Ever the Survivor

A comment I got from PourquoiBella on Mibba asked why Kat wasn't religious because the Robertson's are...I was just gonna say, cause Kat's her own person. Which is very much true, but I'll go more into detail. The Robertson's being religious, has nothing to do with this story. It was never mentioned that they were in this fic. They were just a reason for Kat to be in Georgia (where III placed them. I know they're from Louisiana, I put them in Georgia for the story. Everything about this story...is FICTION.) and they probably aren't even going to be featured again unless I figure out when and where to work them in. But don't hold your breath. They served their purpose. I could've used my own made up people as her family members and not even be putting this little excerpt, BUT, I love Duck Dynasty and the people I featured, (except, Si, whom I LOVE, but couldn't find good spots for him without it becoming all about him and taking away from the story. He has that effect lol) so I thought it would be fun to add them and would make more sense why Kat is good out in the woods. It's my story and that's just how I thought it up...plain and simple. So, that was read wayy too into XD But, great attention to detail I guess. Kat is her own person, as are the boys. So even though some of her family might be religious, the Carsen's don't need to be. I made that much like my own family. Some members of my family are very religious. My immediate family, are not. Far from it. So it's just familiar and I can relate to it, that's why I made them that way, just to clear that up. No back story, or something you missed. Just how she was brought up. So for anyone else who watches Duck Dynasty and thought that much into it and may have been wondering about that, there you are. :) Also, YES! It is going to be a long story :)

And umm. I guess people said I needed to put a spoiler alert since I follow closely with the direction the TV show is going, or has gone...Erm..duhhh? I said in the in the first 'chapter' I would go along with the TV show. I might include parts from the comic, as well, since I own them all(thus far anyway-issue 110 baby) and will also go off on my own once I get to a point where I can, or include a few tid bits from the comics. Which will probably be at the end of season 2 since there was a big jump in time. But..If this is a fan fiction story...based on a TV show...I would suspect that you knew there would be spoilers? So: SPOILER ALERT, FOR THIS CHAPTER AND ONES TO FOLLOW? (even tho I included it in the introduction page..)

-xo

On a side note! On a diff fanfic site this story was rated a perfect 10 between several people. That made me go like this :DD I'm glad people are liking it.

So enjoy the next chapter :)

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Please no, please no, please no. Rick's mind was screaming as he ran through the open plains of Senoia, Georgia, panting and panicked. He was carrying Carl, cradling him against his chest as he ran, bleeding and still unconscious from the bolt action rifle round he'd just taken to the abdomen.

"Come on." Rick groaned as he readjusted the hold he had on his unconscious son. It had been a while since he'd carried the boy, he hadn't realized he'd gotten so big. He only hoped he would be able to see him grow more after this day.

"Hey, you move, shithead! Come on, git I said!" Shane yelled from a few feet behind Rick, a look of anger on his face, to the man the rifle round had come from. The older, heavy set man, Otis, was following Rick and Shane. He was having a hard time with the two cops that were in far better shape than he was and Shane was getting frustrated that he couldn't keep up.

Rick knew it would be too late if he had to keep at a slower pace and wait for the man to give directions. He spun around and looked at him. "How far? How far?!"

"Another half mile that way." Otis huffed, bent over, trying to catch his breath. He pointed his arm in the direction they had been running while he rested the other on his knee. "He-Hershel. Talk to Hershel. He'll help your boy." He said between labored breaths. Rick hardly heard him, as soon as the man had pointed him in the right direction, he had turned and ran.

Shane only gave the man a few seconds to catch his breath before he grabbed Otis by the arm and started hauling him after Rick. "Come on." He'd said as he pulled the bigger man, causing him to fall to the ground from the force he'd yanked him with.

"I'm sorry." The heavy man panted as Shane grabbed his arm again to pull him up.

"Let's go, man. Come on!" He yelled, as he and Otis started after Rick, at a much slower pace.

Rick ran as fast as he could in the direction Otis had pointed him in. He kept his eyes on either the dying grass in front of him or the dying boy in his arms. Soon enough, he saw fencing and a white, two story house peeking out from the few trees that surrounded it. Rick readjusted Carl in his arms again as he saw the house come into view. Almost there.

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Maggie, the eldest Greene daughter, had been sitting out on the front porch, waiting for Otis to return from his hunt, when she saw a figure running across the open field in front of the house. She grabbed the binoculars that they had sitting on a small end table by the chair there and looked through the lenses. With the new magnified picture, she could see a man in a sheriff's uniform and hat carrying a limp, -appearing to be- lifeless, body of a boy.

"Dad!" She yelled as she turned towards the open screen door of the house. The man kept coming.

Maggie turned and quickly made her way into the house to shout for her father again. All of the occupants of the house started to the front at the sound of all the commotion.

An elderly man in a white, button down shirt and suspenders came out the front screen door of the house first. Hershel, the owner of the property. He was followed closely by a blond woman, Patricia, who was Otis' wife. Maggie, with her younger sister Beth and Beth's boyfriend, Jimmy, followed after her as they all stood on the porch. Jimmy had a baseball bat in his hands as the five stared at the man who was now running across the front yard.

"Was he bit?" Hershel shouted from the porch.

"Shot." Rick said, slowing down as he came up to the house. "By your man."

"Otis?" Patricia asked as the group started down the stairs towards him.

"He said find Hershel. Is that you?" Rick asked. The old man nodded his head at him as he came to take a closer look. "Help me. Help my boy." Rick said, now more frantic.

"Get him inside. Inside!" Hershel said as he turned back around, pointing at and heading for the house. As soon as he cleared the door's threshold, he was unbuttoning the cuffs of his shirt so he could roll up his sleeves. "Patricia, I need my full kit." Hershel said, Rick right behind him. "Maggie." He said as he led them into a bedroom right off to the side of the entryway.

"Yeah?" His daughter, replied.

"Painkillers, coagulates- grab everything."

"Okay." She said as she ran to where the old man kept his supplies.

"Clean towels, sheets, alcohol." He shouted towards her. He grabbed the blanket that was on the bed and threw it aside. "In here." He said to Rick, who laid the boy down on the bed. Rick stared down at his son, not sure what to do.

"Pillowcase." Hershel said to him.

"Is he alive?" Rick asked, not taking his eyes from his boy. "Is he-"

"Pillowcase, quick." Hershel repeated. Rick walked around the old man, who was undoing the boy's clothes to get a better look at the wound. Rick grabbed one of the pillows off the bed and started taking it's pillowcase off.

