"-zorro and took Lori… Climb down out of my asshоlе, man." I pulled off my headphones completely, perking up at the sound of Glenn's voice. I smiled without forcing it or picturing it, eagerly closing my sketchbook and heading to the door of the RV before pausing. 'I can't look too eager, play it cool' went through my head, something I heeded. The door to the RV flung open and Glenn peeked in, looking highly disturbed and irritated while worried. I cocked my head to the side, wondering what could possibly have happened. He somehow understood the question and explained.
"Carl and Aren got shot."
I froze completely, the world screeching to a halt. "What?"
"They're okay," Glenn quickly soothed, wincing at my reaction. "Carl got hit in the stomach badly but Ren only has a piece of the bullet in his arm. This random girl showed up on a horse and saved Andrea from a walker before taking Lori and telling me to tell you about Rennie. Backtrack to Fairburn Road. Two miles down is her farm. There's a mailbox. Name's Greene."
That was all I needed before I grabbed a slender motorcycle I'd brought next to the RV, put on a helmet that hadn't been bloody, and revved it up. Carol stopped me, a pleading expression on her face.
"We can't just leave."
"Carol, the group is split. We're scattered and weak," Andrea tried to reason.
"What if she comes back and we're not here? It could happen."
"If Sophia found her way back and we were gone, that would be awful," Ben remarked kindly.
"Okay. We gotta plan for this. I say tomorrow morning is soon enough to pull up the stakes. Give us a chance to rig a big sign, and leave her some supplies. I'll hold here tonight, stay with the RV," Daryl took charge, gruff but thoughtful.
"If the RV is stayin', I am too," Dale took his stance.
"Thank you. Thank you both."
"I'm in," Andrea and Ben chimed.
"Well, if you're all staying then I'm-"
"Not you, Glenn- You're going. Take-take Carol's Cherokee," Dale interrupted.
"Me? Why is it always me?" Glenn swallowed nervously while grumbling.
"You have to find this farm, reconnect with our people and see what's going on- But most important, you have to get T-dog there. This is not an option. That cut has gone from bad to worse. He has a very serious blood infection. Get him to that farm. See if they have any antibiotics. Because if not, T-dog will die, no joke."
"Keep your oily rags off my brother's motorcycle. Why'd you wait till now to say anything? Got my brother's stash. Crystal, x- Don't need that. Got some kick-ass painkillers. Doxycycline. Not the generic stuff neither. It's first class. Merle got the clap on occasion," Daryl rifled through his brother's pack.
"Nice to hear that you've settled. Now if you'll excuse me," I snarked, revving the engine to the neon Kawasaki again. Ben ran up to me and was waving his hand around and said something that I ignored. I nodded at Dale before moving to go. A weight suddenly dropped behind me and I looked into the side mirror to see Glenn behind me on the goddam bike. We made eye contact through the mirror and somehow it was like we were having our own conversation without words.
'Seriously?'
'What?' Glenn got comfier in the seat. 'I'm coming with you.'
I shook my head in bemusement before arching a brow. 'Good luck holding on.'
His screams were the only thing left behind us as I sped between the car and obstacles expertly. He finally wrapped his arms around my waist, clinging tightly and snugly. I glanced down and grinned despite the situation before going at more than 70 miles per hour down the empty highway to the directions he'd mentioned. Glenn was comfortable now to sing, or perhaps screech, in an ungodly octave.
"HOLY SHIIIIIIIIITT!"
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ TWD s2
Ben tailed after us soon, the Cherokee zooming as fast as he could, T-dog with him. I facepalmed, remembering what Ben had been- a literal surgeon. Of course, I should've brought him with us. The wind bit at my flannel, eager to pierce through like arrows. I shivered unwillingly, instinctively leaning back a bit to Glenn's warmth, before freezing. I worried that Glenn would notice that I was becoming too open to him before recalling his drunk version. Indeed, the boy behind me shivered as well before inching close enough so his chest was right on my back. I felt the steady vibration of the motorcycle against my nerves, soothing and whittling them away. Glenn's hand suddenly appeared in front of me, pointing out the sign he had told me about. I accelerated, going at almost 100 miles per hour as the boy behind gripped even harder, this time putting his whole head on me too. Soon enough, we saw a farm and I pulled into the farm, eager to run in. Glenn let go after a moment of hesitation, letting me tear through the door after a woman with white sanitized towels. She took one look at me before pointing upstairs. I had just enough time to nod at her before bolting up the stairs, ignoring the thud of the door as Glenn ran in after me, panting.
I heard Rick in a room close to the stairs and flung myself into it, watching with wide eyes at Carl on the mattress, blood all over the place and looking to be dead as an old man tended to him with a young girl who was probably the daughter. Rick looked up at me, despair and grief in his eyes.
"Aren's in the other room." That was all I needed before I turned away from the door when I remembered.
"Ben's a surgeon. He'll be here any moment to help."
The last thing I spotted was the people in the room perk up before I ran into the room next door. My brother groaned as another girl with short hair tended to him. He looked up at me as I stared at this sight, knowing I wouldn't be able to ever shake it. He was crying in pain, his sassy attitude gone, and I nearly sobbed along with him.
"Noona," Rennie croaked. It was all I needed before I knelt by the bed and held his uninjured hand to my lips.
"I'm here," I brushed away the sweaty strands of his hair tenderly. "I'll always be here."
