Okay, it's time to add some POV from a few other characters. Since Daryl is down for the count our lovely friend Rick gets to take his place for a while. And no I'm not spoiling anything for you all. You know me well enough, I would hope, to know that Daryl Dixon isn't going to get taken out by a bit of buckshot. =) Read on, friends. It gets better, I promise ;) And be gentile with me! I have never written Rick before. Not sure how well this is going to turn out but I'll do my best, I swear! And I know I'm making Lori much worse than she was in the show but I can't help it. I just don't like her!
Chapter Twenty Seven
"Daryl!" Rick yelled as he splashed through the water and grabbed the unconscious man by the shirt. He kept a grip on Daryl's shirt to make sure he kept his head above water and then turned in the direction that Shane had gone. Shane was running towards them, stumbling through the deeper parts.
"Rick! What the hell happened?" Shane asked as he helped Rick drag Daryl to the bank.
Both of their heads shot up when they heard someone running towards them through the creek. It was just a kid. He looked to be about sixteen but that didn't stop Rick from pulling the python from his holster and aiming it right at the boys head. The kid was armed and it was pretty obvious at this point that he was the one that had shot Daryl.
"Oh my God, is he dead? Did I kill him?" The boy said, fear clear in his voice as his eyes looked past the gun that was aimed at him. He held his own gun to his side and then he looked down at it like it was some foreign object that he hadn't realized he was even still holding.
Shane ripped open Daryl's shirt, popping the buttons off in the process. The wound was bad and bleeding freely. Shane ripped off his own shirt and pressed it against him to stop some of the bleeding.
"We have to get him to the road. Milton can fix him up." Rick said dully. All he really wanted to do was find his son but he couldn't do that without Daryl and he wasn't about to let the man bleed to death even if he hadn't needed him.
Shane shook his head. "It's too far, man. He'll bleed out before we get him there. And after that shot, every Walker within two miles is probably on it's way."
Rick glared at his best friend. Or the man that used to be his best friend. Things weren't the same anymore. Not since he found them at camp. "What do you suggest then?" He snapped.
Shane withdrew his own gun and put it to Daryl's temple. Rick grabbed the gun from him and stared him down.
Shane shook his head. "You gonna let him die out here and then turn?" He laughed bitterly.
"Hershel!" The boy finally said after he found his voice again.
Rick didn't hand Shane his gun back but he gave him a disgusted look before he looked back up at the boy. "What?" He growled.
"We can get him to Hershel and he can fix him up. As long as he's still alive. He's still alive, right?" The boy rambled.
"Help me get him up." Rick said to Shane. "What's your name, kid?" He asked the boy as he came to help with Daryl, who was nothing but dead weight at this point.
"Jimmy. My names Jimmy. And I was shooting at a dear. I didn't mean to shoot your friend. I'd never shoot someone."
Shane looked up. "Well, Jimmy. You ain't seen a couple kids around here have you? About twelve years old? A boy and a girl?"
Jimmy just shook his head as the three of them struggled to get Daryl to this mysterious Hershel.
"Is Hershel a doctor?" Rick asked.
Jimmy looked up, his eyes wide and afraid. "Kind of," was the only answer he gave him.
~H~
"Don't tell me to calm down." Carol snapped. "That was a shot."
Glen held his hands up and stepped away from Carol but Andrea was there to take his place. "Carol, we don't know what happened yet. We just have to wait, okay. We don't have a choice. You know that we can't track them down. If I thought we had a chance to find them I would be the first person to go with you." She gripped Carol by the shoulders and then wiped a tear off her face with her thumb.
"What if they're both gone?" Carol breathed, searching Andrea's pale eyes for a little hope.
Andrea just shook her head and pulled her into an embrace like she had done a thousand times in the last few hours. "Daryl is going to find Sophia and they are both going to be fine, okay? You can't think that it will happen any other way."
Lori was standing next to Dale and looking off towards the woods with her arms crossed over her chest. "Rick and Shane should have known better than to go off with that man." She shook her head. "All he's going to do is get them all killed."
Carol felt Andrea's arms tighten around her.
"What did you just say?" Carol hissed as she pushed Andrea away and closed the distance between her and Lori with just a few strides.
"You heard what I said. Daryl Dixon? He's no different than his brother. That gun shot we just heard was probably him killing Shane or Rick for fun."
"Lori, shut your mouth." Carol said so quietly that Lori was the only one that could have heard her.
"Why? Because the truth hurts? You can sure pick them, Carol."
Carol felt her hands shaking with anger. "The truth?" She spat. "The truth is, maybe if you acted like a mother instead of a hormonal teenaged girl then Daryl wouldn't be out there right now trying to find our kids. While Andrea and I were looking for supplies you were standing around doing nothing as usual. You could have been with your son but instead you were out here hoping someone else was keeping an eye on him. If a Walker dropped dead every time you had to ask someone else where your son was then we wouldn't be here right now!" Carol was actually yelling in her face.
