"Hey, little dude." Austin went to Carls side immediately when he started coughing in the middle of the night. Lori and Rick hurried in immediately after.

Carl shook in fear. "W-where are we?"

"Hey, little man." Rick smiled down at him, one hand on Austin's shoulder. He nodded toward the old man. "That's Hershel. We're in his house. You-You had an accident."

"And pulled through like a strong son of a bitch." Austin grinned down at him, Lori slapped his arm. "Son of a beautiful, amazing woman."

"It hurts, a lot." Carl managed to say as he went to hold his stomach.

"Oh, baby. I know. I know." Lori tried to comfort him.

Carl took a breath. "You should have seen it."

"What?" Lori held his forehead.

"The deer." he smiled. "It was so pretty, Mom. It was so close. I've never-i've never been..."

Austin paled as Carls eyes stared off into space, feeling his dads hand on his shoulder go limb. "Carl?"

"What's happening?" Lori spoke up. Suddenly, his body started to shake, rapidly and quick. All three of them went to grab him in fear and panic.

"Don't. It's a seizure." Hershel warned them, rolling Carls flailing body onto his side. "If you hold him down, you could hurt him."

"You can't stop it?" Lori looked in a panic.

"He has to just go through it." he shook his head at her, making sure Carl stayed on his side. Austin backed off, a lump in his throat as he tried to keep it together, his mom sobbing. Rick held her, grabbing Austin and pulling him into his embrace as well.

Carls shaking came to a slow stop, falling back onto his back. Hershel rubbed his head. "His brain isn't getting enough blood. His pressure is bottoming. He needs another transfusion."

"Okay, i'm ready." Austin said confidently.

"You already gave more then enough." Hershel looked at him. "Both of you have. If I take any more out of you, your body could shut down and you could do into a coma. Or cardiac arrest."

"You're wasting time." Rick stared at him.

"Let me do it." Austin held his arm out. "I only gave two, I can do one more."

"No." Rick spoke.

"Yes." Austin argued, holding his arm out as Hershel circled the bed quickly.

Austin was asleep with his head in Loris lap when Hershel started to talk loudly, waking him. "I need to know right now if you want me to do this, because I think your boy is out of time."

Austin sat us, his head spinning. Like his dad, he'd paled and his eyes were blood shot. Hershel looked at the two. "You have to make a choice."

"A choice?" Lori asked in disbelief.

"A choice." Rick turned to her. "You have to tell me what it is."

"You can't seriously think you're gonna do this!" Austin looked in disbelief. "He'll be in pain, a lot of it."

"It will save his life." Hershel looked at him.

"You think being operated on, awake and at his age, will be worth it?" Austin asked in disbelief. "He's already in enough pain as it is!"'

"Austin." Lori held his face. "We do it."

He shook his head in disbelief as Rick hugged her tightly. They rolled the table in quickly. "Okay, get the corner of that bed. Let's get the sheets down. Get the I.V. bag on the sheet. Okay, on three. One, two, three."

They lifted Carl onto the table, getting the lamp light ready as Hershel gloved up. "Rick, Lori, Austin, you may want to step out."

Austin felt sick, looking toward his parents with any form of pleading look. As if his prayers were answered for once, the sound of a truck outside heard though the house. They all looked to the window quickly. "That Shane?"

"Oh, god." Rick sighed in relief as he stared out of the window.

"You stay here with him." Hershel spoke to Patricia.

"I'll stay too." Austin nodded as the three hurried away from the room. "What can I do?"

"You've done enough, sweetie." she reassured him. "Just rest, save your strength. There's not much of it left."

Carl's surgery had been a success, only Otis had died when he went with Shane. Patricia was taking it hard, Carl had been waking up. Austin couldn't just sit still in the room, waiting outside for the rest of the group to show. He stabbed his knife into the tree, carving an A into it. He looked up to the house again, getting a good look at it as he saw the girl from from the bathroom in the window, moving away when she saw he'd seen her. Austin cracked a grin, blocking the sun in his eyes as he waiting for her to come back.

