Rick raced towards the Governor and his son. Carl's screams made him run near Olympic-speed, but as he drew near a bullet just grazed across his shoulder but the impact still knocked him down. Rick stood and tried to run but pain replaced what little energy he had left. Behind him, others tried to run some even shot at the Governor but each bullet missed.
He whipped Carl around showing his opponents the boy's bloodied and torn back. The other looked on in horror, everyone bristled especially Daryl.
"You in the soldier-making business now Grimes?!" the Governor demanded shaking the youth by the nape of his neck. Carl gritted his teeth sending daggers at the man but waves of pain made him falter.
"Please…let him go please he's suf-."
"Suffering?" The Governor shot a dark look at Michonne. "Sounds familiar doesn't it?"
"There's a difference," Rick shouted unable to control himself.
"Well let's change that."
The Governor drew his knife and rammed it into Carl's stomach. The youth crumbled at the shot and his breath caught in his throat. Once the blade was pulled out, his hands automatically went to the entry wound to try and stop the bleeding.
Before anyone could react, the Governor stabbed again this time in the face.
XXXXXX
Rick woke with a start, feeling his heart palpitate so hard until he felt that it was going to burst. He looked over to see Sawyer still awake but slumped and his eyes were starting to droop
"Go to sleep," Rick said.
Sawyer looked over, seeing his leader awake and relatively okay the youth nodded. Resting his head against the wall he was about to close his eyes when something came to mind.
"I'm sorry about Carl."
Rick felt a pressure slam onto his body making him slump, but he refused to allow Sawyer to see his hurt.
"Yeah…thanks."
The leader watched as the youth turned over and let out a small sigh.
Sawyer wondered if that was the right thing to say to the grieving man. But what else could he say? What other options were there? The youth was still uncomfortable but could feel that it was better than before. He looked over his shoulder to see Rick just staring at the fire, his eye caught the youth and nodded for him to go to sleep. Sawyer was worried. If Rick just got up and left then Sawyer would really be dead. He let out a soft sigh and closed his eyes.
Rick watched as the youth slowly dozed off. He knew that the youth was scared of him leaving again, but Rick couldn't do that again. It was stupid move. Despite wanting to be alone, Rick knew that it was a smart move to have someone around especially with the heavy injuries he had. However it would be a lie to say that Rick wanted that person to be a child. The most Sawyer did was help Hershel around when he could, it seemed that the youth was much more eager to learn about medic assets rather than fighting ones. It wasn't a bad thing, especially now but when the time came to fight – Rick knew that he would have to be in top fighting shape to protect him.
He looked down at his bandaged body, he had heard Hershel praise the youth's skills and now he knew why. Cautiously Rick undid one of the snug bandages and saw the neat stitching work to find even his-self impressed. Redoing the gauze, he looked over to Sawyer who shifted in his sleep.
Rick wondered where Lily was. Lily's Sawyer's sister and had constantly stuck to the boy's side. Some of the other children had tried to coax her into playing with them but she would refuse and run to wherever Sawyer was. Unlike Sawyer, Lily had wanted to learn how to be a Runner like Glenn – even though she was too young to go on one Glenn would give her tips and show her what things to bring back verse what to leave behind. From what he had caught on, she had always being a quiet child even in Woodbury especially after they lost their parents.
Rick looked over at Sawyer and though about how Carl would try to be almost a parent figure towards Judith. Sometimes he would feed and change her without allowing anyone to help, while other times he would just spend time playing with her a little whenever Patrick or the other kids weren't around. It seemed that Carl hadn't tried to grow up fast for his-self anymore, but for Judith as well.
Hadn't.
Rick clenched his fist despite his bruised knuckles protesting. He looked down to see the discoloured skin taunt, he relaxed his hand and the skin drew back. He lost his wife, he lost his son and he didn't know where Judith was. Rick let out a sigh closing his eyes and carefully drew his knees up to his chest to place his head in his hands. He felt himself doze off but immediately forced himself to wake. Both couldn't go to sleep and Rick didn't have the heart to wake Sawyer to take watch – dragging a man twice his size around couldn't being easy for him.
