Chapter 5-Shot
****Troy's POV****
A few miles out of the city we were running really low on gas so we stopped and condensed our vehicles to the R.V., Carol's Jeep, and Daryl's Motorcycle. I'm helping siphon the gas from the vehicles we're not going to use anymore when Dale comes over to us and asks me, T-Dog, and Shane "Where are you three riding? Rick, Lori, and Carl are still riding with Carol and Sophia. So all three of you are riding in the R.V. or one of you ride with Daryl and the rest in the R.V." Just then Glenn says "Troy should ride with Daryl." "What?" I ask looking at Glenn confused as Daryl says "That's fine." I then look at him and ask again "What?" so he adds "You don't take up that much room." I frown and state "I don't know if that was an insult or not." and look at Dale hoping for some help but all he does is smile at me before going back to the R.V. 'They are up to something.' I think as I look at Glenn who smirks at me with a look of 'You still haven't told me what happened.' "Troy." Daryl then says before walking over to his bike so I sigh and follow him as T-Dog and Shane go over to the R.V. with the gas cans. As he gets on the bike he says "Just get on and hold on to me when we start moving." "I've ridden a motorcycle before." I sigh out and get on behind him as he starts the bike. He starts heading to the front of the caravan and I wrap my arms around his waist lightly. We then resume heading out to Fort Benning.
****Time Skip****
Up ahead there's a pile up of cars so I point to it and Daryl says "I see it. Hold on, I'm gonna see if there's a way through." Over the motorcycle. So I hold onto him tighter, ignoring how it caused a warm and safe feeling to show up, as he speeds up and navigates through the pile up finding a path for the R.V. and turning around heading back towards them as they stopped. We pull up next to the R.V. and Dale asks "See a way through?" We nod and I point ahead of them as Daryl gestures with his head that way before going around the R.V. and back in front of it leading it. We slowly make our way through the cars when all of a sudden the R.V. starts smoking. I tap Daryl on the shoulder so he stops and parks the bike. We get off and make our way over to the group as Dale says "Just a small matter of being stuck in the middle of nowhere with no hope of-"before Daryl starts going through one of the cars. Dale then says "Okay, that was dumb." "If you can't find a radiator hose here..." Shane says trailing off as Daryl says "There's a whole bunch of stuff we can find." "I can siphon more fuel from these cars for a start." T-Dog says. "Maybe some water." Carol says and Glenn adds "Or food." But Lori says "This is a graveyard." We all look at her so she adds "I don't know how I feel about this." But Daryl goes back to going through the car as T-Dog says "All right, all right, here we go." And Shane says "Come on, y'all. Just look around, gather what you can." So we all start to go around and search the cars. I go to the cars a little bit farther back from the group and start looking through them, looking for anything useful. I randomly look up and see a herd of walkers heading straight towards us. "Oh shit." I say before calling "Guys we got company!" as I run back to the kids passing Rick causing him to follow me. "Lori, under the cars. Carl, Sophia, get down now." He says so I go under a car next to me as they do. Sophia is under the car directly next to me so when she looks at me I put my finger to my lips and she nods. The walkers start walking by so I motion for her to stay looking at me. She nods and makes eye contact with me and I with her.
The walkers die down causing her to start making her way from under the car towards me. I shake my head but a walker notices her as she screams and it crawls under the car to get her so I quickly roll out from under my car and pull her to me then roll us under my car. That's when a pair of walkers come from the other side of my car. I quickly roll us out, pick her up, and start making my way to the woods were we can hide but I'm slow on the hill and the walkers don't have to worry about dropping someone. I get to the bottom of the hill and start running into the woods as Rick follows us from behind the walkers. I'm making a good sized gap between us and the walkers just then Rick comes up from my right and a group of five walkers come from the left so I give Sophia to him yell "Take her now!" as I pull my hunting knife from my pocket cursing myself that I left my bow back at the R.V. My guns would be faster but then the herd would hear and come back so they weren't an option. He takes off in the direction he came from with her but I can tell he's already winded and two of the original three walkers go after them. "Hey fuckers!" I yell in frustration trying to get them to turn their attention to me but they see Rick and Sophia as an easy target. I then have to quickly jump back as one of the now six walkers reaches for me, stab it in the back of the head and quickly kick the walker back into two others and take down one still standing with my hunting knife. But I notice three more come from behind them so I start going the way I was originally going while making as much noise as possible so they follow me and don't go in Rick's and Sophia's direction. I only jog so they keep their interest till I'm sure I'm far enough away and quickly veer left, start sprinting, and hide behind a tree. They start passing me and when it's the last one I quickly come out and stab it in the back of the neck severing the brain stem making very little noise. Then I pick up a rock and throw it to the right of the group of them. Only four of them head that way and the other three stopped, so I line up the shot and throw my knife into the head of one of the ones who stopped. As it starts falling I rush forward, rip the knife from its head, drive it into the head of another, and kick the third away causing the four to turn back to me. I smash my foot into the fallen one's head as they approach. I kick one into two and dispose of the fourth before jumping back quickly as they stand. I run towards and around them then, severing the closest one's brain stem as I go. They reach for me so I jump back again before running towards them again but slide under them causing them to fall as I take out their legs with my arms. I stand quickly and throw the knife at one's head and jump on the other and start smashing its face into a rock repeatedly till the skull breaks.
