Hey guys! Sorry this is so late but I finally finished it! I'm going to post two more parts to this instead so I hope I'll be able to update sooner next time! Thank you for your patience, and enjoy :)
"So what exactly are we looking for?" Mary Margaret asked as they combed through shelves that were mostly empty, much to Emma's dismay.
"I have a list," she told her, holding up the crumpled piece of paper. "We have a doctor back at camp that wrote down everything we need."
"You have a doctor?" Mary Margaret asked excitedly.
"Yep, PhD and all, or so he says," Emma replied. "We can't exactly pull up his records and confirm it, but he seems to know what he's doing."
"Do you think he has any experience delivering babies?" Mary Margaret continued.
Emma closed her eyes and sighed.
"I have no idea, and honestly it might not even matter."
"What do you mean?" Mary Margaret's eyes widened in confusion.
"Look, I'm going to be blunt with you. I don't make the decisions at our camp. I'm not in charge, which means I have no idea if you two will even be allowed to stay. So, take my advice and don't get too attached to the idea of staying."
Emma turned and continued searching the shelves while Mary Margaret trailed behind her quietly. Finally they came upon a much better stocked shelf of pills and liquid medicines.
"Jackpot," Emma breathed as she took down a couple bottles of Advil. "Start grabbing any pain relievers you can find. Advil, Tylenol, Motrin, Nuprin, whatever is here. I'm going to start looking for cough medicine and decongestants."
Mary Margaret nodded and began gathering more bottles while Emma moved on. She very quickly found what she was looking for and had begun to grab everything she could fin (which wasn't much) when she heard a faint crashing sound coming somewhere from within the clinic.
"Mary Margaret?" she called out, heading back to where she'd left her.
"Did you hear that?" Mary Margaret asked once Emma had rejoined her.
"Yeah," Emma said quietly. "Stay here. I'll go check it out."
"No, I want to come with you!" Mary Margaret insisted.
Emma opened her mouth to argue with her but was cut off by a loud, painful yell that made them both take off running. An impending feeling of dread entered her mind as she ran back through the waiting room of the clinic and towards the hall she'd sent Killian and David down. She jumped when the sound of a gunshot echoed through the building and began running faster.
"Killian!" she called out as they grew closer. They rounded the corner and stopped dead when they saw a walker dead in the middle of the hall with Killian on the ground propped up against the wall.
Emma swore her heart stopped beating for a moment.
"He's been bit," David said to them over his shoulder.
Suddenly Emma felt like she could move again and immediately rushed to Killian's side.
"No, no, no, no," she quietly muttered over and over again. Killian looked at her with an almost apologetic look as she reached up and cupped his face. She glanced at the bite wound on his left hand, internally cringing when she noticed the large chunk of flesh missing.
"It's okay, Swan," Killian said softly. "It's going to be okay."
Emma's vision blurred and she finally felt the warmth of tears in her eyes because it was absolutely not going to be okay. He had been bit. He was infected and there was no cure. She couldn't save him. She would have to kill him and the mere thought of that was unbearable. He was the only person she had left in the world. She couldn't lose him.
"What should we do?" Mary Margaret asked quietly from behind her.
Emma closed her eyes and thought desperately for a way to save him.
"Emma," Killian whispered her name as he brushed a strand of hair from her face. "You know what has to be done. You have to kill me."
"No," she shook her head. She wouldn't do it. She would figure out a way to save him.
"Emma-"
"I'm not killing you," she said as an idea popped into her mind. She'd heard about someone getting bit on their leg once and that they had amputated it quickly enough so the infection hadn't entered the bloodstream. Emma caught eye of David's machete and knew she needed to move fast. She turned to Mary Margaret and David who were watching them helplessly and gave them a determined look. "Hold him down."
"Wait, what?" Killian said in confusion.
Emma ignored him and grew irritated when David and Mary Margaret remained frozen where they were.
"Do it now!" she yelled. "Hold him down and keep his left arm steady."
They jumped and did as she asked, grabbing Killian and holding him to the floor. David put all his wait on his arm to prevent it from moving while Mary Margaret carefully placed her knee on his chest.
"David, give me your machete," Emma demanded. He handed it to her obediently and she could see the realization register in Killian's eyes as she aimed the blade at his left wrist.
