AUTHOR´S NOTE: I´m sorry this took longer than usual, but I have the worst week behind me and even worse ahead of me. Anyway, I hope you´ll enjoy it. Comments and suggestions are welcome as usual :-)

CHAPTER 14 – NEBRASKA

Kiara's POV

I lowered my gun and looked down at the motionless corpse listening to Carol's anguished cries. I turned around to look into Rick's eyes and let the tears fall freely. Everybody else just stood there, shocked. Daryl started to pick Carol from the ground telling her not to look but she just shoved him back and ran away.

Beth was crying loudly and ran towards her mother's body pushing past us ignoring our warnings. She pulled the Walker that was lying on top of Annette and when she started to turn her around, the corpse suddenly gripped her hands and tried to make a little snack out of its own daughter. We immediately sprung towards her, Shane and Rick tried to pull Beth away from her growling mother while Glenn was holding her hands struggling to keep her from harming anybody. I pulled out my knife and shoved it into Annette's eye socket, putting her out of her misery once and for all. I looked up into Hershel's eyes apologetically. He was holding onto crying Beth for dear life and started to walk towards the house. I was walking next to Maggie when Shane caught up to us and started throwing ridiculous accusations everywhere.

"We've been out, we've been combing these woods looking for her, and she was in there all along?" Shane yelled. "You knew!"

"Leave him alone!" Maggie yelled back at him while Rick was trying to hold him back but without any success.

"Just stop man!" Glenn pleaded exasperated.

"You knew and you kept it from us!" Shane continued his crazy rampage.

"I didn't know!" Hershel answered weakly.

"That's bullshit! I think you all knew!" Shane barked.

"We didn' know!" Maggie retorted, aggravated.

"Why was she there?" Shane insisted making Hershel finally turn around to face him.

"Y' know, Otis put those people in the barn. Maybe he found her and put her in there before he was killed."

"Do you expect me to believe that? What do I look like? Do I look like an idiot?" Shane stepped into Hershel's face making my blood boil. Before I could think it through I lunged forward and punched him straight in the nose making it crack and bleed. He stepped back shocked but then, not a second later, lunged at me with revenge in his eyes. Before he could do anything he was shoved back by Rick pleading for everybody to calm down.

Hershel turned around, death serious expression on his face, and said: "I mean it. Off my land." and he stepped inside followed by his daughters and Glenn.

"Go inside and wait for me there!" Rick ordered pushing aggravated Shane away from me. I obeyed and sat on the couch next to Maggie hugging her tight listening to Rick and Shane arguing outside.

"You okay?" Glenn asked gesturing towards my right hand.

"Yeah, I'm fine. My brother taught me how to throw a good punch without gettin' myself hurt too bad," I joked, but my knuckles were busted anyway. "I should take care of that." I pointed towards my bloody hand.

I was in one of the downstairs bathrooms fumbling through the cabinet looking for some bandages. I found one and started unpacking it when I heard the door open. It was Rick. He sat me down on the edge of the bathtub and without a word started to clean by knuckles. The silence was unbearable as he was wrapping up my hand.

"Look at you, patching me up once again," I joked trying to lighten up the mood a little. He smiled but kept his eyes on my hand. "On the scale of one to ten, how much are you pissed at me for punching Shane?"

He chuckled. "Ten," he said, and finally looked up at me. "But only because you beat me to it." I giggled and hugged him tight to me. Even though he was joking, I knew he was heartbroken and blaming himself for Sophia's fate. I heard him mumble "Thank you" against my shoulder and hugged him even tighter.

Rick's POV

We all stood there in front of three freshly dug graves and nobody was saying anything. Well except for Carol. She refused to attend her own daughter's funeral. I was hugging Kiara to my side, and she was holding onto me resting her head on my shoulder. I felt like I was failing everybody around me over and over again. I really believed we would find her and now all that hope was lost, gone for good. After the service we all scattered and T-dog and Andrea started to load the truck up with remaining corpses.

Kiara and I were sitting on the front porch contemplating our options since we would most likely be forced to leave this place when Maggie ran out, panicked, telling us that Beth collapsed and was in some kind of shock and she couldn't find Hershel anywhere.

