Ooh Chapter 30! I'm really excited to get everyone on the farm, all in one place. And thank you Felien13 and Cassandra Ann Jamison for following this story! Welcome to the little community. We're getting right into this.
Disclaimer I don't own The Walking Dead just my ocs and plotlines.
Callie's POV
They were sitting, waiting for news on Carl. He was in the next room, getting operated on. She was sporting a new bandage on her side. Lucky for her the bullet just scraped her. It should have been her.
It was her, Shane and Rick. Rick was... in no shape to talk. He just saw his son got shot and had all of his blood all over him.
"Why'd I let him come with us?" Rick breaks the silence. "I should've sent him with Lori."
Shane breathes deeply. "You know, you start that, you never get that monkey off your back. It's the same with Callie shouldering what happened to Sophia on her back."
Callie tenses at that. "Sadly he's right, Rick."
"Hey." Shane moans.
"Little girl goes missing, you look for her. Simple. You said, 'call it-head back'."
"Doesn't matter what I said." Shane tells him.
Callie was wandering, was Shane right about her? Should she not shoulder what she done? Was it not her fault? Would it happen either way? Would Sophia go missing if she didn't go with Rick?
"Carl got shot because I wouldn't cut bait. It should be me in there."
"You've been there, partner, right? And you pulled through- So will he." Shane says, truthfully.
Rick has tears in his eyes. "Is that why I got outta that hospital? Found my family for it to end here, like this? This kind of s-sick joke?" Rick breaks out into sobs.
She still couldn't believe that her brother, Rick, was here next to her. She knows that she needs to tell him. Not right now though, he's not in a right place of mind for that bomb to drop. She's tell him when it's right.
Shane drops to the floor, in front of Rick. "You stop it. Just stop." He hisses, grabbing Rick's face.
"A little girl goes missing.. you look for her- it's plain and simple."
"It's my fault. I should have moved faster." Callie admits and she could feel all eyes on her.
"Callie-
A woman barges into the room. "Rick... he needs blood."
They all hurry into the room. Carl screaming as Hershel is literally moving tools in his body.
"You two, hold him down." Hershel orders Shane who immediately cooperates, followed closely by Callie, who drops her full weight in her hands onto him.
"Dad!" Carl cries, arching off the table but is stopped by Shane pouncing on him. Callie grits her teeth as she holds him down. Yeah, this isn't working well.
"I got him." Shane clenches his teeth.
Hershel digs in further, causing Carl to shift. "Almost there." He grits out.
Carl lets out a cry.
"Stop! You're killing him!" Rick screams raw while the blonde is quickly preparing to take blood. Another brunette is getting the needle prepped ready.
"Rick, do you want him to live?" Hershel snaps at him without tearing his eyes away from Carl, who is still shaking on the table.
"He needs blood." The woman pleads.
Rick's eyes meet Callie's.
"Rick." She pleads.
"Do it now!" Shane roars, which does kick Rick into action. That's when Carl goes limp in their arms.
"Wait." Callie whimpers, her eyes going wide.
Shane looks wide eyed at Callie. "Wait. Hey."
Hershel looks at him relieved. "He just passed out." He informs them. Hershel then pulls out a fragment. "One down... five to go. Pressure's stable." He announces and everyone is somewhat relieved at the news, but still, five fragments still there.
"Lori needs to be here. She doesn't even know what's goin' on. I got- I gotta go find her, bring her back." Rick starts to get up and Callie sits his ass back down.
"Sit back down. You're not going anywhere."
"She's right. You can't do that." Hershel agrees with her.
"She's his mother." Rick argues and pushes past Callie. "She needs to know what's happened. Her son's lying here, shot."
Hershel just stares at him. "And he's going to need more blood."
"That's why Callie is here."
"We'll need a lot more." Hershel retorts angrily. He breathes deeply, calming himself down. "He can't go more than 50 feet from this bed."
Rick starts walking and is immediately nearly falling over.
"Rick." Callie exclaims and both her and Shane catch him.
