A/N: Here we go a fresh update for you, I'm feeling inspired. Lol. I hope you guys like this, I like it a hell of a lot more than the last chapter. Anyway, please excuse any mistakes and enjoy! Reviews are loved! Its short again but I liked to leave things at certain points.

Disclaimer: I own Isabella and Christopher. That is all.

Early the next morning we were up and on the road, heading toward a small town called Macon. We were going to loot as many supplies as we could before camping for the night. Savannah was only a 4 hour trip from Fort Benning but we needed to move slowly to preserve fuel, we only had enough to make it to Macon. Chris and Amy were back in the van so that the RV wasn't cramped.

It was extremely awkward because Chris had flat out refused to speak to me or Daryl, so Amy had to handle the map and give him the directions, the van was leading the group to Macon. I sat in the back seat curled up beside Daryl who seemed to be in one of his moods. He'd been that way since we woke up, not really talking, just grunting and sitting there. He did this every so often and it pissed me off but I wasn't going to waste my time trying to change his mind, he'd get over it eventually. I hoped.

Amy gave Chris short and snappy directions; she was none too happy with my brother for reasons unknown. I sighed and stared out the window, watching as we drove passed abandoned cars, houses and land. The cars were the worst of it; they either had dead bodies in them, some had the doors flung open, in the odd car sat a completely docile walker. They really showed what was wrong in the world. The houses were messy looking but that could be excused, you couldn't ever really know what was inside those houses and a bit of overgrown grass could be fixed easily.

It was still really weird to think that this group of people could very well be the last people on earth. It was unlikely but the chances of finding other people was slim to none, Chris and I both knew from early on that other survivors were a lot less welcoming than Ricks group. People would do just about anything to survive these days, even if it meant killing each other.

Not only did you have the walking dead to worry about, now you had the living. At least Walkers were driven solely by hunger, they weren't human, they held no emotion and they only functioned on eating. The only downside to them was that the food they desired was the living, more often than not I had found myself querying whether they could starve to the point where their second life was over. Could they possibly die of starvation? I knew we certainly could.

We arrived in Macon 3 hours later, taking a good look at the shops that were around. Rick and Shane had decided to split some of us into pairs, Daryl and I were to go into the general store and grab what we deemed necessary, Chris and Amy were being sent into the gas station for food supplies and to see if there was any gas left whilst, Glenn, Maggie and T-Dog were heading to the pharmacy. That one was going to be awkward, especially if Glenn and Maggie intended on repeating what happened the first time they visited a pharmacy.

Daryl and I crept into the store, Daryl carried his crossbow as I took his hunting knife, and he had extra bolts made so he could use it as his main weapon again. The store was surprisingly walker free as we started to gather as many things as we could. It ranged from clothes to food to books to anything either of us deemed necessary.

We left the store and dumped the stuff in the van, as we were organizing everything a loud scream came from the gas station, it was definitely Amy screaming. Rick, Daryl and I ran to find out what was going on.

"He's been bitten!" Amy exclaimed as we entered the store, I felt the world around me fade as I rushed to Chris' side, a now double dead walker was laying on the ground beside him. He had tears in his eyes as I knelt down beside him wrapping my arms around his shoulders.

"no no no no no no" I chanted repeatedly, this couldn't be happening. But there it was, his calf muscle was missing a chunk where the walker had bitten
"I'm so sorry Bells" he whispered
"how…how are you feeling?" my voice cracked as silent tears rolled down my cheeks, it was probably the dumbest question to ask in a situation like this but I couldn't think of anything else.

"fine apart from the pain where the bite is" he placed his arms around me. I could hear Amy sobbing beside us.

