save the last one
while maggie cooked us up something to eat, we headed up to where the rest were, hoping to give them somewhat support.
"hey" glenn greeted, turning lori and ricks attention away from carl and to us. i gave a small smile, walking to where lori sat, rubbing her arm.
she placed her hand on my own, forcing a small smile back. "um, we're here, okay?" glenn assured, removing his hat.
"thank you"
i nodded, pulling away from lori to head back downstairs, giving them their space. i took a glance at carl before i fully exited the room.
his skin was pale and his breathing slow. my heart-ached for him, only wanting to see the happy kid i knew he was.
"he's gonna be alright, come on" glenn whispered, intertwining our fingers, pulling me away from the room.
we followed maggie into the dining room, watching tdog get stitched up by another women, named patricia.
"merle dixon, is that your friend with the antibiotics?" patricia questioned, earning a scoff from both me and tdog.
"no ma'am. merles no longer with us." glenn informed, giving me a glare. "daryl, his brother, gave us those" i finished, earning a nod from both her and maggie.
"not sure id call him a friend." tdog sneered, grunting in pain during the process. "he is today. this doxycycline might have just saved your life. you know what merle was taking it for?"
"the clap" me and glenn said in unison, earning a concerning look from the two. we both shot glances at each other, clearing our throats.
"um, venereal disease. that's what daryl said" glenn corrected us, trying to brush off what we had just said.
"i'd say merle dixon's clap was the best thing to ever happen to you." patricia stated, causing me to choke from her words.
"we're gonna take a minute" glenn mumbled, pulling me outside and away from them.
he sat down on the stairs, patting the ground next to him, pleading for me to take a seat. "that was interesting" i chuckled, taking a seat on the stairs.
"very" he muttered, wiping his eyes, trying to rub the sleepiness away. after awhile of sitting, i felt my eyes droop, feeling a flood of tiredness take over my body.
i yawned, moving to where my head was in glenns lap, resting it near his knees. i felt his tough hands start to trace my facial features, almost putting me to sleep.
after awhile he stopped, probably figuring i was asleep. truth was, no matter how tired i was, sleep didn't come easy anymore.
my eyes slowly fluttered open, admiring his face as he closed his eyes, lipping words to himself.
"are you praying?" i questioned harshly, not trying to be. just surprised is all, i never expected this out of glenn rhee.
his eyes shot open, looking down at my eyes that had been looking at his. "i thought i'd gotten you to sleep, you need the rest"
i shrugged, pulling myself to sit up and in the mist, managed to place a light kiss on his lips.
"not even you can help me sleep, that's saying a lot." i started, turning my gaze to the dark sky, "so are you?"
"i was praying. i was trying to" he replied, causing me to raise my eyebrows.
"since when is glenn rhee religious? you don't pray." i assumed, soon feeling his fingers run through my hair.
"you don't know that" he muttered, causing me to give him a "are you sure?" look. my look caused him to let out a chuckle.
"you're right, this was my first try"
i nodded, standing up from the stairs to look at him, "i'm always right" i smiled, crossing my arms over my chest.
he smiled at me, looking as if he was admiring the view. i opened my mouth, ready to say something about it, but my attention turned to the door that swung open.
"maggie, what's wrong?" i questioned, looking at the frightened women standing at the top of the steps.
"rick told me you were a doctor, was he right?" she questioned, causing me to quickly nod, walking to where she was.
"carl needs to be operated on to keep him alive, my dads a veterinarian not a professional doctor. i'm sure he could use your help"
i sent a concerned look to glenn, who shot back a quick nod. "okay, sure. i'm in"
but before i could step inside the house, a truck engine revved, causing me to turn around seeing shane.
he limped over to me, carrying a huge bag of supplies, handing them over. soon rick and the rest had made their way out, greeting shane.
"otis?" hershel questioned shane, who hesitated a little, shaking his head no.
hershel paused, looking anywhere but at us. "we say nothing to patricia. not till after, i need her."
i nodded, following behind hershel as he led me inside.
i mentally prepared myself as i walked to the room, taking a deep breath once i reached the door.
____________
hershel watched as i slowly stitched carl's stomach back up, admiring my work.
i bit my lip, cutting the last stitch, applying gauze and some wrapping around the wound.
my body straightened, turning my gaze to hershel and patricia. "you're good for being as young as you are."
i smiled, taking off my gloves, "thank you, i try my best" i started, walking towards the doorway, "we need to tell rick and lori he's stable"
hershel nodded, following me out the door. once we made it outside, i gave the two a nod, smiling.
"he seems to have stabilized." hershel informed, causing rick to bend over, taking in the news.
lori engulfed me into a hug, holding me tighter than anyone ever had in my life. "thank you, melanie. i don't know how i could ever repay you."
i shook my head, pulling away to look at her. "you don't have to, we're family" i assured, causing her to smile.
"you have a very talented women in your group, she's one of the main reasons your son's alive"
i turned away from lori, now looking to hershel, "couldn't have done it without you and patricia"
hershel patted me on my back, before he started talking to rick. i didn't decide to join the conversation, instead i looked to where glenn was, motioning for him to follow me.
he nodded, quickly stepping down the porch stairs, following me as i walked to who knows where.