I'm panting and don't notice the arrival of another walker and get pushed to the ground by it. I flip it backwards off me but it has a good grip on my sleeves and takes me with it and down the hill. Luckily I land on it so I stand up ripping its arms from mine as I start kicking its face in. When it's re-dead I look were I've fallen and see there's no way for me to get back up as the sides are too step and there is no roots or rocks in them for me to grab on to. "Just great." I mutter as I frown, sit down exhausted, and hope Daryl can track where I went as I start to throw small rocks over the hill bored and keeping myself from passing out.
****Daryl's POV****
"What happened?" I ask as T-Dog and I make our way to the group that where looking towards the woods. Just then Rick comes out of the woods and asks "They're not back yet?!" It's then that I don't notice Sophia or Troy in the group and I'm confused at tightness in my chest because of it as Carol yells "Where are they?!" Lori tries to calm her down as Rick says "We have to find them." Before turning and going back into the woods with Glenn, Shane, and I following him. He leads us a spot with two dead walkers and says "This is where Troy gave me Sophia and told me to take her when a group of walkers came from that direction." He points and turns around and points in the opposite direction and adds "I took off with Sophia in that direction as Troy went that way drawing the walkers after her after killing these two." Pointing in the direction she went. "Sophia first. Troy knows how to survive out here, Sophia doesn't." Glenn says but is looking in the direction Troy went, I didn't like it very much either especially knowing she was against a group of walkers but agreed that even without it she had a better chance than Sophia so Rick leads us to a river and I ask "Sure this is the spot?" "I left Sophia right here after we separated from Troy. I drew the walkers that followed us way off in that direction up the creek." Rick says pointing in the direction he says he went. "Without a paddle-seems where we've landed." I say so Rick says "She was gone by the time I got back here. I figured she just took off and ran back to the group. I told her to go that way and keep the sun on her left shoulder." Pointing in the direction of the highway. I walk over to the spot and tell Glenn "Hey, Short Round, why don't you step off to one side? You're mucking up the trail." "Assuming she knows her left from her right." Shane says. "Shane, she understood me fine." Rick says so Shane says "Kid's tired and scared, man. She and Troy had a close call with three walkers. Got to wonder how much of what you said stuck." As I look for Sophia's prints I find them and say "Got clear prints right here. Sophia did like you said, headed back to the highway. Let's spread out, make our way back." Getting out of the river as Shane says "They couldn't have gone far." And adds "Hey, we gonna find them. Sophia will be tuckered out hiding in a bush somewhere while Troy is probably yelling at some forest animal or walker and forgot to come back." Looking at Rick. "Troy doesn't forget anything." Glenn says angry and glaring at Shane.
Following the trail I notice it veers off so I kneel and say "Sophia was doing just fine till right here. All she had to do was keep going. She veered off that way." Pointing in the direction she went as Glenn asked "Why would she do that?" "Maybe she saw something that spooked her, made her run off." Shane suggests so Glenn asks "A walker? Troy?" I shake my head and say "I don't see any other footprints. Just hers." "So what do we do? All of us press on?" Shane asks so Rick says "No, better if you and Glenn get back up to the highway. People are gonna start panicking. Let them know we're on their trail doing everything we can. But most of all, keep everybody calm." "I'll keep 'em busy scavenging cars. Think up a few other chores. I'll keep 'em occupied. Come on." Shane says starting to walk back to the highway Glenn follows but doesn't look to happy about it. It was his sister out here after all. I then start leading Rick in the direction Sophia went.
