Chapter 27: Waiting Game
Riley's eyes fluttered open when someone nudged her. The fog in her brain lifted and she jumped lightly, looking up to see who it was. Her racing heart slowed when she realized it was Rick. She realized she was still in the room where Carl was sleeping soundly and she took a deep breath.
"Hey, it's alright. How you feelin'?" he asked, resting a hand on her shoulder.
It took her a moment to actually process her body's aches and pains. Everything was coming to her slowly and it made her wonder how long she'd slept.
"Sore. How long was I sleeping?" She reached up and rubbed her stiff neck, trying to relieve some of the pain.
"Almost a day. It'll be morning in a few hours. Day after everything happened," he explained, shooting a glance over at his son.
She followed his gaze and pressed her lips together. "Has he...woken up yet?"
"Yeah he did. For a few minutes. He was really outta it. Thought...thought his mom was still alive. Denise says he probably has a mild concussion from the impact. Explains the amnesia."
She ducked her head a little and sighed softly. "He's going to be okay?"
"Denise thinks so. His eye it's...completely gone. But everything else'll be alright with rest."
Slowly, she nodded, taking a minute to come to terms with the fact that forever he would be missing an eye. It was literally just yesterday that she could look up at him and see two bright blue eyes shining back at her. Now she would see only one with a hole to remind them what happened. Damn Ron, the greasy bastard. If he wasn't already dead, she was sure she would have stormed off by now to finish it.
"You want to head to a real bed? Get some more rest?" Rick asked, interrupting her thoughts.
She shook her head, standing to her feet rather shakily. "No I... I think I need to go for a walk. Thanks."
He took a deep breath and nodded, probably realizing that it was best not to argue with her. Before she could get away, he pulled her into a quick hug, mumbling, "thank you for everythin' you've done for him. I don't know if I've said it but... thank you."
She rested her head tiredly against his side. "Anytime."
Giving her a small smile, he pulled away and let her go, patting her on the shoulder. She smiled back at him and then made her way toward the door, being mindful of her limbs that seemed really stiff and weak.
In the main hall, she saw Eugene sitting with Tara as she got a wound cleaned. They hadn't seen her yet and she didn't exactly want to talk right now so she took a moment to try and figure out how she would be able to get past without them noticing her. But after a moment, she couldn't come up with one and decided it would be best just to try and go past quickly and quietly. So she pushed off the doorframe and made her way toward the front door as quickly and quietly as she could. But of course she was noticed.
"Riley, hey!" Eugene called out to her and she could hear his footsteps follow.
She turned and looked at him over her shoulder, too tired to really muster up a friendly expression. "What do you need?"
"I just... I wanted to ask how you were doing after a particularly stressful night."
"Oh um," she tried to process her thoughts and his unusual way of speaking. "Fine."
"That's great to hear. Are you positively certain you should be on your feet? Denise said that under the circumstances you woke you should remain inside the building to rest. Isn't that right?" he rambled, looking over at Denise patching Tara up.
"Uh...yeah exactly," the woman responded, pausing for a moment.
She really wasn't in the mood to be cooped up inside here. Though she wanted to be at Carl's side, she also needed to get a few moments of not seeing him. Seeing him sleeping like that with the remnants of the trauma still clinging to his skin...she just needed a minute to look away, to collect herself.
"I need to walk I'm...I don't want to stay cooped up. Can I just...go for a little. Please?" she pleaded, voice laced with exhaustion.
Denise let out a sigh and placed her forceps down. "I suppose... But if you're not back soon, I'll send someone to find you. Emotional shock patients need a lot of rest."
"Okay fine... thank you." She nodded slightly before reaching for the door handle.
"Wait," Eugene stopped her. "I just. I wanted to inform you that I worked through my very justified fear to help better the group. And that...when you're feeling up to it, I'd like to resume our instructional sessions."
It took her a moment to work out exactly what he meant, but when she realized, she couldn't help but crack a small, tired smile. "Yeah, no problem. Just give me a few days..."
The man smiled at her and she gave him a brief nod before resuming what she intended to do. Slipping outside, she took in the streets, finding them covered in walker bodies. A few people were doing their best to clear them up, but because there were so many, she assumed that would take a while.
Skirting past them, she found a steady, even pace on the street. Her legs felt slightly weak and wobbly, but she continued walking nonetheless and tried not to focus on the dead. She didn't even know where she was going, but she just needed to walk, to do something that felt natural. Besides, her limbs were rather stiff from sleeping in the chair the way she had and she could already feel everything loosening up as she walked.
Her eyes scanned the houses as she passed and she caught sight of Jesse's, a small frown coming to her lips as she was reminded of Ron. Her hands trembled lightly and she clenched her fists, every muscle in her body starting to feel shaky and weak again. Gosh, she needed to sit. Somewhere. Anywhere.
