ORDER (sequel to Trouble) [TWD]

ron anderson

When Denise gave the call that Carl was stable, the two women placed him in a bed in a separate room. Denise checked on Nanami and then they put him in a chair beside Carl's bed.

"There's.. There's a fire," Denise tells Sakiko.

"It's probably the final nail in the coffin," Sakiko decides, taking a knife out for each hand, "You good, doc?"

"I'm.. I'm good," Denise nods, "I'll keep an eye on everyone here. Go ahead. Thank you."

"Thank you," Sakiko returns, pointing to Denise.

Finally, she runs outside, seeing the rest of the herd that was left so far. She flips her knives a couple times, heart pounding.

Then, she felt like a one woman wrecking crew. She stabbed, kicked, ducked, dodged, and flung knives through the air without pause until she saw a sight of Rosita. She fights her way and once the women are beside each other, Rosita sends her a smile as they begin to fight side by side.

It was hours.. maybe not. Hard to tell when fighting in the middle of such a huge herd. But, the sun was beginning to come up when the numbers of the walkers were finally clearing. It was almost over. The fire was going out.

"Keep eye out for stragglers," Rick calls.

Sakiko felt like she had just woke up when he said that. It wasn't until she'd heard the leader's voice so clearly that she realized there was nothing left in front of her to take down.

"Kiko!"

The sound of Daryl's voice brings her all the way back to reality.

"Dad!" she cries, running into his arms.

Daryl gasps in relief, picking her up off her feet as he hugged her so tightly.

"We thought you were stuck out there or something," she tells him.

"I'll tell you 'bout it later. Are you okay? Your brother?"

"He's in the infirmary. I might've knocked him out cold."

--

Nanami woke up and instinctively reached for his gun.

Then, he saw Carl laid out in the bed in front of him. He takes a breath, feeling a chill go through his body, taking note of the bandage on Carl's head- covering his eye. He exhales and takes another breath in. Relief. Carl was alive. Sakiko was right.

But, fuck, Sakiko also hurt his head. He flinches, hand coming up to rub his head. There, he realizes the chill was because of an ice pack that was wrapped around the bottom part of his head and neck. 

He rips the cloth off, letting the ice pack fall into his lap. He rubs the spot Sakiko hit only to feel that there wasn't a knot there. The ice pack clearly did its job. He still had a headache, though. But, all that subsided as he looks at Carl again.

A piece of him feels grateful for what Sakiko did. If she didn't, he'd be out there.. Thinking Carl was as good as dead.. Throwing himself between everyone and the walkers just to feel something.

But, he'd never tell Sakiko she was right out-loud. Her ego was big enough already

He stretches his back, instead figuring he'll bitch Sakiko out for putting him in an uncomfortable position. But, he knew she did that so Carl would be the first thing he saw when he woke up. Damn her for understanding him so well. When the hell did she grow a heart and have feelings?

He leans forward, resting his forearms on the bed to look at Carl closer.

The silence and relief were going hand in hand.