Neon woke with a start, yelling drifted through the house coming from somewhere in the distance. Pain flared through each and every fibre of her body as she pushed herself up and stumbled to the door, it had only been a few days since she'd been bled internally, according to Hershel, and only a day and a half since her high fever had broken. She bit back a choked cry as she collapsed against the wall of the hallway, she could feel the stitches tearing with each movement but she needed to know what was going on, she needed to see what was happening outside. She stumbled grabbing a hold of the doorframe, one arm wrapped around her torso as she tried to bite through the pain; she felt a bitter smile tug at her lips at how everyone would scold her for being so stupid, Hershel would definitely scold her for being out of bed since her fever had only just broken. She felt a cold chill sweep down her spine as the realisation, of just how close she'd come to getting friendly with the reaper, hit her before the sounds of gunshots drew her attention, it wasn't just once but repetitive. Worry clawed at her, they wouldn't open fire for no reason, they would just be firing at nothing, even more so since Hershel had banned them from an open carry.
She stumbled grabbing a hold of the wooden balustrade skirting the porch and inhaled a sharp pained breath between her teeth as she moved slowly using the balustrade for support. The gunfire, she noted, was coming from the direction of the barn that housed the walkers but she couldn't see it yet. Spud whined beside her and nudged her hand. "I'm fine, pup" She murmured hoarsely before groaning and doubling over clutching onto one of the posts by the steps, she could see the barn now, see several people lined up outside with guns raised firing at the walkers spilling slowly out of its doors. A flash of pure pain shot through her choking her and she stumbled down the stairs almost collapsing onto her hands and knees on the grass, she shuddered clutching her arm around her torso before looking down and cursing as she saw the blood stain beginning to spread across her bandages. She forced herself to stay standing despite the pain trying to knock her out again, her grip on reality and consciousness slipping slowly through her fingers as more blood collected on her bandages to stain them wet. She staggered trying to compress the bleeding before coming to stop a few yards from the homestead, the pain flaring through her insides was like hellfire, it was wrapping around her lungs choking every breath she tried to take.
The small firefight had wound down now, bodies of walkers lay strewn across the ground riddled with bullet holes and everyone down there was stood still, Maggie clutching her father in shock and horror at what they had just witnessed. Neon stood numbly unable to move forward as more pain twisted throughout her body, she felt a pair of eyes on her and looked towards her brother before looking towards Daryl, the shotgun hanging limply at his side, his eyes fixed on hers. She staggered a step and grimaced doubling over holding her torso as more pain tore through her, she gritted her teeth and hissed out a breath as she watched him turn his attention back to the barn, the shotgun coming up again at the ready as another walker stumbled out into the light. Her heart wrenched hard in her chest as pain and sorrow wrapped around it in a vice like grip. Oh god, Sophia. She felt tears come to her eyes and quickly tried to push them away as her gut clenched, a spike of pain tearing through her as she choked on a dry sob. I'm so sorry Carol.
Everyone in front of the barn seemed to be stunned into silence, none of them able to move even as Carol rushed forward; Daryl dropped the shotgun in his hands and grabbed her around the waist to stop her from running to the walker that used to be her daughter as it slowly stepped over corpses heading towards the group. There was complete silence over the entire farm, a heavy silence. She followed Rick's movements as he started forward and slid between Shane and Andrea drawing his revolver and readied it.
The Python went off with a bang that seemed to echo and she collapsed to her knees placing a hand over her mouth to stifle her sob, a realisation hit her as she watched the force of the bullet kick the walkers head back, the realisation that she would never find her kids, the realisation that even if she did there was a good chance that one or both would be just like Sophia. The little girl had been gone for just over a week, Connor and Amelia had been gone well over a month. The walls that she had built a long time ago crumbled as the fresh pain from her injury dragged her to the ground, the immoveable brickwork giving away to a flood of tears and a flood of thoughts she'd locked away behind the walls stones, the thoughts that now made her see just how fruitless her efforts had been, just how stupid she'd been to think she might ever see them again.
Quinn flinched and turned away as Rick's gunshot rang out, he heard Carol's pained sobs from off to his right and let his own gun drop to his side as he looked back at the walker, a shiver ran through his spine as a small niggling thought in the back of his mind broke free coming to his forethoughts and he quickly tamped it down, he didn't want to think of Connor and Amelia being in the same condition, he didn't want to think of what it would do to his sister. He lowered his head pushing away the tears and looked towards Carol who was sobbing into Daryl's shoulder before he managed to haul her up. "Don't look," He tried to turn her away from the sight. "Don't look" She shoved him away before rushing off away from the group.
