★。＼｜／。★
｡☆✼★━━━━━━★✼☆｡
❝ you've got no reason to be afraid ❞
𝖈𝖍𝖆𝖕𝖙𝖊𝖗 𝖎𝖎

PLANTED BETWEEN THE tall green grass was where you could find Carrie Blake. Her fingers twisting a wrapping around a strand that she plucked from the scalp of the earth. Weaving it delicately between her fingers. 

The sound of running footsteps, making their way over to her, caused her to look up, the strand of grass going idle in her hand as she saw the form of a bloodied man, in a sherif outfit, carrying a limp boy in his arms.

"Carrie!" Maggie called for her, noticing the man, and looking at him through her binoculars.

Carrie stood up in shock, a worried look on her face, before she allowed the grass to drop from her fingers as she turned and ran back into the fenced off area. She climbed up the porch steps, as the door slammed open, with Hershel, Maggie and the rest of the group popping through it.

"Was he bit?" Hershel questioned the sherif.

"Shot." The man had pain in his voice, and tears in his eyes as he carried, what was presumed to be his son. "By your man." He added.

"Otis?" Patricia, Otis's wife, questioned.

"He said find Hershel. Is that you?" The man panickedly asked. "Help me." He began to plead, "Help my boy."

"Get him inside." Hershel instructed, guiding the man into the house. Once inside, Hershel rolled up his sleeves. "Patricia, I need my fully kit. Maggie, Carrie," they answered him with a hum, turning towards him, "painkillers, coagulates, grab everything." They nodded before taking off inside the house, grabbing all the medicine they could find. "Clean towels, Sheets, Alcohol." Hershel entered Carries room, flipping over the blanket, allowing the man to place the boy on them. "In here. Pillowcase." Hershel instructed.

"Is he alive?" The man questioned, looking on with sorrow at the ghostly pale face of his son.

"Pillowcase, quick." Hershel instructed once more, tying a belt around the boy.

"Is he alive?" The man asked once more.

"Fold it." Hershel told the man, as the group entered the room, with all the tools Hershel requested, "Make a pad." The man did as instructed and placed the pillowcase against his sons still bleeding injury, "Put pressure on the wound." Hershel said, helping him do so, before putting on his stethoscope, resting it against where the boys heart would be. After a pause, he finally spoke, "I've got a heartbeat." The dad nodded, relieved, "It's faint." Hershel added.

"I got it, step back." Patricia said, moving in between the two men.

"Maggie, I.V" Hershel requested.

"We need some space." Maggie told the man, returning with the I.V. The man just stood there, staring down at his wounded son.

"Your name?" Hershel questioned.

Hearing his question, the man weakly spoke up, "Rick."

"Rick?"

"I'm- I'm- I'm- I'm Rick." The man stuttered.

"Rick, We're gonna do everything we can, okay?" Hershel told him, hooking his son up to the I.V, Carrie and Maggie setting up the fluids, as Patrica tended to the bullet would. Hershel turned to the man, "You need to give us some room." Rick looked around the room, hesitantly, "Now."

The man exited the room, allowing them to help tend to his son, before he returned, with another man behind him.

Upon his entrance, Hershel asked, "you know his blood type?"

"A-positive, same as mine." Rick struggled to get out.

"That's fortunate." He turned to Rick, "Don't wander far, I'm gonna need you." He paused, before questioning, "What happened?"

"I was, tracking a buck. Bullet went through it." Carries eyes went to the boy who laid bleeding out on her bed, "Went clean through."

"The deer slowed the bullet down, which certainly saved his life. But it did not go through clean. It broke up into pieces." Hershel explained, "If I can get the bullet fragments out, and I'm counting six." Hershel examined the wound once more, as Otis walked up to his wife, standing behind Rick.

"I never saw him," Otis's words pained Ricks heart, "not until he was on the ground." Patricia pulled Otis into a hug.

Rick turned to the man he had brought in, "Lori doesn't know?"

"No," The man answered.

