The End of a New Beginning // Daryl Dixon

Part 11

Meredith

I SLOWLY STEPPED into the room and find Lori and Rick standing over Carl. This was something I knew I'd never get out of my head- seeing the way Lori reacted to her son unresponsive in the bed, belly bruised and distended, his skin color pale.

I walk over to the nightstand and grabbed the arm bag to check Carl's blood pressure. I strapped it around it arm and held the stethoscope on the crook of his arm and began pumping it. The bag began hissing and it holds as I checked the meter. It's still low. I inhaled deeply and turned to Rick. He holds a stare with and he walks over to the chair.

"Just do it. If he needs more, please." He begs, rolling up his sleeve. I slipped on a pair of gloves, strapped the tourniquet around his arm and checked for a vein. I sterilized the vein and inserted the needle, connecting the tube from his arm and into Carl's. Rick relaxes for the time being as the blood flows from his body and into Carl's. I waited a few minutes before finally taking the tube out and bandaging his arm and Carl's.

I checked Carl's blood pressure again and the transfusion seemed to help a bit. I pull away and turn to the couple.

"He's doing okay. His pressure is up, not much, but...it should hold him off until Shane gets back." I inform them.

"Thank you." Lori grabs my arm and give sit a tight squeeze.

"Uh, in the mean time, Rick, let's get you something to eat and drink, bring up your strength a little bit." I say. Lori and I help Rick from the chair and we walked him out of the room. We walk over to the dining room and find Hershel handing Rick a glass of orange juice and a peanut butter and jelly sandwich.

"Okat, so I understöda, when Shane gets back with this other man-" Lori begins.

"Otis." Hershel informs her.

"Otis." Lori nods. "The idiot who shot my son."

"Ma'am, it was an accident." Hershel implies.

"I'll take that under advisement later." She says. "For now he's the idiot who shot our son."

"Lori, they're doing everything they can to make it right." Rick softly tells her.

"Okay, as soon as they get back you can perform this surgery?" Lori asks me.

"I'm gonna do my best." I nodded. "Okay, you've done this procedure before?" She asks.

"I have. GSW's to the chest and abdomen is a common thing that I did." I tell her. Lori nods. "A-And you've done this, right? On people? O-On children?"

"Carl..." I inhaled deeply. "Carl is the youngest I've ever done. The body cavity is smaller than, but it's no different from a grown adult." I say.

"And that makes it...what, safe? Easier?" She asks. I inhaled deeply and squeezed my hands together tightly.

"Lori, uh, it doesn't matter the size of the body. The human body is the exact same. I can do this. I know I can't exactly prove it, but I was a successful surgeon in Atlanta. I've been doing this for years. I've gone to school for this, I've studies, I'd done everything that I needed to make sure that I knew what I was doing."

"And what's your mortality rate?" She asks.

"Lori, I don't think that we-"

"0.9%." I inform her. Lori holds a stare with me.

"And that's..." She glances over to Rick. "Good?" She asks.

"In the real world, any hospital, any mortality rate higher than 7% is...scary and should really be a warning sign not to trust that hospital." I nodded.