"Hey, hey. Come on." Shane ushers and they sit him back down.
"I'm alright. I'm alright." Rick mutters but Callie isn't buying it one bit.
"I got him." Shane assures Hershel who nods grateful. Shane helps Rick out of the room, away from Carl for a bit to get his head clear.
They sit down together, back on the couch where they originally sat before the whole ordeal. "He's stable for now, Rick." Callie assures the man. But he's not in the slightest eased.
"Lori has to be here, Shane, she has to know." Rick urges and Shane nods his head.
"Okay, I get that. I'm gonna handle it... But you've gotta handle your end." Shane tells him.
Rick blinks. "My-my end?"
Shane gets in front of him. "Your end is being here, for your son. Even if he didn't need your blood to survive, there is no way I'd ever 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 him and you weren't here... if- if he slipped away while you were gone, you would never forgive yourself for that, and neither would Lori, man."
Rick nods jerkily, tears running down his blood stained face. "You're right."
Shane pulls a small grin. "When was I ever wrong? You know, when... When you were in that hospital, the one you were never supposed to leave, man... You should've seen Lori. She was like- The strength of that woman... you can't imagine it. See-see, that's what you gotta have now. I mean, Carl, he needs that from you. So, you wire yourself tight, my friend. Hmm? You hear? You've got the hard part. You just leave the rest to me, okay?"
"Alright."
"I'm with you, Rick. Just in case." Callie tells Rick who smiles warmly at her.
"Thank you."
Hershel enters the room a second later and the trio stands suddenly. "He's out of danger for the moment, but I need to remove those remaining fragments."
"How? You saw how he was." Rick points out obviously to the older man.
Hershel nods grimly. "I know, and that was the shallowest one. I need to go deeper to get the others."
"Oh, man." Shane mutters.
"There's more." Hershel speaks and they all tense.
"Tell me." Rick grits out stiffly.
Hershel takes a breath. "His belly's distended, his pressure's 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."
The whole room falls silent.
"What'll it take?" Rick finally asks.
"You need a respirator. What else?" The man who shot Carl steps in.
"The tube that goes with it, extra surgical supplies, drapes, sutures." Hershel lists off.
"If you had all that, you could save him?" Rick asks him.
Hershel'a face remains stoic. "If I had all that, I could try."
"Nearest hospital went up in flames a month ago." The man speaks out again before realisation hits him. "The high school."
Hershel smiles a little. "That's what I was thinkin'. They set up a FEMA shelter there. They would have everything we need."
He furrows his brow. "The place was overrun last time I saw it. You couldn't get near it- Maybe it's better now." He says hopefully.
"I said, leave the rest to me. Is it too late to take that back?" Shane mutters sarcastically.
"I hate you going alone." Rick tells him.
Callie goes to speak but Hershel interrupts. "Not you. I need to stitch that side up. Plus your place is here since you're a match of Carl's."
"Come on, Doc. Why don't you do me a list, draw me a map." Shane suggests and Hershel nods.
But the pair are interrupted. "You won't need a map- I'll take you there. Ain't but five miles."
"Otis, no." A woman sternly orders, but her voice cracks in between. They care about each other. Maybe they are married.
"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 alright." Otis assures the woman.
Shane gives him a doubtful look. "Are you sure about this?"
"Do you even know what any of the stuff he's talking about looks like?" Otis retorts.
"Come to think, no."
"I've been a volunteer EMT. I do. Now, we can talk about this 'till next Sunday, or we could just go do it real quick." Otis puts his foot down.
"I'll take right quick." Shane agrees.
Rick looks at Otis. "I should thank you."
"Wait 'till that boy of yours is up and around, then we'll talk. I'll gather some things."
A woman walks up, one of Hershel's daughters. "Where is she? Your wife?"
"In the woods. Near the church. They should be heading back to the highway." Rick tells her and she looks at Hershel.
"I'll take one of the horses. They shouldn't be too far away if they're on foot." She tells him.
Hershel nods. "Be careful." The woman quickly runs out of the house.