****Troy's POV****
A walker was circling the ""hole" I was in so I silently watch it. Not even two minutes later I hear someone whistle and the walker roars looking at them. An arrow is then in its head and it falls rolling down the hill. 'Orange and yellow feathers…' I think as I hear Daryl call "Sophia! Troy!" as I see Rick look down at me. "Down there." He says starting to go to slide down so I say "Stop." And shake my head. He stops and asks "You bit?" And for some reason Daryl slide down the hill and start checking me, an almost worried look on his face. "Ya idiot." I state as I frown, shake my head, and point to the side of the hill. Daryl slowly looks at it and says "Oh…" "What?" Rick asks staying at the top. "No way up." He replies walking over and taking his arrow from the walkers head. "I'll find something." Rick says and starts searching. I go over next to Daryl and look down at the walker. I sigh and kick it over and notice it fed recently so I frown, look at Daryl, and point at his knife stating "I need that." "I'll do it." He says as he pulls out his knife. "Go nuts." I state putting my hands up and stepping away so he stabs it and starts cutting its belly open. He then feels around in it for the stomach, looks at me and says "Yeah, hoss had a big meal not long ago. I feel it in there." Before ripping the stomach out and throwing it on the ground adding "Here's the gut bag." "What are you two doing?" Rick asks having found a fallen tree and pushed it over the hill making a way up. "Checking." Daryl says opening the stomach and stab something inside it, pulling it out he says "This gross bastard had himself a woodchuck for lunch." "At least we know." Rick says as I start climbing up the hill. "At least we know." Daryl says back before also climbing up the hill. I get to the top and Rick says "I found this. I believe it's yours." Holding my knife out to me. "That it is." I state taking it from him and then taking the sheath out of my pocket, putting it on the knife, and putting it back in my pocket. It's getting late when Sophia's trail goes cold, so we decide to head back to the highway and pick up Sophia's trail in the morning. Coming out of the woods I get tackled by Glenn as Carol says "You didn't find her?" "Her trail went cold. We'll pick it up again at first light." Rick says as I try to get Glenn off me but he's hugging me like he thought he would never see me again. "You can't leave my daughter out there on her own to spend the night alone in the woods." Carol says so Daryl says "Out in the dark's no good. We'd just be tripping over ourselves. More people'd get lost." "But she's 12. She can't be out there on her own. You didn't find anything?" Carol says so Rick says "I know this is hard. But I'm asking you not to panic. We know she was out there." Daryl jumps in and says "And we tracked her for a while." So Rick adds "We have to make this an organized effort. Daryl and Troy knows the woods better than anybody. I've asked them to oversee this." Looking at Carol but she's looking at Daryl and asks "Is that blood?" and starts breathing heavy. "We took down a walker." Rick says causing Carol to panic and say "Walker? Oh, my God." So Rick quickly says "There was no sign it was ever anywhere near Sophia." "How can you know that?" Andrea asks so Rick looks at Daryl who says "We cut the son of a bitch open, made sure." Glenn finally let's go of me when Carol asks Rick "How could you just leave her out there to begin with? How could you just leave her?" "Those two walkers were on us. I had to draw them off. It was her best chance." Rick says to her so Shane says "Sounds like he didn't have a choice, Carol." "How was she supposed to find her way back on her own? She's just a child. She's just a child." Carol accuses Rick who says quickly "It was the only option. The only choice I could make." "I'm sure nobody doubts that." Shane says as everyone looks at Rick. Carol starts crying and says "My little girl got left in the woods." Clearly blaming Rick who already blames himself.
She walks away then so I sigh and stop Lori from following saying "Let me talk to her." Before walking over to Carol. "Carol." I say when I stand next to her as she stares out into the woods causing her to ask "What do you want Troy?" "I wanna tell ya something that only Glenn and a few other people knew about before all this." I say looking up at the sky growing orange. "What could you possibly say?" She asks angrily so I sigh out the start of my story "My father wasn't always a nice man." She looks at me then so I look at her and continue "But because of that he met and saved my mother. He cut all ties, sold everything, moved to Michigan, and happened to move next to the Rhee's. They had me and everything was going good…Then when I was ten they found us. Killed them and kidnaped me to replace my mother for me…When I was twelve I managed to escape and found my way back home. I'm telling you this because I believe Sophia can do the same. And unlike me, she's got people looking for her." She shakes her head so I sigh and push up one of my sleeves saying "I'm not lying." causing her to gasp out "I'm so sorry Troy." "Its fine just like how Sophia will be." I tell her causing her to hug me saying "Thank you Troy." She lets go so I push my sleeve back down and place a hand on her shoulder before turning and heading over to where Glenn stood by the R.V. watching us.