The sound of a motorcycle had taken his attention off the house, looking toward Daryl and the RV pull up to the farm. The ones that showed the night prior walked outside. Dale looked to Rick. "How is he?"

"He'll pull through." Lori gave a small smile. "Thanks to Hershel and his people."

"And Shane." Rick spoke up. "We'd have lost Carol if not for him."

Dale hugging Rick tightly, Andra hugging Austin as he left his tree and knife there. "How'd it happen?"

"Hunting accident." Rick looked over. "That's all- just a stupid accident."

Hershel had gotten everyone in the house together to wish Otis some form of a goodbye. Austin didn't expect the blonde girl from before to leave her room, she stood next to Maggie and kept her head down. Lori rubbed Austin's back as Hershel spoke. "Blessed be god, father of our lord Jesus Christ. Praise be to him for the gift of our brother, Otis. For his span of years, for his abundance of character; Otis, who gave his life to save a child's, now more than ever, our most precious asset. We thank you, God, for the peace he enjoys in your embrace. He died as he lived, in grace."

Austin set a rock on the, what was suppose to be, grave. Hershel looked up. "Shane, will you speak for Otis?"

Shane looked frozen for a moment, gapping in the slightest. "I'm not good at it. I'm sorry."

"You were the last one with him." Patricia sobbed as she looked over at him. "You shared his final moments, Please. I need to hear. I need to know his death had meaning."

Shane was hesitant, nodding. "We were about done. I shot my way out of pistols by then. I was limping. It was bad. Ankle all swollen up. 'We've got to save the boy.' See, that's what he said. He gave me his backpack. He shoved me ahead. 'Run' he said. He said, 'I'll take the rear. I'll cover you.' And when I looked back..."

It was silent for too long, everyone looking around slightly before Shane limped toward the rocks. "If not for Otis, i'd have never made it out alive. And that goes for Carl too. It was Otis. He saved us both. If any death had meaning, it was his."

Austin inahaled as they all spread out, hesitantly approaching the blonde girl from the bathroom. "Sorry for your friend."

She looked at him as they started to walk back to the house. "Thanks."

"He saved my brother." Austin went on. "I don't- I don't know what he was to you, but, he seemed like a good dude to be around."

She looked at him. "How's your arm?"

"It stopped bleeding." he nodded, giving an awkward laugh. "A lot of orange juice."

She nodded. "Well, it's homegrown."

"That's cool." Austin looked around. "Where do they grow?"

"Few miles." she stepped onto the steps, looking back at him. "It's good you're brother is okay."

Austin gave a tight lipped smile. "Thanks."

She went toward the door before he spoke up again. "Do you have a name?"

"Yeah." she looked back, holding the door.

Austin waited, silence taking over. "Can I know it?"

She almost smiled. "Beth."

"Oh, that's disgusting." Austin looked down in one of the wells at the walker.

"Looks like we've got us a swimmer." Dale shined the flashlight down at it.

"How long do you think he's been down there?" Glenn spoke up curiously.

"Long enough to grow gills." Andrea spoke when she caught sight of them.

"And decompose more then they already have." Austin scrunched his face up.

"We can't leave it in there. God knows what it's doing to the water." Lori looked down, holding onto her sons shoulder.

"Well, how do we get it out?" Shane put both hands on his hips.

"Easy. Put a bullet in its head." T-Dog looked down at it. "I'll get a rope."

"Whoa. Whoa. Guys, no." Maggie spoke up as she looked around.

"Why not?" Glenn looked at her. "It's a good plan."

"It's a stupid plan." Andrea argued.

"I thought it was good." Austin mumbled.

"If that thing hasn't contaminated the water yet, blowing its brains out will finish the job." Andrea pointed out in a matter of fact tone.

"Thought it was a stupid plan." Austin agreed with a clear of his throat.

"She's right. Can't risk it." Shane hummed from under the sun.

"So, it has to come out alive?" T-Dog looked his way.

"So to speak." Shane shrugged.

"How do we do that?" Glenn leaned on his knees to look down.

•

kylie speaks

kylie speaks

they're really about to send
him down into that well yk.