It was almost like her legs seemed to buckle and she plopped down in the middle of the street among the walker bodies and just...sat. Legs crossed and gaze downward, she just sat there, trying to block out the recurring thoughts as her heart increased speed with each passing moments. Was she...having a panic attack?
Riley took deep breaths and her fingers curled around the edge of her shirt. All she could think of doing was try to think of something happy...something she knew that would calm her down. She squeezed her eyes shut and thought hard, still taking deep, calming breaths. Images of sunflowers came to her mind and she latched onto this memory; the memory of her playing hide and seek as a child in a sunflower patch with her parents.
The warm breeze of that day soothed her skin and the sun shining down on her warmed her slightly from the coolness of the shadows cast on her from the sunflowers towering over her small frame. Familiar, comforting voices, one masculine and one feminine, called out to her in a playful manner. Leaves from the sunflowers tickled her nose and a childish giggle broke the short silence, a giggle which resonated from her lips. One flower in particular sat nestled in the dirt by her tiny, dirty sneakers. It must've fallen off the stalk or been plucked by someone and forgotten. Her small, child fingers wrapped around the green stem and she examined the gorgeous yellow color that resembled the sun. Just as she tucked it behind her ear, she could hear her mother, singing softly.
"You are my sunshine, my only sunshine. You make me happy, when skies are gray. You'll never know, dear, how much I love you. Please don't take my sunshine away."
Her eyes blinked open and the melodic singing of her mother still resonated in her ears as she took in her real surroundings, back in the middle of the street with walkers splayed on each side of her. The shake in her body had ceased and her heart beat in a normal, rhythmic pace. She kept replaying the verses over and over in her mind, finding that they both soothed and ached her soul.
Her parents had always been fond of sunflowers, her mother especially. Apparently, they first met at a florists where both of them bumped into each other when they went to get the last bouquet of sunflowers, her for her sister and him for his mother. They'd ended up both paying for the bouquet and splitting it. After that, every date they went on, he always brought along a single sunflower.
Tears stung the corners of her eyes, but she refused to let them fall. Those were happy times for her parents and she didn't want to stain the memory with sorrow.
"Riley?"
She looked up, eyes finding the source of the voice to be Maggie. The woman stood in front of her, looking down with slight concern.
"Are you alright?"
"Yeah, yeah," she replied quickly. "I was just...thinking."
"In the middle of the street?"
"Uh...yeah in the middle of the street..."
She pressed her lips together before reaching a hand down to her. "Come on. You can come inside and get somethin' to eat. You haven't eaten in a while."
After a moment of hesitation, Riley took her hand, getting to her feet and giving her a soft smile of thanks. Maggie returned the smile and led her down the street to her house. It was still intact. In fact, the only house that didn't seem intact was Jesse's.
The front door was open with the glass door being the only barrier into the home. The woman opened it up gently and the two of them entered, making their way to the kitchen. Sitting at the island was Glenn, looking a bit worn down but still alive. She almost forgot that he had been missing...and then sent the sign of the balloons. A rush of relief and happiness flooded into her system and she let go of Maggie's hand.
Glenn spotted her and smiled, scooting off the chair. She didn't waste time in hugging him as tightly as possible. Someone she cared about was alive and unharmed. He let out a chuckle and returned the hug.
"Hey, kiddo. It's kinda weird calling you that. I'm usually called the kid," he mused, giving her a moment to bury her face into his shirt.
She let herself release a couple of tears before pulling back and shaking her head. "We thought you were dead. But then we saw the balloons..."
"I'm not dying that easily. Promise." He patted her gently on the shoulder.
Taking in a deep breath, she couldn't help but smile as she wiped the tears from her face. Everything had been so crappy today and yesterday that it felt so refreshing that something good came out of this.
"Come on, sit. Let me make lunch," Maggie said, scooting around the island and heading to the refrigerator.
Riley took a seat next to Glenn at the counter, resting her arms on the cool surface.
"What happened to your arm?" he asked, pointing to the stitched up wound on her forearm she completely forgot about.
"Oh...When we were attacked, one of them sliced up my arm. I think I'm supposed to get the stitches out in a few days," she explained, briefly ghosting her fingers over the wound.
"Damn, I'm glad you're okay. How is...how is Carl doing?"
She let out a gentle sigh figuring it was no secret by now what happened to him and how everything had gone. "He's alive. Still sleeping..."
"He's going to make it through. Survived a gunshot to the stomach a while back, when I first met him," Maggie spoke, mixing some beans in a pot over the stove.
Her response was silence and they didn't press the subject further after that. Instead, they remained in silence until the food was finished and a bowl was placed in front of her. It was some sort of bean and vegetable soup with a few hunks of meat thrown in. She thanked the woman and started to dig in, realizing how hungry she actually was.
