TWD Chapter 3

It was just her and her father in a tiny trailer park on the outskirts of a small town. While he was out, working and attending empty bars stools- as he was always known to do. She was left to the house. Being the angry lonely girl she was, Rachel would never stay too long in the tiny living space. Instead, the raging brunette would get into scraps with the local trailer park kids out of boredom; either instigating them herself or not. Most of the parents knew that going to the girl's dad was just a waste of time, some took it upon themselves to give her the punishment her father was-too drunk to deliver, this never really did anything but add to her mounting anger. Then she met Shane in one of the hardest fights she ever fought. That also might've been the only time her dad had ever noticed her black eyes and split lips. At that time when he had finally talked to her sober, Rachel had realized how exhausted and weak he had become.

Was this how her father felt?

It was a cruel sight, Rachels sad haunted expression never breaking contact of Carls face. Even as Leon tried to coax her into eating the food left by Hershel, she didn't budge. He was at his wits end when he sighed. "Please… Rach… you have to keep your strength up for Carl's sake." This seemed to make her think. Slowly, she plucked the sandwich from the bedside drawer and forced herself to take small careful bites. A few times she'd look about ready to toss it into the trash, but instead she finished the entire thing without uttering a single word. "Thank you." Leon said with a grateful smile.

She was reluctant of releasing Carl's hand, fearing that if she did he'd slip away. Rachel noticed her finger tips were starting to become cold in his hold and stood up to search for a blanket. "What are you doing?" Hershel walked in.

"He's cold, I'm going to look for a blanket." The old man shook his head with a slight smile on his face. This Rachel-woman must've always been the type to keep herself occupied, which make's-sense because she's a cop. "I'll get him one, here." He gave Leon a tall glass of orange juice and another sandwich. The absence of the previous one didn't go unnoticed to him. "See that she eats all of it." Leon nodded, while Rachel glared.

XxXxXxX

Twisted decayed hands scratched at the sides of Shane and Otis's boots. The bleacher stands they took refuge on-was too high for the dead to reach, only their fingers tips able to touch their boots.

Panting hard Shane looked over at Otis, a panicky look in his eye. "Well, what are we gonna do now?" he called over the growls of the loud walkers below. It was sickening. All of them in a group, moaning and groaning all in unison. The stench of the hoard was so over-powering, Shane had to angle his head upwards to avoid being suffocated by it. Rotten human flesh smell mingling with Georgia's muggy nighttime air brought a taste that settled in the back of his mouth.

Ignoring it, he turned to his companion who scanned the dimly lit gym with wide fearful eyes. He would stare up at a row of windows atop a flight of stairs than to the opposite side of the gym and land on a doorway leading out to a dark unknown corridor. Otis inhaled and exhaled slowly, trying to form the plan in his head carefully. Fortunately he knew this schools layout better than Shane. He was slow, but he was fast if he compared himself to the stumbling dead below. "Okay, I'll jump down, lead them off to the lower floors. That'll give you a distraction to jump out those windows. There's about a 20 foot drop on the other side. Round the right corner and we'll rendezvous at the football field."

As he said this he was unshouldering his duffle bag of medical supplies and handing it over to Shane-who absent mindedly took it. "Hell of a way to get yourself trapped ain't it?"

"There are windows in the changing rooms below-ones more my size too."

"Your one crazy bastard, you know that right?"

"I'm just trying to do right by that boy and his mother…" Otis took one last shuddering breathe of reprieve. No turning back now.

He jumped into the swarm.

XxXxXxX

"Do you really think we're gonna find Sophia?"

Daryl spotted his flashlight on Andrea's face. He wanted to ignore her dumb question, tell her that she's an idiot for even thinking of something like that. "You got that same look on you're face like everybody else. The hell's wrong with you people, we just started looking." Her lips pursed in indignation, "Well, do you?"

He was never around many people as he grew up, just him, Merle, and their dad. Daryl was use to people knowing what he was thinking without him having to explain himself. So with Andrea here, asking her stupid questions, it was hard not to keep the edge out of his voice as he answered. "It ain't the mountains of Tibet. It's Georgia. She'd be hold off in a farmhouse somewhere. People get lost, they survive, it happens all the time."

"She's only twelve." she stated plainly.

"Hell, I was a lot younger than her and I got lost. Nine day's eating berries, wiping my ass with poison oak." Andrea knew he wasn't opening up to her, sharing a heart wrenching tale from his childhood, he was trying to prove a point.

"They find you?"

"Old man was off on a bender with some waitress. Merle was doing another stint in Juvie, didn't even know I was gone. I made my way back though, made myself a sandwich. No worse for wear, 'cept my ass itched something awful." Andrea snorted, trying her best to hold back a laugh at his story.

