Angels Can't Die
Jamie pushed the back door to the truck that she was in open, leaning out and looking around. She looked over to where Carol was gasping in tears with Lori had her side. She had heard Sophia screaming and knew that Rick had run after her, but it clearly didn't calm down Carol. She jumped down from the truck that she was in, clothes tumbling to the ground around her as they caught on her boots and around her ankles.
"What if he couldn't…what if-"
"Don't worry, everything should be just fine, Rick will find her," Lori tried to assure, stroking her hand over Carol's back. Jamie jogged over as her eyes darted around. Carl was over with Shane and Glenn, Dale kneeling on top of the RV as he looked around with the binoculars. She moved over to a car and jumped up onto the hood of the car to get a higher view point, looking around. She couldn't see Andrea, T-Dog or Daryl.
"Daryl?" she called out, looking between deserted cars, her heart beginning to throb inside her chest again. She made sure not to yell too loudly, knowing that the walkers were still nearby and she couldn't risk them hearing her yelling. She stepped up again until she was standing on the hood of the car, the wind stronger at the higher point and pulling at her hair.
"Don't go and start panicking," Daryl said from behind her. She spun around quickly to face the opposite side of the car that she was on. "Worried about me, Angel?" he asked with a smirk. There was blood on his hands and his face was darkened with dirt, but he didn't seem hurt in the least. Jamie sighed in relief and stepped over to his side of the car as he held his hands out to her, catching her arms as she wrapped them around his shoulders and lowered her to the ground. Blood smeared on her shirt and dirt covered her cheek, but she didn't care.
"I can't help it," she mumbled into his shoulders. He reeked of something rotten, but she didn't really want to ask why. She pulled back and took hold of his hands, looking at the red that stained them. "What happened?"
"Dog," He answered simply, looking over to the RV. T-Dog was holding a red bandana to his forearm, most of his shirt stained with the blood. He didn't look too good and she was concerned with the amount of blood that he had lost. "Walkers could smell the blood, I had to hide it so I dropped a dead one on him."
"Is that why you smell like something died?" she asked as she leaned away from him, looking over for any sign of a walker having been on him. He smelled like something that'd been dead and cooking in the sun, but not the same as the living dead.
"I pulled a dead guy out of a car," he answered back. "What happened here?"
"Sophia got chased off by a walker," she answered back, her voice hushing as she looked over to the distraught mother. Carol wasn't calming down, she only seemed to be getting worse as time went on and her daughter didn't return. "Rick ran after them, but we don't know what's going on."
"He's coming back!" Shane called from where he was watching the woods, drawing everyone's attention back toward the trees. Jamie and Daryl moved over the guardrail to see Rick rushing through the trees. His white shirt had blood staining the right shoulder, the moisture of his sweat having caused the blood to spread wider. He was alone.
"Sophia!" Carol nearly screamed, reaching outward with her hands as she cried, desperately trying to reach the daughter that was not there. Lori held her back, trying to support the woman as she felt down to her knees. Rick looked stricken when he realized that Sophia wasn't there. Carol's loud sobs were the only sound that filled the air for a minute before Rick crossed over the guardrail and headed over to Carol.
"We'll find her, Carol, I promise you that," he said in a strong voice, determined. Carol didn't say anything, her head turning into Lori's shoulder as she continued to cry. Jamie wanted to go over to the woman and help her, but she knew that too many people wouldn't help anything. Rick stood up straight and turned to look around at the crowding people. "Daryl, if I show you where I last saw her, could you track her?"
"What happened?" Shane demanded as he slung the shotgun he was holding onto his shoulder, stepping up toward Rick.
"I left her hiding at the creek as I drew the walkers away, but when I went back she had already gone. I'd thought she came back here," Rick explained in a low voice, trying not to let Carol overhear. "She must have gotten lost." Rick looked torn and broken, his hands wiping at his face. He had tried to save Sophia's life but he hadn't been able to save her completely. There could be more walkers out there somewhere and she was on her own.
"If I can find her trail I can follow it," Daryl answered for Rick's previous question.
"Alright; Shane, Glenn, Daryl and I will head back toward the creek, see if we can track her down," Rick said in his authoritative voice. Daryl didn't show any reaction to the order but Shane and Glenn both nodded their heads. "Jamie, you do what you can to help Dale with the RV, we don't want to stay here any longer than we have to encase those walkers come back."
"I think I should look after T-Dog, first. He got cut up in all the commotion," Jamie said quickly before he could turn away. "I'll help Dale out afterword, but I'm worried about the amount of blood he's lost. If the injury isn't taken care of it could get infected."