"You told her..." He says trailing off not voicing the question so I say "I'm not a little girl anymore Glenn." "I know that. But you're my sister and I care about you." He says defensive so I step closer to him and rest my forehead on his chest muttering "It's not like I care about you or anything either." He chuckles and pulls me into another hug saying "I love you too." I step away after a few minutes so he says "You still haven't told me what you were doing in Daryl's room." "Nothing happened between us." I state causing him to say "I don't believe you. Why were you in his room then?" I sigh glancing around to make sure no one else was listening before whispering "Shane, drunk off his ass tried raping me. I ended up escaping into Daryl's room. That's all." "What?!" He screeches so I say "I'm fine. Nothing happened." "You're the one who gave him the scratches?" he asks quietly so I shake my head saying "Na, I bit his hand. I think Lori's the one who did that." "Are you sure? She's his best friend's wife." He says so I nod saying "Yeah. He said 'Now that Merle's gone and Rick's back you'll have to do.'" "What'd he mean by 'now that Merle's gone'?" He asks so I shrug and say "No fucking clue. Maybe he thought something was going on between us." "Was there?" He asks then so I give him a 'Are you kidding me?' look and say "Of course not. Why would you think that?" "Well, he would listen to you without complaining, the only woman he didn't hit on was you, he got really pissed off when you got hit, and you went back for him." He explains so I sigh and say "He did hit on me the first time we met and I basically stabbed him. Don't know about the other things but I went back for him because he got pissed when I got hit and was chained to the roof because of that." "He started it." He says grabbing my shoulders so I shake my head saying "That may be true but I'm the reason that it escalated. You can't deny that." He opened his mouth to deny it but closed it knowing I was right. "I'm gonna go scan the woods for Sophia." I tell him so he drops his hands and with that I walk away.
I detour to the R.V. to grab my bow and quiver then head back over to the edge of the woods and sit down. A few minutes go by and someone sits next to me not saying anything so I keep my focus on the woods. We sit in silence until they ask "You sure you're not hurt." "I'm not stupid." I growl, wondering what his deal is lately, so he says "Get some sleep. I'll watch for her." Causing me to look at him. Daryl isn't looking at me but at the woods and seems to be thinking something. I sigh and look back at the woods only for him to pull me close to him and order "Sleep." "What the fuck? Let go." I order and try to pull away, not liking the warm and safe feeling bubbling up in my chest again, but he's holding me tight so I give up, rest my head on his shoulder, and mutter "I hate you." I swear I heard him mutter "Me too." before I end up falling asleep.
****Glenn's POV****
I watch as Daryl goes and sits next to Troy. Nothing happens for a while as Rick walks up to me asking "Anything new?" I nod and point at the two. He chuckles and says quietly "Make sure they don't kill each other. Daryl was pretty upset when we found her and asked if she was bit." "What?" I ask causing him to say "Yeah. All the color drained from his face and he immediately slide down to check her." Just then Daryl pulls Troy close to him and holds on to her as she tries but fails to pull away. She gives up and rests her head on his shoulder, he looks at her and he isn't glaring at her but smiling at her before he quickly goes back to neutral and looks back at the woods. "I feel like I saw something I shouldn't have." I say slowly looking at Rick who nods and says "I was right." We walk away as I ask "When?" "Didn't you see his face when we got you two back?" Rick asked. I think back to that day and breathe out "Oh my God." "I don't think they know the extent of their own feelings yet though." Rick says so I ask "They?" "I think Troy likes him too." Rick says so I shake my head saying "Na uh. Nope. Troy doesn't like him. No way. My sister does not like Daryl." Just then Dale comes from behind a car saying "Those two…they have something special and rare. That's why they can't see it and get in fights all the time. It'll be best to just let them figure it out themselves. If you push them they might run. Or being how each of them are…kill each other."
****Time Skip****
Rick puts the weapons Carl found on a car hood and says "Everybody takes a weapon." But Andrea says "These aren't the kind of weapons we need. What about the guns?" "We've been over that. Daryl, Rick, Troy, and I are carrying. We can't have people popping off rounds every time a tree rustles." Shane says as Troy hands me a weapon from one of the ones on the hood and heads back over to the edge of the woods to wait for us. "It's not the trees I'm worried about." Andrea says as I inspect the hatchet Troy gave me so Shane says "Say somebody fires at the wrong moment, a herd happens to be passing by. See, then it's game over for all of us. So you need to get over it." Daryl then says "The idea is to take the creek up about five miles, turn around and come back down the other side. Chances are she'll be by the creek. It's her only landmark." "Stay quiet and stay sharp. Keep space between you but always stay within sight of each other." Rick says as Daryl walks away from the group and up next to Troy.
