Sophia opened her eyes and stretched, "Okay, Kagome."
Kagome threw the blanket off of them and stood up; she then offered her hand to the little girl and helped her stand. They quietly made their way to the door; Kagome check to make sure that the coast was clear, then she and Sophia slipped out and started hiking their way through the woods towards the highway.
Back at the main road, Rick was gathering everyone to go searching for Sophia and Kagome, "Alright, we're going to break up into two groups. Shane and I will head down towards where I last saw Sophia, while the rest of you search around closer to the highway. Dale and Carol should stay here a keep watch just in case they make it back."
Everyone agreed, but Carl walked towards Rick right before he and Shane left, "Dad, I want to go with you."
"I don't think that's a good idea, Carl."
"Dad, I wanna help, Sophia and Kagome are my friends."
Rick looked up at Lori. She sighed and nodded her head, "I want to go too," Amy said, "Kagome saved my life. I want to help look for her too."
"No, no, we don't need more inexperienced people wandering around out there," Shane said, "You stay with the group, Amy."
"I wasn't asking you, Shane."
"No, Shane's right, you don't know how to handle a weapon, and it's better if you stay with Daryl and the group," Rick said, "But I promise I will find Kagome and Sophia," Rick told Amy then put a hand on her should and squeezed reassuringly.
Amy nods, and Rick, Carl, and Shane head out; the others go in the opposite direction. Rick, Carl, and Shane hike further into the woods, looking for any sign of Sophia and Kagome. They cross the stream where Rick had led the two Walkers. They continue to scan the area looking for any sign of the girls when suddenly Carl spots a dear. Shane aims at the deer, but Rick stopped him. They watch as Carl starts walking towards the deer. The deer looked up at Carl but didn't run. Carl held his hand out, getting closer and closer to it. A shot rings out, and suddenly, Carl falls to the ground. Rick rushed forward, "No, no, no, no."
On the other side of the dead deer stands a man with a rifle and a shocked look on his face. Shane grabbed him, "I'm sorry, I didn't see him, is he alright?"
Rick checked for a pulse; he sighed in relief when he found one; it's very weak. Rick hoisted Carl into his arms, "We have to find Kagome. She can treat him."
"He's not going to last that long," Shane said.
"Is there anyone that can help us," Shane shouted at the man.
"Yes, back at the farm, Another half-mile that way. Hershel. Talk to Hershel. He'll help your boy. "
Rick doesn't hesitate; he took off running with Carl in his arms, not bother to wait for the others. Shane grabbed the man and started dragging him along. Rick continued to run through the woods until he broke through the tree line into a field; he hoisted an unconscious Carl higher into his arms and continued to run across the field towards the house he can see in the distance.
On the porch is a woman watching Rick running across their field, "Dad!"
Hershel rushed down the steps and opened the gate, "Was he bit?"
"Shot, by your man."
"Otis?"
"He said find Hershel, is that you? Help me. Help my boy."
"Get him inside. Patricia, I need my full kit. Maggie, painkillers, coagulates grab everything. Clean towels, sheets, alcohol. In here. Pillowcase." Hershel told Rick
Rick removed the pillowcase, "Is he alive?"
"Pillowcase."
"Is he alive?"
"Fold it, make a pad. Put pressure on the wound. I've got a heartbeat. It's faint."
Patricia gently pushed Rick out of the way, "I got it, step back."
"Maggie, IV," Hershel called, "You're name?"
"Rick, I'm R-Rick."
"Rick, we're gonna do everything we can, okay? You need to give us some room. Now."
At that moment, Shane and Otis come stumbling into the house, Shane immediately started asking about Carl, but Rick is in a daze; Hershel looked at Rick, "Do you know his blood type?"
"A-positive, like mine."
"That's fortunate. Don't wander far. I'm gonna need you. What happened?"
"I was tracking a buck. Bullet went through it."
"It went clean through. The deer slowed the bullet down, which certainly saved Carl's life. But it did not go through clean. It broke up into pieces. If I get the bullet fragments out...and I'm counting six."
"I never saw him, not until he was on the ground," Otis said.
"Lori doesn't know?"
"No," Shane told Rick.
"My wife, she doesn't know."
Shane started muttering to Rick in his ear, trying to calm him down. He led Rick out onto the porch. Rick started to berate himself for letting Carl come with him, and Shane wanted to assure him that it wasn't his fault, But Rick won't hear it. As they're talking, Maggie comes out onto the porch, "Rick, he needs blood."
