A lot can happen within two days. Apparently on my first day out hunting the gun shot I had heard had in fact been Otis who had shot at a deer. Unfortunately that bullet went straight through the deer and into the stomach of a 12 year old Carl Grimes. That same day Otis and Shane had gone out to the local high school to get medical supplies at a temporary medical trailer to bring back to help the poor boy and Otis had perished while on the run which surprised the hell out of me. Shane had made it back in the nick of time, allowing Hershel to perform a surgery with anesthetics. The rest of Rick's group had just came up today after finding out how successful the surgery had gone and that Carl was doing well with his recovery.
It took a lot out of me to not run in to see how Carl was doing. I guess it is the fact that I have a medical background and I just wanted to make sure the boy was alright. Gunshot wounds, GSWs, were trauma, and I was all about trauma. As soon as I entered the house that calm I originally had was gone and I found myself rushing to the room that the boy was in, pushing past his mother as nicely as possible. Which probably wasn't very nice at all. It may be the end of the world, but it was only two months after the end of the world and I was still a nurse who had just worked with children four months before that. The Greene's had no idea that I was a nurse prior to these events. I don't know why, but I wanted to keep that hidden for the time being and only help out when I really needed to. Like right now. As I got into the room with Carl, the young boy looked up to me looking as pale as a ghost. Walking over to him I sat down, flashing him a sweet smile, which seemed to calm his nerves a bit. "Sorry to be barging in here like this. My name is Devin." I introduce holding out my hand to him. Sure he was 12, but little boys liked to be treated with respect just like anyone else. It also made them feel like they were a man in that situation too. The boy took my hand in his and introduced himself to me, grinning ear to ear. Cocking my head to the side I pulled my backpack off and set it on the ground. By this time it seemed all of Rick's group came rushing inside and I wasn't receiving pretty looks. Even Hershel and Maggie came in to see what was going on.
Turning my attention to the now large group in the room I blush momentarily, before scowling at the group. "Hershel he needs blood." I state, digging through my backpack and finding my purple stethoscope down at the bottom still in its bag with my blood pressure cuff. I would have pulled that out too if it weren't for Hershel's cuff sitting on the bedside table. Hershel and Maggie watched me wide eyed as I placed the blood pressure cuff on Carl and put the diaphragm of my stethoscope over the crook of his arm, checking his blood pressure. Hershel walked over shaking his head as I said the low number. "His father is the only one with A+ blood and Rick is going to start having real problems if he gives up any more blood." I looked to Hershel, then back to the boy, flashing a huge grin. "Well ain't you in luck boy. I just so happen to be able to help out here. Hershel, I'm A- so we can give him mine." Hershel smiled at me and began to set me up to transfuse my blood. The boys' mother, whom I found out her name is Lori, looked worried and stepped forward, ready to protect her son. "Isn't that going to cause him problems? Aren't you not supposed to mix blood like that?" Shaking my head I pulled up the sleeve of my shirt on my right arm to give access for Hershel to stick the needle in. "A- blood can be given to A+, AB-, and AB+ blood. Just like B- can be given to B+, AB-, and AB+. Just think that negatives can be given to positives, but positives can't be given to negatives." I explained wincing lightly as Hershel got the needle set and the blood began transfusing. Hershel was impressed with my knowledge and wiped his hands on a cloth. Rolling my eyes at the man I bit my lip lightly before speaking. "Don't look so impressed old man. Two Anatomy and Physiology classes in college and my mom being a nurse doesn't count for a lot."
After giving what Hershel felt was enough blood he disconnected me and told me to go lay down and Maggie would bring me something to eat later. Making my way downstairs I noticed Lori, Carol, and Beth in the kitchen preparing dinner. Beth looked up at me, smiling softly. "You should be resting after giving blood like that." Beth was a sweet girl. Sometimes it seemed she didn't like me, but other times she'd say something like that, that made me know she cared in some way. I only nodded my head to her, flashing a small smile, and made my way outside, wanting to see if Jimmy would skin the deer I brought home. Making my way to the small shed next to the house I heard someone grunting, making me assume someone was already in there working on the deer. Upon entering the shed I saw the redneck, Daryl, skinning the dead animal. "Oh thank god someone is doing this." I said, leaning up against the entrance to the shed. The man turned to me, eyeing me for a moment with those steely blue eyes. "Ya shouldn' sneak up on people like that." He grumbled going back to gutting the poor animal. I only let out a small laugh, crossing my arms under my chest. "Most of the dead that walk around don't talk ya know." He only grunted, shaking his head as he ripped the knife through the deer. "Yeah and there's more out here that's dangerous than just those walkers."
