I hope you are all enjoying it so far. Please feel free to leave comments and suggestions for me

Chapter ten.

Carol's sobs were deafening in the silence. Ellie held the crying woman tightly, shaking slightly at the shock of what had just happened. She glanced up at Daryl and saw that he had a tear in his eye while he looked at the ground where Sophia had fallen. Rick was frozen on the spot, hands shaking slightly.

"Don't look. Don't look." Daryl muttered quietly in Carol's ear, shifting slightly to block her view. Carol moaned loudly and pushed away from him, climbing away from Ellie too. Cooper whined softly as he moved out of the way.

"No!" she cried out, stumbling as she stepped away. She looked at Daryl and Ellie with blurred eyes before half running in the other direction, away from the barn.

"Carol!" Ellie called out, making a move to follow her. Daryl grabbed her arm as she stood up and shook his head.

"She needs time El. We'll check on her in a few." He whispered in her ear. She looked up at his sad eyes and felt herself nodding before she could think.

Now that Carol had disappeared, Ellie could hear more sobs. Beth, Maggie and Carl, crying for their loved ones that now were sprawled across the floor. Hershel's hands were covering his mouth and he looked devastated, a broken man. Around her, Ellie could see each shocked face in turn.

Beth let go of Shawn and ran over to the walkers on the floor by the barn. Rick made a move to stop her but she pushed him away. "Mom." She whimpered.

Ellie saw it happening before it actually did. She ran forward just as the walker let out a growl and clawed its hands around Beth's hair, dragging her down to its snapping teeth. "Beth!" She cried as she reached the girl. Cooper bounded to her side, snarling at the monster with his teeth bared.

Rick had reached her too, and was trying to pull her away but the walkers grasp was too strong. Glenn desperately tried to loosen the hands that were locked in Beth's locks.

"No!" Ellie yelled, pulling out her knife and kneeling next to the dead woman. She gripped the handle of the blade and drove it into its head. It stopped instantly and the rotten hands of the once beautiful woman fell to the floor. Ellie let out a breath and looked up at Rick who nodded a thanks. He hauled Beth up onto her feet and they both backed away. Daryl ran over to Ellie and hooked his arm around her waist, pulling her up to his chest.

"Are you ok?" he asked, scanning her wrists and arms. She nodded, staying close to him as the both walked backwards a few steps. Ellie watched as Hershel ran forward and bought his daughter in to a hug, holding her tightly, and walking her off towards the house with no words.

"Rick-." Lori began, but stopped as Rick shook his head and wiped his brow. He walked around in a small circle, studying the scene before him in silence.

"I can't believe it." Andrea said, staring at Sophia.

"Neither can I." Shane growled before marching towards the Green's as they walked away to the house.

"Shane, don't." Ellie growled low, but he ignored her.

"We've been out here, searching these woods for days for that little girl." He barks at Hershel. "She was in there all along."

"Shane, now is not the time." Rick glared as everyone jogged to catch up with them. Ellie beckoned Cooper to follow her as she joined them, sticking close to Daryl instinctively.

"You knew." Shane accused.

Maggie span around. "Leave us alone." She shouted, holding tightly to her father.

"You knew and you kept it from us!" He carried on, ignoring the brunette.

Hershel looked exasperate. "I didn't know."

"That's bullshit right there." Shane spat. "Ya'll knew."

"We didn't know." Maggie tried again to get Shane away from them.

"Maybe they didn't Shane. Just stop." Ellie interjected.

"Didn't know?" Shane growled at Ellie. "Dumb woman, course they knew. It's their barn!"

Daryl glared at Shane and took a step forward. "Don't."

Ellie felt a flutter in her stomach at the stance Daryl was taking for her. She chose to stay silent and scowled at Shane instead.

"Why was she there?" he demanded at Hershel once again. Rick made a move to stop him but Hershel held his hand up as he reached his door.

"Otis put those people in that barn." Shane made an exasperated noise as Hershel said the word people. "Maybe he found her and put her in there before he… before he was killed."

"You expect me to believe that crap? What do I look like, an idiot?" Shane took a step forward. Rick and Daryl both stuck out a hand to stop him going any further.

"I don't care what you believe." Hershel frowned, standing his ground.

"I believe you." Ellie said, nodding towards Hershel. "Now is not the time Shane. They have just lost the people they love."

"Just lost?" Shane scoffed. "Those 'sick' people, your wife and step son… they were dead a long ass time ago old man. All they have been doing while you had 'em locked up is rotting, decaying. You need to wake the fuck up and realise that this isn't the same world that it was before."

Ellie gasped at his vile words. Hershel looked beyond mad.

