WARRIORS OF THE WALKING DEAD: SAVIORS OF MANKIND
CHAPTER EIGHT
He watched as the men began searching for the blonde street by street. He had seen the entire incident go down with her and the brunette and had to act quickly. He'd raced to the park and broken into a car with a security alarm, knowing that the noise would draw the Creepers off. Heading back, he'd lost sight of both of them until he saw the group of rescuers come out of the house with the brunette. Now, he just needed to find the blonde and direct them to her without letting them know he was out there.
He'd already had a close call at the Home Depot. When he'd found that note, he got nervous and moved his camp. Their tracker, the one with the crossbow and the redhead had gone back to his old hideout. He knew that because he'd been watching from afar. He wasn't about risking his freedom but he couldn't let innocent people die either.
Since they were walking the eastern streets surrounding Main Street, he decided to take the western ones and see if he could find her.
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Rick, Daryl, and Jackson came walking out of the house shaking their heads.
"I don't want to risk yelling, but at this point, it's getting dark and I'm a little worried." Jackson stated, after they'd just finished searching their 40th house.
"Maybe we should search by vehicle. We could yell out the windows for her. We'd cover more ground that way." Rick suggested.
"I searched for a dog once that way." Daryl muttered, earning him a gentle swat from Katelyn.
He grinned unashamedly. Andrea just wasn't his favorite person at the moment. Besides the stupid shit she did at the farm, she slept with the Governor, insulted Kate and was just a selfish bitch most of the time. He didn't think she was evil at heart, just seemed to think with anything but her head. He knew he needed to let it go, but her behavior toward Kate earlier really pissed him off.
"Hey. I know you're mad at her because of earlier, but I'm okay. I promise. She wasn't there. She doesn't really know." Katelyn took him aside to talk quietly.
"She was sleeping with your father." Daryl reminded her.
"I know, but she didn't know what he was really like. I don't blame her for that." Katelyn said softly, kissing his cheek. "Thank you for coming to my defense."
Daryl snorted, his anger still present, but it was, at least, put back on simmer since Kate wasn't really upset.
"Come on. Let's go find her." Daryl sighed, turning to head back to the vehicles.
They moved quickly to the cars, hopping in and heading to pick up where they left off.
Passing by an alley, Rachel was sure that she saw someone standing there, watching them, but shrugged it off, assuming it was a walker. Still, it left her with a strange feeling of uneasiness.
"Andrea!" Rick called out the window, followed by an echo from Daryl, yelling out his window, but there was no answer.
"Wait! Let's try the parking garage roof. She'd head there if she could." Rachel said, grabbing Rick's arm when she thought of it.
"Good thought." Rick said, turning to head toward the same parking garage where Jackson had found Kate that day.
Turning the corner, they immediately saw Andrea, standing in the center of the entrance, waiting for them.
"What took you guys so long?" She said cockily as Jackson climbed out of the car along with Rick.
"You all right?" Jackson asked, looking her up and down to make sure she wasn't injured.
He immediately saw the ripped shirt and blood and hurried over to her.
"I'm fine. Just a scratch." Andrea said as he grasped her arm to look at the scratch.
"Walker?" Rick asked, suddenly a little panicked.
Rachel saw that they were looking at Andrea and got out of the car just in case they needed medical help.
"No, broken glass." Andrea replied, rolling her eyes at herself for a stupid injury.
"Here, let me see." Rachel said, walking up to take her arm.
Looking the arm over, she pressed her thumbs on both sides of the wound and pulled it apart to see how deep it was.
"Ow!" Andrea griped.
"You're gonna need a few stitches when we get back." Rachel said. "Glass is a bitch."
Jackson took out a handkerchief from his back pocket and walked back to the jeep, grabbing the med kit out. Pulling out gauze, he held it over her wound, then tied the material over it to hold it in place.
Rachel smirked. She wasn't going to ruin their "moment" and remind him that she was a nurse.
"Thanks." Andrea said, feeling herself blush a little at the attention.
"No problem. Straight to the doc when we get back though." He ordered.
Andrea saluted him playfully.
"Yes, sir." She retorted earning her a grin from the Major.
"Let's go home." Jackson said, climbing back into the Jeep.
None of them noticed the single figure standing in the shadow of the fading light, watching them as they departed.
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Rachel made quick work of stitching up Andrea after they returned to the school. Snipping the last suture, she bandaged it so it didn't rub against anything.
"You're done." She said, patting Andrea on the leg as she sat up on the table.
"Wow. You're fast." Andrea said, hopping down.
"Before I worked in geriatric care, I was a surgical nurse." She said.
"I guess I don't know that much about you. Why'd you switch? Those are like worlds apart." Andrea asked, curious.
"I…uh…Let's just say that I'm not a big fan of surgeons." She answered, chuckling derisively at the memory.
"Prima Donna's." Andrea said, noticing the slight tremor that came over Rachel at the memory. Andrea was curious now. There was more to that story than Rachel was letting on.
"Yeah. Something like that." Rachel replied, turning away to clean up the mess.
"I sense a story there." Andrea said, buttoning her shirt back up.
"You're not missing anything, trust me. I dated one…a surgeon. He was pretty much a dick." She said casually.
"And that ruined your love of surgery?" She asked, not putting the pieces together because they weren't adding up.
"Yeah. Surgery is really stressful. Geriatric care is so…different. It's beautiful in a way. Peaceful and loving…I sound like a hallmark card, sorry." Rachel said, throwing the syringes away.
"Death is beautiful, huh?" Andrea asked. "That's morbid."
"To be there when someone takes their last breath. There's something special about it. It's sad, but after seeing an end to suffering, I guess I came to see if as peaceful relief." Rachel said poetically.
"I guess I just don't see it that way. I held my sister while she died, a horrible death of fear and pain." Andrea said, her voice filled with anger.
"Andrea. No one should die before their time. It's different when they're elderly, and they simply slip away. What you experienced with your sister…that's not the same thing. That was a tragic end and there is no peace or beauty in that. Sorry. I didn't mean to make it sound like that." Rachel said, putting her hand on Andrea's arm comfortingly.
"I understand what you're saying. I guess I've just seen so much death lately that I can't see it that way." Andrea stated, wiping a tear from her cheek.
"How about you and I go get a drink?" Rachel said, looping her arm in Andrea's.
"Sounds good to me." Andrea replied heartily.