****Troy's POV****
When we start to head out I see Carl is coming with us so I stick behind him as we search. Daryl is leading and I'm in the back watching Carl. He stops and says "Shane, look. Dad said I could carry it and Mom said as long as I was-"but is cut off by Shane being a dick and saying "Keep it down. We're looking for Sophia. You need to focus on the task." Causing Carl to look down and walk slower so Lori says "Got to keep up." "I am." Carl says sad. "You okay?" She asks so he says "I think Shane's mad at me. Did I do something wrong?" "No. No, honey, I promise you. He's just-he's worried about Sophia, that's all." She answers as we come up on a tent we all stop and Shane says "She could be in there." "Could be a whole bunch of things in there." Daryl says saying what I was thinking and walks forward. Rick, Shane, and I follow him as the others stayed back. Daryl takes out his knife and motions for me to follow him as he slowly approaches the tent. We inspect it to see if we can see anything but we can't so I look at Rick and shrug so he says quietly "Carol." And motions for her to come. They approach slowly as Rick says "Call out softly. If she's in there, yours is the first voice she should hear." As Daryl is ready at the front of the tent if it's anything but Sophia. "Sophia, sweetie, are you in there? Sophia, it's Mommy. Sophia. We're all here, baby. It's Mommy." There's no response so Rick approaches as Daryl starts to unzip the door slowly and open it. He coughs as I go in it, it smells bad, but I've smelled worse. He follows me and I poke the body seeing if it will re-animate while muttering "Poke it with a stick." as Rick and Shane cough and gag outside the tent. "Daryl? Troy?" Carol asks as Daryl takes the gun from the dead body's hand and puts it in the back of his pants. He gets out then and says "It ain't her." "What's in there?" Andrea asks as I get out. "Some guy. Did what Jenner said. Opted out. Ain't that what he called it?" Daryl says. I go to nod but take off in the direction of a bell ringing. They follow me as Carol says "If we hear them, maybe Sophia does too." So Glenn says "Someone's ringing those bells, maybe calling others." "Or signaling that they found her." Andrea says causing Rick to say "She could be ringing them herself. Come on."
A few feet later we make it to the clearing of the church but Shane says "That can't be it. Got no steeple, no bells. Rick, Troy." So I say "Still have to check." as we continue running to the church. The others follow us as we stop at the doors. Rick motions for the others to be quiet before we open the doors. Three walkers are inside and they slowly turn to face us. Lori gives Rick her machete and Glenn gives Daryl his hatchet as I pull out my knife. Rick goes for the single as Daryl and I go for the pair. Approaching the male as he approaches the female I quickly go around it and sever its brain stem and use its body as a shield against the female as Daryl sneaks up behind her. Making kissing sounds he gets her attention and smacks her in the face with the hatchet having to back up as she falls towards him. 'Rick it's dead.' I tell him in my head looking at him as he keeps hitting the walker with the machete, though don't voice it as he's getting out frustration. He then looks up and yells "Sophia!" as Daryl walks towards the statue of Jesus and says "Yo, JC, you taking requests?" "I'm telling you, it's the wrong church. It's got no steeple, Rick. There's no steeple." Shane says just before the bells ring again. Daryl and I make it out of the church first and see the speaker. I go over and turn it off muttering "Bloody hell." as Daryl says "A timer. It's on a timer." "I'm gonna go back in for a bit." Carol says following me and Daryl into the church. I stand with him in the back of the church when Carol begs god to keep Sophia safe. I look at the ground thinking 'You didn't protect me, but I swear to you that you better protect Sophia. Give her back to us.' Before walking out of the church and seeing Shane and Andrea speaking. I chuckle as the others come out of the church and they immediately stop speaking and walk over to us. Shane walks over to Rick who is a bit away from us and they talk looking forward then at each other every so often. But soon they stop and Shane comes towards us and says "Y'all gonna follow the creek bed back. Okay, Daryl and Troy, you're in charge. Me and Rick, we're just gonna hang back, search this area another hour or so just to be thorough." "Na, I'm going too. Ya'll don't know how to track." I say walking over to stand next to Rick. "You're splitting us up. You sure?" Daryl asks then so Shane says "Yeah, we'll catch up to you." "I want to stay, too. I'm her friend." Carl says causing Shane to look at Rick who looks at Lori who in turn looks at me. I nod so Lori says "Just be careful, okay? Stay with Troy." "I will." Carl says so she hugs him and asks "When did you start growing up?" Rick goes over and gives her a kiss while Carl walks over to stand next to me. Rick hugs her and says "I'll be along soon enough." "Don't be stupid." Glenn tells me so I chuckle and say "You too." As Shane and Andrea have a staring contest. Rick tries to give Lori his gun then but she says "I'm not taking your gun and leaving you unarmed." "Here, got a spare. Take it." Daryl says handing her the gun from the tent. He then looks at me and nods, as if telling me to be careful, before walking in front of the group as Andrea scoffs. 'What the actual fuck is up with him?!' I yell in my head as we then split up. "Give me a minute?" Rick asks us before walking into the church. Shane rubs Carl's head and says "Come on." Before the two follow Rick to the church. I follow them and sit next to Carl on the steps as we wait for Rick. Rick comes out so Shane asks "Get what you needed?" "Guess I'll find out." Rick says walking off. Carl looks at me and I shrug so we get up follow him with Shane behind us.
