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chapter two:
losses
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"HOW MUCH FARTHER?" Lori asked as they made their way back to the highway.
"Not much. Maybe a hundred yards." Daryl replied. "As the crow flies."
"Too bad we're not crows." Andrea muttered under her breath as she slowly distanced herself from the group.
After not even a minute of walking, they heard Andrea's screams; then they started to run to the sound. Mal, being the fastest, was ahead of everyone else. She let Sophia run away and possibly die because she was afraid, and she wasn't going to let Andrea die for the same reason. Instead of just finding Andrea, they also found a woman on a horse.
"Lori? Lori Grimes?" The woman questioned Andrea.
"I'm Lori." Lori corrected as the group came to a stop.
"Rick sent me," She began quickly, "you've got to come now."
"What?"
"There's been an accident. Carl's been shot."
Shot? Mal questioned herself. Two children put into life threatening situations in a matter of days.
"He's still alive but you've got to come now." The woman urged, "Rick needs you. Just come."
Lori started to take off her pack and march to the horse, causing Daryl to speak out, "woah woah woah. We don't know this girl." Lori didn't listen. "You can't get on that horse."
"Rick said you had others on the highway, that big traffic snarl?" She asked as Lori climbed up on the horse. "Back track to Fairburn road. Two miles down is our farm. You'll see the mailbox. The name is Greene." With that, she and Lori rode away on the horse to the farm.
Everyone was still trying to process everything that was happening until the walker the woman had hit sat up with a wheeze.
"Shut up." Daryl grumbled before shooting it in the head with an arrow.
✶
"SHOT?" Dale repeated. "What do you mean shot?"
"A bullet hit him, Dale. I don't know. I wasn't there." Mal panted. "All I know is this lady rode out of nowhere like that Zorro character from that one movie on a horse and took Lori."
"You let her?" Dale asked, wide eyed.
"Climb out of my asshole, man." Daryl retorted. "Rick sent her. She knew Lori's name and Carl's."
"I heard screams. Was that you?" He asked Andrea as Daryl walked away.
"She got attacked by a walker." Glenn answered. "It was a close call."
"Andrea, are you all right?" He asked, only getting a scoff and a shake of her head from Andrea before she went into the RV.
About an hour later, the group was having a small 'meeting' about what to do next. Specifically, when to leave, something Carol wasn't pleased about. "I won't do it. We can't just leave." She spoke softly, trying to remind the group of her very missing daughter.
"Carol, the group is split." Dale tried to reason. "We're scattered and weak."
"What if she comes back and we're not here?" Carol questioned shakily. "It could happen."
"If Sophia found her way back and we were gone, that would be awful." Mal added. "If I were a twelve year old and found out they left without me, I'd try to stay alive for as long as I can, but then again, I'd still be a small child."
"Okay. We got to plan for this." Daryl spoke. "I say tomorrow morning is soon enough to pull up stakes. Give us a chance to rig a big sign, leave her some supplies. I'll hold here tonight, stay with the RV."
"If the RV is staying, I am too." Dale stated.
"Thank you. Thank you all." Carol smiled with tears in her eyes.
"I'm in." Andrea spoke up.
"Well, if you're all staying then I'm —"
Dale interrupted Glenn, "Not you, Glenn. You're going. So is Mallory. Take Carol's Cherokee."
"Me?" Glenn scoffed. "Why is it always me?"
"Yeah, and why do I have to go?" Mal questioned with a slight tilt of her head.
"You have to find this farm, reconnect with our people and see what's going on." Dale said. "But most important, you have to get T-Dog there. That's why Mallory's going with you. This is not an option. That cut has gone from bad to worse. He has a very serious blood infection. You two get him to that farm. See if they have any antibiotics. 'Cause if not, T-Dog will die, no joke."
Daryl had slipped away to his bike, where he was pulling a few rags and bag from a pouch on the motorcycle. "Keep your oily rags off my brother's motorcycle." He threw the rags at Dale before digging through the bag of what looked like meds. "Why'd you wait till now to say anything? Got my brothers stash."
Mal rolled her eyes. Of course the racist, homophobic, piece of shit was also a drug addict.
"Crystal, X." He listed, "don't need that. Got some kick ass painkillers." He tossed them to Glenn. "Oxycycline. Not the generic stuff neither." He tossed it to Mal. "It's first class. Merle got the clap on occasion."
✶
MAL, T-DOG, AND GLENN FINALLY ARRIVED AT THE FARM. A light scoff escaped Mal's lips as she looked over the farm. The grass wasn't over grown, the house didn't have vines forming around it, the lights were working, they had to have medical supplies if they were treating Carl, they could have clean water and not lake water.
Back at their Atlanta camp, Mal had always collected water from the nearby lake. While Glenn took charge of runs, she took charge of the water. She was always anxious about not having enough of something — especially water.
T-Dog had a blanket draped over his shoulders, but was nonetheless shivering. Glenn and Mal led him to the door. Mal took a few more seconds of admiring the working lights before asking, "do we have to ring the bell? People obviously live here."
"We're past that kind of stuff, aren't we?" T asked, out of breath. He started to walk up on the small porch. "Having to be considerate."
"Did you close the gate up the road when you drove in?" The same woman that had been on the horse asked, causing Mal to jump slightly. The woman was sitting on a chair with her legs up to her stomach.
