Authors note: Thanks to Mione788, Phoenyx634 and The Sword of Salvation for your lovely reviews. Here's the next chapter. All of you will recognise the characters in this chapter, and I really hope you like it. I have some exciting chapters ahead that I hope you all enjoy!
"Is he going to wake up?"
"It's difficult to say at the moment. He could wake up now, tomorrow, next week… any time."
"If he wakes up at all."
"Yes, I guess so. That's a possibility too. He may never wake up. But we need to stay. It's too dangerous out there for us to leave. I have a feeling he'll wake up."
"How long are we going to stay around here? I mean… the supply run this morning… they were everywhere. I don't know what's bringing them back here."
"If we have to leave… without him, then we'll have no choice but to leave him here. If he does show some sign of waking up then we'll do what we can to prevent the numbers of the dead around here to give us some time."
"Would you actually leave without him?"
"His vitals when he arrived were good. He was responsive. He…"
"Answer my question."
"As his doctor, and seeing the improvements that he's made… I don't think I could."
Rick Grimes woke and attempted to open his eyes. The sun was blearing through the window and his eyes, sensitive to the light, were clamped shut. It was painful to adjust to the brightness of the room and he lifted his arm to his face to escape the intrusive sunlight. As he did, he felt resistance in his hand.
He groaned, feeling the dryness of his mouth and manoeuvred his other hand to where he felt the pull in his hand. His fingers came into contact with small wires and a foreign contraption on his hand.
"Lori?" His voice was hoarse and croaky. It was painful to talk, even painful to breathe through his mouth and nose.
With his eyes shielded, he opened his eyes slowly. Was he hung over? He could not remember drinking the night before.
"Lori?" He called out again.
He slid up the bed and rested his head on the back of it, feeling his bones crack from lack of movement. He found himself being able to open his eyes properly. How long had he been here? "Lori?"
His hearing came back to him with a painful pop and it was then that he was able to hear.
Except he could not hear anything. Only silence filled his ears and he strained to hear the ticking of the clock, or Lori's laboured breathing. But he could not hear a thing. It was an eerie silence, one that made him feel uncomfortable.
He lifted his head, opening his eyes and took in his unfamiliar surroundings. The room was small and white - very white - and had a sickening bleach scent. He was in a hospital? But how? What had happened? He tried to remember, but all his memories were blurred, faded.
Pulling the oxygen tube from his nose and detaching himself from the wires that hooked him up to the machines he swung his legs over the bed slowly, feeling dizzy with the slight movement he had made. He tightened his grasp upon the thin mattress and pulled himself up. The strength in his legs had declined somewhat and he found himself crashing to the floor, knocking over the I.V. stand.
A sob escaped his mouth and he found himself curling his body into the fetal position, his head in his hands. Confusion seeped into his emotions and he found himself sobbing.
Though unaware of the door to the bathroom opening, Rick continued to express his emotions.
The young woman who appeared stared in disbelief at the man on the floor, and found that her heart was heavy with pride. He had woken…
She stared at him for a moment, taking in his pale and malnourished body. She had not noticed it before; being too busy ensuring that he was still breathing and getting better in terms of health.
"Woah, take it easy," The woman whispered, rushing to Rick's side. He was on the floor, his gown open revealing his pale and malnourished body. The large white bandage she had changed only hours earlier covered the majority of his abdomen. She attempted to pull him up from the ground herself but found that she was too weak to help him up.
As the weeks passed, food had become scarce. And so resulting in the lack of food, she found that she had become much more vulnerable.
A man and a young boy stepped into the room and rushed to their side. The man was naturally strong and within seconds, Rick was back on the bed.
The pain in his side was worse than it had been before he had fallen to the ground and he made sure that he did not show it. He was never one to express his emotions with people, especially with people he did not know. He glanced at the three people standing in front of him.
The man was tall, with broad shoulders and a growing beard. The woman was short, pale and looked tired. The boy was the spitting image of the man, and had longish hair that was outgrown. The trio all appeared to be exhausted, and their attire and skin were grubby.
"Who are you?" Rick asked wearily. He had no idea who they were, why they were in the room with him and why they were dirty.
The woman stepped forward, and took a deep breath. "My name is Olivia and I'm a doctor at this hospital. This is Morgan," she motioned to the man, then to the boy. "And this is Duane."
"You don't look like a doctor," Rick said, taking in her grubby exterior.
Olivia smirked. "I know. You've been out for a long time."
