━━━━━━━━━.◦*∘☽
𝐒𝐞𝐚𝐬𝐨𝐧 𝐭𝐰𝐨 - 𝐆𝐚𝐠𝐞'𝐬 𝐏𝐎𝐕
I always thought I knew what fear was, living in a world where dead freaks roam free, and out number humans by over a hundred to one, if not more.
But watching as Amira and Carl fall to the dirt, having been shot which caused the bullet to go straight through a two hundred and fifty pound buck, an 11 year old boy, and then into Amira's body made me realize I don't have a single clue what fear is.
Before Amira can hit the ground, I'm throwing my cross bow to the ground and running as fast as my legs will go.
I slam to the dirt beside Rick as the man responsible for shooting two people comes forward after hearing mine and Ricks screams, blubbering to Shane about how he never seen the pair before he fired his shot, and trying to rectify the situation.
"Take them to Lilly and Hershel, they'll know what to do." He sputters, his rifle clutched between his chubby hands so tightly they're white.
Hell everything about the guy is pale white as reality slaps him in the face of what he'd just done.
Amira's bleeding profusely from her side so I rip my shirt from my body and apply it to her gushing wound, leaking more and more blood by the second.
"Head that way, about a few miles, there's a farm house! Lilly and Hershel will be there, ask for them." The guy says, making me note the direction he's pointing before Rick picks up Carl and I pick up Amira.
Her body is completely limp in my arms as I tuck her as close to my body as I can while applying pressure to the bloodied shirt over her gunshot wound.
I take off, Rick close behind me as we both run in the direction the man pointed in.
My hearts pounding in my throat and I'm already sweating but I trek on, determined to get her to these people the unnamed man said could help.
Time feels like it's crawling by, the seconds ticking as I run as fast as I can toward her hopeful salvation, each second feeling like it's inching by as warm liquid drenches my already stained fingers and hand.
More and more crimson covers my ruined shirt, dripping down her side and onto my bare stomach and chest, the fabric not enough to absorb and sustain against the amount of blood rushing out of her body with each beat of her heart.
As long as she's bleeding she's still alive.
I have to remind myself over and over again as I sprint through trees and bushes, not giving a damn about the damage the objects do to my clothes or skin as I carry her.
Desperation clings to every cell in me, and I can only thank myself for spending years carrying dead weighted deer for dozens of miles back home with no civilization in sight, my only hopes were tracking while carrying deer twice the size of the bleeding girl in my arms.
I can't tell how long it's been, seconds, minutes, maybe even hours as I pull ahead of Rick who's now struggling to carry his son in his arms, having to repeatedly stop to readjust his hold on Carls unmoving body and reapply his shirt to his sons own wound.
I don't stop to wait, adrenaline pushing me to keep going, numbing the pain in my calves as I carry myself and Amira closer to this farm house.
We burst through the woods and into a pasture of sorts. I gently hoist her higher up my body, my fingers buried into her shirt as I sprint further away from Rick, and Shane and the unnamed man.
"How much further!" I scream as it feels like we've all been going for hours instead of potentially a few minutes.
"A half mile! Keep going!" The man who shot Amira and Carl screams, pointing in the direction of the house.
I don't bother to waste any more time as I run.
Red hot liquid drips all over Amira and I, staining my skin a disgusting shade of red and her head falls into my chest, her blond hair red and pink, her face paler than a sheet of paper.
I push on until the house comes into view, and I somehow go faster even though I can feel my body starting to give out from over exertion and dehydration.
Once I breech the fencing I start screaming.
"I need Lilly! I need Hershel! Someone please help us!" I scream and Rick joins in on screaming for someones attention, several yards behind me as he desperately tries to keep up to save Carl.
A girl burst through the doors of the front porch before she's spinning around and screaming for someone I can't hear.
A moment passes before multiple people rush outside, a man with greying hair, an older women with blond hair tied up into a pony tail, and two girls with dark brown hair.
"What happened to them?" The girl who seems like the oldest of the two girls in the group asks, looking frightened by my bloodied body and the limp girl in my arms as I slow down enough for them to get a good look at the situation
"They were shot by your man." I tell her and the older blond speaks.
