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Full Time Job

"Carl, Honey, Put That Down!"

The next morning, after Vinny and I had eaten breakfast and gotten dressed, we joined the group at the farmhouse to discuss the fate of the man that Shane and Rick had taken the night before. I hadn’t seen Daryl all morning; he went hunting early before anyone had woken up.

Vinny and I were playing together on the porch when Lori approached us.

“Gianna? Can I have a word?” she asked politely. Carl was standing next to her with an angry scowl on his face.

“Sure,” I answered and Lori had walked over to stand next to me and had spoken quietly.

“I want you to know that your opinion on what we do with him is just as important as everyone else’s, but I was hoping you could sit with Carl and Vinny while the rest of the adults discuss everything inside? I don’t think it is a conversation that Carl needs to hear.”
Lori’s eyes then probed mine, hoping that I would oblige. I smiled and understood completely.

“Sure, I don’t mind at all,” I answered, and she patted my shoulder gently.

“What do you think they should do, if you don’t mind me asking?” She asked lightly.

“Well, it’s not up to me, but I agree with Dale. I don’t think we should kill him. That wouldn’t make us much better people than the group he came from.” I answered truthfully. Lori nodded and responded, “Well since you are going to be with the kids, I’ll be sure to voice your opinion, it’s the least I can do.” She smiled sweetly at me.

“Lori, it’s alright, I don’t want to cause any waves… Whatever the group decides, I will support.” She nodded again and turned towards Carl.

“Carl, I want you to stay with Gia and Vinny. Don’t go wondering off and you mind her like it was me,” Lori said sternly towards Carl. Carl nodded, although he still appeared to be angry. Lori looked towards me apologetically and walked into the house.

“Carl, have you ever played Uno?” I asked, pulling an Uno deck from my pack that I had found in one of the abandoned cars on the highway. He looked towards the deck in my hand curiously, nodded, and continued pouting.

“Well, I bet you can’t beat me. I’m the best Uno player there ever was!” I said, smiling to him and felt relief when he had smiled back. We sat across from each other on the wooden deck of the porch, and Vinny sat on my lap. He was still too young to play, but I agreed to let him play on a team with me. It was all in good fun.

As we were playing the card game, I noticed Daryl walking up to the farmhouse, and he gave me a half smile.

“You’re late,” I teased, smiling up at him.

“I just showed up to make sure Dale doesn’t try to take Rick’s head off…” He said, chuckling, and removed his crossbow that he had slung around his back. He leaned it up against the house near my pack.

“Whatever decision they make don’t matter to me, although it would make my life easier if he wadn’t around. Less for me to worry about.” He shrugged, winked at me, and walked inside. I couldn’t stop thinking about the way his lips felt on mine the night before, or the roughness of his hands as they ran over my skin. My heart started to race.

“Gia, it’s your turn,” Carl complained. I let Vinny choose a card, and tried to center my thoughts. When the game was nearing an end, and Carl and I both had two cards left, Carol came bustling out of the house, visibly upset. Vinny ran up to hug her.

“What’s wrong, Miss Carol?” he asked when she had picked him up and slung him onto her side. Carl had just laid his last Uno card, winning the game. I smiled, and pulled Rick’s sheriff hat that he had been wearing down to cover his face, teasing him. He corrected it and smiled proudly.

“Now I’m the best uno player in the world…” he announced.

“Until next time,” I said, standing up and walking towards Carol.

“Everything alright?” I asked quietly, leaning up against the farmhouse next to her and Vinny.

“They just keep talking in circles. If Rick was a good leader, why does he keep flip floppin’, and making bad decisions?” She huffed and I contemplated that for a moment.

“It can’t be easy…” I mused and looked up at Carol. Her eyes were wide as she stared behind me, a look of fear in her eyes.

“Carl, put that down, honey,” she ordered and I whirled around just in time to see that Carl had been holding Daryl’s loaded crossbow. He wasn’t holding it up to fire; he was just inspecting it. I sprang towards him, and I watched as the crossbow released an arrow straight towards me. A sharp piercing pain shot through my abdomen before I could even consciously put together what had happened. I stumbled backwards and felt my body buckling to the ground. Carl dropped the crossbow in shock and ran off towards camp.

“OH MY GOD!” Carol screamed and leaned down next to me. I couldn’t comprehend anything except for the pain that was overtaking my entire body. I looked down and saw the arrow sticking from my side, directly above my hip bone. I started to feel light headed when I saw the blood oozing from the arrow, soaking through the flannel material of my shirt. I heard Vinny shrieking as Carol ran up to me and knelt on the ground directly next to me.

“Gia? Are you alright?” She huffed out and I looked at her in disbelief. Vinny was crying and trying to wrestle out of Carol’s grip to get to me.

“Of course you’re not… I’m going to go get Hershel!” She said, holding Vinny tightly and rushing inside. I moaned in pain as I tried to shift my body so I could study my wound. I knew that it didn’t pierce all the way through my body, but it was lodged tightly into my lower abdomen.

I heard the door to the farmhouse swing open, and Rick, Daryl and Hershel’s faces appeared directly over me. I felt like I was dreaming, floating above my body. I was brought roughly to reality when I felt Hershel slightly move the arrow that was sticking out of my body. I yelped out in pain.

“Is that my arrow?! What the hell happened?” Daryl spat out, looking angrily towards Carol. I could hear Vinny whimpering behind me.

“Carl had picked up your crossbow, it was an accident. Gia was trying to take it away from him but the arrow hit her before she could reach him…” Carol explained, shakily.