"Is-Is he alive?" He repeated.

"Fold it. Make a pad." Hershel said as Patricia and his daughters came into the room with everything he had asked for. Hershel had his hands pressed firmly onto the shot's entry wound as Rick came back around the other side of him with the makeshift pad.

"Put pressure on the wound." Hershel said as he grabbed the pad from Rick, replacing it with where his hands had been. Rick did as he was told as he pushed down on the pad over the hole in his son's stomach.

Hershel turned around and grabbed his stethoscope from Patricia. Putting the buds in his ears and the diaphragm on the boy's chest, he listened for a few tense seconds. "I've got a heartbeat." He said. Rick quickly nodded. "It's faint."

"I got it, step back." Patricia said, as she scooted her way between Rick and Hershel. Patricia had worked at the clinic with Hershel and was a trained technician. The room became a buzz of activity, then.

"Maggie, IV." Hershel said.

"We need some space." Maggie said as she looked at Rick. He still hadn't taken his eyes off Carl.

"Your name?" Hershel said, finally causing him to look towards him.

"R-Rick."

"Rick?"

"I-I-I'm-I'm Rick." He nodded. The man was in a state of shock.

"Rick, we're gonna do everything we can, okay? You need to give us some room." Hershel said as he looked back at him. "Now." He said, when the man didn't move.

Rick slowly backed away as Hershel, Maggie and Patricia surrounded the boy. He could see movement out of the corner of his eye.

"Move!" He heard Shane yell. He looked out of the window that looked out over the front of the house as he saw Shane and Otis running through the field. Rick slowly made his way to the front door. He walked outside just as Shane and Otis got to the steps. Rick stopped at the top and took off his hat.

"He's alive? He's still alive?" Otis panted.

Rick wiped his hand over his forehead in an attempt to wipe away the sweat from his brow, but in the process smeared his son's blood all over his face.

"Hey...Okay." Shane whispered as he came up the steps to his friend. He took his bag off his shoulder as he went through it, pulling a rag from his pack. "It's okay." He whispered as he ran the rag over Rick's face.

Rick pulled back, not knowing what the man was doing at first. Shane put a hand on his shoulder to hold him still.

"You got blood, man." Shane said as he continued wiping off the blood. "Okay." Once his face was as clean as he could get it, he gave the rag to Rick, who looked down, seeing his blood covered hands and shirt, but not really registering them. Shane had handed it to him, hoping he would wipe some of the blood off, but the look on his face let him know he was still having trouble processing what was going on. "I'll take it from you." Shane said as Rick fumbled with the rag in his hands. Rick finally looked to his friend with tears in his eyes. "Where is he? Where is he? Is he okay?" Shane whispered to him. Rick turned around and stumbled into the house, Shane and Otis following him.

The three walked into the bedroom to see a still unconscious Carl lying on the bed. Hershel was sitting next to him, pressing the pillowcase to the gunshot would, that was still bleeding.

"You know his blood type?" Hershel asked as the men entered.

"A-positive, s-same as mine." Rick answered.

"That's fortunate." Hershel said as he turned to look at him. "Don't wander far. I'm gonna need you..What happened?" He said, looking at Otis.

"I was..trackin a buck." Otis said, pointing into the air, to nowhere in particular. "Bullet went through it. Went clean through."

Hershel looked back at the boy's wound. "The deer slowed the bullet down, which certainly saved his life. But it did not go through clean. It broke up into pieces." He said, as Otis walked around Ricnk and to Patricia, who was standing behind him. "If I can get the bullet fragments out..and I'm countin six."

"I never saw him...not until he was on the ground."Otis said as he came to Patricia, who hugged him.

"Lori doesn't know." Rick said as he looked out over the room.

"Shh, shh. I know." Shane said as he let out a breath. He put his arm over Rick's shoulders as the man started crying.

My wife doesn't know. My wife doesn't know." Rick said, bringing his hand up to cover his eyes.

"Shh, shh." Shane said as he pulled Rick closer to him, leaning his head against his. "You've got to stay with him." He whispered into Rick's ear. "You've gotta stay."

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Kat was in front with Daryl as they led the rest of the group back to the highway. He kept seeing Kat look behind her every now and then or around the trees surrounding them. And this wasn't the 'making-sure-everyone-is-still-accounted-for' looking around she had been doing earlier in their trek.

"Lose somethin?" Daryl said to her.

Kat looked back at the group still following a couple feet behind them before she looked at his face. She walked a few steps closer to him, her arm against his, as she lowered her voice. "That shot." She said as she raised her eyebrows.

"Yeah." He said, glancing from her face to the trees in front of them.

"That didn't sound like it came from the direction of the RV...and Shane and Rick didn't have a rifle on them." She said, trusting her trained ears. She'd been around many different types of guns in her career and could distinguish the sound of a shot of a rifle, from a handgun, from a shotgun, or from an assault rifle.

Daryl too, being an experienced woodsman, knew the sound of a bolt action rifle when he heard one. It was his father's weapon of choice when they would go hunting. "I know." He whispered back.

Kat looked around the woods in front of them before she leaned into him again. "You don't think-"

"You still worrying about it?" Andrea said to Lori, interrupting them. She'd turned around to see the woman lagging behind. Everyone stopped where they were and looked at the woman. Lori was a few feet away from everyone at the very end of the group, looking back towards the direction they'd just come from.

"It was a gunshot." Lori said without turning around.

"We all heard it." Daryl said as he looked briefly at Kat.

Lori turned around to look at the two. "Why one? Why just one gunshot?"

Daryl looked out into the trees around the group before he looked at the woman and slightly shrugged his shoulders. "Maybe they took down a walker." He looked back out into the woods again.

"Please don't patronize me. You know Rick wouldn't risk a gunshot to put down one walker. Or Shane. They'd do it quietly." Lori said, looking at him before turning around.

"Shouldn't they have caught up with us by now?" Carol asked looking around at the group, all of them thinking the same thing the woman had just voiced.

Ugh. Thank you Carol. Kat shook her head. She didn't want everyone to start worrying and turning this into more of a clusterfuck than it already was.

Daryl took a few steps towards them. "There's nothin we can do about it anyway. Can't run around these woods chasin echoes."

"So what do we do?" Lori turned back towards him.

"Same as we've been. Beat the bush for Sophia, work our way back to the highway."