"There's...there's something we should tell you. And everyone else," Maggie began, having not touched her soup at all yet.
Looking up curiously, she dropped her spoon back into the bowl, waiting for a moment as the husband and wife exchanged a few glances.
"I'm...we're...pregnant," she finally blurted.
Her eyes widened and she looked between the two. There was going to be another child? A child besides Judith? Of course she knew that eventually people would want to be having kids, but she hadn't expected it so soon. And from Glenn and Maggie? Well...she couldn't really see anyone else having kids anyway. The thought was exciting but scary at the same time with all of the things happening in this world. She couldn't imagine how they probably felt about that.
"Wow...I... How long? I'll help whenever you need to," Riley blabbered, unsure of what exactly was the right thing to say in that moment.
The woman smiled a little. "Not very far. Little over a month. And thank you."
A little over a month? That meant in a little less than a year, there was going to be another child in the community...and she would be nearing adulthood at seventeen years of age. The thought of so much changing overwhelmed her a bit and she sat back, mulling over everything and realizing how unprepared the community was. How unsafe it was.
"We have to get the walls fortified. And we need to get this place cleared out. Did you tell Rick?" she asked, scooting out of her chair.
"Not yet. But it's alright. Everything will be fine, you don't have to worry. Eat. Everything will get sorted out," Maggie assured, smiling.
She let out a short breath and slid back into her seat, blinking down at her soup before taking another spoonful. "Have you...thought of any names yet?"
"Got a few in mind," Glenn said, folding his hands. "Mostly...family members, you know. Beth. Hershel...that was Maggie's dad. Noah..."
She nodded, understanding the sentiment of wanting to name their child after someone they lost. It made sense and she supported it. It was like them living on in someone else and their children's children would hear about the stories of what happened.
Finishing off her soup, she placed the spoon in the bowl and stood, moving to collect everyone's dishes. "At least let me help a little."
The both of them smiled at her, probably amused that she wasn't going to not help them even when they said they'd be alright. So she took their silence as acceptance and cleaned up the dishes and pots used to make the soup. She felt so domestic and...yeah she was still getting used to that feeling, really.
The couple had moved to the living room by the time she was done and she joined them on the couch, not really sure of what else to say but still wanting to be in their company. Right now, she didn't exactly want to go back to Carl yet because she knew her emotions would be in a different place and she was too exhausted to deal with it right now.
"Glenn...what happened to you out there?" she asked, deciding to break the silence and answer a question that had been bugging her since she got here.
"The walkers...they started to break off from the herd. You know when you guys got attacked," he started, scratching the back of his neck. "A couple of us ran off to try and do something to corral them back and keep any other noise from drawing them away. But the herd came down on us."
She turned slightly to give her his attention, her shoulder lightly tucking itself against Maggie's side.
"Nicholas and I went to light a building on fire...try to get them away so we could escape. But things went wrong. We got cornered and...the two of us got trapped on a dumpster. I was trying to think of what to do but he...he decided he didn't want to live anymore. So he shot himself and his body knocked me down into the herd. The only reason I'm alive is because they were feasting on his body on top of mine and I was able to crawl under the dumpster until they were gone."
She bowed her head, pursing her lips and thinking of how damn lucky he had been. He hadn't gotten bit or scratched and somehow he made it out of there alive. "Wow I'm...really glad you're alive."
A pained chuckle escaped his lips and he nodded slowly. "Yeah, me too..."
Folding her hands together, she glanced out of the window. A lot of them had been lucky. Glenn had been lucky to live that. Carl had been lucky to survive. And somehow, everyone had managed to slaughter all of the dead that got into the community. It just made her wonder how long that luck was going to last.
With these thoughts in mind, she stood, tugging at the end of her shirt. "I should go. Thank you for the food. I'm really glad you guys are alright..."
"You can stay the night, if you'd like," Maggie suggested, standing as well.
"Thanks but I... I just want to check on Carl. Maybe tomorrow...?" She raised an uncertain eyebrow, wringing her hands together.
"Of course. You're welcome any time." The woman offered her a small smile. "Carl's a fighter. He's gonna be just fine."
Riley nodded and returned the smile of thanks before heading for the door. She really wouldn't mind staying the night with Glenn and Maggie and trying to keep her mind off other things, but she wanted to be there for Carl more than herself right now because he needed her right now. She would always put others she cared about before herself.
So she headed back to the infirmary, hoping to quietly slip inside. No one seemed to be around when she entered and it felt a little strange, but she headed to the back room where Carl was comfortably sleeping. Rick sat tiredly in the chair next to the bed, rubbing the side of his face and watching his son. She wasn't noticed until she took another step forward and the board beneath her creaked ever so slightly.