"he didn't survive because of me and hershel" i started, causing glenn to give me a questioning look, "he's a tough kid"
glenn didn't say anything as he wrapped his arm around my shoulder, pulling me closer to him.
we walked around the whole night, talking about our lives before, just generally connecting with each other on a deeper level.
when we finally agreed to head back to the house, we decided not to go in, but just stay on the porch.
"liking you is putting my mind in danger" i uttered to glenn as i laid my head onto his shoulder.
"hm?" he mumbled, wondering what i meant,
"i used to think no one could do anything to hurt me, because i had no one left" i started, looking up to where the sun was starting to rise, "but now it's different because i have you"
he turned his body towards me, causing me to move my head from his shoulder, now staring into his dark brown eyes.
" and you're always gonna have me, even if i'm not always here." glenn assured, a small smile forming on my face.
i gently placed a hand on his face, admiring his eyes, until they fell to his lips. i couldn't help myself as i leaned in, closing the gap between us, causing our lips to meet.
shortly after we pulled away, only to catch our breath. i didn't dare open my eyes as i savored the moment, feeling his thumb slide over my lips.
_____________
"love is meeting someone and knowing; it will always be them. whatever life throws at you, whatever obstacles you have to over come,
even if you aren't together;
they will always have your heart."
// j.strelou
_____________
the next morning, after i had checked up on carl, tdog informed everyone in the room that the others had arrived.
i didn't hesitate as i stood up, heading outside to meet with them. i smiled, waving to dale who looked happy to see me and the rest.
"how is he?" dale questioned after moving from my gaze to ricks.
"he'll pull through, thanks to hershel and his people" lori explained, nodding her head towards dale.
"shane and melanie too. we would've lost carl if not for them" rick added, giving me and shane a thankful look before hugging dale.
after rick had explained how carl got shot, we all decided to pay our respects to otis by giving him a small funeral.
i stood with my hands together, next to daryl, trying to be polite as i watched hershel tell his speech.
"shane, will you speak for otis?" hershel questioned, causing everyone to look to where shane stood.
"i'm not good at it. i'm sorry" shane uttered, looking down at the ground.
"you were the last one with him, you shared his finally moments. please, i need to hear. i need to know his death had meaning" patricia whimpered, crying at the loss of her husband.
shane looked up to her hesitantly before finally nodding his head, "we were about done. almost out of ammo, down to pistols by then. i was limping, it was bad" shane started, doing surprisingly well at keeping himself collected.
""we've got to save the boy",see that's what he said. he gave gave me his backpack and pushed me head, telling me he'd take the rest, cover for me. and when i looked back..." he stopped, unable to finish.
patricia gave him a small nod, letting hershel finish up the small service.
we now all gathered around the truck, looking down at a county survey map. trying to prepare a plan on how to find sophia.
"we'll grid the whole area, start searching in teams." rick explained, looking down at the map closely.
"not you. not today, you gave three units of blood. you wouldn't be hiking five minutes in this heat before passing out." hershel started, soon turning to look at shane, "and your ankle- push it now, you'll be laid up a month, no good to anybody."
i crossed my arms over my chest, "so only me and daryl for today?" i asked, earning a glare from rick.
hershel noticed the glare, causing him to speak before rick could, "i think it'd be best for you to stay here too. just in case something would happen to carl"
"i took care of carl last night, i'm sure you can take good care of him without me." i started, looking to where carol stood, "besides i need to find sophia."
rick shook his head, "we understand you want to look for her, but hershels right. with patricia out because of mourning, he needs you to be with him"
i paused, looking at rick, "fine, but i'm going tomorrow" i stated, watching rick hesitate before agreeing, "deal"
"alright, tomorrow then. we'll start doing this right." rick assured, looking back at the map.
"that means we can't have our people out there with just knives. they need the gun training we've been promising them." shane explained, earning a nod from me.
"i'd prefer you not carrying guns on my property. we've managed so far without turning this farm into an armed camp" hershel chimed in, causing our people to give him a "are you serious?" look.
"look, we're guests here. this is your property, and we will respect that" rick assured, making the point perfectly clear as he placed his gun on the truck.
soon followed by shane, and then me. "that stuff you brought, got more antibiotics, bandages, anything like that?" maggie questioned, looking towards me and andrea.
we both shook our heads, "just what you've seen"
"we're running short already. i should make a run into town" maggie stated, causing me to give her a crazy look, "are you talking about the place shane went?"
she shook her head at my question, "no, there's a pharmacy just a mile down the road."
i nodded, moving my eyes to rick who scratched his beard, turning to look at glenn, already knowing what he was about to say.
"see our man there in the baseball cap?" he's our go-to- town expert." rick explained, causing me to feel the need to step in.
"his names glenn, he's saved us from many sticky situations" i added, looking to rick who nodded at my words.
"i'd ask him along just to be cautious" rick finished, my eyes drifting to hershel who gave a nod to maggie.
i removed myself from the conversation, walking to where glenn stood, helping carol construct the tents.
"hey" i mumbled, grabbing his attention. he turned giving me a small smile, "what's up? everything, okay?"
i nodded, shoving my hands in the back of my jean pockets, "i'm heading to check on carl's stats, just wanted to make sure you knew"
he gave me a small nod, moving closer to plant a kiss on my cheek. i felt my cheeks flush, realizing he did that in front of everyone.
not that i cared, i just didn't think we were ready to put ourselves to the whole group.
"be safe, see you later." i smiled as i began on my way back to the farm house.
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2/16/2021