Feeling that the conversation was over I stepped out, thanking him for cleaning the deer, and headed up to my room like I was supposed to. Heaven forbid Hershel finds out I did the exact opposite of what I was asked to do. I make my way upstairs to my room that Hershel so graciously provided me with and turned in for the night.
Waking up the next day I realized it was late morning and quickly threw off the covers. I was supposed to help with fences today and I knew Hershel was going to be upset with me being late. Throwing on a pair of ripped up skinny jeans and a tank top, I hopped down the stairs while putting on my black boots and headed out the backdoor. I noticed Lori and Carol were hanging laundry on their makeshift clothesline. They both seemed comfortable and at ease with each other and on the land. I knew that Hershel was talking about kicking them off the land, but Rick wants to wait until Carl is up and out of bed and after they find Carol's daughter Sophia. Maybe the next time I go hunting, I'd take a little time to look for the girl. Making my way over to the pair of ladies slowly, I bit my bottom lip before talking. "Y'all know where Hershel is?" I asked, watching them turn to me and blushing as they both flashed me kind smiles. I can deal with patients and talk with them easily, can deal with whatever bullshit they spit out at me, or even deal with unnecessary flirting, but when it came to normal conversation outside of work I always feel like I'm interrupting or being annoying. Lori's smile widens some more, slowly walking over to me. "I saw him by the stables where the horses are at. Maggie went with Glenn to go into town to pick up supplies so he was helping them get horses ready. That was a little over an hour ago though. Nodding my head I was about to turn away before she grabbed my arm. "Thank you… for giving Carl your blood. Rick had already given him so much that he was going to pass out if he gave anymore. Carl is looking a lot better today too. Thanks to you." I smiled lightly, nodding my head to her.
Looking to the left of Lori I motion with my head to Rick and Shane walking up. They both seemed to be a little upset so Lori walked forward, greeting her husband while Shane walked past them. I was about to turn to leave until Shane told me to hold up. Will these people ever let me leave? Turning back around I cross my arms under my chest, causing Shane's eyes to move down momentarily. Noticing what I had done I uncrossed my arms, placing my hands on my hips. "Can I help you with anything Shane?" I say with as much sarcasm as possible. He held up his hands up in defense, laughing. "Woah, where's this attitude from?" I raise the corner of my mouth into a smirk. "It's just my usual response when I catch people staring at my chest." He laughed, rubbing the back of his head. "Sorry about that. Man's natural reaction I guess when seeing a good lookin woman." I could only glare at him, watching his shit eating grin grow wider. "I don't think that's true. I think it's an asshole's natural reaction, but not a man's." I heard the whistle from him by my comment and then a chuckle. He was eyeballing me and I knew he was just peeling off my clothes with his eyes which only made me self-conscious. Flirting would be easy if I had a little liquor, but Shane wasn't really my type. My type was… well Daryl I guess. White trash, redneck, country, or whatever. Maggie had a nice country twang and a farmer girl at that, well farmer's daughter, and she could possibly be my type, but sadly she was only into men. Bitch.
"Ya got a lot of tattoos there Devin." Shane commented, looking at my arms. I looked down at myself and gently rubbed the back of my head. That was no lie. I usually wore long sleeved shirts, but thinking about being out in the sun all day with Hershel made me want to dress for comfort. Shorts would have been ideal, but I didn't have any and I'm pretty sure my fat ass wouldn't be able to fit into anything Maggie would lend me. I was shaped like a pear with average breasts, a C cup usually depending on the bra, but my hips and ass were quite large so I'd have to go out and get shorts at some point if I wanted to wear them. Whatever. Thick thighs save lives, ya know. Although being in the presence of Shane, I don't think I'd want to be wearing shorts around him. Shane took a few steps up to me, grabbing my right arm and turning it palm up, and looking at the intricate tattoo I had there. "What's this one?" He asked, tracing along with the pattern there. I knew he was flirting, but I no one ever touched my tattoos. Well that one anyways. So I yanked my arm out of his grip and looked down. "Sorry, maybe I'll explain at a different time. I need to go help Hershel with his work." I smiled while turning on my heel and making my way towards the horse stables.