Rick and Shane go back into the house where they help hold Carl down, who's struggling and crying as Hershel tried to take the bullet fragment out. Finally, Carl passed out, and Hershel can get one of the fragments. Patricia starts to set Rick up so that they can do a transfusion, "Lori needs to be here. She doesn't even know what's going on. I've got to find her. Bring her back."
But Hershel told Rick that he couldn't leave because Carl is going to need more transfusions, and Rick is going to start feeling weak. Shane helped Rick outside while Hershel and the others try to stabilize Carl. After a while, Hershel came out of the house.
"He's out of danger for the moment. But I need to remove those remaining fragments."
"How? You saw how he was," Rick said
"I know, and that was the shallowest one. I need to go deeper to get the others."
"Oh man," Shane said, rubbing his face in frustration.
"There's more."
"Tell me."
"His belly's distended, his pressure is dropping, which means there's internal bleeding. A fragment must have nicked one of the blood vessels. I have to open him up, find the bleeder, and stitch it. And he can't move while I'm in there-I mean, at all. If he reacts the same as before, I'll sever an artery, and he'll be dead in minutes. To even try this, I have to put him under. But if I do, he won't be able to breathe on his own. Same bad results."
"What'll it take," Rick asked.
"You need a respirator. What else?" Otis asked.
"The tube that goes with it, extra surgical supplies, drapes, sutures."
"If you had all that you could save him," Rick asked.
"If I had all that, I could try," Hershel told Rick
"Nearest hospital went up in flames a month ago. The High School." Otis muttered.
"That's what I was thinking. They set up a FEMA shelter there. They would have everything we need."
"Place was overrun last time I saw it. You couldn't get near it. Maybe It's better now."
Shane chuckled darkly, "I said, leave the rest to me. Is It too late to take that back?"
" I hate you going alone," Rick told his friend.
"Come on. Doc, why don't you do me a list and draw me a map?"
"You won't need a map. I'll take you there. Ain't but five miles." Otis told Shane.
"Otis, no," Patricia told her husband.
"Honey, we don't have time for guesswork, and I'm responsible. I ain't gonna sit here while this fella takes this on alone. I'll be all right."
"Are you sure about this," Shane asked.
"Do you even know what any of the stuff he's talking about looks like," Otis countered.
"Come to think, no."
"I've been a volunteer EMT. I do. We can talk about this till next Sunday, or we could just go do it real quick."
"I'll take right quick."
"I should thank you," Rick said to Otis
"Wait till that boy of yours is up and around. Then we'll talk. I'll gather some things."
"Where is she, your wife?" Maggie asked.
While all this is going on, Lori and Andrea are arguing in the woods about a gun, until Lori gave the firearm to Andrea. Andrea walked away but is attacked by a Walker; instead of shooting it, she panicked and began screaming. Maggie rode up on a horse and hit the Walker in the head with a bat, killing it. She told Lori what happened, and Lori got on the back of Lori's horse and rode off, much to the protestation of Daryl and the others.
Back on the road, Dale is standing on top of the RV, keeping watch; he saw movement further up the highway and looked through his binoculars. Dale gasped when he saw Kagome and Sophia make their out of the woods onto the road, "T-Dog, it's Kagome and Sophia, she did it. She found Sophia."
T-dog stood up and shaded his eyes with his hands to see the girls making their way towards them. He smiled and greeted them when they got closer, "Man, ain't you two a sight for sore eyes. Everyone is out looking for ya'll."
"And my mom," Sophia asked.
"She's with the others, Sophia, they should be back anytime now."
Sophia smiled, and Kagome led her into the RV so that the little girl could change her clothes. They come out of the RV in clean clothes when the others show up. Everyone gasped when they saw Kagome and Sophia. Carol climbed over the guardrail and raced towards Sophia, "Sophia, Sophia! Oh, honey, you're safe," Carol cried.
She fell to the ground, hugging her daughter tightly. Everyone stood around, smiling at the mother, daughter reunion. Amy walked over to Kagome and hugged her, "I'm glad you're safe, Kagome."
"Thank you, Amy."
Carol wiped away her tears and stood up with Sophia clinging to her. She walked towards Kagome and pulled Kagome into a tight hug, "Thank you, thank you so much for finding my little girl and saving her from the Walkers."
"You don't need to thank me, Carol. I would never let anything happen to anyone in this group if I can help it."
"I know, but still, thank you."
Kagome nodded. She looked around and noticed that Rick and the others weren't there, "Where's Rick and the others? Are they still out looking for us?"
"Carl's been shot," Daryl said to Kagome.
"What! How?"
