Chapter 23:

Scrambling for Life

Hannah held onto Jamie's hand tight, the forgiveness of her daughter was dulled by the losses of Fred, Cindy and possibly Duane. Beside Hannah Morgan was holding Duane in his arms, Hannah let go of her daughter's hand to extract the freshly reloaded pistol from her waistband.

"Jamie, stay close." She said, behind her she heard Lori and Carol whisper similar things to their children. Hannah's senses were all firing as she was ready for the run. Shane stepped out with his shotgun, he gestured and Hannah was next with Jamie as Shane fired his shotgun.

There were at least 20 walkers in the area and Hannah knew there would be more, their little fire-fight had put up a beacon for all the walkers in King County to come and take a bite.

"Jamie, stay close!" Hannah yelled facing the direction Shane was neglecting, a particularly large male walker was lumbering dangerously close to Hannah, without thinking she raised her gun and aimed carefully before firing, the walker fell backwards hard taking out a thinner woman behind him, Leon jogged in front of Hannah firing into the crowd forcing a few down.

"Stay close to me!" he yelled at Hannah and Jamie, they did so as Leon reached the rear of the truck, Shane had gotten in front and had unlocked the back, the door shot up and Hannah tossed her bags in first, she ducked to see Leon and Jamie deposit theirs along with Shane and Paula who were both still firing. Hannah saw Morgan hurrying Duane to a now started RV, she saw Lori turn and shot down a walker as Carl and Sophia entered the RV, Shane stepped forward covering them by firing his shotgun very quickly.

The number of walkers was not waning, more were coming around the sides and out of the woods. Lori ran into the RV and shut the door behind her as a walker slammed into it, Hannah grabbed Jamie and shot a small male walker no older than 16, she felt a pull on her arm and nearly punched Leon who was dragging them to a cruiser.

"Come on!" he yelled, Hannah and Jaime obliged as she passed Paula getting into the van. In front of her Lam was feebly hobbling and firing his shotgun still taking down walkers, Hannah raised her pistol and helped him but was caught off guard as a walker ploughed into her.

"Mommy!" she heard Jamie scream, Hannah was slammed against the cruiser with the heavy-set female upon her, she saw Lam turn and pull the woman off before shooting her, however whilst he was doing this a skinny male walker dived for the older cop.

"Lam!" Hannah screamed but it was too late, the walker bit quickly on Lam's neck tearing a chunk clean out, before he could continue his head exploded as Leon ran over, a flash of metal caught her eyes and Hannah realised he had thrown the keys, she caught them and unlocked the cruiser, the remaining dozen walkers fell under a hail of gunfire from a passing RV and van.

"Hurry up!" Shane shouted from the van as it continued behind the RV, Hannah opened the back door and forced her daughter inside before looking up to see Leon execute Lam with a gunshot to the head.

"Leon!" she yelled, he turned and caught the thrown keys and entered the driver's seat and Hannah took the passenger seat. Before Hannah could even close the door Leon had floored the accelerator, the cruiser dodged between two more approaching walkers and jumped onto the road, just ahead the RV and van were starting to get further away.

"Can we catch up?" Jamie asked, Leon turned in his seat and smiled for the first time in a week.

"Oh yeah." He said as he shifted the gear and the cruiser gained more speed.

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Carl's heart was still forcing its way out of his chest even after the RV pulled away from the station, one walker had nearly grabbed him he had gotten than close, thankfully someone shot it but Carl was still scared out of his mind.

Next to him Sophia was still crying, Carl was comforting her this time since Carol was driving, Carl was upset that Duane was going to die. Apparently Paula was going to stop him from dying but even Carl could tell she was only guessing. The one thing Carl was truly focused on now was the hospital, what scared him most was not that Duane was probably going to die or that there might be walkers.

It was where his Dad would be.

According to Shane his Dad died in the hospital… that meant he could be a walker. Carl had no desire whatsoever to meet to maker of his nightmares in a run-down hospital, let alone anywhere else.

"You ok sweetie?" his Mom asked from next to him, since she cut her hand she wasn't helping Duane. Carl was still angry with her for what he saw her do with Shane, but when everything was going crazy he couldn't stay mad, he felt like it would be best to never mention what he saw.

"I'm okay Mom." He said, he was more concerned about her, her hand was obviously still bleeding badly and her face was very pale. As soon as they had gotten in the RV Carl had sat in the middle, out of the way and Sophia had joined him. It had been 3 seconds before she started crying again and resumed the position of hugging Carl, he was to terrified of what happened and what will happened to be embarrassed and everyone (Carl included) was more focused and making sure Duane was going to be okay.