His head snapped up and when he caught sight of her, he relaxed slightly. "Hey. Denise said you were out way longer than she wanted you to be. But I told her you'd be fine. You alright?"
She nodded and stumbled forward to take a seat on the edge of the bed across from him. "Yeah... I just went to see Glenn and Maggie for a bit. Lost track of time. If you're tired, you can sleep. I can take over."
"Yeah, I might take you up on that offer," he chuckled, stretching lightly. "If anything happens, I'll be two doors down."
"Gotcha." A small smile tugged at her lips and she sat down in the chair once he'd gotten up.
After he left, she took a moment to look over the sleeping boy next to her. Honestly it was painful to see him so still and quiet and she wanted him to just wake up and look at her and tell her that he was alright... Pressing her lips together, she reached over and took his hand, taking a moment to rub soothing circles on the back of his hand with her thumb.
"I'll be waiting for you when you wake up," she murmured, leaning back in the chair and pulling her knees to her chest. With nothing else to do but wait, she slowly fell into a restless sleep.
Riley woke with a start as voices filled her ears. Rustling around her brought the attention of high energy, which brought her immediately out of her coma-like sleep. Her eyes blinked open and she saw Rick in front of her bending over the bed, with Michonne on the other side and Denise hovering over the edge of the bed.
"Does your head hurt? Any dizziness?" Denise questioned.
"Head hurts a little... Not dizzy." Wait. That was Carl's voice.
She shot up out of her chair, nearly bumping into Rick in the process to see Carl awake and sitting up, though looking a bit out of it. When she popped into sight, he looked over at her, his face softening slightly and the smallest of smiles coming to his face.
"I'm so glad you're okay," she murmured, eyes flitting over to Denise for a moment as she checked his pulse and other vital signs.
"I...I don't really remember what happened," he murmured, voice low and scratchy. "What happened?"
All of them looked at each other for a moment, trying to decide how to tell him and Rick finally gestured for them to step out. A small frown tugged the corner of her lips but she left his bedside and followed Michonne out, shaking some of the sleep off herself as she went. The woman closed the door and they stood across each other in the hallway after Denise hurried past to give the father and son some privacy.
"He's...not going to take it well," Michonne said, breaking the silence. "The eye, I mean."
"I...know," she sighed, unable to imagine what it would be like losing such a vital part of the body. Something that was part of her...
She just hoped that he understood they would all be there for him. No matter what. Part of her didn't even want to leave his side because of her need to comfort him. Ducking her head, she waited anxiously for Rick to exit. Everything felt much longer than it probably was, but soon he emerged, looking downtrodden.
"We should...leave him alone for a bit. I...think it might take a while," Rick murmured, slowly passing them.
Michonne shot her a look before following after the man, no doubt to figure out what happened. Her breath hitched and she turned toward the door, opening it and stepping inside. Carl's back was to her and she approached, eyebrows knitted in concern.
"Carl...?" she tried, resting a hand on the sheets.
There was a pause. "I don't...I don't want to talk right now."
Her chest constricted and his sorrowful words only made her want to reach out to him and comfort him. "Carl, I-"
"-stop. Just...just leave me alone. Please."
The words stung and she took a hesitant step backwards, her hands stiff and retracting from the sheets as she did so. He didn't move and she felt angry tears prick the corners of her eyes. He just needs a minute. Stop overreacting... But even if she knew this, why did it sting so much? She wanted him to need her. She wanted to protect him, to care for him. It was part of who she was. Her friends, her family...all of those people she cared about, she wanted to protect. But he didn't want her care right now. He just wanted his own solitude.
As understanding as she was, it still hurt. He was rejecting her help, something she didn't toss around lightly. She didn't want him to snap again, so she quietly turned and left, her feet carrying her to one of the empty rooms. It took everything in her not to react emotionally as she slid down the hallway, but when she entered the empty room and shut the door, everything fell out. Curling up on the empty bed, she tried and resisted to hold back her emotions as she stared out the window. Of all the people in the universe, why did this have to happen to him?
A/N: Hey guys! Sorry for the long wait! Been having having exams and all sorts of crazy assignments so I haven't had much time to write. But I'm glad to get back into the swing of things, right as The Walking Dead comes back tonight! I also have been posting updates on the status of if I update or not that week on my Twitter ( ThatWriterGirl5). Last time I mention it, promise! xD So how did you think the chapter was? The show never really touched on Carl's emotions after he woke up so I'm going to be doing that here. I'm not sure how many chapters I'm going to have of the "two month" period, but I have a few things I want to cover before I continue on so you'll get a lot of new/original stuff rather than regurgitation of the show script. Anyway, I really want to thank you guys so much for reviewing and favoriting and sticking with me through my inconsistent updates. You guys are the best! :) Hope you enjoyed :)
