It was safe to say that winter was pretty much over at this point. Hannah ditched her winter jacket a few days ago and was now wearing a simple red hoodie and a green flannel over top. It kept her warm and comfortable without being constricting like her jacket was. Her love for flannel had grown significantly over the last few months. She always wore Glenn's old hat. Usually it was either braided or pulled up in a pony tail. Today, however, her hair was loose and the hat was flipped backwards. Her curly hair now reached about halfway down her back. She probably should get a haircut at some point, but that really wasn't a priority at this point.
The group was camped in the woods for about five or six days now. They had yet to see a walker, which seemed to be a good sign. The group was always on high alert, either way. They had alternating watch shifts. Rick even put up ropes with old cans so they would make noise if anything ran into it. The nearest water source was about a twenty-minute walk away, which wasn't awful. The main problem came from the lack of places to check for food. Daryl went hunting everyday. Hannah went with him twice, but most of her time was spent practicing shooting her bow. She was getting a lot better at it. She almost always hit the target, and was even making her way closer to the center. Looks like those Dixon genes were finally starting to kick in.
Hannah sat at the camp fire with a small portion of rabbit in her bowl. Carol, who'd become a very good shot over the last few months, stood on watch at the edge of camp. She looked around at the rest of her group. Nearly six months of always running was taking its toll. Lori was becoming a growing concern. She looked very pregnant at this point. Hershel deduced that the baby would be out in probably a month and a half, maybe two months. He couldn't know for sure since he didn't have the proper equipment. Daryl had gone out hunting that morning and wouldn't be back until probably mid-day.
"We're gonna need to make another trip to the creek," Rick stated.
"Hannah and me can go," Carl volunteered them. Hannah nodded. She and Carl were a package deal. "It's a twenty-minute walk, we can handle it."
"Not alone," Rick stated.
"I'll go too," Beth suggested.
"I'll help," Maggie volunteered.
"We can handle ourselves," Carl protested.
"Water's heavy," Maggie countered. "Besides, we need washing water too."
"Okay, Maggie, Beth, Hannah, and Carl are goin'," Rick agreed. Hannah felt a little disappointed because she really wanted to go with Carl alone. They could handle it, it was just getting water. Then again, she could always not be going at all. She supposed that was progress.
Beth and Maggie took the lead while Carl and Hannah followed. The walk to the creek was quiet, Hannah had her bow in hand just in case anything came their way. Carl had his gun with the ridiculous looking silencer on it. They'd found about a week of so ago in a house. Looking at how massive this cone like thing was, Hannah wasn't surprised it got left behind. Still, it was better than nothing. At least now he could fire his gun without worrying about the loud bang.
'We could do this alone,' Carl signed to her.
'I know, but at least they let us come out,' she replied. She signed with only one hand since her other one was holding her bow. She had her quiver hanging off one shoulder and a backpack full of empty water bottles on her back.
When they got to the creek, Hannah and Carl started filling the bottles. The water was a little bit brown, but they would get the chance to boil it when they got back to camp.
"Try to fill the bottles 'til they're overflowin'," Maggie said. "More water to got, less we'll have to come here. And if we gotta run, at least we'll have a bit." Carl and Hannah nodded and kept filling.
By the time Hannah and Carl finished, Maggie and Beth were only halfway done filling the large metal bucket that was used to do laundry. The two waited for the older girls to finish, bored.
"Can we head back now?" Carl asked. "It's a short walk, we'll be fine."
Beth and Maggie looked at each other as though they were trying to find the nicest way to tell them 'Hell no'.
"We'll be back before either of you even finished filling it," Hannah added. "We'll be okay. It's like when go on watch, he'll watch my back, I'll watch his."
"It's not far," Beth reinforced. "Besides, the sooner the others get water, the faster it'll get boiled." Hannah knew there was a reason she liked Beth. Maggie still seemed a little hesitant. Hannah gave her a pleading look.
"Fine," Maggie agreed. "But no stops, just straight back to camp."
Hannah and Carl nodded, trying to conceal their smiles and headed off.
The path from camp to the creek should've been a straight shot. Key word: should've been. They were about seven minutes out when they heard a rustling coming from the bushes.
"What was that?" Carl asked.
