WARNING! This story contains spoilers, racial slurs, violence, graphic details, and explicit adult scenes.
(I have failed to add the DISCLAIMER in the first chapter! Anyways, I do NOT own The Walking Dead, if I did...there would be a cure by now).
Please excuse my grammar and spelling errors, I try to catch them before posting.
Chapter Fourteen — Just Breathe
~November 5th, 2006 (approximately 5:46 p.m.)~
Thalia placed the plate of chicken, peas, and mashed potatoes in front of her daughter, Kacee.
"So, you invited everyone to my party, right?" Kacee asked, referring to her classmates and neighbors kids.
Thalia nodded, making her way back to the stove. "Yes, I invited everyone."
"Comic book characters gonna be there?" Kacee asked as she took a bite out of her chicken.
Thalia nodded again, "that's the plan." Just then, Thalia felt a sharp kick coming from her blooming belly. "Ssst."
Alerted from the sound of pain, KK looked up at her mom. "What's wrong?"
"Your baby brother or sister is trying to tell me they want to play soccer for living." The mother said with a strained smile. After a moment the pain ceased, not really bothering her at all. Thalia's eyes shifted over to the bills that were piling up pretty fast. Closing her eyes for a moment, Thalia remembered that she needed to write out checks and sign paperwork for recent medical visits.
"I still hope it's a girl." KK mentioned to her mom.
"Right. At this point, as long as the baby's healthy...I could care less about the gender." Thalia said before taking her seat beside KK. "Kacee, pass me my purse."
Doing what her mother asked, KK reached over beside her for the medium sized black purse. "Mom, why can't you wait until later to do all this stuff."
"Because mommy doesn't want to worry about this later, I actually want to get some sleep tonight."
KK nodded, putting most of her attention to eating all of her food. "Is there anymore pie left?"
"Yeah, I'll cut you a slice after you finish your food." Thalia replied sweetly as she writes out another check. There was a moment of silence between mother and daughter, suddenly a ring from Thalia's house phone howled through the house.
Thalia got up from her seat and made her way to the phone, answering it. "Hello? Yes, I paid for three comic book characters. What? Can't you hire someone else? Listen, porky, I've been planning this birthday party for three goddamn months! No, you chill out. Either I get what I want or I want my money back, you hear me?!"
KK watched her mother get riled up before slamming the phone down, disconnecting herself from the person on the phone.
"Asshole," Thalia whispered, referring to the guy she was just having a conversation with, the bastard was trying to cheat her out of her money.
"You okay, momma?"
Thalia heard her child's soft voice behind her, usually Kacee's voice would be loud and vibrant with a hint of sarcasm, it was moment's like this that Thalia knew KK was just as soft and sensitive as her.
"I'm fine, I promise. Why don't you get ready for a bath while I cut you a slice of pie?"
KK didn't utter a word, she nodded before heading to her room to find a pair of pajamas to put on after her bath.
Thalia sighed to herself, all she wanted was a moment of peace. Nothing was Kacee's fault, she's been great. The reality of being a single mother was hitting her harder than it has in the past.
Unexpectedly, there was a sharper pain coming from Thalia's lower abdomen. "Ssst. Shit." Thalia groaned, hoping that she wasn't feeling what she think she was. A contraction? Not this early. Thalia wanted to brush the feeling off, hoping that it was a small case of Braxton Hicks.
But that was until she noticed the massive drops of blood coming from between her legs. "Oh my God!"
The young mother reached for her phone, but the pain of another contraction stopped her from doing so. Crying out in pain, she sat down, not knowing how to move, almost forgetting how to breathe.
"Mom, please tell me you washed my X-Men jammies?" KK asked as she made her way back to the kitchen, only to be horrified at the sight she was looking at. "Mom?!"
"KK, baby, I need you to call someone. Anybody."
Kacee didn't waste not a single second. She was determined to get her mother some help.
KK paced back and forth on the floor of the hospital walls. Her mother, Thalia, have been in the delivery room for what felt like hours.
