For You // R.G.

Chapter 57

Max's POV

"I feel like I'm dying." I groaned softly as Hershel came up to me, I was laying on the cell bed in the quarantine. It's been five days and I haven't gotten better, I was starting to think this wasn't just a cold.

"Rick says he loves you and wishes you were better." Hershel spoke against his face mask, trying to keep himself protected against whatever the hell I had. I smiled but then coughed violently, he gave me a cup of tea.

"Tell him I miss him and his stupid face." I say. Hershel laughed,

"I'll just tell him to visit you around 5. Get some sleep." He says and leaves. I lay down and try to beat the chills that ran down my spine every few minutes.

I woke up to someone tapping on the glass which separated the quarantine zone from everyone else. I saw Rick tapping on the glass, I smiled and got up slowly, I was still weak. I made my way to the glass, Rick gave me a smile as I made my way to him.

Rick's POV

Her eyes were red and watery, she was looking worse and worse. I felt my heart break knowing that she wasn't getting better. I smiled at her, trying to make her feel better. She gave a weak smile, her face was pale and she was sweating, she was trying to keep herself up by holding the glass with her hand. She was about to say something when she started to cough. I thought it was just a normal cough but when she turned to face me with blood stains all over her sleeve where she coughed and blood dripping from her mouth now, I felt my mouth drop. She looked at me for only a split second until her eyes rolled to the back of her head and she fell to the ground. I yelled for Hershel and ran inside the quarantine. I went over to her where she was seizing on the ground, blood spilling out of her mouth. I turned her head to the side, I tried to keep her arms from flailing, I started to cry seeing her like this. I then hear Hershel behind me,

"Rick- get out of here!" He says, I didn't listen to him. He came up to her, she stopped seizing. I started to panic when I didn't see her breath. I started to do CPR.

"Don't- don't leave me." I say as I pumped her chest, she then coughed up more blood and opened her eyes. Hershel told me to help him pick her up and place her on a gurney. Once she was on it, we strolled her to another area of the prison.

"She needs an oxygen tube, she's having trouble breathing on her own."

I looked at her as she had her eyes closed, I felt my eyes sting, I didn't want her to die.

"You're going to have to stay with her and keep her breathing." He orders as he opens a package with a breathing device inside. He puts the tube down her throat, once it was set, he gave me the blue pouch

"Squeeze every two to three seconds." He orders. I did that as he went around the room trying to find other things.

"What- what else do we do?" I asked, I couldn't help the crack in voice and my eyes began to water. I felt helpless, after everything I've done to try and keep her alive, this happens.

"We can only pray now. Pray that we find a cure-"

"Does she need any medication? Anything-- I'll get it just tell me."

"We need antibiotics, we're short on everything so if you get to come across medical supplies just get it all." Hershel says. I nodded,

"I have to go, I have to get her the stuff. She- she can't die." I say to Hershel, Hershel nods and offered to take my place. I kissed her hand and ran to go get a group to go on a supply run.

"Sena, we need to go get supplies for max. She had a seizure."

Sena was clearing the gate from walkers. The fences were about to come down, there were so many but that wasn't on my mind. Sena stopped from killing the walkers and waited for me to tell her more about max.

"Please, Hershel needs antibiotics and other stuff to help her." I begged her. She nodded,

"She needs a lot of stuff for what she just went through, come on." She says and leads me to the prison to get more people.

..

Michonne, Daryl, a new member of the group named bob, Sena, and Derek came with me to go on the supply run. I was surprised Daryl agreed but I didn't pay a lot of attention to him, my mind raced on if max was going to make it or not.

"How... How did it spread? Was it the food or- or could I have spread it to her?" I asked Sena, she looked at me with concern as I drove over eighty miles an hour on the road.

"These kinds of things can be spread by multiple ways-"

"Like what?" I interrupted,

"Um.. Food, water, kissing, sexual contact-"

"I gave it to her-"

"No, Rick. You don't have it, she didn't get it from you. She couldn't have." Sena explained. I gripped the steering wheel tighter,

"Man, it wasn't your fault." Daryl tried to calm me down in the back. I looked at him in the mirror, I forced my eyes to go back to the road.