I stayed with Hershel until Maggie and Glenn came back on horseback. I watched as both of them hopped down off the horses and Glenn excuse himself to go find his group leaving Maggie and I to help unsaddle the horses. Occasionally I'd hear her giggle which caused me to look up from what I was doing and spy her blushing face behind the horses' neck she was brushing. "You get a little taste of some fried rice?" I ask, only making her laugh in embarrassment and her giving me a look of disbelief. "Is it that obvious?" She asked only making me laugh and nod my head. "Looks like you got your hand caught in the cookie jar. So tell me, how was it?" She wouldn't answer though. She would avoid the question by acting like she was so caught up in what she was doing that I let it slide for a little while. Once we finished brushing the horses we made our way back towards the house at a slow pace. "Was he any good?" I asked again, trying to get some kind of response from her. Maggie could only laugh and shake her head. "I ain't telling you that. We're not in high school." Rolling my eyes I gave her a look as we were about to ascend the stairs of the porch. "Yeah right, I know you want to. You look like you're about to burst at the-" Just before I could finish, yelling in the distance caught our attention. Turning towards Ricks' camp I saw Andrea, standing on top of the RV with binoculars, yelling frantically at Rick and a few others. Telling Maggie I'd go check out what she was yelling for I made my way over to the RV, watching as Rick, Shane, and a few others run off to go check out what was in the field. Andrea informed Dale and myself it looked like a walker and she claimed she was going to take it out. "Andrea, no! You know Hershel's rule!" Dale said, climbing up the RV as Andrea got into position on her stomach, took aim, and fired causing Dale and myself to flinch. We then heard Rick yelling 'no' and Andrea looked through her scope again. "Oh shit." She exclaimed, telling Dale to get out of her way and that we needed to head over fast. "What's going on?" I ask her as she runs, pushing past me. I turn my attention back to the house, watching as Hershel and is family come running out of it and towards where I stood. "It's Daryl. I shot Daryl." Andrea said running with Dale towards the group. I inwardly groaned at the comment and turned to Hershel who finally came up next to me asking what was going on. "We need to get some supplies ready. Apparently Andrea shot Daryl thinking he was a walker." I mumbled, jogging back to the house, just needing to get out of everyone's way and have supplies ready.
I didn't know how extensive the damage was. It seemed just as I could only grab some antibiotics and bandages, Rick and Shane were already placing Daryl on the bed. Noticing his hands on his side, I began pulling up his shirt, causing him to grip my wrists tightly and prevent me from checking out where he was guarding. "Move your hands or I can't help you." I growled, pulling my wrists away and ripping his already torn shirt off. Bleeding was still present at his torso and I grabbed his hands pressing to the wound with my hands on top. "Arrow pierced you?" I ask, starring up at Daryl as Maggie ran in with some hot water and what looked like hydrogen peroxide and Hershel getting ready to douse the gauze I had brought up with the antiseptic. The redneck only managed to nod his head, gasping as I made him press harder into the wound. "Tryin to stop the bleeding, almost there. Is the arrow head still stuck in you, or you get it out?" Shaking his head he growled as his hand was removed to press the hydrogen peroxide soaked gauze pad pressed into the front of his torso. "It's out." Maggie tended to the graze that was on his temple while I began holding another gauze pad to the other side of his abdomen. "Looks like it didn't hit nothing too important, so we're just gonna make sure this bleeding stops and get you patched up and some pain meds."
The damage really wasn't as bad as I thought it was. Andrea only grazed his temple and his arrow didn't hit any organs. He just needed to have the wound checked on 8 hours and dressings changed if there was any bleeding or drainage. "So, I'm waiting for you to tell me you were a nurse before this world came to be." Hershel stated as I made my way to the kitchen after leaving Daryl to get some rest. Laughing I could only shake my head. "Might've been. Does it matter now?" The older man could only shrug his shoulders, grabbing supplies out of my arms to go put them away. "Not really. Just glad you've had training. Apparently… Lori and Carol will be cooking us a nice dinner to thank us for our help." The older man mumbled, not seeming too happy about it. "Why does this sound like a bad thing?" I ask, crossing my arms under my chest and leaning against the door frame. The older man just shook his head, shooing me away to go get rest and thanking me for my help once again.