"Hey, kid," Juliet, Thalia's assistant, said, getting KK's attention. "Stop prancing around like a deer. Your mom is going to be just fine. You hear me?"
"Yeah, I know," KK said as she sat in a seat beside Juliet. "I just don't anything to happen to her, is all."
Juliet always admire that part of Kacee's personality– the silent hero thing she's got going on. She always did everything she could for others without asking for anything in return. She could pretend like she didn't care but it was obvious she did.
"That was a brace thing you did–for your mom, I mean."
"She needed help. I dialed 911 and ran outside to fetch my neighbors. Anybody would have done that, right?" KK looked up at Juliet for an answer. Without saying anything, Juliet nodded and looked away from the child.
"Not really eight years old yet and you're making better decisions than I have." Juliet mumbled with a small grin on her face.
The doctor walked out of the delivery room, his robe and rubber gloves was soaked with blood. KK prepared herself for the worst.
"It's a girl," the doctor told Juliet before glancing down at KK. "Your mother is doing just fine, but I'm having my nurses rush your baby sister to NICU."
"When can I see my mom?"
"In just a few minutes, we're getting her cleaned up. Just keep in mind that she's very tired."
KK nodded before taking a seat again, she glanced at the clock on the wall, counting down the very second she could see her mom again.
~THE THIRD WEEK OF MAY, 2010 (After Outbreak)~
"Why did I let them come with us?" Rick asked his friend, referring to the two unconscious kid in their rooms. "I should have sent Carl with Lori and KK with her mama."
Shane scoffed humorlessly. "Man, if you start that," referring to the guilt Rick was carrying, "you'll never get that monkey off your back."
"Little girl goes missing, you look for her. Simple. You said call it, head back–"
"Doesn't matter what I said." Shane said, interrupting Rick's statement.
"They got shot because I wouldn't cut bait." Rick said. "It should be me in there."
Shane shook his head, waving his sweaty hand on his sweaty forehead. He chuckled, thinking of something ironic. "You've been there, partner. Right?"
Rick said nothing. He was silent.
"And you pulled through." Shane continued. "So will Carl. So will KK."
"Is that why I got out of that hospital? Found my family for it to end like this. This some kind of sick joke?"
"You stop it." Shane hissed. "Just stop."
"And not to mention what Thalia is gonna do to me if KK dies."
Shane scoffed. "You worried about Thalia? You should be worried about that little girl's daddy."
Just then, the door to Carl's room opened. One of Hershel's daughters walk out, she's known as Maggie. "Rick." She motioned for both of the men to come in the room. "He needs blood."
Carl was hysterical. He was throwing a fit, he didn't know what was really going on. All he knew was he was in pain.
"You, hold him down." Hershel said to Shane. He quickly walked over to do what the man told him to.
"Dad!" Carl shouted.
"I got him." Shane said, making his grip on Carl stronger.
Hershel continued to pull a bullet fragment out of Carl, only making him scream louder. "Almost there."
"Stop! You're killing him!" Rick shouted, his paternal instinct didn't like seeing his son in pain. It made him feel sick.
"Rick, do you want him to live?" Hershel asked calmly but loud enough so Rick could hear him over Carl's screams.
Moments later Carl screamed again, gasping for air.
"He needs blood." Patricia said, noticing the lost of blood and paleness from Carl.
"Do it now!" Shane yelled at Rick, he felt that Rick was moving way to slow. This was his son's life, if Carl was Shane's kid, he'd do whatever–no questions asked. No hesitation.
Rick did what his friend told him, allowing Patricia to gather blood from him. Carl continued to cry but then he went silent.
Shane looked at Rick with a broken expression.
Hershel took not of this and shook his head. "He just passed out." He pulled out one bullet piece. "One down...five to go."
"Let him rest for a minute, Hershel." Patrica suggested. "We need to go check on the little girl."
Hershel nodded, agreeing with Patricia. He looked at Shane. "The girl is going to pull through for sure, the bullet barely missed her lungs. I'd have to patch her up, give her some blood...and put her on an IV. Her blood type same as yours?"