"We don't know. A woman came riding up and took Lori and told us we needed to go back and take a dirt road that leads to their farm," Glenn informed Kagome.
"We need to go, I need to help Carl," Kagome said.
"Alright, you heard her, let's load up and head out to this farm," Daryl said as he got on his bike and Kagome got on behind him. They take off first head towards the farm as quickly as possible.
It didn't take Daryl and Kagome long to reach the Greene's farm. Kagome jumped off the bike and opened the gate for Daryl. She closed the gate and jumped onto the bike; the Daryl hauled ass up the dirt road. Daryl barely stopped when Kagome jumped off the bike, "Who are you," Maggie said as Kagome ignored her and rushed into the house with her yellow backpack.
She flung the door open where Carl was, and everyone looked at her, "What happened," Kagome asked.
"Who are you?" Hershel asked.
"Doctor, Kagome Higurashi, what are his vitals?"
Hershel went ahead and told Kagome everything he knew and what Carl's vital signs were. He told Kagome that they were only waiting for the equipment they needed to start the surgery, "That isn't necessary, I have everything we need."
Rick stood up on shaky legs, "You do?" He asked with a hopeful tone in his voice.
"I replenished my supplies at the CDC. Let's not waste any more time."
"Right," Hershel agreed.
They quickly moved Carl onto the operating table and wheeled him out. Before Kagome walked out of the room, Rick grabbed her arm, "Thank you."
Kagome smiled at Rick and patted his arm then rushed after Hershel. She later found out the other people's names, and they got to work on Carl. It took several hours for Kagome to get the five bullet fragments out of Carl and sew up the knick blood vessel. She searched to make sure Carl wasn't bleeding anywhere else then stitched him back up. Once they laid him back down in the bedroom, Kagome offered to give Carl blood as she was also A-positive. Hershel and Patricia cleaned up and made their way outside to the others.
"Carl's gonna make. Dr. Higurashi arrived just in time and did a spectacular job removing the bullet fragments."
"Can we see Carl," Lori asked.
"Not right now, he needs to rest."
"Where's Kagome," Rick asked, standing up.
"She's in there with Carl right now. It turned out that Dr. Higurashi has the same blood type as you and your son; she is donating a pint right now."
Rick smiled, but behind him, Lori scowled, feeling helpless that she couldn't do a damn thing to help her son. After a while, they saw the lights of a pickup truck coming up the lane. Shane pulled up in front of the house and rushed towards them, "How's Carl?"
Rick smiled, "He's fine now; Kagome had everything we needed to do the surgery. She took the bullet fragments out and is giving Carl blood right now."
Shane gave Rick a relieved smile, "That's great, man. Thank God for Kagome."
Patricia came out of the house, "Shane, where's Otis?"
Shane looked down, then looked up at Patricia, "I'm sorry."
Patricia covered her mouth and started sobbing. Beth hugged Patricia and led her into the house. Maggie stepped off the porch and offered Shane a shower and gave him some of Otis' clothes so he could change. Shane thanked her and went upstairs to get cleaned up. While all this was going on, the others show up in the RV and the other vehicles. Sophia jumped out of the truck and rushed over to Rick and Lori.
"Sophia! You're okay." Rick exclaimed
"Thanks to Kagome," Carol said as she put her arm around her little girl, "How's Carl?"
Rick smiled, "He's going to be fine, thanks to Kagome."
Everyone sighed in relief, but Amy noticed the scowl on Lori's face anytime Kagome's name was mentioned. Hershel came out of the house again, "Carl's awake; he's asking for you."
Lori and Rick walk into the house and go into the bedroom; Hershel is disconnecting Kagome from the transfusion machine and putting pressure on her arm. Kagome stood up to leave Rick and Lori alone in the room with their son. Rick smiled at Kagome as she walked by, and Kagome smiled back. Kagome shut the door behind her.
Carl looked at his parents, "What happened?"
"You were shot, Sweetie," Lori said to her son.
"I was?"
"Yeah," Rick said and then explained what happened to him.
"So, Kagome saved me."
"Yeah, she sure did, Bud."
Carl smiled, then he frowned, "Did Kagome find Sophia?"
"Yeah, she did, Sophia is safe and sound."
"Good. I like Kagome, Dad."
"Yeah, me too, Carl. Now, why don't you get some rest?"
"Okay."
Lori sat there listening to Carl and Rick's conversation seething in anger, listening to her son praising Kagome. The more she heard about Kagome, the more Lori hated the woman. It didn't matter to Lori that Kagome had saved Carl's life; she would never like Kagome Higurashi.