“Carl?!” I heard Shane scream over and over again, his voice was getting quieter and I judged that he was moving away from the farmhouse. Good. Someone needed to find Carl, it wasn’t safe for him to be alone.

“We have to get her inside,” I heard Hershel say, his voice sounded strained from anxiety. I cried out in pain as I felt a pair of strong arms lift me from the ground.

“Easy, Daryl,” Hershel warned, “any slight jostling and an artery or an organ can be ulcerated.” I slowly opened my eyes and locked them with Daryl as he carried me bridal style into the house.

“Lay her here,” Hershel said and I quickly felt the softness of a cotton sheet over a plush mattress supporting my body. Dark spots were beginning to haze my vision.

“Everyone out!” Hershel ordered and I sensed his presence over me. I heard a couple of footsteps exit through the door.

“Out,” Hershel repeated. I heard a familiar angry and sarcastic scoff. “I ain’t leavin’,” I heard in Daryl’s southern drawl.

“Daryl?” I croaked out, surprised at the hoarseness of my own voice. I felt his hand envelope mine and while his other hand lightly cradled the side of my face.

“ ‘m right here,” he answered. I felt my lips perk up in a weak smile.

“If you’re going to stay in here, I need your help…” Hershel ordered. “I need to get that shirt off of her.” I could feel the cold metal of scissors along the side of my body as he had cut my shirt off. The room was suddenly much colder and I was trying to remember which bra I had worn that day, and chuckled to myself before groaning in pain from the ache in my side. Maggie burst through the doors and into the room. She unloaded the supplies that she had overflowing from her arms.

“Morphine Ten?” She asked quietly. Hershel answered, “Just give her one, with her height and size, I’m afraid if we give her more than that she may fall into a coma.” I heard the sound of pills rattling in a bottle, and a few seconds later I heard Daryl softly say my name. I opened my eyes.

“You need to take this medicine, sweetheart. Open up…” I heard him say gently and I did as he instructed me to. I felt the chalky white pill on my tongue and Daryl placed a straw to my lips soon after. I gulped down and swallowed the pill.

Maggie had pulled my jeans down slightly, directly over my underwear line. The room was quiet for a few moments, despite my moans of pain from any small movement.

“I have to pull it out. There’s no way that I can tell how deep it goes. Maggie, I need you to prepare to stitch up any bleeders and I’ll focus on making sure the arrow didn’t pierce any organs.” Hershel was giving calm instructions and my head started to feel extremely heavy from the pain killer.

“You’re going to have to hold her down,” I could hear in Hershel’s faint voice and I felt Daryl’s strong grip pressing down on my arms. My eyes fluttered open to find him staring down at me apologetically. Abruptly, I felt an excruciating stabbing pain as Hershel swiftly pulled out the arrow. I screamed in pain, and the room starting spinning before going completely black.

I woke to a gray sunrise and felt like I was moving. I slowly opened my eyes and saw the ceiling of the cab of a truck and heard Vinny talking animatedly in front of me.

“And when Zia wakes up, she’ll come with us, right?” I heard in his little voice. I was completely relieved to hear his voice.

“Right…” I heard Carol respond in her quiet voice, which sounded weary. I tried to sit up and moaned in pain.

“Easy, Gianna. Lay down,” I heard in Daryl’s scruffy voice, and saw Vinny peek down at me from over the seat.

“Zia? Are you alright?” I heard Vinny ask.

“I’m fine baby, just a little sore. What happened?” I asked, feeling a gauze bandage wrapped around my waist. I was wearing my loose sweatpants and a tank top that covered the gauze. I also noticed that I was wearing one of Daryl’s flannel shirts. The familiar smell made my head swim.

“We had to run away from the bad guys. You were sleeping the whole time!” I heard him explain. Carol’s head then appeared next to Vinny’s from over the seat.

“The farm was overrun by walkers. We had to go.” I heard Carol say sadly.

“Everyone?” I croaked, still surprised at how hoarse my voice sounded. I attempted to clear my throat.

“We lost a lot of people last night… Shane, Andrea, Patricia, Jimmy…” her voice trailed off, and I heard her sniffle. “…and Dale…” My heart felt like it dropped into my stomach.

“Dale?!” I repeated, hysteria escaping my voice. Carol nodded and placed her hand into mine. She wiped away a single tear that escaped from her eye. I began to cry silently. The truck grew quiet, and all I heard was the rumble of the engine.

“She needs to take another pain pill and antibiotic,” I heard Daryl instruct Carol. Carol then began rustling in her pack and shortly after presented me with two small white pills and a bottle of water. I quickly downed the medicine and handed her back the water bottle.

“Can I sit by my Zia now?” I heard Vinny ask Carol. I heard her audible sigh.

“Not yet, sweetheart, she’s still got a bad boo-boo.” I heard her answer sweetly. Vinny was quiet after that.

When I got back on my feet, I had to be sure to thank Carol profusely. I was so thankful to have found her and have her in my life. She was a true life saver to both me and Vinny. I wondered how her and Daryl got me and Vinny both to safety if a herd of geeks had overtaken the farm. They both risked their lives for me. Daryl was right… taking care of us was like a full time job. I started to think of ways that I could thank him and my mind quickly went to the gutter. I smiled to myself.

My thoughts began to grow hazy as the medicine started to take effect. I slowly fell back asleep, thankful to be alive and thankful to be around the people that had meant the most to me. I knew everything would be alright, so long as I always had these three people with me. Vinny, Daryl and Carol.