****Time skip****
I'm leading them when we get into the woods. A branch snaps so I stop and pull Carl behind me. We slowly go in the direction of the snap and we see a deer through the branches. We stop and watch it go into a clearing. I look at Carl and he looks at me I nod and we start approaching the deer slowly as Rick whispers "Shane." Getting him to stop pointing his gun at the deer. We're getting closer so Carl looks back at them happy. We continue and he ends up stepping on a stick snapping it and causing the deer to look at us. I stop and let Carl go ahead on his own when I see the glint of the gun. Rushing forward I push him away just before the gun fires. I stumble back feeling the distinct pain of a gunshot radiating from my stomach. "Great…" I breathe out seeing the blood quickly spread on my shirt. I put pressure on the wound as I look at a wide eyed Carl as he stares at my shirt. "You okay little man?" I ask causing his head to snap up and his eyes to meet mine before they water and he nods violently. "That's go-" I start to breathe out but before I could finish black floods my vision and I hit the ground.
****Rick's POV****
As soon as Troy went down we rush to her as Carl screams "Troy?!" Blood was quickly spreading on her shirt so I apply pressure to the wound. "Let's take her back-" Shane starts to say but was cut off by a man coming out of the woods with a rifle in a panic saying "I didn't see her...There's a farm about a mile away. Talk to Hershel he'll help the girl." I quickly pick her up and ask "Where?!" He could be lying but it was closer than the highway and I couldn't let her die, she saved Carl's life so I wasn't going to let her die. He points then so I take off as fast as I could towards the farm. Carl, Shane, and the man are not far behind and I see the house up ahead and a girl on the porch. "Dad!" She yelled as I got closer. A few people come out then and the old man asks "Was she bit?" "Shot. By your man." I say out of breath approaching them, Troy getting paler by the minute. "Otis?" the woman asks so I say "He said to find Hershel. You him? Please. Help her." walking closer to the man. He hesitates and looks at Troy before nodding and saying "Get her inside." Rushing inside. I follow as he says "Patricia, I need my full kit. Maggie, painkillers, coagulates-grab everything. Clean towels, sheets, alcohol." Walking to a room taking off the sheets he says "In here." So I lay Troy as he says "Pillowcase." "Is she alive?" I ask but he doesn't answer just repeats "Pillowcase, quick." "Is she alive?" I ask again getting the pillowcase but he just says "Fold it. Make a pad. Put pressure on the wound." I do as he says as he gets his stethoscope and listens for Troy's heart. "I've got a heartbeat. It's faint." Hershel says then stepping back says "Maggie, IV. Your name?" "Rick. I'm-I'm Rick." I say staring at Troy's arm which was covered in scars so Hershel says "Rick we're gonna do everything we can, okay? You need to give us some room. Now." I nod and step out of the room to see Carl, Shane, and Otis, the man who shot Troy and almost shot Carl coming up to the farm.
I went out to the porch. I didn't know what I would do if it was actually Carl that was on that bed, shot. "Is she alive?" Otis asks but I didn't reply now realizing just how much of Troy's blood I was covered in. "Dad? Is Troy going to be okay? She saved me." Carl says tears streaming down his face so I look at Shane and say "I don't know but we need to get Glenn and the rest over here fast." "How are we gettin' 'em here?" Shane asks so I shake my head not knowing. "Where is she?" Carl asks then so I lead them to the room I was just in. Shane's face drains of color and Carl starts crying harder immediately, seeing the state Troy was in as Hershel tends to her. "Do you know her blood type?" He asks me as Carl walks up to her and grabs her hand so I shake my head. "That's unfortunate. We can't do anything unless we know her blood type. She'll bleed out and die in minutes if I attempt to do anything." He says looking at us so I say "Thank you for helping us." He nods and turns his attention back to Troy so I go back to Shane saying "We need to get Glenn here fast." "Where is he? I'll go get him." A girl with short hair says coming up to us. I told her to get Glenn Rhee, where they were, and she took off.