He let out a small sigh and looked back to the fire.
XXXXXX
They stayed at the shelter for a couple more days, their food depleting faster than either could replenish. Sawyer's father had being a hunter before and had passed on tips and tricks to his children, but Sawyer lacked the proper skill to tie the knots on snares or his acute fear of heights would kick in over six feet high and he'd panic scaring off the close wildlife.
Rick tried to do what he could despite his own brutal injuries. The stitching would break every so often forcing him to stop and re-stitch himself. He would stagger outside sometimes to try and get some fresh air but at times his legs wouldn't work making him fall. So he kept himself busy doing smaller less energy-using chores such as keeping the fire tended, skinning whatever animals that Sawyer managed to catch and keeping any weaponry clean. He hated it all. Rick wanted to be moving, he didn't want to be stationary even if it was for good reason. He had to find his group, he had to find his friends.
"How long do you think we should stay?" Sawyer asked, his voice slightly timid unsure of how to talk to Rick especially after his last couple of outbursts.
Rick pondered. "We should move today."
"But you're still injured! Can you even move?"
Rick rose to his feet with what seemed like ease but Sawyer could detect the small cringe in the man's left leg. It was clear that his muscles were still experiencing trauma.
"You're still injured," Sawyer said. "We can't move anywhere until your internal injuries have healed completely."
Rick could almost hear Hershel's words in the boy's voice. It was patient yet with the boyish tone.
"I'll be fine," Rick grunted as he took a few steps, his left leg throbbed with pain making it hard. After the fourth step the left leg gimped.
"You shouldn't rush the healing process," Sawyer continued, "straining muscles will result in permena-."
"I said I'm fine!"
Rick's outburst immediately shut Sawyer up, even making him jolt a little as if struck. The youth opened his mouth to speak but ducked as Rick's harsh glare targeted him.
"Get the bag's ready," Rick ordered his tone still sharp.
Without a work Sawyer did as he was instructed but still felt a bit stung from the shout. He bit the inside of his lip to stop it from trembling.
Rick limped his way to the bathroom where he slammed the door shut and slid to a sitting position. Not only were his hands shaking but his whole body – it was like a mini earthquake was happening inside of him. He did it again. He shouted at the boy. Rick wasn't blind to Sawyer's attempts to control his own hurt emotions as he started to pack. A pang of guilt struck Rick catching him off guard. He knew he shouldn't have shouted but he couldn't help himself. The boy knew nothing of survival, Rick did – he knew that staying too long in an unprotected place especially with no natural defenses gives them a major disadvantage against not only Walkers but also violent survivors.
There was a small knock at the door.
"What?"
"The bags are ready," a tiny voice replied.
Rick nodded. "'kay I'll be out in a sec."
He heard the boy's footsteps move away from the door and Rick tried to get up. His left leg gave out completely on his second try causing him to crash back on his ass. With a groan, Rick used the door knob and towel bar to force himself up. It worked. With a few cautious steps his left leg stopped protesting and Rick walked out of the bathroom.
In the living room, Rick grabbed the heaviest bag with a grunt. His left leg started up against but Rick moved around until it stopped. Sawyer wanted to say he would take it – he had created a pack with just enough weight not to hurt his leader after all but then again he didn't want to get shouted at. Quietly he picked up the other bag and the small sack with their provisions.
"Let's go."
XXXXXX
Outside the sun was beating down on the pair, both rolled up their sleeves as they could feel sweat and the heat assault their bodies. Sawyer was slightly panting from the continuous walk that now seemed to enter its fourth hour. However he was fairing a lot better than Rick – a lot.
Rick had started to limp back about a mile or so, and it was getting worse to almost the point of him falling over completely. Sweat was threatening to roll into his stitches which Rick would wipe away quickly but tenderly not wanting to disrupt the work. From Sawyer's position he could see red seep around Rick's stomach where the Governor had viciously kicked him.
