Yay! Second update of the day! And I'm now officially on WINTER BREAK! Wooo!
"You won't turn into a walker." Daryl promised her, as she clung to him. He wanted t believe it. But she'd cut herself on a knife that was covered in walker blood, the disease was transmitted by scratches and bites... there was more than just a little chance she'd get it.
Her fever had only gotten high as the day wore on- it was noon, now, and she was shaking violently.
Carol dabbed at her forehead with a wet cloth.
"Carol- go get Hershel. See if there's anything we can do." Rick ordered, and she hurried to obey.
Once she was gone, Jamie looked up at him. She'd long since run out of tears and just laid her head in his lap, looking up at him quietly.
"I'm going to die, aren't I?" she asked.
"No." Daryl said firmly.
"Tell me the truth. Am I going to make it?" she asked.
"I... I don't know." Daryl admitted.
She swore. "Everything hurts..." she muttered, shivering even more. Members of the group had come to sit with her, stay by her, but only Daryl and Carol had stayed the whole time. Rick stood about ten feet away, not wanting to intrude but not wanting to leave them, either.
Hershel came out a moment later.
"You were bitten, sweetie?" he asked, taking on his bedside manner.
"I ain't no damn sweetie." she said, and Daryl smiled. At least she still had some fight in her.
"She wasn't bitten. Cut herself on a knife that had walker blood on it, now she's got a fever. You think- you think something else could be causing it?" Rick asked.
Hershel frowned. "I'm not sure if the disease is transferable by blood, and even if it was, she might not have even gotten any into her bloodstream before the blood clotted."
"Don't sugar coat it- I ain't afraid to die." Jamie said, acceptance in her voice.
Carol, Daryl, Hershel and Rick all exchanged shocked glances.
Jamie grit her teeth and moaned. "Damn it..."
"What hurts?" Hershel asked, kneeling beside her.
"Everything, but my foot hurts the most..."
Hershel knelt down and gently pulled off her shoe. She screamed.
Rick, who'd been watching, stared. The bandage that had been on her injured foot, the one the porcupine had attacked days ago, was plastered to her foot and bloody, filthy.
Hershel gently peeled it off, slowly. Jamie grit her teeth in agony and buried her face in Daryl's shirt.
Carol gasped, and Rick and Daryl just stared. Several off the puncture wounds had swelled, and puss and an awful white substance had dried in several places on her foot. Angry red streaks covered the skin the wasn't pussy, and Hershel stared.
"That's why she has a fever." he said, sighing. "I should've come to your camp and changed the bandages, it just slipped my mind..."
"She ran off a day and a half ago. She wouldn't have been there even if you'd remembered." Rick consoled him. But now that he thought about it, the bandages had been on for about five days.
Jamie said nothing, just lying there, panting.
Rick looked down at his watch. It'd been hours, if she were gong to be a walker, she'd have turned by now.
He unlocked the handcuffs, smiling. Jamie was looking anything but healthy, a pale face except for the fever flush on her cheeks, but Rick ruffled her hair.
"Hear that, Jamie? You're not going to be a walker."
"Great." Jamie smiled, but she was so tired. Daryl picked her up, heading towards the house.
As soon as she was settled in the bed with an IV, Hershel motioned for them all to follow him downstairs.
"What?" Daryl asked. His instincts were telling him it was bad.
"We may have to amputate her foot." Hershel said. "We don't have any antibiotics, and even if we did, there's no guarantee they'd work. We have to stop the infection from spreading..."
"Can't she fight it off herself?" Carol asked, looking horrified.
Hershel shook his head. "It's beyond that point. We need to stop the infection somehow, and I see that as the only option..."
Daryl had remained cool throughout all of this. "What about maggots?" he asked.
Rick stared. "Maggots?"
"Maggots. They eat all the dead flesh. Merle used to put them in my cuts when they got infected."
"You have got to be kidding me." Rick said.
"No- I've heard of maggots being used before to treat wounds, but I've never done it..." Hershel said.
