S2E2P2

Carl lay on the bed, peaceful if peaky-looking. Everyone was silent as Hershel checked his blood pressure. The cuff hissed and Hershel sighed.

"Pressure's stable."

"Lori needs to be here." Rick said, looking between the tube in his arm and his boy, her boy. "She doesn't even know what's going on. I gotta go find her, bring her back."

"You can't do that." Hershel said.

"She's his mother!" Rick said, struggling to control his anger. "She needs to know what's happened. Her son's lying here, shot."

"And he's going to need more blood." Hershel said, calm as ever before turning to Shane. "He can't go more than 50 feet from this bed."

Patricia removed the tube from Ricks' arm and he pressed a ball of cotton to the wound, folding his elbow as he shakily stood. Shane came forward, arms out, ready to catch him should he fall.

"Hey, hey." He said. "Come on."

"I'm all right. I'm all right." Rick assured him, pushing past to leave the room.

"I got him." Shane said to Hershel.

Rick slowly moved from the room and sank into a chair near the door, paying little attention to Maggie, who started expectantly when the door opened, and Otis, who stared down at his hands, mute.

Shane followed, shutting the door behind him and looked to Maggie's expectant face.

"He's stable, for now." He told her.

"Lori has to be here, Shane. She has to know." Rick said, looking up at him. It was bad enough that he had failed Ava and Carol, but he could not fail Lori as well.

"Okay, I get that." Shane said. "I'm gonna handle it... But you've got to handle your end."

"My end?" Rick frowned.

"Your end is being here, for your son. Even if he didn't need your blood to survive, there is no way I'd ever let you walk out that door. Man, I'd break your legs if you tried. I mean, you know that, right?" Shane said. Rick looked down and sighed.

"If something happened to him and you weren't here... If he slipped away while you were gone, you would never forgive yourself for that, and neither would Lori, man."

Rick pressed his fingers against his eye, wondering if he could erase the day if he pressed hard enough. He fought back tears.

"You're right." He said.

"When was I ever wrong?" Shane said with a forceful chuckle. "You know, when you were in that hospital, the one you were never supposed to leave, man... You should've seen Lori. The strength of that woman. You can't imagine it. See, that's what you've got to have now. I mean, Carl, he needs that from you. So, you wire yourself tight, my friend. You hear?" Shane cradled his head and Rick pressed his forehead to Shanes', thankful yet again to have such a good friend. "You've got the hard part. You just leave the rest to me, okay?"

"Alright, alright." Rick said, putting his trust in Shane. Shane moved away as the door opened and they all stood as Hershel came out, wiping blood from his hands.

"He's out of danger for the moment," He said to Rick. "But I need to remove those remaining fragments."

"How? You saw how he was." Rick said.

"I know, and that was the shallowest one. I need to go deeper to get the others."

Rick closed his eyes.

"There's more." Hershel said.

"Tell me." Rick said, keeping strong.

"His belly's distended, his pressure's dropping, which means there's internal bleeding. A fragment must have nicked one of the blood vessels."

He took a pause in which Rick nodded, fighting back more tears.

"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."

"What'll it take?" He asked, already determined to do whatever it takes to save his son.

"You need a respirator. What else?" Otis said, moving towards them.

"The tube that goes with it, extra surgical supplies, drapes, sutures." Hershel said.

"If you had all that, you could save him?" Rick interrupted.

"If I had all that, I could try." Hershel said.

"Nearest hospital went up in flames a month ago." Otis said, but Hershel gave him a look and his eyes widened. "The high school."

"That's what I was thinking. They set up a FEMA shelter there. They would have everything we need."

"Place was overrun last time I saw it. You couldn't get near it. Maybe it's better now." Otis said.

"I said, leave the rest to me." Shane said, swallowing. "Is it too late to take that back?"

"I hate you going alone." Rick said.

"Come on." Shane said. "Doc, why don't you do me a list, 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, leaning in the open doorway.

"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 all right."

"Are you sure about this?" Shane asked him.

"Do you even know what any of the stuff he's talking about looks like?" Otis asked.

"Come to think, no."

"I've been a volunteer EMT. I do. Now, we can talk about this 'till next Sunday, or we could just go do it real quick."

"I'll take right quick." Shane said.

"I should thank you." Rick nodded to the man, surprised to find he felt truly grateful even after he'd shot his son.

"Wait 'till that boy of yours is up and around, then we'll talk." He said. "I'll gather some things."

Otis left the room to do as he said and Maggie stepped up to Rick.

"Where is she? Your wife?"

Rick told her what she needed to know, then sat down to rest some more. His head was pounding, a headache brought on by the blood loss no doubt. He massaged his temples and wondered for the first time since Carl was shot whether the group had found Sophia and Ava. Maybe Maggie would return with them both, or simply say they were fine. It would certainly be a weight off of his shoulders.

With supplies prepared for the trip to the high school, the group moved out of the house to see Shane and Otis off.

"Just get what you need and get out of there." Rick said to Shane, patting him on the shoulder. Otis and Patricia had a heartfelt goodbye and the woman sobbed while he tried to convince her he'd be fine. Rick handed Otis his python.

"That's a fine weapon Rick. I'll bring it back in one piece." He said.

They grabbed their supplies and climbed into the truck before pulling away from the farm. Patricia went back into the house while Rick and Hershel lingered a moment longer.

"Must check on your boy." Hershel said before walking away.

Later, Rick returned to the porch, looking out over the land for a hint of Maggie and Lori. Hershel followed, coming to stand at his side.

"This place is beautiful." Rick said.

"Been in my family 160 years." Hershel said.

"I can't believe how serene it is. How untouched... You're lucky."

"We weren't completely unscathed. We lost friends, neighbours. The epidemic took my wife, my stepson."

Rick looked down.

"I'm sorry."

"My daughters were spared." He said, looking out to the sunset. "I'm grateful to God for that. These people here, all we've got left is each other. Just hoping we can ride it out in peace till there's a cure."

Rick sighed.

"We were at the CDC... It's gone now. There is no cure."

"I don't believe it." Hershel said with a smile. "When aids came along, everyone panicked. One boy in town came down with it, and some parents pulled their children from school, so they didn't have to sit in the same room."

"This is a whole other thing." Rick said, trying to make him understand.

"That's what we always say. This one's different."

"Well, this one is." Rick said.

"Mankind's been fighting plagues from the start. We get our behinds kicked for a while, then, we bounce back. It's nature correcting herself, restoring some balance."

"I wish I could believe that." Rick said after a moment.

They were distracted from their conversation by the sounds of galloping hooves and they looked up to see Maggie returning. Rick moved down from the porch as Lori clamoured, wide-eyed, from the horse. She started crying as soon as she saw the blood on his front and clasped him into a tight hug. Rick held her, offering her comfort and sharing the pain only they as Carls' parents could know.

He led her inside and heard her choked intake of breath as she saw her son.

"I'm sorry." He murmured, pulling her close and kissing her head. She pulled away and went to his side, cradling his face.

"My baby boy. Baby boy. It's okay. Mama's here. Mama's here. You're gonna be okay. We're going to make you okay." She said, nodding to herself, lying down beside him and reaching back to take a firm grip of Ricks' hand. He gripped it back, looking down with a sigh.