"How far?" Rick asks me as I run ahead of him
"We're almost there" I tell him as he readjusts Carl in his arms.
The house comes into vision. I run quicker and seemingly, Rick does too. The closer I get, the farther I feel. I want to be there already.
"Get Hershel!" I yell out to whoever is on the porch
"Isabelle?!" She yells and from her voice I know it's Maggie
I run quicker and fall over my own two feet.
"Dad!" She yells and I quickly get up.
Rick reaches the steps and I do soon after. I see dad, Patricia and Beth all gathered around Rick.
"You're Hershel?" Rick asks
"Otis shot him by accident" I say "he's good people"
"Maggie and Patricia. I'm gonna need your help" Dad says and they go inside.
I stepped up and wrapped Beth in a hug. She wrapped her arms around me tightly.
"W-where were you?" She sobbed into my shoulder
I pulled myself away "it doesn't matter now because I'm here"
"And Ana?"
"She's with the rest of my group"
"Who's he?" She asks and I turn around to see Shane running with Otis
"No one important" I reply as he runs up the steps, past me and inside the house.
I followed him in, Beth and Otis follow. We all end up in the same room and Carl on a bed unconscious.
"What happened out there?" Dad asks Otis
"I was trackin a buck. I didn't see him until he was on the ground" Otis explained with distress
Dad turns to Rick. "What's your blood type?"
"A-positive. Same as mine" Rick answers
"That's fortunate. Don't wander far, I'm going to need you" he paused "it seems like the bullet broke into fragment and I'm going to need to operate"
I saw Rick's face turn pale and he turned to cry into Shanes shoulder. I rolled my eyes and walked out into the living room, this time taking in everything. The smell, it smelled like home. I reached my arms out and then was grabbed from behind. I screamed and they let me go.
"It's me, Belle!" Maggie says from in front of me and I hug her. Tears fall from my eyes. "I thought I'd never see you again"
I open my eyes and see Rick looking at me.
"Me either. I started prayin again and looks what happened. I got you now. All of you" I tell her and pull away from the hug.
"Isabelle" I hear Dad say and I look to him
"Dad" I say back and hug him
"We've missed you" he says holding me, I feel him trace the scars on my back
"I missed you too. All of you" I pull back from him "but I'm back now and that's what matters" I smile
•••
I could hear Rick crying to Shane. Blaming himself and I felt sorry. I had my back to the wall and listened quietly, fiddling with my necklace in between my fingers.
"Isabelle. I need you" Dad says to me
"Yeah" I reply as I enter the room
"Get some blood from Rick"
"Yeah" I say and grab the needle and insert it into his vein. He looks down. "He's gonna survive" I whisper to Rick
"I sure hope so" he says in a daze
I pull the needle and give my Dad the bag of blood. Rick sits on a chair next to the bed and I watch as Dad gets ready to pull out some fragments.
"Shane. I need you to hold him down" Dad says
"Hold him? What are you doing to him?" Rick asks worried
Dad inserts his tools into Carl's wound and he flails around in pain. Carl screams as this happens and Shane holds him down.
"Stop! Your killing him!" Rick yells and I leave my spot and find myself by his side. I hold him as he cries into my shoulder. My eyes were focused on Carl.
"He'll be okay" I say quietly to Rick and then Carl's cries stop. Rick looks up and then to Carl.
"I removed one fragment but there are five left, they're too deep for me to reach without the right supplies. If Carl screamed and moved like that for the others, he'd sever an artery" Dad explains to Rick
Rick left the room and I see Shane go after him. Dad looked at me.
"What?" I say
"Nothing. You calmed him better than his best friend could"
"Yeah. I try" I walk out the room and go to sit on the porch with Maggie.
"We'd have never found you if Carl wasn't shot" I say
"That's not true. You prayed"
"So I prayed for Carl to be shot?" I look at her
"No. You prayed to find us and you did"
"Yeah" I mumble
"I see the apocalypse hasn't made you any different"
"I'm not gonna let the end of the world change me" I say with a laugh and I sit next to her.
•••
Maggie and I talked to a long time before I decided I had to do something.
I got up and walked into the house.
"I'll go find his wife" Maggie says and I walk into the room to join the conversation
"If we got someone who knows the wife. Why don't we send her?" Dad says and they look at me
"Please, Isabelle" I hear Rick
"Yeah. I haven't rode on a horse in a while though"
"You never forget. It's like riding a bike" Maggie says "I'll help her saddle up and get off safe"
We leave the house together.
"Are you gonna knock me cold and go look to Lori yourself?" I say
"No. I'm mature now" she says with a funny accent and we both laugh "If you go, there's a better chance they'll listen to you. More than some farmers daughter on a horse"
"I happen to be that same farmers daughter also. And you're sister"
"Half sister. Same mom, different dads" she says and throws a saddle on the horse
"Got that right. Totally different dads" I mumble and hop on
"All ready?" She asks
"Ready"