The woman who is in a relationship with Otis approaches Callie. "Sit. I'll help you with that."
Callie sits down and she grabs medical supplies, sitting next to her. She pours some disinfectant on her wound and she hisses.
"Sorry."
"It's-it's fine. What's your name?" Callie clenches her teeth as the woman dabs at the wound, cleaning inside.
"Patricia."
"You're Otis' wife?" She asks the woman who looks at her surprised.
"Kinda guessed. You look close." Callie smiles but it drops when she wipes at it.
"You're lucky it scraped. If it hit you, well, you would have lost your appendix, and maybe a lung."
Callie raised her eyebrows in surprise. "Seriously?"
The woman nods her head. "Yeah. I guess you're lucky."
But she wishes it was her on that table instead of Carl.
"I'm Noa." Another girl announces and she looks at her. She looks just like the other brunette, but with longer hair in a low pony tail, two pieces framing her face.
"Callie." She responds to Noa. She hisses when Patricia starts stitching. Jesus that hurts like a bitch.
"Try not to think about it." Noa suggests and Callie slightly looks at her with a raised eyebrow but she winced when Patricia repeats the action.
"Hard not to." Callie sarcastically bites back and Noa nods her head.
Noa looks at her hard which puts Callie on edge. Is she a threat? "Are you and Rick related?" That question took Callie off guard. "You have the same eyes and nose."
"No. We not long ago just met." Callie lies through her teeth.
Noa hums. "Ah. Might be just me."
"Yeah." Callie laughs it off. If Rick was nearby, he may have heard it and realised the similarities. They do look similar, she just realised how similar they look. Same nose shape, just hers slightly smaller, same colour eyes. She's surprised no one has noticed, maybe they're choosing to ignore it.
Jeremy's POV
They've been trekking the woods for a while. And he could tell that the group is getting tired.
Ahead, Daryl stops and turns to the group who are several feet behind him. "We'll lose the light before too long. I think we should call it."
Amy pursues her lips before nodding. "Let's head back."
"We'll pick it up again tomorrow?" Carol asks, her voice breaking through the forest.
"Yeah, we'll find her tomorrow." Lori agrees, comforting the woman.
A scream erupts and they whip around to Connor, seeing a bear trap on his leg.
Carol and Amy both scream at the sight of the leg.
Jeremy and Daryl run up to him.
"Don't move your leg. At all."
Andrea is heaving at the side.
"Glenn. Cover his mouth." Jeremy orders him and Glenn covers his mouth, shushing him. Anything to calm him down.
"He's allowed to scream." Lori snaps at Jeremy.
"What if he brings walkers to us? A herd? We don't have the manpower to bring them down."
Summer collapses on her knees, undoing Jeremy's belt.
"What are you doing?" Glenn asks her.
"Stopping the bleeding. We need to get him back to the RV as soon as possible."
"We need proper medical supplies." Daryl snaps and they nod their heads. "Found the release."
Jeremy looks at Daryl for a second. "I need your belt."
"What?"
"Your belt. He needs something to bite down on." Jeremy repeats and Daryl nods.
Daryl shakily undoes his belt and folds it.
Connor is crying, tears are streaming down his face and he his breathing heavily. More like gasping for breath.
"Connor. I need you to slow your breathing. And bite on this for me, can you do that?" Daryl asks the kid and he nods. Opening his mouth and biting down on the belt. "Ready?" Daryl asks, looking at both Jeremy and Connor.
Connor shakily nods and Jeremy watches as the women turn away, and Glenn. Lori is holding Carol, the same with Andrea forcing Amy away from the scene. Summer is closing her eyes in anticipation.
"3... 2..." Daryl grabs the release. "1." It snaps open and Connor's scream echoes through the woods.
Aha. Did I just put a bear trap? Yes I did. I was shocked that no one used bear traps in those woods. But I wanted to show earlier signs of a group nearby, well, Randall's group who hunt and do other unspeakable things to people. So I wanted Connor to be a casualty of that. I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter! Show your support by commenting, following or favouriting.