Savannah started when she heard the older man standing on the roof of the RV, watching the scene unfold. Squinting to see him in the sunshine, she subconsciously backed towards Daryl, who was still staring down the cop and his wife. Dale just smiled and moved to climb down the ladder at the back of the Winnebago, which only made the two girls more nervous. Savannah kept inching backwards towards Daryl until she was practically squishing Sadie between their sweaty backs; he unwilling to give up any ground and she trying to make the girl disappear as much as a person possibly could. Daryl grunted in annoyance, but Savannah couldn't care less about his discomfort. All her attention was focused on the old man now standing a few paces in front of her, holding his hand out like he wanted a damn handshake.
Dale kept still, waiting for her to do something, anything. He knew better than to press someone as jumpy as this young woman cowering in front of him, his age had taught him that much. It was clear that whatever she'd been through, she'd learned that trust wasn't something to give lightly. As a group, they were pretty fortunate not to have been stuck with the short end of the stick too often, and he was thankful for that. But he had to show her that he of all people didn't mean any harm. So, he continued to stand there, his right hand stuck out, waiting for her to take it. She'd come around if he stood there long enough, he was sure of it.
Without anything else to fuel his temper, Daryl began to calm down. It was then that he realized exactly what kind of position he was in. The little girl was practically clinging to his back while her sister was no more than a foot from him, the closest she'd let him come since meeting her. He could tell that they'd been on the road a while- they weren't exactly daisy fresh, but Savannah had obviously tried to cover it up with some sort of perfume or something not that it was workin' too well. Turning fully, he saw that she was squarin' off with Dale of all people, and the old coot was standin' there, trying to get her to shake his fuckin' hand. This girl was more jumpy than a damn jackrabbit. With a sneer, he leaned down towards Savannah.
"The old codger won't do nothin' tuh ya. It's some of these other mother fuckers ya gotta be careful 'round," he mumbled, not caring if they heard him or not. Savannah looked at Daryl skeptically out of the corner of her eye. She wasn't so sure of this entire situation, but if she was going to be stuck in it, she might as well man up and deal with it head on. With more courage than she knew she had, Savannah marched up to Dale and took his hand awkwardly in her left one and shook it, still glancing warily at the rest of the group, which had gathered a good ten feet or so behind the Winnebago.
Dale smiled and with the kind of reassurance that only a grandparent could give, said, "Welcome to our group. Sorry we got off on the wrong foot, Ms…?"
"Savannah. And that's Sadie," she said, motioning behind her towards Daryl. Again, Dale smiled.
"Nice to meet you two. Why don't you come over to the fire so we can get you fixed up. Looks like your arm has seen better days, am I right?" Dale started to lead the young woman over to the fire pit, his hand on her good elbow before she began to protest.
Shaking her head, she sternly declined. "It's nothing serious. It just needs to be popped back into its socket and I'll be fine. I'd rather stay with my car, it's the same to you." Her tone clearly said what her words didn't: if she was going to stay, it was her way or no way. Releasing her arm, Dale smiled patiently and nodded. Some people needed more time than others, but these girls would come around eventually. He moved back to stand by Andrea, who looked more than a little concerned at their newest additions. He patted her on the shoulder before ushering everyone away from the Explorer and the odd girls that had come with it.
Savannah, meanwhile, had rejoined Sadie who was now standing alone by the car. Looking around, she saw Daryl walking towards a beat up pickup, not giving them a second look. Her brows furrowed. This wasn't what she expected at all, and she was none too happy about it. At least he'd had the presence of mind to give her keys to Sadie, who was now shifting from foot to foot uncomfortably.
"Savannah? Should we try to fix your arm?" Nodding, she ushered the girl to the back bumper. Sitting down, she looked at her sister, unsure if she had the strength or the wherewithal to do what needed to be done. "What do you need me to do?" Savannah hadn't really had any experience with dislocated shoulders, or dislocated anythings. The extent of her medical knowledge was what could be cured with over the counter drugs and what she'd seen on tv shows, and dislocated shoulders weren't glamorous enough to be featured on prime time. All that those shows had taught her was that it was never Lupus.
"I think… I think we have to shove it in. How else is it going to get back in there?" Sadie looked anything but reassured. Savannah smiled and shrugged. "Let's just give it a go and see what happens, okay?" Taking a deep breath, she nodded at the girl, who then shoved as hard as she could into her sister's right shoulder. Savannah howled in pain and bit down hard on her lower lip, splitting it. The whole camp got quiet, staring at the Explorer but not daring to go near it. Savannah was doubled over, clutching her right arm to her chest, gasping. Sadie's eyes were like saucers and she was letting loose a near constant stream of apologies. Gathering her wits, Savannah sat back up and patted the girl on the knee.
