I don't own anything to do with Rick or any character from the Walking Dead. I own the OC characters, Ruby and Paul, however, and I adore them.

Summary: Shane's been killed by Rick and the group doesn't trust him anymore. So what does Rick do? Snap. He finds a girl in the woods and takes out his aggression.

Yes, I know if you've read my other stuff you know that I was a Shane girl, but Rick is awesome, too. So I decided to play with him a little. Rate and comment if you like! Thanks, and please, no flames. They are... unhelpful.

+++It's really flowing right now, guys, but note that the chapters are a little shorter and fast moving. The continued reviews are the reason there have been so many updates in so few days- you guys are so inspirational you have no idea. Keep them coming and the updates will keep flowing. I expect the chapters to become longer after this one. ;) You are awesome!

Rick plunged the blade of his knife into the eye socket of the walker closest to him, and felt the texture of the skull, all soft and rotten, pop under his touch. There weren't a lot of them, but if the night had taught him anything it was that it didn't matter. It only took one unexpected walker to down one of the bravest, strongest men Rick ever knew, and one tiny, unborn baby to make his son lose his mother. It wasn't right, none of this was right, and reality had stopped making sense. That he had taken off from the house and lit out across the field towards the neighboring houses without regard or care hadn't really registered. He didn't notice Daryl close behind him, pegging off the occasional walker that Rick didn't get, or that he was covered in bits of bone and blood and flesh, none of it occurred to him. All he saw was the slow but steady round after round of walkers, wandering separately from each other across the landscape, and the curious realization that every time he killed one, he saw flashes of Lori in his mind's eye. Bright, smiling, teen Lori. Big as a house pregnant-with-Carl Lori. Just Lori, when things had been ok and the world had been right.

A mile down the road, he misjudged the movement of one particularly small walker. A teenager in it's old life, it wore a torn skirt and no shirt any longer, long ago ripped and rotted away. Aiming for it's head, it jerked at the last minute and he swiped its neck, spurting black goo everywhere. He toppled over, unbalanced, and the thing started to go for him when one of Daryl's arrows entered its brain with a loud plop sound. It fell over him, and he shoved it off disgustedly.

"Come on, Rick. Get with me, man." Daryl said gruffly and got down on one knee, supporting Rick with his free arm.

"Get off." Rick pushed at him, but Daryl held his ground.

"Nah, can't do that. We got pretty far out here, there's a lot more of those things if you haven't noticed." Daryl tugged at him, trying to get him to his feet.

Rick wasn't having it. "Good. Let 'em come."

"I ain't even humoring that one, man. You got a boy back there just lost his mom. You need to get on up and get back with me."

"What the hell happened, Daryl?" Rick fell back on hid heels and looked at Daryl so lost and confused it startled him, and Daryl paused. Letting out a deep breath, he scanned the fields around them.

"Wish I knew. Believe me."

"What am I supposed to tell Carl now? Just wait, if you're not dead in a week, I probably will be? What the hell kind of life is that for a kid?"

Daryl frowned deeply. This wasn't his forte, consoling people. It was never something he was comfortable with, but he had the distinct impression that if he didn't do this now for Rick, the man might never come back. Mentally speaking. "He's alive, Rick. That's what's important. The rest can be worked out."

A low moan from behind them made Daryl whip around. A walker was approaching from the direction of the house, and it made his skin crawl to realize just how far out there they were in the dark. "Get up now." He ordered. "We got to get back."

Rick nodded slowly, and while he made his way to his feet, Daryl quickly dispatched the walker as quietly as possible. They'd already made too much noise as it was. He began the trek back a step behind Rick so he could keep an eye on him, and almost prayed as he moved that he would be able to snap out of this soon. If he didn't, it wasn't a "if" Rick would die, it would simply be "when".

It was nearing sunup when Beth emerged from Hershel's room with Paul, the two of them looking drawn and tired. Glenn had curled up back on the couch with Maggie, and Ruby never took her eyes off the door. None of them had thought about the normal things people do since the previous evening: eating, drinking, things like that. Beth slipped off with a candle into a small bathroom on the lower floor and Paul came and sat next to Ruby at the door. He had found a bottle of water somewhere in a bag someone had thought to bring in, and he took a long drink and handed it to her so she could do the same.

"Hey, Starlet. How are you?" He whispered, kissing her cheek.

