Rick's P.O.V.
Watching Sam and Carl slowly getting closer to the deer. It was a beautiful and innocent moment till it went down hill. I was brought back to reality when I heard Sam yell, " Carl!"
At first I was wondering why she was yelling his name when I didn't see anything around us till I turned to look back at Sam to see her push Carl out of the way, my heart shattered when I heard a gun go off and Sam falling to the ground not moving.
My body started to shake as I saw her laying on the ground as I came over to her and saw her looking at me with half opened while Carl got up from where she pushed him and came over to her as well. But then her eyes shut after which scared me even more as she looked lifeless next to me. Shane came over to my side to look at Sam, tears started to fill my eyes as I placed my hand on her neck and I checked to see if she had a pulse and there was one but it was really faint.
" Sam!" I called out her name hoping for her to wake up to me calling her but she didn't even move, which scared me even more.
I heard footsteps coming our way and all of us looked up to see a heavy set man with a rifle running towards us frantically. I felt like I was about to hyperventilate, I glared at the man as he came closer. Shane got in the front of me and Carl and pointed the shotgun at the man, " Who are you!" Shane yelled at the man.
" I'm sorry, I didn't see her!" The man said as he got closer to us.
I started to ignore both Shane and the man and looked back down at Sam as I looked at her skin and she was pale white and she was barely breathing. The blood was bleeding through her shirt, as I was looking down at her and I didn't see the 29 year old Sam, in front of my eyes there was a 10 year old scared little Sam that I saved from an abusive step father. The same little girl that I swore to protect till the day I die, but Sam was lying before me dying.
" We have to help her! Please!" I yelled at the man in front of me as I looked up at him.
" Take her to Hershel! He'll know what to do! Follow me!" The man said as I nodded my head and I tried to fight back the tears that were clouding my vision and I slipped my arms under Sam and picked her up. Her limp, lifeless body that dangled in my grasp and all I wanted to do was scream.
" Hang on Sam, please." I whispered as I got to my feet and I got Carl to grab her crossbow and we sprinted after the man with both Carl and Shane following right behind me.
Daryl's P.O.V.
The gunshot that we heard echoed in my mind as I led the others back to the highway. These people were starting to really get on my nerves, ' What can't they just shut up already?! If Sam was here, she would tell them that they needed to be quiet and focus on the mission at hand. But she had to go with them because of Carl.' I thought as I shook my head and tried to refocus on the task at hand. Getting everybody back to the highway and finding Sophia.
" Why one - why only one shot?" I heard Lori ask as I turned to see that they stopped walking to look at her.
" Maybe they took out a walker." Andrea said as she shrugged her shoulders as she looked at Lori.
" Please don't patronize me. You know that Rick, Sam and Shane wouldn't risk a gunshot to put down one walker. They'd do it quietly." Lori said. I just rolled my eyes, even though I can't stand her, she does have a point. Rick, Sam and Shane are smarter than that. I have a feeling that something happened and it's bothering me.
" Shouldn't they have caught up with us by now?" Carol asked as she was looking at the others.
" There's nothing we can do about it, anyways. Can't run around these woods chasing echoes." I said as I looked at everyone.
" So, what do we do?" Carol asked me.
" Same as we've been. Finding Sophia and working our way back to the highway." I said as I continued to walk forward.
The women continued bantering some more which really annoyed me to where I cut in, " I'll tell ya what, it's worth not a damn thing. It's a waste of time, all this hopin' and prayin'. We're gonna locate that little girl. She's gonna be just fine, am I the only one around here that knows that? Good lord." I said as I rolled my eyes again and started to walk again, not giving anyone a chance to say anything to me.
Rick's P.O.V
I ran as fast I could and it seemed like we'd never make it to the farm in time. Shane was behind me dragging the man named Otis along with Carl following right behind me. I needed to hurry to where Otis told me to go, I was desperate, Sam was basically dead in my arms.
" How far? How far?!" I cried out to Otis.
" Another half mile, that way! Hershel. He'll help your girl!" Otis said, trying to catch a breath.
I started to run again but this time faster til I saw the farmhouse coming into view. Carl ran ahead of me as I saw the members of the house starting to come out and onto the front porch. I was completely out of breath, but I kept going for Sam.
" Almost there Sam, hang on." I said as I looked down at her and then I looked back up to the older man as I stood in front of him and his family.
" Was she bit?" The man asked me as he looked at me and then back at Sam.
" Shot, by your man." I said as I tried to catch my breath.
" Otis?" He asked me as I nodded my head to him.
