the great war (r.g)

fifteen

"my dad's back," carl told izzy as he rushed into the infirmary. he was the one who found cora on the sidewalk. cora was bleeding out on the sidewalk when he was on his way to ron's house. carl immediately got help to take cora back to the infirmary.

izzy jumped out of her seat by cora's bed. "where is he?" the two kids ran out of the infirmary, leaving denise and tara alone with cora.

izzy and carl passed deanna on their way to the gate where rick, michonne, and aaron were talking to a group of worried alexandrians. "dad!" carl burst through the crowd to rick's side.

"carl, izzy? what's wrong?" rick asked. he looked worried but then again, everyone did.

"my mom," was all izzy said. those two words made rick's posture straighten. "she got hurt by some wolves. she's in the infirmary."

rick looked to michonne, as if asking permission. "go," she said. "we can handle this."

carl and izzy rushed back to the infirmary, followed closely by rick. as expected, cora was still sleeping. denise said she would be for a little because of the antisthetic. "what happened?"

"when the wolves came, ron was outside being chased by one of them so me and izzy were helping him and cora came looking for us," carl told him. "then-"

"ron ran home so mom ran after him to make sure he was okay. ron's an idiot so he didn't see the walkers around the corner. mom tried fighting them off but there were three of them," izzy interrupted. "she beat two of them but the third one..." izzy trailed off looking back at cora. she had a bandaged wrapped around her side. it didn't look like it was still bleeding, so that was good.

"i'll stay here," rick told the two kids. "you guys go head back to the house. stay inside until someone come gets you." he took up the seat that izzy was previously sitting in, watching carl and izzy leave. it was obvious that izzy didn't want to leave, but it was probably for the better. she needed sleep.

***

when cora finally woke up, the first thing she saw was rick talking to tara. it seemed like something urgent. "what's going on?" cora asked. she sat up but groaned at the pain in her side.

"you probably shouldn't sit up yet," rick told her, walking over.

"i'm fine. what's going on?" she asked again. no one responded. "i saw you talking to tara, it looked urgent."

"don't worry about it. are you okay?" rick asked, brushing off the question.

"i'm fine," cora said. she stood up, trying to ignore the throbbing at her side. like an engel sent from the heavens, denise appeared at her side holding out three pills. she presumed it was painkillers so cora took them graciously. "thank you."

"carl and izzy told us you were attacked by three wolves. is that true?" tara asked.

"i fought off two, but the other..." cora trailed off, remembering the last one. the one that got away right in front of jessie's house. "have you checked on jessie yet? the third got me before i could kill her." rick didn't say he did so obviously he didn't. "come on." cora walked to the door. the throbbing in her side fading more and more each minute that passed.

"you probably shouldn't," denise tried to say but cora shut her down. she couldn't stand being bedridden in a time like this. rick and cora walked out the door, heading for jessie's house.

"now," cora started. "do you want to tell me what's going on or..."

"the quarry walkers heard the siren and got off course. now they're at the walls, trying to pound their way in," rick told cora.

"oh my god," cora said. the walkers were getting closer to infiltrating alexandria, their safe haven. "walkers are about to rein hell on alexandria and you were in the infirmary with me?" rick didnt look at her, just looked straight ahead and nodded. "thats sweet." cora swatted at his arm, making rick look over at her, confused. "how stupid can you be? alexandria is about to be destroyed, overrun with walkers. you should be doing something about that."

"okay," rich said. "next time you are facing death i'll leave you alone." rick smiled over at her.

"that's not what i meant, but thanks. if i didn't say it yet," cora told him. "we're here." rick and cora heard jessie in the back of her house. when they walked through the back they saw jessie digging a hole in the makeshift graveyard behind her house. "jessie? what are you doing?"

"burying her," jessie told her. "oh my god, cora. are you okay?" she asked once she looked up and saw the bandage around cora's middle.

"yeah, fine. why are you burying her? who is she?" cora asked.

"one of the wolves. i killed her," jessie told them. rick and cora walked over and looked at the wolf. the same wolf that sliced cora open.

"she almost killed me," cora told her. jessie looked back up at her, same with rick.

"jessie, we don't bury killers inside the walls," rick told her.

"then what do i do with the body? i'm not dumb, rick. i hear the walkers banging on the walls," jessie asked him. now that jessie mentioned it, she could hear the low moan of the walkers right outside. they were so close.

***
a/n
kind of a super short and boring one rn sorry lol