"I'm sure they'll hook up with us back at the RV." Andrea said as she looked between Carol and Lori.

Lori looked behind her into the woods one more time before she started walking again, causing everyone else to continue. All for Carol and Andrea.

"I'm sorry for what you're going through." Andrea said as she took a few steps towards Carol, who was visibly upset at the fact they still hadn't found any sign of Sophia. "I know how you feel." She said as the group stopped again.

"I suppose you do. Thank you." Carol forced a smile at the woman before looking between her and the rest of the group. "The thought of her out here by herself...it's the not knowin that's killin me. I just keep hopin and prayin she doesn't wind up like Amy."

Andrea's look of concern for the woman changed into a look of sadness as the words came out of her mouth.

Carol, realizing her mistake, stepped forward, grabbing at Andrea's arms. "Oh, God. That's the worst thing I ever said."

Andrea slightly shook her head as she took a breath. "We're all hoping and praying with you..for what it's worth." She said as she stepped back.

Daryl, however, stepped towards the two. "I'll tell ya what it's worth- not a damn thing." He shook his head and he raised his eyebrows as he looked between the two women in front of him. "It's a waste of time all this hopin and prayin...Cause we're gonna locate that little girl, she's gonna be just fine...Am I the only one zen around here?" He said as he turned around and headed back towards the front. "Good Lord."

Lori smiled a bit at the man as he stalked by and took his place next to a smirking Kat as they continued forward. Lori waited for Andrea and Carol to pass her before looking behind her one last time.

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Dylan was sitting on top of the RV watching out over the highway as Dale was under the hood of another car.

"We are gonna have quite a collection of spare parts, I tell ya." Dale said a few minutes later when T-Dog walked up to him. Dale took his rag and began wiping off the spark plug he'd pulled from the car's engine.

T-Dog just looked at the engine before walking a few steps from him. "Shouldn't they be back by now?"

Dale glanced above him from underneath his bucket hat. "It's still light. Let's not worry just yet." He said as he wiped the spark plug some more. He looked at T-Dog who was a few feet to his other side now. You could see from the different wet patches on the man's shirt that he was still sweating. He hadn't been moving around much all day, so there was no reason for him to be as hot as he was, even in the Georgia heat. "How are you feeling?" Dale asked.

T-Dog looked back at the man and stared, before nodding a little and slowly walking away again.

Dale put the spark plug down and wiped his hands. He picked up his rifle he had leaned against the car behind him, swinging the strap over his shoulder, as he started following after him. "T-Dog?" He said, causing him to turn around. "I asked you how you were feeling just now. Please don't blow that question off." Dale said as he shook his head at the younger man.

"It really, really hurts. It-" T-Dog said, gesturing towards his arm. Dale nodded at him. They had put a clean cloth over it and secured it with electrical tape. "It's throbbin something awful."

"Oh, lemme see." Dale said as he put the rag in his pocket and reached for T-Dog's arm. He pulled up the edge of the cloth and looked at the part of the cut he could see there. He put the cloth back down and pressed it to the man's skin so it would stay covered.

"Ah! Don't-" T-Dog yelled as he grabbed at Dale's hand before letting it go. "Don't touch it." He said more quietly as he leaned back against the truck next to Merle's bike.

"I'm sorry. I'm sorry." Dale said as he held up the hand T-Dog had grabbed. "Listen, your veins are very discolored. You got a hell of an infection there. You could die from blood poisoning."

T-Dog started laughing. Laughing. Dylan looked down at them. "Oh, man." T-Dog said. "Wouldn't that be the way? World gone to hell, the dead risen up to eat the livin and Theodore Douglas gets done in by a cut on his arm." T-Dog laughed again.

Dale put his hands on T-Dog's shoulders, trying to calm him down. "Yeah, that would be- that would be stupid. I've been sayin since yesterday, we've gotta get you some antibiotics. We've been ransacking these cars the whole time. I can't believe that we have not found some penicillin or-or something in the-in the whole place. Can you?" He said as he looked around them.

"Seems like there would be." T-Dog said as he lazily looked at the cars surrounding them as well.

"That's what I think. Well, we, uh- we haven't been thorough enough. So let's look some more. All right?" Dale said as he looked at T-Dog. T smiled at him and put a hand on his shoulder, Dale doing the same, before he started walking away from the older man. Dale kept his worried eyes on the man before he turned and looked behind him. "Boys," Dale said, raising his hand to Kaleb and Sam and giving them a come here motion. They walked over to him from the door of the RV. "I want you two to help me with something. We're gonna look in the cars again, but go through the glove boxes and- and the center consoles this time. Bring me any pill bottles if you find any, okay?"

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"Why'd I let him come with us?" Rick asked. He and Shane were sitting on a couch in the living room of the Greene's house. "I should have sent him with Lori."

Shane shook his head. "You know, you start that, you'll never get that monkey off your back." They were quiet for a few seconds.

"Little girl goes missing, you look for her. Simple. You said call it, head back."

"Doesn't matter what I said."

"Carl got shot because I wouldn't cut bait. It should be me in there." Rick said.

Shane rubbed at his eyes with his hand before he chuckled. "You've been there, partner. Right? And you pulled through. So will he."

"Is that why I got out of that hospital? Found my family for it to end here like this? This some kind of sick joke?" Risk started to raise his voice as he got upset.

"Shh." Shane quieted him. "You stop it. Just stop."

Rick took a breath. "A little girl goes missing...you look for her. It's plain and simple."

Rick and Shane both looked to the bedroom door on the side of the room they were in when they heard it pull open quickly.

"Rick." Maggie said from the doorway. The two men quickly got up and made their way to the door. "He needs blood." She said as they walked in.

Carl's crying and groaning filled the room as Hershel tried to fish out the bullet fragments. The boy had started to wake right as he started.

"You, hold him down." Hershel said as he looked at Shane.

"Dad!" Carl cried.

"I got him." Shane said, pushing around Patricia who was holding the boy down as best she could. He rested his arm on the boy's chest, using his weight to hold him down as Patricia got up and walked to the other side of the bed Rick and Hershel were on. "Shh, shh, shh." Shane kept repeating as Carl cried and screamed. Patricia was cleaning off the site on Rick's arm where she would stick the needle to begin drawing blood.

Hershel stuck his surgical forceps into the wound on Carl's abdomen, grabbing at the bullet fragment again, trying to pull it to the surface. "Almost there." Hershel said, pulling another scream from the boy as he pushed against Shane.