" He said find Hershel. Is that you? Help me, help her please." I begged him as I walked up closer to him with Carl by my side looking at Sam.
Hershel nodded his head, " Get her inside, inside!" Hershel yelled as he rushed me inside along with Carl into the house as he turned towards his family.
" Patricia, I need my full kit, Maggie, I need you to get me some painkillers, coagulate, grab everything." Clean towels, sheets and alcohol. In here, Pillowcase please." Hershel said as he opened one of the bedrooms and I set Sam down on the bed and Carl came over to me and wrapped his arms around me as he started to cry and I put my hand on his shoulder and held him closer.
" Is...Is she alive?" I asked Hershel as I looked at him.
" Pillowcase, quick." Hershel said as he ignored my question.
" Is….Is she alive?" I asked again, waiting for someone to answer me.
" Fold it. Make a pad and put pressure on the wound." Hershel said as he brought me over while I let go of Carl and he placed my hand on the pillowcase on her wound as I looked at her. Hershel walked over and placed his finger on her neck.
" I've got a heartbeat, it's faint." Hershel said after he checked on her pulse. Once I heard that Sam was still alive it filled me with relief as I looked at Sam with a smile on my face.
" Step back, Maggie IV." Hershel said as he removed my hands from Sam and pushed me back to my son while I started to work on her.
" We need some space. Beth, can you take the boy downstairs?" Hershel asked as he looked at a young blonde girl who looked to be one of his daughters and she nodded her head shyly and she walked over to me and Carl hesitantly. I looked at her through my tears and I nodded my head to her for her to take Carl with her and she came over closer and knelt down in front of Carl. I noticed that at first Carl didn't want to go with her and he looked at me and I nodded my head to him and he took her hand and left the room with her.
" Your name?" Hershel asked me as he turned his head to look at me quickly and then back at Sam.
" R-Rick. I'm Rick." I stuttered as I came out of my daze and I looked at Hershel.
" Rick, we're gonna do everything we can for your girl here, okay? You need to give us some room." Hershel said as he looked at me and I nodded my head as I was about to leave the room, till I noticed that Hershel was about to take her shirt off.
" Hershel, wait." I said as he turned to look at me.
" Her back….it's bad." Was all I said to him as he just looked at me.
" Who is she to you?" Hershel asked me after nodding his head to me about what I said.
" She's my daughter. My daughter. " I said once I gulped down the feeling in my throat. I always saw Sam as part of the family. I had this over protective father insticined the second I met her for the first time. Hershel just nodded his head to me and then when he lifted Sam's shirt, he froze when he saw all the scars on her back. Patricia gasped when she looked at her back.
" You know her blood type?" Hershel asked me when they placed her back down the bed without her shirt on.
" A-Positive….S-same as mine." I stuttered again as I looked at him.
" That's fortunate. Don't go too far, I'm gonna need you to give her some blood." Hershel said as he turned to look at Otis and Shane who entered the room.
" What happened?" Hershel asked as he looked at Otis.
" I was tracking a buck. Bullet went through it, went clean through." Otis said with regret in his voice as I saw Patricia walking over to him.
" The deer slowed the bullet down, which certainly saved her life, but it didn't go through clean. It broke up into pieces. If I can get the bullet fragments out and I'm countin' six." Hershel said as he examined the wound.
" I never saw her. Not until she was on the ground." Otis said as he started to cry to Patiricia who hugged him, which told me that she was his wife.
I sat down in a chair right next to Sam, trying to keep calm as I looked over at Sam who was trying to fight her life right now. Then I just remembered something as I looked at her.
Flashback
" Be careful out there." Daryl said to Sam as I looked over to them.
" Sure, but no promises." Sam said as she looked at Daryl with a smile on her face before we left.
End of Flashback
" Daryl doesn't know. No, he doesn't know-Daryl doesn't know." I kept saying as desperation started to come over me. I knew that both Daryl and Sam were close in their own way. At first I didn't trust him at all with her but after a while I noticed that he started to be protective over her. Which made me change my point of view of him, when I see Sam around him, I notice a look in her eyes when she looks at him. She has the same look that I had when I look at Lori and Daryl has the same look in his eyes as well but tries to hide it. Hershel told all of us to leave the room. When I got into the living room I started pacing back and forth in the living room while Shane was sitting on the couch looking at me.
" Why'd I let her come with us? I should've sent her with Daryl." I said as I kept blaming myself for what happened to her.
" You know, you start that, you never get that monkey off your back. Little girl goes missing, you go look for her. Simple, you said, " Call it-head back." Shane said.