"I dunno," Hannah shrugged. There was a stab of fear that coursed through her. "Carl, we should really head back."
The rustling got louder. Hannah gripped her bow as a walker came tumbling out. She and Carl both fired at once. Hannah's bolt buried itself in the walker's shoulder. Luckily Carl's shot got it right in the head.
"That's the first one we've seen in days," Carl noted.
"We should go back to the ot…" Only she didn't get the chance to finish her sentence as more rustling came. She heard the moans coming from the bushes. Four walkers came tumbling out.
"Run. Run!" Hannah pulled Carl and they started sprinting.
They didn't run back towards the camp, nor did they go back to Maggie and Beth. No, instead they took off and ran deeper into the woods. She always made sure to keep Carl in sight. Her friend tried to shoot at the approaching walkers as they ran. He did manage to hit one, but soon there weren't any bullets left in his gun. Hannah ran blindly through the woods, for a second she thought back to running in the woods at the highway. She'd been terrified at that point. Now, she felt that terror again. The difference between then and now, however, was that she had Carl now. They ran side by side, deeper into the woods.
Hannah and Carl kept running until suddenly the ground beneath them gave out. She screamed and crashed to the bottom of a pit. She landed hard on her side, the pain erupted through her. She shook them away and tried to move her shoulder, only for the worst possible agony to radiate. The tears sprang in her eyes. She tried to stand up but fell back down as her ankle throbbed.
"Hannah?" Carl called out. She used her good arm and made sure her implants were still firmly in place. The backpack full of water bottles was still hanging off one shoulder. She'd lost her bow and quiver in the fall. The pit was dark, seeing as it was so deep. But she could see a bit of light coming from the top from the hole where they fell through.
"Carl?" She tried to find him. She could see the faint outlines of someone laying on the ground. For a second she thought it was Carl, until she felt his hand on her arm. She winced at the pain spreading through her shoulder. Black dots were at the corners of her eyes. The other body had to be one of the walkers that had been chasing them. Its head was smashed on the ground, blood pooled around the crushed skull.
More light poured into the pit. Carl and Hannah rolled out of the way as the two walkers fell down. One smashed his head on the ground but the other was still alive. Well, not alive, but still moving. Hannah yelped as it reached forward and grabbed her bad ankle. With whatever energy she had left, Hannah kicked the snarling walker right in the face. Carl rushed over and drove his knife into the walker's head.
She looked up at him, even though they dropped however far down, he still had his sheriffs hat on. He had a cut under his right eye that was bleeding profusely. He had a few other cuts and bruises, but he didn't see all that hurt.
"Are you okay?" He asked. Hannah sat up and propped herself against the wall. Carl sat next to her. She tried to move her bad arm again and bit her lip to keep from crying in pain.
"My shoulder," she said. "I think it's dislocated, and my ankle hurts. You?"
"Got a bit of a headache," Carl said. "Besides that I'm good."
"What the hell is this?" Hannah asked. The pit was a giant rectangular shape. The dirt was packed tight, making sturdy walls. There didn't seem to be any roots or anything to grab so they could climb up. Even if there were, Hannah doubted she could climb with this shoulder.
"I think someone made a trap," Carl deduced. "Either for walkers or people…"
"How are we gonna get out of here?" Hannah asked. "We need to get out of here. I mean, they've gotta know we're gone. Beth and Maggie have to be either back or almost there by now." She was panicking. Tears started flowing down her face. "What if they don't? What if they can't find us? Oh God, we're gonna die in here aren't we?"
"We're not gonna die," Carl assured her. "If they don't find us, we'll find a way out."
Carl stood up and looked around for some way out. He even started to jump up, as though he could catch something.
"HELP!" He yelled. "HELP! WE'RE DOWN HERE!"
"Carl," Hannah tried to get his attention. She let out another pain filled cry. The tears were just kept coming. She felt nauseous.
"HELP US! WE'RE DOWN HERE!" Carl kept yelling. He looked back to see Hannah leaning back against the wall looking green and crying.
"Hannah?" He rushed back over to her side.
"Carl," she said weakly. She took in a deep breath and tried to divert the waves of nausea.
