Disclaimer: If you recognize it, I don't own it.
The air at camp the morning following Rick's unexpected arrival was the lightest it had been in a long time. Anna slept later than she was used to and woke feeling well-rested for the first time in quite a while. When she emerged from her tent, she stepped into a scene that felt as though it was plucked directly from a movie. Morales' wife Miranda was sipping her instant coffee around what remained of that morning's fire, watching fondly as their children played nearby. Carol busied herself with the ironing while Lori, Amy and Andrea hung the latest batch of clean laundry up to dry and Shane unloaded that day's water delivery from his Jeep. Even the sun seemed to be giving them a reprieve that morning, bathing it all in a pale yellow glow from behind the trees instead of its usual burning rays. There was an unspoken calmness that settled over the camp as lingering waves of relief continued to wash over them at the knowledge that their people had made it back safely, something that was only furthered by the Grimes family reunion.
The only person who didn't seem to be basking in the previous day's afterglow was Glenn. He stood off to the side as Dale, Jim and Morales stripped his beloved Challenger down, setting aside the parts they thought could be useful to them later. He sported a pained expression as he watched them work and Anna almost laughed when she heard him mutter "vultures" at them under his breath.
Rick made his way over to Lori as Anna moved to head in that direction as well and she saw Amy and Andrea exchange knowing looks. Amy nudged her sister as she wagged her eyebrows exaggeratedly in their direction. Both sisters waved to Anna as she drew closer, causing Lori and Rick to turn their attention to her as well.
"Morning, Doctor," Rick greeted with a nod as she came up beside him.
"Officer," she replied with a smirk. "How many times do I have to tell you to just call me Anna?"
"You'll be singing that song until the cows come home," Lori rolled her eyes with a look of long-suffering, though the corner of her mouth pulled upward in a smile. "This one's polite and proper to a fault."
"I'll work on it," Rick promised.
"Sure you will," Anna teased. "How's that wound feeling today?"
Rick lifted up the hem of his plain white t-shirt to reveal the fresh bandage she'd applied to his gunshot wound the previous day. Anna had been surprised to find that it was healing much better than she expected, all things considered. Whoever had cleaned and bandaged it after Rick left the hospital had done a pretty decent job. She did notice a series of microtears in the new flesh that stretched itself over the wound - something she attributed to the physical exertion from the day prior - but as long as he took things relatively easy and didn't engage in too much heavy lifting, she really didn't see any cause for concern.
"Couldn't complain even if I wanted to," Rick grinned at her as he dropped the hem of his shirt back down. "Barely even feel it anymore."
"Don't go getting cocky," Anna warned him good-naturedly. "If you push yourself too far you run the risk of reopening it and that's the last thing you need."
"I won't," he assured her as he raised his three fingers in salute. "Scout's honor."
Anna intended to respond but a shrill, high pitched scream cut her off followed by Carl's unmistakable shouts for Lori. He bolted through the trees in a heartbeat, flying immediately to Lori and wrapping his arms tightly around her. Sophia and Jacqui were close behind, the former making a beeline for her own mother. Jacqui held a trembling hand over her heart and her eyes were wide, looking almost wild and betraying just how shaken she truly was. From the corner of Anna's eye she saw Morales and Glenn rushing off into the woods with Jim and Dale close behind, all four sporting a variety of makeshift weapons. Rick spun on his heel to follow them, catching a shovel Shane tossed to him as they went. Andrea and Amy exchanged a look before heading off after them.
"Come on," Lori murmured to Carl as she wrapped a protective arm around his shoulders.
His small hands were trembling as he cast an anxious glance over his shoulder toward the trees. Lori steered him toward the RV where Carol, Sophia and the Moraleses had already congregated, fearful eyes fixed on the trees where half their group had disappeared. Anna and Jacqui were right behind them and Anna could see Ed perched on top of the RV, rifle in hand and trained on the same spot as everyone's gaze. Lori ushered Carl into the RV as the other children followed suit, all of them holding their breath as they waited to see what new terror might emerge. Anna's pulse pounded sharply against her throat as her overeager mind already began churning out possibilities.
"Son of a bitch!" The rough voice rang out clearly through the trees, a southern drawl Anna was growing all too familiar with lately. "That's my deer!"
She let out the breath she was holding with a sigh, not knowing whether she should roll her eyes or bask in the relief that their apparent threat was nothing more than an angry Dixon. Fearsome though that may be, it was still nothing compared to an army of walkers – or, if Anna's past experience was any indication, the actual Army. Amy and Andrea stepped into the clearing, each of their faces painted with matching looks of disgust as they made their way over to the RV.
"Everything okay?" Lori asked, now more confused than concerned. Andrea nodded.
"Yeah, just Dixon. There was a walker but they took care of it."
"A walker?" Carol repeated, her soft voice tinged with alarm. "This far from the city?"
Andrea opened her mouth to respond but Daryl's shout for Merle cut her off. Lori swore under her breath at the mention of the elder Dixon and Anna knew she was dreading the inevitable recount of what happened in Atlanta. Daryl stomped past them as he made his way to the middle of camp, a series of squirrels strung up around his neck like a medal of honor. The corners of Anna's mouth reached downward. Were there no rabbits in these woods?
