.・゜-: ✧☾　☽✧ :-゜・.

𝐈𝐓 𝐇𝐀𝐃 𝐆𝐎𝐍𝐄 𝐁𝐋𝐀𝐂𝐊. Everything was black. For one second everything went dark in Stella's eyes after seeing the bullet pierce the deer, going straight into Carl's stomach. Stella's heart stopped and her ears rang from the gunshot.

"No, no, no, no, no," Stella said repeatedly, like it was going to change what had just happened.

The next thing she knew, she was running. Running like life and death depended on it, which was exactly what it did. Her mind wasn't controlling her anymore, her legs were as she ran through the forest and over an open field. Next to her ran her father, with his son's body in his arms. Carl's limbs hung life-less and his shirt was stained with blood.

In the distance, she saw a house, a farm. As they got closer the front door opened and out flew six people. In front stood an older man.

"Was he bit?" He asked.

"Shot." Rick panted. "By your man."

"Otis?" A woman asked.

"He said find Hershel. Is that you? Help me, help my boy."Rick said, his voice croaky from suppressed sobs.

"Get him inside!" The old man shouted.
Stella and her father rushed inside, along with the six strangers that consisted of the older man, Hershel, a young man, two blonde girls, and a young and an older woman. Stella was trembling and she had to hold on to the door frame as she walked inside, to not collapse.

"Patricia, I need my full kit," Hershel said. "Maggie, painkillers, coagulates, grab everything. Clean towels, sheets, alcohol." He demanded as they made it through the house and into a bedroom.

"Is..is he alive?" Stella's voice shook as she spoke. She was afraid of the answer, afraid that it might destroy her very soul.

"Pillowcase, quick." Hershel avoided the question. Rick fumbled his way to one of the pillows with his shaking hands.

"Is he alive?" Stella repeated, a bit louder this time.

"Fold it, make a pad. Put pressure on the wound." Hershel ordered as he grabbed his stethoscope and placed it on the young boy's chest. A few seconds went by as Hershel tried to locate his heartbeat. But for Stella, it felt like hours. Once the man had found it, the Grimes girl couldn't help but let the tears flow.
Stella and Rick were forced out of the room, to give the people some space.

Stella cried great, loud sobs. Her legs couldn't hold her anymore and she collapsed into a rocking chair on the porch.
He can't die. Not here. Not now, never.

𝐄 𝐋 𝐋 𝐈 𝐄

Ellie Greene sat on the couch along with their sisters, playing cards when Maggie suddenly stood up and rushed out the front door. She grabbed her binoculars and looked out over the field. Ellie didn't need binoculars to see what it was that she had seen. Something was running over the open field. A walker? No, walkers don't run. It was a man, carrying a child. And next to them ran a blond girl.
The boy had been shot by Otis. Hershel was quick to take the boy inside and began trying to save him.

Having a father who was a veterinarian, all of the Green siblings knew a thing or two about these things. Ellie, who was a former skateboarder, knew a lot about wounds.

The blond girl and the man, Rick, had gone outside to give Hershel and his family some space. The boy was very young, and Ellie couldn't let him die. So she did her best to help her father as he got to work on the boy.

Ellie helped her father clean the boy's wound. But the boy had lost a lot of blood and he needed more.

Soon the man and the blonde girl came back, along with Otis and a strange man.

"You know his blood type?" Hershel asked.

"A-positive, same as mine," Rick replied.

"That's fortunate. Don't wander far. I'm gonna need you." Ellie's father said before turning to Otis. "What happened?"

"I was tracking a buck. Bullet went through it." Otis said.

Ellie felt bad for him. It wasn't his fault. He hadn't done it on purpose. Ellie liked Otis a lot. He was always very kind to her.

"The deer slowed the bullet down, which certainly saved his life," Hershel said. "But it did not go through clean. It broke into pieces. If I can get the bullet fragments out and I'm counting six..."

Ellie wasn't an expert at bullet wounds, but she knew that a shattered bullet wasn't good. It wouldn't be easy for her father to get them out. But she prayed that he would.

"Lori doesn't know," Rick said. "My wife doesn't know. My wife doesn't know." His eyes pooled with tears as he pulled the blonde girl close.

The young boy was awake. He was crying in pain, constantly calling out the name Stella. Ellie assumed that was the blonde girl's name.
The boy needed blood. Ellie rushed out to get Rick and his friend.

"You two," Hershel said looking at Stella and the other man. " hold him down."

They both rushed over and bent down next to his bed to do what Hershel had told them.

"Stella!" The boy cried out.

"I know, baby." Stella sobbed. "I know, I got you."

"Almost there," Hershel said as the boy screamed and struggled under their grip.
Ellie watched as the blonde girl, used her free hand to stroke the boy's hair and reassuring him that everything was going to be fine.
The boy screamed even louder making Rick jolt towards his son.
"Stop! You're killing him!"