"No, no, wait!" he exclaimed, fighting against David and Mary Margaret's grip. "Emma!"
She flinched at the desperation in his voice, but this was her only chance at saving him.
"I'm sorry," she told him before gathering all her courage and bringing the machete down hard on his wrist.
Killian's screams were almost too much for her to bear. She had to force herself to look down at his mutilated arm and felt her stomach flip at the sight of his severed hand. The machete slipped from her hand and clattered to the ground as blood poured from his new wound.
"We have to stop the bleeding," Emma said robotically over Killian's agonized shouts.
"We found a bunch of gauze and bandages," David told her, pointing to his bag which he'd dropped on the ground in front of the supply closet.
Emma snatched the bag off the floor and dug through it, pulling out multiple packages of gauze and bandages.
"Here," she tossed them to Mary Margaret before ripping off her shirt, leaving her in just her dirty white tank top. "Open those while I cut off the circulation."
She took her shirt and ripped a thin stripped off of it, tying it tightly around Killian's forearm. She glanced at his face and realized that he was no longer screaming and had fallen unconscious. He was losing too much blood.
"Mary Margaret, I need those bandages," Emma said, panic seeping into her voice. She grabbed Killian's injured arm and lifted it so that it was raised above his heart.
"Here," Mary Margaret handed her a bandage. She took it and pressed it firmly against his wound, holding it there until the blood had seeped through it. At that point Emma held out her hand towards Mary Margaret. "I need another one."
She pressed the new bandage on top of the old one and waited, feeling slightly relieved when the bleeding began to slow down slightly.
"David, come hold his arm," Emma ordered.
David did as she asked and as soon as her hands were free she crouched down and pressed her fingers to Killian's neck, sighing in relief when she felt his pulse. It wasn't as strong as it should be, but it was there which meant he was alive and that was enough for now.
"We need to get him back to camp," she said as she got to her feet.
"We'll have to find a way to carry him," Mary Margaret replied.
"No, carrying him back will take way too long," Emma shook her head. "We're going to need a ride."
"I saw an ambulance on our way in," David informed them. "But I doubt there are any keys in it given that it's still here."
"Leave that to me," Emma told him. "Wait here with him."
"Wait, one of us should go with you," Mary Margaret said as she turned to leave.
"No, stay here and take care of him," Emma ordered before pulling out her gun and running down the hall. She stopped at the front doors of the clinic and checked to make sure the coast was clear before continuing outside. She saw where the ambulance David had spoken of was parked and made a dash for it, climbing inside and setting to work as soon as she reached it.
She pulled a screwdriver from her bag along with a rock and jammed the screwdriver into the key ignition. She was about to turn it when she heard something just outside the ambulance. Emma grabbed her gun and aimed at the door, expecting to find a walker but instead scared the living daylights out of Mary Margaret.
"What the hell are you doing?" Emma exclaimed, lowering her gun.
"I thought you might need someone to cover you while you got the ambulance started," she told her, trying to catch her breath.
"I'm fine," Emma said, turning back to her work. "You should be inside watching David's back while he takes care of Killian."
"David agreed I'd be more useful out here," Mary Margaret replied as she climbed into the ambulance next to her.
"Well, I'm almost done here," Emma snapped as she turned the screwdriver.
The engine began to come to life but sputtered before fully igniting. She tried again but ended up with the same results.
"Dammit," she muttered as she tried again and again and again…
"I don't think it's going to work," Mary Margaret said apologetically.
"No, it has to," Emma told her, turning the screwdriver again. This time, when the engine coughed and died, she felt tears in her eyes and she let her face fall forward until her forehead hit the steering wheel.
"Emma?" Mary Margaret said cautiously.
"I don't know what to do," Emma cried softly. "He's all I have left, I can't lose him too."
"Hey, you've been doing everything you can. Don't give up yet," Mary Margaret said encouragingly. "Maybe there's something wrong under the hood?"
"I only know how to hotwire a car. I don't know how to fix one, much less and ambulance," Emma told her, wiping the remaining tears from her eyes.
"Pop the hood, I'll take a look," Mary Margaret said as she hopped out of the ambulance.
