It's Over When It's Over

Patricia went and got a stainless steel table, and we all lifted Carl onto it, to keep his body leveled. Hershel and Patricia got the surgical tools and a lamp. As Hershel took off the bandage I looked at the fear on Rick and Lori’s faces.
“You guys may want to step out.” I said. Seconds after that we heard a truck approaching the house. Hershel and I put down the tools and ran outside with Rick and Lori, in hope it was Shane. Luckily it was, but the other man, Otis wasn’t with him. Shane came out of the truck scared, breathing heavily with the bags over his shoulders. He had stopped to talk to Rick and Lori, so I ran to him grabbing the stuff that was needed. When I had gotten back inside, I laid the tools out on the bed grabbing the gas to give to Carl so he wouldn’t wake during surgery. Patricia and Hershel gave him the shots to numb the area around his wound. Patricia cleaned the shot.
“You ready for this?” Hershel asked me. I looked at him and he could see the fear in my eyes. “I’ll take that as a no.” It’s been years since I’ve given surgery and this time it’s the real deal. Even the smallest mistake can ruin everything. I grabbed a clamp to open up his wound wide enough so we can get the fragments. “You get the first 3 on top. I’ll get the deeper ones.”
“Alright.” I took a deep breathe. I got the clippers and picked a small fragment of the bullet. Carl’s body shock for a second. The numbing shot may have not kicked in as fast as we wanted, but we couldn’t waste any more time. I got the two others and handed over the job to Hershel. “Does he need more gas?” I asked, grabbing the bottle. Hershel nodded. I put the mask over Carl's face and pressed down on the leaver to give just enough. Hershel had finished, and it was a success. We all went outside to tell Rick and Lori the news.
“He seems to have stabilized.” Hershel told them. They all exhaled in relief. Rick went and hugged Hershel as Lori hugged me tightly.
“Thank you so much, for saving my son.” Lori said moving her way to hug Hershel, as Rick moved around to hug me.
“Lora, there is no possible way I can repay you for this." Rick said before kissing my on the cheek,"The same to you Hershel.” I smiled. I was glad to have helped them. After we had our heartwarming moment, Hershel mentioned Otis, and how he should tell Patricia. Rick and Hershel went to go talk to Patricia and Lori and Shane went inside to see Carl.
“Thank you.” Glenn said. “For what you did in there. We couldn’t lose anyone else. First Sophia, then this. Daniel is lucky he hasn't been hurt.”
“Yeah. I just did what I could remember.” I looked down and walked back inside and saw Daniel sleeping on the couch next to Jack.
“Lora, you remember that time when Billy, Mark, Dad, and I all went on that camping trip in the back yard when mom got sick?” Jack asked. I nodded. “And you stayed with her the whole time, playing doctor. Hell you were only five and you knew all this stuff. Dad didn’t think you were his, you were so smart.” I laughed and tear up a bit thinking of our now passed away family. “I’m just glad I got you and Daniel around. You to are my whole world.”
___
We were all getting rocks the next morning for Otis' funeral. As we picked them up one by one we heard a motorcycle coming up the road. I put the rocks down in the wheel barrel and walked out into the open away from the trees. Daryl and the rest of the group had made their way up to the farm. Daryl got off the bike and I ran hugging him, glad to see he was okay. Daryl wrapped one arm around me.
“How is he?” Dale asked.
“He’ll pull through, thanks to Lora, Hershel, and his people.” Lori said. Daryl looked down at me with an eyebrow raised. I smiled up at him.
“And Shane. We’d have lost Carl if not for him.” Rick stated. Everyone went and hugged each other so Daryl and I walked off to the side.
“Any luck with Sophia?” I asked.
“Na. Imma go out and look for her in a while. Come if you want.” I nodded. Soon everyone went by the rocks. The funeral for Otis was starting. We all laid a rock on top of each other as Hershel read the bible.
“Shane, will you speak for Otis?” Hershel asked him. Shane had a look on his face as if he was miles away.
“I’m not good at it. I’m sorry.”
“You were the last one with him.” Patricia cried. “You shared his final moments. Please. I need to hear. I need to know his death had meaning.”
Shane looked around and began talking about what had happen. Shane said this story making Otis the hero of the whole situation. The story seemed too much like a super hero type. I don’t know. Maybe he was just saying all this to make Patricia feel better about his death, but knowing how everyone else dies in this world it sounded to good to be true.
___
Our group and Hershel's stood around one of the cars to set up a game plan to look for Sophia. “How long has this girl been lost?” Hershel asked.
“This’ll be day three.” Rick said. Maggie walked up to us, rolling out a map of the area. Hershel went on to explain how Rick and Shane shouldn’t go; it’ll only make things worse on them.
“Guess it’s just us.” Daryl said referring to me and him. “I’m gonna head back to the creek, work my way from there.” Rick was alright with the plan and said we would start tomorrow morning. The men talked about how they’d need guns for the job, but Hershel didn’t want any on his property and Rick wanted us to respect his rules. We all took out our guns laying them down on the hood of the car. After we were done talking about what to do, Daryl and I walked off to set up our tent. “You get any sleep last night?” Daryl asked me.
“No. I was up all night checking on Carl, making sure he was alright.” I said. Jack walked towards us.
“I didn’t know that, Lora. Our tent is already up. You guys can just take it so you can get some rest.” Jack offered. As I was about to turn it down, Daryl patted Jack on the shoulder saying thanks brother and picking up our things. When I walked into the tent, I saw the cot already up, so I lay down. I was extremely tired. Daryl unpacked a bit and lay beside me a bit later. Even if it had been a day I missed Daryl, but I wasn’t going to tell him that. He would have looked at me and asked me what the hell I was talking about. I just laid my head on his chest and passed out within minutes. It was nice. I was comfortable, and I knew I was safe.