Mitchell looked around and saw no one. He wished to hell that Dixon was up on his feet and able to help track Stein down! He was desperate to get to that man, to get answers as to what the hell was going on, and why Christie had been attacked.
"This is where Dixon would come in handy." Carlos said as he looked around them, reading Mitchell's mind.
"I know." Mitchell looked at the young man next to him. "Is that Dixon's cross bow?" he asked as he spotted the weapon Carlos held.
"Yeah." he smiled sheepishly. "I figured he won't be needin' it for a while still."
"He's gonna kill you if he finds out." Mitchell said as he moved forward.
"Well, we just won't tell him, right?" Carlos knew Daryl would have a fit if he knew anyone had touched his crossbow without his permission. He had just thought that it would come in handy, tracking someone you wanted to be quiet, and he knew from experience the crossbow was just that.
"Stop!" Mitchell whispered, halting Carlos, nodding towards a large tree. "Hear anything?"
"Yeah." Carlos nodded as they crept along, slowly approaching the tree. Splitting, they each moved to the side of the tree, cursing the dead leaves beneath their feet. A twig snapped under Mitchell's foot and Stein sprinted from the tree, running as fast as he could away from them.
"Stein!" Mitchell called out, giving chase, Carlos right on his heels.
"I'm not going back." Stein said, zig-zagging between the trees, hoping to dodge any missiles the pair pursuing him might shoot at him.
"We just wanna talk." Mitchell said, continuing to chase him. He knew that if and when he caught the sniveling little man he would get the answers he needed, and then he was likely to leave him to the walkers.
"No!" Stein said as he continued to run, about to jump over a fallen tree when a bolt hit him in the left buttock.
Mitchell looked back and saw Carlos standing back a bit, crossbow still in the air. He could only smile at the young man, impressed with his ability to hit a moving target. Running up, he grabbed a whimpering Stein by the collar and pulled him to his feet. "Why?" he growled, spit flying into Stein's face.
"Reichert.." Stein winced. "He said you and her were getting too comfortable, you might get the idea to take over..." he cried.
"So he told you to kill her?" Carlos asked as he joined Mitchell.
"He said it would be for the best." Stein nodded, the pain from his backside making his legs buckle beneath him, Mitchell's grip being the only thing keeping him on his feet. "He was going to set you up for it..." He had given his word to Reichert not to talk, but he felt he wasn't in the position to argue and hold out for too long.
"How'd you get out without anyone seeing you?" Mitchell asked as he tightened his grip, twisting the other man's shirt and causing him to choke.
Stein just shook his head, refusing to answer. He feared Mitchell, but he feared Reichert more.
"Answer him!" Carlos said, pulling down on the bolt that protruded from Stein.
"Reichert's got a secret tunnel in the basement of his house!" Stein sniffled. "When we'd heard that Grimes killed Toby, he sent me out that way."
"Show us." Mitchell said, releasing Stein's shirt. "Don't just stand there, show us!" he lifted his gun.
"Okay, okay." Stein started to hobble along in between the two men. "He's going to kill me."
"If he doesn't, we will if you don't do as you're told." Carlos said, shoving the injured man.
After about ten minutes of walking, crying and hobbling, the trio came to a clearing. "It's here." Stein said, wiping his face with the back of his hand.
"Where?" Mitchell asked, not seeing anything.
"There." he pointed to the ground.
"Show us!" Carlos said, getting ready to move the bolt again.
"Okay, okay!" Stein said as he scuttled forward, stopping and looking back at the two men. "Here." he said, leaning down to grab something. Mitchell and Carlos kept their weapons trained on Stein, glancing around them as they heard walkers in the distance.
"Hurry." Mitchell hissed, eager to get into Reichert's before the walkers spotted them.
"It's here..." Stein said as the leaves and dirt on the ground where Stein stood flew up, a door following suit, striking Stein in the head and knocking him to the side. Reichert emerged, panting and sweating as he tossed a bag up and stopping short when he saw Mitchell and Carlos.
"You useless idiot!" he hissed at Stein as he turned to run.
"Stop!" Mitchell called out, giving chase.
"Go to hell!" Reichert said as he turned, aimed his gun at Mitchell and fired.
"No." Carlos cried when he saw his mentor hit the ground, he ran to Mitchell's side and saw blood soaking through the side of his shirt.
In a blind rage, he lifted the crossbow and fired, getting the fat man in the leg, sending him to the ground, but only for a moment. Soon, and surprisingly quickly, Reichert was back on his feet and running as best as he could again and so Carlos fired one more bolt as soon as he could load it and got the fleeing man in the opposite knee, sending the man tumbling to the ground again, writhing in pain. He took a few steps forward, about to put one more bolt into the prone man when he spotted a heard of walkers approach. He stopped and looked at their former leader, and then back to the heard.
"Please." Reichert pleaded. "Don't leave me." he begged.
