Later that night Hershel checked Carl's blood pressure again. He said it was dropping again and he couldn't wait much longer. I gave as much blood as Hershel would let me and then all we could do was wait. Rick said he was going after Shane and Otis but we wouldn't let him. I was worried to death over Shane.

"I can't just sit here," Rick said begging to go after Shane.

"That's exactly what you'll do!" Lori said yelling at him. If I hadn't been so weak I might've knocked her on her ass but instead I sat.

"Shane said he'd be back Rick. He'll be back," I said.

"I can't do this by myself," Lori whispered. "Not this one. I can't." Rick stared at his wife and nodded taking a seat beside Carl.

I guess after a while Rick could tell I was worried about Shane. So he started to tell stories about when they were in high school.

"You remember that time Shane stole the principals car?" Rick asked. I let out a short laugh and nodded. "I mean it was legendary. Right out of the teachers lot in the middle of the school day. Shane steps out of lunch. Makes a B-Line to Principals Kingsly's Hyundai. Wire's the ignition. Peels out. Drives out to the chicken farm out there," Rick paused to look to his wife. "You've heard this right? So he pulls it into one of the big holding pens. Now Kingsly had that car waxed every month. Had the auto shop vacuum it out every week. But Shane, parks it in this huge pen with a couple of Rhode Island Reds. Bust open bags of seed in the back seat. Rolls down all the windows, and then starts sprinting back to school. It's three miles easy. But he was back in time to finish his sandwich before the bell."

I nodded realizing why Rick had told us this story again. To remind me that Shane could make it back. With or without help.

"The bell rings. Shane gets up and he runs into Kingsly in the hallway and he looks out the window and he says, Principal Kingsly, Your coupes gone," Rick laughed at this. "Coupe like chicken coop. But of course you get it. You've heard this story thousands of times. What you said before though. You were right. Shane will make it back. Carl's going to be alright." Lori looked up at Rick.

"You need to eat something. Please for me. You gotta keep your strength up," Lori said. Rick picked up a sandwich on the table and started eating.

I saw lights move across the wall indicating a vehicle had pulled up. I jumped up and ran to the porch and was slightly disappointed to see it was Glenn and T-Dog.

"Not who you were expecting?" I heard a voice say. I turned to see Maggie sitting in a rocker on the porch.

"Not exactly."

"They're from your group though right?" she asked.

"Yeah. Glenn and T-Dog," I said as they stepped out of the car. They walked up to the porch and up to me.

"You close the gate on the way in?" Maggie asked. Glenn's head jerk to the side surprised to see her like I was.

"Yeah. We closed it. Good to see you again," Glenn said smiling. "We met… before. Briefly." I grinned at Glenn and saw that Maggie had noticed T-Dog's cut.

"It's not a bite," T-Dog said. "Cut myself pretty bad though."

"We have some antibiotic's," Glenn said holding up a yellow prescription bottle. "Gave him some."

"Come inside. We'll have you looked at. I'll fix you some food," Maggie said opening the door. We followed her in but Glenn caught sight of the open door where Carl was and went to take a look.

"Hey," he said when he walked in the doorway. Rick looked up and greeted him. "Um. We're here okay."

"Thank you," Lori said dismissing him.

"Whatever you need," T-Dog said chiming in.

We left the room and Maggie took the boys into the kitchen. I helped her make them some food and Maggie went to find Hershel to look at T-Dogs arm.

"What's her name?" Glenn asked.

"Maggie," I said smiling at him.

"You know you're not too smooth," T-Dog said teasing him. Glenn looked down and blushed.

"If it makes you feel better you don't have much competition anymore," I said with a grin. Maggie returned with Patricia who had the supplies to stitch T-Dog up. She cleaned his wound off and started sewing. I couldn't watch so I turned the opposite direction. T-Dog started to gasp and I had to leave the room.

I walked out onto the porch and took a seat in one of the rockers. The night was peaceful. The crickets chirped in the distance. I heard the door open and Glenn walked out. He took a seat in the rocker next to me.

"So Carl. You think he'll make it?" Glenn said leaning over looking at his hands.

"If Shane makes it back he will," I said.

"Where did Shane go?"

"Went with the man who shot Carl to get a respirator from a FEMA trailer at the high school. It was only supposed to be a few miles away. They've been gone for hours."

"Oh," Glenn replied quietly. "I think they'll make it back."

"I hope so," we sat listening to the crickets a while longer and Maggie walked out onto the porch. When I saw her I stood. "I'm going to check on Carl." When I passed Maggie I winked and she stared confused.

I paused at the door to Carl's room when I heard Rick talking. He was telling Lori about when it happened. About the deer. I decided to leave them alone but turned and saw Hershel walking towards me. He nodded at me and walked into the room. I followed. He took Carls blood pressure again and sighed.

"He's loosing blood faster than we can replace it," Hershel said.

"I can give more," Rick said.

"No you can't. You given three times," Hershel said.

"I'll give again," I said sitting in the chair.

"Neither of you can. We need to operate now because I think your boy is out of time." Rick and Lori both stood silent. "You have to make a choice."

"A choice?" Lori said with a shudder.