"Otis?" She asks and Rick pipes in.
"He said to find Lilly and Hershel. Are you them?" He asks desperately as the group of them all walk down the steps of the porch to get a better look. "Please help them, help my son." Rick sputters, starting to fall apart and they all motion for us to get inside.
As we all pile into the house, the man takes charge of Carl and the women takes over for Amira.
She starts shouting demands to I can assume is her sister, saying she'll need everything they have from pain killers to sheets.
Hershel leads Rick into one room, and the women leads me into another, shouting fills the house and people take off in several different directions to grab the items being demanded.
"Lay her down." The girl demands as she rips the quilt off the bed, and I gently lay Amira's unconscious body onto the bed before the girl grabs a set of scissors and starts to cut her shirt open while tossing my bloody shirt to the floor.
The sister I assume brings in a full on medic bag and starts pulling it open, and the girl grabs a stethoscope from it and lays it above Amira's heart.
"She's got a heartbeat, it's barely there but it's there. Grab that pillow case and make a patch from it. Apply pressure now." She demands as she removes the scope from Amira's chest.
I do what she says, damn near tearing the pillow in half as I rip the case off it and fold it until it's thick enough to make a patch and apply it to Amira's wound that's profusely bleeding.
"I need an IV bag now!" The girl shouts and her sister scrambles to fulfill the request, grabbing everything she's requesting with haste.
"What's your name?" She asks me and I swear my brain stops for a moment because I can't even think of my own damn name.
"Hey, I know you're in shock right now, but I need your name. Are you related to her at all?" She asks me and I shake my head.
"Gage. My names Gage, and no I'm not. I'm just her friend." I tell her and she nods quickly.
"Do you know her blood type at all?" She asks as she shoves the IV needle into Amira's arm and lifts the full IV bag into the air to push fluids.
"It doesn't matter what it is, I'm O negative." I tell her and her eyes light up for a moment before she shakes her head.
"We need some room, so give us some space and time with her. Don't go too far." She warns me and I nod before leaving the way I'd come, dazed and out of it.
Rick leaves the room Carls in at the same time and he looks beyond out of it. I hear yelling from outside and look to see Shane and Otis finally making their way into the yard.
Rick rushes outside and I can't help but to follow behind him as Shane and Otis reach the porch.
"They're alive?" Otis asks and I nod slowly.
"Oh thank god." He praises and I look to Shane whose eyes are on Rick, his face covered in Carls blood from whipping at the sweat rolling down his face.
Shane utters something before reaching for his bag and grabbing a towel from it, handing it to Rick.
"You got blood man. You got blood." He says as he helps Rick wipe his face clean.
As Rick takes the bloody towel, he looks at his hands, covered in Carls blood and I can't help but to look down at my own body, covered in bright red blood. Amira's blood.
"Lets get inside." Shane says, and we all head in, Rick and Shane going into Carls room while I return to Amira's.
The women is holding a rag to Amira's side, which has lessened in blood flow and my heart rate spikes.
"Wanna tell me what happened?" She asks, not removing her eyes from Amira's side, lifting the rag to check how much blood is spilling free from the wound.
"We were in the woods, trying to find her sister and another little girl from our group. They went missing a day ago. We seen a buck in the woods and Carl and Amira walked closer to it. Everything was fine until the man out there shot the buck, bullet went clean through the buck, and Carl. Pretty sure it's still stuck inside her." I point out and she looks slightly shocked at the projection of the bullet, having gone through a buck and a child.
Hell, I'm shocked it went through the buck and hit Carl, let alone going through both of them and ending up inside Amira as I've never seen something like that happen before and I've been hunting for years.
"Well, the deer and Carl slowed the bullet down, but it shattered. I've counted six pieces. It's deep. How closer were they?" She asks me and I contemplate my response for a second.
"Nearly front to back, he fell into her when the bullet hit him, so it's probably how it ended inside her." I tell her and she nods, removing the rag again to check the bleeding. "I'm gonna have to dig the pieces out if she's gonna survive." She tells me and I nod, already knowing that.
