𝑵𝑬𝑼𝑹𝑶𝑻𝑰𝑪
𝘊𝘏𝘈𝘗𝘛𝘌𝘙 𝘛𝘏𝘐𝘙𝘛𝘌𝘌𝘕
☼
"What did you do before all this?"
Delaney lent into the fluffed pillow behind her and fixed the blonde across from her with a look, her dark brow arching high onto her forehead as Beth merely shot her a bright smile. It wasn't like it mattered anymore, what she did before - Beth's genuine interest, however, was not false. Her big blue eyes were searching, seeking and keen for a real answer. "What's it matter?"
"It matters." Beth answered without a beat, "Who we were before, it doesn't all just go away..." She shifted to face Delaney better, folding her legs beneath her, back to the door of the clinical room. She fiddled with the edge of her stained white cast, "I sing. I still sing." She explained, with a half smile and a shrug of her shoulder.
"I was a mechanic." Delaney told her, searching her face in a similar way as hers had been, finding the kindness still so evident on Beth's fair features, "I worked in an auto shop with a bunch of degenerates." She shrugged a shoulder, plucking at the waffle knit blanket they were both sitting on, "Wasn't much, but I enjoyed it"
"Hey, Del, what did you do before all of this." Noah's question had reminded her of the similar one she'd been asked by Beth in Grady Memorial, when it had been just the two of them surviving. It stung, admittedly, but no memory of Beth didn't sting at least a little. She could still picture that easy going smile if she tried, so affectionate and understanding, no hint of anything malicious.
She knew he was trying to fill the unbearable silence inside of the car, finding it to be a little bit too quiet. Tyreese had finished talking now, his story about his father a little heavy hitting, but by no means difficult to listen to - it had made them think. Of family, of lessons, of anything else but what they were about to do. They were taking Noah home, driving him to Richmond, Virginia to fulfill not only Beth's last wish, but to also get a kid home to his family. With that good deed they hoped that this community would be willing to take them in too, to create a safe place for Judith and Carl, and for somewhere for them to live.
Rick and Glenn were the other two people inside of the car, Delaney being the last. Glenn had been mostly silent the the entire drive, sitting in the far back, listening and thinking. He had been sullen since Beth's death, no different really to anyone else, but Delaney had decided that she dearly missed the smile he had worn before, in those days following Terminus. His dull frown did not suit him, but it didn't look as if it was going to go anywhere, any time soon. Rick, he wasn't sad, at least not visibly. Delaney knew that the death of Beth had left something aching in him, but he didn't let it show, not after those tears had fallen in Grady. No, instead he was choosing anger over anything else.
And his anger, this time, was directed at her.
Delaney and he had gotten into a rather colourful argument about whether or not she was going to go, and she had won it fair and square. With her barbed words and her furious reminding that she was not his friend or problem, Delaney had won. And in doing so she had ticked Rick off. He hadn't looked at her once since sitting down beside her in the back, his gaze strictly out of the dusty window, watching things pass them by.
He only spoke to question how much further they had to go, and that was it.
"What do ya think I did?" was her response to Noah once she'd swallowed the emotion regarding Beth. She watched the teenager shift in the seat in front of her, twisting to look at her, his eyes were scrutinizing and curious, trying to lock down a vibe for her. She schooled her features and lent back into the seat, not giving anything away, though there was little to give away now. His question meant nothing, but his curiosity did.
"I have no idea." He chuckled, soft and meaningless. He lent his chin on the seat and watched her as she huffed a noise through her nose, "Drug dealer?"
Unexpectedly, Delaney snorted. She shot him a look which made him break out into a grin, followed by a chuff of his own laughter when she winked. "You, were not." Glenn lent further into the middle of the seats, his dark eyes looking at her as if she'd tell him the real answer. Delaney saw the two of them share a look,
"Well, I figured you had to be something interesting, you know? You got that kind of vibe." Noah continued, not believing her but also not, not believing her. She shifted on the chair and drew her leg up onto it, pressing her boot into the material. With her chin on her knee she admired the softness of Noah's confession, allowing herself to feel the lightness of being thought of like that - as someone interesting. "So, what kind of drugs did you sell?"
