.・゜-: ✧☾　☽✧ :-゜・.

"𝐇𝐄'𝐒 𝐒𝐓𝐈𝐋𝐋 𝐋𝐎𝐒𝐈𝐍𝐆 𝐁𝐋𝐎𝐎𝐃 𝐅𝐀𝐒𝐓𝐄𝐑 𝐓𝐇𝐀𝐍 𝐖𝐄 𝐂𝐀𝐍 𝐑𝐄𝐏𝐋𝐀𝐂𝐄 𝐈𝐓." Hershel said to Rick and Lori who stood in each other's arms, staring at their boy. "And with the swelling in his abdomen, we can't wait any longer or he's just going to slip away."

Stella's face crumpled and she shook her head at the thought of Carl dying. He can't die. Not here, not now. Her baby brother. She knew that she wouldn't be able to go through that. These thoughts felt like needles jabbing at Stella's skin.

Weirdly enough, a realization hit her. The comic book. The ones she found in the car. She never got the chance to give them to him. She had to give them to him. A plaintive cry escaped her lips.

"Now I need to know right now if you want me to do this because I think your boy is out of time," Hershel warned. "You have to make a choice."

"A choice?" Lori's voice broke.
"A choice," Rick said turning to his wife, staring at her with his swollen, red eyes. "You tell me what it is."

Lori placed her hand on the side of his face. "We do it."

The doctor began cleaning up around the boy, calling in his family members to help, and got prepared for what he was going to do. They all put on gloves and grabbed surgical supplies.

"Rick, Lori, Stella, you may want to step out."

The Grimes girl stared at her little brother. He looked so small, smaller than usual. His skin was pale and prickled.

In the corner of her eye, Stella saw a bright light from outside, the headlights of a truck. They were back. She immediately rushed outside as the truck parked in front of them. The car door opened and Shane hurried out. He limped his way over the gravel driveway.

"Carl?" He asked.

"There's still a chance," Rick replied.
Shane handed the supplies to the doctor.
"Otis?" He asked.

Shane stared at them with wide eyes before he shook his head.
The Greene family stared in silent grief as tears formed in their eyes. He died. Sacrificed himself for Carl.

The doctor, along with his family, hurried inside leaving Shane with the Grimes family. Shane stared at them blankly, his mouth moving but forming no words. Like they were strangled in his throat. Rick pulled his friend into his embrace as they both shared a heavy weight of worry and grief.

"They kept blocking us at every turn." Shane began. "We had nothing left. We were down to 10 rounds. Then he said... he said he'd cover me and that I.. i ... should keep going." Shane stuttered as he spoke, feeling the sobs forcing their way up his throat. "So that's what I did I just..I kept going.. but when I looked back... he... I tried."

Once Hershel had the supplies he needed, he began the surgery on the boy. Stella sat on the porch steps with her parents, resting her head on her mother's shoulder. She wished that Levi was there. She needed him in a situation like this. Her eyes had gone dry from the crying and she knew that there were no tears left to cry.

They waited and waited. For Stella, it felt like the minutes were hours.
The door behind them opened and Hershel stepped outside. The Grimes family immediately got on their feet and stared at the man, trying to decipher his facial expressions.

"He seems to have stabilized," Hershel explained with a growing smile on his lips.

"Oh God!" Rick exclaimed as he almost collapsed from the relief.
Stella and her mother let out a cry of relief as they brought each other into an embrace. Rick walked up to the doctor and hugged him tightly, thanking him repeatedly.

"He.. He..is." Stella struggled to get the words out as she looked at her brother's savior. "He's going to be okay."

"Yes, baby." Lori strokes her daughter's hair gently.

Rick and Hershel went to tell Patricia about the tragedy that had struck her husband, while Lori and Stella went to see Carl. Stella heard screams and sobs from the devastated Patricia as she passed the kitchen.

Stella kneeled next to her unconscious younger brother's bed and let her hand stroke his face and her other hand went to grab his hand. She stared at her brother through the tears that pooled her eyes.

"You're going to be okay. This nightmare will be over soon, I promise."

Stella sat by Carl's bed the rest of the night and the morning after, holding his hand in hers while the other stroked his hair.

"Fever's gone down," Hershel said.
His words were followed by a sudden movement from Carl. Stella, along with her father and mother immediately flew up, so they were standing, leaning over the boy.

"Carl?"

His blue eyes slowly opened and he blinked at the sudden light, trying to adjust. His eyes flickered around the room in confusion before landing on Stella.

"Sophia? Is she okay?"

It felt like someone had gone down Stella's throat and ripped her heart out. Sophia was Carl's best friend. Seeing how caring he is made Stella's very soul crumble.
She didn't know what to say, but luckily her father quickly answered.

"Fine, she's fine."

"Rest. We'll be right here, okay?" Lori said softly.

"Okay," he nodded, and his eyes quickly shut as the exhausted boy fell back to sleep.
Stella grabbed his hand again and let her thump stroke his soft skin. She stared at her brother, wishing deeply that she could take all his pain. Wishing that she was the one who was shot. Wishing that they could switch places.
She remembered a Halloween many years ago when she and Carl dressed up as their father. They bought a sheriff's costume and a plastic gun, and they could run around in the backyard playing with the fake weapon. After their father got home from work he would join them and they would play until the sun set and their mother had made dinner.

Stella missed those moments when she would collapse from laughter and get high on the amount of candy she had eaten. When she would get a tantrum because she had to go to bed. When she and Carl would sneak up and hide in a corner while their parents watched a scary movie that terrified the kids for months.

The sound of the door opening made Stella snap out of her thoughts and back to reality, where people die and then try to eat you. A reality where her little brother had been shot.

T-dog stood in the doorway. "They're back."

Stella unraveled her hand from Carl's and followed T-dog outside. The remaining members of their group had just parked their cars as Stella jolted out the door. Behind one of the cars, she spotted the top of a brunette boy's hair. She rushed down the stairs to the porch and hurried over to him.

She wrapped her arms around him and hugged him tightly and his arms encircled her waist gently. A smile blossomed on his face.
She could hear his heartbeat, a smoothing rhythm that calmed her nerves. Her face into his chest and her tears of joy and relief soaked his shirt. She wasn't sure why she was crying, she was so happy to see him. Before, she would always turn to Carl when things were bad but after the accident, she felt so lost not being able to turn to someone. They didn't need to say a word.

A soft sigh escaped her lips as she hugged her best friend, feeling safe and less lonely.
"Is he okay?" Levi asked.

"Yes." She nodded.
"Oh, thank God." He sighed.
"Did you find...?" They unraveled from the hug.
Levi shook his head as he bit down on his bottom lip.

"How is he?" Dale asked, staring at Lori and Rick, who had stepped out over the open surface in front of the house.

"He'll pull through." Lori smiled relieved. "Thanks to Hershel and his people."

"And Shane." Rick added. "We'd lost Carl if not for him."

Stella stared at the man. He had shaved his hair, making him look very different. His eyes were dark, like they were keeping a secret. It wasn't just his hair that was different, he was.

_____ ˚₊‧꒰ა ☆ ໒꒱ ‧₊˚ _____
𝟏𝟒𝟎𝟔 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐝𝐬
𝟒:𝟑𝟎 𝐀𝐌
𝐨𝐜𝐭𝐨𝐛𝐞𝐫 𝟐𝟔𝐭𝐡
_____ ˚₊‧꒰ა ☆ ໒꒱ ‧₊˚ _____

𝐀/𝐍
HIIIII
soo Levi and Stella's reunion was the cutest I love them sm and be prepared for a slow burn guys😻

Love you all sm

Vote if you hate Shane lmao