" Doesn't matter what I said. Samantha got shot because I wouldn't tell Carl no. It should've been me in there." I said as I ran my hand through my hair.
" You've been in that spot before partner, right? And you pulled through, so will she. She's one of the toughest girls I've ever known." Shane said as he chuckled under his breath.
" Is that why I got outta that hospital? To find my family? To Sam for it to just end here, like this? This kind of s-sick joke?" I said as more tears went down my face.
" You stop that, right now." Shane growled at me which made me look at him.
" Rick...she needs blood." Maggie said as she came towards me. Both me and Shane ran back into the room with Maggie for me to see Sam wide awake and screaming in pain. My body began to shake uncontrollably at her screams.
" You two, hold her down!" Hershel yelled at both me and Shane.
Sam's eyes met mine as I came over to her and held her down by her arms while Shane had her legs, " R….Rick!" She yelled as she had tears going down her face.
" I got it." Hershel said as one of his tools was in her abdomen. Sam continued to cry and scream in pain as more tears went down her face and mine as I looked at her.
" Almost there." Hershel said as Sam screamed even louder than I ever heard her scream before.
" Stop! You're killin' her!" I screamed as I looked at Hershel.
" Rick, do you want her to live?" Hershel asked me as I heard Sam cry louder in pain. My body started to shake as Sam's painful eyes met mine.
" She needs blood. Do it now!" Hershel yelled as I looked at Patricia coming over to me and she grabbed my arm and stuck the needle in my vein right as Sam went quiet. I turned my head to look at her and she was unconscious.
" Wait...wait, hey." I said as I started to panic as I looked at Sam.
" She just passed out. One down… Five to go." Hershel said as he pulled out a piece of the bullet down at Sam.
" Daryl needs to be here. He doesn't even know what's goin' on. I gotta go find him, bring her back." I whispered as I tried to walk out the door after they took the needle out of my arm, but a hand stopped me from getting up from the chair.
" You can't do that." Hershel said sternly towards me.
" He needs to know what's happened. Sam's lying here, shot." I yelled at him.
" And she's going to need more blood. You can't go more than 50 feet from this chair." Hershel said as he glared at me.
Anger filled me as I started to stand back up but then I started to feel light headed immediately and Shane came over to me before I fell to the ground, " Hey, hey. Come on." Shane said to me as he took me back over to the chair.
" I'm all right. I'm all right." I assured Shane he helped me back in the chair.
" Daryl has to be here, Shane...he has to know." I said as I looked over at Shane.
" Okay, I get that. I'm gonna handle it….But you've gotta handle your end." Shane said as he calmed me down.
" My...my end?" I asked as I looked at Shane.
" Your end is here, for Sam. Even if she didn't need your blood to survive, there is no way I'd let you walk out that door. Man, I….I'd break your legs if you tried. I mean, you know that, right? If something happened to her and you weren't here….If….if she slipped away while you were gone, you would never forgive yourself for that, and neither would Daryl or T-Dog." Shane said to me, making everything sink in my mind. I nodded my head to him, understanding what he said.
" She's out of danger for the moment, but I need to remove those remaining fragments." Hershel said as he looked over at us and then back at her.
" How? You saw how she was." I protested as I looked at him.
" I know and that was the shallowest one. I need to go deeper to get the others." Hershel said as I immediately grabbed Sam's cold hand.
" Her belly's distended, her pressure's dropping, which means there's internal bleeding. A fragment must have nicked one of the blood vessels. I have to open her up. Find the bleeder and stitch it up. And she can't move while I'm in there, I mean at all. If she reacts the same as before, I'll accidently sever an artery and she'll die in minutes. To even try this, I have to put her under. But if I did that, she won't be able to breathe on her own. Same bad results." Hershel said as he shook his head and looked at Rick.
" What'll it take? You need a respirator. What else? The tube that goes with it, extra surgical supplies, draps, sutures. If you had all that, could you save her?" I asked Hershel as I felt my heart hoping that if he had all those things that he would save Sam. He looked at you and he nodded his head yes.
That was when it was decided that Otis and Shane were going to an old high school to find the supplies to help Sam, " I should thank you." I said as I looked towards Otis.
" Wait till that daughter of yours is up and around, then we'll talk." Otis said as he walked out the door.
I nodded my head and I felt a hand on my shoulder and I turned my head to see Maggie standing there, " Where is he….Daryl?" She asked me.
End of chapter
I hope you guys like this chapter and the next one will be when Daryl finds out what happens. I hope you like this story please let me know and I'm sorry for the slow updates. Life gets in the way all the time. But I'm still here kk.