If the pieces are left inside her, it can cause infection, or lead to a major artery or tendon being nicked and kill her in minutes.
"Can ya do it?" I ask her and she removes her intense eye contact with Amira's side to look at me.
"I was a doctor before all of this happened." She tells me simply as if its the solution to all of our issues and I flex my jaw in response.
"But ya don't have what ya need to get the pieces out." I shoot back and she shakes her head.
"If I go in and she wakes up, thrashes around even, it could risk the pieces moving and cause more damage to a major artery or tendon. We wouldn't even have enough time to fix the problem before she'd bleed out." She tells me and I tighten my jaw.
"Does she need blood?" I ask her and she thinks for a moment.
"Eventually, but there's notblood lose enough to warrant a translate yet." She tells me softly and I nod. "Do you care about her?" She asks me after a long pause of silence. "The way you carried her here, held her close. It made me think you guys were either related or in a relationship." She says when I stay quiet.
"No. She's just a friend." I shake off, and she smiles at the floor.
"It's good to have friends, people to care about in a world like this." She says and I nod.
"Ya."
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I'd drifted out of the room after a while, once Lilly had told me she was going to do some more searching to confirm just how many bullet fragments actually needed to be removed.
I'd figured out who she was once her sister, Maggie had come in and said her name, briefly giving her some more supplies.
I'm sitting against the wall right across from Amira's room incase I'm needed for anything, even though I'm pretty sure I'm more of a pain to work around than anything.
I can see Lilly moving around rapidly trying to get a better look at Amira's side, and suddenly a scream rips through the air and I'm springing up from the floor and rushing into the room.
"Help me hold her down!" Lilly begs as Amira's body slashes about, her face scrunched up in pure pain as she cries.
Another scream rips from her throat, so loud, so piercing I feel it rattle my bones as Shane rushes into the room.
"Get it out!" Amira screams as I grab her left arm and leg and Shane grabs the right while she thrashes more. "Dad! Please get it out!" She cries and my heart clenches inside my chest. "Ahhhhh!" She screams again as her eyes snap open and connect with mine. "Gage. Get it out, please it hurts." She cries before her eyes roll back into her head and she goes completely limp again.
"What just happened?" I beg, staring at her unmoving body thinking she just died and Lilly grabs my arm.
"She passed out from pain. You need to sit down, her moving around so much just made her bleed way more than before, we need a translate right now." She says before shoving me into the chair beside the bed and starting the process of a blood transfusion.
She wipes my arm, and then sticks the needle inside but I don't feel it, too caught up in a vivid rapid replay of what the fuck just happened.
Her screams echoing inside my head, her begging me to help, her eyes rolling back inside her head.
"Gage, I need you to tell me if you feel dizzy at all or lightheaded. We don't need you passing out." Lilly says, making me look at her.
"I'm good. Just do what you need to." I tell her as I watch her connect the other end of the tubing into the IV in Amiras arm before she moves something on the line and blood slowly starts to flow through the tube and towards Amira.
As it enters her body, I try to relax, all of my focus on Amira's pale face, expecting her to wake up and start screaming again.
"I can't risk taking any of the pieces out until we have some form of anestetic. If she wakes up again while I'm inside the wound, she can bleed out. Even with your blood in her system it's too much of a risk." Lilly explains to Shane and I, who I hadn't even realized was still in the damn room.
"Her father.. he needs to know whats going on." Shane says and my eyes widen at the reality that Nate doesn't have a single clue to what's going on.
"Oh fuck." I say and Shane looks at me with widened eyes.
"Let me go talk to Rick." Shane says, holding his hand out for me to relax as my blood trickles down the tubing.
He leaves the room and Lilly stares at me for a moment in silence.
"How'd you know you're O negative?" She asks me, and I look at her for a moment, debating on whether or not to keep talking to her, because I'm not much of a talker, even to the girl unconscious in the bed.
"Blood work as a kid. Busted my arm and it was just regular testing." I tell her and she nods.
