So it's finally up! Here's the remake of 'Horses and Crossbows', renamed 'I Caught Myself'. I'll update as constantly as I can, since we have like four seasons to get through. This is just a prologue, to introduce everyone. Hopefully we'll get to know Laura a bit more in the next chapter.
Thanks for sticking with me. You guys mean a lot.
And if you're new, welcome aboard! Don't even bother reading 'Horses and Crossbows'.
Right. This is it.
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"I'm back!"
The dark-haired woman hung her jean jacket up on the row of hooks next to the door. A younger blonde girl came rushing through from the kitchen, excitement smothering her pale face as she pulled the woman into a tight hug.
"You took longer than usual," her muffled voice said, her face buried in the woman's shoulder. The woman pulled back, letting out a small, uneasy laugh as she slipped off her backpack.
"C'mon, Beth," she scoffed and brushed past her, guiding the blonde back to the kitchen. "I've done this a hundred times. Am I gonna get the same reaction every time I walk through that door?"
They reached the kitchen, where Patricia's hands were stuck to a knife and chopping board. The older woman looked up with a smile, setting down the knife and wiping her hands with a rag. "Finally," she huffed, placing a hand of reassurance on the dark-haired woman's shoulder. The woman flinched quickly, but composed herself before it was noticed. "Maggie's out front with of a pair of binoculars waitin' for you. What took you so long?"
Laura shrugged a shoulder and began to unpack her day's worth of findings. She had only gone to the supermarket, yet she had managed to get hold of an entire assortment of things –soap, deodorant, sanitary pads and tampons for her, Beth and Maggie. She even got a sealed box of candy bars, something she found while snooping around the loading dock. She figured Beth and Jimmy would enjoy them the most.
"I-I guess I lost track of time," she said, packing the cans of soup she managed to get into the cupboard above the sink. Beth ripped open the box of chocolate bars and helped herself to one. She handed the box to Laura, who took one out for herself.
Making her way to the fridge for the water, Patricia's voice spoke to Laura, noticing her sudden edge. "Is everything alright?" She grabbed the bottle, shut the fridge with her foot and turned back to the chopping board. The blonde teenager hopped up onto the counter, taking a bite of the bar as her eyes traveled to her sister for a reply.
Laura nodded, allowing her lips to display a forceful smile. "Yeah, everythin's good."
"You're back."
The voice turned her around and Hershel stepped into the kitchen, a faint smile set on his face. She returned it to him. "Got some soup and candy bars. Quite a lot. The rest are just some toiletries." Laura jerked her head toward the cupboard.
"Good. You make it out alright?"
She shrugged both shoulders. "I'm here aren't I?"
He nodded once. "You are."
"I was thinkin' that we need to go back to the pharmacy," she told them all. Hershel listened. "We're running low on medicine. If anything happens to one of us, we're gonna need antibiotics, maybe painkillers."
Hershel was reluctant to let Laura and Maggie go out, but he knew someone had to do it. They had been doing fine so far anyway. Since the outbreak, both had gone on runs in and around town. Mainly just to small shops –the pharmacy and the supermarket were probably the most visited.
The only ones who ever went out were Otis, Laura and Maggie. Otis went out hunting for meat when needed, while Laura and Maggie took shifts going out on supply runs. Jimmy sometimes went with Otis to learn the tricks of the trade, just in case something happened to him that would render him unable to do so. The furthest Hershel went was to the edge of the farm by the small dam. He only took the cattle out for water. Beth and Patricia stayed in and around the house.
For the rest of the day, Laura would have probably gone out riding as usual. She would have taken Nelly around the farm, maybe into the woods to the creek. By the time she'd get back, it would be around dinner time and the day would have just passed like any other. But the second it changed, was the second Maggie's distressed voice echoed through the house from the front porch, distracting everybody inside and pulling them outside to where she was.
"DAD!"
Hershel looked up, his head following the source of the voice. It caught Laura, Patricia and Beth's attention too. The front doors slammed open aggressively before footsteps thudded against the old wooden floor. Eventually, the woman was standing in the doorway of the dining room, clutching her binoculars in one hand.
"You…," she gasped, "Ya'll better come see this."
She guided them all through the house back to the front porch. What lied ahead wasn't easy to miss. There was somebody in a sheriff's hat running toward the house, clutching a child in his arms. Further behind him, Otis was running after them, just behind another man. As the first man got closer, the entire situation became clearer. The child, a little boy, was bleeding heavily. The man's shirt was already immensely stained with the crimson liquid.
"Was he bit?!" Hershel yelled out, as they reached the front of the house.
The man slowed down, shaking his head. "Shot," he wheezed, "By your man."
"Otis?" Patricia gasped.
Hershel moved closer to get a better look. The man began to panic, shifting the weight of the boy onto his other arm. "He said find Hershel. Is that you?!"
Hershel nodded.
"Help him, help my boy!"
Without a hint of hesitation in his being, the old farmer led the stranger into the house, rolling up his sleeves as he instructed Patricia and Maggie to get everything in order. Laura moved into the closest bedroom, stripping the bed of its crisp, white sheets before the man gently rolled the boy on.
"Pillowcase," Hershel requested. The man stepped back, watching the boy in horror. It was obvious that it was the man's son. The child was the spitting image of his father, even with his eyes shut tight and his body mangled in blood. Laura grabbed one of the pillows, sliding the pillowcase off with ease. She balled it around her fist and pressed it against the boy's wound while Hershel checked for a heartbeat.
"I've got a heartbeat," he broadcasted, "it's faint. Maggie, IV."
The man stood still as they tried to work around him. Patricia took the pillowcase from Laura, who tried to get the man out of the room."We need space," she told him, pushing against his chest gently, "please, we'll help your boy, but you need to give us some room."
He was unwilling to move back at first, more concerned with what they were doing to his son. Hershel looked up, seeing his reluctance to oblige. "You, what's your name?"
The man fell back against the wall, his lip trembling. Hershel repeated himself. Finally, he ripped his eyes from his boy and looked up at the vet. His eyes were terrified; the look on his face mirrored the most common expression when the virus broke out. "R-Rick," he rasped, "M- My name's Rick."
"Well Rick. We're gon' do everythin' we can, okay? But you need to give us some room. Now."
Left with no other option, the man backed away and slowly slipped out of the room. These strangers, these complete strangers were his last hope –his son's last hope. He didn't even know their names. But, he trusted them with every inch of his being to do what they could. And that's exactly what they did.
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So that's chapter 1 done and dusted. Give me a couple of days to overlook the next chapter before I post it. Tell me what you think -yay or nay? Has my writing improved?
Ah well, I can't wait for the new episode tonight. Please favorite, follow and review!