"Uh, hi." Glenn muttered awkwardly. "Yes, we closed it. Did the latch and everything. Hello. Nice to see you again."
"Look, we came to help. There anything we can do?" T questioned, visibly tired. The woman stood up and looked at his forearm then back at him. "It's not a bite. I cut myself pretty bad though."
"We'll have it looked at." She nodded. "I'll tell them you're here."
Mal pulled the bag of medicine out of her pack. "We, uh, have some painkillers and other . . . meds. We already gave him some. But we have them in case Carl needs more."
"Come on inside. I'll make you something to eat." She said, opening the door for them. They hesitantly walked in.
✶
"YOU GOT HERE RIGHT IN TIME." Patricia breathed, pulling the bandage away from T's arm. "This couldn't go untreated much longer." She started to look through the bag of meds. "Merle Dixon." She read. "Is that your friend with the antibiotics?"
"Friend?" Mal repeated under her breath, causing Glenn to nudge her with his elbow. "Uh, no. Merle's gone. Daryl gave us those — his brother."
"Not sure I'd call him a friend." T-Dog groaned as Patricia stitched his arm, "don't you agree, Mal."
"Probably not." She tightly smiled.
"He is today." Patricia said, "this doxycycline might have just saved your life. You know what Merle was taking it for?"
"The clap." The Rhee siblings answered in unison, earning a look from Maggie.
"Uh, Venereal disease." Glenn said, "that's what Daryl said."
"I'd say Merle Dixon's clap was the best thing to ever happen to you." Patricia told T-Dog.
"I'm really trying not to think about that." He groaned.
✶
MAL HAD SLIPPED AWAY FROM EVERYONE AND ENDED UP ON THE PORCH. Her eyes were focused on nothing in particular, her shoulders her relaxed — much like the rest of her body. And despite the fact that a child was upstairs with a gunshot wound, she was calm. She trusted the Greenes enough to help him.
"Penny for your thoughts?" Maggie asked, leaning on one of the pillars. Mal jumped in her seat.
"Why do you do that?" Mal inquired, rubbing her eyes.
"Do what?" Maggie innocently asked.
"Sneak up on people." Mallory deadpanned, turning her head to face Maggie, who started to sit on the porch railing.
"You're easy to sneak up on." She smiled.
"I wasn't really thinking about anything," Mal said, answering her previous question. "I was just . . . I don't know. Too many people were hurt. T will be fine, right? He's got the medicine and the stitches Patricia gave him. But Carl was shot. He needs something that we don't have, and Shane is trying to get it for him with the man who shot Carl in the first place, which could possibly be a good thing. And Sophia —" She stopped herself from going any farther. "Let's just say Carl and T-Dog have a way better shot at surviving than Sophia does." She muttered sadly.
Maggie could tell that Mal didn't want to talk about Sophia anymore, or anything upsetting in general. So she nodded, "your friend, T-Dog, will be fine. He might need to take it easy on the arm though. As for Carl, Otis will pull through. He's a good man. And your friend Shane, I didn't talk to him much but from what I've seen he seems decent."
Mal smiled at her, chuckling, "Shane could be a bit . . . intense sometimes, but overall he's a decent man."
Maggie hopped off the railing and walked over to Mal, bending down. "I'll get you a refill." She said quietly.
"I'm perfectly capable of getting off my ass, you know." Mal called out after her as she walked away.
She turned around with an innocent smile. "You may be right, but you're the guest, I'm the host."
✶
ABOUT AN HOUR LATER, SHANE AND OTIS' CAR PULLED UP TO THE FARM. Except, it wasn't Shane and Otis stepping out of the truck, it was just Shane. Everyone came out of the farm, making their way towards the truck, where Shane was unloading bags from it.
"Carl?" Shane breathed, limping over to them with the bags of medical supplies.
"There's still a chance." Rick assured him.
Hershel looked to the truck and back to Shane, "Otis?"
Shane didn't reply right away, automatically giving everyone the answer. "No." He whispered.
Everyone was silent, the only sounds that could be heard were Maggie's quiet cries.
"We say nothing to Patricia." Hershel declared, looking around at the group. "Not till after, I need her." With that, he went back inside.
"They kept blocking us at every turn." He whispered, "we had nothing left. We were down to ten rounds. Then he said — he said he'd cover for me and that I should keep going. So that's what I did. I just . . . I kept going but I — I looked back and he —" He closed his eyes for a moment. "I tried."
"He wanted to make it right," Rick assured him, tears pooling at his eyes.
Shane wiped his face with his hand and looked back to Maggie, who had been crying before he looked back to Rick.
✶
"I'VE KNOWN OTIS SINCE I WAS A KID." Maggie sniffled. Mal stood next to the fridge, listening in sympathetically. She understood what it's like to lose someone close. Hell, almost everyone at the farm did. "He's run this farm since before my mother died."
Mal turned her head to look at the pictures that were held on the fridge by magnets. "Who else?" She asked, "who'd you lose?" Maggie only let another small cry escape her lips. "If you talk about it, maybe it'll help?" She suggested softly, trying her best to not pressure her into talking. It would only make her feel worse.
Maggie stood up from the counter, slowly making her way to the fridge. She pointed to a picture of an older blonde woman. "Stepmother." She dragged her finger to a brunette boy. "Stepbrother." Then, finally, she dragged her finger to one last picture. "Otis."