"Rick, do you want him to live?!" Shouted Hershel as he tried to get a bullet fragment out.

"He needs blood," Patrica said.

Rick quickly pulled up his sleeve and reached out his arm for Patricia to stick the needle in his skin.
Suddenly, the room fell silent and the crying stopped. The boy had passed out from the pain.

"No, no, no, no," Stella repeated.

"He just passed out," Ellie explained to the sobbing girl.
Soon after, Hershel got the fragment out and placed it on a metal tray next to him. "One down, five to go."

𝐒 𝐓 𝐄 𝐋 𝐋 𝐀

Stella sat on one of the couches outside the bedroom next to a blonde girl, the youngest one in the family.

"Is.. emm." The girl hesitated. "That boy in there, is he your brother?"

Stella met her eyes and nodded.
"You know that blonde girl, Beth, and the one with the cowboy boots, Maggie? Those are my sisters. I can't imagine what you're going through. If that was one of them in there, I wouldn't have been able to keep it together. You're strong, so is he." The girl nodded towards the door to the bedroom.

Stella smiled, appreciating the compassion and kindness. "I'm Stella."

"Ellie."
Stella was about to say something else, like thank her for helping her brother, but just as she opened her mouth the door opened.

Her father walked out, looking very light-headed from all the blood he had given. He sat down in an armchair and placed his head in his hands.

"He's stable for now," Shane informed.

"Lori has to be here, Shane, she has to know," Rick said.

"Okay, I get that." Said Shane. "I'm gonna handle it. But you've got to handle your end."

"My..my end?" Rick said weakly.

"Your end is being here for you son, and daughter." Shane bent down to Rick's height. "Even if he didn't need your blood to survive, there's no way I'd ever let you walk out that door. I'd break your legs if you tried. You know that, right? If something happened to him and you weren't here... If he slipped away while you were gone, you would never forgive yourself for that. And neither would Lori, man."

"You're right." Rick nodded.

"When was I ever wrong?" Shane chuckled but then his expression became more serious.

Soon after, the door opened and Hershel walked out. Stella flew out of her seat, eager but also scared to hear how Carl was doing.

"He's out of danger for the moment. But I need to remove those remaining fragments." Hershel explained.

"How? You saw how he was."

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

"Oh, God." Stella sighed.

"There's more," Hershel began. "His belly is distended, his pressure is dropping, which means there's internal bleeding. A fragment must have nicked one of his 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 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."

"You need a respirator," Ellie spoke up. "What else?"

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

"If you had all that you could save him?" Stella's voice was thick with tears.

"I could try."

"Nearest hospital went up in flames a month ago." The man who shot Carl said. Then his eyebrows went up like he had remembered something." the high school."

𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐒𝐔𝐍 𝐇𝐀𝐃 𝐁𝐄𝐆𝐀𝐍 𝐓𝐎 𝐒𝐄𝐓. Stella sat on the front porch, waiting for Shane and Otis to come back and for Maggie to bring her mother. She swayed back and forth in a rocking chair.

"Hi," a soft voice said. Stella looked at the girl who stood next to her. "Mind if I sit?"

Stella shook her head and the girl sat down. "You're Beth, right?"

"Yeah, Stella, was it?"

"That's right," Stella said before she let her gaze wander over the farm. "This place is beautiful."

"Been in the family for 160 years." Beth smiled.

A silence was laid upon the two. Stella closed her eyes slightly, breathing in deeply, and let the farm's different smells fill her nostrils. Her eyes were dry from all the crying and her whole body was aching from the lack of sleep.

"Thank you, so much for what you're doing for my brother." She said. "What you're all doing for him."

"Of course," Said Beth.

"Your dad, Gershel, he a doctor?"

"You could say that."

"Felt like I was watching an episode of General Hospital in there." Stella chuckled.
Both girls laughed.

Then Stella flew up from her seat after she had spotted something in the distance. Over the open field where she and her father had run over earlier, now came a horse galloping towards them.

Stella ran into her mother's embrace and shoved her head against her shoulder while the two cried, loud sobs.

The sun had set, and dusk settled over the farm. Stella sat next to her brother's bed, holding his hand. The members of the Greene family were clicking their fingernails against tables or walking impatiently through the house, waiting for Shane's and Otis's return.

"Pressure's dropping again," Hershel said, lifting his stethoscope from Carl's chest. "We can't wait much longer."

"Take more blood," Rick said, pulling up his sleeve and holding his arm up to Hershel. "Whatever he needs. Then I'm gonna go."

"Go? Go where?" Lori asked, fidgeting with her hair nervously.

"He said five miles. They should be back by now. Something's gone wrong."Said Rick.

"Are you insane?" Lori frowned. "You're not going after them."

"If they got into trouble—"

"Dad, stop." Stella stood up. "Stop always trying to do the right thing for everyone. You have to be here. You can barely stand up. You wouldn't make it across the yard and you can sure as hell don't go out there!"