"You're bleeding," Sawyer said. "We should stop."
Rick knew he should agree with the youth but looking around, they were in a large clearing.
"We…we can't," Rick said, his voice struggled showing how little energy he had. "We have to keep moving."
Sawyer's eyes widened. Now facing his leader he saw how much he was struggling.
"Just five minutes to bind the wound."
Rick was about to argue when his body answered for him. He fell. His left leg went first gimping out completely, he tried to break his fall but it failed and he ended up falling on his face. Sawyer dropped the bags and went over to Rick who struggled onto his back.
"Easy," Sawyer barely whispered. He looked at Rick who struggled even to lift up his shirt, Sawyer cautiously helped and saw that the stitching broke. Sawyer saw that sweat had dampened the stitched, thus weakening it.
Explains why they broke," Sawyer though, thinking back to Hershel's lessons.
"We need to fix it," the boy said, his voice hurried and slightly pitched.
"We can't camp here," Rick protested.
"You can't move."
"I'm fine!"
Sawyer bit his lip sensing an outburst impending. If Rick kept on walking, the muscle around his joint would seize up and that was only the temporary symptom. The more permanent one was the muscles would fail to heal properly and thus a permanent limp would occur and if that occurred a walking aid might be necessary. Sawyer wanted to tell Rick all of this, he wanted the leader to see the danger in his actions. Rick didn't have to act tough in front of the child because Sawyer knew that he was strong – but now he was acting stupid.
"We need to bind it somehow," Sawyer repeated rummaging through his bag. "Carrying the heavy pack wouldn't have helped either."
Rick didn't reply he was too weak for that.
"There," Sawyer pointed to an area only a few feet away, it was out of the clearing and seemed to be a failed homemade shelter. Rick nodded and tried to get up but his left leg had given up completely. He felt Sawyer grab the back of shirt and pull.
"Wait, grab the bags I'll be fine," Rick ordered, he felt a bit embarrassed being dragged around by a ten year old.
Sawyer did as he was told and hurried to the shelter. He looked back to see Rick crawling the best he could.
"Sir!"
Rick turned around just in time to see the Walker loom over top. It knelt down and grabbed Rick's shoulder pulling him close with rather surprising strength. Sawyer ran over as Rick did his best to fight it off, he struggled for his weapon with one hand while trying to fight with the other. The walker pressed his hand on Rick's injured ribs causing him to cry out in pain. His dropped instinctively to protect the wound, unfortunately that hand was the only thing stopping the Walker. Its face was mere millimeters from Rick's when it's movement's stopped suddenly and the body forcibly pulled off.
Rick looked over to see Sawyer pull the knife out of the skull then plunge it back in for good measure. His front was stained a bit but other than that he seemed okay.
Once more the boy saved the man's life.
"Are you alright sir?" Sawyer asked.
Rick managed a meagre nod before continuing to the shelter. He propped himself up against the tree and gave a struggled sigh through clenched teeth. His heart was still racing and his hand was still on his side. He withdrew it to see a bit of red leaking out.
"I have some extra bandages," Sawyer said, "but we need to get more."
"Where's the map?" Rick asked.
Sawyer took it out and handed it to the leader. Rick ignored the boy as he started to cut strands and the gauze tape. He saw where they were, he saw the closest town was three miles East and they were walking North.
"That's a long way," Sawyer muttered. "I could go by myself."
Rick shook his head. "No we go together."
He struggled to see the broken shelter and realized he made a huge mistake.
The place was partially collapsed due to rot. The place was barely big enough for one person let alone two and the place stank of mold.
It was the worst place Rick seen and he'd seen a lot.
Rick looked down to see Sawyer too trying to fight back a mixed expression of disgust and fear. He though back to the place they had left five hours ago, even though it was defenseless at least it didn't have a high chance of collapsing and crushing the two.
