Death was in the air, as if it were a plague on the world, which technically it was. Ivy didn't know how to feel. She looked up to Dale as a sort of grandfather death but in a sense, she just didn't feel anything and she hadn't lately. She was noticing that repetitive pattern she was falling into. The way she would sit on the floor for days, she was worried for her own self.

Worried that she wasn't built for this world, that she wasn't cut out for it. It was later in the day and Ivy hadn't moved from the usual spot on the bathroom floor. She had fallen back into the same cycle she was in after Sophia died. This time she had been in the same position for two days, only getting up for the occasional bathroom break, never to eat, never to drink. Her body felt weak, her head felt weak, she felt pathetic.

A knock at the door broke the silence. "Ivy?" She heard Shane's voice beam. Anger filled her chest and Ivy quickly jumped to her feet, slinging the door open, she pushed the man back.

"Get the fuck out!" She screamed a broken, high pitched scream. Shane's eyes widened as he fell back onto the bed and Ivy felt nothing but blind rage.

"Get off of-" Shane tried to speak but Ivy cut him off. She looked around as quickly as she could and grabbed the container of pens that sat on Beth's desk. She wrapped her fingers around it and let it go, slinging it with as much force as she could at Shane. The plastic shattered against Shane's head and he let out a groan. Ivy didn't know why she was being so vicious, she felt bad and she didn't know what to do, so she kept doing the same thing.

"You fucking psychopath get the fuck out! Get the fuck out!" Shane had found his way on his feet and Ivy continued hitting him in the chest. She slapped him, she punched him, she screamed and he wouldn't move.

"Ivy who's the one acting like a psychopath here!" The older man yelled. Anger coursed through Ivy's veins and she grabbed the water bottle that sat beside Beth's bed, throwing the bottle at his head. The sound of the bottle colliding with his head was followed with a loud moan and Ivy watched Shane's eyes go dark. She had never seen it before, never like this. He stepped towards her and fear grew inside of her.

"Hey man back up." Liam ran in front of Ivy and pushed Shane back with all of his force. Shane brought his arm up and pointed right at Ivy's face, "Nah that little-" He tried to move forward but Liam pushed him once more.

Ivy watched the whole thing and part of her felt guilty for causing this, but most of her couldn't even care. She put her back against the wall and slid down it until she was sitting with her knees at her chest. Shane kept trying to push his way forward until Liam brought his fist back, punching him in the side of the cheek. "Yeah man you look real pathetic right now. Trying to beat up on a seventeen year old girl?" Liam questioned, his face was red and spit was flying from his mouth as he spoke.

"She was throwing shit at me! What the hell did-"

"You sit there and take it like a man. No but you're just a little bitch huh? Where I'm from, men that hit women are little bitches, that what you wanna be man?" Liam asked and Shane looked between both of them, taking slow steps back. "Yeah that's what I thought. Get the fuck out of here or I'll kick your ass myself!" Liam screamed once more.

The door slammed shut and Ivy flinched. Liam turned and looked down at her. For a moment, Ivy thought that it was pity that existed in his eyes but the more she looked the more she realized that it wasn't. He wasn't looking at her as if she was weak, or bruised, or like she was a child, but as if she was just sad. He looked at her with understandment.

Slowly, he stepped over to Ivy until he was standing over the girl. She was breathing heavily and she felt as if a brick was just dropped onto her chest. "I don't...I can't...I'm not cut out for this I don't think I can do this. I can't live in this world or be..."

"Hey stop." Liam whispered as he kneeled down. He gently tucked her hair behind her hair and smiled at her, "you of all people can't say that, I mean I just watched you put a grown man in his place, like, physically hit it. He was crying out in pain too so remind me not to make you mad."

Ivy smiled. The smile was quickly diminished by the thought of what she looked like on the floor, the way she sat there. She felt pathetic and gross. "Go away." She demanded.

"Girl what?" Liam asked.

"Get out!" Ivy felt nothing but embarrassment, she couldn't stand up, all she wanted to do was cry like a little kid. She didn't know what was wrong with her or why t was happening to her.

"I'm not going anywhere." Liam promised which only fueled Ivy's anger more.

"I said go!" She demanded once more. "This is pathetic, this is sad dude. Go away please, I'm embarrassed and frankly, I wanna punch you in the throat."

"Believe me when I tell you that I don't find this pathetic at all." Liam said as he raised his eyebrows. "This is nothing. You wanna yell at me and treat me like crap, go for it. It doesn't hurt my feelings because I know what you're feeling right now isn't your fault. It's not something that can be helped Ivy. It's depression, it's severe, and sometimes you gotta have someone there to be here for you and from now on, that someone is me." Liam said calmly and caringly. "Where you are right now, I was there too, so yell all you want princess, I'm not leaving."

Ivy felt weak, she wanted to scream at him but she simply couldn't. He sat next to her and stared at the wall right along with her, not saying a word.