"Your stepmother's things?" I inquired rummaging through a box. We were all standing in the master bedroom, looking around trying to figure out where Hershel could go.

"He was so sure she'd recover 'n' they'd just pick up where they left off," Maggie said.

"Looks like he found an old friend," Shane muttered throwing me a flask, I caught it and handed it to Maggie who said it was her grandfather's and that he gave it to Hershel when he died.

"I didn't take Hershel for a drinker," I said carefully not wanting to offend her.

"No, he gave it up on the day I was born," she said and walked towards the dresser. "He didn' even allow liquor in the house." I knew where to look for him.

"What's the bar in town?" I asked.

"Hatlands," Maggie answered immediately. "He practically lived there in his drinkin' days."

"Bet that's where I'll find him," I said.

"Yeah, I've seen the place, I'll take you," Glenn offered only to be shut down my Maggie.

"Don't worry Maggie, we'll bring him back," Kiara cut in making me lower my head. Somehow I knew she would want to go with us but I wished she wouldn't. We didn't know what was waiting for us out there and I didn't want her in danger. Ever. I knew though there was no point in arguing with her.

I started to walk towards the door with Kiara by my side to get the truck ready when Lori stopped me.

"You wanna have a conversation about this before you leave?" she scolded making me sigh in exasperation.

"So you're seriously gonna go after this guy with everything that's goin' on?" Shane joined in looking at me and Kiara incredulously.

"You stupid-ass selfish piece of shit!" Kiara lunged forward, but I caught her just in time, preventing her from strangling Shane. "Everything that's goin' on is happening because of you in a first place, you fuckhead!"

"Kiara calm down!" I yelled still holding her while Shane just smirked at us and walked away. She shook me off and went to stand nearby, arms folded across her chest.

"Carl said he would've shot Sophia himself," Lori started. "That's your son. He's getting cold. He's growing up in a world where he needs a father like you. Around. Alive. Not runnin' off solving everybody else's problems."

"Everybody else's problems?" Kiara cut her off walking up to us again. "Are you for real?! Your lover boy just massacred all of Maggie's and Beth's family and now their only living relative, their FATHER is missing and you're saying this is not our problem? These people gave us shelter and you're in Rick's face for trying to fix this? How can you be so fuckin' selfish!" Kiara shouted at her and stormed off. I gave Lori one last look and went after Kiara.

I found her standing by the Cherokee checking out her gun and securing it in her holster belt next to her knife. Her katana was already in the car. I walked up to her and hugged her from the back whispering soothing words into her ear. She leaned into me and caressed my neck with her free hand. "I'm sorry I yelled at your ex-wife… again," she said making me chuckle. We noticed Glenn and Maggie saying their goodbyes.

"They're so cute together," Kiara muttered.

"You mean cuter than us?" I joked feigning hurt and making her giggle.

"Nobody's cuter than us. Now focus Grimes! The last time we were in the town, Maggie got attacked, so we don't know how bad it is really." she ordered but her voice was laced with amusement.

"Yes ma'am," I retorted and she gave me her infamous elbow in the rib cage making me chuckle. When Glenn approached us he looked a little freaked out to say the least. Kiara went to sit in the passenger's seat and nodded one last time to Maggie who was standing at the front porch scowling and then stormed off inside the house as we were leaving.

We were nearing the town and everything seemed quiet. I looked over my shoulder at Glenn who seemed distracted, looking out the window and not talking.

"Maggie said she loves me," he suddenly spilled. I nodded appreciatively but Glenn scoffed. "She doesn't mean it. I mean… she can't… I mean why… she's-uh- she's upset… confused…"

"I think she's smart enough to know what she's feelin'," Kiara chimed in defending her friend and I nodded in agreement.

"No, no," Glenn refused making me chuckle. "You know, she- she wants to be in love, so – so she needs somethin' to like hold on to," the poor boy continued his ramble but I cut him off.

"Glenn it's pretty obvious to everyone Maggie loves you and not just because you're one of the last men standin', so what's the problem?" I inquired.

"I didn't say it back," Glenn said making Kiara sitting next to me huff and roll her eyes saying: "Duuude, what is wrong with you?"