The short-haired girl looked up at me from washing away the blood, so focused that she hadn't noticed me walk in. I don't know what it was, but I instantly liked her.
"He's going to be alright, it's just that the shrapnel is stuck really deeply and close to the artery," she informed me. I nodded along absently, stroking my brother's hair. She watched quietly for a moment as my brother began to calm down, slowly relaxing and his crying stopping. Ben walked in just then, pale and gaunt.
"Hey Rennie," Ben enunciated softly and lightly, ever the doctor. "I'm going to need to dig the thing that's hurting you out, meaning you'll need surgery. Do you think you can do it without going under?"
I held my breath at the news, nervous and terrified for my baby brother. He nodded deliriously but when Ben tried to open the wound slightly to view the piece of the bullet, he screamed a scream I'd never wanted to hear from him, almost breaking my hand from how tightly he held it. I soothed him through the pain, glad I'd given him my right hand instead of my left. I prayed for him, hoping against all hopes that I could take his pain, that this would be the only time he ever got hurt like this. Eventually, we had to knock him out, something I hadn't been a fan of. I held his hand until he went under, unable to watch Ben operate on him. As soon as he shut his eyes, I left the room, heading downstairs and sitting on the stairs outside of the house. I buried my face into the heels of my hands, exhaustion and such overwhelming me. A girl who looked around my age or younger shyly handed me a new white cloth, smiling comfortingly.
"For your leg," the girl remarked with innocent eyes. I took it, taking in how dirty my hands were compared to hers and the snow-white cloth. She glanced down at my left hand, seeing the bloodied old bandage. "I'm Beth."
"Arlynn," I replied as I unwrapped the bloodied bandage from my right thigh. I hissed as the dried blood came off the wrap and inspected the disgusting gash left by the glass.
"What happened?" Beth asked timidly with worry.
"I got trapped in a car and had to try to squeeze my way out the window." I blew at it, wincing at the pain it brought. Beth opened her mouth as if to say something else before she was called by her dad. I heard footsteps and looked up to see Shane running towards the house, barely glancing at me before he practically flew up the stairs for Carl. A hand tapped my shoulder and I grabbed the wrist tightly before realizing it was the girl with short hair.
"Whoa, easy there," she chuckled a bit before my wound caught her eye. "Your brother's alright and Ben's helping with Carl right now."
I nodded, immediately standing up to stand vigil in my brother's room. The girl took my hand, obviously having different plans, and dragged me to the kitchen. Glenn stood there devouring a peach before noticing my arched brow. He swallowed quickly while waving, choking on the fruit, and coughing severely.
"Hey, uh, how'd it go?" Glenn stuttered, staring at me with his thoughtful eyes. I shrugged before glancing at the woman next to me. He noticed her too, his nervous fidgeting escalating. "Hi, uh, nice to see you again. Uh, we met in the woods, oh god that sounds wrong, uh…"
The woman stared at him before making me sit on a kitchen chair. "I'll make you some tea after I dress her wound-" she glanced at her bloody hand before looking down at mine and fixing her words. "-wounds."
She brought out a whole medical kit thing and took off the bandages on my hand before cleaning the wound. She worked on me and talked at the same time. "I'm Maggie."
"Glenn, and uh, I'll be in the living room if you need me," Glenn darted away to give us some privacy as Maggie tried to clean the thigh wound.
I stared at the piercing and slashes on my hand, reminding myself that while I'd done this to myself, Rennie had just been standing there. I stayed still with every piece of pain, remembering Rennie's shriek over and over. Maggie seemed to have noticed my thoughts somehow, suddenly talking about something else.
"I had an older brother, you know? His name was Shawn. One of the nicest, bravest, and most stubborn people I'd ever known. There was a group that came in before you, a long while before you, with two kids, a boy, and a girl. The girl didn't have her parents and had been rescued by this kind man. Shawn brought them with him and had been trying to build a fence to keep the walkers out. The boy who'd been here, Duck, had been playing with the tractor when a swarm of them suddenly attacked and…" she paused, shaking her head. "He didn't mean to, but Shawn got trapped under the tractor because of him. Lee, the guy taking care of Clementine, tried to help him but it had been too late and Dad had to mourn him. Shawn was the first to go."
I froze at the familiar name, the question out of my mouth within seconds. "Clementine Marsh? Little girl, about eight, brown hair and amber eyes?"
Maggie nodded dumbfoundedly and I sat there blankly. I laughed then, slow at the start and quiet, until it grew into outright roaring. I laughed until I couldn't breathe, struggling but finally making it.
"Clems is alive. Clems is alive!" I cheered, making Maggie grin a bit, obviously happy to be the bearer of good news. "She's kinda my niece. Her mom was my fiance's adoptive older sister. We used to always joke about how she's a doc and he's the one often on a stretcher. A doctor and a special ops agent."
The smile I had faded a bit at the remembrance of Jake, and I reached up out of habit to fiddle with the two rings that clang together. Maggie noticed and rested a hand on my knee, squeezing it once out of sympathy.
"He didn't see the world he loved go to hell at least," I tried to lighten the mood before lowering my pants enough for Maggie to clean and wrap my wounded thigh. After a few more minutes, I joined my little brother upstairs, watching him sleep peacefully. I kissed his small hand, reveling in the fact that it was warm and not cold. I hadn't lost another of my siblings. I hadn't lost my only family member left.
I wasn't alone.