"Give me your belt Rick" I demanded snapping into action. He did as I said looking pale and worried, I wrapped the belt around his leg just below the knee and fastened it tightly, a plan formulating in my mind. I pulled Daryl's hunting knife out of its sheath ready to do what was necessary

"Isa, stop" Daryl tried taking the knife from me

"I have to do this Daryl" I snarled, I sounded almost inhuman

"at least let Hershel do it" Rick offered, he looked increasingly concerned, something I really couldn't blame him for

"Fine, get him quick" the acid in my voice surprised even me, they were giving up so easily.

Rick returned with Hershel a few minutes later, he had a sharper looking knife; I looked at Chris who was staring at me wide eyed.

"I have to try Chris, I can't let you go without at least trying" by now I was shaking uncontrollably as the tears continued to stream down my face. By now Daryl and Rick had secured the gas station and locked the doors. Amy had gone back to the RV unable to face seeing what was about to happen. Hershel began cutting through Chris' leg just below the belt as he cried out in pain, I held his hand in mine as both Daryl and Rick held him down.

He passed out from the severity of the pain after about 5 minutes, it took another 10 minutes for Hershel to cut right through, he was sweating profusely as he sealed up the stump.

"He's going to need blood and I'm going to need to get him into the van to do so." Hershel spoke calmly

"I'll get it" Daryl offered.

He returned with the van a few minutes later, backing it right up to the doors, we opened them as he and Rick lifted Chris into the van, Hershel climbed in with him and began to seal up the stump as best he could. I sat down as Patricia asked whether we had the same blood type, I nodded dully and watched as she inserted the needle into my arm, in any normal circumstance I would have freaked our but my mind was swimming with what had just happened and the possibilities. Would he die? would he turn? was there even the slightest chance he'd survive?

She took a fair amount of blood as I began to feel woozy. Daryl picked up a bag of lollies and forced me to eat some before giving me a fruit drink that probably contained no fruit at all.

"There's nothin' yeh can do right now, yeh need ta rest, I'll keep watch over Chris an' as soon anythin' news worthy happens. I'll let yeh know. Jus' let Hershel and Patricia do what they can" he rubbed my back before guiding me into a lying position on the long seat.

I spent a lot of time awake just listening as they worked to save Chris, at some stage Glenn had bought some powerful pain killers and equally powerful antibiotics for him. He was passed out the entire time, which was something I was unsure about, it meant he felt no pain but it also meant there was a chance he wouldn't wake up.

I woke up shielding my eyes from the sun, unsure of when I actually went to sleep in the first place. Chris was out to in the back; Rick had left a while ago. Daryl was seated beside Chris still wide awake, Patricia was sat beside him pumping the remaining blood into his system. Hershel was asleep on the other free seat.

The van was a mess with supplies strewn over one of the seats and other supplies scattered around the floor of the van. I sat up slowly and carefully in case I got dizzy. I locked eyes with Daryl who seemed to be acting a little more normal.

"so far he's woken up once, he aint got a fever and he seems to be breathing normal. Looks like choppin' off his leg was the right idea" he gave me a reassuring smile

"Hershel thinks he will pull through" Patricia added

"thank you both" I moved to sit down beside Chris stroking his fringe away from his forehead, I couldn't stop the fresh batch of tears that rolled down my cheeks as I remember the last conversation we'd had before he got bitten, it had left a lot to be desired.

I wasn't sure how long I sat there just stroking his hair and crying but I let out a shocked gasp as he moved slightly before he opened his eyes, I wasn't met with the cloudy bloodshot eyes of a walker, I was met with his normal ocean blue eyes.

"What happened?" he croaked quietly

"you were bitten…so I…so I had Hershel chop off the infected area"

"you did what?" He looked down at his legs, becoming increasingly pale as he spotted the fact that the lower part of his left calf was gone

"I didn't want you to turn" I felt a sob wrack through my body, a pair of strong arms wrapped around me from behind as Chris reached up to stroke my cheek lightly, thumbing away the tears that rolled down my cheeks.

"So far it seems like your plan worked." He gave me a weak smile "in fact, I can't feel any pain at all." He was extremely drugged up but I appreciated the sentiment "thank you…" he took my hand in both of his.