"A choice," Rick said turning to Lori. "You have to tell me what it is. You have to tell me."

"We do it," Lori said pulling herself together. Hershel told me to fetch Patricia and I did. We then transferred Carl over to a metal cart and Patricia and Hershel started preparing for the surgery.

"You may want to step out," Hershel said as he picked up his instruments. I nodded and started to leave but noticed lights in the window first. I ran out onto the porch and nearly cried when I saw the blue truck pull up. Shane stepped out of the driver's seat pulling a bag behind him. Rick came out behind me and Shane walked over to us out of breath.

"Carl?" Shane asked.

"There's still a chance," Rick said. Shane handed the bags to Hershel who was looking in the truck.

"Otis?" he asked. This was the first time I'd thought about Otis. Where was he? I looked to Shane who shook his head and looked down. By now Maggie and Glenn had joined us and everyone stood speechless for a moment. "We say nothing to Patricia. Not till after. I need her." Hershel then took the bags inside.

Shane looked lost. Completely messed up. It worried me. Rick took him into a hug while Shane looked around wildly. His eyes met mine and didn't leave until Rick let him go and asked him what happened.

"They kept blocking us man," Shane said in a whisper. "Every turn. We had nothing left. Ten rounds. He said keep going so that's what I did. But I should've… I kept going. But I could've… I looked back and he… I tried."

Maggie stood beside me crying as she listened to Shane. I laid a hand on her shoulder comfortingly. Shane looked up and noticed and the guilt on his face became worse. Rick turned and took Maggie into the house. I looked over at Shane and he still stood running his hands through his hair and his eyes wandering.

"Shane maybe you should sit," I said slowly reaching my arm towards him. He nodded but still didn't look at me. I put my hand on his arm and lead him towards the truck where I sat him down in front of it. "You going to be okay?" He nodded. "Will you talk to me."

"I should've stayed. I could've helped him."

"And you could've been killed. You might've just saved Carl's life," I said rubbing the back of his hand with my thumb. I heard the door open and saw Rick come out with Lori. They sat down on the porch steps together.

"I didn't think you would come back," I said quietly.

"I'm here though," Shane said looking at me. I smiled happy to see him not look so worried. The door opened again about half an hour later and Hershel walked out. We stood and walked over to where he was talking with Lori and Rick. The rest of our group had walked out to hear the news.

"He seems to have stabilized," Hershel said.

"Oh thank god," Rick breathed. Rick walked up to the old man and gave him a hug. I let out a small laugh and breathed a sigh of relief. When Rick stepped away Lori thanked him.

"How do I tell Patricia about Otis," Hershel said. I looked up at Shane who's smile had dropped and grabbed his hand.

"You go to Carl," Rick said to Lori. "I'll go with Hershel."

Rick and Hershel walked into the house with the rest of the group and I started to walk towards the house. I stopped when I noticed how slow Shane was. I turned to see him limping.

"You hurt your leg?"

"It's not bad," he said shrugging it off.

"You should let Hershel look at it."

"I don't think the doc wants much to do with me right now." I nodded and helped him up the steps.

When we walked in Rick and Hershel were setting Patricia down in a chair while she bawled her eyes out. Shane stopped and watched for a moment before I tried to pull him away.

"I want to see Carl," he said and I nodded letting him go to Carl's room. I walked towards the kitchen not knowing what else I could do. Maggie was in there.

"I guess your friend will need some clothes," she said wiping away some stray tears. I nodded. "Come on."

She took me upstairs to a room where she opened some drawers and handed me some clothes. She walked into the hallway and opened up a door.

"You two can stay in here tonight. The bathrooms across the hall."

"Thank you," I said smiling at her. "For everything Maggie. You and your father have done so much."

"What else could we do? Watch that little boy die? But you're welcome Joey. I'll take these clothes to him." Maggie said back taking the clothes from me. "And the asian boy. What's his name?" she asked walking away.

"Glenn," I said with a knowing look. She nodded and blushed.

I walked into the bedroom and lay down on the bed. It had obviously been a boy's room. There were posters of bands on the walls and a baseball and gloves on the dresser. I wouldn't ask about it though. Maggie probably didn't want to talk about it. I heard footsteps coming up the stairs and got up. I looked out the door in time to see Shane walk into the bathroom and close the door.

I pulled off my shoes and pants and laid down in the bed pulling the sheets around me. Shane was in the bathroom for a long time and I dozed off. I woke up when the door opened. I sat up and gasped when he walked in. His head was shaved.

"Shane?" I asked tentatively. He looked up at him and sat down on the edge of the bed. I crawled over to him and messaged his shoulders. "Let me see your ankle." He pulled his legs up on the bed and laid his head back on the pillow. I rolled up his pants leg and inspected his injury. It was swollen and purple. "You should let Hershel look at this."

"No!" Shane said strictly. I was taken aback and nodded. "Sorry. I just don't want to ask him to."

"Will you let him look at it if it's still this swollen tomorrow? It could be broken," I asked. Shane sighed and nodded. "Can I asked about the hair?"

"Needed a change." I smiled at him and he gave me one back. "Come here." I joined him and laid my head on his shoulder. He wrapped his arm around me and I felt safe again.