"Everybody just calm down." Rick yelled, stepping inbetween them both.

"Get off my land." Hershel said, staring straight at Shane.

"No, please." Rick tried to defuse the situation desperately. Shane pushed his hand away and took another step towards the Green's house.

"Hey!" Maggie cried out, shoving Shane hard in the shoulders. "Stay away from my dad."

Shane grimaced and carried on pushing.

"Don't you touch him." Maggie yelled again, bringing he hand down to slap Shane in the face. Ellie froze at the sound of skin hitting skin. Cooper barked loudly twice at the commotion before she settled a hand on his soft head to calm him.

Shane was breathing heavily and his shoulders heaved up and down as he backed away, staring at Maggie. Glenn had ran forward and was now stood in front of Maggie, protective and ready. Daryl had shifted so that his shoulder covered most of Ellie's view of Shane.

"Haven't you done enough?" Maggie spat. She turned on the spot and walked through her door, with her family following close behind.

Hershel paused before he entered, turning to Rick and the group. "I mean it. Off my land."

Ellie reached out and grasped the end of Daryl's shirt, holding onto it and watching the remaining group with unease. Glenn glared at Shane and stormed off towards the tents. Ellie felt bad for him. Leaving would mean leaving Maggie, who she knew that he felt strongly for.

Rick licked his top lip before stepping towards Shane. "What are you doing?"

Shane rubbed his head before answering. "Daryl almost died looking for her Rick. Any one of us could have." His voice was grumbly and low. "Lemme tell you right now, that son of a bitch, he knew."

"He didn't." Ellie and Rick said at the same time.

"He's not like that." Rick continued.

"He opened up his home to us." Dale said quietly, coming closer to the others.

"He put us all in danger man. He kept a barn full of walkers." Shane remarked, shaking his head lightly.

"So you just hand out guns and start a riot." Rick demanded. "We don't do it like that."

"His family is dead Rick."

"Well he doesn't know that, he thought they were sick." Ellie said, cutting Shane off.

"He thinks you just murdered them." Rick added.

Ellie noticed that most of the group had stayed silent during this outburst and it annoyed her. Surly they should be standing up for what they think too.

"I don't care what he thinks. Why would I?" Shane scoffed.

"Look I was handling it." Rick said, talking over Shane's mumbling.

"YOU HAD US OUT IN THOSE WOODS, LOOKING FOR A LITTLE GIRL THAT EVERY SINGLE ONE OF US KNEW WAS DEAD." Shane shouted, jabbing his finger at the tree line.

"Don't ya bring us into this." Daryl growled. "I thought she was alive."

Ellie noticed T dog and Dale nod in agreement with him, but Andrea remained still, watching Shane with carful eyes.

Shane huffed and rolled his eyes at Daryl. He stared hard at Rick before tutting and walking away. Ellie watched as he kicked hard at a rock on the gravely path and curse loudly.

"What a dick." She said loudly, hoping that he would hear her. She heard Daryl chuckle lightly next to her. She realized that she was still holding onto him and blushed, dropping her hand down to her side. He gave her a small half smile and looked up at Rick.

"What's next?" he asked.

Rick sighed hard and rubbed his closed eyes with the heels of his hands. "I need time to think." He let out a long breath and began walking towards the camp. Everyone watched him for a second before following along behind him.

…

As Ellie reached the tent, she felt the events of the last hour weigh her down. She dropped to the floor just outside the tent and curled her knees up to her chest. Daryl reached her a second later and silently sat down next to her, tossing his crossbow and gun to the floor a little way behind him. He beckoned Cooper over to his lap and patted him lightly as the dog sprawled out before them.

"You ok?" he asked quietly after a few minutes of silence. Ellie felt a tear roll down her cheek and sighed.

"I just feel for Carol. She lost her little girl. Truly lost her."

Daryl looked at her with sad eyes and nodded. "I know."

She felt another tear fall and she closed her eyes. It was all too close to home. She couldn't imagine losing her baby, and she hadn't even met it yet. Poor Carol. Her eyes flashed open as she felt a soft, yet rough thumb on her cheek. Daryl had reached out and wiped away the tears that ran down her face. She stared at him with wide eyes as he coughed and removed his thumb, looking embarrassed.

"Sorry." He muttered, looking down at Cooper. He reached out and rubbed the dog's belly.

"Don't be." She whispered back. "Thank you."

Daryl's cheeks remained red as he gave her a small half smile.

"Are you ok?" she asked him after another few minutes had passed in silence.

"Course." He murmured, looking away from her.

