"Sorry, kiddo." Shane whipped his gun across her face, hitting her cheekbone. Her head dropped to the ground, blood leaking from the side of her face, a red mark forming that would soon be a bruise.

The memory flashed in her head and she stepped back, taking a deep breath. She looked away, looking at everyone. Lori looked up at Rick who had just rubbed her back.

Her chest moved up and down heavily as she looked behind her. She rubbed her eye before turning back around. She sighed and tried to muster up a smile to give to her mother.

She didn't say anything, she just hugged her again. It didn't ease Lori's worries about what she thought Randall could've done. The sad part is that it wasn't Randall at all. It was someone she thought she could've trusted around her kids...

"Where'd you find everyone?" Rick asked.

"Well, those guys' tail lights zigzagging all over the road—Figured he had to be Asian driving like that." Daryl joked, making Glenn laugh.

"Good one." Lori moved away, looking at her daughter's face. She tilted her head to the side, trying to look at the cut.

"Where's the rest of us?" Daryl asked, looking around.

No Shane, no Andrea, no Jimmy, and no Patricia. They lost four.

"We're the only ones who made it so far," Rick answered. Lori stopped looking at Casey for a moment and she looked at Rick.

"Shane?"

Casey froze. She looked at Carl who was already looking at her. That nauseous feeling came back. Her skin paled, and her hands went clammy. She felt that feeling in her chest too, the bad one.

The silence was enough of an answer.

"Andrea?" Glenn questioned.

"She saved me, then I lost her," Carol told him. Casey rubbed her eyes, seeing the visions of Shane's face after she shot her gun.

She wished Carl knew why she shot him. She wished he knew that he hurt her in the woods and that he was gonna hurt Rick as well. She did what she had to do...

But, she still felt guilty for it. Maybe there was another way out, a new result. But no, she shot him between his ribs.

"We saw her go down," T-Dog said, leaning on the card door.

"Patrica?" Beth shook her head.

"They got her too, took her right in front of me. I was-I was holding onto her, Daddy. She just-" Beth stopped herself, crying into Hershel's chest as she explained what happened to Patricia, sadness overcoming her. "What about Jimmy?" She asked.

"He was in the R.V. It got overrun," Rick told her. Casey remembered the blood splattering against the front window of the RV. Jimmy's blood.

"You definitely saw Andrea?" Carol asked.

"There were walkers everywhere," Lori told her, not knowing exactly if she died or not.

"Did you see her?" Carol asked further.

"I'm gonna go back," Daryl said, about ready to hop onto his bike and get back to the farm.

Rick stopped him. He couldn't lose anyone else, not today. "No."

"We can't just leave her," Daryl argued.

"We don't even know if she's there," Lori told him, not wanting to risk the lives of anyone else.

"She isn't there. She isn't. She's somewhere else or she's dead. There's no way to find her." Rick said, Casey glanced up at him.

"So we're not even gonna look for her?" Glenn asked, confused as to why they were leaving someone back.

"We gotta keep moving. There have been walkers crawling all over here." Casey saw one come into vision, walking their way as they spoke.

"I say head East," T-Dog suggested.

"Stay off the main road. The bigger the road, the more walkers. More assholes like this one. I got him." Daryl shot the walker dead with his crossbow.

Then everyone drove off...

𓆝 𓆟 𓆞 𓆝 𓆟

𝐑𝐈𝐂𝐊 𝐃𝐑𝐎𝐕𝐄 𝐅𝐎𝐑 𝐀𝐒 long as he could until gas started getting low. Casey's head was leaned against the window as he drove. Her fingers tapped at her legs. The car was silent. They were in the back, following Daryl as he drove on his bike. Her head was aching as she sat there. It felt like everything was spinning, she just didn't feel good...at all.

That was until Rick's hand slammed against the wheel, making Casey look up. The engine was spluttering, meaning they were low in gas. Rick had gotten frustrated and just hit the wheel. "Damn," Lori looked up at her husband.

"We've been ridin' red for the past hour." He told her calmly, which was much different from his annoyed demeanor seconds before.

"Better make sure we don't get forgot," T-Dog told him. Rick hit the wheel once, making everyone stop.

Everyone got out of the car. Casey shivered at the wind that went past. She rubbed her arms up and down. "You out?" Daryl asked as Carol got up off his bike and Rick jogged over.

"Running on fumes." He told him, walking over.

Maggie walked out of the green car, a rifle in her hand. "We can't stay here." She stated.

