Mikaela sat by her father, wishing that he'd wake up. The thought of him being gone was overpowering for her. She didn't want him to die. She held his hand, as it seemed lifeless and dead. She wanted to cry, but she knew if she did, she'd get babied. She desperately wanted to give her father blood. She was the only one that could, but her mother denied it. She just wanted to help, desperately. She began to caress his hand, hoping that that'd somehow affect him. Maybe he'd wake up. He didn't though. She could feel the tears begin to surface on her eyes, the congestion of crying suffocating her nose. She looked at her oldest sibling walk through the door.
"Hey." She said in a small voice.
Ethan walked to her side, holding something. A small doughnut.
"Mom wanted me to give you this. You need it, you've been here for hours." He said quietly.
She took it with a nod. "Dad's been asleep for hours."
There was a small silence. Only thing audible was the sound of the monitior, beeping ever second to count Rick's pulse. A drop of hair fell into Mikaela's face before she put it back into place. She stared at Rick's emotionless face. It seemed dead.
"Anthony and Adam are coming in an hour." Ethan muttered as he sat down in a chair that was in the corner of the room.
Mikaela just stared into Rick's closed eyelids. Nick and Lori were down the hall in the cafeteria, getting coffee. Nick was a coffee junkie, as Lori and Rick ran off of coffee. The hospital had a quiet day. Nothing out of the ordinary, as everything seemed normal.
Rick ran through the fields. Tall grass slowed him down, but he needed to find help. He carried Mikaela's seemingly lifeless body. He ran as fast as he could. The field breeze ran against his face, as he just wanted to collapse. He needed to get her to help. He then stopped, turning around.
"How far? How far?!" Rick shouted back, seeing Nick, Shane, and another man, the one who fired the gun, Otis, running. Adam was running beside Nick, weapons in hand.
Otis breathed heavily. He was a bigger man, as he was very overweight. He had hunting supplies, along with pants and a heavy shirt that was printed with camouflage. He panted very heavily, as Shane had to make sure that he was still running. He signaled to go forward with a hand, to Rick.
"That way.." he said, breathless. "Go talk to Hershel, he'll help your boy!"
Shane gripped his arm, pulling him. "Come on, you move shithead!"
Rick sped up, seeing the house in the distance. The sun had already began going down as he ran, making him more concerned. Nothing could be done without daylight. Everything would be hard to see in the light of night. Shane continued to pull him along as they fell further behind. Adam stayed with Nick as the ran toward the house. The thought of Mikaela dying was too much for Adam. Nick too. Nick's little sister, dying? He never thought of that. Sure, it'd crossed his mind for a second, but that was it.
Rick ran to the steps of the house as an older man walked out of the house, followed by 3 other women.
"Is he bit?" The older man asked.
Rick shook his head quickly, walking toward him. "Shot. By your man.."
"Otis?!" One of the girls asked, older, with blonde hair.
"Said to come to ask Hershel for help!" Rick pleaded, as the older man lead him inside.
The older man rolled up his sleeves. "I'm Hershel."
Rick nodded as they all walked into the house.
"Patricia! Get my suture kit, the folds, everything." He said as he walked into the room. The older woman that had said Otis' name commanded. That was Patricia. "We're gonna do everything we can, Rick."
Rick gave a small nod before seeing Adam and Nick run up the fields, followed by Shane helping Otis. More like forcing. Rick then walked out of the room as they laid Mikaela on the bed. Hershel looked up.
"What's her blood type?" Hershel asked, getting his scalp out.
Rick turned around. "A positive. Same as mine."
Hershel nodded. "That's fortunate. We're going to need you, don't go far."
Rick nodded back to him, and walked out of the room once again. He looked at his shirt, covered in blood. He had his sheriff's hat on, without even noticing it. He had a pink cloth in his hands, tears welled up in his eyes. He wasn't sure what was going on around him, all he cared about now was protecting Mikaela from anything. Adam and Nick ran up to the stairs, as Rick walked out of the house.
"Is she alive?" Nick panted, looking up at Rick.
He gave a small nod, tears ready to come out. Adam and Nick rushed past Rick. Shane and Otis then soon ran up afterward. Otis, greatly out of breath, looked up at Rick.
"Is she.. is she alive?" He panted heavily.
Rick gave a small nod, looking at him before moving his eyes to see Shane. Rick then began to let out tears, Otis walking past him into the house. Shane climbed the small amount of stairs, not even out of breath. Shane took the cloth from Rick's hands as Rick then rubbed his forehead. Blood smeared across his forehead. Shane looked at Rick's blood-covered forehead, and sighed. Shane then put his backpack on the ground, and put the cloth to Rick's forehead, wiping the blood.
"You got blood." Shane muttered, cleaning the blood off.
Rick nodded, looking out into the fields with teary eyes. Shane then put the cloth back into his backpack.
"She doesn't know.. Lori doesn't know..." Rick muttered through his teary voice.
Shane looked down, nodding. Before he could speak, Patricia ran to the door.
"She needs blood!" Patricia pleaded, running back to the room before Rick or Shane could speak.
Rick ran to action, Shane following him. As Rick ran into the room, Mikaela had regained consciousness, as she was screaming in pain. Adam and Nick had been waiting outside of the room, unable to see her like that.
"Hold her down!" Hershel commanded as Patricia set up a station to give blood.