Delaney huffed out another laugh, spotting Tyreese as he shook his head in good humor in the front,
"Ah, the usual." Delaney grinned into the material of her jeans, "Meth, coke, the odd bit of Mary Jane..." She saw Noah's narrowed stare, "What, ya don't believe me?"
"Absolutely not - "
"I was a Mechanic." Came her honest reply, after a moment. She saw Noah's brows raise at that and he lent a bit closer to the seat, "Fixed up cars and bikes - worked in a auto shop." She heard Glenn hum from where he was still leaning between her and Rick, prompting her to turn her head and spot the small smile on his features. He was probably thinking of when he'd seen her with the oil all over her jeans, and the dark black staining beneath her fingernails.
"That makes sense." He shot her a smile, leaning back to sit more comfortably, "You seemed pretty at home with the grease on your jeans."
Delaney shrugged, "Should 'a seen my clothes before this, and ma hands...God, Eleanor used to fuckin' hate it - wash those hands Delaney Dixon or I'll - " she hesitated with a frown drawing her brows in together, remembering Eleanor but also realizing she'd just shared a part of herself out loud without thinking much of it. There was a palpable thick silence that followed her breathy stop, and not a single person in that car said a word, not trusting themselves to.
Rick had turned to listen to her, now his eyes were looking at her with that same questioning stare she'd met so many times.
"Who is Eleanor?" Tyreese decided to be the one to ask and Delaney figured that was probably best. If Rick would have questioned her she could have slammed on the breaks and told him to mind his own fucking business, but Tyreese had spoken in such a soft, hesitant way that it just - she felt so tired. With her forehead resting down onto her knee, Delaney held her breath, fingers reaching for her aching ribs.
"Someone I lost."
Again, a silence came and Delaney didn't have the energy to break it. She sat in silence, thinking of Eleanor with a horrible numbness in her chest, hating that she had no idea what had happened to her. Delaney's girlfriend had been gone from her home, her father and baby sister too, so part of Delaney had hoped that she was out there somewhere, safe, sound. Another part of her also realized the reality of the situation, and that perhaps it was entirely possible that she was just gone.
Noah broke the silence, hating the heaviness of it once more, "We've got plenty of shitty cars you can work on, if you want to."
Delaney closed her eyes, holding her leg all the more tighter to her bruising chest, wanting to let the numbness go, as Noah muttered that they were close by. The idea was then to park the car off to the side, hide it in the woods and go the rest of the journey on foot - to be quiet and stealthy. Although Noah reassure them that they did not have to, Rick and Delaney actually agreed that it was better that way - see them before they saw you.
Delaney was silent in the woods, drawing back to the natural second nature of moving on light feet. She walked behind Noah, with her rifle in her grasp, eyes alert and darting back and forth for any sign of any danger, much like she had the days after Terminus. A part of her was never ending in that degree, looking for possible escape routes, food, water. She assessed it all, with a intense scrutiny.
"Your people do this?" Rick roughed out as all of them slowed to a stop in front of a metal labyrinth of wires. It was wrapped round tree's, back and forth, in a long line to deter any threats of the undead. It was, in all honesty, quite a smart thing. It looked as if it was strong enough to keep the dead back, meaning it lessened the threat of them piling up outside of the walls.
Curiously, Delaney peered at the wire, poking at it with the butt of her rifle, finding it was taut and firm.
"They wanted to...so they must have." Noah shrugged a shoulder, moving onward ahead of them all. He shimmied through the wire, which zigzagged all over the place, making it difficult to get through with out twisting awkwardly. Delaney felt this more than anyone else, the strange angles, God, it made her ribs feel like they were popping out of place every time she had to bend down. She didn't complain however, stepping over the lengths and bending beneath them. By the time she made it out the opposite end she was panting, sweat beading on her forehead.
