Stars and Scars [D.Dixon fic] TWD

14

"Shouldn't they have caught up with us by now?"

"There's nothing we can do about it anyway. Can't run around these woods chasing echoes." He told them.

"So what do we do" Lori asked Daryl seeing as he had taken his role in charge of the group now.

"Same as we've been. Beat the bush for Sophia, work our way back to the highway" he explained before getting ready to start walking.

"I'm sure they'll hook up with us at the rv" Andrea tried to reassure Lori who simply took one more look around the woods as if they would simply appear before she started walking.

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The trio sat in the room just outside the one Carl was in in silence the only sound the ticking of the clock on a wall. Cassie was sat with her head against a wall on the floor whilst Shane and Rick sat on a small bench type chair.

"Why'd I let him come with us" Rick asked no one in particular. "I should have sent him with Lori"

Cassie shook her head at her brother's statement as she tried to stop him from thinking that saying "you couldn't have know what would happen Rick"

"Cassie's right" Shane agreed "and if you start that you'll never get that monkey off your back" which made Cassie smile slightly.

"Why's you call it a monkey?" She asked him with a small chuckle.

Shane looked down at her with a smile before saying "i don't know"

"Little girl goes missing you look for her. Simple"Rick said which made Cassie suddenly remember why they had been out in the woods in the first place. In all the chaos she had forgotten. "You said call it head back" Rick recalled as Shane shook his head.

"Doesn't matter what I said"

"Carl got shot cause I couldn't cut bait it should be me in there" Rick argued back to Shane who chuckled before saying.

"You've been there partner. Right? And you pulled through. So will he"

"He's strong. Just like you" Cassie added as Rick looked up to meet her eyes but then he shakes his head.

"Is that why I got out of that hospital? Found my family for it to end here like this? This some kind of sick joke?" Rick rambled on before Shane cut him off.

"You stop that. Just stop." He said before the trio went silent for a minute.

"A little girl goes missing....you look for her. It's plain and simple" Rick repeated.

Just then the door to the room Carl was staying in swung open and one of Hershel's daughters, the one with short brunette hair walked out asking for them. The three walked into the room after the women told them Carl would need blood. When they walked in they were met with the sounds of Carl crying and groaning in pain.

Shane moved to hold Carl down as Hershel requested as Carl cried out for his dad and Aunt Cassie. Rick moved to carls bedside as Patricia got ready to take his blood. As everyone around Cassie was moving about trying to help Carl she couldn't move. She felt frozen to her spot as she had to listen to carls cries of pain.

She stumbled back slightly her back hitting the wall as she let out a sob hating to have to see and her nephew in pain. Suddenly she felt a hand on her shoulder and looked over to see Hershel's daughter giving her a comforting look. She leaned into the Maggie's hold when all of a sudden Carls cries stopped and Cassie looked over to the bed to see carls eyes closed his face pale.

"Wh-what's happened to him" she stuttered out as Hershel continued to try and get the bullet fragment out.

"It alright he's just passed out" Maggie tried to reassure her rubbing her back. Maggie saw the blood that coated Cassie's hands did she turned and asked her "You want me to help you get rid of this blood?" To which Cassie nodded softly.