"Alright," Rick agreed, nodded his head. He moved over to talk briefly with Carol and Lori, both mothers listening to him intently. Daryl pulled Jamie aside and quickly told her where a truck was located that he had seen a large stash of medical supplies. She listened carefully as he told her how to take care of the injury since he had seen it and knew that it was deep.
"I'll be fine here," she assured, looking over to where the others guys were getting ready to leave. "You go, be careful. Don't get into any fights," she added on, seeing the grin that touched his lips. He pressed a kiss to her temple hurriedly before he jogged after the others guys, the dirt that had stained his skin smudging on her face when he did so. She didn't care, though, and just watched as he took off.
She quickly moved down the highway in the direction that Daryl had told her to go, looking for the beige van that was flipped on its side. A medical bag that looked like something a paramedic would carry was lying on the ground, near the back window. She didn't waste time to pick it up and quickly jog back up to where T-Dog was sitting on the steps of the RV.
"Alright, let me see," she ordered without a greeting, seeing the man look up at her. He didn't move to uncover the injury, Daryl's red bandana completely soaked through with his blood. She glared at him for a moment when he didn't comply. "We can do this the easy way, or the hard way. The hard way will be much more painful and with the amount of blood you've lost you won't be able to fight much."
"Girl, leave me alone," Dog slurred out after a second, leaning his head against the door.
"Alright," Jamie said as she dropped the bag down. "Hard way it is." She took a hold of T-Dog's injured arm and pulled, taking the man to the ground and rolling him onto his back. He cried out in shock and pain, his eyes squeezing shut as his back collided with the ground. Jamie sat down on the ground at his side and locked her legs tightly around the bicep of his injured arm, keeping it still.
"The fuck-" T-Dog swore, glaring up at her when he finally regained himself.
"I told you, hard way," Jamie replied as she pulled the bag over to herself and opened the zipper, keeping her thighs tight around his bicep so that he couldn't pull his arm away. She unwound the bandana from his arm and tossed it aside, her hands already covered in blood. The gouge in his arm was deep, just as Daryl had said, and was still seeping blood. "Idiot, you should have gotten this taken care of the second the walkers were gone."
"I don't need your help," he wheezed out, luckily not trying to pull away anymore.
"Shut up," Jamie ordered, looking down at his face for a moment. He was sweating profusely and his eyes were bloodshot when he looked over at her. "This is gunna burn like a bitch, but hold still as best ya can." She poured the disinfectant on her hands before doing the same onto one of the square patches of gauze that came inside the bag. She looked down at the injury one more time, feeling lightheaded just from looking at it before she pressed down harshly on the injury, getting a scream from T-Dog. Using one hand to keep the soaked gauze on the injury, she took a second cloth from the bag and held it to his mouth, sticking it between his teeth and ordering him to bite down as hard as he could.
"What's going on down there?" Dale asked as he leaned over the side of the RV, looking panicked at the screaming that was coming from that large black man.
"Just a routine check-up, nothing to see here!" Jamie called up, never breaking eye contact with T-Dog as he bit down on the rag. Dale still lingered above as he watched Jamie work diligently on T-Dog's arm, first finishing with the disinfectant before she held a clean piece of the white bandage to his arm to stop the bleeding. She never took her attention away from her work, keeping her attention solely on getting T-Dog taken care of.
"Just don't kill him," Dale finally said in an even voice. Jamie lifted a blood handy in acknowledgement , before she took one of the cloths from the bag to clean them off for when she'd be wrapping up T-Dog's injury with a clean strip of gauze.
"Is he gunna be alright?" Andrea asked from the doorway of the RV, Lori and Carol also making their way over.
"Yea, just bein' a baby," Jamie called back, getting a grunt from T-Dog. She quickly wound a second strip of gauze around the square patch that she was holding to his arm so that she could send him to sit down while the bleeding stopped. She didn't release his arm from her legs until she had tied off the bandage as tightly as she could without doing further damage, letting Andrea help T-Dog into the RV when she finally let him get up.
"How'd you know what to do?" Carol asked in a meek voice, leaning against the roof of one of the cars. Lori had been trying to persuade her away from the guardrails since the guys had left, finally moving when they became concerned for T-Dog.
"Daryl told me before he left."