"Merle!" He shouted again. "Get your ugly ass out here; got us some squirrel!"
"Daryl, slow up a bit," Shane cautioned as the rest of the men came up behind them, an assortment of bloodied weapons still in their hands. "I need to talk to you."
Daryl rounded on him without bothering to hide his annoyance but said nothing. Shane cleared his throat and Anna noticed the way he kept his shoulders squared, his body loose and yet ready to spring into action given the need – he was every bit an officer, even though law and order seemed to be things of the past.
"There was a problem in Atlanta."
Daryl's demeanor shifted in an instant. Something akin to fear or sadness passed over his features as worry flashed in his eyes. It was gone as quickly as it came, replaced instead with a stony mask. He took a step toward Shane as his hand flew to his mouth so he could catch his thumbnail between his teeth, something that was clearly a nervous habit. He tugged roughly on the nail's edge as he searched Shane's face for any indication of what was to come. "He dead?"
"We're not sure-"
"He either is or he ain't!" Daryl's eyes narrowed into slits as his visage gave way. He jabbed a finger in Shane's direction even as his gaze wandered across every face he could see. "One of you better tell me what the hell happened to my brother or I swear to God-"
"Alright," Rick cut across him, stepping out from behind Morales. "There's no easy way to go about this so I'll just say it."
"Who the hell are you?" Daryl snapped, his enraged attention shifting.
"Rick Grimes."
"Okay, Rick Grimes," Daryl spat as though the name left a bitter taste in his mouth. "You got something you wanna tell me?"
"Your brother was a danger to us all," Rick took a few steps closer as he spoke, coming up to stand beside Shane. "I handcuffed him to a roof, hooked him to a piece of metal. He's still there."
Anna practically winced at his words. There was no possible way this conversation was going to end any way other than bloody. Could they not at least have been a little more tactful in the delivery? Wild anger flashed in Daryl's eyes as he regarded the other man for a moment before spinning to face the rest of the group who had gathered by the RV. His eyes flickered from face to face, seeming to search for an indication of the truth of Rick's words.
"Hold on," he grumbled as he spun back around. "Let me process this. You're saying you handcuffed my brother to a roof and you left him there?"
Daryl's voice devolved into a frantic shout. Half a second flashed by before he lunged at Rick, fury blazing in his eyes. Anna could hardly say she was surprised. Every single person at camp knew that the Dixons weren't exactly the most understanding of men. She found it difficult to believe that anyone had imagined this going in any other direction.
Rick sidestepped Daryl at the same time as Shane checked him with his shoulder, sending him sprawling to the ground. Daryl's anger only seemed to intensify and he drew his hunting knife from his belt, eyes trained on Rick. Anna heard Shane warn Rick to watch the knife as Jacqui gasped, her hand flying to her mouth in stunned surprise.
"Get in," came Lori's frantic murmur as she ushered Carol and Jacqui into the RV with Amy close behind. Anna's eyes remained trained on the scene before her as she stood rooted to the spot, watching it all play out as though on a television screen. Daryl moved to lunge for Rick again but Shane was quicker, one arm snaking its way around Daryl's neck and dragging him to the ground. Shane's grip tightened and Anna could see Daryl's face rapidly turning red, both from his rage and his frenzied gasps for air.
"Choke hold's illegal," Daryl grunted as he struggled fruitlessly in Shane's grasp.
"Yeah," Shane replied nonchalantly. "File a complaint."
Lori tugged at Anna's arm but she waved her off, too engrossed in what was happening before her to look away. Daryl's attempts to free himself grew weaker as he gasped hoarsely. Rick crouched in front of him but Anna hardly even heard what he was saying, her mind focused only on Shane and the reflexive need to ensure that Daryl didn't lose consciousness. She had no love for Daryl Dixon but she wasn't about to deal with treating the after effects of a prolonged chokehold. Somewhere at the back of her mind she knew Shane had total control of the situation and she saw his grip loosen just a fraction, allowing Daryl to take in enough air to croak out a reply to Rick's question. Shane let him go and he fell forward, catching himself and rolling onto all fours as he coughed.
"Look," Rick continued, forcing Daryl to look at him. "What I did was not on a whim; your brother does not play well with others."
Daryl sent him a scathing look and moved to respond but T-Dog cut him off, coming up the far side of camp with a pile of firewood in his arms.
"It's not Rick's fault," he insisted. "I had the key and I dropped it."
Daryl sent him a look of such utter disbelief that it was nearly comical. "You couldn't pick it up?"
T-Dog glared at him. "I dropped it down a drain."
Daryl threw his hand up in dismissal before pushing himself to his feet. He began to pace back and forth, one hand fisted in his short hair as he wore a path in the dirt. She would never have admitted it aloud but there was a part of Anna that felt for him. Though she was only one on the long list of people at camp who despised Merle Dixon, he was still Daryl's brother and the only person he really seemed to give a damn about other than himself. Over the top as it may have been, she couldn't fault him for his rage.