"What?"
"About a month ago, you came here after getting shot whilst on duty. Your vitals were good. You were responsive. We thought you would wake up but you didn't. Then everything changed," Olivia said.
"What do you mean by 'everything changed'?" Rick asked, confused.
Morgan began, "It was all of a sudden. Even we can't comprehend it and we've been conscious for most of the month. Around the same time as you came in, things changed. This isn't a joke, by the way. You're not on camera; this isn't going to air on a comedy channel. A virus, infection… we have no idea what it is, but it's basically wiped out the majority of the USA. We don't know if it's reached any other country, but we're on our own."
"What?" Rick asked again. This was all too much to take in. Only yesterday he was on duty… surely.
"I know it's not what you want to hear. Maybe it's not the right time to tell you but the world has ultimately ended," Morgan added.
"But why?" said Rick.
Olivia bit her lip. "We don't know. We went about our day and then the dead were everywhere. We hid, Duane, Morgan and I, in your hospital room. It was the only way we were able to survive."
"It started here. The military soon came in and wiped out everyone. Those who were bit, those who weren't. A lot of innocent people died. Just in case," Morgan added bitterly. "They couldn't take chances. We'd locked ourselves in here, darkened the room and waited."
"Waited for the sounds of the dead to stop. For the sounds of innocent people being killed. And then it was quiet," Olivia whispered.
Morgan ran a hand through his hair and over his face. He watched as Duane stood there with wide eyes. "Duane, why don't you go back to sleep, huh?"
The young boy nodded and made his way into the small room that had blankets covering the floor. He shut the door. Rick had seen the fear in the young boy's eyes, and it unnerved him. Children, no matter what, could never shake the fear from their eyes.
Morgan turned to Rick. "It's been hard, you know? We have no idea where to go. We were waiting for you to wake up. We needed to wait for you to wake up, if you woke up at all."
"Are there any other survivors?" Rick asked.
"You're taking this well," Morgan noted.
"Compared to the dreams that I've had… this is probably the sanest thing I've heard."
Olivia nodded. "We made sure that you were safe. That you had everything you needed."
"And I appreciate that," Rick said, gratefully. "So, are there any other survivors?"
Morgan and Olivia glanced at each other, and Rick instantly knew.
"We don't know. There must be," said Morgan. "If we're still alive then there must be other survivors out there."
"How do I know you're telling me the truth?"
Morgan motioned for Rick to look out of the window. Rick stood slowly, summoning enough strength to be able to stand, and made his way over to the window. Cars, ambulances and bodies were scattered around the area. There was absolutely nothing moving in the streets below. The life that he had known before he fell asleep for weeks was gone.
This was all too much for him to take in, and he let himself slide to the floor. Olivia rushed to his side.
"I'm sorry you had to find out this way. I really am," Olivia whispered. Rick nodded, grateful for her words.
Olivia left him then, and Morgan helped him back onto the bed. Olivia came back and handed him a bottle of water. It was warm in his hand but he opened the bottle, nonetheless, and took large gulps. His throat relished in the wetness and even though he wished it was cooler than it was, he was grateful.
"How old is your boy?" Rick motioned over to the door. Morgan glanced in the same direction.
"He's 12."
Rick nodded. Olivia went over to the glass window that stared out into the corridor, flicked the blinds and glanced around the small area that she could see. The area was empty again after the minor group of the dead shuffled along the corridors in the early hours of the morning.
"I have a son," whispered Rick.
Morgan looked at him then, and saw the pain in the man's eyes.
"I'd like to say that I have, but I just don't know," Rick whispered, his voice cracking. He hoped, even prayed, for the safety of his family. As long as they were safe, that meant the world to him. He would find them, no matter what.
"How old?" Morgan asked, intrigued.
"Eleven," Rick said. "I have a picture somewhere."
He looked around the room in hope of finding his belongings, but there were nowhere in sight.
"Do you know where my clothes are?" Rick asked. Morgan made his way over to the room that Duane had gone in, slowly and quietly opened the door, and disappeared for a moment.
Olivia sat down in the chair next to the bed, and closed her eyes. Morgan appeared, carrying a bundle of clothing.
"We kept it safe for you, just in case you woke up and we weren't here," Olivia said, opening her eyes and yawning. "We mended your shirt."
