DISCLAIMER: I do not own AMC's and Robert Kirkman's "The Walking Dead" or any of its characters/places. There may be a few OCs at a later time and those will be mine. (NO MARY SUES).
WARNINGS: Rated T for language, violence, gore, and sexual situations.
Michonne had taken the final shift on watch. There was nothing to concern her in the darkness. The remaining group made camp atop a hill that was steep enough that walkers would not be able to reach them. Their only fear would be if someone from the living spotted the campfire and came to investigate. Although, most were so exhausted that they had gone to bed without saying a word about it.
Michonne looked to their small fire and decided it was time to place another log on it. She picked up a piece of kindling and laid it on the dying flames. The new wood threw sparks and embers into the air and as they settled, Michonne heard rustling in the bushes on the outside of the camp. She turned slowly and drew her katana. The silver blade caught the light from the fire and was turned a deadly shade of red and orange. She advanced upon the noise and waited for it to come out of the trees. There was another noise and this time she was certain she heard footsteps stumbling up the hill. Michonne raised her sword and then quickly withdrew it as Karen fell into the clearing.
"Oh Michonne—" gasped Karen. "I'm so glad to see you."
"Are you ok?" asked Michonne. "You made it out of the water."
"Yes, yes I did," panted Karen from the ground.
"You're cold," noted Michonne. "Let's get you to the fire."
Karen nodded and Michonne helped pull her up by her arm. As they walked to the fire, Michonne kicked Glenn to get him up.
"What—what's wrong?" he asked, sitting straight up then his eyes fell upon Karen. "Oh Karen! You're alive!"
Glenn's cry roused the camp and had them up within an instant. They all surrounded Karen by and each gave her a hug.
"You have no idea how happy I am to see you," she said and accepted a warm cup of water from Carol.
"You have no idea how happy we are to see you," said Carol. "This means the others might still be alive."
"The others?" Karen asked slowly. "Who is missing?"
Karen quickly did a headcount and came up devastatingly short.
"Where's Noah? Where's my son?" she demanded.
"Um," said Glenn as he knelt beside her. Carol also sat next to Karen and took one of her hands. "Noah, Hershel, Daryl, Rick, Carl, and Maggie were all washed away with you: you're the first to return."
"No…no, no, no, no, no…not Noah. Not Noah…no…he can't…" sobbed Karen.
"He dove in after you," said Carol. "It was very brave of him."
"He can barely swim!" cried Karen.
"That doesn't mean he didn't get out," said Carol. "We're going to look for everyone as soon as it's light."
"That's right," said Glenn. "The sun will be up soon; we might as well start looking now. Let's start getting everything packed up and eat. Then we'll go back to the river."
Everyone dispersed at Glenn's command. Some went to gather their remaining belongings while the others took out the meager rations they had packed for such an emergency. It wasn't long before the sun crept above the horizon and the group found it was time to start the search.
Glenn and Michonne led the group back down to the river. Fortunately for them, the herd that had chased them there was nowhere in sight: they'd either all been swept away or somehow knew not to cross the river and been driven back.
"The water is lower," mumbled Michonne and Glenn nodded. "We can probably pull the rest of the supplies from the cars that we left stranded."
"We'll do that later. Right now, we need to find our people."
"And if we don't?" asked Michonne critically.
Glenn sighed and closed his eyes, his heart aching for Maggie.
"We keep looking until we find them…one way or another."
Michonne seemed content enough with Glenn's answer and began to pick her way down the riverside. The others followed along and looked for any sign that someone living had made their way out of the water.
The process was difficult and they didn't even know what they were to be looking for. Karen had been somewhat cooperative and said she made a big mess where she crawled out but then she essentially shut down and began a frantic search for her son. Michonne and Glenn wanted to follow everything they thought could be a track or trail and they found themselves being slowed substantially. They averaged a hundred yards an hour and after four hours, Glenn could see it on every face that they were discouraged by their lack of progress. He wanted to be thorough though and exploring every lead was their only option.
Michonne was walking at the front of the group when suddenly she held out her arm for Glenn to stop. She turned back to him and immediately he knew something was wrong.
"What is it?" he whispered against her ear. He could barely hear what sounded like something—or someone—moving about it the mud.
"There's a walker up ahead," she whispered back. Glenn raised an eyebrow and looked around Michonne. "It's Hershel."
Glenn's eyes fell upon the decaying body of Hershel who was half-crawling along the riverbank towards them. He was immediately sickened by it and wanted to believe it wasn't Hershel, but it was. It had the old man's face and beard. It was wearing the same clothes Hershel had been and missing a leg. The only difference was that he was dead. His face had begun to rot and the waterlogged skin sagged and pulled away from the body. His eyes were dead and his teeth now sought out the flesh of the living. Hershel was dead.
