HEART FOR BRAINS • the walking dead

015: everythings out of order

Carls head snapped around before anyone else's, jumping out of his seat to get to the gate. A loud noise, something reminiscent of a yell had punctured the silence. Disturbing the peace they'd made in the past half an hour. Carol, Beth and Rio all followed him, peering through the gaps to try and see what was going on.

There was a load of clanging and shouting as the boys pushed forward, the sounds getting more and more frequent as the voices grew louder. Rio was freaking out, something had happened, something bad. The sound of something scraping the floor jarred him the most. Something heavy being dragged against the cool stone. The door burst open and the first thing Rio saw was Daryl and then he saw the blood.

Red filled his view as he made out Hershel as he lay across the table, Maggie Glenn and Rick surrounding him. His leg was gone, hacked off and all that was left was a bloody mess of severed flesh.

"He's loosing too much blood."

"Open the door!" Rick shouted at Carl who tried his best to unlock it. "It's Hershel!"

Rio heard Beth's boots clamber over.

"Carl! come on." Rio urged, waiting eagerly to pull open the gates, to let them through.

"Oh, my God!"

"Daddy!" Beth screamed, throwing herself forwards, her hand sending a clang through the gates. Carol grabbed her by the arm, only now seeing the scene.

"Go, go, go, go, go. In there." Rick directed everyone, pushing the table Hershel lay upon. That was the dragging noise.

"Turn it. Turn it. Turn around." Someone yelled, spinning the table to fit through the cell doors.

"This way."

"Get him on the bed." Rick ordered as they piled in to the closest cell. He pulled off the bed sheets, laying down the man with the help of Glenn. They counted down from three, lifting Hershel into the bottom bunk.

"He got bit." Daryl explained, explaining the ragged cut.

"Oh, my god, he's gonna turn." Beth let out a whimper, hands trembling as she pulled her hands to her face in shock.

"Did you cut it off or was it—."

"No, no. We cut it." Rick replied, unraveling the bandages they'd hastily applied to stop the bleeding.

"Maybe you got it in time." Daryl assisted them, placing a hand on Beth's shoulder.

"Oh!" Carol exclaimed as she peeled away the towel, the last layer the tried to stop the imminent blood flow. "Oh, I need bandages."

"We used everything we had." Glenn replied, out of breath and panicky.

"Well get more!" Carol yelled. "Anything."

"Carl, Rio go get the towels from the back, right next to my bed." Lori said. Everything was happening so fast and everyone was talking so fast Rio could barely keep up. He pulled his eyes away from the scene just long enough for him to run into Lori's room with Carl.

He grabbed all the towels, Rio picking up the ones he dropped whilst running, throwing an unused blanket over his shoulder too. They rushed back into the room Lori grabbing the towels as soon as they burst through the door.

She pressed them against Hershel's oozing wound the once white colour now seeping with red. Rio handed her more, and she told him what to do. She instructed him to keep his hand there, she wrapped another towel around and then Rio held that one. The blood seeped through three towels, the boys hands beginning to grow sticky.

Carol rushed back in with a first aid kit, Hershel, barely conscious letting out a soft murmur. She pulled out a needle and began stitching. He had passed out shortly after Carol began stitching. Rio winced as he watched the needle go in and out of the man's flesh.