"Stop!" Rick yelled as he listened to his son scream. "You're killin him!"

"Rick, do you want him to live?" Hershel said as he tried to put the forceps back into the wound as Carl struggled, pulling at the bed sheets.

"He needs blood." Patricia said, grabbing for Rick's arm again.

"Do it now!" Shane yelled as he looked at them.

Rick looked at Patricia, letting her take his arm again as they all listened to Carl crying. She quickly stuck the needle in his arm.

Carl looked at Shane with another grunt as he tried to push away. Shane pulled his arm back enough to run his hand over the boy's head, trying to soothe him when he stopped crying, his head falling limply to the side.

"Wait, wait, wait, wait." Shane quietly said, panicked, causing Rick to turn around. "Wait. Wait. Hey." Shane said, looking at Carl before looking to Hershel.

"He just passed out." Hershel assured him. He reached the forceps back into the wound more easily without the boy struggling, and pulled out the bullet fragment. "One down..." Hershel said as he held up the fragment with the forceps. He let it fall into the metal kidney basin with a clink. "Five to go."

After Hershel put a bandage on the boy's wound and secured it with surgical tape, Patricia started getting him ready for the blood transfusion Rick was providing.

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Hershel was checking his blood pressure after awhile of replacing the blood he'd lost. He was using his stethoscope and letting the air hiss out of the small mercury sphygmomanometer he had on the bed. "Pressure's stable." He said as Patricia leaned over to make sure the small tubes for the transfusion were secure on Carl's arm.

"Lori needs to be here." Rick said from his seat in the chair next to Carl's bed. "She doesn't even know what's going on. I've gotta go find her. Bring her back."

"You can't do that." Hershel said.

"She's his mother." Rick said with a stern tone. "She needs to know what's happened. Her son's lying here shot." He held his hand out to his boy in the bed next to him while shaking his head.

"And he's going to need more blood. He can't go more than 50 feet from this bed." Hershel looked across the room to Shane by the window. The man briefly put his hand up and nodded his head. I got it.

Patricia helped a shaky Rick to his feet, trying to hold him up. Shane walked in front of him. "Hey. Hey. Come on." He said as he gently took hold of Rick's arm to help him.

"I'm all right. I'm all right." Rick patted his friend's chest before slowly making his way to the door.

Shane looked at Hershel before following him out. "I got him."

Rick opened the door up and started walking back out into the living area they had been sitting in before. He used the wall a bit to steady himself and made his way to a chair where he sat down. Maggie, who was sitting in the living room with Otis, sat up straighter in her chair, waiting for any word on the boy. Rick didn't say anything so she looked towards Shane as he shut the door behind them. He leaned up against the wall outside of the room Carl was in. "He's stable for now."

Otis sat back in his seat and Maggie let out a small breath she had been holding.

"Lori needs to be here Shane, she has to know." Rick said, looking up to his friend from his chair.

"Okay. I get that. I'm gonna handle it." Shane said, nodding at him. "But you gotta handle your end."

Rick furrowed his brow. "My-my end?"

Shane pulled the legs of his pants up slightly so he could squat down next to Rick more comfortably. "Your end is being here for your son. Even if he didn't need your blood to survive, there is no way I'd ever let you walk out that door. Man, I'd break your legs if you tried. I mean, you know that, right?" He said as he looked at him.

Rick didn't reply. He just looked away from Shane and looked at the floor between his legs.

"If something happened to him and you weren't here..." Shane started. He had to stop at just the thought of the boy he loved, dying. He looked down at the ground in front of him before looking back to Rick, who was rubbing at his eyes. "If-If he slipped away while you were gone, you would never forgive yourself for that. And neither would Lori, man."

Rick kept his fingers pressed to his eyes. He finally sat back up and looked at him as he nodded. "You're right."

"When was I ever wrong?" Shane raised his eyebrows with a smirk before he laughed. He rested his elbow on his knee and brought his hand up to his mouth to cover his smile a bit. Rick smiled back at him before he turned and looked out over the living room ahead of him.

"You know, when-" Shane said, bringing his hand from his mouth to his forehead and lightly resting it there. He looked at the floor, remembering something. "when you were in that hospital, the one you were never supposed to leave, man, you shoulda seen Lori." Shane said, resting both hands out in front of him now as the men looked at each other. He scooted closer to Rick. "She was like...the strength of that woman..." He laughed. "You can't imagine it." Rick nodded as Shane put his hand on his shoulder. "See-see that's what you've gotta have now. I mean, Carl- he needs that from you. So you wire yourself tight, my friend." Shane whispered to him.

"Hmm?"

"You hear?" Shane said as he brought his hand up to Rick's head, holding his forehead to his. Rick did the same. "You've got the hard part. You just leave the rest to me, okay?"

"All right."

"All right." Shane said as they pulled away.

The door to Carl's room opened as Shane stood up, giving Hershel room to walk out. Everyone in the room stood and watched, waiting, as Hershel wiped his hands on the cloth he had.

"He's out of danger for the moment." The old man said. "But I need to remove those remaining fragments."

"How? You saw how he was." Rick said, shaking his head.

"I know, and that was the shallowest one." Hershel said. "I need to go deeper to get the others."

"Oh, man." Shane sighed as Rick looked away.

"There's more."

"Tell me." Rick said as he looked back to the man.

"His belly's distended, his pressure is droppin, which means there's internal bleedin. A fragment musta nicked one of the blood vessels." Everyone was quiet for a second as they took in the new information. Rick, who's face was already pale from the blood he'd given, somehow turned even lighter. "I have to open him up, find the bleeder and stitch it. And he can't move while I'm in there- I mean, at all. If he reacts the same as before, I'll sever an artery and he'll be dead in minutes...To even try this, I have to put him under. But if I do, he won't be able to breathe on his own. Same bad results."

Rick looked around the room briefly. "What'll it take?"

"You need a respirator." Otis said as he stepped closer to them. "What else?"

"The tube that goes with it, extra surgical supplies, drapes, sutures." Hershel answered as he looked at him.

"If you had all that you could save him?" Rick asked.

Hershel looked back at him. "If I had all that, I could try."

"Nearest hospital went up in flames a month ago." Otis shook his head a bit. Hershel looked at him with a knowing expression. "The high school." Otis said as he understood.