Noah flinched and hissed when the wire cut into the skin of his forehead, drawing immediate blood. Delaney furrowed her brows at the sight of him wincing, her hand reaching out to grab his shoulder, head bowing to check in on him. He offered a smile at the concern and muttered, I'm okay, before mentioning that they had a truck out front that someone often used as look out.
Halting in the tree line Delaney peered across the small field of long grass to where she spotted the front gates, Shirewilt Estates. There was no sign of the trucks and Glenn saw the same thing as her, twisting back to let them know, "Not today."
With a sigh, Delaney lifted her arm to wipe at the sweat beading at her brow, hating how humid the air was. Her hair was sticking to her neck, strands of it plastered to her forehead. She followed after the others, gathering her hair to lift it up, trying to let at least a little bit of air hit the back of her neck. "All good?" Tyreese questioned as she lagged at the back with him, on the road. His eyes were checking in, lingering on the black bruising around her eye before he looked ahead again.
"It's hot." Delaney answered, numbly trying to get some air to her damp skin. He hummed in response and she found herself wondering how on this fucking green earth he was able to wear that knitted hat on his head in this kind of weather. Instead of asking, Delaney turned her gaze forward to the gates, brows raising when Noah limped forward and grabbed for them. They didn't open, rattling harshly with a chain on the other side, which immediately rang alarm bells. The kind of alarm bells that meant that this was probably going to go badly, and she sighed as she slowed to a stop.
Glenn was climbing up onto one of the walls like some kind of monkey, high enough to see over the fence and into Noah's community - and the look on his face. Oh, that look. Delaney felt a resenting frustration, her hands clenching into fists down at her side. She pinched at the bridge of her nose, massaging at her eyes as she heard Noah's distressed whimper. When she looked, he was hauling himself over the fence, Tyreese and Rick following quickly. Glenn was over before the both of them and Delaney was gritting her teeth at the thought of having to climb over the fence.
She did it though, slinging her rifle over her back, she hauled herself up with a burning pain. She was red faced and heaving for a breath as she got herself over, wanting to choke out a breathless sob as she dropped to the floor. She instantly crumpled to her knee's, wheezing a breath, hand grabbing at her ribs, useless but she did it anyway.
"Noah, hold up." Rick gruffly called, no compassion, no sensitivity to the poor kids distress.
Delaney lifted her head and saw for the first time what Glenn had. It was a gated community, with walls and fences, with big houses and what would have been pretty lawns. It was the kind of place Delaney would never have seen in her lifetime, and that flicker of jealousy passed as soon as she noticed the crumbling, broken roofs blackened by fire. Every single house was the same, trashed and burnt - some worse than others.
She got to her feet, distantly aware of the others following Noah as he tried to run down the street. She knew they'd take care of him, at least Delaney trusted Tyreese would be soft in his approach to the boys grief. Glenn and Rick, they were - well, they were a little dull these days, stuck in their own grief and trying to wade themselves free.
Delaney's eyes scanned her surroundings, taking in every little fucking detail of the destruction. It wasn't walkers who did this, no, this was living breathing people. The sight of the charred remains of people laying in singed grass made her heart thump in her chest - aware of the cruelty and brutality of people, but it still surprised her sometimes.
Wolves not far.
Whatever that meant, Delaney had no idea. She stared at the white script spray painted onto the brick and slowly approached where the others were standing in the middle of the road, looking each direction a little lost, whilst Noah sobbed on the floor with his head between his knee's. She had gotten tired of hearing sobs these days, tired of all the crying, all the loss. It made her staggeringly angry - resentful even.
"Noah has a home, you know?" Beth supplied, as her fingers ran through Delaney's hair, "He told me about it once. It's in Richmond, Virginia. His mama and his brothers are still there..." The soothing feeling of Beth's fingers braiding and unbraiding Delaney's hair was enough to make the older woman sigh, her eyes sliding closed. "I told him I'd help him get home."
"Oh ya?" Delaney smiled, "You like 'im?"
Beth gave a slight tug to her hair and Del gasped, "Shut up!" A giggle followed, "I just, I owe him you know...and well, it's his family - he's been gone for so long, he must miss them." She apologized for tugging Delaney's hair with a brief ruffle of her fingers to the same spot, "I think it'd would be worth it, gettin' him home."