"We can't all fit in one car," Glenn added. Casey rubbed her arms up in down. Lori put an arm around her, and another around Carl. The two kids were freezing.

"We'll have to make a run for some gas in the morning." Rick turned around.

"Spend the night here?" Carol questioned, looking at Rick as if he had three heads. Casey leaned her head against Lori's stomach. Lori ran her fingers through her curly hair.

She figured that she was shaken up. She thought Randall probably did something to her. Hurt her or something.

Boy was she wrong.

"I'm freezing," Carl complained. Rick walked over, taking off his jacket for his son. He handed it to him. Carl put it on quickly.

"We'll build a fire," Lori suggested, wrapping both of her arms around Casey to warm her up. Carl now had a jacket and Casey had a long sleeve shirt on.

"You go looking out for firewood, stay close. I only got so many arrows. How you doin' on ammo?" Daryl asked Rick as he walked past.

Rick glanced at Daryl, giving a small shake of his head. "Not enough."

"We can't just sit here with our asses hangin' out," Maggie said, not liking the idea of staying in the woods for the entire night.

"Watch your mouth." Hershel scolded as if her language was the most important thing in the world. "Everyone stop panickin' and listen to Rick."

Rick checked the surrounding area for an idea or something. Some way to set up a camp. "All right, we'll set up a permitter. In the morning, we'll find gas and some supplies. We'll keep pushing on."

Maggie looked over at him, trying to give some kind of suggestion. "Glenn and I can go make a run now, try and scrounge up some gas." Casey closed her eyes, trying to find some relief from the pounding in her head.

"No, we stay together. God forbid somethin happens and people get stranded without a car." He argued, Lori looked down at Casey, rubbing her hairline.

Carl looked back at the mother and daughter. He huffed before walking over and sneaking his way into Lori's arms. Casey moved slightly to make room for her brother.

"Rick, we're stranded now," Glenn stated as if it wasn't obvious to the man.

"I know it looks bad, we've all been through hell and worse, but at least we've found each other. I wasn't sure—I-I really wasn't. But we did. We're together. We keep it that way. We'll find shelter somewhere. There's gotta be a place." Rick explained to him. His frustration grew and grew as he tried to keep telling them what they had to do. They had to settle for one day, but it seemed like nobody wanted to hear him out.

"Rick, look around. Okay? There's walkers everywhere. They're migrating or something. There's gotta be a place not just where we hole up, but we fortify, hunker down, pull ourselves together, build a life for each other. I know it's out there. We just have to find it!" He exclaimed, speaking with a gun in his hand.

"Even if we do find a place and we think it's safe, we can never be sure. For how long? Look what happened with the farm. We fooled ourselves into thinking that was safe." Rick turned to Maggie, pure frustration written all over his face. As if he were disgusted or something. Casey couldn't explain the look he gave Maggie just then and there.

"We won't make that mistake again," Hershel said lowly.

"We'll make camp tonight over there, get on the road at the break of day." Rick turned to a bunch of stone-looking things. It was probably a broken-down house or something.

Carol turned to Daryl, looking at him with a curious and skeptical expression. "Does this feel right to you?" She asked Daryl.

Beth stepped toward Rick. "What if walkers come through, or another group like Randall's?" Beth asked him. Rick hadn't answered the question, because Daryl cut in with newfound information.

"You know I found Randall, right? He had turned, but he wasn't bit." Rick looked away from him like he knew something all of them didn't.

"I-I ain't sayin' it's about me. Just tryna-" Casey heard a snap and then a thump.

Then a scream...from Randall. She quietly ran over behind a bush to get a closer view of what was happening.

That's when she saw him on the ground...his neck cracked.

Casey blinked her eyes closed, taking a deep breath as another image flashed in her eyes. It was like she was still there, in the woods. Watching Shane kill Randall, snapping his neck right then and there.

She blinked a few times, looking back at Rick. Beth's voice snapping her back into reality. "How's that possible?" She asked curiously.

"Rick, what the hell happened?" Lori asked curiously, rubbing Casey's arm up and down again.

"Shane killed Randall. Just like he always wanted to." Daryl looked over at Casey, curious as to what she was doing out in the woods. Did Shane take her with him? Or did she run there? What really happened?

Shane told everyone Randall must've taken her with him. He had everyone fooled. But now, the story wasn't fitting and the truth was gonna come out sooner or later.

And Casey didn't have a clue of what to say or do.

"And then the herd got him?" Lori asked.

Only birds and bugs chirping were heard for a couple of seconds. Rick was staring off into space as if he were contemplating something. Something important.