"It's okay Sadie. I didn't think it'd hurt that bad. But it looks like it didn't work, so let's try one more time." The girl was shaking, but put her hands on her sister's arm again, and at her signal, threw her weight onto the arm. Savannah tried not to scream, but she couldn't stop a shrill cry from escaping. By this time, she was crying from the pain and the shoulder still wasn't back in its damn socket.
"The fuck ya tryin' tuh do? Draw more Walkers?" Daryl was standing at the edge of the Explorer, his arms crossed over his chest in annoyance and disapproval.
"I'm trying to pop her shoulder back in," Sadie said defiantly. "She can't just stay this way." Her chin was sticking out and he was in no mood for her sass. Shoving her off the bumper, he sat next to Savannah and took a real good look at her arm. She was still hunched over, gasping from pain when he grabbed her arm, pulling her upright. His calloused hands bent her arm into a right angle over her chest and slowly moved it outwards towards himself. It was only when her arm was completely bared did he see the puckered stitches crisscrossing her pale skin. They were red and ugly, obviously done by an amateur. They'd leave long winding scars, he pretty damn sure of that. His fingers ghosted over them as he pulled her arm back further. They'd been done with sewing thread, and probably with a sewing needle too, he'd wager. How fucked up did her arm have to be for her to let someone fucking sew her back up? He knew he was tougher than any run of the mill sumbitch, but that was all sorts of desperate that he didn't want to experience any time soon. This broad was tougher than he gave her credit for. She probably screamed like a stuck pig during the whole damn thing too.
When her hand went back as far as it could, he rolled the shoulder, trying to coax it into the socket. Savannah was grimacing in pain, biting down on her already bloody lower lip so she wouldn't cry out again, her left hand clawing at her jeans. The shoulder refused to pop back in, so Daryl prepared to try again, only pausing to pull a dirty rag out of his back pocket. He bunched it up and handed it to Savannah.
"Bite down on it. It'll spare yer damn lip some." She only nodded and quickly stuffed it into her mouth as he took hold of her right arm again. He started back in front of her chest, slowly moving her arm out. He gently rolled her shoulder and this time, it popped back into the socket, making Savannah hiss around the rag. He moved her arm around a little, making sure it was all the way in before taking his rag from her outstretched hand.
"Thank you," she said simply, looking up at him from the bumper where she still sat. He ruffled his hair a little, and biting on his thumb nail, looked anywhere but at her.
"Try not tuh use it fer a bit. Yer gonna be a lil' weak, but ya should be fine," his tone more gruff than he felt. He wasn't used to people thankin' him for jack shit, and this girl an' her kid sister were makin' him uncomfortable. He didn't wait for any sort of indication that they'd heard him before picking up his crossbow and stalking off into the tree line. He needed some time to himself, away from all these damn people and their fuckin' looks. Like he didn't see those looks that they were throwing his way, like he'd brought a damn Walker into camp and introduced it as his retarded cousin, or some shit. "Fuck me if I bring anyone else back after all this," he grumbled to himself.
Savannah watched Daryl leave while Sadie was tending to her arm, albeit unnecessarily. She knew he'd noticed the stitches. They really were ugly, the dark blue string weaving crookedly across her pale arms. She wished that they'd been able to find lighter string so they wouldn't be so stark, but beggars can't be choosers, so dark blue it was. They were relatively fresh and red and now that someone else had seen them, she was stupidly self conscious. She frowned. It wasn't like she could hide them- they crawled across the inside of both of her arms, puckering the skin grotesquely. And it was only a matter of time before the others started asking questions. At least Daryl had mustered enough courtesy not to ask her about them, she doubted that he'd really given them too much thought in the first place.
"Let's take a nap, Sav." Sadie's voice jolted her out of her thoughts. The girl was pulling on her left arm, trying to get her into the Explorer. Savannah followed silently, more than ready to let Sadie mother her a little. It gave the girl something constructive to do, and even though she didn't want to admit it, Savannah was fucking tired. As soon as she nestled herself into the backseat with Sadie, she was out for the count. The girl smiled, smoothing her older sister's hair before locking the doors and settling in. Nothing could get them, not in there. Not when they were together.