"If that's supposed to make me feel better," Daryl spat as he rounded on T-Dog, one accusatory finger jabbing in his direction. "It don't."
T-Dog rolled his eyes. "Yeah? Well maybe this will: I chained the door to the roof with a padlock so the geeks couldn't get at him." He flicked his eyes around the group as he waited for a response. When none came, he sighed. "Look, it's gotta count for something."
Daryl regarded him for a moment, his features screwed up in a mask of contempt. When he spoke again it was with another dismissive wave. "To hell with all y'all. Just tell me where he's at so I can go get him."
Rick's eyes shot from T-Dog to Shane, the look on his face caught somewhere between determined and apologetic. The action seemed to convey a hundred unspoken words and Shane shook his head in disbelief before turning away from his friend. Rick opened his mouth to respond to Daryl but Lori got there first, her words coming out in a scoff and her eyes laser focused on her husband.
"He'll show you, ain't that right?"
Anna watched the exchange wordlessly, her gaze darting back and forth between the two. Rick's eyes softened but his determination never wavered and she could hear Lori give a long-suffering sigh from beside her. It was painfully obvious that this was a discussion they'd already had, as well as that Rick had already made his decision with which Lori vehemently disagreed.
Rick gave a nod and Lori huffed a sharp breath of dissent, throwing her hand up at him as she stomped past on the way back to their tent. Daryl's eyes fixed on Rick for a moment before he scoffed and shook his head.
"Fine," he grunted. "We leave in twenty."
He shoved past T-Dog on his way back to his tent, muttering a string of colorful swears under his breath as he went. Shane and Rick shared another look before the latter tore his eyes away and spun on his heel to hurry after his wife. There was a moment of tense silence as no one was entirely sure how to proceed before Anna felt Andrea's hand on her shoulder.
"Come on," she said simply. "Let's go finish up that laundry."
Anna's mind seemed to be running at a hundred miles an hour. She was vaguely aware of Amy chattering away next to her but she had no clue what she was saying, her thoughts having made a home elsewhere. Visions of Merle handcuffed on a roof for nearly a full twenty-four hours – exposed to the blistering Georgia sun – kept running through her head as if on a reel of film that was set to play over and over. There was a part of her that screamed that she shouldn't care one bit about Merle Dixon but she couldn't bring herself to listen. How she felt about him was irrelevant; all that mattered to her was that he was a person and he was going to need serious medical attention, something no one was sufficiently equipped to provide except for her.
"Anna?" Amy's voice snapped her back to the present. "Were you listening?"
"What? Yeah," she replied with a shrug. "Of course I was."
"You sure about that?" Andrea teased as she clipped a damp t-shirt onto the line. "Because you've been holding that same pair of jeans for about ten minutes."
Anna's eyes flickered down to her hands as a faint blush colored her cheeks. She clipped the jeans onto the clothesline hastily.
"You okay?" Andrea asked with a raised brow. "You seem like you're somewhere else."
"Yeah, I kind of am," Anna replied with a sigh. In her peripheral vision she could see Daryl making his way across camp to the box truck near where Rick and Shane stood, seemingly in a heated discussion. Both Glenn and T-Dog had agreed to accompany Rick and Daryl on the rescue mission and Shane was – unsurprisingly – less than pleased about the whole ordeal. Anna turned so she could get a better look at them and saw Shane throw his hands up in defeat as he turned away from his friend.
"Actually, I'll be right back."
Anna's feet seemed to move of their own accord as she made her way over to where Rick and Shane stood, both Amy and Andrea calling after her as she went. The two men halted their conversation as she approached and Rick opened his mouth to greet her but she cut him off.
"I'm going with you."
Rick took a step backward as Shane's eyes rolled so far back into his head that Anna was certain he could see the back of his own skull. She waited for a response but it was Daryl who got there first as he turned to face her from his place at the truck.
"Yeah, that's exactly what we need," he scoffed. "Meredith-fucking-Grey getting in our way."
Anna's blood simmered in her veins. Why was this man so intent on snubbing her? She had given him no reason to hate her and yet that was exactly what he seemed keen to do, despite her repeated attempts to be nice to him. Shocks of red flashed across her vision as she spun to face him.
"Would you just fuck off?" She snapped, the agitation wearing on her voice and driving her over the edge. "Do you see anyone else chomping at the bit to go on this suicide mission to save your brother? Maybe try showing some goddamn gratitude instead of being a dick to everyone who tries to help you."
Daryl raised a finger at her as he opened his mouth to respond but she didn't give him a chance, immediately turning her attention back to Rick.
"It's been, what, eighteenish hours since you handcuffed Merle on that roof? That's eighteen hours of being exposed to the elements – direct sunlight, extreme heat, humidity – with no water, not to mention the fact that he was coked out of his mind when he left here. So you're looking at a cocktail of sun poisoning, dehydration, withdrawal and God knows what else. He's going to need medical treatment and you're going to need someone who knows what they're doing."