Finally, he came out with it.

"We're all infected."

Everyone was shocked.

They were infected? It made sense now. That's why Shane woke up after Casey killed him. Why he turned.

"What?" Daryl asked.

"At the C.D.C., Jenner told me. Whatever it is, we all carry it." Rick explained, putting uneasiness through everyone.

Carol took a step forward. "And you never said anything?" She asked, wondering why he hadn't.

"Would it have made a difference?"

"You knew this whole time." Glenn felt annoyed by this. Everyone was. Why Rick hadn't told everyone something as important as this was astounding to them.

"How could I have known for sure? You saw how crazy that mo-" Glenn cut off Rick as Lori's hand almost went to her daughter's ears. Rick didn't often curse, so when he did he had to be really frustrated. If anything, the eight-year-old child cursed more than he did.

"That isn't your call. Okay, when I found out about the walkers in the barn, I told, for the good of everyone." Glenn told him.

"Well, I thought it best that people didn't know."

Rick walked away after glancing at everyone. Lori let go of the kids and went after him as well.

Everyone soon got to work.

While they did that, Casey and Carl were standing next to one another. They weren't talking or even looking at each other.

It was dead silent.

That was until Carl spoke up.

"Why'd you do it? Why'd you kill Shane?" He didn't sound like he was sad, or curious. He just sounded...Casey couldn't tell. He sounded mad or annoyed.

She looked down. "He was gonna kill dad-"

"He wouldn't do anything like that-"

"You weren't there, Carl! You didn't see what he was gonna do! He's not the same guy he used to be, okay? He tried to kill me and he tried to kill Dad!" She explained to him. Carl rolled her eyes. He couldn't see Shane being capable of doing that to two people he loved so much.

"Yeah, right." He muttered. Casey glared at him.

"I'm not lying to you, Carl!" She exclaimed, frustrated that her brother, someone who she thought would be on her side, wasn't.

He looked at her, tears in his eyes. "You killed him! You did! That's not anyone's fault but yours!" He cried. She looked away from him, swallowing down the lump in her throat. "Dad tried to keep it from me, he's trying to keep it from everyone! And so are you! I know Casey, I do!" He told her off.

"He was gonna kill him, Carl. Why won't you believe me?" She asked, her arms going out at her side. "He wanted to kill Randall, so he did. What makes you think he wouldn't kill Dad?"

"Because Randall's actually a bad guy, Dad isn't!" He exclaimed. "Shane's not a killer, you are-"

Her fist whipped across his face out of anger. Carl stumbled back, holding his nose in his hand. He looked at her angrily before pushing her back.

The attention of Rick and Lori, who were also in their own argument, was grabbed. The two ran over. Lori quickly grabbed her son and pulled him away, and Rick did the same with Casey.

"She killed Shane! She shot him!" Carl yelled, making Lori freeze.

Rick told her that he killed Shane...

Everyone heard Carl. Their secret was out. Casey Grimes was officially a cold-blooded killer. She killed her own Uncle.

Lori looked down at Casey, her skin paling as she did. Casey froze right there, her heart thumping out of her chest.

"That's enough!" Rick yelled, looking at his son, his arms still wrapped around his daughter.

But Casey was frozen again. Her skin was pale and her eyes were blank. Her chest was moving up and down quickly, and one hand had clenched her shirt in her hand.

"It's true, Dad! It's true and you know it!" Carl yelled back at him. Lori's grip on him loosened as she looked at her daughter.

Her eight-year-old killed a man...

"Go in the car, now!" Rick pointed at the car. Carl walked away, grumbling as he walked away.

Everyone was watching from a distance.

Casey Grimes was screwed.

𓆝 𓆟 𓆞 𓆝 𓆟

          𝐍𝐈𝐆𝐇𝐓 𝐇𝐀𝐃 𝐅𝐀𝐋𝐋𝐄𝐍. Casey cleaned her face as best she could. She sat by herself in front of a fire, her head on her knees and her arms wrapped around her legs.

Daryl, walked by her, patting her on the back. She looked up at him. He gave her a firm nod, and somehow, it was like she was reading what he had just told her. Like he was saying she was alright or something.

She didn't know why, but, she liked Daryl a bit better. Just a little bit. Nothing special. He was just less annoying lately.

She nodded back, then putting her chin on her knees.

Everyone had their own conversations as Casey sat there. Glenn and Maggie sat together, Daryl and Carol, Carl and Lori, Hershel and Beth, and T-Dog was keeping watch around the perimeter.

