Papá's Girl

Right Hand Man

©JRF2016

Thanks Trigger_Finger for the awesome new cover!!!!

I walked away from my little brother, again. I was always better at leaving him than I was at being a good brother. I had no idea where I was going I just kept walking. It was starting to get dark and I found myself surrounded by geeks. They were closing in on me. I fought them off as best I could with my one good hand. My right hand didn't work anymore, not since Atlanta. If I was a more patient man I might still have use of it. Daryl busted onto the roof in Atlanta with Rick, T-Dog, and Glenn just as I had cut halfway through my wrist. They cut the cuffs freeing me completely from them, my right hand dangling from my arm holding on by a thin thread of muscle as they lifted me to my feet and dragged me to that van. I stabbed one of the walkers coming at me now and my knife sunk into it's skull getting stuck. I yanked at it while my right arm, with that right hand that had been sewed back on by Carol when we got back to the camp swung around behind me. I could barely feel the teeth of the walker behind me sinking into my hand but I felt enough. I finally got my knife free and spun around plunging it into the other's head. I looked down at my bleeding hand and the bite. I took my knife and cut my hand free from my arm. I hit the ground with a sloshy thud. I stared at it for a second before picking it up and tossing it to the three walkers that were left. Two of them were fighting over it while the third still staggered toward me. I started running as fast as I could before my vision started to get blurry and I fell to my knees. This was it. I ran away from my brother and my baby girl and now I was never going to see them again. I waited to feel him sink his teeth into me and instead heard a gunshot. I opened my eyes and barely made out a figure standing over me. A man, smiling. "What're you smilin' at pretty boy?" I sneered before passing out.

When I woke up I was inside a building with my arm wrapped up. That same pretty boy walked in smiling at me. "Who are you? How long have I been out?"

"I'm Philip Blake," he said, "You were close to dying when we plucked you out of the forest. You've been out just for the night. Think you're gonna be okay though, we were worried for a while. Thought you were gonna turn on us. We stopped that from bleeding and gave you some antibiotics to fight off any infection." He pointed to Merle's hand. "Pretty quick thinkin' there cuttin' off that hand when you got bit. We could use a guy like you to help out around here. Somebody that uses his head." He smiled at me. This guy's a charmer. He could say anything he wanted and people would just follow him along. Not Merle Dixon though. I don't follow anybody. If he tries to keep me here he'll find out the hard way. "I ain't nobody's bitch," I sneered at him.

"Didn't say you were, I just said we could use a guy like you around here."

"Thank ya, but I gotta get back to my family." I started to stand up and the room started spinning causing me to fall back onto the bed.

"Why don't you take a couple days, heal up. Hell, I'll even give you a car if you still want to leave." I nodded to him. He was right I wasn't in any shape to fight off walkers and make my way back to Daryl and Bella. Besides the fact I had no idea where I was or how far away from that farm this place is. I needed to heal first and this place looked safe enough from the cold and the walkers, at least until I was well enough to go out and look for my family. "Okay, but as soon as I'm able I'm outta here."

"In the meantime, Dr. Stevens has a few prosthetic supplies if you want to fix up something for that missing hand of yours."

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The worry must have shown on my face because Daryl put an arm around my shoulder. "Don't worry, your old man's tough. He can take care of himself, I'm sure he just needed his time alone to think. He'll be back." I looked up at him trying to think positive but I was still unsure. "We'll go out and look for him in a little bit. Let's get some stuff set up here first." I nodded as he walked over to the barn. I saw Shane working on the windmill getting it ready for our new watchtower and I headed over to talk to him when I saw Lori beat me over there. I huffed and turned around almost running into Rick. He smiled at me, "Can you help me with something?" I nodded and followed him. I followed him back to the shade of that oak tree where he kissed me. "What are we doing here?" I asked him. 'I just wanted to talk to you, alone." He stood there staring at his feet before he started again, "I don't want to make you uncomfortable, I don't want to be that guy."