Shane's eyes widen. Honestly, he looked terrified. "She not– I ain't her daddy. I'm no relation to her."
Hershel turned to Rick. "Is she yours?"
Rick shook his head. "Her parents are with our group. She was just with us. Carl's her best friend."
Hershel took in the new information. "Well, she's going to need blood soon. Our she will die of blood loss." The doctor left the room with Patricia to check up on KK.
Shane and Rick shared a look, both horrified of the new information.
Hershel was now checking in on Carl, he suggested that Rick and Shane leave the room.
After a few minutes, a very weak Rick walked out of Carl's room. Maggie was waiting from both him and Shane to come out.
Rick sat in a seat, that was placed in front of the farmer's daughter.
"He's stable for now." Shane announced to Maggie and Otis, who was sitting in the corner.
"A little girl?" Maggie asked.
"Hershel said she's gonna be just fine, but if we don't get her blood soon, she won't survive."
Maggie quietly gasped at the information, she didn't know these kids well but she always had a soft spot for the young.
"Lori has to be here Shane, she has to know. Same applies to Thalia, she has to be here with her daughter." Rick said.
"Okay, I get that. I'm gonna handle it." Shane reassured him. "But you've got to handle your end."
Rick showed an expression of confusion. "My–my end?"
"Your end is being here with your son." Shane squatted to his knees, to get at eye level with Rick. "Even if he didn't need your blood to survive, there is no way I'd let you walk out that door. Man, I'd break your legs if you tried. You know that, right? If something happened to him and you weren't here, if-- if he slipped away while you were gone, you would never forgive yourself for that. And neither would Lori, man."
Rick took a second to reply, he was in his own thoughts. He looked at Shane and nodded. "You're right."
"When was I ever wrong?" Shane joked, attempting to lighten the mood just a little.
Suddenly, the door to Carl's door opened, Hershel stepped out as he wiped the blood from his hands. "He's out of danger for right now. But I need to remove those remaining fragments."
"How?" Rick asked. "You saw how he was."
"I know and that was the shallowest one." Hershel told him. "And I need to go deeper to get the other ones."
"Oh, man." Shane commented.
"There's more," Hershel said.
"Tell me." Rick replied.
"His belly distended, his pressure is dropping, which means there's internal bleeding. A fragment must have nicked one of the blood vessels. I have to open him up, find the bleeder and stitch it. And he can't move while I'm in there-- I mean, at all. If he reacts the same as before, I'll sever an artery and he'll be dead in minutes. To even try this, I have to put him under. But if I do, he won't be able to breathe on his own. Same bad results."
There was a pause of silence. "What will it take?" Rick asked.
"You need a respirator." Otis said, speaking up. "What else?"
"The tube that goes with it, extra surgical supplies, drapes, sutures." Hershel told his dear friend.
"If you had all that, could you save him?" Rick asked.
"If I had all that, I could try."
"Nearest hospital went up in flames a month ago." Otis reminded the doctor. But then a thought dawned over the hunter. "The high school."
"That's what I was thinking." Hershel said, agreeing with Otis. "They set up a FEMA shelter over there. They would have everything we need."
"Place was overrun last time I saw it." Otis mentioned. "You couldn't get near it, but maybe it's better now."
Shane took in the newly said information. He nodded to himself. "I said, leave the rest to me. Is it too late to take that back?" He joked.
"I hate you going alone." Rick said to his friend.
"Come on. Doc, why don't you do me a list and draw me a map?"
"You won't need a map." Otis said. "I'll take you there. Ain't but five miles."
"Otis, no." Patricia said sternly.
"Honey, we don't have time for guesswork and I'm responsible. I ain't gonna sit here while this fella takes this on alone. I'll be alright."
"Are you sure about this?" Shane asked the man, Otis.
"We could wait until R.D. gets back." Maggie suggested.
"R.D. won't be back till a couple of days from now, maybe longer. You even know what any of the stuff he's talking about looks like?" Otis asked Shane.
"Come to think, no."
"I've been a volunteer at EMT. I do. We can talk about this till next Sunday or we could just go do it real quick."