There was a knock on the van door and an extremely upset looking Amy stood outside, I slid the door open for and watched as her eyes landed on my brother, she let out a sigh of relief and moved to sit beside me.

"Don't worry; I'll give you two sometime alone." I got out of the van and wandered toward the RV

"yer shakin'" Daryl startled me from behind wrapping his arm around my shoulders and pulling into his side

"I….I…I…" I tried to speak but failed miserably as a painful sob wracked through my body, Daryl wrapped both his arms around me as I sobbed into his chest "I…almost…lost…him" I whispered between sobs, It had now just hit how close I'd come to losing my brother.

I'd saved his life by chopping his leg off but I also felt incredibly selfish for it, I'd put him through unnecessary pain so that he would still be around for me. I could've ended it right there and stopped his suffering. The logistics of his missing limb were now also beginning to hit me, how could he get by without it? There were no specialized prosthetic ones around that could help him either.

"yeh saved his life, he wouldn't be here if it wasn't for yeh" he held me tight, I eventually calmed down enough to breathe properly and think things over rationally.

"I condemned him to a constant struggle" I answered, I hadn't saved him, I'd saved myself

"We can make a prosthetic" Glenn spoke from the door way of the RV, I wondered how long he'd been listening

"how?"

"well when Amy came and told me what was happening I got thinking and kind of sketched something, we could use a piece of wood and some metal and a belt, It would function like a food and part of his calf muscle…" Maggie handed him the sketch as he held it out to us.

I took it from him and felt the tears welling in my eyes "thank you Glenn…could we um…make it now. I think he'd like to know it would work"

"Sure, the materials are already in the RV, I kind of gathered them earlier from cars and from the general store."

Daryl and I followed him into the RV as we got to work, it wasn't a state of the art prosthetic but it was better than nothing. I'd been approached by just about the entire group, each of them making me feeling like my decision was the right one.

"Thank you for your help Glenn. It really…" I was stopped mid-sentence by someone stomping into the RV, I looked up to find Amy standing there looking royally pissed.

"I honestly don't know how you put up with him Isabella, he just won't fucking listen!" she exclaimed, her arms flailing around with every word

"what now?" I questioned trying not to show how much her antics amused me

"he's decided he's useless, he thinks he should've been shot. He thinks he's a liability." She sighed, he and I were so much on the same page without speaking it was scary but I wouldn't change what I'd done, he deserved a chance to live.

"Glenn has come up with a solution" I smiled and picked up the wooden prosthetic

"what is it?" she stared at it confused

"it's a new leg" I smiled a little.

"I see, do you think he'll wear it?" she questioned, that was a good question. Once he made his mind up it was hard to change it. He was just as stubborn as I was.

"He will when I'm done with him" I chuckled "let me go talk to him" I stood up and hugging the prosthetic to me

Daryl stood as if to follow me "can you wait here Daryl?" I smiled at him before getting out to the RV and walking the short distance to the van. Climbing in I found Chris very much alive and wide awake, looking like he felt sorry for himself. He wore a kind of pouty 'Oh woah is me' look.

"I come bearing a gift" I crouched beside him and held out the prosthetic

"What is it?" he questioned, a confused expression crossing his face

"a new leg" I grinned a little

"what?" he eyed it warily

"Glenn and I made it" I handed it to him as he studied it.

"wow…I don't quite know what to think about this" he sighed "it might make me a little more useful"

"well for a start you'd be able to walk" I chuckled

"this sure is something…can…can I try it?" he questioned, he almost sounded nervous

"of course you can, let me help you get it on" I moved around to his well bandaged stump and strapped it on "I'll um, help you up" I opened the back door from the inside of the van and got out helping to his feet…well foot and peg.

He was unsteady on it at first, struggling to walk but as we completed a lap around the small camp, he improved. Maybe saving him was the right decision for both of us…only time would tell.