Carl remembered the backpacks full of water. His had dropped somewhere on their run but Hannah's was still on her back. He took it off of her and grabbed one of the bottles and handed it to her. She tried to take a sip only to turn her head away from Carl and threw up. Carl went to the other side of the pit where her bow and quiver from where they landed. Most of her bolts were destroyed in the landing but her bow seemed just fine. He really just wanted to get away from the vomit.
Carl went back over to her, after she'd finished puking, and grabbed another bottle of water. He sat next to her and took a gulp. He didn't, quite frankly, give a damn that the water wasn't boiled. They'd ran for, who knows how long. His gun was empty and useless but he still had his knife. Carl had to keep it together for her, even though he was terrified. He didn't know how far away they'd ran. But they couldn't be too far. Beth and Maggie would walk back to camp and see they're not there. Daryl should be back by then and they can track them. They left a pretty distinct trail.
"We're screwed, aren't we?" Hannah asked.
"No." Yes. Hannah winced once again as she tried to move her shoulder. Carl tried not to look at it hanging out of its socket.
"It hurts," she whined.
"I know," he said. "I'm sorry."
"Why?" She asked.
"We should've kept walking," Carl told her.
"Then the walkers would've gotten Beth and Maggie," Hannah said. She let out another cry in pain as she tried to shift her position.
He needed to somehow get her mind off of it. When he was a kid, he fell out of a tree at school and broke his arm. He remembered being in so much pain, and crying. Then his dad started just talking to him. He couldn't remember exactly what he said, but he remembered how the pain seemed to be on the back burner.
"I have a confession to make," he started. Hannah eyed him curiously. "I never read Harry Potter."
Hannah's red and puffy eyes widened. "Seriously?"
"Nope, saw the movies and they were pretty cool, but I don't read a lot of books," he said.
"Then what do you read?" Hannah asked. She couldn't imagine someone not reading.
"Comic books mostly," he told her. "I used to drag my mom to the store when I got my allowance."
"I never would've taken you for a comic book dork," she teased.
"Hey, Spider-Man is cool," he defended.
"Mhm," she said. "Honestly, I hated those movies. I thought he was kind of an idiot."
"Well duh, the movies were crap. Peter Parker is much better in writing," Carl explained.
"Ginny was too," Hannah added. She let out another groan of pain.
"Superman was pretty cool, but he was a little bit too perfect," he continued. "Besides Harry Potter, what other books do you like?"
"Percy Jackson," she told him.
"I think my teacher made us read that in school. It was about the guy who finds out he's a demi-god, right?"
Hannah nodded. "But it's more than that. Percy was an outcast," she explained. She tried to push the pain away. "H-He was dyslexic and the other kids always made fun of him for it. Then he finds out that he's this great big hero, that the thing that made him an outcast was actually one of the things that made him special. And to a kid like me… I dunno, I always hoped that maybe I was special too. Stupid, right?"
"Nah," Carl told her. "Besides, you are special." She gave him a small smile.
They didn't know how long they were sitting there. They'd each finished a bottle of water. The cut on Carl's faces still bleeding. The light in the pit was dimming. This morning they went for water; they wouldn't have been back until the early afternoon. It was probably the later afternoon now. While the days got longer once again, sunset still happened at around five thirty-ish. Who knows how long they ran for. Based on how exhausted Hannah was after falling in the pit, they ran for a long time. They needed to get out of here, but Hannah couldn't do that with her shoulder. She could manage the ankle, but not both. She looked towards her best friend.
"Carl," she started. "I need you to pop it back in."
"What?" Carl asked in disbelief.
"We need to get out of here," she told him. "I can't do it with this shoulder. Please, you need to do this."
"I… I can't," he told her. "I don't know how."
"We need to do something," Hannah told him. "There has to be a way out of here."
"Hannah, I looked… we're stuck," Carl told her. She groaned in agony as she stood up. Her ankle throbbed, as did her shoulder.
"HEY!" She screamed as loud as she possibly could. Hannah didn't yell, not unless she was extremely angry or scared. At this point, she was a mix of both. "HEY! WE'RE DOWN HERE! HEY!"
"HEY!" Carl stood up and joined her.
"HELP US!" She yelled. "WE'RE DOWN HERE!"
They kept screaming until they were blue in the face. They didn't care if it would attract walkers, they could handle those. What they needed was a way out.