"Stella's right," Hershel said. "You're in no condition to do anything about it."

"If something happened, I have to go," Rick argued.

"No, your place is here." Lori raised her voice. "If Shane said he'll be back, he'll be back. He's like you that way."

"I can't just stand here."

"That's right, you can barely stand. Sit down, Dad. He needs you, we need you, Dad. I need you."

𝐄 𝐋 𝐋 𝐈 𝐄

Ellie Greene sat on the front porch along with Maggie, staring out over the farm, their home, in silence. Ellie hated the feeling of not knowing what was going on or what was taking so long. Otis and Shane should have been back a long time ago. The high school wasn't far away.

"I saw you were talking to that girl earlier." Ellie heard her sister speak up. "The sheriff's daughter."

"You mean the hot sheriff's daughter," Ellie asked.

"I didn't know you were into girls."

"No, the girl's dad. He's hot."

"Ellie! He is like triple your age!" Maggie laughed with wide eyes.

"So? I mean, one can dream, right?"

Suddenly a car drove over the farm before parking on the gravel walk. Two men emerged from the car and walked skeptically over the gravel path. Both Greene sisters fell silent.

"So do we ring the bell? I mean, it looks like people live here." One of the men said. He was young, maybe Maggie's age.

"We're past this kind of stuff, aren't we?" The other man said and the two began waking up the small set of stairs that led to the front porch.

"Did you close the gate up the road when you drove in?" Maggie asked. The two men snapped their heads and stared in confusion at Maggie.

"Woah.." the cap-wearing boy said, but he was cut off by the other man punching him in the stomach lightly, to shut him up. "Uh," he cleared his throat. "Hi. Yes, we closed it. Did the latch and everything. It's uhh.. nice to see you again. We met before, briefly."

Ellie switched her attention to the other man, who looked like he was about to pass out. "Woah, you look like shit. You good? Please don't tell me you're bitten."

"No, we came here to help." The black man explained.

"Then, what is that?" Ellie asked, referring to the bandage on his arm.

"It's not a bite. I cut myself pretty bad though." He explained.

"We'll have a look at it," Maggie said, standing up from her chair. "I'll tell them you're here."

𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐁𝐎𝐘 𝐖𝐀𝐒 𝐀𝐖𝐀𝐊𝐄. Ellie stood in the corner of the room watching as his parents and sister rushed to him and kneeled next to his bed. Stella stared at her brother, eyes full of happiness and relief.

"Where are we?" He looked around in disoriented confusion.

"Hey, little man," Rick said. "That's Hershel." He motioned towards Ellie's father. "We're in his house. You had an accident."

"It hurts, a lot," Carl said with a drawn face.

"Oh, baby I know. I know." Lori said as Stella took his hand in hers.

"You should have seen it, Mom." Carl smiled softly.

"What?"

"The deer. It was pretty, Mom. It was so close. I've never been..." he stopped and his family watched in horror as his eyes rolled to the back of his head.

"Carl?" His older sister asked as her eyes darkened with worry.

The boy's body began shaking violently.
Ellie's inner nurse took over and she jolted forward. Rick and Lori tried to hold him down but were quickly stopped by Ellie.
"Don't! It's a seizure. If you hold him down, you could hurt him. "

"You can't stop it?" Stella asked and her eyes prickled with panic.

"He has to just go through it. "Hershel explained.

Rick pulled his wife and daughter close as they sobbed, watching Carl shake. Ellie swallowed hard, watching the family's eyes big with panic and worry.

Then, once the boy stopped moving, his family rushed to him.

"His brain isn't getting enough blood," Hershel said. "His pressure is bottoming. He needs another transfusion."

"Okay, I'm ready," Rick said weakly.

"If I take any more out of you, your body could shut down. You could go into a coma."

"That's not happening again. Here," Stella rolled up her sleeve. "Take some of mine."

"No, Stella." He shut her down immediately.

"But—"

"You're wasting time," Rick said, holding out his arm for Hershel. "He's dying."

_____ ˚₊‧꒰ა ☆ ໒꒱ ‧₊˚ _____
𝟐𝟕𝟑𝟐 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐝𝐬
𝐨𝐜𝐭𝐨𝐛𝐞𝐫 𝟓𝐭𝐡
𝟏𝟏:𝟑𝟒: 𝐏𝐌
_____ ˚₊‧꒰ა ☆ ໒꒱ ‧₊˚ _____

𝐀/𝐍
Omggg finally posting another chapter. It has taken a while bc school is just to much rn and I've had no time to write but here it finally is!!!

I kind of hate this chapter but it is what it is!
And I introduced Ellie!!! I just didn't have the patience to wait until season 4 to introduce another oc so here she is!!!

Thank you guys sm for hitting 1k reads and like 500 followers on TikTok!!! I love you guysss

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