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Ivy had mustered the strength to walk outside. The air was nice, better than the stale air from inside the house. Everyone seemed to be doing their own thing, minding their own business, Glenn stood next to the RV in an attempt to fi it up to the best of his ability, her mother stood beside him She found her father and skipped over to him.

"Hey dad." Ivy whispered. Rick snapped his head towards her and a smile stretched from the corners of his mouth.

"Hi V." He replied. "How are you?" He asked.

"I don't really know." Ivy told her father. It was true, she didn't know how she was feeling, sh just knew she was feeling something, yet nothing at the same time.

"I was thinking tomorrow that you and I can get out in those fields, maybe work on some shooting?" Ivy nodded her head and felt someone's hands on her waist. She quickly turned her head to see who was behind her.

"Hi sweet girl." Her mother cooed. Ivy's lips grew into a wide smile and she opened her arms widely, embracing her mother. She squeezed Lori tight and part of her wanted to cry yet again. "Why don't we take a walk?" Lori asked. Ivy looked over at her father, who smiled a mischievous smile.

"Okay?" Ivy asked with a questionable tone. The two women turned on their heels and began to walk into the opposite direction. Ivy had no idea where she was going.

"We haven't talked in a while, I feel like we're growing apart baby, and I don't want that." Lori promised Ivy. Ivy had no idea where any of this was coming from but she understood where her mother was coming from.

"Oh...well I think it's been like that with everyone, I don't know I just...I think there's something wrong with me." Ivy whispered with a broken voice.

"Nothing's wrong with you Ivy. Don't say that..don't let anyone say that to you." Ivy faced her mother with tears in her eyes. She wanted everything to go back to how it was before, she wanted to sneak out with Sam and Chloe, she wanted to take rides with her father in his cop car, she wanted to be able to look at Shane the same way so he could take her and Carl for ice cream at three in the morning while everyone was sleeping. She missed it, she wanted her life back.

She thought about Carol and Sophia and the cries of a mother losing her child.

She thought about Carol and Ed. Even though he was the worst human being she had known, Carol still loved him. She understood why Carol killed him, but there was a point that Ed was the love of her life, Carol still remembered that.

The cries of a woman losing the love of her life.

Andrea and Amy and the cries of someone losing their sibling.

It was all too much and she never wanted to feel any of those things.

"You know who definitely doesn't see that?" Lori began to smirk and Ivy cocked her head to the side. "Liam."

"AHH!" Ivy laughed. "Stop it right now!" Ivy covered her face and walked about three feet away from her mother.

"No!" Lori laughed, "you reacted like that because you know it...do you have a crush on him?"

"Oh my god...oh my god mom. Mom stop it right now." Ivy smiled.

"I want to know all of the good stuff." Lori sighed. She looked deep into Ivy's eyes with a pleading look. "Please for your big, fat, pregnant mom?"

"He's nice but I just don't like him like that. I barely know him, he barely knows me." Ivy thought about it for a second before speaking again, "I've known the kid for like three weeks."

"Sometimes that's all it takes." Lori waited for Ivy to say something but she never did. "I've spoken to him, and so has your father. Actually he came to us."

Ivy turned her head quickly and widened her eyes at her mother. "WHAT?" She yelled a bit too loud.

Lori laughed out and nodded her head, "He came to ask us if it was okay if he could marry you...we told him no of course and we laughed, he was being sarcastic obviously but we did tell him it was okay if he wanted to get to know you better."

"He was not being sarcastic about marrying me...he genuinely meant tha." Ivy laughed.

"That's charming...it's cute Ivy."

"He's asked me to mary him twice."

"The man knows what he wants and he seems very sweet. No he is very sweet and very respectful. I've noticed that he won't cuss in front of women or kids. He says it's because he wants to stay respectful but he's an absolute trash mouth when it comes to being with the men." Lori laughed and looked at her daughter.

"Seriously?" Ivy asked.

"Oh yeah, he also says you're hard to get to know but he wants to."

Ivy sighed and silence grew between them.

"You think he's cute?"

"Mom!" Ivy laughed.

She had enjoyed the conversation between her mother and herself. She felt better, she felt more connected, she didn't feel pushed away. As Ivy sat next to the fence about fifty feet from the barn she watched the birds fly against the wind, she listened to the crickets chirp as the sun began setting and the sky started to dull. The once bright blue sky was now a light gray, she had assumed it was probably six o'clock in the afternoon.

She felt a lot better in this moment than she had that very morning. Maybe it was the fresh air, maybe it was Liam, or maybe it was her mother. She didn't know. She felt calm...content.

The serene sound of calm was broken by the continuos moans coning from inside the barn. Ivy jumped at the noises and quickly stood to her feet. She speedily walked towards the barn in an attempt to stay silent while she did it. As she moved closer she started hearing the doors to the barn open and she quickly stood to the side of the barn.

