Chapter 11

I was having a bit of a worry, ok, a complete and utter panic. I was sat at the bedside of my sick brother, my brother who had been shot by some idiot with a shotgun. It turned out that the man, Otis, had been shooting at a deer my brother was trying to pet and the bullet went straight through the deer and into Carl. Now, according to Hershel, the veterinarian, yes you heard me correctly, the bullet had fractured into like six pieces inside of him and he needed surgery…or he was going to die. As if this wasn't bad enough, he had lost a lot of blood so my dad was having to do a blood transfusion with him. So my dad was really weak. I wanted to give my blood too, me and Carl have the same blood type but dad wouldn't let me. He was a pain in the ass sometimes.

So yeah, that was one of the causes of my panic, well, it was obviously the main cause of my panic but I was also panicking about other things too. Shane had left with Otis to go some medical centre that had been set up at a nearby high school to find the equipment Hershel needed to operate on Carl. The problem: the school was supposedly overrun by walkers and it had been hours and hours since they'd left. I was praying they got back soon, I hoped they had they medical equipment needed to save Carl and I hoped Shane was ok. I don't know what I would have done if he had died.

Hershel had wrapped up my ankle while I sat at Carl's bedside. He'd tried to make me leave the room and lie down upstairs to take the weight off it but I refused. Instead I had my foot propped up on a stool beside me, it seemed to appease both Hershel and my parents. He didn't think it was broken, just a bad sprain. I probably wouldn't be able to walk properly on it for a good few weeks. A woman named Patricia had cleaned up T's arm, she confirmed it was infected but luckily Merle's pills seemed to be doing the trick. He seemed to be on the mend.

Mom came into the room and sat back down beside me, her position for most of the night. She'd only slipped out to go to the toilet. Dad was sat opposite us, holding on to Carl's other hand. I rested my head on mom's shoulder and she wrapped her arm around me.

Suddenly Carl began to blink. I clutched at his hand and leaned forwards, mom and dad stood up and stood over him.

"You're ok honey" mom murmured, "you're ok"

"The deer…the deer…" Carl mumbled "it was…great"

We were all smiling down at him like idiots when he started thrashing, his eyes rolling back in his head. Dad cursed before shouting for Hershel. Hershel rushed in and we all had to wait for him to stop fitting. It was awful. I was crying and mom was crying and it was just terrifying.

"We're going to have to do the surgery sooner rather than later" Hershel explained with a sigh.

Mom's head snapped up.

"You said it was too dangerous without the medical equipment" mom questioned.

"It is…but he'll die if I don't"

Dad wrapped his arms around my mom and rocked her as she sobbed. I sat there numb.

"I'll go get ready" Hershel told us before leaving the room.

We sat with Carl until Hershel and Patricia entered the room ready to carry out the surgery. They wanted to keep my dad with them in case they needed anymore blood. Me and mom cleared out of the room, her arm around my waist to stop me falling over. We went out to sit on the porch. Well, I sat while mom paced. The rest of the group were due to arrive soon and I was hoping they had managed to find Sophia while we were gone…although I doubted it.

There was a rumbling of a car engine in the distance. I looked up. I could see a truck coming up the drive. I stumbled to my feet and hobbled to the steps. The car pulled up and Shane and Otis climbed out. Otis had the medical equipment in his hands. He rushed up the steps and he and my mom ran inside to get the equipment to Hershel. Thank god they were back…hopefully now the surgery would be successful.

Shane gave me a smirk as he climbed the porch steps. I smiled back at him. His arms wrapped around me pulling me tightly against his chest.. His clothes were dirty and had splotches of walker blood on them but I didn't care, I was just glad he was back. I kissed him firmly on the lips and sighed.

"I'm glad you're back…I was worried" I whispered.

"I'm fine...it got pretty hairy in there but we got out" Shane smiled

"What happened to your ankle?" Shane asked as he helped me to the porch swing. He sat down beside me.

