The Bleeding Scar [TWD]

Chapter 3: Talk Around The Fire

"Disoriented.. I guess that comes closest. Disoriented..Fear, confusion, all those things, but.. Disoriented comes closest." It was night by now and they were all sitting in a circle around a small fire listening Rick's experience of waking up from a coma. Saphira was sitting beside Dale with an arm wrapped around Amelia as the girl leaned onto her. Thomas sat between Glenn and T-dog while Erika was slept on an empty spot beside Shane.

"Words can be meager things.. Sometimes they fall short." Dale said as he placed his mug in front of his legs.

"I felt like I'd been ripped out of my life and put somewhere else. For a while, I thought I was trapped in some coma dream, something I might not wake up from, ever..." The man continued.

"Mom said you died." Carl stated looking up at his father, as his head was placed at his lap.

"She had every reason to believe that.. Don't you ever doubt it." Rick reassured him while looking down at him and putting his left hand on the his left cheek.

"When things started to get really bad they told at the hospital that they were gonna medevac you and other patients to Atlanta and it never happened.." Lori said looking at her husband.

"Well, I'm not surprised after Atlanta fell. And from the look of that hospital, it got overrun." He answered.

"Yeah, looks don't deceive. I barely got them out, you know.." Shane trailed off.

"I can't tell you how grateful I am to you guys. I can't begin to express it.." Rick said looking between Saphira and Shane. He was sure that they could sacrifice their own lives trying to protect his family and he was grateful for it.

"There go those words falling short again.. Paltry things." Dale commented with a small smile. They sat in a calming silence for a few seconds when Ed added a log in his fire. Ed and his family, Carol and Sophia, never sat with the group. They were distant and Ed wasn't always following orders. Hell, he didn't do anything else but beating his wife.

"Hey Ed, you want to rethink that log?" Shane asked him from where he sat at.

"It's cold man.." Ed stated not even bothering to look at him.

"The cold don't change the rules, does it? Keep our fires low, just embers, so we can't be seen from a distance, right?" Shane asked trying not to loose his temper with him.

"I said it's cold. You should mind your own business for once." With that Shane stood up and headed towards him. They had a two minute conversation and the group saw Carol pulling out the log with her hands. Shane stomped the log with foot, talked with Carol and headed towards the group once again. Once he sat back down, Rick asked the question that had been running through his head since he saw Saphira.

"So, Saphira..How come you're not in DC?"

"I had taken time off and had decided to come and see you guys..And you know, the whole apocalypse thing found me in Atlanta." That made Rick laugh. He knew better than that..There was no way Saphira took time off.. The only thing she did the past two years was work. She didn't even visit for Christmas because she preferred to work..So there was no way she randomly choose to take time off.

"Oh please..You wouldn't even take time off if they paid you for it..So why aren't you at the DC? Tony pissed you off?" He asked teasingly making her laugh sightly. By now everyone was looking the two friends with amusement clear on their faces.

"No..Tony didn't piss me off.. Actually he did but that's not why I left.." She chuckled before sighing sadly knowing that she wouldn't see him again. Everyone, except Lori and Shane who knew, was looking at her with a hint of curiosity in their eyes.