It was early in the morning after the death of Otis and the operation that saved Quinn's life. The adults had stayed up all night while Carl and Sophia had fell a sleep for a few hours in the living room.
Rick was in Quinn's room with Hershel, the older man head his hand on Quinn's forehead to see if the fever was gone, while Rick hold the girl's hand. Hershel let out a breath of relief as he pulled his hand away, "Fever's gone down," He announced.
Rick let out his own breath and nodded to the older man before he leaned forwards when he saw Quinn slowly opening her eyes.
"Quinn?" Rick called softly as she blinked with a frown. "Quinn, can you see me?" Rick asked.
"Dad?"
Rick froze when she asked that as she stared at him. "Quinn?" He asked. She blinked again and frowned, "Rick?" She asked as she finally had her sight got clear. "Yeah, hey," Rick said softly.
"Where's Carl and Sophia?" Quinn asked all of a sudden. "They sleeping," Rick replied softly, "They fine." Quinn let out a sigh of relief before glancing up at Hershel and then back at Rick, "What happened?"
"What do you remember?" Hershel asked. "I was - I was with Sophie at the woods, we were trying to get back to the road," She replied with a frown as she thought and then looked back at Rick, "Then we saw you, Carl and Shane with a deer and . . . I saw a man. He didn't see Carl. And he was about to shot the deer . . . I ran towards Carl, pushing him away and I felt . . . I felt this sharp pain."
Rick looked down sadly before back at her. "Don't think about it, okay?" He said, "Get some rest." She nodded slowly, and he leaned down and kissed her forehead before he and Hershel left the room.
The two men walked outside when the group were. Lori walked up to Rick and everyone else followed, "Did she woke up?" She asked. "Yeah, she did. I told her to rest," Rick replied. "Is she okay?" Carol asked. "She will be," Rick answered, "There's no more fever."
Dale shook his head, "How'd it happen?" He asked what everyone else wanted to know. "Hunting accident," Rick replied and shook his head, "That's all . . . Just a stupid accident."
... ...
Everyone gathered around under an oak, not far from the house. "Blessed be God, father of our lord Jesus Christ," Hershel prayed, "Praise be to him for the gift of our brother Otis, for his span of years, for his abundance of character; Otis, who gave his life to save a child's, now more than ever, our most precious asset. We thank you, God, for the peace he enjoys in your embrace. He died as he lived, in Grace." Hershel then looked at Shane, "Shane, will you speak for Otis?"
Shane looked at him in shock and shook his head as he looked down, "I'm not good at it. I'm sorry," He said. "You were the last one with him," Patricia said softly as she cried, "You shared his final moments. Please. I need to hear. I need to know his death had meaning."
Shane stared sadly at the crying woman for a moment before giving in, and he nodded, "We were about done. Almost out of ammo. We were down to pistols by then. I was limping. It was bad. Ankle all swollen up. 'We've got to save the boy.' See, that's what he said. He gave me his backpack. He shoved me ahead. 'Run,' he said. He said, 'I'll take the rear. I'll cover you.' And when I looked back . . ." He limped over to pick up a rock, "If not for Otis, I'd have never made it out alive. And that goes for Quinn too. It was Otis. He saved us both. If any death ever had meaning, it was his." He placed the rock on top of the pile of rocks for Otis.
... ...
Hershel, Rick, Daryl, Andrea and Shane were gathered around the Cherokee. "What's the boy's name?" Hershel asked as he looked at Daniel's picture that Quinn showed Lori back at the CDC.
"Daniel Tyler," Rick replied. "You think he could be close?" T-Dog asked. "He wouldn't stay at Atlanta when so many walkers there. He would have moved on," Daryl said. "We have to try," Rick said, "Hopefully he will be around in the woods."
Maggie walked up to them with a map, "County survey map. Shows terrain and elevations," She said, placing two rocks to hold the corners. "This is perfect," Rick said, "We can finally get this thing organized. We'll grid the whole area, start searching in teams."
"Not you. Not today. You gave three units of blood," Hershel told Rick, "You wouldn't be hiking five minutes in this heat before passing out." He looked at Shane, "And your ankle . . . Push it now, you'll be laid up a month, no good to anybody."
"Guess it's just me. I'm gonna head back to the woods," Daryl said. "I can still be useful," Shane said. "All right, tomorrow then. We'll start doing this right," Rick said. "That means we can't have our people out there with just knives. They need the gun training we've been promising them," Shane said.
"I'd prefer you not carrying guns on my property. We've managed so far without turning this into an armed camp," Hershel said. "All due respect," Shane started, "You get a crowd of those things wandering in here . . ."
"Look, we're guests here," Rick said and looked at Hershel, "This is your property and we will respect that." He pulled out his gun from his hostler and placed it on top of the car. Shane, who wasn't happy about getting rid of his gun, pulled it and slammed his gun on the hood. "First things first," Rick started, "Set camp, find Daniel."
Shane shook his head and sighed, "I hate to be the one to ask, but somebody's got to. What happens if we find him and he's bit?" Rick looked away, "You do what has to be done."
"And the sister?" Maggie asked, "What do you tell her?" Andrea looked down before back at her, "The truth," She spoke sadly. "So if you find Daniel and he's bit, you just gonna shot him and tell Quinn what happened to her only family that she had left?" Maggie asked bitterly.
"Or, you want us to get him back here if he's bit and shot him in front of her?" Shane asked sarcastically and Maggie shot him a glare. "Enough," Rick said, "Let's all just calm down."