"I fell on the way back to the highway, Hershel says it's a sprain" I explained, "I'm meant to be keeping the weight off it and resting but I couldn't just go lie in bed while Carl was dying and you were gone"

"You should have done what the doctor told you" Shane chastised, his arm slung across my shoulder.

"He ain't a doctor" I laughed "he's a veterinarian…this surgery…he's done it on a cow or something"

Shane chuckled along with me. We sat quietly beside each other, I listened out for anything going on in the house, just in case something happened with Carl. We sat for a while, until we heard more cars and the distinctive sound of Daryl's motorbike. I grinned and Shane helped me up. The others pulled up at the top of the drive. I made Shane help me hop down the steps before I hopped to wrap my arms around Dale.

"Hey, Dale" I smiled.

"Daisy. How is your brother?" Dale asked.

"In surgery" I sighed "Hershel seems to be a decent guy…looks a bit like Santa"

"Santa, huh?" Dale chuckled.

"Yep, got that whole white beard thing going on"

Carol didn't get out of the RV and I didn't want to force her, I could only imagine how hard it must have been to leave the highway and come here. Daryl climbed down from his bike and I hobbled over to him.

"Hey dude, how's it hanging?" I grinned, tipping my head and giving him a salute.

He turned and gave me a strange look followed by a roll of the eyes and a small chuckle.

"What? Am I not cool?" I laughed "ok I know I'm very cool…I'm hip! Anyway…how is the search for Sophia going?"

Daryl turned to get his stuff off the bike, slinging his crossbow over his shoulder. I so wanted to learn how to fire one of those things!

"Went out this morning" Daryl muttered "didn't find anything"

I sighed and nodded.

"At least you're trying...you've really stepped up"

Daryl grunted before rubbing his neck and wandering off towards the RV to grab his tent. We were planning on setting up camp on the big grass area in front of the house, until Carl was better. I decided it was probably best that I help out as best I could, it took my mind off the fact that Carl was having bullet fragments removed. So, fair enough there wasn't that much I could really do with my ankle but I was very good at handing out tent pegs!

"Daisy!" Mom called from the house.

I looked up to see her standing in the doorway. She was smiling.

"Carl is awake!" she practically whooped.

I grinned and began hobbling towards the house. Maggie, who was helping us all put the tents up took pity on me and helped me up the steps. Carl was still pretty weak, laying there, but at least he had a little more colour in his cheeks. My dad was looking a little better too, a little less stressed, a bit of weight off his shoulders.

"Hey loser" Carl whispers, a hoarseness to his voice.

"Hey kid…I see you finally decided to wake up…shirking your responsibilities!" I tease, grinning at him.

Carl chuckled weakly. I sat down beside him and rested my arms on the side of his bed. Dad was sat next to me, and mom on the other side.

"How's Sophia? Have you found her yet?" Carl asked us nervously.

We all sat for a moment, I didn't want to be the one to have to tell him that Sophia was still missing. She was his friend so obviously he would be worried about her, but I didn't want to ruin things for him. He'd just woken up after being shot and having surgery, he didn't need any more weight put on him. I glanced at mom, but before either of us could say a word dad had already spoke up.

"She's fine, Carl, she's just resting, like you need to be" dad smiled.

"She's really ok?" Carl questioned.

"Yeah" dad lied "don't worry about Sophia".

I didn't like the fact that we were lying to him but I understood why dad did it so I went along with it and as mom didn't step up to correct him I assumed she must have been ok with lying to him too. Carl chatted to us for a little while before he fell back to sleep. Hershel popped in to check on him now and then but he seemed happy with Carl's progress.

Dad and mom wanted to stay with Carl for a while but I wanted to head back outside to see what was going on. As I shut the door to Carl's room I bumped into the young girl with blonde hair that I'd seen around the house but I'd never actually spoke to.

"Hi" I smiled "I'm Daisy Grimes"

"Beth Greene" the girl replied "daddy said your brother is doing well"

"Yeah, Hershel has done a great job fixing him up, we owe him so much!"