"HELP US!" She screamed as a bright light poured in.
Five days later
Like they'd agreed, Will and Eli didn't argue. They left the house the next morning, just like Eli wanted. That night, they wound up sleeping in the woods. Will took most of the watches, seeing as she was used to not sleeping very much.
About a day after that, they managed to find a car. Things were starting to finally work out for them. At least that's what she thought until they were about a three quarters of the way to Greenville and the car died. They were parked just down the street from a farmhouse.
"Cars dead in the water," Will told Casey who stood next to her. "Oil pressure completely gone. There's overheatin' too. This car ain't gonna move." He observed as she tried her best to fix the car. Eli was sleeping in the backseat of the car. He seemed to be sleeping a lot more over the last few days. He decided that he was going to take care of his own leg. His excuse was that Willow already had a lot to deal with Back in the real world, Will worked as a mechanic in Nashville, after she started getting her life back together. She'd always been good at working with her hands.
"W-What d-do w-we d-do?" Casey asked.
"House nearby, whole up there for the night," Will suggested. "Go wake up your brother. I'll go start clearin' it."
Casey nodded.
Will had to kick the door open since the door was still locked. Good sign. She walked inside to see a virtually untouched house. She walked up the stairs, her machete ready to attack. She checked the first room, empty. The drawers were still open, clothes scattered across the room.
"Either this is person was a bigger slob than Ollie was, or they left in a hurry," she thought aloud. She checked the other three rooms, they were in the same condition.
"W-Willow!" Casey's alarmed voice rang through. Shit.
She ran down the stairs to see a panicked Casey standing above an unconscious Eli. Willow ran towards them.
"What the hell happened?" She asked.
"W-We w-were w-walking… h-he w-was f-fine. T-Then h-he s-started s-slurring and f-fell," Casey explained hastily. Will could see the sweat covering the older boy. She dropped to her knees. She pressed her hand to his forehead. It was hot and clammy.
"He's burnin' up," she said. Will lifted Eli's pant leg and checked the bandage. She removed it to see the cauterized cut was now red and burning hot surrounding it. The cut itself was leaking puss.
"O-Oh m-my… f-fuck," Casey swore, looking like he was about to pass out.
"It's infected," she noted. Will didn't stop to think. She couldn't. "C'mon, there's rooms upstairs. I need you to help me get him up. We gotta lay him down."
Casey helped her lift Eli up. They dragged him up the stairs and into the first room. They laid him down on the bed. She needed to fight off the infection. Will tried so hard to remember what to do. C'mon Ollie, now you decide to shut up? He would know what to do. Charlotte would know. All Willow knew was basic first aid.
"Think, Willow. Think," she mumbled to herself. Casey gave her a desperate look. Clean it, Ollie would tell her.
"We're gonna need to find any medical supplies," she said. "Anythin' that can be used to disinfect. That means rubbin' alcohol, or any type of alcohol, antibiotics, bandages."
"Y-You t-think w-we'll f-find it h-here?" Casey asked.
"No," she said. "But at this point, I'll take anythin'. See if you can find a phone book too."
"W-Why?"
"Cause there's gotta be a hospital, a pharmacy, hell even a vet clinic nearby," she told him. "Sooner we find one, more chances he'll have. Meantime, go." Casey nodded and went out the door.
Will grabbed the water bottle out of her bag and a towel. She wet the towel and gently dabbed Eli's forehead, trying to cool him down.
"C'mon, Eli, don't do this," Will begged. The boy coughed. His eyes opened up.
"Willow?"
"Why didn't you say it was getting infected?" Will asked. "You would've known."
"If I would've said something, we would've stopped. We're so close. I thought I could've made it," he told her in a weak low voice.
"I get that you think you need to get Casey home at all costs…" She was cut off by him.
"You'll look after him," Eli stated. "If I die… promise me you'll look after him."
"You're not gonna die," Will assured him.
"Willow…"
"Just Will," she told him. "We're at that point now."
"Will, promise me," Eli continued.
"I don't have to," she told him. "You're gonna be fine."
Casey came back in moments later holding a few plastic bottles, a giant phonebook, and a long sleeved button-down shirt. He handed her the three little bottles. Two out of the three were ibuprofen and Tylenol, not exactly useful when it comes to infection. The third was a prescription for acne medication.