Casey looked over at Carl and Lori. Lori had her arms wrapped around her son, and for the first time Casey felt like she didn't belong with her own family. Like she was just some burden to everyone. Like she was a stranger to her own family.

She'd noticed that Lori couldn't look at her, especially not in the eye. It was like there was something holding her back. And that something was Shane. Her daughter killed him...

She also couldn't believe that Rick lied about it to her. That he just took blame like that. That's what irked her the most. The secrets, and how they tried to cover it up.

At first, Lori thought Carl was lying. That it was like another blame game with Sophia. But Rick didn't deny it. And Casey had gone pale and didn't deny it either.

The silence was enough of an answer.

When Casey looked over, she felt weird. Like her stomach had done a million back flips. Carl's nose was a little swollen from when she punched him, which made her feel a bit bad.

She'd finally gotten up and walked away, over to Rick. She stood next to him as he kept watch around the stone wall. He looked down at her, wrapping an arm around her shoulders.

"Carl didn't mean what he said-"

"Yeah he did." She cut him off, sniffling. "You don't have to lie." Rick didn't say anything. He squeezed her shoulder.

"It doesn't make what he said true. You're not a killer. You saved my life, don't you ever forget that." She nodded shakily, leaning her head on his side. He rubbed her arm, then bent down and kissed the crown of her head.

"Do you think there was a different way?" She asked. Rick paused, then shaking his head.

"You heard me, tryin' to talk to him. I gave him a way out, he didn't want it."

There was a noise a bit far away. Everyone's attention was grabbed. They started looking around and standing up.

"What was that?" Beth asked, her head moving off of Hershel's chest. Casey's guard went up and her hand went to her gun, which was in her waistband again. Well, she thought it was.

She furrowed her eyebrows, looking around for it. "I can't find my gun," She whispered to herself, her eyebrows furrowed.

Rick cursed beneath his breath, looking over at Lori.

They spoke briefly. Lori wanted to take the gun from Casey. Said it was a precaution, and that she was concerned.

She got her way.

"Could be a raccoon, could be a possum." Daryl listed off as Rick grabbed his extra handgun, putting it in her hand for her.

"Walker." Glenn said, stating the most common thing that it could've been.

"We need to leave. I mean, what are we waiting for?" Carol asked.

"Which way?" Glenn asked, wanting to know the direction of the rustling noise.

"It came from over there." Maggie told him.

"Back from where we came." Beth finished, Maggie agreed with her.

Rick finally cut in. "The last thing we need is for everyone to be running off in the dark. We don't have the vehicles. No one's traveling on foot." A branch snapped again, Casey turned again trying to find it.

"I'm not- I'm not sittin' here, waitin' for another herd to blow through. We need to move, now." Maggie tried to convince Rick and everyone else.

Rick turned to her, his frustration coming back again. "No one is going anywhere." He firmly said.

"Do something!" Carol pleaded.

"I am doing somethin'! I'm keepin' this group together. Alive! I've been doin' that all along, no matter what. I didn't ask for this. I had to get my daughter to kill my best friend for you people, for Christ's sake! You think I wanted her to do that? Think she wanted to do that?" Hearing it come out of Rick's mouth made Casey feel uneasy. But, he was in her defense which was also a relief.

It was silent. So silent it was uncomfortable. "You saw what he was like, how he pushed me, how he compromised us, how he threatened us. He staged the whole Randall thing, led me out to put a bullet in my back. Left Casey out for dead. He gave neither of us a choice! He was my friend, but he came after me. And my family." Carl cried into Lori's neck. Casey looked down, at her hands. Her knuckles were all bruised up from hitting Carl. They were still bloody and dirty.

It made her feel sick again.

"Her hands are clean!" Rick yelled.

He looked around, seeing nobody looking at him. "Maybe you people are better off without me. Go ahead. I say there's a place for us, but maybe-maybe it's just another pipe dream. Maybe-Maybe I'm foolin' myself again. Why don't you-Why don't you go and find out yourself? Send me a postcard!" He pointed at everyone, who was dumbfounded by his big speech. "Go on, there's the door. You can do better? Let's see how far you get." He pointed at the open space behind him. It wasn't a door, but, it was maybe a doorway or something.

"No takers? Fine. But get one straight—you're staying, this isn't a democracy anymore."

𓆝 𓆟 𓆞 𓆝 𓆟

A/N:

anddd that's a wrap for season two! time to give Casey more trauma! I'm so excited! Yes!