Emma paused in confusion before pressing the button to open the hood and watching the small, petite woman walk around to the front of the ambulance. She waited a few moments then heard Mary Margaret call out to her.
"I think I see the problem! Try it now!"
Emma turned the screwdriver and this time the engine roared to life. A grin broke out across her face as her heart skipped a beat in relief. Mary Margaret came back around and climbed back into the ambulance, a triumphant smirk on her face.
"Where'd you learn to do that?" Emma asked.
"David taught me," she shrugged. "Now come on, we need to go get them."
Emma nodded and shifted the ambulance into gear, pulling up to the front of the clinic and backing it up to the front door.
"Do you think there's a stretcher in the back?" Mary Margaret asked as she jumped out of the ambulance.
"There's only one way to find out," Emma replied, throwing the back doors open and smiling a little when there was indeed a stretcher inside. She and Mary Margaret pulled it out and carried it inside, running to where they'd left Killian and David.
"There you two are," David said in relief when he saw them.
"How is he?" Emma asked, dropping her end of the stretcher and crouching down next to Killian. She checked his pulse again but it didn't feel any stronger than before.
"It's hard to say," David told her. "He's losing a lot of blood though. If you have a doctor at your camp, we need to get him to them fast."
"Let's not waste any time then," she said determinedly. "David, I'm going to need your help lifting him. Mary Margaret, hold his arm up while we get him on the stretcher."
David handed off Killian's arm to Mary Margaret while Emma got a good hold on his torso. David grabbed his legs and on the count of three they lifted him and gently placed him on the stretcher.
"Keep his arm up," Emma ordered as she and David each picked up an end of the stretcher and began carrying it towards the front of the clinic.
As soon as they reached the ambulance and had gotten Killian safely inside Emma and David went back in for the medicine and medical supplies they'd collected while Mary Margaret stayed with Killian.
"Do you want me to drive so you can sit in the back?" David offered once they'd returned.
"No. I can get us back to camp fastest since I already know where it is. It'd be easier than trying to give you directions," Emma told him.
He nodded before they both climbed into the ambulance and went on their way. Emma went as fast as she could in the small down but found herself slowing often due to debris in the road and a couple sharp turns. The sound of the engine attracted quite a few walkers that had been residing in the abandoned buildings they'd passed earlier. Emma did her best to avoid them and eventually managed to make it out of town. As soon as she hit the main road she accelerated considerably.
"How far out are we?" David asked.
"At this rate," she replied, taking not of their speed which was 85 miles per hour, "we should get there in ten minutes or so. We've got to take the long way around to the front gate since we're driving."
"Is there another entrance?"
"Yeah, there's a side entrance that lets out into the woods. You take a path to the main road if you're walking somewhere. It lets you out a couple miles up the road, which is pretty helpful because it takes less time," she explained. "Unfortunately, we're going to need to drive in."
"You must have a pretty big camp. How many do you have there?" David asked.
Emma eyed him suspiciously, not feeling very comfortable informing him of the exact size of their camp. She still didn't know if she could trust him and Mary Margaret. They seemed nice but it could be an act. They could be gathering information about the camp so they could go back to their own group and plot to overtake them. By post-apocalypse standards, Emma would say that they had it pretty good, but that didn't mean it couldn't be taken from them if a big enough group came along. Bringing them back in the first place was risky and she knew she was going to catch hell from Regina when she found out, but they were Killian's only hope and she wasn't about to let him die.
"Sorry, I'm only trying to make small talk," David told her when she didn't answer him.
"I appreciate it, but it's not necessary. We're almost there," Emma said as she turned onto a side road. It wasn't long before the gate of the camp came into view.
"Wow," David breathed when he saw the impressive wall that marked the boundaries of the camp. "This is incredible."
"It used to be a gated community," Emma told him. "Only about a fourth of it is cleared out though. We had to block off the rest of it."
By now they were nearing the gate and she noticed David shift uncomfortably. His gaze was trained on the four people they had guarding the gate, more specifically on their guns.
"Are they, uh, gonna have a problem with us?"
"They won't shoot you as long as you're not a threat," she promised, stopping the ambulance just in front of the gate and sticking her head out of the window.