"I'll take right quick." Shane said with a nod.
"I should thank you." Rick said to Otis.
"Wait till that boy of your is up and around. Then we'll talk." Otis told the man in a sheriff outfit, drenched in blood. "Does the little girl need anything?"
"She needs blood. And fast." Hershel answered.
"Where are they, your wife and the girl's mother?" Maggie asked Rick.
The group was still following the creek path up, looking for Sophia. Lori stopped in her tracks, her feet starting to get to her. One she stopped, everyone else did.
"We'll lose the light before too long." Daryl said, taking note of the sunset. "I think we should call it."
"Let's head back." Lori said.
"We'll pick up again tomorrow?" Carol asked.
"Yeah, we'll find her tomorrow." Thalia said, agreeing with Lori. Emma Kate switched her position on her mom, now laying on her chest with her arms wrapped around her neck.
Daryl whistled to get the groups attention, he motioned for them to follow him back to the interstate.
"How much farther?" Andrea asked, definitely struggling to keep up.
"Not much. Maybe 100 yards as the crow flies."
"Did he just say a 100 yards in not much?" Primrose asked her sister. Thalia grinned at her older sibling.
"Sounds like you're out of shape."
"Shut up." Prim said with a playful eye roll.
"Too bad we're not crows," Andrea pouted.
Failing to keep up, Andrea found herself surrounded in spider webs. She gets herself untangled successfully. She was utterly disgusted. "As the crow flies, my ass."
Unexpectedly, a walker stalked behind Andrea. She noticed and started screaming, the walker pushing her down to the ground.
"Andrea?" Carol asked, looking around for her but she was nowhere to be seen.
Thalia ran off in the direction of the scream, the group following behind her.
She continued to scream, "Help me!" It sounded like a losing battle. Thalia tried to run faster, but she did have Emma Kate attached to her hip.
Suddenly, a girl on a horse came out of nowhere and hit the walker with a wooden bat, stunning the undead monster.
"Lori? Lori Grimes? Thalia? Thalia?" The girl asked out.
"I'm Lori." Lori said.
"And I'm Thalia."
"Rick sent me for you both. You've gotta come now." The girl said urgently. Thalia and Lori shared a look, but they both knew something was up.
"What?" Lori asked.
"There's been an accident. Carl and KK been shot," at that moment the mother's heart sunk into the ground. Daryl didn't know what to make of this news, he just knew that he was now extremely worried about his daughter. "They're alive but you both have to come with me. Thalia, KK needs blood. Rick needs you, Lori. Just come."
Lori didn't hesitate, she dropped her things and got on the horse.
"Whoa. Whoa. Whoa. Whoa. You don't know this girl. You can't get on that horse." Daryl said, trying to get Lori to see she's making a huge mistake in trusting people so lightly.
Thalia started breathing heavy. "Daryl, take Emma Kate." Daryl looked at his woman with a frown.
"What?"
"Take Emma. I'm going to see about Kacee!" Emma Kate didn't want to detach from her momma just yet, reach resulted into fits and screams.
"Mommy!" The little girl screamed. "Mommy!"
"I'll see you soon. I have to go. I have to see your sister." Thalia said, attempted to soothe the child quickly before leaving.
"Rick said you had others on the highway, the big traffic snarl?" The girl, known as Maggie, asked Glenn, trying to talk loud enough over Emma Kate's screams.
"Uh huh." Glenn nodded, stunned by Maggie's presence.
"Backtrack to Fairburn Road. Two miles down is our farm. You'll see the mailbox. The name is Greene."
Thalia quickly hopped on the horse, scooting extremely close to Lori so she could fit properly on the horse.
"Hyah." Maggie sounded for the horse to move on.
"Mommy! Mommy!" Emma Kate continued to yell. Daryl held his youngest close, trying to get her to quiet down. But she wouldn't budge, she continued to throw a fit and crying. "Mommy!"
Primrose attempted to soothe to child by taking away her from Daryl but that didn't help at all.