"No," Shane shut her down immediately. "Absolutely not. We cannot risk our only doctor on account of a douchebag like Merle-fucking-Dixon."
"Hey," Daryl cautioned as the anger rose in his throat again. "Watch your mouth."
"I did; douchebag is what I meant," he snapped before turning back to Anna. "There ain't no way in hell I'm letting you go out there on account of that asshole."
"Shane," Anna began, trying to keep her voice even and her words tactful even though all she wanted to do was bite his head off. "I understand what you're saying but I'm not asking your permission."
Shane's eyebrows disappeared underneath his dark hair as he regarded her, his expression caught halfway between anger and disbelief. Anna instinctively wanted to shrink under his gaze but fought against it, willing herself to look him in the eye and stand her ground. When the tense silence was finally broken, it was by Rick.
"Look, Anna," he began, sounding very much like an exhausted parent. "I understand where you're coming from but Shane's right. What you bring to the table is invaluable – we can't risk losing you. When we get back with Merle I promise we'll bring him straight to you."
"But I-"
"No 'but's," Shane cut across her and this time he made no attempt to maintain the evenness of his tone. "You're staying here and that's final."
Anna gaped at him as he turned his back to her and walked away, leaving her open-mouthed and with an angry blush on her cheeks. She felt like a scolded child, as though she had been caught with her hand in the cookie jar and given a sharp smack with the back of a wooden spoon. She said nothing as she turned on her heel and all but stomped her way back to the RV, throwing the door open with a reverberating bang. Her already simmering blood turned into a rolling boil as she snatched her pack off the bench seat and yanked it open, rummaging through the supplies that were already in there to ensure she had everything she needed.
The corners of her lips tugged downward into a frown as she worked, Shane's words replaying in her ears over and over. The logical part of her understood his unwillingness to risk her life but it did little to snuff the fire of rage that burned in her belly at being treated like a child. Truthfully, she found herself a little hurt that Shane's rejection stemmed from a fear of losing the camp's doctor as opposed to the simple thought of losing one of their own. It dug up the feelings from her first night at camp when she wondered if they only wanted her to stay because of her medical experience. Had that been the case all along? Were they really only keeping her around because they wanted Dr. Mason and not just plain old Anna?
She shook her head to rid herself of the thoughts; there was no sense dwelling on them now. Satisfied that she had everything she needed, Anna stepped out of the RV and made her way back over to the truck. Glenn was already sitting behind the wheel with T-Dog beside him and Daryl sat under the raised door at the back of the truck, his legs dangling over the side as he waited impatiently for Rick to join them. He caught sight of Anna as she came up beside him and she didn't miss the way his dark eyes rolled upward at her arrival.
"Look," she sighed, her annoyance giving way to her lack of desire to fight with him any longer. "Since apparently I'm not going with you, I brought you a few things you'll need to treat your brother's most likely injuries."
Daryl quirked an eyebrow at her but said nothing, which was all the encouragement Anna needed from him to continue. She swung her pack off her shoulder and set it on the truck bed next to him, plunging her hand inside and pulling out each item as she listed them off.
"The biggest thing you're going to need to worry about is sun poisoning and dehydration. The sunburn itself can probably wait until he gets back here for me to take a look at it but if he has hives or blisters or any kind of open sore, make sure you apply a few of these-" she held up a series of individually wrapped gauze pads, "-to the area. Dampen them first; it'll help it heal faster."
She rummaged further into the bag and produced a small bottle of ibuprofen. "These will help with the swelling but don't let him take too many. He's bound to be dehydrated so make sure he gets plenty of water; just don't let him drink it too quickly or he'll just pee it all out."
Anna let her eyes flicker up to his face for a moment as she paused and found that he was listening to her intently, something that caught her just a little off guard. Her gaze latched onto his for a second too long and she cleared her throat before continuing.
"The, uh, the cuffs…" she drew out a tube of triple antibiotic ointment and a roll of self-adhesive gauze. "The cuffs have probably rubbed quite a bit – more so if he was struggling against them, which I assume he was – so use these for the wounds if you need to. Just don't wrap the gauze too tightly or it could cut off circulation. Lord knows I'm not trying to deal with an amputation today."
Satisfied that she had gone over all of the most important details, Anna shoved all of the supplies back into her pack and held it out to Daryl.
"It's probably easier for you to just take the whole thing. I put some extra supplies in there just in case you need them. If he's going through withdrawals then he's not thinking clearly and he might've done more harm to himself so just use your judgment on whatever else you think he needs."
Daryl took the pack from her outstretched hand and Anna rose her gaze to meet his again. A faint blush crept its way onto her cheeks and she raised a hand to scratch the back of her head nervously.
"And," she began, willing herself to look him in the face despite how badly she wanted to avert her eyes. "I'm sorry I snapped at you. I mean, I meant what I said but there was definitely a better way to word it. So, I'm sorry."
Daryl blinked at her but said nothing and an awkward moment passed that seemed to last for much longer than it actually did. Anna cleared her throat again and gestured back toward the RV.
