"Why are you going to whoop me, I'm so scared." Ed said sarcastically.
"Nope, I'm going to KILL YOU!" I barked.
Ed tried to punch me numerous times, but none of them connected, I was either blocking them or dodging them. I then threw some punches of my own left and right, I even added some kicks. One of my punches must have broken Ed's nose because he was bleeding. Once Ed was distracted by his nose I tackled him to the ground and started punching his face as hard as I could. When Ed was knocked out cold I climbed up to the top of the RV and jumped off knees first, in just a matter of seconds I landed on Ed's head and I knew I killed him, or thought I had. I picked him up and slammed his face on the side of the RV. I then dragged him up to a car, opened the door to the driver's seat, placed Ed's head in between the frame and kicked the door hard, finally Ed was dead or was he. Ed took a razor sharp kitchen knife, ripped off my shirt, stabbed me and continued to drag the knife diagonally, he stopped when he got to my heart. He figured that he had won, but he didn't I took out my hunting knife and stabbed Ed between the fourth and fifth rib. This time Ed was dead, I then took out my pistol and shot Ed in the head.
I stowed my weapons and weakly walked back towards my group, all of a sudden my vision was all blurry, I continued to walk towards my group, but I passed out half way back.
Two hours later...
I woke up to see everyone around me, I smiled at them, Sophia and Carl helped me stand up, they guided me to a chair so I could sit and chill with the others.
"Are you ok Carl?" I asked.
"Yeah, I'm ok, but I can still taste blood though." Carl replied.
"Hey Daryl, do you have any painkillers?" I queried.
"As a matter of fact I do, I'll go get them." Daryl answered.
Daryl got up from his chair and headed to his motorcycle.
"Where did you learn those moves?" Carl wondered.
"Black ops." I replied.
Just after I answered Carl's question Daryl had returned with the painkillers, he threw them to me, and he also threw me a bottle of water, when I had them I took two pills. After a few more minutes of talking we all went to bed, except me and Sophia.
"You didn't have to do that, you know?" Sophia stated.
"Yes, I did, didn't you hear what he said? He was going to kill us all. I did what I had to, to protect you and Carl, my only friends. I made a promise and I'm going to stick to it." I replied "I wouldn't be able to live with myself if anything happened to you or Carl, you two helped me out a lot and I appreciate that. Carl risked his life trying to save me. He revived me twice, you two listened to why I tried to drown myself and also talked me out of blowing myself up. When I passed out after dealing with your dad I thought I was dead, but I felt something strong surrounding me, like a bond, a powerful bond, and that bond came from you and Carl, because you never leave my side."
Carl then entered my tent sat down and said, "We would never leave your side Nick, and you're part of our family mine and Sophia's, and you mean a lot to us."
"Thanks Carl." I uttered.
"Don't mention it." Carl stated.
"Need a hug?" Sophia questioned.
"Wouldn't hurt." I answered.
Both Carl and Sophia hugged me, Sophia told me that everything would be okay.
"Hey Nick, I know what will cheer you up." Carl announced.
"What?" I questioned.
"What's the difference between a girls arguments and a knife?" Carl asked.
"I have no idea." I responded.
"A knife has a point." Carl stated.
All three of us just started to laugh, and again we all fall asleep side by side.
The next morning...
Me, Carl, and Sophia woke up earlier than usual and walked towards the RV, we noticed Rick and the others already making a plan, and heard them say we're going to search in groups. All three of us walked into the open and asked if we could go. Rick looked at Lori and Carol, Carol said, "Only if she sticks close to me and the group she can come." Lori then said, "Cool, I can't always be the bad guy, but stay in sight Carl."
We walked through the forest until we came to a stop, because two paths went in different directions, me, Carl, Rick, and Shane went right, while the others kept going straight. The four of us kept walking until we came across a clearing, we then noticed a deer step walk out and stop right in front of us. Carl started to approach the deer, he was smiling. Soon enough I started to get worried, so I started running forward towards Carl and said, "I'm sorry," I knocked Carl to the ground, and just in time to, a bullet from out of nowhere pierced right through the deer and struck me, but it didn't go all the way through. I fell to the ground,unconscious.