"Well, if his family is there, then yeah, It's a shot worth takin'." Delaney agreed, leaning back enough to try and meet Beth's eyes. The girl grinned down at her, and Delaney huffed a laugh, sitting straighter again. "I'll go with ya." Delaney folded her leg tighter to her chest, despite the aching and smiled as she lent her cheek against her knee.
"You will?"
"I told ya, I'm stickin' with ya."
Delaney swallowed harshly and rose both hands, running them though her dark sweaty hair, "Fuck." She side glanced Glenn who seemed to agree with her whispered curse, his own eyes trailing over the devastation here as Noah's sobbing quietened some. It was like another part of Delaney shattered - that part that had so desperately wanted to fulfill Beth's wish for Noah to be back with his family. The part of her that had so venomously argued with Rick about coming.
She didn't have the words this time, so she turned her attention to the approaching Walkers, two of them. She withdrew her knife as Rick dropped down to a crouch beside the boy, apologizing for his loss softer than he'd been talking before, not that she cared. Delaney stalked across the road in the direction of the dead and slammed her knife into the head of the first to reach her, the bone grating against the sharp metal. She pressed her boot to it's hip and kicked backwards, wheezing a little, before repeating the motion with the second one.
"We're doing a quick sweep." Glenn informed her as he joined her on the grass, "See what we see - "
Delaney barely glanced his direction, grunting in response in a way so similar to Daryl that Glenn had to stare. She ignored the dark gaze on her and walked off down the street instead, boots pressing harsh into the grass, knife dripping blood onto the concrete as she held it down by her thigh.
Glenn and Rick were following behind her, taking in the gruesome sights of the charred bodies and the burned houses in total silence. It wasn't the most horrific thing Delaney had ever seen, definitely not, but there was something absolutely sobering about it. "Motherfuckers -" Delaney groused, reaching down to grab the handle of a machete that was stuck in the head of a rotting corpse. They had left the weapon there, untouched, as if it hadn't even mattered.
As Rick and Glenn stuck together outside, checking out an open garage door and the contents inside, Delaney decided to check the inside of the home. The front door was smashed in, the glass shattered everywhere and she sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose in annoyance. This place looked like it had potential, it had walls and fences, and yet - the back wall was fractured and had a large chunk missing and it was surrounded by woods. That in itself had it at a disadvantage.
No sight lines.
She stepped through the broken door, her boots cracking the glass loudly. With her newly acquired machete in her grasp, Delaney moved fluidly from room to room. She took out the lone walker that was in the kitchen before diving to check the cupboards, stomach grumbling in anticipation at such a familiar action. The cupboards were empty though and she slammed one of the doors shut with vigor.
She supposed that some of the anger was stemming from the fact that they were back to square one. They had no where to go. And although a part of her craved to say that she didn't care about these people, she cared about Judith and Carl and the shit they were both going through. She cared about Maggie and Daryl.
God, she probably cared a little about Rick and the others too.
This could have been a place for them, a life, a home. It could have been something.
But it was nothing.
Upstairs, Delaney found a backpack in a teenagers room. She dumped out the contents onto the bed and saw nothing of value, and turned to rummage through the draws, hoping to find a replacement t-shirt for the one she was soaking through. To her relief she found one, that would no doubt fit her. She dropped her rifle onto the bed beside the empty backpack, and reached down to snatch the t-shirt off. She tossed the sweaty thing to the side and grabbed the new t-shirt to drag it over her head. The dry, clean material felt miles better than the other thing, and she relaxed with a small sigh.
She turned around to grab for her rifle, when all of a sudden, out of nowhere a walker lunged for her. Delaney grunted loudly as it's body barreled right into her, forcing her backwards into the draws. A shooting pain blinded her and her fingers sunk into it's rotting throat as it's hands grabbed at her hair and her t-shirt, dragging her closer to it's face. Although she wasn't as panicked as she should have been, after all, situations like this weren't necessarily frightening anymore, Delaney did feel the frustration of not being able to push it off of her.