Lori's eyes narrowed and before Carol seen it coming she slapped her across the face. It wasn't much. Carol had received way worse than that over the years and she wasn't even going to fight back. Lori was just as scared as she was and this was how Lori dealt with everything. She lashed out at other people and pointed fingers. So Carol took a step back. Not even touching the stinging spot on her cheek. But Andrea wasn't so quick to let it go.
She stepped in front of Carol and shoved Lori into the side of the camper. "Don't you touch her again." She growled.
Lori's eyes grew wide. "Get your hands off me." She jerked away from Andrea.
"Why don't you just admit that the reason you're pissed isn't because of any thing Daryl's done. Your pissed because your husband and your boyfriend are both out there."
Lori glanced around angrily.
Andrea laughed. "Don't worry." She put her hands on her hips. "Everyone in this group knows what you were doing while your husband was away. And from the way you have been acting I don't even think you've stopped."
"Andrea," Carol said quietly as she tugged her away from a very pissed off Lori. She didn't get her away in time. Andrea back handed Lori across the face much harder than Lori had slapped her.
"Okay, that's enough!" Glen stepped between them. "You guys are acting like a bunch of kids."
Dale, who had actually been standing next to Lori, looked as though he were in shock. He hadn't made a move to try to stop the cat fight. But no one else had to say anything. Andrea stormed off to the Camper while Lori stormed off to her and Ricks car, Leaving Carol standing there with Glen, Dale, Amy and Milton.
"Well that was interesting." Milton said after a long awkward pause.
Carol would have laughed any other time but she couldn't help but keep her eyes on the woods. She had a sinking feeling in her stomach that she couldn't shake. She thought maybe that this was payback. For days now she had been so unbelievably happy. Happier than she ever thought she would be in her whole life. And her daughter was happy. Everyday she had woken up excited. Wondering what was next. And in a world like this, that wasn't how they were suppose to be. So this was her pay back. She was going to pay dearly for that happiness. She was going to lose everything.
She watched Milton climb into the camper, most likely to check on T-dog who was knocked out cold with pain killers. Milton had given him antibiotics in case of infection. The gash in his arm was very ugly so Milton had wanted to take precaussions.
~H~
"Mother fucker! What the fuck are you tryna do you crazy asshole! You tryna fuckin' kill me!" Daryl yelled as Rick tried to hold him down on the table while Hershel tried to dig the buckshot out of his stomach. "Rick, man, do somethin'!"
Rick swiped the sweat out of Daryl's eyes. He was delirious from the pain and it seemed as though when he had fallen backwards he had hit his head pretty hard and they hadn't even noticed.
"Your friend here has a colorful vocabulary." The old man said calmly as he pushed the hemostats into a hole in Daryl's side.
Rick shot the man an apologetic look. "Yeah, that's just Daryl. Colorful as they come."
"Rick. Tell that son of a bitch to get off me." Daryl said in a voice that sounded like he was about to loose consciousness again. He reached up and grabbed Ricks hand. "Rick, go find Carol, okay. She's fuckin' scared Rick. You'll go get her for me, right? Don't let that son of a bitch Shane go, okay? It's gotta be you."
Rick just nodded to him. "She's on her way, Daryl."
"You're alright for a cop. I didn't like you much before but you ain't..." His eyes rolled back into his head as Hershel dug deeper into the hole.
"Hershel!" Rick looked at the old man that was still calmly digging into Daryl's flesh.
"He just passed out from the pain." He said in a soft voice. "I'm kind of glad. I may need a shower after listening to his mouth."
Rick had sent Shane out about fifteen minutes ago to get the others. Hershel had even let him use a truck. He was scared out of his mind for his son but he had to keep a level head for the group. He couldn't afford to break down. Shane would see that and jump on any chance he could to hold any weakness against him.
Rick didn't know when it all could have went so bad. Shane had been Ricks best friend. Here lately he was happier to see Daryl Dixon than he was Shane. He wondered if Shane would have really shot Daryl. Then he shook his head. Surely not. He didn't really know what was going on between the two of them and Carol but he knew his friend. Didn't he?"
~H~
Carol and the others heard the truck coming before they saw it's headlights. It was getting darker now. Carol had already gotten sick on the side of the road. There wasn't much to come up. Neither her or Daryl had eaten the food Jenner had sent them and it was surely bad by now.
Glen, who had had a rifle strapped to his back for most of the day, was now aiming it at the oncoming vehicle. Carol reached into her waistband and pulled out her own gun. Andrea already had hers. They hadn't really ran into anyone else since they had been holed up in there camp but chances were not something that they were willing to take right now. Even Dale had his own rifle at the ready.
The truck skidded to a stop and someone jumped out. Everyone lowered their weapons when they saw Shane.