"I've never had a woman say that to me before," he defended himself. "You know except for my mom, of course and my sisters, but with Maggie it's different, I mean we barely know each other. What does she really know 'bout me? Nothin'. We're practically strangers. I didn't know what to do with 'er. I just stood there like a jerk."

"Hey, hey, this is a good thing. Somethin' we don't get enough of these days," I said. "Enjoy it. And when we get back return the favor, it's not like she's goin' anywhere." I felt Kiara squeeze my thigh lightly and I turned around to see her beaming at me, clearly satisfied with my answer.

We arrived into town and found the bar very easily as it was straight across the street from the pharmacy. He walked in and found Hershel sitting behind the counter drowning his sorrow in a bottle of whiskey.

"Hershel?" I called out carefully.

"Who's with you?" he inquired.

"Glenn and Kiara," I answered.

"Maggie sent them?" Hershel questioned again.

"They volunteered, they're good like that," I retorted and approached the desperate man asking: "How many have you had?"

"Not enough," he muttered.

"Let's finish this up back at home," I urged him a little. "Beth collapsed 'n' is in some sort of state, must be in shock. I think you are too."

"Maggie's with 'er?" Hershel asked.

"Yes, but Beth needs you," Kiara cut in.

"What could I do?" he asked looking down at his hands. "She needs her mother, or rather to mourn, like she should've done weeks ago. I robbed her of that. I see that now."

"You thought there was a cure," I said. "You can't blame yourself for holdin' out for hope."

We spent some more time talking to Hershel trying to persuade him to come home. It got quite ugly at one point but finally we managed to convince him. We were about to leave that dump when we heard the door open and saw two men come in, one of them saying: "Son of a bitch, they're alive."

We were sat at the bar drinking and talking to the two strangers. I was pouring out drinks while Kiara was sitting up on the bar right between Glenn who was standing behind it and Hershel who hadn't moved from his spot.

"I'm Dave and that scrawny lookin' douchbag there is Tony," the slimmer one was doing the introductions and looking at Kiara more than at anybody else making me clench my jaw tightly.

"Eat me Dave," Tony retaliated.

"Hey, maybe someday I will," Dave quipped right back. "We met on the I-95 coming out of Philly, damn shitjob that was."

"I'm Glenn, it's nice to meet some new people," Glenn started our introductions.

"Rick Grimes," I continued handing a glass to Kiara.

"How 'bout you sweetheart?" Dave inquired making me ball my free hand into a fist.

"Sweetheart? Really?" she started, but I shot her a warning look telling her to behave and she answered: "Kiara."

"How 'bout you ol' pal? Have one?" Dave inquired gesturing towards Hershel.

"I just quit," Hershel answered making Dave joke that he had a unique sense of timing.

"His name's Hershel. We lost people today. A lot of them," I explained and Dave at least tried to look compassionable. Then he raised his glass.

"I'm truly sorry to hear that," he told Hershel. "To better days and new friends, and to our dead, may they be in a better place," he toasted and we all followed him drinking our shots. He reached for the bottle to refill his glass and I noticed he had a gun tugged behind his belt. He saw where I was looking and reached for it: "Not bad, huh? I got it off a cop."

"I'm a cop," I retaliated and he chuckled.

"This one was already dead."

"You fellas're long way from Philadelphia," I commented.

"Seems like we're long way from anywhere," Dave joked.

"What drove you south?"

"Well I can tell you it wasn't the weather. I must've dropped thirty pounds in sweat alone down here," he joked rubbing his eyes.

"I wish," Tony chipped making Dave chuckle lightly.

"Well first it was DC. I heard there might be some kind of refugee camp but the roads were so jammed we never got even close. We decided to get off the highways, into the sticks, keep hauling ass," he continued with their story. "Every group we came across had a new rumor about a way out of this thing."

"One old guy told us there was a Coast Guard sitting on the Gulf sending ferries to the islands," Tony joined in.

"The latest was a rail yard in Montgomery running trains to the middle of the country. Kansas, Nebraska,…"

"Nebraska?" Glenn echoed confused.

"Low population, lots of guns," Tony answered.

"Makes sense," Kiara chipped in making Tony look her up and down.