"I-I g-grabbed w-what I-I c-could f-find," Casey explained.
"Thanks Casey," she told him. Willow took two Tylenol out of the bottle and gave them to Eli. "That'll help with some of the pain. Casey, you remember how to change the bandage?" He nodded. "Good. I'm gonna go downstairs make sure the doors are locked." She grabbed the phonebook before leaving.
Once she double checked the doors, Will pulled up a chair and parked it so she had a good view for watch. They had about two hours before sunset. She opened up the phone book and scanned. She found a walk-in clinic down the road from where they were. There was also a pharmacy nearby. They were just on the outskirts of a small town. She could be at the clinic and back within the hour. Play it safe, she chastised herself.
"Because playin' it safe's gonna keep Eli alive," she mumbled to herself. She had to make a choice. Either go now, or wait until morning. Casey came down the steps and sat on the ground next to her chair.
"H-He f-fell a-asleep," Casey said. "W-What a-are w-we g-gonna d-do?"
"You're gonna stay here, keep watch 'n make sure Eli's fever stays down. There's a walk-in clinic not far from from here," she said. "If I leave now, I can be back in an hour." She started getting up from the chair. Looks like her choice was made.
"N-No, w-we s-should g-go t-together," Casey stated. "You sh-shouldn't g-go a-alone."
"I'll be fine," Will reassured. Casey gave her a pleading look. Will sighed in defeat. "Okay, I'll wait until tomorrow."
"A-And I-I'm c-coming w-with y-you," Casey added.
"Someone's gotta watch Eli," she reminded him.
"H-He's b-been l-looking o-out f-for m-me s-since I w-was a k-kid," Casey explained. He huffed frustrated with himself.
"It's okay," Will told him, just like Eli always does when he got frustrated.
"H-He's d-done s-so m-much f-for m-me. I c-can't j-just s-sit a-around w-while h-he…" Casey drifted off, his voice getting all choked up.
"I get it," she assured him. "I do. Lemme think about it, ok?"
"Ok," he replied. "I c-can t-take w-watch. G-Get s-some r-rest."
"I'm fine," she said stubbornly. "I can take watch."
"J-Just g-get s-some s-sleep," Casey said. "Y-You d-drove all d-day."
"You're not gonna shut up 'til I leave," Will deduced.
"N-Nope," he smirked. Will sighed in defeat.
"Fine, wake me up at ten," she told him.
Will walked by Eli's room. She walked in and sat at the chair by the bed. It was weird, she'd only known these two for about two weeks yet she was growing attached to them. She felt responsible for them. It was like she had new purpose. Before, she was surviving for the sake of surviving, now she had a reason to keep going. She had people to take care of. This is something she wasn't used to. Usually, people took care of her –not that she made it easy for them. But looking at Eli laying in the bed, she had this weird unfamiliar feeling in the pit of her stomach.
"You're gonna be okay," she told the kid. "You've gotta be okay. Because I can't take losin' someone else. Everyone I ever cared about's either dead or missin'. So, you don't get to die. Casey needs you."
Truth is, Will needed him too. Eli stirred and coughed. It seemed like his fever was getting worst. He was mumbling something. Will listened intently, trying to hear what he was repeating.
"…ren."
Lauren? Was he saying Lauren?
"Lauren," he said it more clearly now. "Lauren… I'm sorry. I… sorry."
He started whimpering. "Lauren…"
"It's okay, Eli," Will told him. She didn't know how to comfort him. He mentioned Lauren to her before, that she died not long ago. "It's okay."
Will fell asleep still sitting in the chair. There were two other beds she could've slept in but instead she chose to take off her boots and put her feet up on the bed and drifted off to sleep until Casey came and got her for watch.
The next morning, Will went upstairs after her watch. Casey was asleep on the ground next to Eli's bed. Eli was sweating buckets now. His fever sky-rocketed overnight. He was shivering now. She had to get those meds. Will grabbed her bag off the floor and scribbled a quick note for Casey.
'Gone to get meds. Keep Eli's fever down. Be back before noon.
-Will.'