"That's what I was thinkin. They set up a FEMA shelter there. They would have everything we need." Hershel explained to the new comers.

"Place was overrun last time I saw it. You couldn't get near it. Maybe it's better now." Otis said, unsure.

Shane nodded a little at the thought. Maybe. "I said, leave the rest to me. Is it too late to take that back?" He smirked a little.

"I hate you goin alone." Rick said as he looked at his friend.

"Come on." Shane smiled. "Doc, why don't you do me a list and draw me a map?"

"You won't need a map...I'll take you there. Ain't but five miles."

"Otis, no." Patricia said with a stern tone, shaking her head from the doorway to Carl's room.

"Honey, we don't have time for guesswork and I'm responsible. I ain't gonna sit here while this fella takes this on alone." He tilted his head towards Shane as he looked at his wife. "I'll be all right."

"Are you sure about this?" Shane asked the man.

"You even know what any of the stuff he's talking about looks like?" Otis smiled at him a little.

"Come to think, no."

"I've been a volunteer EMT. I do. We can talk about this till next Sunday or we could just go do it real quick."

"I'll take right quick."

"I should thank you." Rick said as he looked at Otis. Despite him being the one that got them in this situation, he was risking his life for his boy if the high school was still overrun.

Otis looked at him. "Wait till that boy of yours is up and around. Then we'll talk. I'll gather some things." He said as he walked away.

Rick and Shane looked at each other as Maggie made her way across the room to Rick. "Where is she, your wife?" She asked.

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"I haven't seen anything." Kat said, looking around at the ground in front of them. "You?" She looked at Daryl. He just shook his head. She could tell he was a little frustrated at the lack of evidence from the little girl. Kat looked up around at the trees at the sound of a nearby bird. She could see the sun shining through the branches from it's low spot in the sky. "It's gonna be dark soon."

Daryl nodded as he looked at her. He turned towards the group, that was now stopped slightly behind them. "We'll lose the light before too long. I think we should call it."

Lori looked out into the forest ahead of them. "Let's head back."

"We'll pick it up again tomorrow?" Carol asked from next to her.

"Yeah, we'll find her tomorrow." Lori looked at her and nodded her head.

Daryl whistled towards them, getting their attention as he started leading them away again.

"To a kid, everything looks the same out here. Trees, dirt, leaves." Kat said quietly as she walked closer to Daryl again. "She probably got turned around after she got spooked. Didn't know which way was what."

Daryl nodded, understanding what she was getting at. "We'll widen our search area tomorrow."

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"Just get what you need and get out of there." Rick said, putting a hand on Shane's shoulder as they all walked out to the blue pickup truck he and Otis would be taking into town.

"You stay strong all right?" Shane said to him as he loaded his bag into the back of the truck.

Patricia made her way around the back and hugged Otis tightly, sobbing into his shoulder.

Rick took his Magnum Colt Python out of it's holster and held it in his hand as he walked around the truck towards Otis and Patricia, who pulled away from each other. Rick held his gun out to the man.

Otis looked down at it then to Hershel before taking the gun from Rick. "That's a fine weapon, Rick. I'll bring it back in good shape." He nodded at him and walked to the back of the truck, putting the gun into his bag and grabbing his rifle. Shane hit his hand on the bed of the truck a couple times, letting him know he was ready to get going.

Otis looked at Patricia one more time as they got into the truck. Otis set his rifle in between he and Shane so that it was leaning against the seat. Shane looked down at the weapon. The same gun that had shot Carl. He looked up at Otis who realized what the man was thinking. Otis nodded. "Only one I got."

Shane let out a breath and shook his head a tiny bit as he rested his arm on the door. Otis started the engine. "Man, this turned into one strange day." Shane said.

"Didn't it though?"

Patricia watched the blue truck go down the dirt driveway. She turned and started walking towards the house as she shook her head.

Hershel put his hand on Rick's arm. "Let's check on your boy."

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T-Dog was sitting on a crate, leaning his back up against the RV, smoking a cigarette. The Carsen boys were further down the road still going through more cars although they hadn't found much.

Dale was making his way over to T, his hands full of goodies. "Found some more batteries." He said as he came closer. "A bottle of very trendy pink water, an excellent new machete, and I thought Glenn might like this guitar." He said as he started putting everything down. "Maybe he plays." He sat down on a metal bucket next to T-Dog. "No drugs...You?"

T-Dog took another drag of the cigarette and let the smoke come out of his mouth before answering. "Yeah, ibuprofen...and these." He said, waving the cigarette around. The two sat in silence for a few seconds before T-Dog spoke up again.

"What are we doin?"

Dale shrugged. "Pulling supplies together." He said, looking around in front of them at the things they and the group had gathered over the last day.

"No, I mean...what are we doin?" T-Dog said as he looked at him. "People off in the woods, they's lookin for that poor girl and we're here. Why?" Dale looked at him confused before T started talking again. "Cause they think we're the weakest...Wh-what are you, 70?" He asked as he looked out in front of him and brought the cigarette back to his lips.

"64." Dale answered.

"Uh-huh...And I'm the one black guy. Realize how precarious that makes my situation?"

Dale looked at him. "What the hell are you talkin about?"

"Mm. I'm talkin about two good-old-boy cowboy sheriffs, a spec ops agent, and a redneck whose brother cut off his own hand because I dropped a key." T-Dog looked back at him. "Who in that scenario you think is gonna be first to get lynched?"

"You can't be serious." Dale raised his eyebrows at the man. T-Dog turned away. "Am I- hey, am I missing something?"Dale pointed to his own chest. "That girl and those..cowboys have done all right by us. And if I'm not mistaken, that redneck went out of his way to save your ass- more than once."

"And don't forget about Andrea. Kills her own sister."

"She was already dead."

"Then wants to blow herself up...Yeah, she's all there." T-Dog looked at him again before turning away.

Dale looked at him incredulously. "She's havin a tough time. What is wrong with you?"

"The whole world's havin a tough time." T-Dog looked at him. "Damn, man. Open your eyes." T-Dog said, gesturing to the space in front of them. He raised his voice. "Look where we are- stuck in this mess here!"

Dale put his hands up. "Shh! Shh!" He slowly lowered his hands as T calmed down.

T-Dog put his head in his hand before he leaned back. "Let's- let's just go. Let's just..take the RV." He said, banging his hand back lightly on the RV's metal wall, looking at Dale behind heavy eyelids.

