I am sitting in the living room when I hear Maggie yell for her father. I walk outside with everyone. "Was he bit?" Hershel asks.
"Shot," the stranger says. "By your man." He is walking up to the house with a boy in his arms. He seems exhausted. I can tell he's been carrying the boy for a while since he's struggling to keep him in his arms.
"Otis?" Patricia says.
"He said find Hershel," he says. "Is that you?"
"Get inside," Hershel says. They start rushing to the house.
"Help me!" he begs. "Help my boy!" He sounds like he's about to sob. Hershel tells him to come inside and all of us follow.
"Patricia, I need my full kit," he says. "Maggie, painkillers, coagulates- grab everything. Clean towels, sheets alcohol in here." I run off to go get everything we need with the others.
I walk in with some towels and sheets with Beth. They have laid the boy on the bed and his father seems to be in shock. He's processing everything slowly. "Fold it," Hershel says. "Make a pad." We're all rushing to get everything ready. "Put pressure on the wound." I look up to see the man in a sheriff's uniform over his son, pressing a pillow case to his wound. Hershel checks to see if the kid is alive. "I've got a heartbeat. It's faint."
"I've got it, step back," Patricia says.
"Maggie, I.V."
"We need some space," she says.
"Your name?" he asks.
"Rick," the sheriff says.
"Rick?" he says. The guy keeps stuttering. I feel bad for the guy. His son has just been shot and there aren't any hospitals.
"I'm- I'm Rick."
"Rick, we're going to do everything we can, okay?" Hershel says. "You need to give us some room. Now."
I walk into the living room knowing I won't be of use. I look outside to see Otis, Rick, and another man. They walk in and into the room, I follow shortly after.
"You know his blood type?"
"A positive," Rick says, "same as mine." Hershel looks at him.
"That's fortunate," he says. "Don't wander far, I'm gonna' need you." He then looks at Otis. "What happened?"
"I was tracking a buck," Otis says. "Bullet went through it, went clean through." He also appears to be in shock
"The deer slowed the bullet down," Hershel says looking at the wound, " which certainly saved his life. But it did not go through clean. It broke up into pieces." Otis starts moving towards Patricia. "If I can get the bullet fragments out… I'm counting six."
Otis starts saying to Patricia that he never saw the kid until he was already on the ground. Otis must feel horrible about this. I know I would. It was an accident though. He can't be blamed for it.
"Lori doesn't know," Rick says.
"No…" his friend says. I raise an eyebrow in confusion. Rick looks like he's about to cry.
"My wife doesn't know…" he says. His friends starts whispering to him.
I walk in as soon as Maggie opens the door. I see them holding down the kid while he squirms and cries. "He needs blood," Maggie says.
"You, hold him down!" Hershel says. Rick's friend rushes over to hold down the kid. I watch, feeling helpless as the kid cries and groans. I want to help but there is nothing I can do. Hershel is trying to get a bullet fragment out while Rick keeps on looking at his son.
The kid screams and that's when Rick can't take it. "Stop!" he screams. "You're killing him!"
"Rick, do you want him to live?" Hershel says.
"He needs blood," I hear Patricia say.
"Do it now!" the other guy shouts. Patricia sticks the needle in Rick and takes some blood. I no longer hear crying so I look over. The stranger seems worried.
"Wait," the guy says. "Wait. Hey."
"He just passed out," Hershel says. I watch as Hershel pulls a bullet fragment out of the boy. "One down…" He puts the fragment down. "...five to go." I run my hand through my hair.
I walk into the room just as Hershel walks out with Patricia following him. "He's out of danger for the moment," Hershel says, "but I need to remove those remaining fragments." I watch as Rick and the stranger are on either side of him. Maggie and Otis are standing and listening.
"How?" Rick asks. "You saw how he was."
"I know, and that was the shallowest one. I need to go deeper to get the others."
"Oh man…" the stranger says quietly.
"There's more."
"Tell me," Rick says.
"His belly's distended, his pressure's dropping, which means there's internal bleeding," Hershel tells him. "A fragment must have nicked one of the blood vessels." I have to open him up, find the bleeder, and stitch it." I bite my lip. "And he can't move while I'm in there- I mean, at all. If he reacts the same as before, I'll sever an artery and he'll be dead in minutes." Rick stays silent, not looking at Hershel. "To even try this, I have to put him under. But if I do, he won't be able to breathe on his own, same bad results."
"What'll it take?"