She knew Casey would be pissed but Will knew Eli would be pissed if she brought Casey along. Besides, she could get in and out much faster if she was on her own.
Will crawled out a window that was still unlocked and quietly shut it behind her. She didn't want to risk the door. The sun was just starting to rise as Will started walking down the road. The walk-in clinic was just on the edge of town. She had her machete raised as she smashed one of the back windows. Will waited for the first walker to appear, she dispatched it without any trouble and pulled the corpse out. She climbed through the window into an office.
"Okay, now what?" She asked herself. There had to be some place to start. "C'mon, think Will, think. Drug locker." It dawned on her. These places always had drug lockers. She just needed to think of where it was.
She headed out of the small office and walked down the deserted hallway. Papers scattered across the floor, a wheelchair was turned over. There was a body that was picked to the bone. All that was left was a face and some hair. She had a hard telling that it had been a man at some point. It's dead glassy eyes stared at her. There was a bullet wound in his head, at least someone had the decency to shoot him before he turned. Will walked past the corpse and towards the back of the clinic. Her best bet for a drug locker would be there.
Her suspicions were confirmed as she got to a room across from the exam rooms. The drug locker was wide open.
"Fuck," she swore. She hoped there would be more. She opened the door and found a few bottles left. Some were pills, there was even one of an ointment. She shoved them all in her bag. She wasn't exactly sure what they were, but they were better than nothing. Hopefully, one of these was penicillin. She knew for sure that would help with infection.
She went to the exam rooms next and picked through the drawers. She grabbed all the bandages and gauze she could. There was also one half empty bottle of rubbing alcohol. She'd hit the jackpot. Well, not the ten-million-dollar jackpot, more like the one thousand dollars that could be won at Bingo. It wasn't much, but it was enough to pay for a cheap night in Reno. It was a nice little boost.
Will started heading back towards the office she came in through when a loud clang echoed through the hall. She froze in horror as the moans followed. Blocking her way out were about four walkers all coming towards her.
"Shit!" She cursed and started running back down the hall. She turned into the first office she saw and went to slam the door behind her, only to find it was one of those swinging doors that couldn't close properly.
"Stupid fucking door!" She yelled as the walkers came in. Will sliced through the decaying skull of the closest walker. She turned around and saw the window. She didn't hesitate for a second before charging and smashing through the window. Will shielded her head with her arms. Still, got scratched up.
She landed on the pavement hard, and felt the wind get knocked right out of her. Her palms where all scratched up. Will sucked in a deep breath and let the adrenaline fill her as she got up and starting sprinting down the road. She turned around to see that one walker had managed to make it out of the window and was now coming after her. Another one followed suit. The third tried to get out but it fell out and crumpled on the pavement, its legs broken. Walkers don't get winded, people do. Will had to get rid of the threat. She turned around and charged them. With pure determination in her bones, she chopped one of the walkers' head's right off. The second one came towards her and she dispatched it with ease. It dropped to the ground and she finally felt like she could breathe.
Will saw there was was some glass imbedded in her skin. She could feel the blood dripping from her forehead. She could do a full assessment later, right now, she had to get back to the house and to the brothers. She started on the long trek back.
She made it back probably by noon. She always had a built in clock, it was a secret talent of hers. Will opened the same window she left from in the first place. She collapsed on the ground with a heavy thud. All the adrenaline she had earlier vanished. Her body ached.
"W-Will?" She looked up to see Casey standing above her, the gun in hand.
"Hey," she said.
"Y-You sh-should've w-woke m-me," Casey scolded her while helping her up. "Y-You s-shouldn't h-have g-gone a-alone."
"Yeah, well, I never said I did thing's rationally," she told him. "How is he?"
"H-He's s-still g-got a f-fever," Casey explained. "I-I've b-been l-looking f-for a-anything t-to h-help. W-What d-did y-you f-find?"
"There wasn't much," she told him. "I grabbed what I could." She handed him the bag.
"T-This is gr-great," Casey said. "Y-You sh-should g-get c-cleaned up."
"I'll do that," she assured.