Carlos didn't have to think for very long before he shook his head, slung the crossbow over his back and headed to Mitchell.
"No!" Reichert screamed as the first set of teeth sank into his flesh.
"Come on, man." Carlos grabbed Mitchell by the arms and picked him up, struggling as he did. "Help me, Stein."
Stein stared in horror at the sight of Reichert being ripped apart by the ravenous walkers. He just shook his head, blood dripping down onto his shirt and stumbled to his feet.
"Help me, or I swear you'll be next!" Carlos raged.
Stein shook his head once more before taking off, running in the opposite direction. Without hesitation, Carlos grabbed the gun from his waistband and fired a single shot, striking Stein in the foot. Stein fell to the ground and continued to crawl along, unable to get to his feet again.
"Come on." Carlos said, nearly in tears as he carried the man who he had come to love as a father to the passage to Reichert's house. He closed the door behind him just as the walkers turned their attention from the half-devoured body of Reichert to the fresh, still living Stein. He stumbled along with Mitchell, eager to get him to the clinic as Stein's screams could be heard from above.
Christie opened her eyes and quickly regretted it. Blinding pain swept through her head and she suddenly felt as though she was spinning around at a high speed. "The lights." she croaked, not even knowing if anyone would hear her.
"Daddy!" Beth called out. "She's awake!"
Christie fought back the urge to be sick. She seemed to have that urge a lot lately. She closed her eyes as tight as she could, but the headache would not subside. Neither would the horrible dizziness that made her feel as though she were about to fall over, regardless of the fact she was lying down.
"Well, hello there." Hershel said softly as he looked down at the young woman. "Bethy, turn the lights off please." he waited for all of the fluorescent lights to flicker off before speaking again. "How do you feel?"
"Like hell." she replied, wanting to crawl into a dark, silent place until the pounding in her head subsided.
"Do you remember what happened?" he asked, pulling up a stool next to her bed.
"I was getting ready to take a bath..." she replied so softly he could barely make out the words. "I need a drink." she mumbled.
"Here you go." Maggie said, at his side in no time. She helped Christie lift her head and take a sip and gently lowered her back to her pillow.
"Someone attacked me." Christie said as she let the water run down her throat, easing the soreness that she had been feeling.
"Mitchell's lookin' into that." Hershel nodded.
"All of us are here right now." Maggie explained. "We're supposed to be waiting for him and Carlos."
"Who all is 'all'?"
"Our whole group." Maggie replied. "Daryl's still in bed, Beth and I have been helpin' daddy and the others are waiting outside."
"Why are you all here?" Christie pulled her pillow over her head.
"Mitchell asked us to meet up here and stay until he got back." Hershel grabbed a penlight from the counter. "I need to check your pupils." he said.
"I'm not opening my eyes." she swatted at him as he tried to remove the pillow from her face. "I will hurt you, old man." she warned.
"I'd listen to her." Daryl said. "I wouldn't put it past her to take a swing at ya."
"Daryl!" Beth elbowed him.
"Fine, I'll give you some time." Hershel agreed. "I'm gonna go tell the others you're awake." he smiled.
Lori watched as Carl sat on his father's lap. She couldn't help but feel resentful. Carl hated her and suddenly he couldn't get enough of Rick. She'd been left alone in that huge house with just Carol, and Carol was spending more and more time at Mitchell's house. She hated that they'd all been forced to gather there, trapped in a room with her now ex, the son who hated her and the woman she blamed for so many of her problems lying in the other room.
"Well, she's awake." Hershel said as he emerged from the room.
"Is she gonna be okay?" Rick asked as he picked Carl up and set him on the ground, walking to Hershel.
"Not sure." Hershel shrugged. "She's got classic symptoms of a concussion, but that's to be expected considering she had her head shoved into a wall. But, she is up and talking, and I think that's a good sign."
"Good." Rick let out a breath he didn't realize he'd been holding. "Now all we need is Mitchell to get back and maybe we can sort things out."
"I wish they'd get back already." Carol said as she paced the room, worried sick. "They've been gone for hours."
"Stein had a big lead on them." T-Dog reminded her. "Not all of us can track like Daryl."
They were startled by a loud banging on the door and they turned to see Carlos standing there, Mitchell hanging at his side.
"Oh, god!" Carol gasped as Hershel quickly unlocked the door.
"What happened?" Rick asked as he helped Carlos bring Mitchell in.
"Reichert shot him." Carlos said as the others took Mitchell from him and carried him to one of the few empty beds they had left.
"Where is he?" Rick asked. "Stein?"
"Both dead." Carlos watched as Hershel washed his hands and shooed everyone from the room.
"Maggie and Beth will help me." he said. "Rick, T, get Daryl and Christie outta here."
Both men nodded and wheeled the other two patients from the room, Hershel shutting the door behind them. "At this rate this clinic ain't gonna last long." he sighed as Maggie and Beth cut Mitchell's shirt to reveal his wound.