"Okay, well, I'm gonna go and, uh, just be sure to bring him straight to me whenever you guys get back."
A grimace washed over her features the second her back was to Daryl. Why did she seem to constantly forget every single one of her social graces when she was around him? She gave herself a sharp mental kick as she moved to make her way back to the RV.
"Hey," he called after her and she paused to glance at him over her shoulder. "Thanks."
Anna's mouth quirked into a half-grin and she nodded to him in acknowledgement. She turned and took a step toward the RV before spinning on her heel to face him again.
"Also," she added as an afterthought as her expression shifted to a true grin. "Meredith Grey ranks pretty low on my list of favorite Grey's characters. I always kind of thought of myself as more of an Izzie Stevens."
Daryl scoffed as he threw his hand up in her general direction, but she didn't miss the slight upturn in his lips when he turned away to crawl toward the front of the truck and demand they get a move on. She shook her head as she headed back to the RV, the ghost of smile still playing across her face.
"Deep breath in."
The youngest of the Morales children did as he was asked and Anna flicked her wrist, the tip of the needle piercing the skin pinched between her fingers. She depressed the plunger and withdrew the needle in hardly more than the blink of an eye, flipping the safety cap closed and dropping the syringe into the shoebox they were using as a makeshift biohazard bin.
"All done," she declared as she smoothed a Band Aid over the pin prick wound on the back of the boy's arm. On Anna's first real day at camp, Miranda had approached her and asked if she would be willing to administer Louis' insulin injections.
"I've been doing it," she explained sheepishly. "But I just get so uncomfortable around needles and Juan isn't always able to help…"
She had been bringing Louis to see her twice a day ever since. Admittedly, Anna was glad to have something resembling a routine. If someone had tasked her with daily insulin injections two months ago she would have dismissed the notion, longing instead for the challenge and thrill that the ED brought her. Now she was grateful for something so mundane; it meant everyone at camp was safe.
"Not so bad, right mijo?" Miranda smiled down at her son and he replied with a shake of his head. "Come on; let's go see if we can convince your dad to take a break for some lunch."
Louis nodded enthusiastically and all but bolted out of the RV door with Miranda following close behind. She called out a thank you to Anna as the door swung shut behind her and Anna smiled. Seeing the children laughing and playing as if the world hadn't collapsed around them was a welcome reprieve from the chaos outside of camp. Truth be told, they were lucky to have found such a place. With its relatively close proximity to the city, high elevation and sustainable water source, the quarry camp was a rare gem in the current state of the world. Aside from the rogue walker earlier that day, they hadn't seen a single member of the infected anywhere near camp and they were far enough from the main road to not be seen so long as they kept their fires low. It truly was as ideal a location as any of them could have hoped for and they were lucky to have found it.
Or, more accurately in Anna's case, she was lucky they'd found her. She had fallen so easily into her place at camp that it almost felt as though she was meant to be with these people. Thinking back on her first few days at camp and how hesitant she had been to trust everyone felt almost foreign, as though she was reliving memories of someone else's life. It was odd to think of mornings that didn't involve instant coffee with Dale or a meal spent without listening to Amy's impassioned recount of the latest camp gossip. The cold fingers of guilt walked their way up her spine when she realized that there were times when she almost forgot that she hadn't been part of their little group of survivors since the beginning. Almost.
"Anna!" The RV door flew open as Jacqui burst inside. A thin sheen of sweat glistened on her brow and her chest heaved violently as she tried to catch her breath. "You need to come with me!"
"Are you okay?" Anna could feel her heartbeat quickening as she spun around to grab her makeshift bag. She'd given quite a bit of her supplies to Daryl but still had the secondary supplies that made up the RV's first aid kit. "What happened?"
Jacqui shook her head and waved her hand dismissively. "Just follow me; I'll tell you on the way."
The two exited the RV together and set a path toward the rear edge of camp. In the distance, Anna could see Morales and Dale helping what appeared to be a very bloody Ed Peletier into his tent as a distraught Carol trailed close behind. Anna swore under her breath.
"Was he bitten?"
Jacqui shook her head again. "It wasn't a walker; it was Shane."
"Shane?" Anna repeated, incredulous. "Shane attacked him?"
"More like put him in his place, though a little excessively. Ed started his usual 'me big tough man, you weak woman' bullshit down at the quarry while we were doing laundry. One thing led to another and he ended up slapping Carol. Then Shane came out of nowhere and laid into him like he was Anderson Silva or something."
The two reached Ed's tent just as Morales and Dale were exiting. Carol moved to rush inside but stopped when she saw Anna and Jacqui approaching.
"Oh Anna, thank God!" She ran over to grab Anna's arm, fresh tear tracks still shining on her cheeks but doing nothing to hide the angry bruise that was already beginning to form on her cheekbone. "I'm so glad you're here. Please, there has to be something you can do…"
"I'll certainly do my best."