Will walked to the bathroom and cringed at the sight of herself in the mirror. The light streamed in from the bathroom window. She found a pair of tweezers in the cupboard and sat on the toilet cover. She started picking out the pieces of glass for her arms. There were scrapes on her elbows and knees from when she collided with the ground. They didn't seem to be bleeding anymore. Though her clothes were now stained with even more blood than they had been. She had a scratch above her eye. That one seemed to be the worst. She'd probably need to bandage that up.
Will walked up to the room. Eli was up and looking at what Will found. He was still very pale and there were dark circles under his eyes. He looked like crap. Casey, who was looking at all the different bandages. When she grabbed them she didn't exactly stop to look what they were exactly.
"H-Here," Casey said while handing her a pack of butterfly bandages.
"Thanks," she replied.
"The hell happened to you?" Eli asked.
"Killed some walkers. Jumped out a glass window. Just the usual," she explained. "How're you feelin'?"
"Like shit," he told her. "But these should help."
"I didn't know what was there… I just grabbed everythin'," she shrugged.
He pulled out the ointment. "It's antibiotic. We've also got some kick ass pain killers aaaannnndddd, hell yeah doxycycline."
"I'm guessin' that's good," Will deduced.
"Oh, it's really good," he replied.
Will left the room as Eli instructed Casey on how to properly dress his leg. She took the butterfly bandages and bandaged up the scratches on her face. She then took her spot right by the door. She started picking whatever pieces of glass left in her arm. She thought she'd gotten them all, turns out she missed a few.
She looked up at the sound of someone coming down the stairs. Her immediate thought was that something must be going wrong. It was a valid thought because though things were working out now, something always goes wrong.
"Everythin' alright?" Will asked as Casey came into view.
"Y-Yeah. I-I f-found s-something w-while y-you w-were g-gone," he explained. "A t-truck."
"A pick-up?" Lexi asked and he nodded. "Where?"
"I-In t-the b-back."
"Show me."
Will got up and followed Casey out the door. He led her to a rusted red pick up truck in the back field.
"D'you think they left the keys?" Will asked.
"D-Dunno," Casey told her.
"You go check," she suggested. "I'll pop the hood, see if there's anythin' off." Casey nodded and headed back inside the house.
She started checking under the hood. Her main concern were the spark plugs. Though she wouldn't know if they needed a change until after they start it. Casey came back with the keys in hand. Will grinned.
"Try startin' it," she told him.
Casey got in the front seat and turned the key. The truck stalled for a second before sputtering and shutting back off. Will groaned in frustration.
"Just what I thought," she voiced. "Spark plugs' burnt out." Casey smacked the front wheel in frustration. She got an idea and walked over to the driver's side door.
"N-Now w-what?" Casey asked.
"Well, no matter what I say, we both know Eli ain't gonna stay still for long," Will said. Casey smirked but nodded. "Thing is, he can't walk on that leg, don't matter if he thinks he can push on, he can't. Only way we're gonna get outta here is to fix that truck. You see a toolshed?"
Casey nodded.
"Alright, that's a start."
Will gave Casey a list of things he'd need to find. She walked back over to the abandoned car in front of the house and popped the hood. It wasn't ideal, but the spark plugs in the car could fit in the truck. She managed to take them out and closely observed them. She made sure there wasn't any wear and tear. She brought them back to the truck where Casey stood with a red toolbox and some duct tape.
"Perfect, I should have her runnin' in about an hour," Will told him. "You wanna stay or you gonna check on your brother?"
"I-I'll s-stay," he decided.
"Good," she smiled. "At least one o' y'all's gonna know how to fix a car. Somethin' my daddy taught me. 'Everyone outta know three things: how to bar-b-q the perfect steak, how to throw a punch, and how to take care of your engine'. Drilled it into me and my sister's heads growin' up. Course it only ever stuck with me."
"I-Is h-he d-dead?" Casey asked.
"Yeah, died when I was about your age," she explained. "What about you? Eli only mentioned your mom?"
"H-He l-left w-when I w-was f-four," Casey explained. "E-Eli t-took i-it h-hard. B-But h-he a-always l-looked o-out f-for m-me and m-my m-mom."
"I'm sorry," she told him.
"I-I'm s-sorry t-too," he replied.
About an hour later Will installed the new, well somewhat used, spark plugs. Casey was behind the wheel once more turning the key. The car stalled twice. Will was just about to give up hope when Casey turned the key once more and the truck roared to life. Unable to contain herself, Will lifted her fist into the air in excitement.
