The Walking Dead: Guardian Angel

Chapter 36

Disclaimer: I don't own this :/

"How is she?" Rick said as he leaned against the doorframe, a sad smile crossed Hershel's aged face as he reached out & scratched Shadow the dog behind the ears.

"He's really something, this dog, he hasn't left her side since she came back. We even have to bring his food & water to him ..."

Rick wasn't listening to him though; his gaze was focused outside where the storm still raged, pounding the prison's aged walls with its onslaught of wind & rain. It had been that way for a day now & he showed no signs of weakening.

Rick suddenly became aware that Hershel was still talking, he blinked hard, gave his head a shake & forced himself to listen. Hershel went silent for a moment, seeming to know that Rick hadn't heard a word he'd just said.

"She's slowly getting stronger, at least here I can get fluids into her intravenously. If it wasn't for that, I don't think she would have made it. She wouldn't have made it another day without treatment." He said as Maggie came in to change out the intravenous drip.

"Dad!" Maggie said excitedly. Shadow had grown excited too, he had jumped off the bed & was whining anxiously as he repeatedly paced the length of the bed, his tail wagging so hard it was all but a blur.

Charlotte stirred & slowly opened her eye, her hand flew reflexively to her ruined eye only to find her patch securely in place, Maggie smiled at her as she placed her hand over Charlotte's. "Don't worry honey, I only took it off at night when no one was around." I know how you feel about it." she said.

Charlotte, still too weak to speak, offered a thankful smile, she swallowed noisily, her throat clicking painfully. Maggie seemed to read her mind & offered her a glass of water with a straw, which she gulped down hungrily.

"Not too much now, you've been without anything in your stomach for about four days, you don't want to be throwing up on top of everything else." She said as she took the water away before Charlotte could drain the entire glass.

Charlotte managed a weak smile as Shadow pushed his head under her hand. "It's ok, boy. I'm ok." She said as she scratched him behind the ears.

"That dog slept right there from the moment we put you in here, wouldn't even leave to eat or drink, we had to bring it to him." Hershel said.

"He wouldn't leave …" Charlotte said to herself as a look of dread suddenly washed over her. "Daryl!" where's Daryl…! He's still over there isn't he? I have to go! Have to find him …!"

"Whoa, whoa!" Rick said, retraining her as she struggled to get out of bed, Charlotte shoved him off with as much strength as she could muster. "Why did you leave him?" She asked.

Rick opened his mouth to explain, but as he looked into Charlotte's face & its searching, yearning expression, his explanation blew out as a haggard sigh instead as Michonne came to stand in the doorway of the cell.

"We didn't have a choice. The storm was comin' in, the boat wasn't big enough to carry all of us & your man insisted we take you. He wouldn't take no for an answer. Everyone should be lucky enough to have someone like that lookin' out for them." She said, a small smile crossing her face.

"I'm sure he's ok, this is Daryl we're talking about here. He knows how to survive, especially since he has someone to return to." Maggie said, Charlotte blushed in spite of herself.

Through his fever-induced stupor, Daryl vaguely realized that he was no longer alone in the pharmacy, someone was with him … & they were doing something to him, but he didn't know what.

His survival instinct took over & he began to struggle like an injured wild animal, his fists flailing blindly. He heard a grunt as one of his fists connected with the side of the other person's head.

Whoever it was grabbed his wrists & forced them down at his sides. "I'm sorry, man. But this is for your own good." The stranger said as he bound Daryl's wrists behind his back.

"You sumbitch … I'll kill ya …I don' care who the fuck ya are …!" The stranger chuckled, his face hidden by a tattered & worn cowboy hat & a month old beard.

"Tell you what, you make it through this & I'll think about lettin' you kill me. Because at the rate you were going, you weren't going to make it. Now lay back, its best you get comfortable, because this is gonna hurt." He said as he pushed Daryl onto his back, his head sank into a soft blanket as he hit the floor.

The man pulled Daryl's shirt up, exposing the knife wound. "Oh … shit." He hissed. The skin around the wound was wrinkled, red & oozing & the smell coming off it almost made him wretch… it was worse than he thought.

The man took out his knife & soaked the blade with a bottle of rubbing alcohol he had found in the pharmacy & readied a bottle of peroxide & iodine.

Normally he refrained from using manufactured healing agents because he much preferred the natural approach, but this wound was beyond the capabilities of even his strongest herbal medicines.

"Here, bite on this, cause this is going to hurt like fuck." He said emotionlessly as he wedged a piece of wood between Daryl's teeth. Daryl growled as his teeth gritted against the wood as he began to work.

"breathe deep, if you hyperventilate you're going to pass out." The man said expressionlessly as he cut away the infected tissue. "Man I hope the smell doesn't bring walkers, because if I get bit saving your fucking ass I WILL be pissed." He said without looking up.

He worked quickly, thankful in some part to the fact the Daryl had, despite as tough as he was, had passed out from the pain half way through. Once the last of the infected flesh was cut away, he disinfected the wound & bandaged it.

He was glad when the smell of blood & infected flesh begun to dissipate from the stagnant air of the boarded up pharmacy. Just in time too because a small group of walkers was passing by the windows.

They seemed to come in droves, aimlessly drifting around with no set destination, like jellyfish in the ocean. As long as they could stay unnoticed they should be ok. The question was … how long would their luck hold?

Because with Daryl in such a bad way & the state of the weather outside, with neither looking like they were going to get better anytime soon, it looked like they were going to be stuck there for a while.