Make it Till You Don't

Highway Antics

I placed my hand over the wound, glaring daggers into this Shane guy as I felt a hand being placed on my shoulder. "Hey, it's alright. Let me take a look at it." I turned my gaze to see it was Lori. Apprehensively, I nodded my head and moved my hand as she pulled the shirt up. "Oh my god... Glenn!"

"Yeah?" Said man asked, walking over to us.

"I bet I could find one." Glenn replied, furrowing his brows together. "Why?"

Lori helped me to lean back against the RV. "Her wound isn't looking too good, we could use one."

With a nod, Glenn walked off to search cars as the man from before came up beside Lori. He took a glance at the wound, frowning as he locked his gaze with mine. "How long have you had that wound?"

I let out a sigh, grimacing as I pulled my shirt back down to cover it. "A couple of days now."

"Mind telling me what happened?" He asked, patiently.

I didn't answer as I held my gaze with his before I tore my gaze away, and looked at the others. I was hesitant to reply, not sure if I could trust these people or not. Most of them seem to be harmless, however... My gaze landed on that Shane guy and I squinted my eyes. He might be a problem. And there's a chance the kindness act is just that, an act.

"My name is Rick Grimes, I used to be a cop and these people..." Rick trailed off, glancing at them briefly before looking at me again. "Are good people." He tried to reassure me.

My gut told me I could listen to this guy as I slowly nodded. "I was in a small group for a while with my friend and her family since everything happened, until we met some others and joined them. A couple weeks ago, we were ambushed and most of the group were killed, while some of us were-" I stopped, the events playing back in my head again. "...Hostages."

"Hostages?" Rick questioned, furrowing his eyebrows as he tilted his head.

I gave Rick a look before I glanced over to Lori just as Glenn arrived with some medical supplies. I looked down at my lap, continuing my story. "When they got bored of us, they left us as live bait. I managed to escape, but got shot in the process." I glanced down to the wound as Lori began to clean it with disinfectant, causing me to wince. "Been in the woods since."

"How'd you survive?" Glenn asked, surprised by what I had said.

"Survive?" I questioned, letting out a curt chuckle. "I didn't survive out there, just... ran." I trailed off, frowning. "I mean, look in the state I'm in. If I didn't stumble across your group when I did, I'd be dead by now."

There was a small moment of silence before Rick spoke up. "You're more than welcome to stay with us, if you want."

I looked at him in surprise before letting out a hiss, glancing down to what Lori was doing. "Sorry, but you have a serious infection." She apologized, not tearing her gaze away from the task in front of her.

"You did medical before this?" I asked, watching her work.

"Hardly." She chuckled at the thought. "Just a wife with a son." I nodded my head in understanding.

I glanced over to Rick once more. "Thank you for the invite. Where you guys headed anyways?" I asked.

"For now, no where." He replied, gesturing over to the short haired woman. "We need to find Carol's daughter, Sofia, she got lost earlier today being chased by walkers."

A child? Out there by herself? I looked at the woman, Carol, watching her pace in the same spot beside the railing. I couldn't imagine what she is going through right now, having her child missing. Much less, a child  missing in the woods where the dead roam. I glanced at the sky, seeing it was getting darker. "I could help you guys find her."

"You can't, you were barely standing when you came out of those woods." Glenn spoke up, gesturing to the woods.

"I appreciate that but Glenn's right. You're in no condition to be going back out there, not right now." Rick stated as Lori wrapped gauze over the wound.

I let out a small sigh, not bothering to argue, knowing they were both right.I wasn't going to delude myself into thinking I could do anything in my condition. I was weak and injured, I'd only be a liability to the others out there. "Okay, but if you need my help, don't hesitate to ask."

—

Not sure when I fell asleep, but I woke up to find myself inside the RV. I eased myself off the bead, groaning from the movement, and making my way outside. Once I was outside, the first thing I noticed was how quiet it was. I took a quick glance around, not seeing anyone from yesterday, making me think I was left behind. "What the hell.." I grumbled.

"You've been asleep for a while." I look up, seeing Dale standing atop of the RV with a pair of binoculars.

I shielded my eyes from the sun with my hand as I stepped back to get a better look at him. "Where is everyone?"

"Went out looking for Sophia a couple hours ago." I heard someone else reply, causing me to spin, moving my gaze to the new person. "Names T-Dog by the way."

"(Y/N)." I nodded, realizing he was one of the others I saw on the highway yesterday. "So what exactly happened?" I finally built up the courage to ask.

"We got stuck here on the highway yesterday and were looking for supplies, when a herd came out of nowhere." T-Dog motioned to the cars around us as my eyes followed. "We hid under them until the herd passed, but a couple walkers straggled and saw Sofia, and chased after her into the woods."

I nodded slowly in understanding. "I hope they find her." I whispered, glancing back to T-Dog, when I noticed a cloth wrapped around his arm, soaked with blood. "Your arm..." I pointed out.

"I scraped it against a car yesterday, cutting it. Been hurting pretty bad." He replied, looking down at it.

"Mind if I take a look at it?" I asked, grabbing the first aid that Lori used, still lying beside the RV. "Or at least wrap it in clean gauze, wouldn't do any good if it gets infected."

With a nod, he came out and sat on a crate with his arm out. I carefully unwrapped the cloth, inspecting the wound, to find a deep gash matted up with dry and fresh blood. What was worrying was the discolored veins.

"Damn.." I whispered out, grabbing the clean gauze and a bottle of water, wetting it before dabbing around the wound. T-Dog jerked back slightly, wincing. "Sorry."

After carefully cleaning the wound, I grabbed the gauze and wrapped his arm, tying it the best I could. "This should do, for now. Got anything for the pain?"

"Nah, been searching the cars for some though" T-Dog shook his head, staring down at the newly wrapped arm.

"I'll help you look." I stood up, wincing. "Besides, my wound isn't faring any better than yours. Hurts like a bitch too." I didn't wait for a reply as I began making my way to the cars.

—

It felt like I had been searching these cars for hours, and with no way to tell time, it could have been. Not having any luck in finding any meds, I made my way back to Dale and T-Dog. As I got close I saw Dale inspecting T-Dog's arm, which caused him to pull away in pain. "Listen, your veins are very discolored, you got a hell of an infection there. You could die from blood poisoning."

T-Dog began chuckling. "Wouldn't that be the way? World gone to hell, the dead risen up to eat the living, and Theodore Douglas gets done in by a cut on his arm."

As Dale voiced out how crazy it was that we hadn't found anything, I spoke up. "There's some out there somewhere, gotta be."

"Right. Well- well uh, we haven't been through enough. So let's look for some more." Dale replied, trying to keep the positivity.

As T-Dog went off to search some more, I glanced at Dale. "Blood poisoning, huh?" I asked before looking back to where T-Dog walked off.

"We need to get him treated. I asked him a couple times how he was feeling and he didn't even hear me or register my question at all." Dale explained, shaking his head. "I'm worried. We can't just up and leave until we find Sophia, but I'm not sure how long T-Dog can wait."

I nodded slowly, glancing back to meet his gaze. "We'll find something. He won't die, not like this."

———
Published: 02/14/2024