Dale looked at him with wide eyes. "You've gone off the deep end." Dale said as he started to stand up.

"I mean it, man. Why are we- Why are we on the side of this road like live bait. Let's go, you and me." T-Dog was panting as Dale walked closer to him. "Let's go before they get back."

Dale reached his hand out towards T-Dog, who leaned away, not knowing what he was doing. Dale held his other hand out, letting him know he wasn't going to hurt him, as he put his other hand to the man's forehead. "Oh, my God. You're burnin up. Give me that. Come on." He said as he pointed to the bottle of ibuprofen. T-Dog handed it to him. Dale unscrewed the cap and poured several pills out into his hand. "Here, take these. We've gotta knock that fever down." He said, putting the pills into T-Dog's hand as he leaned over and grabbed the water. He opened it and handed it to him. "Here."

T-Dog grabbed the bottle from him and took a sip, washing the pills down his throat. He closed his eyes and leaned back against the RV.

Dylan and the boys started walking back towards the RV with some more tools and a few small things of food, snacks mostly.

Dale looked in their direction before looking out towards the woods. "Where the hell are they?"

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Daryl and Kat were in front of the small group, walking back in the direction of the cars as the sun was setting around them. The group was spread out behind them as they walked at a leisurely pace.

"How much farther?" Lori asked.

"Not much. Maybe 100 yards..as the crow flies." Daryl said, keeping his eyes ahead of him.

"Too bad we're not crows." Andrea said. She started venturing away from the group a bit.

They walked like that for a little while, Andrea several yards away. She could still see them so didn't bother coming closer again. No one noticed she had walked off by herself as the group was spread out a little as it was. She climbed over a fallen tree and kept walking. Right into a very large spider web. "Oh..Oh!" She said in disgust, trying to brush the webbing off of her clothes. She started walking again as she threw the web to the ground. "As the crow flies, my ass." She said as she walked through the tall grass. The sound of low growling made her turn around. She screamed at the sight of a Walker. It had been standing behind a tree and moved towards her as she went by. It tried to grab at her shoulders as she screamed and backed up.

The group stopped, looking around at the sound of screaming.

"Andrea?" Lori yelled as she spun around, not seeing the woman. Daryl took off in the direction he heard the screams and the rest of the group followed.

Andrea tried to shove the Walker away, slicing the knife at it's chest as she pushed against it, but it kept coming. It grabbed onto her shoulders again as she pushed it back, leaving her knife jammed in it's chest in the process. She kept backing up and tripped over a large branch on the ground. She landed on her back as the Walker kept coming towards her. She scooted back with her hands and feet as it stepped over the branch that sent her to the ground. "Help me!" She yelled between her screams as the Walker tried to grab her legs. She kept pushing herself back away from it, but it was faster now that she wasn't on her feet. It tried to grab her again as she put her feet up on it's chest, trying to hold it back as the group ran towards her. She pushed her legs out as much as she could against the Walker, trying to keep it from grabbing her until the group made it to her.

Andrea could hear the sound of heavy hooves to her left, the Walker hearing it too, as it looked in the direction of the noise. It stood up slightly, only to be greeted with a baseball bat to the head as a woman on a horse ran by. The Walker fell to the ground from the force of the hit. The woman pulled the reins back and turned the horse around as she came back over to Andrea who was still lying on the ground.

"Lori? Lori Grimes?" She asked as she looked down at Andrea. "Whoa." She said, pulling the reins again to stop the horse.

The group ran up at that moment. "I'm Lori."

"Rick sent me." Maggie said as she looked at the woman who spoke up. "You've gotta come now."

"What?" Lori looked at her confused. Who was this girl? She'd never seen her in her life.

"There's been an accident. Carl's been shot. He's still alive but you've gotta come now." Maggie said as Lori looked at her with wide eyes, not sure what to do. "Rick needs you. Just come." Maggie said, tilting her head to the horse's back.

Lori quickly started taking off her back bag and handed it to Kat, making Daryl look at her. He put his crossbow in his other hand as he held his arm out, pointing towards Maggie. "Whoa, whoa, whoa. We don't know this girl. You can't get on that horse."

Lori ignored him and put her foot into the stirrup of the saddle as Maggie helped her up. "Rick said you had others on the highway, that big traffic snarl?" She said.

"Uh-huh." Glenn nodded.

"Backtrack to Fairburn Road. Two miles down is our farm. You'll see the mailbox. The name's Greene. Hyah!" Maggie said as she gave the horse a kick and sent it running in the direction she'd come from.

The group stood there and watched the two ride off, a little unsure of what the hell just happened. The Walker that Maggie had hit with the bat sat up, wheezing and groaning as the group looked at it.

"Shut up." Daryl said as he raised his crossbow and nonchalantly pulled the trigger, sending a bolt into it's head before he just walked off.

Kat raised her eyebrows and looked at Carol and Glenn before she walked over to the Walker and pulled the bolt out of it's head.

She walked up next to Daryl and tugged the handkerchief out of his back pocket. He turned his head quickly to look at her when he felt the cloth being pulled out of his pants. She didn't look at him as she wiped the blood and gunk from his bolt while they kept walking. She ain't gonna put it back is she? He wasn't sure how he would feel about her shoving her hand into his back pocket..even if he wouldn't mind putting his hand in hers...

She looked at him when she was done, noticing the questioning look in his eyes. She gave him a smile and held the rag out to him. He took it from her and tucked the end of it back into his pocket. She waited till his hand was free before she handed him the bolt.

Kat looked behind them to make sure everyone was following before she looked back into the direction Maggie and Lori had rode off in. She turned back around. "What the hell?"

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"Shot? What do you mean shot?" Dale asked as the group made their way back up the hill. He walked closer to the guard rail as Glenn climbed over it.

"I don't know, Dale. I wasn't there. All I know is this chick rode out of nowhere like Zorro on a horse and took Lori."

Dale looked at Daryl as he and Kat climbed over the guard rail with Carol. "You let her?"

"Climb down outta my ass, old man." Daryl said, looking at him before walking past. "Rick sent her. She knew Lori's name and Carl's."

Kat watched him walk off as she leaned next to Glenn against the red SUV they were standing in front of. She put her arm around Sam's shoulders when he came up next to her.

Carol sat down on the guard rail as Andrea climbed over. Dale looked at her. She had dirt smeared on her face and clothing. "I heard screams. Was that you?" Andrea didn't look at him. She walked past him and towards the RV.

