[THE WALKING DEAD:FIRE WITH FIRE]
Chapter 1
*Hey guys, my deepest apologies for not updating "Cryomancers Stay Together" I have been so busy with school. I promise it will be finished! I just have had this story stuck in my mind for ages. So, I had to share with you all. I need to know if it is worth more chapters, or if it's just in need of trashing. Please R&R guys, constructive criticism is always welcomed.*
**So, I have had Rick and Maggie in my head as a couple, could work or maybe not, but worth a shot. How would the series turn out? I am not a Shane fan, sorry, I can tolerate Lori, they just are not my favorites. I will try not to show any bias opinions in characters, if I do please, do not hesitate to tell me and I will correct it. I hope you enjoy! :)**
"Rick! I thought you would be happy that I admitted it to you!", screamed Lori.
"... I am, it just took me by surprise that, that I got the confirmation I needed to realize this marriage is officially done for." whispered the dark hair man.
"Shane, he has.. Shane was-"
"There for you when I wasn't, I get that. I understand. Which is exactly why I am not angry with either of you.." Rick explained to the sobbing woman in front of him. The woman he had vowed to spend the rest of his life with. The woman who he had come so far to find. Only to realize her heart had been taken by his best friend, his partner. Was he angry, no. He was hurt.
"Rick. Please, say something." Lori pleaded.
"I've said enough Lori." Rick turned and walked off into the heated day, into the forest. He couldn't bare to look at her any longer. He was also afraid that Shane had overheard the conversation. He didn't yet feel up to facing Shane just yet, he needed time to think to himself.
When Rick stormed off, he had noticed Carl eavesdropping from behind the bushes. He hadn't said anything, but felt ashamed for his son having to see his parents arguing for the thousandth time. Rick allowed Carl to follow closely beside him. Looking down he saw his son glancing up to him expectantly, waiting for an answer or explanation. Walking from the protection of the treeline, the two entered a small clearing. Rick looked back to his son. Carl was starting to struggle with his father's steps.
Rick stopped in the middle of the clearing, sitting down in the somewhat tall grass. Carl following his father's movement, sat down next to Rick. They both were quiet for some time. Admiring the beauty of the day, a beauty so rare in this now ugly world. Rick looked to his son, but could not think of what to say. How to explain himself to his own child.
"Do you still love mom?" Carl questioned sheepishly, looking back to his father.
"I do, yes."
"Does mom still love you?"
"I...," Rick stalled, lost in his own thought," I believe she does."
"But she loves Shane too, right?"
"Yes.. she does." Rick tried his best to explain.
"Are you mad?"
"No Carl... no I'm not.." Rick said as he patted Carl's shoulder. He pushed himself off of the ground, stretching is stiff body.
"DAD, look!" Carl blurted as he tapped his father's arm.
Pulling his magnum from its holster, he pivoted his body so he could face Carl's direction. Ready for anything that threatened his son, his reason for fighting for a piece of light in the pitch black world. When he noticed what Carl was focused on he lowered his weapon. It was a deer, a living deer. Rick started to pull Carl back to him, but he didn't want to startle the creature. Carl looked so intrigued by it. Rick couldn't bring himself to pull the boy away. A few more moments, he told himself. I'll let Carl watch for a few more seconds, and then we go back to the highway.
Carl began taking closer steps toward the deer, and extended his hand forward so he could touch it. The boy's eyes glue to the animal, making sure not the frighten it away. Carl was only inches away from the deer, and just when he was about to make contact with it, he heard gunfire. Rick heard it as well, but it sickened him to see his son slump to the ground. Rushing over to Carl, Rick picked up his boy and shook him gently.
"Carl! Carl, son answer me, c'mon! Please!" Rick sobbed and pleaded.
"I'm so sorry, I was aimin' for the deer! I didn't even see the boy until he was on the ground! It was an accident! I'm sorry... I'm Otis." the large man said shaken up by the horrifying turn of events.
"Right now, formalities are not needed! What is needed, is for my son to get the medical attention he deserves! Now help me with him!" Rick screamed, not caring if any walkers heard, his son's life was in danger.
"There's a farmhouse, that way," Otis panted while pointing, "through those trees and past the field, you can't miss it. Ask for Hershal, tell em' I sent you."
Rick, without hesitation, tightened his grip on Carl. He ran, Rick ran as fast as his legs would allow him. Even when his legs screamed for him to stop, he kept going. Carl's life depended on him, and he didn't intend on being the one to cause his son's life to end. Not like this. Run, you can't stop, keep running, for Carl. Rick screamed in his mind to fight the pain his body felt. If he let go of what little grasp he had on his motivation, he wouldn't make it to the farmhouse.
When all hope seemed lost, and Rick felt like he would collapse from lack of oxygen, he saw the white farmhouse just below him. Gracious that he had the assistance of a downward slope, he picked up speed. Spotting the house had given him the motivation he so desperately needed. Reaching the front porch, he was greeted by a white haired man, a tall man in a cowboy hat, and two women. The instinctively began asking him questions. Questions that took him a minute to confirm and find words to answer with.
"Was he bit?" the white man prodded.
"No! Shot... by your man!"
"Otis?", questioned the older, dark haired woman.
"He said to come here, ask for Hershal. Is that you?!" Rick demanded. Wishing they would stop the questions and help Carl. He could feel Carl fading away.