Rick mumbled his thanks to the both of them, and quickly scanned through his belongings for the picture. It had to be here. It had to be. His fingers came into contact with a thin piece of paper and he relaxed slightly. He pulled it out of the pocket on his shirt and stared at the faces that looked back at him, frozen in time. They looked happy. All the worries they had faced on the day of the photo had disappeared for the split second of that photo being taken, and he felt a lump form in his throat.
Two years ago the photo had been taken. Carl was a lot younger and Lori… was as beautiful as ever. They had troubles, just like any other couple in the world, but they always made it through. They always moved on, never allowing the argument between them roll into the next day.
Were they dead? The question burned his mind like a fire ball, and he cursed himself for even thinking of it. They had to be. Lori, as a mother, would have done anything and everything for Carl, even if it meant leaving Rick behind. Carl was their main priority, and Lori would have done what was best for all three of them by getting away from the horror on the streets.
"That's him," Rick croaked, showing the photo to the two people. "That's Carl."
Olivia smiled at the photo. She had seen it before when she had sewn the shirt back together. She had spent a few moments looking at the family within the photograph and thought about what the three of them were like as people. She had wished that they were safe out there, wherever they were.
"He looks like you," Olivia mused. "Your wife is pretty."
Rick smiled and nodded. "She is."
And at that moment, the three of them went into their own world of what if.
A few hours later saw the group settling down to sleep. Morgan and Duane had gone to bed in the next room shortly after dinner of noodles was served, leaving Rick and Olivia to ponder over their thoughts in the fading daylight outside. The day had been pretty uneventful, with Rick trying to digest everything that he was exposed to and the others trying to pinpoint the safest areas they could visit once Rick was steady on his feet. Duane had woken from his nap an hour after Rick had woken up, and Olivia had attended to Rick's wounds.
Olivia had taken residence on the chair beside the bed. Rick felt guilty for hanging onto the bed but whenever he tried to make Olivia take it, the woman simply refused.
"How did you and Morgan meet?" Rick said, his eyes half open.
"We both worked here. He was a porter and I was a doctor. I knew his wife. We were good friends."
"She died?"
Olivia nodded. "She became infected. We had all been holed up here and the two of them, Morgan and Jenny, went on a supply run. Only Morgan came back."
Rick closed his eyes and shook his head. "I'm sorry."
Olivia bit her lip. "It's the way the world is. People live. People die."
"Did you have family here? Before the outbreak, I mean?" Rick questioned.
"A boyfriend. Nick." Olivia said, abruptly.
"Any parents?"
Olivia stared off into the distance and shook her head. "They both died before the outbreak, which I'm thankful for."
Silence overwhelmed them for a few moments. The silence was comfortable for the both of them.
"So, what happens then? With the infection?" Rick asked.
"We're not entirely sure. Someone gets bit. They experience a fever, almost like the flu. Then they succumb to it. And they turn," Olivia said. "We don't know though. We've mostly been inside."
"Thanks, again, for taking care of me. For believing that I'd wake up," said Rick.
Olivia smiled. "It was my duty to."
"Not many people would have done that though. They would have left."
"Like I said, Rick, it was my duty."
"What about your boyfriend? Did you ever look for him?"
He had noticed how short she was when talking about her boyfriend, at how quick she ended the subject. He wanted to press further, but thought better of it. He was intrigued though, he was a sheriff after all. It came with the job.
"Honest answer?" Olivia asked, furrowing her brows.
Rick nodded in response.
Olivia stared at him, taking in his haggard appearance. She noticed the way his eyes stared back intensely. She knew at that instance that he was summing her up, like she was with him.
"No," Olivia began. "I didn't look for him. Not because I was scared of what I might find. But because, truthfully, I didn't want to. We weren't on the best of terms when the world ended."
"But you still call him your boyfriend. Surely, you would have wanted to have a clean slate?"
Olivia raised her eyebrow. "I still call him my boyfriend because he's the only person that I had in the old world. It gives me comfort knowing that I had him to rely on. But now, not knowing whether he's alive, dead or walking around aimlessly looking for human flesh to feed on, I still feel the need to call him that. He was a part of my life. Of my old life."
And with that, Olivia pulled the blanket over her and settled down for a restless sleep. And Rick, staring at the young woman, could not help but wonder if there was more to her story.
Authors note: There we have it! How did you find this chapter? I wanted to shake things up a bit and this was the result I got. As stated before in the above Authors note, the next few chapters will be exciting. And I've taken the advice of Phoenyx634 and will be delving into how the group all came together.
Please read and review!