"She got attacked by a Walker. It was a close call." Glenn said.

"Andrea, are you all right?" Dale asked as he looked from Glenn over to her.

She got to the door of the RV and turned around to look at him. She shook her head and sighed as she turned to open the door. She climbed up the steps and slammed the door behind her, causing Dale to jump slightly.

Kat took a deep breath as she started walking towards her car, dropping her arm from Sam's shoulder. She hadn't brought a bag with her on their trip today and needed something to drink. Dylan and Sam walked over to Carol and sat next to her.

"Is Carl okay?" Kaleb looked up at Kat with a worried look for his friend as he followed her to her car next to Merle's Triumph. Daryl was sitting on the ground next to it.

Kat opened the passenger door of her car and leaned in, grabbing the two water bottles she had up front. She shut the car door and turned around, leaning against it. She looked down at her little brother as Daryl looked up at her. "I don't know, sweetie." She said as she handed Kaleb one of the water bottles. She wasn't going to look him in the eyes and lie to him. Tell him that yes, his friend is fine, he's going to live, when she didn't know for sure what kind of situation he was in. He took the bottle from her and she ran the hand that had been holding it through his hair. "Why don't you go sit with Carol?" She said. Kaleb nodded. Kat could see that the older woman took comfort in the children being around her. It gave her something to do. Something to keep her occupied.

Daryl poured the rest of the water he had onto his handkerchief, trying to clean the last of the blood off. Why'd I do that? He thought as he wrung the water out. He was thirsty. Dale had went into the RV after everyone went their separate ways. To the RV..where Andrea was inside...with all of the water. There wasn't any yelling and Dale hadn't walked back outside looking hurt, but either way, he did not want to go in there right now.

Kat watched him as he squeezed the handkerchief again before he lifted his hips off the ground to shove it into his back pocket. She slid to the ground and put her legs out in front of her, bending her knees. She rested her arms over her legs and leaned her head back against her car as she closed her eyes.

"This lot's got good luck with kids so far, huh?" Daryl said as he looked across from him at her. He spread his legs out in front of him, off to one side of her.

"Pfft." Kat scoffed, shaking her head. She opened her eyes as she unscrewed the cap off the bottle of water she still had. She took a few sips, looking at his empty bottle. "Blake's dead. Sophia's missing. And now Carl's shot. All in a few days...Yeah. We've got great luck."

Daryl looked down and started messing with his Horton. Kat put the cap back on her water bottle before handing it over to him. He looked at it for a second before taking it from her and taking a couple drinks. He wasn't used to sharing, and she was so willing. With him, of all people. He wasn't complaining. But he didn't completely get why. They were....what were they..friends? A close acquaintance? He didn't think he knew much about her before all this for them to have been friends. They'd only hung out a few times. A crush. That's for sure. And she still didn't know much about him. But even from what she'd seen of him so far, especially his temper, she still didn't mind being near him, and he was thankful for that. She was like the last sliver of what his life used to be, before the dead came back to life. Haven't sent her runnin yet.

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Rick walked out onto the porch of the Greene's house, looking out at the land. If he hadn't known any better, he would've thought it was just another normal day out in the Georgia country side. The screen door opened again as Hershel walked out and over towards him.

"This place is beautiful." Rick said to him as they looked out over the yard and fields ahead of them.

"Been in my family 160 years." Hershel said.

"I can't believe how serene it is. How untouched. You're lucky."

"We weren't completely unscathed. We lost friends, neighbors. The epidemic took my wife, my stepson."

"I'm sorry." Rick said.

"My daughter's were spared. I'm grateful to God for that...These people here, all we've got left is each other. Just hoping we can ride it out in peace till there's a cure."

Rick let out a breath. "We were at the CDC. It's-it's gone now. There is no cure." Rick said as he looked at the old man.

"I don't believe it." Hershel shook his head and smiled. "When AIDS came along, everyone panicked. One boy in town came down with it and some parents pulled their children from school so they didn't have to sit in the same room."

"This is a whole other thing." Rick shook his head as he turned to face the man.

"That's what we always say- 'This one's different.'"

"Well, this one is."

Hershel smiled again. "Mankind's been fightin plagues from the start. We get our behinds kicked for a while then we bounce back. It's nature correctin herself, restorin some balance."

Is this man that delusional? Has he seen what this does? Rick raised his eyebrows. "I wish I could believe that."

They both looked out to the field in front of the house as they heard the sound of hooves hitting hard ground. They saw Maggie and the horse galloping towards them, Lori sitting behind her, holding on to the young woman's waist.

Rick walked down the steps as they got closer. Maggie slowed the horse to a stop and Lori quickly hopped down as Rick walked over to her. Her eye's widened at all the blood still on his shirt. She started sobbing as he grabbed her, pulling her to his chest as she wrapped her arms around him. Rick held her tight for a few seconds before he started backing up and they both turned towards the house.

"I'm sorry." Rick said when Lori put her hand on his chest as they stopped in the doorway of the room Carl was in. Lori's mouth fell open at the sight of her son, lying unconscious, a bandage taped to his stomach. Rick held her close to him again as he kissed the side of her head. She took a shaky breath as she walked away from him and further into the room, climbing onto the bed.

She put her hands on either side of Carl's face and looked at him before she readjusted herself and laid down beside him. She put her hand on his bare shoulder. "My boy." She quietly sobbed. "My baby boy. Baby boy. It's okay." She whispered as Rick walked over to them. "Mama's here. Mama's here. You're gonna be okay. You're gonna be okay." She nodded her head, trying to convince herself that, more than anybody. "We're gonna make you okay." She said as she reached behind her and grabbed Rick's other hand. He had placed his other on her hip as he stood next to them. He rested his hands against her as he knelt down and laid his forehead against the mattress.

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Patricia was putting bandages over both Carl and Rick's arms again after another transfusion. Rick had taken his bloody sheriff's shirt off, only donning the white t-shirt he had on underneath now. He tried to get up from his chair as he groaned, his stomach doing flips.

"Slow. Slow." Lori said as she put her hands on his shoulders, sitting him back down. "How many transfusions?"

"Two. Only two."

"He wanted to do the same for you when you were in the hospital. I had to talk him out of it." Lori laughed. Rick smiled a little as he held her hand.

Lori helped him walk as they made their way to the dining room. Hershel met them there and held out a glass of fresh orange juice to Rick.

