CARL'S POV
I sit huddled up on the church steps, trying to stay warm as the string wind around me whips through my clothes and drives my hair crazy. I hold onto my hat so it doesn't fly off. I try desperately to get rid of the feeling in my stomach that hasn't left my stomach since I seen dad and Nick dragging Madison from the forest.
I sit impatiently for the group to come back with good news. Only Judith, Nick, Abbie, Madison and Rosita are inside. I secretly wonder if Dad and the others have run into the people they were running from earlier.
Where is this enemy group?
There's no doubt that they have Bob, it just makes sense.
I wonder if he's still alive or if he's in pain.
I place my head in my hands and rub away the thin sheet of sweat that's gathered in my forehead. My hands are covered in blood when I finally let them fall into my lap. I sigh and spit out the metallic taste from my mouth. Nick got me pretty good if I'm being honest.
I touch my jaw and regret it immediately as I starts to throb worse than it had before.
I wait a while longer but it's getting dark and nobody has returned so I use the railing to help pull me back to my feet and walk back inside. The first thing I notice is that there isn't a soul in sight. Abbie and Rosita must have joined Nick in the back room, leaving a battered Madison alone on the table.
I sigh and finally grow a pair. I stride up to her until I can feel the heat of her body against my skin. I grab her hand and brush away her waves hair that falls untimely out of her loose braid. I notice dried blood still on her face and I continue Abbies job by grabbing the cloth with my free hand and dunking it into the cold water in the bucket.
I very gently wash away the blood, staying clear of the new stitches and the skin around it that's turned a deep purple around the now puckered, red scar. I scrub the blood off her arms, lifting them to get between the crease of her elbow and the inside of her wrist. Her hair is also matted with it too but I can't do much about that now.
"Come on Mads, please. Just wake up. Anytime soon would be great."
The lack of response makes the silence surrounding us painful and I feel a hollowness settle in my chest.
"Look, I've lost a lot of people and... I just don't want to add your name to that list."
I take a deep breath.
"I need you, a lot more than you know... Back at that barn you asked me what kept me going, and I said hope. Lately, I've been running out of that. I think you're what that keeps me going."
"It's funny how the world is overrun with monsters out there and I was more afraid to tell you that then facing them." I lift my hand to wipe away betraying tears before they fall.
I squeeze her hand hoping that she might just magically wake up and say
'Oh, hey Carl. Quit starring you freak!'
She'd grab her bow and we'd go outside to climb trees or some shit and she'd tease me for climbing so slow. She's always doing weird shit but what I'd give to do it again.
But I guess thats not happening.
I lift my head when I hear footsteps approaching. Abbie walks out of the back room and hops onto the corner of the table, next to Mads.
"If she doesn't wake up i'll kill her myself." Abbie jokes.
"Are you okay?" I ask.
"My sister, my only sister was almost shot in the head and is on the verge of death. How could I possible be okay?." She whispers, a tears glisten in her eyes and I struggle to find comforting words before she breaks down, but nothing I could say would really be true and they wouldn't be enough for her to know she'll talk to her sister again.
"I really don't know what to tell you Abbie. I can't lie and pretend everything is okay."
She nods understandingly. "You're the first person to answer me honestly. Everyone else tells me it'll be okay and not to worry but you're honest. People like to coddle me because I'm so young, sometimes even Maddie does that too. They underestimate me but I'm not as small and defenseless as they may think. But not you, you treat me differently, equally."
"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."