SPIRIT

Season II

FIVE | Out of Time

"Thank you for trying to save him."

HEART-WRENCHING SCREAMS AND CRIES CARRIED throughout the house. They echoed through the halls hauntingly. What had been a somewhat still home for a few moments as everyone settled themselves suddenly launched into a bed of commotion.

I raced through the living room as fast as I could. T-Dog, Glenn, and Patricia weren't far behind me. Patricia had been fixing up T-Dog's arm, getting it cleaned and stitched up, and I had been just about to serve up the leftovers I'd made for the duo that had shown up at our door. It had been relatively peaceful until then.

Maggie exited the bedroom where Carl was being monitored. The bags beneath her eyes were much more pronounced as they stood out against her pale skin. She looked ill and utterly exhausted. It worried me, but what worried me more in the moment was the sheen of tears glistening in her eyes as she looked at me.

"Maggie, what's goin' on?" I asked her.

Swallowing thickly, she shook her head. Then the screams suddenly stopped. An eerie silence was left in their wake, filled only by the soft murmurs of my father as he talked from inside the room.

"Maggie," I repeated slowly, "what's goin' on?"

"He had a seizure."

The others let out soft gasps behind me. I looked over my shoulder to see Patricia holding her hand over her mouth, the worry drawing down her face and making her look older than her years. Glenn and T-Dog looked just as concerned, and I could tell they were wondering what we all were - whether or not Carl was going to make it.

"Daddy says they can't wait for them to return with the supplies," said Maggie quietly. "They have to do it now."

"Isn't it dangerous to do it now?" asked Glenn. "Isn't that why they went for the supplies in the first place?"

Patricia excused herself gently and glided past us. She shut the bedroom door behind her as she announced her presence to those already in the room. There was a tense silence that hung between the four of us as we all just stood there. None of us knew what to do. Carl's life was hanging in the balance, and now we were left with a tough decision, each option just as dangerous as the other.

Either we operated on him now and risked him losing his life, or we waited for Shane and Otis to return with the supplies and risked him losing his life.

Finally I managed to gather myself and cleared my throat.

"Come on, I've got some tea on." I wrapped my arm around Maggie and guided her gently towards the kitchen. Pausing to wave the boys along with us, I added, "And I have those leftovers ready for you two. Come on now, we can't have y'all goin' hungry."

As I was guiding everyone back towards the kitchen, Jimmy appeared on the stairs. Beth stopped behind him. She looked far more concerned than he did, but his emotions had always been a bit harder to place at times. He tried hard to be tough, especially in these times. Plus, Beth had lost much of her lighter, fun side since Annette and Shawn had lost their lives. She just wasn't herself anymore.

Jimmy cleared his throat uncomfortably. "Everythin' okay?"

"Go on back to bed, guys. It's all right," I said. "If you can't sleep, I got some tea and leftovers on."

The two adolescents ended up following us into the kitchen. As my first priority always, I got my sister's sitting down at the table and prepared their tea, doing my best to comfort them as well as everyone else even though I wasn't able to comfort myself. A bad feeling had settled in the pit of my stomach, leaving almost a nasty taste in my mouth. Something bad was going to come of this situation, and I was afraid that the result would be a premature burial.

"He's gonna be okay, ain't he?" Beth looked up at me. Her voice was so quiet I had barely even heard her question through my own swirling thoughts.

"I don't know, Bethie," I said after a moment of hesitation, "but Daddy knows what he's doin'."

Time passed at such a strange pace. It almost ceased to exist, it held no further meaning to me. At some point Glenn had left the group and gone out for some air. Maggie followed after him a few moments later, seeming overwhelmed by everything. I helped Beth back up to bed with another cup of tea to set at her bedside. An argument could be heard from inside the bedroom downstairs, my father's voice rising above everyone else as he stressed how important it was that Rick and Lori made a decision regarding what they wanted him to do, if they wanted to wait for Shane and Otis or if they realized that Carl needed the operation immediately and could not wait any longer.

I opened the door and stepped inside to see Rick and Lori standing at the foot of the bed while Dad and Patricia rushed to prepare the area. It was clear that they were trying to go ahead with the surgery. As for Carl himself, when I looked at him, the sight pained me. His skin was deathly pale save for a dark spot on his distended abdomen, which only seemed to spread and darken the longer I stared at it. I knew enough about medical issues to know the signs of internal bleeding.

Patricia gave me a grim look as she saw me lingering uncertainly in the doorway as my father tried to convince the grieving parents to let them go ahead with what needed to be done to save their boy's life.

"He's losing blood faster than we can replace it, and with the swelling in his abdomen, we cannot wait any longer or he's just gonna slip away," he told them firmly. "I need to know right now if you want me to do this because I think your boy is out of time. You need to make a choice."

Lori adopted an affronted expression that she directed towards my father. Tears streaked down her pale face as she narrowed her eyes, repeating in her choked voice, "A choice?"

