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Spelling, Stabbing And Stitches

"All done." I finished wrapping the bandage around Glenn's forearm, tying the knot neatly with a satisfied grin. I was glad he had offered to be my test dummy instead of someone who was actually injured.

Glenn flexed his fingers, a pained wince in his eyes. "Good job, Belle. Is it supposed to be this tight?" Now that I looked closer, I could see the tips of his fingers turning red from the bandage, prompting me to unravel it immediately.

"Sorry." I shrugged, scrunching up the used bandages. Glenn rubbed his arm and brushed off my apology with a reassuring smile, heading outside to find Dale.

Hershel patted me on the back with pride. "You're getting better every time, don't you worry about it. Maybe tomorrow I can show you how to do stitches. I think you can handle that, don't you?" He raised his eyebrows, waiting for my excited reaction.

I beamed up at him, my head rapidly nodding. This was only my second lesson with Hershel teaching me the basics of medicine, but he was just as encouraging as if I was a real student. Sure, he was a vet, but they were basically the same thing. One just happened to treat animals, while others more often treated humans. He seemed just as eager to teach me as I was to learn, more than happy to pass on his knowledge.

"Now, I gotta clean the fuel tanks. You mind clearing this away?" He asked, gesturing to the collection of garbage on the table. He walked out the front door and headed towards the shed, picking up a bucket of water on his way.

I gathered as much as I could, scrunching up the plastic wrappings and used gauze in my arms.

"Hey, need any help?" It was Hershel's other daughter, a smile on her face as she grabbed the trash can.

She was younger than Maggie and had blonde hair instead of brown, pale wisps floating from her pigtail. I hadn't seen her around much but when I did, it took everything in me not to stare in awe. She was beautiful, the kind that was deeper than appearance and looks. She had a sort of hopeful energy around her, you could see it sparkling in her bright blue eyes. Even just being with her now caused me to fumble for words, my eyes blinking until I successfully snapped myself out of the daze.

"Sure, thanks." I mumbled awkwardly, dusting off my hands over the container along with the trash I bundled up.

"No problem, I'm Beth." She held a hand out for me to shake, her fingers wiggling encouragingly.

'Beth Greene.'

Pretty name- suits her.

"Annabelle." I took her hand, shaking gently as my eyes wandered around the room.

Beth nodded in acknowledgment, dropping the trash can back where she found it. "You liking your lessons?" She asked as she gathered a bunch of tools from the table, the metal clashing together with a scrape.

I held out the equipment tray, pointing to where each tool belonged as she placed them in order. "Yeah, your Dad's a good teacher. Seems like he knows everything."

"Well, he's been doing it a long time, I'm sure you'll catch up soon. He says you're good at it." She grinned, her lips stretching in praise.

"Thanks." I stuttered, shrugging off the complement. We fell into a peaceful silence after that until she placed the last instrument in the box, the lid shutting with a click.

"So, you wanna do medicine? Be a doctor or something?" Beth questioned as she slid the box into the cupboard, her eyebrows raised curiously.

I paused before answering, a thoughtful gleam in my eyes. "I guess I never really thought about before, but it seems like a good way to help out my friends. Besides, I didn't think I was even smart enough for it. What about you?"