"What the hell?" She whispered as she watched Shane walk out of the barn with a tight grip on Randal's jacket. The boy was letting out muffled cries of help and Shane continued walking deeper into the woods. Ivy moved from the side of the barn and ran into the woods. She made sure to stay far enough away that he couldn't see her but she could see him.

The three had made it deep into the woods before Shane spoke, "Shh Go that way." He demanded Randal, who obeyed him like a small puppy dog. Ivy continued walking, fear pumping through her chest. She had no idea what Shane planned on doing but she could tell she didn't like it already.

He shoved Randal, "Go on!" He whispered. Randal fell to the ground and SHane jumped quickly to his side, lifting the black eye cover off of his head.

Ivy stood behind a tree, breathing as quietly as she possibly could. She watched intently as Shane spoke to the boy. His voice was muffled and Ivy couldn't hear what he was saying. She was too far away but she was too scared to get closer. After about five minutes of conversation, the two stood up and continued walking.

The voices of the two men were in and out according to how far away Ivy remained. As she stalked the two, she tried to stay far away but there were certain things that Ivy heard, overall, she knew Shane wanted to leave, he wanted to leave the group and join Randal's. He wanted to tell Randal's group where this group was.

Then, Shane stopped. "Look, I run my mouth when I get nervous. I can't help it." Randal limped behind the tree and Ivy moved with them. She watched intently and silently. "I got a lot going on you know?"

"It ain't all about you." Shane huffed in a rough voice. Ivy rolled her eyes but remained crouched behind a tree.

"I ain't saying it's about me...just tryin-"

Shane walked speedily to Randal and Ivy heard the boy scream. She watched in horror and she felt the adrenaline in her system kick in. She heard the bone in his neck crack, she watched his body fall limply to the ground, she watched the life drain from his eyes and she gasped loudly.

Shane snapped his head and looked directly towards her. Ivy knew she messed up and as she looked into Shane's eyes, there was nothing. Nothing in his eyes at all. Ivy had never been looked at by someone like that before. "Damn it Ivy, I've warned you...and I've warned you not to keep getting in..you know what?" Shane began running towards Ivy and she quickly stood, she turned on her legs and began pumping her legs, running from the man, horrified. She didn't know what to do. "Liam!" She screamed out. She didn't know why that was the first name she called out for but she didn't care. She tried to call again but she couldn't, she turned her head back and looked around, he was no where to be found. No where at all. She turned back around and watched the tree in front of her, she couldn't stop and instead she hit the tree with the left side of her body.

"Fuck!" She screamed. She stopped running.

Silence.

She couldn't believe what she had just seen. Shane had killed the boy. No mercy was given, he just snapped his neck. Ivy began to breath heavily in an attempt to catch her breath but nothing worked. She thought she was safe, she was for a moment.

She gasped as she felt pain in her head. She felt hands grip her hair and pull her up. The wind was knocked out of her and she gasped for air as her body was slammed against the large tree. She whined out in pain and yelled. Shane's fist collided into Ivy's right cheek and she watched as his fist hit her once more. Ivy ducked down as far as she could and turned her body to the best of her ability. She threw her elbow out, hitting Shane in the groin. His grip loosened on her enough so she could slide out. She pushed him against the tree. She kicked the side of his knee and watched him stumble over.

SHane grunted and stood up, fear clouded Ivy's head and she couldn't breathe, she couldn't think, she didn't know what she was doing or what do to. She was fighting with a grown man who was twice her size. Shane turned quickly and before ivy could move, his fist punched her in the other cheek, hitting her so har her body fell to the ground. The corners of her vision were going black as he kicked her in the ribs. Iby looked up at the man as he beat her, as he abused her. She couldn't think about anything, she was only worried about whether or not she was going to die or if she was going to live. One last time, Shane brought his fist down, hitting Ivy on the forehead with every bit of strength that she had. As he pulled away, ivy looked up at the sky.

There were no birds.

There were no crickets.

There was no noise.

Or maybe there was, and Ivy just couldn't see the birds due to her own blood pouring from her head, into her eyes. Her eyes burned but she couldn't wipe them, she couldn't move.

Maybe there were crickets, but she couldn't hear them because of the ringing in her ears.

Maybe there was noise, but it didn't matter because Ivy couldn't think. She felt her breaths getting more shallow as she fought to stay awake. She couldn't though. She tried so hard.

The image of her brother came to mind. He'd be alright if she was gone. He would be okay. Rick would be okay. Lori would be okay.

She couldn't do it anymore, she couldn't stay awake. She watched Shane walk away and wanted to cry, she couldn't.

She couldn't do anything but try to stay awake, which she failed at. This time she knew that if she slept, there was a large possibility she wouldn't wake up.

The darkness won and Ivy fell out of consciousness.

Shane got to walk away...and she didn't.

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3163 words

A/N

This chapter was...