Shane quickly held Mikaela down as Hershel then put a scalpel into Mikaela's stomach, where the bullet went through. She screamed in pain, as Shane had to keep her held down so she wouldn't move too much. Rick watched in pain as he watched his daughter before him, scream in pain. Patricia was about to poke the transfer tube into Rick before he snapped away.
"Stop! You're killing her!" Rick pleaded as Hershel moved the scalpel into Mikaela, making her scream in pain.
"Rick!" Hershel said, needing him to stop.
"You give her blood and you do it now!" Shane shouted at Rick, as Patricia gripped Rick's arm.
She poked the needle into his arm, transfering the blood to a bag that could be put into Mikaela. Mikaela then stopped screaming, and resisting against Shane. Hershel took a heavy sigh.
"She just passed out, that's all." He said quietly as Rick stood there, teary eyed again.
After the transfer, Rick and Shane stepped out of the room to see one of the girl's that helped Mikaela inside, sitting in a chair next to Otis. Adam and Nick leaned against the wall in the other side of the room. Shane nodded to them as Nick looked at Rick.
"She alive?" Nick asked as he broke the silence in the room.
Shane nodded for Rick. "Yeah. She just passed out." He crossed his arms.
Rick shook his head at everything. "She doesn't know... my wife doesn't know.." Rick cried.
The girl that helped Mikaela inside stood up. "Your wife? Where is she?"
In the woods, Lori looked around, worried. Brittany stayed next to her as Carol continued to keep to herself. Andrea had been giving Lori looks of hate as Lori carried a gun in her waist, while Andrea wasn't allowed to like a child. She felt like a child. Not in the good way either. Ethan walked behind Lori before Andrea spoke up.
"You okay?" Andrea asked, still annoyed. "It was just one gunshot."
"Why one? Why just one gunshot?" Lori asked, crossing her arms.
Everyone was silent.
"Let's just take a break." Lori asked, sitting down on a rock.
Carol sat down on a fallen tree, Brittany sitting next to her. Ethan sighed, leaning against a tree. Birds and other animals could be heard in the distance.
"Maybe it was a walker." Brittany shrugged.
"Please. Dad or Shane would've used a knife." Ethan rolled his eyes.
Brittany shrugged.
"Shouldn't they have caught up by now?" Taylor asked, putting a hand on her hip. "These shorts aren't exactly the best for the forest; I'm a buffet for these mosquitos."
"We can't stay out here much longer, we just need to go back to the highway." Carol sighed. "We can stay there, and they'll find us."
Andrea nodded. Carol got up, and began to walk behind Andrea. Brittany followed, Ethan behind her. Taylor stayed near Lori, as Glenn kept quiet.
"I really hope Anthony's alright, Shane's probably worried sick." Andrea sighed, walking.
Carol nodded. "I just hope he doesn't wind up like Amy." She muttered, as Andrea looked at Carol with a horrified, offended look. Carol shook her head. "Oh god.. that's the worst thing I've ever said. I'm so sorry."
Andrea nodded, trying to put it behind her. "We're all the same. Hoping and praying.. for what it's worth."
Glenn shrugged. "All this hoping and praying doesn't do shit."
Andrea sighed, walking away from the two, needing space. She distanced herself from everyone, lagging behind. Carol was too heated, as she was sweating.
"How much farther?" Carol asked, wiping beads of sweat off of her forehead.
Taylor looked up. She was always a hunter somewhat, as she was always away from her parents as they had their noses stuck in the laboratories. She'd picked up hunting as a side hobby.
"500 feet, as the crow flies." Taylor shrugged, making the estmation.
Andrea scoffed. "Too bad we're not crows."
She continued to walk, distancing herself. She tripped over a small branch, sending her flying into a cobweb. She didn't fall to the ground, but she had taken an unexpected trip. She used her knife to cut herself loose from it, as she spit out anything that got into her mouth. She sighed, putting her knife back into her pocket. She shook her head.
"As the crow flies my ass." She said in a sarcastic tone, agitated.
As she walked past a tree, a walker came out from behind. It began to chase Andrea, groaning. She screamed.
"Oh god!" She said, screaming as she began to back away. She walked backwards, seeing the walker come after her.
"Andrea?!" Lori called, as they were unable to find her. She'd distanced herself.
Andrea cried out in screams before tripping onto the ground, seeing as there were branches from fallen trees everywhere. She scrambled, and began to crawl away. As the walker began to cover her, she saw an object coming at her. She saw a horse, along with a woman on it, carrying a baseball bat. She swung the bat, making the walker fly from Andrea.
"Lori? Lori Grimes?!" The woman on the horse had shouted.
Andrea shook her head, pointing in the other direction as everyone had found the scene.
"I'm Lori!" Lori shouted.
The girl on the horse was the girl from the farm, Maggie. She was the one who asked about Mikaela's mother's whereabouts.
"Mikaela's been shot. We need you to come now." She said, making a spot on the horse for her.
Lori's eyes widened. Shot? Ethan never thought of that. Was it a mistake? On purpose?
"Hey! You can just go with her!" Brittany said, walking in front of everyone. "We don't know her!"
"Rick said you had others on the highway?" Maggie quickly said. "Back track to Fairburn road. First driveway on the left, mailbox's marked with the name Greene."
Brittany quickly nodded before Maggie made sure Lori was ready, and took off back to the farm.