"My wife doesn't know." Rick stated, tears growing in his eyes, "My wife doesn't know." Rick held his hand up to his face, crying into it.

Carrie's eyes held sympathy as she looked away from the weeping man, and over to his bleeding son.

CARRIES EYES WIDENED as the boy began to squirm against her bed, from the pain from his wound. Noticing it as well, Maggie opened the door and called out to Rick, who was sat on a couch in the living room, speaking with the man.

"Rick." The two men got up and turned to Maggie, "He needs blood." Maggie explained, causing the two men to immediately rush into the room, finding the boy groaning and crying and writhing around on the bed.

"You hold him down." Hershel told the unknown man, who came up, and held Carl down by his other shoulder, lightly covering his neck, to keep his head down.

"I got him." Shane said.

"Dad!" The boy cried.

"Almost there." Hershel spoke, slowly working the tool between his fingers, trying to delicately pull the bullet fragments out the wound, causing the boy to scream even louder.

"Stop! You're killing him!" Rick yelled, looking back at his son as his arm got prepped for a blood transplant. 

"Rick, do you wan't him to live?" Hershel questioned, not taking his eyes off the wound.

Carrie, looked at the medicine beside her, plucking out the pain killers, and making her way over to the bed. "Here." She said, popping the lid of the orange bottle, "Pain killers." She said, going beside the man, pouring some into her hand, before holding them up to the boys mouth. Seeing the medicine in her hands, the boy opened his mouth, allowing the girl to pour them in there, before throwing his head back in pain, hurriedly chewing and swallowing the pills, hoping for them to help with the pain.

"He needs blood." Patricia stated.

"Do it now!" The man besides Carrie yelled, causing Patricia to quickly finish up preparing Rick, sticking the needle into his arm, as the boys screams died off, as he passed out.

"Wait. wait. Hey." The man said, looking up at Rick, who looked at his son horrified.

"He just passed out." Hershel explained. The room was now silent as Hershel began to work faster. He pulled out the fragment, "One down," The shrapnel down clinked as he put it down, "five to go."

AIR HISSED AS Hershel checked the boys blood pressure. "Pressure's stable." He stated, to the father who sat on the other side of the bed, pumping his blood into his son, as he placed his stethoscope around his neck. 

"Lori needs to be here." Rick spoke of his wife once more. "She doesn't even know whats going on. I gotta go find her. Bring her back."

"You can't do that." Hershel explained.

"She's his mother." Rick argued, upset, "She needs to know what's happened. Her son's lying here shot."

"And he's going to need more blood." Hershel countered, "He can't go more than 50 feet from this bed."

With the help of Patricia, Rick got up from the bed side chair, hobbling over a bit, causing his friend to come over to him.

"Hey. Hey." He grabbed Ricks upper arms, eyes flashing towards the bed, "Come on."

"I'm alright." Rick waved him off. "I'm alright."

The man turned to Hershel, before following after his friend, "I got him." He said, before walking out the bedroom. Upon their entrance into the living room, the people within in stood up straight, looking at them. "He's stable for now" The man spoke, closing the door and leaning on the wall.

"Lori has to be here, Shane, she has to know." Rick turned to the man, now known as Shane, and said.

"Okay, I get that." Shane nodded in understanding, "I'm gonna handle it." He paused, looking at his friend, "But you've gotta handle your end."

"My- my end?" Rick questioned.

"Your end is being here for your son." Shane crouched down, "Even if he didn't need your blood to survive, there is no way I'd ever let you walk out that door." He pointed to the front door, "Man, I'd- I'd break your legs if you tried. I mean you know that, right?" Rick looked at him once before he hanged his head and looked at the ground. "If something happened to him, and you weren't here..." Rick held his hands to his head, pinching the bridge of his nose, "If- if he slipped away while you were gone," Shane struggled to get out at the thought of his words coming to life, "You would never forgive yourself for that. And neither would Lori, man."

Ricks body shook, seeming to be sobbing into his hands, before his hands dropped from his face, eyes showing tears in them, and he looked at Shane, "You're right."