Walker Hershel growled loud enough for the entire group to hear and they jumped to pull their weapons out.
"Walker!" cried Carol and she went running to kill it.
"STOP!" yelled Glenn, making Carol pause in her tracks. The woman looked at him warily but backed down. Glenn didn't know how to break it to them, especially Beth, that they'd found one of the group. Except it wasn't really one of them anymore.
"We need to kill it," said Tyreese.
"I know," said Glenn. He looked to Beth and sighed.
Beth stared back at Glenn and her chest began to heave. He gave her a brief nod and she burst into tears.
"It's Hershel," he announced just loud for everyone to hear. "He didn't make it."
Instead of everyone falling apart, like Glenn expected, they all stood silently. Death had become a common occurrence and of those to be washed away, Hershel was the least likely to have survived it. It was the outcome they had all knew was coming and it softened the blow slightly.
Some of the women reached out to comfort Beth and Carol wrapped her in a tight hug.
"It's ok sweetie," whispered Carol. "It's going to be ok."
"I want Maggie," cried the girl.
"I know you do, we all do," said Carol as she looked to Glenn.
Glenn cleared his throat and looked back at walker Hershel.
"Do you want…Beth do you want to…"
"Just do it," sniffed Beth. "That's not my dad anymore. I don't want to see it."
Glenn nodded to Michonne and then went to Beth. He guided her a few steps away while Michonne stabbed Hershel in the head with her katana and finished him off for good. When Michonne returned, they all sat down and hugged each other, thankful they were still alive. Beth sat with Carol and continued to cry until she had no more tears left to shed. Karen, however, stood at the edge of the gathering and paced about anxiously awaiting to resume searching for her son.
Glenn was less anxious though. Karen had come back alive, but they had found Hershel turned. So far their success rate was at fifty percent. If he was going to be honest with himself, Glenn guessed Noah was also going to be found in about the same state as Hershel. That left Carl, Rick, Daryl, and Maggie.
Maggie had grown up with a pond on her farm and Glenn figured she was a decent swimmer although in a river like that, all bets were off. Rick and Daryl were both strong men and had the best chance out of any of them. Carl was a long shot, but either of the men would probably see to it that he was taken care of before them.
"We're going to find you guys," whispered Glenn. "We're going to find you."
Maggie tossed and turned all night. Her sleep was wracked with nightmares from the flood and walker herd. One minute she was watching helplessly as Glenn was being eaten alive, then next she was drowning with no one to save her. Then it was Beth drowning, and Hershel being eaten. Or she was had been bit trying to save Daryl who ended up dying as well. In her final dream, Maggie was down to her last bullet and running from several walkers. She was too exhausted to go any farther and stopped at the base of a tree. She knew they were going to catch up to her eventually and decided to end her life before they got to her. In her dream, Maggie put the gun to her head and just as she squeezed the trigger, her eyes shot open.
Maggie panted as she woke from her nightmare. She sat up quickly and broke into another coughing fit. It took all of her energy to focus on finding her next breath and when she was done, both her throat and her lungs burned. She leaned back into the pillows on the bed almost as exhausted as she'd been before she fell asleep.
As the fog in her head cleared and she came to her senses, she took stock of her surroundings. It was light outside, though not too bright meaning it was still relatively early in the morning. Daryl was in bed next to her and Maggie hoped that none of her coughing had disturbed him. He certainly needed all the rest he could get with his injured leg. However, she did feel that he should have at least asked if she was alright.
"Daryl?" she whispered, placing a hand on his arm.
Maggie flinched when her hand came into contact with his feverish skin.
"Daryl?" she asked again and gave him a shake. "Daryl, wake up."
A small groan escaped Daryl's lips and his head turned away from Maggie but other than that he did not stir.
"Daryl, please: I need you to wake up," urged Maggie. She turned his head back towards her and patted his cheek. Daryl's eyes opened slightly and he sagged into her hand. Maggie moved her hand up to his forehead and brushed his hair to the side: he was burning up.
"I'm going to take a look at your leg, ok?" she asked. Daryl nodded once and closed his eyes.
Maggie moved down to Daryl's legs and pushed the sheet covering them back. It didn't surprise her to see the area around the cut on his left leg red and swollen. If he was as hot as he was, it was a sure sign that it had become infected.
"Carl!" called Maggie.
A second later, Carl came bounding in the door, his hair a disheveled mess.
"What's wrong?" asked the boy.
"Daryl's running a fever…his leg is showing signs of an infection. I should have tried to find some antibiotics last night—he's got to get something in him now or he's not going to make it."
"What—what do we do?" asked Carl. "Everything we had was back with your dad."
Maggie sighed and looked around the small bedroom.
"Go get some water and start trying to cool him down—make sure he drinks some. I'll check around the trailer and see if there's anything."
