All of Esme's senses had been cut off, as if someone was blowing an air horn so loudly in her ears that all she could hear was a piercing ring. Her through grew tight and it felt like her feet were traveling in sinking cement despite running as fast as she could toward Carlisle. She wasn't sure if the distant screams were her own or if they belonged to those around her. For a few seconds the world seemed to stand still and the only thing she could focus on was the blood rushing from her husband's face.
Esme fell to her knees beside Carlisle and put her hands over the wound where his right eye had been, hoping by some magic he would be repaired from her touch. Blood continued to flow from the where the bullet entered his face and the state of his future appeared bleak at best.
"Someone help him!" Esme screamed, "We need to get him out of here."
"Where are you going?" Jacob shouted as Paul began to take off through the trees.
"To hunt down that bitch," he shouted back, looking over his shoulder as to not slow down. Jasper followed his lead.
"Jas!" Alice shrieked.
"Meet me back at the barn!" Jasper called out and then tailed Paul away from the group.
"Carlisle..." Edward hovered above him. He looked at Esme helplessly.
Emmett pushed between the two of them and picked up Carlisle, who laid unconsciously in his arms. "Rose!" he huffed to Esme, "Rosalie has a medical background."
Esme stood up, covered in her husband's blood with a tear-streaked face. She didn't say anything, but began to run at Emmett's side as he carried Carlisle as fast as he could back toward where their group kept shelter.
"The hospital," Alice said aloud to no one in particular.
"What hospital?" Edward asked. He, too, had begun trailing Esme but stopped when he heard the word.
"I was at a hospital. If we take a car we can be there in fifteen minutes."
Edward heard Esme's frantic cries and turned as she and Emmett grew farther and farther away.
"Go with them," Charlie entered the conversation and was nearly pushing Edward away. "I'll go with Alice to the hospital." He looked at her and she nodded in agreement.
"Come on," Bella tugged on Edward's hand, urging him in the direction his family members were going.
"There's medicine there," Alice informed them, "Pain medication. Anti-bacterial medication. Sedatives. You name it."
Edward almost began crying but he managed to keep it together as he choked out the next sentence, "Aren't there walkers there? People? Bad people? Will you be able to get in?"
"We'll get in," Alice assured him, putting a hand on his shoulder. "I know the in's and out's of that place. Trust me Edward. Go with your family." She looked at Charlie, who then turned back to Bella. "We'll be back soon. Go with Edward and Jacob."
She nodded and hugged him once. "Be careful, Dad. Please."
Charlie nodded before he and Alice darted off back where they had left the truck.
Edward stood frozen for a moment with a horrified look on his face. His eyes were glazed, distant and full of pain.
"Come on," Bella urged, "Edward, we have to catch up with Esme."
He blinked and then looked at her, wincing as he did before ordering his feet to move.
"He'll be okay," Jacob chimed in. He and Quil started to run, "Come on."
Edward moved slowly at first and then gave himself a reality check. Standing in the woods unprotected while Carlisle was bleeding to death and dying would do nothing for any of them. He began to run and before he knew it they had caught up with Emmett and Esme. She turned to him, appearing startled for a brief second before taking his hand as he ran up next to her.
Emmett charged on hard, never seeming to miss a beat despite the strained veins in his arms. His jaw was clenched and each time it appeared as if he was about to collapse or stop he pressed on even faster. His enthusiasm seemed to give Esme a beam of hope and she tried to keep a hand on Carlisle's face as they went. When the barn finally came into view Emmett barked out Rosalie's name. "Rosalie! Rose!"
The barn appeared quiet at first but as they inched closer the doors flung open and Rosalie rushed out with Billy just behind.
"We need help!" Emmett shouted again.
"Oh my God." Rosalie ran in their direction and Billy's horrified expression matched the rest of theirs. "Oh my God," she repeated the phrase as Emmett rushed Carlisle into the barn, laying him in the hay that immediately began to turn red as his blood continued to run.
Esme stayed as close as she could with Edward just behind her. knelt beside Carlisle and began to examine the wound.
"That whole bit about being in med school was true right?" Emmett asked her.