"Come on. Hurry!" Hershal commanded.
"Please! You gotta' help me, please help my boy!" Rick quickly followed the group inside their home.
Rushing inside everyone was in a panic. Hershal leaded Rick to a bedroom, where he removed the blankets, and Rick place Carl gently on the bed. In a state of shock, Rick couldn't help but stare at his pale and fragile son.
"Is he alive?" was all Rick could manage saying.
"Pillowcase." Hershal said, while inspecting the severeness of the wound.
"Is.. is he alive?"
"Pillowcase!" Hershal said once again with a bit more force than before.
Rick absent minded, and not taking his eyes from Carl, reach for a pillow and removed the cloth from it. Waiting for the next step.
"Now fold it, and apply pressure to the wound." directed the aged man.
Rick did as he was asked. One of the women from earlier came into the room with the supplies Hershal had asked her to retrieve. While the other, the short dark hair woman, asked for his name.
"Rick, it's Rick." he trailed off.
"Rick we are going to do everything we can to save your boy, but we need room to work." Hershal assured.
"His mother, Lori... She doesn't know. His mother doesn't know..." Rick began sobbing.
Hershal looked to the woman beside Rick. He felt her tug on his arm once again. Rick looked down to her, not really seeing her.
"Come on, lets give them the space they need." the woman said softly, pulling him in her direction, leading him into the foyer.
Once in the room, Rick felt suffocated, he headed toward the screen door, the woman behind him.
"I'm sorry about your son, Rick.." She said as they stepped outside.
"Yeah.." Rick murmured under his breath, "What's your name?"
"I'm Maggie, Hershal's daughter."
"Maggie... Thank you." Rick voiced as he turned to face her. Leaning on the post of the porch.
"You're welcome." she huffed, letting out a sigh. "Hey! Let me see if I can't find you a shirt, that one is blood soaked."
Rick didn't refuse the woman's offer, he wasn't too fond about being drenched in Carl's blood. So he nodded to Maggie. Secretly thankful she had not left him alone. She provoked him to follow her upstairs, to a bedroom that looked untouched.
"This was my step-brother's room.. You look around his size." Maggie proclaimed shyly. She walked over to a chest of drawers, and pried a black button up shirt. It looked somewhat worn, but not in terrible condition like Rick's stained shirt.
"There is a bathroom down the hall, middle door on the left side. You can wash your hands there." With that the woman left Rick to himself.
Changing into his borrowed shirt, Rick folded his own and made his way to the bathroom. When inside he turned on the sink's faucet. Looking at himself in the mirror, he saw a stranger, a man who was alone. Lori had chosen Shane, and Carl had the chance of possibly dying. He would do everything in his power to keep that from happening, he was not losing his son too.
A knock at the door startled him back to his wits. Rick began washing the dried, discolored blood from his hands.
"Rick, if you can hurry, Daddy needs you."
It was Maggie, not to keep Hershal or Carl waiting, he finished quickly and headed downstairs. Maggie was wanting for him, along with Hershal and a young girl. The girl walked over to him and began to speak.
"You said the boy's mother doesn't know about the accident.. So I'm offering to go get her and bring her back. Just tell me where she is."
"On Interstate 85, maybe half a mile from here." Rick explained.
The girl nodded and exited the house, now it was Hershal's turn to speak, but before he could get his words out, the screams began. Rick, Hershal, and Maggie, all ran to Carl's bedroom. The boy was awake and in pain. Hershal demanded Rick to hold down Carl so he could give the boy what little medication he had. It wasn't much but it would help ease the pain. Carl still struggled, looking to Maggie.
"Mom..." Carl pleaded.
Maggie, shocked, didn't know what to say. Obviously, the boy's fever from the wound had caused him to become unfocused. Rick shifted his head from Carl to Maggie. Begging her to go along with it. So she did.
She sat down beside the boy and placed her hand on his clammy forehead, "I'm here. I'm not going anywhere, neither is your father. We're both here.." Maggie continued to rub a hand across his forehead, somewhat lulling the child to sleep.
"I have bad news Rick, he has internal bleeding, we are going to need a blood transfusion. What's your blood type?" Hershal explained.
"A positive. Same as his."
"That's fortunate, sit down, I'm going to need you."
Rick did as he was told, he vowed to do everything he could, and he meant it. Maggie moved beside the chair Rick was occupying and started the transaction between father and son. He never did like giving blood, he hated the feel of it. The needles sucking the life from you, it made him nauseous. After the blood had been transferred to Carl, Rick felt weaker, Maggie had to assist him to the foyer couch.
"His mother should be here soon, until then, you should lay down Rick. Build your energy back up." Maggie reasoned.
"I can't sleep, knowing him getting shot was my fault. I should have never let him come with me! He was better off with his mother." Rick snapped, placing his head in his hand.
"You can't think like that, you could have never predicted what happened. It's not your fault. It's no ones. It was an accident." The dark hair woman said, as she patted Rick's back. "At least get some rest, for Carl. I promise I'll come get you if anything happens."
"You're right.." Rick all but mumbled. He was tired from the days events. Tired and weak, he needed sleep if he want to be of any use.
Maggie sat in the chair across from him, the sun had started fading away. It was getting late, and Lori had yet to make it to the farmhouse. What was taking so long... Was the last thing Rick thought about before sleep over took him.