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— PART TWO of THREE —
THERE IS NO HOPE ANYWHERE
LORI WAS IN SHOCK WHEN SHE SAW HER SUPPOSED DEAD HUSBAND run up to the house. She was in even more shock when she found out that it was Carl who was in his arms.
Rick, however, wasn't as happy to see her as she was him. He was angry. Angry at Shane, angry at his wife. Just angry.
"We don't need to do this right now." Rick mumbled as the two of them sat with Shane. "I don't want to do this right now."
"Can I do anything?" Shane asked. Rick just scoffed. Shane had done enough, in Rick's mind. But he wasn't going to let him know that.
A distressed Rick clumsily replied, "Can you get Emerson? Carl was asking for her when he woke up the first time."
Before Shane could give any type of reply, Lori's eyes shot up. "Who's Emerson?"
"She's whose been taking care of our son after you ran away from him." Rick spat. His tone was laced with anger and sadness.
Lori scoffed. "Your whore has been taking care of my son?"
"Excuse me?"
"You heard me." Lori replied.
"Oh, and what about you? Fucking my best friend behind my back? Real classy." said Rick.
The comment left Lori and Shane speechless.
"I guess I'll go get Emerson." Shane said quietly.
Hershel came out as soon as Shane stood up to leave. Rick and Lori followed in suit, and stood before Hershel.
"He's out of the danger zone for the moment." He began. "But I need to remove those remaining fragments. I removed the shallowest one and I'd have to go deeper to get the rest. But there's more,"
Rick sighed, "Tell me."
"His belly's distended, pressure is dropping, which means there's internal bleeding. One of the fragments nicked a blood vessel. I have to open him up, find the bleeder, and stitch it. He can't move at all while I'm in there. If he does, I'll hit an artery and he'll be out in minutes.
To even try, I have to put him under. But if I do, he won't be able to breathe on his own. Same bad results."
"What do you need?" Rick mumbled.
"A respirator." Otis said, standing up. "What else?"
"The tube that goes with it. Extra surgical supplies, drapes, sutures–"
"If you had all of that, you could save him?" asked Rick.
Hershel nodded, "I could try."
"The high school's got all of that." Otis stated. "They set up a FEMA Shelter. It was overrun last time I saw it, maybe it's better now."
Shane stood up beside Rick and Lori. "I'll go. Draw me a map, make me a list. I got this."
"No need. I'll take you there." Otis offered. Shane began to protest, but Otis stopped him. "Do you know what any of this stuff he's talkin' about looks like?"
Shane just smiled at the man, grateful for his offer.
"Let me gather a few things, then we can go."
Lori then said, "Looks like Emerson doesn't need to be here."
Before Rick could say anything, Hershel's eldest daughter stepped up. "This woman mean a lot to your son?" Rick nodded in reply. "Then where is she?"
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"Is Carl okay?" Emerson asked Maggie as they neared the house. "Please. . . I need to know."
"He's gonna be okay. Your man, Shane, and Otis went to get supplies for surgery. Carl's gonna be fine." Maggie responded.
Emerson nodded. "How's Rick doing?"
"Torn up. But I think he'll be happy to see you.
Carl asked for you too."
Emerson didn't reply. Instead, she got off of the horse and expressed her thankfulness to Margaret Greene.
"Please," She began, "Call me Maggie. Margaret is so old fashioned."
Emerson just nodded and began to walk towards Rick, who was waiting for her at the porch. That's when she started to cry. She feared for what was inside the house.
She grabbed a hold of Rick's arm and began asking him what happened.
"It was an accident. A bad hunting accident is all." Rick replied. She just nodded.
"Can I see him?" She sniffled.
Rick nodded and grabbed her hand to lead her into the house. As soon as she saw Carl, a loud sob escaped her mouth. She held a hand to it, and knelt beside the bed to take Carl's hand. Upon grabbing it, the little boy opened his eyes.
"Emmy, you came." He smiled weakly.
Emerson just nodded, "Of course I came."
"You should have seen it." He told her. "The deer was so pretty. You would have loved it."
"Oh I know I would have." She smiled at him, gripping his cold hand tightly. "You rest now, alright?"
"Will you be here when I wake up?"
Emerson nodded. "I promise."
With that, Carl fell back into a deep sleep.
"Hershel Greene." The older man stuck out his hand. Emerson grabbed it and shook it. "Nice grip. Father must've taught you well."
"The police academy actually. I was a detective before all of this. I'm Emerson Scott."
"Nice to meet you, Miss Scott. Make sure Rick eats somethin' alright? He gave three units already." He told her, handing her a sandwich and a glass of orange juice.
Emerson just nodded and looked to Rick. "You heard the man. Eat." She demanded.
Rick, too tired to reply, just grabbed the sandwich. He tore it in half and gave the other to Emerson. "You need to eat, too."
She took the baloney sandwich and sat beside Rick. "How does this happen?" She asked out loud. "With all those dead people walking around, it's easy to forget that bad things like this can still happen."
Before Rick could reply, Lori decided it was finally time to make herself known.
"I'm Lori Grimes. You must be the woman who's sleeping with my husband." She greeted casually.
"Lori, stop." Rick ordered.
"I was actually sleeping with your man-whore." Emerson spat. "Until I found out he was a dirty, rotten, side piece to a rat."
The detective refused to be disrespected. Especially by a woman who left her son to die.
Lori's mouth fell open. "You're gonna let her talk to me like that in front of our son?"
No, Emerson thought. My son. He stopped being yours the minute you walked off without him.
But she didn't say that. Instead, she shook her head and sat back down besides Rick.
"He stopped being your son the minute you walked off without him." Rick mumbled.
Lori didn't say anything else, and instead, sat down at the window sill. A little while later, Lori, Rick, and Emerson walked into the dining room to meet Hershel.
Emerson held Rick's arm as they walked and then guided him to lean against a chair in order to keep his balance.
"Help me understand," Lori began. "As soon as the idiot who shot our son, and Shane get back, you can perform the surgery?"
Hershel ignored her comment about Otis. "I can certainly try." He replied.
Emerson scoffed. "This man gave you shelter, food, water, which is a hell of a lot more than we've had, and you're going to call them idiots? They're trying to save your son, Lori."
"She's right, Lori. He's doing his best and we should be grateful."
Lori just rolled her eyes. "I'll take that under consideration, but for now, Otis is the idiot who shot my son."
"Have you done this procedure before?" Emerson asked Hershel.
The man chuckled slightly. "In a sense."
"Better than nothing." Emerson stated. "You're a doctor, right?"
Hershel nodded. "Yes, of course. I'm a vet."
"Oh, okay. A war vet. My brother was in the military, too." Emerson said, trying to build a rapport with the man.
"Um. . . A veterinarian."
"I gotta sit down." Rick mumbled, grabbing a hold of the chair and tumbling down. Emerson quickly caught him and grabbed his hand.
None of them said anything else and instead, just sat at the table in disbelief.
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