Carl nodded and retreated to the kitchen for a bottle of water. When he returned, Maggie was already rummaging around the bathroom for any medicine. He heard cabinets being opened and things being banged around and sat on the bed next to Daryl. He twisted the cap of the bottle off and poured some onto a cloth. He folded it twice then laid it across Daryl's forehead.
"Daryl, you need to drink this," he said.
Daryl opened his eyes once he heard Carl speak and slowly looked the water bottle in Carl's hand. With Carl's help, he raised his head off the pillow and Carl brought the bottle to his mouth. Daryl slowly drank half the bottle and then rested his head back down. Carl took the washcloth off Daryl's forehead and wiped his chin where some of the water had dribbled out. He then added more water to it and placed it over his chest. Maggie returned a minute later with a small orange bottle in her hand.
"Did you find anything?" Carl asked.
"Yes…Noroxin: it's used more for UTIs but it will have to do…but there's only six left." Maggie sighed, opened the bottle, and shook two into her hand. She sat next to Daryl and took the water from Carl. "Here Daryl, this will help a little."
Daryl opened his mouth just enough for Maggie to place the pills on his tongue and then gave him a sip of water. He swallowed them down the groaned.
"What's wrong?" asked Maggie.
"Hurt's like a bitch," said Daryl.
"I know," said Maggie stroking his hair, "I know but we're going to find something to help that. Carl—" Maggie suddenly broke off into another cough that caused Daryl to fidget anxiously beside her.
"Ya alright?" he asked hoarsely.
Maggie covered her mouth as she coughed and tried to nod her head.
"No yer not…drink some of that water," ordered Daryl.
Maggie was able to catch a break between coughs and sipped on the water which seemed to help. Once she was done, she rubbed her throat and noticed that both Carl and Daryl we're looking at her worriedly.
"I'm fine," she assured them both.
"Bullshit," said Daryl. "Ya were coughin' like that last night."
"I'll be fine," she corrected, turning her full attention to him. "Now, I want to clean your leg again."
"Do what ya gotta," said Daryl as he settled back down.
Carl handed Maggie the bottle of vodka. Daryl didn't need to be told that it was going to hurt and his whole body tensed. He balled his hands into the sheets and tried to keep his left leg as relaxed as possible. Instead of just drenching the wound like she'd done before, Maggie poured the alcohol onto one of the rags and dabbed it over the cut. Daryl gritted his teeth and shoved his head back into the pillow. His breathing grew faster and shallower until he finally gave in and moaned with the pain.
"I'm sorry," she whispered and squeezed his left hand. Daryl returned the squeeze and held tight to Maggie.
"Son of a bitch!" he suddenly yelled and his leg jerked as Maggie accidentally brushed an especially tender place. Daryl was instantly slicked in a warm sweat and his muscles twitched from trying to remain calm. His grip on her hand became crushing and she swore he was about to break several of her fingers.
"I'm almost done," said Maggie, hurrying.
"You're going to be ok," encouraged Carl. Daryl glared at the boy but other than that didn't say anything.
By the time Maggie had finished, Daryl's hold on her had loosened substantially and his breathing evened out.
"Is he out…"
"I think so," said Maggie.
"Is he going to make it?"
Maggie looked up to Carl and sighed.
"I don't know…he's going to need more antibiotics and something for the pain. There's nothing in here though."
"I can go out and look for some," offered Carl. "Like back at the prison when I found the stuff for your dad. I mean, I don't know what to do to help him so you should stay."
"Are you sure?" asked Maggie.
Carl nodded.
"Yeah…plus if you start coughing it could attract walkers. What am I looking for?"
"Anything that you can find. Just grab whatever you can: medicines, bandages, food, water…" Maggie stopped and looked about. "Carl, I can't send you out without a weapon."
Carl's face fell. He patted himself down and realized he didn't have anything on him.
"What about Daryl's knife?"
Maggie considered the idea for a minute and then nodded. She picked it up off the small bedside table and handed it to Carl.
"If you get into any trouble, and I mean any trouble, you get out of there as fast as you can," she said still holding onto the knife. "Promise me."
"I promise," said Carl. Maggie looked at him skeptically but released the blade to him. As soon as he had it in his hand, he bolted for the door.
Maggie chuckled at his eagerness but also worried about sending him off alone. They had no chance to scout out the area and wouldn't know who or what was out there. The last thing they needed was for Carl to run into a herd and end up bringing them back to the trailer. They'd never get out alive if that happened. But Daryl was going to need more medicine if he had any chance at surviving.
Maggie arranged herself back next to Daryl and wiped the damp cloth over his chest and neck.
"You're going to beat this," she whispered, giving his forehead the lightest of kisses.
A/N: Wow…yeah that was really a long delay between updates and also not my best stuff. My family kinda threw a wrench into my writing and I almost flat-out deleted this story. Anyways…I'll try to get back on track soon.
