56: Annie The Hound Dog

"Hold it right there," I pointed the barrel of the gun directly at the silhouette's head. The moon shone through the trees and a low night's breeze crossed my path.

The man's voice was weak, and I could see him hold his arms up slightly to show he wasn't a threat, "Don't shoot!"

I took a step closer, finger still on the trigger, mouth watering, "Have you been bitten?"

He let out an exasperated laugh, I could tell he was in pain by the way he choked out the words, "No, just shot."

Time for to more important question, "Are you armed?"

"Yes. Here," the arms lowered and I heard a bag unzip. There were soft plunks in the darkness of items being tossed into the bag before the eventual thud of the bag near my feet.

I had to admire this guy's honesty. Most people these days wouldn't admit to having weapons, let alone throw them into a bag and give them to a complete stranger. But as much as I appreciated the gesture, I needed to be sure he wasn't just trying to pull something, "I'm going to pat you down real quick, and then I can help you. I was a paramedic."

I took the few steps to him, gun still pointed at his head, and patted him down with my free hand. I think a part of me expected to find something: a knife, a toothbrush turned shiv, a menacing paperclip, anything at all. But there was nothing. "Good?" How was his tone so light? I mean the guy smelled like a blood bag, how the hell was he in such a good mood?

"Good," I confirmed with him, picking up the bag and slinging it over my shoulder, "Think you can make it a little further?"

"Made it this far," he took a step forward and began to follow behind me at a slow pace.

A few walkers passed us, and I took them out with my knife. It was all I had on me that didn't make any noise, and the last thing I needed was to set off a gunshot. As we made our way through the forest there was nothing by the smell and the soft grunts of pain in the moonlight. It had been so long since I was out in the woods at night; it felt too quiet. It felt uncomfortably quiet. I turned my head slightly to make sure he was still there, "What's your name?"

I could see the whiteness of his teeth through the black of the night, "Aidan."

I nodded, "I'm Annie."

"Well, thanks for not killing me yet, Annie." I laughed to myself a bit. The last few people I 'met' I killed almost instantly. I had to admit I enjoyed that tonight deviated from that mold. Quite frankly, as much as I didn't mind protecting the group, I was tired of adding to my body count. It was wearing on me a bit more than usual lately. I was glad for the injured stranger though, someone to help. Someone to get my karma flowing the right way again.

It didn't take long to get to the gate, and that was a good thing too. Aidan had been slowing down substantially near the end, and I really didn't feel like carrying him. I only just unlocked the padlock when Daryl and Rick reached the gate. "He's injured and unarmed," I held my hand up as a flashlight blared in my face, "Checked him myself."

Daryl spoke first, "You brought him back here?"

I grabbed the flashlight from my pocket that I'd been avoiding using and pointed it at the wound, seeing for the first time how bad it really was. There was a large chunk missing from his right bicep, and the skin around it was covered in a familiar patina of blood and dirt. The same color that I wore during the bulk of my time with Riley. I looked closer, seeing that it was still bleeding, "He'll die if I don't do something."

"So?"

In the darkness no one could see me roll my eyes, and I was more than glad for that fact. Whatever repairs made to Daryl's and mine's friendship were probably fragile. I mean, he'd only started being remotely nice a few hours ago; I didn't want to spoil it already. Not tonight. I'll ruin things tomorrow, but tonight I'd enjoy the pleasantness. I looked over, "Rick, please." I pointed the light a bit below his face so I could read his expression. He seemed still half asleep, "Let me help him."

He just nodded, "I'll take over your watch."

"Thank you," I weakly smiled at him as I motioned for Aidan to follow me, "This way."

"Can I have some water?"

Rick handed me a full bottle as I walked past him and I handed it back to my new patient. "Here," he accepted it, "Drink it slowly though." I didn't look back to make sure he was doing what I'd said. I just kept walking up to the main building of the prison. He was still able to walk, and I wanted to take advantage of that for as long as we could, "We need to get you cleaned up before I can patch you up."

"Where you takin' him?" I jumped slightly when I realized Daryl had been walking with us.

"Showers," I could see his sour expression through the moonlight. I couldn't resist the opportunity to make him uncomfortable, "Unless you want me to give him a sponge bath?"

The voice behind us spoke up, "I'm all for that." I just chuckled and grabbed the lantern I'd left at the door into the building. The three of us slowly made our way through the maze of dark hallways until we made it to the shower room. I set the lantern in the middle of the room, allowing the light to give the room a slight glow before I pulled a bar of soap out of one of the storage cabinets and handed it to Aidan. It was nice to finally be able to put a face with the voice, but what really stood out was his height. He must've been over six feet.