Hershel comes out of the room a few minutes later and asks "What happened?" "I was tracking a buck. Bullet went through it. Went clean through." Otis says so Hershel shakes his head and says "The deer slowed the bullet down, as did the scar tissue, which certainly saved her life. But it did not go through clean. It broke up into pieces. If we can get the bullet fragments out…I'm counting six. But like I said I can't do anything unless we know her blood type."
****Maggie's POV****
Hearing screaming up ahead I kick Rose's sides saying "Heah." She run then in the direction of the screaming and I see a walker attacking a blonde girl. I pull out my bat and whacked it on the head. "Glenn? Glenn Rhee?" I ask hoping I had the right group of people as I look around at them, none of them looked like the woman though. "I'm Glenn." The cute Asian guy speaks up so I quickly say "Rick sent me, you gotta come now. There's been an accident, Troy's been shot. She's still alive, but you gotta come now." Thinking 'Stop Maggie. She's obviously his girlfriend.' As His eyes go wide and he immediately takes off his back pack and climbs on as a redneck with a crossbow says "Whoa, whoa, whoa, we don't know this girl. You can't get on that horse." But there was a flicker of worry in his eyes too. "I have to!" Glenn yells at him so I tell them "Rick said you had others on the highway? That big traffic snarl? Backtrack to Fairburn Road. Two miles down is our farm, you'll see the mailbox. Name's Greene." Before kicking Rose's sides again and we took off.
****Glenn's POV****
We arrive at the farm and I don't even wait for the pretty girl to slow down before jumping off the horse and running up to Rick practically screaming "Where is she?!" "First door on your left." He says following me as I rush into the room. I feel the tears burn in my eyes the second they land on Troy on the bed, passed out, her clothes stained with blood, and her skin ghostly pale, again…"Do you know her blood type? I can't do anything until I know her blood type." The old man at her side says bringing me back to reality so I quickly say "A-Positive." That's when Troy's eyes opened quickly and she tried to get away from the man screaming "Let me go! I'm not Helen!" "Troy!" I yell running to her side as the man yells "Hold her down!" "Hey Troy. You're okay. You're okay." I keep repeating to her as she keeps screaming, Rick and Shane hold her down, and Rick says "I'm A-Positive too. She can have my blood." "She needs it now." The man says then as he pulls a metal shard from her. I replace Rick, as he goes over to a woman, hating the utter fear in Troy's glazed eyes. She wasn't here…She was back there and then with those bastards. "You're killing her!" Rick yells when she stops screaming words and just purely screams in pain. "Do you want her to live?" the man asks as I yell at him "Do it now!" Troy need blood and fast. Not even two seconds later Troy goes limp and the room goes quiet. "Wait, wait, wait, what happened?" Shane and I ask the man who says "She just passed out." He then pulls out another metal shard from her adding "Two down…four to go."
****Time Skip****
"She's strong." Hershel says taking Troy's blood pressure as the woman was patching up Rick's arm from another blood transfusion. "You have no idea." I say holding her hand in my hands before I look at Rick and say "Thank you." He nods before I see him want to ask something and I know what is so I say "If she wants to tell you she will. I will not tell you." "Her pressures stable…for now." Hershel says then before him and Rick leave me alone with her. "Everything's going to be fine. You're going to wake up. You're going to be here. Not there, here. With me, with everyone."
****Rick's POV****
We leave Glenn alone and walk into the room where the others were. "She's out of danger for the moment, but I need to remove those remaining fragments. But they're deep, one must have nicked a blood vessel, and one is almost buried in the scar tissue. I need to go in and stitch it but she can't be moving like this or otherwise or I'll get an artery and she'll be dead in minutes. To even try to help her, I have to put her under. But if I do, she won't be able to breathe on her own. Same bad results." Hershel says bandaging her wounds. "What'll it take?" I ask so Otis says "You need a respirator. What else?" "The tube that goes with it, extra surgical supplies, drapes, sutures." Hershel answers so I ask "If you had all that you could save her?" "If I had all that, I could try." He answers. "Nearest hospital went up in flames a month ago." Otis says but adds "The high school." When Hershel looks at him. "That's what I was thinking. They set up a FEMA shelter there. They would have everything we need." Hershel says so Otis says "Place was overrun last time I saw it. You couldn't get near it. Maybe it's better now." Shane looks at Carl then at door to the room Troy and Glenn were in and says "Doc, why don't you do me a list and draw me a map?" "You won't need a map. I'll take you there. Ain't but five miles." Otis says but Patricia says "Otis no." "Honey, we don't have time for guesswork and I'm responsible. I ain't gonna sit here while this fella takes this on alone. I'll be alright." Otis says so Shane asks "Are you sure about this?" "You even know what any of the stuff he's talking about looks like?" Otis asks so Shane says "Come to think, no." "I've been a volunteer EMT. I do. We can talk about this till next Sunday or we could just go do it real quick." Otis says. "I'll take right quick." Shane says. I look at Otis and say "I should thank you." But he says "Wait till that girl of yours is up and around. Then we'll talk. I'll gather some things." And walks off. "A little girl goes missing...you look for her. Troy got shot because I wouldn't cut bait, it should be me in there." I say then so Shane says "Yeah, you've been there partner. You know you start that…you'll never get that monkey off your back." "She didn't hesitate to put Carl's life before hers. Yet I can't do anything but give her blood." I say so he says "I understand that and I will handle it. But you need to handle your end." "My end?" I ask so he says "Your end is being here for her and Glenn, to help keep her calm, while I go get the things." Before pausing and point to the room where they were and adding "That girl in there…she save Carl so I'm not going to let her die. I can promise you that."
