Author's note: Thank you to everyone who has reviewed, favourited and alerted this story. It means a lot! I apologise for the delay, that old thing called life got in the way.
Chapter Eleven
Still
Hershel bolted into the room as soon as he had heard Maggie scream, and found that Glenn's condition had deteriorated to a point where his future was uncertain. He'd been able to extract the fragments of the bullet, but no matter what he did, Glenn wouldn't respond to his attempts to keep him stable. He moved over to the table that Glenn was laid upon and found that his face was pale and cold to touch. His breathing was rapid, as if he had just run a marathon. Something wasn't right, and Hershel could only guess what was happening.
"You need to keep him flat," Hershel said to Maggie. His daughter stared at him with wide eyes. "Don't let him move his head."
As Maggie held Glenn down and tried to keep his head still, Hershel checked his mouth for vomit or blood. He felt his heart sank as a small trickle of blood came from the left side of his mouth.
"We need to put him on his side," Hershel said. "Grab those blankets over there while I hold him down, and fold them up."
"Daddy, what's happening to him?" Maggie asked, fear coating her words. She moved from the bed and raced back with the blankets, folding them up as she made her way back.
Hershel remained silent, unable to get the words out. It was difficult to even think about, let alone say out loud. As soon as he said it out loud, it would make it real, and he didn't want to upset Maggie further, for she was young and in love with the man who was currently losing his fight for survival.
"Daddy!"
Hershel glanced at his daughter, who was desperate and sad, and bit his lip. "He's gone into shock."
That was all Hershel had to say as Maggie nodded, wiping away her tears and taking a deep breath. He stared at her, and it was as if she knew. She was staring at Glenn, and Hershel could only assume that she was either telling him to keep fighting or was saying her goodbyes. Glenn was not in a good position, where his life was hanging by a thread. Extracting the fragments of the bullet was the easy part, keeping Glenn alive and breathing was the tricky and hardest part of all. It was all up to Glenn now. Was he well enough to keep clinging onto the sinking ship?
They moved his head to the side, and waited.
"Check his mouth for blood," Hershel said, and Maggie nodded and checked.
"There's a little bit of blood."
Hershel nodded, and with clean hands, pulled back the bandage that was on Glenn's chest. The bleeding had stopped hours before, but the whiteness of the bandage was dotted with blood. The wound looked good, despite the rawness of the skin, but there was blood seeping out of the wound.
"We're going to need to stop the flow of blood," Hershel began, apply pressure to the wound.
The both of them worked on Glenn, ensuring that enough pressure was being put onto the wound without causing him harm. The bleeding started to slow down.
Hershel glanced at Maggie. "Check that cabinet for medicine. If there's any Dopamine, grab that."
Maggie searched the cabinet but to no success. She moved towards the drawers, checking the labels as she scanned through it. She found three vials of Dopamine, among other medicines.
"Bring it over," Hershel said, then pointed towards a drawer next to him. "There should be needles somewhere in that drawer."
As Maggie brought over the vials of Dopamine and unused needles, Hershel quickly opened the needle packet and injected the vial, sucking up the liquid and tapping the side of the needle. The needle pierced Glenn's thin and pale skin, and he waited. After a few moments, Glenn's body became still. Hershel checked to see if the young man was breathing, and breathed a sigh of relief when he felt a faint exhale of warm breath on his cheek.
"Dopamine will allow his blood pressure to increase, as well as the blood being pumped around his heart. It will keep him out of the woods for a while," Hershel explained. "We'll add pressure if we need to but the Dopamine should help him more than we can at the moment."
Maggie nodded, and Hershel could tell that she wasn't listening to him. Her eyes were fixed on Glenn, as silent tears fell from her eyes and landed, like raindrops, upon Glenn's bare arms. She knew that there was only so much they could do to help Glenn, but how many times would be enough? His body was weak, and they didn't have the equipment needed to keep him alive. She knew that there was only one thing to do, and that was to pray. She had lost faith, but it was all she had now. She needed to pray and wait; for him to wake, or for him to take his last breath.