Her fingers sunk further and further into it's rotting throat, blood and gore and god knew what, staining her fingers as her hand wrapped in the cast was fumbling for her knife.
Thankfully she managed to grab her knife and stabbed the blade directly into it's eye socket, shoving it off with a groan. It's body fell to the floor and Delaney tumbled backwards to the drawers again weakly, knocking off a bunch of shit that made a clatter. The black dots darted in her vision and her hand grabbed at her side, body trembling.
"Del!"
She heard the thundering footsteps coming up the stairs, as she lent her back against the wall behind her, breath short and light. She cursed the fucking rotting thing, because she had more or less been getting on with the pain - but this was blinding.
Glenn came barreling into the room, almost catching himself on the rug, as his eyes darted to where she was standing, holding her side with a blood soaked hand. "Rick!" The guy loudly hollered as he bolted across the room toward her, pausing when he saw the dead Walker on the floor, her knife still sticking in it's eye socket. "Shit, shit!" His brown eyes rushed to Delaney who was breathing so shallowly, so fast, with her eyes scrunched shut, "Delaney are you bit? Did it bite you?"
Rick was there soon enough, wildly looking at the scene in front of him.
Unlike Glenn, Rick was quickly over his shock, stepping over the dead body on the floor to reach for her. Delaney pulled away from his grip, her eyes snapping open to see he was grabbing for her bloody hand, peeling it off of her side. "Show me." She hissed a breath in and slapped at his hand hard. He withdrew and shot her a glare, before grabbing the hem of her t-shirt and lifting it up with a sharp tug.
Whilst to their relief there wasn't a bite wound there, there was most definitely something to be concerned about. Her ribs were outlined by a hellish bruise that spanned her hip to most likely her chest. It covered the majority of her right side, mottled in places, yellowing in some, dark black in others. It looked horrendous, and it was the first time either of them had seen the extend of her injuries past winces and the obviousness of her bruised face.
"Jesus Christ," Glenn breathed, eyes wide, horrified. "Jesus Christ, Delaney!"
Said woman was grabbing for Rick's hand, trying to get him the fuck off of her, but she was so breathless that she couldn't quite get the words out of her mouth. Nothing but sharp, short breaths were forcing past her lips, the dots in her vision darkening until Rick looked something like a blur. With clenched teeth she reached out her bloody hand and pressed it to Rick's chest, feeling the violent thumping of his heart beneath her palm, as she tried to push him away.
Thankfully he let go of her t-shirt and it dropped down to cover her injury, but he didn't step back too far.
Delaney lent her palm onto the drawers and worked on breathing, slower and slower, until the pain lessened and the dark spots more or less disappeared. Then she was croaking, "Ow." much to their genuine disbelief. "Fucker di-dint make a noise..." she mumbled through her gasped breaths, her eyes opening to look down at the knife that was still locked in it's skull.
"Delaney - your ribs." Glenn rushed, grabbing her knife for her before she could bend down and retrieve it herself, his eyes still wider than normal, whilst she carried on as if there was absolutely nothing wrong. She side stepped the body on the floor and Rick both - in honesty she wanted to smack that bearded asshole for thinking it was perfectly okay to yank her t-shirt up like nothing mattered. She was seething quietly, grabbing the bag and her rifle, to put back on. She took the knife off of Glenn and slotted it back into her waistband, taking the Machete as her newest weapon.
"Did ya find anythin'?"
"You're really not going to address the - "
"No Glenn." Delaney snapped waspishly, voice croaking, "I'm not gonna fuckin' address it - What I will address is, if ya dare put ya hands on me again, Rick, I'll take 'em." She shot him the darkest glare she could muster and stalked right out of the room. She didn't give a flying fuck if they'd thought she had been bitten, touching her like that, causing her more pain, was an asshole move. He had no right. If she was bit, she was bit, it wasn't like he could do much about it anyway.
"You need to stop." Rick hoarsely told her as he and Glenn followed her out of the house, "Delaney, stop."