"Thank you." He said as he took it and brought it to his lips. He took a sip before bringing the glass back down, but Hershel raised his hand, urging him to drink more.

"Okay, so I understand, when Shane gets back with this other man-" Lori started, leaning against the chair in front of her.

"Otis." Hershel said.

"Otis. The idiot who shot my son." Lori looked way.

"Ma'am, it was an accident."

"I'll take that under advisement later. For now he's the idiot who shot our son." She said as Rick put his hand over hers.

"Lori, they're doin everything they can to make it right." He said.

"Okay, so as soon as they get back you can perform this surgery?" She asked.

"I'll certainly do my best." Hershel said.

"Okay. You've done this procedure before?" Lori nodded at him.

"Well, yes, in a sense."

"In a sense?"

"Honey, we don't have the luxury of shopping for a surgeon." Rick said to her.

Lori let out a nervous laugh as she rested her other hand on top of his. "No, I understand that. But I mean you're a doctor, right?"

Hershel nodded. "Yes, ma'am. Of course. A vet."

"A veteran? A combat medic?" Lori raised her eyebrows, almost impressed.

"A veterinarian."

All amusement vanished from her face as the words came from his mouth. She didn't know what to say as she looked at Rick. "And you've done this..surgery before on what?" She said as she looked back at Hershel. "Cows? Pigs?"

Rick pulled the chair that was next to him out as he started to feel his head spin. "I- I have- I have to sit." He stuttered as he very, unharmoniously, fell down into the chair, knocking his glass of orange juice all over the table. Lori quickly grabbed the glass, sitting it upright before bringing her hands to her husband's shoulders, trying to steady him as he sat up straight.

"Completely in over your head, aren't you?" Lori said quietly as she looked at Hershel across the table. Rick was concentrating on taking deep breaths.

Hershel looked at her. "Ma'am..aren't we all?"

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"I won't do it. We can't just leave."

"Carol, the group is split. We're scattered and weak." Dale said to her. The group had formed a circle after they'd eaten what they could and regrouped.

"What if she comes back and we're not here?" Carol said as she looked around at them. "It could happen."

"If Sophia found her way back and we were gone, that would be awful." Andrea said.

"Okay." Daryl nodded. "We gotta plan for this. I say tomorrow mornin is soon enough to pull up stakes. Give us a chance to rig a big sign, leave her some supplies. Me and Kat'll hold here tonight, stay with the RV." Kat nodded at him at the mention of her name.

"If the RV is staying, I am too." Dale said.

"Thank you." Carol looked between them. "Thank you both." Daryl gave her a nod as they looked at Andrea.

"I'm in."

"Well if you're all staying then I'm-" Glenn started but Dale stopped him.

"Not you, Glenn. You're going. Take Carol's Cherokee."

"Me? Why is it always me?" Glenn asked, holding his arms out at his sides.

"You have to find this farm, reconnect with our people and see what's going on. But most important, you have to get T-Dog there. This is not an option." Dale said. Carol looked around, finally noticing T-Dog hadn't joined them. They all laid their eyes on the man as they found him. He was sitting on the RV's back bumper, a blanket wrapped around his shoulders. He may have been running a fever and be out in the Georgia heat, but now he was complaining that he was cold. "That cut has gone from bad to worse. He has a very serious blood infection." Dale continued. Daryl perked up at the word 'infection' glancing back at the motorcycle for a second. He looked back at Dale before he started walking to Merle's bike. Kat turned and watched him as he walked away. "Get him to that farm. See if they have any antibiotics. Because if not, T-Dog will die, no joke." Dale finished. He looked over to where Daryl had walked off to.

Daryl picked up the rag Dale had left sitting on the bike's seat and looked at the old man before digging into the bag he had on the bike. He pulled out a large zip lock bag full of pills and prescription bottles. He walked back over to the group, throwing the rag in his hands at Dale when he got closer. "Keep your oily rags off my brother's motorcycle." He said as Dale caught the rag when it hit his chest. Daryl put the bag of pills down on the hood of Carol's Cherokee as he opened it and started going through it. "Why'd you wait till now to say anything? Got my brother's stash." Daryl said as Dale and the others came closer to him. Daryl picked up the bottles in the bag, one by one, reading the labels Merle had either wrote or that they had come with."Crystal, X. Don't need that. Got some kick ass painkillers." He said as he pulled a bottle out and tossed it to Glenn before sticking his hand back in the bag. "Oxycycline." He pulled another bottle out after reading the label. He turned and tossed it to Dale, who caught it. Daryl pointed to him. "Not the generic stuff neither. It's first class. Merle got the clap on occasion." Daryl shrugged as he picked the bag up and walked back over to the motorcycle to put the rest of the drugs away.

Of course he did. Kat raised her eyebrows and smiled as she watched him walk to the bike. She remembered seeing the girls Merle would be talking to at the bar when she saw them. Skirts that hardly covered their ass, tits popping out of their shirts, and no class to speak of. Of course.

Dale smiled as he looked at the antibiotics and over to T-Dog.

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The sun had gone down awhile ago as Hershel took Carl's blood pressure. "Pressure's droppin again. We can't wait much longer." He said as he looked to Rick and Lori who were at the back of the room.

"Take some more. Whatever he needs. Then I'm gonna go." Rick said as he walked towards him, pointing to the bandage on his arm from the transfusions.

"Go? Go where?" Lori said.

Rick turned around and looked at her. "He said five miles. They should be long back by now. Somethin's gone wrong."

"Are you insane? You're not goin after them." Lori shook her head.

"Rick, listen to your wife." Hershel said from Carl's bedside.

"If they got into trouble-" Rick started.

"You're in no condition to do anything about it. You've given too much blood. You're barely on your feet. You wouldn't make it across the yard." Hershel said.

"If something happened, I have to go."

Lori shook her head and stepped towards him. "No, your place it here. If Shane said he'll be back, he'll be back. He's like you that way."

"I can't just sit here." Rick said as he leaned towards her.

"That's exactly what you do!" Lori shouted at him. "If you need to pray or cry or tell God he's cruel, you go right ahead, but you're not leavin, Rick. Carl needs you- here." She said as she looked at him. "And I can't do this by myself." She whispered. "Not this one. I can't...I can't."

Rick stared at her as he let her words sink in. What Shane had said to him earlier started replaying in his head. "If he slipped away while you were gone, you would never forgive yourself for that. And neither would Lori..."