"Here," I gave him a washcloth as well, "It'll hurt, but you have to scrub. It's the only way I'll know it we have to cut it off."

His voice squeaked slightly, "Cut what off?"

"Your arm," my tone was matter-of-fact, as it should be. Blood poisoning happens, infections happen, and sometimes amputation is the only way. I took a seat on the ground, resting my hand on my knee and leaning my chin on it. I don't think I was even tired anymore. Not now. An actual chance to save someone, like I'd wanted to be doing right now, and it just walked up out of nowhere. "I might not need to though. Make it snappy now," I pointed over at the faucets.

"I think your girlfriend likes me," Aidan's smile was bright considering his blood loss as he looked over at Daryl whose face was still scrunched with displeasure.

Daryl stood beside me and looked down, "You sure about bringing this guy in here?"

"I couldn't leave him out there to die," I shrugged, "We'll keep him away from the others for now."

He nodded, "I know a place where we can put him." I nodded back at him. Not that I'm complaining, by why was he still here? Shouldn't he be sleeping? I could handle this guy on my own, easy. He didn't have to babysit me. As Aidan cleaned himself off I rummaged through his bag. Knives and guns and not much else. Who the hell was this guy? At the bottom I found a relatively clean pair of flannel sweatpants as well as a pair of flip-flops. Flip-flops? Really? The man doesn't carry food, or medical supplies, but he's got his leisure footwear covered. I sighed; they'll have to do for now. I set everything but the pants and shoes back into the bag before zipping it back up.

He called over, the faucet screeched as he shut off the water, "All done." I threw a towel at him. The fatigue in his voice became more pronounced, "It feels good to be clean again."

I gave him a minute to dry himself before I threw the pants over to him, "Put these on." I waited for him to put them on before I grabbed the lantern and went to get a closer look of the wound, "Let me look at ya." It didn't look very fresh, maybe a couple of days old. The edges were healing slightly, but the deepest parts were still bleeding. It's a miracle this guy is still standing. It must have just barely missed the posterior circumflex humeral artery, and it looked like he'd kept it clean enough to prevent infection. No need to amputate if it kept this up, but I couldn't exactly stitch this up. There would just be a golf ball-sized chunk missing from his arm from now on. "Well, we won't need to cut it off as long as it stays like this, but I'll have to cauterize it to keep you from bleeding out. You'll have to take something to fight off the infection, too. That's probably the best we can do. Let's go."

I followed Daryl and Aidan followed me and an air of awkwardness fell over us. The clapping of the flip-flops was all that could be heard as we weaved through the darkness. Finally, and thankfully, Aidan spoke up, "Is it gonna hurt?"

I kept on walking as I answered, "I can knock you out if you'd prefer it."

"I can take it." The guy was probably several pints low on blood, but he had a cocky attitude?

I hope he can live up to the hype. It would make it easier. "Good." Once we got to the cellblock we'd be holding him in I turned to Daryl, "Do you think you can look after him while I grab some stuff from my cell?" He nodded and I pulled the small flashlight back out from my pocket and clicked it on. "I'll be keeping your things in my room for now, but I'll give them back to you soon, I promise," he nodded and I stepped towards the exit, "I'll right back," I opened the bars, looking back to my patient, "Don't die while I'm gone now."

It didn't take long for me to dump the bag in my cell, and stuff all the necessary items in one of my own. Food. Water. Basic antibiotic. Butane torch. Clean knife. The nasty bottle of Smirnoff I'd been avoiding. A clean towel. Gauze and tape. Perfect. I ran back to the room quietly, having to rely on my nose to not get lost in the seemingly endless twists and turns of the prison halls. When I showed up I set the bag down with a thud and started taking everything out. Daryl whispered at me, "What'd ya bring all that for?"

"He'll need to eat something if he'd going to fight the infection." The patient looked at me skeptically. He probably thought I had no idea what I was doing. I handed him the pill bottle, "Here, you'll take two of these after I'm done."

"Shouldn't I take them now?"

"Nope," he winced when I poured some of the vodka onto the wound, holding the towel beneath it to catch the runoff and mop everything up, "You'll just barf them up."

"Why the fuck would that happen?"

"Pain," I motioned for him to lie down, holding the towel on his arm to make sure that the wound stayed sanitized.

His playful tone was back when he smiled up from his new reclined position, "Pretty nice, huh?"

"What?"