"You need a respirator," Otis says. "What else?"
"The tube that goes with it, extra surgical supplies, drapes, sutures," Hershel says.
"If you had all that you could save him?" Rick asks.
"If I had all that, I could try."
"Nearest hospital went up in flames a month ago," Otis says. Hershel looks at him. "The high school."
"That's what I was thinking," Hershel says. He looks back at Rick. "They set up a FEMA shelter there. They would have everything we need."
"Place was overrun last time I saw it," Otis tells them. "You couldn't get near it. Maybe it's better now."
"I said, leave the rest to me," Rick's friend says. "Is it too late to take that back?" He sort of smiles but Rick looks at him with a serious expression.
"I hate you going alone," he says.
"Come on. Doc, why don't you do me a list and draw me a map?"
"You won't need a map," Otis says. "I'll take you there. Ain't but five miles."
"Otis, no," Patricia says.
"Honey, we don't have time for guesswork and I'm responsible. I ain't gonna sit here while this fella takes this on alone."
"I could go," I offer. "I know the way."
"Not you," Hershel says. "You need to stay here." I roll my eyes. All I want to do his help. The kid is crying, we can't be picky on who goes. Patricia gives Otis a worried look.
"I'll be all right," Otis says.
"Are you sure about this?" the stranger asks.
"Do you even know what any of the stuff he's talking about looks like?"
"Come to think, no."
"I've been a volunteer E.M.T. I do," Otis tells him. I run my hand through my hair in frustration. I really want to go but of course Hershel won't let me. "We can talk about this till next Sunday or we could just go do it real quick."
"I'll take real quick."
"I should thank you," Rick says.
"Wait till that boy of yours is up and around. Then we'll talk. I'll gather some things."
Maggie walks up to Rick. "Where is she, your wife?" she asks. I sigh and walk outside then sit on the railing of the porch.
Rick, his friend, Patricia, and Otis walk outside. Hershel quickly follows them. I watch as they put their supplies in the truck. Otis and Patricia hug while Rick and his friend are talking. They get in the truck and I walk up to Rick.
"Your friend, what's his name?" I ask.
"Shane," he says. I nod.
"Shane better bring Otis back safe," I say. I care more about Otis' safety than Shane's. I actually know Otis, Shane is just a stranger. "Well, I'll be inside if you need me."
"Wait, what's your name?" he asks.
"I'm Rowan," I tell him.
I'm sitting at the kitchen table while Hershel is holding a glass of orange juice. Rick and Lori walk in and he immediately hands Rick the glass. Rick thanks him and starts drinking then stops shortly after. Hershel urges him to continue and Rick does.
"Okay, so I understand, when Shane returns with this other man-" Lori says.
"Otis," Hershel tells her.
"Otis. The idiot who shot my son."
"Ma'am, it was an accident," Hershel says.
"I'll take that under advisement later," she says. "For now he's the idiot who shot our son."
"Lori, they're doing everything they can to make it right," Rick says. I lean back and watch them.
"Okay, as soon as they get back you can perform this surgery?"
"I'll certainly do my best."
"Okay," Lori says. "You've done this procedure before?"
"Well, yes, in a sense," Hershel says.
"In a sense?"
"Honey, we don't have the luxury of shopping for a surgeon," Rick says. I understand that she's under a lot of stress since her son was shot but can't she be reasonable? It's the apocalypse. At least she has somebody who can perform this surgery.
"No, I understand that," she says. "But I mean you're a doctor, right?"
"Yes, ma'am, of course. A vet."
"A veteran?" she says. "A combat medic?"
"A veterinarian," Hershel tells her. She looks extremely worried. Her and Rick look at each other.
"And you've done this surgery before on what? Cows? Pigs?"
"Pigs and humans are extremely similar in human anatomy…" I mumble. I hear Rick say something but I can't understand him. He pulls the chair out and falls into it. Lori keeps him from falling over.
"Completely in over your head, aren't you?" Lori questions.
"Ma'am, aren't we all?" Hershel asks. I stand up and walk out of the kitchen. It's their business, not mine. I should have left earlier.
She didn't say or do much in this chapter but I promise that she becomes interacts more in the future. She is sort of a wallflower in the beginning but she gets better. If you have any advice on how to improve my writing that would be great. The reason I'm finally starting to post my stories is because I want to become better at writing and in order to do that I need people to read them and tell be what could be worked on. So, any review would be very much appreciated. Thanks!
-Salt
