Here We Are, Come Join Us (The Walking Dead FanFiction)

Chapter 6

There was a flurry of confusion as everyone emerged from their hiding places. T-Dog was bleeding profusely, Sophia had disappeared into the wilderness and Andrea had killed a walker that had made its way into the RV. Carol was beside herself even though Rick had run off after Sophia.

"Let me see that," Allison told T-Dog, grasping his arm and examining the angry cut. Blood was spewing from the wound every time his heart beat and her mind was racing, wishing that she had some sterile gauze pads and antiseptic handy. "We need to clean this to prevent infection..." she mumbled to herself.

"I got a tetanus shot two years ago at the shop clinic after a damned nail sticking out of a pallet sliced my shoulder," T-Dog told her, his face contorting in pain.

Without thinking twice, Allison removed her cotton T-shirt and wrapped it around T-Dog's forearm. She took his other hand made him grip the makeshift bandage, saying "Here, hold this in place and press hard." She led him over to the tailgate of a nearby van. "Sit down and try to keep this arm elevated."

Dale, ever the protective patriarch, rushed over with a small first aid kit. He produced a gauze pad and a bottle of isopropyl alcohol and handed both to Allison. She removed the bloody T-shirt, refolded it so that a clean portion was available and poured the alcohol onto it. "This is going to hurt, but I have to do it...." She cleansed the wound as best she could and T-Dog swallowed his screams of pain, knowing that any noise might attract walkers that might be lurking nearby. His forehead broke out in beads of sweat as he clenched his eyes shut. Allison then covered the wound with the gauze pad and strapped it into place with the duct tape Dale handed her.

"Good thing you don't have hairy arms for when she rips that off later," Dale joked, hoping to lift T-Dog's spirits. He then noticed that Allison was now wearing nothing more than a flimsy cotton camisole. "Here," he said, taking off the button-down shirt that he'd worn over his wife beater. "You might want to put this on."

"Thanks." She slipped into the oversized garment. "I'll make sure to return it." To T-Dog she said "Are you – or were you - on any daily medications? Baby aspirin? Anything at all?"

"No," he replied, breathing heavily.

"Diabetes runs in your family, you mentioned before, have you been tested recently?"

"Yeah, yeah, I'm good, it's all good," he gasped. "I get an annual physical...."

"OK, just sit still for a few while I go get another shirt." She gestured with her head for Dale to follow her as she went back to the truck to rummage through her bag. She found a short-sleeved pullover among her things and slipped it on. "A tetanus shot is fine to guard against infection from soil or feces," she said quietly to Dale as she handed him back his shirt, "but there's a whole mess of other bacteria that could make him sick from that cut..." Her voice trailed off when she noticed that Dale was not paying strict attention to her.

"Andrea, are you OK?" he asked the blonde woman anxiously as she stepped down out of the RV trying to stifle her sobs. "Yes," she barely spoke, holding up a hand warning him to keep his distance. "I'm fine..."

Lori cradled Andrea in her arms as Shane and Daryl pulled the dead walker from the Winnebago and tossed it unceremoniously on the side of the road. Moments later Rick emerged from the forest and stepped over the metal highway barrier. Carol slumped in sorrow as she stepped toward him, her entire posture pleading. "You...didn't find her...?"

Rick tried to explain that he'd tucked Sophia away in a hollow log and had given her instructions for making her way back to the road while he lured the walkers away from her. Carol broke down into sobs, asking "How could you leave her?" while some of the others tried to explain how Rick had done his best to save Sophia's life. For heaven's sake, Allison thought to herself, we're all flying by the seats of our pants, acting on instinct with no script. Rick had certainly displayed more logic under pressure than most folks if he'd taken the time to tell Sophia to keep the Sun over her left shoulder. But Carol was inconsolable.