"Guys, where am I going? I don't know King County!" Carol shouted exasperated, his Mom walked through to give directions, Carl was also rather nervous about Carol driving, mainly because if they came across walkers he got the feeling she would just stop.

"Are we there yet?" a crumpled Sophia asked as she raised her head from Carl's shoulder, her eyes were very red… she hadn't really stopped crying since the people with guns attacked the station. Carl still didn't know why they bothered doing it, they were all dead now anyway.

"No, see we're just going past the high school so we're not that far…" Carl began to explain but he was cut off by the frighteningly panicked voice of Morgan.

"He's stopped breathing. He stopped breathing!" he shouted, Carl's Mom moved forwards and he knew she was checking for breathing.

"Give him CPR!" Carl shouted, he remembered the technique but he was rather immaturely unwilling to get that close to Duane.

"I don't know how!" Morgan shouted.

"Move aside." his Mom said bending over Duane, Carl watched as his already pale mother started to breathe into Duane's mouth followed by several compressions.

"Which way do I go?!" Carol shouted as she came up a crossroad, Carl recognised the junction from visiting his Dad in the hospital.

"Left! Go left!" he shouted.

"Carol, floor it!" Morgan shouted, Carl glanced back to see his mother still doing CPR on Duane.

"Hey, guys what's with the speed?" Shane's voice came on the walkie, with the adults busy Carl grabbed it off the cushion where his mother left it.

"Um… Duane stopped breathing but Mom's giving him CPR." Carl said quickly, he didn't know what exactly to tell Shane.

"Okay bud, tell Carol to drive safe." He said firmly, speaking to Carl like an adult for the first time, Carol grunted and heaved the wheel as she found the driveway to the hospital, the RV jumped backwards and Carl fell over but was stopped by Sophia who held on to his shirt. Carl looked back to see his mother struggling to stand up, after another compression he saw her fall back down again, only this time she struggled to even support herself.

"Mom!" he yelled, he walked over to her as Morgan checked his son again.

"He's breathing." Morgan sighed, Carl was more interested in his mother.

"I'm fine…" she muttered but she still couldn't support herself, Carl saw the blanket over her hand was now completely red, between that and the rapid breathing into Duane even Carl knew she must have overexerted herself.

"Just stay still." Carl said trying to take charge, as soon as the RV stopped Morgan started to pick up Duane and moved towards outside, the van containing Shane and Paula pulled up beside them and the cruiser pulled up on the other side, Carl exited behind Carol and Morgan but hung in the doorway with Sophia, he saw his mother crawl onto the seating in the middle behind him.

"Nice work everyone." Shane said as everyone grouped around, armed and readied, Paula checked on Duane and looked to Shane.

"Shane we've got to hurry. How is his breathing?" she asked Morgan.

"Lori got it back but she's nearly passed out." He explained, she was moving on the spot clearly eager to go.

"Blood loss, that cut's taken a lot from her." Carol said, Shane put his hand over his mouth and looked around at the group. Leon spoke up.

"We don't need all of us. Just enough people to get Duane to surgery, stitching equipment can be brought back for Lori." He said, Shane nodded and pointed to Hannah.

"Hannah, take Jamie into the RV with a satchel of the weapons. Stay hidden in the RV with Carol, Lori and the kids until we radio in. Carol, you any good at stitching?" he asked the woman, she shrugged her shoulders slowly.

"I can sew… but stitching…" she said slowly.

"Well when we find the equipment somebody will come back with it for Lori. Everyone else with me, we get in armed with knives, we get Duane to the surgery and Paula can do her thing." He ordered, everyone nodded and began to move, Leon opened the back of the truck and handed a satchel off to Hannah.

"Carl…" Lori muttered from the sofa, Carl walked over to her as she began to speak to him.

"Yes Mom?"

"I'll be okay baby, don't you worry. I just want you to know that I'm proud of you… you were so brave today…" she said cupping Carl's face in her hand weakly, her skin was almost sheet-white and she was speaking weakly.

"Thanks, rest up… they're going into the hospital to save Duane now." He said, Lori nodded and her eyes began to close slowly, behind him Carl saw Sophia standing there as Jamie and Carol walked in, Hannah passed the bag of weapons off to Carol as she entered the RV and closed the door.

"Okay everybody, stay low. We don't want the walkers seeing us, Carl wake your mother up and give her this water, she needs to be hydrated." She said handing a bottle of water to Carl, he hoped that Shane would find the medical equipment soon.