As if a sixth sense told her, Delaney whirled on the spot and pointed her machete right at him, "Would ya fuck off!" She yelled in frustration, tears burning at her eyes, "I already told ya, I'm not your problem! I don't trust you. I don't know you! Stop tryin' ta be somethin' you're not." She was breathing harshly and the pain of it must have been unbearable, he thought. He looked her up and down, his body arched backwards to avoid the sharp blade in her hand, and whilst he felt threatened - certainly, he also recognized a fear in her wild gaze.
"I'm sorry." Rick apologized, stepping back with both of his hands raising in the air in surrender as Glenn watched on with a sigh and a nervous look between the two.
Delaney didn't respond. She turned on her heel and began to walk off in the direction of Tyreese and Noah, dropping the bag to the floor as she walked considering there was nothing in it anyway. She clutched onto her ribs and breathed through her mouth, wincing the entire time, hating how nervous he had made her feel. With his hands grabbing at her like that, something pathetically small feeling rushed right at her and for a brief second, only a brief one she was back in Gorman's office.
Rick's grasp hadn't been more than fear induced. It hadn't been anything more than a need to make sure she hadn't been bitten, but it had still been rough and sudden enough that it had scared her.
"Delaney!"
Noah's screaming made her heart lurch right up into her throat and she stopped still in the road, "DELANEY! RICK!" The boy kept shouting and Delaney started to run, a fear burning in her gut as she located his panicked yelling further up the road. She heard Rick and Glenn behind her, the lot of them bolting up the road quickly. Delaney had tears sliding down her cheeks and the other two had their eyes searching frantically for the boy.
Noah barreled out in front of them, "It's Tyreese." He fumbled, "He's bit."
Delaney looked Noah up and down, her hand gripping her side. They took off before her, all three of them bolting to Tyreese's aid as she followed. She cursed herself and the god damn injury, but she kept moving, following, trying to keep up pace. The tears continued to slide down her cheeks at the gripping discomfort, but Tyreese needed help. He needed help.
She heard Rick shouting inside of the house as she fumbled inside, her body almost tumbling into the room as she gasped.
Blood.
There was blood everywhere. Tyreese' skin had paled in colour, and he looked so desperately sick, and his arm was a gory, bloodied mess. His clothes were soaked, a sizeable crimson puddle was forming on the blue carpet of the room. "Delaney." Rick's eyes snapped to her as she stepped into the room, her brows knitted together, body trembling, "I need you to cut it - " His command was rough. He was sweating, his hair sticking to his temples as he sat on the ground with Tyreese' hand and wrist in his grasp. Glenn was holding Tyreese still the opposite side and Noah was freaking out in the background.
With no hesitation, Delaney wiped the blade of her machete onto her t-shirt, before quickly stepping in front of the stretched limb.
"One clean swing - can you do that!" Rick pressed, harshly, looking at her with those wide blue eyes and she nodded, sharply. With both hands grabbing hold of her machete she brought it down with one severe swing, and the luckily very sharp blade went clean through Tyreese's arm, muscle and bone all the same.
Quickly, very quickly in fact blood was spurting out of the wound and Rick was fumbling backwards with the force of the amputation. Delaney whirled around on the spot, dropping her machete to the ground to go for the sheets of the bed. Noah helped her, dumping the body of the walker out in their haste to grab the clean sheets on the bottom. She stripped it clean and dropped down to her knee's with a whimpered noise, shoving the white sheet against the wound.
It was quickly seeping though, but Delaney was holding fast, "Rick - " Her voice pathetically wobbled, and her eyes were red and watery as she looked toward him. Panicking. She was fucking panicking, holding as much pressure to the site as she possibly could as he and Glenn both fumbled past where she was knelt to grab the guy's arms, "It's gonna be fine Tyreese." Delaney reassured through her warble of emotion, "It's gonna be fine," Noah helped her to her feet as the other two lifted Tyreese - her small hands were clutching onto the mans severed arm, pushing against the exposed skin and bone, trying to stop it's severe bleeding.
