Ch. 27
Despite Carol's treatment of Rick's wound, his infection got worse and worse.
By the end of the day, he was reduced to lying in Carl's arms, half asleep, sweating and shaking.
The others did their best to help. David had found a few disposable ice packs in the bag of supplies and had placed them under Rick's arms, in the hopes of cooling the man down. He also tried to get Rick to drink water and take Tylenol.
He had been successful in this at first, but eventually, Rick started getting sick if he so much as took a sip of water.
Thus, the bucket that Carl had found was kept nearby.
Rick had never felt so sick in his life. Even when he'd woken up in the hospital – recovering from bullet wounds was less painful than this. It frightened him.
00
When night fell, Beth decided to give Carl a break and took over. Rick seemed somewhat calmer if someone was nearby, holding him, and since no one was sure if he would die, the group felt it best to make him as comfortable as possible.
Around dawn was when the talking started. It had woken Beth up. Rick was speaking, but it was hard to understand him. Alarmed, she woke Carl and David.
David kneeled down near Rick and touched his forehead.
"He's still really hot. Looks dehydrated too. We need to do something, need to get fluids in him and keep him cool."
"How're we gonna do that?" Carl asked. "He pukes up everything we give him."
"We have some bags of saline, maybe one of us can figure out how to hook up an IV."
"I can do it."
Everyone looked at Beth, who had just spoken.
"You know how to hook up an IV?"
"I saw daddy do it before. It's not that hard. Maggie would be better at it but I think I can get it in."
David and Carl looked at each other.
"Worth a try," Carl said, standing up. "Where's the saline?"
"Should be in a cooler in the back. Make sure there's no walkers outside before you go."
Carl nodded and walked towards the door.
The sound of his footsteps started waking others. Carol was the next to sit up, followed by Daryl and eventually Michonne.
"Everything okay?" Carol asked.
"Rick's doin' worse. We're gonna try to hook him up to an IV. He needs fluids."
"Lo…." Came a soft voice. Rick's voice. Everyone turned to him.
"What's going on, Rick?" David asked.
"Mmm…" Rick sighed. "So sorry…"
David raised an eyebrow.
"Sorry about what?"
"Lori… So sorry. I tried…"
Now Carol was suspicious.
"What'd you try?"
"To miss you. But you were in the way… So sorry."
"I knew it!" David stood up, enraged. "I fucking knew it!"
"What are you talking about?" Daryl was staring at him like he had grown lobster claws.
"I knew he stopped taking his meds! Fuck! The whole thing – the van accident you guys were in –he saw Lori in the road!
Dammit!"
"Wait. I mean, he's not all there right now. He's probably just rambling," Beth said.
"No he's not. I'll prove it." He kneeled down next to Rick again. "Rick, Lori's here. She says she forgives you for almost hitting her."
A slight smile formed on Rick's face.
"Thank you… didn't mean for it…"
"See? He acknowledged that he almost hit her. He saw her. He's off those meds!"
"Fuck," Daryl said, "So he's been looney for the past week?"
"He's been hiding it. Now he can't."
Right then, Carl returned with the box containing the saline bags. He noticed the looks on everyone's faces.
"Somethin' going on?"
There was a short silence before Carol spoke up.
"Might as well be honest with you, kid. Carl, your dad's seeing your mom again."
For some reason, Carol expected Carl to be upset, but he wasn't.
"Oh. I'm not surprised," was his only reply.
"Did you know he wasn't taking his medicine?" David questioned.
"No. I thought maybe he just felt better. That the side effects cleared up. I'm not surprised because, fuck… it's a fuckin' zombie apocalypse. Nothing surprises me."
"Oh."
"We're still gonna help him though, right?" Now Carl seemed nervous.
David sighed.
"Of course we're going to help him. Even if he doesn't deserve it."
Carl nodded and handed the box over.
"Good."
David handed the box to Beth who began rummaging through it.
"If you got any butterfly needles and an IV line, it'd help. I need somethin' to hook it onto, as well."
"I can work on that. There's a bucket of old nails and tools in the back. I'll get you a place to hook it into," Michonne offered. It wasn't so much that she wanted to help rick, just, hammering would give her an outlet for the anger she felt towards him.
"I think I saw some old two by fours around back too. Can hammer a nail into one of those," she added.
"Thank you," Carl answered, sincerely.
Michonne just nodded and made her way to the back of the building, digging for the tools that she needed.
"I'll get the butterfly needles." David stood up to go.
00
Soon enough, Michonne had hammered a large nail into a two by four that was leaned against the wall. It would hold up Rick's IV.
Carol had helped to make Rick more comfortable by giving up her blanket to use as another pillow. Daryl offered up his as well, seeing as how Rick was still shivering.
And Beth… Well, Beth got the IV in on her first try. Everyone was impressed.
"Let's hope this helps," David said. "Otherwise, we're gonna have to get him some antibiotics, and soon."
00
Throughout the day, Rick showed some signs of improvement. He became lucid for a few minutes here and there, but it was always followed by him regressing back to his semi-conscious state.
By the time it was dark, Rick was once again curled up and shivering despite the blankets he had on him. Carol was near him now, gently dabbing his forehead with a cool, wet cloth.
Daryl understood that Rick was very ill, but he couldn't help but feel a small twinge of jealousy that Carol was looking after Rick instead of him.
He did his best to ignore it. After all, she and David had done basically everything for him since he'd gotten out of Woodbury.
He fell asleep that night, by himself, hand resting on his belly, wondering what was going to happen next.