"Pretty much completely terrible. How's Hershel?" She leaned against him wearily.

"I think he's going to be ok. If he was going to turn, he'd have done it by now so we're just letting him sleep."

"Thank god. At least that's something." She capped the bottle and sat it between her feet. "Rick took off, Paul. Daryl went after him, but they've been gone a long time."

He saw the worry in her eyes and pressed his lips together tensely. "If anybody can keep him safe, it's Daryl. I'm not surprised he snapped. I don't blame him."

"It scared me."

He hugged her. "I know. Try not to worry. He's probably going to be off for a while, we just have to get him through it. He just needs to be there for Carl and we have to give him some time."

"Maggie said Lori knew this baby was going to kill her. What does that mean for the rest of the world? Is everyone who gets pregnant going to die?" She asked anxiously.

"Hey, now. 'Course not. You know better than that. It was a hard pregnancy, if she'd been given the chance to stop running, not have all that stress, she might have come through it."

They heard a noise at the door next to them and Ruby started violently. Grabbing the gun at her hip, Paul swiftly reached over and put his hand over hers. "Wait. Peek and see, but don't let it see you."

She did, peeking through the covers over the window carefully. "Oh thank god, it's them." She gasped, unlocking the door quickly. Rick came in, followed by Daryl, and he collapsed in a high back chair wearily, still dripping rotten blood from his clothes and hair. Ruby grabbed a nearby towel left over and fell at his feet, trying to wipe the gore away from his skin. He let her work, stoic, his gaze on nothing at all on the floor in front of him.

"I guess I don't need to ask how he is." Paul said grimly to Daryl as they stood back and watched.

Daryl grunted softly. "Give him a little bit. He'll come to."

"I hope he does soon. We're going to need him. We can't stay here." Paul said and Daryl looked at him questioningly. "There's no water at all, and I don't think there's anything even remotely close by."

"Ah." Daryl nodded. "How's Hershel?"

"I think he's going to be ok."

"Good. You best get some sleep. We'll wait till it gets plenty light out and take off." Daryl said and Paul nodded. He watched the taller man go to the loveseat and settle back to rest, and Daryl took a place near the watching point. He wanted to be close enough that Ruby could get him if she needed, but he was spent. As he fell into a restless sleep, he pictured Lori's baby in his hands, colored a sickening greyish color with pale, watery eyes. Dead long before it even got a chance to be born.

The sun rose on a eerily silent house, and Ruby opened her eyes when she heard voices. She hadn't even realized she'd fallen asleep, sitting there at Rick's feet. No where close to being rested, she tried to shake it off and stood when she saw Hershel emerge from upstairs, going to give him a hug.

"How do you feel?" She asked him, looking at the deep red scratches across his chin and neck.

"Grateful to be here." He said, looking past her to Rick, sleeping, slumped in the chair in an uncomfortable looking position. "How is he?"

"I don't know. He took off for a while last night but he hasn't said anything." She said sadly.

Rick woke when Carol brought Carl down and everyone just kind of stood back and tried not to stare as the boy approached his father. When he started to cry and fell into his arms, they looked at the ground, lost in how they could possibly help. The morning, however, seemed to fly by then. Paul and Daryl gathered tools from the garage as Carol retrieved food from the cars and got something together for breakfast. No one had much of an appetite, however, and when the men came back from digging the graves for T-Dog, Lori, and the baby, they gathered for the impromptu funerals immediately. No one wanted to stay at the house any longer than they had to.

The sky was appropriately overcast and a shallow rain had begun to fall when they laid the bodies in the ground. Carl clutched to Rick's waist as Hershel said a few words. Daryl and Paul took protective duty and quietly dispatched any threat that came too close while the short but somber service was held. Rick quietly got a shovel and began to cover Lori while Glenn got T-Dog, and from his stance he made it clear that he was to be left alone while he worked. When the last of the dirt was placed and patted down, he took the long gold chain Lori had worn around her neck with his ring while he was in his coma, and looped it over the makeshift cross Daryl had made for her, her ring glinting in the light as it swung freely. Ruby heard him say something as he knelt there, but it was too low to understand. Afraid to go to him and not knowing what to do, she stood there with Maggie and Glenn's arms over her shoulders while Carl cried into Carol's arms. Soon, they were back on the road, with cars that seemed much too empty.