He ran straight towards Carol which caused her to want to bolt from him. This couldn't be good. This couldn't be good at all and as long as he didn't say anything to her then there was still hope in her heart but as soon as he opened his mouth her world was shattered. She was backing away from him and shaking her head. He looked concerned. He reached out a hand but she dodged him, still shaking her head back and forth.
"Carol, you need to come with me." he said as he held his hands up in a defensive gesture.
She felt the tears slide down her face and he really did look like he wanted to help her. But no one could help her. Not anymore. She envied Jenner right now.
"Daryl's been shot." Shane said and then Carol felt her knees go weak.
Andrea grabbed her around the waist. "What? How?" She asked.
"Some kid out huntin'. It was an accident but we took him to a farm and there's a man there that's tryin' to work on him." Shane said calmly.
"What about Sophia and Carl? Have you guys found them?" Amy asked from Glen's side.
Shane shook his head. "We lost their trail. Daryl was shot before we could pick it back up."
"So my daughter is still out there somewhere. And Daryl has been shot? Is that his blood?" Carol felt herself going numb. She was numb to Andrea's arms around her and she was numb to the pain that she knew was trying to penetrate her.
Shane looked down at the blood soaked front of his shirt. He didn't say anything. He only nodded.
"Where was he shot?" Milton asked suddenly.
"He took buckshot to the midsection. Most of it got him in the side but his stomach took a bit too." He said to Milton. Milton hurried off towards T-dogs truck. "Carol, I'm sorry. He wants you. He's done cussed everybody up and down."
"But if Sophia..."
"I'll stay. If her and Carl come back I'll be right here waiting for her." Andrea said softly. "He needs you right now."
"I think he's gonna need Milton, Carol so we need you to decide right now." Shane said in a kind voice.
She hugged Andrea tightly and then walked towards Shane. She was still feeling numb. Lost. She even let him put his arm around her.
"Where the hell is Rick?" Lori asked as she got out of her car where she had spent the rest of the afternoon avoiding everyone. "Did you find Carl?"
"Come with us. The others are gonna stay and wait for the kids in case they come back." Shane said.
Milton rode in the back of the truck while Carol, Lori and Shane sat up front. None of them spoke until Carol broke the silence. "Is he going to die?" She asked. "Am I going to lose them both?"
Shane looked at her and there was something in his eyes that she couldn't read. Or she just didn't want to. "I don't know, Carol." He said quietly. "We have Milton. He has medical supplies and trainin'. He has medicine. I think he'll pull through."
Carol simply nodded. "And Sophia and Carl?"
Shane didn't take his eyes off the road this time. "We're gonna try to find them."
He turned down a driveway that didn't seem to have an end. They eventually pulled up to a huge white farmhouse and Carol didn't waste any time. She ran up the steps and was greeted by a beautiful young woman with chestnut hair and a kind smile.
"I sure hope you're Carol." She said.
Carol nodded.
"I'm Maggie. He's been askin' about you a lot. Well, between cussin' all of us out and threatenin' everybody."
"I'm sorry." Carol said as Maggie led her through the house to a room towards the back. Carol turned and hadn't realized that Milton was right behind her.
"It's fine. Daddy sent my little sister upstairs though. She's sixteen but he still ain't to keen on her hearin' some of the stuff comin' outta his mouth."
She led her to what looked like a bedroom but the light inside was very bright. There was an old man with his back to her, sitting in a straight backed chair bent over a pale form on the bed. Rick was on the other side, leaning over the body to keep it still.
"He must have passed out again." Maggie said quietly.
Rick looked up and the relief on his face was clear. He glanced down at Daryl and then, when he was sure he was out cold, he stood up and hurried towards her. He hugged her tightly and she hugged him back. "Thank God. You wouldn't believe some of the things he's called that man."
Carol would have laughed but nothing was very funny at the moment.
"Is Lori here?" He asked as he glanced back at Daryl.
Carol nodded but she kept her eyes on Daryl's white face. His eyes were closed but his face was facing her. She never seen him look so fragile. He was always so strong. He was fearless. He was always so full of life. Seeing him now, like this made her heart break. She felt another tear slip down her face. How many more times would she have cry before she stopped hurting. It seemed like that was all she had ever done.
Milton was talking to the old man in the chair and peered down at what must have been Daryl's bullet wound. She felt like she was going to be sick again.
"I'm gonna go fix you folks a bite to eat, okay? If you need anything just let me know. Patricia is around here somewhere but I think he scared her off."
"Thank you." Carol whispered as she walked up to him. She took Ricks place and put her hands on the bed and looked down at his face. She didn't want to see the blood that she knew was there. Enough for her to even smell.
"You must be Carol." The older man said gently.
Carol looked at him and nodded. "Yes, I am."
"Boy, am I glad to see you." He said with a shake of his head.