"You were out there the most out of everyone. You had the most hope that we would find her." She continued, shifting so that she was shoulder to shoulder with him. She put her hand lightly on his arm. "You are allowed to be upset Daryl."

"I know. I'm fine." He sighed, avoiding her eyes and looking off into the woods.

"Ok." Ellie said quietly. She wasn't going to keep pushing him to talk about it if he didn't want to. She rubbed her face with her hands and gave a shiver.

The air had turned cooler now, the wind had picked up and was blowing her short curls around to whip her face. She noticed that it shook the tree above them and a few leaves had floated down to the floor. Clouds had begun to creep in front of the sun, blocking its burning heat and making the sky look darker than before. Quite fitting, Ellie thought to herself.

After an half an hour or so, they had made their way down to the group.

"I'm going to clear the walkers from the barn." Andrea stated, shoving a knife into her waist band. "Has anyone got a blanket?"

"We'll come with you." Lori pointed at herself and Carl. "A blanket?" she asked, handing her one from the side.

"To cover Sophia. We need to bury her for Carol." Andrea explained, setting off towards the barn.

"I'll come too." Dale said, following the blonde.

"Me too. Glenn's gone to talk to Maggie." T dog said as they reached him. "I'm not sure how well that's going to go."

Ellie nodded. "Yeah, let's hope they work it out. We need this place."

"Yup." T dog agreed, standing up and following the group to the barn.

"We should check on Carol." Ellie said softly to Daryl, hooking her hand onto the back of his shirt. He nodded lightly and set off towards the RV with Ellie and Cooper in tow.

Carol as sat at the table inside, staring out of the window. She looked lost, lost in thought and lost in this world. Her cheeks were wet and shiny from the tears that had fallen, and her hand shook slightly as she held them on the table. She didn't look up as they entered, only blinked slightly and continued to star out of the window.

Daryl climbed in first, moving to stand next to Andrea's makeshift bed. Ellie put her hand up to Cooper, who laid down at the steps of the van and continued inside, standing next to Carol. Carol sighed and turned her head, looking up at Ellie and them Daryl.

"Please don't." she said quietly.

"Ok." Ellie said, nodding at the woman. She moved to sit next to her and put her head on Carol's shoulder, watching as Daryl took a seat opposite. The three of them stayed silent, all watching the tree line out of the window of the van. No one spoke but it was comfortable and felt right. Ellie gently rubbed Carols back for comfort as a few stray tears rolled down the grey hair woman's face.

After a while, Lori appeared in the doorway. They all looked up at her as she climbed inside.

"Hey." She said quietly. "We're ready."

Carol's lips trembled and she shook her head slightly.

"Come on." Lori insisted.

"Why?" Carol asked simply.

"Because that's your little girl." Daryl said, his voice soft.

"You need to." Ellie added, gently touching her shoulder.

"That… that's not my little girl." Carol muttered, so quietly that Ellie had to strain to hear her. "That's some other-… thing. My Sophia was alone in the woods. All this time I thought-."

Ellie's heart ached for her.

"She didn't cry herself to sleep." Carol sniffed, continuing. "She didn't go hungry. She didn't try to find her way back. Sophia died a long time ago."

Lori nodded silently, and turned around, walking away from the RV. Daryl was frowning hard at Carol, a strange mix of sadness and frustration in his eyes. He ground his teeth and jumped up from his seat, grabbing his gun and walking out of the van, following Lori. Ellie stared after him.

"Please go." Carol said quietly. Ellie jumped and turned to her.

"I don't think that you should be alone right now." She told her, shaking her head.

"Please. I appreciate that you care but I'm not stupid, I just want to be on my own for a while." Carol insisted.

Ellie stared hard at Carol for a full minute before nodding and standing up.

"I'm here if you need me." She said, before climbing out of the RV and calling Cooper to follow her.

She made her way over to the edge of the trees, near the barn where the group were all gathered. It angered her somewhat that Shane was here. She moved to stand next to Daryl and gripped the edge of his shirt again. A nervous habit perhaps, she mused.

Several graves were filled in with freshly turned mud, and Ellie looked down at them sadly. A large stone was placed at the head of each one, and it was easy to see which belonged to a child, smaller than the others.

Silence. The whole world was silent as the group stood around the graves, each mourning the loss in their own way. Ellie felt Daryl reach around and settled his arm around her waist, almost unnoticeably. She smiled up at him softly as she realized that he needed comfort more than he was letting on.

One by one, the group dispersed and walked their separate ways until only Daryl and Ellie remained.

"I'm sorry." Daryl muttered softly at the grave after a few minutes, hanging his head low. He tugged on Ellie's waist and they too walked away from the sad sight.