Quinn watched her run and shook his head slightly before Beth's soft crying drew his attention and he saw her pull away from Jimmy and start moving towards the bodies strewn across the ground. He tried to grab a hold of her as she moved past him only to be pushed away as she rushed to one of the bodies before her screams rang out into the air as it grabbed her and tried to bite her. He rushed forward grabbing her around the middle hauling her back away from the body as Andrea put a scythe through the back of its skull. He left her slip from his grip as Hershel drew her into him. This is just doesn't get any better, does it? He sighed mutely staring at all the bodies. He could still remember the day Boston had been overrun, the morning had been so calm, so bright and sunny, he and Ray had shared a pint with a full English breakfast before heading out to the local supermarket to stock up after hearing on the radio that Boston could be hit by the flu pandemic that was sweeping over Washington and other areas. He could remember his sister laughing and joking with a cigarette between her lips as she made breakfast, talking about how much she missed Connor and Amelia, how she couldn't wait to have them back home. He could remember how the day had slowly turned south, they'd seen sickly looking people during the morning, one woman had even run past them in the supermarket carpark screaming about a homeless that had bitten her, it had only taken a few hours and more people had become infected, the city quickly turning into a warzone when the military rolled in blockading the entrances and exits, tanks beginning to roam the streets. He could remember how his heart had hammered in his chest when they'd stared down that tank, how they'd barely missed its path of fire by escaping into a side street, it had been Ray's quick thinking in that moment that saved them.
He shook his head snapping from his reverie, everyone else had either left or were still stood staring at the bodies discussing what to do next. He turned away and glanced towards the homestead before a brown blur came rushing towards him, Spud circled his legs and grabbed a hold of his jeans leg pulling on it. "Lay off Spud, go keep Ray company" He nudged the dog away with his foot to which Spud growled and barked at him circling his legs once again. He sighed rolling his eyes and followed after him, when he raced ahead towards a body laying prone on the ground he broke into a sprint and dropped onto his knees beside his sister calling out for someone to help. "Shit Ray, what the hell have you done?" He carefully pushed her hair back from her face to look at it. "Why the bloody hell aren't you in bed?"
She shook her head weakly, she was slipping away again, probably from the pain coming from her wounds. "I can't do it Quinn," Her bloody wet hands clutched his. "I– I just can't"
"What the hell are you goin' on about?" Her eyes drifted wearily towards the barn and he looked back at it. "Ah shit, you saw all that?"
She nodded. "I had so much hope, so much faith they-they'd still be alive," She stammered briefly swallowing roughly. "But af-after seein' Sophia, seein' her like that…" She looked utterly exhausted as she shut her eyes. "They've been gone for so much longer"
Panic set in and tears burned his eyes as she spoke, he shook head at her words resting his hand against her cheek. "Don't you dare start thinkin' like that, you fuckin' understand me? They have you as a mother Ray, you've survived so much and taught them everythin', I don't want to fuckin' hear you say that ever again, you fuckin' hear me?" He lowered his voice forcing a smile. "An O'Rourke doesn't go down easy, we go down bloody and you're still standin', aren't you?"
Her fingers curled around the edge of his sleeve as she held onto it as tightly as she could and shook her head emphatically. "I can't do it anymore, Quinn; my children are gone and I'm never gonna see them again"
He shook his head and turned yelling out for help again as he pushed her onto her back and tried to scoop her up, this was just her moment of weakness after being strong for so many years, she was already weak from the gunshot but something had obviously broken inside her mind. "Please Ray," She moaned softly in pain and opened her lips to say something before closing them, her body suddenly becoming a dead weight in his arms. "I need Hershel, now!" He all but screamed as he rushed into the house.
Maggie looked up with raw eyes from her spot on the couch. "Oh god, get her on the bed, I'll go find him" She rushed off as he headed for the Ray's room and placed her back on the bed, Spud following closely at his heels.
"You have to keep up hope Ray, they'll be out there," He looked towards the window and sighed softly. "Somewhere"
"He's not here, he took the car," Maggie announced as she poked her head into the room. "I'll find Patricia and we'll see what we can do to help her"
He nodded smoothing back his hair and quickly began to undo the blood soaked bandages, the wound underneath looked so much better despite the blood, it wasn't nearly as puffy as it had been in the few days previous, he could only hope to all hell she wasn't bleeding internally again.
Authors Note
Reply Time!
galwidanatitud: Definitely.
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