"When was I ever wrong?" Shane sarcastically questioned, smile growing on his face as a small chuckle left his mouth. His face then grew serious, "You know when- when you were in that hospital, the one you were never supposed to leave, man, you should've seen Lori." Shane moved closer to Rick, "She was like..." He paused, "The strength of that woman..." He let out a breathy laugh, "You can't imagine it." He then put his arm around Rick, "See- see that's what you've got to have now. I mean, Carl- he needs that from you. So you wire yourself tight, my friend. Hmm." He grabbed the side of Rick's head. "You hear?" Rick grabbed the side of Shanes face, leaning their foreheads together, "You've got the hard part. You just leave the rest to me, okay?"

"Alright." Rick gruffly said.

"Alright." Shane clapped his hand on the side of Rick head, before letting each other go as the door opened, Hershel coming from behind it.

He turned to Rick, with a rag in his hands, "He's out of danger for the moment. But I need to remove those remaining fragments."

"How?" Rick questioned, remembering how his son was when he removed the first, "You saw how he was."

"I know, and that was the shallowest one. I need to go deeper to get the others." Hershel explained.

"Oh man." Shane sighed.

"Theres more." Hershel added.

"Tell me." Rick nodded for him to go on, looking at the floor

"His belly's distended, his pressure is dropping." Hershel said, causing Carrie to sigh in worry, "Which means there's internal bleeding." Rick looked up at him, "A fragment must have nicked one of the blood vessels." He paused, "I have to open him up, find the bleeder and stitch it." Rick looked at him with tears in his eyes, "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." Rick stayed silent, "To even try this, I have to put him under. But if I do, he won't be able to breath on his own. Same bad results."

"What'll it take?" Rick questioned.

"You need a respirator." Otis answered, walking forward. "What else?"

"The tube that goes with it, extra surgical supplies, drapes, sutures." Hershel listed.

"If you had all that, you could save him?" Asked Rick.

"If I had all that, I could try." Hershel corrected.

"Nearest hospital went up in flames a month ago." Otis told them. "The high school." Otis realized.

Hershel nodded to him. "That's what I was thinking." His head turned back to Rick, "They set up a FEMA shelter back there. They would have everything we need."

"The place was overrun last time I saw it." Otis added, "You couldn't get near it. Maybe it's better now."

Shane nodded along, speaking up, "I said, leave the rest to me." He looked up at the group, "Is it too late to take that back?"

"I hate you going alone," Rick started, looking at his friend.

"Come on." Shane looked back down to the ground, "Doc, why don't you do me a list and draw me a map?"

"You won't need a map." Otis spoke up, "I'll take you there. Ain't but five miles."

"Otis, no." Patricia said, from behind Hershel.

"Honey," Otis began, looking at his wife, "We don't have time for guesswork and I'm responsible." Otis affirmed, "I ain't gonna sit here while this fella takes this on alone." He paused, before adding his a soft voice, "I'll be alright."

"Are you sure about this?" Shane questioned the man.

"Do you even know what any of the stuff he's talking about looks like?"

"Come to think, no."

"I've been a volunteer E.M.T. I do." Otis sucked in a breath, "We can talk about this until next sunday, or we could just go do it real quick."

"I'll take right quick."

"I should thank you." Rick told Otis.

"Wait till that boy of yours is up and around. Then we'll talk. I'll gather some things." Otis then turned and walked off.

"Where is she?" Maggie questioned, walking up to Rick.

Carrie spoke up from beside her, adding "Your wife?"

CARRIE AND MAGGIE rode through the wind in the forest, on the back of their horses. With the wind in her hair, Carrie Blake had a smile on her face. She had almost forgotten the feeling of horseback ridding. The joy and freedom that came with it. The smile got wiped off her face as a scream sound throughout the woods.

Following the loud scream, Maggie readied the bat she carried with her, holding it out to her side, finding a walker closing on a screaming blonde lady, who was using her feet to keep it back.

Riding past, Maggie used the bad and took a blow to the walkers face, causing it to stumble backwards and fall. Slowing the horses down, the two began to call out, "Lori, Lori Grimes."