"Holy shit!" Rick exclaimed, as he ran towards me.
Rick picked me up and carried me with my chest against his to keep me from bleeding out.
"Oh, my god, I'm so sorry I didn't see him until he was on the ground. If you keep going straight you'll see a farm house, go to it, and ask for Hershel, on the mailbox it will say Greene." Otis said.
Rick started running, because he knew sooner or later I would be dead. Half an hour later the five of us arrived, and Rick asked Maggie, "Where's Hershel, I need him."
"Dad!" Maggie yelled.
Seconds later Hershel and some other people came out, one if them had a baseball bat.
"Are you Hershel?" Rick addressed the white haired man.
"Yes I am, follow me and we'll help your boy out." Hershel replied.
Rick followed Hershel into his house and into a room where Rick sets me down on a bed. Hershel got his stethoscope, lifted my shirt, and placed the bottom part over my heart and says, "I got a heartbeat, but in order to save him, he will need surgery, and I'm going to have to remove the bullet fragments as well."
"Only one problem, we don't know his blood type." Rick told Hershel.
"We could run a test, won't take long at all." Hershel stated.
"What's your name?" Hershel asked.
"Rick, I'm Rick," Rick said.
"Well Rick we could we could use your help, grab a pillowcase and fold it into a square." Hershel commanded.
Rick did what he was told andplaced it over the bullet hole.
"Maggie?" Hershel uttered.
"Yeah, dad." Maggie responded.
"I want you to run a blood test on this young man, we need to find out his blood type and fast." Hershel stated.
Maggie took some of my blood out, left the room and entered another, where she poured the contents of the vial into a machine, and within a matter of seconds she got the results, the results said A+ as my blood type. Maggie returned to Hershel and said, "His blood type is A+
"Well we don't have anyone here who has the same blood type as he does, but maybe you guys do." Hershel stated.
"Sophia." Carl said, softly.
"Dad we need Sophia, she can help save Nick." Carl added.
"Where can I find her?" Maggie asked.
"In the forest, where the path cuts into two." Carl replied. "Close to where your man shot him."
"I'll be back soon." Maggie stated.
"Now let's get this first bullet fragment out, shall we?" Hershel said.
Carl took hold of my hand, which immediately started to give me flashbacks of when we first met and when we first started hanging out. I was so caught up in the moment, I didn't even feel a thing, even though I should've, I didn't.
"One down, two to go." Hershel stated.
Back in the forest...
"You all heard that right?" Glenn asked.
"Yup, maybe they took down a walker." Carol replied.
"With one bullet? You know damn well Rick wouldn't trust one bullet to take down a walker." Lori stated.
Moments later they all heard Sophia screaming. They ran towards her, but stopped when they heard galloping, Maggie swung her bat at the walker that was about to feast on Sophia and knocked it off her.
"Which one of you is Sophia?" Maggie queried, while coming to a halt.
"I am. And thanks for saving my life." Sophia responded, while standing up.
"You're welcome. Now if you'll come with me we can save Nick." Maggie uttered.
"Why, what's wrong?" Sophia wondered.
"He's been shot." Maggie explained.
Sophia looked at her mom and asked if she could go.
"Go to him, he needs you." Carol answered.
Maggie helped Sophia onto the horse and told the others to follow her back.
Fifteen minutes later...
They had arrived back at the Greene's, Sophia quickly dismounted the horse and ran into the house and started to call out, "Nick? Nick?! Nick!"
"In here Sophia." Rick said, motioning to her from the bedroom.
Sophia ran to Rick, entered the room, and immediately asked, "What do I have to do?"
"We need you to give Nick some of your blood, and you're the only one who can, if you don't he'll go into an internal shock." Rick explained.
"Meaning?" Sophia wondered.
"He'll die, but if he did he wouldn't die in vain, you see he took that bullet for Carl because he sensed he was in danger and he was right. Nick's actions saved Carl's life. Now Nick needs your help, he's counting on you." Rick stated.