They were soon scattered about with chores when Shane and Glenn came back, getting everyone working. T-Dog stayed in the RV when Jamie threatened to tie him down if he tried to move, getting a good scolding from her that he cared not to repeat. Jamie moved about with Glenn to find another radiator hose that they could steal from one of the trucks along the road for the RV, keeping up light conversation with the Korean as they walked and worked.
"Why does Daryl keep calling me Chinaman?" Glenn finally asked as he leaned against the front fender of the truck they were looking in, pausing to drink some of the water that Andrea was passing around. Jamie laughed softly as she pulled her hands away from the engine to wipe the seat off her face with the back of her arm.
"He thinks of a nickname and sticks to it, I don't really know why he does it. I think it's 'cause he feels that he has more control that way. My friend Kaitlyn used to be affectionately known as 'Shorty'." Glenn laughed softly at her words and traded her the water bottle for the flathead screwdriver.
"When did he start calling you Angel?"
Jamie took a moment to take a drink of water, peaking over as Glenn finished with removing the radiator hose. "When I was twenty three I got really sick and had to go into the hospital. I've been scared of hospitals since I was younger and my mom got sick, I was always afraid that if I went to one I'd die as well," she started explaining, leaning on her elbows as she watched Glenn's quick and precise movements. "He told me 'Angels can't die' so that I'd stop worrying. He's been using the nickname Angel since then."
"That makes sense, though, I'm not from China!"
"He doesn't care." Jamie laughed softly, looking over to where the others were working on their own things. They would be moving to working on finding supplies after they finished getting everything for Dale; Glenn was assigned to food while she was given the task of locating as many medical supplies as she could. The bag that she'd gotten from Daryl was good, but it was mostly bandages and disinfectants, not heavy duty things.
"I'll take this to Dale," Glenn said as he collected everything, making sure he didn't lose any of Dale's tools. Jamie nodded her hand and clapped him on the back before walking off toward the abandoned cars again.
The sun was beginning to go down as Jamie hitched the medical bag over her shoulder, freshly stocked up with Advil, Tylenol, Band-Aids and a couple of braces for sprained joints. She had collected the clothes that she left behind in the commotion of walkers earlier in the day and had already placed them in her bag, added the medical supplies she found into the red bag over her shoulder.
She knew right away that something was wrong when she came back to see everyone crowding together near the guardrail, Carol in the center of them. She dropped the bag near the boxes of food that Glenn had placed on the ground and made her way over to where they were all standing, seeing Rick stepping over the rail. She moved over to lean against one of the cars and listened as Carol held back tears, whatever hope she had been holding onto crumbling.
"Out in the dark's no good," Daryl said in a husky voice, keeping it quiet as he tried to stop Carol from panicking further. "We'd just be tripping over ourselves; more people'd get lost."
"She's twelve," Carol said desperately, fidgeting on the spot. "She can't be out there on her own! You didn't find anything?" she begged, turning to Rick. The others all shuffled on the spot, not knowing what it was that they could do for her.
Rick spoke calmly, his voice soothing. Jamie wondered how much practice he had with talking to grieving families. "Carol, I know this is asking a lot but I need you to not panic. We know she was out there."
"We tracked her for a while," Daryl added on. Jamie knew the tone that he was using, it was the same one that she had heard when he was talking her out of her hysterical state when he told her he was taking her to the hospital. He was doing his utmost best to stop Carol from panicking by calming her down with words of whatever reassurance he could give.
"We have to make this an organized effort," Rick said of a heartbeat, looking at the remainder of the group. "Daryl knows the woods better than anybody. I've asked him to oversee this." Rick couldn't say much more before Carol drew everyone's attention to a patch of blood that was staining Daryl's pants, beginning to panic all over again. Daryl assured her that it was the blood of a walker, once again causing her to panic, but he explained calmly that they had cut it open and made sure it hadn't run into Sophia.
It's heartbreaking to watch someone turn on an innocent person, looking for someone to blame. So when Carol turned blame to Rick for leaving Sophia in the woods so that he could deal with the walkers was hard on everyone. Jamie looked away from the scene, Rick kneeling on the ground before Carol as he tried to make her see everything the way that things truly were. Andrea and Lori sat with Carol to try and comfort her while Rick walked away, avoiding everyone else.
The women all looked up to Jamie, as though they expected for her to join them, but she just looked away from them and turned to walk after Rick, hoping that she could talk to him. Before she had even made it passed the first car Daryl cut into her path, shaking his head. Jamie looked off to where Rick was heading one last time before turning away, leaning against the back door of a van.
