Chapter Twenty
They got in. Of course they would – why wouldn't they? They went through the halls, the walkers right behind them. Shane was getting frustrated – every exit seemed to be blocked somehow. Walkers, a chain and lock on the door.
They had to get out.
They just had to.
A sandwich and a glass of milk. Lori begging him to eat.
"For Mary," she said, tears in her eyes.
And so, Rick ate. The food was tasteless in his mouth, but she was right. He needed to keep his strength up to give more blood.
So he'd be awake when she woke up.
Shane and Otis still hadn't returned, and no matter how much blood Rick gave, he swore she was getting paler.
He had to hold onto the hope that Shane was coming back. He had to.
They made it to the gym, and climbed the bleachers. Shane was silently praying that they wouldn't be able to climb up after them.
He looked around for an exit, and besides the doors, only saw some windows that looked smaller than what even he could fit into.
"Those windows," he asked over the sounds of the dead. "What's on the other side?"
"About a 20 foot drop with nothing to catch you, maybe some bushes, then the athletic fields."
"We just need enough time. We got to get up there, get them open, then get out," Shane said. It was risky, stupid. But it was their only shot.
He had to save his sister. Not for Rick, for himself.
"Not me, maybe you," Otis argued.
"Hey, hey, hey."
"Come on, man, look at me! You really think I can squeeze through one of them tiny windows? They'd be all over us. Look, we lay down some fire, and get a head start. You stay here, I hop down, draw them away. That gives you the chance to get up the bleachers and out a window."
"And where do you go?" Shane asked.
"Locker room," Otis replied, shining his flashlight to a white door. "Down those steps."
"Looks like a good way to get trapped."
"It's got windows, too, and more my size. I get out through one, I double back, we meet up out in the field."
"You're a crazy son of a bitch, ain't you?" Shane asked, but he was grateful the man came up with a plan. Shane knew how much time had already been wasted, and he wasn't thinking of anything that would get the both of them out.
"Just trying to do right for your sister."
"You take three shots and you go," he told Otis, who nodded. "After that, I fire. I'll lay down a cover for you. I'll get you a lead."
"All right."
Otis took his three shots, and then he ran. When he landed, a walker grabbed onto his ankle.
That was the first one Shane took down.
The walkers ran after him, and Shane shot until Otis made it into the locker room. Shane jumped down, ran up the stairs to the window, which he broke. A couple of walkers were soon on him, and he took them down.
Packs first.
Gun second.
Shane, then, sat on the window frame, taking a deep breath. He was always the one sneaking out after curfew – jumping out of the window, which Mary always closed behind him. But that was only two stories.
This was twenty feet.
He dropped down and held onto the window frame by his fingertips. He'd be lying if he said he wasn't afraid. He knew he was going to get hurt – he just hoped that he didn't die. Because if he died, chances were, Otis may not make it either.
And then his sister would die.
Suddenly, a walker grabbed onto him, and Shane punched it a couple of times.
When that did nothing, he grabbed the gun from his waistband and shot it.
The walker went down, and so did he.
Shane landed on his ankle, which he felt break. After a moment of laying on the ground in pain, he heard gunshots.
That's when he stood, grabbed his packs and gun, and ran.
They waited by Mary's bedside as Hershel checked her blood pressure again. Rick hadn't let go of her hand.
"Hey."
He looked up and over at the doorway, where T-Dog and Glenn stood with Maggie.
"Hey," he replied quietly.
"Um, we're here, okay?"
"Thank you," Lori replied.
"Whatever you need."
They left, and Hershel rolled down the sheets, exposing the wound on Maryanne's stomach.
"If they don't get back soon, we're gonna have a decision to make," Hershel told them.
"And that is?"
"Whether to operate on your wife without the respirator."
"You said that wouldn't work."
"I know. It's extremely unlikely. But we can't wait much longer."
Shane ducked behind a cement wall as walkers slowly walked by. He, then, went to his left, taking down a walker with his rifle. He leaned against the fence for just a moment as he reloaded, and he moved back the second walkers began to pile onto it.
He raised his gun to shoot at the walkers, and the sound of a gunshot rang out.
As the walker fell, Shane looked to see Otis standing there, holding his rifle. He continued taking down the walkers, Shane taking down the last one.
"Man, I thought I lost you," Shane said as he rejoined Otis, handing him one of the packs.
"That was my last rifle round," Otis said.
"Mine, too."
"Come on!"
They sat outside of Mary's room. Neither of them spoke. So many things were racing through Rick's mind, he didn't even know where to begin articulating them.
Suddenly, they heard coughing. Both of them stood and ran into her room. Lori stood behind, with Carl, who had heard her coughing and ran to join them, as Rick knelt beside her. His hand slipped into hers and the other smoothing her hair. Sweat began to beat on her forehead.
She looked between him and Hershel.
"Where are we?" she asked quietly.
"Hey, Mary," Rick said. "That's Hershel. We're in his house. You had an accident."
"It hurts," she said, squeezing his hand.
"I know, I know," he replied.
"Where's Shane?"
"He went to get some more supplies, he'll be back," Lori told her, and Mary looked at the woman, confusion evident on her face.
"Lori?"
"I'm here," she said with a smile. "So is Carl."
Mary's face softened as she looked at her nephew, who was crying.
"Hey, Carl," she said. "Did you tell your mom about the buck?"
"What buck?" Lori asked.
"We saw a buck in the woods. God, it was so pretty... and so close," Mary replied. "I mean, I've never been..."
Her words trailed off. Her face went slack and her eyes stared past them. Rick's heart dropped.
No, no, not now. Not with Carl here.
"Mary?" he asked.
No answer.
Suddenly, her body tensed and began to jolt. Lori tried to reach forward and hold her down, but Hershel stopped her.
"Don't, it's a seizure," he said, turning her on her side. "If you hold her down, you could hurt her."
"You can't stop it?" she demanded, holding Carl close so he couldn't see.
"She has to just go through it."
The sounds of Lori and Carl crying rang in his ears. He'd backed away, let go of her hand, but quickly found he couldn't look away.
Finally, she stopped, and Hershel turned her so she was lying on her back once again.
"Her brain isn't getting enough blood," he said. "Her pressure's bottoming, he needs another transfusion."
"Okay, I'm ready."
"If I take any more out of you, your body could shut down. You could go into a coma, or cardiac arrest."
"You're wasting time!" Rick said.
And so, with hesitation, Hershel took more blood.
They went down some steps, and Shane looked around, desperately looking for an exit.
"We need a way out," he said.
"Just let me catch my breath," Otis replied, and leaned against the fence.
"Come on," Shane muttered, though he leaned against it, too. His ankle was damn near killing him.
Walkers suddenly began to pile on the fence, and they quickly ran off.
We're comin' Mary. I swear to God, we're comin'.
"Before it happened, we were standing in the woods. And this... deer just crossed right in front of us. And I swear – it just planted itself there and looked at Carl right in the eye. And I looked at them looking at that deer and that deer looking back at them and that moment just... slipped away. Slipped away. That's what she was talking about, when she woke up. And if Carl was walking on the right instead of her..."
Lori looked at him, then Mary, and back at the ground. She said nothing.
What did you think? I'd love to hear it.
Thanks for reading, have a great day, and I'll talk to you next time.
-SparrowEyedGirl