The second the group arrived to their destination, somewhere in the middle of Fairfax, VA, Rick could tell that Michonne had, in fact, been hurt. Walkers were everywhere, just as Sasha warned him, and Heath was on the roof of some random building, waiting all by himself. Rick knew that meant Glenn was probably tending to Michonne. He climbed out of the top of the RV, greeting Heath with a worried frown.
"She wasn't bit, was she?" he asked calmly, but felt the backs of his eyes stinging with tears. He tried not to think about it too much on the way there, but now, recognizing that that could be the reality, scared him half to death.
"Stabbed," Heath called back, watching as Daryl and Abraham came to join him. "She's got a big gash, lost a lot of blood."
"Where is she?"
"Glenn's got her on the staircase inside," he nodded. "Last time I checked, the bleeding slowed, but it hadn't stopped. She needs a doctor."
"We're fresh outta those," Abraham said, taking a glance around the place. It seemed as though more walkers had shown up since they left, which baffled him. Where were they coming from? "But if we can get her back to Rosita, she can probably patch her up."
Rick looked around frantically, trying to figure out how he was going to get her out of that building with a steady stream of walkers surrounding it. There was no way she'd be able to jump from the roof, not even a few feet.
"What you wanna do?" Daryl called out to Rick. "She needs to get back."
Rick glared at him for stating the obvious, as if that weren't the only thing on his mind at that moment. "I'll come get her," he called up to Heath.
"So… four of us will be stuck in here instead of three?" he frowned.
"Well what? You gonna jump down here with her?"
Heath looked down at the roof of the RV, gauging how far a leap it was. He wasn't even sure he could do it himself, much less carrying someone else that was injured. But he couldn't imagine how Rick would be able to do it either. "I could try," he offered.
"Just be ready to go once I get in there," Rick instructed. He pulled out his walkie-talkie as he looked over to where Sasha was parked, at the entrance to the small storefront. "I need you to turn on some music," he said to her firmly. "Make some noise. I need enough space to run into this building."
"Copy that," she answered, already cranking up her vehicle.
"You go on inside, let Glenn know we're here, and I'm coming," Rick instructed Heath. "Make sure you have her sword," he added. He was already climbing back inside the RV before anyone could respond to his plan.
Daryl followed after him, wanting to make sure his friend was in the right frame of mind to do this. The entire way to Fairfax, he looked sick. Quite literally, as though he was going to hurl at any given moment. And once they gave him the news that Nicholas had died, Rick seemed nearly catatonic. He was hardly speaking in complete sentences, just grumbles here and there. He was a mess, and Daryl's watchful glare said that he could tell.
"I'm all right," Rick announced gruffly, having noticed that very stare.
Daryl nodded, but he didn't know whether he believed it. "You sure about that?"