"Well, guess we can thank a busted arm for saving her life. Without it, she'd probably be dead already. Especially after that little stunt." She tells me and I don't reply, just sit there and let the needle do what it needs to, and thankfully she takes the hint and quickly exucses herself, leaving me with Amira for a moment.
I grab her hand lightly, and just rest hers ontop of mine before I talk quietly.
"I know ya can't hear me, but ya can't go dying on no body. Your family needs ya, hell so do I. Cause, no one in this shit hole world is worth talkin' to besides ya. If you survive this, I promise I'll teach ya how to shoot my bow because I'm sure ya'll be better at it than I am once you're done." I joke to her with a small smile on my face.
"I ain't gonna let ya slip away that easily. Your dad would skin me alive if I did, Rick and Shane too." I say with a bitter laugh at what's to come once Nate gets word of what happened. "He's one tough son of a bitch, your dad. And I know you are too, so you'll get through this. All of us will, we'll find Dani and Sophia and we'll get to Fort Benning and maybe ya can teach me some cool shit with military weapons." I joke some more, but I know the likely hood of any of this happening is slim.
She has to survive the bullet fragments being removed first, if she doesn't bleed out or get an infection before someone can get supplies.
I quiet down when feet approach, and in comes Lilly with a cup of water and a sandwich.
"It's not much, but it should subside any effects from the blood work." She says with a soft smile.
I nod at her and take the plate and cup from her before eating it in silence.
"Thanks."
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I can't tell how long I've been sitting in this chair.
Lilly removed the drip a while ago before Shane and Otis took off to the high school with a list of supplies Lilly had written up to retrieve for patching up Amira's side.
Carls awake, having been switched up by Hershel with needle and thread after Lilly confirmed the bullet didn't hit any vital organs or do any serious damage to the young boy.
He'll have a nice scar to show for it, and a good few weeks of recovery but he'll live.
Amira hasn't woken up since Maggie left to get Nate and Lori, and the house has been eerily silent aside from the occasional drifting of voice coming from Carls room.
Lilly comes back in and removes the gauze shed tapped to keep constant pressure on Amira's wound.
She carefully removes the bandaging and frowns.
"What is it?" I ask her and she grabs a light and tool to move something inside Amira's side.
"The bleeding isn't decreasing and I can't confirm it because of all the blood, but I think one of her arteries got nicked by a fragment, I'll have to cut her open and stitch it back together to stop the bleeding as well as remove all six fragments." She stresses as she removes the tool and light.
"Does she need more blood?" I ask her and she hesitates before noding.
"If we don't want her to bleed out, she'll need more than what you can give to her without risking your body shutting down." She says as she moves to start the drip again.
I sigh and sit back, hoping that Nate will get here soon with Maggie.
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Halfway through the second blood transfusion, Nate arrives worried and sweating, busting into the room and falling at the side of his daughters bed.
His face crumples but no tears fall as he grabs her hand and kisses it softly.
"What happened?" He asks me, snapping his attention from his daughter and to me.
"We were walking through the woods and a deer showed up. Amira went with Carl to get a closer look and a man named Otis shot the buck. Bullet went through it and Carl before breaking into six pieces inside her." I tell him and his face falls further and pure anguish replaces all of his features.
"Goddammit." He says as he blinks away the welling tears in his eyes.
I look away, having enough respect as a man to know when another needs a moment to collect himself in private.
"She woke up a while ago screaming and begging for us to take it out. She called for you." I tell him and he looks back at me, seeming shocked. "I've been giving her my blood cause I'm O negative, Lilly says if Shane and Otis don't get back in time, someone else will have to start given it to her cause somethings wrong. Something got nicked and she's bleeding more than she should be." I inform him and he nods.
"We're both AB positive." He tells me and I furrow my brows.
"Universal receivers. Can get blood from anyone." He simplifies and I only nod, not knowing that.
"Guess that's good to know." I say and he nods.
"One of you can give to anyone, the other can get from anyone. Kind of funny isn't it?" He asks and I nod a bit with a small smile on my face.
"Guess so." I agree.
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Screaming rattles me awake, and I see Amira thrashing around again as Lilly was attempting to check her wound.