God, they were going to lose him soon if they didn't move.
Delaney was covered in blood again, her hands soaked with it, her cast glowing a vibrant red. Tyreese was limp in their arms, being practically dragged, whilst Delaney held his arm above his head, hand pressing as hard as she could against the injury.
She couldn't think straight or breathe or function really. It was sudden and violent and there was so much blood.
Too much blood.
Before she knew it, Rick and Glenn had to deal with the walkers outside of the gates, which were still chained shut and blocking their exit. "Can you hold him?" Rick's eyes were darting across Noah's face and then to Delaney who shook her head no, she couldn't, she really, really couldn't. Noah on the other hand reassured that he could, and together the two tried to support Tyreese muscle, as he lolled and ebbed in and out of consciousness.
Delaney was trying to use her body as a stopper, letting Tyreese lean into her as Noah tried to keep him from crushing her entirely. His arm was still in the air, "It'll be okay, It'll be okay." Delaney monotonously repeated to Tyreese. Blood was dripping down her arms, traveling lower and lower, "Noah - Noah I need you to hold him." Delaney grit her teeth, struggling. The fear was pumping in her veins and Noah's bummed leg let him down in the end. Delaney ended up crying, "Rick!" again, as Tyreese's body limply fell with her and Noah to the ground.
God, the pain was immense. She felt like she couldn't breathe, but she held onto Tyreese's arm, still applying pressure, still elevating it.
Delaney could hear the walkers, the firing of guns and the frustrated yells of Rick responding, "Hold on, Hold on!"
She struggled, "Noah hold his arm," She demanded, panting, grimacing, sobbing. The poor boy did, he pressed his hands where hers had been as she reached for her jeans, tugging violently and painfully at the belt cinching her jeans in. With it free she shot her eyes to Rick and Glenn, who were still killing the walkers, and then shifted from behind Tyreese as he sat upright more, relieving her of some of the blinding pressure against her injuries. With him upright, she quickly wrapped her belt around his bicep, feeling guilty and dumb for not having done it sooner. She worked with wet hands, blood making them slippery, but she tied the belt tight, and hoped - no begged, that it would make a difference.
The gunshots stopped and rather suddenly Tyreese was being lifted up and off of her, Glenn's face a little fuzzy in her view as he questioned her if she was okay. Nodding numbly, Delaney got to her feet and reached for the man's oozing arm. Notably the blood was slowing down, but she still held onto it tighter, firmer, running with them in the direction of the woods. Noah was in front of them, her machete in his hand, slicing a way through the few walkers they came across.
She genuinely felt like she was going to pass out.
Rick's hand was clutching onto Tyreese' back, holding onto his belt. Glenn was holding him by the shoulders, the two half dragging him towards the trees. "You're doin' great." the words were rushed, and Delaney didn't think Tyreese was really hearing any of them at this point, but as she darted her eyes toward him, she noticed he was leaning to look at her. Oh, right, her ribs. She really wasn't sure how long she could keep this up, every breath feeling shorter than the last, but Tyreese was going to die if she didn't keep up.
By some miracle, they made it to the car. Their stupid, fucking beautiful car - an ugly piece of shit that barely ran, but it was so beautiful in that one moment. Hope blossomed in her chest, until she remembered the blood dribbling down the inside of her arm, it's crimson so bright in the day light.
"Stop stop - " Delaney gasped, Rick and Glenn both looking to her alarmed, "He - " she dropped his arm from where she had been holding it up without fault, and lent her bloodied palm into the side of the car, "Cauterize it." She gasped, fighting the dark spots.
"Do not pass out!" Glenn yelled in a panic. She swallowed, feeling herself sway a little. She fumbled with the front pocket of her jeans, pulling out the lighter she'd stolen from Daryl that morning, a cigarette tumbling with it onto the woods floor. She held it out to them, demanding they understand that if he got into that car he would not survive it the journey. And if he did he would have lost too much blood and he wouldn't survive the cauterization.