"The guns," I rolled my eyes as I clicked on the torch and put the blade in the flame, "I mean, you should've seen 'em before that piece went missing."

"Whatever you say," I laughed. "Can you hold his arm down while I do this?" I looked over to Daryl who had just been leaning against the opening of the cell; he came over and held Aidan at this shoulder and the crook in his elbow. Once the knife was hot enough I looked over to him, "Alright, try not to move or it'll just be worse." He nodded and I clicked off the torch.

When I placed the knife on the mangled skin he screamed, "Jesus Fucking Christ!" This is taking it? I tried my best to not burn anything that didn't need it but he just kept moving, so I had to pull away. "Done?"

I shook my head catching a whiff of the seared flesh, "Half way." I clicked on the torch as he groaned, "Hey, you're the one who moved." Once the blade was hot enough I spoke in my most doctoral voice, "Okay, stay still." I went back in and this time he didn't squirm as much. Thank God, because as much as I was glad to be helping someone I also needed to conserve the torch. When I was finished I leaned back and admired my handiwork, "Done."

"Give me the pills!" he yelled as he reached for the bottle.

I calmly pulled two of the capsules out, "They aren't for pain, you know."

I could tell he was angry, "Then what the fuck are they for?"

"To fight off infection," I smiled slightly, "You said you could take it?"

He popped the pills back and took a swig of the water bottle he was still working on, "Yeah, yeah."

"Here," I handed him the MRE I brought with me, "Eat up, finish the water and rest." He nodded, and I gathered my things in the bag before taking a step out of the cell.

"Where you going, Annie?" He looked over at me from his hunched posture on the bed.

"Got stuff to do," I threw the bag over my shoulder as Daryl made his way past me, "We're going to lock you in here for now, just to be safe. I'm sure you can understand that."

"Whatever," he went back to his food.

"Rest," he nodded without looking at me. First patient: treated. I felt a bit of accomplishment as I walked towards the main lockup.

"Shouldn't I stay and make sure he doesn't try anything?"

I shrugged, "If you want to, but what can he really do with a couple plastic bottles and a plastic bag?" He followed me out and locked the cellblock door behind us; "You should probably keep anyone from going over there though." He nodded.

We walked in silence back to the main block, and I preferred it that way. As much as I was glad our hostilities were over for the time being it still felt strange. I'd grown so used to the animosity. Now that it wasn't there things were just weird. I didn't want to change that though, not today. I'd mess it up tomorrow when I tell the group about everything. Tomorrow I come clean to them all. But tonight I still had something to do. Promises to keep and miles to go before I sleep. I owed my family an explanation of their own. They should be the first to know. When we got to the block we all called home I set down my bag and went into Carl's cell, nudging his sleeping form slightly, "Carl?"

He quickly sat up, eyes wide, "Is something wrong?"

I shook my head, "No, I just need you to come with me really quick." He got his shoes on in a hurry and we started for the hallways.

"Where you two goin'?"

I looked back at Daryl and tried to sound as casual as possible, "Just to see Rick." He didn't press us anymore and we quickly left the cellblock. I could tell by how quiet Carl was that he was still waking up. Good. Maybe if he was still mostly asleep he won't be mad at me for keeping this from him.

He remained subdued until we got outside, "What's going on, Annie?"

I felt a knot in my stomach, and not from hunger. I was more worried than I'd ever been. But I needed to do this. I need to just do this. You can do this. You can totally do this. You'll feel so much better when this is over. I looked down at my brother, "I have to get something off my chest, and I want you and your dad to be the first to hear it."

"Is it bad?"

I shrugged, "I don't know."

His voice bore the same amount of worry, "Is something wrong?"

"No," I ruffled his hair as we made our way up the stairs and into the main room of the guard tower. Rick immediately stood when we entered, looking confused to see us.

"Annie said she needs to tell us something," Carl clarified.

I nodded, "You two should probably sit down."

Rick's brow furrowed, "This can't be good."

I shrugged and gave them both a chance to sit, "You know how I'm good at tracking now?"

"Yeah?"

Come on, Annie. You can do this. It will help. The time for secrets is over. Time to be honest. "This has to do with that. I wanted to tell you two first because, well, you're just about as close to family as I'll ever get again. I wish I could've told you sooner, but I was chicken. Plain and simple." Their faces didn't let up. They looked just as worried as I felt; "All I'm asking is for you to hear me out 'til the end, alright? It gets better at the end."

Carl gave a small, almost undetectable nod and Rick spoke, "We can do that."

I took in a deep breath.

Here goes everything.