"Nate!" She shouts, before looking at me. "Hold her down! Hold her down now!" She screams at me and I react by grabbing her upper body to try and stop her from moving so much.
Nate bursts into the room and helps me hold Amira as she screams.
"Daddy it hurts! Make it stop! Make it stop!" She screams as she opens her eyes to stare at Nate.
"Baby, I'm right here. I know it hurts. Dammit I know it hurts, and I'm so sorry. You'll be better soon." He reassures her as she cries and groans in pain.
"It hurts so much!" She screams as she thrashes more, kicking her legs and jolting her arms as she screams again.
"Amira, you have to stop thrashing you're gonna bleed out." Lilly tells her and she screams more before suddenly she falls completely still again and her scream dies out as she passes out again.
"What? Amira? What just happened?" Nate asks, shaking Amira in panic before Lilly grabs him and moves him away from her.
"She passed out from pain. She's fine." She reassures him as she pushes him away from her.
"What the fuck are we doing here? Sitting around waiting for my daughter to die?" He shouts at her and Lilly steps closer to him.
"We can't remove any of the fragments without risking her bleeding to death. If I go in there and she wakes up while I'm removing a fragment, and I hit something more vital than the already bleeding artery, she'll have minutes. I need a general anesthetic and the proper tools to sew her back up internally and remove the fragments without doing any damage or risking her life." Lilly says sternly, with her hand on Nates chest to prevent him from moving anywhere.
"I was a doctor before all of this, I am her best and safest option here. So trust me when I say waiting for the proper tools and medication for this surgery is your daughters best option." She tells Nate and he only nods as he stares at his daughter over the shorter girls head.
He doesn't reply and just simply leaves the room, leaving Lilly and I alone to continue to wait.
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Hours pass in a crawl as we continue to wait for Shane and Otis to return with the medication Lilly needs for surgery and in that time, I'd finally managed to get a shower.
Watching the bright red blood swirl in the drain and disappear from sight was like a punch to the gut as I attempt to divert my thoughts away from the ideas rapidly running through it that they'll be too late to save Amira and she'll die.
How the girl is still holding on it questionable at this point, but between Nate and I, giving her blood and neither one of us leaving the room unless one of us is in the room, even if Lori or Rick are inside asking questions and pouring their sympothy's to Nate, we don't leave.
The only reason I'd gotten to shower was because Nate made Rick drag me from the room, who was now clean himself and reassured me that if anything happened, I'd be right down the hall and he'd come to get me if things went south.
Not to mention that Lilly had given Amira enough pain killers through the IV drip to fulfill every drug addicts wet dreams, I finally agreed.
In the two and a half minutes I was in the shower, not bothering to wash my hair as I used the first soap bottle I found to wash my skin clean before I was back out of the shower and dressed, and right back in Amira's room before five minutes had passed, nothing happened.
"I'm glad you were with her. I don't know what I'd have done if you weren't" Nate spoke as he held Amira's hand, not looking my way as he speaks. "I can never repay you for saving her life." He adds.
Thankfully, I wasn't victim to questions on why I was refusing to leave her side, or asked if we were together anymore because after Nate and I's conversation in his truck a little over a day ago, he understands what is between his daughter and I.
A very unlikely friendship.
A likeness between two young people who needed someone and found each other; a pillar to lean on when shit gets rough.
I wouldn't exactly say we have the most comforting relationship from the outside looking in, but we understand each other far more than others we're surrounded by, and it's not a challenge for me to accept her presence.
All that comes to mind with her is friendship because there's nothing romantic about what we have together, and I don't know if I'll ever be capable of it but speaking to her, sharing moments and memories with her is something far deeper than anything else I've ever shared with another person.
I can't sit here and say I'm repulsed by the idea of something more with her someday, when calmer waters appear and I can understand what something like that would mean, what I'd mean to her and her to me, but right now, I can't bring myself to think it.
Too wrapped up in the idea that any moment, she could die here in this bed, with bullet fragments doing god knows what to this inside of her body and dragging her closer to deaths door step, staring her in the face while we idly stand by and wait.