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"Morgan, stay with me!" Paula said as they all ran, Duane was in serious trouble, judging by the state of his and Morgan's shirts he was dangerously low on blood. Every second he was not on the table was more percentage taken away from his chances of surviving.

"Clear!" Shane shouted from in front of them, he and Leon were checking the corridors ahead of them, thankfully it was virtually abandoned, Paula had not taken her pistol out since she was so focused on Duane.

"How's he doing?!" Leon asked as he checked the adjacent hallway.

"I need him on the table now, surgeries two floors down yeah?" she asked Shane, he nodded and she pointed to Leon.

"You two go ahead, I know where to find anaesthetic. I need it for the surgery, get Duane on table and I'll be there when I find it."

"Won't it be there?" Morgan asked but Paula shook her head.

"I had a friend who worked here, she said she was sick of how King County Hospital stored their anaesthetic a floor above the surgery room." Paula said, Morgan nodded and Leon and him ran ahead but Shane hung back.

"I'll give you a hand." Shane said, Paula was going to argue but he already travelled ahead, Paula tried to remember Sandy's voice in her head… she had mentioned she had to walk across from the elevator.

"Lemme think…" she said, Shane turned with his shotgun still at the ready, Paula still was thinking hard. All she knew is that it was one floor above surgery, which was only one floor down.

"I got it!" she said, she took out her pistol and ran in front of Shane, leading him, she travelled down the stairs since the elevators would not be working. She heard Shane behind her, it was a bold streak of luck that there were no walkers.

"You sure you know what you're doing?" Shane asked.

"Yes! I'm sick of you asking me that!" Paula shouted turning around to be practically nose-to-nose with Shane.

"I'm sorry but this ain't something simple like putting down a walker, we're talking about saving a kids life. You ain't a nurse…" he stated but Paula impatiently seethed over him.

"I don't need reminding. Right now I am the only chance this kid has! I don't know if I can do it but I will be fucked if I just stand by and watch this kid die!" Paula tried to say to him in a quieter voice but it had risen to a shout, right now she didn't care about walkers, or guns or even what was happening to the rest of world, all she cared about was making sure this kid didn't die. She exited the stairs and found the elevator entrance, directly opposite was a storeroom, Paula ran for it, inside was a mess of supplies, obviously looted, however she saw a canister left on the shelf adjacent to the door.

"Shane, give me a hand?" she asked, she turned but saw he wasn't there, she didn't have time to wonder, she needed to get this to Duane.

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Hannah sat in the driver's seat of the RV with the pistol in her lap, concern for Duane and the others had muted conversation in the RV, she looked in the rear view mirror to see the kids sat on the sofa opposite a passed out Lori, giving CPR whilst losing blood had done her in… not that it wasn't the right thing to do.

Carol meanwhile was going back into her neutral mode when she was stressed, Hannah turned to see her up the back of the RV trying to clean up the blood stain left by Duane on the bed.

"You okay Carol?" Hannah asked the woman, she turned around timidly and nodded.

"I will be once this is clean." She said mutely, her daughter was sat still hugging Carl, they had been hugging the entire time and had been comforting each other considering one's mother was passed out and the other was cleaning obsessively.

"Mom, how long will they be?" Jamie asked moving into the seat next to her, she leant over and rested her head on her mother's shoulder and Hannah stroked her hair lovingly.

"I dunno sweetie, depends if Paula can save Duane." She comforted her daughter, she looked out into the hospital car park and saw the executed bodies in the staff parking lot. Morgan had told her that they had executed the infected in mass at the hospitals when the infection was first spreading. She saw movement slightly in the distance on her right and forced Jamie's head down.

"Walker! Down!" she whispered loudly, she saw Carol, Carl and Sophia all hit the deck as she held onto her gun, she began to sit up slowly and looked out over the parking lot.

It wasn't a walker, it was another filthy redneck, he looked in his late 40's and was wearing a filthy leather jacket, he waltzed instead of walked almost and he was holding a rifle, there was a limp in his step and he was visibly wincing as he walked. Hannah watched as he checked one or two of the the abandoned cars nearby, he began to turn to the RV and Hannah ducked down.

"Oh my God…" she whispered, she checked again to see the redneck still walking over.

"Mom…" Jamie began to say but Hannah cut her off.

"Everybody, play dead! Don't move!" she whispered loudly, she saw Carl and Sophia slump against sofa and close their eyes still looking confused, Hannah saw Carol climb onto the bed next to the one she was washing and pull the covers over her, Lori didn't move a muscle, still unconscious. Hannah crawled over to the RV and pressed her weight on it before remembering he would pull it open, not push it.