"Jamie, open the door or I'm going to open it for ya," Daryl called through the thick wood of the bathroom door. Jamie leaned her head under the shower, letting the cold water wash over her head. Still clothed in a sweaty tank top and cotton shorts, she was tempted to just pull herself into the shower and let the water run over her. Her body felt like it was on fire, as though someone had stuck her in an oven to cook.
"I'm fine," she yelled back, without moving her head out from under the steady stream.
"You have a fever of 106," Daryl reminded, banging on the door again. Jamie didn't reply but turned off the water, breathing heavily as the discomfort of her burning skin caused her to squirm. "Jamie!"
"Go away!" she ordered, sitting down on the cold floor and leaning against the equally cold wall. A loud bang made her scream in surprise, her hands flying up to protect herself. The scream made her throat feel like it was bleeding, already sore as it was. The door to the washroom flew open and banged loudly against the wall, denting the drywall. "Daryl!"
"Shut up," Daryl growled out, stepping into the smaller room. Jamie's skin was as white as paper as she sat on the floor of her pale blue bathroom, her long hair dripping wet and dampening her shirt quickly. She was breathing heavily and looked as though she was about to pass out. "You're burnin' up, hallucinatin' and you can barely stay on your own feet. I'm taking you to the hospital," he said as he stepped up to her, doing his best to ignore the long legs that were shown to him, her skin nearly as dark as his own.
"No!" she yelled, drawing back into the corner of the room like a frightened child.
"Jamie!" Daryl yelled, grabbing her arms before she could take a run for it. "Calm down, Jamie!" She was nearly sobbing as she leaned her head back against the glass of the shower door, closing her eyes. The commotion had brought some colour back to her cheeks, but she still looked deathly.
"Don't make me go, I don't want to go!" she sobbed loudly, shaking her head but still refusing to open her eyes. "Please, Daryl, don't make me go there."
"Jamie, look at me," Daryl said in a soft voice, surprising the blonde enough to look toward him, her eyes filled with moisture as tears threatened at the brim to fall. "You don't need to be afraid, Babe," He explained softly, still holding her arms but slackening his grip just a bit. "You don't got anythin' to worry about. You know why?"
Jamie took a deep breath as she shook her head, a single tear slipping down her cheek and mingling with the water droplets that were left there from the shower. Daryl lifted his hands to rubs his thumbs along her cheeks, brushing the tears away from her eyes.
"Angels can't die."
Jamie's eyes were large, moist gold spheres as they looked up at him, still trembling in his hold. He used gentle, slow motions to pull her away from the corner while she wasn't fighting, slipping an arm under her legs and picking her up off the tiles. She leaned away from him when his body heat assaulted her flushed skin, but could only move away so far when he was carrying her.
"Don't let them touch me, please," she mumbled as her head lolled back with fatigue as Daryl expertly locked the door of her apartment behind them while he was still holding onto her. "I don't wanna die."
"I won't let anythin' happen to you, Angel."
That's so sweet! :) Sorry that I haven't updated for probably the longest period so far, but I'm sticking to the same reason as always. I hate school!...Stay in school, kids!
Chapter 19 – Bloodhound
Daryl gave her a quick nod when she looked up to him and she reached into the tent to grasp the edge of the material that made up the door, pulling it toward her and opening up a space. The stench that wafted out nearly made her lose her grip as she turned her head away, into her bicep, to try and alleviate the stink. Daryl flinched back for a moment, his own arm moving to cover his mouth. Jamie tried to hold her breath, tried to stay there and hold the door open, but the rank smell that was coming from the tent turned her stomach, made her face flush as she held back the nausea, and she had to turn away and step back a few strides, closing Daryl in the tent after he'd stepped inside.
Shane and Rick didn't seem to be having any better luck, leaning over and coughing as they fought the reflex to throw up. Jamie stepped over to the woods nearby and leaned over as she gagged, but nothing came up. Her stomach was empty, anyway. She coughed once to try and dislodge the smell from her nose and the air in her throat, placing a hand over her mouth.
"Daryl?" Carol called out softly, standing with Lori at her side, an arm around her shoulders in comfort.
Daryl soon pushed from the tent, taking in a breath of the fresher air. "Ain't her," He assured, stepping away from the tent to get the smell away from him. Jamie remained a couple paces away from the tent, not wanting to throw up any stomach acid that day.
"What's in there?" Andrea asked from the back of the group.
"Some guy. Did what Jenner said, 'opted out'." He picked up his crossbow and stowed away his knife, looking over to where Jamie was refusing to come close. "Ain't that what he called it?"