"Is she alright?" A voice asks, ripping me from my thoughts and I look up seeing Glenn looking scared and like he'd gonna puke as he takes in the sight of Amira laid out on the bed, bloody and pale.
"We're waiting for Shane and a man named Otis to get back with medical supplies from a high school a few miles out." Nate says, glancing at me before excusing himself.
"What happened?" Glenn asks as he steps back, almost afraid to get to close, like touching her will kill her.
"She was shot, by Otis. The pieces shattered inside her side." I tell him and his face twists.
"Carl too?" He asks and I nod.
The young boy was more fortunate in my option given the outcome.
The bullet went clean through his small frame and only left a repairable hole in his side which will heal and he'll be up and moving within a few days with some pain killers and rest.
"Ya ain't gonna break her if ya touch her." I tell Glenn and he looks at me for a moment, rolling my words around his head before stepping closer.
"It's weird seeing her like this. So deathly looking." He says and I only nod a little bit as the man is right.
Seeing her here so motionless and pale, after being so used to her witty comments and fiery attitude is unsettling.
"How'd ya get here?" I ask him and as if remembering why he's here he points out of the room.
"Brought T for his arm, it's infected now." He tells me and I nod, having forgotten about the mans ripped apart arm.
"Glenn?" I hear a faint and raspy voice speak, and I look down to Amira who's eyes are open and looking at the man a cross from me.
"Amira?" Glenn sputters, rushing forward and falling to his knees at her side.
"Nate!" I shout and pounding steps fill the air before her father enters the room and he falls beside Glenn.
"Amira?" He asks and she gives him a small smile.
"Hi daddy." She greets softly and I smile at the words.
"How ya feeling?" He asks her and she furs her brows.
"I'm uncomfortable." She says before shifting as we all panic.
"No, don't move." I tell her and she snaps her attention to me and I note now, that I'm still shirtless because all my clothes are still in Nate's Tahoe back on the highway.
"Gage?" She asks me and I smile, a real genuine smile for the first time in a very long time.
"Hey Parker." I greet her and she smiles at me.
"You're smiling." She points out and I laugh a bit at her observation.
"Ya, I am." I say and she looks around at us, now confused.
"What happened?" She asks and we all look at each other, before Nate straightens.
"You were shot." He tells her and her eyes widen and she looks down to her stomach, as if forgetting what had happened completely.
"Is it bad?" She asks and we all go silent again as Nate nods.
She rests her head back into the pillows and nods.
"Shane and a man named Otis are getting supplies to patch you up, they'll be back soon and the next time you wake up, you'll be good as new." Glenn tells her and she looks at him and nods.
"Why don't I feel anything?" She asks and it's my turn to talk but Lilly enters the room and looks pleasantly surprised to see her awake.
"Hey Amira, my name is Lilly Greene. I've been taking care of you while we wait for Shane and Otis to return." Lilly says before rattling out some simple requests to her, keeping her words slow and movements snail like to not frighten Amira.
She does some basic vital checks, shining a light in her eyes, asking her some basic questions like her name, birthday, family members, if she remembers what happened.
Amira Parker, April 17th, Nate, Elijah, and Danika, no.
I memorize the important details before Lilly asks if she can look at her side to check the bleeding.
Glenn excuses himself politely, giving Amira a kiss on the head before leaving the room and I grab her hand, making her look at me before turning her focus back to her dad and Lilly.
As Lilly grabs the tape, Amira goes limp, her eyes open wide and we all look at her, scared to what will happen next before her entire body starts shaking.
I stand from the chair, and go to grab her again but Lilly shoves me away.
"No, it's a seizure. You keep her down you can hurt her." She says and Nate whirls on the women.
"So we just wait for it to pass?" He asks her and she turns to him.
"Yes, it's all we can do." She says as Amira shakes and twitches all over the bed before going still again.
We all stay silent, trying not to panic more as each second continues to tick by, waiting for Shane and Otis to return with the medication Lilly needs to fix Amira so we don't have to keep witnessing her progress closer to death doorstep.
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𝐂𝐚𝐬𝐭 𝐏𝐭.𝟐
Phoebe Tonkin as Lillian/Lilly Greene