Rick turned to his wife and cupped her face. He had her look to him. Her eyes closed as she gently held his wrists, both of them seeming to take a form of comfort in the action shared between them. Rick pressed his forehead to his wife's.

"I need you to tell me what to do," he whispered.

Part of me wanted to speak up, to tell them that they needed to let Daddy operate on Carl. He knew what he was doing, and there was no telling when they would be back with the supplies - if they returned at all, that is. The FEMA shelter was completely overrun. Otis could handle himself, and I had absolutely no doubt that Shane could as well, but those things held an inhuman strength to them just by themselves. I couldn't even imagine how overpowered a horde of them could be.

But another part of me knew it wasn't my place. It wouldn't be right of me to make such a mortal decision and take that right away from the parents.

"You have to make a choice now, Rick," urged Dad sternly.

"Lori, look at me," pleaded Rick. "Tell me what decision to make. You have to tell me what to do here."

The silent moment that followed was deafening and felt as though it lasted a lifetime. Lori opened her eyes again, more tears spilling over her sunken-looking cheeks, and looked into her husband's as he pleaded with her. My hands wrung together anxiously as I waited for the call to be made, unable to force myself to step away in case my assistance was needed. I felt a strong obligation to help in any way I could. It probably fell back to the guilt I still harbored for not warning Otis sooner and preventing him from taking that shot.

If I had just been more mindful of my surroundings, he never would have wound up in this condition.

Finally, Lori made a decision. "Do it."

Those two words activated a switch. Daddy and Patricia jumped into action, and at my father's urgent beckoning, I jumped in as well. I swiftly cleared off the table, taking no time and just pushing everything off so it fell out of the way, and grabbed the IV bag. He and Patricia grabbed either side of the sheet that Carl was lying on and lifted him over to the table's surface to begin the preparations.

"We need you two to step out," Dad told Rick and Lori.

Needing more light in the room, I removed the shade from the lamp and flicked it on, allowing the light to illuminate the workspace much better than it was before. Dad grabbed a scalpel and had it pressed to the skin on Carl's abdomen.

Rick and Lori still hadn't left the room. I crossed over to them and tried to guide them out gently but as sternly as I could.

"Y'all need to give us some space to work," I said. "Please, step out of the room."

Gravel suddenly began crunching underneath a pair of tires. Headlights spilled through the windows and illuminated the room. Running out of the room, I ripped open the front door and jumped down the porch steps to meet Shane and Otis. Everyone but Patricia and Beth were outside to greet them as well.

Shane climbed out of the driver's side. In his arms was a bag that I knew would be full of medical supplies. After a second of waiting and looking for Otis, my heart sank. He didn't come back.

Limping, Shane asked, "Carl?"

"There's still time." Dad relieved him of the bag. "Otis?"

Shane averted his gaze and seemed unable to look any of us in the eye. He then shook his head solemnly. My lips pressed together as the sting of tears burned behind my eyes. Losing Otis was the same as losing a family member. He had been like an uncle to us girls for years. The pain of losing him was just as great as when we lost Annette and Shawn, as when I lost Momma.

Feeling a hand on my shoulder, I glanced over to see it belonged to Rick. Hope was alive in his eyes, but I could see the apology he was emanating towards me. Even with his son's life on the line, he was still extending sympathy for us for our loss.

Clearing his throat, Dad said, "We say nothing to Patricia. I need her right now. Lydia, I need you too. We can all grieve later."

He turned on his heel and headed back into the house with the medical supplies in hand. I sniffed away the tears and rubbed my eyes to be rid of the salinity. As Daddy said, we could grieve later, but right now, Carl needed us. Rick's hand fell from my shoulder as I turned to follow after my father. Maggie locked eyes with me for a second as I passed her. I reached out and grabbed her arm gently, urging her to come back inside.

I had just reached the door when Shane called my name. Encouraging Maggie to go in ahead of me, I paused and turned back to the man who had been there for Otis' last moments.

"I tried, I really did. We were surrounded. He said to save the boy, he'd cover me. I tried to go back for him, but it was too late to save him. He sacrificed himself to save Carl. But if I could go back and change the outcome, I would. I'm sorry."

A few errant tears managed to squeeze past the block I'd put up. Of course Otis had sacrificed himself. He had always been so selfless, and he had felt so incredibly guilty for firing that shot. Otis had gone down the hero that we'd known he always had been.

"Thank you." My voice cracked slightly. "Thank you for trying to save him."

Wiping away the tears, I turned on my heel and finally disappeared inside the house. The pain felt like it was squeezing my heart in a vice. It was difficult to breathe or to move, but I pushed past it as I went to be at my father's side. Patricia couldn't know just yet. Carl needed all of us there for him.

Reviews

GirlNextDoor01

I'm happy that you are enjoying the story! I just wanted to give the man in the tank a little bit more meaning. He is such an iconic walker, after all. And yes, that is the plan. I'm not sure how far I will take the story, but as of right now, I do have a second part planned for past the fourth season.