"Emma?" she heard Ruby's voice from behind the gate.
"Open the gate, Killian's been bit!" Emma shouted at her.
Ruby and the three other guards, one of which she recognized to be Graham, quickly moved to open the gate and allowed Emma to move the ambulance within the walls of the camp.
She parked just inside next to a line of other cars they had acquired over time that were parked along the wall. There was no driving allowed within the camp because the roads weren't clear enough, so they would have to carry Killian to the makeshift infirmary they'd set up in one of the houses.
Emma jumped out of the ambulance, not bothering to shut it off, and ran around to the back, throwing the doors open. She climbed in and kneeled down next to Killian, who was still unconscious and looking incredibly pale.
"How is he?" Emma asked Mary Margaret.
"Still breathing," she told her, "but the bleeding still hasn't stopped. I've been doing the best I can."
"We need to move him now," Emma said before shoving the stretcher towards David, who had gotten out and was now standing at the opening in the back of the ambulance. She and David took hold of both sides while Mary Margaret continued to hold his arm up as they began carrying him down the road.
"Emma!" Ruby called as she ran up alongside them. Her eyes fell on Killian and she gasped, her steps faltering. "Oh God, what happened?"
"Ruby, go back to the ambulance and grab the bags of medical supplies that are in the back. There's four of them. Get them and bring them back as fast as you can, got it?" Emma ordered.
"Okay," Ruby nodded, eyeing David and Mary Margaret suspiciously before running back the way they'd come.
"We're taking him to that house there," Emma said, pointing at a large, brick house ahead of them. She quickened her pace as they began to near it and nearly bust down in her haste.
"Whale!" she exclaimed, setting Killian down in the middle of the front hall. "Whale, where are you!"
"Will you keep it down, we have sick people resting in here," the doctor said as he descended from the stairs. He froze when he noticed Killian bleeding on the floor. "What the hell happened to him?"
"He was bit," she explained. "You have to help him."
Dr. Whale pressed his lips together into a thin line as he walked the rest of the way down the stairs.
"Emma, if he's been bit, then I'm afraid there's very little I can do. You know that," he said gently.
"No," she shook her head. "He was bit on his hand, I amputated it soon after. There's a chance the infection didn't spread."
"You amputated his hand?" Whale's eyes grew wide as he moved towards Killian and a got a look at his left arm.
"He's lost a lot of blood, now can you help him or not?" Emma asked desperately.
"I can try and stop the bleeding, but I don't know if he'll make it. He may have lost too much blood already, or the infection could have spread before you managed to amputate his hand."
"Just do what you can, please," she begged.
"I will," he promised. "We should move him."
"Emma!" Ruby suddenly burst through the door carrying four bags. "I got the supplies."
"Great, follow us," Emma said as she went to lift Killian again.
"Wait, Emma, Regina is on her way. She'll be here any-"
"Miss Swan!" a strong, commanding voice suddenly sounded from behind them.
Emma froze as a feeling of dread settled in her stomach and she slowly turned to find Regina standing in the doorway with her hands on her hips and a scowl on her face.
"Miss Swan, I'd like a word with you outside."
"Regina, can't it wait? Killian is hurt I need to help-"
"There are plenty of people to take care of Mr. Jones. I'd like a word now," Regina demanded as she turned to leave. "And please, bring your new friends."
Emma pinched the bridge of her nose and watched as Ruby, Whale, and one of Whale's assistants lifted Killian off the floor and carried him down the hall towards the kitchen. She wanted nothing more than to go with them, to make sure that Killian was okay, but she knew there was nothing she could do for him now. Now she had to deal with Regina and the consequences of saving Killian's life.
Emma turned to look at David and Mary Margaret and saw that they were looking to her for instruction.
"C'mon," she sighed before heading towards the door. "Let's get this over with."
I'm so freakin sorry this took so long! I meant to have it up a loooong time ago but I didn't have time and I had to put it off. So I'm super sorry about that but it couldn't be helped. For those who came back and read this despite me taking forever to update thank you and I hope you come back for the last two parts (yeah, I decided to do two more after this instead of one more because I've got too much shit I want to get into and I think it's going to be good!). Thanks for reading and I really hope you leave me some feedback!