Rosalie nodded and looked down at her blood-soaked hands. "I was supposed to finish the degree this spring. I only had a practical and a couple classes to go." She closed her eyes for a minute and swallowed hard. When her eyes reopened she appeared to be more focused, as if she had searched her brain for all she had learned in her schooling.
"Can you help him?" Esme begged.
"Rosalie..." Edward's voice was just as desperate.
Rosalie looked up at Esme. "I'm going to try. I have to see where the bullet exited... if it exited."
"What if it didn't?" Edward asked.
Rosalie didn't answer. She rolled Carlisle onto his side and traced the wound to the back of his head. A look of relief filled her eyes and she nodded. "It exited," she replied, "A clean shot. No fragments are in his head." She placed Carlisle back onto his back and then felt for a pulse.
"Is he dead?" Edward asked, prompting Esme to look at him before tears fell from her eyes and she shook her head.
"No," Rosalie assured them, "He's in shock. He's breathing and he has a pulse."
"Can you save him?" Emmett asked.
Rosalie propped back on her knees and looked at the mass of hovering, frantic people around her. "I need space. I'm sorry. Give me a minute to examine him." She then looked at Esme, "Stay right where you are and talk to him."
Esme nodded and did exactly as she asked.
"We need medicine," Rosalie said aloud. She looked at Edward, "Give me your shirt. Now!"
Edward removed his shirt and handed it to her. Rosalie tore off one of the sleeves and tied it around Carlisle's head, covering the wound as tightly as possible before bunching the rest of the shirt to apply more pressure to the wound.
"They're getting medicine," Bella told Rosalie.
"Who? From where?"
"My dad and Alice. They went to a hospital about fifteen minute away."
"They have to hurry. We need morphine. I can inject him with it if they get me a needle." Rosalie examined Carlisle's head and then looked to Esme, "I can't say for sure but I think the bullet missed his brain. It went cleanly through his right eye and out the back of his skull behind his ear."
Esme realized that Rosalie was attempting to give her good news but she couldn't contain herself. She tried to keep herself from crying but Carlisle's lifeless body was too much. Her hands shook and blood had already soaked through the tourniquet that Rosalie had made.
Rosalie put a hand over Esme's. "Focus," she said, attempting to distract her, "Talk to him. It's good for him."
Esme didn't know if Rosalie was using it as a tactic to distract her or if it could actually help her husband but she continued to do as she asked, running a hand through his hair as she spoke shaky, broken sentences.
Rosalie looked up at Bella. "We need those medical supplies," and then added, "Now."
...
Charlie pulled the truck up in front of the hospital and Alice felt a chill travel the length of her spine. As terrible as it had been the last time she was there, the old brick building appeared even more horrifying. The smell of rotting flesh accompanied the plethora of walkers that hovered about the grounds and she realized sneaking back in would be more of a challenge than she thought. Alice wondered if any of the terrible people who worked there still lingered inside.
"We should go through the back driveway if we can," she said meekly. The strong-willed, redemption-filled feeling from before began to fade, but she thought of Carlisle dying as they sat there and knew she had to rise above her demons. On the bright side, she had a police officer with her.
Charlie followed Alice's instructions and pulled the truck to the back driveway. Immediately, walkers began stumbling toward them, though they were far enough away that the threat they posed wasn't immediate.
Alice scanned the back seat of the car and reached for a bandana that had been left by somebody. She put it over her head and tied a knot in the back and then threw up the hood on the sweatshirt she was wearing.
"The offices where the drugs are kept are around back on the second floor." She glanced up at a set of windows. "I can't see people staying here with all these walkers." Alice looked to Charlie, "Can you?"
Charlie squinted toward the collection of windows that Alice had pointed out. "I wouldn't think so." He then looked back to her, seeing that she was visibly shaken. "I won't let anything happen to you, kid. Let's get this stuff and get back."
Alice took a deep breath, feeling safe with Charlie. She glanced around the eerie atmosphere and decided whatever happened there couldn't possibly be worse than what had just happened back in the woods. The night was beginning to close in on them as the last rays of sun began to duck behind the trees. Fences separated the area they were in from most of the walkers, though there were a few in the distance that were slowly headed their way.