Anna gave her what she hoped was a comforting smile as Morales held back the tent flap so the two women could enter. Carol let out another sob at the sight of her husband sprawled across the cot in front of them. His lips were swollen and bruised, fresh blood leaking from his split bottom lip. The entire left side of his face was already morphing into one large bruise, dark shades of blue and purple coloring nearly the entire surface of his skin. His left eye was all but swollen shut but Anna could barely see the bright red that stained the whites of his eye as he blinked up at her, exacerbated by the blood that dripped from a wound above his eyebrow. There was a large gash on the bridge of his likely broken nose and Anna was certain that if he opened his mouth, a number of teeth would be loose or missing.
"It's going to be okay, Ed," Carol murmured through her tears as she rushed to his side. "Anna's going to help you."
"No," Ed grumbled before Anna even had a chance to unzip the bag of medical supplies. He hacked a wet cough as he spoke. "Don't need no help."
Anna frowned, though she wasn't entirely surprised. It wasn't uncommon for patients – particularly male patients – to refuse treatment out of pride or embarrassment or any number of things. In her experience, explaining the necessity of treatment and the potential ramifications of neglecting it typically prompted the patient to come around.
"Ed, please," Carol pleaded. "Anna is a doctor; she can help."
"Mr. Peletier," Anna began carefully, feeling very much as though she was back in one of the old familiar rooms at Atlanta Medical Center instead of in a frayed tent near a random Georgia quarry. "I need to assess the extent of your injuries. Any one of those open wounds could easily turn septic and that ophthalmic trauma could have serious long-term effects on your vision. If you'd be more comfortable, we can have your wife step outsi-"
"I said no," Ed barked, the bite in his tone back in full force. "I don't need no help, definitely not from some know-it-all, Ivy League twat."
Carol spun to face Anna so quickly it was a wonder her neck didn't snap, a series of apologies pouring from her lips. Anna recoiled just a hair in surprise, one of her eyebrows raised as she considered the beaten man lying before her.
"Well," she said once Carol quieted, not bothering to hide the annoyance in her voice. "The University of Tennessee isn't Ivy League but thanks for the vote of confidence, I suppose."
She turned back to Carol. "The swelling should start to go down in the next day or two. His nose is probably broken but it can heal on its own. He definitely broke a blood vessel in that left eye but there's no telling what other orbital damage has been done. Blindness is a pretty good motivating factor so I guess just let me know if he starts having vision problems or if you notice anything unusual going on with those wounds and we can see if he'll have a change of heart about letting me check things out."
Anna paused as she met Carol's eyes. The bruise at the apex of her cheek was rapidly darkening, an angry and blatant reminder of the man her husband was.
"Or just let karma run its course," she added. "It's your choice."
Carol said nothing as Anna gathered her things and left the tent to where Jacqui, Dale and Morales were all waiting. Behind them, she could see Shane retreating to the RV.
"Well that sure was quick," Jacqui commented. "Were they just superficial injuries or…?"
Anna shook her head. "I dunno; he wouldn't let me look at him."
"There's a shock," Morales mumbled before adding "pendejo" under his breath.
"Still, Shane really did a number on him," Dale added. His eyes were wide as they darted to the RV and then back again, doing little to hide his discomfort. "I know Ed Peletier isn't winning any popularity awards around here but I think what happened was a little excessive."
"You weren't there," Jacqui insisted as she wrapped her arms around herself, seeming to shudder at the memory. "Ed was out of control. He hit Carol and he threatened to hit Andrea. If you ask me, it's high time someone did something about that man."
Dale opened his mouth to respond and Anna took that as her cue to quietly slip away. They continued to bicker back and forth as she made her way back to the RV. She couldn't say she disagreed with Jacqui, though there was no denying that this was not the course of action Anna expected Shane to take. Not even a week ago he was telling her why he hadn't addressed the Ed issue and suddenly he was practicing his right hook on Ed's face? Shane had made a career out of keeping a level head in much more trying situations; there had to be something else going on.
The RV door creaked as Anna pushed it open and stepped inside. Shane glanced over to her from his place at the sink when she entered and her eyes immediately dropped to the bloodied tissue in his hand.
"Split the knuckle," he explained simply. "Damn thing won't stop bleeding."
"Let me take a look at it."
Anna gestured for him to move to the bench seat and he obliged wordlessly. She dropped the bag of supplies at her feet as she knelt in front of him, taking his hand in hers and examining his bloodied knuckles. The wound wasn't large, maybe three-quarters of an inch at most, but it was fairly deep.
"Looks like maybe the knuckle caught his tooth," she explained as she reached into the supply bag and pulled out a travel sewing kit and a small bottle of saline. She popped the top and used it to do a quick flush of the wound. "It could use a few sutures but nothing too bad."
Shane nodded and she got to work, sterilizing the needle the best she could with an old plastic Bic lighter before threading it and tying off the knot with relative ease. Anna had never considered herself particularly skilled in the domestic arts but she figured she had stitched up enough patients to make up for her inability to reattach a button or sew drapes for the apartment she and Alex shared.