She heard the footsteps draw closer, she turned to Jamie to see her still looking at Hannah and Hannah put a finger to her lips and turned the safety off on her gun. This was not going to be a subtle plan.

As soon as she felt the door handle click on the other side she thrust all her weight upon it.

She felt the weight on the other side and she knew she had hit him square on, she kept her footing and stood up pointing the face at the redneck, luckily his rifle fell on the other side of Hannah and she gave it a sharp kick so it slid away out of reach.

"Don't. Fucking. Move." She seethed still holding the gun to his face, the redneck didn't look frightened though, he chuckled.

"My, my sugartits. That's no way to greet a stranger now is it?" he joked, Hannah couldn't see how this man could joke with a gun to his head, perhaps he had brain damage and he escape from an asylum. Hannah kicked him hard in the shin.

"Get up." She ordered he did so and held his hands above his head.

"You're being mighty impolite you know." He sneered but Hannah stood her ground.

"The last rednecks I met tried to kill me and my daughter so excuse me for being a bit sceptical of the redneck walking towards my RV with a rifle." She seethed, she was somewhat proud of her answer but had no time to wallow in it because the click of a weapon behind her made her breath in.

"Get that gun out o' my brother's face." The voice ordered, Hannah turned to see another younger looking redneck stood there, however her eyes went to the massive crossbow aimed at her face.

"Oh, shit." She whimpered, however as she began to move her gun the RV door opened again and a pistol was thrust into the rednecks face.

"Don't move!" a young yet strong voice yelled, the younger redneck was moved back as Hannah still held the gun on the older one, out of the RV came her own daughter, holding a revolver she must have taken out of the weapons bag, even the safety was off.

"Go sit by your brother. Leave the crossbow." Hannah ordered, the swell of pride in her daughter was immense as the younger redneck dropped the crossbow and Jamie held the gun on him, as he walked over to his brother and sat by him Hannah took the revolver off of Jamie and aimed one gun at each redneck.

"Go back inside and get someone on the walkie, I'll keep them here." She said, after that display of courage she felt the great bubble of pride in her daughter expand as she went back inside the RV.

"What's your name honeybunch?" the older redneck asked in his drawling voice, Hannah felt a little bit of vomit try to creep up in her mouth.

"None of your business." She snapped, but the redneck didn't seem to quit.

"I'll tell you ours to get the ball rollin'. I'm Merle Dixon and that's my brother Daryl, feeling better?"

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"Leon!" Paula shouted as she struggled to carry the tank of anaesthetic, Leon came over and helped her drag it to the table where Morgan was caring for Duane.

"Please hurry…" Morgan pleaded, Paula's entire body was running at 200% as she tried to stay calm, the kit was already open on the table, without running water she simply used some disinfectant from a dispenser in the hall, she ran back as Morgan was putting the face mask on Duane.

"Twist it open! I need him under so he doesn't jerk whilst I'm stitching him, I don't want to do more damage." Paula said, her voice was shaking so much… so were her hands.

"Come on Paula… Come on…" she was saying to herself trying to steady her hands as she put on surgical gloves, they were very tight and Paula felt her hands grow cold, just like her heart was turning despite the rapid beating.

"It's okay Duane…" Morgan was whispering whilst stroking his son's hair, Paula was breathing deeply and slowly as she found the tools she needed… it had been so long since Duane had been shot and he had lost way too much blood.

Suddenly Paula's hands started shaking hard again, the thread she had begun to stitch slid out of the bullet hole she was stitching.

"Fuck." She whimpered, she continued breathing deeply but Morgan wasn't helping.

"Come on Paula!" he shouted.

"Don't rush me!" she shouted back in a panic, her breathing was becoming very restricting, she felt her chest begin to tighten and her entire body convulsed slightly, not only was her hands shaking but Duane was starting to twitch.

"Paula, what's going on?" Leon and Morgan kept asking, Paula tried answering but the only thing that came out of her mouth were shallow, quick breaths.

"I… can't…" Paula said before something else took over, Duane started to convulse.

"Duane! No! Paula?!" Morgan yelled at her, Paula could only fall back onto her rear, she knew she was having a panic attack but Duane's convulsion was more important, she saw Leon and Morgan try to help him but neither knew what to do. She tried to get up but her head buzzed and protested forcing her back down.

The only thing Paula could do was watch as she gasped for breath.

Then she saw Duane's body stop moving, Paula's panic attack started to slow down as she saw Leon feel for a pulse. He turned to Paula and spoke in a dead voice.

"He's dead."