Then there was a small wheezing sound coming from the ground, it was the walker. Daryl had enough, he shot the walker with his bolt. "Shut up."
"We need to hurry back to the interstate." Primrose said over the four year old's screams. "Before Emma attracts more walkers. She just might need some water and a snack. Jaxon, we have any water left?" The boy looked into his bag and shook his head.
Daryl walked over to his child. "Emma Kate, stop yer screaming! Hey, stop!"
"You shouting at her ain't helping! You're scaring her." Prim held the child close, muffling her screams just a bit. "Let's go, now."
The horse ride was taking longer than Thalia wanted. All she could think about was her oldest daughter being on her deathbed. She also couldn't help but think about leaving her baby girl behind screaming and crying. All of the emotions was started to overwhelm the worried mother. All she could hope for was a positive outcome for everything.
"Shot? What do you mean shot?" Dale asked, his gun in his hand.
"I don't know, Dale. I wasn't there." Glenn said, out of breath. "All I know is this chick rode out of nowhere like zorro and took Lori and Thalia."
Dale's eyes widen just a bit. He looked at Daryl. "You let her?"
"Climb down out of my ass, old man. Rick sent her. She knew their names. My kid's name."
Primrose passed by Dale, her son behind her. Primrose was still trying to get the baby girl to be quiet. "Emma Kate, you've got to shimmer down. You're fine. You got your daddy right over there."
Dale didn't recognize the new faces, he looked at Glenn then at the new people.
"Thalia's folks. They found us in the woods." Glenn answered Dale's silent question.
Dale nodded, understand their presence. "I heard screams. Was that you?" He asked Andrea. Andrea ignored the man and limped back to the RV.
"She got attacked by a walker, it was a close call." Glenn said.
"Andrea, are you all right?"
The blonde looked at the older man, she shook her head before walking in the RV and slamming the door.
Primrose set Emma Kate on her feet, she got on her knees to be at eye level with her niece. "Emma, baby, you've got to stop crying."
"Emma Kate, your mom is gonna be back soon." Jaxon said, trying to get his baby cousin to calm down.
Emma continued her screams, all she wanted was her momma. She felt alone. She felt like everyone was looking at her and thought she was being a bad girl. Although she didn't understand what was truly going on, she knew that something was wrong with her big sister. Now, all she wanted was her big sister and she knew she could have her. The child then felt sick, a tighten pull on her small chest, she started to cough. Emma then forgot how to breathe, maybe she was breathing but no air was coming to her lungs.
Her hazel eyes went big. She attempted gasp but nothing came out. Emma fell to the floor. Prim started to panic. "Daryl! Daryl!"
Hearing the panic in Prim's voice, Daryl ran over, he was already preparing a sippy cup full of water for his child but then he saw her on the ground, struggling to breathe. "Emma!"
Emma grabbed out for her father before her eyes rolled to the back of her head. "What's wrong with her, Prim?!"
Everyone wanted to walk over, they did, but they didn't stand too close, not wanting to hover over the small child.
"She's having an asthma attack! Please tell me you have some inhalers!"
"No, I ain't got any!" Daryl said, placing his hand on Emma's cheek. "Breathe, come on. You gotta breathe."
Jaxon was running his finger through her hair, trying hard to calm her down but then he had a thought. He opened his backpack and pulled out his inhaler that he almost never use. He looked at the number of pumps he had left, it was barely enough for Emma but it was worth a try. "Here! Let her use mine."
Prim took the inhaler, placing it inside the girl's mouth, pumping the medicine inside her mouth. "Breathe in. There ya go. Breathe in. You're doing great, sweet girl. One more time. Good. Good."
Emma was quiet. She looked at her father. Daryl picked her up off the ground, cradling her body close to him. "You're okay, bug. Daddy's gotcha. I gotcha."
And for a small second everything felt okay.
~•~•~•~•~•~•~ [A/N]
You guys! I had sooo much fun writing this chapter! I hope you guys had fun reading it!
Leave a comment, I'd love to know what you all are thinking! Okay, love y'all, bye. xx