"I better get going, Patricia is waiting for me, we're sorting out some food for you all for lunch" Beth smiled, "but I'll see you later? It's great having another girl around the place"

"No problem, I'll see you soon" I grinned before hopping out the door.

I tried to put weight on my foot but man did it hurt, I decided to just hop despite the fact that I was a bit uncoordinated and kept wobbling from side to side. When he saw me heading in their direction, T-Dog jogged over to help me.
"Thanks, T, how are you feeling?" I asked.

"Better, got me some damn good antibiotics" he chuckled.

"Oh, good job old Merle isn't here, he'd be so jealous" I joked giving him a wink.

"Daryl's out looking for Sophia again" T-Dog explained "me and Dale are going to get water from the well soon if you want to tag along?"

"Sure" I grinned "don't know how much good I'll be on this leg of mine but I'll come along for the journey….got to take in this scenery while we can…back on the highway soon"

"You reckon? Maybe they'll let us stay"

"That would be good" I sighed "it is lovely here".

I spotted Dale chatting to Maggie, T and I headed over to them. She had lovely hair, proper soft and shiny looking. Mine was all horrid at the moment, I guess that's what happens when you have to wash your hair in a creek for weeks and weeks, that one shower at the CDC had been lovely but unfortunately it hadn't done much to repair the damage done. I bet Maggie was able to shower and wash her hair properly all the time. Ok, I do realise I'm obsessing over someone's hair but I'm a girl! I'm allowed to be envious of someone's hair. I was currently trying to pluck up the courage to ask her if I could borrow her shower! She smiled at T and I before zipping off to help Glenn set up the eating area. Shane grinned at me from across the camp, he was sorting out the weapons in the trunk of the station wagon.

"You coming with us, Daisy?" Dale asked as he picked up some containers to collect the water.

"Yep, you'll have to slow down for me though! I'm not so quick" I laughed pointing down at my leg.

We set off towards the well, slowly, just chattering away. Dale was telling us stories about his wife, Irma. And then T-Dog was telling us about his church group back in the days before the apocalypse. When we reached the well I squealed and reached for the rope.

"Can I do it? Please? Please? I've never got water from a well before!" I asked with a grin.

"I really don't believe that you're nearly eighteen" T-Dog laughed.

I slapped his arm playfully before reaching for the rope. I yanked on it but the bucket didn't rise, in fact the rope didn't move at all, it was like it was trapped. I pulled on it again but it still didn't budge. I stepped forward and peered over into the well to see if I could find out what was stopping the bucket.

"Argh!" I screeched, hobbling backwards and falling over onto my butt.

"What is it?" Dale asked as he pulled me back up to my feet.

"Jesus, let me just restart my heart" I stuttered, my hand at my chest "walker…there's a fat ass walker down there"

T-Dog, Dale and I all peered over the edge of the well, my nose was screwed up at the disgusting sight. The walker was pretty gruesome, it was all bloated up, like huge and puffy. It's skin had went all funny too, like all prune-like and blue. It was looking up at us, letting out groans. Its arms stretched up as it tried to reach for us, but it too was trapped down there.

"Yep, that is a fat ass walker" T-Dog stated.

"We need to get it out, it'll contaminate the water if we leave it down there" Dale sighed "I'll go get the others"

T and I sat down on the grass to wait for the others to arrive to work out what we should do. I lay down, my head against the soft grass. T-Dog lay back beside me. If we ignored the fact that there was a walker groaning in the well not five feet away from us you could pretend that this was an ordinary day, just chilling out in the sun, like a nice little camping trip on a farm.

"If the world wasn't full of walkers somewhere like this would have been a great place to live" I mused "all these fields and stuff, I bet Maggie and Beth had a great childhood here"

"Hmmm" T mumbled, just looking up at the blue sky.

"Are you two lazy asses gonna get up and help us?" Shane called out.

I pulled myself up into a sitting position, T-Dog sitting up beside me. Shane, mom, Dale, Glenn and Maggie were heading our way. They were carrying a big rope and an axe. T stood up before pulling me to my feet. I pointed the others over to the well.