Dinner had come and gone and I attempted to help out with the dishes, only being shooed away and told I should rest. "You have no idea what a great help you were today Devin." Lori spoke, flashing me a kind smile. Lowering my head, I smiled to myself. They thanked me too easily. I just did what any normal person would do. Right? Or have they come across that many people that would just leave them how they were? Is that why they were so persistent on staying around? I couldn't figure out what was making Hershel so untrusting of these people. They genuinely seemed like nice folk and it's not like these people go out of their way to harm us. Hopefully the old man would come around and agree to let them stay longer. Maybe another talk with Hershel was in order?
Excusing myself I made my way to one of the bathrooms we kept out supplies in that was close to Daryl's room. I noticed Carol had brought him a plate of food, but that was over an hour ago and I was sure he would be done by now. With supplies in my arms I knocked on the door before pushing inside. His body jerked and pulled the blankets up, especially over his shoulders and back. I had noticed them the first time I took off his shirt… The scars. The long, red, dead tissue crisscrossed across his back and shoulders. It made me wonder what happened. By their age he must have had them a long time and couldn't possibly have gotten them since this zombie outbreak came about. Clearing my throat I set my supplies on the bed behind him, taking a seat on the bed, causing it to dip. "Are you feeling alright? In any pain?" I asked, placing my hands over his where he kept the sheets in a vice like grip. I ran my thumbs over his fingers, gently prying them away from the blanket so I could pull it down to look at his bandages on his abdomen. He reluctantly let it go, knowing I needed to at least check the bandaging. Pulling down the sheet, I made sure to keep my eyes on the front of his wound to show that I was at least trying to respect his wishes. I asked if he was in any pain again and he only grunted, making me roll my eyes. "That's not a very accurate answer. On a scale of one to ten, what is your pain, with one being no pain, and ten being the worst pain possible?" I asked, pulling off the bandage to check out how he was healing. "'ve been in worse pain than this." He mumbled as I replaced the bandage on the front side of his abdomen. I shut my eyes momentarily and shook my head again before snapping. "I get that, but what is your pain? We have pain killers so if you're hurting speak up now." He only glared at me as I moved to the bandage that was on his back. "It's a fuckin four if ya gotta know. I jus told ya 've had worse!" I just scoffed as he gave me such a low number. This had to hurt more than that. He might as well enjoy a painkiller to at least help knock his ass out for a few hours anyways.
As I replaced the bandage on his back I probably applied a little more pressure than I needed to the tender area as he let out another growl of pain. This only caused me to smirk as I reached up to check the bandage on his head, causing him to flinch. I frowned, starring at him, green meeting blue again, as I sighed. "Sorry…" I murmured, pulling the blanket over him again and this time, reaching slowly for the wrap on his head. He still flinched, but it wasn't as pronounced as the first one, as I started to take off the bandage. Grabbing his face, gently, in my hands I tilted his head to view the graze and gave him a small smile. The feeling of his stubble on my palms tickled, but I felt myself wanting to run my nails down the scruff on his chin. He seemed to relax slightly as I ran one of my thumbs over his cheek "At least this one will heal quickly." I mumbled, cleaning the small area before rewrapping it. He only watched me, warily, like an animal sizing up someone who was either predator or prey.
Finding the pill bottles on the bed beside me, I shook out the antibiotic from one and opioid from the other, before handing them to him with the rest of his water that Carol had brought him. "Better take that pain med. I know you're lyin about your pain and it'll help you sleep tonight." I murmur as he took the pills from me, popping them in his mouth, and knocking them back with the water. He handed me the now empty glass and I set it on the food try before standing up. I watched as he burrowed under the covers again, shielding himself. "I'll be back in the morning to check on you. Be careful if you have to get up for anything and come find Hershel or myself if you notice you notice blood saturating your bindings." I said, placing the pill bottles on the table next to him and picking up his dining tray. He was still watching my movements carefully, like he couldn't trust me. As I made my way to leave the room I heard him grumble a quick 'thank you' as he rolled away from the door.