"We did it!" She cried out in joy. Casey grinned. Things were looking up.
After syphoning the other car for the fuel, getting Eli in the car, and getting whatever small supplies there were, the group of three left the house in the truck with a new sense of hope. They were squashed uncomfortably. Casey sat in the middle, while Eli took the window seat and Will drove. She sped down the back roads, driving past a few stray walkers.
"How long?" Eli asked. Casey fell asleep and was leaning up against his brother.
"Dunno, a few hours," she said. "How's the leg doin'?"
"Hanging in there," Eli told her. "I was surprised you wanted to leave so early."
"I may not have known you boys for long, but I've realized one thing: you weren't gonna shut up 'til I caved," she told him. "'Specially since I got the meds."
"You guessed right," he smirked. He coughed. "I was just about to start a fight when you came up to tell me we were goin'."
"You still look like shit," Willow said. "I know you're puttin' on that tough guy act, but its bullshit. If it was my choice, we'd'a stayed, but let's be honest, it stopped bein' my choice a while ago."
"That's not true," Eli said.
"Mhm," she mumbled. "Look, I ain't arguin'. We're on the road, got a car so we ain't walkin'. If the truck breaks down again, you best believe we're gonna stay in one place 'til that leg heals up. Even if I gotta tie you down 'n spoon feed you."
"And here you thought you had no choice in the matter," Eli teased.
"Shut up," she smirked.
They were just outside a small town. Will and Eli were still chatting, not talking about anything in particular –minus the fact that he insulted her favorite movie, The Wizard of Oz. She took a few shots at him as well. Casey had woken up at some point and was now laughing at them.
"Oh please! Lou Ferigno's Hulk would kick Eric Bana's ass," Will argued. "I mean you can't beat the original."
"I beg to differ," Eli retorted. "I mean look at Star Trek, the new one is better. The acting, the visuals. All of it."
Will wrinkled her nose in disgust. She felt like Charlotte at that moment. "I'll bet you're the guy who thinks the Star Wars prequels were…"
"Will look out!" Eli screamed. Her eyes had momentarily gone off the road. Will looked back to see someone standing in the middle of the road with their arms up to stop them.
Will stomped on the breaks. The red truck stopped two inches from the middle aged man. He came up to the driver's side window.
"Name's Nick. And you?" He asked. Will had a bad feeling in the pit of her stomach. Eli was the first to speak up.
"Eli," he introduced. "This is Casey and Willow."
"And what're you kind people doin' here?" Nick asked in a heavy Georgian accent.
"Just passin' through." Will was the one to speak this time.
"Now, y'see, that's gonna be a problem," Nick informed. "Cause as of this point, you're in our territory."
As if on queue, about a dozen heavily armed men and women came walking out of the woods. Will tried to come up with some plan to get out of this, only she didn't have the chance as Nick pointed his gun at the brothers.
"I'm gonna have to ask y'all to step outta the vehicle," he ordered them. She hesitated for a second. "If you even think 'bout resistin', gonna be Eli that gets it." Casey tensed. She could feel him shaking in fear. Eli looked at Will, she gave him a curt nod before he opened the door. She wasn't going to let these guys gun them down. Will stepped out of the truck, her hands above her head in surrender.
"On your knees, all o' you," he continued. His gun was still pointed at them. On top of that, his small army all had their weapons trailed on them too. She knew there was one behind each of them. Once again, Will gave them a nod and they dropped to their knees. There was no escape here.
"Hm, Mick's gonna like the girl," one of the men declared. The others started to laugh.
"Yeah, I'll bet she's real good," another one agreed. "If Mick don't want her, I'll go for a spin."
Will felt her blood boil. They were talking about her as though she was nothing but a piece of meat.
"Who the fuck's Mick?" She asked trying to sound much braver than she felt.
"Mick's the guy who now owns you," Nick explained with a smirk.
Will looked over at the brothers, who weren't as good at masking their fear as she was. She could still hear their laughter as the thug behind her threw a bag over her head, and the darkness washed over her.
Well, things aren't looking so good for Will, Eli, Casey, Hannah or Carl. Please let me know what you think!