Sawyer felt he was going to throw up – and that was just smelling the place. In his mind the word I told you so rang so loud in his mind that it nearly slipped out of his mouth. His reasoning to stay was so Rick could heal, not shelter-wise – but this didn't make anything easier. If Rick wanted to stay a chance of infection was staggering, for both. The boy wanted to leave, he didn't like the place at all. He wanted to drag Rick in the opposite direction as far as he could.
Rick opened his mouth to speak, but honestly there were no words.
"We can use it as firewood," Rick finally spoke after what seemed like eternity.
Sawyer blinked. "But wouldn't it give off a smell? That would mean that not only walkers but also bad survivors would be able to find us."
Rick bit his lip. Sawyer was right, if they set it aflame, then they may as well be shouting out their location to anyone in proximity, but he didn't want the boy going in there.
"We can set up camp close by," Rick finalized.
Sawyer looked around, "the area is too open, even with the tre-."
"What other choice do we have?" Rick argued finding himself losing patience.
"We could've stayed back at the house like I said!"
There was a silence. It was so quiet that you would be able to hear a leaf drop. Rick glared at the youth feeling a strong sensation in his arm to lash out. Sawyer on the other hand was quiet surprised that he said that, he broke the staring as he found it quite intimidating and moved away dragging the bags with him. Rick looked back at the rotten shelter and moved.
XXXXXX
After they set up camp several feet away, Sawyer took a few snare tools out of his bag and left. He walked a few feet away and started to set it up, putting half-hearted effort into the work. Neither said a word since his outburst and Sawyer was still feeling a bit uncomfortable around Rick. After he had shouted it looked like Rick was going to give him a smack upside the head. Sawyer's father always told him to respect adults and to never talk back. The boy always followed those rules so why would he break them now? Sure he was right but was it absolutely necessary to blurt it out harshly like that? Yes. Despite everything Sawyer knew that Rick was testing fate as soon as he mentioned leaving.
As Sawyer turned to leave he heard something snap to his left. The boy's head snapped up and he looked in that direction. He took a few steps towards the noise hoping that it would happen again but he was out of luck. Sawyer let out a small sigh and headed back to Rick. Then another snap cracked through the air, this time it was louder and seemed closer. Sawyer turned around with his hatchet in hand, he brandished it in front of him trying to pull an aggressive face but it faltered as he saw nothing. Without putting his hatchet back Sawyer rushed back to Rick.
At the camp Sawyer still had his hatchet out, he looked over to Rick who was getting a fire started while holding his wounded side. Sawyer wanted to speak out about the noise, he wanted to also tell Rick that he was able to help his side.
Rick continued to struggle for a few moments until Sawyer had enough.
"I can probably fix your side," he blurted.
Rick looked over at Sawyer sending him a slight baleful look. The boy bit his lip but repeated the offer. Rick was about to tell the boy off when his side protested and he groaned painfully. He looked down to see a large red spot continue to well on his shirt. Sawyer immediately grabbed the med-kit as Rick lifted his shirt, he visibly bristled as the hem brushed the bruised skin.
"The blood bruise burst," Sawyer informed taking out a few gauze pads. He gently placed them on Rick's wound and told him to hold it there. Rather surprised Rick did as he was told as Sawyer ripped off a couple pieces of tape and carefully placed them on.
"We need to find antibiotics," Sawyer said. "Staying here won't do."
Rick gasped as a wave of pain caught him off guard, "n-no choice." He clenched his teeth as pain gripped his left leg again causing it to involuntary paroxysmal spasm.
Sawyer rummaged through the bag and found what he was looking for. He withdrew two pills from the bottle and handed them to Rick who gladly took them and a swig of water.
"Rest sir," Sawyer said.
Rick was about to protest when his mind started to cloud. He tried to get out words but Sawyer gently pushed the man back against the tree, Rick found that he couldn't move. Against his will, his eyes closed and he fell into a deep sleep.