Sophia nodded, sat down on the chair by Nick's bed, and rolled up her sleeve on her right arm. Patricia walked up to Sophia ready to start the blood transfusion, but first she cleaned the spot down by the wrist and then inserted one end into Sophia and the other went into Carl. Sophia then took Nick's hand into hers, which again gave me flashbacks, but this time I felt Hershel taking out the second bullet fragment, man was I screaming, and I was arcing my back. When it was out I had passed out.
"One left, but this is the deepest one, he can't move while I'm in there and if he does I'll cut an artery and he'll go into shock, which will kill him, but we can save him. I need a respirator, the tube that goes with it an oxygen tank and some sleeping gas." Hershel announced.
"And where are we going to get all that?" Shane asked.
"There's this old school a few miles away, they will have what we need, but there aren't any walkers surrounding it, well at least the last time I was there." Otis replied.
"Good, now let's go get those supplies." Shane said.
So, before Shane and Otis left Rick handed Otis his revolver.
"That's a mighty fine weapon you have there Rick, I'll return it to you safe and sound." Otis stated.
With that said and done the two of them left to retrieve the supplies. Sophia had now officially gave Nick two units of blood, and was feeling really light headed, she was all most totally off balance, and sometimes nearly fell off of the chair.
"Stay here, I'll go you some food and a beverage." Hershel told Sophia.
Sophia looked at Hershel and lightly said, "Ok."
Sophia then turned her head back to Nick, tightened her grip on my hand and uttered, "Come on Nick, you need to wake up, we're are all hoping and praying, but now since it's been like five days, mostly everyone is saying that we should start saying our goodbyes. But carl and I strong disagree, we know you'll pull through, you always do, you're strong Nick, you're strong, brave, loyal, and are a true friend."
"You know even though this is my first time operating on a human, I got to say that I have never met anyone with friends as powerful as you three." Hershel exclaimed. "And here's your food and orange juice."
"Thank you." Sophia said, taking her food and drink from the tray.
Hershel nodded his head as a sign of gratitude and then left. Sophia placed her meal down on a table beside her and slowly started to eat her sandwich, she stopped every five minutes to kiss me on the cheek.
Lori and the others came into the room and looked at Sophia.
"What's going on?" Sophia asked.
"Sophia honey, you do realize that it has been five days since Nick has been shot, right?" Carol asked.
"Yeah, and?" Sophia wondered.
"Well, since he hasn't woken up since I believe it's time that we all started to say our goodbyes." Carol explained.
"What? No! Never! He's going to make it, I know it." Sophia said.
"I'm with Sophia on this one." Carl announced.
All the other members practically said the same thing that, "He had a good run," and that "He lived a wonderful life and had met some amazing friends."
Half an hour later...
Sophia had finally finished her sandwich, but still had half a glass of orange juice. Since Sophia didn't want to drink it all at once, she took five sips every minute until the glass was empty. Sophia was also thinking about what her mom and the others had told her and that put quite a bit of pressure on her.
The old school...
Shane and Otis finally had the supplies and were trying to escape a herd of walkers. Otis and Shane were running low on ammo. Otis stopped and handed Shane the supplies and told him, "Keep on going, you need to get back to the boy, you have to save him."
Shane ran back to the truck as fast as he could, he looked back and noticed that the walkers had started to devour Otis's body. Shane place the supra into the back of the trunk and floored it back to Hershel's.
Back at Hershel's...
Rick, Lori, Carl, Sophia, and Hershel were in in Nick's room discussing on what to do, whether to do it now or hope that Shane and Otis would get back quick.
"So, what do you two want to do?" Rick asked.
"Now." Sophia replied.
"I agree with Sophia." Carl stated.
Just before anyone could say anything else Shane had arrived, got the stuff out from the back and entered the house, and also Nick's room. Shane gave everything to Hershel. Hershel hooked up everything, turned on the oxygen tank, added the sleeping gas, and in five seconds I was completely knocked out. Hershel immediately got to work on removing the last bullet fragment. About five minutes later Hershel had finally pulled it out and then started to patch me up.
1 hour later...
Hershel was finally done patching me up, he walked up to Sophia, Carl, Rick, and Lori and said, "He'll pull through, but he won't be up and about for at least a week."