Daryl cracked a smile at his own story, it wasn't intended to be funny but at least she didn't have that dumb look on her face anymore. Everyone had it and it was starting to piss him off. "Only difference is Sophia's got people looking for her. I'd call that an advantage."

"Yep… the sheriff and her merry band of do-gooders… we really wouldn't have lost her if our leader didn't drag her feet."

Annoyance prickled beneath his skin at that. "At least she did something at the time, I never seen anybody else throwing themselves into the ditch and race for her. too busy trying to be shocked…" silence followed after that. Andrea knew that was a terrible thing to say about the Grime's woman, but she was angry, angry at being denied her one chance of a painless end by Dale, and angry that she wasn't as strong-willed or as lucky as Rachel.

"Sorry… She's actually a good leader, I'm just a little jealous of her that's all." He grunted. Not fully understanding but not wanting to get too much into it so he kept walking.

"Well, you seemed to take a real shine to her." she teased,

He wasn't even going to dignify that with a response.

XxXxXxX

How many times has she wiped her face? Or rubbed her eyes with the palm of her hand? The skin was starting to feel slightly raw, her eyes were swelling. Not much had changed for the last couple of hours.

Rachel would only worry when Carl's face would scrunch up in pain, or he'd let out a random groan of discomfort. Nothing changed…

Of course T-dog and Glenn arrived an hour and a half ago, but Rachel barely stirred from her spot. Only offering the two a small forced smile and resumed her watch.

Leon was in the same state, looking outside the window. His eyebrows were drawn together in a frown, he must've been thinking of that hunter, Otis, and how he was going to beat the man to a pulp. She felt no ill-will towards Otis, besides, it was all a freak accident and she didn't want her husband to hold any grudge towards him either. "It was just an accident Leon..."

He's eyes turned to her, softening at the pitiful sight of his wife. "I know…. I'm just… I don't know."

She was about ready to say more when Hershel shuffled in, checking Carl again for the hundredth time that night. Rachel didn't realize she was at the edge of her seat watching the man do his examination so intently until Leon had placed a comforting hand on her shoulder.

He looked up with a hard expression on his face. Hershel appeared to carry the entire world on his shoulders. "He's losing blood faster than I can replace it, if we don't do the operation now he'll just slip away. We can't wait any longer, and you-" he pointed to Rachel. "-can't give any more blood. I need to know if you two want to do the surgery now, without all the supplies. You have to make a choice."

There was slight hesitation in her when Leon turned to her with the most heart wrenching look. He wasn't prepared to make this decision solely based on their faith in Shane. Maybe it was about time to place some of that faith into the doctor. She nodded, "Alright Hershel…" hopefully, there wouldn't be any Same bad results…

Like they had predicted what their answer would be, Patricia had wheeled in a gurney. The room was up in a flurry of movements, Hershel and Patricia buzzing about gathering and prepping the area for the operation. The two parents had helped carry their son onto the metal operating table but after that Hershel stared at them. Maybe he noticed her shaking or the sickened look in her eyes as he slipped on both gloves and held his scalpel over Carl's abdomen. But with a soft strong voice he told them to leave.

She was about ready to start an argument when Leon shouted. "Their back!" pointing out the window.

Hershel, Rachel and Leon were the first to meet Shane out on the front yard. "Carl?" he wheezed with a limp. "There's still a chance." Leon answered gratefully. Shane handed the duffle bag of supplies over to the doctor when Hershel noticed something amiss. "Otis?"

His eyes didn't meet his, and that was all the conformation he needed. The old man looked like he was punched in the gut. "We say nothing to Patricia, not till after, I need her!" he stormed back inside.

Not a moment later, Rachel was hugging Shane, he hugged back. Trying to hide his face in her hair, but she pulled away. Tears of happiness leaked from her eyes. "Thank you Shane."

His eyes were shifty, like he was searching for an answer, uncertain of something. He wanted to hide from her gratitude. "T-they kept blocking us at every turn. Ten rounds between the both of us, he said 'I'll lay down some cover fire and you run'… and that's what I did…" His face was becoming red the more he went on, like he was about to burst into tears right then and there. Rachel looked back at Maggie, she was crying as well. Her eyes were closed, trying to put up a tough face infront of them. But Leon patted her shoulder and she threw herself into his chest. Her frame wracking with sobs.

"I tried…" he finished,

Without another word, she took him into her arms again, hushing him in a soft voice. "It's okay… It's okay…"

Hours later, Hershel emerged from the house, wiping his hands with a white rag. "He's stabilized." A round of withheld breathes were heard as everyone exhaled in relief.

"There's no words." Rachel said,

"It was a miracle." He offered, but his smile turned sad. "But how do I tell patricia about Otis?" Shane cringed from his sitting spot on the bumper of the truck.