"Come on." Alice propped open her door, deciding that the more thinking she did, the less likely it was that she would go inside the building she had hoped to never see again.
Charlie drew his gun and took the lead, having been in similar positions in the past. "There may be more walkers inside. Stay behind me as I clear the areas."
Alice nodded, now feeling more confident in Charlie's fine-tuned police skills. She did as he asked, but was prepared with weapons of her own for both people and walkers. As the two of them approached the back door she could already see inside, though just a few feet. The white tiles that made up the floor seemed to taunt her from behind the glass. When Charlie slammed his elbow, shattering the top half of the door Alice jumped.
"You okay kid?" Charlie asked her, prompting a nod from Alice.
"The stairs to the second floor are about ten feet down through a gray door on the left." She breathed in heavily as Charlie slipped an arm in to unlock the door from the inside. A second later, Alice was sliding into the hospital behind him, looking once over her shoulder as they entered.
Flashbacks from her days there began to poke at her memory. Despite the smell of death and walkers, the scent of the hospital she hated so much still lingered and overpowered anything else.
You're potentially saving someone, she reminded herself.
Charlie crept down the hall, gun drawn before he reached for the handle on the gray door. It slid open and he carefully entered the empty, dark stairwell. "No growling," he whispered, before waving Alice in with him.
The two of them hurried up the flight of stairs that lead to the second floor. "All of the offices are on the right," she whispered. "There are cabinets full of different medicines."
Charlie nodded and eyed a stumbling walker down the hall. His growls drew the attention of a few others and they began their staggered march toward where he and Alice stood. "Can ya handle these three with me?"
She nodded and was the first to approach the walking dead, plunging a knife into the mushy skull of one, while Charlie took on the two others with ease. They both huffed, glanced at each other and then Alice pointed through large glass windows. "See those cabinets?"
Charlie nodded and much to his pleasure the door that lead into the first office opened. "In and out of here," he said with a smile.
Alice smiled back and tiptoed in behind him before taking it upon herself to leap over the counter. Charlie followed her lead, struggling a bit to get over with ease but he quickly found Alice's claims to be true and started rummaging for any pill bottles, syringes and other medical supplies that were available.
"This is a gold mine," Charlie said aloud, eyeing the rows and rows of medication. "We need to make another trip back here."
Alice tucked as many pills as she could into her pockets, her hood and in her arms. She noticed that Charlie was stuffing things into a small bag that he'd had tucked into the back of his pants beneath his jacket.
"Painkillers?" he asked, "Right? Opiates?"
"Sure," Alice said with a nod, "I don't know a whole lot about the medical stuff."
Charlie found what he assumed might be helpful and Alice reached for some known antibiotics.
A slam on the glass from the next office over made both of them jump, but they realized it was a trapped walker, still in nursing scrubs. She growled and bit at the glass, striving to get to the two of them.
"Ready?" Alice asked, beginning to get visibly shaken.
"Yeah." Charlie nodded and hurried to get around to the opposite side of the counter. The two of them paraded out of the office and down the stairs. When the fresh air hit Alice's nostrils she felt free and was about to relish in being outside but Charlie shouted. "Shit!"
Walkers were approaching from all directions and Alice's eyes lit up. "We can't get them all," she said in a panic as the hoard continued to approach.
"Nope," Charlie agreed, "Get in the car." He rushed to the driver's side and tossed the bag over his shoulder just as Alice got in.
"There's too many of them," she told him, eyeing the zombified humans approaching from everywhere.
Charlie had no idea if his plan would work, but he saw one opening that seemed to drop off into parts unknown. He assumed it was a little hill but he couldn't be too sure. The lot dropped off and for all he knew the area below could be filled with even more walkers. It was in the opposite direction that they needed to go, but it was possibly their only chance.
Alice turned her head in all directions and then seemed to see what Charlie was thinking.
"What's that way?" he asked her, pointing.
"I don't know," Alice told him.
"Well, we're about to find out." He turned the key, floored the gas pedal and headed toward the drop off at the back of the parking lot.