"Ever been to Nebraska sweetheart?" Dave asked smirking at Kiara, the look in his eyes making my skin crawl. "There's reason they call 'em fly over states," he joked. I saw him exchange looks with Tony partner and he asked: "How about you guys?"

"Fort Bennin', eventually," I told him.

"I hate to piss in your cornflakes Officer, but we ran across a grunt who was stationed at Benning. Said the place was overrun by lamebrains."

"Wait, Fort Benning is gone? Are you for real?" Glenn asked incredulously. And I saw Kiara nudge him with her knee to shut up. Guess I wasn't the only one who had a bad feeling about these guys.

"Sadly I am," he said looking down at his hands. "Truth is there's no way out of this mess. You just keep goin' from one pipe dream to the next, praying one of those mindless freaks doesn't grab a hold of you when you sleep."

"If you sleep," Tony chimed in.

"Yeah, doesn't look like you guys are hanging your hats here. You hold up somewhere else?" There it was. Shit. I knew this would come up but there was no way I would bring these two back with us. I shook my head saying: "Not really."

"Those your cars out front?" Dave inquired. I nodded my head, Glenn asking why.

"Well, we're livin' out of ours. Those look, uh, kind of empty, clean. Where's all your gear?"

"We're with a larger group, out scouting," Hershel told him quickly. "Thought we could use a drink."

"A drink Hershel? I thought you quit!" Dake cracked. "Well we're thinking of settin' up around here. Is it, is it safe?"

"Can be, we had to… kill a couple of Walkers around here" Glenn answered making me cringe inwardly. I turned around and shot him a sharp look silencing him effectively.

"Walkers?" Dave inquired. "Is that how you call them?"

"Yeah," Glenn answered nervously making Dave nod his head in appreciation. "That's good, I like that. I like that better than lamebrains."

"So what? You guys set up on the, uh, outskirts or somethin'? That new development?"

"Trailer park or somethin'? A farm?" Tony asked rising from his seat and walking over to the opposite corner of the bar.

"Ol' McDonals had a farm," Dave toned under his breath making Tony chuckle while he was taking a leak in a corner.

"Classy," I heard Kiara murmur under her breath looking the other way with a disgusted expression on her face.

"You got a farm?"

"Is it safe? Gotta be."

"You got food? Water?"

"You got some more cooze?" Tony asked smirking at Kiara making me look at him wish disgust. "I ain't had a piece of ass in weeks."

I felt Kiara behind me tense up and I turned around begging her to keep her mouth shut then back at Dave who winced: "Listen, pardon my friend. City kids, they got no tact, no disrespect," he looked at Kiara but she just sent him her best death glare making him turn back at Glenn. He started to ask him more about the farm than I was comfortable with so I shot him down. Unfortunately he was quite persistent in his efforts to convince us to take them back with us but I was having none of it.

"This is bullshit!" Tony snapped at me. I told him to calm down which made him riled up all the more.

"Don't tell me to calm down. Don't EVER tell me to calm down. I'll shoot you three assholes in the head and take your girl here AND your damn farm!" I reached for my Python and heard Kiara cock her gun too pointing it at Tony.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa! Relax!" Dave interfered. "Take it easy! Nobody's killin' anybody!" he said and climbed over the bar searching for another bottle. "Nobody's shooting anybody, right sweetheart?" he asked smiling slimily at Kiara. I gestured for her to lower her gun which she reluctantly obeyed.

"You gotta understand. We can't stay out there. You know what it's like." Dave tried to reason.

"Yeah, I do. But the farm is too crowded as is. I'm sorry. You'll have to keep lookin'." I said cautious to Dave's every move.

"Keep lookin', and where do you suggest we do that?"

"I don't know. I hear Nebraska's nice," I deadpanned.

"Nebraska," Dave chuckled. "This guy," I saw the flinch in Dave's eyes as he reached for his gun but before he could do anything I saw him tumble to the ground with Kiara's knife jammed in his forehead. I quickly turned around to see Tony point his shotgun at her screaming "You little bitch!" but before he could fire I shot him twice in the chest and then finished him off with a shot in the head. I turned around to see the stunned expressions on Glenn's and Hershel's face and then looked at Kiara who looked calm but I could see the bewilderment in her eyes. I bet she was thinking the same thing. It has come to that. We killed the living.