"You want to see the ugliest walker in the world? Go look down that well" I told them.

We all peered over into the well to see the walker growling and groaning up at us. I looked up to see Maggie screwing her nose up in disgust just like I had. It was quite funny in strange way.

"We can't just shoot it…all that walker blood would be too much of a risk" Dale sighed.

So we came up with the stupidest plan in the world, we were going to try and tempt it with some meat. Now, I saw the flaw in this plan from the start, but obviously my opinions aren't valued because they went ahead with it anyway. So, Shane was stood with a lasso of rope ready to hook it round the walker, and Glenn had some meat on the end of some more rope to tempt the walker into our reach. I stood at the back, arms folded just waiting for it all to go wrong! What sort of self-respecting walker would be swayed by some meat on a rope when there are tasty living humans right above it? Come on it just wasn't going to happen.

In the end, I was right, the walker just wasn't going for that bit of meat on a string. I resisted the urge to say I told you so.

"We need live bait" I grinned "any volunteers?"

Everyone sort of looked around the group. Glenn and Maggie looked to me, the others looked to Glenn. I didn't particularly want to be the one to be live bait but I would have done it if necessary, but Glenn just sighed and took it in his stride. Shane helped him tie the rope around his waist while Dale and Maggie tied the rope around some stump thing. Glenn was all pale and nervous as he began to lower himself into the well, balancing himself against the wall. My heart was beating fast in my chest as I watched what was going on. I bit on my fingernails nervously.

"Ok, be careful, Glenn" I said as I paced about at the top of the well..

As he lowered himself down, Glenn tried to loop the rope around the walker. The walker reached for Glenn, nearly getting a hold of him. Glenn slammed himself backwards into the wall to get away from it. Suddenly he let out a yell and began thrashing. The rope had come away from the stump and Glenn was slipping into the well further, nearer to the walker.

"Pull me up! Guys, pull me up! Now!" Glenn yelled as he tried to hold himself up against the well.

We all jumped onto the rope and began pulling at it, managing to pull Glenn out of the way of the walker. Glenn quickly slipped the lasso over the walker before yelling for us to get him out of there. Glenn crashed onto the ground, panting slightly. We all began heaving the fat, gross walker out of the well. Even with the six of us pulling – although I guess I wasn't really adding much to the effort given that my ankle was protesting with every pull – it was still hard work. Just when I thought we'd nearly got it out, the walker got stuck at the top of the well. I guess it just was too bloated to fit. We all pulled at the body some more…until we heard this disgusting ripping noise. We all fell back, part of the walkers slurping down onto the grass. I toppled backwards onto the grass, as did Maggie. Mom, Shane, T-Dog and Dale managed to stay on their feet.

The half of the walker that had flopped onto the grass was groaning and pulling its way towards us. T-Dog began hacking at it with the axe till it was dead permanently. Dale peered into the well and sighed, shaking its head.

"Contaminated" he sighed. We all let out a collective groan.

"Great, just what we need" I said with a roll of my eyes.

Shane helped me to my feet, his arm slipping round my waist. We left the others to sort out what we were going to do with the contaminated well. I would have suggested that we stayed to help but what did I know about that sort of stuff…plus my ankle was hurting, I just wanted to rest.

"You wanna hang in the tent for a while?" I asked him "I'm pretty whacked, could do with a lie down".

Shane nodded before flashing me a sly little wink. I giggled and elbowed him in the ribs. He chuckled at me. It was a bit of a carry on getting into the tent, which I noticed Shane and I were now permanently sharing, Shane lowered me down to the ground and I sort of shuffled backwards into it, getting myself comfortable on the nest of sleeping bags that Shane must have dumped in there earlier. Shane crawled into the tent after me, I lay myself against him, snuggling up against his chest. He wrapped his arm around me, keeping me tucked against him. I don't know why I was feeling so exhausted, maybe it was the stress of the last few days, but it certainly wasn't long before I drifted off.