"I'm Lori." A woman said, walking up to them, a small group following after her.

"Rick sent us." Carrie explained.

"You've gotta come now." Maggie quickly added.

"What?" Lori questioned, brows stitching together.

"There's been an accident." Maggie told her.

"Carl's been shot." At Carries words, the woman's jaw dropped, shock and worry taking over her face.

"He's still alive, but you've got to come now." Maggie said. The woman stood frozen in her shock, causing Maggie to amplify, "Rick needs you. Just come."

Lori began to take the backpack of her bag, causing a man holding a crossbow to step forward pointing at them, "Whoa, woah, woah. We don't know these girls." Lori ignored him, walking over to Maggies horse, "You can't get on that horse."

"Rick said you had others on the highway," Maggie told the man as Lori got settled behind her, "that big traffic snarl?"

"Uh-huh." A asian man nodded, seemingly out of breath.

"Backtrack to Fairburn Road. Two miles down is our farm." Maggie instructed, "You'll see the mailbox. The name is Greene." Maggie turned to Carrie, "Come on. Hyah!" And the three girls were off, leaving the group to watch them gallop away in confusion.

RICK GRIMES STOOD in his bloodied shirt, staring out at the fields beyond the farm. Hershel Greene soon followed, walking up to him and standing beside him, causing Rick to look at him.

"This place-" Rick looked back out to the fields, "-is beautiful."

"Been in my family 160 years." Hershel told him.

"I can't believe how serene it is. How untouched. You're lucky."

"We weren't completely unscathed." He corrected. "We lost friends, neighbors." He gave a short pause, "The epidemic took my wife, my stepson."

Rick nodded in acknowledgment. "I'm sorry."

"My daughter's were spared." Hershel went on, "i'm grateful to God for that." He looked from Rick to the view, "These people here, all we got left is each other." He stated, "The red head girl, the one who gave your son pain killers." Rick easily remembered the girl, "My daughter Maggie is like her mother. She was found almost being eaten by her real mother, and we don't know where her father is." Hershel shook his head, looking down, "We're all she has." Rick nodded, "We're all just hoping we can ride it out in peace, till theres a cure."

Rick let out a breath, before beginning, "We were at the C.D.C." He turned to Hershel, "It's- it's gone now. There is no cure." Rick shook his head slightly.

"I don't believe it." Hershel said with a slight smile. "When AIDS came along, everyone panicked. One boy in town came down with it, and some parents pulled their children from school so they didn't have to sit in the same room."

"This is a whole other thing." Rick interrupted.

"That's what we always say. 'This one's different'."

"Well, this one is."

Hershel let out a humored breath, "Mankind's been fighting plagues from the start. We get our behinds kicked for a while, then we bounce back. It's nature correcting herself, restoring some balance."

Rick rose his brows, turning away from him, "I wish I could believe that."

Just them, the sound of horse hooves, thundering against the ground was heard, causing the both of them to look out to the field, finding the two horses Carrie and Maggie rode on when they first left were re-approaching, with another person on Maggies.

Figuring it to be them coming back with Lori, Rick backed away from the ledge and began to make his way off the patio to greet them.

The horses stilled allowing Lori to get off of Maggies, and as Maggie got off the horse as well, Lori took notice of the blood on her husbands shirt, causing her to cry before getting wrapped in a hug from him. The two began to hurry inside, leaving the three behind to watch as they left, to reunite with their son.

Maggie turned to the girl who still sat atop her horse, "Need some help getting down?" It was true that she would need some help, seeing as the horse was a full grown and not a pony, that a child would usually ride, but Carrie shook her head, not intending on getting down.

"No, I think this girls got a bit more ride left in her." Carrie said, patting the horses side.

"Alright," Maggie smiled up at her, "Just stay in the open field." Carrie grinned, before using the reigns to turn the horse around, galloping back through the fence she entered from, wildly riding around in the open field, with her hands out to her sides. Feeling the wind blow against her with her eyes closed, she had no reason to be afraid.