There was a short, sharp curse from Rick, and then the lighter was being taken from her hand. She slid to the floor, choking out a sob. "Delaney do not pass out!" Glenn repeated as he and Rick placed Tyreese onto the ground, his head falling across Delaney's legs. "Hold him." The orders were coming back and forth, shouting almost, and Noah was there. He was there, holding Tyreese's arm with Delaney, keeping the man - the half conscious man, still.
Oh, the screams.
Tyreese screamed, hoarse and tortured, as the hot metal of someone's weapon touched to the tender, broken end of his arm. He kept screaming and screaming - Delaney was crying, fully and entirely, with his head cradled in her arms, hushing him. She was trying her best to comfort him, brushing her hand along his head, over and over.
Then it ended.
And she wasn't sure if the silence was a blessing or a curse. Tyreese had passed out, understandably, but she couldn't bare to look at what was happening right next to her as the smell of burning flesh, made her nose itch. It was foul and she turned her head, gagging. A hand grabbed the back of her neck, holding, applying gentle pressure to keep her head facing the other direction and part of her knew it was Rick.
Noah let out an audible sob, sounding so fucking scared and Delaney followed.
She had been dancing along a breaking point for some days now. Not quite there but also not far away, and this - oh this was her tipping point. It pushed her right over the edge and Delaney was sobbing. There was a panic in her, a fear that she hadn't felt in such a long time and it just shattered her entirely. She half realized that was why Rick was holding onto her, because she was inconsolable.
Rick's head pressed against hers seconds later, his hand moving from the back of her neck to hold the side of her head closer and she let him. She reached up her bloodied hand and grabbed at his arm, desperately, whilst the other held Tyreese on her lap. It's done. It's done. He was speaking quietly, whispering against her hair as he held her, reassuring her with a thickness of emotion in his voice, trying to get her to calm down so that she would breathe.
"He needs antibiotic's, medicine..." Glenn shakily stated, "He's breathing, but if - if he - " If he survives, he'll been medication. He shakily got to his feet, looking to Rick who was holding Delaney, who was shaking and crying, "I'll go back, sweep the houses - "
"I'll come too." Noah said as he shot to his feet, "I know w-where to find some..."
Glenn looked to Rick, asking for confirmation that he'd be fine here with Delaney and Tyreese and with a short sharp nod, Noah and he set off together back in the direction of the community. Delaney continued to cry, softer, less terrified and more so in the aftermath of everything. The pain and the fear. It gripped her tightly and the tears were sliding down her cheeks as she tried to regulate her breathing, to stop the burning in her lungs.
Rick was holding her so tightly, and that same feeling from the hospital returned. He was again, consoling her, holding her close, protecting her, soothing her - and he didn't have to. She had threatened him with a machete earlier on and here he was, hushing her, his hand smoothing down her dark hair as she trembled and gasped for breath. "Come on, Del, slow breaths..." He lent back, and she almost went with him.
His eyes checked on Tyreese, who's chest continued to rise and fall steadily, His arm was limp on the sheet that Delaney had wrapped it in, the skin charred and blackened, but the bleeding had stopped - it looked like it had stopped. If he survived it would be a fucking miracle, but Rick had hope. He had to hope. His eyes looked to the belt, the belt, that was tightly cinched around the man's arm, blocking much of the blood that would have otherwise drained out of him as they moved and his eyes darted to Delaney.
She wasn't crying quite as much any more and she was definitely breathing slower, her eyes now on Tyreese as she ran her fingers over the top of his head again, trying to collect herself. Rick nervously did a sweep of her, seeing the pale sheen to her skin, the sweat that was clinging to her. Blood was staining much of her body again, and he wondered - God, he wondered when this poor girl was gonna get a break.
He slumped back against the car beside her, closing his eyes.
Then all of a sudden Rick jerked to the side when Delaney dropped right into him, solidly and very, very unconscious. He caught her, grimacing softly when he looked at her pale features. "Delaney, hey, Delaney wake up - " He gave her face a few gentle pats, careful of her bruised skin, but she didn't rouse and he dejectedly sighed once more - leaning his head back against the car exhausted.
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REVISED 23/11/2022