Neither of them spoke as Anna worked and the silence that settled over them was a heavy one. Anna couldn't help but think back to the encounter she had witnessed between Shane and Lori the previous day. If the two of them had been involved for however long after Rick's supposed death, it certainly made his sudden and unexpected – although joyous – arrival all the more complicated. Was that the tipping point that drove Shane to unleash his inner Mike Tyson on Ed's face?
"So," she said finally, the word seeming to hang suspended in the thickness of the air. "I thought you said we weren't going 'Goodbye Earl'?"
Shane scoffed and Anna didn't need to look at him to know he was rolling his eyes. "Yeah well, plans changed. The man lays his wife out in front of God and everybody – what was I supposed to do? Turn a blind eye again and hope he didn't start turning on everyone else too?"
Anna could hear the growing frustration in his voice as she tied off the sutures and snipped the loose ends. "Besides, wasn't it you asking me to do something not that long ago? Now when I do you've got an issue with that too?"
"Woah, hold on," Anna's hands froze over the roll of gauze wrap she had plucked from the bag. "I'm not saying you were right or wrong, just that the whole thing kind of came out of left field. You had some really valid points for not intervening the last time we talked about it."
"Yeah and like I said," Shane drawled as Anna made quick work of wrapping the bandage around his hand. "Plans changed. Ed was a threat to the safety of this camp and now that threat's been neutralized. End of story."
He didn't give Anna a chance to respond before he rose to his feet, flexing his fingers once for good measure.
"Thanks for stitching me up, Doc," he called over his shoulder as he made his way back out of the RV and let the door slam shut behind him. Anna stared at the door for a moment before letting her head fall back against the worn bench seat with a sigh. What in the world was wrong with all of these men lately?
Despite the relative ease with which things seemed to be proceeding around camp when Anna woke up that morning, by midday things had done a virtual one-eighty. From Rick and the others going back for Merle to Shane turning Ed's face to hamburger meat, the day had been a proverbial rollercoaster that was only exacerbated by Jim's sudden and seemingly uncontrollable desire to dig a series of holes. Dale had found him at the hilltop, slaving away at his apparently very important task without so much as stopping for food or even water. It was as if he was operating on autopilot, finishing one hole and moving immediately to the next with hardly more than a breath in between. It was concerning to say the least, particularly when Shane decided to confront him and Jim became combative, first questioning what he considered to be Shane's self-appointed leadership and then going so far as to try and weaponize his shovel, swinging it wildly before he was disarmed.
It ended up being suggested that they tie Jim to a large tree to give him a chance to cool off and collect himself. Anna found nothing out of the ordinary when she examined him and the only logical diagnosis she could think of was sun stroke. Temperatures that afternoon were easily pushing triple digits and Jim had been working since sunrise with little water and practically no rest. Hallucinations or delusions during the heat of the day could certainly have explained his irrational behavior, though the whole thing was still admittedly unnerving.
Thankfully, some shade and hydration seemed to do the trick and Jim was back to his usual self by sunset. Amy and Andrea had utilized Dale's old canoe and fishing gear and came back to camp with over a dozen fish, a more than welcome reprieve from the usual squirrel. Morales had even built up the rock walls around the fire so they could keep the flames a little higher without risking being seen from the road.
As the sun set over the trees on the westernmost edge of camp, the mood had come full circle. Anna found herself situated between Andrea and Jacqui as the group gathered around the fire, passing around a plate piled high with fried fish and laughing as though the events from earlier that day were nothing more than a distant memory. Anna and Andrea passed a bottle of beer back and forth between the two of them as everyone ate their fill.
"I've got to ask you, man," Morales said to Dale as the chatter died down. "It's been driving me crazy. What's the deal with the watch?"
"I've wondered this myself," Jacqui added from her place beside Anna.
"What?" Dale asked as his brows disappeared beneath the wide brim of his hat.
"I see you every day," Morales continued. "Same time, winding that thing like a village priest saying Mass."
Andrea snorted her laughter through a bite of fish, nodding in agreement.
"What?" Dale repeated. "I'm missing the point."
"Unless I've misread the signs, the world seems to have ended," Jacqui explained good-naturedly. "Or at least hit a speed bump for a good long while."
"But there you are every day, winding that stupid watch."
"Ah," Dale realized, leaning back just a tad as he surveyed the group. "Time – it's important to keep track, isn't it? The days at least?"
His eyes flickered across the faces around him, the warm glow of the fire dancing across their features. The trees were silhouetted behind them, scarcely more than tall dark outlines against the starlit sky. The heat of the day had given way to a cool night's breeze that gently rustled the leaves as it blew through the surrounding woods.
"Well," Dale added upon seeing that he wasn't going to receive a response. "I like what the father said to his son when he gave him a watch that had been handed down through generations…"
Anna let her head fall to rest against Andrea's shoulder as Dale recited one of his many notes of wisdom. Regardless of the quote or the watch or the oddity of the day, it was nice to be able to sit around the fire and enjoy each other's company. Even Shane seemed to be in a marginally better mood, something the whole camp could be grateful for.
"You are so weird," Amy commented with a roll of her eyes as Dale ended his speech, though her lips curved upward into a smile.
