Survive ( twd carlgrimes)

Chapter 45

"So if you really are sneaking around with my sister, I guess it's alright. You're not half bad." She shoves my shoulder teasingly and I laugh, not bothering to deny anything anymore. I wonder how much Madison told her about us or if she had to tell her at all.

"How did you know?" I ask, curiously.
She shrugs innocently. "I could read it off her face from the moment she step foot in the door of the church."
I raise my brow. "Hardly."
She places her hand on her heart to prove herself.
"It was pretty obvious something had happened because I haven't seen her smile like that since... well, ever."

"Your brother doesn't approve."
She rolls her eyes. "Would it stop you?"
I shake my head with a guilty smile.
"Well then, whats the problem?" Her question was rhetorical.
"He's just looking out for her." She defends softly. She looks down at Madison and takes a deep breath. She opens her mouth and closes it again, debating whether or not to tell me something I suppose.

Finally she opens her mouth but her eyes never leave Madison's face.
"Pain, heartbreak, it's weird thing and it affects everybody differently and with Madison we got to see it first hand for eight years straight. Nobody got tortured as much as Madison. Most of that was probably because they loved a reaction and Maddie would never give them one. She never cried, she never screamed. We knew if we heard her, it was bad and there were days when she'd return dripping with blood head to toe, unconscious."

I can tell there's more to her story and part of me wants to hear, another half wants to clamp my hands over my ears.
"Maddie would always take the blame, she would always distract the men from taking us if she could help it. It didn't always work but that didn't stop her and when it came to protecting me, she was relentless. They would take her instead." She frowns deeply and finally the tears that had been building up began to trickle down her cheeks. She swipes them away quickly.

"Ben was quite the same actually, Maddie is very like him. But Nick was different. He was quiet and never rose his voice and if the men tried to take any of us, he'd let them. Not that we expected him to take the fall for us but he was always just different. I think maybe now he feels like he has to make up for that. Protecting her from emotional pain and heartbreak is important. It hits her differently."
"Different how?" I ask.
She finally looks up at me. "I hope you never have to see it."

I'm horrified by their history. I thought I knew it properly but even after hearing Abbie's insight, I know now that that's only the surface of a story that I will never truly understand.

"You remember Ben?" I ask curious for more information. Madison doesn't like to talk about the painful details. A part of me feels like I'm overstepping into something very personal but I can't help myself from wanting to know more.

"Of course. I didn't get as much time with him as I should have but he has an unforgettable character."
"Tell me about the night he died." I blurt rudely but Abbie doesn't seem to notice, or maybe she just genuinely doesn't care. Either way she answers my question.

"Honestly, it's all kind of a blur. It happened really quickly. I remember that day had been really cold because even in the metal box we all had to huddle together to keep ourselves warm. The men came in and they were already angry about something, that's for sure. They just took him and left and he never really properly returned. They brought his body back and then Maddie just snapped. Next thing I know she was on top of the guy stabbing him over and over. I can't explain the look in Madisons eyes. That night changed her."

"She never seems to miss a target when she sets her eye to it." I mumble.
"Dad taught her everything but Ben made sure she maintained her accuracy. He used this rock to carve a target practice into the car and there was this tiny hole in the side of the box. They'd try and reach out and grab little pebbles to throw at the target at night."

"She missed Daryl's head when we opened the door." I point out with a chuckle.
"Yeah well, pebbles and knifes are a little different. She was rusty." She laughs.

We jump at the sound of the doors being shoved open and everyone floods in the doors. Dad runs in front with a bunch of medical shit thrown over his shoulder. I don't know what any of it is. Relief floods through me and the mood in the room shifts instantly.
"Go get Rosita." I help Abbie off the table and she runs into the back room to get her.

"We got the right stuff, kinda, I think." Dad breathes, throwing the equipment into the table, right where Abbie was just sitting.
Rosita, Abbie and Nick reappear only moments later and join the group around the table.
"What happened to your face!" He demands, twisting my head to get a better look at the swelled bruise.
"It's not important right now." I insist.

"So, how are we gonna do this?" I ask before dad can says anything more but Maggie wastes no time as she races to set up the equipment.

She twists Madison's arm and injects her with a needle on the inside of her elbow.
"You know her blood type?" She asks Nick.
"Uhh..."
"She's A positive. Same as you dumbass." Abbie huffs at a speechless Nick.

"Great, then sit down and get ready for a transfusion. She needs as much blood as she can get and then we just have to hope that's she's strong enough to wake up on her own." Maggie orders.

"She will be." I say.
"Carl, don't get your hopes up." Dad warns.
"She'll wake up. I know she will." I tell him. After listening to Abbie's story I know, I just know this isn't her end. She's stronger than that.

"I'm A positive too." A sudden realization hits me. I wouldn't have known at all if not for a similar, more professional blood transfusion I had back at the farm, a few years ago.
"No." Dad immediately replies in a hushed whisper.

"Why not? You guys are gonna go back out there and find Bob and i'm gonna be stuck here so I might as well." I tell him.
"Carl, it could be dangerous. Maggie's not a real doctor."
"Well then Nick can go first and we'll take turns. If he doesn't die I'll take it as a good thing."
"Fine. Nick goes first." He whispers.

Maggie quickly poke and prods at Nicks arm to find a vein.
"This is what dad used to do so I hope I'm right."
"Woah,woah, woah...you're not a doctor?" Nick gasps.
"Nope." She answers at the same time she sticks him with the needle.

He jumps slightly in the chair from the small pinch of the needle and we all watch as his blood flows through a thin tube and into a bag that can then be transferred to another tube into Madisons system.
"And while we're at it, I'm not 100% sure that this is the right equipment for all this to work but fingers crossed."
Nicks mouth hangs open idiotically and Abbie uses her hand to slam it shut.

"So, what actually happened today?" Abbie finally asks. All heads turn to dad and Nick. The question takes me by surprise.
It's only now that I realize through all of the chaos I never actually asked what had happened. By the grim look on dads face I can tell this story runs beyond Madison's accident. His eyes flickers to Sasha and then back.
"There's something you should all know."