"Jamie... Jamie!"
She could feel someone tapping her cheek.
Her eyes fluttered open, lips parted slightly, and she tried to take a sound, but only a pained grunt escaped her lips.
"Can you stand up?"
She slowly moved, letting her right arm hand limp and slowly moving her left, grabbing at the gravel for one moment, two, before she was shambling to her feet, shaking violently...
Her knees buckled beneath her like a new born fawn.
Hands caught her before she hit the ground, lowering her gently back down. Something warm and wet was trickling down her arm sluggishly, and she could hear someone talking overhead.
"...lost some blood... shock..."
"We need to get her to the hilltop."
Her eyes fluttered open at the mention of the nearby settlement, and she shook her head, dry lips parting.
"N-no. D-Dad. I wan' Dad..." she slurred, dizzy with exhaustion.
Where was Daryl?
She was met with pained silence, and Rick's gravelly voice spoke again. "Lemme see her arm..." Rick let out a breath, eyes widening, when he saw it. The skin had been torn by the barbed wire of the bat, looking a lot like hamburger meat. The wound was still sluggishly oozing blood, and Rick blinked as he saw the ivory shard of splintered bone staring at him...
Rick swallowed. "We need to get her to the hilltop."
Mark strode over, forehead creased with concern. "Sasha and I can get her there, with Maggie..."
Rick sighed. "The two of you won;t be able to carry her and get Maggie..."
"I... I wanna go... home..." she muttered, glassy eyes looking up at Rick. Everything hurt- she had a sinking feeling Daryl had been taken- and she wanted to sleep for a year. It was as thought there was a gaping hole inside herself.
Rick sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose. "Your arm is too bad for that..."
"Theoretically speaking, if we could get the bone back together and prevent infection, she would be fine." Eugene spoke up hurriedly.
Rick stopped, looking up at the man with surprise. "You can do that?"
"I took a few anatomy classes in college. And learned some things from Denise... Besides that, if... they... came to Alexandria and saw we were down two people, they'd be suspicious. She's lost some blood, but a wound like this shouldn't kill her if we get everything under control..." as Eugene spoke, he was shrugging off his canvas coat, pressing it to the open skin in an attempt to stop the already sluggish flow.
Rick took a deep breath, running a hand through his filthy hair. It was times like these, and decisions like this, when he hated being leader. Two people injured, and only one could go to the Hilltop...
Rick's thoughts were interrupted by the sound of a body scraping on gravel- Jamie had managed to get on her knees and good arm and crawl- she'd begun to drag herself towards the RV.
"Jamie." Rick blinked. "Where are you going?"
"Home!" Jamie muttered, frustrated, before she continued her trek towards the open door.
Eugene looked over at the stubborn teenager, then at Rick, shrugging. "Seems to me she'll live."
Rick sighed. It seemed the decision had been made for him.
He sighed, getting to his feet.
Carl was already moving, trying to pick Jamie up off the gravel.
"Hey..." She struggled for a moment.
"Easy. We're going home. That's what you want, right?" Carl asked.
She nodded sluggishly, allowing him to loop am arm below her knees and chest and carry her inside.
She laid settled in the bunk in the RV, hearing the tires chew up the road. They were going home.
Her arm throbbed dully, and she couldn't help but think she should be traumatized about something, but she couldn't remember what.
At the front of the RV, Eugene approached Rick. "I'd like to set her arm."
Rick blinked, looking up from where he'd been staring at the road. "Now?"
Eugene nodded. "She still seems... out of it. I feel it's best to do it while she's in an altered level of consciousness- if she gets more lucid, she might remember it."
As much as Rick hated it, it made sense. It was probably best for Eugene to begin to fix her arm now, while she was still in and out, than to wait until she was more concious.
Rick nodded. "Do it."
Carl looked up from where he was sitting beside her bunk when Eugene walked over to them, wringing his hands nervously.
"I need to set her arm."
Carl blinked. "Now?"
"It's best we do it while she's in and out, rather than when she's more lucid. Then I can disinfect and stitch what I have to, and that should stop the blood loss and take her a step in the right direction..."
Carl nodded, stepping back, as Eugene washed his hands and walked over nervously, tapping Jamie's cheek.
Jamie's eyes fluttered open, looking a vivid green against her pale face, as she turned her head towards him.
"I'm going to set your arm. I need you to hold still... this will hurt a lot." Eugene;s tongue darted out to moisten his chapped lips, brown eyes surveying her nervously, before he reached out and gently took hold of her upper arm, moving to try and slide the bone back into the skin...
The scream she let out was unearthly. Her back arched and she writhed, kicking fruitlessly.
"Hold her legs!" Eugene turned, looking at Carl pleadingly.
The teen blinked his one good eye- the color had drained form his face, but he saw the anxiety on Eugene's face and nodded, stepping forward to pin down her legs.
"I'm sorry, I'm sorry..." Eugene muttered, as her shouting dulled to hoarse, wide-eyed pants.
"I know it hurts- I will try to be as quick as humanly possible. Okay? We're about halfway there." Eugene reassured her.
Jamie was still breathing her raggedly, and she looked at him with eyes full of doubt, before she let her eyes fall closed and nodded.
Eugene nodded as well, taking a shaky breath. He'd managed to get most of the bone back in the skin, now it was simply a matter of lining up the bone correctly and splinting it...
He took a hold of both ends of the flesh, moving them both...
Carl struggled to hold down her legs from kicking as her back arched and she writhed beneath them- she could feel the ends of bone grating together, the pain was like white hot metal, it was unreal, she couldn't breathe, it was never going to stop...
"Daddy! Dad, help me!" the screams were torn from her lips unconsciously- black dots swam before her eyes before her eyes rolled back and she was deathly still.
In the driver's seat of the RV, Rick had a white knuckle grip on the steering wheel, tears leaking down his face. He was no longer sure of what he was doing- they were now all slaves to Negan, and the girl he thought of as a niece, was lying in the back of an RV, in pain, desperately screaming for her father, his best friend... who was now a living hostage to their master.
Rick but his lip to muffle a sob- he had to keep looking at the road ahead. He had to get them home.
Two minutes after Jamie had passed out, Eugene turned, biting his lip, before washing his crimson stained hands in the sink.
Carl stood over her, looking down at her limp form blankly.
Eugene let out a shaky sigh. "I don't mean to sound callous, but it's for the best she's unconscious."
Carl nodded his agreement, pursed-lipped, and Eugene sat down, covering a clean rag with rubbing alcohol and beginning to swab the wound, cleaning the dirt and removing the gravel. Once it was clean, he stitched the skin with shaking hands, closing the gash where the bone had punctured through and bandaging, before splinting the arm as best he could.
Finally, Eugene sighed, pulling a blanket over her and nodding to Carl. "Keep her warm, fight off the shock. I'm going to report to Rick." he handed Carl a wet rag, which the teen looked at with confusion.
"Her lips are chapped. Try to keep them moist, and if she wakes up, give her water and get me."
Carl nodded, already leaning forward and dabbing at her dry lips.