"Hey, it's not me; it's Faulkner," Dale insisted as Amy set down her cup and stood, turning toward the RV. "Well, maybe my bad paraphrasing…"
"Where are you going?" Andrea asked as Amy stepped away.
"I have to pee," she called over her shoulder before muttering under her breath, "You try to be discrete around here, good lord."
Andrea laughed as Anna passed the nearly empty bottle of beer back to her.
"It's her birthday tomorrow," she whispered after she took a swig. "She'll be twenty-four; I can hardly believe it. It seems like yesterday my parents were telling me I was going to have a little sister."
Anna grinned at her. "I'm sure you took that well."
"I asked if we could just get a dog instead."
They shared a laugh before Shane called to them across the fire.
"Hey Doc, why don't you tell them that story you were telling me the other day? The one about the guy with the .25?" He turned to Morales and gave him a good-natured nudge. "Wait 'til you hear it; shit's wild."
"Y'all swapping war stories without us?" Jacqui teased as Anna took the final sip of beer from the bottle Andrea handed back to her. In the distance, she could hear Amy shouting over to them that the RV was out of toilet paper.
Anna opened her mouth to respond to Jacqui but a shrill cry cut her off. The world seemed to freeze on its axis as time slowed to a record-scratch stop. Anna's head shot over to the RV though somehow she seemed to know what she would see even before her eyes fell to rest on Amy, her fingers still curled around the RV door even as a walker sank its teeth into her outstretched arm. Andrea shouted for her sister as she hurried to her feet, tripping over herself as she fought to get to Amy. The breath hitched in Anna's throat and she felt Jacqui's fingers close around her arm.
The infected were descending on their camp from what felt like every angle. She could hear Shane's voice mingled in with blood curdling screams and blasts from his shotgun, all of it clouding Anna's head and disorienting her. Flashes of red danced in front of her eyes as chaos broke out and people ran in every direction. The knot in her stomach tightened as déjà vu washed over her and she suddenly felt herself transported back to another camp just outside the city. Screams and sobs and shots rang in her ears and through it all, Anna could hear her sister telling her to run.
Jacqui's hand was still tight around her arm, grounding her as they tried to make their way back to the RV where Shane was shouting for them to retreat to. She could see Jim and Morales armed with baseball bats, swinging madly to try and fend off the dead. There was a part of Anna's brain that shouted at her to pick up something – anything that could be used as a weapon – but it was as if her mind and her body were on two completely different wavelengths. Her brain yelled at her to fight while her body could do little more than propel herself forward, yearning for the safety the RV would provide.
They were nearly there when Anna felt the toe of her shoe collide with something solid in front of her, breaking Jacqui's hold on her arm as she went sprawling across the ground. She could hear the other woman call out for her but she had no time to try and place where her voice was coming from. She had barely rolled herself over when she caught sight of a walker advancing toward her, teeth gnashing wildly as its outstretched hands opened and closed. Anna scrambled to get to her feet but a shotgun blast stopped her short, sending her arms flying to cover her head out of instinct. When she opened her eyes, she saw the walker lying motionless at her feet.
"Anna!" Glenn shouted as he rushed over to her, extending one of his hands to help her up. The other held his shotgun, faint tendrils of smoke still rising from the barrel. "Are you okay?"
She nodded wordlessly to him, her tongue suddenly feeling like an anchor in her mouth. Her eyes darted frantically across the scene as she realized the sounds had suddenly come to an eerie halt, save for the children sobbing and Andrea's tearful murmurs to her sister. Bodies of both the infected and her fellow campers were strewn across the ground and Anna could see that one of them was what she had tripped over. Rick had Lori and Carl in his arms while Daryl and T-Dog still had their guns at the ready, surveying the perimeter in case there were any lingering walkers. A few feet away from her, Anna could see Jacqui standing next to a stunned Jim.
"Amy?" She heard Andrea wail, the desperation in her voice palpable. When she turned, Anna could see that Amy's chest had stilled. "Amy!"
Anna felt the bile rising in her throat as tears pricked the backs of her eyes like a thousand tiny needles. A dry sob escaped her and she turned away, directly into Glenn. He blinked down at her for a moment as tears threatened his own eyes, both of their chests heaving as they struggled to catch their breath. He let his shotgun fall to the ground as he reached his arms out to pull her close, sobbing into her hair as her own tears began to trickle down her cheeks. Her fingers curled into tight fists around the back of his shirt as they lamented the fact that their camp, the place they had both come to think of as home, wasn't safe anymore.
A/N: This chapter gave me so much trouble for some reason and it's a huge relief to finally have it posted. Thank you so much to everyone who has read, reviewed and followed/favorited this story so far! We are getting closer and closer to some of my favorite Anna and Daryl moments and I'm so excited to see what you all think once we get there!
As always, a humongous thanks to my amazing friend and beta-adjacent BouncingKappa for her help with the first half of this chapter! If you are part of the Marvel fandom and haven't read Songbirds and Bombshells yet, you're missing out!