"Thank you for all you have done, we really appreciate it." Rick stated.
"It was my pleasure." Hershel uttered, smiling.
Lori and Rick left the room with Hershel leaving Sophia and Carl with Nick.
"Carl, what if Nick doesn't wake up?" Sophia asked.
"He will Sophia, just remember what he said to us, that we make him feel complete and strong." Carl replied.
"If it wasn't for Nick I would be in that bed, we should've stayed in bed, and I only have myself to blame, if I had never walk toward that deer all of this could've been avoided." Carl uttered.
Carl started to cry, Sophia hugged him, patted his back and told him that it wasn't his fault, after five minutes had passed carl was still crying. Nick's eyes slowly started to open, which Sophia immediately told Carl that Nick was waking up, but carl didn't believe Sophia and said, "You're lying! from here on were are no longer friends and the same goes for Nick! You're one ugly BITCH, I hope a walker bites you and Nick blows your head off! You were a mistake! You're a disgrace to humanity and don't deserve to live!"
Sophia was down on her knees crying her head off, when Carl could clearly see Sophia he regretted everything he had said, hugged Sophia and told her how sorry he was and that he didn't mean any of it.
"You really hurt me Carl, I don't think I'll ever be able to forgive you, I'm not sure if we should still be friends." Sophia replied.
"What will it take to prove that I'm sincerely sorry?" Carl asked. "Because I am truly sorry, I would've never say those things to my friends, and if you were to die I would literally kill myself, with no hesitation, if I could turn back time I would make sure I would've never have said those things."
"You're truly sorry about everything?" Sophia wondered.
"Extremely." Carl replied
"All right I forgive you." Sophia stated.
"Friends?" Carl asked, holding out his hand.
"Friends." Sophia uttered, shaking Carl's hand.
"We better be." I announced.
Carl and Sophia turned around and were shocked to see me on my feet already.
"How? Hershel told us it would be at least a week for you to get back on your feet." Sophia and Carl said together.
"I'm not sure, I guess the blood I was given healed me faster." I responded. "I did hear you Sophia tell me that I wasn't waking up and that it had been five days and most people were saying that we should say your goodbyes."
"Nick, I need to know why. Why did you take the bullet for me?" Carl queried.
"Because Carl you're my brother and we got to look out for one another, also what if you died, I wouldn't be able to forgive myself, I wouldn't be who I am right now if it wasn't for you, ever since we met, I feel like we've been connected with a link, I bet when I got shot you felt a pain going through your body, including you Sophia you must've felt something as well." I answered.
"Well, I felt something." Sophia said.
"Me too." Carl uttered.
Rick and Lori entered the room, looked at me and I could tell they were wondering how I was on my feet so quickly, but they decided to forget about it.
"You know what this means, right?" Rick wondered.
"No, what?" I replied.
"You're in the club, we have both been shot, so you get to wear the hat." Rick stated.
"Give it to Carl." I announced. "He deserves it."
Rick nodded, turned to Carl, took off his hat and placed it onto Carl's head.
"Well sheriff, what's your first order of business?" Rick asked, smiling.
"I'll tell you after we eat." Carl responded.
"Fair enough." Rick said.
"Yo go on ahead, I want to talk to Sophia." I uttered.
As Rick and Carl left they closed the door behind them.
"Sophia, sweetie, are you ok?" I queried.
"Yeah, why?" Sophia answered.
"It's just that-I heard what Carl said to you," I replied. "if he ever says stuff like that to you again, you come straight to me and I'll talk some sense into him."
"I will, don't worry." Sophia responded.
"Ready to make the baby?" I questioned.
"Yup." Sophia answered, while locking the door.
Half an hour later...
Sophia and I put our clothes back on, I sprayed myself with twilight woods and Sophia sprayed herself with warm vanilla so we didn't smell and we left the room to go and eat. Once again people were shocked to see me up and about. I sat down next to Sophia who was sitting with Carl and his family. For lunch we had grilled cheese sandwiches and tomato soup, and man this tomato soup was the best I ever had.