"How did it even get infected? Daryl used alcohol on it." Carol said.
"Bandages got dirty, turned into a breeding ground for bacteria. But I have heard of maggots being used to treat wounds... Maggie!"
"Yeah, Dad?" Maggie came around the corner.
"Remember those maggots that got into the meat that you threw away? Can you go get it?"
"Sure..." Maggie looked confused, but she didn't question it, coming back with a piece of meat.
Rick stared. "You're serious about this?"
"It's either that or amputate." Hershel said calmly, heading upstairs, holding the rancid meat on a plate.
Jamie, who'd almost fallen asleep, looked up when Hershel walked in.
"Maggots?" she asked, looking at Daryl. He nodded.
"Great." she said sarcastically.
Hershel grabbed some tweezers, laying the first maggot on her foot.
"Just out if curiosity, young lady, did you ever go barefoot?" Hershel asked.
Jamie looked at him like he was stupid. "Course I did. Never said I couldn't."
Hershel sighed. "Remind me to be more specific with your instructions." he said. He was placing more maggots on her foot, now.
"Can you feel anything?" he asked.
"Yeah. I've had maggots in me before, Ryder had to to put them in my arm once." Jamie said. Carol shuddered, looking pale.
Jamie laughed weakly at the expression on Carol's face. "What? You never had maggots in you before?"
"I... I can't watch..." Carol said, looking faint.
"I'm sorry, Carol. I didn't mean for it to sound like that..." she said.
Carol nodded. Still, Jamie, with MAGGOTS in her?
"I-I'll go tell the others what's happening." she said, before hurriedly leaving the room.
Hershel had at least twenty maggots on her foot, now, and they crawled near the yellow parts of skin, starting to nibble.
"Does-does it hurt?" Rick asked, looking curious.
"No. But I can feel 'em crawling around." Jamie said, shrugging. "Ain't that bad. Could be worse."
Rick nodded. "Rest up, kid."
Jamie nodded- she kinda liked Rick. He was a level head in the craziness that was their world. Hershel left her as well, and Daryl sat down beside the bed. He was silent for a few moments, before he finally spoke.
"Thought I'd lost you for a bit." he admitted.
"So did I." she said. "Guess I'm not a walker."
Daryl nodded. "How's the foot?"
"Hurts like hell, but I guess I shouldn'ta gone barefoot. You mad at me for running off?"
Daryl shook his head. "Naw. But tell me when you'll be back, next time. And don't get your foot infected."
"Will do." Jamie said. She darted a glance at the IV, then at Daryl.
"What?" Daryl asked.
"Wanna sit on your lap. But the damn IV is too short." she said.
"Don't move your foot. Maggots will fall off it. Wait a little, till they're burrowed in." he leaned forward, stroking her hair.
"I missed you." she said. "I mean- there was no one good to talk to."
"Missed you, too. You're the only one here 'sides Rick who has a brain in their head. Don't go runnin off like that again. 'Least tell me where you're going."
She nodded. "Right. Can you do me a favor?"
Daryl nodded. "What?"
"Whoop Shane's ass for me."
Daryl chuckled. "Will do, baby girl." he promised, and she drifted off to sleep.
Shane sat on his log outside the woodshed, brooding. Rick was putting his son and wife at risk- because despite him coming back from the dead, Lori and Carl were HIS. He'd been the one to keep them alive. He'd been the one making all the tough decisions around here.
Letting Randall live had been the breaking point. But letting JAMIE go, while she was possibly infected? That crossed the line. So what if she hadn't turned? The kid was a ticking time bomb. He needed to keep his family safe, and he was going to do it, one way or another.
As soon as Andrea stopped watching him like a hawk. Ever since he'd pointed a gun at Jamie's head, she'd been staring him down.
He scowled at her and turned, now. "What you lookin at, bitch?"
"Nothing special." she retorted, narrowing her eyes at him. Shane scowled. Randall and Jamie were dead men walking, as far as he was concerned. Andrea would have to leave his side soon- and when she did, hell would break loose.