I then proceeded to tell them every detail about my life since they'd left the house. The horde, the bite, the inevitable death that never came. They already knew that though, so it wasn't news. Then I told them about what I saw under the microscope. I told them about the smell in the forest, and how nasty food tasted to me now. I told them about my days resisting it, my days fighting it off, my days becoming a weak ghost of myself. Then I told them about Riley, how the book and the scarf were hers. I told them about how good she had smelled and how hard it was to fight off those urges. I told them how she called me out and we went on our first hunt, and I had an untraditional baptism. How she drenched me in the blood and guts of bad men and I wore it for weeks. I told them how she made me hunt, she tempted me with anything she could, but I never gave in. I told them how all I could think about was getting back to them, and how that gave me the strength to get through it. I told them about the first day the hunger broke, and how I made sure I was safe before I came their way. I told them how I'd wished I'd been stronger sooner, so I could have found them in time to save everyone. I explained to them that I hadn't eaten any of the meat from my kills, how I never would because I don't want to become that. I could never give into that. I told them about how sometimes the hunger came back, but I'd never act on it. I promised them that. I told them how Judith didn't smell as good, and how she was still safe with me. I told them they'd all still be safe with me, even if this changed things. I told them about talking to Death in my dreams, and how I'd thought about taking the shorter road, but I couldn't. I'd never leave them; I'd never stop doing my best to protect them. I told them that I had a debt that I needed to repay, and keeping them safe was the only way I could do that now. I told them that even if they kicked me out, like I feared they would, that I'd stay close by. I wouldn't leave them again. I told them about Mitch, how I'd lied and said they were the first people I'd seen, how he'd asked me to kill him and how I'd never make it into heaven. I told them that I was through with secrets. I told them everything.

"You should've told us," Ricks voice pierced the canvas of silence that had fallen for what felt like hours after my speech.

"I just," I continued to speak honestly, "I don't want to have to leave. I want to stay and help protect you guys."

Rick looked at me for a long time. I couldn't read his face. I couldn't read it and it scared the shit out of me. "I don't think you'd stick around if you couldn't handle it."

"I can handle it," I reassured him.

He ran his hand through his hair, still deep in thought, "And Judith is safe?"

"I promise." I stared at him directly in the eye, "I won't hurt any of you."

He leaned forward, "You said you wanted to tell us first?"

I nodded, "I care about the rest of the group too, but I care about what you two think more." From the corner of my eye I could see in the distance that the sky was starting to light up. It would be daytime in an hour.

Carl came over and stood beside me, soft words hitting me like a ton of bricks, "Is it hard to be around me?" That would be what he got out of all that.

"Of course not, buddy." I reached out to him, motioning him to come and give me a hug. Once he was in reach I squeezed him tightly, "You could never bother me. I promise."

Rick stood up as well, "When are you going to tell the others?"

I rubbed my eyes to signal my general sleepiness after Carl stepped back, "Tomorrow, after I wake up."

Rick nodded, "I want to be there to help."

"Me too," Carl smiled over at me.

"You don't have to do that."

"It'll be safer if I start it off," Rick scratched his neck, "I don't know what they'll do, but if I can just tell them we're okay with it, then maybe they'll hear you out."

"I'll talk to them, too," Carl added and Rick agreed.

I gave a curt nod, "If you think that's best." It would be better than me trying to stumble through it on my own. Without them they'd probably shoot me the second I talked about the way that bear smelled. I turned to head back to the prison with Carl, glancing at Rick, "Are we still good?"

He sat back down, "As long as you let me know if anything changes, if you need time away or anything."

"You'll be the first to know."

I felt like I could float off of the ground as we made our walk back to the main building. That immense weight had been almost completely lifted, and by this time tomorrow it would be. I tried not to think about what the others would say. For now things were good enough.

Carl smiled over to me, "You have super smelling now, so you're like a hunting dog, right?"

"Who are you calling a dog?" I tried to fake an angry face, but I just couldn't.

"I think it's cool."

"Really?"

He nodded, "It really doesn't bother you to be around me?"

I pulled him under my arm and gave him a noogie, "Never could."

Woo Hoo! Annie totally delivers on the truth front (Am I Right?). I hope you enjoyed this chapter. Credit for the new character Aidan goes to FanFicGirl10 [I hope you like what I did, let me know what you thought about the representation]. THANK YOU FOR READING! IT MEANS OH SO MUCH TO ME!

Question Corner: What do you think the rest of the group will think about Annie's not-so-little secret? Will there be pandaemonium? Or will it be a snooze festival? Inquiring minds (aka. me) want to know!