"I'll go with Hershel, you go with Carl." Rachel straightened her posture and looked directly at Leon. He didn't protest to this, she was more of a people person than he was anyway.

As much as Shane wanted to stay around Rachel, he couldn't stand to hear the wailing sobs of Otis's wife. So instead, he went to quickly go see Carl. His father was at his bedside already though, crutch on his lap as he stared at his son's slumbering face. Again, he was going to turn around and head out the door when Leon's voice broke the silence. "You can stay…"

It was his permission, his apology for being a douche to him for the passed couple of days. Almost robotically, he sat down from across the bed, looking at Carl with a haunted expression. "He looks like his momma." He mumbled, but Leon heard it and smiled. "That he does." Another lap of silence.

"Thank you Shane… I know I was being a dick to you for the passed couple weeks but I'm eternally grateful to you for what you've done for me and my family." Nothing in the world could compare to the sincerity in Leon's eyes as he said this. Shane nodded, he really didn't want to hear any of this, he just wanted this day to finally be over. He didn't notice how hard he was gripping his pant legs until he looked down. Knuckles were almost a pure white, his slightly ripped slacks crinkled to an unsalvageable point. He needed a shower to wipe off all the sweat and dirt caked onto his skin. Even that horrible rotten stench still stuck to him.

"Don't worry about it." With that said, he left.

XxXxXxX

The next day the rest of their group had arrived at the farm. At first glance at his pale mother everyone feared the worst for little Carl, but were relieved to hear he had thankfully pulled through.

A funeral service was held for Otis, but without a body to bury they instead gathered rocks and had piled them next to a giant willow tree. Hershel spoke from the bible and Shane was the one to speak on behalf of Otis, to tell of his last moments. A little distractedly, he told Patricia how her husband had died a hero trying to save Carl. It was a short service, but Otis's family and friends were more at ease now.

For all of them it was back to business of searching for Sophia. Rachel was happy to learn that Carl would be getting better and took this tiny chance to plan the next search party for Sophia. They were more organized with the help of the Greenes and their map land layout. They also knew the local drug stores encase anything happened.

Unfortunately, because of her lack of blood loss Rachel wasn't fit to join the search party. Neither was Shane and his ankle, which left the long trek for Daryl, who took the duty without complaint. He seemed more determined to find Sophia more than anybody in the group.

And there was also the matter with the guns. Shane and some others in the group felt more safe with their guns on hand, closest so they could reach. Hershel immediately tossed the idea of them baring arms on his property out the window. He wasn't so comfortable like everyone else. This little dispute was settled with Rachel respecting the man's wishes. Even though he made it abundantly clear to her that they were to leave after they were all feeling better.

Now there was one more problem to deal with…

She caught Glenn just as he was about to saddle up and go on a run for more supplies with Maggie. Of course Leon had given them their original list, but she had one of her own. And she felt all the more comfortable not telling him directly what it actually was.

"Where can I find it though?" he asked, looking at her puzzled.

She swallowed a lump of embarrassment, "Try the… feminine hygiene section." His eyes widened so big she would've laughed if not for the favour she was asking him. "Oh! Don't worry enough said!" and he left. Looking more red than before.

Rachel was just on her way to check up on Carl when Daryl stomped passed her. almost bumping into her but swerving the last minute and stepping around. He was so serious, so skilled, and before she could stop herself she called out to him. "Daryl!" He stopped but didn't fully face her, waiting for her to continue. "you gonna be okay on your own?"

"I'm better on my own. Don't worry I'll be back before dark." His body tensed to stride faster. For some reason he was trying to put distance between them.

"You didn't owe us anything Daryl,… and still you stuck around and helped us."

"You got a point or you just chatting?" he bit out, trying to sound intimidating. She smiled, knowing a tough guy act when she saw one. "My point, Daryl Dixon… is thank you. And be careful out there." With her piece said, she left.

Daryl stood there, staring over his shoulder at the spot she use to be and shook his head. Stopping him just to say 'thank you', he'd never met a weirder person.

XxXxXxX

The sun was draining from the orange and pink sky when Glenn and Maggie got back. He was in shock, she couldn't tell if it was from her special request or something else. But thankfully, he didn't ask her any questions.

Rachel and Leon had to sleep outside in one of the other tents that crowded the lawn. Since Leon looked to peaceful sleeping on the bed with Carl, Rachel decided to let the two rest. She strode passed the tents, avoid trying to be seen by everyone and was far enough away to a secluded area. The tiny box, she took with her was clenched tightly in her fist. Was she just being paranoid?

No, it was better to be safe than sorry.

Minutes ticked as she waited for the result. The only lighting was the dim moonlight, but there it was… clear as bright as day.

One giant pink positive sign...