****Lori's POV****
T-Dog and I get out of the car and walk towards the farm house. Stopping at the steps I ask "So do we ring the bell? I mean, it looks like people live here." "We're past this kind of stuff, aren't we? Having to be considerate." T-Dog asks walking up the steps. "Did you close the gate up the road when you drove in?" the girl who came and got Glenn asks. "Yes, we closed it. Did the latch and everything." I tell her so T-Dog asks but groans "Look, we came to help. There anything we can do?" She looks at him so he says "It's not a bite. I cut myself pretty bad though." "We'll have it looked at. I'll tell them you're here." She says so I say "We have some painkillers and antibiotics. I already gave him some. If Troy needs any." I say causing her to get a sympathetic look as she says "Come on inside. I'll make you something to eat." Going into the house we follow her in and she leads us into a room saying "Your friends are in here." Going in the room I gasp at the state Troy is in. Unconscious and ghostly pale causing the multiple scars on her arms and chest to stand out. It hurt to see the strong girl like this, even more so than it did to see the dark bruises that were around her neck and on the side of her face when the Quarry fell. An old man was sitting on the bed with her while Carl and Glenn were on either side of her holding her hands, both have obviously been crying. Rick looked pale too, I'm guessing he gave her his blood to help due to the bandage around his arm. "How'd it happen?" I ask so Rick looks at us and explains "A hunting accident. That's all it was…Just a stupid accident. Shane and the man that shot her, Otis, went to a high school to get her the things that they need to perform the rest of the surgery." "She saved me mom. I'm so sorry Glenn." Carl cries then and I'm surprised by Glenn's answer "It's okay. She'll be fine. She's my sister after all." It was then that I decided that they were also my children so I walk over and place a comforting hand on Glenn's shoulder. That's when T-Dog says "Whatever you need okay?" Glenn nods slowly so he leaves the room.
The old man then rolls down the blanket that was covering her stomach, revealing more scars and that it was now purple and bloated. I squeeze Glenn's shoulder as the old man says "They don't get back soon, we're gonna have a decision to make." "And that is?" I ask so he answers "Whether to operate on her without the respirator." "You said that wouldn't work." Glenn says gripping her hand harder as the man says "I know. It's extremely unlikely. But we can't wait much longer." "Why don't you get something to eat? We'll stay with her." I then tell Glenn so he slowly releases her hand and walks out of the room looking defeated. That's when I turn to the man and say "Okay, so I understand, when Shane gets back with this other man-""Otis." He supplies but I continue "Otis. The idiot who shot my kid." "Ma'am, it was an accident." He says but I grab her unnaturally cold hand saying "I'll take that under advisement later. For now he's the idiot who shot our kid." "Lori, they're doing everything they can to make it right." Rick says so I ask "Okay, as soon as they get back you can perform this surgery?" "I'll certainly do my best." The man answers so I ask "Okay. You've done this procedure before?" "Well, yes, in a sense." He says so I ask "In a sense?" Causing Rick to say "Honey, we don't have the luxury of shopping for a surgeon." "No, I understand that. But I mean you're a doctor, right?" I ask. "Yes, ma'am. Of course. A vet." He says so I ask, with a little hope now, "A veteran? A combat medic?" "A veterinarian." He answers causing both mine and Rick's faces to fall, losing what little hope we had, so I ask "And you've done this surgery before on what? Cows? Pigs?" He nods so I ask "Completely in over your head, aren't you?" "Ma'am aren't we all?"